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Availability for the Will of God "Tomorrow I will embark and Saturday, the day after tomorrow, I will already be on the high seas on my way to Woodlark. This year, when I sailing to Sydney, on Wednesday of Holy Week, we were overtaken by a hurricane that ripped our sails and snapped our ropes and the top half of a mast. It then drove us hither and thither all over the sea without direction and with little hope, for four days, until the Easter sun shone again like some new thing above us, and we were truly like people raised from the dead. Well, that God who saved me then will be with me again in this journey, and if I do not abandon him, He will be with me always, and while He is with me everything that can happen to me will always be a grace, a blessing for which I should thank Him. If in danger He wants to withdraw, or pretends to be asleep on the bow of the ship, like the Apostle, I will go to wake him and let him see my danger. And then if he does not want to listen, I will say: Lord, command me to come to you, and my soul will walk on the waters, it will go to his feet and be content forever. I do not know what He is preparing for me in the journey I begin tomorrow. I know one thing only, if He is good and loves me immensely, everything else: calm or storm, danger or safety, life or death, are merely changeable and passing expressions of the beloved immutable, eternal Love. Yes, my beloved brethren, we have another country, another home, a kingdom where we must all meet, where there will no longer be separations or departures, where past sorrows and danger will merely serve to increase our consolation and glory." (Blessed John Mazzucconi, P.I.M.E., Missionary in Papua New Guinea where he was martyred in 1855, from his letter before his last journey).
Prayer of Offering one’s life for the Missions (Composed in 1852 by Blessed John Mazzucconi and now recited by P.I.M.E. Missionaries on their departure for the Missions) Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I a poor sinner, with sincere gratitude and love for your infinite goodness, which I had the opportunity to know through your precious grace, and moved in my innermost being by the unutterable misfortune of so many of my brothers who in distant lands have until now been beyond reach of the beautiful light of the Gospel, have decided at the cost of any sacrifice, even should I lose my life, to give myself totally for the salvation of those souls that also cost the Redeemer’s blood. Blessed the day when I will be allowed to suffer greatly for such a holy and humane cause, but more blessed still the day when I should be found worthy to shed my blood for it and to meet death with all its torments. My God, you inspire me with these proposals so much greater than my weak forces, sustain me with that almighty spirit that first filled your holy Apostles. Most Immaculate Mary, our advocate and most loving mother, obtain for us the grace to bring to the ends of the earth the adored name of your divine Son and your sweet name, Mary. Guardian Angels of the nations, Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, St Francis Xavier, pray for us. Prepared by Pontifical University
Urbaniana,
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