Beloved Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. St. Paul speaks to us today about praise of God, thanksgiving for all He receives from each one in His name, for through, with and in God, we receive hope for all time.

The month of October is noted for a number of names. It is the month of the Holy Rosary, placing our attention toward the fiat of our Blessed Mother and reflecting upon how we follow her example in drawing others to know, love and serve her Son, Jesus. During his pilgrimage to Lourdes last month, Pope Leo XIV said, “We will now pray the Angelus together, that simple and beautiful prayer which helps us each day to live in faithful obedience to God’s will, following the example of the Virgin Mary … It was here that the Immaculate Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette with the rosary and, as it were, guided her in prayer.

For this reason, today I invite all the faithful and all Christian communities to pray the holy rosary throughout the coming month of October, with the particular intention that wars may cease and that peace may be established among peoples in conflict. Let us accompany this prayer with concrete acts of penance and mercy, committing ourselves always to fostering dialogue and reconciliation.

The month of October is also known as Respect Life Month, again recalling the beautiful fiat of Mary to accept God’s will and bear a son, Emmanuel, God with us. Mary is asked to give herself and her future history to “the Holy Spirit … the power of the Most High.” She risks everything for the sake of Jesus Christ. There are many of us who offer our lives to God, but only on our terms. Many of us still want control, so we place boundaries on the gifts we are given. Our Blessed Mother surrendered this control and offers docility to place her life completely at God’s disposal. As we pray during Respect Life Month, we pray for all life, from conception to natural death, that we see the perfection of God in each person. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “Our freedom God leaves to us … Because freedom is our own. It is the only perfect gift that we can make to God.” Let us put aside any judgements and pray earnestly for all people, that each one may know the richness of God’s love by our daily living.

It is during this month that we rejoice in the gift of life through the service of Magnify of Central Florida, a non-profit organization of the Diocese of Orlando, whose staff and volunteers magnify the God-given gifts of people with disabilities, celebrating abilities, for they serve adults wholly, knowing they are holy within God’s perfection, while their earthly assessment may be ‘disabled.’ Through Magnify, we enable individuals with disabilities to share their unique abilities with their communities by providing opportunities and telling their stories so that the fullness of each person can be realized within their communities.

Explaining Magnify can only be done knowing its visionary, Sister Elizabeth Marie Stoup, SSJ, who died this year. Sister of St. Joseph Elizabeth Marie Stoup spent her religious life advocating for the sacred dignity of all God’s children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She envisioned a ministry to magnify their abilities and return to God what we have received from Him.

This leads me to also acknowledge the labor of the religious sisters who have ministered to God’s people all these years. The Diocese of Orlando has received the greatness of the Lord by the fiats of the religious sisters who tend to His people. Their humble fiats, magnified by their love of God, leads His people bring forth His goodness and mercy throughout our diocese and to lands beyond. They are the ones who bring God’s hope to each heart. We pray particularly with gratitude for our jubilarians:

50 – Sister Theodozia Namuddu, IHMR

60 –  Sister Ann Kendrick, SNDdeN; Sister Dorothy Sayer, MPF; Sister Marie Skebe, OP

65 — Sister Mary Schifferle, OSF

70 –  Sister Ann Englert, OP.

May our prayers during this month of October unceasingly yield a work of faith and labor of love all our days.