Today we celebrate the feast of Saint John Bosco who was born in 1815 near Turin, Italy. As a young boy he and his family suffered many hardships as they were poor farmers. John Bosco was very eager to study and with the support of his mother he was able to leave home to go to a different town to pursue studies. He was ordained a priest in 1841. John Bosco is most well known for his many visions and dreams which were of supernatural nature.
At the age of nine John Bosco had a dream where he saw children playing in the field and behaving very poorly. He ran among them and began to hit them to get them to stop cursing and fighting. Jesus appeared and told him that he would give him a teacher who will show him how to correct these boys in a gentle way. Immediately he saw the Blessed Virgin Mary and by now the children had turned into goats, dogs, cats and other animals. She told him that this was to be his mission in life which is to work among these children. The children turned into lambs. Later Saint John Bosco as a priest started an oratory for boys who were on the streets and involved in crime. He also founded the Salesian order of priests, named after Saint Francis de Sales. One of the boys of his oratory was the young Saint Dominic Savio.
Among many supernatural  events experienced by Saint John Bosco, the most noteworthy is the vision of May 14, 1862 where he saw the Catholic Church in the form of a big ship which was being attacked by several smaller enemy ships on very turbulent seas. There were also some of smaller ships that were being attacked by these enemy ships. As the captain of the big ship who was the Holy Father tried to save the ship  from destruction, there were two pillars that rose from the sea. One had the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the words "Help of Christians" and the second pillar which was higher with a very large Eucharistic Host on top and the words "Salvation of the faithful". The captain of the big ship is shot and falls dead but a new captain takes over and guides the ship towards the two pillars. The storms cease when the ship is anchored between these two pillars and there is a great calm and all the enemy ships are destroyed. Saint John Bosco explained that the small enemy ships are the persecutions that the Church and the Holy Father would suffer and that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and frequent Holy Communions will save the Church from its persecutors.
Saint John Bosco also fondly called as Don Bosco is the patron saint of children especially foster children and boys who are delinquent or have a rough childhood due to poverty and violence.
Saint John Bosco, pray for us!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a priest and doctor born in the 1225 in Italy. He studied in Paris and Cologne under Saint Albert the Great. Of all the brilliant philosophers and theologians of the Catholic Church, Saint Thomas Aquinas is considered as the greatest of them. His Summa Theologica is by far the most referenced document by many Catholic and other Christian theologians, philosophers, writers and speakers only after the Holy Bible. He is my personal favorite because of "Five proofs for the existence of God" , which is his arguments for the existence of God and for coming to know this through the exercise of reason alone. He uses his knowledge of science, metaphysics to help atheists and agnostics who are seeking the truth to come to believe in God. 
Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!!! 

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. Paul was formerly called Saul and he was not one of Jesus’ disciples or followers. However he was a devout Jew, very well read with a high degree of scriptural knowledge and was influential among the people of Jerusalem. In being faithful to his faith he worked zealously to arrest and imprison those who had become followers of Jesus because he saw them as betrayers of the Jewish faith. In the Acts of the Apostles we read that he was present at the stoning and death of the first recorded Christian martyr Saint Stephen . While on his way to Damascus from Jerusalem a supernatural light surrounded him from heaven, it struck him blind and he was thrown off his horse. In that moment he heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting”. Thereby Jesus identifies himself with all Christians who are incorporated into the Body of Christ in baptism.
Immediately after his conversion Paul travels to preach the Gospel to the gentiles starting with Arabia and its only after three years that he meets with Peter and later on with the other apostles.
Paul and his letters in New Testament provide Christians of our time an insight into the life of the early Christians and much more.
Saint Paul pray for all missionaries and keep them safe!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis de Sales who was a Bishop and Doctor of the Church. He was born in 1567 in the County of Savoy in Europe. He dedicated his life to restoring Catholicism which was going through a rough phase in Europe. He was appointed as the Bishop of Geneva. Saint Francis de Sales is the patron saint of journalism because he used his gift of writing to restore the faith of the Catholics in his country. He died in the year 1622 in Lyons, France.
Today we pray for all those journalists who have sacrificed and even put their careers on the line to use their gift of journalism to work for the Kingdom of God.
Saint Francis de Sales pray for us!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Sebastian an early Christian martyr. When my mother was expecting me she and all of my family members were ill with smallpox which was taking many lives in India during the 70's. My mother sought the intercession of Saint Sebastian and when I was born I was healthy, also a few days before my birth my father's aunt Sebasti died and so in her remembrance and  in honor of Saint Sebastian, I was baptized as "Sebasti Suveda". 
Saint Sebastian was a native of Milan but he traveled to Rome because he wanted to suffer persecutions similar to his fellow Christians who were in Rome. At that time there was intense persecution by the Roman emperor Diocletian and Christians were killed in great numbers. 
The first attempt to kill Saint Sebastian was unsuccessful. The Roman soldiers shot several arrows at Saint Sebastian and presumed that he was dead and left his body. However he was found by a kind lady in Rome and was nursed back to health. The second time he was beheaded. Saint Sebastian sought Christian martyrdom as a priced treasure thereby giving testimony by his life and death to Jesus Christ. 
Even today we are called to be a witness to our faith in a world that has made a mockery of religion and persecute those who are faithful to their beliefs. It is an honor to suffer persecution for one's faith because then we resemble Jesus who is our Lord and Savior.
Saint Sebastian, pray for us!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was born in New York City in the year 1774. She was an Episcopal by faith and was born into a well-do-to family. She married a businessman William Seton and they had five children. William lost all his wealth in business and contracted tuberculosis. Elizabeth traveled to Italy with her husband to seek a cure for him, however he died in 1803. While in Italy Elizabeth stayed with the family of her husband's friend who was a Roman Catholic. Her stay with this devout family influenced her and she desired to become a Catholic. When she returned to the United States after her husband's death she moved to Maryland where she entered the Catholic church even though at that time Catholics were being persecuted. Shortly after that she founded the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph, which is the first religious community for women in the United States. She also started the first parochial school in the country under the guidance of the first American Bishop John Carroll. In her struggle to start these schools, the living conditions were very harsh especially during the cold winter months and two of her daughters died from consumption. Her youngest daughter Catherine was the first American to join the Sisters of Mercy.
She founded several orphanages, schools and hospitals some of which are still functioning today. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is the patroness of Catholic education, especially for women's education.
Saint Elizabeth Seton pray for us!