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Holy Inspiration of the Week
Scripture of the Week
He put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
Many shall look on in awe
and trust in the LORD.-Psalm 40:4
In a world where excessive noise is normalized and self reliance is placed on a pedestal, humble confidence in the goodness of the Lord has been gravely overlooked. Every morning, it is Christ who fills our hearts, minds, and souls, with the strength of a new song. A song of beauty and joy and one which bears the fruit that produces holiness and trust filled abandonment to His Divine Will. We are encouraged by societal standards and secular pressures to seek the things of the world so as to excite our hearts. Yet, so many hearts are miserable and unfulfilled. This is because our hearts were made for virtue-for God Himself.
Let us pray with this Scripture passage and ask for the grace to place our confidence in Christ alone and focus our gaze on the things of above. May our trust in the Lord yield an abundance of peace and humble contentment.
Saint of the Week
St Juliana Falconieri
Welcomed into a prestigious family in Florence Italy, in 1270, St. Juliana Falconieri was born with a heart on fire for the Eucharist. She was an Italian mystic who would go on to participate heavily in the religious community known as the Servants of Mary.
Her years as a youth were filled with a desire to lay down her life in service to others and to embrace a lifestyle which was pious and generous.
While contributing to the founding of the Servite community in 1233, St Juliana entered the Third Order of St Francis. This permitted her to live an austere life at the service of those around her without taking formal religious vows. She spent her days tending to the spiritual and physical needs of the poor and became well known in Florence for her charitable heart.
St. Juliana was also a mystic who maintained a great love for the Eucharist. Towards the end of her life, she became very sick with a painful illness that took away her ability to consume food or water. Despite her physical suffering, her greatest suffering was the privation of receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
When the time of her earthly life was coming to an end, her one request was Jesus Eucharist. Although she could not receive Him, she was granted permission to adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament. The Most Holy Eucharist was then laid upon a corporal over her servant heart. As St. Juliana took her last breath, the Sacred Host disappeared into her bosom, no doubt imprinting itself upon her sanctified heart. St. Juliana Falconieri passed in 1341, and was canonized in 1737 by Pope Clement XII. She is the patron of those gravely ill and a resilient example of Eucharistic fervor and love.
St. Juliana Falconieri, pray for us!
Guiding Virtue of the Week
Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. -St. Padre Pio
Many of us hope for a new job or for a thrilling experience lurking just around the corner. Some of us hope that a person we love will get better or that our favorite sports team will win the next championship. The world uses the word “hope” to stir up an empty anticipation of the next “best thing” that is going to come our way.
However, the truth is, those things come and go and the happiness or high they brought with them soon passes. What does it then mean to truly hope? To truly recognize it as a virtue by which we live holy lives and not merely as a pregnant pause of waiting for what we want?
For the saints, to hope meant to not despair; rather, to place all their confidence in God. These holy men and women chose to believe in the goodness that He had willed for them and understood that to despair would be a direct contradiction to the love and mercy of His Sacred Heart.
The virtue of hope is one of the three theological virtues and carries upmost importance in the integrity of every Christian life.
The virtue of hope directs our every aspiration, concern, and need to those things which are eternal. St. Paul writes that “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1.
