I will have the honor of speaking on "A Map of the Way of Confidence and Love of St. Therese of Lisieux" in the chapel of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul and the Shrine of Saint Katharine Drexel at 18th Street and the Parkway in Philadelphia on Sunday, October 1 at 5:30 p.m.  Questions and answers will follow.  Everyone is welcome to come, and, if you wish, to remain for the Sunday evening Mass in the Basilica at 6:30 p.m.  Please pray that the event draws souls to God.  Thank you.

See the event on the Basilica's Web site at https://cathedralphila.org/memorial-of-saint-therese/

The Wisely family of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, gathered around the reliquary of the Martin family on Sunday, November 10, 2013

Yesterday afternoon, at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, I was deeply touched to see the Wisely family of Phoenixville come in to pray as a family before the first-ever reliquary that is a shrine to a family.  I am happy to think that a mother, father, and children can now pray together in the presence of the relics of a mother, a father, and a child, and I hope that many other families will receive graces by doing so. 

I have been in the Cathedral with the reliquary over three days, and it is a beautiful contemplative experience of graces at once personal and universal, as though  God wants this Magnificat week to foreshadow the graces God is going to pour out on this diocese through the presence of the reliquary of this family.  The reverent atmosphere that surrounds them is itself healing. I was deeply moved to see a young married couple who came from Washington, D.C. by train to pray in the presence of the reliquariy; young mothers bringing their infants to the reliquary to pray; many couples praying before the intertwined wedding rings that form part of the design of this family reliquary; a family from Maryland who venerated the reliquary both Saturday and Sunday; and persons who prayed the whole afternoon.

Even if you plan to pray in the presence of the relics at Carmel, I encourage you to visit them in the Cathedral this week if you can.  Through and including Friday, you can pray in the presence of the reliquary from 7:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m.  Prayer services for public veneration are at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 13th and again at 1;30 p.m. on Thursday, November 14th.

Click on the image to see it as a slightly larger PDF.  Download it here.  Please circulate it. Note that, especially if you are coming to Philadelphia from out of town or if you do not know your way around all parts of the city, the events of November 9-16 are your best chance to pray in the presence of the relics in the center of town.  The Cathedral Basilica is centrally located, there is paid parking nearby, and transportation to and from the airport is not difficult.