John Janaro's Blog

Saint Therese, as Presented by Pope Francis

Pope Francis had a special devotion to Saint Therese, whose feast we celebrate today. Here I present a few excerpts from the Apostolic Exhortation he gave us just two years ago, in honor of the 150th anniversary of her birth.

“It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love.” These striking words of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face say it all. They sum up the genius of her spirituality and would suffice to justify the fact that she has been named a Doctor of the Church. Confidence, “nothing but confidence,” is the sole path that leads us to the Love that grants everything. With confidence, the wellspring of grace overflows into our lives, the Gospel takes flesh within us and makes us channels of mercy for our brothers and sisters.

It is confidence that sustains us daily and will enable us to stand before the Lord on the day when he calls us to himself: “In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is stained in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own Justice and to receive from your Love the eternal possession of yourself.”  ….

The confidence that Therese proposes has to do with more than our individual sanctification and salvation. It has an integral meaning that embraces the totality of concrete existence and finds application in our daily lives, where we are often assailed by fears, the desire for human security, the need to have everything under control. Here we see the importance of her invitation to a holy “abandonment”.

The complete confidence that becomes an abandonment in Love sets us free from obsessive calculations, constant worry about the future and fears that take away our peace. In her final days, Therese insisted on this: “We who run in the way of love shouldn’t be thinking of suffering that can take place in the future; it’s a lack of confidence.” If we are in the hands of a Father who loves us without limits, this will be the case come what may; we will be able to move beyond whatever may happen to us and, in one way or another, his plan of love and fullness will come to fulfillment in our lives.  ….

For Therese, the one God is revealed above all else in his mercy, which is the key to understanding everything else that can be said of him: “To me he has granted his infinite mercy and through it I contemplate and adore the other divine perfections! All of these perfections appear to be resplendent with love, even his Justice (and perhaps this even more so than the others) seems to me clothed in love.” This is one of the loftiest insights of Therese, one of her major contributions to the entire People of God. In an extraordinary way, she probed the depths of divine mercy, and drew from them the light of her limitless hope.

~Excerpts from Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation on Saint Therese and Confidence in the Merciful Love of God, October 15, 2023. Sections 1-3, 23-24, 27.

Saint Jerome: Attentive to the Word with Joy

Happy Feast of Saint Jerome!

Introducing Catie Janaro (with Her Older Sisters)

Catherine Elise Janaro was born around 7 PM on Saturday, September 27, 2025.

Here she is with her two older sisters, Anna (left) and Maria (right). It’s wonderful for kids to have siblings. We’ll have some more pictures from the Baptism, and — we hope — a new Janaro family picture by then.

Welcome, Catie!

It's Avril Lavigne's Birthday, and SOMEBODY ELSE'S

Actually, Happy Belated Birthday to Avril Lavigne, who turned 41 years old on September 27th. I had some digital portraits and stuff to share - but Saturday was co-opted by... another birthday, by which I mean, literally, a day of birth! More on that soon...

I do want to muse a bit on Avril, who remains (in my mind) the iconic Millennial. This by no means implies that she is an example for everyone else to follow (multimedia performance artists are too wacky for that). What I mean is that she is a kind of "mirror" that reflects in some ways where this generation is going.

The fact that I'm someone who appreciates Avril is surprising; I wouldn't ordinarily be much interested in a performer who is known as "the pop-punk princess" (Avril has this mode of artistry, but there are so many more facets of her talent and charisma).

As you know if you read this blog, music of all kinds is a significant part of my life. I was classically trained on the cello. As a teenager in the 1970s, I used my musical training to teach myself to play guitar. That included electric guitar. LOUD electric guitar. I played long enough (and well enough) to know "from-the-inside" that playing rock 'n roll is a genuine and difficult craft, an aesthetic effort to "make something beautiful" (remember, beauty is analogical).

In other words, rock 'n roll is more than an excuse to make noise. It's more than a rowdy electronic pillow fight. It's more than just "fun." If you consider the technologically enhanced, light-and-noise-saturated infrastructure that surrounds us day and night, that constantly puts stress on our senses in so many ways that humans never had to deal with before, it's not surprising that some people take up these new sources of sound, stress, and strain in order to craft them into something that has sonic coherence - music. That's just one approach in my effort to develop an aesthetics of rock music.

Back to Avril Lavigne. I've told this story too many times: I became interested in her when she announced in 2015 that she had Lyme disease. She disappeared for five years (from 2013-2018). During the "aughts," she had one of the most widely recognized faces on the planet. I'm not exaggerating here: You could go to China and see big advertisement posters of Avril on a skateboard drinking some brand of iced tea. She was the biggest Western artist in Japan. Her five world tours included lots of East Asian venues, because they loved her. Everyone loved this Canadian small town girl.

Then, BOOM, nothing. She got hammered by Lyme disease. I understood that. I knew what that was like. With sympathy and genuine interest, I started listening to her music. A lot of her songs I didn't like at all. Some songs grew on me slowly. Some songs were GOLD. Then, on September 29, 2018 (that's seven years ago) she released a new song, "Head Above Water." That was a very special song.

Avril did a lot for Lyme disease awareness from 2018-2021. Meanwhile, she was getting back on her feet and onto the stage. In 2022, she stopped talking about it entirely. I don’t blame her. She’s in remission, she has it under control. She has her energy back. She wants to use it. So she did two summers of a “Greatest Hits” tour, sold out Madison Square Garden, brought out thousands of nostalgic middle-aged Millennials and their teenage kids. She did the “punk-pop” stuff and wore her weird outfits. She also played some “deep cuts” from the old albums, which is where the GOLD is often buried.

Avril’s unique face, her variety of facial expressions, and her abundance of ever-changing hair make her a great “subject” for my digital portrait practice work. Photographs and videos are all over the internet, so it’s not hard to find images to start with. But Avril is “complicated.” She has a sweet smile, but there is always that smokey black eyeliner. It’s a trademark. Then she flips the bird on you. She has changed her hairstyles, color streaks, and all that stuff. Sometimes there are mountains of hair.

Her Instagram post for her birthday was brilliant! “41…. Let’s go” but it was the photo, the deadpan expression, and the chic glasses worn “granny style” that made this a great image. The seemingly ageless “iconic” Millennial teenager may start moving in the direction of the gracefully “maturing” middle-aged Millennial “cool auntie.” The real woman beneath the various dramatic personae has been around for some time, and she’s had a lot of suffering — more than we’ll ever know. Going forward and stepping into the “forty-somethings” will be a challenge for her and the rest of her generation. Perhaps they’ll be led on roads their elders never knew.

Happy Birthday, Avril! Be well. I don’t know whether or not you remember much the God who “kept your head above water,” but He has not forgotten you and He continues to hold you up. You are one of the celebrities I have “spiritually adopted” and I am praying for you.

This blog post, however, indicates SOMEBODY ELSE… My GRANDDAUGHTER Catherine was born on Saturday evening. She has the same birthday as Avril, which is fun. I need to get some pictures to welcome her properly into the Janaro Clan. It might have to wait until the Baptism this coming weekend.

Stay tuned for that….

Saint Vincent de Paul, Apostle of Mercy

Happy Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, the Great "Apostle of the Works of Mercy," not only external but also internal. The mercy of God's love encountered in Jesus Christ changes the way we see the sufferings of others, and engenders within our hearts a new kind of compassion toward others and toward ourselves. When we allow Christ to embrace us with His mercy, we begin to be instruments of His mercy.

The quotation from Saint Vincent in the picture says: "Consider God's generosity toward you rather than your own unworthiness in His sight, and live in His strength rather than in the thoughts of your own weakness." He also said, "We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God."

These words resonate in the midst of all the conflicts and turbulence of our present day. They indicate our own profound human "need" — which we all have — the personal loneliness, brokenness, and suffering that we all endure, which is the "place" where Jesus comes to meet us and where He wants to stay with us. He comes to stir up hope within us, a firm adherence to the God who is LOVE, and who loves each one of us. From this, we can be consoled and converted, and we are empowered to say "yes" to God, to grow in love by participating in the gift of Divine life, and to learn to live in a fully human way in all the circumstances of our times.

Tears: The Language of a Wounded Heart

"There are times in our lives when tears are the glasses through which we see Jesus. There is a moment in our lives when only tears prepare us to see Jesus.... Tears are a language that express the deep feelings of a wounded heart. Tears are a silent cry for compassion and comfort. Moreover, they cleanse and purify our eyes, our feelings, and our thoughts. We should not be ashamed to cry; it is a way of expressing our sadness and our desire for a new world. Crying tells of our humanity, which is weak and tested, but destined for joy" (Pope Leo XIV).

Words and Words That Make Things Worse

What can we build? What are we building? Towers of Babel, everywhere, and words and words that make no sense except as rage by which we tear one another apart and spread wreckage everywhere… “words and dialectics only make it worse.”

Without God, the dignity of the human person has no  foundation. The human face becomes opaque, obscure, stirring up mistrust, hatred, distancing, and isolation. The “physical and mental comfort” that is the obsession of the Western world has made us forget God. Do we still think we can bring forth works of enduring beauty?

Here is our hope: we may have forgotten God, but He hasn’t forgotten us. His mercy anticipates us and draws us even in the darkest places in the depths of our hearts — places deeper than we know, where our hearts still cry out to Him.

Christoph Probst was led to meditate on these themes 84 years ago, as he gazed at the ancient churches in Bavaria:

"There stands the cathedral, again and again it appears so beautiful, so great, uplifting and ingenious! The feeling of joy and admiration that I have when I look at it, is always mixed with that of a profound admonition: people were once able to build this – what can you still do today? How poor you feel then, with all the physical and mental comfort of modern times! There would be a lot to say, but words and dialectics only make it worse."

~ Christoph Probst, Strasbourg 1941

The Road Ahead

This piece of digital artwork from JJStudios is called “The Road Ahead.”

The Story of One of Today’s 103 Korean Martyrs

Saint Mareuko Jeong Eui-Bae is one of the 103 Korean martyrs whose feast we celebrate on September 20. He is among some 10,000 Koreans who gave their lives for Christ during multiple fierce persecutions in the mid-19th century. Most were ordinary lay men and women, but some were also from the educated classes and the nobility. We know enough about the high-ranking nobleman/scholar Mareuko Jeong to appreciate the particular drama of his conversion.

Korean cultural life flourished for many centuries, creatively appropriating ancient Chinese literary and religious traditions into its own independent society. But by the end of the 18th century, the 500-year -old Joseon dynasty was in deep decline, and dependent on Qing-dynasty China. Meanwhile, the Joseon Neo-Confucian State had become a religious/political structure of rigid social hierarchy, with the monarch at the center, followed by the noble and scholarly classes, and with many of the common people reduced to a status of virtual slavery.

It was the scholar-officials who began searching for ways to reform this ossified society. In frequent diplomatic trips to Beijing, they met “Westeners” (including Catholic priests) and obtained books on developments in Western science, technology, philosophy, and religion translated into Chinese. Thus arose the “Sohak” movement—groups of scholars who studied “Western learning” and discussed its possible value for reforming Korean society. For most, it was mainly an intellectual examination of various Western ideas, but a few were drawn specifically to the Catholic faith. Yi Sung-hun was baptized in Beijing in 1784, returned to Korea, and baptized a few of his compatriots. By the time the first priest arrived in 1795 there were 4000 baptized lay Catholics waiting for him.

There was also aggressive opposition to the new teaching. The Joseon royal house and their Neo- Confucian supporters viewed Christianity as a threat to the Korean social order. Worship of One God in Jesus Christ undermined the religious/superstitious system of rites offered for the monarch and the hierarchical continuity of clan and family. Christianity preached that God was the Father of all people, who were brothers and sisters with a common destiny in Christ regardless of their origins and social status. Among the scholars who abhorred the new Christian teaching was (Mareuko) Jeong Eui-Bae. Born in 1794, Jeong was an established professor of Chinese literature and defender of the status quo when persecution broke out in 1839. By that time the French Foreign Mission Society had sent a bishop and two priests to Korea. In 1839, Jeong Eui-Bae witnessed the brutal mutilation and execution of Bishop Laurentius Imbert, Father Peter Maubant, and Father Jakob Chastan. (They are also among the 103 martyred saints.)

The 47-year-old scholar had seen death many times. But in these three men Jeong saw something completely new: an astonishing joy in the face of torture and death. Jeong was growing old in a society where death was covered with shadows. His studies gave no hint as to how to face death, much less to embrace it with the joy he saw on the faces of those missionaries that day.

Disregarding his honorable station, Jeong obtained and read forbidden Christian books and met the people who believed in the One written about in those books. Glimpsing there the Source of hitherto unknown joy and hope, the long-cynical old professor was totally converted. He was baptized Mareuko (Mark) and devoted his newfound zeal and intellectual skills to working as a catechist and caring for the sick. The poor humble people whom the former aristocrat had once scorned he now served with love until his own martyrdom in 1866, at age 72.

Buona Festa di San Gennaro

Buona Festa! Another year for the “Janaro Family Feast.” We had pizza.

Any day now, the newest Janaro will be born.☺️