Devotions from January 31 to February 6
Every day we get up, breathe, love, speak, eat, work… sometimes within a routine that is repeated with little awareness. The week opening before us concludes with the “National Day for Life”: may this be an opportunity to give thanks for every moment of our existence and appreciate the small and great things that make each day unique and special. Let us cherish the most precious gift we have received, life, and become faithful guardians of the lives of those we love, of every person and of every living being.
MONDAY, JANUARY 31
Saint John Bosco
Saint John Bosco is the man who loves young people more than himself and “invents” “preventive” education to reach every boy - even the most difficult one - with that selfless love capable of winning the heart.
He was born in Castelnuovo d’Asti in 1815, into a farming family. His father died when he was only 2 years old. Despite the contrary opinion of his relatives, his mother Margherita - at his side throughout his life - wanted her son to follow a priestly vocation. To pay for his studies, he did a variety of jobs: tailor, carpenter, blacksmith. In 1835 he entered the seminary, and in 1841 he was ordained a priest. He settled in the Turin suburb of Valdocco, where he first opened an oratory (attended by many young people), then a boarding school for students and apprentice craftsmen, and finally workshops where various trades were taught. Through “preventive” education - a highly effective and acclaimed educational method, based on tender and deeply caring love, founded on serene but continuous and constant vigilance - he won over his beloved young people. Over time, his activities on behalf of young people expanded and led to the founding of a Congregation under the protection of Saint Francis de Sales. In 1868, the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, which he had built in three years, was consecrated. He died in Turin in 1888.
To learn more:
• Don Bosco
• Pray, pray, pray
You might also be interested in:
• More articles about Don Bosco
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 1
Novena to Saint Scholastica begins
Scholastica, the sister - according to some biographers, also the twin sister - of Saint Benedict, gives us through her life an example of steadfast and secure fraternal love, not only because it is founded on a blood relationship but also, and above all, because of that unity of purpose with Benedict, which made the two of them one and a single soul in their love for Jesus.
She was born in Norcia around 480. She consecrated herself to God when she was very young and followed her brother first to Subiaco and then, around 529, to Cassino, where she founded a monastery for women near Piumarola. Benedict met Scholastica once a year, outside their respective monasteries. During their last meeting on earth, she asked her brother to stay with her through the night. Benedict replied that the Rule did not permit it. Scholastica, certain of the goodness of her request, prayed with such faith that a storm broke out, forcing Benedict to stay. The sister and brother spent the night talking about their precious experiences of God. Three days later, Benedict had a vision of a dove flying into the sky and thus understood that Scholastica had died. He had her buried in a tomb he had prepared for himself, where he too would be buried five years later. Gregory the Great wrote: «Thus not even death could separate the bodies of the two siblings who, in spirit, were always united in God».
To learn more:
• Prayers to Saints Benedict and Scholastica
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2
Presentation of the Lord
Every February 2, on the liturgical feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the Church celebrates the “World Day for Consecrated Life,” inviting all the faithful to learn more about those who have chosen to follow Jesus more closely and to give thanks to him for the gift they offer to the Church and the world. At the same time, it offers religious men and women the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of their vocation and to renew their total commitment to Christ. The presentation of Jesus in the temple is an eloquent icon «of the total self-giving of their lives for those who have been called to reproduce in the Church and in the world, through the evangelical counsels, the characteristic features of Jesus, virgin, poor, and obedient» (Saint John Paul II).
To learn more:
• On your word, January-February 2022
You might also be interested in:
• Silver ring
• Decade ring
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2
Beginning of the novena to Our Lady of Lourdes
Today begins the novena to Our Lady of Lourdes, which will conclude on the day when the Church also remembers all the sick in the world. May the Mother of Jesus accompany us during these days of preparation and teach us welcome, care, tenderness, concern, attentiveness, and love. We entrust our deepest intentions to her maternal arms, certain that Jesus will not be able to “resist” his mother, Mary.
To learn more:
• Lourdes. The month of February with Mary
• Lourdes. Novenas to the Virgin Mary
• Lourdes. Rosary to the Virgin Mary
You might also be interested in:
• More articles about Lourdes
• More articles about the Immaculate Virgin Mary
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Venerable Thecla Merlo
Tecla Merlo was a prophetic woman, capable of living her time to the full while, at the same time, discerning in the present the fruits that will come from the seeds sown today in the garden of the world. Her joyful energy found a channel through which to flow after meeting Father Alberione: together with him, she founded the Daughters of Saint Paul and became their first superior. She stood out as a caring yet demanding mother, capable of nurturing the talents of “her” daughters and enthusiastically and responsibly occupying the place God had intended for her.
«I am overjoyed by my vocation. I would like to have a thousand lives for the Gospel: may it run and spread». Her life was an authentic race along the paths of evangelical love.
To learn more:
• Trust in God. Novena to the Venerable Sister Tecla Merlo
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6
44a National Day for Life
Everyone needs someone to care for them, to safeguard and protect their life from evil, loneliness, and despair.
Let us think of young people who feel disoriented by the uncertainties of the future; young families who - suffocated by the growing insecurity of today - struggle to make plans; and older people who, because of the difficulties of the present, are even more alone and afraid. Let us think of all the “new poor” who cannot make it to the end of the month because of unemployment, exploitation, and insecure work.
«The response that every vulnerable life silently calls for is care. As a Christian community, we continually experience that when a person is welcomed, accompanied, supported, and encouraged, every problem can be overcome or at least faced with courage and hope»; this is what the Italian bishops remind us in their message for the 44tha National Day for Life. So let us become guardians and bearers of new hope for those who feel trapped in a dead end, opening new paths toward a full life.
To learn more:
• Let us educate our children
• Biblical crown for the gift of children
• Prayers for those who are unable to have children
• Welcome... on tiptoe
You might also be interested in:
• Baptism gift ideas
Every day is the right day to begin again, to get back up and resume our journey, to savor the uniqueness of every moment.
Let us look within ourselves and around us: we will discover that the gifts life continually gives us are so numerous that we cannot thank it for them all, but... let us try; and the unthinkable will happen: joy will become our faithful companion even when the sky is full of clouds.
