December 16, 2008

Guest: Fr. Jim Kubicki, President of the Apostleship of Prayer
Featured Saint of the Day: Bl. Honoratus Kozminski

Today, Deacon Rick and Jenny spoke with Fr. Jim Kubicki, the President of the Apostleship of Prayer about our Holy Father's Prayer intentions for the month of December.

DECEMBER

• Culture of Life. That, faced with the growing expansion of the culture of violence and death, the Church may courageously promote the culture of life through all her apostolic and missionary activities.
• Fraternal Witness. That, especially in mission countries, Christians may show through gestures of kindness that the Child born in Bethlehem is the Hope of the world.

Fr. Jim spoke of the importance of examining ourselves in these weeks of Advent on how our choices foster a Culture of Life. To look at our priorities and ask if they truly promote life. To promote life we must be careful not to dehumanize anyone. It can be hard, Fr. Jim shared with us, when we are faced with people that we do not like or who annoy us. It is easier in our thoughts of those people to see them as more of a problem and less as a person. Fr. Jim asked us all to look at those relationships in our lives and reevaluate how we approach them.

When speaking of the Holy Father's Mission Intention, Fr. Jim spoke about Hope. Hope is how God came to save the world, through a tiny child, our beacon of Hope, Christ. Something to ask ourselves, is do we believe that? Do not let the fear of death hold us back from experiencing the hope of Christ. We must see past this life into our eternal destiny. Jesus' birth in Bethlehem points us toward the eternal, it is a promise of new life, and the well of hope that comes with his birth gives us the strength we need to stand against this culture of death in our daily lives.

For more resources from the Apostleship of Prayer you can go to their website:
www.apostleshipofprayer.org