If I could give God another name, I’d call him Persistent. In 1976, I was thirteen years old. That year was outstanding not only for the celebration of the 200th birthday of the country, but also for the 41st International Eucharistic Congress which was held in Philadelphia. I remember travelling with my family before dawn from Washington DC to Philadelphia to celebrate one day of this amazing event. Renowned people, a future pope, and future saints were at the Congress—Ka...

This is part 9 of the nine part series of meditations on the Word of God with reflections from the writings of Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo and Blessed James Alberione.During the Spiritual Exercises of 1934, Mother Thecla chose four points to work on in her spiritual journey. These points remained constant throughout her life: To keep God always in view Jesus Christ as Model The Blessed Mother for a Helper All of us, in an attitude of continual sacrificeMother Thecla brought all ...

This is part 8 of a nine part series of meditations on the Word of God with reflections from the writings of Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo and Blessed James Alberione.This theme coincides with Mother Thecla’s spiritual experience at the end of her life. Her dominant characteristics in this period were total acceptance of the will of God, intimate union with Christ, and participation in his life to the point of union of life with him.Meditating the Word I have been crucified ...

For the past several months I've been reading the Facebook posts that show up on my Timeline. Various people in my family with a variety of political opinions post there frequently. As I've thought about the different statements that have been made I felt that somehow I've lost my voice. I'm not good at debate. I don't think well on my feet. I didn't feel inclined to come up with the magisterial statement that would clarify everything (as if that were possible!). By ...

This week we’ll be celebrating Vocations Sunday, so we asked the novice director of the Daughters of St. Paul, Sister Carmen Christi Pompeii, FSP, about her thoughts on vocations.  What does "vocation" mean to you?Vocation is a call from Love and a call to love. It is a way of living out our relationship with God that brings meaning and joy to our life, that allows us to live our Christian identity to the fullest and allows us to bear abundant fruit in loving servi...

This is part 7 of a nine part series of meditations on the Word of God with reflections from the writings of Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo and Blessed James Alberione.Mother Thecla lived her apostolic Pauline vocation in a spirit of exultation: “I am extremely happy in my vocation. I wish I had a thousand lives so that I could dedicate them all to this noble apostolate, in spite of the many vexations and difficulties” (Letter to her brother, in 1947). She lived her voc...

This is part 6 of a nine part series of meditations on the Word of God with reflections from the writings of Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo and Blessed James Alberione.Mother Thecla’s constant concern was to guide the Daughters of St. Paul and its individual communities to communion, mutual understanding, and a deep sense of belonging. Her pedagogy was enlightened by the Pauline texts concerning love, summarized in the phrase from the Acts of the Apostles: “united, hear...