April 9, 2018: Today Pope Francis made public a letter he has written to all of us.
It’s a “message for those who, like us . . .
are living with today’s risks, challenges and opportunities,
are loving and bringing up their kids,
are working hard to put food on the table. . .”
Loud and clear Pope Francis says to us:
YOU ARE CALLED TO HOLINESS!!!
Listen as his heart and soul speaks to your heart and soul.
“To be holy does not require being a bishop, a priest or a religious. . . .
We are all called to be holy
by living our lives with love
and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves.”
HOW ARE WE TO DO THIS?
“Are you married?
Be holy by loving and caring for your husband or wife, as Christ does for the Church.
Do you work for a living?
Be holy by laboring with integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters.
Are you a parent or grandparent?
Be holy by patiently teaching the little ones how to follow Jesus.
Are you in a position of authority?
Be holy by working for the common good and renouncing personal gain.” Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis
Click here to watch a two-minute Vatican Media video summarizing the Pope’s letter.
Click here to read the entire letter.
REJOICE AND BE GLAD, EVEN AMIDST FAULTS, FAILINGS AND SETBACKS
“Let the grace of your baptism bear fruit in a path of holiness.” Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis
Pope Francis also points out that being holy doesn’t mean that “their lives always have been perfect, yet even amid their faults and failings they kept moving forward and prove themselves pleasing to the Lord.” Recent reports about deceased Jennifer Riordan, the 43-year-old airline engine explosion victim, indicate that she was tuned into Pope Francis’ plea — living with today’s “risks, challenges and opportunities, . . . loving and bringing up their kids, working hard to put food on the table. . . ” She, a Catholic and active member of her parish, was a parish and community leader, a mentor and volunteer, active in her Parish and in the Catholic School attended by her children. Click here to read about how she developed and cherished the gifts God gave her and the people in her life. Let us rejoice and be glad (Gaudate et Exsultate) for her inspiring example of what Pope Francis is asking us to be – but, as Pope Francis says, to do so, not by trying to mimic what she did, but by developing our own very unique and personal gifts.
Let us pray for Jennifer, her family and the parishioners, the children and the communities of her parish, Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church and School, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Sister Loretta Fernandez, RSM
