Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the grace of acceptance and its many good fruits.

Bishop Tobin on October Saints

"We’ve just entered a beautiful liturgical season, surely not as prominent as Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter, but a special time for the Church nonetheless. I speak of October, the Season of Saints. While the celebration of saints is scattered throughout the year, it seems that this month has a bounty of beautiful feast days that spark devotion and speak to the Catholic imagination in a particular way."

In a recent commentary, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, of the Diocese of Providence (RI), reflected on the beauty of October and the saints celebrated this month.

To access Bishop Tobin's complete essay, please visit:

Without A Doubt: October: The Season of Saints (1 OCT 15)

Reflection Starter from St. Francis de Sales

"Look at the bees. They suck bitter juice from thyme and by their nature convert it into honey. Devout souls find many hardships, it is true, but in accepting them, they convert bitterness into sweetness." - Saint Francis de Sales

Fire Prevention Week

This week, the week of 4-10 October, is being observed as Fire Prevention Week. This year’s theme is “Hear the BEEP where you SLEEP.”

The theme is designed to remind people that approximately half of home fire deaths result from fires reported between 11:00 PM and 7:00 AM, when most people are asleep and that smoke alarms save lives .

For additional information about Fire Prevention Week and this year's campaign, please visit:

NFPA: Fire Prevention Week

Background information:

National Fire Protection Association

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of laughter.

Fr. Longenecker on the Importance of Laughter

". . . One of the simplest benefits of Pope Francis' ministry is that he seems to like to laugh. In a world that is increasingly deadly, dark, and serious, he is the man in the white suit. He's lighter and takes himself lightly. Laughter is a mark not only of authentic religion, but mature humanity.

". . . Laughter lightens and enlightens the soul. Laughter is a sign of confidence and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, after all, comes from the word 'enthuse,' which is derived from the Greek en theos - or 'God within.' Enthusiasm is a sign of the Holy Spirit's presence, and any religion that is totally dour, sour, and serious is not the religion of Christ the Lord, but the religion of the Anti-Christ - the Dark Lord.

"Laughter, like all emotion, opens the heart, and when the heart is open things get done. There's an old Russian saying, 'The heart moves the feet.' In other words, it is the emotions that motivate. In fact the word 'emotion' and 'motion' and 'motivate' all come from the same root. The mind might be informed, but until the heart is moved nothing moves."

In a recent commentary, Father Dwight Longenecker (parish priest at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Greenville, SC) reflected on the importance of laughter, of taking ourselves lightly, and of radiating an "eternal lightness of being."

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

The Imaginative Conservative: To Laugh Is Human, But Is Comedy Divine? (4 OCT 15)

Related quote from G. K. Chesterton: "Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly."

Background information:

Dwight Longenecker - Catholic priest and author

Reflection Starter from Henry Ward Beecher

"Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety - all this rust of life - ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth." - Henry Ward Beecher

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the many ways in which You touch our hearts when we pray the Rosary.

Joseph Graziano, O.P., on the Light of Eärendil and the Rosary

"In The Lord of the Rings, the Lady Galadriel gives Frodo a gift upon his departure from Lothlórien: a phial, somehow filled with the light of Eärendil, the star that serves as a sort of Polaris or Morning Star to guide the Eldar (elves) to the Undying Lands. When Galadriel gives Frodo the phial, she expresses her purpose for the gift: 'May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.' . . .

"Given by Lady Galadriel and a source of light through prayer, the phial is for us an image of the Rosary. The Blessed Virgin Mary, fairest of all women, gave us the Rosary as a light in dark places. In praying the Rosary, we cry out to Mary the Morning Star that she may guide us to Heaven in her Son. In whispering our Aves, we ask the Queen of Heaven, the Woman robed in stars, for Her aid in the darkest times of life."

In a recent commentary, Brother Joseph Graziano, O.P., reflected on the similarities between the light of Eärendil and the Rosary.

To access Br. Joseph's complete post, please visit:

Dominicana: Lux in Tenebris (7 OCT 15)

Reflection Starter from St. Josemaría Escrivá

"Christian optimism is not a sugary optimism, nor is it a mere human confidence that everything will turn out all right. It is an optimism that sinks its roots into an awareness of our freedom, and the sure knowledge of the power of grace. It is an optimism that leads us to make demands on ourselves, to struggle to respond at every moment to God's call." - Saint Josemaría Escrivá

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the graces You send our way when we are faced with tragedy or other serious challenges.

Hostages’ Hope and Faith Lead to Survival

Considering that Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus were kidnapped, held hostage, and repeatedly sexually assaulted by Cleveland school bus driver Ariel Castro for 10 years, it might seem odd that they named their memoir "Hope." But that word perfectly describes these two young women who endured more darkness than most of us can fathom by relying on their faith in God and the light that was brought into their lives by Berry's daughter Jocelyn, a child of her rape by Castro.

Berry and DeJesus (and a third hostage, Michelle Knight) were all over the news two years ago when they finally escaped from Castro's house of horrors. They recently co-authored their memoir with help from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan (who were Christopher Award winners for their 2006 book The Prison Angel: Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail). Jordan and Sullivan joined me on Christopher Closeup to discuss this horrific, yet ultimately inspiring story.

Berry and DeJesus were just 16 and 14 when Castro lured them into his home (months apart) under the guise of visiting his daughter, who they knew from school. In Berry's case, he chained her to a pole in his cold, dark basement where he abused her every day. Yet Berry refused to let her spirit be crushed because she believed that God had a different plan for her.

Authors Jordan and Sullivan explained that Berry "found a candle with a picture of Jesus on it in the basement, and she would light it and pray. She also found a drawing of Jesus. She put it up beside her bed in the room [to which Castro moved her], and it became a source of strength and hope."

The environment in the house changed when Berry became pregnant with Jocelyn. She saw the new life inside her as a sign of hope, and it bonded her with DeJesus and Knight, who were also able to find joy in this innocent child. Surprisingly, Jocelyn changed Castro as well. Sullivan said, "The baby made him happier, and when he was happier, everyone was happier."

On May 6, 2013, six-year-old Jocelyn opened the door to Berry's room and said, "Daddy's gone." Berry couldn't believe it. In 10 years, he had never left the house with the bedroom doors unlocked. Berry ran downstairs and, with the help of passersby, got out and called for help. The three girls finally achieved their long-awaited freedom. The authors noted, "One of the first things Gina did when she got out, she went to church, lit a candle, and said a prayer for all the other missing girls [in the world]."

In the two years that have passed, Castro committed suicide while in jail. Berry and DeJesus, on the other hand, are full of optimism. Jordan and Sullivan said, "You can come out of difficult things either bitter and broken - or hopeful. They are happy to be young and free…They're going to finish high school…Gina is going to go to New York, and she hopes one day she can have a little store selling clothes. Amanda had a gift for teaching. And both of them want to be advocates for other missing kids."

In addition, the authors describe Jocelyn as "beautiful and vibrant and smart. I think Amanda said, 'I'm not looking as though she is [Castro's] child. She is my child.' And she is. They're extremely close and Jocelyn is a marvelous, infectiously-happy little girl. It's one of several miracles of this story."

This essay is this week's "Light One Candle" column, written by Tony Rossi, of The Christophers; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.)

Background information:

The Christophers