Feast of Blessed James Alberione

On 26 November 1971, Servant of God James Alberione, the Founder of the Pauline Family, died in Rome just one hour after his holiness Pope Paul VI visited him, brining him the consolation of his apostolic blessing.

In July 1936, James Alberione confessed: "Truly I belong to Jesus Christ with all my powers, everywhere, in all places.

Contemplating rather than meditating on Jesus Christ and striving to discover myself, I have a double mission.

The first is concerning my being: though by nature and grace I am nothing, however, sin has made me horribly deformed.

The second is a heavenly one about Jesus Master, the beloved of the Father, the merciful redeemer in whom we have to be incorporated and by him I have to live as a Christian, a religious and a priest.

Like Peter, I have wept, hoped, prayed and loved; my trust however is greater than all my humiliations".

(A Year with Ven. James Alberione, 2000, St. Paul, India)

The Key of Life

Life essentially is a preparation for eternity: a preparation that is free and supernatural. However, many don't care about it. Be prepared for our eternity:"Man goes to his eternal home" (Ecc. 12:5).

Preparation:

Of the mind, because the paradise is vision of God.

Of the will, paradise being the confirmation of the highest good, God;

Of the heart, heaven being a joy;

Of the body, which is destined to resurrection and to other glorious gifts and the satisfaction of righteous desires.

The preparation of the mind takes place through faith; the preparation of the will is done by observing the commandments and in general by doing God' will; the prepartion of the heart is done by means of grace and by growing in it; the preparation of the body by keeping it subdued to reason and to faith and by mortifying what is illicit.

One Family

The communion of saints is one of the most consoling dogmas of our religion. The souls in purgatory, the blessed in heaven and we form just one family which receives everything from Jesus Christ, the Head.

This is the foundation for our charity towards the dead and of the concern which the struggling Church and the victorious Church have for the suffering souls in purgatory.

In the human body the activity of one part, for example, of the eye or of the hand, benefits the entire body. For the eye does not see only for itself but for the whole body. Thus all the good in the mystical body of Christ benefits each single member and the whole body.