Today's Pause+Pray is in honor of Pope John Paul II! 😇
August 13, 2024
Dear John,
Thank you for your warm welcome as I join Franciscan Media as the new president and publisher. You are such an important part of our mission!
So where does Franciscan Media go next? Or, to put it another way, why am I here? The next step forward for us, as I see it, is actually a step back—far back! The future of our organization can be found in the rediscovery of a pivotal experience in the life of St. Francis: when he heard God say to him, “Rebuild my Church.” This call came to Francis while he was kneeling before a crucifix in the church of San Damiano, which was in disrepair. Upon hearing God’s call, Francis immediately began to stack stones, one upon the other.
We continue to offer this newsletter as a stone, a free subscription designed to enrich your spiritual life. Minute Meditations draws us to inner reflection. We find strength and solace in the lives of the saints, as in Saint of the Day. And we offer a simple way to pray, through Pause+Pray, providing an easy structure to create a daily routine.
I see us moving forward, together, continuing the work of St. Francis and his example of guiding both the faithful and the fallen away back home. And there will continue to be new stones to stack that will support the rebuilding of God's Church.
With profound gratitude,
Deacon Matthew Halbach, PhD President & Publisher,
The eldest son of an immigrant Irish family in Connecticut, young Michael left school at 13 to work in a brass factory making spoons. At 16 he began studies for the priesthood in Quebec, but was obliged to leave to help support the family when his father died. Michael completed his education in Baltimore, Maryland, and was ordained for the diocese of Hartford in 1877.
Assigned to St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven, Fr. McGivney was very active in parish and civic affairs, serving as director of public plays and fairs. He volunteered to become the guardian of Alfred Downes, a minor whose father had died leaving a large family in poverty. This situation as well as his own family’s circumstances and that of other immigrants impressed on Fr. McGivney the need for lay Catholic men to establish a mutual aid society to provide financial assistance for their families if the primary wage earner died. Protestant fraternal groups already provided this type of life insurance protection for their members.
In 1882, Fr. McGivney formed the Knights of Columbus among a small group of St. Mary’s parishioners to promote charity, unity, and fraternity, assisting widows and orphans. Because of the Knights’ emphasis on serving Church, community and family, the organization grew and did not remain strictly parish-based. Patriotism was added as a founding principle in 1900.
Father McGivney died from pneumonia in 1890 and was buried in Thomaston, Connecticut. Later his body was moved back to St. Mary’s in New Haven where it remains today. He was beatified in 2020.
Reflection
Michael Joseph McGivney was a genuine pastor who, in the words of Pope Francis, was unafraid to share “the smell of his sheep.” He promoted families whose members were strong in their faith expressed through generous following of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In a decree read at the beatification Mass, Pope Francis praised Fr. McGivney’s “zeal and the proclamation of the Gospel and generous concern for his brothers and sisters.” These “made him an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance.”
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St. Clare, to help celebrate her feast day on August 11th!
Sometimes the best way to pray is not to pray. In times of pain or anxiety or sorrow, praying might only increase the awareness of our misery and make us even more agitated or afraid. We pray in panic or desperation, bartering with God, begging God for a miracle. The harder we pray, the more desperate we feel.
God already knows; God is already working. What we need to do is slow down, try to enter into quiet and breathe in God like silent air. Calm down, stop pleading, let go and receive. But receive what? I believe what we receive when we manage to calm the mind and heart is our innate capacity to give ourselves what we need. Inside us is the power to neutralize for a time whatever is causing us pain or anxiety. Even the simple act of focusing on breathing in and out slowly, rhythmically, can calm us more than praying in an agitated state. Then, in the calm, the silence and peacefulness, God speaks. We hear God in the pauses, the quiet between.
Helping its readers become more joyful, loving peacemakers by exploring many of the issues that are facing the Church and the world today, through a Franciscan lens.
When Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II in 1978, he was an avid skier, hiker, and swimmer. But during his nearly 27-year pontificate, age and health issues caught up with him, as they do with us all. Even when he was in pain and unsteady, the pope continued to evangelize in person, including trips to Switzerland and France less than a year before his death.
Pray
St. John Paul II, help me to serve God even on the days my feet hurt and my head aches.
Act
Send a card or email or make a phone call today to someone who isn’t as physically active as he or she once was.
Today's Pause+Pray was written by Melanie Rigney. Learn more here!
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