Five Things To Remember On Jan. 9

1. “You can follow thousands of catechism courses, thousands of spirituality courses, thousands of yoga or zen courses and all these things. But none of this will be able to give you the freedom as a child (of God).  Only the Holy Spirit can prompt your heart to say ‘Father.’ Only the Holy Spirit is capable of banishing, of breaking that hardness of heart and making it … soft?  No, I don’t like that word, … ‘docile’.  Docile towards the Lord.  Docile when it comes to the freedom to love.” - Pope Francis today during his homily.

2. It's Poverty Awareness Month. The Church’s social teaching reminds Catholics that providing for the needs of the poor and vulnerable is not a nice but optional thing to do with our surplus, but is a positive obligation for every person of faith.  It’s the actualization of the words of Jesus, “As often as you did this for the least of my brothers, you did it for me.”

3. Catholic News Service reports: "A panel of theologians advising the Vatican's Congregation for Saints' Causes voted unanimously to recognize the late Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero as a martyr, according to the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference."

4. Next week starts the 9 Days for Life campaign here at the USCCB. Interested? Download the app on iTunes or on Google Play.

5. God loves you.