Our Lady of Akita – Spiritual Director of Seer Passes Away

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A few days ago this was reported on Spirit Daily:

A 97-year-old priest associated with famous mystical events near Akita, Japan, died last month with what those holding vigil at his side said was the odor of sanctity.

The priest, Father Teji Yasuda, who chronicled the events, was living at what is known at St. Michael’s House of Prayer in the suburbs of Tokyo when he passed on November 22, 2013. Witnesses assert that the fragrance — often depicted as a cross between lilies and roses — was so strong that hospital personnel were baffled.

With him was the seer, Sister Agnes Sasagawa, a Handmaids-of-the-Eucharist nun who reportedly received dramatic messages from the Blessed Mother in front of a statue of Mary that investigators for the bishop affirmed had shed inexplicable tears on at least 101 occasions from January 4, 1975 until 1982. It is believed she still receives visions and locution, ostensibly from the Virgin Mary.

You can read more of the article here.

For those not familiar with the approved messages of Our Lady of Akita.  I want to present below the full history of Our Lady of Akita, the story of the seer, and the messages which contain some quite shocking warnings which I believe have in many ways are coming to fruition in our current time.

Akita-Shi, Japan 1973

A few pious women known as the Institute of the Handmaids of the Holy Eucharist were leading a quiet, hidden life of prayer in Yuzawadai just outside of Akita when they welcomed into their novitiate Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, who was then 42 years old and a convert from Buddhism. When she entered on May 12, 1973, Agnes was totally and incurably deaf, however she was blessed with various mystical favors; soon this convent would become so well known that their little chapel would attract pilgrims from around the world.

The first miraculous event at Akita occurred on June 12, 1973, only a month after the entrance of Sr. Agnes: A brilliant light shone forth from the Tabernacle. This happened several times and was often accompanied by something resembling smoke which hung around the altar. During one of these illuminations Sr. Agnes saw “. . . a multitude of beings similar to Angels who surrounded the altar in adoration before the Host.” Bishop Ito was staying at the convent to conduct a week of devotions. Sr. Agnes confided to him the circumstances of this vision, as well as all the events and apparitions that followed. Bishop Ito and the convent’s spiritual director, Rev. Teiji Yasuda, were witnesses to many of the events.

Sr. Agnes was also favored with visitations of her guardian Angel. Asked to describe the Angel, Sr. Agnes replied: “a round face, an expression of sweetness . . . a person covered with a shining whiteness like snow . . .” The guardian Angel confided various messages to the sister and often prayed with her, in addition to guiding and advising her.

On the evening of June 28, 1973, Sr. Agnes discovered on the palm of her left hand a cross-shaped wound that was exceedingly painful. On July 5, 1973, a small opening appeared in the center from which blood began to flow. Later, the pain would ease during most of the week except for Thursday nights and all day Friday, when the pain became almost unbearable.

Then on July 6 the guardian Angel appeared, telling Sr. Agnes: “. . . The wounds of Mary are much deeper and more sorrowful than yours. Let us go to pray together in the chapel.” After entering the chapel the Angel disappeared. Sr. Agnes then turned to the statue of Mary situated on the right side of the altar.  The statue, which is approximately three feet tall had been carved from the hard wood of the Judea tree: it is a figure of Our Lady standing before a cross, her arms at her side with the palms of her hands facing forward. Beneath her feet is a globe representing the world.

When Sr. Agnes approached the statue, she said, “I suddenly felt that the wooden statue came to life and was about to speak to me . . . She was bathed in a brilliant light . . . and at the same moment a voice of indescribable beauty struck my totally deaf ears.” Our Lady told her: “. . . Your deafness will be healed . . .” She then recited with Sr. Agnes the community prayer that had been composed by Bishop Ito. At the words “Jesus present in the Eucharist,” Mary instructed, “From now on, you will add TRULY.” Together with the Angel who again appeared, the three voices recited a consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, TRULY present in the Holy Eucharist. Before disappearing, Our Lady asked that Sr. Agnes “pray very much for the Pope, bishops and priests . . .”

The next morning, when the sisters assembled for the recitation of Lauds, they found blood on the right hand of the statue and two lines which crossed, in the middle of which was an opening from which the blood flowed. The wound matched that on the hand of Sr. Agnes except that, since the statue’s hand was smaller, its wound was smaller. It bled on the Fridays of July during the year 1973, as did the wound on the hand of Sr. Agnes.

One of the sisters wrote: “It seemed to be truly cut into flesh. The edge of the cross had the aspect of human flesh and one even saw the grain of the skin like a fingerprint. I said to myself at that moment that the wound was real . . .”

Of special noteworthiness, the drops of blood ran the length of the statue’s hand, which was open and pointing downward, yet the drops never fell from the hand.

The wound on the hand of Sr. Agnes appeared on Thursday, June 28. As predicted by the guardian Angel, the wound disappeared on Friday, July 27 without leaving a trace.

The second message of Our Lady came on August 3, 1973, a First Friday, when the heavenly voice from the statue warned:

“. . . Many men in this world afflict the Lord . . . In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind . . . I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger . . . know that you must be fastened to the Cross with three nails. These three nails are poverty, chastity and obedience. Of the three, obedience is the foundation .. . “ When Sr. Agnes was professed, she pronounced these three vows. Although the wound on the hand of Sr. Agnes disappeared on July 27, the wound on the hand of the statue remained until its disappearance on September 29. At that time the statue emitted a bright light. The wound had remained for three months.

While wounds in the hands of the statue bled, Bishop Ito advises that, contrary to some reports, “. ..the statue did not sweat blood or weep blood at any time.”

On the evening office of September 29, 1973, the whole community saw a brilliant light coming from the statue. Almost immediately the entire body of the statue became covered with a moisture resembling perspiration. Sr. Agnes’ guardian Angel told her, “Mary is even sadder than when she shed blood. Dry the perspiration.”

The sisters used cotton balls to collect the moisture. Following Our Lady’s message, the dazzling light that had surrounded the statue gradually disappeared.

Toward the end of May, 1974, another phenomenon occurred. While the statue’s garment and the hair retained the look of natural wood, the face, hands and feet became distinguished by a dark, reddish-brown tint. Eight years later, when the sculptor came to see the statue, he could not hide his surprise that only the visible parts of Our Lady’s body had changed color, and that the face itself had changed expression.

Then on January 4, 1975, to the amazement of the community and Fr. Yasuda, the statue of the Virgin began to weep and did so three times that day. Also witnessing these tears, in addition to the sisters, were Bishop Ito and a number of people who had joined the nuns for a New Year’s retreat. In the 10 years following, scientific studies excluded any explanation other than the supernatural.

The tears collected on the inside edge of the eyes flowed down the cheeks, collected at the edge of the garment near the throat, rolled down the folds of the garment and fell upon the globe under Our Lady’s feet.

Fr. Yasuda recorded in his book, The Tears and Message of Mary, that the statue:

“. . . had completely dried out during the years since it was made and little cracks had begun to appear. It is already miraculous if water would flow from such material, but it is still more prodigious that a liquid slightly salty, of the nature of true human tears, should have flowed precisely from the eyes.”

Eventually, Bishop Ito arranged for Professor Sagisaka, M.D., a non-Christian specialist in forensic medicine, to make a rigorous scientific examination of the three fluids, although the Bishop did not reveal their source. The results were: “The matter adhering on the gauze is human blood. The sweat and the tears absorbed in the two pieces of cotton are of human origin.” The blood was found to belong to group B and the sweat and tears to group AB. Sr. Agnes belongs to group B.

Bishop Ito was advised by the Apostolic Nuncio to seek the assistance of the Archbishop of Tokyo in creating a commission of canonical inquiry. Unfortunately, the Inquisitor who was not Catholic was named president of this group. Without any of the members visiting the convent to conduct a personal inquiry, the commission rendered an unfavorable verdict.

Unwilling to accept a negative verdict to the events he himself had witnessed, Bishop Ito asked the advice in Rome of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. He was then advised to form another commission to study the events from the beginning. This commission rendered a favorable verdict regarding the supernatural aspects of the events.

The tears of December 8, 1979 were filmed by a television crew at 11 o’clock in the evening, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and was shown on television to 12 million people throughout Japan. It is now shown by the nuns at the convent and was shown during news broadcasts throughout the world.

The sculptor of the statue, Saburo Wakasa, a non-Catholic and a citizen of Akita, was asked his reaction to the occurrences relating to the statue. He answered:

The statue of Mary was my first work connected with Christianity. Of my various statues, it is only with the statue of Mary at Yuzawadai that mysterious events occurred . . . I sculptured the whole statue of Mary, globe, and the Cross from the same piece of wood, so there are no joints . . . The wood from which I carved the statue of Mary was very dry and rather hard . . .

When questioned as to whether he regards as a “miracle” the reported shedding of tears from the statue of Mary, he replied, “It is a mystery.”

Another examination of the fluids was conducted by Dr. Sagisaka of the Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Akita. The results were given on November 30, 1981 and revealed that:

“The object examined has adhering to it human liquids which belong to the blood group O.” Since the first analysis revealed that the blood belonged to group B and the sweat and tears to group AB, it has been established that the fluids belong to three different blood groups.

It is a medical fact that the blood, tears and sweat of an individual all belong to the same blood group. One fluid cannot differ in type from the other fluids of the same body. Since Sr. Agnes belonged to group B she could not have “ejected and transferred” blood or fluids belonging to group AB or O. The theory of the Inquisitor that Sr. Agnes exercised had ectoplasmic power wass thereby refuted.

On the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows [September 15], the statue cried for the last time. Two weeks later, Sr. Agnes’ guardian Angel presented a large Bible surrounded with a brilliant light. The open Bible revealed the reference, Genesis 3:15. The Angel explained that the passage had a relationship with the tears of Mary and then continued.

. . . sin came into the world by a woman and it is also by a woman that salvation came to the world . . .

The lachrymations number 101, and they took place at irregular intervals from January 4, 1975 until September 15, 1981. The first 1 is Eve, the second, Our Lady and the 0 represents the eternal Holy Trinity.

According to the records kept by the sisters, the number of persons witnessing the tears went unrecorded on five occasions. However, all the other times they were witnessed by no fewer than ten persons, and other lachrymations were witnessed by various numbers of people, sometimes as many as 46, 55 and, for the last lachrymation, 65 people. Some of the witnesses were non-Christians and some were prominent Buddhists, including the mayor of the city.

On October 13, the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, 1973, Sr. Agnes heard the beautiful voice speaking from the statue once more: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres, churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the devil will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon would be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer any pardon for them.”

She continued, “As I told you, if people do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the Flood, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests.”

The statue wept for the last time on September 15, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Sr. Agnes was totally and incurably deaf when she entered the community, having lost her hearing on March 16, 1973. Sister was able to speak, and understood spoken messages by lip reading. As predicted by her guardian Angel, she temporarily regained her hearing on October 13, 1974. Deafness returned on March 7, 1975. Her hearing was permanently restored on May 30, 1982, as predicted by Our Lady during the first message of July 6, 1973. Both healings occurred instantaneously during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Sr. Agnes is today in sound health, except for the rheumatism that has affected her hands.

A canonical law regarding the judgment of a Marian apparition was issued in 1978. According to a Vatican official: “. . . the authority to hand down a conclusion regarding the authenticity of any Marian apparition is given canonically to the ordinary (the bishop) of the local diocese where the apparition took place . . .”

In his pastoral letter dated April 22, 1984, Bishop John Ito, the Ordinary of the Diocese of Niigata, wrote that having been given directives in this regard, “I authorize throughout the entire diocese of which I am charged, the veneration of the Holy Mother of Akita.” The Bishop noted that the events are only a matter of private revelation, and are not points of doctrine. The Bishop also mentioned in his pastoral letter that he had known Sr. Agnes Sasagawa for 10 years. “She is a woman sound in spirit, frank and without problems; she has always impressed me as a balanced person. Consequently the messages she says that she has received did not appear to me to be in any way the result of imagination or hallucination.”

Four years later, on June 20, 1988, during Bishop lto’s visit to Rome, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved the contents of the pastoral letter.

Bishop Ito’s official recognitions of the occurrences and the Madonna’s messages were reported in the October, 1988 issue of the magazine 30 Days. In the August 1990 issue, Cardinal Ratzinger is quoted as saying that “there are no objections to the conclusion of the pastoral letter.” Cardinal Ratzinger has invited the Bishop to continue to inform him about the pilgrimages and conversions.

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Rush Limbaugh -vs- Pope Francis – An Apology is Needed

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This article was written by Matt Abbott, please visit his site here: http://ift.tt/1fOxps1

Pope Francis recently issued the apostolic exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel.” Click here to read it.

Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh isn’t pleased with the document, calling it “pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope.” (Source)

I sought comment on the matter from Father John Trigilio Jr., Ph.D., Th.D., president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. Below is Father’s analysis (slightly edited).

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I often listen to Rush Limbaugh and find him to be an intelligent man and an erudite conservative journalist. He uses common sense and logic to expose the fallacious arguments of liberal progressives. Unfortunately, he himself has fallen into a trap by which he erroneously extrapolates a false premise from the recent papal document from Pope Francis.

Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) is an apostolic exhortation issued on November 24, 2013. While not an ex cathedra infallible document, it nevertheless contains ordinary papal magisterial teaching that demands submission of mind and will by faithful Catholics.

Rush is uncharacteristically inaccurate in his quotations. Pope Francis did not criticize unfettered capitalism; he used the phrase unfettered consumerism. The late and great Father Richard John Neuhaus defined consumerism as:

‘[P]recisely, the consuming of life by the things consumed. It is living in a manner that is measured by having rather than being. As Pope John Paul II makes clear, consumerism is hardly the sin of the rich. The poor, driven by discontent and envy, may be as consumed by what they do not have as the rich are consumed by what they do have. The question is not, certainly not most importantly, a question about economics. It is first and foremost a cultural and moral problem requiring a cultural and moral remedy.’

Capitalism is an economic and political ideology, whereas consumerism is a personal and individual ideology. The former is focused on a free market; the latter is obsessed with the acquisition of goods in and of themselves. Blessed John Paul II made the distinction that communism and consumerism are far extremes, and both threaten human freedom. One denies the right to access of necessary goods; the other deifies materialism and promotes avarice, greed and envy. A free market system, on the other hand, treats human beings equally, not giving undo advantage to card-carrying members of the Communist Party while penalizing those who express some political dissent.

What Pope Francis, Pope Benedict, Pope John Paul, Pope Leo and others have consistently been saying and teaching, however, is that the individual person is a moral agent. He must answer to God for what he did or did not do to help his neighbor in need. The Gospel of Matthew ends by separating the sheep from goats based on what each individual did or did not do to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, and so on. It is not a judgment of government policies or agencies; it is a personal judgment on each one of us.

That said, besides personal acts of Christian charity, it is logical and reasonable, prudent and necessary to pool resources and, even for the state, to help in cases where the most needy and most urgent cases are helped. Yet no pope ever promoted, nor called for, a welfare state that perpetually cares for the poor. The ultimate goal is to enable the poor to rise above poverty and reach a level of dignity commensurate with their human dignity.

Access to necessary goods is a natural right. That does not mean, however, that the natural moral law requires the poor to become enslaved to the state by permanently keeping them dependent. Rush calls Pope Francis a Socialist at best and a Communist at worst. Does this sound like a commie comment?

‘Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely temporary responses.’ (no. 202)

Contrary to what many modern public school textbooks currently tell our children, capitalism was actually created during the high Middle Ages and, as Michael Novak wrote in 2003, Catholicism is what created it. While feudalism sustained Christendom from the fall of the Roman Empire (476 A.D.) through the so-called Dark Ages, during the 12th to 14th centuries, the middle class arose thanks to capitalism, which eventually replaced feudalism. Medieval guilds and religious orders, such as the Cistercians, became contemporary entrepreneurs of their time.

‘They mastered rational cost accounting, plowed all profits back into new ventures, and moved capital around from one venue to another, cutting losses where necessary, and pursuing new opportunities when feasible. They dominated iron production in central France and wool production (for export) in England. They were cheerful and energetic. Being few in number, the Cistercians needed labor-saving devices. They were a great spur to technological development. Their monasteries ‘were the most economically effective units that had ever existed in Europe, and perhaps in the world, before that time.’ (Novak)

Thomas Woods’ How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization has an entire chapter titled “The Church and Economics” in which he, too, proposes that money was not an artificial product of government (crown or parliament), but a result of a voluntary process between merchants. Barter became more and more impractical when dealing with perishable items and dealing with transporting goods over long distances. Religious orders like the Cistercians devised accounting systems by which goods could be bought and sold between fellow monks, and this was duplicated by lay merchants who participated in the process.

While the secular states were governed by aristocracies and monarchies, and while the Church herself is hierarchical, it is still Catholic doctrine that all men and women are created in the image of God and by baptism are considered children of God. That spiritual equality was translated into an economic equality, which transcended the political. The emerging middle class came from the peasant class. They did so because their faith taught them they were equal in the eyes of God and therefore had equal opportunities to improve their material situation. Those who could not – the destitute poor, the lame, widowed and orphaned – relied on the Christian charity of the nobility and the emerging middle class.

It was the Church who literally created the colleges and universities, hospitals and orphanages, and who ran the poor houses and soup kitchens. The secular state (government) did not create these institutions; religious orders and dioceses did. Christian charity motivated those who had more to help those who had less.

When you read Evangelii Gaudium in its entirety, it continues the papal magisterium found in Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno, Mater et Magistra, Gaudium et Spes, Centesimus Annus, and, of course, the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The very reason a nation has banking and finance laws is that human beings are not perfect. Original sin affects everyone, and some people, be they CEOs, CFOs, bankers or brokers, sometimes make bad choices that produce bad effects that cause great harm to many innocent people. I know of no conservative or liberal, Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian who would advocate the repeal of laws barring insider trading.

We need laws to maintain some parameters on banks and stock brokers to protect people from abuse and exploitation. Republicans and Democrats dispute the length, breadth and depth of such legal regulations, but even a free market has some borders that cannot be ignored. Limited government is still very different from no government. Some, even if minimal, legislation is needed since not everyone acts prudently or fairly or for pristine motives.

That said, it was totally unfair and inaccurate of Rush to attack Pope Francis for addressing a letter as head of the Roman Catholic Church to his more than one billion members. The pontiff was merely reiterating consistent Church teaching that supports a free market, but also reminds the moral obligation to act responsibly, honestly and prudently. No one can command generosity but it is something which should be encouraged and promoted. Welfare dependency helps neither the individual nor the nation. Some welfare is necessary for those who cannot be helped by private or non-profit charitable organizations. However, the goal is always to help move those into economic independence and become self-sufficient.

Laborem Exercens teaches us the sanctity of human work. The Catechism tells us that the Catholic Church always believes justice and solidarity are essential and necessary to human freedom. Justice is distributive, commutative and social. Unfettered consumerism is not synonymous with capitalism. A free market system respects human freedom and autonomy. Consumerism is an abuse and an extreme. Communism wrongly treated human labor as a means of production for the state. Consumerism wrongly treats the product of human labor and of the free market as the final source of happiness and fulfillment.

Material things, while helpful, do not produce enduring and true happiness. They make life easier, more comfortable and more convenient. Technology helps cure sickness and disease and helps makes life less a burden. All Pope Francis is warning is that the possession and acquisition of goods is not salvific, nor does it bring lasting joy. Pleasure is temporary, whereas joy can be eternal.

The pontiff is not forcing any nation or government to abandon capitalism; he’s not advocating socialism let alone communism. He is, however, reminding Catholics all over the globe that we must buy and sell prudently while using our consciences. In that light, I see no reason for Rush to take offense or issue with Pope Francis.

I highly urge Rush to read Father Robert Sirico’s Defending the Free Market and John Horvat’s Return to Order. Mr. Horvat does a splendid job explaining the notion of frenetic intemperance, which is a cousin of unfettered consumerism. Father Sirico precisely shows that freedom requires a free market and that greed is no friend of capitalism. Rather, greed flourishes under socialism.

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Answered Prayers – Cancer Miracle

Twelve years ago when I worked at the Walmart store in Warrenton Virginia as a Photo Specialist I made a new friend of a frequent customer.  The customers name was Clifford K.  He asked that I just call him Cliff Cliff.  Unfortunately soon after I left Walmart in 2003 I lost contact with Cliff.  It wasn’t until around December of last year that I ran into Cliff again.  This time I was working in a Staples store (worst job I have ever had) and I saw Cliff walk through the door and my spirits instantly lifted.  We reunited after so many years of not being in contact and I began helping him and his dear wife with various IT related work.  Cliffs wife Michelle was undergoing chemo therapy and was in a lot of pain and struggling to keep her spirits up.  I began to pray hard for Michelle and I’ve sent out more than a few blog posts asking for your prayers as well.  On October 2nd I started a 9 day novena to Blessed Francis Seelos and I prayed for a healing for Michelle.

This morning I received a call from Cliff and he said he had something really important to share with me.  For the past 3 weeks Michelle had been in quite a bit of pain and she and Cliff both felt that the cancer was getting worse.  Unknowing to me, Cliff revealed that the doctors had given her a 10-20% chance of success with her cancer treatment and that she was on her last dosage because nothing else had worked.  On 11/27 (Wednesday), Cliff and Michelle went to the doctor to get the results of the pain that she was suffering and much to their amazement and to the shock of the doctor, the pain was from her tumor dying and shrinking.  The doctor said that he had no explanation for it, that something like this happening at the stage Michelle was at, was unknown and he hadn’t seen something like this happen before!!  The doctor is putting her on another 3 week regimen of the same chemo dosage and the prognosis looks great.  Everything seems to have turned itself around for Michelle and Cliff.  Prayers have been answered and I think Blessed Seelos may have had something to do with this, after all I think many of his miracles involved people who were suffering from cancer.

Please continue to keep Michelle in your prayers.  I am going to start another Novena in the next few days for her and I’ll send out a notification and invite you in on what I hope will be a major prayer chain that will rain our intercessions into the heavenly realm for her healing.

God Bless!

Michael

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6 Deacons Ordained for the Arlington Diocese

 

Congratulations to the 6 new Deacons who were ordained yesterday for the Arlington Virginia Diocese! I worked with Dr. Scott Ross and his wife at the House of Mercy, from what I recall he is a good man.  My prayers go out to all the new Deacons, may God Bless them all!  For more info please visit: http://ift.tt/1kLToC6

Here is a little more info on each of the deacons, clicking their names will take you to a bio for each person.

John P. Allen

Steven M. Clifford

Edward C. Gliot

Brian R. Majewski

Christopher G. Moore

Scott A. Ross

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Cardinal O’Malley Gets his Baptism Reaffirmed by Female Minister

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O’Malley’s Methodist baptism

Click Here to read more: http://monk2be.com/cardinal-omalley-gets-his-baptism-reaffirmed-by-female-minister/

I saw this as it hit the news a few days ago and the image has caused quite a disturbance across the blogosphere and news worldwide.  Just peachy.  So what is the good Cardinal going to do next?  Is he going to invite this lady or another ‘ordained’ woman to join him on the altar for a concelebration of the Eucharist?  I saw over at Rorate CAELI they said that Cardinal O’Malley was practicing the Latin Mass during the Pontificate of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and now under Pope Francis he has gone to the other side of the see-saw and ‘invited’ a female minister to reaffirm his baptism.  It’s sickening.  Ecumenism when done correctly is good.  But when it is presented such as this.. it does way more damage to the Church.  Here is a quote from the local paper that picked up the story and commentary from the female minister:
“What moved me was not so much that I was anointing him,” she said. “It was him being willing to accept that from my hand – to ask me, as a woman in ministry, to do that.”
A Rhode Island native, the Rev. [Anne] Robertson was the only female clergy member who assisted at a special 50th anniversary worship service at Sudbury United Methodist Church.
As part of Sunday’s anniversary service, the 500 who filled Sudbury United Methodist to overflowing were invited to receive a drop of consecrated water on their forehead and be told, “Remember your baptism and be thankful.” The ritual resembles the ceremonial receiving of ashes on Ash Wednesday, but isn’t a formal United Methodist sacrament.
Cardinal O’Malley and New England United Methodist Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar led the ritual in the sanctuary. The Rev. Robertson and a Catholic priest were on their way with small bowls of water to a side room, for others watching the service on a large-screen TV.
She paused with the priest at the cardinal’s pew, so they could receive the baptism water from Cardinal O’Malley. The next moment, the cardinal quietly asked the Rev. Robertson to administer the water for him.
“My heart immediately went to my throat,” she said. “To be asked that by the man who might be pope someday – I was stunned. I was choking back tears for hours.”
…
My heart went to my throat as well when I read the above article and statements.  Beyond ridiculous.
Pray for our Church!
God Bless,
Michael

New Blog! www.monk2be.com

Hello,

I should have posted his months ago.  I am now blogging from a new location.  Please come and join me at http://www.monk2be.com

See you there!

God Bless!

Michael

Donations

I hate to blog about this, but it is something that I need to ask.

I know that it is a tough time economically for everyone.  As a Postulant with a religious community, I find myself needing many things and not having the money to purchase the necessities of life.  I would like to offer something in exchange for your generosity, I will keep each and every one of you in my prayers.  Please attach a prayer request with your donation.

Thank You!  Donate Here

Prayer from the Heart

This past month has been filled with many sufferings.  However, the graces that I have received during these moments of sorrow, have been plentiful and heart warming.  I often find myself in the chapel with a burning desire to sit before Our Lord in silence.  Last week I was kneeling before the tabernacle asking God to open my heart to interior prayer when I heard these words flow out from my heart:


Oh Jesus, I throw myself at thy feet
I am a sinful and sorrowful soul
I lack charity for others and I lack peace of heart
I am sending my dear guardian angel to bring a fragment of my soul to lay before your throne
Though, I am so unworthy to lie within your presence
I ask that you take my uncleanliness and purify it
Make my soul as white as snow
As pure as the mantle of thy Mother
Set it on fire with your divine love
....
Jesus, I wish for you to cleanse my eyes of all they have witnessed
My ears of all they have heard
My tongue of all it's spoken
My heart of all it's darkness
And my soul of it's disease
....
I give you my mind, so it will only think of you
I give you my tongue so it will only speak your words
I give you my heart to cleave as thy wish
I give you my eyes to only see your face in everyone I meet
and I give you my ears so they will only hear what you wish them to hear
....
I open myself up to you
Every channel and portal, I throw open to welcome your graces
Fill me with your divine love, peace, and joy
Create in me a tabernacle fit to hold your precious body and blood
I beg of you to have mercy on me
Send down your Holy Spirit and let your light be my light
I am yours and everything that I have is yours
Do with me as thy will.

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I then meditated on these words and let them sink in.  This is one of my first experiences with such a prayer coming from the heart.  I hope it is not the last.

Persecutions - How to deal with them

Today in class we were discussing persecutions and how to deal with them when they enter our lives.  Life when lived well presents many opportunities to suffer through various persecutions, how we react to these determines how efficacious they are towards our spiritual life.  Sometimes when we least expect it, we will encounter a persecution from a family member, loved one, friend, or someone we don't even know.  As long as you are standing by truth and the teachings of the Church you will know interiorly that you are in the right and that the suffering that your experiencing can be offered up to help bring grace into the lives of someone who may really need it at that particular moment.

Just today I was persecuted by someone I never met because I made a stand against something this person had a different opinion on.  This week during a mass with Cardinal Rigali, he spoke on how to respond to someone that is persecuting you.  He said that we must respond with charity, no matter how insulting the person is or angry in their message to us.  It is our duty as Catholic's to respond with love, for it is through love that we will open their hearts and minds to the will of God.

Love as Christ would love, Forgive as Christ forgives, and Pray as Christ prays.

When it Rains it Pours!

You know what they say, when it rains it pours?  It's a proven fact and this week has been a great example of what happens when a hurricane of bad news just hit's you right on the head.   This has been one of my toughest weeks yet in the Seminary.  To be honest with myself, I have to say that I never really learned how to study and these last 2 months I have really struggled to learn a good pattern of study and now I think I have finally found one that works for me.  Unfortunately, I discovered this new study habit only a week before midterms.  That being said, I did study my butt off for my midterms and 3 of them I felt I did very well on.

After a week full of trials and disappointments, I was looking forward to today when I would get back the test results for a class that I feel I did very well in grade wise.  What I got was a complete shocker and I'm just at a loss for words.  I'm trying to compartmentalize this new disappointment on top of everything else that has happened this week.  I look forward to next week, the Seminary will be having 40 hrs of adoration, which will give me adequate time to rest, spend time with our Lord, and hopefully forget about all the pain from this week.

Please pray for me, that I will be given the strength to handle all trials I am being sent and will be sent in the future.

Wanderings of a Pilgrim living within the confines of a Monastery

I have now been in the order for a little over 2 months and what a journey I have been on!  It is amazing how much one can go through upon entering a new place and being introduced to new experiences. 

Fr. Gould mentioned to my Mom a few weeks ago that there is only 1 Catholic Priest that has been made a saint, however with religious there are many.  At first I was incredulous, however, after living in this life, I can totally see how if one perseveres there are many opportunities to reach the heights of sanctity.  There are many different people living in community, and each has a differenct personality and sometimes they can rub you the wrong way, which takes time and patience to learn to deal with and prayer to love them all the more.  I can only imagine how crazy I make some of them with my weird idiosyncricies! =)

As one brother once told me when I was annoyed one day.  "There are saints and there are saint-makers"... How True!!! =)  I hope that I am a saint and not a saint maker!

I must say that this life is absolutely wonderful.. don't get me wrong, sometimes I wish I was back home in my comfort zone.  However, this life is truly great, my brothers are good men all trying to serve and love the Lord and my life is one filled with prayer, joy, peace, and happiness.  I have had mystical experiences and close encounters with the Lord here and I hope that God will continue to bless my vocation and help me to persevere to the Novitiate House in LeRoy, NY next year.

May Our Lady of Divine Mercy Bless you!

The Sinner's Practical Guide to Sainthood

As a young child I loved to read the lives of the saints and all their heroic adventures and the amazing things they did.  One question always remained in my mind, how does one become a saint?  One thing that I saw consistently through each of these stories was that each person had a deep prayer life and a filial love for God and his Holy Mother.

Another virtue that I saw in each of these gentle souls was a depth of love for their fellow man and a generous nature in which they truly loved each person regardless of status in society, wealth, or cleanliness.  Many of these men and women lived very poor existences and relied upon the generous nature of others for support, food, and clothing.  I also noticed upon further reading that some of these great saints endured great mortifications to their bodies in order to mortify their bodies of it's sinfulness.  A passage stands out in my mind from one of the readings long ago "The soul should never be a slave to the body, instead the body, should be a slave to the soul".  That in it's essence, in order to reach peace with ones spirituality, the body needs to be mortified and not given into over every little whim or desire.

When I was 20, a Priest from Holy Angels Catholic Church in Mt. Airy, NC told a story one day about a young man from the parish who wanted to be a saint.  This young man had read a story about a saint who dug through trash and ate rotten food as a penance and offering towards God to help save souls.  One Sunday morning, this Priest heard some noise out behind his house, it sounded like an animal was going through his trash.  He grabbed a broom and stepped out the backdoor and switched on the light to find this young man on his knees with a small pile of items including rotten apples, tomatoes, and other rotting food that Father had put out for the trash man.  He was bewildered and asked the young man what the devil he was doing, he was surprised with the answer he was given and then invited him into his house where they had a nice chat.  He told the young man that the path to sainthood wasn't paved in rotten food.  What was done in the 14th century and worked for one saint who was called to live that life wasn't exactly what this young man needed to do in order to reach heaven and sainthood.  He explained that we are all called to be saints, however, we become saints by living the lives that God called us to live.  Each of us are different, some are married and through the married life they are given crosses to carry.  Carrying those crosses and living their lives devoted to God and making sacrifices will lead a person seeking saintliness into a holy life.  In all the paths of life that we are called, whether it be the married, consecrated, or single life, we are all called to become saints without having to dig through someone's trash.

Years later, I found myself in the same predicament this young man had entered into, just in a different way.  As my faith began to grow deeper, I began to study the lives of the saints and the different paths of mortification that they did.  After finding several references to hair shirts, coarse clothing, and bindings.. I came across the cilice.  Oh, what a tool this looked like.  It was a sharp chain that a person could put around their arm or leg to inflict pain that you would then offer up and sacrifice for.  I thought that sounded pretty easy to do, if I didn't like it, then I would just take it off and try something different.  I searched for weeks for a cilice and couldn't find anything.  Finally I came across a Christian site in Spain that was offering a cilice for a good sum of money, I forked out the change, I figured it was a good investment towards my sainthood which was practically on order.  A week later, I got my package and eagerly ripped it open to find a beautiful gold colored spiked chain that looked like the spike strips used in high speed police chases.  I sat down in my chair and eagerly wrapped the chain around my upper leg right below the knee cap and then tied the leather strips together.  It was painful, I found myself staring at this thing and just waiting for the super white halo to plop on my head as if this was the last thing needed in order to earn my wings.  A few minutes went by and I decided to stand up and take a walk around with it on.  As I jumped to my feet, a searing realization entered my mind, all the blood that was trapped int he sitting position shot up and as my leg expanded, I came to an even more painful realization that I now had a chain of practical barbwire wrapped around my leg with the pressure growing stronger every second.  I tried to walk, but it was to painful, so I bent down to try and undue it and again came to a shocking discovery that the pressure had caused the metal bond in a fashion that I couldn't get, besides that I noticed a few holes beginning to bleed and that was when I knew I had to get it off!  I ended up half jumping, half dragging my painful leg and body over to the garage and tool box to get the pliers.  It took a few moments to get it off, but it felt like ages had gone by.  The pain was mind numbing.

The lesson I learned as I sat back down in my chair and stared at this simple chain was... that sainthood doesn't happen because of something that we do.  It happens, because of the life that we live and how we live that life in regards to our love and faith in God. I could chop off my toe and say it was for God.  That doesn't make me saint.  However, living my life totally for God and doing his will when it is against my own and doing things because they are the right things to do and not because I think it will get me something.. THAT is in it's most basic form, the Sinners Guide to Sainthood.  The picture at the top of this post is my cilice, I found it this week while going through some old boxes.

My Journey into Religious Life

I remember as a young man being asked by my Priest Monsignor Duncan if I wanted to serve on the altar.  I was at the age of 10 at that time and was terrified of the prospect of getting on the altar and serving in front of all those people.  It wasn't until two year later when Monsignor retired and we were assigned a new Priest did I finally answer his request.  From the first moment I set foot on that altar I was attached to it like a magnet to a refrigerator!  I served 8 years until I moved from that Parish in Mount Airy, NC to Warrenton, Va at the age of 20.  I tried to serve at my new parish, however the Priest said I was too old and my career as an altar boy officially came to a screeching halt and I entered retirement... much to my sadness.

I believe it was while I was serving I felt the call to be a Priest.  I had always dreamt of it as a child, Mom was always purchasing a new saints book for me and I loved to read their lives and adventures over and over again.  By the time that I hit my early 20's, the last thing I wanted to actually do was be a religious, I wanted money and the fantasies of the world!  I began to do stupid things in my life, like fall into the trap of Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) where I was continually being sucked into fantasy of working from home and being a rich man and I ate it all up, I followed everything these people told me.. I hassled family and friends, called people endlessly on the phone, and then even went to the extremes of badgering Christ about it and then getting mad when he didn't drop that pot of gold into my lap. I remember one particular day, now that I look back on it years after it happened.. I just shake my head and laugh at the mere stupidity of myself..  I was in a new program called "Club Colossal"  (just the name rings of stupidity) and I was convinced as a founding member that I was going to be making 10,000 bucks a month selling leads and selling positions in my downline.  So I ran into Church and had this wild idea that I would make a deal with God that I would prob never live up to.  I ran up to the altar in a frenzy and knelt down and told God that when I was making 10k a month I would give it all up for him and do whatever he wanted, ie: follow him as a religious.  

And so I found myself lost once again in the turmoil of scam and now I realize that God not only heard my prayer, he answered it.  Granted, it wasn't in the way that I wanted.. but here I find myself in 10K of debt and entering  religious life!!  Ironic isn't it?  HAHA!  God has a sense of humor.  He must have looked at me and just shook his head and said "Child, I accept, however this will not end the way in which you originally proposed".  

At first I ran from the idea of a vocation...  I would do anything and everything to avoid even the topic of it.  I began to become just a shell of what I was meant to be.  One one side I would feign holiness in Church, but as soon as I got home I become the soulless cyber addict.  I spent years and years just trying to reach a life of richness and I spent gobs and gobs of the money that I worked hard for in my day jobs.  There were definitely times in those years that I had an inkling of a calling and as time went by I continued to feel a call grow stronger and stronger and I would find that the more that I tried to avoid it, it would rise from stangers who would tell me that I should look into religious life or I should be a Priest.  Some morning I would wake up in bed and have some religious song  playing in my head or I would wake up with a dream of being a monk or a Priest.  It was around the age of 25 that I began to take my life more seriously and the prospect of a vocation, I began what would be a major conversion in my life.  I finally stopped running from God and one day stopped by Church and told him that I was open to what he wanted in my life and if he wanted me to be Priest then I would do as he asked.  It was at and around that time that I felt a peace enter my life.  I began to say the rosary again, daily, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day.  I began devotions, adoration, stations of the cross, spending time in Church and getting to know Our Lord more intimately.  

I remember one day kneeling down in Church before mass and I asked God what he wanted me to be, where I should follow him through.  I had no more finished my prayer when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and ask if they could sit down, it was just a few moments before sunday mass began and the pews were filling up fast.  I remember not even looking over, just scooting down a few feet and then sitting back and looking over at the person who had tapped me on my shoulder...IT WAS A MONK IN A FULL HABIT!!!!!  I almost fell out of the pew.. and then looked around and saw that the pew in front of me was empty and the pew behind me and yet this man chose to sit in my pew.  I took it as a sign from God and was like "WOW!".  It was a Benedictine monk and remember being just enthralled with the man, he probably felt suffocated by the sheer amount of looks I was giving him during and after mass. =)  

After mass, I followed this man outside and we spoke.  There were a few things that just threw up red flags for me immediately.  1. He was also a police officer for Prince William County Police (that was a big one)  2.  His monastery was in Indiana and he was living outside of it.  3.  He had two children who he was taking care of.  None the less, given all these things, I was enthralled with the man and believed everything he said, he had an answer to ever question I gave him and I even thought about answering his request and visiting his monastery.   But again, these questions continued to bother me and I felt I needed to visit a Benedictine monastery and ask them about this man.  So I went up to the oldest Benedictine Monastery in the USA in Latrobe, PA and visited for a week of vocation discernment.  It was there that they had a book of all the Priests, Monks, Convents, and Monasteries in the world that were Catholic.  We didn't find his monastery, in fact after further research we found that he was an Episcopalian and his monastery was founded as a joint place between a Buddhist 'woman' leader and a man who one day decided he wanted to start a monastery.. 

I returned home with a broken heart feeling utterly betrayed by this cop.  When I got home I learned that he was not properly vetted by our Priest and returned one weekend as an ordained Priest from a Caribbean island and concelabrated mass with the Priest as well as heard confessions on a Saturday.  He also handled the money after mass.  Luckily nothing was missing, however when the Bishop found out about this sacrilege he was banned from all the Churches in the Diocese and the Priest that was originally at the Church was moved.  Needless to say I felt the Benedictines were not the ones for me and I continued my search.  I began to search online for religious orders and what I found were a bunch of liberal old men who didn't wear habits and had such things as prayer mazes at their monastery and other new age crap.  I  created a system that worked rather well.  I would visit a site and would go immediately to the pictures, if I saw a group of old men with gray hair and no habits I would close out the website and move on.  I sent out my name to several of the places that I found, however when looking into the further or visiting them I realized that they were not were I wanted to be.  

I let my vocation and the desire to slide and entered a dark period in my life.  I began to lose my love for the rosary and for Holy Mother and it was then that I found myself in a dark place that would take me years to escape from.  I ended up going to confession weekly for years confessing the same addictive things over and over again and not getting anywhere in my spiritual life.  Back in the fall of 2008 I found a silent retreat down in Hampton, Va and experienced a miracle from Mother Mary and had a second conversion.. this time it was to stay and brought me into a deep relationship with God.  It has taken me the last two years to come back in all totality with God and to have that relationship that I once had.. perhaps even deeper now.  It was back in 2008 during this period of renewal that I found a religious order known as the Mercedarian and got in contact with them.  I remember speaking with the then vocation Dir. Fr. Matthew Phelan who is now the Superior and he invited me up for a visit and around the time that I was thinking of going up to see, my much beloved Grandfather passed away unexpectedly.  I told Fr. Matt that I needed to mourn and I would get back in touch with him when I was ready.  Little did I know, I was going to forget about them.  It wasn't the right time for me to go up there.  

I started a new job with a Catholic Charity in December of 2009 and couldn't attend the March for Life in D.C of this year.  Mom however, was able to go and in the hundreds of thousands of people in the march.. who did Mom end up next too?  Yup.. the Mercedarian Friars!  She came home all excited about an order of young guys that she had just met and wanted me to look into them.  I remember thinking to myself.. this group sounds really familiar.  I looked them up and realized that I had lost contact.. I read my last email back in 2008 and quietly said "wow...".  Was it mere coincidence that Mom ended up next to them?  I think not.. it was providence, this was God working in my life.  Mom told me that one of the ladies from Church told her after the March for Life "I feel Michael is going to have something to do with this order".  What she said range true.  I got back in contact with the Friars who were now under the direction of a new vocational director "Fr. Joseph Eddy"..  Fr. Joe asked me if i wanted to come up and visit and I said absolutely.  I went up on March 15th and stayed for a week.  I spent a day at St. Charles Seminary and had a marvelous time.  All the brothers were very welcoming and the house was absolutely beautiful.  I felt right at home and I had a spiritual high the entire time I was there.  I enjoyed everything, from the daily prayer, to the community rosary and recreation.  I knew this is where I wanted to be.  

While there I spent some time in the beautiful chapel located in the house and asked God for 3 signs if this is where he wanted me to be.  

1.  The order would invite me in

2.  I would have an outward sign from someone not associated with the order that this is where I should be.

3.  That my debts would be paid off or the order would accept me and allow me to work something out with them in regards to the money that I owe.

All 3 things have been answered in this order:

Upon my last day there, Fr. Joe told me I was a good fit and asked if I wanted to apply.  First sign was answered.  

I got home and excitedly was telling Mom all about the order and my experiences and where the Novitiate house was... in Leroy, NY.  Mom was like.. "Hold up.. are they the Fathers of Our Lady of Divine Mercy?" .. I told her "No, the Fathers of Mercy are a different order".  Mom said, "No, I this isn't the Fathers of Mercy".  We bantered back and forth for a few minutes and then she told me hang on .. she was going upstairs to get a card from a group she has been dealing with in Leroy, Ny.  Mom came back downstairs and told me that since I was born she has been having masses said for me and prayers said through a group called "The Fathers of Our lady of Divine Mercy" in LeRoy.. she laid down the card and I flipped it over to find none other than the seal of the Mercedarians and it was signed by Father Provincial!!!!!!!  I almost fell out of my chair. Here was my second sign.. neither she nor I knew that this was the same order!  It nearly blew my socks off.  =)  God answers these things in mysterious ways.  My third sign was answered as well.  

I went back up to the Philadelphia House in May for my grueling psychological exams and was accepted into the Postulancy program on June 2nd.  =D  

On August 20th I begin a new chapter in my life.  May God and all of his angels assist me.

Fr. Jack and Obedience

My late Spiritual Director Fr. Jack Fullen was a wise and holy man and I was blessed to receive many lessons on spirituality and living our lives in obedience.  In March after taking him out for what would be his last trip to the House of Mercy, I brought him back to his house and got him situated in his house and bowed my head to receive his parting blessing.  Afterwards I asked him when I could come back over to have some spiritual direction and he said that he was booked up for the next week doing his daily physical therapy and exercises at the house and he would be too tired to work with me.  I jokingly suggested that he forget the exercise at his house and instead relax.  He reprimanded me rather curtly that he had been ordered by his doctor to do this for his health and he was not going to shirk on his duty, no matter how sick he felt, he was acting in total obedience.

I marveled at his courage and total submission to the will of God.  I went home with this on my mind and realized that he had just given me one of his greatest lessons, Obedience!  Here was a man that suffered daily, felt awful all the time, and could do what most of us do - disobey the doctors orders to suit our own well being.  However he did not do any of that, instead he did his exercises daily and tried his best to recover and live a normal life again.  In the end, that was not the will of God.

I remember a saintly Monsignor from my childhood, he was on Dialysis for the last 10 years of his life and the doctors told him that he could only drink 16oz of water a day and only eat so much.  He measured out his drink and food for each day, he was completely obedient to everything his doctors asked of him and he never complained about anything.  Fr. Jack and Monsignor Duncan both constantly carried the words upon their lips 'Thy Will be Done'.  

Let us pray today and ask God to teach us how to be Obedient to his will and that of our superiors.

Elizabeth - A Saint in the Making

A few months ago, while making some rounds at the nursing home next to Fauquier Hospital as a volunteer Chaplain; I came across an older lady named Elizabeth who is a Catholic and a real dear woman.  Elizabeth is the diamond in the rough for me, when I first came across her, she was very quiet, and was enjoying listening to the TV through the hand held hospital bed speaker that was strewn across her lap.  At first glance, I wasn't quite sure how to approach her, I looked around her room for some type of connection, something that I could use as an introduction or starting point, perhaps a family portrait or some other object that would mean a great deal to her.  As I looked around I didn't really see a family presence in her room, I noticed a cross on her wall with two rosaries hanging from it and then noticed that she had a 1 decade rosary in her hand and she was earnestly twisting each bead as she whispered the Hail Mary over and over again.

After watching Elizabeth for a few seconds I entered her room and introduced myself.  I noticed she quickly looked me over and then gave me the most beautiful smile.  I was put to ease, but it was hard to understand her words.  As I leaned over to her mouth so I could hear her better, I noticed that she had two Immaculate Medals on and she was quite happy to show them to me. This was my first impression of Elizabeth, a woman of great faith, living a life devoted totally to God.

Over the next couple of months I continued to visit Elizabeth at least once a week, sometimes twice.  I found out that she loves to write and jot down notes and thoughts on her stationary and I asked her if there was anything that I could get her.  She gave me her signature smile and whispered that she would like some bobby pins, paper clips, and an organizer to put her papers in - if it wasn't too much trouble.  =)  I got Mom to go buy the supplies and a few days later went into her room with her items, her face lit up and she almost cried, I had also brought her a statue of Our Lady of Fatima which she was so pleased to hold in her fragile little hands.

Elizabeth told me a few weeks ago that she won't be here much longer and not to feel like I need to bring her anything new.  She is suffering from a terminal illness and I believe only has about 6 months to a year left.  That being the case, I am going to go in and visit her as often as I can, her family I found out live in Connecticut and it is difficult for them to come down to see her, however I was pleased to see today that they sent her a picture of her 3 yr old grand-baby.  Three weeks ago I got Fr. Melmer to accompany me to the Nursing home to visit some patients and give them last rites, we made a visit to Elizabeth's room and she almost leaped with joy at the sight of Father.  Fr. gave her last rites and then communion and Elizabeth was so happy that she shed a few tears.  I began bringing her reading materials each week so she doesn't have to reach the same things over and over again.

Today, I picked Mom up after Holy Hour and took her over to visit Elizabeth and another patient in the nursing home.  I also brought a new statue for Elizabeth (the old one got broken by a cleaning crew), and also brought in some new reading material.  She was happy to tell me that she spent 5 hrs reading the last magazine that I brought her and as always she was diligently saying the rosary while we entered and during our visit with her.  I visited one other patient before seeing Elizabeth and it was amazing the difference I felt upon entering Elizabeth's room.  While the other ladies room was 'cold' or desolate feeling, empty rather, she is a fallen away Catholic who refuses to go to confession before receiving communion and actually got into a long drawn out fight with Fr. Melmer over that very issue.  Upon entering Elizabeth's room tonight I felt a noted difference, a 'scent' of holiness as I walked into her room, as if I could feel the angels in the room and was hit by the grace that was flowing from Elizabeth's bed.

I am learning each time that I visit Elizabeth a new lesson in my own life.  To persevere, to love others more, and to truly pray.  I am reading a book right now titled "The Way of a Pilgrim" and in it, the pilgrim is learning about interior prayer and how to truly unite ourselves with God with continual prayer in the heart, mind, and spirit.  I get reminded of this prayer when visiting Elizabeth, here she is, suffering in a hospital bed and instead of feeling sorry for herself or despairing, she is facing the reality of her death and she is using her time here to pray, to truly unite herself to God every moment of everyday.  I believe that woman is not only holy, I believe she is a saint in the making!

May we be blessed to live our days like those being lived by Elizabeth.

Musings of a Pilgrim

It has been months since I have posted on my much neglected blog. Much has happened in my life, many things have changed, most for the better.

I started a new job in December 2009 working as the director for a small non-profit in Manassas, Va serving the poor in the area. Much to my disappointment the job didn't work out and I got laid off on March 15th 2010.

During the time working at the Catholic Charity I began to look into a religious order and applied for entry. I made two visits, my first in March and my second in May.

I have a few major obstacles in front of me that could very well block my entry or delay my entry into the order by a year. Either way, it is all in God's hands.

In early May my spiritual director Fr. Jack Fullen died (unexpectantly) and I feel like a boat without a sail.. I'm just going wherever the sea takes me. I really need to get a new spiritual director, that is something I should look into this week.

On other news, I just got a new pacemaker installed (installed, right? Odd sounding?).. that went well. Although it feels like I just shot in the chest, things are good and I am improving everyday.

I am also still volunteering at my local hospital and that is very rewarding.

As for now that is all that has gone on for the last 6 months...

Until next time!

God Bless,

Michael

When God Lifts the Veil

Sometimes we find ourselves wondering when God will answer our prayers and when he doesn't answer them in the time that we ask or other times when he doesn't answer them the way that we think, our first thought is that God is ignoring us, not answering our prayer. However, there are other times in our life when we pray and God opens a door and then lifts the veil and allows us to look into our past and see the path that he chose and the way that he answered our prayer. Today was one of those days for me. God lifted the veil and allowed me to see how he had lined things up perfectly in answer to my prayer.

Last April I found myself looking madly for a job that offered health benefits, I applied everywhere and sent out around 5 resumes a week with no answer, this had been going on for several months. Then one day I happened to see an advertisement for a commission only job working the phones in a local HVAC business. I immediately submitted my resume and promptly received an answer inviting me in for an interview. I went and really got excited about the job and the people whom I was going to be working for. A few days later I was hired on and began to work in a whole new world, one built in an industry that I was unfamiliar with and a commission only based income that I was not used to being paid on. Days turned into weeks and soon after much hard work I was promoted to the Marketing and Inside Sales Manager. I loved my job the people I worked for. It was awesome.

About that same time I decided to start looking for a spiritual director and soon was recommended to contact Fr. Jack Fullen from Holy Trinity Parish in Bristow. I tried to meet with him twice and things just didn't seem to work out, he was busy, I was busy.. we missed appointments. Finally he and I set a date and I sat down with him and we had a great talk. I knew immediately that I was dealing with a very holy man and I listened to everything that he said and was determined to have bi-weekly sessions with him. Before leaving that session, Fr. Jack asked me with my PC skills if I would be interested in helping the House of Mercy in Manassas with some computer related work. I thought it would be a great idea to volunteer and help those people who are in need of assistance and prayer. A few nights later Fr. Jack contacted me and asked me to meet him at Holy Trinity to meet with the founder of the House of Mercy and discuss website design, ect.

There I met Kellie Ross, an amazing woman who has dedicated her life to The House of Mercy and we talked about different options concerning the website, social networking, web 2.0, ect. Kellie then mentioned that she would be interested in me working with their charity, however I felt at the time just starting out at my current job that I had a duty and obligation to fulfill my position there and I told her that I would be happy to volunteer my time and services whenever they needed it. As life goes, things quickly became extremely busy for me and not only did I not go to anymore spiritual direction with Father, I didn't really volunteer any time with Kellie. My thoughts over the remaining months kept on going back to the House of Mercy and the great work they do there.

At my current job I found myself getting so overwhelmed with all the things I was involved in, that I began to burn the candle at both end and soon I was just completely burnt out. I stretched myself to thin trying to pull off to many things at one time and it was then that my marketing job began to sink. Things just weren't panning out, no matter how hard I tried to paddle, it seemed that I was constantly being pushed downstream. Last week I felt particularly worn out and began to go to church on a daily basis praying for an answer, that God would help boost my marketing and help create more sells for my company. Sadly a few days later I was pulled into my managers office and we both discussed the tragic slump in marketing and my boss decided to pull me out of marketing and have me focus only on the inside sales. I was sad and depressed to say the least. I felt that I put 110% into this job and now it was being taken away from me. I thought immediately "God must have a plan"!

On Tuesday December 1st during my lunch break deep in prayer at Church I felt inspired to contact Kellie again and offer my services in the volunteer capacity. After a few hours of searching, I dug up her number from last July and gave her a call. The conversation was awesome and I asked if I could volunteer some of my time, I then felt inspired to ask if she was still looking to fill the webmaster/marketing position and we spoke about that for a few minutes. She invited me to come up today (Thursday) and discuss what she needs completed with the site and her goals for her Charity over the next few months to a year. Kellie offered me a position with The House of Mercy as the Director of Communications and I accepted and will be starting in my new position near the end of December. As I left there I felt completely at peace. I went home rejoicing that God had heard my prayer and had answered it so quickly. It was then that I realized that he had planned this out from the very beginning.

From last year when I couldn't find a job to save my life, to the day that I started at One Hour, then I got promoted, I learned important marketing and management skills, I couldn't have gotten where I am today if it wasn't for the experience and knowledge that I learned as the Marketing Manager. Also since I was full time God made sure that I was put on health insurance and covered so when I went to the doctors and got medicine I wasn't charged an arm and a leg. During all this time, I was learning to have a deeper faith with Christ through the direction of Fr. Jack who pointed me to some very good books, and then right when one job was ending God set me up with another one that will bring me closer to my goal, which is to enter the seminary and help the poorest of the poor. While I am sad to leave my job and I'll miss the people I work with, I know in my heart that everything will be fine and work out, because in the end, God is in control.

Today the Veil was lifted and as you can see.. God had a plan, was in control of this plan, and he let me in on a little secret... we must alway say:

"Jesus, I trust in You".

Eucharistic Miracle Reported in Poland

Possible Eucharistic Miracle in Sokolka Poland

This is being reported elsewhere on English language Catholic blogs (example: Fr. Z reported on this) but I've been able to find some additional information using Google and translation tools.

First, the report from Kronika Novus Ordo, translated from Polish, that is being reported on other English language blogs, dated October 14, 2009:

Communication from the Metropolitan Curia of Bialystok on the case of Eucharistic phenomena in Sokółka

Metropolitan Curia of Bialystok announces that the Ecclesial Commission appointed by Archbishop Edward Ozorowski (on 30 March 2009) to investigate the phenomena of the Eucharist in Sokółka has just completed its work. It examined and interrogated the witnesses and the pathomorphology experts. Here follow conclusions.

1. On 12 October 2008 a consecrated Host fell out of hands of priest distributing Holy Communion. He has picked It up and placed in the vasculum in tabernacle. After the Mass, vasculum with contents has been transferred to the safe in sacristy.

2. On 19 October 2008 after opening the safe one could see a red stain on the Host, giving the impression of being the blood stain.

3. On 29 October 2008 the vessel with Host was transferred to the tabernacle in the chapel of the rectory. Next day The Host has been removed from the water and placed on the corporal in the tabernacle.

4. On 7 January 2009 the sample from the Host has been taken and examined independently by two professionals in pathomorphology of Medical University in Bialystok. They have issued a common statement as follows: "the sample sent to assess (...) in our opinion (prof. Maria Sobaniec-Lotowska and prof. Stanislaw Sulkowski) looks like the myocardial tissue, at least of all the tissues of living organisms it most resembles."

5. The Commission found that the Host, which was sampled for the
assessment is the same that has been moved from the sacristy to the tabernacle in the chapel of the rectory. Third party intervention was not found.

Files of this case has been submitted to the Apostolic Nunciature in Warsaw.

The Case of Sokolka does not oppose to the faith of the Church, rather confirms it. Church believes that the words of consecration, by the power of the Holy Spirit, transform a bread into the Body of Christ and wine into His Blood. It also provides a call to ministers of the Holy Communion to distribute the Body of Christ with faith and attention and to faithful - to receive It with reverence.

Fr. Andrzej Kakareko

Chancellor

I was able to find a photo [left] of Fr Adrzej (Andrew) Kakareko from the website of St. John the Baptist parish of Bialystok. He is listed as "Chancellor of the Curia, Archbishop of Bialystok and official of the Court". This seems redundant as I think any member of the Curia would be referred to as "an official of the Court".

It's difficult to paste the news reports I've been finding because of technical limitations but I've been reading reports that this particular area, statistically speaking, is rich in vocations and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is some local skepticism, however people seem to be very open-minded for the time being, based on what I am reading. Also, one Polish Catholic commentator noted that this is not really a time of serious social upheaval in this area. Take that for whatever it's worth. One priest noted, and rightly so, that the real miracle is the Eucharist itself.

One Door Slammed Shut

Ok, so I have been looking into several monastic orders to discern if this is where God is calling me to be. I visited with one particular order, the Benedictines in Latrobe, Penn back in 2005 and enjoyed my visit. I disclosed during my many interviews up there that I was born with Congenital Heart Disease and that I had conquered a large number of Open Heart Surgeries. After visiting I left and never heard from the Benedictines again, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and sent a thank you follow up email several months after my visit and never received an answer. After still not hearing from them I thought it was God's will that I not pursue the matter any further.



Almost 5 years later (in January), I decided after much contemplation to contact the Benedictines again and request another visit. My spiritual life has exploded over the last 5 years and I felt that now was a better time to come up and visit since I was more open to listening to God and what he wanted instead of what I wanted. I contacted the Benedictines and submitted their information form. About 5 days later I got a call from the vocation director and he was all excited on the phone, said that my story and info had really inspired him and he sounded as if he was at a loss of words on the phone. So we set a date to have a phone interview and he called me on Sunday the 4th. I was happy to hear from him and after a few moments on the phone he invited me up to one of their Come and See weekends. We spoke for a few moments longer and then he asked me about my health since I had indicated on the form that I have a heart condition. Once I told him a little of my history his whole demeanor changed and he said "Oh, your this guy...), he then told me that he was starting to remember who I was and this is why he wanted to know more info before he invited me up for a weekend. I proceeded to try and reassure him that my heart was healed as of 2006 and that my doctors had given me the go-ahead on pursuing a religious vocation. He then told me bluntly that my heart was the reason why they never followed up with before (well gee, wish they had told me this 5 yrs ago!!), and that I didn't have a chance in the world of getting into his monastery or really any monastery since they can't afford to have someone like me with my health problems on their bill. So what your tellin me is that out of the 175 monks at that abbey, they are all healthy and none of them have any health problems? Long term, I would prob be the least expensive to have on their health bill considering that I had all my issues as a youngin.



The call ended as abruptly as it had started and to say that I was dissapointed would be an understatement of the century. I am heart broken (no pun intended). I have made it through alot in my life, in fact more than most people go through in their life times. I feel a call to serve God and yet I get stopped at the front door of a monastery of all places. Obviously this is not where God wants me to go, so where is it? That is the pivotal question right now and something that is greatly weighing on my mind is this, with my bad heart, how many other orders and people will turn me away because they are afraid of a liability or they just don't understand?



The search continues...