We are all called to be holy
Sunday, October 5, 2008
*John C. Favalora
Happy 50th anniversary!
This weekend, all Catholics in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties celebrated the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Archdiocese of Miami. Through the marvels of modern video technology, I preached in English, Spanish and Kreyol at all Masses in our 118 parishes and missions! At the end of Mass, copies of my pastoral letter, �The Rosary: A Prayer for the Family� were distributed. This was a wonderful way to celebrate our unity in Christ and our communion in the Catholic Church.
During the jubilee year, we have reflected on the many graces and blessings which the Lord has provided for the church in South Florida these past 50 years. Each week there was a special jubilee teaching, summarizing important aspects of our Catholic faith, doctrine and worship. The archdiocesan website has been a special means of communication about our jubilee year. Parishes, schools, ecclesial lay movements and so many other groups have used this year as a time to renew their commitment to the Lord and the church. I am very grateful to our priests and all who have worked so hard to make this year a time of grace.
In my pastoral letter, I have tried to apply what we see in the Holy Family to what we see in our own family life � to see that Jesus and Mary and Joseph lived a life very much like all of you, like all of us. They were a family and the same things that happen to you in your families happened to them in their family.
So it is important, as we meditate on the mysteries of the rosary, that we make those connections. Because we call them a holy family but we are also supposed to imitate them and be holy families. I have written a series of 20 meditations, one on each of the Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous and Glorious Mysteries of the rosary, in hopes that we will be able to rejuvenate, resuscitate and reinstate a devotion to the rosary here in south Florida, and particularly a devotion to the family rosary.
I commend this letter to you, and ask you to be ambassadors in your homes and communities for celebrating the rosary, particularly as a family. You can read the pastoral letter by clicking here. I hope that the reflections contained in my pastoral letter will assist you and all of the families in the archdiocese to grow closer to the Lord and in pursuing what the Vatican Council defined as the goal for all lay people as well as for religious and priests, which is the universal call to holiness of life.
We are all called by God to be holy, not just the Holy Family. The universal call to holiness belongs to all of us.
I urge you to take this opportunity to read my pastoral letter, reflect on it and put it into practice with your families.
May God who has begun the good work in us continue to bring it to perfection.
Most Reverend John C. Favalora
Archbishop of Miami
Comments from readers
Please pray for me!
Thank you for your loving guidance. I am always delighted to hear you encourage us to live our Catholic faith. Today you remind us of the importance of the "domestic church" by centering on the Holy Family. More than ever the "domestic church" is instrumental if our Catholic faith is to be more than "just one hour on Sunday." You remind us that our homes should reflect our Catholic identity.
I am sometimes saddened when well-meaning people will disparage "Catholic Culture" and traditional forms of piety in order to exalt the "Social Message of the Gospel." To propose Christianity primarily as a political solution diminishes Catholicism's specific nature as an encounter with the living God. Especially today, our Catholic culture is a bulwark against the disorder that is part of the world in which we must live and spread the Gospel.
The opposite tendency is to make our faith solely a private matter, without any relevance outside our own private thoughts. To see our Catholic faith as only pious practices misses the point of our faith. We are called to put the Gospel into action, especially in this election year. Christ does not ask us to take up his Cross only to have us leave it at the voting booth door. In my experience, traditional forms of piety console and strengthen us to live as Christ would have us live. Our children learn this most effectively at home, in the domestic church.
May the Lord continue to bless you according to the perfect intercession of the Immaculate Conception
Luis Estrada
faithandreasoninmiami.blogspot.com/