Daily Gospel Reflection
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October 6, 2021
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
I used to live with a senior priest who was playfully combative—sometimes minus the playfulness. He would often glare at me and growl my patron saint’s name, “Brunooohhhh…he was extreme!” My priestly brother had a point. St. Bruno (d. 1101) founded a community of hermits, the Carthusians, that was so committed to silence it took a papal mandate to force them to talk once a week.
Over time this priest and I became friends…enemies…frenemies? He kept trying to rile me about Bruno and I kept trying to good-naturedly take it. And then one day, he died, but not just on any day. It was on October 6—the feast day of St. Bruno. Soon thereafter, I was tasked with cleaning out this priest’s room and another surprise followed: I found a whole bookshelf dedicated to the Carthusians!
What lay behind these paradoxical connections?
A bit of divine providence, for sure, but I also think it had something to do with the nature of our relationship with God. There’s a dimension of prayer life, of our hearts, that lies hidden and secret, perhaps even to ourselves. It is our original solitude—that intimate private consciousness between God and the individual.
In his humanity, the Lord Jesus must have himself experienced this secret core to his spiritual life and sacred heart. He would often retreat to a private place to pray to the Father, so, when he teaches us how to pray, it really is an amazing revelation! He’s letting us in on the secret of his trinitarian life. He’s revealing the heart of his absolute trust in the Father, a human trust that is at the same time perfectly energized by his own eternal divinity.
May the secret of our spiritual identity hidden with Christ in God be discerned and deepened through the spirit of prayer, and may his Spirit anoint us to pray as Jesus taught us so that our heavenly Father’s kingdom expands into our hearts.
Prayer
Father, we are grateful that you have chosen to have an intimate relationship with each of us, one that is nurtured by the words of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. You seek us out and ask us to be your presence in the world. You also give us the key to your heart, the words to be spoken in our time of prayer. For this we thank you and praise you. Amen.
Saint of the Day
When she saw the great lack of education on the North American frontier as a sickly young girl, Blessed Marie Rose Durocher had no way of knowing that the Spirit would use her life as an important response to that need.
She was born in Quebec in 1811 and given the name Eulalie Melanie. Her parents were prosperous farmers; Eulalie was the tenth of 11 children. Three of her brothers became priests and a sister joined a community of sisters.
Eulalie intended to follow her sister into religious life, but her health was poor and she was sent home from the convent with regrets. The community noted her humility, gentleness, and courtesy, and saw that she was attentive to the voice of God.
Her mother died in 1830, and Eulalie assumed the duties of a homemaker for the family. Later, as secretary and housekeeper, she helped one of her brothers who had become a priest. In that role, she learned how few schools and teachers there were in their frontier province, and began organizing young women in the parish to meet the need.
Her interest and work was noted, and was asked by the bishop to found a new religious community of sisters to provide Christian education in the region. In 1844, Eulalie and two others professed their vows as sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary; Eulalie adopted the name Marie Rose.
The need was extraordinary, and so was the response of young women willing to meet it. Over the course of five years, the order added five convents for 30 sisters who taught nearly 450 children in both English and French. Her work was not without challenges, though—Marie Rose faced slander and lack of resources, but persevered with a strong will and courage.
Always in poor health and worn out from her many labors, Marie Rose died at the age of 38. On her deathbed, she told a sister who was watching with her, “Your prayers are keeping me here—let me go.”
She was beatified in 1982 after the healing of a Detroit man. He was crushed against the wall by a truck and pronounced dead. He recovered after people asked Marie Rose for help.
There were other stories of Marie Rose helping in the case of wildfire threatening people and property in the state of Washington. Sisters from her order who lived in a community in Spokane prayed for her help when a fire threatened their convent. They placed images of Marie Rose in trees around the convent, and the fire changed direction after coming within 15 feet of the chapel.
Blessed Marie Rose Durocher is patron of those who are sick. Today, some 1,000 Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary educate children in Canada, the United States, Africa, and South America.
Blessed Marie Rose Durocher, you were the Canadian nun who brought Christian education to the frontier—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Marie Rose Durocher is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed September 27, 2024.