Nat King Cole: "Straighten Up and Fly Right"

As this blessed draws to a close, I offer this version of Nat King Cole: presenting"Straighten Up and Fly Right":

 

Belated Birthday Blessings, Brooklynn!!!

Belated birthday greetings to niece Brooklynn, who recently celebrated her birthday!!! May each day of the upcoming year be filled with the Lord's choicest blessings!!!

Belated Birthday Blessings, Courtney!!!

Belated birthday greetings to niece Courtney, who recently celebrated her birthday!!! May each day of the upcoming year be filled with the Lord's choicest blessings!!!

Bullying Prevention Month

October is being observed as National Bullying Prevention Month. This observance was initiated by the National Center for Bullying Prevention, an initiative of the PACER Center (Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights). The campaign is designed to unite communities nationwide to educate and raise awareness of bullying prevention.

Background information:

National Bullying Prevention Center: National Bullying Prevention Month

National Bullying Prevention Center

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stopbullying.gov

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the awesome beauty of Your creation.

Pope's Tailor Highlights Dignity of Work

The election of a new pope this past spring has inspired numerous pieces of journalism about our Church. Looking beyond the pieces relating to politics and Church governance, one can find fascinating stories about people whose lives are uniquely intertwined into this moment in history. One such piece is Solène Tadié's recent story for the National Catholic Register about Raniero Mancinelli, who has been tailor to four popes: St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and now Leo XIV. "They each had their own style, their own way," Mancinelli told Tadié. "But I saw in all of them the same desire to serve Christ and the Church."

As a teenager, Mancinelli began working as a tailor under the mentorship of a Salesian priest whom he credits with having "a wise and generous spirit," adding, "I realized early on that what he was giving me was something precious." Now 86 years old, Mancinelli still works by hand out of his shop in the Borgo Pio neighborhood near the Vatican's main gate of Porta Sant'Anna. He laughed off a question about retirement, saying, "Me, retire? No way. In fact, I fully intend to continue serving the next popes!"

Mancinelli's spirit exemplifies the dignity of work as expressed so beautifully 134 years ago by Pope Leo XIII in "Rerum Novarum," an encyclical that established Catholic social teaching during the industrial age and that Pope Leo XIV recently referenced as a document that remains foundational in our own rapidly changing technological age. At the heart of "Rerum Novarum" is the call for the dignity of each individual to be respected in relation to their work. In his encyclical, Pope Leo XIII writes, "Workers are not to be treated as slaves; justice demands that the dignity of human personality be respected in them."

The core message of "Rerum Novarum" has been echoed by every pope that followed Leo XIII. Early in his pontificate, on the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, Pope Francis said, "Work is fundamental to the dignity of the person. Work, to use an image, 'anoints' with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God who has worked and still works, who always acts."

In his encyclical "Laborem Exercens," John Paul II writes, "The word of God's revelation is profoundly marked by the fundamental truth that man, created in the image of God, shares by his work in the activity of the Creator and that, within the limits of his own human capabilities, man in a sense continues to develop that activity and perfects it as he advances further and further in the discovery of the resources and values contained in the whole of creation."

In striving for a standard that all people deserve in their work, it is helpful to look at someone like Raniero Mancinelli because he has such a deep understanding of work's importance to his own human dignity. Tadié writes of Mancinelli, "For him, tailoring is not simply a craft, but a deep calling rooted in faith."

A focus of Tadié's piece is the way in which Mancinelli's work ties into what she describes as "a renewed fascination with Catholic beauty [that] has swept across the world, rekindled in particular by the solemn rites of Pope Francis’ funeral and the conclave that followed." Mancinelli sees this as the work of Providence and notes that, when approached from a Catholic perspective, "Beauty is not an end in itself, but a powerful way of revealing the Person of Christ."

This essay is a recent "Light One Candle" column, written by Fr. Ed Dougherty, M.M, of The Christophers' Board of Directors; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.)

Background information:

The Christophers

Reflection Starter

"The smallest deed is better than the grandest intention." - Source Unknown

"And Can It Be That I Should Gain"

As we continue to live this week, I offer this version of "And Can It Be That I Should Gain":

 

Belated Birthday Blessings, Myrna!!!

A belated Happy Birthday, Myrna!!!

The celebration of a person's birthday celebrates that person and his/her life. Each such person is a gift of God to the world, and each brings his/her own special touch to this world that He made.

You are a truly blessed person, and I am grateful to have you in my life. The gift that you are has touched me (and a multitude of others) in a variety of good ways. Thank you for the many ways You open yourself to the blessings God sends Your way! Thank you for being a blessing to me and to each person whose life you touch!

May each day of the upcoming year be filled with an outpouring of the Lord's choicest blessings!

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings You have planned for us during the month of October.

Fr. Joe Newman, OSFS, on Salesian Joy

"I recently had the privilege of leading a retreat for the Daughters of St. Francis de Sales at the Visitation Monastery in Mobile, Alabama. . . .

"During the retreat, one of the Daughters described their habit in a way that immediately caught my attention. She said, 'Our habit is our smile.' . . .

"In Salesian Spirituality, every genuine exterior action flows from the interior life of the heart. For the Daughters, their 'habit,' their smile, arises from hearts shaped by God's presence in the moment. Those hearts have known both joy and sorrow, comfort and pain, sickness and health. Yet they continue to choose joy. They continue to smile."

In a recent commentary, Father Joe Newman, OSFS, reflected on Salesian Joy as a joy rooted in the Gospel/

To access Fr. Newman's complete post, please visit:

De Sales Weekly: Provincial Reflection: Smile (2 OCT 25)

Reflection Starter from St. Therese of Lisieux

"Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love." - Saint Therese of Lisieux