Mountaintop View

Dear Friends and Family,

Blessed Father's day! Thank you, Dad, for being such a great father to me.

Above is the beautiful view that I am blessed to have a few times a week when I go jogging. I finally carried my phone on the run Friday to take some pictures for you. There is something so uplifting about looking out from a mountain top, gazing at neighboring mountains across the horizon, looking down into the valleys. Perhaps it is because it makes me think of God's perspective looking down on the world, and helps me realize how limited my own perspective is. I'm not sure the reasons, but it is a really beautiful view that I always find refreshing.

This morning I had the blessing of celebrating Mass for a couple's 23rd wedding anniversary--members of the family I'm staying with. Wedding anniversaries are truly worth celebrating today, when it is more difficult than ever for spouses to sacrifice themselves faithfully, day after day, for their spouse and children.

Another of the many blessings of this past week occurred yesterday. I received a note from a mother in Pakistan who has been joining in the Our Lady of Fatima Worldwide Rosary Crusade that I've been leading online. She wrote that she had been unable to pray with us for about 12 days due to an illness, but that her three teenage children had nonetheless continued to pray the rosary daily, along with other prayers. It is good to hear of three teenage children maintaining that level of fidelity to prayer without their mother, and a privilege to be able to pray with them via the online rosary. When I read a bit about Pakistan online, I felt even more honored.

Catholics make up less than 1% of the population, which is about 95% Muslim. Persecution and marginalization have been, and are, very real realities for Catholics in Pakistan. As one of the Pakistani Bishops said in an interview, forgiveness of those who persecute you is something very real for them, something they need to put into practice often. It is also a young part of the Church, with many children. It was a real joy to know that I could be present to a family like that, from all the way in Italy, and could assist in some small way by praying the rosary with them each day.

May God grant us, and Catholics all over the world, the graces of joy, peace, and courage, so that we might be prepared to face whatever God may ask of us in this coming year.

And to all fathers reading this, happy Father's Day!

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari