December 23, 2024

MessagesFromHeaven

White Roses Fall Inside Roman Basilica to Mark 4th Century Marian Miracle

Mother & Refuge01 mins

White rose petals fell from the ceiling of St. Mary Major Basilica Monday, as Romans celebrated the anniversary of a 4th century Marian miracle. The miracle, which inspired the construction of the papal Marian basilica, involved a miraculous snowfall in Rome on Aug. 5 in the year 358. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to both a nobleman named John and to Pope Liberius (352-366) in a dream foretelling the August snow and asking for a church to be built in her honor on the site of the snowfall. The church was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III (432-440), after the Council of Ephesus in 431 declared Mary to be the Mother of God. Cardinal Stanislsw Rylko, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, celebrated the Mass to mark the 1,661th anniversary of this “miracle of the snow.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8RfIRtMFy0

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Come as You Are to Jesus!

Mother & Refuge03 mins

By Ignatian Spirituality When I was preparing for First Communion, I remember Sister telling our class that when we go to Mass, we are going before a king—the King of all Creation—so we had better be prepared and presentable. I took her words to heart, always wanting to be “prepared and presentable” when I went to Mass. I wanted to be so perfect for the King. The fact was, though, I wasn’t perfect. What’s worse, I knew I was never going to be perfect. Fast forward ten years to my first year of college. The church was full of students; it was 11 p.m.—the “last-minute Mass,” as the students fondly called it. They piled into the church, overflowing the pews out to the walls. It was the first Sunday of Lent. That evening, the Jesuit homilist spoke words that would forever change my spiritual life: “Come, come as you are, just come. Jesus is your friend; he is here for you. He is waiting for you.” The words echoed in my head for days. They cleared up the misunderstanding that had formed in my eight-year-old brain. I didn’t have to be perfect—perfectly prepared, perfectly dressed, perfectly anything—to go to Mass or to pray. I just had to go into the presence of the Lord. How freeing! This homily inaugurated a pivotal time in my spiritual journey. It also opened the door for a personal relationship with Jesus—a friendship that would grow over the years. Because, the fact is, few people are really best friends with kings. However, if I simply thought of Jesus as my friend, it would be a lot easier to go to him, even if he were a king. And, if I didn’t have to be perfect all the time, I could talk with him any time. Read more…

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8 Easy Steps to be a Good Catholic

Mother & Refuge08 mins

1. Be a Catholic of prayer We should be Catholics of prayer. St. Augustine affirmed that prayer is the key that opens the gates of heaven and offers us all of God’s treasures. Just as bread is beneficial for the body, so also prayer is beneficial for the soul. If we do not dedicate ourselves to God and the Queen of Heaven through prayer, we will never be able to keep the Ten Commandments faithfully. 2. Always go to Mass The Holy Mass is the queen of prayers and the highest form of praise, for in it God offers himself on the Cross. When our body is weak and debilitated by some sickness, we find time to go to a doctor to be cured, don’t we? We seek adequate treatment. Well, we find at Mass He who is the doctor and remedy for souls waiting to cure our weaknesses. At Mass, the Passion of Jesus Christ is renewed upon the altar, just as at Calvary. Would we dare leave Jesus alone and suffering, and go have fun at the shopping center on a Sunday or a holy day of obligation? 3. Flee from sin: confession and Easter communion every year Queen Blanche, the mother of St. Louis IX, said, “My son, I prefer to see you dead rather than having stained yourself with mortal sin.” The pious queen’s desire so pleased God that it is said that St. Louis IX never committed a mortal sin in his life. We should pray like this and ask to avoid not only mortal sins, but to flee even from venial, sins so often committed during our lives. However, if we fall, we can go to confession, just as the prodigal son returned to his father’s house. In the Catechism, we learn that one of the commandments of the Church is the obligation of Catholics to go to confession and receive communion at least once a year at Easter. 4. Attend daily mass, when possible As Catholics, we should go to Mass on Sundays. Nevertheless, it is very profitable to visit God in His house every day if possible. Besides ordinary everyday meals for the body, we also have feasts and banquets. In a similar way for the spirit, it is beneficial to have spiritual feasts and banquets during the week besides Sunday Mass. Thus, attending daily Mass is a joyful nourishment and a powerful remedy for us. 5. Pray the Rosary daily with your family St. John Paul II tells us: “The family that prays together stays together. The Rosary is my favorite prayer. A marvelous prayer! Marvelous in its simplicity and its depth. In this prayer we repeat many times the words that the Virgin Mary heard from the Archangel, and from her kinswoman Elizabeth.” Our Lady is ready to grant our petitions! The Rosary is the means to obtain everything we need, including union in our families, the solution to our problems and even our material necessities. 6. Read a pious book and meditate frequently Pious reading is the sister of prayer and a great help for us. St. Paul recommended Timothy to do so regularly. Reading spiritual literature is so important, that when we wish to help someone who is distant from religion, we normally counsel him or her to read a religious book. Many saints affirmed that spiritual reading is a special nourishment for the soul. It produces good thoughts and desires for heaven, and frees our understanding. Pious literature inflames and enlightens our will, soothing our sadness, and causes true spiritual happiness. Now, let me ask you something: What book are you currently reading to progress spiritually? 7. You are the average of the 5 people closest to you Certainly, you have heard the saying: “You are the average of the five people closest to you.” There is another saying with a similar lesson: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.” If you wish to be a good Catholic, examine your companions and evaluate your five best friends… Are they the measure of what you wish to be as a good Catholic? If they are, congratulations! You will have great allies to reach your goal. If they are not, your journey on the path to sanctity may be much more difficult. 8. Have a designated confessor and spiritual director We should have a confessor and spiritual director, to whom we give an account of our conscience, our inclinations, our passions, our affections and bad habits, without hiding anything. Actually, a confessor and spiritual director are like gardeners. If we cut the roots of a bad plant or tear out a weed, they soon wither away. But, if we tear them out leaving the roots in the earth, the harmful plant soon starts growing again. So, we should have confidence in our confessor that he can help us definitively to weed out our vices and bad habits. Read more…

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THE IMITATION OF CHRIST | PRUDENCE IN ACTION

Mother & Refuge12 mins

DO NOT yield to every impulse and suggestion but consider things carefully and patiently in the light of God’s will. For very often, sad to say, we are so weak that we believe and speak evil of others rather than good. Perfect men, however, do not readily believe every talebearer, because they know that human frailty is prone to evil and is likely to appear in speech. Not to act rashly or to cling obstinately to one’s opinion, not to believe everything people say or to spread abroad the gossip one has heard, is great wisdom. Take counsel with a wise and conscientious man. Seek the advice of your betters in preference to following your own inclinations. A good life makes a man wise according to God and gives him experience in many things, for the more humble he is and the more subject to God, the wiser and the more at peace he will be in all things.

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The 24 Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ | First Hour

Mother & Refuge114 mins

From 5 to 6 PM Jesus takes leave of His Most Holy Mother O Celestial Mama, the hour of the separation is approaching, and I come to You. O Mother, give me your love and your reparations; give me your sorrow, because together with You I want to follow, step by step, adored Jesus. And now Jesus comes to You, and You, with heart overflowing with love, run toward Him and in seeing Him so pale and sad, your Heart aches with pain, your strengths leave You and You are about to fall at His feet. O my sweet Mama, do You know why adorable Jesus has come to You? Ah, He has come to say the last good-bye, to tell You the last word, to receive the last embrace! O Mother, I cling to You with all the tenderness of which my poor heart is capable, so that clinging and bound to You, I too may receive the embraces of adored Jesus. Will You perhaps disdain me? Isn’t it rather a comfort for your Heart to have a soul near You, who would share its pains, affections and reparations?O Jesus, in such a harrowing hour for your most tender Heart, what a lesson of filial and loving obedience to your Mama You give us! What a sweet harmony passes between You and Mary! What a sweet enchantment of love rises up to the throne of the Eternal One and extends for the salvation of all creatures of the earth! O my Celestial Mama, do You know what adored Jesus wants from You? Nothing but your last blessing. It is true that from every particle of your being nothing but blessings and praises come out for your Creator; but Jesus, in taking leave of You, wants to hear the sweet word: “I bless You, O Son”. And that “I bless You” removes all the blasphemies from His hearing, and descends, sweet andgentle, into His Heart. Jesus wants your “I bless You”, almost to place it as a shelter from all the offenses of creatures. I too unite myself to You, O sweet Mama. Upon the wings of the winds I want to go around the heavens to ask the Father, the Holy Spirit and all the Angels, for an “I bless You” for Jesus, so that, as I go to Him, I may bring Him their blessings. And here on earth, I want to go to all creatures and ask, from every lip, from every heartbeat, from every step, from every breath, from every gaze, fromevery thought – blessings and praises for Jesus. And if no one wants to give them to me, I intend to give them for them. O sweet Mama, after going round and round, to ask the Sacrosanct Trinity, the Angels, all creatures, the light of the sun, the fragrance of the flowers, the waves of the sea, every breath of wind, every spark of fire, every moving leaf, the twinkling of the stars, every movement of nature, for an “I bless You”, I come to You and I place all my blessings together with yours. My sweet Mama, I see that You receive comfort and relief, and that You offer Jesus all my blessings in reparation for the blasphemies and the maledictions which He receives from creatures. But as I offer You everything, I hear your trembling voice saying: “Son, bless me too!” O my sweet Love, Jesus, bless me also, together with your Mama; bless my thoughts, my heart, my hands, my works, my steps, and with your Mother, all creatures.  O my Mother, in looking at the face of sorrowful Jesus, pale, sad, harrowing, the memory of the pains which He is about to suffer awakens in You. You foresee His face covered with spit and You bless it, His head pierced by the thorns, His eyes blinded, His body tortured by the scourges, His hands and feet pierced by the nails; and wherever He is about to go, You follow Him with your blessings. AndI too will follow Him together with You. When Jesus is struck by the scourges, crowned with thorns, slapped, pierced by the nails, everywhere He will find my “I bless You” together with yours. O Jesus, O Mother, I compassionate You. Immense is your pain in these last moments. The Heart of one seems to tear the Heart of the other.O Mother, snatch my heart from the earth and bind it tightly to Jesus, so that, clinging to Him, I may share in His pains, and as You cling to each other, as You embrace, as You exchange the last glances, the last kisses, being in-between your two Hearts, may I receive your last kisses, your last embraces. Don’t You see that I cannot be without You, in spite of my misery and my coldness? Jesus, Mama, keep me close to You; give me your love, your Will. Dart through my poor heart, hold me tightly in your arms; and together with You, O sweet Mother, I want to follow, step by step, adored Jesus, with the intention of giving Him comfort, relief, love and reparation for all. O Jesus, together with your Mama, I kiss your left foot, asking You to forgive me and all creatures, for all the times we have not walked toward God.I kiss your right foot: forgive me and all for all the times we have not followed the perfection You wanted from us.I kiss your left hand: communicate to us your purity.I kiss your right hand: bless all of my heartbeats, thoughts, affections, so that, given value by your blessing, they all may be sanctified. And with me, bless all creatures, and seal the salvation of their souls with your blessing. O Jesus, I embrace You together with your Mama, and kissing your Heart, I pray You to place my heart between your two Hearts, that it may be nourished continuously by your love, by your sorrows, by your very affections…

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