November 3, 2008

Guest: Fr. Jim Kubicki, Director of the Apostleship of Prayer
Featured Saint of the Day: St. Martin de Porres

Today Deacon Rick and Jenny spoke with Fr. Jim Kubicki, Director of the Apostleship of Prayer. Fr. Jim illustrated for us Pope Benedict XVI's prayer intentions for the Month of November.

General: “That the testimony of love offered by the saints may fortify Christians in their devotion to God and their neighbor, imitating Christ who came to serve and not to be served”.

Mission: “That the Christian communities of Asia, contemplating the face of Christ, may know how to find the most suitable ways to announce Him, in full faithfulness to the Gospel, to the people of that vast continent so rich in culture and ancient forms of spirituality”.

When diving into the General Intention, Fr. Jim highlighted that the Holy Father drew on the lives of the saints to help us live out the Great Commandment to love God with all of our heart mind and strength and to love others as we love ourselves. The question Fr. Jim asked us to consider is: "Who are the heroes in our lives?" The saints are those who lived life with heroic virtue, the kind that we ought to look at and model our own lives on. Fr. Jim also looked at the Great Commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. Fr. Jim points out that Jesus never said we had to like all of our neighbors, but simply to will their good. To pray for them and act in charity toward them.

Looking at the Mission Intention, Fr. Jim pointed out that Jesus was Asian. The phrase, "contemplating the face of Christ" points to God's gift of Christ as the human face we can look at. St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face asked to add "and the Holy Face" to her name. To draw upon the strength of the suffering face of Christ. Fr. Jim drew out also that in contemplating on the suffering face of Christ, that the Christians in Asia would be made strong in the midst of persecution.

Fr. Jim encouraged all of us during the month of November to pray for the souls of the Faithful Departed, even those of whom you might have struggled with. He also encourages us to read the lives of the saints and let their example of heroic virtue inspire us.