This week we commemorate two events: Thanksgiving Day (14th) and World Mission Sunday(20Th). We are called to thank the Lord for the bountiful gifts and blessings received through the nature created by God. God wants us to share the resources and goods with all the people. Selfishness will only lead to a corrupt world order.
We are created by God with a purpose. We are appointed to make Him known among the nations. All of us are chosen and sent. As we celebrate next Sunday as the World Mission Sunday, let us remind ourselves of our duty and responsibility, pray for all the missionaries in the world and be generous to share what God has given, to the purpose of His mission.
We celebrate this week:
16 October: Saint Marguerite d’Youville
Born in Varennes, Canada, Marie Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais had to interrupt her schooling at the age of 12 to help her widowed mother. Eight years later she married François d’Youville; they had six children, four of whom died young. Despite the fact that her husband gambled, sold liquor illegally to Native Americans, and treated her indifferently, she cared for him compassionately until his death in 1730.
Even though she was caring for two small children and running a store to help pay off her husband’s debts, Marguerite still helped the poor. Once her children were grown, she and several companions rescued a Quebec hospital that was in danger of failing. She called her community the Institute of the Sisters of Charity of Montreal; the people called them the “Grey Nuns” because of the color of their habits. In time, a proverb arose among the poor people of Montreal, “Go to the Grey Nuns; they never refuse to serve.”
Pope Saint John XXIII, who beatified Mère Marguerite in 1959, called her the “Mother of Universal Charity.” She was canonized in 1990.
17 October: St. Ignatius of Antioch
St. Ignatius of Antioch, who is called Theophorus, was the third bishop to preside over the Church of Antioch.
Emperor Trajan (Emperor 98-117), while in Antioch, instructed St. Ignatius to offer sacrifices to the idols, and in return St. Ignatius would be given the rank of senator for making the sacrifice. Despite the emperor’s many threats, St. Ignatius would not do that, and, therefore, he was sentenced to death. He was shackled in iron chains and taken by 10 soldiers to Rome where he was thrown to the lions in the arena.
During his journey from Antioch to Rome (c. 105 – c. 106), St. Ignatius wrote all of his seven famous epistles to the Churches in Rome and Asia Minor.
With the authoring of his seven epistles, St. Ignatius of Antioch effectively established the ecclesiastical model that we use in the Church today.
St. Ignatius of Antioch bore witness to Christ publicly for the last time in Rome's Flavian Amphitheater, where he was mauled to death by lions. “I am the wheat of the Lord,” he had declared, before facing them. “I must be ground by the teeth of these beasts to be made the pure bread of Christ.” His memory was honored, and his bones venerated, soon after his death around the year 107.
18 October: St. Luke the Evangelist
St. Luke wrote a greater volume of the New Testament than any other single author, including the earliest history of the Church. Ancient traditions also acknowledge Luke as the founder of Christian iconography, making him a patron of artists as well as doctors and other medical caregivers.
Luke came from the large metropolitan city of Antioch, a part of modern-day Turkey.
Educated as a physician in the Greek-speaking city, Luke was among the most cultured and cosmopolitan members of the early Church.
Patronage: artists, bachelors, bookbinders, brewers, butchers, doctors, glass makers, glassworkers, gold workers, goldsmiths, lacemakers, lace workers, notaries, painters, physicians, sculptors, stained glass workers, surgeons.
(Courtesy: Catholic News Agency).