Pope named Envoy for Celebration of 600th Anniversary of Eucharistic Miracle in Croatia!

September 5, 2011, 7:27 am

≫ Next: I am the Lady of the Rosary! Our Lady of Fatima Mother of Sorrows in Her Face we see Our Lady of the Chastisement!

$

0

0

Photo of Shrine of the Miracle of the Precious Blood, Ludbreg    © Real Presence Association  uploaded by Speramus-We Hope  with  permisssion     Procession held every year in September, during the week when  the miracle called Sveta Nedilja is celebrated

VATICAN CITY, AUG. 30, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Jozef Tomko to be his special envoy at the celebrations marking the 600th anniversary of the Eucharistic miracle of Ludbreg in Croatia. Cardinal Tomko, retired prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will represent the Pope at the events Sept. 4 in the Croatian Diocese of Varazdin. The 87-year-old cardinal is a native of Slovakia. In a Latin-language letter to Cardinal Tomko published Saturday by the Vatican, Benedict XVI reminded that "without the Eucharist we cannot be true Christians and the Church cannot be built up for the salvation of men." More entire Zenit article  

The 1411 miracle involved a priest doubting transubstantiation. As he celebrated Mass, the Precious Blood took on the appearance of blood. Croatian faithful have venerated this Eucharistic miracle down the centuries and have witnessed innumerable healings linked to it, noted Vatican Radio.  Benedict XVI referred to this Miracle during his visit to Croatia in June Click for Pope's Homily

Photo © Real Presence Association    uploaded by Speramus-We Hope w permisssion

      The Story Of Ludbreg!
In 1411 at Ludbreg, in the chapel of the Count Batthyany’s castle, a priest was celebrating Mass. During the consecration of the wine, the priest doubted the truth of transubstantiation, and the wine in the chalice turned into Blood. Not knowing what to do, the priest embedded this relic in the wall behind the main altar. The workman who did the job was sworn to silence. The priest also kept it secret and revealed it only at the time of his death. After the priest’s revelation, news quickly spread and people started coming on pilgrimage to Ludbreg. The Holy See later had the relic of the miracle brought to Rome, where it remained for several years. The people of Ludbreg and the surrounding area, however, continued to make pilgrimages to the castle chapel. In the early 1500s, during the pontificate of Pope Julius II, a commission was convened in Ludbreg to investigate the facts connected with Eucharistic miracle. Many people testified they had received marvelous cures while praying in it's presence. 


On April 14, 1513, Pope Leo X published a Bull permitting veneration of the holy relic which he himself had carried in procession several times through the streets of Rome. The relic was later returned to Croatia. n the 18th century, northern Croatia was ravaged by the plague. The people turned to God to call upon His help, and the Croatian Parliament did the same. During the session held on December 15, 1739 in the city of Varazdin, they vowed to build a chapel at Ludbreg in honor of the miracle if the plague ended. The plague was averted, but the promised vow was only fulfilled in 1994, when democracy was restored in Croatia. In 2005 in the votive chapel, the artist Marijan Jakubin painted a large fresco of the Last Supper in which Croatian saints and blesseds were drawn in place of the Apostles. St. John was replaced with Blessed Ivan Merz, who was included among the 18 most important Eucharistic saints in the Church’s history during the Synod of Bishops held in Rome in 2005. In the painting, Christ is holding in His hand a monstrance containing the relic of the Eucharistic miracle......See:The Real Presence Association:andEucharistic Miracle of Ludbreg
  
The particles of the Blessed Sacrament are the Eternal, Loving, life-giving Gold of God!  Let us make reparation for those who no longer discern the "Hidden Jesus" in the Blessed Sacrament!

The Eucharistic Miracle of Gruaro Italy, 1294 Part 2 In Gruaro, Italy there is another Eucharistic Miracle with a forgotten particle of the Host! 

A Call to Eucharistic Reparation: Fatima Begins and Ends with the Eucharist!

 Eucharistic Miracles Vatican International Exhibition   A Photographic Exhibition of Church Approved Eucharistic Miracles from 750 A.D. - 2001.

---

I am the Lady of the Rosary! Our Lady of Fatima Mother of Sorrows in Her Face we see Our Lady of the Chastisement!

September 13, 2011, 8:29 am

≫ Next: Fatima Miracle the greatest supernatural event of the 20th century does not belong to domain of faith or science it is an historical event!

≪ Previous: Pope named Envoy for Celebration of 600th Anniversary of Eucharistic Miracle in Croatia!

$

0

0

Photo © Speramus-We Hope

 “It seems to me that gazing on the countenance of Our Lady of Fatima, we see     Our Lady of the Chastisement. Her maternal gaze looks down with a great mercy, but also a profound sadness, on a suffering humanity, an agonizing mankind" - Marian Horvart,Phd 

   

Let Us Meditate on the approved Marian Apparitions

in the light given to us through the Message of Fatima! 

Jesus told his apostles that he had many things to tell them yet but they could not bear it now. When he would send the spirit of truth the Spirit would enlighten them and call to their minds all that he had taught them while he was with them.  A good example of how God has taught the church over time can be seen in the lives of two great Marian saints who promoted Total Consecration to her.  SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE(1894-1941) and ST. Louis-Marie Grignion de MONTFORT (1673-1716).  The later was given a much deeper insight into the relationship of Our Lady with the Blessed Trinity than his predecessor, St. Louis-Marie Grignion deMontfort, who was the first to advocate total consecration to her. The teaching of both disciples of our Lady under went scrutiny by church authorities of their time.  The sanctity of their lives gave witness to their words. Having said that the church would not have accepted what St Maxilmillian taught in the early 1900s during the time of St. Louis de Montfort early 1700s. The light of heaven is so intense we must be spoon feed by the Holy Spirit. Even now the teachings of St Maximilian on Our Lady’s spousal relationship with the Holy Spirit is so sublime the light blinds us. With all of this in mind let us consider the following quotations from an article by -Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D  

Our Lady of Good Success and

Our Lady of Fatima

Prophecies for our Day

Marian Horvart writes: “It seems to me that gazing on the countenance of Our Lady of Fatima, we see Our Lady of the Chastisement. Her maternal gaze looks down with a great mercy, but also a profound sadness, on a suffering humanity, an agonizing mankind. Lucia recounts that by the 3rd apparition, Our Lady had begun to reveal the sadness in her soul. In the last apparition, Lucia recounted, with an even sadder expression, She said, 'Let them offend Our Lord no more, for He is already much offended.' In the face, of Our Lady of

 Fatima we see Our Lady as the

Prophet of the Chastisement

 A prophet is a person with a message for the future, an intercessor with Heaven who begs man's cooperation with grace. When God sent Prophets in the Old Testament it was to remind men to come back to the truth. In the 20th century Our Lord has sent His Mother, the Queen of Prophets: "Go to earth and destroy heresies." The Fathers of the Church have written Our Lady is the hammer of heresies. If you study message of Our Lady of Fatima, you will find the call for conversion and prayer - especially the Rosary - but also many warnings against the heresies and errors of our times.

Fatima and Quito:

 Messages that Confirm

each other

Our Lady at Quito in Ecuador under the title of Our Lady of Good success confirms these warnings of Fatima almost 300 years before in a very descriptive and open way to the humble Conceptionist sister Mother Marianana. 

Our Lady told her that in our lamentable times, heresies would abound, the corruption of manners and customs would be almost complete and the light of the Faith would be nearly extinguished. To atone for the many blasphemies and abuses and to hasten the day of the triumphant restoration, this 17th-century religious was asked to become an expiatory victim for our times. Thus, in a special way, the vocation of Mother Mariana links her to the crisis in the Church and society that few would deny that we are witnessing today. In 1582, when Mother Mariana was praying before the Blessed Sacrament, for the first time she was given to see the heresy, blasphemy and impurity that would inundate the world as punishment in the 20th century. Our Lady asked her: “My daughter, will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time?” Mother Mariana replied, 'I am willing.' From the violence of the shock of previewing the horrors of our day, Mother Mariana fell dead. Historic and documented evidence record that this holy religious truly died in 1582 and resurrected. Before the divine tribunal, she was given the choice to remain in heaven or return to suffer in the world. Following the example of Our Lady, who left the glories of heaven to protect her children during those difficult first years of the fledgling Church, Mother Mariana chose to return to life to expiate for the great sins of our times.” Marian T. Horvat,Phd.

Let us end with comments from the 

Servant of God Fr. John Hardon S.J.

Servant of God Fr. John Anthony Hardon   on the Restoration of Family Life

Family life can only be restored in countries like ours only by Catholic families living up to the teachings of Christ and His Church. This means two things. First: Ordinary Catholic families cannot survive. They must be extra-ordinary families. They must be what I do not hesitate to call heroic Catholic families.
Ordinary Catholic families are no match for the devil as he uses the media of communication to secularize and desacralize modern society. No less than ordinary individual Catholics can survive, so ordinary Catholic families cannot survive. They have no choice. They must either be holy -- which means sanctified -- or they will disappear. The only Catholic families that will remain alive and thriving by the year 2000 are the families of martyrs. Father, mother and children must he willing to die for their God-given convictions.
Back in the second century, the Fathers of the Church scoffed at her persecutors who were trying to crush Christianity by fire and sword. The persecutors were told. “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”
What the world most needs today is families of martyrs, who will reproduce themselves in spirit in spite of the diabolical hatred against family life by the enemies of Christ and His Church in our day.
Click for entire document

Living the Fatima Messsage

“To become worthy of the victory that Our Lady predicted, we need a supernatural confidence. We need to be entirely convinced of that victory-‘In the End My Immaculate Heart will Triumph.’" - Servant of God Fr. John Anthony Hardon

    Let us Consecrate Our Families to Our Lady and walk with her towards her Victory predicted at Fatima in the Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart!    Click Here for Prayers

Click here for the entire article on:  
Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of Fatima:Prophecies for Our Times by Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D  and further  information on Our Lady of Good success at Quito in Ecuador.

Fatima Miracle the greatest supernatural event of the 20th century does not belong to domain of faith or science it is an historical event!

November 18, 2011, 9:44 am

≫ Next: Let the Earth be opened and bud forth a Savior! O that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you!

≪ Previous: I am the Lady of the Rosary! Our Lady of Fatima Mother of Sorrows in Her Face we see Our Lady of the Chastisement!

$

0

0

The Miracle of the Sun has been characterized as the greatest supernatural occurrence of the 20th century and does not belong to the domain of faith or science it is an historical event!
The miracle of the sun as viewed by so many in other alleged apparitions did not happen in the same extraordinary manner as at Fatima witnessed by everyone present and in a 70 mile radius by believers and unbelievers alike. This was a supernatural event something only God can do. Other similar manifestations of the Miracle of the Sun at other alleged Marian apparitions may be extraordinary to those who witness them but not supernatural in character. These fall in the realm of preternatural or angelic causes. Then we must discern is this from the good angel or a bad angel. The devil has also appeared to mystics as Jesus and Mary. Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich and Bl. Anna Maria Taggi both stated that if they had not seen Jesus and Mary previously when the devil appeared as such they would have been deceived. According to present church law the bishop of the diocese has the charisma from God to confirm the authenticity and origin of alleged apparitions occurring within their own diocese. God has the power to convince and bring an unbelieving bishop to his knees as he did for Juan Diego when he opened his tilma and presenting a double miracle, Roses out of season cascading to the floor and a miraculous image of Our Lady imprinted on Juan Diego’s Tilma.

Witnesses of the Miracle of the sun, a supernatural historical event, testified to the terrifying nature of the solar miracle.
Maria Carreira stated that: “The sun turned everything in view different colors, yellow, blue, white, and it shook and trembled; it seemed like a wheel of fire which was going to fall on the people. They cried out: 'We shall all be killed, we shall all be killed!’... At last the sun stopped moving and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We were still alive and the miracle which the children had foretold had taken place. Other people witnessed the solar miracle from a distance thus ruling out the possibility of any type of collective hallucination. A final intriguing, and important, point was that the heat of the sun, as it descended on the people, also had the effect of drying their clothes and the ground, so that they went from being completely soaked to being dry in about ten minutes. The people who witnessed this stupendous event were frightened believing that they were all going to die.

                      

The Servant of God Fr. John Hardon S.J. asks: "How Does the Solar Phenomenon Confirm the Message of Fatima?"  

Servant of God Fr. John Hardon, S. J.

"It was no coincidence that the solar phenomenon at Fatima came only several months after the basic message of Fatima had been communicated to the children. The phenomenon had to have a purpose for its occurrence, and the message had to have a divine confirmation of its authenticity. When the phenomenon occurred in October, it was witnessed by thousands of people, friendly and unfriendly, simple believers and professed skeptics, those disposed to believe Our Lady’s message and others who were openly hostile to what the Blessed Virgin was reported to have said. In God’s providence the hostility of the skeptics was necessary to give rational grounds for believing what the children said the beautiful Lady was telling them. All the reports of those who witnessed the spectacle of the sun testify to their stupefaction at what they saw. No one, not even the most hardened agnostic, doubted that what he saw was a prodigy. This was necessary to provide the rational foundation for accepting, on faith, the Marian message of Fatima because of the solar event which everybody had to accept, as a fact, perceived by the senses.

Why, then, was the solar prodigy of Fatima necessary?   It was necessary in order to satisfy our spontaneous need for giving rational credence to what Mary was telling Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta. The children did not need the solar phenomenon to believe what Our Lady was telling them. But we do. It is not coincidental that Mary asked her Divine Son to work the miracle at Cana as the first of the signs performed by her Son. Immediately, we are told, his disciples believed in Him. She has been doing the same ever since. As God, He is master of the sun, moon and stars which He created. Her message at Fatima was to tell a sinful world to stop offending the Divine Majesty and to repent of their sins. As at Cana, she asked Jesus to work a miracle. At Cana, as the poet said, the water looked at its Maker and blushed. At Fatima the sun looked at its Maker and whirled in dazzling splendor to acknowledge its Creator."Excerpt From Soul Magazine Vol. 43 - #5, September-October 1992, pp. 10-11  Copyright © 1999 by Inter Mirifica

The Third part of the Secret of Fatima took place during the miracle of the sun and was revealed by Bl. John Paul II during the beatification of Jacinta and Francesco Marto.

We learned that during the Miracle of the Sun while everyone was taken up with the solar events the children also witnessed the Angel of God's descending towards the earth crying out three times in a loud voice that thundered  "PENANCE! PENANCE! PENANCE!” Lucia describes what they saw as those around them were taken up with the solar event that authenticated the Fatima Apparitions: Lucia writes: 

"We saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: Pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: 

                           

                  
  
‘Penance! Penance! Penance!'  

A drawing from J. Gill illustrating the third part of the secret pf Fatima,         taken from the book of Sister Lucia of Fatima, “Calls from the Message of        Fatima”,Secção de Livraria, Cova da Iria 2496-908 Fatima, Portugalcaption

..And we also saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, Religious men and women were going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, Religious men and women, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God."

Sister Lucia already gave us an indication for interpreting the third part of the “secret” in a letter to the Holy Father on May 12, 1982. Here Sr. Lucia writes:
 

Fatima in Lucia's Own Words

"The third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation, and is conditioned by whether we accept or not what the Message itself asks of us: ‘If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, etc. Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled; Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc. And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence the people are responsible”.

For God's faithful in this age of apostasy and perversion, it is more necessary now than ever that we carefully heed the admonitions of the Angel and Our Lady with a sincere amendment of life, and increased prayer.
 
Our Lady asked especially for the five first Saturdays, the daily Rosary with meditation upon the Mysteries, sacrifice of our daily duty, and consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.If we hope to persevere in this age of apostasy, we must take to heart and apply in our daily lives the admonition of the Gospels! UNLESS YE DO PENANCE, YOU SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH! These times do not permit anymore "easy living" for those of us who desire salvation. If we do not reject the spirit of the world, we have chosen it for our master -- if we continue to live by the material standards of our modern society we shall lose our souls "no man can serve two masters"! Such a difficult truth is not easy to accept for us, who live in a society rotting with the cancer of materialism and glorification of the flesh! 

Who is our master? Christ or the world?

 

What daily penance and mortification do we practice so that we will not "likewise PERISH"? In the second apparition of the Angel in 1916 he told the children: “Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High. Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners.” If we chose to scorn these warnings of Divine Mercy that Our Lord is giving through his Mother at Fatima we may soon reap the wrath of Divine Justice, for we have freely chosen it! We must purify ourselves or be purified! 

The action of God, the Lord of history, and the co-responsibility of man in the drama of his creative freedom, are the two pillars upon which human history is built.
 
Fatima reminds us that man's future is in God, and that we are active and responsible partners in creating that future. What will that future be? It is up to us what we choose to do today

.

Let the Earth be opened and bud forth a Savior! O that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you!

December 16, 2011, 9:41 am

≫ Next: Awake Mankind! For Your sake God has become man!

≪ Previous: Fatima Miracle the greatest supernatural event of the 20th century does not belong to domain of faith or science it is an historical event!

$

0

0

 Let us Pray together the 

Solemn Christmas Novena

Spend five  minutes in daily prayer and contemplation to better recognize the Christ Child and more fully receive His boundless blessings. 

Based on the sevenGreat O Antiphons.

The "O Antiphons" seem to sum up all our Advent longing as they paint in vivid terms the wretched condition of mankind and his need of a Savior." 

May the God of peace sanctify us completely and may our spirits souls and bodies be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!

V:  The Lord is our Coming King,  

R:   Let us hasten to adore Him.

December 16

BEHOLD THE KING   the Lord of the earth who appeared to Moses in the flame 

of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai He  is drawing near! He will come and remove from us the Yoke of  our captivity of the House of Israel, and redeem us with outstretched arm.  R: O Come, Let us adore Him!

December 17

O SAPIENTIA  O WISDOM,   Holy Word of God who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly with your strong and tender care  R: Come, and teach us the way of prudence
Sirach 24:2; Wisdom 8:1. Symbols: oil lamp, open book.

 December 18  
 O ADONAI  O LORD AND RULER    O Sacred Lord of  the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: R: Come, and redeem us with outstretched arm of your mighty hand. Exodus 3:2, 20:1. Symbols: burning bush, stone tablets .

December 19                                 
O RADIX JESSE  O ROOT OF JESSE, 

O flower of Jesse's stem you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples and stand as a banner of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: R: Come to deliver us, and tarry not let nothing keep you from coming to our aid! Isaiah 11:1-3,10  Symbol: vine or plant in flower, especially a rose.

 December 20                 
O CLAVIS DAVID  O KEY OF DAVID  O Key of David, Scepter of the House of Israel, controlling at your will the gate of Heaven who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens  R :Come, and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death. Isaiah 22:22.Symbols: key; broken chains.

December 21                     

O ORIENS  O DAWN OF THE EAST,   O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light and brightness of eternity, sun of justice: R: Come, and enlighten those that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.  Psalm 19:6-7.  

Symbol: rising sun.

December 22                             
O REX GENTIUM  O KING OF THE GENTILES    King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; their desired One, the Cornerstone that makes both one:

R: Come, and deliver man, whom You formed out of the dust of the earth.  Psalm 2:7-8, Ephesians 2:14-20. Symbols, Crown, scepter .

December 23                                  
O EMMANUEL  GOD WITH US,  Our King and Lawgiver, the expected of the nations and Savior: R: Come to save us, and set us free, O Lord our God. Isaiah 7:14; 33:22. Symbols: tablets of stone, Chalice and Host.

 December 24                               Veni,Veni Emanuel                              
                               Messianic Prophecies

 VENI VENI (O COME O COME EMANUEL)

V: Tomorrow He will wipe out the iniquities of the earth. 

R: And the Savior of the world will reign over us.
V: When the Sun will have arisen from the heavens in the morning sky
R: You shall see the King of kings coming forth from the Father like a radiant bridegroom from the bridal chamber!

Daily Novena Prayer

V:  The Lord is our Coming King,  
R:  Let us hasten to adore Him.

V: Rejoice, O Daughter of Sion, and exult, O Daughter of Jerusalem.

R: Behold the Lord will come and there will be on that day a great light, and the mountains will drip with sweetness and the hills will flow with milk and honey, for the great prophet will come and he will renew Jerusalem.

V:  Behold, He who is God and man shall come forth from the house of Davis to sit upon his throne,and you shall see Him, and your heart shall rejoice.  
R: Behold, the Lord shall come, our Protector, the Holy One of Israel, bearing on His head the crown of the Kingdom.

V: And he will rule from sea unto sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. 
R. Behold the Lord will appear, and He will not deceive: if he delay wait for him, for he will come and He will not tarry.

V:  The Lord will descend, as rain on the field. In his days  justice shall rise and an abundance of peace and all the kings of the earth shall adore Him, all nations shall serve Him.  
R: A Child is born to us, and He shall be called the God of strength; He will sit upon the throne of David his Father, and he shall rule whose dominion rests upon his shoulder.

V:  O Bethlehem, city of the the most High God, out from you shall go forth the ruler of Israel, and his going forth  will be as from the beginning of the days of eternity.  
R: And he will be glorified in the midst of all the earth and peace will be upon our land when He will have come.

V: O Lord, do not tarry; do away with the offenses of Your people

R : Be mindful of us, O Lord, and visit us in Your salvation.

V: Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult. Praise the Lord, O mountains!

R: Let the mountains break forth into gladness, and the hills with justice!

V: Praise the Lord, you mountains, for the Lord shall come and to the poor He shall show us his mercy.

Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, for the day of the Lord is nigh; behold, He will come to save us, alleluia, alleluia.

V: For the Lord shall come and to the poor He will show mercy.

R: Drop down dew, you heavens, from above and let the clouds rain down the Just One.  Let the earth be opened and bud forth the Savior. 

V:  Send forth the lamb, O Lord the ruler of all the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mountain of the daughter of Zion!  V: Come, to free us O Lord God of Hosts, show your face to us and we shall be saved!

 V: Come, O Lord,  and visit us in peace that we may rejoice in you with a perfect heart!

 R: So that we may know O Lord your way upon the earth, among all the peoples your salvation.

V: Stir up your power O Lord and come to save us. 

R:Come O Lord do not delay do away with the offenses of your people! 

V: O that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you!

R: Come and show to us Your face O Lord who are enthroned upon the Cherubim

 V: Stir up your power O Lord   R: Come to save us

  

LET US PRAY

Hasten we beseech you O Lord do not tarry, and grant us the help of your celestial power, so that we ho hope for your consolations may be lifted up by your mercy: who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever amen!

Awake Mankind! For Your sake God has become man!

December 24, 2011, 11:53 pm

≫ Next: The Priestly Blessing is an Epiphany for those with faith!

≪ Previous: Let the Earth be opened and bud forth a Savior! O that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you!

$

0

0

"Awake you who sleep, rise up from the dead and Christ will enlighten you! We would suffer everlasting unhappiness and would not have returned to life if God had not shared in our death, We would certainly perish if God had not taken on our flesh and became man. So let us rejoice in the birth of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate this festive day for He who is the great eternal day came from the endless day of eternity into our own short day of time. For what greater grace could God had made to dawn on us than to make his only son become man. He became man so that man in his turn could become sons and daughters of God! Let us as Christians remember our great dignity! Now that we share in God's own nature, let us pray for grace not return by sin to our former base conditions. Let us bear in mind who is our head and whose body we are members. Do not forget we have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God's kingdom. Through the sacrament of baptism we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Let us not drive away so great a guest by our evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for our liberty is brought by the blood of Christ." 
Paraphrased from the Office of Readings for Dec 24  a Sermon by St Augustine titled Truth has arisen from the Earth and on  Dec 25th a Sermon by St. Leo the Great, Christian remember your Dignity.

Bethlehem House of Bread

The Birth of Jesus foreshadowed the Blessed Sacrament!  

The old Hebrew name bêth lehem,

meaning "house of bread"

has survived till the present  day!

The scenes surrounding the Birth of Jesus 

foreshadow the Blessed Sacrament!

 After Jesus was born Our Lady wrapped him in swaddling-clothes and laid him in a manger, a place where animals were fed because there was no room for them in the inn. The manger represents the wood of the cross his future sacrifice in time for our sins. The manger also foreshadows the altars in every Catholic church.  Here Jesus becomes incarnate again, this time hidden not in the flesh of a human nature but in the form of bread.  At the words of consecration during every Holy Mass Jesus is born again and immolated.  We are present at Bethlehem and at Calvary

Imagine that brute animals ate from the manger the creator of the world slept in! This scene showed us that God would feed his own creatures with the manna of His own Body and Blood so that we would be capable of entering into eternal life with Him. What a great gift of sheer grace for mortal man to become immortal with God!

  

The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas once wrote: “Material food first of all turns itself into the person who eats it, and as a consequence, restores his losses and increases his vital energies. Spiritual food, on the other hand, turns the person who eats it into Itself, and thus the proper effect of the Eucharistic sacrament is the conversion of man into Christ, so that he may no longer live for himself, but that Christ may live in Him. We become sons and daughters of God.  St. Augustine, recorded similar words which he heard in the Spirit from the Lord. We find them in the account of his conversion, the Confession: “I am the food of grown men. Grow, and you shall feed upon me. You will not change me into yourself, as you change food into your flesh, but you will be changed into me!”

 He came unto His own 

and His own received Him not! 

 

"This is the judgment: that the light has entered the world, and men have preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. Everybody who does wrong hates the light and keeps away from it, for fear his deeds may be exposed. But everybody who is living by the truth will come to the light to make it plain that all he has done has been done through God."John 3:19-21

 

Church of the Nativity the star  indicates where Jesus was born

This scripture is more true today than it was at the time of Our Lord's birth! Today at Christmas it is in the Blessed Sacrament that we can say that His own receive him not!  Many take no heed of the gift God offers of Himself to men in this sacrament.  Consequently, they do not approach the table of the Lord to be spiritually fed. Others receive him but are not prepared through sacramental confession so they are not free from sin. They do not recognize the body and blood of Christ the Word, the second person of the Trinity, who became flesh to unite himself to our flesh. They do not discern THE HIDDEN JESUS underneath the sacramental veil. Sin has blinded them.  Yes they receive but the effects on their souls are different. Those prepared to enter into communion with Christ receive unto eternal life.  Those: "Who eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment (damnation) to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord."         1 Corinthians 11:27

 

Jesus in his public ministry

    Calls himself the Bread of Life!

John 6:48-53

I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 

If you read further in this passage you see that many of the disciples think this a “hard teaching” and they “walked with him no more.”  And Jesus let them leave. He did not stop to tell them he was only kidding he let them leave. Afterward, Jesus turned to the Apostles and asked if they would leave also? Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life.” Unfortunately, we see this exact scenario today. Many Christians have left  the Church  or worse remain within her ranks and desecrate the Blessed Sacrament.   Intentional  desecration is not only a mortal sin but also incurs the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae. They don’t believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and are destroying the faith of others by their bad examples. 

  

The battle of the light against the darkness!

 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.Ps 90:8

Christmas is a joyful season  of light for those with faith. But we cannot pretend like one sleeping that the world continues to sit on a precipice prefer darkness to light. So many dangers stand before us in the world. Disasters man made and God sent in nature.  Will we heed the Angels warnings at Fatima in 1916 to make reparation to Our Eucharistic Lord for the outrages, sacrileges and in differences by which He is offended? Will we hear the plea from the Heart of Mary: " To amend our lives and stop offending the Lord for He is already grievously offended? Or, will we go merrily on our way without a care, right up to the chastisements sure to come, prefigured in the miracle of the sun. 

Let us Awake Now and let Christ 

the true light of the world enlighten you!

Once more let us hear the cry to Awake. Awake now, you who sleep, rise up from the death of sin and Christ will enlighten you! We would suffer everlasting unhappiness and would not have hope to return to life if God had not shared in our death. Let us prepare the way for the new spring time of faith that Bl. John Paul II and other holy souls saw from a distance. Let us prepare first and foremost by Eucharistic reparation. It is a spiritual battle we are in and we  must use the spiritual weapons the church has given us. Including the Rosary our spiritual machine gun. If every Catholic committed to one 5 decade rosary every day that battle would be won. Families give up an hour of TV and pray for each others needs for the church and our country. We have to account to God for time ill spent!

God himself will fight for us the battle to dispel the darkness in the world. But we must prove ourselves worthy of His interventions.  God will restore the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.  The devil hates Imago Dei--The image of God in man.  God will help us but we must help Him.  Let us first restore Him to his royal throne in our parish churches and chapels.  Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus who became flesh and slept in a manger in a stable and now dwells with us till the end of time.Jesus the second person of the Holy Trinity---He is not a piece of bread to be trampled under our feet because we no longer recognize Him in the particles that fall from our hands.  or worse in the particles we leave behind in unpurified pyx's and we carry God into unspeakable places. May God forgive our spiritual blindness. Pray for priests and for bishops who do nothing and let the evils continue.  The priests for those they appoint to be Eucharistic ministers and bishops for all the Eucharistic Ministers in their dioceses. They will have to account for every lost particle on judgement day.

Fatima Begins and Will End with the Eucharist

Particles of the Blessed Sacrament   

Let us Pray  

O most loving and Blessed Infant  Jesus, great God Lord of Heaven and Earth, who clothed and hid your divine majesty under a wonderful semblance of a child, and hide yourself today in our tabernacles day and night for our Divine food and consolation in this valley of tears. Your divine presence before whom the powers of Heaven tremble, and  might kings of the earth bow, and evil spirits under the earth must bend. You became little as a child and in the Host that we might love you more ardently and serve you more faithfully That we may follow your example in childlike purity and love. I a poor sinner love you as the highest and most loving God and entrust myself to your infinite goodness. Teach me Jesus after your example to love humility and to crush my pride; to desire to grow in virtue and in childlike trust. Direct me Jesus and rule me, make me virtuous, so that I may please You and be little in this world and great in the next. Jesus meek and humble of heart! Make our hearts like unto thine! 

The light still shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never (will never) put it out.  John 1:5

Christmas Blessings to one and all!

The Priestly Blessing is an Epiphany for those with faith!

January 8, 2012, 11:53 am

≫ Next: St. Joseph's Humble Appearance at Fatima Announces A Crisis of Fatherhood in Society and the Church!

≪ Previous: Awake Mankind! For Your sake God has become man!

$

0

0

                A Meditation on the Priestly Blessing

 I have always believed in the special graces received when one is privileged to receive the Blessings of a priest. In the beginning of my spiritual journey, (early 1980),  I was given a flyer titled simply “Jesus speaks of his Blessings to Theresa Neumann, Stigmatist of Konnereuth”,  at that time she was not well known in America. Some of the photos of her I saw in a book that I came across later were very graphic, and for a beginner in the spiritual life unsettling.  I decided not to use any of the graphic photos here because it is not the purpose of this post to dwell on the sensational mystical phenomenon.  Rather, I hope for us to meditate on The Priestly Blessing as another Epiphany, a manifestation of Christ for those who see like the Magi with the eyes of faith. The Magi were inspired by signs in the heavens to follow the star that announced a newborn King. Once they arrived it was faith that revealed the God Man behind the infant lying in the manger. It is our faith that will reveal the Divinity behind “The Blessing” given by the priest today. Seeing the Priest as an alter Christus when he bestows “The Blessings”, After Mass, during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and when the faithful request a blessing from him.

Having said all that, I was happy to finally learn that the cause for beatification Teresa Neumann was introduced. A petition asking for her beatification was signed by 40,000 people, and in 2005, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Bishop of Regensburg, formally opened the Vatican proceedings for her beatification.   I shy away from apparitions that do not have the full approval of the church and  now I could share with others this Meditation on the Priestly Blessing. That really enriched my own spiritual life.

 

When I came across these words of Jesus to the Stigmatist Teresa Neumann after reading it I was in awe of the priest and the graces he confers with his blessing.   I always tried not to miss an opportunity  to ask for “The Blessing” when I was in the presence of a priest.  A Blessing as an act of charity for myself, for the priest and those in the room with me.  An act of charity to remind the priest of the dignity of his state. I think after you read the words Jesus is said to have spoken to Teresa Neumann you also will have a greater appreciation of the Priestly Blessing and request it more often from your priests. And, if you’re a priest I hope you will freely give your blessing as an act of charity and mercy for your people.

How many poor priests do not realize the power they have in their identification with Christ. If they really believed the power behind the words: “May the Blessing of almighty God descend upon you and remain with you forever! They would not stop offering “The Blessing” to help the souls God has placed in their charge. 'The Blessing' have great powers over the spirit of darkness, THEY dispel and limit the attacks of the evil spirit around them in their parish and in the world! 

We commonly call "The Blessing" his blessing. We most often ask when we desire a blessing from the priest: “Father Will you give me your blessing?” It is Christ’s Blessing, Jesus  is blessing us  through the priest. An EPIPHANY for those who see with the eyes of faith. This Epiphany also takes places during Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament and when we attend Mass and receive Holy Communion.  It is Christ who offers and Christ who we receive and at the end Christ who gives "THE BLESSING" The graces bestowed on us are given according to the devotion of the receiver So it is with the each “Blessing.” we are privileged to receive by the priest. 

How many priests today send Blessings to their parishioners after they say their Divine Office or before going to sleep at night? How many priests even say the Divine Office?  I sat next to a bishop on an airplane once and I was filled with joy as I observed him bless the city we were departing from and again he also blessed the city that we arrived in before we landed. How many priests bestow these graces upon the world? How blessed a person is who belongs to a parish whose pastor realizes his dignity as an alter Christus and lives it. God please grant us many Holy Priests give them this light to lead deeper spiritual lives. May the following meditation aide us to rediscover the Power the Priest has when he confers The Blessing!

Jesus Speaks of His Blessing

(To Teresa Neuman Stigmatist)

"My dear Child, I wish to teach you to receive My Blessing with fervor. Realize that something vast takes place when you receive the Blessing of my Priest. The Blessing is an outpouring of My Divine holiness. Open your soul and let it become holy through the Blessing. The Blessing is a heavenly dew for the soul, through which all that is done can be made fruitful….Through the power to bless, I have given the priest the power to open the treasury of My Heart and to pour out from It the 'rain' of graces on souls. When the priest blesses, I bless. Then a vast stream of graces from My Sacred Heart flows into a soul to its fullest capacity. By recollection, keep your heart open, in order not to lose the benefit of the Blessing. Through My Blessing, you receive the grace to love, strength to endure suffering, and assistance for body and soul." 
  

It is a great privilege when you

are permitted to receive the Blessing!"

"My holy Blessing contains all help for the necessities of mankind. Through the Blessing you are given the strength and desire to seek good, to shun evil, and to enjoy the protection of My children against the powers of darkness. It is a great privilege when you are permitted to receive the Blessing. You cannot comprehend how much mercy I extend through it to you. Therefore, never receive the Blessing in a  matter-of-fact or thoughtless way. As poor as you are before receiving the Blessing, you are rich after receiving it." 

"I regret that the Blessing of the Church

is so little prized and so seldom received"

"I regret that the Blessing of the Church is so little prized and so seldom received. Your good will is strengthened through the Blessing, your undertakings receive My special Providence, your weakness is overcome by my power, your thoughts and intentions are spiritualized, and all bad influences neutralized…I have given My Blessing vast power. It proceeds from the unending love of My Sacred Heart. The greater the zeal with which the Blessing is given and received, the greater its efficacy,"

"It is all the Same Whether One 
or Many Receive the Blessing"

"Whether a child is blessed or the whole world simultaneously, the Blessing is far greater than a thousand worlds. Reflect that God is immense - infinitely immense. How small are all things in comparison to Him! It is all the same whether one or many receive the Blessing. This does not matter, for I give to each according to the measure of his or her confidence (or faith). Since I am infinitely rich in all good, you are permitted to receive without measure. You cannot hope too much from my Blessing; all will exceed your fondest expectations." 

"My child, protect all that give Blessings"

"Esteem highly what has been blessed; then you will please Me, your God. As often as you are blessed, you are united closer to Me, sanctified anew, healed with, and protected with the love of My Sacred Heart. Often I keep hidden the workings of My Blessing so that it is known only in eternity. Often it appears that Blessings have no results. But wonderful are the workings of the Blessing - even the seemingly fruitless results are a blessing in disguise through the holy Blessing. These are often mysteries of My Providence, which I do not wish to manifest." 

"My Blessings often produce 
effects unknown to the soul"

"Therefore, have great confidence in this outpouring of My Sacred Heart, and reflect earnestly on this favor to you (that the apparent results are hidden from you)…Receive the holy Blessing sincerely, for the graces of the Blessing find entrance only into a humble heart. Receive it with a good will and with the intention to become better; then will the Blessing penetrate to the depths of your heart and will produce its effects."

  

"Be a child of the Blessing; 
then you yourself will be 
A Blessing for Others!"

 



   

Short Bio Teresa Neumann

Teresa Neuman has attained today a place in popular piety. Born on Good Friday in 1892, an act of Divine Providence showing forth the future mission the Lord would give to her. She died on September 18, 1962. The decade in which the 3^rd secret of Fatima was asked to be revealed and at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. On September 11, 1962, In a speech to the UN, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko warns that an American attack on Cuba could mean war with the Soviet Union.

During the Third Reich, Therese Neumann was the target of ridicule and defamation, as the Nazis knew about her dissenting views and feared her growing popularity. She was observed by the Gestapo. She was never physically harmed, though her family home, parish church and priest's house all received direct attacks. She encouraged Fritz Gerlich to continue his opposition to Hitler and his national-socialist party. Gerlich was subsequently killed for his opposition.

At the age of 20 she was in an accident and became blind and paralyzed. She received a miraculous healing in 1923 through prayers to St. Therese of Lisieux. Since this time Theresa has not eaten any foods or liquids except for one small consecrated wafer a day. [Her total fast lasted from the age of twenty-five until her passing away, thirty-nine years later] On September 18, 1962, from Cardiac Arrest.   The stigmata, or sacred wounds of Christ, began to appear on her head, heart, hands and feet every Friday while she experienced the passion of Christ.

Paramahansa Yogananda visited her and wrote about her case in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, published in 1946. He wrote an entire chapter, Therese Neumann, The Catholic Stigmatist of Bavaria, which reverently gives a vivid first-hand description of one of her Friday Passion trances. He wrote of her: "I realized at once that her strange life is intended by God to reassure all Christians of the historical authenticity of Jesus' life and crucifixion as recorded in the New Testament, and to dramatically display the ever-living bond between the Galilean Master and his devotees."

Theresa, was once asked if America will experience war on its soil, "No, but at the end of this century America will be destroyed economically by a series of natural disasters." Friends, Could this be a consequence of America turning away from God and the Commandments?

Links for more information

  THE AMAZING LIFE - STORY OF THERESA NEUMANN pdf book

Join the a new FB Cause 1 Extra ACT OF PENANCE FOR 2012 ELECTIONS!
add one extra act of penance a week for God's Mercy on our country!  http://bit.ly/zyNsBz

Penance! Penance! Penance! Why are the Shepherds Silent?

St. Joseph's Humble Appearance at Fatima Announces A Crisis of Fatherhood in Society and the Church!

March 19, 2012, 1:33 pm

≫ Next: John Paul II You Live On! "Be Not Afraid Open your Hearts to the Love and Light that is Christ!"

≪ Previous: The Priestly Blessing is an Epiphany for those with faith!

$

0

0

St. Joseph Father of the New Evangelization

Benedict XVI Entrusts to St. Joseph all the Pastors of Universal Church

It is not well known thatSaint Joseph had a special role in preparation of Vatican II.  Bl. Pope John XXIII chose St Joseph as a protector of the Council, in his Apostolic Letter of March 19, 1961 Le voci che da tutti.  In addition at the closing of the first session of the second Vatican Council on Dec. 8, 1962, Blessed John XXIII, inserted St Joseph into the Canon of the Mass. Currently the patron of Vatican II is now seen as the “Father of the New Evangelization” and “the holy patron of the third millennium,” according to Bishop Dominique Rey of the French diocese of Frejus-Toulon. His diocese will take St. Joseph as its patron this week. 
Read more

                        


              

 Benedict XVI  On St. Joseph                     

"On many occasions, Benedict XVI has invited Catholics to learn from the school of Saint Joseph, to have a “spiritual conversation” with him, linked to a renewal of faith.  During the Angelus on December 18, 2005, he said: “It is therefore particularly appropriate in the days that precede Christmas to establish a sort of spiritual conversation with St Joseph, so that he may help us live to the full this great mystery of faith.” 

"In our meditations on the human and spiritual journey of Saint Joseph let us ponder his vocation in all its richness, and to see him as a constant model for all those who have devoted their lives to Christ in the priesthood, in the consecrated life or in the different forms of lay engagement. Joseph was caught up at every moment by the mystery of the Incarnation. Not only physically, but in his heart as well, Joseph reveals to us the secret of a humanity which dwells in the presence of mystery and is open to that mystery at every moment of everyday life. In Joseph, faith is not separated from action. His faith had a decisive effect on his actions. Paradoxically, it was by acting, by carrying out his responsibilities, that he stepped aside and left God free to act, placing no obstacles in his way. Joseph is a 'just man' (Mt 1:19) because his existence is 'ad-justed' to the word of God.”                                                                               March 18, 2009, in Yaounde, Cameroon    Read more....

  A Model for Priests and Consecrated

Benedict XVI reflected before the Angelus in December 19, 2010 entrusting to St. Joseph's protection all the priests worldwide. "I would like to entrust all Pastors to St Joseph, the Universal Patron of the Church, while I urge them to offer “Christ’s [humble] words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world."  Stressing his role as legal Father of Jesus in God's plan of salvation. In witnessing to Mary's virginity, and safeguarding the Messiah's earthly life, St. Joseph announces the miracle of the Lord. Let us venerate St Joseph because the new man is outlined in him, who looks with trust and courage to the future. He does not follow his own plans but entrusts himself without reserve to the infinite mercy of the one who will fulfill the prophecies and open the time of salvation"            For more details....

  St Joseph Patron of the Universal Church

© Speramus-We Hope

St Joseph the protector and guardian of Our Lord and Our Lady, is also invoked as the Patron of the Universal Church in apt recognition of his strength and fortitude. God the father gave St. Joseph the most exalted duty of protecting the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who would redeem mankind and endow it with the most perfect and ultimate gift of Eternal Life through His Passion death and resurrection. To fulfill His Divine mission, God the Father entrusted His Son to the paternal care of St. Joseph.  St. Joseph is the epitome of a pure man: pure in thought, pure in heart; pure in body and soul – destined to be the most chaste spouse of Mary Most Holy conceived without sin. 

The Catholic Church, born from the water that gushed forth from Jesus' side, and nurtured by the maternal love of Our Lady, sought comfort and protection from the snares and malice of Satan and his followers in the hands of St. Joseph, the terror of demons! We can expect that God also endowed him with an equally proportional grace to carry out such a mission in life. And certainly we can picture him as an icon of manliness and a pillar of strength that would sow fear among the powers of darkness.  Given the noble task under his watch.In recognition of this special place, the Church honors him with the highest veneration next to Mary.

 

 St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood 

St. Joseph  was named Patron of the Universal Church  and protector of the the second Vatican Council in 1960. This event in the unfolding of providence  linked Fatima and the 3rd secret  with the second Vatican Council and the cold war.  However, those living at the time did not make the correlations with Fatima and the council. The pope probably did as he read the secret and decided not to reveal it. It was within his right as Christs Vicar not wanting to give the enemies of the church reason to fulfill a prophecy. Those who detracted the pope for this are in error!  

Most people are unaware that St. Joseph also appeared at Fatima during the Miracle of the Sun. The children saw him while the crowd beheld the stupendous miracle of the sun.  Lucia Writes: "Our Lady having disappeared in the immensity of the firmament, we saw, beside the sun, Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady clothed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph and the Child Jesus seemed to bless the world with gestures which they made with their hands in the form of a cross. Soon after, that apparition having ceased, I saw Our Lord and Our Lady, Who gave me the impression of being Our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lord seemed to bless the world in the same manner as Saint Joseph. That apparition disappeared and it seemed to me that I saw Our Lady again, this time as Our Lady of Mount Carmel!"  

Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of human history. Fatima falls in this category.  There is a deep significance in  the apparition in its historical context but there is also a deeper hidden significance that can only, be discovered in  prayer and meditation. Over tine the church with the help of the Holy Spirit reflects on the supernatural mysteries surrounding the apparitions uncovering hidden mysteries hidden for another time in the unfolding of providence. She discovers the finger of God writing  on the wall  within the symbols and events taking place.They are not coincidences! God has a purpose in everything he does. A message to proclaim at the time of the appearances as well as within the historical context sometimes for a later time. Prophecy in the symbols not with words

The presence of St. Joseph at Fatima falls in this category.  Sr. Lucia requested the 3rd secret of Fatima to be opened and read in 1960.  She said it would be more apparent then.  In 1960 Kennedy ran for president, and one of his key election issues was an alleged "missile gap"with Russia.  We were sinking deeper into the Cold War with Russia and threatened at this time with one of the Fatima  prophecies of the annihilation of nations. 

The symbolism's contained within the recently revealed portions of the 3rd secret are also prophetic in nature pointing to a possible future calamity or apocalypse if men do not stop offending God. Taken in conjunction with the prophetic aspect of the three Rosary scenes shown to the children during the miracle of the sun, it is plausible to see a foreshadowing of some new evil which would produce repercussions on a cosmic scale, the worst evil in the history of Christianity according to Msgr. Joseph Cirrincione: namely, the universal rejection of the Fatherhood of God.

 Fatherhood & Family Under Attack!                   

  St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood    

by Msgr. Joseph Cirrincione

 According to Msgr. Cirrincione, that which is the common denominator, the future event which this scene foreshadowed during the miracle of the sun is the role of fatherhood. He is led without any doubt to this conclusion because in that last vision at Fatima. St. Joseph was holding the Child Jesus in his arms and both of them were blessing the world, while Our Lady looked on. Msgr. Joseph goes on:  "In the convulsions of the sun I see an ominous foreshadowing of the consequences for the world which are sure to be felt if the true Fatherhood of God and the traditional, strong role of the father of the family are rejected by mankind.  St. Joseph was the head of the Holy Family not because he was the holiest member of it. In fact, in that respect he was the least. Nor was he the head because he had been chosen by agreement of the other two members. He was the head of the Holy Family because he was the FATHER of the family. And as father he represented God the Father.

"The combination of this practical atheism and secularism, which amounts to an official rejection of God's Fatherhood or authority, is a first in the history of the Christian era, foreshadowed by the 'Miracle of the Sun' at Fatima in 1917.Rejection of the Fatherhood of God by the vast majority of mankind inevitably has set in motion a chain reaction of consequences affecting fatherhood.  Since human fatherhood, as a reflection of the Fatherhood of God,  and was designed to be the pillar of the family, the disappearance of esteem for fathers and fatherhood has led to the collapse of that pillar and thus to the disintegration of the family. Since the family is the fundamental unit of society, the disintegration of the family inexorably leads to the disintegration of society itself."

The spirit of Anti-Fatherhood 

Entered the Church! 

" Recognition of the fatherhood of the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, has eroded to an alarming degree. Like the lip service paid to religion by secularist governments, a certain outward respect is still paid to the Holy Father. However, his authority in faith and morals is openly rejected by many who still consider themselves to be Catholics. Some priests, have bartered the respect they have enjoyed for years as spiritual fathers, for a mess of pottage -- to be considered "pals' of their people, dressing and acting like laity.  Read  more: St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood

 Humanae Vitae  

Controversial & Crucial for Humanity's Future

Three years after the closing of the Second Vatican Council On July 25, 1968.  Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae  on Human Life.  Subtitled "On the Regulation of Birth", the encyclical re-affirmed the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding abortion, contraception, and other issues pertaining to human life. The encyclical has been controversial because of its prohibition of all forms of artificial contraception, and did not set will with the new cultural revolution taking place. Pope Paul VI did not issue any additional encyclicals in the remaining ten years of his pontificate.  

In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI called the encyclical  on Humane Vitea "so controversial, yet so crucial for humanity's future." Humanae Vitae became " a sign of contradiction but also of continuity of the Church's doctrine and tradition... What was true yesterday is true also today.

Our Lady told Lucia that if her requests are not honored, many souls will be lost, "the Holy Father will have much to suffer, there will be further wars and persecutions of the Church and "various nations will be annihilated."  The annihilation of nations predicted at Fatima has not yet occurred, but many fear that it will soon happen. Could America be threatened and fall prey to communism without a war? Look at what is happening  today in light of the New Health Care Mandate with Freedom of Religion at stake!   We are undergoing a spiritual annihilation of sorts? How many nations  in once Christian Europe have already fallen in this spiritual battle because we rejected the teachings of Paul VI in the encyclical on Humanae Vitea? Christian Europe is fast becoming Muslim because Christians no longer reproduce themselves and abort their offspring. 

The people themselves are responsible

"Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc.-And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible”.  Sister Lucia letter to pope-1982

  

Tarcisio Bertone, SDB  Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2000  said that "Our Lady, who appeared at Fatima, recalls these forgotten values. She reminds us that man's future is in God, and that we are active and responsible partners in creating that future."

The vision of St. Joseph and the Infant Jesus blessing the world, with Mary by the side of the sun hurtling towards the earth, is God's assurance that although men are free to reject Him, God will never reject man. In describing the father of the prodigal son in His famous parable, Jesus was actually describing His own Eternal Father. God the Father is ever waiting for sinners in particular and mankind in general to return to Him and His law. And as the principal theme at Fatima would indicate, the road by which the prodigal world will someday return to God the Father is called the Way of the Immaculate Heart of Mary whether one believes in Fatima or not!"  Quote from  St. Joseph, Fatima, and Fatherhood

Its up to us what happens!

Benedict XVI on  June 26, 2000, commented on the third secret of Fatima as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “The vision (3rd Secret)  then shows the power which stands opposed to the force of destruction  the splendor of the Mother of God and, stemming from this in a certain way, the summons to penance. In this way, the importance of human freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, the image which the children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed. Indeed, the whole point of the vision is to bring freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction. ... Its meaning is to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction. Therefore we must totally discount fatalistic explanations of the 'secret,' such as, for example, the claim that the would-be assassin of May 13 1981 was merely an instrument of the divine plan guided by Providence. ... Rather, the vision speaks of dangers and how we might be saved from them." 

Pope Benedict XVI said  that he went to Fatima to confess to the Virgin that he “loves her”, to pray for mankind “afflicted by so much misery and suffering” and to pray for priests. ...saying also that whomever thinks the prophecy of Fatima is fulfilled is mistaken”, because the Virgin is the one who can change a person’s heart, when facing death and fear. At a time when the human family was ready to sacrifice all that was most sacred on the altar of the petty selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups and individuals, our Blessed Mother came from heaven.” Benedict XVI Fatima 2010

Recently Benedict XVI announced recently a Year of Faith, that will begin  on the 50th anniversary of Vatican II. The pope said the observance would begin Oct. 11, 2012 -- the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council -- and conclude Nov. 24, 2013 -- the feast of Christ the King.  Celebrating Mass Oct. 16 with participants in a conference on the new evangelization, the pope said the Year of Faith would give a: "renewed energy to the mission of the whole church to lead men and women out of the desert they often are in and toward the place of life: friendship with Christ who gives us fullness of life.  "It will be a moment of grace and commitment to an ever fuller conversion to God, to reinforce our faith in him and to proclaim him with joy to the people of our time," the pope said in his homily.Paraphrased from: Zenit:

St. Teresa of Avila's devotion to St. Joseph

"I took for my advocate and lord the glorious Saint Joseph and commended myself earnestly to him; and I found that this my father and lord delivered me both from this trouble and also from other and greater troubles concerning my honor and the loss of my soul, and that he gave me greater blessings than I could ask of him. I do not remember even now that I have ever asked anything of him which he has failed to grant. I am astonished at the great favors which God has bestowed on me through this blessed saint, and at the perils from which He has freed me, both in body and in soul. To other saints the Lord seems to have given grace to succor us in some of our necessities but of this glorious saint my experience is that he succors us in them all and that the Lord wishes to teach us that as He was Himself subject to him on earth (for, being His guardian and being called His father, he could command Him) just so in Heaven He still does all that he asks. This has also been the experience of other persons whom I have advised to commend themselves to him; and even to-day there are many who have great devotion to him through having experienced this truth."

From "The Autobiography of St. Teresa", chapter 6...

A Prayer to St. Joseph

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of  all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death. Come Holy Father, with Jesus and Mary, to aid me, and obtain for me this only solace which I ask for in that hour, to die encircled by their holy arms. Into your sacred hands living and dying, Jesus, Mary and Joseph I commend my soul.

Addendum:As a Marian Catechist and Secular Carmelite in the world I also went to St. Joseph  in all my needs. He has answered many prayers in desperate moments that have arisen over the years and I wish to thank him once more on his Feast for the many graces and blessings he has obtained for me spiritual and temporal. I am very grateful to him obtaining from God the grace for me to persevere as I await the delayed mercies I have placed in his fatherly care! St.  Joseph foster father of Jesus and spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ora Pro nobis!

ITE AD JOSEPH! --GO TO JOSEPH!

John Paul II You Live On! "Be Not Afraid Open your Hearts to the Love and Light that is Christ!"

April 3, 2012, 2:26 pm

≫ Next: A Priest Never Belongs to Himself He is to be Configured to Christ!

≪ Previous: St. Joseph's Humble Appearance at Fatima Announces A Crisis of Fatherhood in Society and the Church!

$

0

0

Photo Courtesy: aquinasandmore.com/catholic-books-gifts/divine-mercy-books

Bl. John Paul's Witness -His Life and Death

A Cry for the Mercy of God!

Seven years ago, on April 2, 2005, that John Paul II passed away. Millions of people mourned his death the world over, as  the bells of St. Peter's Square somberly tolled continuously over and over again to mourn his passing .

"Unceasingly the Church implores from God mercy for everyone. At no time and in no historical period -- especially at a moment as critical as our own -- can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it. "The more the human conscience succumbs to secularization, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word "mercy," moves away from God, and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy with loud cries! Bl. John Paul II June 7, 1977  Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, Poland.(Dives in Misericordia, n. 15).

 

To mark the seventh anniversary of his death here is a portion of  a documentary from ROME REPORTS'  "John Paul The Great: A Pope Who Made History" 

 Bl. John Paul II and Feast of Divine Mercy 

 

The beatifications of Jacinta and Francisco at Fatima on May 13, 2000 and the canonization of St Faustina with the Institution of the Feast of Divine Mercy on April 30, 2000, undoubtedly will be considered one of the most momentous events in the history of the Church in the new millennium. They both took place during the Great Jubilee year a little over a week apart from each other.  

 I was blessed by God in his providence to be present at both these historic events in the the Church.My sister's religious community obtained tickets for our small group in Rome and we were seated near St Faustina's Community, the Sisters of Mercy. 
  

I recall all my joy waving  at being there standing on my chair when the Holy Father arrived and waving madly for him to see me. Finally his eyes met mine and he smiled at me! He was probably laughing inside at the crazy lady standing on her chair among all the dignitaries present. Very undignified of me but I didn't care!  I will never forget that moment and his smile as long as I live.God gave me the gift of that moment with the pope during the Great Jubilee. The gift of his smile I will always cherish.   : )   

 I was a long time devote of St Faustina and the Divine Mercy Message and well acquainted with here diary. I  used it for some time for my spiritual reading. On the institution of the Feast of Mercy. (1044 - 1049)St Faustina  recorded in her diary thevision  as she saw the Institution of the Feast of Divine Mercy taking place simultaneously in hercommunity and in Rome. She did not understand how but the people were able to experience the institution of the Feast at the same time whether they were in Rome or in Cracow.  

AS you read St. Faustina's account description you will note that God also kept from her that she was seeing her own canonization on that day without knowing it. We also did not know either that the pope was going to institute the Feast of Divine Mercy when we attended her canonization, although there was speculation that he would do so. AS the pope made the announcement I did not understand the language but noted the air was electrified wit suspense and I knew something momentous was being said as the pope made the announcement. Later, overwhelmed at the Mercy God bestowed on me, recalling this grace to be present at this time has served as a source encouragement to persevere in hope in the trials and afflictions that followed.

April 30, 2000- St Faustina's Canonization

St. Faustina described the ceremony in her diary on the 23rd March, 1937, that would take place on  April 30, 2000 in Rome and in Cracow simultaneously via internet web TV.  St. Faustina wrote: “Suddenly, God’s presence took hold of me, and at once I saw myself in Rome, in the Holy Father’s chapel and at the same time I was in our chapel. and the celebration of the Holy Father and the entire Church was closely connected with our chapel and, in a very special way, with our Congregation. And I took part in the solemn celebration simultaneously here and in Rome, for the celebration was so closely connected with Rome that, even as I write, I cannot distinguish the two but I am writing it down as I saw it. Everyone was participating in the celebrations with great joy, and many of them obtained what they desired. The same celebration was held in Rome, in a beautiful church, and the Holy Father, with all the clergy, was celebrating this Feast, and then suddenly I saw Saint Peter, who stood between the altar and the Holy Father.   I then looked at the immense crowd worshiping the Divine Mercy and I said to the Lord: Jesus, bless all those who are gathered to give glory to You and to venerate Your infinite mercy. Jesus made a sign of the cross with His hand, and this blessing was reflected in the souls like a flash of light." 

Rome St. Faustina's Canonization

During the ceremonies I wondered in the back of my head if the new saint saw me present, did she see me waving to the Pope back then in 1937?  What a thought the Communion of Saints. After the Canonization in Rome our group we went off to Lourdes and then to Fatima to meet the pope once again on May 13th  for the Beatification of Jacinta and Francesco. Another historic event in the church for the Fatima Message. Linking Fatima with the Message of Divine Mercy.  The Graces received from these events have sustained me in the sufferings God allowed me live through in the years that followed. When I recall the great gifts God bestowed on me and the whole world during the Great Jubilee I am filled with gratitude and hope.  If only souls myself included avail themselves to them. 

  

There is much fruit to be gleaned in meditation if we take the time to do this letting God speak to us on these mysteries in Providence and on the legacy that  Bl.John Paul II left us. What will we do with it? If we really love him as he loved humanity we will follow his footsteps the way he pointed out to us!

Jesus I trust in you! My life is wrapped in the Mercy of God and in the mantle of the Fatima Message. In a 1977 speech at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Poland Bl. John Paul II  said  "And if a person responds with a sincere heart: "Jesus, I trust in you," he will find comfort in all his anxieties and fears. In this dialogue of abandonment, there is established between man and Christ a special bond that sets love free there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear"(1 Jn 4:18)  Pope John Paul II June 7, 1977  at Shrine of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Poland.
  

Divine Mercy and the Fatima Message!  

Our Lord used John Paul II in the Great Jubilee Year and Linked in Divine Providence the Message of Divine Mercy with the Fatima Message. There is so much for meditation on this. Maybe in a future post we can delve deeper into this mystery. 

May 13, 2000 Beatifications at Fatima

Pope John Paul II  is also  known as the Fatima Pope as he was imaged in the 3rd secret. When he beatified the Jacinta and Francisco on May 13, 2000, he also revealed at the same time the complete text of the 3rd Secret to the world.  The assassination attempt on his life took place on a Fatima day May 13th,1981.

The bullet that shot the pope is in the center pointing down

                                                                                                       

One year later after his attempted assassination,he made a pilgrimage to Fatima to Thank Our Lady for her intercession sparing his life and to leave the bullet removed from his body that was later placed in her crown.  John Paul II's assessment, "It was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path"  She permitted the dying pope to stop on the threshold of death

Beatification  of Bl. John Paul II

 A Joyful Event for the Church 

and All Who Loved Him!

Bl.  John Paul II  the Fatima Pope was Beatified on May 1, 2011 which also was the first Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.  Benedict XVI explained that the date was chosen for the beatification because it was on the eve of Mercy Sunday that his earthly life ended. "Those who knew him, those who esteemed and loved him, cannot but rejoice with the Church for this event."  In St. Peter's basilica,  the tomb for Bl. John Paul II is set in one of the altars, in the chapel of St. Sebastian where his mortal remains are reposed today. 

Pope Benedict XVI Remembers  
World Youth Day & Bl. John Paul II

On April 2, 2012  the seventh anniversary of the death of Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI paid homage to one of his predecessor's undertakings: World Youth Day. While he Greeted an estimated 5,000 cheering young people from Spain on April 2, Pope Benedict said they were "the protagonists and principal recipients of this pastoral initiative promoted by my beloved predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, whose passage to heaven we remember today. "Each and every person has a vocation, a call from God that is the key to each person's holiness and happiness, as well as being a call to create a better world," the pope told the youth.  Read more.....

BE NOT AFRAID to

Open Wide Your Hearts

To the Love and Light that is Christ!

   John Paul II--You Live On! You Live On!

                     

I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming"  (Diary, 1732).





                John Paul II  Patron of World Youth Day 

                                   Ora pro nobis!

Official Web Site for WYD11

---

A Priest Never Belongs to Himself He is to be Configured to Christ!

April 6, 2012, 3:32 pm

≫ Next: The Divine Mercy Novena and The Spark that Would Come from Poland!

≪ Previous: John Paul II You Live On! "Be Not Afraid Open your Hearts to the Love and Light that is Christ!"

$

0

0

Does Our Consecration as Priests

 Extend to the Daily Reality of our Lives?

Pope BenedictXVI at the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass   criticized dissent from church teachings as illegitimate pathways toward reform and renewal. In the presence of  1,600 priests, bishops and cardinals, the pope cautioned against calls for women’s ordination, saying such campaigns seemed more “a desperate push” to fulfill one’s own preferences rather than a sincere attempt to conform one’s life more closely to Christ. The pope said he wanted to use the occasion to ask all priests, including himself, to meditate upon what their consecration really means.

Do we operate as men of God in fellowship with Jesus Christ? This question places the Lord before us and us before him. “Are you resolved to be more united with the Lord Jesus and more closely conformed to him, denying yourselves and confirming those promises about sacred duties towards Christ’s Church which, prompted by love of him, you willingly and joyfully pledged on the day of your priestly ordination? We need,  I (also) need, not to claim my life as my own, but to place it at the disposal of another – of Christ. I should be asking not what I stand to gain, but what I can give for him and for others. Or to put it more specifically, this configuration to Christ, who came not to be served but to serve, who does not take, but rather gives – what form does it take in the often dramatic situation of the Church today.

  

           A Priests Concern should be the Salvation of Souls!

We are concerned with the salvation of men and women in body and soul. Zelus animarum leads to salus animarum. No one should ever have the impression that we work conscientiously when on duty, but before and after hours we belong only to ourselves. A priest never belongs to himself. People must sense our zeal,  through which we bear crediblewitness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us ask the Lord to fill us with joy in his message, so that we may serve his truth and his love with joyful zeal.

A Priests Near Death Experience Changes His Life!

While reading the Comments and various news reports of the Pope's address to the Priests on Holy Thursday. I recalled a program I saw on Mother Angelica Live in the late 1980’sabout a priest who had a near death experience and how it changed his life.  Fr. Steven Scheier was involved in an accident in 1985 while traveling back to his parish. He had a head-on collision with a pickup truck and with Jesus who had condemned him to Hell.

Fr. Scheier was standing before the judgment of Jesus. He doesn’t know how long it lasted. He says the Lord took him through his entire life, and showed him every incident how he had failed in his priestly service. Before the accident he was thinking there would be time to convert but during his judgment scene, Jesus told him there is no more time. He said he knew he was talking to Truth and when you are talking to Truth you can’t give excuses. At the end of his judgment, his sentence from Jesus was hell. Fr. Scheier said “yes” as that was the only logical thing he deserved.  However, because of his devotion to Our Lady, (he was saying Hail Mary’s aloud as he was dying and then recovering) He was favored by God to have another chance.   At that moment, he heard a woman’s voice say, “Son, will you please spare his life and his eternal soul?” 

The Lord replied, “Mother, he’s been a priest for 12 years for himself and not for me, let him reap the punishment he deserves.” “But Son,’ she said, ‘if we give him special graces and strengths . . . then let’s see if he bears fruit; if not, your will be done.” There was very short pause, after which Jesus said, “Mother, he’s yours.”

I hope by including his story in this post it will help someone to save their own soul.  We so easily put blinders upon our eyes and excuse ourselves from grave faults. Bishops, priests and laity take advantage of the time God has given you today to serve Him!  Pray to God that he will show us the truth about ourselves today! It is not guaranteed we shall see tomorrow!   

Click alsoWindow’s Media Player:Fr. Schierer Interview with Mother Anglelica

       
       A priest for himself and not for me!

Father survived the accident but did not recall his near death experience until he was fully recovered and returned to his parish ministry. One day when celebrating Mass, the Gospel was about the fig tree (Luke 13:1-9).     When he was reading the Parable of the Fig Tree the words leapt off the page to him, especially the order to cut down the fig tree but getting a reprieve of one more year to bear fruit. As heread the Gospel he recalled his near death experience.  He finished Mass as best he could and back at the rectory

He remembered the spiritual conversation that had taken place shortly after his accident. In that conversation Fr. Scheier found himself standing before the judgment of Jesus. He doesn’t know how long it lasted. He says the Lord took him through his entire life, and showed him how he had failed in his priestly service. Fr. Scheier said “yes” to everything Jesus said about his life. Before the accident he was thinking there would be time to convert but during this judgment scene Jesus taught him there is no time.Now before Jesus he was talking to Truth and when you are talking to Truth you can’t give excuses. At the end of his judgment, his sentence from Jesus was hell. Fr. Scheier said “yes” as that was the only logical thing he deserved. At that moment, however, he heard a woman say, “Son, will you please spare his life and his eternal soul?” The Lord replied, “Mother, he’s been a priest for twelve years for himself and not for me, let him reap the punishment he deserves.” “But Son,” she said, “if we give him special graces and strengths then let’s see if he bears fruit; if not, your will be done.” There was very short pause, after which Jesus said, “Mother, he’s yours.”

                             

                         

 The Parable of the Fig Tree

"Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.” Click for complete  Homily by Fr. Tommy Lane   

The Pope mentions a group of Austrian 

Priests' Calling for Disobedience

Recently a group of priests from Austria issued a summons to disobedience, and at the same time gave concrete examples of the forms this disobedience might take, even to the point of disregarding definitive decisions of the Church’s Magisterium, such as the question of women’s ordination, for which Blessed Pope John Paul II stated irrevocably that the Church has received no authority from the Lord. Is disobedience a path of renewal for the Church?

We would like to believe that the authors of this summons are motivated by concern for the Church, that they are convinced that the slow pace of institutions has to be overcome by drastic measures, in order to open up new paths and to bring the Church up to date. But is disobedience really a way to do this? Do we sense here anything of that configuration to Christ which is the precondition for true renewal, or do we merely sense a desperate push to do something to change the Church in accordance with one’s own preferences and ideas?

Surely Christ himself corrected human traditions which threatened to stifle the word and the will of God? Indeed he did, so asto rekindle obedience to the true will of God, to his ever enduring word. His concern was fortrue obedience, as opposed to human caprice. He lived out his task with obedience and humility all the way to the Cross, and so gave credibility to his mission. Not my will, but thine be done: these words reveal to us the Son, in his humility and his divinity, and they show us the true path."

Let Us Pray for Our Priests! 

Priests at the Holy Thursday Mass

Lord Jesus, you have chosen your priests from among us and sent them out to proclaim your word and to act in your name. For so great a gift to your Church, we give you thanks. We ask you to fill them with the fire of your love, that their ministry may reveal your presence in the Church. Since they are earthen vessels, we pray that your power may shine out through their weakness. In their afflictions let them never be crushed in their doubts never despair; in temptation never be destroyed; in persecution never abandoned. Inspire them through prayer to live each day the mystery of your dying and rising. In times of weakness send them your Spirit, and help them to praise your heavenly Father and pray for poor sinners. By the same Holy Spirit put your words on their lips and your love in their hearts, to bring good news to the poor and healing to the brokenhearted. And may the gift of Mary your mother, to the disciple whom you loved, be your gift to every priest. Grant that she who formed you in her human image, may form them in your divine image, by the power of your Spirit. Amen

Videos:

Direct Window’s Media Player:Fr. Schierer Interview with Mother Anglelica

Embedded Sancte Pater Blog:   Fr. Schierer Interview with Mother Angelica

The Divine Mercy Novena and The Spark that Would Come from Poland!

April 7, 2012, 12:59 pm

≫ Next: We must pray very much for the Holy Father! Bl. Jacinta of Fatima

≪ Previous: A Priest Never Belongs to Himself He is to be Configured to Christ!

$

0

0

The Spark from Poland that will

Prepare the World for my Final Coming 

We are all worried about our country and concerns for its economy and for the erosion of our  religious freedoms. St. Faustina  also worried and prayed for Poland: "Jesus, I beg You for my homeland; protect it against the assaults of its enemies" (Diary of St. Faustina, 119).  

Jesus responded to  St. Faustina as she prayed:
"I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming" (Diary, 1732).   

At the time it seemed as though this prayer of hers had failed.  Poland was conquered, fractured by the Nazi regime and later she was swallowed up by Communism.  It seemed her prayer to Our Lord was not answered.  However, the beginning of  the answer to her prayer and Poland’s  deliverance from Communism began on October 16, 1978. Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, Archbishop of Kraków was elected Pope, taking the name John Paul II.  

This event had an electrifying  unifying effect  for Poland.  Even under Communist rule, Poland  was one of the most devoutly Catholic nations in Europe. The election of a Polish pope the spark from Poland(Diary, 1732).was  the beginning of her political  freedom. God has honored Poland by lighting on her soil “the spark" giving us Bl. John Paul II  who  traversed the entire globe building up the kingdom of God so that it was preached in every land and nation!

Divine Mercy and the End Time

The exact timing is the Lord's But of that day and hour no one knows, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone  Mat. 24:36  It seems that we have reached a certain critical phase of the end times that  had its beginnings with the Church.

Pope John Paul II alluded at the consecration of the Shrine of Merciful Love in 1981  making note of  the "special task" assigned to him by God" in the present situation of man, the Church and the world."  He urged us "to implore God's mercy for humanity in this hour of history ... to beg for it at this difficult, critical phase of the history of the Church and of the world as we approach the end of the second millennium." (Rich in Mercy 15)

 

It's  ironic that many of the most religious people of Christ's time  who were actively practicing their religion and  even though they awaited the promised Messiah  they were not able to recognize Him when He came. They even condemned him to death on the cross.  The Pharisees, devoted to their rules, and rituals that over the years, had become so important that their real meaning had been lost. They talked a lot of about God, but none of it had touched their hearts.  They were not living the way He wanted them to live.  “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Is 29:13).  

 

Mary Mother of Mercy 

Mary Mother of all graces and Mother of Divine Mercy, Defend us from our enemies and receive us at the hour of our death. O Mary Mother of Mercy, Implore for us the Mercy of your Son! 

 

Our Lady also spoke to St. Faustina: “You have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge.  Oh how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy. (Diary635).

The Words of the Our Lady to St Faustina are similar to the Fatima Message.  There is a sense urgency in them.  Like the message of Fatima, it is the same urgency of the Gospel, "The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.”Mark1:15

"If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

Our Enemy is not the Evil Around us,
Our Real enemy is  the Sin Within us!

Are we not faced with a similar circumstances as we await the final coming of the Lord?  Paul writes in second Thessalonians: “The coming of the lawless one whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. In order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness"2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

                The Church's Final Trial              

 675“Before  Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.”Read more:Catechism of the Catholic Church and the last days                                                                                                          

Unceasingly the Church Implores
 God's  Mercy for Everyone!

April 30, 2000 View of  St. Peter's Square Institution of Feast of  Divine Mercy

Speak to the world about My mercy ... It is a sign for the end times. After it will come the Day of Justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fountain of My mercy.(Diary848)  Read more

Words of Blessed John Paul II: “At no time and in no historical period -- especially at a moment as critical as our own -- can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it. "The more the human conscience succumbs to secularization, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word "mercy," moves away from God, and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy with loud cries!”  June 7, 1977  Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, Poland .(Dives in Misericordia, n. 15).

                  Novena to Divine Mercy
 "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 ... You will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls." 

Click on each day for links to prayers:

DAY 1 (Good Fri.)       All mankind,and poor sinners.
DAY  2 (Holy Sat.)       Priests and religious souls
DAY 3 (Easter Sun.)   Devout and faithful souls
DAY 4 (Easter Mon.)   Souls with no faith
DAY  5 (Easter Tues.)  Separated brethren
DAY  6 (Easter Wed)  Meek, humble and Children
DAY  7 (Easter Thurs) Souls who venerate my mercy
DAY  8 (Easter Fri.)     Souls who are in purgatory
DAY  9 (Easter Sat.)    Lukewarm Souls

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy  The Chaplet can be said at any time, but the Lord specifically asked that it be prayed as a novena, especially on the nine days before the Feast of the Divine Mercy starting on Good Friday. And He promised: “By this Novena of Chaplets I will grant every possible grace to souls” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska 796).

  The Regina Caeli

Remember to pray the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) from Easter Sunday until noon on the Saturday before Pentecost  Instead of praying the Angelus during the Easter Season      
                                   

 

  The Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven)

V/.  Queen of Heaven, rejoice.  Alleluia. 
R/.  For He whom you did merit to bear.  Alleluia.

V/.  Has risen as He said Alleluia 
 R/.  Pray for us to God.  Alleluia. 

V/.  Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary.  Alleluia 
R/.  For the Lord has truly risen.  Alleluia.

  
V.  LET US PRAY. 

R. O God, Who by the Resurrection of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, have been pleased to fill the world with joy, grant, we beseech You, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may receive the joys of eternal life, through the same Christ Our Lord.  Amen. 

We must pray very much for the Holy Father! Bl. Jacinta of Fatima

April 16, 2012, 4:15 pm

≫ Next: St Joseph Protector of The Church Named Patron of Workers on May Day 1955!

≪ Previous: The Divine Mercy Novena and The Spark that Would Come from Poland!

$

0

0

On April 16th the Pope turned 85 years old and you may still send a

 Birthday greeting to the Pope  on Facebook if you wish!  

 Also on April 19th the Pope will observe his Seventh Anniversary of his election to the papacy. Let us continue to pray daily for his Health and Safety 

 as he travels.

Revised Post Also Includes:
 Unprecedented Media attacks on the Pope in 2010
April 19th Anniversary of the Papal Election 

"What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful."- Pope Benedict XVI
                                                   

When he was installed as Pope April 19, 2005 the Holy Father requested our prayers. “Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another.”

As an example of his recognition of his need for the support of our prayers, on his first Apostolic Visit to the United States in 2008, Pope Benedict referred to himself as the end of his homily in the Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on April 19th, as “the poor successor of Saint Peter.” Our Holy Father then continued, “I will try to do all that is possible to be a worthy successor of the great Apostle [Peter], who also was a man with faults and sins, but remained in the end the rock for the Church.”

The pope movingly acknowledged his need for our  assistance in fulfilling his formidable divine duties as head of the Catholic Church by concluding “It is also your prayers and your love which give me the certainty that the Lord will help me in this my ministry. I am therefore deeply grateful for your love and for your prayers.”  Let us love the Pope and embrace him with our prayers!  Pray for the Pope often every day!

Jacinta’s Vision of the

Pope He was Weeping,

Insulted and Persecuted

Is Pope Benedict XVI the Pope BL. Jacinta saw in vision who was weeping while people threw stones and insulted him?

One day, Lucy said, we spent our siesta down by my parents' well. Jacinta sat on the stone slabs on top of the well. Francisco and I climbed up a steep bank in search of wild honey among the brambles in a nearby thicket. After a little while, Jacinta called out to Lucia: "Didn't you see the Holy Father?"  "No I did not see him." Lucia said. 

             

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

"I saw the Holy Father!" Jacinta continued. "He was in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father, we must pray very much for him."

Some experts believed that this mysterious vision applied to Pope Pius XII. But it is more probable that this prophetic vision also concerned the future popes. I believe it is this Pope! No pope in the history of the Fatima Revelation has suffered such revilement by the press to the point of publishing articles that libel him and asking for his resignation!

 A Prayer for the Pope

  Written by Pope Leo XIII

O Lord, we are the millions of believers, humbly kneeling at Thy feet and begging Thee to preserve, defend and save the Sovereign Pontiff for many years. He is the Father of the great fellowship of souls and our Father as well. On this day, as on every other day, he is praying for us also, and is offering unto Thee with holy fervor the sacred Victim of love and peace.


Wherefore, O Lord, turn thyself toward us with eyes of pity; for we are now, as it were, forgetful of ourselves, and are praying above all for him. Do Thou unite our prayers with his and receive them into the bosom of Thine infinite mercy, as a sweet savor of active and fruitful charity, whereby the children are united in the Church to their Father. All that he asks of Thee this day, we too ask it of Thee in unison with him.

Whether he weeps or rejoices, whether he hopes or offers himself as a victim of charity for his people, we desire to be united with him; nay more, we desire that the cry of our hearts should be made one with his.

Of Thy great mercy grant, O Lord, that not one of us may be far from his mind and his heart in the hour that he prays and offers unto Thee the Sacrifice of Thy blessed Son. At the moment when our venerable High Priest, holding in His hands the very Body of Jesus Christ, shall say to the people over the Chalice of benediction these words: "The peace of the Lord be with you always," grant, O Lord, that Thy sweet peace may come down upon our hearts and upon all the nations with new and manifest power. Amen.

"He who is not with the Pope is not with God, he that wants to be with God, must be with Pope."  Sr.Lucia of Fatima

                      

   






The Unprecedented Media Attacks
On the Pope since 2010

 Fueled  by  the  Devil?

"Strike the shepherd the Sheep will Scatter" Zechariah 13:7

April 12, 2010:  'Journalists abandon standards to attack the Pope'. Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a journalist specializing in religion. There are times when another blogger says something so much better than I could that I reproduce a whole post. Here is Phil Lawler, distinguished American Catholic commentator and director of CatholicCulture.org.  "We're off and running once again, with another completely phony story that purports to implicate Pope Benedict XVI in the protection of abusive priests. The 'exclusive' story released by AP yesterday, which has been dutifully passed along now by scores of major media outlets, would never have seen the light of day if normal journalistic standards had been in place. Careful editors should have asked a series of probing questions, and in every case the answer to those questions would have shown that the story had no 'legs' "

April 12, 2010:  What Next! Unbelievable but it is a true story! Pope Benedict XVI faces a legal ambush by two leading atheist campaigners who are planning to have him Arrested during his state visit to England  for 'crimes against humanity'. Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens - have both written books promoting atheism - and have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

April 12, 2010: The Catholic Herald Britain's Leading Catholic Newspaper publishes a narrative account of the furor that engulfed Pope Benedict XVI after claims that he covered up clerical abuse 

March 30, 2010,  National Catholic Register Blog  Cardinal Ratzinger an Evil Monster? The level of vitriol being directed at Pope Benedict by the mainstream media right now is truly extraordinary. It’s primarily drive by desire for cash (scandal sells), followed closely by hatred, along with a hefty dose of ignorance.


 
It is very trying to see the atheists, agnostics, homosexuals and devil worshipers on their social media Blogs and Twitter  railing our faith and the Holy Father what can we do? Listen and observe the requests of Our Lady!

      
 

St Joseph Protector of The Church Named Patron of Workers on May Day 1955!

May 1, 2012, 1:01 pm

≫ Next: Mary came as a Catechist at Fatima and is a Model Catechist for Parents Today!

≪ Previous: We must pray very much for the Holy Father! Bl. Jacinta of Fatima

$

0

0

Historical Timelines Link

 Fatima  with May Day 

St. Joseph and Vatican II

 The Conversion of Russia
 Events Leading to the end of Soviet Union

   St Joseph Protector of the Church

Named Patron of Workers on May Day 1955

The following historical eventsanalyzed in the light of the Fatima Message, in my opinion, link St Joseph's appearance at Fatima with the 3rd secret of Fatima.  Studying the Historical events In the unfolding of time  one can see that St Joseph's appearance at Fatima is also linked once more by Divine Providence  to the Second Vatican Council and the cold war.

Originally I wanted to prepare a  simple post  to honor St. Joseph who has been a great aide to me in my physical and spiritual trials.  I already covered the significance of his appearing at Fatima during the Miracle of the Sun in a  previous post.   St. Joseph's Appearance at Fatima Announces A Crisis of Fatherhood in Society & Church!   But as providence would have it in my search for a photo of St Joseph Patron of a Happy Death I came across the History of May Day and decided to share what I just learned for others who also may not be aware of the historical background of the event and how it was used as a propaganda tool by the communists. There are those who today are supporting the idea that  May 1st to be commemorated for the Victims of Communism.  I think St. Joseph patron of a Happy Death and of workers would not be offended to share the day the Church has given to him to honor these many martyrs some fro God and church others for love of neighbor and country.
  
In spite of my best intentions not to make this post a long involved post well here it is another long post that I hope will be beneficial to help us see the finger of God writing in the historical events that have taken place during and in the unfolding of providence after the apparitions of Fatima ended. Meditation on the historical events that have taken place during and after the apparitions have ceased have helped to confirm and sometimes add a new urgency to the messages that God wishes to convey to humanity.

Fatima and Communism in Historical Context


 In the apparitions of our Lady over the years there exists a certain correlation between Marian apparitions and specific historical situations of the times. For example Lourdes and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. La Sallette and the approaching famine. Fatima and the World Wars. Knock, the Second Vatican Council and the Eucharist.  Our Lady the spouse of the Holy Spirit is sent to convey a message from the finger of God to help us see the writing on the wall.  Sometimes with words sometimes with symbols.

St. Joseph's appearance at Fatima during the miracle of the sun did not take place by happen stance! Just a sort of nice addition or after thought by God!  The holy trinity talking amongst themselves and saying: "Lets send St. Joseph to bless the world with Jesus." In previous posts we discussed that God does nothing without meaning.  There is a deep significance in each approved Marian apparition in its historical context but there is also a deeper hidden significance that can, need we say may only be uncovered in prayer and meditation.  

Over time the church with the help of the Holy Spirit reflects on these appearances of Our Lady and  discovers God’s finger writing once more.  They are not coincidences! God has a purpose in everything he does. A message to proclaim in the timing of the appearances as well as withinthe historical context. "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, to the time appointed: many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be increased. Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as fire: and the wicked shall deal wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the learned shall understand."Daniel 12:9-10

In the past while meditating on the appearances of Our Lady in the approved Marian Apparitions and placing them in the historical context of the time: From Guadelupe to Fatima A prophetic Mystery.  We learned that we must also meditate and reflect on the events surrounding the approved Marian apparitions in its historical context of the moment as well as in the unfolding of time.  There are often hidden meanings, in some instances that God wishes to be revealed at a later time, in the unfolding of human history.

These  may also convey dire warnings as  in the book of Daniel: "Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand in fear as it wrote:  " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin. This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."Daniel 5:26-28

      A Brief History of May Day

A Historical Timeline 

Today for most there is an assumption that May Day began and is a holiday  celebrated only in communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don't realize that May Day for "workers" has its origins here in this country and it also stemmed from pre-Christian pagan rituals  with the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, and the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries.

A maypole in Munich, Germany

Before May Day became a labor holiday it had been a traditional day of pagan festivities celebrating springtime fertility and revelry with early community gatherings. Seeding had been completed by this date and it was convenient to give farm labourers a day off. Perhaps the most significant of the traditions is the Maypole, around which traditional dancers circle with ribbons.  The maypoles were in some way a continuation of a Germanic pagan tradition. One theory holds that they were a remnant of the Germanic reverence for sacred trees, as there is evidence for various sacred trees and wooden pillars that were venerated by the pagans across much of Germanic Europe, including Thor's Oak and the Irminsul. Various Neopagan groups still celebrate reconstructed (to varying degrees) versions of these customs on May 1st.  As Europe became Christianized the pagan holidays lost their religious character and either changed into popular secular celebrations, as with May Day, or were merged with or replaced by new Christian holidays.

The modern labor protests 

on May Day began  in 

the United States in 1886

 The labor movement starting in the United States with fair treatment of workers and an 8 hour work day is a good end for families but the movement was later exploited by the communists throughout the world to meet their own political ends. 

This 1886 engraving shows beginning of the Riots

May Day in the United States began with and originally commemorated the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886. Chicago police fired at workers who were striking to establish the eight hour work day. Many workers died in the event. The May Day labor movement spread to France



1889

July 14, The hundredth anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, leaders from organized revolutionary proletarian movements of many lands, assembled in Paris to form once more an international organization of workers, patterned after the one formed 25 years earlier by their great teacher, Karl Marx.  They heard from the American delegates about the struggle in America for the 8-hour day during 1884-1886. Inspired by the example of the American workers, the Paris Congress adopted the following resolution: "The Congress decides to organize a great international demonstration, so that in all countries and in all cities on one appointed day the toiling masses shall demand of the state authorities the legal reduction of the working day to eight hours, as well as the carrying out of other decisions of the Paris Congress."  Since a similar demonstration has already been decided upon for May 1, 1890, by the American Federation of Labor at its Convention in St. Louis, December, 1888, this day is accepted for the international demonstration. The workers of the various countries must organize this demonstration according to conditions prevailing in each country.

                May Day in Russia
 1900  

Lenin proceeds to write about the significance of May Day:  Lenin  wrote that May Day was a rallying point for "the irrepressible struggle for the political liberation of the Russian people," for "the class development of the proletariat and its open struggle for Socialism."  In a Weekly Worker of a generation Eugene V. Debs wrote in the May Day edition of the paper, published April 27, 1907: regarding May Day "This is the first and only International Labor Day. It belongs to the working class and is dedicated to the Revolution."

   

The Queen of May 
 Appears at Fatima

1917

Divine Providence sends the Queen of May to Fatima with her requests for World Peace: "If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse war will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions against the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.

Our Lady spouse of the Holy Spirit is the Hand of God conveying a message to the world powers  and the kingdoms of our era. "Some I will cure others I will not. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins." Looking very sad, Our Lady said: "Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended." Fatima October 13,1917

1918 

November 11,- As our Lady predicted that the War will end soon
---World War I ended with a German defeat.


1921 
July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes leader of National Socialist (Nazi) Party.

1923 
November 8/9- Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch.

1923
"For the May Day,edition of the Weekly Worker, C. E. Ruthenberg wrote: "May Day – the day which inspires fear in the hearts of the capitalists and hope in the workers – the workers the world over – will find the Communist movement this year stronger in the U. S. than at any time in its history.... The road is clear for greater achievements, and in the United States as elsewhere in the world the future belongs to Communism. The world is nearer to Communism today. We are living in a more advanced period now. Capitalism has swung downward and is progressively moving in that direction. The sharpness of its own contradictions is making its ability to carry on more difficult.  In the Soviet Union the workers will review on May Day the phenomenal achievements of the building of Socialism. In the capitalist countries May Day will be as always a day of struggle for the immediate political demands of the working class, with the slogans of proletarian dictatorship and a Soviet Republic kept not far in the background."  Quote from The History of May Day

The apparition at Pontevedra

1925, December 10
 Our Lady appears to Sister Lucy at Pontevedra in Spain to relate the specific requirements for the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.

1929

October 29, - Stock Market on Wall Street crashes.

Apparition in Tuy of Holy Trinity

1929, June 13

In fulfillment of Her promise at Fatima on July 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima appears to Sister Lucy at Tuy, Spain in the visible presence of the Most Holy Trinity and asks for the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart.

1930
September 14- Germans elect Nazis making them the 2nd largest political party in Germany.

1931

August: Jesus says to Sister Lucy: “Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune.” Our Lord gives to Sister Lucy in Rianjo, Spain this warning.

On June 17, 1689, Our Lord also told St. Margaret Mary to tell the Catholic King Louis XIV that France must be solemnly consecrated to His Sacred Heart. This command was ignored by the king and also by his heirs and descendants. As a result, France – first daughter of the Church – was not "triumphant over all the enemies of Holy Church" when France was besieged by the “enemies of the Church exactly one hundred years later, on June 17, 1789, the reigning Louis XVI was stripped of his kingly power and authority by the godless “Third Estate” of the French Revolution. Thus the Reign of Terror went into full motion. The king and his entire family (including children) were imprisoned and executed.

1933
June - Nazis open Dachau concentration camp.
July 14 - Nazi Party declared Germany's only political party.
October 14  - Germany quits the League of Nations. 

                                      
              The Great Aurora

1938, 
January 25,   The Fatima Storm was seen over the whole of Europe and as far south as Southern Australia, Sicily, Portugal and across the Atlantic to Bermuda and Southern California.  
      

Crowds in Vienna awaiting the imminent birth of Princess Juliana's baby cheered the aurora as a lucky omen. The immense arches of crimson light with shifting areas of green and blue, radiated from a brilliant Auroral Crown near the zenith instead of appearing as usual in parallel lines. It was also considered to fulfill  one of the Fatima Prophesies by Catholics worldwide.

1938 

March 12/13- Germany announces 'Anschluss' (union) with Austria.

Oct. 15 German troops occupy the Sudetenland; Czech government resigns.

May Day Show of Russia's Military Might after Germany declares War

1939  

January 30 - Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech. 

1945
February 4-11-- Yalta Conference Cold War Begins  

August 6 -- United States first used atomic bomb in war ushering in the Nuclear Age and the cold war. With this event the prophecy at Fatima that various nations will be annihilated could have a literal fulfillment by man in a Nuclear War.
                    
            St. Joseph the Worker 

1955
May 1, Pius XII  responding to the propaganda tool by the communists in order to heat up the cold war with their version of “May Day” protests for workers. Promoting the Worker to sacrifice themselves for the state and its power.  Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1.  The pope held up to Catholics and other Christian believers the teachings relating to Joseph and the Holy Family. He frequently stressed the  patience, persistence, and hard work of St. Joseph as admirable qualities which Christians should adopt and follow.

The Secret of Fatima opened

by John XXIII and not revealed

Bl. Pope John XXIII

1959
August 17,  Pope John XXIII had the envelope  with the 3rd secret of Fatima  brought to him at Castelgandolfo. It was said that he did not immediately open the envelope but stated: "I am waiting to read it with my confessor." The secret was read a few days later, with Assistance in reading the Portuguese given by Monsignor Paulo Jose Tavarez of the Secretariat of State. Later John XXIII had it read by Cardinal Ottaviani, Prefect of the Holy Office.

Note: Towards the end we will discuss in more detail the controversy by the followers of Fr. Gruener chastising successive popes for not revealing the secret. If you look at the historical events of the day. The cold war heating up ect, the popes aware of the contents of the secret did not want to make it a self fulfilled prophecy so decided not to reveal its contents. They have the keys to the kingdom to bind and loose no one else!

1960
February 2, it was suddenly learned through a simple Portuguese press agency communique that the 3^rd secret of Fatima would not be published, and that it probably never would be disclosed.  

The Cold War Heats UP! 

• 1960: May -- Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory
• 1960: November -- John F. Kennedy was elected President
• 1961: April -- Bay of Pigs invasion
• 1961: July -- Kennedy requests 25% spending increase for military
• 1961: August 13 -- Berlin border closed
• 1961: August 17 -- Construction of Berlin Wall begin
  • 1962: -- U.S. involvement in Vietnam increased
  • 1962: October -- Cuban Missile Crisis 

1961 
March 19, Bl. Pope John XXIII choose St Joseph as a protector of the the second Vatican Council, in his Apostolic Letter Le voci che da tutti.St Joseph was also given the title Patron of the Universal Church.

1962
  
October 11-Bl. John XXIII opened the second Vatican Council 

December 8-At the closing of the first session of the second Vatican Council Blessed John XXIII, inserted St Joseph into the Canon of the Mass. 

1968
July 25 HUMANAE VITAE(On The Regulation Of Birth). Pope Paul VI. Encyclical Letter Of His Holiness Pope Paul VI. The encyclical re-affirmed the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding abortion, contraception, and other issues pertaining to human life. The encyclical has been controversial because of its prohibition of all forms of artificial contraception, and did not set will with the new cultural revolution taking place. Pope Paul VI did not issue any additional encyclicals in the remaining ten years of his pontificate.  Pope Benedict in 2008 stated that  Humanae Vitae Controversial & Crucial for Humanity's Future    
  
 Christian Europe becoming Muslim

Recent Catholic convert, Magdi Allam, recently asserted that it is relativism that has caused the growth of Islam in the West. Excerpts from (CNA).-"Magdi Allam, warned this week that Islam is growing as a result of the ideology of relativism that pervades the West and claims that there are many truths instead of one unique Truth. 

I believe relativism is a part of the problem but not the real cause. Catholics need to face the fact that Christian Europe is falling because Catholics disobeyed God and the Church by not following the teachings of Pope Paul VI in Humane Vitea.  Non westernized Muslims as a whole do not contracept and they do not abort their babies. 


The birthrate in western nations are dropping quickly well below the "replacement rate" — that is, an average of 2.1 children born to every woman. A recent demographic study shows 1.3 live births per woman in Catholic countries like Portugal and Spain where Muslims are making great in roads. The declining population created a need for an imported work force and Muslims are very happy to immigrate and fill in the gaps we have created by our disobedience to the church.    The Muslim population in Spain will grow by 82 percent by 2030 as the number of people converting to Islam has shown an increase over the past seven years, a new survey shows. See Video: Spain is becoming Muslim Country....Islamic Empire is returning!  



1970's Clown Masses
One would like to believe Masses like these are isolated incidents, but there is evidence that abuses like these (and other reprobated liturgical abuses) are quite common in the United States and abroad. How long is such nonsense to be tolerated? How many warnings from the Holy See condemning such actions need to be written, promulgated, and ignored, before more concrete action is taken? The abuses have to stop.  I believe we are being punished by God because of them. It is part of the reason we have not stemmed the tide with abortion Read more....

1972, June 29

    Smoke of Satan entered Church!

Paul VI  asserts that he has the feeling that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered into the temple of God” (da qualche fessura sia entrato il fumo di Satana nel tempio di Dio (Insegnamenti [1972], 707).

Paul VI Fatima, 1967

1972, June 29 Pope Paul VI in his homily given on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul made a famous remark about the “smoke of Satan” entering into the temple of God. The full text of the homily was not reproduced in the Vatican collection of Paul VI’s teachings (Insegnamenti di Paulo VI Vol. X, 1972). Instead, a summary of the homily was given. 
Within the summary, however, there are some direct quotes from the Pontiff. Two of these are memorable for their references to Satan and the preternatural.

This state of uncertainty even holds sway in the Church.  There was the belief that after the Council there would be a day of sunshine for the history of the Church.  Instead, it is the arrival of a day of clouds, of tempest, of darkness, of research, of uncertainty.  We preach ecumenism but we constantly separate ourselves from others.  We seek to dig abysses instead of filling them in.  How has this come about?  The Pope entrusts one of his thoughts to those who are present:  that there has been an intervention of an adverse power.  Its name is the devil, this mysterious being that the Letter of St. Peter also alludes to.  So many times, furthermore, in the Gospel, on the lips of Christ himself, the mention of this enemy of men returns

Later, Paul VI is also quoted as saying:“We believe … that something preternatural has come into the world specifically to disturb, to suffocate the fruits of the Ecumenical Council, and to prevent the Church from breaking out in a hymn of joy for having recovered in fullness the awareness of herself(Crediamo … in qualcosa di preternaturale venunto nel mondo proprio per turbare, per soffocare i frutti del Concilio Ecumenico, e per impedire che la Chiesa prorompesse nell’inno della gioia di aver riavuto in pienezza la coscienza di sé (Insegnamenti [1972], 708).  Read more:

1980's Eucharistic Reforms begin but not followed just like Humane Vitea was not followed by the bishops and the people in 1968. 

April 17, Inaestimabile Donum  Instruction Concerning Worship of the In 1916 the Angel of Portugal came to Fatima and taught the Children how to make reparation for sacrileges against the Eucharist. This was not taking place in 1916 it has started to take place since Paul VI said the Smoke of Satan entered the church! It's time to stop the wave of liturgicalEucharistic Mystery Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship Approved and Confirmed by Bl. Pope John Paul II.

 Fatima Begins & Ends with the Eucharist

Adoration and Reparation

In 1916 the Angel of Portugal came to Fatima and taught the Children how to make reparation for sacrileges against the Eucharist. This was not taking place in 1916 it has started to take place since Paul VI said the Smoke of Satan entered the church! It's time to stop the wave of liturgical experimentation and liturgical abuse that has overtaken the Catholic Church in many parts of the world. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass needs to be celebrated with reverence and dignity. Clown Masses and Halloween Masses (with Barney Blessings) demonstrate an appalling ignorance as to what really and truly takes place during Holy Mass: The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  

In 244 Origen taught: "Reverence should be given to the smallest particle of the host.  I admonish you as you take part in the Divine Mysteries, when you have received the Body of the Lord; you exercise every care lest a particle fall and any of the consecrated gift perish. You are guilty, and rightly so, if any of it be lost through negligence.” 

 

I have come across extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist who are not properly trained for their commission by their bishops or pastors.   

They were never taught to purify their pyx so consecrated particles remain and our Lord is carried to unspeakable places even into the rest room.I have witnessed priests breaking the extra large hosts while held over their heads. Consecrated particles falling into their hair on their shoulders, the altar and the ground only to be trampled on by the Eucharistic ministers who approach the altar. 

It is my belief that the church and the world are suffering because of how we treat the Blessed Sacrament. Is is also a central part of the Fatima message. It is how the message began in 1916 with the apparition of the Angel.  If we do not correct the abuses we will like Sr Lucia said bring the punishment upon ourselves. 
"Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc.-And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible”. Sister Lucia 1982

©  Photo designed  by Speramus-We Hope for Real Presence Association

Lord I beg you remove the blindness from our eyes so that we can see the abyss we are descending into before it is too late. The events of 9/11 and the world wide financial melt down are all warnings. Bishops and priests instruct your extraordinary ministers and choose them well! Listen to our Lady and make reparation for these sacrileges!

See: A Wonder That We Finite Creatures Created by an Infinite God are Able to Console Him by Worthily Receiving Him in Holy Communion! Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist and Common Sense!  My friends Remember Who you Carry and Where you are Taking Him!Read More!

Historical Events

Leading to Dissolution

of the Soviet Union

Pope Pius XII and the popes after him in subsequent years consecrated and reconsecrated the world and later Russia but never in union with all the Bishops of the world. Our Lord stipulated this condition so the world would know that this grace came from the Immaculate Heart of his Mother. Even the pope has to be exactly obedient to a higher authority when it is requested by God.

On May 13 1981 
Pope John Paul II is shot in St. Peters Square on May 13. During the long months of suffering and recuperation in Gemelli Hospital, the Holy Father requests and studies more deeply documents relating to Fatima. His determination to consecrate Russia with bishops of the world grows stronger. In leaving the clinic he remarks: I have come to understand that the only way to save the world from war, to save it from atheism, is the conversion of Russia according to the message of Fatima.

May 13, 1982 
Pope John Paul II invites the bishops of the world to join him in consecrating the world and with it Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Many Bishops do not receive the invitation in time for the Pope's trip to Fatima, where he accomplishes the consecration. Sr. Lucia later says it did not fulfill the conditions.

October, 1983 
Pope John Paul II, at the Synod of Bishops, renews the 1982 Consecration. This also did not fulfill the conditions as many bishops were not present and were not asked.

Collegial Consecration in Rome

March 25, 1984 
Finally Pope John Paul II, has the statue of Our Lady in the little chapel brought to Rome and in advance sends invitations to every bishop to join him on this date "united with all the pastors of the Church in a particular bond whereby we constitute a body and a college, "consecrates" the whole world, especially the peoples for which by reason of their situation you have particular love and solicitude." shortly after events began to take place that led to the rapid dissolution of the former Soviet Union.

Note:  This was also 100 years after the Vision of Pope Leo XIII  

on October 13, 1884.  Pope Leo XII had a locution hearing Satan and Jesus conversing. Satan boasted to Jesus he would destroy his Church and was granted 100 years to try and destroy God’s Church. It was after this that the pope composed the prayer to St. Michael, which was prayed after each Mass at the foot of the altar.

   Consecration of Russia Fulfilled
 Sr. Lucia tells the papal nuncio to Portugal that the Consecration is fulfilled.

May 13, 1984
One of the largest crowds in Fatima history gathers at the shrine to pray the Rosary for peace.

May 13, 1984
An explosion at the Soviets’ Severomorsk Naval Base destroys two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets’ Northern Fleet. The blast also destroys workshops needed to maintain the missiles as well as hundreds of scientists and technicians. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy has suffered since WWII. Again in the same year on Dec 13. An explosion in Siberia destroyed Russia’s largest ammunition base.

December 19 1984 
Soviet Defense Minister Marshal Ustinov, mastermind of the invasion plans for Western Europe, suddenly and mysteriously dies. Three days later December 22 Marshal Sodolov, the 2nd Minister of Defense died.

March 10, 1985  
Soviet Chairman Konstantin Chernenko dies

March 11, 1985  
Soviet Chairman Mikhail Gorbachev elected

April 26, 1986Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident.     

A little known fact the word Chernobyl 
in Ukrainian is translated as Wormwood Rev. 8:10-11:The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.


May 12, 1988   
Fatima Vigil An explosion wrecked the only factory that made the rocket motors for the Soviets’ deadly SS 24 long-range missiles, which carry ten nuclear bombs each.

August 29, 1989

Sr. Lucia affirms  once more because of the followers of Fr. Gruner in correspondence that the consecration “has been accomplished” and that “God will keep His word.”

November 9, 1989  
Fall of the Berlin Wall  the picture below is a portion of the Berlin Wall donated to the Fatima Sanctuary as part of a thanksgiving for Our Lady of Fatima's role (and many, many rosaries being prayed) in helping bring about the fall of Communism.

Nov-Dec 1989  

Peaceful revolutions in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania

1990  East and West Germany are unified

August 19, 1991 -
74th Anniversary of Our Lady's fourth apparition at Fatima - Communist coup attempts overthrow of Gorbachev who contributed largely to dismantling of Soviet Empire.

August 22, 1991
Feast of the Queenship of Mary -The attempt of Communist coup to return to hard Communism is defeated.

October 12 - 13, 1991 -
First Russian Pilgrimage to Fatima: Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Roman Catholic Archbishop from Moscow leads first Russian pilgrimage group to Fatima. It is televised in Russia on 150 stations and 350 radio stations. Fr. Robert Fox director of Fatima Family Apostolate is asked to be present in Fatima with the Russian group.

December 1991 -

Gorbachev meets the Pope in the Vatican a second time; diplomatic relations were opened between the Vatican and Russia and Latin-rite churches were opened.

December 8th, 1991
Feast of the Immaculate Conception.There begins the Commonwealth of Republics, the end of the USSR. Twelve days later Yeltsin of Russia met with the Pope at the Vatican.

December 25, 1991 

Dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Communist flag is taken down for the last time over the Kremlin in Moscow. Gorbachev resigned and sent a letter to Pope John Paul II. Fifteen republics were freed from Communism.

December 30, 1991
Sister Lucia is reported saying that the defeat of Communism was through Marys intercession.

Russia was converted

from Communism to relative

Freedom of Religion.

Its conversion is ongoing and free. God respects the free will of men. They have freedom to convert or reject the faith. Our Lady never said that Russia would be converted to Catholicism. She said, simply, that it would be converted and a period of peace would be given to the world. If you examine the Historical Events that took place leading to the final dissolution of the Union of Soviet Union It would be impossible for you not to see that God’s hands were involved in the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Beginning on May 13, 1984 just two months after the pope made the consecration in Rome, an explosion took place at the naval base in Russia! God is speaking in providence!

See post: Yes Russia is Consecrated! 

Those who follow Fr. Gruner still argue that Russia was, not converted and the consecration was never made. These people are misleading many from the truth and into disobedience and possible loss of their Catholic faith to disobey legitimate church authority.  They also Argue that the popes were wrong in not revealing the 3rd secret in 1960.

October 11,1992  in an interview that  took place between Sr Lucia and Anthony Cardinal Padiyara of India, Bishop Francis Michaelappa of India, and Fr Francisco Pacheco of Fort Ceara, Brazil. Sr Lucia was asked by Cardinal Padiyara,

"Do God and Our Lady still want the Church to reveal the Third Secret?" Sr Lucia answered, "The Third Secret is not intended to be revealed. It was only intended for the Pope and immediate Church hierarchy. Our Lady never said that it was to be revealed to the public by 1960 at the latest. The Secret was for the Pope."

In Conclusion the Church has suspended Fr. Nicholas from his priestly faculties and is unable to offer Masses at Fatima. As far as I am aware this suspension has not been revoked. In following the Fátima message one must choose between Fr. Gruner’s example of disobedience to legitimate ecclesiastical authority, or Sr. Lucia’s heroic example of obedience to the Church during a difficult time in Church history.
  Sr. Lucia's response to the 1984 Collegial Consecration pdf.

Prayer to St Joseph for a Happy Death!

I would like to conclude what I only started out to do to  invoke St Joseph the model worker who God sent to Fatima during the Miracle of the Sun The church invokes  also you as the Terror of Demons, and her Protector. I also invoke you as the Patron of a Happy Death for all of us when we end the work God has given us in this life. 

O Blessed St Joseph, you were blessed to yield your last breath in the fond embrace of Jesus and Mary. When the seal of death shall close my career and end the work God has given me in this life to do. Please come holy father, with Jesus and Mary to assist me in that hour. Obtain for me this only solace which I ask for, to die like you encircled in their holy arms. Into your sacred hands living and dying, Jesus, Mary and Joseph I commend my soul. Amen

 

Mary came as a Catechist at Fatima and is a Model Catechist for Parents Today!

May 12, 2012, 2:51 pm

≫ Next: Reflections 12th Anniversary Year of Beatifications and Revealing of Third Fatima Secret! Fatima and Islam!

≪ Previous: St Joseph Protector of The Church Named Patron of Workers on May Day 1955!

$

0

0

©  Photo designed  by Speramus-We Hope  for  Real Presence Association

Our Lady was Catechist at Fatima

Catechesis is instruction aimed at deepening the life of faith and conversion to Christ. In the words of the General Catechetical Directory, catechetics "is intended to make men's faith become living, conscious and active, through the light of instruction.  Ideally speaking, in areas where a Christian culture continues to operate, children are evangelized by their parents at home. The parents develop the child's growth in faith through catechesis. This instruction is then supplemented by the Church's catechetical and pre-sacramental programs. 

Having said that:  if the parents themselves are defectively evangelized or not evangelized at all, they are unprepared for catechetical teaching. The instruction will be senseless if the catechized person, in turn, is un-prepared to live the Christian life to set an example in the home to supplement what the church is teaching their children in their Catechism programs.


Tertullian in the first Christian centuries stated: "Christians are not born. They are made." The Church has always understood the absolute necessity of evangelizing and catechizing young children. This is the parents duty for their children and our Lady's appearance at Fatima  preceded by the angel in 1916 who prepared them teaches  parents how to teach their children  working with the the graces God has given them.   Parents must help their  children by teaching them how to practice the virtues. Charity, mercy, prudence justice, fortitude, temperance, humility to overcome the capital sins of pride greed, lust, anger, sloth, envy, and gluttony. The virtues need to be taught to children as Our Lady and the Angel did to the shepherds of Fatima. This is how future vocations are formed in the homes by the example of the parents.

How many parents coddle and pamper their children, never teaching these little souls entrusted to them by God the importance of prayer and sacrifice and the consequences of sin.  We greatly underestimate the capacity of children for prayer and sacrifice! When children are taught by example they are generous in their response to the good. Very often the children's unreserved "offering of self" far surpasses the half-hearted offering of adults, who are overly imbued with self-love and attachment to material wealth, prestige, security, and comfortable living.  

It is reported that on May 13, 1917 by  Rev. Joseph Pelletier, in his book The Sun Danced At Fatima. p. 30. that  a sizable group of children and their catechist were brutally slaughtered by the agents of Lenin as a catechetical lesson was in progress in a Catholic church in Moscow. This vicious attack on the Church graphically symbolizes the forces in the modern world that seek to silence the proclamation of the Word of God—especially to the young. On that very day, maybe at the very hour of the diabolical slaughter of these innocents in Russia, Mary, the Mother of God, came visibly into our world. This time she came to three young, illiterate children in Portugal and began a series of catechetical instructions for the children and, through them, for the entire Church.

Fort more information on the The Catechetical Approach of Our Lady at Fatima   Follow the link for reprint of the pamphlet by Fr. Frederick Miller titled Mary Catechist at Fatima. Fr. Frederick L. Miller, was for some years the President of the World Apostolate of Fatima and is currently a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., he is Chairman of the Department of Systematic Theology at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Our Lady a model Catechist did not spare Little Children; Jacinta, Francisco & Lucia only 6, 8, & 9 years old a frightful vision Hell!

 

Think of that! Through this frightful vision the children were taught the consequences due to sin. That souls who sin and are not repentant will end up on fire burning there for all eternity. As Our Lady spoke to them she opened her lovely hands, disclosing beneath a sea of fire; and plunged in this fire were the demons and the souls, as if they were red-hot coals, transparent and black or bronze colored; with human forms, which floated about in the conflagration, borne by the flames which issued from it with great clouds of smoke, falling on all sides as sparks fall in great conflagrations -- without weight or equilibrium, among shrieks and groans of sorrow and despair which horrify and cause to shudder with fear. The devils were distinguished by horrible and loathsome forms of animals frightful and unknown, but transparent like black coals that have turned red-hot. "Here you have seen Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go," she said at length. "To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace.

Our Lady came to Fatima to combat the atheism, rebellion and materialism of the modern world. She came from God to save souls from unbelief, sin and ultimately from hellfire. She came, begging all believers to join Christ in his work of redemption by living faith-filled and holy lives.

                            

Servant of God Fr. John Hardon, S.J.
On Mary as a Model Catechist 

Servant of God Fr. John Hardon, S.J.

"We do not usually talk about Mary as a catechist and we do not commonly think of her as a model for those who catechize. But the Blessed Virgin Mary is not only a pattern; she is a perfect model of what every catechist in the Catholic Church should be. We say that Mary is the perfect model of what every Catholic catechist should be. In saying this, we affirm what may not be obvious—that Mary was a catechist. She did instruct others in the one, true Faith. And she did it so admirably that we may legitimately call her the Mother of Catechists What are we saying here? We are saying two things: A catechist instructs others, which means teaches others by enlightening the mind to inspire the will. A catechist never merely teaches to instruct the mind, but always to enlighten the mind in order to inspire the will."  Read More....                                                             

To Help Parents become better Catechists consider taking the Basic Catechetical Course with the Marian Catechist Apostolate founded by the Servant of God Fr. John Hardon, S.J.

  

2010 Pope Benedict XVI at Candlelight Rosary Vigil at Fatima

 300,000 pilgrims at candlelight vigil on May 12, 2010

 pray the Rosary along with Pope Benedict in Portugal.

 

Reflections 12th Anniversary Year of Beatifications and Revealing of Third Fatima Secret! Fatima and Islam!

May 13, 2012, 3:49 pm

≫ Next: Let Us give thanks on Solemnity of Corpus Christi for the Greatest Treasure of the Catholic Church!

≪ Previous: Mary came as a Catechist at Fatima and is a Model Catechist for Parents Today!

$

0

0

Penance! Penance!
Penance!  

The 3rd Secret Revealed 

The Silence of Shepherds

The Via Cucis of the Popes

Fatima & Muslims
Interpreting the 3rd Secret

My Immaculate Heart will Triumph!

I recall with gratitude to God the grace he gave for me to be present at Fatima for the Beatifications of the little shepherds Jacinta and Francisco. Somewhere in the sea of humanity on the right side of the center and just behind the priests our little group spent a shivering night outdoors on the 12^th of May, 2000 in order to stake out our claimed spot for the Beatification Ceremony.  Holding on to the spot took some maneuvering and Christian fortitude. As the hour for beatifications drew near we had be firm and steadfast not to have the Portuguese faithful rest it away from us. Being present for this occasion was a great consolation and something I will always be grateful to God for. The remembrance of all the graces from the Jubilee year gives courage to press forward when the crosses of life press more intensely. 

Are things Better or Worse

Since the Great Jubilee 2000?

Have we taken advantage of the Graces afforded us during the Great Jubilee Year? The Holy Doors of Mercy opened to us by the Church? Have we passed through the Holy Doors in repentance for our sins and to make a new beginning?  Or was it just a symbolic act because everyone else was doing it? I can’t  help to think that the world is still plunging towards the final confrontation between Good and Evil. Immediately after the Great Jubilee year, in 2001 we have endured the 911 attacks and the rise of Islamic extremist groups some probably funded by left over Marxist groups in the former Soviet Union, now the Russian Federation. 

Today we live with the constant threat of Terror attacks on Christian and post-Christian West throughout world. Sadly, we are witnessing the effects of our own apostasy of the faith in the use of birth control, sterilizations and abortions. As a result Christian Europe is fast on its way to becoming Muslim. Christians are choosing a life of pleasure-seeking over procreation, faith and family.

The recent Global financial crisis of 2007,considered by many economists as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930sstill threatens us with the possibility of another world wide depression. “War is a punishment for sin!” Our Lady of Fatima told this to the shepherd children. She warned that God would punnish the world for its disobedience to His will through wars, hunger, and persecutions of the Church, the Pope, and the faithful. "If My requests are not granted, Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father (Pope) will suffer much and various nations will be annihilated."

CARDINAL ANGELO SODANO made the following comment At the end of the Mass presided over by the Holy Father at Fatima announcing that the 3rd Secret will be made public: The successive events of 1989 led, both in the Soviet Union and in a number of countries of Eastern Europe, to the fall of the Communist regimes which promoted atheism. For this too His Holiness offers heartfelt thanks to the Most Holy Virgin. In other parts of the world, however, attacks against the Church and against Christians, with the burden of suffering they bring, tragically continue. Even if the events to which the third part of the “secret” of Fatima refers now seem part of the past, Our Lady's call to conversion and penance, issued at the start of the twentieth century, remains timely and urgent today.

"Prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the right path to take for the future.” 

 Benedict XVI June 26, 2000 Commenting on the third secret of Fatima as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

2001 Cover Soul Magazine-Artist Depiction of 3rd Secret

  

Seeing that the world is still restless with Wars and rumors of Wars why isn’t the three-fold cry for PENANCE in the third secret being shouted from every Catholic pulpit? Why are we not hearing this Cry of the Angel of the judgment of God proclaimed repeatedly by our Priests and Bishops?  It is the Gospel message that Jesus says to his hearers


“I say to you: but unless youshall do penance, you shall all likewise perish.  Luke 13:1-9

Penance!   Penance! 

Penance!

THE PATH OF PENANCE AT FATIMA

PILGRIMS APPROACH THE SANCTUARY ON THEIR KNEES

Why are our Shepherds Silent?

The shepherds silence while often injurious to himselfwill always harm his flock!”

A recent Homily by St. Gregory the Great in the Office of Readings shed light for me on our present situation in the church and why the Message of Fatima with its cry for penance and conversion is not preached.  St. Gregory writes:  “Look about you and see how full the world is of priests, yet in God’s harvest a laborer is rarely to be found.  Pray for priest that they may have the strength to work on our behalf! That their tongues may not grow weary of exhortation. That after they have accepted the office of preaching their silence may not condemn them before the just judge!—Frequently the preachers tongue is held fast on account of his own wickedness. On the other hand it also happens because of the peoples own sins. The Lord tells Ezekiel: ‘I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth so that you shall be dumb and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.’  He clearly means this: “The word of preaching will be taken away from you because as long as this people irritate me by their deeds, they are unworthy to hear the exhortations of truth!  It is not easy to know for what reasons the preachers words were withheld his own wickedness or the peoples, but it is indisputable that the shepherds silence while often injurious to himself will always harm his flock!”

“The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times—the signs of our time—with special insight... The insistent invitation of Mary Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness” (Pope John Paul II, Message for the 1997 World Day of the Sick, No. 1, Insegnamenti, XIX, 2 [1996], 561).

 Fatima and Islam

Since the fateful day of Sept 11, 2001 we now see more clearly that the Muslims who also have God for their Father play an integral role in this final Mystery of Fatima in the battle between the forces of Good and the forces of evil. God the Father, Creator of all things visible and invisible, allowed the Mother of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, true God and true man, to be venerated with the same name as Mohammad’s daughter, Fatima!  Imagine that! This is a great Mystery still buried in the Fatima Message!  it undoubtedly will be made clear in the unfolding God’s providence over time and reveals his plans to men at the proper time and season.Muslims who also await the Day of Judgment with us, when God will render judgment to all those who await the Resurrection from the dead, should be treated by Christians with respect of having the same Father in Heaven who created us all!  

The Apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima Portugal are intimately tied to the Islamic world. Islam is an Arabic word that can be defined as "to make peace." Islam is the religion founded by Mohammed, which considers the Koran as its holy book. In addition, Islam accepts the New Testament of the Christians and the Old Testament of the Jews as Divinely inspired works.
  
The two great women of Islam are the Virgin Mary of Nazareth and Mohammed's daughter, Fatima.  After the death of his daughter, Fatima, Mohammed wrote of her: "Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary".  God could have sent his mother anywhere else in the world but he chooses this plot of land called Fatima. The land was named such by a Christian leader who married a Muslim maiden named after Mohammed's daughter. She converted to the Christian faith and took the name Oureana she practiced great charity among the poor people surrounding the Castle of Ourem.

The Providence of  God in sending His Mother to Fatima and allowing her to be venerated with the name of Mohammad's daughter, links the Muslim People and Islam, with the Mystery of Fatima.

Below the Castle of Ourem near the Fatima Apparition Site where    a Muslim Princess named after Mohammad's daughter Fatima     converted to the Christian Faith and took the christian name Ourana

    History of the Location of Fatima 

Where Our Lady Appeared in 1917

The legend of the name of the village of Ourem and Oureana the moorish princess is retold by Friar Bernardino de Brito in his Chronicle of the Order of Cister (1602): In a surprise attack on the St John's Day in 1158, a Christian knight, Gonçalo Hermigues and his companions kidnapped a Moorish princess with the famous Arab name of Fatima.  The knight took Fatima to a small village of the recently-created Kingdom of Portugal, in the Serra de Aire hills. The princess fell in love with the Christian knight and decided to become herself a Christian, taking the name of Oureana. They got married and the princess received as prize the town which she called Ourém, after her name. She lived in the Castle and practiced great charity to the poor peasants living in the valley below. So beloved had she become a peasant who was the recipient of her charity named a parcel of his land after her birth name of Fatima. It was to this very small plot of land named after a Moorish princess that God sent his mother in 1917.  The town of Fatima rose up on this land after the appearance of Our Lady in 1917.  It was not to nearby Adjustral where our Lady  appeared in August after the children were taken to jail that the apparitons took place.  

She could have been called Our Lady of Adjustral. This act of Divine Providence of God by sending Our Lady to this small hamlet called Fatima, connected the Muslim Religion and Islam with the drama of Fatima.

An editorial for the Rosary Net  published on line by Father Thomas Carleton  made the following poignant comments that need to be prayed over and considered by Christians as we continue to meditate on the connection of the Fatima Message with those of the Muslim Faith.

“We have to make known that despite the accusation of violence so often made against Muslim extremists; they are not guilty of the terrible slaughter of innocent life in the womb that occurs with such lack of scruples throughout the western world.  Likewise in Islamic countries they maintain a high respect for the dignity of true marriage between a man and a woman. The Holy Father, Benedict XVI after his speech at the GermanyUniversity, had an opportunity to re-affirm the Church's important teaching regarding the religion of the Muslims 

  

* ‘The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the Day of Judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, alms giving and fasting’" Benedict XVI-2006

At Fatima we learn that there is a price to be paid individually and collectively for the offenses committed against almighty God. We must do penance as individuals and as nations, to avoid the just punishments of God. All of humanity will suffer Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The good with the bad. In the third part of the secret of Fatima we see the intercessory role of Our Lady, saving the world from great apocalyptic suffering and destruction. She is able to forestall the punishments through the prayers: Rosaries and Communions of Reparations offered for God’s mercy to descend upon poor sinners. 

Interpreting the 3rd Secret

The Vatican Information Service published a synopsis of the Commentary of Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI on the third secret of Fatima.  I am including  the following excepts from the article published by the Vatican Information Service JUNE 26, 2000 (VIS)  Pope Benedict XVI said, as  prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that the "key word" of the third secret of Fatima "is the triple cry, 'Penance, Penance, Penance!'

 “The images of the secret: ‘The angel with the flaming sword on the left of the Mother of God recalls similar images in the Book of Revelation. This represents the threat of judgment which looms over the world. Today the prospect that the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of fire no longer seems pure fantasy: Man himself, with his inventions, has forged the flaming sword.”  Benedict XVI June 26, 2000 Commenting on the third secret of Fatima as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Sister Lucia had already given an indication for interpreting the third part of the “secret” in a letter to the Holy Father, dated 12 May 1982.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       "Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc.-And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible”. Sister Lucia 1982

“The vision (3rd Secret)  then shows the power which stands opposed to the force of destruction  the splendor of the Mother of God and, stemming from this in a certain way, the summons to penance. In this way, the importance of human freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, the image which the children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed. Indeed, the whole point of the vision is to bring freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction. ... Its meaning is to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction. Therefore we must totally discount fatalistic explanations of the 'secret,' such as, for example, the claim that the would-be assassin of May 13 1981 was merely an instrument of the divine plan guided by Providence. ... Rather, the vision speaks of dangers and how we might be saved from them." Benedict XVI June 26, 2000 commenting on the third secret of Fatima as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

                Text of Third Secret

Immediately after the vision of hell the children beheld the following vision written by Lucia: “At the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance , Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God. …. 

    
The Via Crucis

    of the Popes

                                   

        

A drawing from J. Gill illustrating the 3rd  part of the secret of Fatima taken from the last book of Sister Lucia, “Calls from the Message of Fatima”   Secção de Livraria, Cova da Iria 2496-908 Fatima, Portugal

  

"In the Via Crucis of an entire century, the figure of the Pope 
has a special role."

In his arduous ascent of the mountain we can undoubtedly see a convergence of different Popes. Beginning from Pius X up to the present Pope, they all shared the sufferings of the century and strove to go forward through all the anguish along the path which leads to the Cross. In the vision, the Pope too is killed along with the martyrs. When, after the attempted assassination on 13 May 1981, the Holy Father had the text of the third part of the 'secret' brought to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it his own fate? He had been very close to death, and he himself explained his survival in the following words: '... it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death' (May 13 1994). That here 'a mother's hand' had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces which can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies.”  Benedict XVI June 26, 2000 Commenting on the third secret of Fatima as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

    My Immaculate Heart 

Will Triumph!

In order that the faithful may better receive the message "I would like finally to mention another key expression of the 'secret' which has become justly famous: 'my Immaculate Heart will triumph.' What does this mean? The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The 'fiat' of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Savior into the world because, thanks to her 'Yes,' God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God.  But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: 'In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world.' The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise."  
Benedict XVI June 26, 2000 Commenting on the third secret of Fatima as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

              

Farewell Procession on the 

13th of the Month May-October

                    



Let Us give thanks on Solemnity of Corpus Christi for the Greatest Treasure of the Catholic Church!

June 7, 2012, 8:00 am

≫ Next: Will the Mission of the Prophet Elijah culminate in the Apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima?

≪ Previous: Reflections 12th Anniversary Year of Beatifications and Revealing of Third Fatima Secret! Fatima and Islam!

$

0

0

Bl. John Paul II during a  Corpus Christi procession in Rome

Pope John Paul II often spoke of the Eucharist calling it "the greatest treasure of the Catholic Church" Yet, sadly how few Catholics appreciate  and make use this great gift God himself has given to us to have in our midst until the end of time!

Below are excerpts taken from a talk that Pope John Paul II gave at Phoenix Park during his historic three-day visit to Ireland, from September 29 to October 1, 1979.

  

Yes, it is from the Eucharist that all of us receive the grace and strength for daily living--to live real Christian lives, in the joy of knowing that God loves us, that Christ died for us, and that the Holy Spirit lives in us. We cannot live on the glories of our past Christian history. Our union with Christ in the Eucharist must be expressed in the truth of our lives today--in our actions, in our behavior, in our lifestyle, and in our relation ships with others. For each one of us the Eucharist is a call to ever greater effort, so that we may live as true followers of Jesus: truthful in our speech generous in our deeds, concerned, respectful of the dignity and rights of all persons, whatever their rank or income, self-sacrificing, fair and just kind, considerate, compassionate and self-controlled-looking to the well being of our families, our young people, our country, Europe and the world. 

The truth of our union with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is tested by whether or not we really love our fellow men and women; it is tested by how we treat others, especially our families: husbands and wives, children and parents, brothers and sisters. It is tested by whether or not we try to be reconciled with our enemies, by whether or not we forgive those who hurt us or offend us. It is tested by whether we practice in life what our faith teaches us. We must always remember what Jesus said. "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (Jn. 15:14). The Eucharist helps love to triumph in us--love over hatred, zeal over indifference!  

Read More

 

THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

 OUR HIDDEN JESUS!

Above Photo Eucharistic Benediction at Fatima

The Children at Fatima often referred to Jesus in the Eucharist as the Hidden Jesus. Francisco knowing that he was going to die soon preferred to spend his school time praying to the “Hidden Jesus” in the Tabernacle. His great concern was to console His sorrowing Lord and the Heart of His Mother.

The following prayer of petition and Love to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament our Hidden God! It is a beautiful testimony of love and devotion to the Hidden Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  The author is unknown to me at this time. I wanted to post this for Corpus Christi to share these beautiful thoughts of Our Humble  Hidden God in the Blessed Sacrament. May these words prayed from loving hearts console our Hidden Lord and inflame our hearts to follow him wherever he goes!  If anyone recognizes the prayer and the Saint who composed the words please let me know.

O JESUS, HIDDEN GOD,
I CRY TO THEE! O JESUS, HIDDEN LIGHT, I TURN TO THEE!

O JESUS, HIDDEN LOVE, I RUN TO THEE! 

WITH ALL THE STRENGTH I HAVE I WORSHIP THEE! WITH ALL  THE LOVE I HAVE I CLING TO THEE; WITH ALL MY SOUL, I LONG TO BE WITH THEE, AND FEAR NO MORE TO FAIL, OR FALL FROM THEE.

O JESUS DEATHLESS LOVE WHO SEEKEST ME,

THOU, WHO DIDST DIE FOR LONGING LOVE OF ME.

THOU, KING IN ALL THY BEAUTY COME TO ME,

AND GO NO MORE DEAR LORD AWAY FROM ME.

Eucharistic Adoration at Fatima Shrine, Portugal

O GOD, MOST BEAUTIFUL,
MOST PRICELESS ONE; 
O GOD, MOST GLORIOUS,
UNCREATED ONE; O GOD, ETERNAL BEATIFIC ONE;
O GOD, O INFINITE AND HIDDEN ONE; O GOD IMMENSE, O GOD THE LIVING ONE.

THOU, WISDOM OF THE EVERLASTING ONE;

THOU, EVER LOVED, AND EVER LOVING ONE.

MAKE ME, O HOLY GOD THY TREASURED ONE;

MAKE ME, O GLORIOUS LOVE, THY PRECIOUS ONE;

MAKE ME, O HIGHEST GOOD, THY LONGING ONE;

MAKE ME, O BLESSED LIGHT, THY CHOSEN ONE;

MAKE ME, FOREVER MORE, THY LOVING ONE.

MY SOUL IS DARK, AWAY FROM THEE,MY OWN.

MY EYES ARE DIM IN SEEKING THEE, MY OWN. 
MY FLESH DOTH PINE AWAY FROM THEE, MY OWN.

MY HEART LEAPS UP WITH JOY TO THEE, MY OWN.

MY SPIRIT FAINTS RECEIVING THEE MY OWN.

WHERE, IN THE HEIGHT OF HEAVEN, IS LIGHT LIKE THEE? WHERE, IN THE BREADTH OF HEAVEN, IS BLISS LIKE THEE? WHERE, IN THE DEPTH OF HEAVEN, IS PEACE LIKE THEE? WHERE, IN THE HOME OF LOVE, IS LOVE LIKE THEE?

Card. Ratzinger the next pope gives Holy Communion to Bl. Pope John Paul II

WITH ALL MY HEART I GIVE MYSELF TO THEE;

AND WAITING WAIT, O KING AND SPOUSE FOR THEE;

TILL I AM ONE FOREVER MORE WITH THEE.

O SWEETEST JESUS, BRING ME HOME TO THEE.

FREE ME, O DEAREST GOD, FROM ALL BUT THEE,

AND BREAK ALL CHAINS THAT KEEP ME BACK FROM THEE; CALL ME O THRILLING LOVE, I FOLLOW THEE;THOU ART MY ALL, AND I HAVE NOUGHT FOR THEE.

O HIDDEN LOVE, WHO NOW ART LOVING ME.

O WOUNDED LOVE, WHO ONCE WAS DEAD FOR ME,

O SUN CROWNED LOVE, WHO ART ALIVE FOR ME.

O PATIENT LOVE, WHO WEARIEST NOT OF ME.

O BEAR WITH ME, TILL I AM LOST IN THEE.

O BEAR WITH ME, TILL I AM FOUND IN THEE.

The particles of the Blessed Sacrament are the Eternal, Loving, life-giving Gold of God!   
Let us make reparation for those who no longer discern the "Hidden Jesus" in the Most Blessed Sacrament!  Follow Link

---

Will the Mission of the Prophet Elijah culminate in the Apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima?

July 16, 2012, 3:15 pm

≫ Next: Adeamus ad Thronum Gratciae-Our Lady Mother of Divine Grace

≪ Previous: Let Us give thanks on Solemnity of Corpus Christi for the Greatest Treasure of the Catholic Church!

$

0

0

Subjects in this post:

1. Will the Mission of the Prophet Elijah culminate in the Apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima?

2. Another Hidden Meaning for the Brown Scapular?

3. Triumph of Mary or the Annihilation of Nations its up to us!

4. Fatima gives the specific formula “to save mankind from self-destruction.” Pope John Paul II

5. Through the Rosary and scapular Our Lady will prepare us for the Second Advent of Christ!
6. Clouds are symbols for the Holy Spirit. The clouds signifying the first second Advents of Mary.
7. Important events have taken place with God on or within the clouds.

Conclusion: It appears that the mystery of Lourdes and Fatima, in the providence of God, have a symbolic connection with the Prophet Elijah in his decisive battle with the prophets of Baal!

Our Lady of Mt Carmel  and the Prophet Elijah  at Fatima and Lourdes

God choose in his providence that the Queen of Heaven and Earth was to make her last apparition at Lourdes on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16th 1858, and in the last public vision of Fatima, Our Lady also appeared as Our Lady of Mt Carmel on October 13, 1917.  At Fatima she  was holding the Rosary and the scapular out to a subdued and frightened crowd as they beheld  the Miracle of the Sun. Many in the crowd were terrified because they thought during the time it was the end of the world.

  The Prophet Elijah

Founder of the Carmelites

Prophet Elijah Founder of the Carmelites Statue by Agostino Cornacchini            Located in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican  Feast Day - July 20

Lourdes and Fatima belong to a long line of Approved Marian Apparitions leading back to the founding of the Carmelite Order on Mt Carmel by the Prophet Elijah. Here  Elijah battled 450 priests of Baal in a public spiritual contest which led to their defeat and ruin. He challenged the people to stop hobbling first on one foot and then on the other but to choose who is God in Israel Yahweh or Baal. According to the story, which can be found in the First Book of Kings, chapter 18, Elijah’s sacrifice was consumed by fire from heaven and proved to the people that Yahweh was the true God. Is it possible God is sending his Mother the Queen of prophets to help us defeat the prophets of Baal resurrected in our own time.               

                                                   

                                                                  

In the book of Malachi Elijah's return is prophesied to take place "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." He is  a forerunner in both advents of the Messiah.

It seems that  Heaven has confirmed Our Lady at Fatima in the same mission of the prophet Elijah. Our Lady at Fatima appearing  in her Carmelite habit with a similar fire from Heaven during the miracle of the sun. The stupendous Fatima Miracle is the Greatest Supernatural Event of the 20th Century and does not belong to faith or science it is an Historical Event! 

The Miracle of the Sun authenticated Fatima as supernatural in origin and also is a prefigurement or warning of a future catastrophe if the simple requests made at Fatima by our Lady are not heeded. 

See: Fulfilling the requests of Our Lady at Fatima the means given by God to obtain the final Victory of Good Over Evil.                                              

                                    

Surely the day is coming as fire....  

Picture Depicts the Prophet Elijah as Fire From Heaven Consumes the Sacrifice James Tissot (1836-1902 French)

...in a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. 3 Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty. 4 "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. Malachi 4:1-5

The Cloud that Prefigured

the First Advent of Our Lady

Elijah ascended Mount Carmel to pray to God for the salvation of the Israel which was suffering a terrible drought at that time. Elijah "Casting himself down upon the earth he put his face between his knees." 1 Kings 18:42. He sent his servant seven times higher up the mountaintop to look for rain. Elijah, never wavered in his confidence, and received the good news on the seventh try. Elijah saw the cloud as a symbol of the Virgin who would become the mother of the Messiah. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” Genesis 3:15

"Behold a little cloud arose
out of the sea like a man's foot."

1 Kings 18:44

View of the north Etzba Ridge on Mount Carmel. 

Note a little cloud on top right portion of photo 

Soon thereafter, torrential rains fell upon the parched land and the people of Israel were saved. Later an austere community of hermits followed Elijah and prayed in expectation of the advent of a Virgin-Mother who would bring salvation to mankind. They also saw the cloud as a symbol of the Virgin who would become the mother of the Messiah and made it their spiritual mission to pray for the advent of the Virgin.

In previous posts concerning Our Lady of Guadalupe we began to dialogue on how Heaven speaks to us in signs and symbols in the various Marian apparitions. More often these signs and symbols are heard louder than the spoken words in the apparitions. 
See: From Guadalupe to Fatima A Prophetic Mystery

No words Were  Heard During

The Apparitions of Knock

Yet Volumes Were Written on the Event

©Speramus-We-Hope

For example in the Apparition of Our Lady of Knock, in Ireland. Our Lady was seen with St. Joseph among a choir of Angels adoring Our Lord during the offering of the Holy Mass by St. John the Apostle. No word was ever spoken but volumes can and have been written on the figures and events surrounding the apparitions. Most authentic apparitions are not wordy but direct and to the point. Men have free will to choose to believe or not. Heaven does not usually say the same message innumerable times in different ways creating muddled, waters. Clarity of words direct and to the point is a good sign that God is behind an apparition. Later as men sit back to reflect and meditate deeper hidden meanings can be discovered in the manifestations and applied to particular periods in the providence of God.

It appears that the mystery of Lourdes and Fatima, in the providence of God, have a symbolic connection with the Prophet Elijah in his decisive battle with the prophets of Baal!

 Clouds are Symbols of 

The Holy Spirit

The symbolic uses of clouds in scripture are many; they are often used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit because clouds provide life-giving water to a parched earth and thisrtiing humanity awaiting the waters of baptism. In the Old Testament, God's presence is made manifest and His glory shown forth in a cloud. God often leads his people with a cloud or appears to them in a cloud. (Exodus 16:10) The image of a cloud is often combined with the image of light to symbolize the God who is hidden and mysterious but also revealing and luminous.

 At  Lourdes  

The last apparition of Lourdes occurred on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, July 16, 1858. From this we may conclude that Heaven wished to bring Lourdes into the same mystery of Mt. Carmel and the prophet Elijah who prayed for the Advent of the Immaculate Virgin who would bear the Messiah.  Here at Lourdes, Our Lady called herself the Immaculate Conception, confirming the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX in his constitution Ineffabilis Deus December 8, 1854.  The woman foretold in the book of Genesis; who would crush the head of the serpent deceiver of mankind.

©Speramus-We Hope

Important Events

Have Occurred with God

On or Within Clouds

The apparitions at Lourdes, symbolic for the cleansing waters of baptism and often take place in foggy damp weather. The clouds descend on the mountain surrounding the cave and Bernadette sometimes seemed to enter the cloud in order to converse with Mary. Similar to Moses who entered the meeting tent after the cloud descended upon it and on Mt. Horeb entered the cloud and received the 10 Commandments.

     At  Fatima    

         

The identification with the Mystery of Mt. Carmel is even more apparent. Mary came transported upon a cloud from the east similar to the the cloud rising from the ocean that Elijah saw that eventually inundated the earth with life giving rain ending a severe draught. Could this, along with other mysteries still hidden within the drama of Fatima, Signify a Second Advent with Mary?  Fatima seems to announce the Second Advent Mary as seen in the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation: The woman clothed with the sun the moon under her feet, and who with the help of God, prepares the church to meet Christ in his second advent his glorious second coming.

Through these (Rosary & Scapular)

Our Lady Will Prepare the World

For the Second Advent of Christ

The Brown Scapular was Our Lady’s last loving appeal to souls to wear as a sign of Consecration to Her Immaculate Heart and is endowed with many privileges from the church including the Sabbatine Privilege. Lucia of Fatima said that "Our Lady never looked as beautiful as when she appeared at Fatima during the Miracle of the Sun in Her Carmelite Habit and the very fact that she was holding the Brown Scapular tells us that she wants us to take it and USE IT!”  Sr. Lucia said: "OUR LADY WANTS EVERYONE TO WEAR THE BROWN SCAPULAR: IT IS THE SIGN OF CONSECRATION TO HER IMMACULATE HEART!!"

The devils revealed to Francis of Yepes, the brother of St. John of the Cross that three things especially tormented them The first is the NAME OF JESUS; the second, the NAME OF MARY; and third, THE BROWN SCAPULAR OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL. "Take off that habit," they cried to him, "which snatches too many souls from us. All those clothed in it die piously and escape us." God will perform great wonders for his church when he ushers in the Triumph of Mary through the devout wearing of the Brown Scapular. 

    St. Dominic’s Prophecy  

 on the Rosary and the Scapular,  

of the Blessed Virgin Mary--AD 1208

  

“ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY 

AND  THE  SCAPULAR, 

SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD."

  
Another Hidden Mission for

the Brown Scapular?

The Brown Scapular  may also have a similiar symbolic mission as the blood over the doors of the Jews during the Passover. Our Lady held out the scapular to the crowd during the Miracle of the sun which foreshadowed a purification and a need for protection. This is offered to all who are consecrated to her and place themselves under her mantle of protection. When the church passes through the period of purification leading to the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, the scapular will identify us in this future battle as Children of Mary, under her mantle of protection. It will protect us from the destroying angels of the future Apocalypse and their various manifestations during the prolonged period of trial. We must be marked as a child of Mary wearing her brown scapular and fulfilling the Simple requests of Fatima to arrive at the Triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart. It does not mean we will not suffer! Just the contrary, we are called to Imitate the Life of Christ in this conflict with the church who also must walk the steps of her founder. It means that we will have the strength  as our Lord did from the Father to accomplish God's will for each of our lives, with Mary at our side as she walked beside the Lord during his Passion and Death. 

Triumph of Mary or 

 Annihilation of Nations?

Fatima Gives the Specific Formula

“to save mankind from self-destruction.”Pope John Paul II

A drawing from J. Gill illustrating the third part of the secret pf Fatima, taken 
from the book of Sister Lucia of Fatima, “Calls from the Message of Fatima”,
 Secção de Livraria, Cova da Iria 2496-908 Fatima, Portugal

The means given to us by God in obtaining the final triumph of Mary "The Woman Clothed in the Sun" can be gleaned from meditation on the events of Fatima along with the other Marian Apparitions APPROVED BY THE CHURCH in the light of the Fatima Message.

The urgency of our response can be seen by the fact that Pope John Paul II decided to  make the secret known in June 2000, with the comment that: “AS WE APPROACH THE NEW MILLENNIUM IT SEEMS THAT THE WORDS OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA ARE NEARING THEIR FULFILLMENT.”

Later the Vatican document explaining the Third Secret of Fatima clarifies that: “The Angel with the flaming sword” recalls similar images in the Book of Revelation. Images that represent the threat of judgment over the world. Today the prospect that the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of fire is no longer pure fantasy. Man, himself, with his inventions, has forged the flaming sword.”

“Before releasing this last secret of Fatima, Pope John Paul II asked Sister Lucia for her interpretation. She replied that the visions (of the Angel of Justice, the mountain of corpses, the ruined city, etc.) referred to the part of Our Lady’s message, which ended with the words: “SEVERAL NATIONS WILL BE ANNIHILATED.” She added: “If we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides.”

Lucia’s comments seemed to indicate that the world is almost inexorably proceeding to self-destruction. The Pope also appeared to share this view in his Fatima letter of October 13, 1977, in which His Holiness said, the greatness of Fatima is that it gives the specific formula “to save mankind from self-destruction.”

Through the centuries Our Lady of Mount Carmel kept a constant watch over her children, ever solicitous to intercede for them and lead them to Her Divine Son. Amidst the sea of chaos, confusion and impiety raging in the world today, may Our Lady of Mount Carmel grant us strength and fortitude so we may all remain faithful to Her Son and His Holy Church.  
For More Info and to view clips of the 13th Day

Adeamus ad Thronum Gratciae-Our Lady Mother of Divine Grace

July 23, 2012, 2:53 pm

≫ Next: Fatima Apparitions in August---"I say to you: unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3

≪ Previous: Will the Mission of the Prophet Elijah culminate in the Apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima?

$

0

0

Mater Divinae Gratiae
Mother of Divine Grace  

This Carmelite Feast Day, on July 23, concludes the octave of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. We honor Mary as Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace since she is the Mother of the Son of God, the Author of all Grace.

Holy Mary, Virgin

Mother of Divine Grace

***

 Adeamus ad Thronum Gratciae

    "Let us proceed to and approach the throne of grace" 

 (Hebrews 4)

'The Blessed Virgin Mary was eternally predestined, in the context of the Incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. As decreed by divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving Mother of the divine Redeemer, His associate, uniquely generous, and the Lord's humble servant. She conceived, bore, and nourished Christ; presented Him to the Father in the Temple; and was united with Him in His suffering as He died on the cross. In a completely unparalleled way she cooperated, by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity, with our Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is Mother to us all in the order of grace'  (Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church, 61).

Prayer to Our Lady Mother of Grace

by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.

Mary, Mother of God, I believe that divine grace is absolutely necessary for the performing of any act that is meritorious for eternal life. I am grateful to your divine Son for this priceless gift of God, for by His Passion and death He not only reinstated us in the friendship of His heavenly Father, but also purchased for us all the graces we stand in need of to attain eternal life.   

I also believe that grace is a free gift of God, and I have no claim to it except as a member of His holy Church, which is the mystical body of Christ. Whoever abides in this Church will bring forth much salutary fruit; whereas they who willingly separate themselves from it must wither away spiritually. How strongly Jesus reminded me of this: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remain on the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15, 4).

Help me to be deeply grateful for God's generosity toward me. I have been especially blessed as a Catholic, for God has given me graces which He has not given to everyone else. The Catholic Church the Gospels, the sacraments, the Mother of Divine Grace as my advocate—these are among the special blessings with which I am favored. I know that much will be required from those to whom much is given. Help me to make good use of the graces given me by God. May my faith influence my conduct. May the instructions I receive increase the love of God in me and strengthen my determination to serve Him with greater zeal. May I derive all the beneficial results the holy sacraments are to produce in my soul.

Mary, My Mother, I realize that I have not always corresponded faithfully with these graces. I will not be discouraged, but rather go with confidence to you, the throne of grace. Even though my past sinfulness may have made me unworthy to appear before God, I trust that you will appeal to God in my behalf as the Mother of Divine Grace. Through your prayers you will obtain forgiveness for my past negligence. You will obtain for me grace to be faithful to God during the rest of my life.

Above all, I beg of you to secure for me in the our of death the grace of final perseverance: that triumphant grace which crowns the measure of God's rifts here below and which is followed by the possession of God in heaven.....For  Prayer

Fatima Apparitions in August---"I say to you: unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3

August 19, 2012, 5:33 pm

≫ Next: The Fatima Message Embraces the Holy Father in Prayer and Sacrifice!

≪ Previous: Adeamus ad Thronum Gratciae-Our Lady Mother of Divine Grace

$

0

0

Fr. John DeMarchi

The most widely cited descriptions of the events reported at Fatima are taken from the writings of Fr. John John De Marchi, an Italian Catholic priest and researcher.  Fr. De Marchi spent seven years in Fátima, from 1943 to 1950, conducting original research and interviewing the principals at undisturbed length. He later helped build the Consolata Seminary in Fatima and his last years were devoted to meeting pilgrims that he met from all over the world during his years he spent in his mission work for Ethopia.

He wrote many books on Fatima most notable The True Story of Fatima.

 The Following details on the apparition of Our Lady at Vihinos on August 19th are taken from his writings and the Memoirs of Sr. Lucia; Fatima in Lucia's own Words

The Apparitions of Our Lady 

at Fatima in August

The 13th day of August had dawned and everyone  wanted to see and question the children, to recommend their petitions to them, so that we could transmit them to the most Holy Virgin… In the midst of all this commotion, an order came from the Administrator, telling them to go to their aunt's house, where the administrator  was waiting… When they arrived, he interrogated them there,wand made fresh attempts to force them to reveal the secret and to promise that we would not go back to the Cova da Iria… Finally in desperation he had the children arrested and taken to jail.  

Meanwhile, in the Cova at noon on the 13th the characteristic external signs of the Apparition appeared for the benefit of the crowd, the greatest crowd to that time. After they ceased the crowd dispersed, as yet unaware of the trickery of the government taking the children.

While in prison, Jacinta wept bitterly, for she was so homesick for her mother and all the family. Francisco tried to cheer her saying, "Even if we never see our mother again, let's be patient! We can offer it for the conversion of sinners. The worst thing would be if Our Lady never came back again! That is what hurts me most. But I offer this as well for sinners…" The children where once again heroic in their convictions not to betray the secrets that were given to them by the Lady.  The administrator tried bribes, threats of death and locking them in a cell with other "criminals" in order to get them to recant their story. It was to no avail. Despite their ages, their belief in the Lady and their courage was unshakeable.

© Original Drawing for Speramus-We Hope

Their cell mates visibly moved at the childrens plight offered to pray the rosary with them as the pinned a medal of Our Lady to the prison wall.

The children were returned to the doorsteps of the parish rectory on the 15th of August. On Sunday the 19th of August. They were with the sheep in a place called Valinhos.It  was located on the side of the same hillock opposite Aljustrel where the angel  had appeared twice to them in 1916.  Valinhos was  a little farther north and closer to thier home. Around 4pm they felt something supernatural approaching them in the breeze that enveloped them. Moments later, they saw Our Lady.

 August 19 
the Apparition at Valinhos

The Shrine built where Our Lady appeared August 19th.

"What do you want of me?" Lucia asked again

"I want you to continue going to the Cova da Iria on the 13th, and to continue praying the Rosary every day. In the last month, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe."

"What do you want done with the money that the people leave in the Cova da Iria?"

I want you to have two ardors [litters to carry statues] made, for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. I want you and Jacinta to carry one of them with two other girls. You will both dress in white. And then I want Francisco, with three boys helping him, to carry the other one. The boys, too, will be dressed in white. What is left over will help towards the construction of a chapel that is to be built"

I would like to ask you to cure some sick persons," Lucia continued.

Some I will cure during the year." our Lady replied

Then, looking very sad, she  Lady said: "Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them."

Having said that she departed as she had on the other occasions rising slowly towards the East.

  
 SACRIFICE YOURSELVES 
FOR SINNERS

YOU HAVE SEEN HELL 

WHERE THE SOULS OF POOR SINNERS GO  

"Sacrifice for sinners and repeat many times, especially when you make a sacrifice: O my Jesus, this is out of love for you, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!"  

© Original Drawing for Speramus-We Hope

The vision of hell in July by now had thoroughly absorbed the children with  Mary's plea for prayer and penance. They did everything they could to answer it. They prayed for hours while lying prostrate on the ground and went as long as they could without drinking, in the burning heat of the Portuguese summer. They also went without food, as a sacrifice for sinners, to save them from hell, the vision of which had so profoundly effected them. They even knotted some pieces of old rope around their waists as a form of mortification, not removing them day or night. 

In September Our Lady had to tell them that God did not want them to wear the rope at night.The rope was worn around the waist and It was one of the most painful mortifications the children offered for the conversion of sinners. Also, they did not eat snacks and abstained from drinking water. But the greatest sacrifices were the sacrifices the mission of Our Lady demanded: the humiliations, curiosity, annoyance of the people, unending visits, questions, persecutions, ridicule, and even prison. 

Photo taken after the July apparition the Children had seen a vision of Hell!

May these Blessed Children from Heaven intercede for us who have  sinned  much to obtain for us a part of their spirit of penance. Our eternity depends on it!  " I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish."   Luke 13:3

Francisco the Contemplative

 

 The Apparition at Valinhos was a  joy for Francisco. He had been tormented by the fear that she would never return because they missed their appointed time with Our Lady on the 13th. Lucia said in her writings that Francisco told her: "Most likely, she, (Our Lady) didn't appear on the 13th, so as to avoid going to the Administrator's house, maybe because he is such a bad man."

                                                                                                              

The Fatima Message Embraces the Holy Father in Prayer and Sacrifice!

September 15, 2012, 2:54 pm

≫ Next: St. Pio & Fatima -Rare Film Footage of St. Pio!

≪ Previous: Fatima Apparitions in August---"I say to you: unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3

$

0

0

Zenit: "Many of Pope Benedict's words show he is not afraid to speak uncomfortable truths to our troubled world. But now his actions also are showing his profound courage. Despite the worries of some of his Vatican advisers,  Pope Benedict, has decided to carry out his long-planned September 14-16 visit to Lebanon in order to preach a message of peace  and Hope in a region torn by war. 

"The pope said in his greeting that he is also looking beyond Lebanon to the rest of the Middle East and comes to them as “a pilgrim of peace, as a friend of God and as a friend of all the inhabitants of all the countries of the region, whatever their origins and beliefs.”

The pope, also said that while he understood that tensions in the region may sometimes make it seem as if it were to "to snap like a bow which is overstretched," that such instances are when great wisdom is tested. Reason, he said, "must overcome one-sided passion in order to promote the greater good of all."

'I cannot forget the sad and painful events which have affected your beautiful country along the years. The successful way the Lebanese all live together surely demonstrates to the whole Middle East and to the rest of the world that, within a nation, there can exist cooperation between the various churches, all members of the one Catholic Church in a fraternal spirit of communion with other Christians, and at the same time coexistence and respectful dialogue between Christians and their brethren of other religions,' he said!"  Read More

The  Fatima Message and the Pope

Did you know that the last Pope who bore the name Benedict was the reigning Pontiff when Our Blessed Mother visited Fatima for the first time in 1917?   During World War I, when Pope Benedict XV saw that all human efforts had failed to end the war he adjured Our Lady to show him the way to peace. Eight days later, Our Blessed Mother came to Fatima with Her Message of peace for mankind! We can Hope that our present holy father Pope Benedict XVI will be the pope to help usher in the final triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

At the balcony, Benedict XVI first words to the crowd were given in Italian before he gave the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing in Latin, were: “ Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with insufficient instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help, let us move forward. The Lord will help us, and Mary, His Most Holy Mother, will be on our side. Thank you. The crowd responded by chanting “Benedict! Benedict!

Benedict XVI explained his choice of name during his first General Audience in St. Peter's Square, on April 27, 2005: “ Filled with sentiments of awe and thanksgiving, I wish to speak of why I chose the name Benedict. Firstly, I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples. Additionally, I recall Saint Benedict of Norsia, co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality of Christ in our Christian life: May Christ always take first place in our thoughts and actions!

    Do not be Afraid! 

Open Wide the Doors for Christ!

After referring to John Paul II's well-known words, "Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!", Benedict XVI said: “Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us?...And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation....When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life. 

Friendship with Jesus Christ" is a frequent theme of his preaching stressing that on this intimate friendship, "everything depends." He has also said: "We are all called to open ourselves to this friendship with God... speaking to him as to a friend, the only One who can make the world both good and happy... That is all we have to do put ourselves at his disposal...is an extremely important message. It is a message that helps to overcome what can be considered the great temptation of our time: the claim, that after the Big Bang, God withdrew from history." Thus, in his book Jesus of Nazareth, his main purpose was "to help foster the growth of a living relationship" with Jesus Christ.

He also took up this theme in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est. In his explanation and summary of the encyclical, he stated: "If friendship with God becomes for us something ever more important and decisive, then we will begin to love those whom God loves and who are in need of us. God wants us to be friends of his friends and we can be so, if we are interior close to them."

The World is Redeemed 
by the Patience of God!

It is destroyed by 
the Impatience of Man

                                         I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord Psalm 116:13

                                                                                             

Towards the end of the papal Homily during the Inauguration Mass the following text seems to dimly foreshadow the present crisis that has spewed over the papacy and the church during his pontificate. 

                     

"We Suffer on Account

  of  God's Patience!"

The symbol of the lamb also has a deeper meaning. In the Ancient Near East, it was customary for kings to style themselves shepherds of their people. This was an image of their power, a cynical image: to them their subjects were like sheep, which the shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd of all humanity, the living God, himself became a lamb, he stood on the side of the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how he reveals himself to be the true shepherd: "I am the Good Shepherd... I lay down my life for the sheep", Jesus says of himself (Jn 10:14ff.) It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is God's sign: he himself is love.

"How often We wish that God

Would Show Himself Stronger,

that He Would Strike Decisively,

Defeating Evil and Creating

A better World!"

"All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way: they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on account of God's patience. And yet, we need his patience. God, who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God; it is destroyed by the impatience of man.."

"Feeding means Loving

 and Loving also means

Being Ready to Suffer!"

"One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves. "Feed my sheep", says Christ to Peter, and now, at this moment, he says it to me as well. Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God's truth, of God's Word, the nourishment of his presence, which he gives us in the Blessed Sacrament."

"My dear friends, at this moment I can only say: pray for me, that I may learn to love the Lord more and more. Pray for me that I may learn to love more and more his flock: you, the holy Church, each one of you and all of you together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another."

We can hope that Pope Benedict XVI will be the Pope who will have the grace and strength from the Holy Spirit to reveal the wolves clothed as sheep hiding within the church itself. And help pave the way for the church to usher in the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady's Heart will triumph, she said it would!  But the enemy of God has planted itself within the church before we receive such a grace a purification awaits us as God cleans his temple once more.

Unmasking the wolves 
in Sheep's Clothing

 A Blessing to Pave the Way 
for the Triumph of 
The Immaculate Heart of Mary

In a sense this current scandal although deeply humiliating is a blessing for the church because it exposed some of the wolves within. My hope is for the church to enact new legislative laws to prevent such scandals from ever happening again as well as laws governing the discipline of the individuals involved and those who covered up. Care must also be taken to secure justice and protection to the accused from false accusations.

  

"It is time to Reaffirm the importance of Prayer in the Face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in Charitable Work." 

Pope Benedict XVI   

We need to pray more!

The Message Fatima revolves around and is concerned for the welfare of the papacy. Those who follow Our Lady of Fatima join with the shepherd children Bls. Jacinta and Francisco and Sr. Lucia in praying and sacrificing for the the Holy Father. The eruption of the scandals in the priesthood and the scourge it has released upon the church and the papacy is undoubtedly a source of grief to the Holy Father. 

The final triumph of Our Lady will come 

if we continue to pray for one another 

and fulfill the requests made at Fatima.

  

Fulfilling the Fatima message the means given by God for the Final Triumph of Good over Evil! It is a spiritual war and it is beyond the capability of men to rectify on our own. A Divine intervention is needed! We need to do all we can help the Pope at this time with our prayers and sacrifices to keep the wolves at bay till God intervenes! In order to do this the pope himself has said more than once prayer is "urgently needed...It is time to reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."

Is Benedict XVI the pope in the Vision of Bl. Jacinta at the well in the summer! The Holy Father was was alone suffering insults. He was persecuted and was weeping! Is it this pope?  Jacinta cried out to Lucia Did you see the Holy Father. Lucia replied No and  Jacinta said: "I saw the Holy Father! He was in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father, we must pray very much for him."

It is God's Church and he will help her if we humbly admit our need for his help as Benedict XV did in 1917. He prayed and God sent his mother to Fatima. Let us do what we can to beg pardon for the wrongs we have done and do penance. All of us have contributed by our own personal sins and our omissions for the state of the church and the world today! Pray very much for the Pope and the church uniting your prayers with the prayers of the shepherds of Fatima. With God there is no time and all prayers past, present and future are before him in eternity. The consequences for humanity if we do nothing are depicted in the Miracle of the Sun! I can’t wait until the Triumph of Our Lady comes!

Pray for me!

"He who is not with the Pope

Is not with God!

He that wants to be with God,

must be with Pope."Sr.Lucia of Fatima

St. Pio & Fatima -Rare Film Footage of St. Pio!

September 23, 2012, 3:09 pm

≫ Next: Plenary indulgence announced for the Year of Faith. Make sure you take part often in this act of mercy from the Church!

≪ Previous: The Fatima Message Embraces the Holy Father in Prayer and Sacrifice!

$

0

0

St. Pio and the Message Fatima

The Pilgrim Virgin goes to San Giovanni Rotondo  

On July 27, 1959 Padre Pio announced the beginning of the novena "for the visit the Heavenly Mother wants to make" and he exhorted to prepare for it with Christian renewal. Every evening he reminded them of the joy, the good fortune, the "very special grace" of this visit and the obligation of a worthy welcome above all with the practice of some virtuesDuring the morning of August 6, the Padre was able to go down to the church. He stopped in front of the statue of our Lady — but had to sit down because he was exhausted and he gave her a gold rosary. The statue was lowered before his face and he was able to kiss her. It was a most affectionate gesture.Between two and three in the afternoon of August 6 the helicopter carrying the statue of our Lady rose from the terrace of the Home for Relief of Suffering headed for Sicily. It did three turns over the crowd gathered on the square in front of the church and flew away. From a window Padre Pio watched the helicopter fly away with eyes filled with tears. To our Lady in flight Padre Pio lamented with a confidence that was all his own: "My Lady, my Mother, you came to Italy and I got sick, now you are going away and you leave me still ill." 

The helicopter that flew the Pilgrim Virgin to St. Padre Pio in 1959

There is an unknown story behind the story told by the priest in the helicopter Msgr. Giovanni Strazzacappa who had founded the Blue Army in Italy. He stated that the pilot had suddenly swirled the machine around. In surprise, he asked what was happening. The pilot, himself surprised, said he just felt "compelled" to turn around. Then to the amazement of both, they saw St. Padre Pio come to the window with the help of his friars and cry out to Our Lady.  As long as he lived St. Pio repeated. "In that very instant I felt a sort of shudder in my bones which cured me immediately." His Spiritual Father confirmed it saying: "In a moment the Padre felt a mysterious force in his body and said to his confreres: 'I am healed Our Lady of Fatima has healed me!'." He was healthy and strong as never before in his life.

Padre Pio later wrote,” Thank the Virgin of Fatima for me. On the very day She left here, I felt well again. “ Three days later, he was celebrating Mass.   When St. Pio was told about an article that appeared in Foggia, which asked why Our Lady of Fatima had gone to San Giovanni Rotondo and not the shrine of Saint Michael at Monte Sant'Angelo, Padre Pio explained with enchanting simplicity: "Our Lady came here because she wanted to cure Padre Pio."

     St. Pio Spiritual Father 
to Blue Army Members

Not many people realize that St.. Padre Pio had provided a way that those after his death could still become his spiritual children? They could do so in just one way: they could make the Blue Army pledge (the basic requests of Our Lady: Morning Offering, Scapular and Rosary).    He did this in gratitude for the great favor he recieved through the Pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima,  St. Pio had accepted all who make and keep the Blue Army pledge as his spiritual children (for whom he will wait at the gates of Heaven "until all have entered").  Provided  of course, that they live the message of Our Lady and they remain good! St. Pio also sent a crucifix to the Bishop of Fatima (the Most Rev. John Venancio) who was the international spiritual head of the Blue Army at the time.  When asked one day whether it was a good thing to belong to the Blue Army, St. Pio answered: "Could you do anything better?"

Quotes of Padre Pio  on His Spiritual Children:

 'I love my Spiritual Children as much as my own soul and even more.'

 'Once I take a soul on, I also take on their entire family as my spiritual children.'

 'To my Spiritual Children, my prayers for you will never be lacking.'

 'If one of my spiritual children ever goes astray, I shall leave my flock and seek him out.' 

A Gruff but 

Dedicated Confessor

St. Pio's conformity to the Paschal Mystery of His Lord necessarily embraced a commitment to the ministry of reconciliation, its fruit. Toward that end he dedicated many hours of the day to hearing confessions, both in the mornings and the afternoon. Some days he spent up to fourteen hours in the confessional.  In accordance with the custom of the time he heard men's confessions and women's confessions separately - the men in the sacristy and the women in the confessional.

It was not possible to lie to him during a confession, for he saw what lay within people's  hearts. Often, when sinners lacked the courage to confess properly, St. Pio listed their sins during the confession. He also advised weekly confession. "Confession is the soul's bath. You must go at least once a week. I do not want souls to stay away from confession more than a week. Even a clean and unoccupied room gathers dust; return after a week and you will see that it needs dusting again!"

St. Pio  and Bl. Jacinta 
on Christian Modesty

Modesty in actions, words and dress was mentioned by  Bl. Jacinta of Fatima as well as St. Pio. While Jacinta was in the hospital during her last illness she was very saddened by the worldliness of the visitors, the women dressed in fashionable clothes, often with low-cut dresses.  "What is it all for?" she asked Mother Godinho (her guardian ).  

"If they only knew what eternity is." "the sins which bring most souls to hell are the sins of the flesh.  

 Certain fashions are going to be introduced which will offend Our Lord very much... the Church has no fashions; Our Lord is always the same..."  
Catholic Modesty.com-Bl. Jacinta

Padre Pio wouldn't tolerate low-necked dresses or short, tight skirts, and he forbade his spiritual daughters to wear transparent stockings. Each year his severity increased.  He stubbornly dismissed them from his confessional, even before they set foot inside, if he judged them to be improperly dressed.  On some mornings he drove away one after another, until he ended up hearing very few confessions.  His brothers observed these drastic purges with a certain uneasiness and decided to fasten a sign on the church door; "By Padre Pio's explicit wish, women must enter the confessional wearing skirts  AT LEAST 8 INCHES BELOW THE KNEE.  IT IS FORBIDDEN TO BORROW LONGER DRESSES IN CHURCH AND TO WEAR THEM TO CONFESSION."

Sometimes when Padre Pio refused to absolve his penitents and closed the small confessional door in their faces, the people would reproach him asking why he acted this way.  "Don't you know," he asked, "what pain it costs me to shut the door on anyone?  The Lord has forced me to do so.  I do not call anyone, nor do I refuse anyone either.  There is someone else who calls and refuses them.  I am His useless tool. 

The Canonization of Padre Pio gives us the opportunity to reflect on the severity of the Saint who put this poster on the door of his church: 

 "The Church is the house of God.  It is forbidden for men to enter with bare arms or in shorts.  It is forbidden for women to enter in trousers, without a veil on their head, in short clothing, low necklines, sleeveless or immodest dresses." Excerpts from:  Catholic Modesty.com St Pio

St. Pio and the Rosary

 Our Lady of Fatima asked especially for the prayer of the Rosary. And who could count the hours Padre Pio spent in prayer for the conversion and salvation of sinners? And who more than he held the rosary in his hand, night and day, filling all the free moments of the day with the most devout recital of the Rosary? And with how much loving insistence did he not recommend the Rosary to everyone as a means of salvation! 

 

"Love our Lady, make others love her. Always say your Rosary and say it well. Satan always tries to destroy  this prayer, but he will never succeed. It is the prayer of her who triumphs over everything and everyone."

One day one of his penitents said to him: "Padre, today they say the Rosary is out of date, that it is no longer in fashion. It is no longer said in many churches." He replied: "Let us do what our fathers did and all will be well with us." "But Satan rules the world."  St.  Pio replied: "Because they make him rule; can a spirit rule by itself if it is not united to the human will? We could not have been born in a more depraved world. The one who prays a lot saves himself. The one who prays little is in danger. The one who does not pray loses his soul."

"From these stories let us make a holy resolution to grow always in the devotion to the Immaculate Heart and with a generous reply to the message of Fatima, reciting fervently the Rosary every day, praying and offering our sufferings for the conversion of sinners, receiving Communion on the first Saturdays of the month in the hope that the consoling words will come true for us: "I promise salvation to all those who practice devotion to my Immaculate Heart. These souls will be most dear to God, and like flowers I will place them before his throne."  Like this we can even look to the future of the Church and humanity with serenity, trustful in the prophetic word of Mary who in her third apparition of 13 July 1917 announced: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."   
from Padre Pio and the Immaculate Heart of Mary 
by Most Rev. Paola Carta, Bishop Emeritus of Foggia

Padre Pio - Rare Film Footage 

Uploaded by ZrinjskiPetar on Dec 27, 2010  

Filmed at Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary which is located in the Gargano Mountains at San Giovanni Rotondo. At times there is an atmosphere of playfulness redolent of the Fioretti of St Francis. At the end, they are obviously teasing him about the camera and he hits the cameraman with his cincture. We see him in the refectory and in the Church, and there are scenes of his brothers dealing with the massive postbag which he generated. Starting at 4'23" there is some footage of Padre Pio as celebrant at Tridentine Latin Mass.

  

A Prayer for Trust and Confidence 
in God's Mercy

 by St. Pio of Pietrelcina

 O Lord, we ask for a boundless confidence and trust in Your divine mercy, and the courage to accept the crosses and sufferings which bring immense goodness to our souls and that of Your Church. Help us to love You  with a pure and contrite heart, and to humble ourselves beneath Your cross, as we climb the mountain of holiness,  carrying our cross that leads to heavenly glory.

May we receive You with great faith and love in Holy Communion, and allow You to act in us as You desire for your greater glory. O Jesus, most adorable Heart  and eternal fountain of Divine Love, may our prayer find favor before the Divine Majesty of Your heavenly Father.

A Blessing Prayer 

 by Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

May Jesus comfort you
     in all your afflictions.
     May He sustain you in dangers,
     watch over you always with His grace,
     and indicate the safe path
     that leads to eternal salvation.
     And may He render you always
     dearer to His Divine Heart
     and always more worthy of Paradise.  

St Padre Pio remember us from your eternal glory as you promised!  Do not forget us your spiritual sons and daughters in our hours of trial. Defend us from the snares of the enemy seeking our ruin. Continue your prayers for us that after passing through the darkness and trials of this life, we may arrive safely at the heavenly gates and enter with you the joy of beholding our God face to face for all eternity. Amen 

Beloved St. Pio, Ora pro nobis!