Quote of the day, 3 February: Père Jacques de Jésus

Saints are energetic, valiant, and strong people who push past themselves to reach God but keep going. So understand two things: on the one hand, God wants you to be saints; on the other, you have no excuse for not being saints.

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus

Retreat for pre-theology students

Note: We recall that on this date in 1944, the three Jewish boys that Père Jacques sheltered in the Discalced Carmelite boarding school in Avon, France, were deported to Auschwitz. Jacques France Halpern, Maurice Schlosser, and Hans-Helmut Michel all perished there. Père Jacques, who was apprehended on the same date as his Jewish students, was deported to forced labor conditions in the granite quarries at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria. He died of tuberculosis four weeks after the camp was liberated by the Americans in May 1945.

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Learn more about the students’ arrest on 15 January 1944

Prayer for the Beatification of Père Jacques de Jésus

#Auschwitz #deportation #Jews #PèreJacquesDeJésus #prayerForTheBeatification #students

Quote of the day, 5 January: Brother Jean Thierry Ebogo

I know what you are thinking, Mama, but I can assure you that I am preserving my purity. I prayed to Jesus to give me the gift of chastity, and I have no doubt that I will be heard. I want to be a priest, and I want to remain pure until the priesthood.

Servant of God Brother Jean Thierry of the Child Jesus and of the Passion Ebogo

4 February 1982, Cameroon – 5 January 2006, Italy

Note: Born in Cameroon in 1982, Servant of God Brother Jean Thierry of the Child Jesus and of the Passion entered the Discalced Carmelites in Cameroon in 2003, but his formation was soon marked by severe illness. Diagnosed with a malignant bone tumor that led to the amputation of his right leg, he bore suffering with remarkable serenity and charity, encouraging others and abandoning himself wholly to the divine will. In 2005, he was brought to Italy for treatment, where a recurrence of cancer spread throughout his body. With special permission from Rome, he professed his solemn vows in his hospital room in Legnano on December 8, 2005, in the presence of his mother. Drawn to him were many—youth, religious, priests, and the sick—whom he consoled while quietly concealing his own pain. After receiving the Eucharist, he died peacefully on January 5, 2006; his final words, spoken while gazing at an image of divine mercy, were a simple exclamation of love: “How beautiful Jesus is.”

Featured image: Brother Jean Thierry is joined by his mother, Marie-Thérèse Ebogo at his bedside in Legnano on the day of his solemn profession in 2005. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission).

#chastity #FriarJeanThierryEbogo #prayerForTheBeatification #purity #ServantOfGod