Nov 13 Mon - Holiness is a lifelong adventure

 

Nov 13 Mon
Holiness is a lifelong adventure.
“Our Lord is calling us to sanctify the ordinary tasks of every day, for Christian perfection is to be found precisely there.”

We need to struggle, to rectify a little each day, by setting specific and attainable goals. This is what God asks of us: effort, the readiness to improve. Mistakes do not matter when we have the good will to begin again, time after time. “The ascetical struggle is not something negative and therefore hateful, but rather a joyful affirmation. It is a sport.”

“A good sportsman doesn't fight to gain just one victory, and that at the first attempt. He has to build himself up for it, training over a long period of time, calmly and confidently. He keeps trying again and again, and if he doesn't succeed at the first attempt, he keeps on trying with determination until the obstacle is overcome.”

God asks us to show our love through the daily effort to fulfill our obligations, the little duties of each moment. “Holiness doesn't consist in doing increasingly difficult things, but in doing them with increasingly greater love.”

We must say yes, without setting limits to grace, if we want to stay on the path to holiness. While this is already a lot, it is not enough. The fullness of Christian life requires a continual resolve to improve: only in this way will we be faithful.

We cannot be content with what we have already accomplished. Let us not linger over what we have achieved. But let our progress lead us to go further.
Examine yourself, and do not be content with what you are, if you want to become what you still are not. For as soon as you become complacent, your progress stops. If you say "enough," you are lost.

Seeking holiness is not just an option opened to us, but God's express command. To disregard his will would mean we had failed in life, supernaturally and humanly.

The proof of our love comes when the monotony of repetitive days threatens to cloud our best efforts with indifference. There is merit and heroism when we rekindle our initial enthusiasm with the fire of love each day, despite difficulties on the way, and the fatigue of a thousand repetitive days. The same things day after day, year after year, and doing them until we die! Here is true faithfulness, a true work of love: it's not heroic to be faithful once in a while, or for periods of time, but over a lifetime, keeping our first fervor burning bright.

Our Lady smiles as she sees our renewed efforts, our hearts full of youthful enthusiasm, but strengthened by experience.

Video:

 

Nov 12 Sun - The first thing in life

 

Nov 12 Sun
In the parable (Mt 25:1-13), the ten virgins took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. It focuses on the Bridegroom who arrives at midnight, at an unexpected moment, and on the disposition with which he finds those who are to participate with him in the wedding feast, especially the ten virgins. They had received a trustworthy commission: to await him with their lamps burning with the necessary oil.

The Bridegroom is Christ who arrives at an unknown hour; the virgins represent all humanity; some will be vigilant, with good works; others, careless, without oil for the lamps: it is the moment when God comes to each soul, the moment of death.

For us, the first thing in life, the truly important thing, is to enter the wedding banquet that God himself has prepared for us. Everything else is relative and secondary: success, fame, poverty or wealth, health or sickness. All this will be good if it helps us to keep the lamp burning with a good supply of oil, which is good works, especially charity.

Immediately after death, the so-called particular judgment will take place, in which the soul, with a light received from God, will see in a few moments, and in full depth, the merits and faults of its life on earth, its good works and its sins. What joy will give us then our aspirations, those genuflections made with love, the hours of work we offered to God, the works of mercy, the smile that cost us when we were tired!

What sadness for the times we offended God; for the hours of study or work that did not deserve to reach the Lord; the lost opportunities to speak of God! What regret for so much lack of generosity and correspondence to grace! What unhappiness for so much omission! Immediately after death, we will either enter the wedding banquet, or find the doors closed forever.

Let us meditate on the state of our soul, and the meaning we give to our days: I know well, Lord, that nothing I do has any meaning unless it brings me closer to You!

The person who loves does not forget the loved one. When the Lord becomes the first one in our life, we do not forget Him. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. For this we need to make the daily examination of conscience, conscientiously. We must seek the ultimate motives of our thoughts, deeds, and words, so that we can promptly apply the appropriate remedies. Our Lady will help us to purify our life, and our Guardian Angel will not abandon us now or at the moment of our death.

Video:

Nov 11 Sat - Corresponding to God's Love

 

Nov 11 Sat
One of the Hebrew words for 'love' is hesed (חסד, pronounced ‘kheh- sed’), which has a range of meanings.

Hesed is a completely undeserved kindness and generosity. The prophet Isaiah 54:10 features these words of God: ‘Though the mountains be shaken, and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love (hesed) for you will not be shaken’.

Hesed is not just a feeling, but an action. With it, the Lover comes to the loved ones, and rescues them.

Hesed is not a romantic, infatuation kind of love. It is a faithful, reliable love. It is like a wife praying, for years, for her husband to know God. It is like parents lovingly caring for their autistic child. Hesed is faithful. Hesed is loyal. Hesed is love put into action.

And most importantly, hesed is the unfailing love God has for YOU. It is one of the most fundamental characteristics of God, consistent with what we know about Him; He never fails to fulfill his part of the Covenant with human kind.

The awareness that we are children of God enables us to face difficulties with optimism. No matter what happens in our lives, God remains our Father. He loves us without limit and counts on our wretchedness, and helps us to be holy, if we struggle. “Your prayer went like this: ‘My wretchedness weighs me down, but it doesn't overwhelm me because I am a son of God. I want to atone, to Love..."

“Carry on like that. I assure you that -with God's grace- you will succeed, and you will overcome your wretchedness and your shortcomings."
 
We are God's children: nothing can give us greater security in good times and in bad. “Don't be afraid of anything or anyone: nor of God, who is our Father. Don't fear those who can kill your body, who can harm you on earth, but cannot kill your soul."  Divine filiation makes us secure, completely at peace. Nothing, not even our seemingly insurmountable defects, should upset us.

Be optimistic; our optimism stems from knowing that God is watching over us. But far from closing our eyes to reality, we are led to face the obstacles in our path squarely. We see circumstances and events in the light of faith, as they really are. Divine filiation moves us to work hard, to exercise prudence, to look for the best way to overcome difficulties. This is the attitude of the children of God: to be conscientious, responsible, striving to fulfill God's will in everything.

Today, no matter what difficulty you face, rely on God’s hesed.

Video:

 

 

Nov 10 Fri
Surrendering the heart. “You should have your heart in heaven. Only like that can you then put it into earthly things in the right way.” This detachment is difficult because our heart often looks for consolation, and has the all too human desire to feel loved, understood, and forgiven by other people; it goes after earthly compensations.

We need to turn our eyes to Jesus Christ, our Love, and tell him that in spite of our weakness we do want to be his, and only his.

When the longing for compensations grows stronger, when the temptation to human consolation tries to enchain our heart and turn it aside from God's love, we need to think about heaven, the endless happiness that God our Lord has in store for us. “Why stoop to drink in the puddles of worldly consolations when you can quench your thirst in waters that spring up into life everlasting?”

If a person gives his heart to Christ, whole, young, and vibrant, and is seeking him and his glory alone, there will no longer be any danger of attachment to created things. As St Joseph did, he will love people and things for the love of God, with Christ's own Heart.
Surrendering the heart is difficult but it puts an end to miserable compensation-seeking.

“How clear the way is!... How obvious the obstacles! What good weapons to overcome them! -And yet... how much going astray and how much stumbling! That's so, isn't it?

-It's that fine thread – a chain: a chain of wrought iron – which you and I know about, and which you aren't willing to break, and it is causing you to stray from the path, and making you stumble and even fall.

-What are you waiting for to cut it... and go forward?

“When you put into practice all this doctrine, there will be times when you find that words are just not enough: you'll want to break into song, like the young men who go and sing love-songs to their sweethearts. But you and I will sing human love-songs to God's love, and you will feel like the living creatures Ezekiel described to represent our Lord's Evangelists: they darted to and fro, like flashes of lightning; you will go through the world giving off light, like burning torches throwing out fiery sparks.” St Josemaría

Video:

 

Nov 9 Thu - Empathy with Christ

 

Nov 9 Thu
Veteran actress Meryl Streep recently received the “Princess of Asturias Award.”
In the ceremony, she declared: "Empathy is the beating-heart of the genius of an actor." In plain English: “A good actor feels empathy for the character he impersonates.”

If you are going to play the role of Julius Caesar, it is not enough to know everything about his life and conquests. You must feel empathy for him, to understand and share his feelings. Empathy is your emotional reaction to the observed experiences of another person. Having empathy increases your likelihood of helping others and showing compassion.

Now, in this life, you are like an actor playing a role; you are playing the role of “the person God wants you to be.” There is a difference between that “ideal you” and “the real you.” Christian life is to try to approximate “the real you” to “the person God wants you to be.”

And who that “ideal person” would be for me? – Christ himself.

God wants you to be “another christ,” Christ passing by. Thus, you must “empathize,” you must acquire the same sentiments he had, the same preferences; to love what he loved, reject what he rejected.

“When you love someone a lot, you want to know things about him. We meditate on the life of our Lord, from his Birth in a manger to his Death on the Cross, and then his Resurrection. And we hold our Lord's life in our memory as if it were a film. So, without needing a book, just by closing our eyes at any moment, we can contemplate him, and live with him, and with our Lady, who is his Mother and ours, and with the holy women, and the Apostles. We come up with his image, not as if we were watching a film, but as if we ourselves were actually part of that film, by virtue of our love."

“We cannot stand still. We must keep going ahead toward the goal St Paul marks out: ‘It is not I who live, it is Christ that lives in me.’ This is a high and very noble ambition, this identification with Christ, this holiness. But there is no other way if we are to be consistent with the divine life God has sown in our souls in baptism. To advance we must progress in holiness. Shying away from holiness implies refusing our Christian life its natural growth. The fire of God's love needs to be fed. It must grow each day, gathering strength in our soul; and a fire is maintained by burning more things. If we don't feed it, it may die."   

This is your journey; this is the role you must play. This is Christian life.

Video:

 

Nov 8 Wed - I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last

 

Nov 8 Wed
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.
Only by faith can we see how the earthly and heavenly city exist together and relate to each other. This is a mystery within human history – a history that will continue to be influenced by sin until the end of the world.

The Church pursues her own purpose, which is salvation, and keeps on distributing divine life to all. She also takes the light that comes from God and reflects it, so that it shines onto every part of the earth. Most of all, she does this by declaring and defending the dignity of the human person, by strengthening the bonds that hold human society together, and by infusing a deeper meaning and importance into the daily human activities. Thus, the Church believes that, by each individual member and by her as a community, she can give great contributions to the family of men, and make history more human.

While the Church helps the world, and receives help from the world, she has only one end in view: the kingdom of God, and the salvation of all mankind. Whatever contribution the Church has given to the human race, it is because the Church herself is the universal instrument (sacrament) of salvation. She both manifests God’s love for man, and puts it into action.

For the Word of God, through whom all things were made, became flesh so that, being a perfect man, he could save mankind and sum up all things in himself. The Lord is the end towards which human history is heading. He is the point at which the yearnings of history and civilization converge. He is the center of the human race, the fulfillment of all joys and all desires. He is the One whom the Father has raised from the dead, resurrected, and seated at his right hand, making him the judge of the living and the dead.

The Holy Spirit was sent to us, to unite and give us life. Thus, we journey on our pilgrimage towards the consummation of human history, and the fulfillment of the plan of God. This plan is to bring everything together under Christ, as Head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth. It begins with us, our seeking sanctity, and it continues with our apostolate in the middle of the world. As long as we are alive, beginning again and again.

The Lord himself has said: ‘Very soon, I shall be with you again, bringing the reward to every one according to what he deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.’ 

Video:

Nov 7 Tue - Reflections on Psalm 2 (5) - The rebellion of refusing to submit to God.

 

Nov 7 Tue
Reflections on Psalm 2 (5) TUESDAY
The rebellion of refusing to submit to God.

“The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and his anointed.”
These inspired words are fulfilled again today. “When we consider, in our times and in those which are to come, the sad condition of so many souls who do not remember that they belong to God, that they are God's children; the lamentable behavior of so many governments, in so many countries; the wounds which the Church bears, in her Mystical Body; the slander and calumny which, on many occasions, have to be endured for love of God; then it is time to meditate on Psalm Two.”

“Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their yoke from us!”
Many people, including those who govern the world, have tried to cast off the yoke of God's law. We refer “not so much to objective moral norms (which are scarcely even mentioned) as to common moral sense.”

“Everywhere we hear the same clamor. They break the mild yoke, they throw off the burden, a wonderful burden of holiness and justice, of grace, love and peace. Such love makes them angry; they laugh at the gentle goodness of a God who will not call his legions of angels to his help.”

“If only God would make a deal, if only he would sacrifice a few innocent people to satisfy a majority of blameworthy people, there might be a chance of reaching some understanding with him. But that's not the way God thinks. Our Father is a real father, he's ready to forgive thousands of evil-doers, if there are even ten just men. People motivated by hatred cannot understand this mercy; they get more and more settled in their apparent earthly immunity, feeding on injustice.”

It is good to remember this. We must not get discouraged by seeing the evil in the world. “We have to be optimistic, but our optimism should come from our faith in the power of God who does not lose battles, and not from any human sense of satisfaction, from a stupid and presumptuous complacency.”

Hopeful and confident! “Stir up your faith in our supernatural mission. Redouble your trust in God and in this sinner whom the Lord has given you as a Father. Thus, we shall win out in all the battles, when we have to fight in the world, with the world ‘that conspires and, plotting vain projects, unites the powers of the world against the Lord and his anointed.’”

Mary, our Mother, Virgo potens, Virgin most powerful, help us to be victorious in the battles of love and peace that we are waging to further your Son's kingdom.

Video:

 

 

Nov 6 Mon
The Bishop of Rome is called to CONFIRM in Faith, Love and Unity.
The event of Pentecost is in some sense relived in the liturgy of the Church. In it, the entire Church, whose Head is Christ, united to the successor of Peter and the other Apostles, speaks in every tongue, and desires to unite all peoples in one family.

Why did Jesus choose Peter? Why did Our Lord follow his choice with a command? “But I have prayed for you, so that your faith may not fail, and so that you, once converted, may confirm your brothers” Luke 22:32. What has the Bishop of Rome been called to confirm?

1. First, to confirm in faith.
The Gospel speaks of the confession of Peter: “You are Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16), a confession which does not come from him, but from our Father in heaven. Thus, Jesus replies: “You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my Church” (v. 18). The role, the ecclesial service of Peter, is made possible by a grace granted from on high. However, when Jesus speaks of his death and resurrection, flesh and blood re-emerge in Peter: “He took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him ... This must never happen to you.” Jesus’ response is harsh: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me.” Whenever we let our thoughts, our feelings or the logic of human power prevail, and we do not let ourselves be taught and guided by faith, by God, we become stumbling blocks.

2. To confirm in love.
The Bishop of Rome is called himself to live and to confirm his brothers and sisters in this love for Christ and for all others, without distinction, limits or barriers. And not only the Bishop of Rome: each of us, to become all things to everyone.

3. To confirm in unity.
The Successor of Peter is “the lasting and visible source and foundation of the unity both of faith and of communion” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 18). And then, in speaking of the hierarchical structure of the Church, the same Council states that the Lord “established the apostles as a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from their number.”

The college of bishops, “in so far as it is composed of many members, is the expression of the variety and universality of the people of God.” In the Church, variety, which is itself a great treasure, is always grounded in the harmony of unity: unity and diversity.

Any division of the Church in the left-right scheme of political parties, or in ideological directions fails. The unity of the Church is not established by a compromise formula, but has its origin, and constant source IN CHRIST, her Head, who holds together all the members of his Body, which is the Church. No one can lay any other foundation than that which is already laid: Jesus Christ.
Only when we follow Christ, that is, when we follow the One who has revealed himself as the Way (ὁδός, ‘odos), the Truth and the Life, we shall be united.

Thus, we –all– must,
- confess the Lord, by letting ourselves be taught by God;
- be consumed by love for Christ and his Gospel; and
- be servants of unity.

 

Video:

 

 

Nov 5 Sun - God is our Father

 Nov 5 Sun
One only is your Father. There is only one Teacher and one Doctor, Christ. The teaching of the Church is that of Christ; the teachers are so, to the extent that they are the image of the Master. And there is only one Father, the heavenly Father (Matthew 23:1-12) from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth derives. God has the fullness of fatherhood, and our fathers participated in it by giving us life; those who in some way have begotten us to the life of faith have also participated in it.

St. Paul writes to the first Christians in Corinth as to the dearest children... for I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. Therefore, I beseech you, be imitators of me. And those Christians knew that, in emulating St. Paul, they became imitators of Christ. In the Apostle they saw reflected the spirit of the Master and the loving care of God for them. When we honor our parents, who gave us life, and those who begot us in the faith, we give much glory to God, for in them is reflected the divine fatherhood.

We Christians share in this spiritual paternity with those whom we have helped to find Christ in their lives. The greater the dedication to this task, the fuller our paternity is. This spiritual paternity is part of the reward that God gives in this life to those who follow him, by divine vocation, in full dedication.

By our example but also by our word, we need to be daring and enter into people's lives. “In preaching the Gospel, the first Twelve had wonderful conversations with those they met and sought out on their journeys and pilgrimages. There would be no Church now if the Apostles had not carried out a supernatural dialogue with all those people. For the Christian apostolate comes down to this: faith comes from hearing, and hearing depends upon the preaching of Christ's word."

“Everyone, great and small, powerful and weak, learned and simple: each in their place should have the humility and magnanimity to be God's instrument in announcing his kingdom. For our Lord sent out all his disciples to announce: The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

The Blessed Virgin Mary exercises her motherhood over Christians and over all men. From her we learn to love those whom we try to bring close to her Son, and those whom, somehow, we have begotten in faith. "If we identify ourselves with Mary, if we imitate her virtues, we will be able to bring Christ to birth, by grace, in the souls of many, who will identify themselves with Him through the action of the Holy Spirit. If we imitate Mary, we will in some way participate in her spiritual motherhood." (St. Josemaría).

Video:

 

Nov 4 Sat - Requirements to enter heaven

 Nov 4 Sat
To enter heaven, one has to be in the state of grace.
Jesus said: "’Tell those who are invited, Behold I have made ready my dinner…; come to the marriage feast.’ But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.”

Later, one of the guests came without the wedding garment, and was thrown out. To enter heaven, to take part in God's great wedding feast, we must wear the wedding garment of sanctifying grace. God grants this grace freely in Baptism. But, through weakness, we stain that wedding garment with sin. Even so, thanks to God's goodness we can still recover our baptismal purity: In the Sacrament of Penance, you and I clothe ourselves in Jesus Christ and his merits.

“Our God is so very good-natured, that no matter how little we struggle, he responds by overwhelming us with his grace. God with his fatherly heart –greater than all our hearts put together– is Almighty, and he wants us all to be close to him. His delight is to be with the children of men –his joy is to fill with joy those who come to him. Do you know how we get close to God? With acts of contrition, that purify us and help us to be cleaner.”

What makes us pleasing to God is not just his invitation, but the way we respond to it.
We have to ask our Lord for light to see our faults clearly. “We must act like a little child who knows that his face is dirty, and decides to wash it, so that afterwards his mother will give him a loving kiss.

“But in the case of a contrite soul, God is the One who purifies us. And, like a mother, he doesn't scold us then or later. Instead, he hugs us, he helps us, he holds us close to his breast, he looks for us. He cleanses us and gives us grace, Life, the Holy Spirit. He not only forgives us and consoles us if we go to him well disposed, but he cures us and feeds us as well.”

We have to prepare our frequent Confession very well, because of the danger of falling into routine, of being careless about contrition, of not giving importance to venial sins, or of concealing our defects. We have to die to self-centeredness, sensuality, and pride.

If we want to share in the banquet of eternal life, we must go to Confession as often as necessary, really wanting to be cured. We have to recognize that everybody has defects and needs to be cured; and we must be very sincere with the person who is, for us, the Good Shepherd.

 Video:

 

Nov 3 Fri - God in our daily work

 

Nov 3 Fri
God in our daily work.
God looks after us all day long, hour by hour, helping us grow in holiness. He is always there, as a loving Father, ready to comfort and support us. Every day we have to renew our desire for holiness. Our Mass and our prayer should merge with our work and our daily duties; united to God in all of them, we become saints. We should always be ready to live our life as God wants, so that we lovingly raise the ordinary small events of the day onto a supernatural level and make them apostolically fruitful.

That way, each day is different. Every new day has its own flavor, its own sense of anticipation. Saint Josemaría writes: “We are children in God's eyes, and if we learn to see our daily life like that, even though in one sense it may seem quite unchanging, then every hour becomes quite unique and takes on new meaning, filled with wonder and beauty. All we have to do is open our eyes to God's light, because he speaks to us through all the little events of the day.”

We know that in our journey through life we are going to meet Christ's Cross, because by embracing the Cross, we become like him. Our Lord awaits us in our ordinary daily activity; there it is where we can help him carry the Cross. Today's trouble is enough for today, he tells us; so, let us try to be faithful, and undertake our little battles in a sporting spirit, “without remembering ‘yesterday,’ which has already passed, or worrying about ‘tomorrow,’ which for all you know may never come for you.”

In our apostolate we are bound to encounter opposition. Usually, they are nothing more than little setbacks which make life inconvenient: our plans are upset, perhaps, and we may get annoyed, impatient or discouraged. Then we should heed that recommendation of St James: “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces patience. And let patience have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

For a son or daughter of God who sees things from a supernatural viewpoint, the ordinary setbacks of the day are an opportunity for drawing closer to God, for increasing the spirit of sacrifice, and improving in some specific aspect of his life.

That is how we show that our self-surrender is genuine, based on love. “How many, who would let themselves be nailed to a cross before the astonished gaze of thousands of spectators, cannot bear with a Christian spirit the pinpricks of each day! -Think, then, which is the more heroic.”

Video:

 

Nov 2 Thu - Should I pray for the dead?

 

Nov 2 Thu
Challenge: Should I pray for the dead? Isn’t it unbiblical?
– The practice is not just Catholic, it is biblical.

First, it isn’t only Catholics who pray for the dead, many others also do. Further, prayer for the dead has been practiced by Jews since before the time of Christ and continues to be practiced by them today.

In Scripture, Judah Maccabee and his men were retrieving the bodies of fallen comrades when they discovered that some who had fallen were wearing pagan amulets, and so “they turned to prayer, praying that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out” (2 Macc. 12:42). This gives evidence of prayer for the dead among Jews, before the time of Christ; and Jews continue to pray for the dead today, particularly using a prayer known as the Mourner’s Kaddish.

The New Testament also contains a plausible instance of prayer for the dead. After praying for the household of a man named Onesiphorus, Paul goes on to pray “may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day” (2 Tim. 1:18). Paul twice mentions “the household of Onesiphorus” (2 Tim. 1:16, 4:19), but does not greet him with the rest of his household and speaks of him only in the past tense. Many scholars have concluded that Onesiphorus had passed away, and thus Paul was praying for the departed.

The Protestant apologist C.S. Lewis writes: “Of course I pray for the dead! The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me… At our age, the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of interaction with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to Him?” (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 107).

It is a natural human impulse to pray for our loved ones, even when they have passed from this life. Prayer for the souls in purgatory is a duty of charity; and in many cases, also one of justice.

The most valuable suffrage we can offer is the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass can be applied for the deceased to satisfy for the temporal punishment due to their sins. With a mother's love, the Church has also established that the faithful can gain indulgences that are applicable to the deceased. These indulgences flow from the treasury of graces formed by the merits of Christ, our Lady and the saints.

Personal penance, offered as expiation for sins, can also be offered for the deceased. Our hope that God will heed our prayers, our suffrages, and our penance on behalf of the souls in purgatory stems from the certainty that all who are united to Christ form a single Body in Him.

We ask our Lady, Gate of Paradise, to open the gates of heaven for those who have left us, and that some day we may all be reunited there forever.

Video: