I would like to sincerely thank all of you for your tremendous efforts to help make our Silver Jubilee Bishop's Pro-Life Dinner
such a great success! For those of you in attendance, I hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did. View pictures here. Next year's dinner is already set for April 13, 2019. Mark your calendars! For those who couldn't join us, you can see the highlights here, and be sure to watch and share our newly premiered ministry video:
As we look forward to the spring and the beauty of May flowers, I am reminded of the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta: "How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers." On May 20, we have a special opportunity to honor that sentiment and the millions of precious souls lost to abortion at the
35th annual Cemetery of the Innocents Graveside Memorial Service.
COMING UP THIS SUMMER:
Pro-Life Boot Camp - Spread the Word!
CPLC's Youth For Life Pro-Life Boot Camp is a total pro-life immersion for high school students. This year, we are offering two Boot Camp sessions:
Please also mark your calendars for the following additional events:
OPPORTUNITIES FOR HEALING
This summer, we also have multiple opportunities available for healing. A
Rachel's Vineyard™ Retreat open to women and men will be held in Spanish on
June 8-10, and in English on
August 24-26. A
Project Joseph Day of Healing in English will be held on
June 30
. Please share these important invitations to Christ's mercy with your parish.
NEW BATTLE LINES FOR LIFE CONFERENCE
The CPLC Hispanic Pastoral Ministry will present an important conference on life issues on July 7 at Immaculate Conception in Grand Prairie, featuring Dr. Pilar Calva discussing end-of life challenges.
The conference will be presented in English and Spanish. Promotional flyers are available here. For additional information and registration,
click here
.
And finally, be sure to take a moment between sun and fun, to join us in prayer at the Summer Mass and Rosary for Life on July 14. Details here.
Before we kick off the summer months, we will celebrate St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi on May 24, who is said to have experienced m
ystical ecstasy. This is the elevation of the spirit to God in such a way that the person is aware of this union with God while both internal and external senses are detached from the sensible world. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi was so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the "ecstatic saint."
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi was born Catherine to a noble family in Florence in 1566. The normal course would have been for her to have married into wealth and enjoyed comfort, but Catherine chose to follow her own path. At 9, she learned to meditate from the family confessor. She made her first Communion at the then-early age of 10, and made a vow of virginity one month later. At 16, Catherine entered the Carmelite convent in Florence because she could receive Communion daily there.
Catherine had taken the name Mary Magdalene and had been a novice for a year when she became critically ill. Death seemed near, so her superiors let her make her profession of vows in a private ceremony from a cot in the chapel. Immediately after, Mary Magdalene fell into an ecstasy that lasted about two hours. This was repeated after Communion on the following 40 mornings. These ecstasies were rich experiences of union with God and contained marvelous insights into divine truths.
As a safeguard against deception and to preserve the revelations, her confessor asked Mary Magdalene to dictate her experiences to sister secretaries. Over the next six years, five large volumes were filled. The first three books record ecstasies from May of 1584 through Pentecost week the following year. This week was a preparation for a severe five-year trial. The fourth book records that trial and the fifth is a collection of letters concerning reform and renewal. Another book, Admonitions, is a collection of her sayings arising from her experiences in the formation of women religious.
The extraordinary was ordinary for this saint. She read the thoughts of others and predicted future events. During her lifetime, Mary Magdalene appeared to several persons in distant places and cured a number of sick people.
It would be easy to dwell on the ecstasies and pretend that Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi only had spiritual highs. This is far from true. It seems that God permitted her this special closeness to prepare her for the five years of desolation that followed when she experienced spiritual dryness. She was plunged into a state of darkness in which she saw nothing but what was horrible in herself and all around her. She had violent temptations and endured great physical suffering. Mary Magdalene died in 1607 at age 41, and was canonized in 1669.
How many of us would be open to having this intimate union with God? How would it come about in our lives? Perhaps it would be through prayer, or Holy Eucharist or even the day-to-day sufferings that we endure.
Thanks for all you do and sacrifice for Life despite many challenges! God bless, and I look forward to seeing you all on May 12!
