Tomorrow is the 152nd wedding anniversary of the parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus who is the second patron saint of the Apostleship of Prayer. United in the sacrament of matrimony, they were united in holiness and were beatified together on October 19, 2008. They are good reminders to us that everyone is called to holiness and that every vocation is a path to sainthood. Their influence on their daughter Therese helped form her into the great saint that she became. Let us pray today that Christians may strive to promote everywhere, but especially in cities, education, justice, solidarity, and peace. Our reflection is from Pope Benedict’s Angelus Message on the day this couple was beatified.

On this very day Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin, the parents of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus whom Pius XI declared Patroness of Missions, are being beatified at Lisieux. These new Blesseds, accompanied and shared, with their prayers and their Gospel witness, the journey of their daughter, called by the Lord to consecrate herself to him without reserve within the walls of Carmel. It was there, in the concealment of the cloister, that the little St Thérèse fulfilled her vocation: "In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love" (Manuscripts autobiographiques, Lisieux, 1957, p. 229). In thinking of the beatification of the Martin couple, I am keen to recall another intention very dear to my heart: the family, whose role in teaching children a universal outlook that is both responsible and open to the world and its problems is fundamental, as it also is in the formation of vocations to missionary life.