Feast of Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro

Good morning. Without a doubt life is a challenge. Nothing is predictable. Life can be a very frightening and uncertain journey for each of us. The 19th century philosopher, known as the “father of existentialism” Soren Kierkegaard suggested that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” This uncertainty we all face is certainly a major piece of the challenge married life faces in current day society. We live in a culture that truly challenges our capacity to be comfortable in embracing our own beliefs, in reliably accepting what is real. We are bombarded daily with media that is skewed and deceptively engineered to cause us to question what is truly believable. Repeatedly advertising attempts to create for us false needs, blinding us from appreciating what is truly good for us. Our highly commercialized and pluralistic society daily chips away at our understanding of what is authentically right and wrong; its impact on marital relationships is multiple, but foremost it diminishes people’s certainty regarding issues of trust and commitment. I’m reminded of Thomas Merton’s reflective words:

"This is not the official voice of Trappist silence, the monk with his hood up and his back to the camera, brooding over the waters of an artificial lake. This is not the petulant and uncanonizable modern Jerome who never got over the fact that he could give up beer (I drink beer whenever I can lay my hands on any. I love beer, and by that very fact, the world.) who This is simply the voice of a self-questioning human person, like all his brothers, struggles to cope with turbulent, mysterious, demanding, exciting, frustrating, confused existence in which almost nothing is really predictable, in which most definitions, explanations and justification become incredible even before they are uttered, in which people suffer together and are sometimes utterly beautiful, at other times impossibly pathetic. In which there is much that is frightening, in which almost everything public is patently phony, and in which there is at the same time an immense ground of personal authenticity that is right there and so obvious that no one can talk about it and most cannot even believe that it is there."

On the other side of this issue however there are couples who are able to face the challenges of our age, who not only do not allow their marriages to crumble but whose marriages actually thrive, who live daily lives which bring them much joy and goodness. These couples experience a deep sense of communion with each other and their children. What is the secret to this? The secret is in how we arise each day and choose to live our life. It is what it has always been, what the first reading from the Book of Daniel and our Lord in today’s Gospel reminds us of that the handwriting is on the wall—our help is in the name of the Lord! As the Psalmist reminds us “He shall sustain you.” If we begin each day placing our cares with God, this faith will provide us with the love and support needed to build and maintain the sense of openness necessary to entrust our entire self to each other and commit ourselves in a way that makes a lasting marriage possible. The handwriting is on the wall! In the words of Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro, whose life we commemorate today, “Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee.” Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and works of Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro. “Long live Christ the King!” “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”