Feast day of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam

September 9 is the feast day of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.

A man convinced of the inestimable worth of each human being, Frédéric served the poor of Paris well and drew others into serving the poor of the world. Through the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, which he founded, his work continues to the present day.

“Frédéric Ozanam believed in love, the love of God for every individual. He felt himself called to love, giving the example of a great love for God and others. He went to all those who needed to be loved more than others, those to whom the love of God could not be revealed effectively except through the love of another person. There Ozanam discovered his vocation, the path to which Christ called him. He found his road to sanctity. And he followed it with determination.” 
- Pope John Paul II

Ozanam was beatified by Pope John Paul II, in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, on August 22, 1997.

Spiritual Reflection for September - Charity & Justice

Charity and Justice

We are well acquainted with the two-fold commandment that Jesus quoted, to love God with all we've got and to love our neighbour as ourselves. (See Matthew 22:36-40.) To be commanded to love is somewhat paradoxical. The act of loving, of course, can only be done voluntarily: we cannot be dragged kicking and screaming to love; we choose to love or not to love. But, for us as Christians, it is nevertheless a matter of obligation. 'Love, or take the consequences.' The paradoxical nature of Jesus' command helps us better understand what Jesus intends here. He is NOT commanding us to have warm, fuzzy feelings in our hearts for God and our neighbour. Trying to work up such feelings inside of ourselves would not be a good place to start rolling out how to fulfil the Great Commandment. This love is to be exercised in action, not emotion, by acts of compassion and kindness.

"I have come to set the earth on fire" - Jesus of Nazareth

Here is the Pope's address before the Angelus today...

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

In today’s Gospel (Lk 12:49-53), Jesus warns the disciples that the time to make a decision has come. His coming into the world, in fact, coincides with the time to make decisive choices: choosing the Gospel cannot be postponed. And to better understand His call, He uses the image of fire that He Himself came to bring to earth. Thus, He says: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing”. These words are intended to help the disciples abandon any attitude of laziness, apathy, indifference and closure, to welcome the fire of God’s love; that love which, as Saint Paul reminds us, “has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5). Because it is the Holy Spirit that makes us love God and makes us love our neighbor; it is the Holy Spirit that we all have inside.