40 Days for Life Honolulu - Victory Rally Photos
The next 40 Days for Life will be during Lent.
Note: The above sign was made prior to the final count of babies saved.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Note: The above sign was made prior to the final count of babies saved.
Friday, November 04, 2011
Be Courageous: Adopt a Keiki,
I have been praying and asking for prayers for the children in the foster care system. The following is an article written by the executive director of Hawaii Family Forum, Allen Cardines, Jr.
I received an email on Wednesday reminding me that there are children in Hawaii entrapped in our state foster care system that need Jesus. I also heard about 3 foster youths who are turning 18 soon and have NO FAMILY to support them and love them through their young adult years. These precious keiki need both the love of Jesus AND a permanent home. Could YOU be the one the Lord is calling?
As we approach the holiday season, we must consider all the children in Hawaii that do not have a loving family to share a Thanksgiving meal with or spend the Christmas holiday with. This breaks my heart.
The sad fact remains that, right here in Hawaii, there are hundreds of keiki whose only permanent parent is the state of Hawaii. These children are modern day orphans living among us. Their birthparents’ rights had to be terminated so they could have an opportunity for safety, security and happiness throughout their lives.
These keiki don’t have the security and happiness they deserve because they have no adoptive families to call their own. Many live in multiple temporary foster homes and are at risk of moving into adulthood with no forever family. Many are older and desire to be part of a family, but most people don’t know of their desperate need. Well, now you know (if you didn't already.)
As it has done since 2006, Hawaii Family Forum (HFF) is partnering with HOPE INC (In the Name of Christ), a Christian adoption agency to recruit, train and support families from the faith based community willing to provide a forever home to one of these needy children.
If you or someone you know would be willing to open your heart and home to a child without a family please contact HOPE INC at (808) 230-2445 or via email. Please let us know, if you would like to schedule a workshop at your church.
Mahalo,
Allen Cardines, Jr.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Humility and Saint Martín de Porres
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| Holy Card from Peru belonging to my father |
The virtue of humility defines a great saint. In that respect, one of the Catholic Church's greatest saints has to be Saint Martín of Porres or as he is affectionately known in Peru as San Martincito de Porres.
He was born in Peru the illegitimate son of a Spanish officer and a black woman from Panama. Because of the class status which was very important at the time, his father could not or would not acknowledge Martín or his sister as his own children. It was very sad that this loving little boy was not shown the love of his earthly father. His father did love them but could not openly show any affection or love for his children. His mother on the contrary, loved both her children. Because of the circumstances surrounding her love her the children's father, life could not have been easy for her or her little family. Yet it was because of her that her son Martin grew to know and love God very much.
By know everyone should know the story of how he grew up and wanted to serve God. He was apprenticed as a barber which was comparable to being assistant to a doctor. He also wanted to serve God by entering the Dominican order. He thought himself unworthy to become a priest. Instead, he wanted the most humblest job in the monastery. He requested the habit of a "donado" who were ranked lower than the lay brothers. He was only 15 or 16 years of age.
"In itself, humility is a hidden virtue which escapes our perception. It exists in the depths of the souls, and no one can say with certainty if it is truly there or not, because no created eye can penetrate to those depths. But when humility exists in the soul, it has a companion which serves as an indication of its presence: patience, which holds the field for humility without avoiding assaults, but rejoices int eh battle and 'through suffering, wins.'"
Holy cards usually depict Saint Martín de Porres holding a broom and surrounded by animals, usually a dog, a cat, and mice. The broom symbolizes his humility. The animals symbolize how he was able to communicate with them and how they listened to his gentle way of talking to them. He was able to rid the monastery of a mice infestation that way. He accepted the lowest tasks in the monastery one of which was to sweep the floors of the entire place. He also continued to use the medical knowledge he learned as a barber's apprentice to heal people.
People grew to love and respect him because of his kindness towards all and his generous and helpful spirit. But not everyone felt like that. There were a few who treated him badly and called him vicious names. One such person was a novice named Francis in the same order as Martín. He called Martín "a mulatto dog, a hypocrite, a cheat" and this all happened as Martín was tending to him. Instead of becoming angry or indignant...or even stop helping this brother, Martín patiently continued to tend to Francis. Martín was actually grateful to the brother for treating him like that.
Later it was brought to the novice master's attention how Francis had treated Martín. Martín asked the Novice master to forgive the young novice because "he Martín was really a great sinner, and his mother was a poor Negress, and therefore the title of 'mulatto dog' fitted him perfectly. Why punish someone who had spoken only the absolute truth? Francis did not deserve punishment, but a reward."
Even after being forgiven because of Martín, Francis continue to make life hard for Martín who always responded in a patient and loving manner. Inevitably, Francis' eyes were opened and he began to watch Martín closely. He also began to follow Martín example in imitating the saint's holy life. Martín had won him over with patience and humility.
God has given us many saints like Saint Martín de Porres whose feast we celebrate today, for us to imitate. Let us thank God today for St. Martín, a gentle and true humble brother who became a great saint by loving God and his neighbor.
Source of the quotations Saint Martín de Porres: Apostle of Charity by Giuliana Cavallini
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Blessed Seelos' path to sainthood
New Orleans -- Giving thanks at the Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Shrine is a ritual for 64 year old Walter Larter and his family.
Seelos is the 19th century priest who spent his last years of service in New Orleans and was widely known for his gift of giving.
Read article here
H/T to Mary Jane
All Soul's Day
Picture source
From the Pieta prayer book:
Pray for the Souls in Purgatory
The Holy Souls in purgatory are incapable of helping themselves. They depend on the works of mercy by the living and the mercy of Jesus and Mary to shorten their time in purgatory. Their souls are very dear to God's Heart. He is most generous to those who offer every good act, suffering, prayers, or Holy Mass for these souls. In gratitude they intercede for us.
(St. John Vianney once said: "The good God will render us back the good we do for them - poor souls - a hundredfold."
On August 16, 1969 in San Damiano, Italy, Our Lady asked that we pray very much for the poor souls and that if we pray these prayers, we'll "deliver so many souls, so many souls!" Note: The Pieta prayer book may have been referring to this.
"Pray: 5 Apostle's Cred; 1 Hail Holy Queen; 1 Our Father; 1 Hail Mary; 1 Glory be; 1 Requiem: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them, and may they rest in peace. Amen."
Requiem Indulgenced by Pope Leo XIII, March 22, 1902.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
EWTN Presents Father Robert Barron’s Epic Series ‘Catholicism’
EWTN Presents Father Robert Barron’s Epic Series ‘Catholicism’
See the Six Episodes PBS Didn’t Air
Irondale, AL – Now, get the rest of story as EWTN premieres the six episodes of this lavishly-produced series that PBS didn’t! See “Catholicism” Wednesday, Nov. 16 through Saturday, Nov. 19. These six episodes have never before been seen on national television and will air exclusively on EWTN!
Fr. Robert Barron and his film crew visited more than 50 locations in 16 different countries during the two years it took to produce this multimillion dollar documentary of faith and history. Catholic Commentator George Weigel calls this “the most important media project in the history of the Catholic Church in America.” (See the “Catholicism” trailer at www.CatholicismSeries.com.)
In a definitive interview with a major Catholic publication, Fr. Barron explained the impetus for this series. “A year ago I was on a local Chicago news program and the opening [statement] was: ‘You represent the religion that has the worst public relations in the world.’ I said, ‘Yes, we have this problem, but I refuse to let 2,000 years of Catholicism be reduced to the sexual-abuse scandal. A handful of people did terrible things, but we have 2,000 years of beauty, art, architecture, liturgy and the saints. We have St. Thomas Aquinas, [Blessed] Mother Teresa, the Notre Dame Cathedral. I don’t want that reduced to the sexual-abuse scandal.’ I want our story told, and that’s a reason I did this.” (Read more of this interview at http://bit.ly/tU3qFa.)
EWTN will air the following six episodes of “Catholicism” per the schedule below:
- The Fire of His Love – Prayer and the Life of the Spirit: 9 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Nov. 16 and 4 p.m. ET, Saturday, Dec. 3.
- Happy Are We – The Teachings of Jesus: 10 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Nov. 16 and 1 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET, Saturday, Nov. 19
- A Body Both Suffering and Glorious – The Mystical Union of Christ and the Church: 11 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Nov. 16 and 2 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET, Saturday, Nov. 19.
- World Made Flesh, True Bread of Heaven – The Mystery of the Liturgy and the Eucharist: 11 p.m. ET, Thursday, Nov. 17 and 4 p.m. ET, Saturday, Nov. 19, and 6 p.m. ET, Saturday, Dec. 10.
- A Vast Company of Witnesses – The Communion of Saints: 10 p .m. ET, Friday, Nov. 18 and 5 p.m. ET, Saturday, Nov. 19, and 11 p.m. ET, Dec. 11.
- World Without End – The Last Things: 11 p.m. ET, Friday, Nov. 18 and 6 p.m. ET, Saturday, Nov. 19, and 10 p.m. ET, Dec. 17.
EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 30th year, is available in over 160 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com, electronic and print news services, and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.
Visiting a Cemetery - Plenary Indulgence
Picture source
From Pieta Prayer Book:
"An indulgence is granted the Christian faithful who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, if only momentarily, for the dead. This indulgence is applicable only to the souls in purgatory. This indulgence is a plenary one from November 1 through November 8 and can be gained on each one of these days. On the other days of the year this indulgence is a partial one."
"It is, there, a holy and wholesome though to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sin." - (2 Mach.12:46).
Solemnity of All Saints
“The Saints are not a small caste of chosen souls but an innumerable crowd to which the liturgy urges us to raise our eyes. This multitude not only includes the officially recognized Saints, but the baptized of every epoch and nation who sought to carry out the divine will faithfully and lovingly. We are unacquainted with the faces and even the names of many of them, but with the eyes of faith we see them shine in God's firmament like glorious stars… This, then, is the meaning of today's Solemnity: looking at the shining example of the Saints to reawaken within us the great longing to be like them; happy to live near God, in his light, in the great family of God's friends. Being a Saint means living close to God, to live in his family...”(Homily of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican Basilica, 1 November 2006).
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
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