— Saint Frances Cabrini —
Ordinary Time Week 32: Thursday
 

“Then he said to his disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.” (Luke 17:22)

Saint Ambrose of Milan offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“Asked by the disciples when the kingdom of God would come, the Lord said, “The kingdom of God is within you,” through the truth of grace and not through the slavery of guilt. Let those that would be free be servants in the Lord. As we share in service, we also share in the kingdom. He said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” He would not say when it would come. He said there would be a day of judgment, so that he instilled in all terror of the judgment to come, and he did not add the guarantee of its postponement.” (Exposition on the Gospel of Luke, 8)



Saint Frances Cabrini

On 31 May 2000, Pope Saint John Paul II penned a letter, «To the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on the 150th Anniversary of Mother Cabrini's Birth.»

In the letter, the saintly Holy Father wrote, “I joyfully join the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in thanking the Lord on the 150th anniversary of the birth of its foundress, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, and the 50th anniversary of her being proclaimed patroness of immigrants.” more ...


Collect
God our Father, Who called
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini from Italy
to serve the immigrants of America,
by her example,
teach us to have concern for the stranger,
the sick, and all those in need,
and by her prayers help us to see Christ
in all the men and women we meet.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen