We are excited to be sharing the full video version of The 24 Hours of the Passion by Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. This will be aired on Holy Thursday beginning at 8am EST to 6pm EST. Please join us in this powerful Holy Week meditation of the sorrowful Passion of Our Lord, as it was experienced by Him and Our Lady on an hour by hour basis. https://youtu.be/vpO15C5Pyjg
Brothers and sisters, I have asked the Holy Spirit that, by His Mercy—although I amunworthy of such great attributes— that He and Our Blessed Mother may guide me at all times to be able to offer our beloved Lord thesedays of prayer and meditation, in union with His Most Holy Heart, contemplating His Sorrowful Passion and meditating on each sacrifice ofHis and of Our Mother. And asking that everything we contemplate leave a mark in our hearts, in our being and in our journey, not only during this Holy Week, but that it marks the beginning of a total and definitive change for the restof our life. We all have a “before” and an “after”. May these pages help us in this “after” of our life, in which we recognize the Lord as “My Lord and Savior.” Your sister in the Lord: Luz de María DOWNLOAD BELOW Powered By EmbedPress Powered By EmbedPress
We’ve heard it said that the forty days of fasting during Lent are meant to prepare us for the fifty days of feasting during the Easter season. At the surface, this seems to simply imply that we deprive ourselves so that we can eventually indulge. But the exact opposite is actually true. We deprive ourselves, we enter into a greater acknowledgement of our littleness, and we open ourselves to a deeper conversion of heart not to fall back into our old ways, but to enjoy the glorious freedom of the children of God. We are called to live the redemption Christ won for us to the fullest! As St. Paul says, it is “for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1). This is not a freedom to indulge ourselves, but a freedom to choose the good and to love. It is a freedom to become a gift to God and our neighbor. It is the freedom we need to give the Divine Will free reign in our lives. Powered By EmbedPress
1- RAFQA in Himlaya (1832 – 1859) She is like the lily of HimlayaGrown as a bud in the land of JrabtaAnd will grow thanks to the sky 1. The idea of Saint Rafqa’s basilica Saint Rafqa was born in Himlaya, one of the villages of Northern Metn near Bikfaya, on June 29, 1832. She was the only child of Saber El-Choboq Al Rayess and Rafqa Gemayel.On July 7, 1832, she was baptized and named Boutroussieh. Her parents taught her to love God and pray daily. At the age of seven, she suffered her first great loss with the death of her mother. In 1843, her father experienced financial difficulties and sent her to work as a domestic servant for four years in Damascus in the house of Assaad Al-Badawi, of the Lebanese Nationality. Rafqa became a beautiful, pleasant, humorous young woman, pure and tender with a serene voice. In 1847, she came back home to find that her father had remarried. His new wife wanted Rafqa to marry her brother. A conflict developed when her aunt tried also to arrange a marriage between her son and Rafqa. Rafqa asked God to help her and clear her thoughts. Thus, her decision, to devote her life to Jesus Christ and to become a nun was her greatest joy. 2- RAFQA in the Congregation of the Mariamettes (1859 – 1871) At that time, Rafqa felt drawn to the religious life and asked God to help her achieve her desire. She decided to go to the convent of Our Lady of Deliverance in Bikfaya. There, she joined the Mariamette Order, founded by Father Joseph Gemayel. When she entered the convent church, she felt deep joy and happiness. One look at the icon of Our Lady of Deliverance was enough to confirm God’s voice who told her to enter the religious life: “You will become a nun”. The Mother Superior accepted Rafqa with no questions asked. Rafqa entered the convent, and refused to go back home with her father and his wife, when they came to discourage her from becoming a nun. Following her postulate, Rafqa wore the congregation’s robe of novice on the feast of St. Joseph on March 19, 1861. A year later and at the same date, she pronounced her temporary vows. She was sent to the seminary in Ghazir to take charge of the kitchen services. Among the seminarians were Elias Howayek, who became a Patriarch, and Boutros El- Zoghbi, who became an Archbishop. Rafqa studied in her free time Arabic, calligraphy and arithmetic and also helped aspiring girls to join her congregation. In 1860, Rafqa was sent to Deir El Qamar to teach catechism. There, she witnessed the bloody clashes that occurred in Lebanon during that period. On one occasion, she risked her own life by hiding a child under her robe and saving him from death. After a year in Deir El Qamar, Rafqa returned to Ghazir. In 1863, she was sent to teach in a school of her congregation in Byblos. One year later, she was transferred to the village of Maad. There, with another nun, she spent seven years establishing a new school for girls, this was made possible through the generosity of Mr. Antoun Issa. 3- RAFQA in the Lebanese Maronite Order: In the Monastery of St. Simon El Qarn in Aito (1871 – 1897). While living in Maad and following a crisis in her congregation, Rafqa asked God to guide her to the right decision. Entering at St. George Church, to pray for help, she heard the Lord’s voice telling her: “You will remain a nun.” In that same night, she saw in her dreams St. George, St. Simon the Stylite and St. Anthony the Great, the Father of monasticism. St. Anthony the Great told her: “Join the Lebanese Maronite Order.” Her trip from Maad to the Maronite Monastery of St. Simon El Qarn in Aito was facilitated by the generosity of Mr. Antoun Issa. She was immediately admitted in the Order. She wore the novice robe on July 12, 1871, and pronounced her solemn vows on August 25, 1872 and chose the name “Sister Rafqa,” after her mother. She spent 26 years in the monastery of St. Simon and was a role model to the other nuns in her observation of the rules and her devotion to prayer and silence. Her life was full of sacrifice and austerity. On the first Sunday of October 1885, she entered the monastery’s church and began to pray asking Jesus to permit her to experience some of the sufferings He endured during His Passion. Her prayer was immediately granted: Unbearable pain began in her head and moved to her eyes. Her Superior insisted that she undergoes a medical treatment. After all local attempts to cure her had failed, she was sent to Beirut for treatment. Passing by St. John-Marcus Church in Byblos, her companions learned that an American doctor was in the area. So, they took her to him. He ordered an immediate surgery for her right eye. St. Rafqa refused anesthesia. In the course of the surgery, the doctor uprooted by mistake her eye which fell on the floor. Rafqa did not complain and told him: “For Christ’s Passion, God bless your hands and may God pay you back.” Within a short time, the disease struck the left eye. For the next 12 years she continued to experience intense pain in her head. As always, she remained patient and uncomplaining, praying in joy for the gift of sharing in Jesus’ suffering. In Saint Joseph Monastery Al Dahr in Jrabta, Batroun (1897 – 1914).. At Saint Simon’s monastery, lived sister Ursula Doumit who suffered from arthritis. Her doctors advised her to live near the coast. Sister Ursula’s brother, Fr. Ignatius Doumit decided to found a monastery for nuns in Jrabta in the district of Batroun. Fr. John Basbous, donated the land for the project. On November 3, 1897, six nuns, led by Mother Ursula Doumit, were…
‘I want to see the Lord. I have spent hours before Him in the Blessed Sacrament. … [N]ow I want to see Him face-to-face.’ God lavished many gifts upon Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, including a brilliant mind, a remarkable memory, a magnificent voice, and enviable oratorical skills. He transcended the parish and the diocese. He was, as Thomas Reeves stated in the title of his masterful biography, “America’s Bishop.” Archbishop Sheen made is easy for Catholics to be openly proud of their faith and others to want to imitate it. The Italian phrase comes to mind: Natura il fence, poi rupee lo stampo (“Nature made him and then broke the mold”). Would there ever be another Bishop Sheen? The Jesuit magazine America called him “the greatest evangelist in the history of the United States.” Another journalist remarked, “No Catholic bishop has burst upon the world with such power as Sheen wields since long before the Protestant Reformation.” Despite his gifts and immense popularity, Archbishop Sheen always deflected praise. “I am only a porter who opens the door,” he said. “It is the Lord who walks in and does the carpentry and the masonry and the rebuilding on the inside.” He dismissed publicity, stating that it was “as artificial as rouge on the cheek. Doing the job is the important thing, even if you’re a street cleaner.” Sheen frequently spoke of his death, much to the consternation of his friends. “It is not that I do not love life; I do,” he would assure them. “It is just that I want to see the Lord. I have spent hours before Him in the Blessed Sacrament. I have spoken to Him in prayer, and about Him to everyone who would listen, and now I want to see Him face-to-face.” In his chapel was a painting of Christ on the cross, done by Dr. Simon Stertzer, a cardiologist whom Archbishop Sheen credits with saving his life. In the painting, there is a concentration on Christ’s eyes that shows both pity and love. For the archbishop, the crucifix is not just something that happened but is something that continues to happen by everyone who commits a sin. The second year after his open-heart surgery, Bishop Sheen was confined to his bed for many months due to overwork. During that time, he instructed four converts and validated two marriages. As he quipped, “The horizontal apostolate may sometimes be just as effective as the vertical.” Overwork was the story of his life. His typical working day was 19 hours. In 1946 alone he was writing between 150 and 200 letters a day. In the early 1950s, his television show was generating between 15,000 and 25,000 letters per day. He answered as many as his working schedule allowed. His demanding schedule, however, was his way of responding in gratitude for the gifts God bestowed on him. But “the greatest gift of all,” he confesses in his autobiography, “may be His summons to the Cross, where I found His continuing disclosure.” On the morning of Dec. 9, a young couple was with Archbishop Sheen at Mass and listened as he practiced part of a Christmas homily he was to deliver at midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. That same day he wrote a letter to a certain Ann O’Connor, thanking her for a blanket she sent. “My heart must be elastic,” he wrote, “otherwise it would break in gratitude for you friendship and gifts during the year.” Read more…
Three Egyptian Coptic monks have been tragically killed in what’s described as a “criminal assault” within a monastery in South Africa, according to the Christian Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. The incident is under investigation by South African authorities as a triple murder. The church spokesman stated on Facebook, “Three monks were subjected to a criminal assault inside our Coptic monastery,” while a police spokesperson confirmed the discovery of the victims with stab wounds and noted that the motive remains unclear The surviving monk alleged being attacked with an iron rod before escaping. The incident highlights the ongoing challenges of violence in South Africa, with the Egyptian embassy in Johannesburg notified of the situation.
On Wednesday, January 24, the Vatican Dicastery of the Causes of Saints officially approved a second miracle that was attributed to the intercession of Bl. Marie-Léonie Paradis. The miracle involved the medically unexplained recovery of a baby girl on November 9, 1986. The baby was born without any signs of life, but after her family prayed for the intercession of Bl. Marie-Léonie, the child began to move and is now a healthy woman. The confirmation of this miracle paves the way for her canonization, after which she will be called a “saint.” Previously she was beatified by St. John Paul II on September 11, 1984, at Jarry Park in Montreal. Who is Bl. Marie-Léonie Paradis? Born to a poor family in 1840 in Quebec, Alodie-Virginie Paradis was drawn to the religious life at an early age. By 13 she joined the Congregation of the Marianites of the Holy Cross and flourished in the convent, taking the name Marie-Léonie. She was known as a great teacher and was sent in 1862 to St. Vincent de Paul Orphanage in New York. Marie remained at her new assignment for several years, until the United States branch of the congregation split and moved to Notre Dame, Indiana. There she taught at St. Mary Academy for a few years, but was then invited back to Canada to help at the College of St. Joseph in Memramcook, New Brunswick. Marie traveled back to Canada and soon enough her joyful example of religious life attracted women who wanted to work with her in a new religious congregation. The Bishop of Montreal heard of Marie and encouraged her to found a new congregation of religious who would aid priests and religious. With the bishop’s support, she established the Little Sisters of the Holy Family on May 31, 1880. Read more…
“My dear children, The time you live now is a gift to allow all those of good will to celebrate the birth of my Son Jesus. I have opened this space for you in order to give comfort to your hearts and to allow you to respond, through your faith, to the Love of Jesus who took flesh to save you. On this day of the Holy Family, may all the families of the earth be blessed who welcome my beloved Son in hope. Take the Holy Family into your home, It alone will protect you in these coming times. Remember, I already told you: “the punishment will stop for the houses where the Holy Family is exposed and prayed with respect. » Yes, the Love of my Son who suffered for you, born from the virginal purity of my daughter Mary and protected by the very pure and powerful love of the just and loyal Joseph, is your protection. Hold your heart ready and awaken! Have what you need to nourish your body and treat it with the remedies that I have already given to many of my saints to protect you. Use holy water regularly to chase away the bad angels who lurk near your homes. It is not a coincidence that the last day of this year falls on the feast of the Holy Family. She is the sign to remind you of everything I told you. It is the sign of your protection. It is not in vain that the Church celebrates the motherhood of Mary, Mother of my Son Jesus on the first of the year. Because, in this time of yours, her Immaculate Heart will triumph. This year, which begins tomorrow, is a year of pure faith. All the signs have been given. John, the apostle, lifted the veil. Blinded are those who do not believe, deaf are those who do not hear, and dumb are the lukewarm. The spirit of a spiritual amaurosis invades humanity: there is no longer any vision, no understanding, no sense. Humanity does not see what is coming. My children will not be affected by this darkness. Events will speak. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God! Yes, dedicate yourself to my Most Holy Family; to Jesus my Son, to Mary his Mother and my Daughter, to Joseph my son whom Jesus called father on earth. Consecrate yourself for the fidelity of my Church. Everything will be accomplished and not one iota of what my Son Jesus taught and which the Church has solemnly declared will be lost. Amen! Your heavenly Father who loves you!“.
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