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St. Joseph Marello - 1892


            dren  seems  light.  That  is  because  our  works  and  efforts  of
            themselves  have  no  worth  if  God  does  not  accompany  and
            strengthen them with his grace. Therefore, be active around your
            children, pray for them with fervor and faith, make them pray
            and become used to praying, and do not count as ill spent the
            time taken in assisting and helping them in the recitation of their
            daily  prayers.  Pray  assiduously  for  yourselves,  that  God  may
            help you in the accomplishment of the serious duty of educating
            your  children  well;  for  you  are  raising  adorers  of  God,  and
            putting their soul on the way of salvation and maintaining them
            there. It is a matter of your honor, even of your good, the good
            of the Holy Church and of society itself:  without prayer, who
            could  be  assured  of  a  joyful  and  happy  result  in  such  an
            undertaking? What we say to you, O Christian parents, we say to
            everyone:  whoever  wishes  to  fulfill  zealously  and  fully,  and
            especially perseveringly, all their obligations, must trust in God
            and pray; a humble and trusting prayer is never rejected by the
            divine goodness.    Therefore, pray in  these sad  and calamitous
            times; pray for your temporal needs and for your eternal ones.
            Pray for the Sovereign Pontiff, the beloved Father of the great
            Christian family; ask the Lord to keep him for many more years
            for our  good and in  our filial  affection, and to  fulfill  his  holy
            desires by rendering fruitful his efforts for the reflourishing and
            spreading  of  the  Catholic  faith,  as  well  as  for  the  triumph  of
            truth  and  justice  throughout  the  world.  Pray  for  our  August
            Sovereign,  for  the  Royal  Family  and  for  the  State  authorities;
            and may your charity, Venerable Brothers and Dearly Beloved,
            make  you  pray  also  for  us  who  wholeheartedly  impart  our
            pastoral blessing.

            Acqui, February 4, 1892
                                   Giuseppe Bishop
            Pietro Peloso, priest, secretary


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