November 2009 Family Newsletter GLOBAL CATHOLIC NETWORK By Deacon Bill Steltemeier “Jesus emptied Himself that we might be filled – filled, not for our sakes alone, but for the sake of our neighbor. He showed us how to accept indifference, during His Infancy. He showed us how to accept loneliness, during His Hidden Life. He showed us how to accept success, by His attitude to the crowds proclaiming Him King. He showed us how to accomplish God’s Will in the Agony in the Garden. He showed us how to accept pain, insults and death, on the Cross.” — Mother Angelica Dear Family, On the 13th of this month we celebrate the memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. She is the first United States citizen to be canonized. She is the Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Truly, she is an extraordinary missionary – establishing nearly 70 orphanages, schools, and hospitals. While she and Mother Angelica clearly have different missions, their spirits are both imbued with that missionary zeal that sees beyond the horizon. On the day of the canonization of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (July 7, 1946), Cardinal Samuel Stritch of Chicago made a poignant statement: She was not a humanitarian; she was an HEROIC LOVER OF GOD. In her missions of charity, in her achievement of the impossible, it was not genius; her secret was DIVINE LOVE. This is the same distinction we often hear regarding Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: She was not a social worker – she was a missionary. Her ‘success’ flowed from her LOVE for CHRIST. And no one knew this better than she did! And so it is with Mother Angelica. Did she begin EWTN from a desire to get into media and succeed? No, on the contrary, she got into the media to bring Christ there – to reach the souls in most need of His Mercy. It was her love for Christ that impelled her! St. Frances Xavier Cabrini once said: We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone. What a strong woman! What an amazing missionary! She knew the truth of the Scripture passage in 2 Corinthians which states: power is made perfect in weakness. Cardinal Stritch went on to say the following about Mother Cabrini’s religious missionary life: This is the wonderful story – a romance that is gripping and striking. It is the story of a woman who lived among us, who saw the things which we see, a woman in whose soul Divine Love had consumed the last remnant of self, who came to love only God, and who saw God in every poor man, woman, and child. She loved us. This is what it means to be a missionary. It is to fall so deeply in love with God that we forget about self and desire that all souls love Him as we do! Family, missionary life is not reserved for those serving in third world countries; it is not reserved for priests and religious; it is not reserved for the extraordinary. We are all called to be a part of the marvelous love story between God and His people. We are all called to bring Christ to those who are most in need of His mercy. Our mission territory may be our backyard or it may be our workplace. Whatever the case, we can all be missionaries! Let us invoke the intercession of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini! In Jesus and Mary, Deacon Bill Steltemeier Chairman