You must not only preach a sermon with your voice, you must preach it with your life.

                                                                                  Martin Luther King, Jr. 

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By the reading of Scripture I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me.


-Thomas Merton

 

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“Always respect everyone’s dignity whatever his position, especially must we respect everyone’s liberty, for God himself renders that”. Taken from the Humor and Warmth of Pope John XXIII, His Anecdotes and Legends, by Louis Michaels

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The Corporal 
Works of Mercy
 

 

Hail Mary   Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.   The Hail Mary and the Rosary by Victor Hoagland, C.P. We say "our" Father in the Lord's Prayer. By saying "our" we indicate that prayer is not a solitary act. We pray with others. With whom do we pray? We pray with Jesus Christ. Not only does Jesus teach us to pray, but he prays with us and joins our prayer to his own. Because we pray with him, our public prayers often end with the words like these: " through Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns, forever and ever." We pray with Jesus Christ. But "our" Father means we pray with others too; for example, with all those baptized in Christ. The Lord's Prayer should always remind Christians of their unity with one another, even though unfortunate differences still separate Christian churches. We Christians believe that our prayer is shared; we can pray with and for one another. Prayer is a common life-blood linking us together. In some of the main Christian churches the belief that we are united in prayer with others is expressed in prayer to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and prayer to the saints. "We believe in the communion of saints" who pray with and for us, in union with Jesus Christ. The great prayer to Mary in the Catholic tradition is the Hail Mary. The first part of the prayer evolved in medieval times when Mary, the mother of Jesus, appealed to Christians as the great witness to his life, death and resurrection. Its earliest form was the greeting of the angel Gabriel at Nazareth, according to St.Luke's gospel:   Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. By those words of the angel God announced a divine favor. God would be with Mary. She would bring Jesus Christ into the world. Over time the greeting given to Mary by her cousin Elizabeth, recorded in St. Luke, was added:   Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.   Finally by the 15th century, the remainder of the prayer appeared:   Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. The prayer calls upon Mary, who is full of grace and close to her Son, to intercede for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. With the disciple to whom Jesus entrusted her on Calvary when he said: "Behold your mother," we share her as mother. Mary will always bring Christ into our life. From the beginning she knew him; she witnessed his life, death and resurrection; will she not help us to know him and the mysteries of his life? We trust her to care for us as she cared for the newly married couple at Cana in Galilee. We can trust her with our needs. By the end of the 16th century the practice of saying 150 Hail Marys in series or decades of 10 became popular among many ordinary Christian people. During these prayers the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection were remembered. That practice of praying is known now as the Rosary. Mary has always been a model of faith and a companion for Christian believers. When the angel Gabriel came to her, she believed the words he spoke and she maintained her belief without hesitation even to the dark test of Calvary. She accompanies us too who are the brothers and sisters of her Son, as we journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties. Through the centuries many ordinary Christians have found that Hail Mary and the Rosary a source of spiritual blessing. A prayer like the rosary is both simple and profound. Not beyond anyone's reach, its repeated words bring peace to the soul. And the mysteries of joy, sorrow and glory recalled from Jesus' life are meant to be repeated in our own. Through these mysteries, we hope to "imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise."

"In you,  (Mary), we see the goal of holiness

to which God calls all members of the Church." 

Taken from a sermon by John Paul II, November 1, 2000.

 

 

“Show You Are Our Mother”

The glorification of Mary, as it shines in the gentle radiance of this month’s celebration, is simply a reminder of her mission, of all God’s purpose for her. It is a mission of mercy and salvation, which springs from her other supreme privilege, divine motherhood, God’s purpose is one of forgiveness and reconciliation, because the Heavenly Father, when he sent his Son to redeem the world, chose Mary as his first collaborator in his plan for our redemption. In her, heaven and earth were joined, and through her the Divine Saviour was offered to mankind. What harmonies of piety and love are awakened by the hymn, Salve Regina, one of the oldest and dearest of all canticles, which sings with trustful longing of this motherly role of Mary! From beginning to end this prayer: “Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy”, is the lyrical cry of all who, disturbed by sin and subject to tears, pain, and death, still look to her as their “life, sweetness, and hope”. To her they address their imploring prayer, a supreme expression of shining and unconquerable faith: “Show unto us Jesus, the blessed fruit of thy womb, O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary”. Taken from Daily Meditations from The Good Shepherd, Pope John XXIII.

 

 

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Praying in words and signs:
The Sign of the Cross

 

by Victor Hoagland, C.P. based on the New Catholic Catechism 1077-1109;   Christian prayer is modeled after the prayer of Jesus. Like his, it should come from the heart. When he prayed Jesus used words and signs and sometimes cries, as expressions of his heart. And so do we when we pray; our hearts too look for an outward voice. The words and signs that Jesus used when he prayed often came from his own Jewish tradition, from what he learned in his family and from others. As for ourselves, we turn to our Christian tradition for guidance in prayer. We believe it is a tradition inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it is also an outgrowth of the Jewish tradition of prayer that nourished Jesus himself. The Christian tradition of prayer has a wisdom all its own, with many different forms and expressions. Some basic prayers of our Christian tradition, however, have a special place. The Sign of the Cross is one example. In the Catholic church and other Christian churches the Sign of the Cross is an important part of personal and public prayer. It originated in the earliest days of Christianity and so it is centuries old. It is the first sign made on us at Baptism and the last sign made as we pass to our future life. It's a vital part of liturgical prayer and the sacraments. With the Sign of the Cross we begin and end our prayers.

A Blessing of the Triune God

We call it a blessing. We say we "bless ourselves." Tracing with our hand the figure of the cross on our forehead, our breast, our shoulders, we bless ourselves:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Sign of the Cross expresses blessing. It symbolizes God blessing us, God embracing us with blessings. And in this same sign we express our belief in God from whom all our blessings flow. In the Sign of the Cross we embrace our good God with mind and heart and all of our strength. God blesses. The Jewish scriptures describe God as, above all, the One who blesses. God blessed Noah and saved the world from the flood. God blessed Abraham and Sara with blessings more than the stars in the sky. God blessed the Jewish people, redeeming them from the slavery of Egypt. Life itself and all creation are God's gifts. And so the Jewish tradition of prayer always approaches God as One who blesses. "I will bless the Lord at all times," the psalmist prays. As we are blessed by God, so we bless the Lord in return. The Christian tradition of prayer follows this same pattern, but in addition it praises the One who blesses for another incomparable blessing: the blessing of Jesus Christ. "Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing." ( Eph 1,3 ) He is "the Word who made the universe, the Savior sent to redeem us." In Jesus Christ God appears as our Friend and Brother. With the Father he sends the Holy Spirit upon us "to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace." In Jesus, God has revealed to us the source of all blessings. When we bless ourselves with the Sign of the Cross we remember the One who blesses us: the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Blessed by the Cross

With the Sign of the Cross we recall in particular the blessing of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We trace a cross on ourselves, the cross of Jesus. His death on the Cross was an outpouring of love for us. The Sign of the Cross is a reminder of his love, a love found not only in the past, but here and now, as we make this sign upon ourselves; for the love of Jesus Christ abides forever. The Sign of the Cross is a wonderful daily expression of our relationship with God. God is the One who blesses. This prayer reminds us that each day, in good times and bad, in danger and sorrow, God's care and blessings are never far from us. Tracing this holy sign on our forehead, our hearts and our shoulders, we remember we are blessed in mind and heart and all our being. We can approach God with confidence through Jesus Christ whose ever present love this holy sign recalls. "Come to me," God says through this prayer, "do not be afraid. Before you take one step, I reach to embrace you with blessings in my hands."

ABOUT OUR PATRON BLESSED POPE JOHN XXIII

                                                      (Oil painting of Pope John XXIII by parishioner Teresa Satola)

Some writers and biographers have created the impression that Pope John XXIII was a simple peasant priest, raised suddenly and without preparation to the papacy.  The impression continues that once John became pope, he was so naïve about church politics and history that he summoned an ecumenical council of the church unaware of what its outcome might be.  Some have even thought of him as an innocent but bumbling fellow, out of touch with protocol and tradition.  It is more accurate, however, to recognize that Pope John XXIII knew precisely who he was and what he was doing.  From his earliest days, he cultivated a cheerful but powerful spirituality that tied him intimately to Christ and allowed him to trust the impulses of the Holy Spirit as they arose in his heart.  And as for the Second Vatican, in which he convened the Roman Catholic bishops, we can now see that the times called for this council and that Pope John’s entire life prepared him to convene, organize, and host it.

 

 

 

 

WORDS FROM OUR PATRON BLESSED POPE JOHN XXIII

Human Life Is Sacred

We must solemnly proclaim that human life is transmitted through the family, which is founded on marriage, one and indissoluble, raised for all Christians to the dignity of a sacrament.  The transmission of human life is entrusted by nature to a personal and conscious act and, as such, is subject to the supremely wise laws of God: inviolable and unchangeable laws that must be acknowledged and obeyed.  Therefore, it is not permissible to use means and methods that may be allowed in the transmission of the life of plants and animals.  Human life is sacred.  From its very beginning it is the direct result of the creative action of God.  When men disobey these laws they offend his Divine Majesty, degrade themselves and their common humanity and sap the strength of the community to which they belong.  It is of the utmost importance that the new generations shall receive an adequate cultural and religious education, and it is the duty and right of parents to see to this.  They must also be trained to have a profound sense of responsibility in all the activities of their lives, and therefore in all that concerns the creation of a family and the rearing and training of children.  Children must be taught to live by faith and with profound trust in divine Providence, so that they may be ready to accept toil and sacrifice in the fulfillment of a mission so noble, and frequently so arduous, as that of collaborating with God in the transmission of human life and in the rearing of children.  Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions from Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

 

 

 

PRAYERS FOR UNITY

The Octave of Prayer for Church Unity is an observance, which in recent years has become an edifying custom, with the blessing of God upon it, and welcomed as much by the faithful of the Catholic Church as by communities separated from Rome.  All are animated by a sincere desire for spiritual progress, brotherly communion, and respect for the Vicar of Christ.  Prayer has in all ages been the liveliest and noblest expression of Christian communities who believe in the divinity of our Redeemer, and are endeavouring to establish a true Christian order on this earth and to seek their eternal happiness in heaven.  The "Octave" in fact chiefly consists in a great and solemn petition which rises in every language and from every part of the world.  This is a good reason for hope, and an encouragement to us to follow trustfully the road we have chosen.  The Church treasures the last words of Jesus, an appeal for union and peace.  And she not only treasures his last testament but while eagerly and respectfully waiting for the work of grace to be perfected in all men’s souls continues to send out her own missionaries to preach with zeal the revealed truth entrusted to her, to recall the erring and sinners, and to speak with all men and at all times the language of truth and charity.  Let us all do likewise.  Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions From Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

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“When you feel that your longing for something is too keen and is causing you pain, then give up all thought of it and abandon yourselves effortlessly to the will of God.  We are all like wayfarers in this world: some arrive early and some late.  We often have to change our train or coach, or our traveling companions.  We grieve over these partings, but the Lord blesses them and turns them to good account.  What matters is that sooner or later we all arrive at our goal.” Letter to his sister Ancilla, January 31, 1926. Taken from the book, Pope John XXIII “In My Own Words.”

 

 

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Purity of heart, carefully and constantly guarded, becomes the rule, and the radiance, of our whole life, and of every word and deed.  This virtue is the fine flower of Christian families, where it blooms as if on its natural soil; and it has an irresistible appeal for all.  Like stainless snow  veiling the mire which alas stains so much of this poor world which lies “in the power of the evil one” (I John 5, 19), it commands the respect even of unbelievers, even of those who may at times have mocked at it… Purity of heart is the serene atmosphere which surrounds every earnest vocation, the soil from which must bud and flower all other good intentions… Live in the light of this virtue… and guard it in prayer, mortification and study.  Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions from Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

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Peaceable folks, those whom the Gospel calls blessed, do not stand idly by; they are indeed the active builders of peace, the people who construct it; they are the “peace-makers” (cf.Matt.5.9). In the liturgy of the Mass, in all rites and all languages, the greeting of Christ is heard again and again: “Peace be with you!”  The celebrant, on behalf of the congregation, addresses to the Lord present on the altar this imploring cry, sometimes repeated by the church choristers in powerful choruses: Grant us Thy peace”. So man must first pray for this; and then he must learn to live in peace: in the family circle and in social and international relations. Here we have a series of duties, grave duties familiar to us all, which presuppose our capacity to subject the exercise of our own rights to a noble discipline, and to remain on serene and respectful terms with all men, even when we are refuting an accusation or defending the sacred rights of the human person, the family and society. This means that Christian peace is rooted in the theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. It is strengthened and extended through the loyal and willing exercise of the other virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions from Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

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                    The Social Obligations of Wealth

Our predecessors have constantly taught us that in the right to hold private property is intrinsically contained an obligation towards society.  In fact, in the scheme of creation the good things of the earth are pre-ordained primarily for the maintenance of decent living conditions for all human beings…Today the State, and various public bodies also, have extended and continue to extend the scope of their authority and initiatives.  But this does not mean, as some are inclined mistakenly to think, that there is no longer any social duty inherent in the possession of private property--for this duty springs from the very nature of the right to possess.  Moreover, there is always a vast range of painful situations and personal needs which are intimate and acutely felt, and with which the official organizations for public welfare have no means to cope, and so cannot remedy.  So there is always a vast scope for human awareness of others’ needs, and for the charity of individual Christians. Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions From Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

 

 

 

An Inalienable Possession

There is a television programme which, I am told, is very interesting, and which is intended to prevent fatal accidents and to appeal for moderation of speed: “The road belongs to everyone”.  I wish to repeat these words with reference to the subject of morality, which demands mutual respect, with especial reverence of children.  Woe to whoever violates the innocence which naturally belongs to every one of them, and so sends them out unarmed into the great battles of life!  It is not a question of severity or intolerance, but of fundamental principles, without which families and nations alike fall into ruin.  It is enough to have common sense (and every man worth his salt has this), it is enough to respect the noble values of a civilization which is based on the religious aspect of life and its duties, it is enough to appeal to the principles of natural morality, in order to find ourselves in agreement about this.  And as for the Christian: he is the temple of the Holy Spirit, a member of the Mystical Body of Jesus; he is a follower of that doctrine which preaches self-denial, and purity of heart, speech and behaviour, in order to make men healthier, freer and more noble.  Innocence is of its own nature inalienable, and where our children are concerned, we are its keepers and guardians. Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions from Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.        

 

OUR FATHER The great mystery of life, the story of individual man and all mankind are all contained and ever present in the words of the “Lord’s Prayer,” the “Our Father,” which Jesus came from heaven to teach us, and which sums up the whole philosophy of the life and history of every soul, every people and every age, past, present and future. In fact, all is there: the triumph of the Name of God, the Kingdom of God, and the Will of God. In the realm of ordinary human life we find the daily bread for the soul and body of all, the intimate sense of personal humility, and of the need for mutual forgiveness, and of God the Father’s forgiveness for each and all of us, with perfect liberty of thought and life, in the light of Christ and of His Gospel, and the certainty of eternal happiness and eternal blessing. Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions From Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

 

Respect for the opinion of others

Beware of misunderstandings: they arise, challenge each other and come to blows.  We must be on our guard against them; if they cannot be avoided, at least let us not cultivate them, or allow them to be exaggerated in our imagination.  Let us try, unashamedly, to be the first to explain them away, to put things right once more, to disentangle them and to keep ourselves free from any feeling of resentment.  Even among cultured and spiritual people there may be a variety of opinions and views in matters open to discussion.  This does no harm to charity and peace, as long as we preserve moderation of manner and harmony of minds.  I will add moreover that the Lord makes use of these misunderstandings to bring about in other ways some great good.  Thus Paul and Barnabas separated because of young John Mark… and yet they were both equally righteous and holy.  With souls like these everything is set right by the Lord’s grace.  But this does not alter the fact that we must beware of misunderstandings and must try to clear them away.  We can never forget those words of our Lord’s which so surprised the world, when he said that it gives more joy and peace to the heart to believe and to renounce than to demand and receive. Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions From Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

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DIVINE PATIENCE

The Lord’s Passion and his Resurrection show us that there are two lives: one which we barely live, the other for which we long. Is not Jesus, who deigned to bear this poor earthly life for our sake, able to give us the life we desire? He wants us to believe this, to believe in his love for us, and in his eagerness to share with us his own riches, as once he chose to share our poverty. It was because we all have to die that he chose to die too. We all know this already: our end and our beginning, birth and death. This is common knowledge and clear for all to see in our own sphere. Our sphere is this earth: the sphere of the angels is heaven. Our Lord came from one sphere to the other, from the realm of life to the realm of death; from the land of bliss to the land of toil and sorrow. He came to bring us his gifts, and to bear with patience our sufferings--to bring us his gifts in secret, and publicly to bear our wretched lot, to show himself as a man and to conceal his divinity, to appear in the flesh, while the Divine Word was hidden from our eyes. The Word was hidden but it was not silent: it taught us to endure in patience. Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions From Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

 

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St. Gregory warns us “not to desire what belongs to others.”  We understand this to mean that we must not covet other people’s possessions, and must not let ourselves be tormented by envy, jealousy, or the immoderate love of wealth.  It is a profound consolation for a Christian to be able to say to the Lord: I am here in the state in which you chose to place me.  Even if I am poor I intend to remain faithful to your holy law, and to the Gospel which teaches me humility, purity, the devotion to duty and self-sacrifice.  And how meritorious it is to add: “Here I am, O Lord: if I possess anything of value in this world I am ready to obey the commandment of charity!  The accumulation of vast wealth while so many are languishing in misery (and we have seen in recent statistics what an immense number of human beings in some contents are dying of hunger) is a grave transgression of God’s law, with the consequence also that the greedy, a avaricious man is never at ease in his mind: he is in fact a most unhappy creature.  What radiance, instead, what overflowing joy, when we practice kindness, and show a cheerful unselfish spirit, appealing to all our brother men to do the same!  This is the foundation of perfect harmony and peace in this world! Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions from Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

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Keeping Sunday A Holy Day

From the first page of Genesis, which sanctifies the institution of the Sabbath – which is our Sunday – up to the most recent of the Holy Church’s provisions for interesting the faithful in the Sunday services, there is a whole epic of the life and union of souls with God: a true conversation of creatures with the Creator of heaven of earth, a raising of the soul towards the treasurers of the supernatural order: all for the peace of souls here below, as the “beginning of future glory.” The Christian Sunday means: 1. Absolute rest of body, and mind as the creature’s homage to his Creator, and a pause in the expenditure of all physical energies. 2. Close companionship of the soul with God, in communion with Him in meditation, and in the rites of sacrifice, through which the whole man is renewed, and spiritual energy restored. 3. Festival and song – the festival and song of the Christian life. This is the divine and human law about rest and peace. But what a contrast we see in the present day distortion of the elementary principles of Christian and civilized living, what a profanation of Sunday’s holy repose, what opposition between the customs of this world and the divine commandment: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy! Taken from the book Prayers and Devotions from Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

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The Purpose Of Life

We are on this earth as wayfarers and pilgrims: there is a law and a destiny that control all our steps, according to the time, place, and circumstances of our lives.  The end of our life is not here, but lies beyond the shores of the material world, stretching out to eternity; and eternity is the living substance of retribution, joyful or unhappy, according to the success or failure of our life and pilgrimage.  The practices of the religion which Jesus taught us are lit by the radiance from our heavenly fatherland for which we were born, and to which our souls feel drawn.  So these practices are intended and ordered for the good of our souls.  The conditions of our life here, as it has evolved during the centuries, give rise also to anxieties of a material nature, for body and soul are intimately bound up together.  But true religion is not directly concerned with our bodily enjoyments, except in order to control them and regulate their temperate use, so that material possessions may not be prejudicial to the truest and most sublime interest of human life. Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions From Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

 

GOODNESS

Nothing is more excellent than goodness.  The human mind may look for other eminent gifts, but none of these can be compared with goodness.  It is of the same nature as the Son of God himself, who became man, and it is the essence of all he taught us by word and example: the exercise of brotherly love and of patience, constancy in compassion and forbearance, in the interior discipline of our own characters and in the relationships of social life, just as he told us.  Jesus did not say to us: Learn from me for I am the Son of the heavenly Father.  He did not show us how to create heaven and earth, or to clothe the sun in its mantle of splendour, but how to be meek and lowly of heart.  This is the very foundation of goodness.  When we understand the secret of goodness and have made it our own we shall have found the surest way of overcoming the difficulties and failures of our earthly life. Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions From Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

         

 

 

The Humble Heart

The Son of God, who came to earth to teach men, left us no instruction clearer and more precise than this: we are to be humble in heart, mind, speech and behaviour.  This humility is often expressed in silence; this gentleness may seem weakness.  But, on the contrary, it is strength of character and dignity of life; it is of great importance, even for the future of peaceful relations between men.  Success is always assured and granted to the humble in heart.  The man who has no humility, who yields to the temptations of presumptuous arrogance, is doomed to live bitter days, to find himself before long empty-handed, and to live years of great unhappiness.  This strength of character finds its most glorious expression in the spirit of sacrifice to the Lord’s will, for the purification of souls.  Taken from the book, Prayers and Devotions from Pope John XXIII, His personal thoughts for every day of the year.

 

 

Every day is the right day for the lost sheep to return to the care of the tender shepherd who calls to it and goes out to seek it with great longing.  Any day, any week, a sinner may return to God.  Writings and Addresses while Patriarch of Venice.  Taken from the book, Pope John XXIII “In My Own Words.”

 

“Friend, why are you here?”  To know God, to love him and to serve him all my life, and after death to enjoy him forever in paradise.  All the answers of the learned are not worth these few words from the children's catechism.  The duties of my life are all contained in these three words.  This is all I have to do: to know, love, and serve God, always and at all costs; God's will must be mine and I must seek it only, even in the slightest things.  Journal of a Soul, April 1903

 

TRUTH, JUSTICE AND PEACE

The truth!  We all know how many snares are set to discredit and destroy it.  From our childhood on, we have been taught that every Christian must feel a horror for falsehood.  Yet, today, one might think that the whole world had adopted a general practice of falsehood, deliberate and organized.  One can rarely read or hear an expression of truth that is unimpaired, complete, and sincere.  Very frequently an attempt is made to cover with a semblance of truth what is in reality the contrary.  But, faced with the grave problems of life, death, and the life after death, we must always honour the truth.  The Lord is the Truth, and he is our Master.  And with truth justice!  The fundamental rules governing human relations in the family and domestic circles and in the civic and social order must always be borne in mind, not only in so far as they concern our relations with God, with the Gospel and with the great doctrine that must always be a light to our path, but also in all that, in dependence on the providence of God, is material welfare.  And finally peace, holy peace!  As we look around we see innumerable people who, during recent years, have witnessed the most painful situations and indescribable destructions, and who have found solace only in praying to God for the priceless gift of peace.  Taken from “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John XXIII,” His personal thoughts for every day of the year.