St. Faustina and Blessed Seelos

Today we celebrate the feasts of a saint and hopefully, a soon to be canonized saint...both very humble yet great in the eyes of the Church.
Updated News: St. Faustina, Doctor of the Church?

Saint Faustina

Picture source

Blessed Francis X. Seelos C.S.s.R

Picture source

Photo of St. Faustina,  by Esther

On Sunday, April 30, 2000, Blessed John Paul II canonized his compatriot Sister Faustina Kowalska at St. Peter's Square in Rome.

St Faustina was born on August 25, 1905 and died at the age of Thirty-three, on October 5, 1938.
The following is an excerpt from Our Holy Father's homily that day:

...Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr Faustina Kowalska to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time. By divine Providence, the life of this humble daughter of Poland was completely linked with the history of the 20th century, the century we have just left behind. In fact, it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted his message of mercy to her. Those who remember, who were witnesses and participants in the events of those years and the horrible sufferings they caused for millions of people, know well how necessary was the message of mercy.

Jesus told Sr Faustina: "Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy" (Diary, p. 132). Through the work of the Polish religious, this message has become linked for ever to the 20th century, the last of the second millennium and the bridge to the third. It is not a new message but can be considered a gift of special enlightenment that helps us to relive the Gospel of Easter more intensely, to offer it as a ray of light to the men and women of our time...

You can read the entire homily here.

Excerts from the Diary of St. Faustina

- "When I tried to run away from these interior inspirations, God said to me that on the day of judgment He would demand of me a great number of souls." - 52

- "O my Jesus, direct my mind, take possession of my whole being, enclose me in the depths of Your heart, and protect me against he assaults of the enemy. My only hope is in You..." - 76

- "Trials sent by God to a soul which is particularly loved by Him. Temptations and darkness; Satan." - 96

- "When the soul comes out victorious from...trials, even though it may stumble here and there, it fights on valiantly, humbly calling upon God, 'Save me, I am perishing!' And it is still able to fight on." - 98

- "To suffer without complaining, to bring comfort to others and to drown my own sufferings in the most Sacred Heart of Jesus!" - 224

- "The rules that I most often fail to obey: sometimes I break silence; disobedience to the sign of the bell; sometimes I meddle in other people's affairs. I will do my very best to improve.

I will avoid sisters who grumble, and if they cannot be avoided, I will at least keep silent before them, thus letting them know how sorry I am to hear such things.

I must take no heed of the opinion of others, but obey the evidence of my own conscience and take God to be the witness of all my actions. I must do everything and act in all matters now as I would like to do and act at the hour of my death. For this reason, in every action I must be mindful of God." - 226

- "I want to love You as no human soul has ever loved You before; and although I am utterly miserable and small, I have nevertheless cast the anchor of my trust deep down into the abyss of Your mercy, O my God and Creator!..." - 283

- "My happiest moments are when I am alone with my Lord. During these moments I experience the greatness of God and my own misery." - 289

Prayer to St. Faustina

Dear St. Faustina, I have come to know you as a friend. I ask you to plead to the Lord for me the prayer I ask of you. In times of doubt, dear friend, implore the Lord's Mercy as you did so often here on earth, that I may remember who I am, and to what His mercy has called me.

In times of fear, implore His Mercy that I may ever remember to trust, and trust again, in joy, and in the knowledge that God is preparing me for a beautiful mission.

Please pray dear St. Faustina, that I may never forget that the abyss between my Lord and I has been bridged by His tender mercy. He will continue to be faithful and heal me of anything which stands in the way of His Will. My life is in His Hands.

Thank you dear friend. Pray with me the prayer Our Lord taught you to spread throughout the world; Jesus, I trust in You! Remind all pilgrims of life that if our trust is great, there is no limit to Jesus' generosity.

Amen.

Prayer Source

Blessed Francis S. Seelos, C.S.s.R. was born in Germany on January 11, 1819 and died on October 4, 1867 at the age of 48.

He was beatified on April 9, 2000 by Blessed John Paul II.
The following Decree for Obligatory/Optional Seelos Memorial in Dioceses of New Orleans Province is from the Seelos Center

In 2009, Most Reverend Alfred C. Hughes, Archbishop of New Orleans, received a decree from Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith establishing the celebration of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos as an obligatory memorial in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and an optional memorial in each of the dioceses of the New Orleans Province.

_____________________________________________________________________________



CONGREGATIO DE CULTU DIVINO

ET DISCIPLINA SACRAMENTORUM



Prot. 2014/03/L



ARCHIDIOECESIS NOVAE AURELIAE



Instante Excellentissimo Domino Alfredo Hughes, Archiepiscopo Novae Aureliae, litteris die 29 ianuarii 2009 datis, vigore facultatum huic Congregationi a Summo Pontifice BENEDICTO XVI tributarum, libenter concedimus ut celebratio Beati Francisci X. Seelos, presbyteri, in Calendarium proprium Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae inscribi valeat, die 5 mensis octobris, gradu memoriae quotannis peragenda.



Contrariis quibusiibet minime obstantibus.



Ex aedibus Congregationis de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum, die 31 mensis martii 2009.



+ ANTONIUS CARD. CAÑIZARES LLOVERA

Praefectus





(+ Albertus Malcolmus Ranjith)

Archiepiscopus a Secretis

Seelos' Top 10 Practical Guide to Holiness

1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion.

2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.

3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.

4. Say the rosary every day.

5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; and toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour.

6. Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.

7. Every month make a review of the month in confession.

8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.

9. Precede every great feast with a novena, that is, nine days of devotion.

10. Try to begin & end every activity with a “Hail Mary.”


Thirteen Bon Mots of Blessed Francis X. Seelos, C.Ss.R.

Selected from Fr. Michael Curley’s Cheerful Ascetic
By Joseph W Oppitz, C.SS.R.

Someday, I will become a second Francis Xavier.

Dear Mother, how I thank you for having taught us children a great devotion to the Mother of God. Such an inheritance from parents is worth more than gold or silver.

Today we will have no writing. The Blessed Mother has appeared to me and told me to become a missionary.

I was John Neumann’s subject, but was more like a son who needed help. In every respect, he was a remarkable father to me.

Baltimore is one of the loveliest and most beautiful cities in all of North America.

If these riots continue, I may even have the privilege of becoming a martyr — a wonderful way to go to heaven.

According to people I am a thorough saint. In reality, I am a thorough scoundrel.

If the Church should ever decide to celebrate the feast of a rude rascal, [Secretary of War] Stanton would easily qualify — even with an octave.

I love the work of the missions more than all other labors; it is a complete apostolic employment in the Lord's vineyard.

If the Americans were as expert in spiritual matters as they are in business affairs, all of them would be saints.

I have made the rounds of all the houses in the province. Only New Orleans yet remains. I have come here to pass the rest of my days and find a lasting resting place at Saint Mary's. I feel I have traveled enough. I shall never leave New Orleans.

So the doctor says I am to die! Oh, what pleasant news! How thankful I am! And to you, doctor, how much I have to return thanks for your kindness and attention to me!

I never thought it was so sweet to die in the Congregation. I now begin to know what happiness it is to live and die a Redemptorist. Oh, let us love our vocation and strive to persevere in it! Then everything will be all right with us.

Thirteen "bon mots" or simple sayings of Fr. Seelos, taken from an article published in Spiritus Patris--some about the spiritual life, some just comments about current affairs — all showing the simple humanity of our beloved Father Seelos.

Source

Bountiful God,
in Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos,
you have given your people
a model for those who labor joyfully
in your earthly kingdom.
May his smile dwell on those who find life burdensome.
In him, our eyes continually behold
the gentleness of Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer.

- by Byron Miller, C.Ss.R. Director of the Father Seelos Center.