| Where does Reform Begin?
 St.
Catherine of Genoa, like many saints before her, saw that reform
must begin with the individual, in one’s own heart. Hector
Vernazza, a very successful businessman, met St. Catherine when
he was twenty-three years old. She was at that time the director
of the largest hospital in the world for poor people. Desiring
to work for reform and to care for the poor, especially plague
victims who at that time numbered in the tens of thousands,
they worked together to bring the love of God inspired by the
Gospel into their world. Vernazza himself died heroically ministering
to plague victims about ten years after St. Catherine’s death.
Scholars mention that Catherine’s teaching influenced people
as different as the young Jesuit, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, who
himself died ministering to plague victims, as well as St. John
of the Cross, Cardinal Berulle - the founder of the French Oratory,
and the founder of the French Carmelites, Madame Acarie. As
time goes on we will examine at length the influence of this
great laywoman reformer and her faithful associate Hector Vernazza,
as well as the influence of the Oratory of Divine Love. |
A Lay Movement
 The
canon law of the Church recognizes the right of lay Catholics
to organize themselves into groups for various reasons. The
purpose of the Oratory is to help people grow in the love of
God and neighbor by prayer and by reading scripture. All members
are required to enrich the life of the Church by reverence and
prayer. Individual spiritual direction is out of the reach
of most people at the present time, simply by reason of the
shortage of priests and others trained in this art of the care
of souls. The weekly meditations published on the Internet
are an attempt to provide direction to a wide range of people
who otherwise would not receive it. |
What do we mean by a prayer group?
 There are several very successful prayer group movements operating
in the United States already – for example, the Charismatic
prayer groups focusing on the inspiration and gifts of the
Holy Spirit. There are prayer groups dedicated to the spirituality
of the particular holy person like the “Padre Pio Prayer
groups”. We do not intend to compete with these groups.
The prayer groups we are proposing will have a very simple
outline:
The prayer meeting will be designed to be especially effective
in the spiritual life of the individual member.
- It will be designed to help a person grow spiritually. The
title of these prayers groups, “The Divine Love”, indicates
that they will assist the members in an unqualified seeking
of Gospel holiness.
- The group’s activities will
be confined to prayer, but all of the members will pledge
themselves to working directly with the poor and needy,
and to the encouragement of a prayerful attitude in the
church by good example and reverent devotion at Mass and
other services. Members would also make themselves available
for good works in their parish and their diocese – although
the Oratory of Divine Love would not carry out these good
works. Over the course of time these goals, which were
taken from the original Oratory could be more clearly
defined. The members will also bind themselves to work
every day effectively for their own spirituality, and
for the spiritual growth of others. By inviting people
to join them, both lukewarm Catholics and other non-Catholic
Christians, the prayer groups themselves would be a method
of evangelization.
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