Dear Friend,
I sincerely hope all of you and your
families had a truly blessed Christmas Day, followed by the glow of
this holy season and will continue until Candlemass Day on February
2.
“There is simply not a better way
to get the New Year started than to join with Cardinal
Burke LIVE
on our website as he offers Holy Mass. At 1:00 AM on
the east coast and 10:00 PM on the west coast, coinciding with Monday,
the 1st of January 2024, at 7:00 AM in Rome,
Italy.”
…As
we look back at this past year with
gratitude, one lesson we take away from 2023
is there is NO SUBSTITUTE for the Catholic Church when it comes
together as one body in Christ to save souls in season and out of
season! Therefore, a second lesson we take away is we can never let
up; in fact, we must escalate our work and set our sails to go on
offense.
To make this happen, We NEED YOUR
HELP!
A final lesson we must embrace is
that Hope is the necessary beginning of every strategy
for change. For Catholics, Hope is much more than a
concept, strategy or part of a positive psychology movement to instill
resiliency and positive attitudes. While we all Hope for
a better world, it is natural when times get tough to look to a future
when uncertainty is alleviated and when crisis has passed. During the
interim, it is Hope that will sustain us and help us to
fix our eyes on the other side and to stay focused on our spiritual
life and prayer.
According to the Catechism of the
Catholic Church, Hope along with Faith
and Charity is one of the theological virtues by which we
desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness,
placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own
strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Hope provides the foundation we all need
for the moral life. It is essential for health and well-being, and
helps us to overcome and push away anxiety and panic.
Hope is what provides the strength
that changes the world, that changes us and gives us the things that
make us successful in life.
In a discussion I had with Cardinal Burke
regarding the importance of returning to the fundamentals of our faith
during challenging times, His Eminence pondered, “Perhaps we will
discover we were not attentive enough to our daily personal
relationship with our Lord in which He gives us this Hope and now is a
good time to resume praying the acts of Faith, Hope and Charity we
were taught as children.”
Help
us reach more souls with Hope in 2024
St. Thomas Aquinas has said
that Hope is the theological virtue by which we aspire
with confidence to grace and heaven, trusting God, and being resolved
to use God’s assistance.
In addition to helping people keep their
chin up and remain calm during times of crisis, Hope provides a
yearning to fight against all odds. That in turn brings about the
power to alter history.
So as we set out to change the world and
leave it a better place for our children and grandchildren,
we advance not with a sling and stone as David did when defeating
Goliath, but with a Hope given by God that provides the fuel for the
heart needed to do good and to begin to live life again with more
power and freedom than ever before.
Buoyed
by Hope for 2024,
I want to assure you first and foremost of my continued prayers as
well as those from the hundreds of thousands of Rosary Warriors around
the world.
Once again, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude for all
that you do!
May the God
of Hope fill you with all
joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound
in Hope by the power of
the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.
And, May the Divine Infant Jesus through His Holy
Mother and St. Joseph bless you and your loved ones with many graces
and blessings now and throughout the Christmas
Season!
Surrounded by the radiating love of
the Infant King,
Thomas J. McKenna
Founder and
President
Catholic Action
P.S. If you have not had a chance to
submit
your intentions or would like to update them for Jan. 1 Operation
Storm Heaven, please take a moment now.
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