MI Monthly Formation

Transcription

1 September 2016 Volume VII, Issue 9 MI Monthly Formation Suffering Strengthens Love Pope visits the Cell of Kolbe's Martyrdom MI Monthly Intention Immaculata, please intercede that all people who are enslaved by sin may find interior healing in the mercy of God. MI International ublic/eng_intentions201 6.pdf MI National-USA PO Box 7645 Libertyville, IL MI National Office- MINational@missionimm aculata.com MI National President John Galten Dear MI Members and Friends, We are called to continual conversion in our spiritual battle against sin, vices, and inclination to evil. The believer in Christ senses sin and acknowledges the harm that distancing oneself from God brings to the soul. Therefore, he seeks with all his might not to yield to the enemy's temptations and natural inclinations to evil. With a profound self awareness of his fragility, a believer should try to avoid these dangers. The interior struggle is a normal part of the believers life. Asceticism brings about the determination to practice virtue in Christian living, and on the other hand, the necessary commitment to remove sin and vices. The journey of continual conversion can prelude the mystical life; characterized by constant effort, training, and a commitment to attain sanctification. Consequently, one needs renunciation and detachment: it s the Christians' response to the Spirit s action through exercise, effort, fidelity and radicalism. The certainty of God s mercy is the basis of wanting to improve one s personal existence through continual sanctification The certainty of God s bounty and forgiveness moves us to overcome personal fragility, and fly toward real, concrete spiritual growth. These following expressions of St. Maximilian are enlightening. We must obviously be on guard, because our self-love, our I, will rise up against us more than once. Various troubles, temptations, and adversities may at times nearly overwhelm us. But if our roots sink deeper and deeper into the ground and humility takes root more deeply in us, so that we rely on ourselves less and less, than the Immaculata will ensure that everything is only an increase of merit to us. Yet, trails are necessary, and they will certainly come, because the gold of love must be purified in the fire of afflictions [cf. Eccl 2, 5; 1 Pt 1, 7]. In fact, suffering is the very nourishment that strengthens love. (KW 755) These quotes are taken from a letter of 1937 from the friary of Niepokalanów to the friars at Nagasaki. By then, the Polish saint had reached a mature phase in his spiritual journey and could offer insightful suggestions about the spiritual life, pointing out how important interior purification is for pruning those exaggerated egotistical aspects of the personality. The Polish martyr expressed himself: The source of happiness and peace is not outside, but within us. Let us learn how to profit from everything in order to exercise our souls in patience, humility, obedience, poverty and the other virtues of religious life, and the crosses will no longer be heavy. (KW 935).

2 MI Monthly Formation September 2016 Page 2 Father Kolbe Missionaries Celebrate August 13 75th Anniversary of Kolbe s Martyrdom Bishop David O Connell of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was the main celebrant for the Holy Mass. Prior was the veneration of the first class relic of St. Maximilian by almost 400 people. In addition, in both English and Spanish, adults, teens and kids made their act of total consecration. Afterwards people were invited to visit a very professional exhibit designed and constructed by the Kikalo family from Santa Clarita, CA, with wood art work by Vidal Gutierrez from Perris, CA and black and white photos prepared by Rosanna Reformado of Chicago, IL documenting four stages of Kolbe s life: family, the MI, apostolate/mission, Auschwitz. There was a replica of the cell of starvation in which Kolbe received the martyr s crown. People were able to enter the cell and venerate the relic. In great honor and silence they knelt on the floor and placed petitions to St. Maximilian in a container that will be placed in the starvation cell in Auschwitz by the Fr. Kolbe Missionaries this September. The exhibit was opened to the entire parish after all the Sunday Masses the following day, August 14. Through Kolbe s writing, you can deduce that interior peace is closely bonded to the practice of the virtues of the spiritual life. A believer s serenity is a fruit of the ascetical life, penance, and bearing life s crosses in a spirit of trust and abandon to God s merciful and providential love. A believer s trust is manifested in the humility and patience with which they totally offer up every situation of their lives. Maximilian underlines the importance of a peaceful heart in this quote. A soul in this state recognizes how it can spiritually grow through the events of life. The virtues of patience, humility, obedience and poverty enable him to accept serenely life s crosses, helping him progress on the way of conversion. A heart filled with the certainty of God s merciful love can fulfill an itinerant journey of spiritual growth, to seek a journey of perfecting the Gospel message. Conversion of heart and the turning to For Reflection the Lord of all one s power in their mind is only possible if a soul is grafted through prayer to communion with God. The teaching and life of the Auschwitz martyr point this out. Kolbe loved God, his mercy, his Will, and he was firm in his penances to live always in communion with the divine project. He nurtured with prayer and the assiduous practice of the virtues, his mission to make known in the world the love of God and the maternal love of the Immaculata (an expression of divine mercy), realizing in his life a constant ascetical ascent. God bless. Fr. Raffaele Di Muro, MI International President Translated by Antonia Velasco & Ann O Donnell Do I desire to overcome the fragility blocking my faith journey? Is God s mercy an incentive in my journey of conversion? In what way could Fr. Kolbe s example and teaching help me to realize an ascetical itinerary? Am I convinced that the Lord is not scandalized by my sin, and calls me to conversion as I am? Does the certainty of God s merciful love move us to announce and bear witness to it? How am I a witness to God s mercy in my MI? How can the MI offer the world a splendid testimony of God s merciful love?

3 MI Monthly Formation September 2016 Page 3 Letter from the President John Galten: October 17, th Anniversary of the Foundation of MI Daily Renewal of Total Consecration The Writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe in English! Immaculata, Queen and Mother of the Church, I renew my consecration to you this day and for always, so that you may use me for the coming of the Kingdom of Jesus in the whole world. To this end I offer you all my prayers, actions and sacrifices of this day. Daily Miraculous Medal Prayer of St. Maximilian O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, and for all those who do not have recourse to you, especially the enemies of Holy Church and all those recommended to you. The Writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe two volume set. Sets ($95.00/Set + $15.00 S&H = $110.00/set) Make check payable to Marytown Press Illinois residents add 7% sales tax ($6.65/set) Marytown Press 1600 W. Park Ave Libertyville, IL MI National News Marytown, MI National Center Annual St. Maximilian Kolbe Award Celebration 2016 Recipient was Terry Barber, an award winning evangelist, has been instrumental in founding three Catholic organizations: St Joseph Communications, the Catholic Resource Center, and Lighthouse Catholic Media. He is also co-host of the The Terry and Jesse Radio Show heard daily on the Immaculate Heart Radio show. Photo: Mike Wick, Terry Barber, Fr. John Grigus

4 MI Monthly Formation September 2016 Page 4 Knights at the Foot of the Cross Please, encourage family and friends who are sick and suffering to join this powerful vanguard of the MI. MI Monthly Gathering for Adults September 17, Third Saturday of the month, 10:00-11:45 AM followed by noon Mass. Meet other MI members and join in prayer, reflection on the MI monthly intention, dialogue and apostolate update and planning. MI Midwest Consecration-Midwest Kansas City, MO Modesto, CA St Joseph Church MI Adult Prayer Village MI Family Village Immaculada Español Saturday, August, 13th: 11th Annual MI Picnic! Organized by the MI Spanish Village. Participants were welcomed by the images on the left. Each year we create a Rosary on the lawn (photo) as a quiet symbol of evangelization that remains there throughout the picnic. Inevitably, we gain a few onlookers. This year a family joined us. Their grandmother was moved to tears and requested that before we pray she could go to confession. Our pastor, Fr. Mark Wagner, lovingly offered the sacrament as we prayed quietly and sat in wonder of God's grace. We, too, we're reminded through her evangelization how very precious is the gift of reconciliation. At the end of the prayers the children were given the gifts of the beach balls! Other rosaries have been constructed of balloons, jelly balls, candles, flowers, paper bowls glued together filled with hard candy, tissue flowers and more! Monday we participated in the Mass in St. Maximilian s honor.

5 MI Monthly Formation September 2016 Page 5 West Haven, UT MI Families of the Immaculata Village St Mary s Catholic Church 1st Sunday 12:30PM Group shot of the families that made their Total Consecration on August 14th. Also, ALL of the men at the men's retreat (36-ish) made their Total Consecration at the end of their retreat on August 14th. We had a BBQ for the men's and women's retreat, with the families August 29. Fr. Kolbe Missionaries ***75th Kolbean Celebration-see side bar on page 2 West Covina, CA www. kolbemision.org/en fkmissionaries@gmail.com 626/ World Youth Day Participants from MI in the US!!! Dear young men and women, in Christ you find fulfilled your every desire for goodness and happiness. He alone can satisfy your deepest longings, which are so often clouded by deceptive worldly promises. Pope Francis Soul of the Departed Maria Diane Duyen Thi Nguyen April 4, August 14, 2016 After a 30 year battle with tumors, the mother of Fr. Paschal Nguyen, OPraem and Kim, and their siblings, who came intermittently to the YMI, passed into eternal life on August 14, the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe, around 3 PM in the Year of Mercy. Links MI International Calendar 12&year-2015 US Catholic Conference of Bishops Zenit News Service info@zenit.org

6 MI Monthly Formation September 2016 Page 6 ESPAÑOL Tema de la MI para del 2016 Kolbe, martir de la caridad y signo de la misericordia de Dios Intención mensual de la MI para septiembre Inmaculada, por favor Intercede para que cuantos son esclavos del pecado encuentren en la misericordia de Dios la sanación interior. Una muy especial bienvenida a los nuevos miembros de MI St. Stanislaus Iglesia en Modesto, CA en la fiesta de San Maximiliano! Centro Nacional del la MI Oficina Hispana de la Milicia de la Inmaculada Fr. Kolbe Missionaries 531 E Merced Ave West Covina, CA FKMissionaries@gmail.com Good bye summer! Adios verano!