Inspiration

Saint Anthony of Padua

F A I T H M A T T E R S

St. Anthony of Padua~ Dayton, Ohio E-Brief

4/17/2015

All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our God, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good It is part of the love of God to aquire and to nurture all the virtues which make a man perfect. Has not God in fact won for himself a claim on all our love? From all eternity he has loved us. And it is in this vein that he speaks to us: "O man, consider carefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day, nor did the world yet exist, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved you." But he did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that to win for himself our love, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son.When saw that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace, what did he do? Compelled, as the Apostle says, by the superabundance of his love for us, he sent his beloved Son to make preparation for us and to call us back to a sinless life.By giving us his Son, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us, he bestowed on us at once every good: grace, love and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son: He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for all of us; how could he fail to give us along with his Son all good things?- Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Inspiration from the X Generation

Have you ever heard of Abby Johnson? How about Chiara Luce Badano?

No? Be ready to be inspired by these two young women's call to live for Christ!

Perhaps you have heard of Abby Johnson. Her story made national headlines when she, a clinic director for Planned Parenthood, had a life changing moment that lead her to quit her job to join the Pro-Life movement. This is part of Johnson's story in her own words:

[An] unplanned pregnancy led to my first abortion. And because I had done a pretty good job justifying my sin of abortion, I was eager to work inside the abortion industry, which only further deepened my sin and my justifications.

[A] second abortion only deepened my resolve for the "right to choose." And that deepened resolve led me to quickly rise through the ranks of our country's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

I ran an abortion clinic. I loved my job. I would love to say I had internal angst, but I didn't. I genuinely thought I was helping women. It's what I didn't know about abortions and Planned Parenthood that got me in trouble.

After eight years of working at Planned Parenthood, Johnson was asked to assist on an abortion by holding an ultrasound probe in place during the abortion. Johnson said:

I don't know how I ever looked into a glass dish of baby parts and didn't have the realization that what I was doing was wrong. Sin can literally blind you from what is right in front of you. Watching that ultrasound, I didn't think anything could surprise me. I had seen the worst of the worst. I had seen the graphic part of abortion.

So I stood there holding the ultrasound probe looking up at the screen and it really did look like a baby. It had all its parts. I could see the baby's little face, but truly it wasn't a baby because Planned Parenthood told me it wasn't.

(A tube was then inserted inside the woman's uterus to remove the baby.)

And he jumped. His feet and arms and legs began flailing as if he was trying to get away from the tube, but there was nowhere for him to go, I stood there and watched as this baby was literally fighting for his life. I did nothing. That was the worst part. I had the opportunity to intervene; I had the opportunity to say something. I could have told that woman to sit up and look what was happening to her baby, but I didn't. I stood there and watched.

This Easter, nearly six years after her emotional transformation, Abby Johnson and her family became Catholic. Johnson states, "When we went to the Catholic Church for the first time, we knew that was where we were supposed to be and we have been there ever since." And, "The more we started learning about the beliefs of the church and the Eucharist and everything, it seemed like this was what had been missing our whole lives." To read more about Abby's story visit her website at www.abbyjohnson.org.

Blessed Chiara Luce Badano's (whose picture you can see above) life motto was easy and pure: "I try to love Jesus as much as I can." Blessed Chiara died on October 7, 1990 from osteogenic sarcoma, an adolescent bone cancer. She is the first person from Generation X to be beatified. What can we learn from someone who barely had time to learn life's lessons during their mere 18 years of life? Like the teachings of St. Therese of Lisieux, the simplest yet most profound lessons of all. Bl. Chiara's simple lessons:

"What matters is to be beautiful inside."

"If this is what you want, Jesus, so do I."

"For you, Jesus."

"God loves me immensely!"

"I have rediscovered the Gospel under a new light: as it is easy for me to learn the alphabet, so it must be to live the Gospel."

"I have nothing left, but I still have my heart, and with that I can always love."

"Previously I felt ... the most I could do was to let go. Instead, now I feel enfolded in a marvelous plan of God, which is slowly being unveiled to me."

"In the conception of Christianity, Chiara emphasizes what is effectively essential: love for God and His plan of salvation, the centrality of Jesus Christ, obedience to God's will, the supremacy of love in the moral life and the fruitfulness of sacrifice" -Monsiegnor Livio Maritano

To learn more about this beautiful young woman's life and path to sainthood click here and here.

Message of the Week

The more a person loves God, the more reason he has to hope in Him. This hope produces in the Saints an unutterable peace, which they preserve even in adversity, because as they love God, and know how beautiful He is to those who love Him, they place all their confidence and find all their repose in Him alone.

~Saint Alphonsus Liguori