24 Monday Dec 2018
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Christ, Christmas, joy, love, peace, St. Pope John Paul II, Virgin Mother
Adoration of the Shepherds by Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1646
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
The following is an excerpt from St. John Paul II’s Urbi Et Orbi Message, Christmas 2002.[1]
14 Sunday Oct 2018
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Two of the Three Fatima Children, Jacinta Marto and Lúcia dos Santos
The Church dedicates the entire month of October to Our Lady of the Rosary. It was during October, 1917 that the last of six apparitions of Our Blessed Mother to three shepherd children occurred at Fátima, Portugal. In her appearances to the children – Lúcia, Francisco, and Jacinta – the Virgin Mary requested conversion, prayer, particularly the recitation of the Rosary, and sacrifices on behalf of sinners.
Ralph Martin, president of Renewal Ministries discussed the urgent message of Fatima during a recent episode of the EWTN TV series The Choices We Face. The TV series began in 1985 and is currently the longest running Catholic television program in the world. We highly recommend that you watch this important message:
08 Friday Jun 2018
A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), was a French Visitation nun and mystic, who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart. As a young girl, she had apparitions of Jesus Christ, which she thought were a normal part of human experience. After receiving her first Holy Communion at age nine, she suffered four years with rheumatic fever, which confined her to bed. After making a vow to the Blessed Virgin to consecrate herself to religious life, she was instantly restored to perfect health.
14 Sunday Jan 2018
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20
The following is a meditation by St. Teresa of Calcutta on the above passage from the book of Revelation. May you encounter the living God, come down from heaven, Jesus Christ, in her words. He is the lover of your soul.
25 Monday Dec 2017
Adoration of the Shepherds – Gerard van Honthorst (1590 – 1656)
Our family has a great affinity for Nativity scenes. We collect them, display them and enjoy looking at Nativity scenes from countries around the world. The variety of styles are fascinating and intriguing, yet their message is the same, “a savior has been born…who is Messiah and Lord” (Lk 2:11). It has been our custom that the manger remains empty until the dark hours of Christmas Eve. Our family gathers around the manger as Jesus is placed lovingly in the manger with reverence and awe. Traditionally, Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus is then read (Lk 2:1-20) or the birth of Emmanuel (Is 7:10-14), followed by a prayer of blessing such as this:
24 Sunday Dec 2017
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Isaiah 35:1-2
On this the fourth Sunday of Advent and the Eve of the Nativity of the Lord, our prayer is that you realize the awesome gift God has given you through the birth of His Son. God loved you so much that He did not want sin to separate you from Him. He sent His beloved Son to die in your place so that you could spend eternity with Him. Spend time today contemplating all the Lord has done for you through this gift. May your heart be filled with joy at the coming of the Christ Child!
17 Sunday Dec 2017
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. Did you notice that the color of the third candle of the Advent wreath lit today was rose? The rose candle is a combination of the purple of the liturgical season mixed with white, which symbolizes joy. At the midpoint of the season of Advent, the Church pauses to celebrate and rejoice with joy at the coming of Christ.
Joy? JOY?! How can we have joy? Our life is a whirlwind of activity: the bills are past due, there are presents still to buy, we are behind on making costumes and set scenery for the kid’s Christmas pageant, the house still needs to be decorated, there are cookies to be baked…and Christmas is right around the corner! We are so glad that Christmas only comes once a year!
03 Sunday Dec 2017
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
This is the first week in Advent. Are you spending time every day contemplating the coming of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Or are you frantically buying gifts, making plans, caught up in the whirlwind of activity that surrounds what our culture now calls “the holiday season?” In our neighborhood, Christmas decorations were up on some houses days before Thanksgiving.
Is this what Advent is all about? What exactly are we supposed to be doing during these four weeks set aside by the Church prior to Christmas? We are to be preparing for Christmas. Our activities however, should not be centered on the busyness of the season. Rather, we should be preparing for the coming of the Lord.
20 Friday Oct 2017
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October is the month of the Rosary. This week, we continue to focus on this amazing prayer by citing excerpts from St. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (On the Most Holy Rosary). Again, we invite you to join us in praying the Rosary for peace in the world and for peace, unity, and harmony in all Christian families.
“The Rosary of the Virgin Mary…is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to ‘set out into the deep’ (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, ‘the way, and the truth and the life’ (Jn 14:6), ‘the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn.’[1]
13 Friday Oct 2017
Today marks the 100th anniversary of last of six apparitions of Our Blessed Mother to three shepherd children – Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta – at Fátima, Portugal. She first appeared to the children on May 13, 1917. In her subsequent appearances, the Virgin Mary requested conversion, prayer (particularly the recitation of the Rosary), and sacrifices on behalf of sinners. She also revealed a three-part secret regarding the fate of the world.
The Children of Fátima: Lúcia dos Santos, Francisco Marto, Jacinta Marto
As word of the apparitions spread, Mary promised a sign from heaven. On October 13, 1917, the “Miracle of the Sun” occurred. The crowd of some 70,000 witnesses reported that the sun began to spin, twirling in the sky, and at one point appeared to veer toward earth before jumping back to its place in the sky.
