Holy Family Catholic Church, Latrobe

Happy Easter everyone! Enjoy this Easter message from Father Rick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d51-_9Y_9C0

One needn’t live a long life to leave a deep imprint. Teresa of Los Andes is proof of that. As a young girl growing up in the early 1900’s in Santiago, Chile, Juana Fernandez read an autobiography of a French-born saintThérèse, popularly known as the Little Flower. The experience deepened her desire to serve God and clarified the path she would follow. At age 19 Juana became a Carmelite nun, taking the name of Teresa. The convent offered the simple lifestyle Teresa desired a...nd the joy of living in a community of women completely devoted to God. She focused her days on prayer and sacrifice. I am God’s, she wrote in her diary. He created me and is my beginning and my end. Toward the end of her short life, Teresa began an apostolate of letter-writing, sharing her thoughts on the spiritual life with many people. At age 20 she contracted typhus and quickly took her final vows. She died a short time later, during Holy Week. Known as the Flower of the Andes, Teresa remains popular with the estimated 100,000 pilgrims who visit her shrine in Los Andes each year. Canonized in 1993 by Pope John Paul II, she is Chile’s first saint. #church #today #sunday #time #catholic #mary #saint #hope #bible #faith #jesus #god #love #christianliving #blessed #inspiration #encouragement #joy

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Today is the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita! For many years, Josephine Bakhita was a slave but her spirit was always free and eventually that spirit prevailed. Born in Olgossa in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, Josephine was kidnapped at the age of 7, sold into slavery and given the name Bakhita, which means fortunate. She was resold several times, finally in 1883 to Callisto Legnani, Italian consul in Khartoum, Sudan.... Two years later, he took Josephine to Italy and gave her to his friend Augusto Michieli. Bakhita became babysitter to Mimmina Michieli, whom she accompanied to Venice’s Institute of the Catechumens, run by the Canossian Sisters. While Mimmina was being instructed, Josephine felt drawn to the Catholic Church. She was baptized and confirmed in 1890, taking the name Josephine. When the Michielis returned from Africa and wanted to take Mimmina and Josephine back with them, the future saint refused to go. During the ensuing court case, the Canossian Sisters and the patriarch of Venice intervened on Josephine’s behalf. The judge concluded that since slavery was illegal in Italy, she had actually been free since 1885. Josephine entered the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa in 1893 and made her profession three years later. In 1902, she was transferred to the city of Schio (northeast of Verona), where she assisted her religious community through cooking, sewing, embroidery, and welcoming visitors at the door. She soon became well loved by the children attending the sisters’ school and the local citizens. She once said, Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know Him. What a great grace it is to know God! The first steps toward her beatification began in 1959. She was beatified in 1992 and canonized eight years later. St. Josephine Bakhita, pray for us! #church #today #sunday #time #catholic #mary #saint #hope #bible #faith #jesus #god #love #christianliving #blessed #inspiration #encouragement #joy

Friends, I was appalled by the recent vote in the Senate on a Born Alive amendment. If bridges can’t be built, we have to raise our voices on behalf the victims.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? #church #today #sunday #time #catholic #mary #saint #hope #bible #faith #jesus #god #love #christianliving #blessed #inspiration #encouragement #joy

Today is the feast of St. Blaise! We know more about the devotion to Saint Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. The Germans hold him in special honor, and for decades many United States Catholics have sought the annual Saint Blaise blessing for their throats. We know that Bishop Blaise was martyred in his episcopal city of Sebastea, Armenia, in 316. The legendary Acts of St. Blaise were written 400 years later. According to them Blaise w...as a good bishop, working hard to encourage the spiritual and physical health of his people. Although the Edict of Toleration (311), granting freedom of worship in the Roman Empire, was already five years old, persecution still raged in Armenia. Blaise was apparently forced to flee to the back country. There he lived as a hermit in solitude and prayer, but he made friends with the wild animals. One day a group of hunters seeking wild animals for the amphitheater stumbled upon Blaise’s cave. They were first surprised and then frightened. The bishop was kneeling in prayer surrounded by patiently waiting wolves, lions and bears. The legend has it that as the hunters hauled Blaise off to prison, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blaise’s command the child was able to cough up the bone. Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia, tried to persuade Blaise to sacrifice to pagan idols. The first time Blaise refused, he was beaten. The next time he was suspended from a tree and his flesh torn with iron combs or rakes. Finally, he was beheaded. #church #today #sunday #time #catholic #mary #saint #hope #bible #faith #jesus #god #love #christianliving #blessed #inspiration #encouragement #joy

Are you looking for an uplifting and incredible faith forming series this Winter and Spring? Join us for our online discipleship course on the Mass. Learn more and register at the link below. Its FREE and only 6 sessions! https://www.holyfamilylatrobe.org/discipleship-series

Beauty is indeed a good gift of God - St. Augustine #church #today #sunday #time #catholic #mary #saint #hope #bible #faith #jesus #god #love #christianliving #blessed #inspiration #encouragement #joy