Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona, Spain is exhorting
Catholics to “love our holy Mother Church as we love our own mothers.”
In his weekly letter which will be published Feb. 20, Cardinal
Sistach underscored the virtues of Blessed Francisco Palau of Spain,
“who devoted himself with enthusiasm to the service of the Church
because she was – for him – a loving and tender mother.”
The cardinal recalled that this year marks the bicentennial of the
birth of Blessed Palau, the founder of the Teresian Carmelite
Missionaries and the Carmelite Missionaries.
He wrote that the blessed
“was very conscious of the fact that by loving the Church, he was
fulfilling the great Christian commandment to love God and neighbor.”
At a time of “religious indifference,” this awareness is crucial to preventing the spirit of evangelization from diminishing.
The cardinal also noted that in the homily for the beatification of
Blessed Palau in 1988, Pope John Paul II said the blessed made of his
priestly life a generous gift to the Church.
“Francisco Palau was undoubtedly a man of prayer, a hermit,” the
cardinal explained.
“But at the same time he was a man of action in
diverse apostolic initiatives,” especially the task of Christian
formation and care for the sick.
Cardinal Sistach concluded his letter by encouraging Spaniards to
look to Blessed Palau as a “great witness of love for the Church.”