Embers October 2025

Many thanks to conference chair, Dr. Anthony Oliva, and Mario Dickerson, Linda Donnelly and Carolyn Gretzinger for a beautiful and edifying annual conference in lovely Kansas City, MO. First time attendees said they saw the excitement and joy on the faces of participants. Father Kubat said of the nearly 700 attendees there were even more confessions! Thank you to all the priests who sacrificed their time to minister to us. Bishop James Conley, our episcopal advisor, packed up a beautiful altar, dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and drove it to the conference from Omaha, himself! What a blessing he is to the CMA. Charity abounded as a couple who left home without a car seat for their baby, was provided one through the local guild. Another woman fell at the airport coming off the escalator and was ministered to with exams, a splint and pain meds at the conference. It also was our first joint meeting with the Catholic Bar Association.

Please join us for the ZOOM CMA Prayer Group, Sat., Oct. 11 at 2:00 PM. Come pray with us!

Our theme this month is The Power of Meekness and Humility as we honor St. Thérèse of Lisieux (Oct. 1) on the 100th anniversary of her canonization. She entered the Carmel of Lisieux in 1888 at age 15 with special permission from Pope Leo XIII where she developed her “little way” of spiritual childhood, declaring “love is repaid by love alone” and “do small things with great love.” At age 21 she offered herself as a sacrificial victim and within months developed tuberculosis. Shortly before dying Sept. 30, 1897, she wrote, “I am not dying. I am entering life.” We strongly recommend reading her Story of a Soul. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as Universal Patron of the Missions and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope St. John Paul II.

Pope St. John XXIII (Oct. 11) was drafted into the Italian Army in WW I and during WW II it is estimated he saved up to 24,000 Jews from the Nazis. The oldest elected pope in 200 years at age 76, he convened the Second Vatican Council in 1962. He negotiated the release, with President Kennedy’s help, of Josyf Cardinal Slipyj of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, held captive for 18 years in a Soviet gulag. Read more about him here. Pope St. John’s spirit of humble simplicity, profound goodness, and deep life of prayer radiated in all that he did, and inspired people to affectionately call him “Good Pope John.” We suggest the movie, John XXIII: the Pope of Peace, on FORMED and Jean-Yves Garneau’s Praying With Saint John XXIII.

Pope St. Callistus I (Oct. 14) circa 222 AD, is best known for extending God’s mercy to sinners who repented of grave sins and did public penance, reversing the Church’s previous rigid rules.

St. Teresa of Jesus (Oct. 15), a 16th century mystic and reformer of the Carmelites, was declared a Doctor of the Church, with St. Catherine of Siena, in 1970 by Pope St. Paul VI. They were the first two women to receive that honor. Her deep spiritual contemplative life helped renew the Church during the counter-reformation. One of her famous quotes was, “Always think of yourself as everyone’s servant; look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.” Her book, The Interior Castle is a must-read spiritual classic. Father Thomas Dubay’s Fire Within expounds on the teachings on prayer of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross.

Little is known about SS. Simon and Jude, Apostles (Oct. 28) who were martyred together in Persia for refusing to worship pagan idols, having converted thousands of Babylonians to Christianity. For centuries, Christians were afraid to pray to St. Judas Thaddeus, to avoid praying to Judas Iscariot, so he became known as St. Jude and the patron saint of impossible causes. St. Bridget of Sweden promoted devotion to him.

Lastly, the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk, who worked tirelessly to engage young adults in civil debate about faith and family and Jesus Christ, should not deter us from using every opportunity God presents to us each day to engage in those conversations with humility.

Finally, the book Doctor and Patient, by mystic and physician, Adrienne Von Speyr, is a must-read especially for med students and residents as well as physicians in practice.

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