8 March 2012: Seeing Christ in the events of our life

The real tragedy for a Christian begins when he can no longer see Jesus in his life; when because of sin or pride or lukewarmness, the horizon is clouded over; when things are done as if Jesus were not beside him, as if the Lord had never risen from the dead.
Beside Christ, when faith is with us, our days are enriched. With Jesus by our side, pain and illness are converted into a treasure that lasts beyond death.
The matter of living with those around us becomes a whole world of possibilities for doing good: opportunities for attention, encouragement, cordiality, prayers for others. Our efforts alone no matter how earnest do not suffice; we need God for them to bear fruit.
We should pray a lot to Our Lady asking her to help us to discover Our Lord amidst all the events of our lives; so we may be able to say very often, “It is the Lord!” (Jn 21:7) And this, too, whatever the circumstances, be it a case of suffering or of joy. By Christ’s side, we will be apostles in the middle of the world, in all conditions and situations. (cf F Carvajal, “Lukewarmness -- The Devil in Disguise”)
We don’t know how or when but apostolic effort always bears fruit, although oftentimes we do not see it. Our Lord asks from us Christians the capacity for patient waiting as he found in the fishermen. He expects us to be constant in our personal apostolate with friends and acquaintances, never to give up on anybody as being impossible.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:323-6

Christ is Everyone’s Life
Jesus Christ is the Chief way for the Church. He himself is our way ‘to the Father’s house’ and is the way to each man. On this way leading from Christ to man, on which Christ unites himself with each man, nobody can halt the Church.
This is an exigency of man’s temporal and eternal welfare. Out of regard for Christ and in view of the mystery that constitutes the Church’s own life, the Church cannot remain insensible to whatever serves man’s true welfare any more than she can remain indifferent to what threatens it.
In various passages in its documents the Second Vatican Council has expressed the Church’s fundamental solicitude that life in ‘the world should conform more to man’s surpassing dignity’ in all its aspects so as to make that life ‘ever more human’. This is the solicitude of Christ himself, the good Shepherd of all men.
In the name of this solicitude, as we read in the Council’s Pastoral Constitution, “the Church must in no way be confused with the political community, nor bound to any political system. She is at once a sign and a safeguard of the transcendence of the human person.”
What is in question here is man in all his truth, in his full magnitude. We are not dealing with the ‘abstract’ man but the real ‘each’ man, for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p252

Our Lady
“Marvel at the courage of Mary -- at the foot of the cross, in the greatest of human sorrow (there is no sorrow like hers) filled with fortitude.
“And ask her for that same fortitude, so that you, too, will know how to remain close to the cross.”
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 508)

“Mary, teacher of the sacrifice that is hidden and silent. See her, nearly always in the background cooperating with her Son: she knows and remains silent.” (Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 509)

The Value of Ordinary Daily Activity
Consciousness that human labor is participation in God’s work should, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, “permeate ‘ordinary daily activities’ as well. When men and women work to gain a living for themselves and their families and carry out their activities in such a way as to do proper service to society as well, they may rightly maintain that they are extending the Creator’s work through their work. ... making themselves useful to their brethren and a personal contribution to accomplishing God’s providential plan in history.”
So it is necessary for this Christian spirituality of labor to become the common heritage of all. There is need for this spirituality to demonstrate, especially in our time, that maturity demanded by tensions and anxieties in minds and hearts. The knowledge that man participates in the work of creation through his labor is the deepest motivation for starting out in various sectors.
“The faithful”, we read in the constitution “Lumen Gentium”, “should therefore recognize the intimate nature of all creation, its value, and how it is ordained to praise of God; and they must help each other to live holier lives and also undertake appropriate secular activities, so that the world may be imbued with the spirit of Christ and more effectively attain its goal in justice, in charity and in peace.
“Therefore, with their abilities in worldly disciplines and through their activities they make a valuable contribution to created goods inwardly elevated by the grace of Christ enjoying progress through human labor, technology and the culture of civilization, according to the Creator’s dispositions and in the light of his Word.”
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, pp390-91

Memorial: St Frances of Rome, religious
A mother of three children, she zealously performed every duty at home, saying -- ‘A married woman must often leave God at the altar to find Him in her household care.’ (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1491)

• Our Lady of Virtues, at Lisbon, Portugal — Antonius Vasconcellius in Descriptione regni Lusitaniae, c. 7, § 5. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• “Nossa Senhora” / Our Lady of Virtues (Lisbon, Portugal). Purity, Prudence, Humility, Faith, Piety, Obedience, Poverty, Patience, Charity and Compassion. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Virtues (Lisbon, Portugal). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Virtues, Lisbon, Portugal. The 10 principal virtues for which she is known: Purity, Prudence, Humility, Faith, Piety, Obedience, Poverty, Patience, Charity & Compassion. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Lily. Lisbon, Portugal. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of the Lily. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Graces (Italy, 487) (http://mariedenazareth.com)