September 15 is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. This woman and mother who was greeted by the Angel Gabriel as “full of grace,” is also the woman and mother who is full of sorrow. At weddings and religious professions and ordinations, I rejoice with the young people beginning their lives with such joy, knowing that one day they will also drink their chalice of sorrow.Life is beautiful that way. It doesn’t allow us to run through the years of our life getting everything w...

To the angels who watch over usour guardians who see the face of Godstrong spirits who hold our handshearts of flame, loving God and guiding us on our way,a silence shrouds the country as we wait out the stormas we wade through the floodsas we worry about loved onesas we evacuate and seek shelterGo before uswatch behind usshield usprotect usbring us togetherto care for each otherAs you stand before the face of our Father in heavenintercede for usask for mercyhear our plea, when anxiety is our pr...

July and August 1914 were pivotal months for the beginning of what would become the Pauline Family. James Alberione, the thirty-year-old diocesan priest of the Diocese of Alba, made concrete steps toward the plan that he had conceived fourteen years earlier in his prayer during the night between the centuries. As the twentieth century opened he daily studied the society in which he and his followers would work, a society influenced by the spread of masonry, marxist socialism, and moder...

There are days when we are reminded more than others that life only makes sense if we remember where we are going. Blessed James Alberione succinctly states: "We are travelling toward the Lord; we are on a journey in this life. Let each one of us, then, fix our eyes on the Lord."The other morning the first reading at Mass was read from the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 24. In this reading, Joshua states how Esau was given by God Mount Seir to possess it, but Jacob and his sons...

 If I could give God another name, I’d call him Persistent. In 1976, I was thirteen years old. That year was outstanding not only for the celebration of the 200th birthday of the country, but also for the 41st International Eucharistic Congress which was held in Philadelphia. I remember travelling with my family before dawn from Washington DC to Philadelphia to celebrate one day of this amazing event. Renowned people, a future pope, and future saints were at the Congress—Ka...

This is part 9 of the nine part series of meditations on the Word of God with reflections from the writings of Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo and Blessed James Alberione.During the Spiritual Exercises of 1934, Mother Thecla chose four points to work on in her spiritual journey. These points remained constant throughout her life: To keep God always in view Jesus Christ as Model The Blessed Mother for a Helper All of us, in an attitude of continual sacrificeMother Thecla brought all ...

This is part 8 of a nine part series of meditations on the Word of God with reflections from the writings of Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo and Blessed James Alberione.This theme coincides with Mother Thecla’s spiritual experience at the end of her life. Her dominant characteristics in this period were total acceptance of the will of God, intimate union with Christ, and participation in his life to the point of union of life with him.Meditating the Word I have been crucified ...