Saint4all

Message, 25. January 2012

2012-01-31T04:32:00.000-08:00

Message, 25. January 2012

“Dear children! With joy, also today I call you to open your hearts and to listen to my call. Anew, I desire to draw you closer to my Immaculate Heart, where you will find refuge and peace. Open yourselves to prayer, until it becomes a joy for you. Through prayer, the Most High will give you an abundance of grace and you will become my extended hands in this restless world which longs for peace. Little children, with your lives witness faith and pray that faith may grow day by day in your hearts. I am with you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Holy Year 2012

2012-01-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

January 2, 2012 Message to Mirjana

"Dear children; As with motherly concern I look in your hearts, in them I see pain and suffering; I see a wounded past and an incessant search; I see my children who desire to be happy but do not know how. Open yourselves to the Father. That is the way to happiness, the way by which I desire to lead you. God the Father never leaves His children alone, especially not in pain and despair. When you comprehend and accept this, you will be happy. Your search will end. You will love and you will not be afraid. Your life will be hope and truth which is my Son. Thank you. I implore you, pray for those whom my Son has chosen. Do not judge because you will all be judged."

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2011-12-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

SHE GAVE US HER SON, JESUS.

Message, 25. December 2011

“Dear children! Also today, in my arms I am carrying my Son Jesus to you, for Him to give you His peace. Pray, little children, and witness so that in every heart, not human but God's peace may prevail, which no one can destroy. It is that peace in the heart which God gives to those whom He loves. By your baptism you are all, in a special way called and loved, therefore witness and pray that you may be my extended hands to this world which yearns for God and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Remember The True Purpose of Christmas

2011-12-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

Although Christmas is a joyful time, it is most importantly a time to receive JESUS in our heart. Pray and be prepare to welcome JESUS the son of GOD. Also remember to pray for all the needy.

Message of December 02, 2011

2011-12-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

Message of December 02, 2011

"Dear children, As a mother I am with you so that with my love, prayer and example I may help you to become a seed of the future, a seed that will grow into a firm tree and spread it's branches throughout the world. For you to become a seed of the future, a seed of love, implore the Father to forgive you your omissions up to now. My children, only a pure heart, unburdened by sin, can open itself and only honest eyes can see the way by which I desire to lead you. When you become aware of this, you will become aware of the love of God - it will be given (as a gift) to you. Then you will give it (as a gift) to others as a seed of love. Thank you."

Message, 25. November 2011

2011-12-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

Message, 25. November 2011

“Dear children! Today I desire to give you hope and joy. Everything that is around you, little children, leads you towards worldly things but I desire to lead you towards a time of grace, so that through this time you may be all the closer to my Son, that He can lead you towards His love and eternal life, for which every heart yearns. You, little children, pray and may this time for you be one of grace for your soul. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

October 02, 2011 Message to Mirjana

2011-12-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

October 02, 2011 Message to Mirjana

"Dear children; Also today my motherly heart calls you to prayer, to your personal relationship with God the Father, to the joy of prayer in Him. God the Father is not far away from you and He is not unknown to you. He revealed Himself to you through my Son and gave you Life that is my Son. Therefore, my children, do not give into temptations that want to separate you from God the Father. Pray! Do not attempt to have families and societies without Him. Pray! Pray that your hearts may be flooded with the goodness which comes only from my Son, Who is sincere goodness. Only hearts filled with goodness can comprehend and accept God the Father. I will continue to lead you. In a special way I implore you not to judge your shepherds. My children, are you forgetting that God the Father called them? Pray! Thank you."

Thank You Jesus

2011-10-05T01:45:00.001-07:00

Divine Mercy, Once gain you showed me how merciful you are. I pray that your goodness be seen by every human intellect, so as to stop suffering in the world. Bless the unborn and bless every family. Amen

The Lord is wonderful, please do not stop believing!

Our Blessed Mother's message

2011-09-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

Message, 25. September 2011

“Dear children! I call you, for this time to be for all of you, a time of witnessing. You, who live in the love of God and have experienced His gifts, witness them with your words and life that they may be for the joy and encouragement to others in faith. I am with you and incessantly intercede before God for all of you that your faith may always be alive and joyful, and in the love of God. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

September Message of Our Lady

2011-09-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

September 02, 2011 Message to Mirjana

"Dear children; With all my heart and soul full of faith and love in the Heavenly Father, I gave my Son to you and am giving Him to you anew. My Son has brought you, the people of the entire world, to know the only true God and His love. He has led you on the way of truth and made you brothers and sisters. Therefore, my children, do not wander, do not close your heart before that truth, hope and love. Everything around you is passing and everything is falling apart, only the glory of God remains. Therefore, renounce everything that distances you from the Lord. Adore Him alone, because He is the only true God. I am with you and I will remain with you. I am especially praying for the shepherds that they may be worthy representatives of my Son and may lead you with love on the way of truth. Thank you."

Message of Our Lady

2011-09-03T12:54:00.001-07:00

Message, 25. August 2011

“Dear children! Today I call you to pray and fast for my intentions, because Satan wants to destroy my plan. Here I began with this parish and invited the entire world. Many have responded, but there is an enormous number of those who do not want to hear or accept my call. Therefore, you who have said ‘yes’, be strong and resolute. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady's message July 25

2011-07-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

Message, 25. July 2011

“Dear children! May this time be for you a time of prayer and silence. Rest your body and spirit, may they be in God’s love. Permit me, little children, to lead you, open your hearts to the Holy Spirit so that all the good that is in you may blossom and bear fruit one hundred fold. Begin and end the day with prayer with the heart. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady's Message

2011-06-26T14:46:00.001-07:00

Message, 25. June 2011

“Dear children! Give thanks with me to the Most High for my presence with you. My heart is joyful watching the love and joy in the living of my messages. Many of you have responded, but I wait for, and seek, all the hearts that have fallen asleep to awaken from the sleep of unbelief. Little children, draw even closer to my Immaculate Heart so that I can lead all of you toward eternity. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady's message to Mirjana

2011-06-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

June 02, 2011 Message to Mirjana

"Dear children! As I call you to prayer for those who have not come to know the love of God, if you were to look into your hearts you would comprehend that I am speaking about many of you. With an open heart, sincerely ask yourselves if you want the living God or do you want to eliminate Him and live as you want. Look around you, my children, and see where the world is going, the world that thinks of doing everything without the Father, and which wanders in the darkness of temptation. I am offering to you the light of the Truth and the Holy Spirit. According to God's plan I am with you to help you to have my Son, His Cross and Resurrection, triumph in your hearts. As a mother, I desire and pray for your unity with my Son and His works. I am with you; you decide. Thank you."

Jean Paul II

2011-05-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

John Paul II spoke to young people about Mary in his 2003 world youth day message:

Jesus gives his Mother to you so that she will comfort you with her tenderness. She will discharge her ministry as a mother and train you and mold you until Christ is fully formed in you. This is why I now wish to repeat the motto of my episcopal and pontifical service: "Totus tuus."(completely yours) Throughout my life I have experienced the loving and forceful presence of the Mother of Our Lord. Mary accompanies me every day in the fulfillment of my mission as successor of Peter. Mary is the Mother of divine grace, because she is the Mother of the Author of grace. Entrust yourselves to her with complete confidence! (John Paul II, "Message of the Holy Father John Paul II for the 18th World Youth Day," March 8, 2003, 3-4.)

Our Lady's Message on May 2nd

2011-05-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

May 02, 2011

"Dear children; God the Father is sending me to show you the way of salvation, because He, my children, desires to save you and not to condemn you. That is why I, as a mother, am gathering you around me, because with my motherly love I desire to help you to be free of the dirtiness of the past and to begin to live anew and differently. I am calling you to resurrect in my Son. Along with confession of sins renounce everything that has distanced you from my Son and that has made your life empty and unsuccessful. Say 'yes' to the Father with the heart and set out on the way of salvation to which He is calling you through the Holy Spirit. Thank you. I am especially praying for the shepherds (priests), for God to help them to be alongside you with a fullness of heart."

Our Lady's Message

2011-05-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Message, 25. April 2011

“Dear children! As nature gives the most beautiful colors of the year, I also call you to witness with your life and to help others to draw closer to my Immaculate Heart, so that the flame of love for the Most High may sprout in their hearts. I am with you and I unceasingly pray for you that your life may be a reflection of Heaven here on earth. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady's Annual Apparition on March 18

2011-03-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Annual Apparition of Our Lady to Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo on March 18, 2011

The visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo had daily apparitions from June 24th 1981 to December 25th 1982. During the last daily apparition, Our Lady gave her the 10th secret, and told her that she would appear to her once a year, on the 18th of March. It has been this way through the years. Several thousand pilgrims gathered in prayer of the Rosary at the 'Blue Cross'. The apparition lasted from 13:46 to 13:50.

Our Lady's Message:

"Dear children! I am with you in the name of the greatest Love, in the name of dear God, who has come close to you through my Son and has shown you real love. I desire to lead you on the way of God. I desire to teach you real love so that others may see it in you, that you may see it in others, that you may be a brother to them and that others may see a merciful brother in you. My children, do not be afraid to open your hearts to me. With motherly love, I will show you what I expect of each of you, what I expect of my apostles. Set out with me. Thank you."

Our Lady's Message March 2 2011

2011-03-05T01:23:00.000-08:00

Message of March 02, 2011

"Dear children; My motherly heart suffers tremendously as I look at my children who persistently put what is human before what is of God; at my children who, despite everything that surrounds them and despite all the signs that are sent to them, think that they can walk without my Son. They cannot! They are walking to eternal perdition. That is why I am gathering you, who are ready to open your heart to me, you who are ready to be apostles of my love, to help me; so that by living God's love you may be an example to those who do not know it. May fasting and prayer give you strength in that and I bless you with motherly blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Thank you."
Our Lady was very sad.

Our Lady's message February 25th 2011

2011-03-05T01:20:00.000-08:00

Message, 25. February 2011

“Dear children! Nature is awakening and on the trees the first buds are seen which will bring most beautiful flowers and fruit. I desire that you also, little children, work on your conversion and that you be those who witness with their life, so that your example may be a sign and an incentive for conversion to others. I am with you and before my Son Jesus I intercede for your conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady's message Mirjana

2011-02-03T03:08:00.001-08:00

Our Lady's message to Mirjana Soldo of February, 2nd 2011.

"Dear children; You are gathering around me, you are seeking your way, you are seeking, you are seeking the truth but are forgetting what is the most important, you are forgetting to pray properly. Your lips pronounce countless words, but your spirit does not feel anything. Wandering in darkness, you even imagine God Himself according to yourselves, and not such as He really is in His love. Dear children, proper prayer comes from the depth of your heart, from your suffering, from your joy, from your seeking the forgiveness of sins. This is the way to come to know the right God and by that also yourselves, because you are created according to Him. Prayer will bring you to the fulfillment of my desire, of my mission here with you, to the unity in God's family. Thank you."

Our Lady's message

2011-02-03T03:07:00.001-08:00

Message, 25. January 2011

"Dear children! Also today I am with you and I am looking at you and blessing you, and I am not losing hope that this world will change for the good and that peace will reign in the hearts of men. Joy will begin to reign in the world because you have opened yourselves to my call and to God’s love. The Holy Spirit is changing a multitude of those who have said ‘yes’. Therefore I desire to say to you: thank you for having responded to my call."

Our Lady's message

2011-01-02T13:05:00.001-08:00

January 2, 2011 message to Mirjana Soldo

Dear children; Today I call you to unity (communion) in Jesus, my Son. My motherly heart prays that you may comprehend that you are God's family. Through the spiritual freedom of will, which the Heavenly Father has given you, you are called to become cognizant (to come to the knowledge) of the truth, the good or the evil. May prayer and fasting open your hearts and help you to discover the Heavenly Father through my Son. In discovering the Father, your life will be directed to carrying out of God's will and the realization of God's family, in the way that my Son desires (wishes). I will not leave you alone on this path. Thank you.

Message of Our Lady

2010-12-27T03:05:00.000-08:00

Message, 25. December 2010

“Dear children! Today, I and my Son desire to give you an abundance of joy and peace so that each of you may be a joyful carrier and witness of peace and joy in the places where you live. Little children, be a blessing and be peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady's message

2010-12-04T13:59:00.001-08:00

Our Lady's December 2nd, 2010 Message to Mirjana

"Dear children; Today I am praying here with you that you may gather the strength to open your hearts and thus to become aware of the mighty love of the suffering God. Through this His love, goodness and meekness, I am also with you. I invite you for this special time of preparation to be a time of prayer, penance and conversion. My children, you need God. You cannot go forward without my Son. When you comprehend and accept this, what was promised to you will be realized. Through the Holy Spirit the Kingdom of Heaven will be born in your hearts. I am leading you to this. Thank you."

Our Lady's Message

2010-11-26T08:54:00.000-08:00

Message, 25. November 2010

"Dear children! I look at you and I see in your heart death without hope, restlessness and hunger. There is no prayer or trust in God, that is why the Most High permits me to bring you hope and joy. Open yourselves. Open your hearts to God’s mercy and He will give you everything you need and will fill your hearts with peace, because He is peace and your hope. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Our Lady's Message

2010-11-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

November 02 2010 Message to Mirjana

"Dear children; With motherly perseverance and love I am bringing you the light of life to destroy the darkness of death in you. Do not reject me, my children. Stop and look within yourselves and see how sinful you are. Be aware of your sins and pray for forgiveness. My children, you do not desire to accept that you are weak and little, but you can be strong and great by doing God's will. Give me your cleansed hearts that I may illuminate them with the light of life, my Son. Thank you."

Our Lady's Message

2010-10-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Message, 25. October 2010

“Dear children! May this time be a time of prayer for you. My call, little children, desires to be for you a call to decide to follow the way of conversion; therefore, pray and seek the intercession of all the saints. May they be for you an example, an incentive and a joy towards eternal life. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Please pray pray and pray this is the only way we could be saved.Listen to our lady's message she wants to help us save our souls.

October 02 2010 Message to Mirjana

2010-10-08T04:22:00.002-07:00

"Dear children, Today I call you to a humble, my children, humble devotion. Your hearts need to be just. May your crosses be your means in the battle against the sins of the present time. May your weapon be patience and boundless love – a love that knows to wait and which will make you capable of recognizing God's signs – that your life, by humble love, may show the truth to all those who seek it in the darkness of lies. My children, my apostles, help me to open the paths to my Son. Once again I call you to pray for your shepherds. Alongside them, I will triumph. Thank you."

Our Lady's Message

2010-10-08T04:22:00.001-07:00

Message, 25. September 2010

“Dear children! Today I am with you and bless you all with my motherly blessing of peace, and I urge you to live your life of faith even more, because you are still weak and are not humble. I urge you, little children, to speak less and to work more on your personal conversion so that your witness may be fruitful. And may your life be unceasing prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Message of Our Lady

2010-09-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

Message of September 2, 2010 to Mirjana

"Dear children. I am beside you because I desire to help you to overcome trials, which this time of purification puts before you. My children, one of those is not to forgive, and not to ask for forgivness. Every sin offends Love and distances you from it – and Love is my Son. Therefore, my children, if you desire to walk with me towards the peace of God's love, you must learn to forgive and to ask for forgivness. Thank you."

Message 25 August 2010

2010-09-07T11:20:00.001-07:00

Message, 25. August 2010

“Dear children! With great joy, also today, I desire to call you anew: pray, pray, pray. May this time be a time of personal prayer for you. During the day, find a place where you will pray joyfully in a recollected way. I love you and bless you all. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our lady's message

2010-07-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Message of July 25, 2010 "Dear children! Anew I call you to
follow me with joy. I desire to lead all of you to my Son, your
Savior. You are not aware that without Him you do not have joy
and peace, nor a future or eternal life. Therefore, little
children, make good use of this time of joyful prayer and
surrender. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Message of Our Lady

2010-07-04T06:31:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2010 Message to Mirjana

"Dear children, my motherly call, which I direct to you today, is a call of truth and life. My Son, who is Life, loves you and knows you in truth. To come to know and to love yourself, you must come to know my Son; to come to know and to love others, you must see my Son in them. Therefore, my children, pray, pray, that you may comprehend and surrender with a spirit that is free, be completely transformed and, in this way, may have the Kingdom of Heaven in your heart on earth. Thank you!"

Message, 25. May 2010

2010-05-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

Dear children! God gave you the grace to live and to defend all the good that is in you and around you, and to inspire others to be better and holier; but Satan, too, does not sleep and through modernism diverts you and leads you to his way. Therefore, little children, in the love for my Immaculate Heart, love God above everything and live His commandments. In this way, your life will have meaning and peace will rule on earth. Thank you for having responded to my call.

Our Lady's message to Mirjana

2010-05-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

May 2, 2010 Message

"Dear children; Today, through me, the good Father calls you to, with your soul filled with love, set out on a spiritual visitation. Dear children, be filled with grace, sincerely repent for your sins and yearn for the good. Yearn also in the name of those who have not come to know the perfection of the good. You will be more pleasing to God. Thank you."

Our Lady's Message

2010-04-27T11:13:00.001-07:00

Message, 25. April 2010

“Dear children! At this time, when in a special way you are praying and seeking my intercession, I call you, little children, to pray so that through your prayers I can help you to have all the more hearts be opened to my messages. Pray for my intentions. I am with you and I intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

April 2, 2010 Message to Mirjana

2010-04-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

"Dear children; Today I bless you in a special way and I pray for you to return to the right way, to my Son - your Saviour, your Redeemer – to Him who gave you eternal life. Reflect on everything human, on everything that does not permit you to set out after my Son – on transience, imperfection and limitation - and then think of my Son, of His Devine infiniteness. By your surrender and prayer ennoble your body and perfect your soul. Be ready, my children. Thank you."

Our Lady blessed all people and all the religious articles that we had for blessing. As Our Lady was leaving Mirjana saw a large golden Cross behind Our Lady.

Don't Forget it's Good Friday

2010-04-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

Have some thought for the suffering Jesus went through for our sake. He did that for us so that we may be saved. Also don't forget that the novena for Divine Mercy Sunday feast start today. Don't miss the story of St. Faustina on EWTN here is a preview.

Our Lady's message

2010-03-28T13:02:00.001-07:00

Message, 25. March 2010

“Dear children! Also today I desire to call you all to be strong in prayer and in the moments when trials attack you. Live your Christian vocation in joy and humility and witness to everyone. I am with you and I carry you all before my Son Jesus, and He will be your strength and support. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady's message to Mirjana

2010-03-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

March 18, 2010 Message

"Dear children! Today I call you to love with all your heart and with all your soul. Pray for the gift of love, because when the soul loves it calls my Son to itself. My Son does not refuse those who call Him and who desire to live according to Him. Pray for those who do not comprehend love, who do not understand what it means to love. Pray that God may be their Father and not their Judge. My children, you be my apostles, be my river of love. I need you. Thank you."

Message of Our Lady to Mirjana Soldo

2010-03-02T12:35:00.001-08:00

March 02, 2010

"Dear children, In this special time of your effort to be all the closer to my Son, to His suffering, but also to the love with which He bore it, I desire to tell you that I am with you. I will help you to triumph over errors and temptations with my grace. I will teach you love, love which wipes away all sins and makes you perfect, love which gives you the peace of my Son now and forever. Peace with you and in you, because I am the Queen of Peace. Thank you."

Message of Our Lady

2010-02-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

Message, 25. February 2010

"Dear children! In this time of grace, when nature also prepares to give the most beautiful colors of the year, I call you, little children, to open your hearts to God the Creator for Him to transform and mould you in His image, so that all the good which has fallen asleep in your hearts may awaken to a new life and a longing towards eternity. Thank you for having responded to my call."

First Week of Lent

2010-02-19T11:52:00.000-08:00

What is Lent?

Lent is the forty day period before Easter, excluding Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). [This traditional ennumeration does not precisely coincide with the calendar according to the liturgical reform. In order to give special prominence to the Sacred Triduum (Mass of the Lord's Supper, Good Friday, Easter Vigil) the current calendar counts Lent as only from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, up to the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Even so, Lenten practices are properly maintained up to the Easter Vigil, excluding Sundays, as before.]

LOURDES AND ST. BERNADETTE

2010-02-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

Lourdes was in the same general region as La Salette; Bernadette, like the children of La Salette spoke in a "patois": Like Maximin and Melanie she could neither read nor write. Unlike them, she was already an advanced contemplative when Our Lady appeared, having cultivated the habit of praying always. In the fields she constantly said her rosary over and over. She was the daughter of poor parents, who were very devoted to one another. The improvident nature and erratic generosity of her father kept the family in dire poverty at all times, but it did not affect in any degree the love of husband for wife and vice versa. At the time Our Lady appeared to Bernadette in the Grotto of Massabielle, Bernadette was fourteen years old and living at home, which was part of an old abandoned jail. She was the most innocent type of moral character, scrupulously honest, obedient, who never committed a deliberate venial sin during her entire life.

On February 11, 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, her sister, 'Toinette Soubirous, and a friend, Jean Abadie, were walking alongside a narrow stream, thirty or forty feet wide. It was a cold day, and they were about the business of gathering firewood for the hearth. Passing along the left bank of the stream, they came opposite the grotto of Massabielle, ("the rock"), at which point one of the girls suggested they take off shoes and stockings, wade across the stream and continue searching on the opposite side. Bernadette never seemed to enjoy good health and was reluctant to go wading in cold water, fearing an attack of asthma 'Toinette and Jean, having no such scruples, took off shoes and stockings to cross immediately. Bernadette asked Jean to take her on ha shoulders, but Jean refused bluntly, told Bernadette, "If you won't come, stay where you are."

Bernadette relates the incident:# "As we could not go any further, my two companions went through the water in front of the Grotto, so I was left alone on the other side. I asked the two others to help me throw stones into the water to see if I could cross without taking off my shoes and stockings, but it was no good. So I came back in front of the Grotto. Hardly had I taken off my first stocking when I heard a noise as if a sudden wind blew. I turned my head and looked at the meadow and I saw that the trees were still. I went on taking off my stockings and again I heard the same sound, and as I lifted up my head to look at the Grotto, I saw a Lady in white. I was a little frightened and, thinking it must be an illusion, I rubbed my eyes, but in vain. I still saw the Lady. Then I put my hand in my pocket and took out my rosary. I wanted to make the sign of the Cross but I could not lift my hand to my forehead. Then I was seized by a great fear. The Lady took up the rosary she held in her hands and she made the Sign of the Cross. I tried again to make it and this time I could. My great fear went as soon as I had made the Sign of the Cross. I knelt down and said the rosary before this beautiful Lady. When the rosary was ended she beckoned me to go nearer but I did not dare to. Then she disappeared. I set about taking off my other stocking so as to cross the narrow stream in front of the Grotto and went home." ("St. Bernadette," Aileen Mary Clegg, Cath. Truth Society, Dublin, by permission.)

Bernadette was questioned interminably on the apparitions at Massabielle. Another account quotes her words on another occasion in more detail: "I had just begun to take off my first stocking when suddenly I heard a great noise like the sound of a storm. I looked to the right, to the left, under the trees of the river, but nothing moved; I thought I was mistaken. I went on taking off my shoes and stockings, when I heard a fresh noise like the first. Then I was frightened and stood straight up. I lost all power of speech and thought, when, turning my head toward the grotto, I saw at one of the openings of the rock a bush, one only, moving as if it were very windy. Almost at the same time there came out of the interior of the grotto a golden colored cloud, and soon after a Lady, young and beautiful, exceedingly beautiful, the like of whom I had never seen, came and placed herself at the entrance of the opening above the bush. She looked at me immediately, smiled at me and signed me to advance, as if she had been my mother. All fear had left me, but I seemed to know no longer where I was. I rubbed my eyes, I shut them, I opened them; but the Lady was still there continuing to smile at me and making me understand that I was not mistaken. Without thinking of what I was doing, I took my rosary in my hands and fell on my knees. The Lady made a sign of approval with her head and took into her hands a rosary which hung on Her right arm. When I attempted to begin the rosary and tried to lift my hand to my forehead, my arm remained paralyzed, and it was only after the Lady had signed herself that I could do the same. The Lady left me to pray all alone; she passed the beads of her rosary between her fingers but she said nothing; only at the end of each decade did She say the 'Gloria' with me.

"When the recitation of the rosary was finished, the Lady returned to the interior of the rock and the golden cloud disappeared with her."

The Lady had the appearance of "a young girl, sixteen, or seventeen years old. She wore a white dress drawn in at the waist by a blue ribbon whose ends hung down. On her head she wore a long white veil so as almost to cover her hair. Her feet were bare but nearly covered by the folds of ha dress, except at the tip where a yellow rose shone on each.

On her right arm she carried a rosary of white beads on a golden chain, shining like the roses on her feet."

In the beginning, as at Paris and La Salette, Our Lady first made friends with Bernadette and inspired confidence in her Identity. These parts of the talks of "The Lady" have never been made known. There was no way of Bernadette's knowing who "The Lady" was.

At first the girls and their families thought she must be a departed soul in need of prayers. No one saw "The Lady," however, save Bernadette and no one heard any of the conversations, although both Bernadette and The Lady spoke "out loud." "If you had stretched out your hand," Bernadette said to Jeanne Vedere, a friend at one of the apparitions, "you would have touched her. We were talking together, just as I am talking to you now. She was talking to me quite loudly, and I was talking out loud to her." Jeanne heard only a few unintelligible sounds.

From the opposite shore, 'Toinette and Jean Abadie watched Bernadette praying, having no idea that she was saying her rosary with a beautiful "Lady" from Heaven. 'Toinette said, "Look at Bernadette down there saying her prayers!"

"What a prig!" expostulated Jean. "She must be mad to be praying there. It's quite enough to have to say so many prayers in church. Let's leave her. She's good for nothing but saying her prayers."

Going back towards the grotto after looking for firewood, the two girls saw Bernadette still lost in prayer. They called to her three times but she seemed transfixed and did not reply.

They threw stones at her, one of which hit her on the shoulder without affecting her in the least. 'Toinette feared that Bernadette might be dead, but Jean reassured her that if Bernadette were dead, "she would have fallen down." While they were thus conjecturing, Bernadette suddenly came out of her ecstasy and was herself once again. She looked at 'Toinette and Jean across the narrow stream beside the grotto.

"What are you doing there?" demanded 'Toinette.

"Nothing," answered Bernadette.

"What a donkey you are to be praying there!" came the rejoinder.

"It's a good thing to pray anywhere," Bernadette countered.

Bernadette then waded into the stream, chiding her companions for "fibbing" to her that the water was cold—the other two girls had wrapped their feet in their skirts to warm them after fording the water. She said she found the water as warm as that which was heated at home for washing!

This brought forth an exclamation of wonder from Jean. Then Bernadette confided a question: "Did you see anything?" No, Jean and 'Toinette had seen nothing. What had Bernadette seen?

In that case, Bernadette hadn't seen anything either!

On the way home, however, Bernadette confided to her friends a secret, that she had seen "a Lady dressed in white with a blue waist-belt and a yellow rose on each foot."

The girls did not believe her, and at home discarded the condition on which they had been confided the "secret" and spoke of it. Thus the story of Lourdes became known. At first Mrs. Soubirous used the same remedy to dispel the "vision" as Mrs. das Dores of Fatima—"a good beating"!

Later seeing Bernadette's constancy, she was impressed and admonished her to pray about it. Mr. Soubirous shared his wife's skepticism, and if he did not administer physical punishment, was less sympathetic in other ways. At first, permission to return to the grotto was refused adamantly by the parents. In response to entreaty both by the children and neighbors, however, they relented.

Bernadette then led her friends with about twenty other children out to the grotto to await the next apparition. When "the Lady" appeared this time, Bernadette threw Holy Water into the grotto and the Lady smiled. The more Holy Water Bernadette threw in her direction the more the Lady smiled. This was reassuring to the crowd which had gathered, as well as to the children and their parents. Becoming frightened by a falling stone, the children tried to lift Bernadette up and carry her from the spot, but were unable to move her.

The crowds grew as the apparitions went on, until at the end there were as many as 20,000.

As public interest grew, speculation thrived as to the real nature of the visions. One popular version had it that the Lady must be a soul in Purgatory asking for prayers. After going to Mass at daybreak one morning, one of the ardent partisans of the soul-in-Purgatory hypothesis pressed Bernadette to offer pen and ink to the Lady with a request that she write down what she wished of the people, or at lest tell what was her motive in coming. It happened that Our Lady appeared to Bernadette that day, the third apparition of Lourdes. Bernadette obediently offered the pen, ink and paper to the Lady, but the Lady laughed! Bernadette had only an oral report: "The Lady laughed. Then she said, 'There is no need for me to write what I have to say. Will you do me the kindness to come here every day for fifteen days?' I promised, and then she said, 'I promise you happiness not in this world, but in the other.'"

Aside from Father Peyramalle's ultimatum to the police, the clergy maintained an attitude of cold and prudent reserve to the happenings at the grotto of Massabielle. They were precipitated into the drama, however, by Our Lady herself, when during the eleventh apparition she directed Bernadette: "Go to the priests and tell them to build a chapel here."

Bernadette had no desire to approach the parish priest. She did so only because she considered herself obliged in obedience to do as the Lady requested. Estrade, the intellectual skeptic who after being converted became a staunch advocate of Bernadette, described the meeting of Father Peyramalle and Bernadette as follows:

"Father Peyramalle was in the garden, saying his office. At the sound of the gate opening he looked up and saw a girl coming shyly towards him. When the child was near he stopped his prayers and asked her who she was and what she wanted.

"'I am Bernadette Soubirous,' she answered timidly.

"'Ah! So it's you!' replied the priest, frowning, and looking her over from head to foot. 'I've been hearing queer stories about you, my girl. Come in.'

"Once in the parlor Father Peyramalle turned to her. 'Well, now, what is it you want?'

"Bernadette, standing there and blushing a little answered, 'The Lady at the Grotto told me to tell the priests that she wants a chapel at Massabielle, so that's why I've come.'

"'Who is this Lady you are talking about?' replied the parish priest.

"'It's a more beautiful Lady who appears to me on the rock; you know her?'

"'Yes, but who is she? Does she belong to Lourdes? Do you know her?'

"‘She isn't from Lourdes. I don't know her.'

"‘And you take messages like this from someone you don't know?'

"‘Oh! Father, this Lady isn't like anyone else!'

"‘What do you mean?'

"'I mean she's as beautiful as I think people in Heaven are.'

"The priest pretended to shrug his shoulders. He was, in reality, trying to hide his feelings.

"‘And you've never asked the Lady her name?'

"‘Yes, but when I do, she smiles and doesn't answer.'

"‘Is she dumb, then?'

"‘Tell me how you came to know her.'

"'No, because she talks to me every day. If she were dumb, she couldn't have told me to come to you.'

"Bernadette, in her gentle persuasive voice, told the story of the first apparition. The priest watched her carefully and did not lose a word. He saw at once that her tale was as clear, as pure ant as limpid as a spring gushing from a rock. Not only did he realize that the child was speaking the truth, but he was compelled to acknowledge that, uneducated as she was, she could not have imagined the events she was describing. His prejudices fell one by one. By the time the girl had answered all his questions, he was almost won over. None the less, he wisely hid what he thought, and went on talking in the same rough fashion as before.

"‘And you think the Lady who appears to you has bidden you tell the priests she wants a chapel at Massabielle.'

"'Yes Father.'

"‘But don't you see that this Lady only wants to mock at you and make fun of you? If a lady in the town had sent you on such an errand, would you have listened to her?'

"'Oh! Father, there's a great difference between such ladies and the Lady I see!'

"‘I wonder if there's such a difference as you think! Here's a Lady without a name, who comes from no one knows where, who stands barefoot on a rock and you take her seriously! My child, I fear one thing and that's that you are being deceived.'

"Bernadette bent her head and did not answer.

"There was a moment's silence during which the priest got up and began striding up and down the room. He stopped at last in front of Bernadette and said, 'You must answer the Lady who sent you that the parish priest doesn't have dealings with people he doesn't know—that, before everything else, he insists that she muse tell her name, and, further, she must prove she had a right to it. If this Lady has a right to a chapel she will understand what I mean; if she doesn't, you can tell her she must not send any more messages to the presbytery.'

"Without showing any sign, either of approval or disapproval, Bernadette lifted her serene gaze to the priest's face, made her little curtsey, and went away."

Nothing was done.

On March 2, at the fourteenth apparition, Our Lady repeated her request for a chapel, adding that she wish processions to come there!

Once again the curè was approached. This time he was angry.

"You are telling me lies!" he exclaimed. "How on earth can we make a procession for her!" Walking angrily up and down his room he went on, "It's a bad business having a family like yours at Lourdes. You turn the town upside down and do nothing but make people run after you. I know what we'll do! We'll give you a candle! Then you can be in the procession. They'll follow you! You don't need priests!"

Bernadette protested that she did not ask anyone to follow her; the people followed her of themselves. Besides, she had told no one about the Lady's request for processions except the curè.

"Keep her at home!" Father Peyramalle admonished her family. "Don't let her stir out!"

Turning to Bernadette, he continued: "You didn't see anything! A Lady can't come out of a cleft! You can't tell me her name!' There can't possibly be anything there!"

In the account of a relative present at the scene, "Bernadette was afraid of him. She wrapped herself up in her capulet and kept as still as a mouse. He had a very loud voice. He kept walking up and down and shouting, 'Did anyone ever hear such a tale! A Lady! A procession!' "

Father Peyramalle concluded the stormy interview with a decisive step: "Let us go straight to the point. If your Lady is she whose name you leave me to guess, I will show her a way to make herself recognized and to give authority to her messages. She appears at the Grotto, you say, above a wild rose-bush. Well, ask her for me to make the rose-bush flower suddenly one of these days in front of everyone. On the morning you come to tell me that this prodigy has taken place, I will believe what you say and I promise to go with you to Massabielle."

When it became known that Bernadette would deliver such an ultimatum as this from the priest of Lourdes to the Queen of Heaven, the crowd swelled to twenty thousand. The scene was an uncanny precursor of the event which was to take place at Fatima, Portugal, fifty-nine years later. The crowd was augmented by a military garrison, horse and foot brigades from Tarbes, the Mayor, his Chief of Police, etc. Bernadette had to be led through the dense multitude crowding even the slopes of the Grotto itself, her escort was a soldier with drawn sword.

Bernadette delivered the cure's demand to the Lady, and the Lady only smiled in answer. She gave no clue to her identity, and the crowd was sorely chagrined. On the vigil of the feast of the Annunciation, March 24, 1858, Bernadette again felt the interior "call" to the Grotto, and she hurried to Massabielle to see the Lady once more.

"She was there," Bernadette recounted the occasion. "I asked her to forgive me for coming late. Always kind and gracious, she made a sign to me with her head to tell me that I need not make excuses. Then I spoke to her of all my love, all my reverence and the happiness I had in seeing her again. After having poured out my heart to her, I took up my rosary. Whilst I was praying, the thought of asking her name came before my mind with such persistence that I could think of nothing else. I feared to be presumptuous in repeating a question she had always refused to answer and yet something compelled me to speak.

"At last, under an irresistible impulse, the words fell from my mouth, and I begged the Lady to tell me who she was. The Lady did as she had always done before; she bowed her head and smiled but she did not reply. I cannot say why, but I felt bolder and asked her again to be so kind as to tell me her name; however, she only bowed and smiled as before, still keeping silence. Then once more, for the third time, clasping my hands and acknowledging myself unworthy of the favor I was seeking of her, I again made my request.

"The Lady was standing above the rose-tree, in a position very similar to that shown in the miraculous medal. At my third request her face became very serious and she seemed to bow down in an attitude of humility. Then she joined her hands and raised them to her breast . . . She looked up to heaven . . . then slowly opening her hands and leaning forward towards me, she said to me in a voice vibrating with emotion, 'I Am The Immaculate Conception (Que Soy Era Immaculate Councepcion).'"

Immediately Our Lady vanished.

Bernadette repeated the words all the way home, in order not to forget them, and hurried to relay the message to Pere Peyrarnalle. His reception of her was no more cordial than usual. "Have you any money to pay for the chapel?" he asked. "No, Father," answered Bernadette.

"Neither have I. Tell the Lady to give you some!"

Nevertheless Our Lady got her "Chapel"; and Father Peyramalle built it. It is today one of the greatest and most beautiful basilicas in the modern world.

The last vision Bernadette had of the "beautiful Lady" took place on July 16, 1858, feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It took place while the Grotto was boarded up, officially closed to the public, and while Bernadette was pressed by her adversaries, unbelievers and scoffers on every side. This unusual vision lasted for a good fifteen minutes. It was the last of Lourdes; it was to be another forecast of the great climax to the Marian age fifty-nine years later.

In her declaration of identity as The Immaculate Conception Our Lady illumined the immense panorama of her Marian Age with her most ancient and most brilliant light. Like the sun rising over the world in the latter days at Lourdes, her proclamation spanned the entire life of man in its meaning and import. At Paris through St. Catherine Laboure, Mary Immaculate cast the first glow of her Immaculate radiance over the world, sending out the herald of the Miraculous Medal to every corner of darkness to prepare her coming in the fullness of her supernatural splendor. La Salette was like the day break, announcing to men to put away the things of night and prepare through prayer and penance for the coming of Heaven's Queen to earth. Heaven's climax came at Lourdes with the Personal proclamation of The Immaculate Conception, by Mary Immaculate herself! Earth's climax was to come at Fatima when Heaven's Queen would announce to earth God's Will that we come back to Him through her Immaculate Heart.

The sound of Mary's words at Lourdes had "gone forth to the ends of the earth." They re-echoed the words of the vicar of her Divine Son. For she spoke these words only four years after Pius IX had declared infallibly the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. As if to ratify and to glory in the highest office of her race, Mary spoke as if in gratification of the Pope's proclamation of her unique prerogative, given to her by Him whose office Pius IX filled, and used to glorify His Mother.

The words to which attach the property of infallibility in the proclamation of Pius IX are: "We declare, pronounce and define that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of Her Conception was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, by the singular grace and privilege of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, and that this doctrine was revealed by God, and therefore, must be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

The Supreme Pontiff and highest teaching authority of Jesus Christ went on immediately to an act of personal abasement, after a paternal warning against rash judgment and the spirit of contrariety; his proclamation was filled with the rising spirit of the Marian Age, and struck a note of prophetic insight into what will be the greatest fruit of the final triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

"Hence, if anyone shall dare—which God forbid—to think otherwise than as has been defined by Us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment, and that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith, and has defected from the unity of the Church....

"Our speech overflows with joy, and Our tongue with exultation. We give, and We shall continue to give, the humblest and deepest thanks to Jesus Christ Our Lord, because through His singular favor He has granted Us, unworthy though We be, to decree, and offer this honor and glory and praise to His Most Holy Mother. All fair and immaculate, she has crushed the poisonous head of the most cruel serpent and brought salvation to the world. She is the praise of the Prophets and Apostles, the honor of the Martyrs, the crown and joy of all the Saints. She is the safest refuge and the most trustworthy helper of all who are in danger. With her Only-begotten Son She is the most powerful Mediatrix and Conciliatrix in the whole world. She is the most excellent glory, ornament and impregnable stronghold of the Holy Church. For She has destroyed all heresies and snatched the faithful peoples and nations from all sorts of very great calamities. She has delivered Us, too, from so many threatening dangers. We have, therefore, a very certain hope and complete confidence that this Most Blessed Virgin will effect by her most powerful patronage that all difficulties be removed and all errors dissipated, so that Our Holy Mother the Catholic Church may flourish daily more and more throughout all nations and countries, and may reign 'from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth' (Ps. 71:8), and may enjoy genuine peace, tranquillity and liberty. She will also obtain pardon for the sinner, health for the sick, strength of heart for the weak, consolation for the afflicted, help for those in danger. She will remove spiritual blindness from all who are in error, so that they may return to the path of truth and justice, and that there may be one flock and one shepherd."

In the babble of meeting halls, amid the din of barricades and riots in the streets, one thing was forgotten. Hardly anyone, Christian, liberal or Marxist, seemed to revert to it: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof . . . and all they that dwell therein." The "haves" were bent on possessing the earth (or rather retaining possession of it); the "have-nots" were as determined to wrest it from them. On the one side there was pride, greed and oppression; on the other, envy, murder and rapine. The masses of people were like sheep caught in between two armies in no man's land, browbeaten by their "betters" ant threatened by their "liberators." In bewilderment some turned to the Church, some to the revolutionaries, and some to themselves alone.

Into such a world of broken spirits and confused minds again came the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was her third major visit. She came neither to the one embattled camp nor to the other; nor even to the princes of the Church. She went directly to the great masses of people, the poor, weak, the oppressed of this world. To one of the least of them she gave her message of the only effective and large-scale remedy for the social, spiritual and personal deliverance of all. It was the old condition of God for mercy to man: "Penance, penance, penance." Penance and prayer.

At La Salette Our Lady gave an injunction to the children to make known her message to "My people." If "My people" would not submit, there would follow dire chastisements. Her people did not submit and the chastisements came. One, however, remained for the twentieth century. Now, apparently they were beyond large scale submission of themselves, and Our Lady asked for prayer for sinners. In place of the outrages of pride and arrogance of both warring factions of the world, threatening to pull the social order down about them, she asked, acts of humility and trust. In place of the abandonment to reason as a god of human destiny, she demanded a wholehearted abandonment of faith and trust in the One True God.

At Lourdes, Our Lady's words in the beginning were the exact antithesis of the promises of the false prophets of the world: "I do not promise you happiness in this world," she said to Bernadette, "but in the other." In the beginning, as in the beginning of every one of her visits, Our Lady reserved her social message for the later phase; the early stages were devoted to making friends and inspiring confidence. At La Salette she combined the three phases of her mission— initial, transition, and final—in one apparition lasting about half an hour; at Lourdes there were to be nineteen visits (not eighteen) spread over the period of February 11th to July 16, 1858. In the beginning she spoke to Catherine Laboure of personal things; so now again with Bernadette.

The second stage, or social phase, of Lourdes began on the First Sunday of Lent, 1858, at the sixth apparition. Our Lady looked away from Bernadette out into the crowd, casting a glance on every face. Her face was sad and sorrowful. Looking at Bernadette again, she said plaintively, "Pray for sinners."

During the ninth apparition of Thursday, February 25, 1858, Our Lady asked the act of faith and abandonment of reason in favor of faith, and act which she has required of every one of Her ambassadors. She told Bernadette to "go and wash and drink in the spring." There was no spring! Bernadette looked helplessly about for one, but to no avail. Then she turned toward the grotto again, beseeching Our Lady to indicate further what she might mean. Receiving an answer from "the Lady" in the Grotto, Bernadette turned back and climbed to the back of the cave and knelt down on the ground. There, at a sandy place she dug out a hole with her hands in the ground. There was no spring there, until Bernadette had dug down for some time; then water gushed forth, slowly at first, oozing up and turning the soil to mud.

Our Lady had said to wash and drink. Bernadette scooped up the muddy water and smeared it over her face. The crowd gathered about the grotto, which had been growing at each one of the apparitions, gasped. Then they saw Bernadette drink of the muddy liquid. They were in dismay, for most of them believed in her. Our Lady required a further act of faith and humility; she asked that Bernadette eat some leaves nearby, and in response she plucked a few and ate them. The crowd thought her mad.

Streaked and dripping with muddy water, Bernadette wandered back to her former place before the grotto, the crowd in consternation, believers confounded, unbelievers louder than ever in their ridicule. There Bernadette cleaned her face (probably in the stream) and resumed her contemplation of "The Lady."

The "miraculous spring" was soon to become famous. It dawned on some of the spectators that it was indeed marvelous that Bernadette had found one at all! The spring had not been there before; Bernadette had climbed to the spot in a kind of stupor and begun to dig at just the right spot at just the right time to uncover the spring! By the next day the spring was a thin stream trickling down the side of the bank and into the River Gave. Louis Bourriette, a blind stonecutter, bathed his eyes in the spring, and as a reward for his faith received the first favor of Our Lady of Lourdes. His sight returned. A mother in desperation plunged her dying baby, for whom hope had been given up by the physicians, into the spring. It was restored to full health and vigor. The incredulity of the crowd vanished; the people became reverent.

Our Lady had now prepared for the social phase of her message. For this she commanded Bernadette to perform another act of humility and penance "for sinners," and the crowd followed the girl's example. It was during the tenth apparition of February 26th, that Our Lady cried out "Penance! Penance! Penance!"

"Kiss the ground for sinners," Our Lady said. Bending low, Bernadette did so. She knelt at the foot of the grotto, sloping into the river, and then made her way up, on her knees, kissing the ground as she went. The people followed her example in kissing the ground, and as she motioned to the crowd many of them followed her up the slope on their knees, kissing the ground for sinners as they went. This happened subsequently many times. At Our Lady's behest they were setting an example of prayer and humility which could save Europe if applied to the social problems of the time, which, after all, are only a collection of personal problems, in the final analysis.

Our Lady provided from the very beginning that the terms on which the world could accept the message of Lourdes should prevail. The evidence would be reasonable from the very outset, and available to all men of good or ill will for inspection, as they might choose.

Mary rendered Bernadette invulnerable to all valid criticism. Early in the apparitions the police official of Lourdes, M. Jacomet, became interested in the case because of the crowds frequenting the grotto of Massabielle, where Our Lady appeared. He subjected Bernadette to an investigation which became a "third degree" when she could not be "broken down." The same devices of falsification, supposition, contradiction, etc., were used as at La Salette, with the same results.

M. Jacomet dismissed Bernadette summarily, with an injunction to her father to forbid her any further visits to Massabielle. Present at the investigation was a M. Estrade, an intellectual who denied the possibility of the apparitions, but was struck by the sincerity of this fourteen year old girl. He, therefore, adduced the possibility of hallucination. When this was disproved he became one of Bernadette's most ardent defenders. The girl was accused of insanity. Thereupon she was examined by a commission of doctors, unbelievers, who denied the possibility of the supernatural. They, determined as they were to discredit the entire affair, could say not more than that it was "possible" that Bernadette was suffering from a hallucination, "in one respect," and that to the crowd she "may have seemed" to be in ecstasy! The Procurator of the town then proclaimed that anyone spreading reports of the apparitions would be imprisoned for "lying"! Such is the "liberal" interpretation of freedom of speech!

The grotto was cleared of all religious articles on the ground that the reports of the apparitions were "discrediting true religion." After the articles were distributed to their owners at the town hall, they were quickly replaced at the grotto!

Next it was planned to arrest Bernadette and imprison her, a threat which failed to materialize at Lourdes, but which actually did come to pass at Fatima. At Lourdes the public authority feared to imprison Bernadette "because of the people." It was known that the clergy would have no part of the apparitions; hence the mayor of Lourdes approached the Abbe Peyramalle to prepare the way for his plan. The abbe's reaction was completely unexpected: "Your doctors have not found a trace of mental trouble," he said. "You dare not even make a definite statement, and your conclusions are purely suppositions. I know what my duty as parish priest is. You may go, therefore, and tell the Prefect for me that the police will find me on this poor family's threshold and they will have to throw me down and pass over my body before they touch a hair of the little girl's head."

The attempt to imprison her and prove her mad was dropped. The grotto was barricaded later in a last desperate attempt to put an end to the matter. Bernadette, with a touch of prophecy, said that the boards would not remain there. "Will they fall down?" her best friend asked. "No, they will be taken down by the same men who put them up," Bernadette said.

The people appealed to the emperor, Napoleon III, who ordered the barricades removed and the grotto reopened; the boards were then taken down by the same men who had Put them up.

The later charge that the clergy had instigated the entire affair was made ridiculous by the fact that the clergy refused to have any part in the apparitions until their hand was forced by Bernadette, at the bidding of "The Lady" herself. The coolness of the clergy to the entire business was the reason that Father Peyramale was approached by the civil officials, anxious to find some basis for effectually discouraging the crowds from visiting the grotto.

One of the doctors who set out to "expose" Bernadette as a case of neurasthenia, Dr. Donzous, is source for the following statement. While Bernadette was in one of the ecstasies he witnessed a candle flame applied to her hand for fifteen minutes without burning the hand. He describes it thus: "Though fanned by a fairly strong breeze the flame produced no effect on the skin which it was touching. Astonished at this strange fact I forbade any one to interfere, and taking my watch in my hand I studied the phenomenon attentively for a quarter of an hour. At the end of this time Bernadette, still in her ecstasy, advanced to the upper part of the Grotto, separating her hands. The flame thus ceased to touch her left hand.

"Bernadette finished her prayer and the splendor of the transfiguration left her face. She rose and was about to quit the Grotto when I asked her to show me her left hand. I examined it most carefully, but could not find the least trace of burning anywhere on it. I then asked the person who was holding the candle to light it again and give it to me. I put it several times in succession under Bernadette's left hand but she drew it away quickly, saying, 'you're burning me.' I record this fact just as I have seen it without attempting to explain it."

The last proof Our Lady gave the world at Lourdes for the truth of Her message was the spectacle of miracles, which continue even to this day. Call upon whatever "explanations" they will—auto-suggestion, hypnosis, etc.,—the scientists have never been able to explain (or duplicate) the instantaneous replacement of an inch of bone, the instantaneous cure of cancer, tuberculosis, withered muscles, etc. No one has ever hypnotized himself out of a broken back, or auto-suggested the replacement of an inch of missing bone, nor cured his own cancer, tuberculosis, blindness, etc. It just doesn't happen!

The case of Pierre de Rudder has been widely publicized—it was one of the most extraordinary. De Rudder's leg had been crushed by a tree, and when he was extricated, the leg was broken in two places. The bones were sticking through the skin in the compound fracture, and his leg became infected. De Rudder was told it would have to be amputated. He refused. For some time later he used crutches to get about, but his leg was in such bad condition that he was barely able to move. He requested his employer to finance a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Oostacker, Belgium. The request was denied. The Viscount du Bus, de Rudder's employer, did not believe in miracles. Some years later he died and was succeeded by his son, who likewise denied the supernatural, but gave de Rudder the funds out of pity.

De Rudder was a notorious and pitiful sight on the way, his leg sometimes swinging back and forth during the journey for lack of support and rigidity. While praying before the shrine of Our Lady, for the grace to provide a livelihood for his family, he was instantly cured. Hardly realizing it, he arose and walked without his crutches. Then he sank down on his knees, kneeling before the statute of Our Lady of Lourdes crying, "I'm kneeling! O my God!" Rising again, he walked around the grotto without help of any kind. His wife saw him, exclaimed in amazement, and fainted. Upon de Rudder's return to Jabbeke, his native village, the Viscount was converted, and so were many others. De Rudder, who had been a public spectacle before his pilgrimage, was more so now. A public novena of thanksgiving was made in his church and three quarters of the population attended it. There was no doubt about it: de Rudder had gone away a pathetic cripple, given up by the doctors; he had returned a healthy man—he could jump up and down to prove it!

There was no natural explanation. One of the doctors, a Dr. Van Hoestenberghe, was particularly impressed. A free thinker, he refused to believe the news until he had thoroughly examined Pierre himself. He was dumbstruck, but convinced. So deeply was he moved by the genuineness of this striking manifestation of the reality of the supernatural that he prayed for the grace of belief and became a Christian and a Catholic. What was more, he wrote to the Lourdes Medical Bureau at length, detailing every aspect of the infirmity and its cure. He went even further: he recommended that the case be brought to the attention of M. Emile Zola who had gone to Lourdes to investigate the reports of the supernatural there, and falsified the events he witnessed!

After the death of Pierre de Rudder following by twenty-three years his miraculous cure, Dr. Van Hoestenberghe obtained permission to exhume the body and amputate both legs, on May 24, 1899. The examination revealed that there were traces of the miraculous healing of the bones and flesh, and that there was a piece of healthy white bone over an inch long between the two sections still pock-marked from the long disease and infection. This piece of white bone joined the other sections, and had been instantaneously created at the time of de Rudder's miraculous cure! There was no other explanation for it. This is one of the most famous cases on file at the Lourdes Medical Bureau, fully documented with evidence and testimony, and may be reviewed to this day. Anyone who cares to may check it thoroughly.

Another of the most interesting cases of Lourdes was that of a railway worker all but killed in a rear end collision of two trains. He had sustained almost every kind of internal injury it was possible to have and still remain alive. This was one of the miracles accepted by the ecclesiastical commission which investigated Lourdes, as being beyond natural explanation, as was also the case of Pierre de Rudder. The man was barely alive at Lourdes, and had no intention of praying for his cure, being skeptical of the supernatural. He went entirely to please his mother who had been praying for his conversion for years. He was instantly cured.

Our Lady's message to Mirjana on February 2, 2010

2010-02-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

"Dear children; With motherly love, today I call you to be a lighthouse to all souls who wander in the darkness of ignorance of God's love. That you may shine all the brighter and draw all the more souls, do not permit the untruths which come out of your mouth to silence your consience. Be perfect. I am leading you with my motherly hand – a hand of love. Thank you"

Message, 25. January 2010

2010-01-27T11:02:00.001-08:00

“Dear children! May this time be a time of personal prayer for you, so that the seed of faith may grow in your hearts; and may it grow into a joyful witness to others. I am with you and I desire to inspire you all: grow and rejoice in the Lord Who has created you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady's message to Mirjana of January 2nd, 2010

2010-01-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

"Dear children, Today I am calling you too, with complete trust and love, set out with me, because I desire to acquaint you with my Son. Do not be afraid, my children, I am here with you, I am next to you. I am showing you the way to forgive yourselves, to forgive others, and, with sincere repentance of heart, to kneel before the Father. Make everything die in you that hinders you from loving and saving – that you may be with Him and in Him. Decide for a new beginning, a beginning of sincere love of God Himself. Thank you."

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

2010-01-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

The solemnity of the Mother of God, which now coincides with the octave-day of Christmas and the beginning of the new year, was probably assigned this day because of the influence of the Byzantine Church, which celebrates the synapsis of the most holy Theotokos on December 26. This is in accordance with the Eastern practice of honoring secondary persons on the day after the feast of the principal personage (in this case, the birth of Christ). The Coptic Church celebrates this feast on January 16, but in the West, as early as the fifth century, the feast was celebrated on the Sunday before Christmas, although in France it was celebrated on January 18 and in Spain on December 18. Even before Pope Sergius introduced four Marian feasts in the seventh century (the Birth of Mary, the Annunciation, the Purification and the Assumption), the octave day of Christmas was celebrated in Rome in honor of the Maternity of Mary. Later, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the feast of the Circumcision was added, although it had been introduced into Spain and France at the end of the sixth century and was later included in the Missal of Pope St. Pius V. The recent liturgical reform has restored the original Roman practice, which replaced the pagan feast of the New Year, dedicated to the god Janus, with this feast honoring the Mother of God.

A popular movement began in Portugal in the eighteenth century for a feast honoring Mary's maternity, and in 1914 the date of the feast was fixed at October 11. It was extended to the entire Latin Church in 1931, the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus. The restoration of the feast to January 1, which falls in the Christmas season and has an ecumenical significance, coincides with other anniversaries; for example, the octave day of Christmas, the circumcision of the Infant Jesus (assigned to the first Sunday of January); the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (which dates back to 1721); and the day for peace, introduced by Pope Paul VI.

In the encyclical Marialis Cultus (1974) Pope Paul VI states: "This celebration, assigned to January 1 in conformity with the ancient liturgy of the city of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation. It is meant also to exalt the singular dignity which this mystery brings to the 'holy Mother . . . through whom we were found worthy . . . to receive the Author of life.' It is likewise a fitting occasion for renewed adoration of the newborn Prince of Peace, for listening once more to the glad tidings of the angels, and for imploring from God, through the Queen of Peace, the supreme gift of peace. For this reason . . . we have instituted the World Day of Peace, an observance that is gaining increasing support and is already bringing forth fruits of peace in the hearts of many" (no. 5).

Our Lady's message 25th of December

2009-12-26T04:08:00.000-08:00

“Dear children! On this joyful day, I bring all of you before my Son, the King of Peace, that He may give you His peace and blessing. Little children, in love share that peace and blessing with others. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

December 2, 2009 Message to Mirjana

2009-12-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

"Dear children. At this time of preparation and joyful expectation I, as a mother, desire to point you to what is the most important, to your soul. Can my Son be born in it? Is it cleansed by love from lies, arrogance, hatred and malice? Above all else does your soul love God as your Father and does it love your fellow brother in Christ? I am pointing you to the way which will raise your soul to a complete union with my Son. I desire for my Son to be born in you. What a joy that would be for me as mother. Thank you."

Advent is here don't forget

2009-11-28T12:57:00.000-08:00

Advent: Awaiting God's Justice
Pope Benedict XVI

Advent watchfulness means living in God's presence and according to his criteria in order to prepare a worthy dwelling-place for the promised Saviour

On Wednesday, 19 December 2007, at the General Audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Auditorium, the Holy Father reflected on the Season of Advent and the justice we await. The following is a translation of his Catechesis, which was given in Italian.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In these days, as we come gradually closer to the great Feast of Christmas, the liturgy impels us to intensify our preparation, placing at our disposal many biblical texts of the Old and New Testaments that encourage us to focus clearly on the meaning and value of this annual feast day.

If, on the one hand, Christmas makes us commemorate the incredible miracle of the birth of the Only-Begotten Son of God from the Virgin Mary in the Bethlehem Grotto, on the other, it also urges us to wait, watching and praying, for our Redeemer himself, who on the last day "will come to judge the living and the dead".

Perhaps we today, even we believers, really await the Judge, but we all expect justice. We see so much injustice in the world, in our little world, at home, in the neighbourhood, but also in the great world of States and societies. And we expect justice to be done.

Justice is an abstract concept: one does justice. We are waiting for one to come in concrete terms who can do justice. And in this sense we pray: Come, Lord Jesus Christ, as Judge, come in your own way. The Lord knows how to enter the world and create justice. Let us pray that the Lord, the Judge, will respond to us, that he will truly create justice in the world.

We are waiting for justice but it cannot be merely the expression of a certain requirement with regard to others. Waiting for justice in the Christian sense means above all that we ourselves begin to live under the eyes of the Judge, in accordance with the criteria of the Judge; that we begin to live in his presence, doing justice in our own lives. Thus, by doing justice, putting ourselves in the Judge's presence, we wait for justice in reality. And this is the meaning of Advent, of vigilance.

The watchfulness of Advent means living under the eyes of the Judge and thus preparing ourselves and the world for justice. In this way, therefore, living under the eyes of the God-Judge, we can open the world to the coming of his Son and predispose hearts to welcome "the Lord who comes".

The Child whom the shepherds adored in a grotto on the night of Bethlehem about 2,000 years ago, never tires of visiting us in our daily lives while we journey on as pilgrims towards the Kingdom. In his expectation, therefore, the believer becomes an interpreter of the hopes of all humanity; humanity yearns for justice and thus, although often unconsciously, is waiting for God, waiting for salvation which God alone can give to us.

Prayer, in the time of waiting

For us Christians, this expectation is marked by assiduous prayer, as appears clearly in the particularly evocative series of prayers proposed to us during these days of the Christmas Novena, in Mass, in the Gospel acclamation and in the celebration of Vespers before the Canticle of the Magnificat.

Each one of the invocations that implores the coming of Wisdom, of the Sun of justice, of the God-with-us, contains a prayer addressed by the people to the One awaited so that he will hasten his coming. However, invoking the gift of the birth of the promised Saviour also means committing ourselves to preparing his way, to having a worthy dwelling-place ready for him, not only in the area that surrounds us but especially within our souls.

Letting ourselves be guided by the Evangelist John, let us seek in these days, therefore, to turn our minds and hearts to the eternal Word, to the Logos, to the Word that was made flesh, from whose fullness we have received grace upon grace (cf. Jn 1: 14, 16).

This faith in the Logos Creator, in the Word who created the world, in the One who came as a Child, this faith and its great hope unfortunately appear today far from the reality of life lived every day, publicly or privately. This truth seems too great.

As for us, we fend for ourselves according to the possibilities we find, or at least this is how it seems. Yet, in this way the world becomes ever more chaotic and even violent; we see it every day. And the light of God, the light of Truth, is extinguished. Life becomes dark and lacks a compass. Thus, how important it is that we really are believers and that as believers we strongly reaffirm, with our lives, the mystery of salvation that brings with it the celebration of Christ's Birth!

In Bethlehem, the Light which brightens our lives was manifested to the world; the way that leads us to the fullness of our humanity was revealed to us. If people do not recognize that God was made man, what is the point of celebrating Christmas? The celebration becomes empty.

We Christians must first reaffirm the truth about the Birth of Christ with deep and heartfelt conviction, in order to witness to all the awareness of an unprecedented gift which is not only a treasure for us but for everyone. From this stems the duty of evangelization which is, precisely, the communication of this "eu-angelion", this "Good News". This was recently recalled in the Document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith entitled Doctrinal Note on some aspects of evangelization, which I would like to submit to your reflection and your personal and community study (3 December 2007).

Dear friends, in this preparation for Christmas, now at hand, the Church's prayer for the fulfilment of the hopes of peace, salvation and justice which the world today urgently needs becomes more intense. Let us ask God to grant that violence be overcome by the power of love, that opposition give way to reconciliation and that the desire to oppress be transformed into the desire for forgiveness, justice and peace.

Peace in our hearts, in families

May the kind and loving good wishes that we exchange in these days reach all the contexts of our daily lives. May peace be in our hearts so that they are open to the action of God's grace. May peace dwell in families and may they spend Christmas united in front of the crib and the tree decorated with lights.

May the message of solidarity and good will that comes from Christmas contribute to creating a deeper sensitivity to the old and new forms of poverty, to the common good, in which we are all called to participate. May all members of the family community, especially children, the elderly, the weakest, feel the warmth of this feast and may it extend subsequently to all the days in the year.

May Christmas be a feast of peace and joy for everyone: joy in the Birth of the Saviour, the Prince of Peace. Like the shepherds, let us hasten toward Bethlehem from this very moment. In the heart of the Holy Night, we too will be able to contemplate the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, together with Mary and Joseph (cf. Lk 2: 12, 16).

Let us ask the Lord to open our hearts, so that we may enter into the mystery of his Birth. May Mary, who gave her virginal womb to the Word of God, whom as Mother she contemplated as a baby in her motherly arms and whom she continues to offer to everyone as the Redeemer of the world, help us make this Christmas an opportunity for growth in the knowledge and love of Christ. This is the wish that I express with affection to all of you who are present here, to your families and to all your loved ones.

Happy Christmas to you all!

Message of November 25, 2009

2009-11-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

"Dear children! In this time of grace I call you all to renew prayer in your families. Prepare yourselves with joy for the coming of Jesus. Little children, may your hearts be pure and pleasing, so that love and warmth may flow through you into every heart that is far from His love. Little children, be my extended hands, hands of love for all those who have become lost, who have no more faith and hope. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Our Lady's message to Mirjana of November 2nd,2009

2009-11-28T12:54:00.000-08:00

"Dear children, Also today I am among you to point you to the way that will help you to come to know God's love, the love of God Who permitted you to call Him Father and to perceive Him as Father. I ask of you to sincerely look into your hearts and to see how much you love Him. Is He the last to be loved? Surrounded by material goods, how many times have you betrayed, denied and forgotten Him? My children, do not deceive yourselves with wordly goods. Think of your soul because it is more important than the body, cleanse it. Invoke the Father, He is waiting for you. Come back to Him. I am with you because He, in His mercy, sends me. Thank you."

Our Lady's Message October 25th

2009-10-28T03:41:00.001-07:00

Message of October 25, 2009

“Dear children! Also today I bring you my blessing, I bless you all and I call you to grow on this way, which God has begun through me for your salvation. Pray, fast and joyfully witness your faith, little children, and may your heart always be filled with prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Saint Jude

2009-10-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

St. Jude

APOSTLE

Feast: October 28

Information:
Feast Day: October 28
Major Shrine: Saint Peter's, Rome, Rheims, Toulouse, France
Patron of: lost causes, desperate situations, hospitals

The apostle St. Jude is distinguished from the Iscariot by the surname of Thaddaus, which signifies in Syriac praising or confession (being of the same import with the Hebrew word Judas), also by that of Lebbaeus, which is given him in the Greek text of St. Matthew. St. Jude was brother to St. James the Less, as he styles himself in his epistle; likewise of St. Simeon of Jerusalem, and of one Joses, who are styled the brethren of our Lord, and were sons of Cleophas and Mary, sister to the Blessed Virgin.

This apostle's kindred and relation to our Saviour exalted him not so much in his Master's eyes as his contempt of the world the ardour of his holy zeal and love, and his sufferings for his sake. It is not known when and by what means he became a disciple of Christ, nothing having been said of him in the gospels before we find him enumerated in the catalogue of the apostles. After the last supper, when Christ promised to manifest himself to every one who should love him, St. Jude asked him why he did not manifest himself to the world? By which question he seems to have expressed his expectation of a secular kingdom of the Messias. Christ by his answer satisfied him that the world is unqualified for divine manifestations, being a stranger and an enemy to what must fit souls for a fellowship with heaven; but that he would honour those who truly love him with his familiar converse, and would admit them to intimate communications of grace and favour.

After our Lord's ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost, St. Jude set out, with the other great conquerors of the world and hell, to pull down the prince of darkness from his usurped throne; which this little troop undertook to effect armed only with the word of God and his Spirit. Nicephorus, Isidore, and the Martyrologies tell us that St. Jude preached up and down Judea, Samaria, Idumaa, and Syria; especially in Mesopotamia. St. Paulinus says that St. Jude planted the faith in Libya. This apostle returned from his missions to Jerusalem in the year 62, after the martyrdom of his brother, St. James, and assisted at the election of St. Simeon, who was likewise his brother. He wrote a catholic or general epistle to all the churches of the East, particularly addressing himself to the Jewish converts, amongst whom he had principally laboured. St. Peter had written to the same two epistles before this, and in the second had chiefly in view to caution the faithful against the errors of the Simonians, Nicholaits, and Gnostics. The havoc which these heresies continued to make among souls stirred up the zeal of St. Jude, who sometimes copied certain expressions of St. Peter, and seems to refer to the epistles of SS. Peter and Paul as if the authors were then no more. The heretics he describes by many strong epithets and similes, and calls them wandering meteors which seem to blaze for a while but set in eternal darkness. The source of their fall he points out by saying they are murmurers, and walk after their own lusts. The apostle puts us in mind to have always before our eyes the great obligation we lie under of incessantly building up our spiritual edifice of charity, by praying in the Holy Ghost, growing in the love of God, and imploring his mercy through Christ. From Mesopotamia St. Jude travelled into Persia. Fortunatus and the western Martyrologists tell us that the apostle St. Jude suffered martyrdom in Persia; the Menology of the Emperor Basil and some other Greeks say at Arat or Ararat, in Armenia, which at that time was subject to the Parthian empire, and consequently esteemed part of Persia. Many Greeks say he was shot to death with arrows: some add whilst he was tied on across. The Armenians at this day venerate him and St. Bartholomew for the first planters of the faith among them.

Message of our Lady August 25

2009-10-28T03:37:00.000-07:00

Message of August 25, 2009

"Dear children! Today I call you anew to conversion. Little children, you are not holy enough and you do not radiate holiness to others, therefore pray, pray, pray and work on your personal conversion, so that you may be a sign of God's love to others. I am with you and am leading you towards eternity, for which every heart must yearn. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Our Lady Message

2009-08-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

Holy Assumption

2009-08-18T07:23:00.001-07:00

The Feast of the Assumption

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August; also called in old liturgical books Pausatio, Nativitas (for heaven), Mors, Depositio, Dormitio S. Mariae.

This feast has a double object:
(1) the happy departure of Mary from this life;
(2) the assumption of her body into heaven. It is the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin.

Our Lady's Message

2009-07-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

Message of July 25, 2009

"Dear children! May this time be a time of prayer for you. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Message of Our Lady

2009-06-26T01:22:00.000-07:00

Message of June 25, 2009

"Dear children! Rejoice with me, convert in joy and give thanks to God for the gift of my presence among you. Pray that, in your hearts, God may be in the center of your life and with your life witness, little children, so that every creature may feel God’s love. Be my extended hands for every creature, so that it may draw closer to the God of love. I bless you with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call."

An Offering of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

2009-06-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

O Jesus, only Son of God, only Son of Mary,
I offer Thee the most loving Heart of Thy divine Mother
which is more precious and pleasing to Thee than all hearts.

O Mary, Mother of Jesus,
I offer Thee the most adorable Heart of Thy well-beloved Son,
who is the life and love and joy of Thy Heart.

Blessed be the Most Loving Heart
and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
and the most glorious
Virgin Mary, His Mother,
in eternity and forever.
Amen.

The Most Holy Trinity

2009-06-07T04:29:00.000-07:00

Litany of the Holy Trinity

V. Blessed be the holy Trinity and undivided Unity;
R. We will give glory to Him, because He hath shown His mercy to us.

V. O Lord our Lord, how wonderful is Thy Name in all the earth!
R. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy
Blessed Trinity, hear us. Adorable Unity, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.
Father from Whom are all things, Have mercy on us.
Son through Whom are all things, Have mercy on us.
Holy Ghost in Whom are all things, Have mercy on us.
Holy and undivided Trinity, Have mercy on us.
Father everlasting, Have mercy on us.
Only-begotten Son of the Father,
Spirit Who preceedeth from the Father and the Son, Have mercy on us.
Co-eternal Majesty of Three Divine Persons, Have mercy on us.
Father, the Creator, Have mercy on us.
Son, the Redeemer, Have mercy on us.
Holy Ghost, the Comforter, Have mercy on us.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, Have mercy on us.
Who art, Who was, and Who art to come, Have mercy on us.
God Most High, Who inhabits eternity, Have mercy on us.
To Whom alone are due all honor and glory, Have mercy on us.
Who alone doest great wonders, Have mercy on us.
Power infinite, Have mercy on us.
Wisdom, incomprehensible, Have mercy on us.
Love unspeakable, Have mercy on us.

Be merciful, Spare us, O Holy Trinity.
Be merciful, Graciously hear us, O Holy Trinity.

From all evil, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all sin, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all pride, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all love of riches, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all uncleanness, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all sloth, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all inordinate affection, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all envy and malice, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From all anger and impatience, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From every thought, word, and deed contrary to Thy holy law, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
From Thine everlasting malediction, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through Thy plenteous loving kindness, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through the exceeding treasure of Thy goodness and love, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through the depths of Thy wisdom and knowledge, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.
Through all Thy unspeakable perfections, Deliver us, O Holy Trinity.

We sinners,
Beseech Thee, hear us.

That we may ever serve Thee alone, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may worship Thee in spirit and in truth, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may love Thee with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That, for Thy sake, we may love our neighbor as ourselves, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may faithfully keep Thy holy commandments, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may never defile our bodies and souls with sin, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may go from grace to grace, and from virtue to virtue, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may finally enjoy the sight of Thee in glory, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to hear us, We beseech Thee, hear us.

O Blessed Trinity, We beseech Thee, deliver us.
O Blessed Trinity, We beseech Thee, save us.
O Blessed Trinity, Have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy,
Lord, have mercy.

Our Father (silently);
Hail Mary (silently).

V. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, in the firmament of Heaven,
R. And worthy to be praised, and glorious, and highly exalted forever.

Let Us Pray:
Almighty and everlasting God, Who hast granted Thy servants in the confession of the True Faith, to acknowledge the glory of an Eternal Trinity, and in the power of Thy majesty to adore a Unity: we beseech Thee that by the strength of this faith we may be defended from all adversity. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Happy Pentecost Sunday 31st of May

2009-06-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the twelve apostles, Jesus' mother and family, and many other of His disciples gathered together in Jerusalem for the Jewish harvest festival that was celebrated on the fiftieth day of Passover. While they were indoors praying, a sound like that of a rushing wind filled the house and tongues of fire descended and rested over each of their heads. This was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on human flesh promised by God through the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-29). The disciples were suddenly empowered to proclaim the gospel of the risen Christ. They went out into the streets of Jerusalem and began preaching to the crowds gathered for the festival. Not only did the disciples preach with boldness and vigor, but by a miracle of the Holy Spirit they spoke in the native languages of the people present, many who had come from all corners of the Roman Empire. This created a sensation. The apostle Peter seized the moment and addressed the crowd, preaching to them about Jesus' death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. The result was that about three thousand converts were baptized that day. (You can read the Biblical account of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-41).

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. Amen.
(Pope Pius X, May 8, 1907).

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy spirit, and they shall be created.
R. and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Holy Spirit to have right judgment in all things and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray
[that the Holy Spirit
may bring peace and unity to all mankind]
Almighty and ever-living God,
you fulfilled the Easter promise
by sending us your Holy Spirit.
May that Spirit unite the races and nations on earth
to proclaim your glory.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Message of our lady 25th of May

2009-05-26T03:13:00.000-07:00

Message of May 25, 2009

“Dear children! In this time, I call you all to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit upon every baptized creature, so that the Holy Spirit may renew you all and lead you on the way of witnessing your faith – you and all those who are far from God and His love. I am with you and intercede for you before the Most High. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Ascension Novena

2009-05-22T01:02:00.000-07:00

Ascension Novena

Jesus, I honor You on the feast of Your Ascension into heaven. I rejoice with all my heart at the glory into which You entered to reign as King of heaven and earth. When the struggle of this life is over, give me the grace to share Your joy and triumph in heaven for all eternity.
I believe that You entered into Your glorious Kingdom to prepare a place for me, for You promised to come again to take me to Yourself. Grant that I may seek only the joys of Your friendship and love, so that I may deserve to be united with You in heaven.
In the hour of my own homecoming, when I appear before Your Father to give an account of my life on earth, have mercy on me.
Jesus, in Your love for me You have brought me from evil to good and from misery to happiness. Give me the grace to rise above my human weakness. May Your Humanity give me courage in my weakness and free me from my sins.
Through Your grace, give me the courage of perseverance for You have called and justified me by faith. May I hold fast to the life You have given me and come to the eternal gifts You promised.
You love me, dear Jesus. Help me to love You in return. I ask You to grant this special favor:

(Mention your request).

By Your unceasing care, guide my steps toward the life of glory You have prepared for those who love You. Make me grow in holiness and thank You by a life of faithful service.

St Agnes

2009-05-08T00:46:00.001-07:00

St. Agnes was a Roman girl who was only thirteen years old when she suffered martyrdom for her Faith. Agnes had made a promise, a promise to God never to stain her purity. Her love for the Lord was very great and she hated sin even more than death! Since she was very beautiful, many young men wished to marry Agnes, but she would always say, "Jesus Christ is my only Spouse." Her feastday is the 21st of January.

Our Lady's Message

2009-04-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

Message of April 25, 2009

“Dear children! Today I call you all to pray for peace and to witness it in your families so that peace may become the highest treasure on this peaceless earth. I am your Queen of Peace and your mother. I desire to lead you on the way of peace, which comes only from God. Therefore, pray, pray, pray. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

He is Risen!

2009-04-12T09:54:00.001-07:00

He's done all for us. He is now risen. What other prouf do we need? We should feel privileged to have him. And don't be shy to love him and accept him as your Lord and Saviour.

Good Friday

2009-04-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

He has paid for our sins let not forget him today. Let also not forget that he is merciful. The novena of divine mercy start tomorrow.

Don't Forget Holy Week!

2009-04-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of the Holy week. Don't forget to go to church this week. This is actually my favorate week. Happy Holy Week and Happy Easter!

The Divine Mercy Novena(feast of Divine Mercy is the sunday after easter)

Jesus asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday. He gave St. Faustina an intention to pray for on each day of the Novena, saving for the last day the most difficult intention of all, the lukewarm and indifferent of whom He said:

"These souls cause Me more suffering than any others; it was from such souls that My soul felt the most revulsion in the Garden of Olives. It was on their account that I said: 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass Me by.' The last hope of salvation for them is to flee to My Mercy."

In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her:

"On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls."

The different souls prayed for on each day of the novena are:

DAY 1 (Good Friday) - All mankind, especially sinners

DAY 2 (Holy Saturday) - The souls of priests and religious

DAY 3 (Easter Sunday) - All devout and faithful souls

DAY 4 (Easter Monday) - Those who do not believe in Jesus and those who do not yet know Him

DAY 5 (Easter Tuesday) - The souls of separated brethren

DAY 6 (Easter Wednesday) - The meek and humble souls and the souls of children

DAY 7 (Easter Thursday) - The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' mercy

DAY 8 (Easter Friday) - The souls who are detained in purgatory;

DAY 9 (Easter Saturday) - The souls who have become lukewarm.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy may also be offered each day for the day's intention, but is not strictly necessary to the Novena.

First Day
"Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners,

and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me."

Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy for ever and ever. Amen.

Second Day
"Today bring to Me the Souls of Priests and Religious,

and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave me strength to endure My bitter Passion. Through them as through channels My mercy flows out upon mankind."

Most Merciful Jesus, from whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in men and women consecrated to Your service,* that they may perform worthy works of mercy; and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy who is in heaven.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the company of chosen ones in Your vineyard -- upon the souls of priests and religious; and endow them with the strength of Your blessing. For the love of the Heart of Your Son in which they are enfolded, impart to them Your power and light, that they may be able to guide others in the way of salvation and with one voice sing praise to Your boundless mercy for ages without end. Amen.

* In the original text, Saint Faustina uses the pronoun "us" since she was offering this prayer as a consecrated religious sister. The wording adapted here is intended to make the prayer suitable for universal use.

Third Day
"Today bring to Me all Devout and Faithful Souls,

and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. These souls brought me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were a drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness."

Most Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this grace of You by that most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of Your Son. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, grant them Your blessing and surround them with Your constant protection. Thus may they never fail in love or lose the treasure of the holy faith, but rather, with all the hosts of Angels and Saints, may they glorify Your boundless mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Fourth Day
"Today bring to Me those who do not believe in God and those who do not know Me,

I was thinking also of them during My bitter Passion, and their future zeal comforted My Heart. Immerse them in the ocean of My mercy."

Most compassionate Jesus, You are the Light of the whole world. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who do not believe in God and of those who as yet do not know You. Let the rays of Your grace enlighten them that they, too, together with us, may extol Your wonderful mercy; and do not let them escape from the abode which is Your Most Compassionate Heart.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who do not believe in You, and of those who as yet do not know You, but who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Draw them to the light of the Gospel. These souls do not know what great happiness it is to love You. Grant that they, too, may extol the generosity of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

*Our Lord's original words here were "the pagans." Since the pontificate of Pope John XXIII, the Church has seen fit to replace this term with clearer and more appropriate terminology.

Fifth Day
"Today bring to Me the Souls of those who have separated themselves from My Church*,

and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is, My Church. As they return to unity with the Church My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion."

Most Merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself, You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Church. Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Son's Church, who have squandered Your blessings and misused Your graces by obstinately persisting in their errors. Do not look upon their errors, but upon the love of Your own Son and upon His bitter Passion, which He underwent for their sake, since they, too, are enclosed in His Most Compassionate Heart. Bring it about that they also may glorify Your great mercy for endless ages. Amen.

*Our Lord's original words here were "heretics and schismatics," since He spoke to Saint Faustina within the context of her times. As of the Second Vatican Council, Church authorities have seen fit not to use those designations in accordance with the explanation given in the Council's Decree on Ecumenism (n.3). Every pope since the Council has reaffirmed that usage. Saint Faustina herself, her heart always in harmony with the mind of the Church, most certainly would have agreed. When at one time, because of the decisions of her superiors and father confessor, she was not able to execute Our Lord's inspirations and orders, she declared: "I will follow Your will insofar as You will permit me to do so through Your representative. O my Jesus " I give priority to the voice of the Church over the voice with which You speak to me" (497). The Lord confirmed her action and praised her for it.

Sixth Day
Today bring to Me the Meek and Humble Souls and the Souls of Little Children,

and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence.

Most Merciful Jesus, You yourself have said, "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart." Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy and they are the heavenly Father's favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God Himself takes delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jesus, and they unceasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon meek souls, upon humble souls, and upon little children who are enfolded in the abode which is the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls bear the closest resemblance to Your Son. Their fragrance rises from the earth and reaches Your very throne. Father of mercy and of all goodness, I beg You by the love You bear these souls and by the delight You take in them: Bless the whole world, that all souls together may sing out the praises of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Seventh Day
Today bring to Me the Souls who especially venerate and glorify My Mercy*,

and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over my Passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death.

Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward, confident of Your mercy; and united to You, O Jesus, they carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they depart from this life.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls who glorify and venerate Your greatest attribute, that of Your fathomless mercy, and who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls are a living Gospel; their hands are full of deeds of mercy, and their hearts, overflowing with joy, sing a canticle of mercy to You, O Most High! I beg You O God:

Show them Your mercy according to the hope and trust they have placed in You. Let there be accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them that during their life, but especially at the hour of death, the souls who will venerate this fathomless mercy of His, He, Himself, will defend as His glory. Amen.

*The text leads one to conclude that in the first prayer directed to Jesus, Who is the Redeemer, it is "victim" souls and contemplatives that are being prayed for; those persons, that is, that voluntarily offered themselves to God for the salvation of their neighbor (see Col 1:24; 2 Cor 4:12). This explains their close union with the Savior and the extraordinary efficacy that their invisible activity has for others. In the second prayer, directed to the Father from whom comes "every worthwhile gift and every genuine benefit,"we recommend the "active" souls, who promote devotion to The Divine Mercy and exercise with it all the other works that lend themselves to the spiritual and material uplifting of their brethren.

Eighth Day
"Today bring to Me the Souls who are in the prison of Purgatory,

and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice."

Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded: Manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.

Ninth Day
"Today bring to Me the Souls who have become Lukewarm,

and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."

Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.

Palm Sunday

2009-04-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Passion (Palm) Sunday
They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks across its back, and he sat on it. (Mark 11:7)

Reflection.
..His coming is a revelation, a radical, total revelation of God's holiness."Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory...". Precisely this Week which humanly speaking is filled to the brim with suffering, humiliation, despoliation, in a word, with the kenosis of God this Week contains the revelation of God's holiness, the culmination of world history. "Holy, Holy, Holy.... Hosanna in the highest"....
To embrace the Cross on this day, to pass it from hand to hand, is a very eloquent gesture. It is like saying: Lord, we do not want to stay with you only at the time of the "Hosannas", but with your help we want to accompany you on the way of the Cross as did Mary, your mother and ours, and the Apostle John. Yes, O Lord, because "You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68), and we have believed that precisely your Cross is the word of life, of eternal life!

Lenten Fact

According to the account of a fifth-century Spanish pilgrim to the Holy Land, Passion Sunday Mass was celebrated in Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. After this the people were invited to meet again in the afternoon at the Mount of Olives, in the Church of Eleona (the grotto of the Our Father). They then proceeded to the Church of the Ascension for a service consisting of hymns and antiphons, readings and prayers, where at five o'clock in the afternoon the Gospel of the palms was read and the procession set out for the city. The people responded to the antiphons with the acclamation, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," as we say even today.

Lenten Action.

A diet of amoral and immoral programs can and will corrupt your values. Do you control the media you watch and listen to?.

Prayer

Lord, you have satisfied our hunger with this eucharistic food. The death of your Son gives us hope and strengthens our faith.
May his resurrection give us perseverance and lead us to salvation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Stations Of The Cross

This sunday readings

2009-03-29T03:32:00.000-07:00

First Reading:Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm:Psalm 51:3-4, 12-15
Second Reading:Hebrews 5:7-9
Gospel:John 12:20-33

All our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God, if we have not that universal charity for everyone - for the good, and for the bad, for the poor and for the rich, and for all those who do us harm as much as those who do us good.

-- St. John Vianney

Our Lady monthly message

2009-03-29T03:30:00.000-07:00

Message of March 25, 2009

“Dear children! In this time of spring, when everything is awakening from the winter sleep, you also awaken your souls with prayer so that they may be ready to receive the light of the risen Jesus. Little children, may He draw you closer to His Heart so that you may become open to eternal life. I pray for you and intercede before the Most High for your sincere conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Our Lady Annual Message

2009-03-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

Annual Apparition To Mirjana - March 18, 2009

The visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo had daily apparitions from June 24th 1981 to December 25th 1982. During the last daily apparition, Our Lady gave her the 10th secret, and told her that she would appear to her once a year, on the 18th of March. It has been this way through the years. Several thousand pilgrims gathered in prayer of the Rosary at the 'Blue Cross'. The apparition lasted from 13:52 to 13:58.

Dear children! Today I call you to look into your hearts sincerely and for a long time. What will you see in them? Where is my Son in them and where is the desire to follow me to Him? My children, may this time of renunciation be a time when you will ask yourself: 'What does my God desire of me personally? What am I to do?' Pray, fast and have a heart full of mercy. Do not forget your shepherds. Pray that they may not get lost, that they may remain in my Son so as to be good shepherds to their flock.

Our Lady looked at all those present and added: Again I say to you, if you knew how much I love you, you would cry with happiness. Thank you.

St. Moses The Black

2009-03-13T04:24:00.000-07:00

Moses the Black, sometimes called the Ethiopian, was a slave of a government official in Egypt who dismissed him for theft and suspected murder. He became the leader of a gang of bandits who roamed the Nile Valley spreading terror and violence. He was a large, imposing figure. On one occasion, a barking dog prevented Moses from carrying out a robbery, so he swore vengeance on the owner. Weapons in his mouth, Moses swam the river toward the owner's hut. The owner, again alerted, hid, and the frustrated Moses took some of his sheep to slaughter. Attempting to hide from local authorities, he took shelter with some monks in a colony in the desert of Scete, near Alexandria. The dedication of their lives, as well as their peace and contentment, influenced Moses deeply. He soon gave up his old way of life and joined the monastic community at Scete.

He had a rather difficult time adjusting to regular monastic discipline. His flair for adventure remained with him. Attacked by a group of robbers in his desert cell, Moses fought back, overpowered the intruders, and dragged them to the chapel where the other monks were at prayer. He told the brothers that he didn't think it Christian to hurt the robbers and asked what he should do with them. The overwhelmed robbers repented, were converted, and themselves joined the community.

Moses was zealous in all he did, but became discouraged when he concluded he was not perfect enough. Early one morning, St. Isidore, abbot of the community, took Brother Moses to the roof and together they watched the first rays of dawn come over the horizon. Isidore told Moses, "Only slowly do the rays of the sun drive away the night and usher in a new day, and thus, only slowly does one become a perfect contemplative."

Moses proved to be effective as a prophetic spiritual leader. The abbot ordered the brothers to fast during a particular week. Some brothers came to Moses, and he prepared a meal for them. Neighboring monks reported to the abbot that Moses was breaking the fast. When they came to confront Moses, they changed their minds, saying "You did not keep a human commandment, but it was so that you might keep the divine commandment of hospitality." Some see in this account one of the earliest allusions to the Paschal fast, which developed at this time.

When a brother committed a fault and Moses was invited to a meeting to discuss an appropriate penance, Moses refused to attend. When he was again called to the meeting, Moses took a leaking jug filled with water and carried it on his shoulder. Another version of the story has him carrying a basket filled with sand. When he arrived at the meeting place, the others asked why he was carrying the jug. He replied, "My sins run out behind me and I do not see them, but today I am coming to judge the errors of another." On hearing this, the assembled brothers forgave the erring monk.

Moses became the spiritual leader of a colony of hermits in the desert. At some time, he had been ordained priest. At about age 75, about the year 407, word came that a group of renegades planned to attack the colony. The brothers wanted to defend themselves, but Moses forbade it. He told them to retreat, rather than take up weapons. He and seven others remained behind and greeted the invaders with open arms, but all eight were martyred by the bandits. A modern interpretation honors St. Moses the Black as an apostle of non-violence.

The lives of St. Moses the Black and St. Norbert, contain some interesting parallels. Both lived rather dissolute lives in their younger years. Both had conversion experiences in which they heard and heeded the call of God. Both were leaders in their respective religious communities. Both are known as men of peace, having spent much of their ministry calling people to reconciliation and forgiveness by word and example.

Good discovery I was unaware of a black saint patron of Africa. Here you go guyz.LOL

Our Lady's Message

2009-02-26T01:46:00.000-08:00

Message of February 25, 2009

“Dear children! In this time of renunciation, prayer and penance, I call you anew: go and confess your sins so that grace may open your hearts, and permit it to change you. Convert little children, open yourselves to God and to His plan for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

The Station of the Cross

2009-02-19T00:29:00.000-08:00

OPENING PRAYER

ACT OF CONTRITION
O my God, my Redeemer, behold me here at Thy feet. From the bottom of my heart I am sorry for all my sins, because by them I have offended Thee, Who art infinitely good. I will die rather than offend thee again.

First Station: Jesus is condemned to death

Leader - We adore Thee, O Christ, and bless Thee.
All - Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Jesus, you stand all alone before Pilate. Nobody speaks up for you. Nobody helps defend you. You devoted your entire life to helping others, listening to the smallest ones, caring for those who were ignored by others. They don't seem to remember that as they prepare to put you to death.

As a child, sometimes I feel alone. Sometimes I feel that others don't stand up for me and defend me when I am afraid. Sometimes I don't feel like I am treated fairly, especially if I am scolded or corrected.

As an adult, sometimes I feel abandoned and afraid as well. Sometimes I too, feel like I am treated unfairly or blamed for things unfairly. I have a hard time when people criticize me at home or at work.

Help me be grateful for what you did for me. Help me to accept criticism and unfairness as you did, and not complain. Help me pray for those who have hurt me.

My Jesus, often have I signed the death warrant by my sins; save me by Thy death from that eternal death which I have so often deserved.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory Be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Second Station: Jesus carries His cross

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, as you accepted your cross, you knew you would carry it to your death on Calvary. You knew it wouldn't be easy, but you accepted it and carried it just the same.

As a child, sometimes I don't like the problems that come my way. Sometimes I try to get others to take care of them or solve them for me. Sometimes I become upset and crabby when I'm asked to do even the smallest thing to help others.

As an adult I sometimes feel like I'm not appreciated. Sometimes I feel as if I accept more responsibility that I need to. I can feel sorry for myself, even though the crosses others carry are much larger than my own. In my self-pity, I don't reach out to help.

My Jesus, Who by Thine own will didst take on Thee the most heavy cross I made for Thee by my sins, oh, make me feel their heavy weight, and weep for them ever while I live.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory Be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Third Station : Jesus falls the first time

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, the cross you have been carrying is very heavy. You are becoming weak and almost ready to faint, and you fall down. Nobody seems to want to help you. The soldiers are interested in getting home, so they yell at you and try to get you up and moving again.

As a child, sometimes I start to do something, but then get tired of it. I hurry to get finished and sometimes don't do my work well. Sometimes I don't pay attention to what I should be doing. When things get hard for me, sometimes I give up.

As an adult, I sometimes put things off. I give up too easily, and sometimes don't do my work as well as I know I can.

My Jesus, the heavy burden of my sins is on Thee, and bears Thee down beneath the cross. I loathe them, I detest them; I call on Thee to pardon them; may Thy grace aid me never more to commit them.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory Be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Fourth Station: Jesus meets his mother

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, you feel so alone with all those people yelling and screaming at you. You don't like the words they are saying about you, and you look for a friendly face in the crowd. You see your mother. She can't make the hurting stop, but it helps to see that she is on your side, that she is suffering with you. She does understand and care.

As a child, sometimes I feel like too many things are going on. Sometimes other kids pick on me and call me names. I need to look around me for a friendly face, and for the help I need. I need to share my troubles with those who truly care about me.

As an adult I sometimes feel overwhelmed by many things. Life is so competitive, and I worry so much about my future and those who have some control over it. I need to remember that being an adult does not mean having to solve every problem all by myself. I need to look around me for a friendly face, for the help I need.

Jesus most suffering, Mary Mother most sorrowful, if, by my sins, I caused you pain and anguish in the past, by God's assisting grace it shall be so no more; rather be you my love henceforth till death.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, the soldiers are becoming impatient. This is taking longer than they wanted it to. They are afraid you won't make it to the hill where you will be crucified. As you grow weaker, they grab a man out of the crowd and make him help carry your cross. He was just watching what was happening, but all of a sudden he is helping you carry your cross.

As a child, sometimes I see people who need my help. Sometimes I pretend not to hear when my parents call me. I disappear when I know others could use my help.

As an adult, sometimes I try to do as little as I can and still get by. Others might need my help, but I ignore their needs. Even when I'm asked to help, I sometimes claim to be too busy.

My Jesus, blest, thrice blest was he who aided Thee to bear the cross. Blest too shall I be if I aid Thee to bear the cross, by patiently bowing my neck to the crosses Thou shalt send me during life. My Jesus, give me grace to do so.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, suddenly a woman comes out of the crowd. Her name is Veronica. You can see how she cares for you as she takes a cloth and begins to wipe the blood and sweat from your face. She can't do much, but she offers what little help she can.

As a child, sometimes I know someone could use a little help and understanding. They may be picked on or teased by others, or just sad or lonely. Sometimes I feel bad that others don't step in to help, but I don't help either.

As an adult, I notice the needs around me. Sometimes my own family members crave my attention, and I don't even seem to notice. Sometimes a co-worker, friend, or family member could use help or understanding, but I don't reach out to help lest I be criticized, or that they demand more of me than I'd like to give.

My tender Jesus, Who didst deign to print Thy sacred face upon the cloth with which Veronica wiped the sweat from off Thy brow, print in my soul deep, I pray Thee, the lasting memory of Thy bitter pains.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Seventh Station: Jesus falls the second time

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

This is the second time you have fallen on the road. As the cross grows heavier and heavier it becomes more difficult to get up. But you continue to struggle and try until you're up and walking again. You don't give up.

As a child, sometimes things get me down. Others seem to find things easier to do or to learn. Each time I fail, I find it harder to keep trying.

As an adult, sometimes I think I should know more than I do. I become impatient with myself and find it hard to believe in myself when I fail. It is easy to despair over small things, and sometimes I do.

Help me when things seem difficult for me. Even when it's hard, help me get up and keep trying as you did. Help me do my best without comparing myself with others.

My Jesus, often have I sinned and often, by sin, beaten Thee to the ground beneath the cross. Help me to use the efficacious means of grace that I may never fall again.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have Mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, as you carry your cross you see a group of women along the road. As you pass by you see they are sad. You stop to spend a moment with them, to offer them some encouragement. Although you are have been abandoned by your friends and are in pain, you stop and try to help them.

As a child, sometimes I think a lot about myself. I think about what I want and would like people to spend their lives pleasing me.

As an adult, sometimes I act like a child. I become so absorbed in myself and what I'd like that I forget about the needs of others. I take them for granted, and often ignore their needs.

Help me think more about others. Help me remembers that others have problems, too. Help me respond to them even when I'm busy or preoccupied with my own problems.

My Jesus, Who didst comfort the pious women of Jerusalem who wept to see Thee bruised and torn, comfort my soul with Thy tender pity, for in Thy pity lies my trust. May my heart ever answer Thine.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have Mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, your journey has been long. You fall again, beneath your cross. You know your journey is coming to an end. You struggle and struggle. You get up and keep going.

As a child, sometimes I fail time and time again. I find it hard to get along with my sisters and brothers, sometimes I'm not honest, sometimes I'm lazy. I'm tempted to stop trying. It's just too hard sometimes.

As an adult, I often feel I should have conquered my weaknesses by now. I become discouraged when I'm confronted by the same problems over and over again. Sometimes I get weary. When I have health problems, I can become discouraged and depressed.

Help me think of the cross you carried. Help me continue to hope that I can make the changes in my life I need to. You didn't give up. I can have the strength to get up again as well.

My Jesus, by all the bitter woes Thou didst endure when for the third time the heavy cross bowed Thee to the earth, never, I beseech Thee, let me fall again into sin. Ah, my Jesus, rather let me die than ever offend Thee again.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in Peace.
All - Amen.

Tenth Station: Jesus clothes are taken away

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

The soldiers notice you have something of value. They remove your cloak and throw dice for it. Your wounds are torn open once again. Some of the people in the crowd make fun of you. They tease you and challenge you to perform a miracle for them to see. They're not aware that you'll perform the greatest miracle of all!

As a child, sometimes I'm tempted to repeat stories I know are unclean and disrespectful. I sometimes try to act grown up by using crude and bad words.

As an adult, sometimes I repeat stories that are disrespectful of others. I can entertain thoughts that are not clean. Sometimes I give the young people around me a bad example to follow.

Help me to keep myself pure and clean. Help me say things that build up the people around me. Help me overcome worldly desires that I may become more like Jesus. Help me set a good example for others to follow.

My Jesus, stripped of Thy garments and drenched with gall, strip me of love for things of earth, and make me loathe all that savors of the world and sin.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

You are stretched out on the cross you have carried so far. The soldiers take big nails and drive them into your hands and feet. You feel abandoned by the people you loved so much. People seem to have gone mad. You have done nothing but good, yet they drive nails through your hands and feet.

As a child, sometimes I hurt others. Sometimes I join with friends and decide not to like another. We gang up against another and cause them hurt and pain. Sometimes I say or do hurtful things to my brothers and sisters. I can wonder what they'd think about themselves if they believed everything I told them about themselves.

As and adult, sometimes I discriminate against others. Even without thinking, I judge others because of their color, intelligence, income level or name. I forget that I am to live as a brother or sister to all people. Sometimes I use harsh words when I speak to my children and family members. I can find it easy to look for something that isn't very important and make it very important.

Help me look again at the people around me. Help me see the hurt and pain I have caused in others. Be with me to help me make amends for the harm I have done.

My Jesus, by Thine agony when the cruel nails pierced Thy tender hands and feet and fixed them to the cross, make me crucify my flesh by Christian penance.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the cross

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

As Jesus hung on the cross, he forgave the soldiers who had crucified him, and prayed for his mother and friends. Jesus wanted all of us to be able to live forever with God, so he gave all he had for us.

Jesus, let me take a few moments now to consider your love for me. Help me thank you for your willingness to go to your death for me. Help me express my love for you!

My Jesus, three hours didst Thou hang in agony, and then die for me; let me die before I sin, and if I live, live for Thy love and faithful service.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Thirteenth Station: The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, how brutally you were put to death. How gently your are taken from the cross. Your suffering and pain are ended, and you are put in the lap of your mother. The dirt and blood are wiped away. You are treated with love.

As a child, sometimes I treat others better when they're sad or in pain. When somebody dies, I become very gentle and kind. I notice the good and kind things people say about those who have died.

As an adult, I seem to be kinder when someone dies. If only I could learn to see the good things about them while they were alive. If only I would tell those around me how much I love them, while I still have the opportunity to do so.

Help me look for the good in those around me, especially those I love the most. Help me live this day as if it were the last. Help me become a more gentle and loving person through my greater appreciation for those around me.

O Mary, Mother most sorrowful, the sword of grief pierced thy soul when thou didst see Jesus lying lifeless on thy bosom; obtain for me hatred of sin because sin slew thy Son and wounded thine own heart, and grace to live a Christian life and save my soul.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All - Have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, your body is prepared for burial. Joseph gave you his own tomb. He laid your body there and rolled a large stone in front of it, then went home. What a sad day it has been for so many people.

As a child, sometimes I try to keep everything for myself. I find it hard to share my things with my brothers or sisters and with my friends.

As an adult, I can be selfish too. I can accumulate things and keep them for myself. I try to make sure I have what I want before I share what I have with anybody else.

Help me think of Joseph of Arimathea, who risked his own life as he accepted Jesus' body for burial. Help me think of how Joseph loved Jesus so much that he gave him his own tomb.

My Jesus, beside Thy body in the tomb I, too, would lie dead; but if I live, let it be for Thee, so as one day to enjoy with Thee in heaven the fruits of Thy passion and Thy bitter death.

Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father....

Leader - Jesus Christ Crucified.
All have mercy on Us.
Leader - May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All - Amen.

Ash Wednesday

2009-02-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God, you despise nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent.
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our brokenness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Ash Wednesday is a day of both fasting and abstinence.

Wednesday 25th of February will be ash wednesday. Don't forget to take your ashes guys. LOL

Lourdes Shrine in France

2009-02-06T00:43:00.000-08:00

HEALING AND MIRACLES AT LOURDES 90 mins
Beginning with a summary of how the Shrine at Lourdes came into existence, this program focuses on the abundance of miraculous cures that take place there and how these cures become recognized as authentic miracles.
Sat 2/07/09 8:00 PM ET & 5 PM PT
Sun 2/08/09 2:00 AM ET & (Sat) 11 PM PT
Thu 2/12/09 1:00 PM ET & 10 AM PT

Watch the live webcame by pressing the title

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF LOURDES

Mary, you showed yourself to Bernadette
in the crevice of the rock.
In the cold and grey of winter,
you brought the warmth, light and beauty
of your presence,

In the often obscure depths of our lives,
in the depth of the world where evil is so powerful,
bring hope,
return our confidence!

You are the Immaculate Conception,
come to our aid, sinners that we are.
Give us the humility to have a change of heart,
the courage to do penance.
Teach us to pray for all people.

Guide us to the source of true life.
Make us pilgrims going forward with your Church,
whet our appetite for the Eucharist,
the bread for the journey, the bread of life.

The Spirit brought about wonders in you, O Mary :
by his power, he has placed you near the Father,
in the glory of your eternal Son.
Look with kindness
on our miserable bodies and hearts.
Shine forth for us, like a gentle light,
at the hour of our death.

Together with Bernadette, we pray to you, O Mary,
as your poor children.
May we enter, like her, into the spirit of the Beatitudes.
Then, we will be able, here below,
begin to know the joy of the Kingdom of Heaven
and sing together with you :
Magnificent !

Glory to you, Virgin Mary,
blessed servant of the Lord,
Mother of God,
dwelling place of the Holy Spirit!

Amen.

St. Philomena

2009-02-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

Novena Prayer 1

O faithful Virgin and glorious Martyr, St. Philomena, who works so many miracles on behalf of the poor and sorrowing, have pity on me. Thou knowest the multitude and diversity of my needs. Behold me at thy feet, full of misery, but full of hope.

I entreat thy charity, O great Saint! Graciously hear me and obtain from God a favorable answer to the request which now humbly lay before thee ... (here specify your petition).

I am firmly convinced that through thy merits, through the scorn, the sufferings and the death thou didst endure, united to the Passion and Death of Jesus, thy Spouse, I shall obtain what I ask of thee, and in the joy of my heart I will bless God, Who is admirable in His saints. Amen.

Our Lady's message

2009-01-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

Message of January 25, 2009

“Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May prayer be for you like the seed that you will put in my heart, which I will give over to my Son Jesus for you, for the salvation of your souls. I desire, little children, for each of you to fall in love with eternal life which is your future, and for all worldly things to be a help for you to draw you closer to God the Creator. I am with you for this long because you are on the wrong path. Only with my help, little children, you will open your eyes. There are many of those who, by living my messages, comprehend that they are on the way of holiness towards eternity. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Sunday, January 25, 2009

2009-01-25T04:57:00.000-08:00

First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 25:4-9
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20

In order to acquire tranquility in action it is necessary to carefully consider what we are capable of accomplishing and never to undertake more than that. It is self-love, ever more anxious to do much rather than to do well and this self-love that wishes to undertake everything and accomplishes nothing!

-- St. Francis DeSales

Press title to listen to the Homily

St. Therese of Lisieux

2009-01-24T06:28:00.000-08:00

The spread of the cult of St. Therese of Lisieux is one of the impressive religious manifestations of our time. During her few years on earth this young French Carmelite was scarcely to be distinguished from many another devoted nun, but her death brought an almost immediate awareness of her unique gifts. Through her letters, the word-of-mouth tradition originating with her fellow-nuns, and especially through the publication of Histoire d'un ame, Therese of the Child Jesus or "The Little Flower" soon came to mean a great deal to numberless people; she had shown them the way of perfection in the small things of every day. Miracles and graces were being attributed to her intercession, and within twenty-eight years after death, this simple young nun had been canonized. In 1936 a basilica in her honor at Lisieux was opened and blessed by Cardinal Pacelli; and it was he who, in 1944, as Pope, declared her the secondary patroness of France. "The Little Flower" was an admirer of St. Teresa of Avila, and a comparison at once suggests itself. Both were christened Teresa, both were Carmelites, and both left interesting autobiographies. Many temperamental and intellectual differences separate them, in addition to the differences of period and of race; but there are striking similarities. They both patiently endured severe physical sufferings; both had a capacity for intense religious experience; both led lives made radiant by the love of Christ.

The parents of the later saint were Louis Martin, a watchmaker of Alencon, France, son of an army officer, and Azelie-Marie Guerin, a lacemaker of the same town. Only five of their nine children lived to maturity; all five were daughters and all were to become nuns. Francoise-Marie Therese, the youngest, was born on January 2, 1873. Her childhood must have been normally happy, for her first memories, she writes, are of smiles and tender caresses. Although she was affectionate and had much natural charm, Therese gave no sign of precocity. When she was only four, the family was stricken by the sad blow of the mother's death. Monsieur Martin gave up his business and established himself at Lisieux, Normandy, where Madame Martin's brother lived with his wife and family. The Guerins, generous and loyal people, were able to ease the father's responsibilities through the years by giving to their five nieces practical counsel and deep affection.

The Martins were now and always united in the closest bonds. The eldest daughter, Marie, although only thirteen, took over the management of the household, and the second, Pauline, gave the girls religious instruction. When the group gathered around the fire on winter evenings, Pauline would read aloud works of piety, such as the Liturgical Year of Dom Gueranger. Their lives moved along quietly for some years, then came the first break in the little circle. Pauline entered the Carmelite convent of Lisieux. She was to advance steadily in her religious vocation, later becoming prioress. It is not astonishing that the youngest sister, then only nine, had a great desire to follow the one who had been her loving guide. Four years later, when Marie joined her sister at the Carmel, Therese's desire for a life in religion was intensified. Her education during these years was in the hands of the Benedictine nuns of the convent of Notre-Dame-du-Pre. She was confirmed there at the age of eleven.

In her autobiography Therese writes that her personality changed after her mother's death, and from being childishly merry she became withdrawn and shy. While Therese was indeed developing into a serious-minded girl, it does not appear that she became markedly sad. We have many evidences of liveliness and fun, and the oral tradition, as well as the many letters, reveal an outgoing nature, able to articulate the warmest expressions of love for her family, teachers, and friends.

On Christmas Eve, just a few days before Therese's fourteenth birthday, she underwent an experience which she ever after referred to as "my conversion." It was to exert a profound influence on her life. Let her tell of it—and its moral effect—in her own words: "On that blessed night the sweet infant Jesus, scarcely an hour old, filled the darkness of my soul with floods of light. By becoming weak and little, for love of me, He made me strong and brave: He put His own weapons into my hands so that I went on from strength to strength, beginning, if I may say so, 'to run as a giant."' An indelible impression had been made on this attuned soul; she claimed that the Holy Child had healed her of undue sensitiveness and "girded her with His weapons." It was by reason of this vision that the saint was to become known as "Therese of the Child Jesus."

The next year she told her father of her wish to become a Carmelite. He readily consented, but both the Carmelite authorities and Bishop Hugonin of Bayeux refused to consider it while she was still so young. A few months later, in November, to her unbounded delight, her father took her and another daughter, Celine, to visit Notre-Dame des Victoires in Paris, then on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Pope Leo XIII. The party was accompanied by the Abbe Reverony of Bayeux. In a letter from Rome to her sister Pauline, who was now Sister Agnes of Jesus, Therese described the audience: "The Pope was sitting on a great chair; M. Reverony was near him; he watched the pilgrims kiss the Pope's foot and pass before him and spoke a word about some of them. Imagine how my heart beat as I saw my turn come: I didn't want to return without speaking to the Pope. I spoke, but I did not get it all said because M. Reverony did not give me time. He said immediately: 'Most Holy Father, she is a child who wants to enter Carmel at fifteen, but its superiors are considering the matter at the moment.' I would have liked to be able to explain my case, but there was no way. The Holy Father said to me simply: 'If the good God wills, you will enter.' Then I was made to pass on to another room. Pauline, I cannot tell you what I felt. It was like annihilation, I felt deserted.... Still God cannot be giving me trials beyond my strength. He gave me the courage to sustain this one."

Therese did not have to wait long in suspense. The Pope's blessing and the earnest prayers she offered at many shrines during the pilgrimage had the desired effect. At the end of the year Bishop Hugonin gave his permission, and on April 9, 1888, Therese joined her sisters in the Carmel at Lisieux. "From her entrance she astonished the community by her bearing, which was marked by a certain majesty that one would not expect in a child of fifteen." So testified her novice mistress at the time of Therese's beatification. During her novitiate Father Pichon, a Jesuit, gave a retreat, and he also testified to Therese's piety. "It was easy to direct that child. The Holy Spirit was leading her and I do not think that I ever had, either then or later, to warn her against illusions.... What struck me during the retreat were the spiritual trials through which God wished her to pass." Therese's presence among them filled the nuns with happiness. She was slight in build, and had fair hair, gray-blue eyes, and delicate features. With all the intensity of her ardent nature she loved the daily round of religious practices, the liturgical prayers, the reading of Scripture. After entering the Carmel she began to sign letters to her father and others, "Therese of the Child Jesus."

In 1889 the Martin sisters suffered a great shock. Their father, after two paralytic strokes, had a mental breakdown and had to be removed to a private sanitarium, where he remained for three years. Therese bore this grievous sorrow heroically.

On September 8, 1890, at the age of seventeen, Therese took final vows. In spite of poor health, she carried out from the first all the austerities of the stern Carmelite rule, except that she was not permitted to fast. "A soul of such mettle," said the prioress, "must not be treated like a child. Dispensations are not meant for her." The physical ordeal which she felt more than any other was the cold of the convent buildings in winter, but no one even suspected this until she confessed it on her death-bed. And by that time she was able to say, "I have reached the point of not being able to suffer any more, because all suffering is sweet to me."

In 1893, when she was twenty, she was appointed to assist the novice mistress, and was in fact mistress in all but name. She comments, "From afar it seems easy to do good to souls, to make them love God more, to mold them according to our own ideas and views. But coming closer we find, on the contrary, that to do good without God's help is as impossible as to make the sun shine at night."

In her twenty-third year, on order of the prioress, Therese began to write the memories of her childhood and of life at the convent; this material forms the first chapters of Histoire d'un ame, the History of a Soul. It is a unique and engaging document, written with a charming spontaneity, full of fresh turns of phrase, unconscious self-revelation, and, above all, giving evidence of deep spirituality. She describes her own prayers and thereby tells us much about herself. "With me prayer is a lifting up of the heart, a look towards Heaven, a cry of gratitude and love uttered equally in sorrow and in joy; in a word, something noble, supernatural, which enlarges my soul and unites it to God.... Except for the Divine Office, which in spite of my unworthiness is a daily joy, I have not the courage to look through books for beautiful prayers. . . . I do as a child who has not learned to read, I just tell our Lord all that I want and he understands." She has natural psychological insight: "Each time that my enemy would provoke me to fight I behave like a brave soldier. I know that a duel is an act of cowardice, and so, without once looking him in the face, I turn my back on the foe, hasten to my Saviour, and vow that I am ready to shed my blood in witness of my belief in Heaven." She mentions her own patience humorously. During meditation in the choir, one of the sisters continually fidgeted with her rosary, until Therese was perspiring with irritation. At last, "instead of trying not to hear it, which was impossible, I set myself to listen as though it had been some delightful music, and my meditation, which was the 'prayer of quiet,' passed in offering this music to our Lord." Her last chapter is a paean to divine love, and concludes, "I entreat Thee to let Thy divine eyes rest upon a vast number of little souls; I entreat Thee to choose in this world a legion of little victims of Thy love." She counted herself among these. "I am a very little soul, who can offer only very little things to the Lord."

In 1894 Louis Martin died, and soon Celine, who had of late been taking care of him, made the fourth sister from this family in the Carmel at Lisieux. Some years later, the fifth, Leonie, entered the convent of the Visitation at Caen.

Therese occupied herself with reading and writing almost up to the end of her life. That event loomed ever nearer as tuberculosis made a steady advance. During the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday, 1896, she suffered a pulmonary haemorrhage. Although her bodily and spiritual sufferings were extreme, she wrote many letters, to members of her family and to distant friends, as well as continuing Histoire d'un ame. She carried on a correspondance with Carmelite sisters at Hanoi, China; they wished her to come out and join them, not realizing the seriousness of her ailment. She had a great yearning to respond to their appeal. At intervals moments of revelation came to her, and it was then that she penned those succinct reflections that are now repeated so widely. Here are three of them that give the flavor of her mind: "I will spend my Heaven doing good on earth." "I have never given the good God aught but love, and it is with love that He will repay." "My 'little way' is the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute self-surrender."

A further insight is given us in a letter Therese wrote, shortly before she died, to Pere Roulland, a missionary in China. "Sometimes, when I read spiritual treatises, in which perfection is shown with a thousand obstacles in the way and a host of illusions round about it, my poor little mind soon grows weary, I close the learned book, which leaves my head splitting and my heart parched, and I take the Holy Scriptures. Then all seems luminous, a single word opens up infinite horizons to my soul, perfection seems easy; I see that it is enough to realize one's nothingness, and give oneself wholly, like a child, into the arms of the good God. Leaving to great souls, great minds, the fine books I cannot understand, I rejoice to be little because 'only children, and those who are like them, will be admitted to the heavenly banquet.’"

In June, 1897, Therese was removed to the infirmary of the convent. On September 30, with the words, "My God . . . I love Thee!" on her lips she died. The day before, her sister Celine, knowing the end was at hand, had asked for some word of farewell, and Therese, serene in spite of pain, murmured, "I have said all . . . all is consummated . . . only love counts."

The prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague, wrote in the convent register, alongside the saint's act of Profession: ". . . The nine and a half years she spent among us leave our souls fragrant with the most beautiful virtues with which the life of a Carmelite can be filled. A perfect model of humility, obedience, charity, prudence, detachment, and regularity, she fulfilled the difficult discipline of mistress of novices with a sagacity and affection which nothing could equal save her love for God...."

The Church was to recognize a profound and valuable teaching in 'the little way'—connoting a realistic awareness of one's limitations, and the wholehearted giving of what one has, however small the gift. Beginning in 1898, with the publication of a small edition of Histoire d'un ame, the cult of this saint of 'the little way' grew so swiftly that the Pope dispensed with the rule that a process for canonization must not be started until fifty years after death. Almost from childhood, it seems, Therese had consciously aspired to the heights, often saying to herself that God would not fill her with a desire that was unattainable. Only twenty-six years after her death she was beatified by Pope Pius XI, and in the year of Jubilee, 1925, he pronounced her a saint. Two years later she was named heavenly patroness of foreign missions along with St. Francis Xavier.

Saint Therese of Lisieux, Virgin. Celebration of Feast Day is October 1.

Celebrate life

2009-01-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

Prayer for the Helpless Unborn

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.

Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as theirs - made for eternal life.

Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother can give.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Baptism of Jesus

2009-01-11T05:26:00.001-08:00

Message from Pope Benedict XVI

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today's celebration is always a cause of special joy for me. Indeed, the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is one of the most expressive moments of our faith, in which we can almost see the mystery of life through the signs of the liturgy.

In the first place, there is human life. It is represented here in particular by these 13 children who are the fruit of your love, dear parents, to whom I address my cordial greeting, which I extend to the godparents and the other relatives and friends present.

Then comes the mystery of divine life which God gives to these little ones today through rebirth in water and the Holy Spirit. God is life, as some of the pictures that embellish this Sistine Chapel marvellously evoke.

Yet it does not seem out of place if we immediately juxtapose the experience of life with the opposite experience, that is, the reality of death. Sooner or later everything that begins on earth comes to its end, like the meadow grass that springs up in morning and by evening has wilted.

In Baptism, however, the tiny human being receives a new life, the life of grace, which enables him or her enter into a personal relationship with the Creator for ever, for the whole of eternity.

Unfortunately, human beings are capable of extinguishing this new life with their sin, reducing themselves to being in a situation which Sacred Scripture describes as "second death".

Whereas for other creatures who are not called to eternity, death mean solely the end of existence on earth, in us sin creates an abyss in which we risk being engulfed for ever unless the Father who is in Heaven stretches out his hand to us.

This, dear brothers and sisters, is the mystery of Baptism: God desired to save us by going to the bottom of this abyss himself so that every person, even those who have fallen so low that they can no longer perceive Heaven, may find God's hand to cling to and rise from the darkness to see once again the light for which he or she was made.

Yearning for true life

We all feel, we all inwardly comprehend that our existence is a desire for life which invokes fullness and salvation. This fullness is given to us in Baptism.

We have just heard the account of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. It was a different Baptism from that which these babies are about to receive but is deeply connected with it.

Basically, the whole mystery of Christ in the world can he summed up in this term: "baptism", which in Greek means "immersion".

The Son of God, who from eternity shares the fullness of life with the Father and the Holy Spirit, was "immersed" in our reality as sinners to make us share in his own life: he was incarnate, he was born like us, he grew up like us and, on reaching adulthood, manifested his mission which began precisely with the "baptism of conversion" administered by John the Baptist.

Jesus' first public act, as we have just heard, was to go down into the Jordan, mingling among repentant sinners, in order to receive this baptism. John was naturally reluctant to baptize him, but because this was the Father's will, Jesus insisted (cf. Mt 3:13-15).

Why, therefore, did the Father desire this? Was it because he had sent his Only-Begotten Son into the world as the Lamb to take upon himself the sins of the world (cf. Jn 1:29)?

The Evangelist recounts that when Jesus emerged from the waters, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, while the Father's voice from Heaven proclaimed him "my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Mt 3:17).

From that very moment, therefore, Jesus was revealed as the One who came to baptize humanity in the Holy Spirit: he came to give men and women life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), eternal life, which brings the human being back to life and heals him entirely, in body and in spirit, restoring him to the original plan for which he was created.

The purpose of Christ's existence was precisely to give humanity God's life and his Spirit of love so that every person might be able to draw from this inexhaustible source of salvation. This is why St. Paul wrote to the Romans that we were baptized into the death of Christ in order to have his same life as the Risen One (cf. Rom 6:3-4).

Fullness only God can give

For this reason Christian parents, such as you today, bring their children to the baptismal font as soon as possible, knowing that life which they have communicated calls for a fullness, a salvation that God alone can give. And parents thus become collaborators of God, transmitting to their children not only physical but also spiritual life.

Dear parents, I thank the Lord with you for the gift of these children and I invoke his assistance so that he may help you to raise them and incorporate them into the spiritual Body of the Church.

As you offer them what they need for their growth and salvation may you always be committed, helped by their godparents, to developing in them faith, hope and charity, the theological virtues proper to the new life given to them in the Sacrament of Baptism.

You will guarantee this by your presence and your affection; you will guarantee it first of all and above all by prayer, presenting them daily to God and entrusting them to him in every season of their life.

If they are to grow healthy and strong, these babies will of course need both material care and many other kinds of attention; yet, what will be most necessary to them, indeed indispensable, will be to know, love and serve God faithfully in order to have eternal life.

Dear parents, may you be for them the first witnesses of an authentic faith in God!

In the Rite of Baptism there is an eloquent sign that expresses precisely the transmission of faith. It is the presentation to each of those being baptized of a candle lit from the flame of the Easter candle: it is the light of the Risen Christ, which you will endeavour to pass on to your children.

Thus, from one generation to the next we Christians transmit Christ's light to one another in such a way that when he returns he may find us with this flame burning in our hands.

During the Rite I shall say to you: "Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly". Dear brothers and sisters, always feed the flame of the faith by listening to and meditating on the Word of God and assiduous communion with Jesus in the Eucharist.

May you be assisted in this marvellous if far from easy role by the holy Protectors after whom these 13 children will be named.

Above all, may these Saints help those being baptized to reciprocate your loving care as Christian parents.

May the Virgin Mary in particular accompany both them and you, dear parents, now and for ever. Amen!

Saint Faustina

2009-01-09T12:53:00.001-08:00

St Mary Faustina Kowalska was born on 25 August 1905 in Glogowiec, Poland, to a poor, religious family of peasants, the third of 10 children. She was baptized with the name Helena in the parish church of Swinice Warckle. From a very tender age she stood out because of her love of prayer, work, obedience and her sensitivity to the poor. At the age of nine she made her First Holy Communion and attended school for three years. At the age of 16 she left home and went to work as a housekeeper in Aleksandrow, Lodz and Ostrowek in order to support herself and to help her parents.

At the age of seven she had already felt the first stirrings of a religious vocation. After finishing school, she wanted to enter the convent but her parents would not give her permission. Called during a vision of the suffering Christ, on 1 August 1925 she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and took the name Sr Mary Faustina. She lived in the congregation for 13 years, residing in Krakow, Plock and Vilnius, where she worked as a cook, gardener and porter.

Externally, nothing revealed her rich mystical interior life. She zealously performed her tasks and faithfully observed the rule of religious life. She was recollected, yet very natural, serene and full of kindness and disinterested love for her neighbour. Although her life was apparently insignificant and monotonous, she hid within herself an extraordinary union with God.

It is the mystery of God's mercy, which she contemplated in the word of God as well as in her everyday activities, that forms the basis of her spirituality. The process of contemplating and getting to know the mystery of God's mercy helped to develop within Sr Mary Faustina the attitude of childlike trust in God and of mercy towards her neighbour. "0 my Jesus, each of your saints reflects one of your virtues; I desire to reflect your compassionate heart, full of mercy; I want to glorify it. Let your mercy, 0 Jesus, be impressed upon my heart and soul like a seal, and this will be my badge in this and the future life" (Diary 1242). Sr Faustina was a faithful daughter of the Church. Conscious of her role in the Church, she cooperated with God's mercy in the task of saving lost souls. At the specific request of the Lord Jesus and following his example, she made a sacrifice of her own life for this very goal. Her spiritual life was also distinguished by a love of the Eucharist and a deep devotion to the Mother of Mercy.

The years she spent in the convent were filled with extraordinary gifts, such as revelations, visions, hidden stigmata, participation in the Passion of the Lord, bilocation, the reading of human souls, prophecy and the rare gift of mystical espousal and marriage. Her living relationship with God, the Blessed Mother, the angels, the saints, the souls in purgatory—with the entire supernatural world—was as real for her as the world she perceived with the senses. In spite of being so richly endowed with extraordinary graces, Sr Mary Faustina knew that they do not in fact constitute sanctity. In her Diary she wrote: "Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God" (Diary 1107).

The Lord Jesus chose Sr Mary Faustina as the apostle and "secretary" of his mercy, so that she could tell the world about his great message. "In the Old Covenant", he said to her, "I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to my people. Today I am sending you with my mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my merciful Heart" (Diary 1588).

The mission of Sr Mary Faustina consists in three tasks:

—reminding the world of the truth of our faith revealed in the Holy Scripture about the merciful love of God towards every human being;

—entreating God's mercy for the whole world and particularly for sinners, among others through the practice of new forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy presented by the Lord Jesus, such as: the veneration of the image of the Divine Mercy with the inscription: "Jesus, I trust in you"; the feast of the Divine Mercy celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter; chaplet to the Divine Mercy and prayer at the Hour of Mercy (3 p.m.). The Lord Jesus attached great promises to the above forms of devotion, provided one entrusted one's life to God and practised active love of neighbour;

—initiating the apostolic movement of the Divine Mercy, whose task is to proclaim and entreat God's mercy for the world and to strive for Christian perfection, following the precepts laid down by Sr Mary Faustina. The precepts in question require the faithful to have an attitude of childlike trust in God, expressed in fulfilling his will, and an attitude of mercy toward one's neighbour. Today millions of people throughout the world are involved in this Church movement: it includes religious congregations, lay institutes, religious, confraternities, associations, various communities of apostles of the Divine Mercy, as well as individuals who take up the tasks which the Lord Jesus communicated to them through Sr Mary Faustina.

Sr Mary Faustina's mission was recorded in her Diary, which she kept at the specific request of the Lord Jesus and her confessors. In it she faithfully wrote down all of the Lord's wishes and described the encounters between her soul and him. "Secretary of my most profound mystery", the Lord said to Sr Faustina, "know that your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about my mercy, for the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach me" (Diary 1693). Sr Mary Faustina's work sheds light on the mystery of the Divine Mercy. It delights not only simple, uneducated people, but also scholars, who look upon it as an additional source of theological research.

Sr Mary Faustina, consumed by tuberculosis and innumerable sufferings, which she accepted as a voluntary sacrifice for sinners, died in Krakow at the age of 33 on 5 October 1938, with a reputation for spiritual maturity and a mystical union with God. Her reputation for holiness grew, as did the devotion to the Divine Mercy and the graces received from God through her intercession. Pope John Paul II beatified Sr Faustina on 18 April 1993. Her mortal remains rest at the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Krakow-Lagiewniki.

Feast of the Epiphany

2009-01-04T03:43:00.000-08:00

'Three Kings' Seek, Find, and Worship the Lord

"We have come to worship him" (Mt 2:2) was the meaningful theme chosen for the 20th World Youth Day, celebrated in Cologne, Germany, from 16 to 21 August.

The story of the "Adoration of the Wise Men" is one of the best known in the life of the Lord. However, the episode recounted by the Evangelist Matthew is not primarily an exact historical chronicle. Rather, the focus of interest is the content, which concerns the history of salvation in the message passed on by this witness of faith.

This is why the story of the Three Kings has become a favourite subject in the theological expressions of art. The star that guided the Magi has become an example of the Gospel proclamation to all.

The brief account in Matthew's Gospel (2:1-12), which says that Wise Men from the East, guided by a star, arrived in Bethlehem to worship the newborn Child, was well-known from the Church's beginnings.

The Evangelist Luke tells of the simple local shepherds of Bethlehem who found Jesus lying in a manger.

Matthew, on the other hand, tells the story of Wise Men, people of high rank who arrive from the East, from afar, following a star. They have also been called "astrologers" ("μαγοι" in Greek), Magi kings and the "Three Kings".

Their coming from the "East" (Mt 2:1) makes one think of Persia, where the Parsee priests of Zoroaster encouraged the interpretation and deification of stars.

But according to Scripture (cf. Dt 2:2-10), the land they came from might well have been Babylon, Arabia or Syria. "Wise", therefore, is also a definition of the "foreigners" who had come from afar to worship the newborn Jesus.

Drawing inspiration from Psalm 72[71]: "The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute" (v. 10); and from Isaiah (60:6): "All from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord", popular tradition has transformed the three experts in astronomy into three kings of different ages and provenance.

There is no doubt that they were astrologers, because they followed a specific star. This star, like a "Pole star", a means of orientation, was transformed in subsequent interpretations to the point that it was even shown with Christ's monogramme, becoming the goal and the symbol of Christ himself.

The brightest star of all

In his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Ignatius (who died in about 117) wrote: "A star shone forth in Heaven more brightly than all the stars, and its light was greater than words can tell, and its strange appearing caused perplexity. And all the other stars... formed themselves into a band about the star. But the star itself surpassed them all in its brightness".

The first scientist to study this constellation in this particular epoch was the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).

* * *

The Solemnity of the "Epiphany of the Lord" (birth, adoration of the Magi, Baptism in the Jordan, wedding at Cana), which originated in Alexandria, spread increasingly in the liturgy of the entire Church. It has been celebrated on 6 January since the fifth century. Only in the Roman liturgy under Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461) did it become a specific feast: the "Adoration of the Magi".

The definition of the Magi as three, a holy number, partly because of the kind of gifts they offered, also dates to this period. At first, their number or names were not specified. The names Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar probably crept into the Western Tradition from an apocryphal Gospel written in Alexandria in about the sixth century.

One thing, however, is certain. It was interest in the Magi of Matthew's narrative that formed the basis of their subsequent popular veneration. The Evangelist's account of them offers few historical details: instead, it is theological in nature.

The Wise Men symbolized strangers, foreigners or pagans, hence, completely diverse people. Yet they received salvation, just like the People of Israel. Their search, discovery, worship and belief in Jesus filled them with "great joy". Obedient to a warning, they returned to their own country "by another way".

The homage that the first representatives of paganism, henceforth kings, paid to the King of kings enabled them to share in the divine Kingdom of Jesus Christ. In late antiquity and in the early Middle Ages, the field of art provided a particularly fertile terrain for this concept.

Popularity of the legend

Tradition claims that the remains of the Magi were found in Jerusalem in the fourth century by the Empress Helena, who took them with her to Constantinople.

When St. Ambrose, after the year 375, became Bishop of Milan, the Empress presented to him these venerable relics. It is to Ambrose, who possessed an excellent theological formation, that we owe the fact that in theological circles the Epiphany has always met with the recognition it deserves:

"The Wise Men make a gift of their treasures. Do you want to know what an excellent honour they received? The star was visible only to them; where Herod lived it was invisible; where Jesus lay it once again became visible and pointed out the way. So it is that this star is also the way, Christ's way; for Christ, in the mystery of the Incarnation, is the star, because "a star shall come forth from Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel" (Nm 24:17). Therefore, wherever Christ is, the star is too, for he is 'the bright morning star' (Rv 22:16). With his light, then, he points to himself" (cf. St. Ambrose, Comment on Luke II, 45).

An ancient manual for painters, kept at Mount Athos, also describes the "Adoration of the Magi": "a house, and the Most Holy One [Mary, Mother of God], seated, holds Jesus, in the act of blessing, as a newborn child. Before her are the three Magi and they are carrying their gifts in small golden caskets. One of them is an elderly, bare-headed man, kneeling, with a long beard. His eyes are fixed on Christ. He holds his gift in one hand and in the other, his crown; the second of the Magi has a short beard, and the third is clean-shaven. They are looking at one another and pointing to Christ. And Joseph stands behind the Most Holy One, wrapped in wonder. Outside the house, a young man holds the bridles of their three horses. And the three Magi appear once again on a hill. They are seated on their mounts, homeward bound. An angel, before them, is showing them the way".

* * *

Popular piety has preferred the legendary account of the "Adoration of the Magi", the scene so widely depicted in figurative art.

The new Martyrologium Romanum, however, is somewhat more precise. It says that the transferral of the remains of the Three Magi (trium magorum) took place on 13 July to Cologne.

"Certain Wise Men from the East arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts, to contemplate in the Child the mystery of the magnificence of the Only-begotten One" (Martyrologium Romanum, Rome, 2004, p. 658, n. 13).

In Rome, famous and expressive portrayals of the Wise Men from the East existed well before the transferral of their remains from Milan to Cologne. It is only possible here to mention a few of these numerous, ancient "Roman" representations — about 100 exist.

From the third century, the "Adoration of the Magi" appeared in the catacombs, for example, those of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, St. Priscilla or St. Domitilla. It also features in the sculpture on sarcophagi, such as the one from St. Paul Outside-the-Walls exhibited in the Lateran Museum.

'Adoration of the Magi'

The composition of the scene is often similar: the Mother of God is seated as the Queen of Heaven, or Queen and Mother, with the Child on her lap on one side of the image, usually on the right.

The Child stretches out one or both of his hands to the Magi, in Oriental dress, who are arriving from the opposite side. Their number sometimes differs; it varies from two to four. Whether symmetry or the lack of space are sufficient explanation for this remains doubtful.

The distinction between the presentation of the gifts, as a sign of sacrifice, and adoration, like prostration, is not always clearly distinguishable.

Arguably one of the greatest Western art treasurers is the proto-Christian panel cypress in the wooden door (5.35m. x 3.5m.) at the Church of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill in Rome. The carving on the door, made of cyprus or cedar around 432, clearly demonstrates a Byzantine influence. One of its oldest panels, showing the "Adoration of the Magi", is a unique testimony of Christian art.

Only 18 of the original 28 scenes remain.

The panel of the "Epiphany of the Lord" (third, left, upper row) depicts the "Adoration of the Magi". The Mother of God is seated with the Child Jesus on a raised throne to which several steps lead. The three Magi Kings approach bearing their gifts at the "same rapid pace", a typical feature of triumphal art.

This scene fits into a general representation of the history of salvation. It is one of a series of wooden panels carved in relief — almost a concordance of the Old and New Testaments —, whose motifs come mainly from Syria and Palestine. Unfortunately, missing panels have made it impossible to reconstruct their overall catechetical programme.

The subject had a certain resonance: in 1015, Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, inspired by the wooden door of Santa Sabina, commissioned the famous portal of the Cathedral of Hildesheim. Around 1065, the Church of Santa Maria in Campidoglio of Cologne also acquired a similar wooden door.

The mosaics commissioned by Pope Sixtus III (432-440) that decorate the triumphal arch of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, which has been called the "Roman Bethlehem", are among these unique interpretative works. The mosaics on this arch show the fulfilment of the prophecy through the Messiah's birth.

The divinity of the newborn Child becomes the central theme. The divine Child, who looks particularly small, is seated upon an excessively large and sumptuous throne. He is flanked on the left by Mary, Mother of God, clad in a royal robe of gold, along with a King and St Joseph. On the right, an allegorical figure is recognizable as the Church or "divine Wisdom", accompanied by another two Wise Men in Frigian dress. The star and four angels are depicted behind the throne.

The great variety of the "Roman" representations of the "Adoration of the Magi" make it easy to understand that in Rome, long before the "Cologne period" of the "Three Kings", the important subject of the "Epiphany of the Lord" was conceptually present in theology and the consciousness of the Church: the Mother of God (enthroned) with the (divine) Child, the (three) Magi with the Star and camels or horses; sometimes (three) shepherds and angels were also added.

They have sometimes been set into medallions of the virtues: faith or fides, charity or caritas, and hope or spes.

After the conquest of Milan in 1164, on 9 July, Frederick Barbarossa consigned the relics of the Magi Kings to Rainald of Dassel, his Chancellor and Archbishop of Cologne, as spoils of war.

They were transferred with due solemnity from Milan to Cologne, where veneration of the Magi soon spread to Poland, England and even Ireland.

Obviously, Cologne's best known artworks were created subsequent to the arrival of the remains at the Cathedral.

'Sarcophagus' of the Magi

The famous "sarcophagus" of the Magi is a masterpiece of Medieval goldsmithery.

Nicholas of Verdun and several assistants in his workshop produced the Shrine of the Three Magi, a work of art of immense value and importance to the history of Medieval art, to contain the relics (1181-1230).

Otto IV immortalized himself on this casket as the fourth king (1198 king — 1209 emperor), a striking example of the political exploitation of religious sentiment.

The famous altarpiece in Cologne Cathedral by Stephan Lochner (1410-1451) showing the "Adoration of the Magi", despite the many local figures among the Kings' numerous escorts, later contributed further to the veneration of the Wise Men from the East. Lochner painted it as an "educational" account: the Mother of God with the Child imparting a blessing, the three Wise Men of different ages, who are offering him their gifts in a balanced composition with a wealth of detail.

Both these works gave rise to a style that spread far beyond Cologne and Germany.

The key significance of all these artworks is, with different accents, the human quest and request for God.

The Magi who came from the East, important figures, were men of their time who asked critical questions and sought meaning for life. They asked seriously, they sought tenaciously, and they set out readily.

According to religious thinking of the time, they were among the lowliest: pagans, non-believers, those who were far from God.

By asking and seeking, the Wise Men discovered and encountered the Lord. They felt "great joy".

From atheism or minimal faith they were led to conversion and finally, on a different route, went home.

Seeking and adoring God

They had two experiences, of distance and closeness: 1) God is the One who is quite different, who cannot be reached by men and women; 2) God has become a Father to men and women, calling each one by name.

The "great joy" is the peace that God has bestowed upon us through the Incarnation of the Son.

The Wise Men of the East came to the encounter with Jesus: they fell down on their knees, prayed and offered their gifts.

Adoring God thus means giving oneself totally to him and professing him.

Through his Incarnation, his death and his Resurrection, Jesus revealed to all humanity the total gift of himself.

The following is a fundamental part of the Epiphany message: the figurative depictions of the "Three Kings" have some common features that display its central concepts: seeking God, finding him, worshipping him.

Thus, also the representation and patronage of the "Adoration of the Magi" in the chapel of the "Magi Kings", decorated by Francesco Borromini (1599-1667), in the building of the Propaganda Fide, which is the headquarters of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome, contains this specific meaning: the search for God and his proclamation.

The Magi are examples. They were the first to come from far away, determined to adore Christ, in stark contrast to Herod and, with him, the whole of Jerusalem.

Only the simple shepherds from the region surrounding Bethlehem were closer and swifter.

Happy New Year 2009

2008-12-31T06:47:00.000-08:00

Holy Family Feast

2008-12-28T10:26:00.001-08:00

GOD our Heavenly Father, You call all peoples to be united as one family in worshipping You as the one and true God. You willed that Your Son become man, giving Him a virgin mother and a foster father to form the Holy Family of Nazareth.

WE pray: may the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, image and model of every human family unit walk in the spirit of Nazareth and grow in the understanding of its particular mission in society and the Church. May our families be living cells of love, faithfulness and unity, thus reflecting God's covenant with humanity and Christ's redeeming love for His Church.

JESUS, Mary and Joseph protect our families from all evil; keep us, who are away from home, one in love with our dear ones.

St. Stephen day

2008-12-26T13:22:00.001-08:00

Stephen's name means "crown," and he was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr's crown. Stephen was a deacon in the early Christian Church. The apostles had found that they needed helpers to look after the care of the widows and the poor. So they ordained seven deacons, and Stephen is the most famous of these.

God worked many miracles through St. Stephen and he spoke with such wisdom and grace that many of his hearers became followers of Jesus. The enemies of the Church of Jesus were furious to see how successful Stephen's preaching was. At last, they laid a plot for him. They could not answer his wise argument, so they got men to lie about him, saying that he had spoken sinfully against God. St. Stephen faced that great assembly of enemies without fear. In fact, the Holy Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel.

The saint spoke about Jesus, showing that He is the Savior, God had promised to send. He scolded his enemies for not having believed in Jesus. At that, they rose up in great anger and shouted at him. But Stephen looked up to Heaven and said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

His hearers plugged their ears and refused to listen to another word. They dragged St. Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. The saint prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Then he fell to his knees and begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him.

After such an expression of love, the holy martyr went to his heavenly reward. His feast day is December 26th.

Prayer to St. Stephen:

.Loving God, Saint Stephen was one of the first deacons in the Church. The Apostles ordained him with six others because they needed ministers who would oversee the needs of the poor and the widowed. His holiness was so evident that when he preached to his enemies, his face glowed brightly like an angel's. I ask him to pray for those who have been called to a life of service as ordained deacons. O Lord, help them to be a sign of Your love in their parishes and in the world where they live and work. Bless them with a vision of their ministry that stirs them to passion and tireless effort. Saint Stephen, pray for us. Amen.

Happy Christmas to you all!

2008-12-25T15:19:00.001-08:00

He is born our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Here is our Lady's message:

“Dear children! You are running, working, gathering – but without blessing. You are not praying! Today I call you to stop in front of the manger and to meditate on Jesus, Whom I give to you today also, to bless you and to help you to comprehend that, without Him, you have no future. Therefore, little children, surrender your lives into the hands of Jesus, for Him to lead you and protect you from every evil. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

St. anthony of Padua

2008-12-20T02:19:00.000-08:00

Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua

"Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints" O Holy Saint Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and Charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me [request]. O gentle and loving Saint Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.

Let ask Saint Anthony of Padua to interceed our prayers also meditate on the coming of our Lord Jesus.

THE BLESSED SACREMENT

2008-12-17T06:37:00.000-08:00

Be with Our Lord, centered on Him wholly and completely. Sit in silence with Him - The Sacred Doctor of human hearts. Utilize some of the many on-line devotional aides to structure a Holy Hour with Him. Or pray your own favorite adoration prayers and meditations.

Enrich your daily recitation of the liturgy of the hours and other daily prayer routines by conducting them in the presence of a live electronic image of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament

In your office or at home conducting your daily activities, offer your work as a prayer to Our Lord. We offer a low-bandwidth feed for those who wish to maintain the live feed over an extended period of time, as well as a static image for those who cannot maintain a persistent connection

Say your family rosary in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament on-line.

Our children have quickly adopted a routine of wanting to 'say goodnight to Jesus' on-line. Before they go to bed, they will ask us to bring up the Blessed Sacrament online, then they will say their evening prayers and say 'goodnight' to Jesus as the last act before they climb into bed.

Let meditate in the presence of the Blessed Sacrement online however this is not an alternative to going to church. Love u

St. Rita of Cascia

2008-12-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

Prayer to Saint Rita

O Holy Patroness of those in need, St. Rita, whose pleadings before thy Divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the Advocate of the Hopeless and even of the Impossible; St. Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient and of such compassionate love for thy Crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from Him whatsoever thou askest, on account of which all confidently have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant; be lavish to us, as thou hast been in so many wonderful cases, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee. We promise, if our petition is granted, to glorify thee by making known thy favor, to bless and sing thy praises forever. Relying then upon thy merits and power before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we pray thee grant that (here mention your request).

Merry Christmas

2008-12-15T10:28:00.001-08:00

Amazing but true ( St. Padre Pio)

2008-12-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

The images say all. Let meditate on them.

St. Joseph Prayer

2008-12-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

Oh St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place i you all my interests and desires.
Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by you powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, so that having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you with Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while he reposes mear you heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me and ask him to retun the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me. Amen

this prayer was found in the fiftieth year of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. in 1505 it was sent from the pope to Emperor Charles when he was going into battle. whoever shall read this or hear it, or keep it about themselves shall never die a sudden death, or be drowned, nor shall poison take effect on them; neither shall they fall into the hands of the enemy, or shall be burned in any fire or shall be overpowered in battle. Let say this novena for nine mornings for anything we desire. it has never been known to fail.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

2008-12-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

It is the last day of the novena and the feast of the immaculate conception. this is a holy day of obligation for Christian catholic. Let reflect on our life and also pray for others. Father, You prepared the Virgin Mary to be the worthy mother of your Son. You let her share beforehand in the salvation Christ would bring by His death, and kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Help us by her prayers to live in your presence without sin. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2nd Sunday of Advent Lectures

2008-12-07T12:15:00.000-08:00

First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Psalm 85:9-14
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8

It is true that God's power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering prayer prevails over God Himself.

-- St. Pio of Pietrelcina