"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Tuesday of the First week of Lent
Saints of the day:
Blessed Thomas (Tommaso) Mary Fusco
Priest and Founder of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood
(1831-1891)
Priest and Founder of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood
(1831-1891)
Thomas Mary Fusco, the seventh of eight children, was born on 1 December 1831 in Pagani, Salerno, in the Diocese of Nocera-Sarno, Italy, to Dr Antonio, a pharmacist, and Stella Giordano, of noble descent. They were known for their upright moral and religious conduct, and taught their son Christian piety and charity to the poor.
He was baptized on the day he was born in the parish of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo. In 1837, when he was only six years old, his mother died of cholera and a few years later, in 1841, he also lost his father. Fr Giuseppe, an uncle on his father's side and a primary school teacher, then took charge of his education.
Since 1839, the year of the canonization of St Alphonsus Mary de' Liguori, little Tommaso had dreamed of church and the altar; in 1847 he was at last able to enter the same diocesan seminary of Nocera which his brother Raffaele would leave afterbeing ordained a priest in 1849.
On 1 April 1851, Tommaso Maria received the sacrament of Confirmation and on 22 December 1855, after completing his seminary formation, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Agnello Giuseppe D'Auria.
In those years, sorrowful because of the loss of his loved ones, including his uncle (1847) as well as his young brother, Raffaele (1852), the devotion to the Patient Christ and to his Blessed Sorrowful Mother, already dear to the entire Fusco family, took root in Tommaso Maria, as in fact his biographers recall: "He had a deep devotion to the crucified Christ which he cherished throughout his life".
Right from the start he saw to the formation of boys for whom he opened a morning school in his own home, while for young people and adults, bent on increasing their human and Christian formation, he organized evening prayers at the parish church of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo. This was a true place of conversion and prayer , just as it had been for St Alphonsus, revered and honoured in Pagani for his apostolate.
In 1857, he was admitted to the Congregation of the Missionaries of Nocera under the title of St Vincent de Paul and became an itinerant missionary, especially in the regions of Southern Italy.
In 1860 he was appointed chaplain at the Shrine of our Lady of Carmel (known as "Our Lady of the Hens") in Pagani, where he built up the men's and women's Catholic associations and set up the altar of the Crucified Christ and the Pious Union for the Adoration of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus.
In 1862 he opened a school of moral theology in his own home to train priests for the ministry of confession, kindling enthusiasm for the love of Christ's Blood; that same year, he founded the "(Priestly) Society of the Catholic Apostolate" for missions among the common people; in 1874 he received the approval of Pope Pius IX, now blessed.
Deeply moved by the sorry plight of an orphan girl, a victim of the street, after careful preparation in prayer for discernment, Fr Tommaso Maria founded the Congregation of the "Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood" on 6 January, the Solemnity of Epiphany in 1873. This institute was inaugurated at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in the presence of Bishop Raffaele Ammirante, who, with the clothing of the first three sisters with the religious habit, blessed the first orphanage for seven poor little orphan girls of the area. It was not long before the newborn religious family and the orphanage also received the Pope's blessing, in response to their request.
Fr Tommaso Maria continued to dedicate himself to the priestly ministry, preaching spiritual retreats and popular missions; and from his apostolic travels sprang the many foundations of houses and orphanages that were a monument to his heroic charity, which was even more ardent in the last 20 years of his life (1870-1891).
In addition to his commitments as founder and apostolic missionary, he was parish priest (1874-1887) at the principal church of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo in Pagani, extraordinary confessor to the cloistered nuns in Pagani and Nocera and, in the last years of his life, spiritual father of the lay congregation at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
It was not long before Fr Tommaso Maria, envied for the good he achieved in his ministry and for his life as an exemplary priest, was faced with humiliation and persecution and, in 1880, even a brother priest's slanderous calumny. However, sustained by the Lord, he lovingly carried that cross which own Pastor, Bishop Ammirante had foretold at the time of his institute's foundation: "Have you chosen the title of the Most Precious Blood? Well, may you be prepared to drink the bitter cup".
During the harshest of trials, which he bore in silence, he would repeat: "May work and suffering for God always be your glory and in your work and suffering, may God be your consolation on this earth, and your recompense in heaven. Patience is the safeguard and pillar of all the virtues".
Wasting away with a liver-disease, Fr Tommaso Maria died a devout death on 24 February 1891, praying with the elderly Simeon: Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word" (Lk 2, 29).
He was only 59 years old! In the notice issued by the town council of Pagani on 25 February 1891 the Gospel witness of his life, known to one and all, was summarized in these words: "Tommaso Maria Fusco, Apostolic Missionary, Founder of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood, an exemplary priest of indomitable faith and ardent charity, worked tirelessly in the name of the Redeeming Blood for the salvation of souls: in life he loved the poor and in death forgave his enemies".
His life was directed to the highest devotion of Christian virtues by the priestly life, lived intensely in constant meditation on the mystery of the Father's love, contemplated in the crucified Son whose Blood is "the expression, measure and pledge" of divine Charity and heroic charity to the poor and needy, in whom Fr Tommaso Maria saw the bleeding Face of Jesus.
His writings, preaching and popular missions marked his vast experience of faith and the light of Christian hope that shone from his vocation and actions. He had a vital, burning love for God; it enflamed his words and his apostolate, made fruitful by love for God and neighbour, by union with the crucified Jesus, by trust in Mary, Immaculate and Sorrowful, and above all by the Eucharist.
Fr Tommaso Maria Fusco was an Apostle of Charity of the Most Precious Blood, a friend of boys and girls and young people and attentive to every kind of poverty and human and spiritual misery.
For all these reasons he enjoyed the fame of holiness among the diocesan priests, among the people and among his spiritual daughters who received his charism, and witness to it today in the various parts of the world where they carry out their apostolate in communion with the Church.
The cause for the beatification of Fr Tommaso Maria Fusco was initiated in 1955 and the decree of his heroic Christian virtues was published on 24 April 2001. The miraculous healing of Mrs Maria Battaglia on 20 August 1964 in Sciacca, Agrigento, Sicily, through the intercession of Fr Tommaso Maria Fusco was recognized on7 July 2001.
With his beatification, Pope John Paul II presents Fr Tommaso Maria Fusco as an example and a guide to holiness for priests, for the people of God and for his spiritual daughters, the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Saint Ethelbert of Kent
Death: 616
King of Kent, England, converted by St. Augustine. He married Bertha, a Christian daughter of King Charibert of Paris, and in 568 fought the West Saxons. Ethelbert was baptized in 597, bringing a large part of his population into the faith. He did not enforce conversions, but he brought the king of the East Saxons and the king of the East Angles into the Church. Ethelbert ruled for fifty-six years, founding the abbeys of Christ Church, Sts. Peter and Paul in Canterbury, and St. Andrew's in Rochester. St. Bedelists him asAedilbert. Tuesday of the First week of Lent
Isaiah 55:10 For just as rain and snow fall from the sky
and do not return there, but water the earth,
causing it to bud and produce,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth —
it will not return to me unfulfilled;
but it will accomplish what I intend,
and cause to succeed what I sent it to do.”
Psalm 34:4 (3) Proclaim with me the greatness of Adonai;
let us exalt his name together.
5 (4) I sought Adonai, and he answered me;
he rescued me from everything I feared.
6 (5) They looked to him and grew radiant;
their faces will never blush for shame.
7 (6) This poor man cried; Adonai heard
and saved him from all his troubles.
16 (15) The eyes of Adonai watch over the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.
17 (16) But the face of Adonai opposes those who do evil,
to cut off all memory of them from the earth.
18 (17) [The righteous] cried out, and Adonai heard,
and he saved them from all their troubles.
19 (18) Adonai is near those with broken hearts;
he saves those whose spirit is crushed.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, don’t babble on and on like the pagans, who think God will hear them better if they talk a lot. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 You, therefore, pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven!
May your Name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need today.
12 Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
13 And do not lead us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
[a]For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.
Amen.’
14 For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.[Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 The latter half of verse 13 is not found in the oldest manuscripts.]
Tuesday of the First week of LentCommentary of the day:
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), founder of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
No Greater Love
The prayer of the children of God
In order for prayer to be fruitful, it must come from the heart and be able to touch God’s heart. See how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Every time we say the “Our Father”, I believe that God looks at his hands, at the place where he has engraved us: “Upon the palms of my hands I have written your name.” (Isa 49:16) God contemplates his hands, and he sees us there, nestling in them. How marvelous is God’s tenderness!
Let us pray, let us say the “Our Father”. Let us live it and then we will be saints. Everything is there: God, myself, my neighbor. If I forgive, I can be holy, I can pray. Everything comes from a humble heart; when we have such a heart, we will know how to love God, how to love ourselves, and how to love our neighbor (Mt 22:37f.). That is nothing complicated, and yet we complicate our lives so much and make them heavy with so many extra loads. Only one thing counts: to be humble and to pray. The more you pray, the better you will pray.
A child encounters no difficulty in expressing its ingenuous understanding in simple words that say a lot. Didn’t Jesus give Nicodemus to understand that we must become like a small child (Jn 3:3)? If we pray according to the Gospel, we will allow Christ to grow in us. So pray with love, the way children do, with the ardent desire to love much and to make beloved the person who is not loved.
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