One of the news services to which I subscribe in order to keep up on Church news is Zenit. On Saturday they ran Archbishop Charles Chaput's recent speech in Slovakia, entitled "Living Within the Truth: Religious Liberty and Catholic Mission in the New Order of the World." It's an excellent speech and one reference toward the of it particularly caught my attention. It was a quote from Sister Blessed Zdenka Schelingová, a Holy Cross Sister who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003. Archbishop Chaput paid tribute to Sister Zdenka, who served as a nurse, and other heroic Catholics who suffered under the Communists. He said: "We need to keep this beautiful mandate of Sister Zdenka close to our hearts." What is that mandate? The following--words which embody the meaning of living a Eucharistic life by making an offering of our day:
“My sacrifice, my holy Mass, begins in daily life. From the altar of the Lord I go to the altar of my work. I must be able to continue the sacrifice of the altar in every situation. … It is Christ whom we must proclaim through our lives, to him we offer the sacrifice of our own will.”
“My sacrifice, my holy Mass, begins in daily life. From the altar of the Lord I go to the altar of my work. I must be able to continue the sacrifice of the altar in every situation. … It is Christ whom we must proclaim through our lives, to him we offer the sacrifice of our own will.”
She's so beautiful! I love this: "From the altar of the Lord I go to the altar of my work." I think that nearly every great saint has said exactly the same thing in one way or another-St. Francis de Sales, Blessed Giorgio Frasati, Mother Teresa, Brother Lawrence and I'm sure there are tons more! Taking God everywhere we go and remembering Him in all that we do is such a simple way to continually pray!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post-I learn so much from you!