St Teresa de Avila, Breaking through the Glass Ceiling in the 16th century as if it was 2024

Teresa of Ávila, OCD (Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada; also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, (feast day October 15) was a Spanish nun, one of the great mystics and religious women of the Roman Catholic Church, and an author of spiritual classics. She was the originator of the Carmelite Reform, which restored and emphasized the austerity and contemplative character of Carmelite life.

St. Teresa was canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, abd was elevated to doctor of the church in 1970 by Pope Paul VI, the first of four woman to be so honored.

Teresa lived in an age not unlike 2024, an age of exploration as well as political, social and religious upheaval. The 16th century, like in 2024, was a time of turmoil and reform. Her life began with the culmination of the Protestant Reformation, and ended shortly after the Council of Trent.

Teresa was born in Avila, Castile, Spain, on March 28, 1515 to wealthy parents one of ten brothers and sisters.

From her youth, Teresa showed great zeal and piety, as well as courage and stubbornness. When she was seven years old, Teresa ran away with her brother to the land occupied by the Moors in hopes of attaining the crown of martyrdom. However, they only made it a few miles down the road.


When Teresa was 15 her mother died. Seeing that she needed better guidance, and especially disapproving of the too close relationship between her and her cousin, her father placed Teresa in the care of the Augustinians at Santa Maria de Gracia.


Teresa decided she would enter a convent, but her father would not allow it. As a result of the stress and despair Teresa felt, she became extremely ill. She returned home to become well, and one night she ran away and entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in 1535.


She was held back by her attachments to worldly things, as well as her attachments to others. Eventually, with much struggle she overcame her attachments and her pride, and around the age of forty she experienced a conversion and began to conform her life to God. Her faithfulness to living the Gospel deepened her spiritual life. She began to experience extraordinary favors from God.

Teresa realized that the life she lived at the convent of the Incarnation was not the way the Carmelite Fathers had originally intended the Carmelite life to be. She vowed that she herself would follow the rule perfectly and "without mitigation." Her sisters at the Incarnation caused her much pain because they did not approve of her aspirations. However, she soon won a few other sisters over to her side, and despite opposition from her sisters and from the townsfolk, she established the convent of St. Joseph on August 24, 1562. She endured much, including a lawsuit, but eventually the resistance subsided, and Teresa enjoyed several years of peace at her convent of St. Joseph. It was during this time that she wrote her beloved Way of Perfection

Her own conversion was no overnight affair; it was an arduous lifelong struggle, involving ongoing purification and suffering. She was misunderstood, misjudged, opposed in her efforts at reform. Yet she struggled on, courageous and faithful; she struggled with her own mediocrity, her illness, her opposition. And in the midst of all this she clung to God in life and in prayer. Her writings on prayer and contemplation are drawn from her experience: powerful, practical and graceful. A woman of prayer; a woman for God.

Her autobiography, The Life of Teresa of Jesus, and her books The Interior Castle and The Way of Perfection are prominent works on Christian mysticism and Christian meditation practice. In her autobiography, written as a defense of her ecstatic mystical experiences, she discerns four stages in the ascent of the soul to God: mental prayer and meditation; the prayer of quiet; absorption-in-God; ecstatic consciousness. The Interior Castle, written as a spiritual guide for her Carmelite sisters, uses the illustration of seven mansions within the castle of the soul to describe the different states one's soul can be in during life.

Prayer of Recollection by St. Teresa

“Give me the grace to recollect myself in the little heaven of my soul where You have established Your dwelling. There You let me find You, there I feel that You are closer to me than anywhere else, and there You prepare my soul quickly to enter into intimacy with You … Help me O Lord, to withdraw my senses from exterior things, make them docile to the commands of my will, so that when I want to converse with You, they will retire at once, like bees shutting themselves up in the hive in order to make honey"

From a Young Slave From Rome to Pope Callistus I to Facing the first Anti-Pope to Martyred While Christian

October 14 is Feast Day of Pope Callistus I. He lived during the reigns of the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. Eusebius and the Liberian catalogue list his episcopate as having lasted five years (217–222). 

Callixtus I's contemporaries and enemies include Tertullian and Hippolytus of Rome, the author of Philosophumena, writes that denounced as a Christian, Callixtus was sentenced to work in the mines of Sardinia. He was released with other Christians at the request of Hyacinthus, a eunuch presbyter, who represented Marcia, the favorite mistress of Emperor Commodus. At this time his health was so weakened that his fellow Christians sent him to Antium to recuperate and he was given a pension by Pope Victor I.

In 199, Callixtus was ordained a deacon by Pope Zephyrinus and appointed superintendent of the Christian cemetery on the Appian Way. That place, which is to this day called the Catacombs of St. Callixtus, became the burial-ground of many popes and was the first land property owned by the Church.

In 217, when Callixtus followed Zephyrinus as Bishop of Rome, he started to admit into the Church converts from sects or schisms who had not done penance. He fought with success the heretics, and established the practice of absolution of all sins, including adultery and murder. Hippolytus found Callixtus's policy of extending forgiveness of sins to cover sexual transgressions shockingly lax and denounced him for allowing believers to regularize liaisons with their own slaves by recognizing them as valid marriages..As a consequence also of doctrinal differences, Hippolytus was elected as a rival bishop of Rome, the first antipope.

Prayer to Saint Callistus

O God, who raised up Pope Saint Callistus the First to serve the Church and attend devoutly to Christ's faithful departed, strengthen us, we pray, by his witness to the faith, so that, rescued from the slavery of corruption, we may merit an incorruptible inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

The Inequity of the Pursuit of Equity in the NFL, Over Public Welfare is not only Orwellian, but it's a Lucrative Business

Draft

The prevalence of African Americans in American professional sports such as basketball, football, and
track is self-evident.  And its not restricted to professional sports.  We see it in College, and we are seeing it in High School.

African-American youth more often play sports to chase college, pro dreams.  At the Aspen Institute’s 2019 Project Play Summit, former NBA and University of Michigan star Chris Webber implored parents of youth basketball players to focus less on future stardom – and more on human development – so their child enjoys a positive experience. Webber said youth coaches today often gain their status simply because they are associated with an emerging talent, not because they helped them grow as an athlete or person.

The percentage of the players in the National Basketball AssociatIon (NBA) that were African American
in the 2017-2018 season was 73.9% (Lapchik, 2018). Additionally, the percentage of players that were African American in the National Football League (NFL) during the 2016-2017 season was 69.7% (Lapchik, 2018).

The percentage of African Americans at the Division I college level in basketball is 53% and 44.2% in football (Lapchik, 2017). 

According to Sportico's  the number of scholarship and starting players yield percentages of black participation much higher than 45%. In fact, more than 70% of starters during the 2021 FBS Bowl Season were black, and in the past three recruiting classes, 84% of signees in the SEC were black. And as the Troy/CSRI study showed, the majority of those athletes were recruited by black coaches.

These statistics clearly show that African Americans represent the
majority of the players in these respective sports at a professional level, a subject that is often discussed and debated. Often times these discussions extend further as to why African Americans represent the majority of these leagues. There are two prominent theories as to why African Americans represent the majority of players in certain sports; one attributing it to their genetics and other attributing to
their environment. This paper is not about the  nurture versus nature polemic, but about the Inequity of the Pursuit of Equity Over Public Welfare.   Others have discussed the two prominent theories that offer explanations as why

African Americans constitute the majority in specific sports and have suggests that their athletic abilities and prevalence in certain sports is attributed to genetic differences, others attribute it to environmental factirs.

Why do you think the NFL promotes the so-called Black National Anthem? To keep African American players in the plantation - which represent over 70% of players in the National Football League (NFL) during the 2016-2017 season (Lapchik, 2018).

And guess what? the
Pareto Rule of College Sports says 99% of college players never make it to the professional league.

Wait, there's more: more than 70% of starters during the 2021 FBS Bowl Season were black, and in the past three recruiting classes, 84% of signees in the SEC were black. And as the Troy/CSRI study showed, the majority of those athletes were recruited by black coaches.

Get it?


https://cotobuzz.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-inequity-of-pursuit-of-excellence.html

References
Allison, R., Davis, A., & Barranco, R. (2018). A comparison of hometown
socioeconomics and demographics for black and white elite football players in
the US. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 53(5), 615-629
Kerr, I. B. (2010). The myth of racial superiority in sports. The Hilltop Review 4(1)
Lapchik, R. E. (2018). College sport: racial & gender report card. TIDES: The Institute
for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Lapchik, R. E. (2017). The 2017 racial and gender report card: Major League Baseball.
TIDES: The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Lapchik, R. E. (2018). The 2018 racial and gender report card: National Basketball
Association. TIDES: The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Lapchik, R. E. (2017). The 2017 racial and gender report card: National Football
League. TIDES: The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Sheldon, J. P., Jayaratne, T. E., & Petty, E. M. (2007). White Americans’ genetic
explanations for a perceived race difference in athleticism: the relation to
prejudice toward and stereotyping of blacks. Athletic Insight: The Online Journal
of Sport Psychology 9(3), 31-54
United States Census Bureau. (2018) Income and poverty in the United States: 2017
U.S. Department of Commerce: Economics and Statistics Administration.
van Sterkenburg, J., & Knoppers, A. (2004). Dominant discourses about race/ethnicity
and gender in sport practice and performance. International Review for the
Sociology of Sport 39(3),

The Catholic Guilt is a Thing, So is Divine Mercy

The Catholic Guilt is a Thing.  So is Divine Mercy.

The Dictionary of Oxford Languages defines catholic guilt as "

1. a generalized feeling of irrational or
2.  excessive guilt, as stereotypically associated with Catholics.

   "I definitely have a lot of Catholic guilt"

The rational guilt is real and its not just a catholic thing. It's about 3 000 years old, for we know, we are all sinners.  We also  recognize that there are different worldviews:

Hindu sees the human person as a soul trapped in a body.

The Buddhist sees the person as neither a body nor a soul.

The atheist views the person as a body without a soul.  For the atheist it is impossible to sin, so she can engage in the most despicable acts, feel and feel proud about it. But because they can't sin, they can't partake of the joy that comes from a personal relationship with the Creator.

We’re each free to believe whatever we want to believe. Sacred Scriptures say life is short, death is real, Hell is hot, eternity is long, and Jesus saves!

The Christian view is that humans are bodies and souls, created in the image and likeness of God. Every human being has a unique and rational soul that animates his human body, whether in the womb or a jail cell 

Divine Mercy is when God's love meets us and helps us in the midst of our suffering and sin. In fact, because this side of eternity we're all sinners and because suffering is our lot in life, God's love for us here always takes the form of mercy.

Lorelei Savaryn, a Protestant convert, in the piece titled What’s The Deal with Catholic Guilt?, discusses how she discovered the rational catholic guilt: Before becoming Catholic, I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the ways I rejected or blocked God (Love) out of my life. Some of the churches I attended would have a moment for such reflections. But it was usually just that, a moment. And, to be honest, in those moments I most often thought “meh- I think I’m doing pretty good, comparatively speaking.” I shake my head at my past self now. And I’m still not exactly sure who I was comparing myself to… those convicted of crimes against humanity? The people in pews beside me, as some sort of holiness version of keeping up with the Joneses? Just the general sense that, in the grand scale of humanity, I was doing okay?

And then the service would move on and I would move on and I continue along my merry way. I knew I could ask God for forgiveness, but as someone who had come from a Once Saved, Always Saved tradition (for much of my life), I didn’t have an ingrained sense that my confession mattered. I had ‘invited Jesus into my heart’ as a child. And if you are Once Saved, Always Saved, then the moment you say that prayer, it’s a done deal.

Father Mike Schmitz supports Lorelei's argument in his YouTube video: First, when it comes to “Catholic guilt,” it might be helpful to cut through this right away. I’m sure that all of us have heard of “Catholic guilt.” But is that really a thing? My mom used to say, “There is nothing ‘Catholic’ about guilt … it’s just guilt. If I’ve done something wrong, then I ought to feel guilty; there is nothing specifically ‘Catholic’ about it!” That always made sense to me.

So if the rational guilt is real, is not just catholic, and is 3 000 years old, for we know, we are all sinners, isn't that just slicing and dicing?

No! Because we also know that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more. Saint Philip Neri's Maxim for October 9 says: "In saying the Pater Noster, we ought to reflect that we have God for our Father in heaven, and so go on making a sort of meditation of it word by word." Why, you might ask.  Because it is a big deal. In fact, it’s such a big deal that the Lord’s Prayer has often been called the “summary of the whole gospel.”  Michael Rossmann, SJ in the Jesuit Post writes that " We don’t start the Lord’s Prayer by saying, “Almighty God” or “Lord God,” or even just “God.” Instead,  we pray, “Our Father.” The creator of the universe is not far-off and impersonal. Instead, Jesus shows us that God is as close to us as our own family members."  If God is our Father, then all people are our brothers and sisters.

 Christ said as much at the crucifixion:  "Mother, behold your son." 

Each time we pray the Our Father, we ask for God to give us all that sustains us, to forgive us our sins, to guide us away from temptation, and to deliver us from evil. 

The Truth About Dishonesty & The Catholic Confession

God’s kingdom is God’s kingdom; it’s first and foremost a gift and an initiative of the Lord. But our Father invites us to participate partially in that kingdom right now, and to pray that it might become fully present soon.

You might recall that even after Job had lost everything instead of cursing Good, he exclaimed: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21). Perhaps Burt  F. Bacharach was having a Job Moment when he wrote: Raindrops are falling on my head:  … But there's one thing I know The blues they send to meet me Won't defeat me, it won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me.." Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes. Thus the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones ( JB 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17 ).  

Yes, the Catholic guilt is a thing, it is not just catholic, though. Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.

No wonder empirically, anecdotally and scientifically, we are a happy bunch!  

Saint John Paul XXXIII: Man Proposes, The Holy Spirit Disposes. Wit The Vatican II Council

Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible, writes American Catholic.org. "Indeed, one writer has noted that his 'ordinariness' seems one of his most remarkable qualities." On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis – bypassing the traditionally required second miracle – declared John XXIII a saint, based on his virtuous, model lifestyle, and because of the good which had come from his opening of the Second Vatican Council.

John XXIII, also known as "Good Pope John," was nearly 77 at his coronation and, because of his advanced age, was widely regarded as a stopgap pope who wasn't going to make waves. Instead, he called the Vatican II Council, which promulgated one of the most far-reaching and controversial reforms in the Roman Catholic Church's history




Roncalli was among 13 children born to Marianna Mazzola and Giovanni Battista Roncalli in a family of sharecroppers who lived in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy. He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904.Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In Bergamo’s diocesan seminary, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order.

After his ordination in 1904, Fr. Roncalli returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary, and as publisher of the diocesan paper.



His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921, Fr. Roncalli was made national director in Italy of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He also found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City. He served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice.

Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after eleven ballots. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the first session opening on 11 October 1962, which is now his feast.

October 9, Feast Day of St Father Abraham, St Denis & Companions, St John Leonardi & St John Henry Newman

Feast Day Calendar for October 9 include:


St. Abraham, Patriarch: From Abram to Father of Israel & Christians


Saint John Henry Newman: Anglican coverted to Catholicism. John Henry Newman stepped “out of the shadows and images into the truth.” Pope Francis canonized him in 2019.


Sts. Denis, Bishop, and Companions Martyrs of Paris. Saint Denis is patron of France and the first bishop of Paris. According legend after he was martyred on Montmartre. he carried his head to a village northeast of the city.

St. John Leonardi, Founder of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God

The tyrant dies and his rule is over.

The martyr dies and his rule begins - Søren Aabye Kierkegaard

St. Abraham, Patriarch: From Abram to Father of Israel & Christians

Saint Abraham was initially known as Abram. In verse 5 of Genesis 17, God signaled a new stage in His relationship with Abram by changing his name to Abraham- 17:15–22, the Lord further kept His promise of posterity to Abraham by changing Sarai's name to Sarah as a part of the covenant. Just as Abraham was to be the father of many nations, Sarah was to be the mother of many nations.

This name is very similar to the Hebrew phrase meaning "father of a multitude," emphasizing that Abraham will be the father of nations and that kings would come from him.He was born in Ur, which is now known as modern-day Iraq, around 2000 B.C.


When Abraham was young, his father moved the family down to Harlan, which is now modern-day Turkey. Abraham believed in God even as a child and lived his life to please him.

After his father died, Abrahan was said to have been instructed by God to move onward to Canaan. He was promised abundance to live on and a prosperous generation.As a man who genuinely believed in God’s words, he did exactly as he was told. He traveled on to Canaan with his wife Sarah, who was then known as Sarai, his nephew, and his servants

Brothers and sisters:
Realize that it is those who have faith
who are children of Abraham.
Scripture, which saw in advance that God
would justify the Gentiles by faith,
foretold the good news to Abraham, saying,
Through you shall all the nations be blessed.
Consequently, those who have faith are blessed
along with Abraham who had faith.
For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse;
for it is written, Cursed be everyone
who does not persevere in doing all the things
written in the book of the law.
And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear,
for the one who is righteous by faith will live.
But the law does not depend on faith;
rather, the one who does these things will live by them.
Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,
for it is written, Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree,
that the blessing of Abraham might be extended
to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,
so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith - Galatians 3:7

Sts. Denis, Bishop, and Companions Martyrs of Paris.

Saint Denis is patron of France and the first bishop of Paris. A legend recorded in the 9th century recounts that Denis was beheaded on Montmartre —literally, “mountain of martyrs”—in Paris, and that his decapitated corpse carried his head to the area northeast of Paris where the Benedictine abbey of St. Denis was founded.

According to St. Gregory of Tours’s 6th-century Historia Francorum, Denis was one of seven bishops sent to Gaul to convert the people in the reign of the Roman emperor Decius. It is believed that he was martyred during the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Decius in 251 or Valerian in 258.

St. Denis is venerated as one of the 14 Holy Helpers, an assemblage of saints who were especially popular in the Middle Ages for their powers of intercession

St John Leonardi 

Leonardi was the youngest of seven children born to middle-class parents in Diecimo, in the Republic of Lucca. At age 17, he studied to become a certified pharmacist's assistant in Lucca. Afterward, he studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1572, as a member of the Apostolic Clerics of St. Jerome. He dedicated himself to the Christian formation of adolescents in his local Lucca parish. After his ordination, Fr. Leonardi became very active in the works of the ministry, especially in hospitals and prisons. The example and dedication of his work attracted several young laymen who began to assist him. They later became priests themselves.


In 1574, he founded a group charged with deepening Christian faith and devotion; this foundation was part of the wider movement of the Counter-Reformation. Leonardi worked with this group to spread devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and devotion to the Forty Hours, as well as spreading the message of the importance of frequent communion.

He died on October 9, 1609, of influenza, which he contracted while ministering to his brothers suffering from the epidemic raging in Rome at the time..His memory was held so high in Rome that Pope Leo XIII added his name to the Roman Martyrology, and ordered Roman clergy to celebrate his Mass and Office, an honor otherwise strictly limited to beatified popes.

Leonardi was beatified in 1861 and canonized in 1938 by Pope Pius XI.

 

Our Lady of the Rosary, The Holy Rosary and Battle of Lepanto

The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, is celebrated on October 7, the anniversary of the decisive victory of the combined fleet of the Holy League of 1571 over the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto.

The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The pope attributed more to the "arms" of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there.  In 1571 when the Catholic League entered into battle against the Ottoman Empire to protect Italy from invasion. The Turks were on a warpath to overthrow all of Europe, killing millions of people and forcing Islamic conversion on survivors. They had conquered the Middle East and Mediterranean islands of Cyrus and Crete; Italy was next.

As the impending battle loomed, Pope Pius V called on various religious communities throughout Europe to join him in praying the Rosary, including public recitations, to defeat the Islamic threat. Heading into battle, every man in the Catholic League’s forces carried a Rosary. Their fleet was no match for the competition; they were vastly outnumbered.

Miraculously, the Catholic League returned victorious after a daylong battle known as the Battle of Lepanto that took place off the coast of Greece. In thanksgiving for Mary’s intercession and protection, Pope Pius V declared the day — October 7 — as a feast day for Our Lady of the Rosary. To celebrate, a Rosary procession was held in Saint Peter’s Square.

The Holy Rosary 

The purpose of the Rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events in the history of our salvation. There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, and these are divided into the five Joyful Mysteries (said on Monday and Saturday), the five Luminous Mysteries (said on Thursday), the five Sorrowful Mysteries (said on Tuesday and Friday), and the five Glorious Mysteries (said on Wednesday and Sunday). As an exception, the Joyful Mysteries may be said on Sundays during Advent and Christmas, while the Sorrowful Mysteries may be said on the Sundays of Lent.


The mysteries of the Rosary are based on the incidents in the life of Our Lord and His Mother that are celebrated in the Liturgy. There is a parallel between the main feasts honoring our Lord and his Mother in the liturgical year, and the twenty mysteries of the Rosary. Consequently, one who recites the twenty mysteries of the Rosary inm one day reflects on the whole liturgical cycle that the Church commemorates during the course of each year. That is why some of the Popes have referred to the Rosary as a compendium of the Gospel:


Pope Pius XII (papacy: 1939-1958) said the Rosary is " a compendium of the entire Gospel" (AAS 38 [1946] p. 419). The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption


John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated on in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979).0ĺ



The Rosary Center offer several different modes of praying the Rosary, including a scriptural-based mode:

The Catholic Vision Of Marriage:Let no one separate what God has joined together

The Family is the Primary Unit of Society - Bishop Barron 

Sacred Scriptures, Tradition and the saints, including Saint John Paul II - Love and Responsibility
Theology of the Body
1983 Code of Canon Law,
Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Fides et ratio
Memory and Identit - have written volumes about the Catholic Vision 1Of Marriage, countering every possible objection- some of it included below. If you are impatient, don't have the time to read, Bishop Robert Barron's video below, is an excellent encapsulation

Bishop Robert Barron's Commentary on Genesis 2

In ancient Rome, not unlike what we see today,  marriage was not considered to be a permanent relationship and was a relatively private affair. Divorce was so commonplace that the event was not recorded in official Roman records until the 5th century A.D., and along with frequent divorce came frequent remarriage. Marital fidelity was not generally expected, particularly of the husband; Roman men could have relationships with multiple women without repercussions. This disparity was reflected in the laws of the Roman Empire, where men and women were not considered equals and women faced harsh penalties for adultery. 

Early Christians believed that marriage was a permanent commitment, that the spouses were equal partners in the marriage, and that fidelity to one’s spouse was of great importance, as seen in the writings of the early Church, such as The Shepherd of Hermas from the early 2nd century, The First Apology by St. Justin Martyr, written around 150 A.D., and other 2nd century writings by theologians like Athenagoras of Athens, St. Theophilus of Antioch, and St. Irenaeus. These writers defend the permanence of marriage, since they forbid remarriage. They uphold the equality of the spouses, reminding us that each has equal rights in marriage. And these early Christians teach us that fidelity is expected and that infidelity is seen as a tragedy. The distinctly Christian understanding of marriage comes out in three aspects: permanence, equality, and fidelity.

Saint John Paul presented the family as rooted in the economy of salvation—that is, God’s act of creating the world and offering salvation through Christ—with an important role to play in the order of redemption. The family, as such, must continue the work of Christ and this work must begin first within itself, within each individual family before affecting the extended community.

Men and women considering marriage yearn for certain things. They want to be accepted unconditionally by each other. They want their marriage to be filled with love and happiness.
They want a family. In short, they want their marriage to be a source of joy and fulfillment their
whole life long.
God’s plan for marriage, from the time he first created human beings as male and female,
has always included all this and more. The desire and ability of a man and woman to form a
lasting bond of love and life in marriage is written into their nature.

For spouses, it’s essential to be open to the gift of life, to the gift of children. They are the most beautiful fruit of love, the greatest blessing from God, a source of joy and hope for every home and all of society. Have children!-  Pope Francis 

 

"Among the many blessings that God has showered upon us in Christ is the blessing of marriage, a gift bestowed by the Creator from the creation of the human race…

It is a source of blessing to the couple, to their families, and to society and includes the wondrous gift of co-creating human life.

Indeed, as Pope John Paul II never tired of reminding us, the future of humanity depends on marriage and the family."– U.S. Catholic Bishops, 2009 Pastoral Letter: Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan

The family, asa way of the Church, makes sense in light of the Gen 2:24, “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh”. Ever since the fall, this unity of man and woman has been threatened; therefore the Church exists for man and for the family, for its sanctification and protection. Man passes through and forms a family as part of his created nature; the formation of this community of life and love is a deeply human act. The family for its part is not only the object of the Church’s missionary activity but also a way for its activity, that is, a participant in the mission of the Church

Genesis 2:18-24: 

The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.

I will make a suitable partner for him."
So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name. 
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

Psalms 127

Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build.
Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch.

It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night,
To eat bread earned by hard toil—all this God gives to his beloved in sleep. Certainly sons are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them.
He will never be shamed
for he will destroy his foes at the gate.

The Catechism 

The Catholic Catechism states that “the divine image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of persons, in the likeness of the unity of the divine persons among themselves. From his conception he is destined for eternal beatitude. He finds his perfection in seeking and loving what is true and good” (CCC 1702-1704). We are beings created in love and for love, as “love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being” (FC 11). For this reason it is imperative for spouses to meet Christ, the source of love and the one who “fully reveals man to himself” (GS 22). In marriage, in their one flesh union, man and woman are to live as the new man by forming a communion of persons, through a sincere gift of self. Love forms the inner dynamism of family life and of conjugal communion.

St. John Paul II believed the family would play a vital role in the new springtime of evangelization and was much more than mere bystander in the Church’s evangelizing mission. He presented an inherently positive and bold view of marriage and family life. He was confident that no ideology, however daunting, can extinguish what God has set in motion. While the family finds itself in the midst of an eroding cultural crisis, facing militant attempts to redefine marriage contrary to reason and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, John Paul II redirects our gaze to the truth of Christian marriage as a fruit of the redemption of Christ. He saw the family in its full potential in the order of grace—that if lived according to this potential in Christ, it could change the culture and the world. For John Paul II, the family is an active and vital agent in establishing a civilization of love and the renewal of Christian culture.

So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:  "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called 'woman, ' for out of 'her man’ this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.

Marriage In God’s Plan

369
796
(all)
1602
Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the Lamb."85 Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and its "mystery," its institution and the meaning God has given it, its origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the history of salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church.86
85.
Rev 19:7, 9; cf. Gen 1:26-27.
86.
1 Cor 7:39; cf. Eph 5:31-32.

Marriage in the order of creation

2210
2331
371
(all)

1603
"The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. ... God himself is the author of marriage."87 The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity,88 some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. "The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life."89
87.
GS 48 § 1.
88.
Cf. GS 47 § 2.
89.
GS 47 § 1.¹

1604
God who created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love.90 Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation: "And God blessed them, and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'"91
90.
Cf. Gen 1:27; 1 Jn 4:8, 16.
91.
Gen 1:28; cf. 1:31.


1605
Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is not good that the man should be alone."92 The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus represents God from whom comes our help.93 "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."94 The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been "in the beginning": "So they are no longer two, but one flesh."95
92.
Gen 2:18.
93.
Cf. Gen 2:18-25.
94.
Gen 2:24.
95.
Mt 19:6.

Media '  The Catholic World Report:

John Paul II’s vision of family and marriage for the New Evangelization



Pope Francis urges married couples to ‘be open to life’


“For spouses, it’s essential to be open to the gift of life, to the gift of children. They are the most beautiful fruit of love, the greatest blessing from God, a source of joy and hope for every home and all of society. Have children!” Pope Francis said.

From Poor, Uneducated, Suspected Nut Case Nun To Mystic, Saint, Promoter of Divine Mercy Devotion & Secretary of Mercy: St Faustina Kowalska

On October 5, the church celebrates the Memorial of St. Mary Faustina Kowalska, a poor, uneducated nun, who became a mystic, a Promoter of the Divine Mercy Devotion and a saint.

On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina saying this was “the happiest day of my life.” Faustina was granted the title "Secretary of Mercy" by the Holy See in the Jubilee Year of 2000

In his  homily the Pope said: "Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr. Faustina Kowalska to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time. By divine Providence, the life of this humble daughter of Poland was completely linked with the history of the 20th century, the century we have just left behind. In fact, it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted his message of mercy to her. Those who remember, who were witnesses and participants in the events of those years and the horrible sufferings they caused for millions of people, know well how necessary was the message of mercy,”

It was also on this day, the Sunday after Easter, that Pope John Paul II instituted the Feast of Divine Mercy, which Jesus had asked for in his messages to Sr. Faustina.


Maria Faustyna Kowalska, born Helena Kowalska is also known as Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament,  a Polish Catholic religious sister and mystic. Faustyna, popularly spelled "Faustina", had apparitions of Jesus Christ which inspired the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy. She is sometimes called the "secretary" of Divine Mercy

Throughout her life, Faustina reported having visions of Jesus and conversations with him, which she noted in her diary, later published as The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul. Her biography, submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, quoted some of the conversations with Jesus regarding the Divine Mercy devotion

At the age of 20 years, she joined 

a convent in Warsaw. She was later transferred to Płock and then to Vilnius, where she met Father Michał Sopoćko, who was to be her confessor and spiritual director, and who supported her devotion to the Divine Mercy. With this priest's help, Kowalska commissioned an artist to paint the first Divine Mercy image, based on her vision of Jesus. Father Sopoćko celebrated Mass in the presence of this painting on the Second Sunday of Easter or as established by Pope John Paul II), Divine Mercy Sunday.

Pope St. John Paul II wrote:
“It is truly marvelous how her devotion to the merciful Jesus is spreading in our contemporary world and gaining so many human hearts! This is doubtlessly a sign of the times — a sign of our twentieth century. The balance of this century, which is now ending, in addition to the advances which have often surpassed those of preceding eras, presents a deep restlessness and fear of the future. Where, if not in the Divine Mercy, can the world find refuge and the light of hope? Believers understand that perfectly,”

Faustina was born Helena Kowalska on August 25, 1905 to a poor but devout Polish family in 1905. At the age of 20, with very little education, and having been rejected from several other convents because of her poverty and lack of education, Helen entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. There, she took the name Sr. Faustina and spent time in convents in both Poland and Lithuania.

In 1924, at the age of 18 and a half, Kowalska went with her sister Natalia to a dance in a park in Łódź. Kowalska said that at the dance, she had a vision of a suffering Jesus, who she believed asked her: 'How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting Me off?" She then went to the Łódź Cathedral, where, as she later said, Jesus instructed her to depart for Warsaw immediately and to enter a convent.She took a train for Warsaw, some 85 miles  away, without asking her parents' permission and despite the fact that she knew nobody in Warsaw. The only belongings she took were the dress that she was wearing.

In 1925, Kowalska worked as a housemaid to save the money she needed, making deposits at the convent throughout the year and was finally accepted, as the Mother Superior had promised. On 30 April 1926, at the age of 20 years, she was clothed in the habit and received the religious name Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament.  In April 1928, having completed the novitiate, she took her first religious vows as a nun, with her parents attending the rite.

From February to April 1929, she was assigned to the convent in Wilno, then in Poland, now known as Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where she served as a cook. Although her first assignment to Vilnius was short, she returned there later and met the priest Michael Sopoćko, who supported her mission. A year after her first return from Vilnius, in May 1930, she was transferred to the convent in Płock, Poland, for almost two years.

Faustina wrote that on the night of Sunday, 22 February 1931, while she was in her cell in Płock, Jesus appeared wearing a white garment with red and pale rays emanating from his heart. 

Not knowing how to paint, Faustina approached some other nuns at the convent in Płock for help, but she received no assistance. Three years later, after her assignment to Vilnius, the first artistic rendering of the image was produced.

In the same message about the Divine Mercy image, as Faustina also wrote in her diary (Notebook I, item 49), Jesus told her that he wanted the Divine Mercy image to be "solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter Sunday; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy."

In November 1932, Faustina returned to Warsaw to prepare to take her final vows as a nun, by which she would become in perpetuity a sister of Our Lady of Mercy. The ceremony took place on 1 May 1933, in Łagiewniki.

In May 1933, Faustina was transferred to Vilnius to work as the gardener; her tasks included growing vegetables. She remained in Vilnius for about three years, until March 1936. The convent in Vilnius then had only 18 sisters and was housed in a few scattered small houses, rather than a large building

Shortly after arriving in Vilnius, Faustina met priest Michael Sopoćko, the newly appointed confessor to the nuns. He was also a professor of pastoral theology at Stefan Batory University, now called Vilnius University.

When Faustina went for the first time to this priest for confession, she told him that she had been conversing with Jesus, who had a plan for her. After some time, Sopoćko insisted on a complete psychiatric evaluation of Faustina by Helena Maciejewska, a psychiatrist and a physician associated with the convent. Faustina passed the required tests and was declared of sound mind.

Sopoćko then began to have confidence in Faustina and supported her efforts. Faustina told Sopoćko about the Divine Mercy image, and in January 1934, Sopoćko introduced her to the artist Eugene Kazimierowski, who was also a professor at the university.

By June 1934, Kazimierowski had finished painting the image, based on the direction of Kowalska and Sopoćko,  the only Divine Mercy painting that Faustina saw.

The first Mass during which the Divine Mercy image was displayed occurred on 28 April 1935, the second Sunday of Easter, and was attended by Faustina. It was also the celebration of the end of the Jubilee of the Redemption by Pope Pius XI. 

On 13 and 14 September 1935, while still in Vilnius, Faustina wrote of two visions about the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in her diary (Notebook I, Items 474 to 476). According to her, the chaplet prayers and structure were dictated to her directly by Jesus Christ, who granted several promises to its recitation. Kowalska wrote that the purpose for the chaplet's prayers for mercy is threefold: to obtain mercy, to trust in Christ's mercy, and to show mercy to others.

Before her death, Faustina predicted that "there will be a war, a terrible, terrible war" and asked the nuns to pray for Poland. In 1939, a year after Kowalska's death, Romuald Jałbrzykowski noticed that her predictions about the war had taken place and allowed public access to the Divine Mercy image, which resulted in large crowds that led to the spread of the Divine Mercy devotion. The devotion became a source of strength and inspiration for many people in Poland. By 1941, the devotion had reached the United States, and millions of copies of Divine Mercy prayer cards had been printed and distributed worldwide.

Divine Mercy

the Divine Mercy is a devotion to Jesus Christ associated with the reported apparitions of Jesus to Faustina Kowalska.

The venerated image under this title refers to what Faustina's diary describes as "God's loving mercy" towards all people, especially for sinners.

Miracles Attributed to the Divine Mercy Devotion

It is not possible to lost all of the miracles connected to the Divine Mercy and the promise Jesus made to mankind in regards to the image and the chaplet. To list all, would fill many books by themselves. Many more are often personal and people do not report them. See for example Health With Grace blog about Miracles of the Divine Mercy