Reflection for FRIDAY, 19th Week, Ordinary Time.

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest, Bidar


 Today's Gospel Verses 

 Matthew 19:4-6 


 Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? 

 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 

 

Today's Reflection 


In life, when there are options, we have to think about what we really want.

And when we choose one option, it is obvious that we have to say no to the rest.

No matter how we try to accommodate having two options, there is no real possibility of having the best of both worlds. 

In the gospel, Jesus made it clear that from the beginning of creation, it was God who united man and woman in marriage.

And what God has united, no man should ever divide.

Even though there are challenges in the marital relationship, there should be no question of another option.

And that principle of saying “Yes” to a choice and staying committed to that choice can be applied to whatever manner or state of life that we have chosen.

Because the fact is that in life, there will be difficulties and troubles.

So whether it is in marriage, or in the religious life, or in the single state, or in relationships, or at the work-place, there will be challenges and difficulties.

But when we remain steadfast in our choice and take on the challenges and difficulties, then we will discover that we can overcome and be greater than those troubles.

Because God will grant us the grace to grow stronger from those troubles.

And God will also grant His blessings to those who are faithful to Him and remain steadfast in their calling.

 Saint of the day 


August 12 | St. Jane Frances de Chantal

Jane Frances was wife, mother, nun, and founder of a religious community. Her mother died when she was 18 months old, and her father, head of parliament at Dijon, France, became the main influence on her education. Jane developed into a woman of beauty and refinement, lively and cheerful in temperament. At 21, she married Baron de Chantal, by whom she had six children, three of whom died in infancy. At her castle, she restored the custom of daily Mass, and was seriously engaged in various charitable works.

Jane’s husband was killed after seven years of marriage, and she sank into deep dejection for four months at her family home. Her father-in-law threatened to disinherit her children if she did not return to his home. He was then 75, vain, fierce, and extravagant. Jane Frances managed to remain cheerful in spite of him and his insolent housekeeper.

When she was 32, Jane met Saint Francis de Sales who became her spiritual director, softening some of the severities imposed by her former director. She wanted to become a nun but he persuaded her to defer this decision. She took a vow to remain unmarried and to obey her director.

After three years, Francis told Jane of his plan to found an institute of women that would be a haven for those whose health, age, or other considerations barred them from entering the already established communities. There would be no cloister, and they would be free to undertake spiritual and corporal works of mercy. They were primarily intended to exemplify the virtues of Mary at the Visitation—hence their name the Visitation nuns—humility and meekness.

The usual opposition to women in active ministry arose and Francis de Sales was obliged to make it a cloistered community following the Rule of Saint Augustine. Francis wrote his famous Treatise on the Love of God for them. The congregation consisting of three women began when Jane Frances was 45. She underwent great sufferings: Francis de Sales died; her son was killed; a plague ravaged France; her daughter-in-law and son-in-law died. She encouraged the local authorities to make great efforts for the victims of the plague, and she put all her convent’s resources at the disposal of the sick.

During a part of her religious life, Jane Frances had to undergo great trials of the spirit—interior anguish, darkness, and spiritual dryness. She died while on a visitation of convents of the community.


St. Jane Frances de Chantal, pray for us.


 GOD BLESS YOU

Good morning. Have a nice day.

Happy feast of St Jane Frances de Chantal.