Catholic News 2

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17, I Pt 3:15-18, Jn 14:15-21.

 Anecdote: The Winners:  Upon until 1987, only eleven horses had won the coveted Triple Crown in Thoroughbred racing. What is it that makes some horses winning thoroughbreds? Why is it that some horses have more speed, strength and stamina than other horses? Essentially, of course, these traits have to come from within the horses themselves: from their own inner capacity and from their inherited gene structure. Still, it seems that they also need help from outside. To become champions, they need the help of expert trainers and skillful jockeys to activate and develop their inner powers.  It is the same with us. Born human, we have within us capacities to love, learn, choose, work and so on. But we need the help of parents, teachers and friends to activate and develop these capacities so that we can reach our full human potential. That is why we need the Holy Spirit and why Jesus promised to send Him to us: “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Paraclete – to be with you always; to remain with you and be within you.” (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds)

Introduction: From Easter to Pentecost our readings focus on the early apostolic preaching of the Good News of salvation and on the promises of Jesus to his disciples, especially his promise of the Holy Spirit.  Today's readings explain Who the Holy Spirit is, what His roles are and how we can experience Him in our daily lives. The first and second readings were chosen to help us prepare for the soon-to-be-celebrated feast of Pentecost. They show us how the Spirit worked in the everyday activities of Jesus’ first followers.

Scripture lessons: The first reading describes how the Holy Spirit helped the Deacon Philip to preach powerfully and convert the Samaritans in large numbers. It also explains how the baptized Samaritans received a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands by the apostles Peter and John. Acts 8:5-8 describe the success of Philip, the Deacon, among the despised Samaritans. Owing to the vigorous persecution which began in Jerusalem after the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the disciples had been dispersed.  Philip turned the dispersal into an opportunity to preach the Gospel message by taking it to Samaria.  Although the Samaritans were despised by then, Philip followed the assignment Jesus gave the apostles in chapter 1 of Acts: "You are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes even to the ends of the earth."  Peter and John also went to Samaria so that community could meet someone who had experienced the risen Jesus. The early Church believed that that no Christian community could exist without a relationship with someone who had experienced the risen Jesus. By calling down the Spirit upon the newly converted Samaritans, Peter and John brought them into fellowship with the whole Christian community, thus healing a 500-year Samaritan schism.  Thus, we see that the Holy Spirit operates only where there is communion with the apostles who, as “witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection,” certify the risen One’s continued activity on earth. Through the imposition of hands by the successors of the apostles (our bishops), we also receive the Holy Spirit.  We are empowered to profess our Faith boldly, to bear witness to the Truth of the Lord and to stand for what is right and good.  We receive the Spirit’s consolation in our difficulties.  

The second reading (I Pt 3:15-18) explains how the Holy Spirit makes possible God-fearing lives in the midst of opposition and persecution.  Peter warns that God-fearing Christians shouldn't be surprised by angry outbursts of resentment and militant confrontation. He clearly encourages the persecuted Christians to keep to the moral high ground no matter how much they're mistreated.  If we are willing to suffer for Christ and with Christ, God will see us through and will vindicate us. Meanwhile, we have the consolation of the Holy Spirit Who lives in our hearts and Who raised Christ from death. But those who refuse to die and rise with Jesus constantly keep the Spirit away. Peter also advises the newly-baptized in his community that Jesus must be so much a part of their lives that His dying and rising come through even in the way they respond to questions about their Faith. "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts." "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence. “

Today’s Gospel, taken from Jesus’ “Last Supper Discourse,” describes the gift he will send, the Holy Spirit, who will live in us  as the Paraclete, the Divine Advocate, in those who obey Jesus’ commandments, especially the commandment of love. Thus, Jesus will continue to live in his believers with the Father and the Holy Spirit and they will not be left as orphans.   The risen Jesus’ continued presence in us and in the Church through the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his Name. As the Divine Advocate, the Holy Spirit will instruct us in Jesus’ doctrines and illumine our minds to receive deeper knowledge of our Faith. In addition, the Divine Advocate will empower us to defend our Faith powerfully and guide us properly in the practice of true Christian love.   Thus, we will be able to recognize Jesus in the in the poor, in the sick, in the homeless, in the marginalized, in the outcast, in the drug addicts and even in the criminals ("I was in prison..."), thus becoming agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.

Exegetical notes: The context: Jesus' promise to his disciples of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-21), is part of the long "Farewell Discourse" near the end of John's Gospel.  Jesus made this farewell to his disciples at their Last Supper, just prior to his arrest, crucifixion, death and Resurrection.  This long discourse is a unique summary of the mystery of the Incarnation and the role of the Holy Spirit. God's promise of the Holy Spirit should not have been a mystery to the followers of Jesus who knew the Holy Scriptures. The origin of this promise can be traced to the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In the days of the prophets, God had promised to make a new Covenant [Jer 31:31] with His people. He had promised to put His law within His people, writing it on their hearts, that He might be their God and they might be His people [Jer 31:33]. He had also promised to put a new spirit within His people, to remove their heart of stone and to give them a heart of flesh [Ez 11:19, 18:31, 36:26]. And finally, God had promised to put His Spirit within His people to make them follow His statutes and be careful to observe His ordinances [Ez 36:27]. Paul tells us that this promise has been fulfilled: "Do you not know that you are God's Temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" [1 Cor 3:16].

The Jewish concept of Spirit: In Hebrew, the word for spirit is ruach ( [ruwach] ) – in Greek, pneuma ( [pneuma] ); in Latin, spiritus – all of which suggest breathing.  The idea is that when a person is breathing, he is alive.  It is from this notion that the idea of an animating, life-giving, intelligent and active force comes.  The word (in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), thus meant “breath”, “life” and “spirit.”  The Jewish tradition taught that when the Messiah came, God’s very own Life (Breath, Spirit) would be poured out upon all the faithful believers. 

The promise of the Paraclete – the Comforter, Helper or Counselor: To Jesus, real love is something difficult, and it must be expressed not as sentiment or emotion but as real obedience to God. So we weak human beings need the daily assistance of a Divine Helper in the Person of the Holy Spirit to practice real love.  The Greek word used in John’s Gospel for this Helper is Parakletos.  For the Greeks, the word parakletos meant a lawyer, a legal assistant, a courtroom advocate. Jesus is telling us that the Holy Spirit is our Advocate Who speaks up for us when we're accused, judged, or wrongly condemned, and our Witness Who testifies in our behalf.  Parakletos can also refer to a person who comforts, counsels or strengths us in time of need.  The Holy Spirit gives us Life, stands by us, defends us, strengthens us, and consoles us.  Jesus was the first Paraclete sent by the Father.  “But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one” (I Jn 2:1).  Since Jesus’ presence as a Paraclete was limited in time and place, he assured his disciples of "another Paraclete" in the Person of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit assists us in our inadequacies and enables us to cope with life in the true Christian spirit.  The Paraclete is our Defense Attorney defending us before God, the Judge.  Although the penalty for our sins has been paid in full by Jesus, we still need the help of the Holy Spirit in our daily struggles. In addition to being Companion, Defense Attorney, Witness and Prosecutor, the Paraclete will also be present to teach the disciples and to remind them of what Jesus had taught them (14:25-26). (For the additional roles of the Holy Spirit confer Jn 14:26, 15:26, and 16:7-14).

Assurance of the Risen Lord’s presence with us.  Jesus assures his disciples that they will not be left as orphans.  He promises them awareness of his risen presence – in themselves, in each other, in the Church, in Scripture, in the Sacraments and in the praying community -- through the enlightening presence, teaching and action of the Holy Spirit.  We will never have to face any trial alone—even death—if we walk with Jesus.  He protects us from the Evil One.  His Resurrection, in fact, changed the despair of the apostles to hope when they realized beyond doubt that he is the Son of God.  "You will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (Jn 14:20).  The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the Sacraments, each time we pray and each time we read the Bible.  

Life message: We need to be open to the Holy Spirit, our Paraclete.  The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness.  We all have faults that prevent our growth: blocks of sin and imperfection, blocks due to childhood conflicts, blocks due to deeply ingrained personality traits and habits, blocks caused by addictions, and blocks resulting from bad choices we have made.  We all have these blocks within us and they keep us from becoming what God wants us to be.  They prevent us from growing into maturity and wholeness.  God, the Holy Spirit, helps us to see the truth about ourselves, to discern the blocks that inhibit our growth and to allow Him to transform us. 2 Like the good counselor He is, the Spirit enables us to become stronger.  The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions.  The Holy Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth.  Let us open our minds and hearts to hear Him and to obey His promptings. (Prepared by Fr. Anthony Kadavil). 

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The United Nations has expressed alarmed over increasing numbers of deaths of Afghan children due to conflicts and is urging parties to conflicts to take action. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) the first four months of 2017 witnessed the highest recorded number of child civilian casualties resulting from conflict-related incidents in Afghanistan, including the highest number of children killed, for the same comparable period since the Mission began documenting cases.  Between 1 January and 30 April 2017, UNAMA preliminarily recorded 283 child deaths, a 21 per cent ‎increase compared with the same period in 2016. 

Children are killed by explosive remnants of war in ‎civilian-populated areas and in ground fighting.‎  Many of the more than 700 children injured have suffered life-changing injuries, including loss of limbs, ‎as well as significant and lasting trauma such as witnessing the death of siblings, parents, destruction to ‎their homes or displacement.‎

UNAMA again urged parties to the conflict to prioritize the protection of children and welcomed the ‎commitment of the Government to formally ratify Protocol V to the 1980 Convention on Conventional ‎Weapons.‎  The Mission urged all parties to the conflict to commence marking, clearing, removing and destroying ‎explosive remnants of war left behind from fighting in areas under their territorial control.‎

Most of these children died in one of three ways: unexploded ordnance left by any of the fighting forces caused 203 civilian casualties, 81 percent of them children. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including pressure-plate devices the Taliban plant in roads civilian vehicles use, killed and injured 218 civilians – a 12 percent increase. Such devices are illegal under international law because of their indiscriminate nature.  (Source: UN) 

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis continued his catechesis on “Christian Hope” at his General Audience on Wednesday, focusing this week on the figure of St Mary Magdalene.

The Holy Father’s reflections were based on a passage from the Gospel of St John, which relates how St Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus after His Resurrection. Her visit to Jesus’s tomb, the Pope said, mirrored “the fidelity of so many women” who visit cemeteries to keep alive the memory of those who have passed away. “The most authentic bonds,” he said, “are not broken even by death.”

Pope Francis noted that Mary Magdalene’s first visit to the tomb was a disappointment: Seeing the empty tomb, she went to the place the disciples were hiding and told them that someone had stolen the body of Jesus.

But although she was sorrowful, she returned to the sepulchre. The Pope continued, “It was while she was standing near the tomb, with eyes filled with tears, that God surprised her in a most unexpected way.” She hardly noticed the two angels who spoke to her, and at first she did not even recognise Jesus, whom she took to be a gardener. Instead, Pope Francis said, “she discovers the most shocking event in human history” only when Jesus “calls her by name.”

“How beautiful it is to think that the first apparition of the Risen One – according to the Gospels – should occur in such a personal way!” the Pope said. How beautiful it is “that there is someone who recognizes us, who sees our suffering and disappointment, and is moved for our sake, and calls us by name.” Although many people seek God, he said, the “wonderful reality” is that God has sought us first, and sought each of us personally. “Each one of us,” Pope Francis said, “is a story of the love of God. God calls each of us by name.”

When Jesus said Mary’s name, her life was changed. “The Gospels describe Mary’s happiness for us,” the Holy Father said. “The Resurrection of Jesus is not a joy given with an eyedropper, but a cascade, a waterfall that fills our whole life.” Pope Francis called for everyone to reflect on that fact that, even with all the “disappointments and defeats” in our life, “there is a God who is close to us and who calls us by name, who says to us, ‘Arise, don’t cry, because I have come to set you free.’”

God, he continued, “is a dreamer: He dreams of the transformation of the world, and has realised it in the mystery of the Resurrection.”

Saint Mary Magdalene, who, before she met Jesus, was at the mercy of the evil one, became “the apostle of the new and greatest hope.” Her life was changed because she had “seen the Lord.” Mary’s experience is an example for us, too, whose lives are changed because we have seen the Lord. This, Pope Francis said, “is our strength, and our hope.”

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The European Union announced on Tuesday it is restoring a preferential tax concession for goods imported from Sri Lanka that it withdrew seven years ago over alleged human rights abuses, but the South Asian nation’s progress in human rights will be monitored closely.  Tung-Lai Margue, ambassador to the EU delegation to Sri Lanka told reporters that the change would take effect on Friday.  He said the tax concession, known as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), is being restored as an incentive to make further progress on human rights. It also recognizes efforts the government has made so far, though some issues remain.

The ambassador said torture and the prevalence of a draconian anti-terror law are among problems needing attention and the EU will monitor Sri Lanka's progress.  ``It is true that the government, in order to get GSP plus has made a lot of effort. But it may not be enough,'' Margue said. ``It's not that we are complacent, that we find everything marvelous...''

Sri Lanka's military has been long accused of serious human rights violations, especially during a decades-long civil war with separatist ethnic Tamil rebels. The fighting ended in 2009 but there are continued allegations against the government military and police of using torture.

Sri Lanka lost the EU concession in 2010 after then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected demands from the international community to address human rights abuses allegedly committed during a 2009 offensive to crush a Tamil insurgency.‎  The loss of the trade advantage was a blow to the economy, causing the loss of thousands of jobs especially in the garment sector.  Since ousting Rajapaksa in January 2015, President Maithripala Sirisena's administration has agreed to address the rights violations.‎

``It's clear that there is an ongoing problem,'' said Paul Godfrey the EU missions head of the mission's political, trade and communications section of allegations of torture against the Sri Lankan government.

``But it is important to recognize that this government is the first government to recognize that there was a serious problem with the issue. The first step in addressing a problem is to recognize that you do actually have a problem. I think these are very important signs,'' he said.  EU‎ Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström ‎admitted the situation in Sri Lanka is not perfect.  "The EU will work closely with the government and non-government organizations to rigorously monitor progress,"‎ she said in a statement.

The EU is Sri Lanka's largest export market and last year, exports from the island nation to the EU were valued at 2.6 billion euro ($2.87 billion). The EU says the removal of the tariffs will give Sri Lanka an immediate benefit of at least 300 million euros ($3.31 million) a year and encourage the country to diversify its exports to reap maximum benefits.

The concessions can be used until Sri Lanka achieves the status of an ``upper middle income country'' for three consecutive years. Trends show Sri Lanka would likely benefit from them until at least 2021, the EU says.  (Source: AP/Reuters)

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Denver, Colo., May 17, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- “There will be saints among the children.”

So said Pope Pius X, when he lowered the age that children could receive their First Holy Communion. Previously, children had to be 10 or 12, now they are typically in second grade, or about seven or eight years old, though exceptions are made for some who are even younger.

Last weekend, Pope Francis canonized Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the child visionaries of the Fatima Marian apparitions. Bucking tradition, these shepherd children are the first children who were not martyrs to be canonized by the Church. Both died before age 12.

Austin Ruse, Catholic author and president of C-Fam, a family research institute, believes that Pope Francis may have just “opened the floodgates” to scores of saints from the littlest among us.

Several years ago, Ruse was struck by the stories of three children he knew - either personally or peripherally - that all seemed to have a common theme: “little children who died young, suffered greatly, and brought many people to Christ and his Church through their suffering.”

“They were just profound stories and they needed to be told,” he said in an interview with CNA.

In his recent book, “Littlest Suffering Souls,” Ruse tells of the short but significant lives of six children, three of them contemporary children whose families he has met.
 
Suffering, with ‘countless graces’

One of those children was Brendan Kelly, whose family went to Ruse’s parish, and whose funeral Ruse attended. While he had never met Brendan, Ruse had been praying for him.

Brendan was born to a devout Catholic family in Virginia. His parents, Frank and Maura, met while working in the George H.W. Bush White House in 1990.

Brendan was born with Down syndrome, and a seemingly innate love for Jesus. By the age of two, he loved to kiss crucifixes and statues of saints.

It was also at that age that a test confirmed Brendan had leukemia. He began a series of intense and painful treatments that would become an off-and-on part of the rest of his life.

“But along with the suffering would come countless graces,” Ruse noted.

One of the biggest graces was the “mystical” friendship that Brendan would develop with the pope at the time, Pope John Paul II.

Former senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a family friend, personally delivered a photo of Brendan to Pope John Paul II while on a state visit to the Vatican. Once Brendan found out the pope was praying for him personally, he started praying for the pope personally too - every night.

Some time later, Brendan was offered a wish from the Make a Wish Foundation, the group that grants wishes to very sick children - typically a visit to Disneyland, or something along those lines.

But Brendan wanted something different.

“Me meet pope!” the toddler exclaimed. The Make-a-Wish officials were not convinced that this request was coming from the little boy, and so they shooed his parents out of the room. After an hour of questioning, Brendan didn’t waiver.

And so he did meet the pope - at the age of four, Brendan was granted an audience with Pope John Paul II. Not satisfied with the standard brief meeting and shaking of hands, Brendan stood by Pope John Paul II as he greeted everyone in the audience that day. As the pope was leaving, Brendan shouted “Bye, Pope!” and was able to shake hands one last time with the spiritual giant and his personal hero.

Other incredible moments of grace and signs of God’s presence occurred throughout Brendan’s short life. On one occasion, one of Frank’s friends, Peter O’Malley, was in the midst of a terrorist attack at Taj Mahal Palace in 2008.

In his moment of crisis, O’Malley knew who to call for prayers. Brendan prayed, and O’Malley escaped unharmed that night, when 164 people were shot.

His parish priest, Father Drummond, said he was first struck by Brendan’s faith and “absolute joy” as he was preparing him for communion and confession. When Father told him he would get to wear the black and white vestments of an altar boy, “He got a faraway look in his eyes and said quietly, ‘I love those’.”
 
Throughout his short life, Brendan would suffer bouts of leukemia, and grueling treatments. Before each one, his parents would ask him for whom he would offer his suffering - and he always had an intention.

One of his most frequent intentions was Bella Santorum, Rick Santorum’s daughter, who was born with a rare genetic disorder, Trisomy 18. She was only supposed to live a few months, but Brendan offered his suffering for her throughout his entire life. “Bella, I love you,” he would repeat during moments of pain. She is still alive today, some nine years longer than she was expected to live.

“(Brendan) very early on grabbed onto the idea of offering up his suffering, and he always would do it cheerfully, even though it was unbelievably painful, or it made him incredibly sick, he just knew that throwing up for the tenth time, this time is going to be for somebody, and it was useful,” Frank told CNA.

At the same time, he was a normal boy. He didn’t want to be sick, he loved to play with his siblings and be the life of the party. And he could school anyone in trivia from his favorite T.V. show “The Office.” He could name the season and the episode of any quote from Michael Scott or Dwight Schrute that his family could lob at him.

And so, when sick from leukemia and quarantined for a bone marrow transplant as a teenager, Brendan and his family played office trivia through a small, grainy T.V. - the only way they could communicate during the sterile procedure. Soon a crowd of doctors and nurses joined in the fun.

But it was his profound faith and joyful personality that impacted almost everyone he met, and that drew people to him.

“He wasn’t just this always smiley, (disabled) little child,” Frank said. “He would have very profound conversations with people, and say things that would profoundly impact people.”

When he passed away in 2013, at the age of 16, the line at his wake had to be cut short after three hours of people filing past to pay their final respects to Brendan.

“We had to go outside and thank everybody because it was too long, and there was almost an equal number of people at the funeral Mass the next day,” Frank said.

Since that day, they’ve had hundreds of requests for prayer cards of Brendan.

Frank said it has been a “surreal” experience to have a child whose impact is so great that there are people asking for his prayers.

He said he hopes that people who read Brendan’s story and are experiencing suffering themselves understand that they are never alone.

“Brendan never felt alone, and he knew that people were praying for him, starting with Pope John Paul II to the builders who were working on our house, to people he never knew,” Frank said. Even people in other countries who had never met Brendan had offered their prayers.  

A witness amid the ‘culture of death’

Another suffering soul, Margaret Leo, also had a dad who worked in the Washington, D.C. political scene. Leonard Leo is the executive vice president of the Federalist Society - a law organization to which several federal and Supreme Court justices belong. He also worked for President George W. Bush’s administration at one time.

Though Margaret suffered throughout her life from spina bifida and related complications, she bore everything with a cheerful smile and a simple but profound faith. Her photo now sits on the desk of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Ruse names the people impacted by these suffering souls in his book intentionally.

These were not peasant children, like Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto, Ruse noted, and that’s important.

“They were born into influence and affluence, into a modern day (moral) desert, and they have a message for the modern day desert - all lives are worth living, there are no useless lives, even short, painful lives have a great deal of meaning,” Ruse said.

“We live in an age that people call the culture of death, aimed largely at the defenseless: children, the elderly, the disabled, the intellectually disabled, and these children are witnesses to the fact that all lives are worth living, even ones that are judged not to be worth living.”



It’s something that Margaret’s mom, Sally, hopes that people understand as they read her daughter’s story.

“Especially because such a high percentage of children with spina bifida and other disabilities are aborted these days, and we barely even ever see them,” she told CNA.

“If that wasn’t the case, we would see these kids walking around, we would see kids with braces or crutches or Down syndrome all the time, but 80-90 percent of them are killed, they’re not even given the chance.”

But in Sally’s experience, “It was a gift.”

Margaret taught them about faith and love in the simplest of ways. She gently pestered her dad until he became a daily Mass attendee. She would ask people when they were going to baptize their new baby, or if they had been confirmed.

“Her faith would invariably come up in any discussion that was more the perfunctory, and it would have an impact on people,” her father, Leonard, told CNA.

But she wasn’t a mystic, her parents insist. She just had a strong attraction to holy and beautiful things, and an intense but simple joy that was attractive to those around her. She loved coloring, and being involved in her siblings’ antics, and holding babies.  

“In other words, you wouldn’t necessarily go away thinking, ‘Oh wow, I just met a saint.’ But she would say to you, ‘Hi, how are you? How was your day? How was your birthday? When’s your confirmation?’ She wanted to know about you, which was really what touched people most about her, because you don’t necessarily find that among strangers,” Sally said.

“Charity and kindness and friendship, but at its most pure and most intense level,” Leonard added.

Margaret’s spina bifida meant that she had to have titanium rods placed in her back to straighten her spine. But instead, Margaret’s back bent the titanium rods - so much so that they ended up protruding from her neck. Despite it all, Margaret did not complain.

“It’s ok,” she would cheerfully say, even when it was clear that it was not.

Today, Leonard keeps the rods on his desk - “to remind me what a real bad day looks like.”  

After Margaret passed away and her story spread, the Leos were surprised at the impact their simple but faithful little girl was having on the people around them. When Ruse published an article about Margaret, they received hundreds of requests for a prayer card of her.  

What continues to draw people to Margaret is how she suffered with joy and trust in God, Leonard said.

“I think at some level that when we’re faced with adversity and suffering, we wish that we could be filled with joy, and we could be able to confront it in a way that brings us closer to God and closer to other people, and make the very best of it,” he said.

“And so when you saw her, it was impossible not to be reminded of the fact that we should be filled with joy, we should be thankful to God. As her tombstone says, we should be praying and thanking God without ceasing.”

Tears of inspiration

The third contemporary little suffering soul whose story Ruse tells is that of Audrey from France.

Although her parents were lukewarm Catholics when she was born, Audrey was “spiritually precocious” from a young age.

She practiced mortification by carrying home her school pencils in her shoe. She begged to receive Holy Communion at the age of five. Upon examining her, her priest found her ready to do so, because she understood that Holy Communion is Jesus, “And I want to receive Jesus.” She insisted that her family say grace before meals and a prayer for vocations every night.

She was also sure from a young age that she had a Carmelite vocation, “Caramel” as the little girl pronounced it.

This surprising faith scared Lillian, Audrey’s mom, who wasn’t sure where Audrey was getting her ideas.

“Follow her,” a priest told Lillian.

But she was also scared that her daughter’s spiritual maturity meant great trials were ahead - and they were. At a very young age, Audrey was diagnosed with leukemia.



When Lillian broke the news to Audrey, “She got this very wise, very gentle sort of look” and told her mother that they were “going to do what Jesus says. We’re going to be like the birds in the sky, and we’re just going to take one day at a time.”

“I can’t say that without weeping,” Ruse said.

And indeed, “Littlest Suffering Souls” is a book that will make you weep. But not in a sad way.

“We’re not crying out of sadness, we’re crying out of inspiration,” Ruse said.

“They’re neither tears of joy nor sadness, they’re some other kind of tear, that I don’t have the name for, but it’s just being moved by these inspiring stories.”

Audrey battled leukemia for several years, and, like Brendan, made it on the personal prayer list of Pope John Paul II after her dad was able to hand him a photo of her.

Audrey too offered her sufferings for specific intentions, and, like Brendan, people began flooding her with prayer requests. She had a special heart for vocations, and prayed especially for her Uncle Mick - who is now a priest today.

A bone marrow transplant for Audrey eventually proved ineffective. Knowing she was near death, her family took her to Lourdes, and then to Rome, where she was able to meet Pope John Paul II.   

They spoke together for several minutes, captured by a photo of Audrey’s swollen head next to the bent-down head of the now-Saint.

While no one knows what was said between the two of them, for the rest of the day, John Paul II could be heard around the Vatican muttering her name: “Audrey, Audrey, Audrey.”

She also asked to be confirmed, and insisted that the party be an “elegant” event - one of her favorite words, but one that she meant in beautiful simplicity, rather than extravagance.

In her final weeks, which she was able to spend at home, Audrey spent hours in the family’s chapel, where the bishop had allowed them to keep the blessed sacrament. She told her grandma that she spent her days praying and waiting.

She passed away at 3 p.m., the hour of mercy, on August 22, 1991, the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. Her father Jerome had prayed she would pass away on a Marian feast day.

Audrey’s cause for canonization has been opened, and her story has spread throughout France and indeed throughout the world. Seminarians pray for her intercession for their vocations. A Carmelite convent in Spain has her First Communion dress on display, with permission of the family.

Lessons learned

The suffering of children is a difficult subject, but one that captures the attention of all, Ruse said.

“It seems to us to be profoundly unfair that children suffer, and that’s a common human reaction,” he reflected.

“Moreover, the reaction of these particular children to their suffering and maladies is confounding to those of us who cannot even handle the simple contradictions of the day very well,” he said.

“The simplest things can vex us, and yet these are kids who had bone marrow transplants and while they had them, Audrey was singing songs to Mary, and Brendan was offering his suffering for others - they’re just astounding.”

At the end of his book, Ruse offers what he believes are several lessons that can be learned from the stories of little suffering souls - forbearance, simplicity, a love for God, particularly in the Eucharist.

Moreover, he said, we learn that each life has dignity.

“Our modern man might see a child suffering from leukemia who has died young and see nothing but a misbegotten tragedy, a life with no meaning,” he wrote.

“In the simplest terms, modern man is wrong. The Littlest Suffering Souls stand as witnesses to the proposition that all human life has meaning and dignity, even and especially those lives we may not fully understand.”

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Vatican City, May 17, 2017 / 03:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- By calling Mary Magdalene by name after his resurrection, Jesus shows us just how personal his relationship with mankind is, Pope Francis said Wednesday, adding that after this intimate encounter, Mary then becomes an apostle of hope for the world, announcing the Lord’s rising.

“Mary: the revolution of her life, the revolution destined to transform the existence of every man and woman, begins with a name that echoes in the garden of the empty tomb,” the Pope said May 17.

“How beautiful to think of that the first appearance of the Risen One took place in such a personal way! That there is someone who knows us, who sees our suffering and delusion, who is moved by us, and who call us by name,” he said.

After finally realizing who is speaking to her, Mary would like to run and embrace Jesus, but “he is by now oriented to the heavenly Father, while she is invited to bring the announcement to her brothers.”

“So that woman, who is the first to encounter Jesus...now has become an apostle of the new and greatest hope,” he said.

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience. He continued his catechesis on the virtue of Christian hope, focusing on the figure of Mary Magdalene at the tomb.

Mary was the first to arrive at the tomb, he said, noting that she is “one of the disciples who accompanied Jesus from Galilee, putting herself at the service of the early Church.”

The Gospel, he said, describes Mary “a woman of easy enthusiasm,” who after seeing the empty tomb runs back to the apostles disappointed by what she saw.

Her first hypothesis that Jesus’ body had been taken was “the simplest she could formulate,” Francis said, explaining that her first announcement “is not that of the Resurrection, but of an unknown theft, perpetrated while all of Jerusalem slept.”

Then, when she returned to the tomb a second time, her steps are “slow and heavy,” as she is now suffering not only from the death of Jesus, but also because of the inexplicable disappearance of his body.

However, while she is bent over his grave in tears, “God surprises her in the most unexpected way,” the Pope said, noting how the Gospel underlines “how persistent her blindness is,” since she not only didn’t notice the presence of two angels questioning her, but neither does she recognize Jesus, mistaking him for the gardener.

“Instead, she discovers the most shocking event in human history when finally he calls her by name,” Pope Francis said, adding that this personal interest in humanity is something “that we find carved in many pages of the Gospel.”

“Around Jesus there are many people who look for God; but the most marvelous reality is that, long before, there is above all God who is concerned about our lives, who wants to uplift, and to do this calls us by name, recognizing the personal face of each person,” he said.

The Pope stressed that every person has a story of love that God writes for them on earth, calling each one by name.

“He knows us by name, he watches over us, he waits for us, he forgives us, he is patient with us. True or not true?” Francis said, saying “each one of us has this experience.”

Pointing to the joy Mary felt after discovering Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, the Pope said it’s a happiness that isn’t given in small drops, but is rather “a waterfall” that envelops our entire lives.

“The Christian existence is not woven on fluffy happiness, but on waves that engulf everyone,” he said, and encouraged the crowd to place themselves in the Gospel scene, “with the bags of disappointments and defeats that each one carries in their heart.”

In that instant, he said, “there is a God close to us who calls us by name and says: ‘Rise, cease your tears, because I have come to free you!’”

Jesus, he said, is not someone who adapts to the world, tolerating the death, sadness, hatred and the moral destruction of people. Rather, “our God is not inert, but dreams of the transformation of the world, and he realized it in the mystery of the Resurrection,” he said.

Turning to Mary Magdalene, Francis said her example is one of hope, and that her intercession helps us to live the experience of the Resurrection, because “at the time of tears and abandonment, she hears the Risen Jesus who calls us by name, and with a heart full of joy goes to announce: I have seen the Lord!”

This isn’t the first time the Pope has drawn attention to the importance of Mary Magdalene. Just last year, in June 2016, Francis signed a decree bumping the liturgical celebration honoring the Saint from a memorial to a feast, putting her on par with the apostles.

On the Church’s liturgical calendar, saints are honored with either a “memorial” a “feast,” or a “solemnity.” Solemnities rank the highest, with feasts coming in second and memorials in third.

While there are 15 other memorials on Mary Magdalene’s July 22 feast, hers was the only obligatory one to celebrate. After being elevated to the level of a feast, the celebration bears a more significant weight.

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Mexico City, Mexico, May 17, 2017 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Mexican priest is in “delicate but stable” condition after being stabbed in the neck Monday evening at Mexico City’s cathedral, according to government and church authorities.

Father José Miguel Machorro Alcalá, 55, was stabbed in the neck and torso May 15 at the conclusion of saying Mass at the cathedral.

Witnesses reported that it appeared the attacker's intention was to slit the priest’s throat.

Authorities detained a suspect at the scene who had reportedly attempted to flee the cathedral. The suspect has been identified as John Rock Schild, who identified himself as an artist from the United States. He is believed to be about 30 years of age.

 

Afortunadamente la policía detuvo al agresor! pic.twitter.com/ehHNRhK19w

— Padre José Aguilar (@PadreJosedejesu) May 16, 2017  

At a news conference, the lawyer of the Archdiocese of Mexico, Armando Martínez, asked for prayers for the priest and said the motive for the attack was still unclear.

"We cannot talk about terrorism, we cannot talk about motives, because we obviously have no significant facts," he said.

In a radio interview Tuesday morning, archdiocesan spokesman Hugo Valdelomar said the attack occurred as Fr. Machorro was blessing the congregation with holy water. He said the priest suffered severe injuries to his neck and near his lung.

Fr. Machorro was transferred by helicopter to a private hospital. He was operated on, and is now stable but in intensive care, according to the Mexico City archdiocese.

Masses at the cathedral are continuing at regularly scheduled hours.

The attack is one of many recent attacks against priests in Mexico. Drug trafficking has led to increased murder and kidnapping in the country. In recent years, 17 priests have been murdered and many others have been kidnapped or assaulted.

 

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