How beautiful is the family that recites the Rosary every evening!~Saint John Paul II The Rosary is a prayer both so humble and simple and a theologically rich in Biblical content. I beg you to pray it.~Saint John Paul II
http://mostholyrosary.org/miracles/austria_miracle.htm l Williams, former custodian of the National Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima, heard me tell this story . He said, you know Father, I am Austrian. Three months before Therese Newmann died, I visited her (June 18, 1962). One question I asked her was, “Why did the Russians leave Austria?” She told me, ‘Verily, verily, it was the rosaries of the Austrian people”
Today is the feast day of The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A mystery that has so many applications in life to meditate upon. This is from today's divineoffice.org
Pray very much the prayers of the rosary. I alone can able to save you from the calamities.~Mary in Akita, Japan
View attachment 1986 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/j...apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae_en.html
As Mary so willingly went to help Elizabeth in her time of need , with no thoughts or hesitations due to her own worries and needs , may we also not hesitate to show kindness and aid others, putting our own needs, worries, sufferings last and others first after God. May we pray for compassion, humility, servitude and love of others.
I must admit this thought always makes me squirm a little. The thought that at the Judgment seat God will ask me to account for how much I have helped others. Matthew 25:40 The Sheep and the Goats …39'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 41"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;… Married people are so blessed in this, they can point to their children and each other and they have their ticket bought and paid for. While for me.....well I don't think looking after two dogs is not going to cut it.
Ont he other hand the words of Jesus came to me after mass on the Feast of the Ascension ; Matthew 5:16 Salt and Light …15nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. What good deeds? Well my only claim is this that I am always laughing always joyful and I believe people do see this. Nothing draws the bees to honey like joy. At least I have this. ..and this mystery is so very much about Joy. At least I have this to share, my joy and there is so very little of it in this poor fallen world.
This morning at mass the devil did not so much whisper a temptation but shout it at the very top of his voice so that the very rock of my Faith shook up and down. \He shouted what a nonsense my Faith is, how stupid and pointless the mass, what fools we all were kneeling there , how crazy to believe in God and the Church, such nonsense. So sudden and fierce this attack that my world rocked and as I looked around it seemed to be true. But then my old answer to this old foe came back. 'Well if it is all nonsense and stupid and I am the biggest idiot of them all for believing , well let it be so, I will not argue, nor do I have clever arguments to answer back. I only know this . When I had no Faith I was the most unhappy person in the world. Now I believe I am the very happiest. So if it is all a fairy tale, let it be so. What do I care? I am happy, happy, happy' At this the poor old devil scratched his head , grumbled and left the Church. For he has no answer to little people with little answers. He just does not know what to do with them. May I always return the devil the little answers. He is so big , such a big lion, roaring he cannot pick up the little ones in his jaws. Poor St Therese of Liseaux , she spent her whole life wrestling with this temptation against Faith, which is a biggie. http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/c030rpProphecy.html An Unknown Prophecy of St. Therese Paula Haigh Not many people, even those most devoted to her, think of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, as a prophet. But this is not surprising when one recalls the many passages in her Autobiography, The Story of a Soul, where she tells of her love for nature, particularly flowers and birds. She described one day when she went fishing with her dear Papa, and “the beautiful blue sky became suddenly overcast and soon the thunder began to roll and the lightning to flash through the dark clouds. I saw it strike a short distance away, and far from being frightened, I was thrilled with delight because God seemed to be so close!” (1) Even more significant is the passage in which Thérèse tells of her growing love for learning. Here she describes her state of spirit in her early teens: “I had always loved the great and the beautiful, but at this epoch in my life I was taken up with an extreme desire for learning. Not satisfied with the lessons and work my teacher was giving me, I applied myself to the some special studies in history and science, and I did this on my own. The other studies left me indifferent, but these two subjects attracted all my attention. In a few months I acquired more knowledge than during my years of study. St. Thérèse: her temptations against the Faith would have been influenced by modern science “Ah! This was really only vanity and affliction of spirit. The chapter in the Imitation of Christ which speaks of knowledge came frequently to my mind.” (2) Was it not these earlier impressions made by the emphatically empirical and materialistic science of her day (1873-1897) that prompted the Holy Spirit to show her at the end of her life where that knowledge was to lead the world? Darwin’s Origin of the Species had shocked the cultural milieu of Europe only some fourteen years before she was born (1859). And so, during the August before her ecstatic death of love on September 30, Mother Agnes (her sister Pauline) made this entry in her Notebook: “One evening, in the infirmary, Thérèse was drawn to confide her troubles to me more than she usually did. She had not yet opened up in this way on this subject. Up until then, I had known her trial of faith only vaguely”. (3) I interject here the comment that Mother Agnes apparently is speaking here of Thérèse’s trial of faith, not seeing the broader references to the world at large. Unaware, then, of the importance of these words themselves, Mother Agnes failed to record the entire prophecy, for such it was, and simply wrote “etc.” at the end of the following words of Thérèse that she did record: “If you only knew what frightful thoughts obsess me. Pray very much for me so that I do not listen to the Devil who wants to persuade me about so many lies. It is the reasoning of the worst materialists that is imposed upon my mind. Later, unceasingly making new advances, science will explain everything naturally. We shall have the absolute reason for everything that exists and that still remains a problem, because there remain very many things to be discovered, etc. etc. “ (4) Although Mother Agnes did not record all of Thérèse’s words concerning the “discoveries” of science, we, in hindsight, can fill in the events she foresaw. The words of Thérèse warn us of the Atheism that the false science of evolutionism produces. It is the fulfillment of what the Encyclical Pascendi of St Pius X describes as the subjugation of Faith to “Science” – to what poses as true science. St. Thérèse went on to say, as recorded by Mother Agnes, these words: “Finally, I offer up these very great pains to obtain the light of faith for poor unbelievers, for all those who separate themselves from the Church’s beliefs.” Mother Agnes interjects, “She added that she never reasoned with these thoughts [against Faith].” In other words, Thérèse did not attempt to argue with the Devil, much less to dialogue with him, as Eve had done. Thérèse concludes: “I undergo them under duress, but while undergoing them, I never cease making acts of faith.” (5) St. Thérèse, pray for us who live in the darkness of this false science, that we too never cease making acts of divine Faith in all the Truths of Faith and of Reason. The Story of a Soul, trans. By J. Clarke, ICS, 1975, pp. 37-38) Ibid.., p. 101 Last Conversations, trans. By J. Clarke, ICS, 1977, p. 257 Ibid. Ibid., pp. 257-258
Oh but Padraig- you are much too modest- not only your joy, your love of Gods creatures, but is not this forum and all it's good fruits your biggest ticket in? And all the things including your travels to come.....
“A lowly knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God than the deep searching of a man’s learnings. Not that learning is to be blamed, nor the taking account of anything that is good; but a good conscience and a holy life is better than all. And because many seek knowledge rather than good living, therefore they go astray, and bear little or no fruit.” ― Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ Ah but Charity the first thing we will say when we cross over to the other side is, 'Ah lord I never knew, I never ever knew!' Never knew what? Why never knew how much He loved us, even though we had the greatest book of all , the Book of His Cross, to read it from. The as we enter the fires of His love all that will be left of us is our own love. ..and how little this will seem, such a poor spark in the middle of the furnace, the Eternal blazing heart of God who is Himself love. He so great, we so very,very small. All that we did; all that we are just a smouldering spark.
Of course very true- you had just mentioned married people having a ticket so I wanted you to think of your forum as well
I always find , Charity , that everything we do for God He goes and spoils it all by doing a billions things back for us, a billion times better. He is always a step ahead of us, never outdone in love. It reminds me of Mothers Day when I was a child. I used to go and pick my mother a little bunch of Daffodils and give them to her. But really what were my poor little flowers compared to what she had always done for me? But my poor little flowers where all I ever had or could afford....but from the little I had, I gave. But really it was so very little. It brought my mother joy. But I always guessed how very little...
It's true, Padraig, the enemy is no match for littleness. I've had this temptation a couple of times, which made me feel small and foolish. Thank God for all the years I've studied the lives of the Saints. My big brothers and sisters came to my aid. Here was my answer: "If I'm wrong - deceived, deluded and stupid, then so was St. Teresa of Avilla, St. Catherine of Siena, St. John of the Cross and St. Thomas Aquinas. Every doctor of the Church was wrong - deceived, deluded and stupid!" Such a ridiculous idea made the temptation evaporate.
Sometimes I think Kathy , the devil like an old Black Dog is given permission to pick us up in his jaws and give us a little shake. There is no harm in this, its maybe to shake a little sense into us. We can get a little spiritually dozy, he wakes us up.
FATIMA 13 May 1917 "Do not be afraid, I will not harm you." "I come from heaven." "I have come to ask you to come here for six months on the 13th day of the month, at this same hour. Later I shall say who I am and what I desire. And I shall return here yet a seventh time." Lucia then asked if they would go to heaven and she was told yes, she and Jacinta would go to heaven, but Francisco would need to say many rosaries first. I find this a real encouragement to keep saying the Rosary. If an innocent and kind young boy had to say many Rosaries to get to heaven then I a poor miserable sinner must say even more and ask for the gift of full conversion. This is a sobering message from heaven.
The Rosary stops a serial killer 1978 At 3: 00 am on January 15 Bundy entered the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University and murdered two girls before heading off to search for more victims. When he entered a third girl’s room with a bat for a weapon, he saw a rosary clutched in her hand, dropped the bat and fled. Later the girl told authorities that before she left for college she had promised her grandmother that she would pray the rosary every night for protection, even if she fell asleep in the process. This is what she had done that night, and she was still holding the rosary when the murderer entered her room. Bundy later confessed to over thirty murders. Father Joseph M. Esper says in his book With Mary to Jesus, "Ironically, when Ted Bundy was on death row, awaiting execution for his crimes, he asked Monsignor Kerr to serve as a spiritual counselor, and the priest took the opportunity to ask about that terrible night. Bundy explained that when he entered the girl's room, he had fully intended on murdering her; some mysterious power was preventing him." Father Esper adds, "And not only does it (the rosary) aid our own spiritual growth -- it also undermines the kingdom of Satan. The famous Vatican exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth testified, 'One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism, "Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end."' Pray the rosary daily for protection and to defeat the forces of Satan! Inset Photo: To purchase the book, go to http://www.spiritdaily.com/books.htm
