May 13... a day with a lot to celebrate!

Added to the Ascension of the Lord that we celebrate today this year, we have quite a few other things to remember to thank God for...

As the world raves over celebrating today what they really do not even understand (the so-called Mothers' day), we Catholics really do have a mother to celebrate today! Our Blessed Mother of Fatima...a great revelation by the Mother of God, 101 years ago. inspired by the love that she has for her Son and for the children she has begotten because of her Son! The Fatima phenomenon has been a great mysterious show of God's love in the past century and it continues to be so! May our blessed mother continue to guide and encourage us.

Yet another event that we cannot miss today is something that happened this day 37 years ago: the Assasination Attempt on Pope Saint John Paul II. Ali Agca, who shot at the Saintly Pontiff was chosen specially to accomplish that task and naturally he was a sharp shooter. But when he missed accomplishing the task, he was intrigued and when Pope John Paul II went to meet him in the prison after his surgery and recuperation, the first question Agca asked was, how come I missed that aim! And the smiling Pope seemed to have retorted: You might have chosen the right gun and the right spot but you chose the wrong day! 

There is yet another remembrance today (though liturgically this year it has to be celebrated tomorrow, that too only by the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco): the Feast of St. Mary Mazzarello, a saintly young girl who turned into a mature and seasoned leader by her mere dedication to grow in this love of the Lord. Everything you do, do it for the love of God, she would say! Her yearning for sanctity, the right persons she met in her life (Fr. Pestarino and Don Bosco), and the extraordinary love that she had for the Lord took her all the way to her sanctity.