First Saturday Parish Rosary at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 8/1/2015

Despite how miserably hot it's been lately, our monthly prayer gathering at St. Anthony of Padua Church, went on as scheduled.  Our dedicated group of regulars faithfully showed-up to offer our First Saturday Rosary for Peace, and I am deeply appreciative for each and every one of them.  In addition to praying for World Peace, our Rosary was also offered for the protection of our island state from an approaching storm - Hurricane Guillermo. Each time there's a hurricane watch for Hawaii, it brings with it a general sense of anxiety for our residents and rightfully so... so there was a sense of urgency as we prayed yesterday because of what we could be facing.  Please kindly pray for us, too.

Our August Saint of the Month, who I briefly shared about - St. Jeanne Delanoue (d. 1736) - left our group with a wonderful reminder about life, in general; that true and lasting happiness cannot be gained through material possession... but only through a faith-relationship with our ever-loving God.

You see... St. Jeanne was the owner of a hotel and a religious goods store near a popular Marian Shrine in Saumur, France, so she profited immensely from pilgrims.  Prior to experiencing a solid conversion, her financial success made her worldly and materialistic (she even kept her shop open on Sundays, which was a big scandal in her time)... yet she wasn't completely happy.  Only after she turned her life over to the Lord, and began directing her resources towards caring for orphans and the poor in her community, did she find a sense of worth and joy in her life.  St. Jeanne eventually gave up everything to found the Congregation of St. Anne of the Providence, which is still active today in France and several countries.

St. Jeanne Delanoue,
pray for us.

After our Rosary Prayer ended, many of us went into the main church for the Saturday evening Vigil Mass.  To my surprise, our Fr. Nick's homily was an elaboration of the very same theme that we had just reflected on not too long before.  Father preached that all people are born with a "God-shaped hole" in our hearts that only Jesus can fill; trying to fill that hole with anything else (e.g. wealth, addictions, etc.) simply will not work, leaving us unsatisfied in the long run.  It's truly uncanny how the Holy Spirit harmoniously brings together different aspects of our First Saturday Devotion; without any coordination on our part, the priest had reiterated the message of St. Jeanne Delanoue's life.  

Anyhow, the next First Saturday Rosary will be prayed on September 5th, beginning at 4:25pm.  We invite all to participate and be inspired by the faith-example of our Saints and Blesseds.