Category Archives: Uncategorized
Good Friday
The Fifth Station:
Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
I lay everything at the foot of the CROSS…
Pray the Stations at the link below
The Stations of the Cross by Saint Francis of Assisi
Rosary Makers Needed
Do you make rosaries or know anyone that makes rosaries?
My dear friend Fr. Andrew Amaruma, A.J. is in GREAT need of mission rosaries to minister to those suffering in Kenya.
PLEASE Send Mission Rosaries to the following address:
Rev. Fr. Andrew Amaruma, AJ.
Adjumani Government Hospital Chaplaincy
P.O. BOX 49,
Adjumani- Uganda
If you would also be kind to share this plea with others, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
The Cross and Suffering
“Suffering seems to belong to man’s transcendence: it is one of those points in which man is in a certain sense “destined” to go beyond himself, and he is called to this in a mysterious way…each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ”
– John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 2, 19
Bl. John Paul II, pray for us…
Prayer for the intercession of Pope John Paul II O Holy Trinity, we thank you for having given to the Church Pope John Paul II, and for having made him shine with your fatherly tenderness, the glory of the Cross of Christ and the splendor of the Spirit of love He, trusting completely in your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, has shown himself in the likeness of Jesus the Good Shepherd and has pointed out to us holiness as the path to reach eternal communion with You. Grant us, through his intercession, according to your will, the grace that we implore, in the hope that he will soon be numbered among your saints. Amen.
Negative Adoption Humor
Have these memes ever crossed your path on Facebook or other social media? I am not an overly-sensitive proponent of political correctness, but I do think that this type of negative humor associated with adoption perpetuates the stereotypes they represent and causes them to become ever more ingrained in our culture. Of course, as an adoptive mother, I am not a fan of negative adoption humor, and I know I can’t always protect my daughter from dumb jokes or ignorance on the part of others. I do think that we can and should help others understand the truth about adoption.
One small way is to encourage the use of positive adoption language. (Example: I am my daughter’s real mom. She does have a birth mother, or first mother as some prefer, and her birth mom has a place of honor in our hearts, but I most certainly am a real mom…just ask my daughter!) And, although I have nothing against pets, I am not a fan of the use of adoption language for them. Rescue an animal from a shelter, buy a pet…but, please, leave adoption for the human children in your home. We adopt everything from highways to garden spots these days, and although I know the word can accurately have multiple applications, its overuse is tiresome and annoying at best to me. Adoption is a beautiful, selfless way that a family can be formed, through great love and self-sacrifice. It is not a hidden secret. It should not cause shame or horror. Today, adoption is an open community of life and love. Adoption built our family. May we be positive ambassadors and help others understand what it really means.
Miraculous Waters at Lourdes
Today marks the anniversary that St. Bernadette was asked to bath in the fountain of water requested by Our Lady. Bernadette of course was very confused but obeyed what she was asked to do. Miracles beyond our understanding, this is what Bernadette experience especially during the 9th apparition at Lourdes. In all of history God the Father has asked his children to believe in that which is difficult to understand, trust in the one that is unseen.
“Bernadette Soubirous was from a poor family in Lourdes, France, at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains. On the evening of Thursday, February 11, 1858, at the age of 14, she went to gather firewood with her sister and a friend, and stopped at a grotto by a stream. Fearful because of her asthma, she hesitated while the others crossed the chilly waters to the other side. She described in her own words what happened then:
“I had just begun to take off my first stocking when suddenly I heard a great noise like the sound of a storm. I looked to the right and to the left, under the trees of the river, but nothing moved; I thought I was mistaken. I went on taking off my shoes and stockings, when I heard a fresh noise like the first. Then I was frightened and stood straight up. I lost all power of speech and thought when, turning my head toward the grotto, I saw at one of the openings of the rock a bush – only one – moving as if it were very windy.
Almost at the same time, there came out of the interior of the grotto a golden coloured cloud, and soon after a Lady, young and beautiful, exceedingly beautiful, the like of whom I had never seen before, came and placed herself at the entrance of the opening, above the rose bush. She looked at me immediately, smiled at me and signed to me to advance, as if She had been my Mother. All fear had left me, but I seemed to know no longer where I was. I rubbed my eyes, I shut them, I opened them; but the Lady was still there continuing to smile at me and making me understand that I was not mistaken. Without thinking of what I was doing I took my Rosary in my hands and went on my knees.
The Lady made with Her head a sign of approval and Herself took into Her hands a Rosary which hung on Her right arm. When I attempted to begin the Rosary and tried to lift my hand to my forehead, my arm remained paralysed, and it was only after the Lady had signed Herself that I could do the same. The Lady left me to pray all alone; She passed the beads of Her Rosary between Her fingers but She said nothing; only at the end of each decade did She say the Gloria with me. When the recitation of the Rosary was finished, the Lady returned to the interior of the rock and the golden coloured cloud disappeared with Her.”
Bernadette met ridicule when the word spread about the episode. At first forbidden to return to the grotto, her mother gave in 3 days later, and she received a second visit from the Lady at the nearby grotto of Massabieille. She returned Thursday February 18 for a third apparition, and the Lady asked her if she would return daily for fifteen days. In all Bernadette received 18 visits from the Lady, from Thursday, February 11 to Friday July 16, 1858.
During the sixth apparition on Sunday February 21, 1858, the Lady asked her to pray for sinners, and on the eighth apparition on Wednesday February 24, Bernadette appeared sad and cried out her first public message, Penitence, penitence, penitence. It was during the ninth apparition on Thursday, February 25, 1858, that she was directed to “Drink from the fountain and bathe in it.” This was puzzling, for there was no fountain there at Massabieille. But she began digging, and a small pool began forming. By the next day, the pool was overflowing, and the water was forming a stream over the rocks.”
