Today’s Word:
“This is the day that the Lord has made.” (Psalm 118:24)
On This Date…
On September 23, 1968 Franciscan Father Pius (Padre Pio) died in his monastery in Italy at age 88; he had experienced the wounds of Jesus on his own body beginning in 1910, resulting in much loss of blood and great pain. He drew many to his confessional, to confess their sins and receive his counsel. He was canonized on June 16, 2002.
On September 23, 2015, at 4:15 PM today, Pope Francis will canonize Father Junipero Serra, also a Franciscan priest, at a Mass on the campus of Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, the first canonization to be held in America. Father Serra founded nine missions in California before his death on August 28, 1784.
At 9:30 AM today Pope Francis was welcomed to the White House by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden (Archmere, Class of 1961). Both the President and Vice President met Pope Francis at the airport yesterday.
Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish Year. The feast began at sundown last evening; the sound of the ram’s horn invited Jews to remember the dead, atone for misdeeds of the past year, and ask God for another year of life.
Tonight at sundown Muslims will begin the celebration of Eid al-Adha, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice, which recalls the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, in response to God’s request. Muslims will beg for mercy from God, who, in the end spared the life of Isaac.
At 4:21 AM EDT today Fall began, with the autumnal equinox (“equal night”); there is equal amounts of day and night. The Heritage Dictionary notes that Autumn is “a time or period of maturity verging on decline.” However, on this day, as we recall Padre Pio and Father Serra, Yom Kippur and Eid al-Adha, we say, as President Obama said to Pope Francis this morning, “This is the day that the Lord has made”.
– Father McLaughlin
