Fr. Kubicki 2 Minute Prayer Reflections

Today, the Church is celebrates the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Every diocese has a special feast day when it’s main church or cathedral was consecrated or dedicated.

Today, the Church honors the memory of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. The saints were not born saints. They, like you and like I, had to learn to overcome their faults and to discipline themselves.

In today’s gospel regarding the widow’s mite, Jesus says: “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”

One of the problems with our contemporary world is that we tend to be very individualistic. We tend to look out for ourselves first and foremost. But, as Christians we are parts of a body – the Body of Christ, and we aren’t isolated individuals.

This is the month we remember in prayer the holy souls in Purgatory. Any imperfect souls are made perfect after death and Purgatory should not be looked at as a punishment, but a burning fire to purify us and make us ready to see God face t0 face.

Today, the Church honors a great bishop and cardinal of the 16th century – St. Charles Borromeo. He established seminaries, colleges, hospitals, orphanages and homeless shelters and when the plague struck Milan, Italy, he cared for the sick and buried the dead with his own hands.

Today, the Church honors the memory of a saint from Latin America: Martin de Porres. He’s the patron saint of interracial justice because in his own body, he reconciled the black race and the white race.

Today is All Souls Day,  day when the Church prayerfully remembers all of the faithful departed. Having honored all saints yesterday, today we pray for those who have died and may not have been perfect at the time of death.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of All Saints. It is also the first day of a month dedicated to prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Let us pray for the souls of the faithful departed so they may soon be with the saints in heaven.

The Christian faith arose out of the faith of Israel, the people God chose to reveal Himself to, the people God chose as the race from which he would take flesh. Thus, Jesus good Jew that he was grew up in the atmosphere and the faith of Israel.

On September 27, 1992, Pope St. John Paul II beatified 17 Irish martyrs including a Jesuit brother named Dominic Collins. Dominic was born in the year 1566, and when he was 20, he went to France to become a soldier.

Halloween means  All Hallows Eve,  the day before All Saints Day when we honor all the hallowed or holy people of every time and place. But few people think about that now. Now, Halloween is about ghosts and vampires and other things that are not spiritually uplifting.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude. St. Simon is also called the Zealot, to distinguish him from Simon Peter. We know St. Jude as the patron saint of hopeless cases.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 8:28, he says “that all things work for good for those who love God.” We see this in nature. God uses the dead leaves to fertilize the soil for new life.

Today’s reading from the eighth chapter of St. Paul to the Romans has a particularly beautiful image. He writes: “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”

October is the month dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. It’s also known as respect life month, and yesterday was the feast of a great respecter of life; St. Luigi Guanella. He was canonized in 2013.

In today’s gospel from Mark chapter 10, Jesus heals a blind man named Bartimaeus. The blind man’s prayer is simple: “Jesus son of David, have pity on me.” This was picked up by later Christians and became part of what we know as the Jesus prayer.

Today’s saint is the patron saint of military chaplains; St. John of Capistrano. He was born during one of the worst times in human history; the 14th century when one third of the world’s population died from the Bubonic Plague.  

When Pope Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II, he declared this day to be his feast day, the day on which he was officially inaugurate as pope in 1978. Pope Saint John Paul II, pray for us!

The gospel at Mass today is from the 12th chapter of the gospel of St. Luke. It begins with these words of Jesus to His disciples: ” I have come to set the world on fire, and how I wish it was already blazing.”

St. Paul of the Cross was known for his deep devotion to the passion of Jesus. In the 18th century he founded a religious order named the Passionists. The word passion comes from the Latin word which means “to suffer.”

There are two major shrines built to honor the saints whom we celebrate today; the Jesuit saints of North America. What motivated  these saints was the knowledge of their love of Jesus Christ which they wanted the rest of the world to know.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. In addition to his gospel writing, he is also know for being the author of the Acts of the Apostles.

In the gospel at Mass today, two of Jesus’ closest friends, the brothers James and John who were there at Jesus’ transfiguration, and again at the Garden of Gethsemane, during His agony, bring a request to Jesus.

At the Last Supper, according to the 17th chapter of the gospel of St. John, Jesus prayed for his apostles, consecrating Himself so that they too would be consecrated in the truth.