CHICLAYO AGAIN

 

 

A statue of Pope Leo XIV has been unveiled in CHICLAYO, his former episcopal city in Peru. 

As part of the celebrations on Thursday, Chiclayo's  bishop Edinson Farfán celebrated Mass and blessed the sculpture. He asked Pope Leo XIV to "always protect us with his blessing and to always accompany us".

The statue, which is around  16 feet high, is made of white fiberglass and resin and weighs around half a ton. It was designed by Peruvian artist Juan Carlos Ñañake. It stands at a roundabout at the southern entrance to the city of Chiclayo, which the local authorities plan to rename the "Papal Oval". 

It is part of a new tourist route called "Ways of Pope Leo XIV", which will include 38 places of interest in four provinces where the Holy Father left his mark during his time in Peru from, 1985 to 2023.

On the occasion of its unveiling, the governor of the Lambayeque region, Jorge Pérez Flores, emphasized that Pope Leo XIV "is a Peruvian who has walked with us and is certainly always with us with his prayers for the well-being of the Peruvian people". 

Pope Leo had addressed the faithful of the Chiclayo diocese in the main loggia of St Peter's Basilica during the first speech after his election as Pope on 8 May, assuring them of his closeness.

A SLOWER LIFE

 

I have been remiss in keeping up with Blogs.  It has been a very busy summer, especially in the garden. Our now small garden with 12 metal container beds (looking like something from Star Trek) have produced an abundance of veggies and flowers. At its peak the garden looked like a jungle. For the first time in many years I made gallons of tomato sauce for the freezer. Now that life has slowed and the weather turned cold, I promise more saints or saints to be- there are over two dozen waiting! Photo below shows Mother Dilecta, gardener, sacristan, poet, and avid sports fan, especially of the Mariners!

THE FEAST OF HEAVENLY FRIENDS

 

Today we celebrate the feast of ALL SAINTS.  Since this Blog is dedicated to saints, we especially remember our modern heavenly friends who we know are rooting for us in our own journey towards the Father.

Pope Benedict XIV said:
“To canonize a servant of God, it will suffice to have enough evidence that he practiced the virtues he had the chance to practice in a sublime and heroic way according to his circumstances and his station.”

Consequently, as Henri Joly says,
“the Church has numbered in the rank of saints not only monks, along with princes and princesses, kings and queens, emperors and empresses, but also merchants, teachers, greengrocers, farmers, shepherds, lawyers and doctors, bankers and clerks, beggars and servants, craftsmen, shoemakers, carpenters and blacksmiths.”

The rather widespread notion that the saints were not like us is simply false. They also were subject to temptation, also fell and got up again, felt oppressed by sadness, weakened, and paralyzed by discouragement.

However, mindful of the words of the Savior: Apart from me you can do nothing
(Jn 15:5), and those of Saint Paul: I have strength for everything in him who strengthens me (Phil 4:13), they did not rely on themselves, but, putting all their trust in God, after every fall, they humbled themselves; they sincerely repented, cleansed their soul in the sacrament of penance, and then set down to work with even greater fervor.

In this way, their falls served them as steps toward an ever greater perfection and they became lighter and lighter. When Saint Scholastica asked her brother Saint Benedict what was needed to achieve holiness, she received this reply: “You must want to."      St. Maximilian Kolbe