ST.RAFQA | THE LEBANESE MARONITE NUN

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…

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What Happened at Venerable Fulton J. Sheen’s Last Day?

‘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…

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Three Egyptian Coptic monks killed in S.Africa, Coptic Orthodox Church says

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.

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Vatican confirms miracle for new Canadian saint

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…

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Exclusive! Latest Update on Fr. MICHEL RODRIGUE with Xavier Ayral

“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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The Prophecy of St. Nilus about Our Days

Realizing that St. Nilus is scarcely known to a large part of the Church, a brief sketch of his life, taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911 copyright edition), is related below: St. Nilus was one of the many disciples and fervent defenders of St. John Chrysostom. He was an officer at the Court of Constantinople, married, with two sons. While St. John Chrysostom was patriarch, before his exile (398-403), he directed Nilus in the study of Scripture and in works of piety. St. Nilus left his wife and one son and took the other, Theodulos, with him to Mount Sinai to be a monk. The Bishop of Eleusa ordained both St. Nilus and his son to the priesthood. The mother and other son also embraced the religious life in Egypt. From his monastery at Sinai, St. Nilus was a well-known person throughout the Eastern Church. Through his writings and correspondence, he played an important part in the history of his time. He was known as a theologian, Biblical scholar and ascetic writer, so people of all kinds, from the Emperor down wrote to consult him. His numerous works, including a multitude of letters, consist of denunciations of heresy, paganism, abuses of discipline and crimes. He also wrote about rules and principles of asceticism, especially maxims on the religious life. He warns and threatens people in high places, Abbots and Bishops, Governors and Princes, even the Emperor himself, without fear. He kept up a correspondence with Gaina, a leader of the Goths, endeavoring to convert him from Arianism. He denounced vigorously the persecution of St. John Chrysostom both to the Emperor Arcadius and to his courtiers. St. Nilus must be counted as one of the leading ascetic writers of the 5th century. His feast is kept on November 12th in the Byzantine Calendar; he is commemorated also in the Roman Martyrology on the same date. St. Nilus probably died around the year 430, as there is no evidence of his life after that. The Prophecy of St. Nilus After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, Bishops and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. At that time, the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society. Apostasy At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time; they will completely lose their faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints. And all this will result from the fact that the Antichrist wants to be Lord over everything and become the ruler of the whole universe, and he will produce miracles and fantastic signs. Read more…

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This is what pleases Jesus best, according to St. Faustina

hose who do not pray to Jesus in his Passion,” wrote the poet priest Gerard Manley Hopkins, “pray to God, but scarcely to Christ.” We pray with passion when we meditate on the Lord’s Passion.  How crucial to keep the cross at the center of our prayer. St. Leo the Great assures us that “through the cross the faithful receive strength from weakness, glory from dishonor, life from death.” In her Diary, St. Faustina relates:  Jesus told me that I please him best by meditating on his sorrowful Passion, and by such meditation much light falls upon my soul. He who wants to learn true humility should reflect upon the Passion of Jesus. When I meditate upon the Passion of Jesus, I get a clear understanding of many things I could not comprehend before. We can approach Christ’s Passion in prayer with hope and great peace. In the words of Joseph Ratzinger, “What looks down at us from the cross is a goodness that enables a new beginning in the midst of life’s horror.” And St. John Paul II adds, “The cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful wounds of man’s earthly existence.” One practical way to meditate on the Lord’s Passion is to pray before a crucifix, for “the human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced” (CCC 1432). The Imitation of Christ tells us, “If you do not know how to meditate on heavenly things, direct your thoughts to Christ’s Passion and willingly behold his sacred wounds.” Also, of course, is prayerfully meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.   Read more…

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A smiling Argentine nun on her way to canonization

By Aleteia In 2016 social media was ablaze with the pictures of a smiling nun, with the caption that the nun was near the moment of death. While the picture was not taken at the moment of her death, it was a picture of a joyous and smiling nun who embraced her suffering. Sister Cecilia, a Carmelite of Santa Fe in Argentina, was suffering from lung cancer in 2016 and died on June 23 at the age of 43. At the time Aleteia was able to obtain an interview with the Carmelites and related more information about Sister Cecilia. Despite her illness, she did not lose her joy, which was sustained by the support of her numerous family members, who remained close by. Joyful nieces and nephews congregated in the gardens outside the hospital where she was admitted for some weeks, sending her messages and helium balloons to distract and entertain her from the window. Those who saw her spoke of her face as showing peace and joy — as someone awaiting the encounter with the One to whom she had given her life, Our Lord Jesus Christ. On the road to canonization According to the Catholic News Agency, “The archbishop of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz in Argentina, Sergio Fenoy, signed the edict that begins the process prior to the opening of the cause of canonization of Sister Cecilia María of the Holy Face.” Read more…

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