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Feast of St. Louis de Montfort & St. Gianna Beretta Molla

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What is the Church trying to teach us through these two souls?  They were born centuries apart, why would Our Lord have them share the same feast day?  Somehow, I know we can all find meaning behind this day.

St. Louis de Montfort has taught us to consecrate our bodies, minds and souls to Jesus through Mary.  We do not belong to ourselves, we were bought with a price and that was Christ Jesus on the cross. With all that we are and all that we fail to do we belong to Christ.  

St. Gianna’s life was filled with hope in her faith for Christ through the Church.  She was a leader of Catholic Action and a doctor who believed in caring for her patients, with love, hope and respect for the person.  Through her life she was taught to have great faith and trust in all that God had planned for her.  This trust in God would eventually call her home to Heaven, when she placed the life of her child within the womb before her own.  

These two saints that we honor today can give us that hope and trust that we need as we place our very own lives in Our Lady’s hands.  She is our hope, she is the one who trusted the father first and we should also do the same.  Let us follow these two saints who are a great sign of hope for us today.

God bless you!
                               
Consecration to Mary                                              St. Gianna                                                                        
















Saint & Infertile

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If I must scream it from the rooftops I will do so… don’t hold me back as so many out in the world of our Catholic faith believe that there is not one saint within the Church that suffered infertility.   Really, I’m not upset I just don’t want my sisters and brothers in Christ to believe that there is no one out there for them to request help and understanding.  🙂 

I need to be the one to speak up and say this is untrue!  I can’t help it.  This issue has been on my heart since secondary infertility struck our family.  I went to prayer, I sought Jesus in the desert, I cried my eyes out until there were no more tears left.  What I found is that Our Lord was leading me to a place of understanding, and that is that none of us are alone in our sufferings, no matter what our struggle, frustration or cross.

The subject of infertility and why we don’t have more in the way of teachings is because it is such a delicate issue, between husband, wife and God.  No one has wanted to touch it.  No one has understood because none of us would share things in the past, it was a taboo, something no one wanted to talk about.  It is now becoming something of the past because God wants us to have an understanding of one another, a compassion, a love, a mercy.  Need I say more?

We are not alone in this cross of infertility as you can see through the blogging family of faithful sisters. I would like to remind you of one saint in the making and that is Ven. Maria Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament.  She was the founder of a Carmelite community of sisters.  Oh, I know you’re thinking she was a nun, ha…  but before that she was married to a doctor.  Read more of the story below and you’ll find out more…  

Why do I do any of this?  A call to ministry, why would anyone care this much? Because years ago, I was the one that sat in the pew at Church.  I felt so alone, ashamed and no where to turn.  Somehow, through time and prayer I came to understand that God was calling me to hear him and be there for others who are suffering with infertility and loss.  Not because I know everything but as a secular  Carmelite I was called to listen and to let you know always that the Church cares for YOU.  That you are prayed for and that YOU are never ALONE.  That is why I’ve always said this ministry is for YOU and about YOU and YOUR need to be heard, comforted and cared for.

Please know that it is our duty as faithful Catholics to ask these souls below for intercession and this will help them reach the crowning of sainthood in the Church.  I want to see fertility miracles coming in through these two woman below.  Let’s make it happen!

Another infertile “saint”:
Elisabeth Leseur
God bless you!
With Love & Prayers,
Therese, OCDS
Hannah’s Tears
Intercessor (one of many)
*I am now stepping down from my pulpit, thanks for listening to me ramble.  🙂




Maria Luisa Josefa 
of 
the Most Blessed Sacrament



The life of Mother Maria Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament is no ordinary story. It is a story filled with that complete trust in God which makes life a daring adventure, the kind of adventure one encounters when one dares to love God above all things and to place one’s life completely in His hands. It is a story where trust in God and obedience to His manifest designs bursts forth into great sanctity. Mother Luisita is a model of holiness in the single, married, widowed and religious state.

Maria Luisa de la Pena was born in Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco Mexico on June 21, 1866, the first surviving of fourteen children. Although she felt drawn to the religious life, at the age of fifteen in obedience to her parents, she married Doctor Pascual Rojas, a prominent physician who was twice her age. Their life together was happy, a mutual growing in love of God and neighbor. God did not grant them children. They trusted and decided together that the poor would be their children. They built the little Hospital of the Sacred Heart to serve those less fortunate. After fourteen years of married life Maria Luisa was left a widow. On his deathbed, Doctor Rojas told her that he had no doubt what she would do after he had died – she would serve God as a religious. 

Eight years later Maria Luisa entered the Cloistered Carmelites and became immersed in the spirituality of Carmel. After seven months she was asked by the Archbishop to return to her work at the hospital which needed her guidance. Again she trusted God’s manifest designs. Along with the hospital she opened a school and orphanage. Many others attracted by her charisma began to join her. The Archbishop re-appeared and told her that she would have to join an existing religious Congregation. Obediently she left all her works behind and joined the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Four years later the Archbishop asked her to return she was needed at the hospital and with the children. She obeyed. More women joined her. This time the Archbishop himself suggested that she found a Religious Congregation and the Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart were established on February 2, 1921. Her charism “to unite the spirit of Carmel to the active apostolate unfolded. 

Six years later, a dangerous and terrifying adventure – religious persecution in her beloved Mexico. Dressed in disguise, she came to the United States as a homeless refugee. She trusted. God rewarded her confidence and her work became established in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. More adventure followed. In 1929 she returned to Mexico and continued the work she had begun there, as well as guiding, visiting and directing the Sisters in California. She spent the remainder of her life in hiding, ill and living in extreme poverty, often without sufficient food. 

On February 11, 1937 God called His faithful servant home to Himself – an eternal adventure. In the Year of the Great Jubilee, after extensive study of her life and writings, the Church declared that she lived a life of heroic virtue and her cause toward sainthood is in progress.


Prayer For the Beatification of Venerable Mother María Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament

O Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, King and center of all hearts!

Look with merciful love on the petitions we present to You

through the intercession of Your servant, Mother Maria Luisa

Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

(Pause and request your petition)
We humbly beseech You to glorify her who was always such a 

fervent lover of Your Sacred Heart by granting us these favors

if they are for Your greater honor and glory. Amen.

(Written by Mother Margarita María,O.C.D. and approved by

Cardinal Timothy Manning August 28, 1981.) 


Graces obtained through Mother Luisita’s intercession may be reported to :

Superior General

Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles

920 East Alhambra Road
Alhambra, California 91801
(626) 289-1353




Infertility Awareness Week

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On Being Catholic and Infertile

BY JENNIFER FULWILER Wednesday, April 27, 2011






This week is Infertility Awareness Week. According to the CDC, over 2 million married women in America are currently experiencing infertility. This is a deeply painful experience for any couple, but faithful Catholics face unique challenges in this department—yet in all the discussions about Natural Family Planning and how and when to avoid pregnancy, the struggles of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are not able to achieve pregnancy often get overlooked. So this week I spent some time chatting with friends who are facing infertility, including a woman whom I’ll call “A.,” who chronicles her journey online at This Cross I Embrace. They shared some of the challenges unique to being Catholic and infertile:

Temptation to Use Illicit Treatments: In modern culture, the words “infertility” and “in-vitro fertilization” go hand-in-hand. Even though IVF doesn’t always succeed, and often costs tens of thousands of dollars when it does, the success rates are high enough that it’s widely touted as a solution that is likely to give couples the children they so desperately desire. This is a source of temptation for the women I talked to, even though they understand and agree with Church teaching against IVF on an intellectual level. “I would never do it, but it’s like a punch in the gut when other women go to the IVF clinic and are then planning baby showers seven months later,” one friend said. Added to this, there can also be tremendous pressure from family members who don’t understand Church teaching and see IVF as a path to having grandchildren or nieces and nephews.  read more here

NaProTechnology taking off in Africa & Poland!

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Our ministry is thanking God for Dr. Hilgers, as he spreads the good-news of NaProTechnology.  Below is an article on some updated news, this is fantastic!



Omaha physician travels overseas to train doctors
By LISA MAXSON
Catholic Voice

During a recent trip to Nigeria and Poland, a local doctor witnessed enthusiasm for the natural reproductive technology he created in Omaha.


Dr. Thomas Hilgers, an obstetrician/gynecologist and director of the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, traveled to Lagos, Africa, and Lublin, Poland, in September to finish training more than a dozen physicians and medical professionals in NaProTECHNOLOGY. Read more here





Our Lady of Good Counsel

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Litany of Our Lady of Good Counsel
 
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.
Beloved Daughter of the Eternal Father, pray for us.
August Mother of God the Son, pray for us.
Blessed Spouse of God the Holy Ghost, pray for us.
Living temple of the Holy Trinity, pray for us.
Queen of Heaven and earth, pray for us.
Seat of Divine Wisdom, pray for us.
Depositary of the secrets of the Most High, pray for us.
Virgin most prudent, pray for us.
In our doubts and difficulties, pray for us.
In our tribulations and anguish, pray for us.
In our discouragements, pray for us.
In perils and temptations, pray for us.
In all our undertakings, pray for us.
In all our needs, pray for us.
At the hour of death, pray for us.
By thine Immaculate Conception, pray for us.
By thy happy nativity, pray for us.
By thine admirable presentation, pray for us.
By thy glorious Annunciation, pray for us.
By thy charitable Visitation, pray for us.
By thy Divine Maternity, pray for us.
By thy holy Purification, pray for us.
By the sorrows and anguish of thy maternal heart, pray for us.
By thy precious death, pray for us.
By thy triumphant Assumption, pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
R. And obtain for us the gift of good counsel.

Let Us Pray.
V. Lord Jesus, Author and Dispenser of all good, Who in becoming incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin hast communicated to her lights above those of all the Heavenly intelligences, grant that in honoring her under the title of Our Lady of Good Counsel, we may merit always to receive from her goodness counsels of wisdom and salvation, which will conduct us to the port of a blessed eternity.
R. Amen.

If you haven’t seen this…

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please make sure you find the time.  This film will open your heart to so much of what God may be asking of you.  I’m not saying we all are called to be missionaries, but when you watch this open your eyes, your ears, and your heart to hear what God might be asking of you.  Our challenges in this life just may be a door to something we had not ever thought.

Blessings to you for a very happy and holy Easter Season!

http://www.grassrootsfilms.com/thehumanexperience/

Holy Saturday

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Dear Little Hearts,

The Battle is over!   The Victory is won, our Beloved lies sleeping, soon to rise !

Holy Saturday is a day that we traditionally refer to as “the day preparing the spices’… that means that now we spend this day preparing for the great celebration of the Easter Vigil and the Resurrection tomorrow. It is a day of hope.. a unique day of expectation.

Please take some time to reflect on this beautiful lesson fromn the Divine Office, it is  the second lesson at Matins for Holy Saturday… it is a real gem. Have a blessed day.
___________________________________________________________

The Lord’s descent into hell – Saint Mellitus of Sardis

“What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.  He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son.


The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: ‘My Lord be with you all.’ And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.


‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your  descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness:  Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.  ‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.


‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.

‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.

‘See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.
`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.

‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.

“The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages.”   



Prayer

Almighty, ever-living God, whose Only-begotten Son descended to the realm of the dead, and rose from there to glory, grant that your faithful people, who were buried with him in baptism, may, by his resurrection, obtain eternal life.  
(We make our prayer) through our Lord. (Through Christ our Lord.)


This comes to us by the Poor Clare Collentines TMD