Do not be dismayed by toil or suffering, nor by the meager fruit of your labors. Remember that God rewards not according to results, but effort.

- Blessed Zefirino Agostini (1813-1896)

What will the years ahead bring us? What will man's future on earth be like? We are not given to know. However, it is certain that in addition to new progress there will unfortunately be no lack of painful experiences. But the light of divine mercy, which the Lord in a way wished to return to the world through Saint Faustina's charism, will illumine the way for the men and women of the third millennium. Jesus said to Sr Faustina: "Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy" (Diary, p. 132).

- Pope John Paul II (April 30, 2000)

To be a Christian means to be lifted out of the old humanity of Adam to the new humanity of Christ. No man is forced to accept Christ in his life any more than the Blessed Virgin was forced to bear Him. The life of Christ within us is free and consultative.

- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

The beginning of freedom from anger is silence of the lips when the heart is agitated; the middle is silence of thoughts when there is disturbance of the soul; and the end is an imperturbable calm under the breath of unclean winds.

- St. John Climacus

Father Pavone recently announced a nine-week "Novena of Prayer"
starting tomorrow September 1, to prepare for our national elections.
The Novena will finish on Monday, November 3, the day before Election Day.

Fr. Pavone put it this way: "The intentions of this prayer are that
citizens participate in an active and informed way in the elections,
and that their voting choices are wise. Wisdom means that we see
things from God's perspective, put first things first, and discern
what's important and what's not. One of the practical effects of such
wisdom is that we realize that when the state fails to protect the
right to life, it ceases to be a true democracy and instead becomes a
tyrant state."

Here are the Novena prayers:

"O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord, not only of individuals, but
of nations and governments. We thank you for the privilege of being
able to organize ourselves politically and of knowing that political
loyalty does not have to mean disloyalty to you.

We thank you for your law, which our Founding Fathers acknowledged and
recognized as higher than any human law. We thank you for the
opportunity that this election year puts before us, to exercise our
solemn duty not only to vote, but to influence countless others to
vote, and to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened. Let them realize that
while politics is not their salvation, their response to you requires
that they be politically active.

Awaken your people to know that they are not called to be a sect
fleeing the world but rather a community of faith renewing the world.
Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer are the
hands that pull the lever in the voting booth; that the same eyes that
read your Word are the eyes that read the names on the ballot, and
that they do not cease to be Christians when they enter the voting booth.
Awaken your people to a commitment to justice to the sanctity of
marriage and the family, to the dignity of each individual human life,
and to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin, and
not one moment later. Lord, we rejoice today that we are citizens of
your kingdom.

May that make us all the more committed to being faithful citizens on
earth. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

Miracle Attributed to St. Thérèse's Parents

Heroic Virtue Recognized in Italian Youth Who Died in 1990

Jesus may Your pure and healthy blood circulate in my poor ailing organism, and may Your pure and healthy body transform my weak unhealthy body, and may a healthy and vigorous life flow once again within me, if it is truly Your Holy Will. Amen.