Elizabeth’s spirituality of the Indwelling Trinity can be expressed by her words, “There is a being who is Love and who wants us to live in communion with Him.” She saw her life as an intimacy with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; heaven on earth, but in the darkness of faith.
Mother Mary Crucified was the superior of the first convent of Passionist Nuns. Through this role and because of her profound sharing in St. Paul's charism she is also called "co-foundress" of the Passionists. In 1982 Pope John Paul II approved the document declaring that she had practiced heroic virtue and should be called "Venerable." We await the day of her beatification!
Blessed Grimoaldo of the Purification, born Ferdinando Santamaria, a religious and clerical student of the Passionist Congregation, born on May 4, 1883 in Pontecorvo, Frosinone, Italy; died November 18, 1902 at Ceccano, Italy. Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995.
Some among the Jews offered them to God in their infancy, by the hands of the priests in the temple, to be lodged in apartments belonging to the temple, and brought up in attending the priests and Levites in the sacred ministry. It is an ancient tradition, that the Blessed Virgin Mary was thus solemnly offered to God in the temple in her infancy.
In the city of Rome there was a Christian virgin named Cecilia, who came from patrician family and was given in marriage to a pagan youth named Valerian. During her wedding ceremony she was said to have sung in her heart to God and before the consummation of her nuptials, she told her husband she had taken a vow of virginity and had an angel protecting her.
The Solemnity of Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as an antidote to secularism, a way of life which leaves God out of man's thinking and living and organizes his life as if God did not exist. The feast is intended to proclaim in a striking and effective manner Christ's royalty over individuals, families, society, governments, and nations.
According to the New Testament, Andrew was born in the village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee during the early first century. Much like his younger brother, Simon Peter, Andrew was also a fisherman. Andrew's very name means strong and he was known for having good social skills.
Blessed Bernard Mary of Jesus, born Caesar Silvestrelli, a priest and religious of the Passionist Congregation, hailed as the ‘Second Founder’, born on November 7, 1831 in Rome, Italy; died December 9, 1911 at Moricone, Italy. Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
On the Holy Night, may all of you be reborn in the Divine Word‑Made‑Man to a completely holy life, rich in all the virtues of Jesus Christ, especially true humility of heart, obedience, and meekness, along with true patience, which "has a perfect work." In this way all of you will make yourselves fit instruments for the glory of God and the profit of souls.
I would wish that you celebrate Christmas in the poor stable of your heart, where the gentle Jesus will be born spiritually. Present this poor stable to Mary Most Holy and to Saint Joseph so that they may adorn it with virtues so the Divine Infant will be happy there. Sleep with him on the crib of the cross, and at the divine lullaby that Mary Most Holy will sing, go to sleep with the Divine Infant, being in union with his heart.
I desire that your heart be the crib of the gentle Infant so that he may be born there mystically; and that will happen if you will be faithful, as I hope, in keeping yourself hidden in interior solitude, sleeping like the Infant on the Cross and making all your afflictions die in the fire of divine charity with a true, silent, and total abandonment to the Will of God.
If you will be faithful, as I hope, then that spiritual Divine Birth will take place in the temple of your soul not only now, but always, provided you remain faithful and alone in your interior, reposing your spirit on the bosom of God in a sacred silence of faith and holy love.
I will offer you feastday greetings in prayer from the holy altar, both during this novena and in the coming holy solemnity. I have strong hope that in your blessed soul there will take place your Divine Birth in the Divine Word, for I hope that you are always more a friend of interior solitude and of staying in the bosom of God, for that is the place of holy, pure, and elevated prayer.
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The Passionist Bishop and Martyr Eugene Bossilkov was born November 16, 1900 in Belene (Bulgaria), a village in the Danube Valley. He was executed in the prison (left) at Sophia on the night of November 11, 1952 at 11:30 P.M. His body was thrown into a common grave for criminals; the precise location of his burial place and his body is unknown.