DAILY WORD of BLESSED JAMES ALBERIONE 2022
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of our founder, Blessed James Alberione, we will reflect on his words and use them as our daily guide.
PRAYER INTENTION for JANUARY
We receive the life of grace in baptism, we increase it in confirmation, we repair it in penance, we perfect it in the Eucharist. We must unite with Jesus Life by increasing the grace in us with Mass, Meditations, Communions, Visits. Then it happens that the mind, the will, the heart become Jesus’ (PrP I, 11).
To not fall short in one’s duty as a press apostle that requires giving the true doctrine, the good in morals and the beautiful in appearance, does not mean one has to write always about religion. One needs, however, to write always in a Christian way (AE, 159).
If the apostle writer wants to undertake a work for God’s glory which will be of benefit to himself and to others, he should be an upright person, observant of the natural and Christian precepts, putting his trust in God. He should work in God’s presence, aiming for God and making every word that flows from his pen the serious object of his examination of conscience (AE, 151-152).
Lord, let me always walk in the light... Allow me to begin on earth a perfect worship of your Majesty, so that I can continue it in heaven (BM, 521).
Reflect that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became our Way and that by following Him we can reach the Father and heavenly glory. Consequently, we promise to study these divine examples so as to reproduce them in our own life (AE, 96).
Cornelius a Lapide says: «The Gospel is Christ’s book…; it is the most joyful message of the Redemption. For this reason, to read or to hear the Gospel is to listen to or to hear the very voice of the Son of God. The Gospel must be listened to with as much reverence as we would listen to Jesus Christ himself» (AE, 127).
After Jesus was baptized and was praying, the heavens opened and the voice of the heavenly Father was heard, who revealed, manifested (epiphany means manifestation) his Son... It was like a presentation to men so that they may hear, follow him (APD57, 11).
The apostle will never lack God’s grace if he has made the necessary intellectual, moral, and spiritual preparation; if he writes in God’s grace, or rather, with a heart that is full of love of God and of his fellow human beings, and he seals his work with prayer and sacrifice (AE, 143).
So that his writings would be the true way that leads to Heaven, the apostle must model himself on the Bible. In other words, he must explore the same kind of argument, in the same way and with the same aim (AE, 160).
Let prayer precede, accompany and follow up the apostolate. Let the apostle make his own the prayer of Jesus, «That they know you… and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ», and he will thus share in the eternally saving efficacy of the same (AE, 166).
It is not the aim of the press apostle to propose scientific or literary works as such; nor to spread his own or other people’s ideas. His exclusive aim is to spread God’s revealed truths as given to us by the Church, and what leads to these truths (AE, 162).
The press apostle must resolve, in his writings, to have the same goal that God had in writing the Holy Book: God’s glory and the salvation of souls (AE, 161).
The reason behind God’s giving human beings his ineffable gift of Holy Scripture was love. This same love must inspire the apostle to write (AE, 166).
Just as one who receives the sacred Host partake of heavenly nourishment of incomparable energy, likewise one who nourishes himself on the words of the Bible experience an inner divine fire of inexpressible action that penetrates the soul and renews it spiritually (AE, 170).
As Jesus Christ ardently desires us to receive him in the Holy Eucharist, instituted precisely for us, so God desires we should read what he has written for us in the Bible (AE, 172).
The spirit that permeates the Bible and brings it to life sets it apart from other books. It is the great sacrament of the Word of God. From its pages glows the divine fire of the Holy Spirit just as in the sacramental species there is the living divine person of Christ (AE, 170).
Just as the Word of God became incarnate in the most pure womb of the holiest of Virgins, and the Eucharist is kept in ciboria of precious metal, so is it fitting that the word of God be clothed in the noblest form (AE, 142).
The apostle of the edition has to distinguish himself for a particular characteristic, which is that of the veneration of Holy Scripture (AE, 121).
Follow Jesus Christ Way – walking in his steps (adherence of one’s will). Follow Jesus Christ Truth – listening to his doctrine (adherence of one’s intellect). Follow Jesus Christ Life – living in his love and in his grace (adherence of one’s sentiment and spirit) (AE, 39).
We must do like St. Paul, who turns to Jesus and says to him: «Lord, what do you want me to do?». And as soon as God’s will is known, he is immediately ready without waiting for anything else, and acts immediately (APim, 66).
To give the Gospel to men: this is our daily sigh, this is our prayer (RSP, 82).
The best adornment in an editorial office is a depiction of the Evangelists; the best sign and object of veneration is the Gospel opened at the words: «The seed is the word of God»; the most precious reference book is a Bible with an extensive commentary by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church (AE, 163).
The mind of the writer will gradually acquire the delicate and marvellous knowledge of the adorable word of God in a way that, without realizing it, he will instil it in his writings (AE, 163).
The press apostle needs to learn the divine language in order to instil it into his works. These will be effective to the degree that he speaks of God and not of himself (AE, 162).
The writer must be penetrated with the content of the divine Book in order to instil it! And he will succeed if he has the constancy of making the Bible his daily reading and meditation… with that filial fondness for listening to and emulating wholeheartedly his heavenly Father (AE, 163).
The Holy Gospel in particular and the books of Holy Scripture, that is, the Bible, in general, as given to us by the Church, constitute the press apostle’s essential undertaking (AE, 168).
The Bible is God’s long letter addressed to human beings, calling them to heaven… It is the divine Book. It embodies the laws to be practiced and the truths to be believed; it indicates, reveals and prepares the means of grace in order to believe and to act as God’s children so as to reach the goal (AE, 159-160).
Through the press apostolate, books, periodicals, and other publications acquire effectiveness in virtue of the Bible… The more they draw from, adhere to, depend on, reproduce, show devotion to and apply the Bible, and the Gospel in particular, the greater will be their effectiveness (AE, 165).
St. Paul was converted from a persecutor into a great apostle... The Church makes us repeat every day: «Lord, convert us». She means that we all need a bit of conversion! (APim, 263).
«What should I do, Lord? ». This expression indicates the full conversion of Saul; and at the same time the full disposition to the will of God. Now true holiness lies precisely in conformity to the will of God and abandonment in his hands (APim, 237).
Let us be convinced that St. Paul is a very tender father. What affection he did not have for his first disciples: St. Titus, St. Timothy, St. Thecla, St. Luke and Philemon! How many saints did not bloom around him! They flourished then, they will flourish even now (APim, 247).
Our foundress
Venerable Thecla Merlo
night of 31 December 1900 and felt obliged “to do something for God and for the people of the new century.”
Our founder Blessed James Alberione
Fr James Alberione encountered the Lord in the
Eucharistic adoration on the
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