Heart to Heart: Faith Seasons Podcast

Today's Ornament of Grace for Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent is Dr. Takashi Nagai.

Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24
Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me … But who will endure the day of his coming?  And who can stand when he appears?  For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye.  He will sit refining and purifying, and he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord…

Today’s Scripture passage urges us to prepare the way for God’s coming into our hearts by our facing the metal refiner’s fire and cleansing with strong soap. Dr. Takashi Nagai emerged from fire and cleansing, shining with love and forgiveness.

Born in Matsue, Japan, in 1908, Takashi Nagai’s family was well-educated and raised him in the Shinto religion. In 1920, Takashi began higher studies at a boarding school and became interested in Christianity. Eight years later, he entered the Nagasaki Medical College. His mother died in 1930. This sadness prompted him to read Pascal’s works that focused on reasons for God’s existence. He boarded while in school with a joyful Catholic family, the Moriyamas, who led him to embrace Catholicism.

After a farewell party a few days before graduation from medical school in 1932, Takashi walked home in the rain and fell asleep soaking wet. The next morning, he had a severe infection which caused partial deafness, so he chose work in radiology since he could not use a stethoscope.

Beginning his required military service in 1933, Takashi cared for wounded soldiers in Manchuria, among other duties. Upon his return from the brutal war totally exhausted, he continued studying the Catholic faith. Baptized and confirmed a Catholic in 1934, he proposed to and married Midori Moriyama the same year. The couple eventually had four children.

Takashi joined the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, visiting not only his patients but the many poor in the area, bringing them food and whatever comfort he could. Food was scarce and conditions cramped in many places, so tuberculosis ravaged many. At this time, he met Fr. (later saint) Maximilian Kolbe who was living in a suburb of Nagasaki. War soon broke out between China and Japan, and Takashi was called back again to serve as surgeon. While in service, his father and daughter died. He returned home, grieving and weary, in 1940. He continued his demanding x-ray work and contracted leukemia from leaking radiation in the x-ray machines.

Japan declared war on the United States in December, 1941. On April 6, 1945, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Takashi labored to serve the wounded. On April 9, the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, where Takashi was serving in the College Hospital Radiology Department, again caring for the wounded in spite of suffering a severe head wound himself.

On August 11, Takashi found his wife dead and his home destroyed. A few months later, he was near death due to the severity of his head wound. Praying through the intercession of his friend, Fr. Kolbe, unaware until later of the priest’s bravery in Auschwitz, Takashi received the strength to carry on his work for a little longer. He wrote a best seller, The Bells of Nagasaki, and used the money he made from it to plant hundreds of cherry trees to bring hope, saying, “… we pray to God: Grant that Nagasaki may be the last atomic wilderness in the history of the world.”

Confined to bed for his last five years, Dr. Nagai lived in his hermitage with his relatives, promoting love, forgiveness, and peace. Nearing death, he prayed: “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, into your hands I entrust my soul.”

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

How can we work for peace and the end of storing nuclear weapons so that Christ’s peace may reign in our world?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent is St. Anthony of Padua.

1 Samuel 1:24-38
Once Samuel was weaned, his mother Hannah … presented him at the temple of the Lord in Shiloh, … approached Eli and said: “Pardon, my lord! … I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the Lord.  I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request.  Now I, in turn, give him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord.”

Fernando Martins de Bulhões, known as St. Anthony of Padua, was born in 1195 to a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal.  Fernando dedicated himself to God from an early age. He joined the Canons Regular Order outside Lisbon around 1210.  Well liked by family and friends, he found their frequent visits distracted him from prayerful study and asked to be transferred to the Order’s main house near Coimbra where he studied Latin and theology.

By 19, Fernando had been ordained a priest.  As the one in charge of welcoming guests for the Canons Regular, he met Franciscans staying in the St. Anthony the Great Hermitage nearby. These Franciscans witnessed to God by their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, by their simple lifestyle, and by their mission to share the Gospel with all people.  While there, the Franciscans got news that five of their Order had been beheaded in Morocco, the first of the Franciscan martyrs.  Such courage inspired Fernando, so he asked his superiors to leave the Canons Regular and join the Franciscans.  Upon entering the small hermitage of St. Anthony the Great, Fernando took the name Anthony.

Shortly, Anthony set out for Morocco where he became seriously ill.  Trying to return to Portugal by sea, his ship was blown off course, ending up in Sicily.  From there, he went to Tuscany and joined a Franciscan Convent.  Due to his frailty, he was assigned to a hermitage near Forli, Italy, where he prayed and studied.  Many Dominican friars came to Forli to participate in an ordination.  Dominicans, known for their excellent preaching, were expected to give the homily.  But they, as guests of the Franciscans, assumed the Franciscan friars would preach.  So, the head of the hermitage asked Anthony to say whatever the Holy Spirit directed him to say.  With his in-depth knowledge of Scripture and an excellent voice, all present were moved by Anthony’s words.

From Forli, Anthony was sent to Bologna.  There, the young priest met St. Francis of Assisi.  St. Francis entrusted the studies of young members of his Order to Anthony, whom he found shared his vision.  In Bologna, Anthony had written his many teaching notes in a Book of Psalms which was stolen by a novice who left the Order.  A poor Franciscan would have found it difficult to replace such a book, so Anthony prayed to God to help him find it.  The novice returned the book and also returned to the Order.  Probably this is why we pray to St. Anthony when things are lost or stolen.

Later, Anthony was chosen Superior of the Order in Northern Italy, and he chose the city of Padua as his base; hence his title as St. Anthony of Padua.  He died at the age of 35 from accidentally eating fungus-infected grain.  Amazingly, less than a year later, he was canonized because, even in his own day, he was loved as a saint.

Since the 17th century, Anthony is often shown holding up the Christ Child.  Jesus gave up His appearance as God, becoming a humble child, in order to be one with us. He kept God’s promise to save us. Anthony, adopting a poor and humble life, held up the Christ Child as an example for all through his preaching and loving works of caring for the poor.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

How can we hold the Christ Child up so that many will want to know His love?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent is St. Gianna Beretta Molla.

Luke 1:39-45
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out in a loud voice: Blest are you among women and blest is the fruit of your womb. But who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby leapt in my womb for joy.  Blest is she who trusted that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled.

Gianna Beretta Molla, an Italian wife, mother, and doctor, was born on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi in 1922. Always attentive in prayer, Gianna Molla made the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola prior to beginning university studies. Her schooling was interrupted in 1938-1939 due to poor health. But in 1942 she began her studies in Milan, getting a diploma in medicine from Pavia University there in 1949. 

Since her brother Giuseppe was a missionary priest in Brazil, Gianna wanted to help there with gynecological services for the poor. She soon realized she could not do that due to her chronic health issues. In spite of her own frail condition, she enjoyed skiing and mountain climbing.  Always reaching out to the poor in her area, she offered whatever services she could. In 1950 she began a practice in Mesero, Italy, and in 1952 pursued a specialty in pediatrics from the University of Milan. 

Gianna met Pietro Molla, an engineer, in 1954; the pair married the following year.  Just before their marriage, she wrote to Pietro: “Love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put into the soul of men and women.” Together they had four children who lived. One of her daughters, Mariolina, died as a young child.  So, certainly this was a great suffering for Gianna, Pietro, and Mariolina’s siblings. 

In spite of the suffering that often accompanies parenthood, Gianna and Pietro wanted to have more children and desired to bring them up in a loving and Christ-centered home. They would have recognized the joy that Elizabeth and Mary share in today’s Gospel. Gianna was inspired to help those in need by Mary, who ran to help Elizabeth.  She had, like so many working mothers and fathers, to learn to trust God completely as she balanced family, prayer, professional duties, and outreach work.

Toward the end of September 1961, Gianna was just two months pregnant when she began having great pain.  A uterine fibroma was discovered. The doctors told Gianna she could have an abortion, have a hysterectomy, or just have the tumor removed.  She chose to just have the fibroma removed to preserve the life of her child. Her son later wrote that his mother loved her children unconditionally, and her first concern was her unborn child. He also said she wanted to have more children, so that may have influenced her choice as well.  She understood all the implications since she was a pediatric surgeon herself. The surgery was successfully performed.  For seven months, Gianna prayed for the safety of her child, that the baby would not suffer any pain in her womb. 

On Easter Sunday morning in April, 1962, a baby girl whom Pietro and Gianna named Gianna Emanuela was delivered by Caesarean section. Yet, after the birth, Gianna continued to have excruciating pain. Suffering from septic peritonitis, Gianna died one week later as she prayed, “Jesus, I love you.  Jesus, I love you.”  Baby Gianna Emanuela grew up to become a physician and gives thanks to God that her mother loved her enough to give her life for her.

Gianna was beatified in 1994, and her husband Pietro and her children were able to attend her canonization in 2004.

 OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

What kind of relationship with Jesus empowers you to make decisions for the sake of others before yourself?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Tuesday for the Fourth Week of Advent is Bl. Maria Gabriella Sagheddu.

Isaiah 7:10-14
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!  But Ahaz answered: “I will not ask!  I will not tempt the Lord.” Then he said: Listen, O house of David!  Is it not enough for you to weary men; must you also weary my God? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

Born to shepherds in the Sardinian Region, an island to the west of Italy, Maria Sagheddu recognized the sign given by a loving God as Immanuel, God with us! She learned to trust Him even in difficult times.  Unlike Ahaz who was a king and rejected a prophet’s guidance, Maria let Jesus be her king, allowing Him to care for her.

Maria’s father and one brother died in 1919 when she was only five; two more brothers died in childhood.  Such grief surely brought little Maria to an early understanding of how quickly life on earth can pass.  Though excelling in school, she had to leave after an elementary education to help her mother care for the other children and the home.

Maria’s sister, Giovanni Antonia, just a year younger, was her closest sibling in every way.  In 1932, Giovanni died at age 17.  After that, Maria’s devotion to the Lord grew.  She began to teach religion to children and teens. She also reached out to help elderly people in the area in any way she could.  These good works seemed to spur Maria to spend more time in prayer and study. 

Soon, she felt called to religious life.  With the help of her Jesuit confessor, she entered the Trappist Convent near Rome and received the name Maria Gabriella.  Making her vows on the Feast of Christ the King in 1937, she entered wholeheartedly into the Trappist way of life and learned much about the need for ecumenism, a closer relationship among all Christian churches. She suffered from bouts of anxiety, but abandoned herself completely into the hands of God and found relief.  The Sisters found her trusting, humble, cheerful, and always ready to do the most tiring jobs happily.

Maria Gabriella gave thanks to God for allowing her to be at one with Him through her vowed life.  Still, she longed for all Christians to grow in understanding of one another and to develop a relationship with one another in Jesus. In January, 1938, during a time of special prayer for Christian unity, Maria offered herself as a spiritual sacrifice so that all might be one. This sacrifice, in God’s plan, was not only to be spiritual but physical as well.  By May of the same year, doctors told her she had incurable tuberculosis.  After suffering with the disease for over a year, Maria peacefully gave herself to the Lord and died on April 23, 1939.  It was Good Shepherd Sunday, and the Gospel proclaimed “… and there will be one fold and one shepherd.”

During her very short life of 25 years, her love for unity had been welcomed by the Anglican Church and other believers as well.  After her death, vocations flocked to her religious community.  St. Pope John Paul II referred to Maria Gabriella in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One) as an example to follow: someone who realized it is our duty at all times, everywhere, to pray and work for unity. The Pope beatified her on January 25, 1983.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

How can you work for greater unity among all Christian faiths? 

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent is St. Elisabeth Hesselblad.

Luke1:5-25
Then, when Zechariah’s time of priestly service was over, he went home.  Afterward, his wife Elizabeth conceived.  She went into seclusion for five months, saying: “In these days, the Lord is acting on my behalf; he has seen fit to remove my reproach among men.”

We know from today’s Gospel that Elizabeth, trusting the Lord to come to her aid, became pregnant in her old age. Her trust brought us John the Baptist who pointed the way to Jesus.  St. Elizabeth Hesselblad also trusted God. She did not bear a son named John, but she herself was fruitful in pointing the way to the Savior for many.

Born in 1870 to Lutheran parents in Sweden, Elizabeth Hesselblad was the fifth of thirteen children. By the time she was sixteen, she had to go to work to help support the family. Emigrating to the United States in 1888, she studied nursing in New York City and provided home health care to many of the poor. Some of those she served were Catholic, and they influenced Elizabeth profoundly.

Elizabeth gave herself to prayer and study, wanting to know and follow the Lord’s plans for her. So, it was with joy on the Feast of the Assumption, 1902, that she embraced the Catholic faith. Later, reflecting on her conversion, she wrote: “In an instant the love of God was poured over me. I understood that I could respond to that love only through sacrifice and a love prepared to suffer for His glory and for the Church.  Without hesitation I offered Him my life, and my will to follow Him on the Way of the Cross.”

A short time after her conversion, Elizabeth left for Europe where she made a pilgrimage to Rome. There she visited the house of Bridget of Sweden, then a Carmelite Monastery. She wanted to join the Carmelites in Rome, but her health was not good due to her care for the sick poor in New York City. The Order felt the life would be too difficult for her, but they welcomed her as a guest on probation.  Elizabeth fell critically ill there, so she could not join the Carmelites. Still, feeling called to religious life, she asked the Pope to allow her to make vows under the Rule of the Order St. Bridget had founded. She professed her vows to her Jesuit spiritual director in 1906.

Elizabeth, knowing the Order was strong in Sweden prior to the Protestant Reformation, wanted to bring it back to life.  She was unsuccessful in that attempt but proposed a new Order dedicated to care of the sick. By the end of 1911, three women had joined her to pray and work. The Order grew, and Elizabeth continued caring for the sick poor. In 1928 the Carmelites left their Monastery in Rome, and Elizabeth’s new Order of Bridgettines moved in, establishing a foundation in Rome.

During World War II, the convent in Rome was a place where she, as Superior, hid twelve Jews fleeing the holocaust. The Germans occupied Italy in 1943, sending many Jews to Auschwitz. This particular family of Jews roamed the countryside for some months but eventually returned to Rome. Friends suggested they take refuge in the Bridgettine Monastery. Elizabeth and her community welcomed them, risking their lives. The Jews were able to hide in the monastery until they could safely leave after the liberation of Italy in 1944, a period of six months. Like nursing the sick, Elizabeth offered her life for all her brothers and sisters.

Elizabeth became quite ill on April 23, 1957. She raised her hands to bless her sisters saying, “Go to heaven with hands full of love and virtues.” She received the sacraments and died early the next morning. Pope Francis canonized her in 2016.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

How can we reach out and provide safety for the poor, the sick, and those whom society has cast aside?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Sunday of the Fourth Week of Advent is St. Angela of Foligno.

Romans 1:1-7

Greetings from Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart to proclaim the gospel of God…Through him we have been favored with apostleship, that we may spread his name and bring to obedient faith all the Gentiles, among whom are you who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Paul, in today’s second reading, reminds us that, like him, we are called to be servants of God who proclaim the Good News in obedient faith.  St. Angela Foligno took this calling seriously, at least later in life.

Born to a wealthy family around 1248 in Foligno, a town in central Italy not far from Assisi, Angela’s father died when she was young. Her mother did not have much interest in passing along the faith to her daughter.  Intelligent and beautiful, Angela married early and had several children.  Her focus, like many today, was on amassing wealth as well as bettering her social position.  When she was about 40 years old, she began to realize that, although she loved her family, working for wealth and social position had not brought her true joy. She felt empty inside.  Perhaps a serious earthquake, a war, and a wild hurricane around that time also pushed her to consider more lasting things.

Angela sought help from God in prayer.  In the Sacrament of Penance, a wise confessor told her to ask God to forgive her sins, pray, and give her life to good works.  About three years later, her mother died.  Several months after that, her husband and children also died.  At that point, Angela began divesting herself of all her possessions.  She joined the Franciscan Third Order and asked a Friar Arnoldo to be her spiritual director and confessor.  Friar Arnoldo served in this capacity until around 1296 when Angela’s mystic revelations became, he said, too complex for him.  Up until then, he had directed her to write down all her experiences and the knowledge she attained from her deep prayer life.  She continued to do this for the rest of her life.

Prayer was Angela’s central theme.  One translation of her many works states, “No one can be saved without divine light.  Divine light causes us to begin and to make progress, and it leads to the summit of perfection.  Therefore, if you want to begin and to receive this divine light, pray.  If you have begun to make progress, pray. And if you have reached the summit of perfection and want to be super-illumined so as to remain in that state, pray.  If you want faith, pray. If you want hope, pray… .” 

She advised all to pray with Scripture.  Prayer for Angela was oneness with God.  And, for her, oneness with God meant oneness with all.  That is why she served those in need.

Between 1296 and her death in 1309, her sanctity drew both men and women to follow her as Third Order Franciscans.  Later, she gathered a group of women in the Third Order who took vows to be in community as well.  Her group realized they could not be enclosed in a cloister – as most women religious were at the time – because they felt called to be out serving those in need. 

At Christmastime in 1308, Angela told her sisters in community that she would die shortly and that Jesus, Himself, said He would come to take her to heaven.  She died as she slept peacefully in early January, 1309. Pope Francis canonized St. Angela in 2013.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

If you have a particular virtue you are striving for this Advent, what advice do you think St. Angela would give you?

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Saturday of the Third Week of Advent is St. Peregrine.

Genesis 49: 2, 8-10
…Judah, like a lion’s whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches like a lion recumbent, the king of beasts – who would dare rouse him? The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people’s homage.

Today’s first reading is one of the blessings Jacob is giving his sons on his deathbed. Jacob is saying that Judah will assume leadership over his brothers, but it is a prophesy about Jesus coming from the tribe of Judah, a promise that took around 640 years to get to King David but some 1600 years to be fulfilled in Jesus. If Advent seems long, just think how long the Chosen People waited for the Savior!

Advent is a time of waiting, but it is also a great time to think about how Jesus is the One Who leads us to salvation. Knowing this, we can trust that His promise to care for us will be fulfilled, no matter how long it seems to take.  Sometimes, when we are ill or in pain or a loved one is suffering, time seems to stretch out. It is easy to allow ourselves to forget that Jesus will help us. A saint who never forgot Jesus’ promise is St. Peregrine.  

Peregrine Laziosi was born in Forli, a town in Northern Italy which was, at the time, part of the Papal States. His family, along with many in that town, was against the Pope. Others were for the Pope, so a deep divide caused problems among the townspeople. To try to get the two factions to reconcile and unite, the Pope sent the Superior of the Servite Order, Philip Benizi, to preach to the people. Eighteen-year-old Peregrine, whose family had taught him to hate representatives of the Pope, dragged Philip from where he was preaching, mocked him, and beat him.

Peregrine felt bad about what he had done and asked for Fr. Philip’s forgiveness. The priest looked up at the young man and smiled, treating him with kindness. After that, Peregrine began to spend much time in prayer and in works of mercy. A few years later, he joined the Servites and was ordained a priest.  He preached powerfully and spent his life caring for others, especially the poor and sick, and doing penance. People sought his advice, sensing he was filled with the Holy Spirit.  

When Peregrine was 60, he developed a severe cancerous infection in his leg and foot. The pain was excruciating, and the doctor decided the leg needed to be amputated. Peregrine spent the night before surgery in prayer before a fresco of the crucifixion. He fell into a trance there and saw Jesus coming down from the Cross and touching his leg. When the doctor arrived the next morning, he found no sign of the cancer.

While Peregrine did experience a wonderful miracle, the main thing is that he put himself in the heart and hands of Jesus, whom he knew had always and would always care for him in the best way possible.  

Peregrine went on preaching the good news, caring for the poor and sick, and continuing his life of prayer, penance, and praise. Patiently he waited for the day he would see his Savior. He died of a fever at the age of 85, after a long life trusting in Jesus. Peregrine is the patron saint of those suffering with cancer or other potentially fatal illnesses.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

When you are ill, how might Peregrine’s life help you to trust that Jesus will keep His promise, no matter how long it might seem to take?

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Today's Ornaments of Grace for Friday of the Third Week of Advent are Priscilla and Aquila.

Isaiah 56:1-3a, 6-8
Let not the foreigner say, when he would join himself to the Lord, “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people”; nor let the eunuch say, “See, I am a dry tree.”  And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants –… them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer…

Priscilla and Aquila are introduced to us in the Acts of the Apostles; they are also mentioned in Paul’s letters to the Romans, the Corinthians, and Timothy. This power-couple had much to do with the spread of Christianity.  Priscilla, mentioned before Aquila in four of six Scriptural references, might have been the more influential since the wife was generally not mentioned before the husband in those days, if mentioned at all. Nevertheless, the couple worked together to live and teach the Good News.

Isaiah, in today’s Reading, speaks of how the Lord welcomed “foreigners” and would make them joyful in His presence.  The Lord did this for and through Priscilla and Aquila. The couple were among the earliest Jews converted to Christianity and were living in Rome.  When Emperor Claudius came to power and began to purge the Jewish population, they fled to Greece and set up a tent making business in Corinth.

Paul, in his own words, said he came to Corinth in fear and trembling.  We are unsure of the reason he felt this way, but Priscilla and Aquila welcomed him there.  They gave him an ideal job because he was also a tentmaker.  The couple invited him to live in their home, and Paul did so for a year and a half.  Since Priscilla and Aquila had been refugees, they understood the need Paul had for support in a new place.  In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he sends greetings to the people not only from himself but from Priscilla and Aquila as well.  This may mean that he considered them co-founders of the Church in Corinth; at the very least, they were instrumental in helping it thrive.

After 18 months, Paul felt called to continue his missionary journey.  Paul was planning to head to Syria but stopped in Ephesus (modern-day Turkey) on the way.  Priscilla and Aquila accompanied him, and Paul left them in Ephesus to continue sharing the Good News.  In Ephesus, the couple met a wonderful preacher named Apollos.  Apollos taught about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. However, he taught the baptism of John the Baptist, rather than that of Jesus.  So, Priscilla and Aquila, already in a new land themselves, welcomed the Egyptian Apollos into their home.  There, they explained to him how Jesus’ baptism was not only a sign of repentance as John preached, but was also a sharing in the very life of Jesus.

Priscilla and Aquila continued their work in the early church.  Paul says in his letter to the Romans that Priscilla and Aquila risked their lives for him, so we know they remained connected to the early church even if we do not know what specific risks they took for Paul.

While little is known beyond this about the couple who, refugees themselves, welcomed others, tradition holds that they died together as martyrs.  They could embrace missionary life because they realized that their real home was in Jesus Christ.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

Who might Jesus be asking you to welcome into your home or heart?  

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Thursday of the Third Week of Advent is Venerable Carla Ronci.

Isaiah 54:1-10
Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear, break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor, for more numerous are the children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband, says the Lord.  Enlarge the space for your tent, spread out your tent cloths unsparingly.

Today’s reading from Isaiah reminds us that barrenness can be a great sorrow for a woman, but we can learn from those women who opened their hearts in love to receive the Lord as their spouse and found joy, even if they could not bear children. One woman who enlarged the tent of her heart to make room for those who might otherwise be left outside was Venerable Carla Ronci.

Carla Ronci was born in Rimini, Italy, in 1936.  Carla was a good child, full of life, happy, and charismatic.  After finishing elementary school, she learned to be a seamstress.

When Carla was 14, she received the grace to give her life to God. She began to teach the faith to young people, encouraging them to reach out to those in need.  Her teaching brought her into contact with the Ursuline Nuns.  Carla often attended meetings at the Ursuline convent, especially during the Holy Year of 1950.

In 1956, Carla made private vows of poverty and chastity.  She then decided to enter the Ursuline novitiate but realized, after a very short time, that this was not her vocation.  Wanting always to do God’s will, she asked Jesus, “What is happening to me?  Why do I feel so weird and unsatisfied with my new life? What do you want from me, my Lord?  When will I know with certainty where you want me to serve you?”  Leaving the convent, she returned to her former life. 

Trusting the Lord would lead her, Carla threw herself back into sharing the Good News with the young, caring for the poor, and spreading joy wherever she went on her motorbike, her Vespa.  The Lord certainly rode with her. In 1960 she met Teresa Ravegnini who introduced her to the secular institute “Ancelle Mater Misericordiae.” 

After studying the rules of the Institute, Carla knew where she belonged.  She could stay in her hometown working, teaching religion, and reaching out to all in need.  At the same time, she could take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Witnessing to Jesus’ presence in everyday life would be her ministry.  In 1961, she applied to become part of the Institute and was accepted.

Carla knew Jesus had answered her question about where and how He desired her service.  In her journal, she wrote happily: “Lord, thank you for being so good to me.”  Gratitude to the Lord defined her life.  Her almost constant smile showed this. It fueled her service and gave her the eyes to see Christ in everyone and everything.  It was for love of her spouse, Jesus, that she bore fruit.  She said, “It is only for him that I am committing myself for my life to be a living witness, everywhere I may be, and in everything I may do.” People in her area called her the joyful saint, the smiling saint, or the Vespa saint.

In 1969, Carla was diagnosed with lung cancer. Her loving response was this: “Lord, you can no longer suffer in your own body, so take mine to continue your passion and redemption.”  Less than a year later, on April 2, 1970,  at the age of 33, she was lying on her deathbed, hands folded in prayer.  Her last words were, “Here comes the spouse.”

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

What kinds of barrenness do you sometimes suffer, and how can you change that to fruitfulness?

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Barrington, IL 60010

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Today's Ornament of Grace for Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent is St. Paul of the Cross.

Luke 7:18b-23
“John the Baptizer sends us to you with this question: ‘Are you ‘He who is to come’ or do we look for someone else?” ...Jesus gave this response: “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard.  The blind recover their sight, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men are raised to life, and the poor have the good news preached to them. Blest is that man who finds no stumbling block in me.”

In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist was suffering in prison.  Probably having doubts about whether Jesus was truly the Messiah, he sent a couple of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was truly the Anointed One of God.  John did the right thing.  When we have doubts, we simply need to go and share those doubts with Jesus and hear His answer.

St. Paul of the Cross understood the suffering that doubt can bring, but he also knew to bring his doubts to Jesus.  He suffered the darkness of doubt for forty years, but he moved ahead with his ministry, trusting in the power of God to give him strength.  He knew that Jesus would not forget him in his emotional prison of doubt.

Born in 1694 in Italy, Paul of the Cross died there in 1775.  His father read to Paul and his brother John about the lives of the saints.  When the boys had difficulties in life, their mother would point to the crucifix and remind them of Jesus’ love for them.

After leaving school, Paul worked for his father in a dry goods store.  Always active in the Church, Paul dedicated himself to the Passion of Christ at age 19.  At 21, he became a soldier but soon realized that was not his vocation.  So, returning to the family business, he dedicated himself to many hours of prayer and penance.  Five years later, Paul began to have visions of founding a community dedicated to Jesus’ Passion.  His bishop encouraged him.  Paul made a 40-day retreat during which he wrote a Rule for the future community.  They were to pray, do penance, and live the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  Their ministry was to teach the poor and marginalized, emphasizing meditation on Christ’s suffering and death.

Paul’s first recruit was his brother John.  A Cardinal in Rome heard about the two and invited them to come to Rome to help him start a hospital.  Paul and John nursed the sick and taught the staff how to pray with Jesus in His Passion.  The two also took a course in theology and were ordained priests in 1727.  After ordination, they taught in many parishes, especially remote regions which had difficulty finding priests to provide Mass and the sacraments.

While Paul was extremely popular as a preacher and greatly loved for his kind acts, his community, known as Passionists, grew very slowly.  Their life was demanding, and his prayer was often dry, and he continued to be assailed by doubt.  Still, by the grace of God, the community had 180 members by the time Paul died.  He had also founded an Order of nuns dedicated to the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Paul of the Cross, like John the Baptist, knew where to bring his doubts.  Since he buried them in the wounds of Jesus and trusted they would be healed eventually, he had the spiritual energy to share Jesus’ love with others.   His last years were filled with consolation.  He found no stumbling block in Jesus.  He found joy.

OBSERVING THE BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

How might it be helpful to meditate on the passion and death of Jesus, even in Advent, when we are remembering His coming in history, welcoming his coming in mystery,  and anticipating His coming in majesty?

Learn More
Heart to Heart, a Catholic Media Ministry: htoh.us
420 W County Line Rd, Suite 200
Barrington, IL 60010

Submit a prayer request: htoh.us/prayers

Support our ministry with a financial gift: htoh.us/donate