Fatima Message: On the Sixth Commandment

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Solemnity Feast of the Immaculate Conception - December 8th Hour of Grace; Year of Mercy

Picture source. I would recommend you reading Kim's blog post.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is one of two holy days of obligations in Hawaii.

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 will open the Year of Mercy as proclaimed by our Holy Father Pope Francis.

Vatican's Jubilee of Mercy website

It is imperative that we participate as much as we can during this jubilee year. This is an opportunity to practice the corporal and spiritual acts of mercy and to evangelize. Take advantage of God's forgiveness and mercy by going to confession regularly.  There will also be many opportunities of gaining plenary indulgences even if you cannot make it to the Vatican.

Reminder: on December 8th, there is also the Hour of Grace.

THE REQUEST OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER FOR THE HOUR OF GRACE :

1. Day and time of the Hour of Grace: December 8th, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, to be started at 12:00 noon and continuing until 1:00 p.m. for one full hour of prayer.

2. During this hour, the person making the "Hour of Grace" either at home or at Church must put away all distractions (do not answer the telephones, or answer any doors, or do anything but totally concentrate on your union with God during this special Hour of Grace).

3. Begin the Hour of Grace by praying three (3) times the 51st Psalm with out-stretched arms. (Psalm 51 appears below)

4. The rest of the Hour of Grace may be spent in silent communication with God meditating upon the Passion of Jesus, saying the Holy Rosary, praising God in your own way, or by using favorite prayers, singing hymns, meditating upon other psalms, etc.

Please copy and distribute this message. Remember to pray for your country during this hour. The Blessed Virgin has requested that her important message be sent throughout the entire world. Please help her Mission: that all souls be drawn to GOD, and that JESUS will be loved in every heart. This is the perpetual song of her heart. Let it also be ours.

PSALM 51

Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense.
Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me.
For I know my offense; my sin is always before me.
Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight That you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn.
True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.
Still, you insist on sincerity of heart; in my inmost being teach me wisdom.
Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow.
Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Turn away your face from my sins; blot out all my guilt.
A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit.
Do not drive me from your presence, nor take from me your holy spirit.
Restore my joy in your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit.
I will teach the wicked your ways, that sinners may return to you.
Rescue me from death, God, my saving God, that my tongue may praise your healing power.
Lord, open my lips; my mouth will proclaim your praise.
For you do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering you would not accept.
My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart.
Make Zion prosper in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with proper sacrifice, burnt offerings and holocausts; then bullocks will be offered on your altar.

The Christmas Anticipation Novena or St. Andrew Christmas Novena Begins Today

Prayer can be found here.

You pray it 15 times a day until Christmas, asking for your personal intentions.

 Happy Advent!

How Peace Can Reign in the World

"Our Divine Savior is ready to bestow innumerable graces through this Sacrament, which are lost in consequence of the ignorance and indifference of men.  When the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar is not revered and loved, scandals will abound, faith will languish and the Church mourn. On the other hand, if this Sacrament be worthily frequented, peace will reign in Christians hearts, the devil will lose power and souls will be sanctified..." - The Blessed Sacrament:  Our Greatest Treasure

Wednesday Prayer for the Holy Souls

O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood of Thy divine Son Jesus that was shed in the streets of Jerusalem whilst He carried on His sacred shoulders the heavy burden of the Cross,
deliver the souls in purgatory and especially that one which is richest in merits in Thy sight, so that, having soon attained the high place n glory to which it is destined, it may praise Thee triumphantly and bless Thee for ever.  Amen.

from The Raccolta, 594-595

SAINT JOHN PAUL II Beyond Doctrine and Politics

SAINT JOHN PAUL II

 Beyond Doctrine and Politics

Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

            Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005) served as Pope John Paul II (1978-2007) in a lengthy, whirlwind, and remarkable papacy.   He passed to eternity April 2, 2005.  In 2011 he was beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.  October 22, the date of his installation as pope in 1978, has been assigned as his festival day in the liturgical calendar.  And now our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, has raised him to sainthood.

            What do you recall about this remarkable pontiff? 

            Saint John Paul II was born to lead and to inspire, to bridge the human and the divine.  More than one observer characterized him as “man of the century” during his lifetime.  And even before his passing to eternity some commentators were assigning to him the encomium “John Paul the Great.”

            But John Paul II also drew a considerable share of criticism

and a wide variance of opinion.  Then what can we say with certainty, in the absolute, about the 264th successor of St. Peter.  Looking beyond doctrine and politics we see a truly extraordinary person.

            Above all, he mattered in his period of history.  He changed the face of Europe, stopped several wars and protested others, traveled the equivalent of three-and-a-half times to the moon.  He has been seen in person by more people than anyone else in history.  John Paul II most certainly must be numbered among the titans of his time.  This pope was a magnet for humanity.

            As a “sign of contradiction” and one who mattered in human and church arenas, he also divided.  The wide range of varying opinions might be the most convincing sign of his impact.  John Paul II made over 100 trips outside Italy, canonized about 500 saints, beatified about 1400, and authored more than a dozen landmark encyclicals and numerous other instructions.  He worked to bring together East and West .   The list of his activities seems endless.  He exhibited boundless energy for work and for engaging people.  All of this made him famous, but it also made him controversial.  His was a bruising, polarizing pontificate.

            In the final analysis, we can confidently say that John Paul, deeper than his politics and his Polish Catholic cultural formation, was an extraordinary person of sterling character, a genuine mensch. He was a strong, intelligent, caring human being.  His integrity and dedication to duty present a standard by which other leaders can be measured.

            Above all, John Paul was a selfless human being in a me-first world.  Cardinal Roberto Tucci, who planned the pope’s trips and briefed him hundreds of times on trips long and short, observed that never did the pope ask what conveniences or creature comforts to expect.  That indifference to himself was noticeable every time he entered the public stage.   The very motto of this dedicated apostle of Mary indicated this: “Totus tuus” (I am all yours).

            This is the key to his personal magnetism that drew enormous crowds everywhere, even in places where his political or doctrinal stands were unpopular.  Deeper than either secular or religious concerns was his personal integrity -- goodness and holiness, the qualities we prize most highly in others.  A person may be regarded as liberal or conservative, avant-garde or traditional, but let that person be decent, and that suffices.

            John Paul II’s authentic humanity was the source of his appeal.  The most important lesson he offered is the coherence of his own life.   When he urged Christians, in the words of Jesus, “duc in altum” (set off into the deep), that resonated even with those who sought different shores.

            Saint John Paul’s admirers and critics alike can say of him what Shakespeare’s Hamlet said of his father: “He was a man.  Take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.”