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FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY

Assumption

Prodigies of the Divine Will in the Blessed Virgin Mary

 From the Writings of The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta

August 15, 1899 Volume 2

The Virgin Mary assumed into Heaven. The ‘Hail Mary’ together with Jesus.

…After this, I felt I was going out of myself into the vault of the heavens, together with my loving Jesus. It seemed that everything was in feast – Heaven, earth and Purgatory.  All were inundated with a new joy and jubilation.  Many souls were going out of Purgatory and, like bolts of lightning, reached Heaven in order to be present at the feast of our Queen Mama.  I too pushed myself through that immense crowd of people – Angels, Saints and souls from Purgatory which already occupied that new Heaven.  It was so immense, that the heavens that we see, compared to that one, seemed a little hole to me; more so, since I had the obedience of the Confessor.  But as I went about looking, I could see nothing but a most refulgent Sun spreading Its rays, which penetrated through me, in such a way as to make me become like a crystal; so much so, that my little spots appeared very clearly, as well as the infinite distance that passes between Creator and creature.  More so, since each one of those rays had its imprint:  some delineated the sanctity of God, some the purity, some the power, some the wisdom, and all the other virtues and attributes of God.  So, in seeing her nothingness, her miseries and her poverty, the soul would feel annihilated, and instead of looking, she would fall down, her face to the ground, before that Eternal Sun which no one can face.

But what was more was that in order to see the feast of our Queen Mama, one had to look from within that Sun, so much did the Most Holy Virgin appear to be immersed in God; in fact, in looking from other points, one could see nothing. Now, while I was in this state of annihilation before that Divine Sun, Baby Jesus, being held in the arms of the Queen Mama, told me:  “Our Mama is in Heaven; to you I give the office of acting as my mama on earth.  And since my life is continuously subject to scorns, to poverty, to pains, to the abandonment of men, and my Mama, while being on earth, was my faithful company in all of these pains; not only this, but She tried to relieve Me in everything, as much as Her strengths were capable of – you too, acting as my mother, will keep Me faithful company in all of my pains, suffering in my place as much as you can; and where you cannot reach, you will try to give Me at least a refreshment.  Know, however, that I want you all intent on Me.  I will be jealous even of your breath, if you do not do it for Me; and when I see that you are not all intent on contenting Me, I will give you no peace and no rest.”

After this, I began to act as his mama, but – oh, how much attention was needed to make Him content! To see Him content, one could not even take a glance at any place else.  Now He wanted to sleep, now He wanted to drink, now He wanted to be cheered with caresses; and I had to be ready for anything He wanted.  Now he would say:  ‘My Mama, my head is hurting – o please, relieve Me!’; and immediately I would check His head and, finding some thorns, I would remove them, and placing my arms beneath His head I would make Him rest.  While I would make Him, all of a sudden He would get up and say:  “I feel a weight and a suffering at my Heart, to the point that I feel I am dying.  Take a look at what is in there.”  And observing the interior of His Heart, I found all the instruments of the Passion; I removed them one by one, and I placed them in my Heart.  Then, seeing Him relieved, I began to caress Him and kiss Him, and I said to Him:  ‘My sole and only treasure, You didn’t even let me watch the feast of our Queen Mama, or listen to the first canticles that the Angels and the Saints sang as She entered Paradise.’

And Jesus: “The first canticle that they sang to my Mama was the ‘Hail Mary’, because in the ‘Hail Mary’ there are the most beautiful praises, the greatest honors; and the joy which She felt in being made Mother of God is renewed.  Therefore, let us recite it together to honor Her, and when you come to Paradise I will let you find it as if you had recited it together with the Angels and the Saints for the first time in Heaven.”

So, we recited the first part of the ‘Hail Mary’ together. Oh, how tender and moving it was to hail our Most Holy Mama together with Her beloved Son!  Each word He said carried an immense light, through which one could comprehend many things about the Most Holy Virgin.  But who can say them all – especially because of my inability?  Therefore I let them pass in silence.

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY

 

OUR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY

Our Lady of Good Remedy

800 years ago Christians were being captured by the Moslems and sold into slavery by the thousands, and nobody knew what to do about it. In the year 1198 St. John of Matha founded the Trinitarian order to go to the slave markets to buy the Christian slaves in order to set them free.

To carry out his plan, the Trinitarians need a large sum of money. So, they placed their efforts under the patronage of Mary. They were so successful that, over the centuries, the Trinitarians were able to free thousands upon thousands of people who were able to return safely home.

In gratitude for her miraculous assistance, St. John of Matha honored Mary with the title “Our Lady of Good Remedy.” Devotion to mary under this ancient title is widely known in Europe and Latin America, and the Church celebrates her Feast on October 8.

When in need—–for whatever reason, but especially when having difficulty obtaining help—–invoke the aid of Our Lady of Good Remedy, and you will surely be helped by the power of her intercession.

NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY

O QUEEN OF HEAVEN and earth, Most Holy Virgin, we venerate thee. Thou art the beloved Daughter of the Most High God, the chosen Mother of the Incarnate  Word, the Immaculate Spouse of the Holy Spirit, the Sacred Vessel of the Most Holy Trinity.

O Mother of the Divine Redeemer, who, under the title of Our Lady of Good Remedy, comes to aid of all who call upon thee, extend thy maternal protection to us. We depend on thee, Dear Mother, as helpless and needy children depend on a tender and caring mother.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with Thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

O LADY OF GOOD REMEDY, source of unfailing help, grant that we may draw from the treasury of graces in our time of need.

Touch the hearts of sinners, that they may seek reconciliation and forgiveness. Bring comfort to the afflicted and the lonely; help the poor and the hopeless; aid the sick and the suffering. May they be healed in body and strengthened in spirit to endure their sufferings with patient resignation and Christian fortitude.

Hail Mary . . .

DEAR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY, source of unfailing help, thy compassionate heart knows a remedy for every affliction and misery we encounter in life. Help me with thy prayers and intercession to find a remedy for my problems and needs, especially for . . .

(Here indicate your special intentions).

On my part, O loving Mother, I pledge myself to a more intensely Christian lifestyle, to a more careful observance of the laws of God, to be more conscientious in fulfilling the obligations of my state of life, and to strive to be a source of healing in this broken world of ours.

Dear Lady of Good Remedy, be ever present to me, and through thy intercession, may I enjoy health of body and peace of mind, and grow stronger in the faith and in the love of thy Son, Jesus.

Hail Mary . . .

  1. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of Good Remedy, R. That we may deepen our dedication to thy Son, and make the world alive with His Spirit.

 

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FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE PLACE

 

lUISA pICTURE

Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta,

The Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

 August 15, 1922 Volume 14

The acts of Jesus and those of the Most Holy Virgin in the Divine Will.

Finding myself in my usual state, I was abandoning myself in the arms of the Most Holy Will of God, and my sweet Jesus told me: “My daughter, in my Will you will find not only all of the acts that my Humanity did, in which I intertwined all creatures together, but you will also find all the acts that my dear Mama did which, weaving with Mine, formed one single act.

As soon as I was conceived in Her womb, She began the weaving with my acts; and since my Humanity had no other Life, no other food, and no other purpose but the Will of my Father alone which, flowing everywhere, made Me act of each creature so as to give to the Father the rights as Creator on the part of creatures, and to give Myself as Life to all creatures, in the same way, as She began Her intertwining with Me, She too gave back to the Father His rights as Creator in the name of all, and gave Herself to all creatures. Therefore, all creatures received, together with my acts, the acts of my Mama as Life.

Now, in Heaven, She embraces all the glory of each creature; my Will gives Her such glory on the part of each creature that there is no glory which She does not contain, and no glory which does not descend from Her. And since She wove Her works, Her love, Her pains, etc. with Me, now in Heaven She is circumfused with as much glory as were the weavings She did in my Will:  this is why She surpasses everything, embraces everything and flows in everything.  This is what it means to live in my Will.  My beloved Mama could have never received so much glory, if all of her acts had not flown in my Will; acts which constitute Her Queen and crown of all.

Now I want you in my Will, so that the weaving may not be between two, but among three; my Will wants to expand in order to find all creatures together in one creature. Do you see the great good that will come to you; how much glory you will give Me, and how much good you will do to all?”

 Our Lady of the Place

October 3: Our Lady of the Place, Rome (1250)

Abbot Orsini wrote: “This image having fallen into a well at the house of Cardinal Capocius, in the year 1250, the water swelled up miraculously, and cast out the image, which the cardinal placed in his chapel. But Pope Innocent IV obliged him to build another on the very spot where the miracle had occurred. This chapel having been given to the Servites, they have had a fine church built, in which the well is enclosed.”

The church of Santa Maria in Via, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, is also known under the special title of Madonna del Pozzo, Our Lady of the Well. The church that presently stands at the location was built between the years 1491 and 1513, and is not the one originally commissioned in 1256.

The miracle that the Abbot Orsini mentions actually occurred in the year 1256, on the evening of 26 and 27 September. At that time the Cardinal Pietro Capocci had a residence at the location, and one of his servants either accidentally or deliberately, it is no longer known, threw an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the well of the stable. The image was painted on a heavy stone tablet, but it never struck the bottom of the well.



Before the image of the Blessed Virgin had gone very far, the water inside the well suddenly rose up and over the top of the well and flowed abundantly in all directions with such force that the image of Mary was suspended upon the surface of the water. The horses were alarmed by the rushing water, bringing the rest of the domestics from their various places to witness the miracle. The image remained where it was until the cardinal himself responded, and with devout astonishment, retrieved the sacred image that appeared to be miraculously floating on the water. Once the image was taken, the water immediately receded.

The first church, Santa Maria in Via, was already built nearby, and was a titular church. It is no longer known why it was so named, but it is known that Cardinal Pietro Capocci had a residence there. When Pope Alexander IV learned of the event, he declared it to have been a miracle and ordered the construction of a new chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The new chapel was built over the well, and was an annex to the older church. The fountain can still be seen on the right hand side upon entering the church.

It was Pope Innocent VIII who ordered the construction of the church that can presently be seen. In the year 1513 the church was given to the Servites by Pope Leo X, and the Servite Order still remains there to serve the church.Our Lady of the Place


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FEAST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS

Catholic faith: Feast Day of Holy Guardian Angels


The Catholic Church observes the feast day of Holy Guardian Angels on October 2. Pope Pius VI granted 100 days of indulgence to those making the devotions to the Guardian Angels, as well as plenary indulgence to those who make the devotion twice a day for an entire year. Observance of the feast of Holy Guardian Angels started in the 16th century; it was placed in the Roman Calendar by Pope Paul V in 1607.

Guardian angels are God’s messengers, comforters, and warriors who, in unseen ways, protect men’s earthly pilgrimage from harm and danger and guide their thoughts, words and actions. They are gifts from a loving God. It is the belief that each person has a guardian angel.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “from infancy to death, human life is surrounded by angels’ watchful care and intercession.” “Angels’ guardianship, according to religious teaching, begins at the moment of birth; the protection continues throughout life and ceases at the moment of death. The common image of a guardian angel is an angel protecting a little child as he walks over a small bridge.

Guardian angels are mentioned several times in the Bible. In Genesis 18-19 of the Old Testament, angels bring down the wrath of God on Sodom and Gomorrah, and protect Lot from the angry crowd closing in on his house. In Genesis 21, they comfort Hagar and her child in the wilderness. An angel stops Abraham from sacrificing his son, assuring him of God’s blessings. In Exodus 23:20, God says to Moses, “I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.” Psalm 91:11 says, “For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways.”

In the New Testament, an angel announces the birth of St. John the Baptist to Zechariah in Luke 1, and in the same chapter, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary at the Annunciation. In Luke 2, angels appear to the shepherds when Jesus was born. In Matthew 2, an angel appears to St. Joseph in a dream, telling him to flee with his family to Egypt, and in the same chapter, an angel appears again to him, telling him it was safe to return to Israel. In Matthew 4, angels look after Jesus. In Luke, 22:43, an angel comforts Jesus during His agony in the garden. An angel helps St. Peter escape from jail in Acts 12.

Mama Luisa 

LUISA AND THE HOLY ANGELS

Taken From: Biography Luisa Piccarreta –
Childhood Memories by Padre Bernardino Giuseppe Bucci

Divine Providence was leading this child along these mysterious paths, in such a way that Luisa knew no joy other than God and His Grace. In fact, one day the Lord will say to her: “Listen, I went around the earth, over and over again; I looked at all creatures, one by one, in order to find the littlest of all. And among them all I found you, the littlest of all. I liked your littleness, and I chose you. I entrusted you to my Angels to guard you, not to make you great, but to preserve your littleness. Now I want to begin the great work of the fulfillment of my Will. You will not feel greater because of this; on the contrary, my Will will make you smaller, and you will continue to be the little daughter of your Jesus – the little daughter of my Will” (Vol. 12, 3-23-1921).

One day, being assailed by the evil spirit, terrorized, Luisa turned to her Celestial Mama, who benignly spoke to her:

Why do you fear? Your Angel is by your side, Jesus is in your heart, and your Celestial Mama keeps you under Her mantle. Why do you fear then? Who is stronger? Your guardian Angel, your Jesus, your Celestial Mama, or the infernal enemy? Therefore, do not run away, but stay, pray, and do not fear.” At that instant everything disappeared; serenity invaded her, and nothing else happened to her.

Conversation between Padre Bucci and his Aunt Rosaria
Padre Bucci: “But her writings can’t reveal everything about Luisa’s life, because it was far more complex”.

“That’s true” Padre Bucci’s Aunt Rosaria answered. “I could tell of many things that no one knows”.

Padre Bucci: “So why do you insistently refuse to speak?”

Padre Bucci’s Aunt Rosaria: “If Luisa had wished them to be known she would have written them down, or the Church would have ordered her to write them; it is clear that certain phenomena which occurred, which I and others witnessed, do not serve for the sanctification of souls. The Lord permitted to be known all that is of use to the Church and to souls, the rest serves no purpose. In speaking of these things I feel as if I were profaning the intimacy that was built up between God and Luisa, human beings would not understand. The message bequeathed by Luisa exceeds her very person. Luisa wanted the Lord alone to have all the honor and glory, and she was to disappear into nothingness; this is why she loved solitude and silence, and showed great distress when she noticed that she was the object of people’ veneration, for she considered herself only a poor sick person, in need of everything. I and others knew very well that Luisa had no need of anything, and that we had to be the custodians of her mystery. How often in the morning did I find Luisa all tidy and the altar already prepared for Holy Mass with the candles lit”.

Padre Bucci: “And how did this happen, if Luisa never set foot out of bed for about sixty years? Are you sure of what you say?”.

Padre Bucci’s Aunt Rosaria “Absolutely certain! Because I was the only one who entered her room” Padre Bucci: “Did you never wonder what the explanation was?”.

Padre Bucci’s Aunt Rosaria “I thought that Angels served her, especially her guardian Angel, to whom she was deeply devoted. Her room was often found full of fragrance

 

Angels in the History of the Church

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

This subject is an ocean. Angels are part of the history of the Church founded by Christ for the simple reason that angels are an integral part of Christianity.

Given the magnitude of this topic, I decided to concentrate on the teaching of the Catholic Church from the first through the twentieth century. After all, it is one thing to talk about the angels and appreciate their role in our lives. It is something else to know what the Church, in her highest authority, has been telling the faithful about the other half of the intelligent creation. We are so accustomed to associating Catholic doctrine about us human beings that we are liable to overlook the corresponding witness of ecclesiastical authority on the existence, nature, and activity of the angelic world of pure spirits.

Our plan is to focus on successive periods in Catholic history to learn what the Church we belong to has been telling the faithful about the angels.

One of the main factors which has evoked Church teaching has been the rise of error in angelology. After all, in God’s providence this is one reason why He allows error. It serves as a stimulus for a deeper understanding of revealed truth.

 

First Century

Towards the end of the first century, about 90 AD, Pope St. Clement I published a famous letter to the Corinthians who were having trouble. Bishops and priests were in conflict with one another; the laity were in conflict with the clergy. Pope Clement wrote to the Corinthians not so much to reprimand them as to assist them to cope with what he called their natural envy of those in authority by those who were supposed to submit and obey.

In advising the Corinthians, the Pope first of all told them to be subject to the will of God. Then he urged them to “consider the whole multitude of the angels, how they stand to minister to the divine will.”

The logic of Pope Clement was that the angels who remained faithful by their submission to God’s will were rewarded with heavenly beatitude. They are also the ones who are sent to help us cope with the deepest problem in our own lives. This is the problem of subjecting ourselves to those in legitimate authority as an act of loving submission to the will of God.

 

Fifth and Sixth Centuries

Four centuries later, a bishop by the name of Priscillian developed his own ideas about God and the world of creation. He made the astounding claim that the angels were mere emanations of the Godhead.

Clearly this was simply a form of pantheism, which claimed that spiritual beings are not really distinct from God. He is therefore not their Creator. Pope Leo I condemned Priscillianism as blasphemy but it took another century before this heresy was condemned in detail. Priscillian himself was executed by civil authority in 385 AD, but his ideas prevailed over the centuries. In fact they are still deeply pervasive in our day.

At root, Priscillianism is just another form of Manichaeism. Both heresies claim that there are two creators, one good and the other evil. They are in constant conflict with one another.

At the Council of Braga in Portugal in 565 AD, a series of anathemas was issued against Priscillian. Some of these will sound very familiar to what is going on in our day:

  • “If anyone says that the devil was not first a good angel created by God, or that … he had no creator but is himself the principle and substance of evil, let him be anathema.”

  • “If anyone believes that the human souls and bodies are by their fate bound to the stars…let him be anathema.”

  • “If anyone says that the formation of the human body is the work of the devil…let him be anathema.”

  • “If anyone says that the creation of all flesh is not the work of God but of bad angels…let him be anathema.”

Behind these errors is the basic falsehood that the material world is essentially evil. It is supposed to be the creation of the evil spirit, who is himself a deity.

As the Church’s history shows, this is almost a pattern of all moral error, denying that we ourselves have a free will.

 

Thirteenth Century

The most authoritative declaration of the Church on the angels was made by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 AD.

Not coincidentally two of the most influential religious orders in Catholic history came into existence about the same time, the Order of Preachers founded by Saint Dominic and the Franciscans by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Fourth Lateran had to cope with a resurgent Manichaeism, now masked under a new name as Albigensianism. Whole dioceses in France, Belgium, and Germany were infected by this doctrinal disease. A major war had to be fought to curb the social disasters that followed on embracing Albigensianism. Once again, the underlying issue was the origin of moral evil in the world. Is it the product of an evil deity or the result of human beings voluntarily resisting the will of God?

It is worth quoting at length from the infallible definition of Fourth Lateran. Why? Because it is the most authoritative dogma of our faith on the whole angelic world, whether good or evil.

The definition begins with the most extensive profession of faith on the nature of God.

We firmly believe and profess without qualification that there is only one true God, eternal, immense, unchangeable, incomprehensible, omnipotent, and indescribable.

Why this extensive profession of faith in the attributes of God? Because God is a pure uncreated Spirit. If we are to understand the angels, we must be able to clearly distinguish between the infinite Spirit who is God and the finite spirits who are angels.

Having defined God as the infinite Being who cannot not exist, the council goes on to identify God as the Source of all other beings.

[He is] Creator of all things visible and invisible, spiritual and corporeal, who by His almighty power, from the very beginning of time, has created both orders of creatures in the same way out of nothing; the spiritual or angelic world and the corporeal or visible universe.

As an interim, the council declares that God created man who belongs to both orders since he is composed of spirit and body.

The next part of the Lateran definition is the main reason for this infallible teaching. The Manichaeism which seduced the genius who became St. Augustine had to be condemned once more. This time the issue at stake is how the devil became a devil. Was it because he is an uncreated evil being or did he become evil by his own free will?

The devil and the other demons were created by God good according to their nature, but they made themselves evil by their own doing.

There is one more question that the council had to answer: How is man a sinner? Is he a sinner by necessity, or by his own free choice? Hence the following declaration:

As for man, his sin was at the prompting of the devil.

We may say that the whole foundation of the Church’s doctrine on the angels is contained in this irreversible teaching of the Fourth Lateran Council.

 

Sixteenth Century

The most extensive dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church in her twenty centuries of history was occasioned by the rise of Protestantism. The Council of Trent gave us a volume of infallible doctrine covering the whole span of Christian revelation.

Within three years of Luther’s defection from Catholic unity, Pope Leo X (in 1520) condemned one of his cardinal errors. The condemned heresy reads, “after sin, free will is a term without meaning; and when it does what is in its power, it sins mortally.”

On these terms, using the free will to invoke the angels would be not only meaningless but gravely sinful.

Over the centuries, Protestant leaders and writers have not departed from this position. No doubt some Protestants have compromised on the original teaching of the sixteenth century and allowed their followers to pray to God. But even here, the prayer is not something that we freely choose to do and thereby obtain grace from God because we have prayed for divine help.

What Protestants have never compromised on, however, is praying to the angels and saints to ask them to intercede for us at the throne of God. Even when they speak eloquently about the providential role of angels as agents of God, they never budge on what is basic Catholic teaching, that we can invoke the angels and ask them to obtain from God what we need.

The following statement from a contemporary scholar and co-editor of the Christian Research Journal could not be more clear:

God’s provision of angels should bring much consolation to us during our earthly sojourns as we make our way to the heavenly city. We may therefore rejoice over the fact that God’s holy angels encamp around us, defending us day and night from unseen enemies and unapprehended dangers. However, we must never let the angels come between us and God. We are not to look to the angels for our refuge, nor are we to invoke their aid. God is our refuge and we are to invoke His aid – and at His prerogative, the angels will render assistance as He directs. (Rhodes, “Angels Among Us,” 215)

The error which Pope Leo X condemned, which denied human liberty, needs to be stressed in our reflection on the angels. Our freedom in cooperating with God’s grace to invoke the angels is at the heart of Catholic Christianity. With an avalanche of angelic literature in our day, we dare not ignore this article of our faith that the angels are divine intercessors, whom we are to invoke on our way to heaven.

 

Twentieth Century

With the rise of angelic popularity throughout the Western world, it is not surprising that the modern popes have written and spoken extensively about the angels. The most elaborate treatment of angelology in our day was a series of six conferences by Pope John Paul II given in St. Peter’s Square as part of His catechesis on the existence, mission, and role of the angels in our personal and social lives.

Given the importance of this teaching, it might be useful to identify each of these six areas of angelology.

Angels in God’s Providence. The Holy Father first of all defends the existence of angels. This is widely denied in our materialistic society. He quotes a modern theologian who acutely observes, “If one wishes to get rid of the angels, one must radically revise sacred scripture itself, and with it the whole history of salvation.”

What the Pope wishes to mainly bring out is the role of the angels in the providence of God. Divine providence is manifested precisely in the creation of purely spiritual beings, so as to better express the likeness of God in creatures who are superior to all that God made in a visible world including man.

God who is absolutely perfect Spirit, is reflected especially in spiritual beings which by nature, that is by reason of their spirituality, are nearer to Him than material creatures, and which constitute as it were the closest circle to the Creator.

Divine providence is God’s eternal plan for the world. Every creature is meant to cooperate with other creatures for the eventual good of the whole universe. The angels have the highest role in this providential plan.

Angelic Freedom. By creating free beings, God intended the world to express its highest perfection in the practice of true love. That is why He created angels and human beings.

At the center of Catholic doctrine on the angels is the co-existence of good and evil spirits. Originally all the angels were good. They were all in possession of God’s grace, and all destined for the beatific vision. But, they had a free will enlightened by faith. What happened?

The good [angels] chose God as the supreme and definitive Good, known to the intellect enlightened by revelation. To have chosen God means that they turned to Him with all the interior force of their freedom, a force which is love. God became the total and definitive scope of their spiritual existence.

The others instead turned their backs on God contrary to the truth of the knowledge which showed Him as the total and definitive good. Their choice ran counter to the revelation of the mystery of God whose grace made them partakers of the Trinity and of the eternal friendship with God in communion with Him through love. On the basis of their created freedom, they made a radical and irreversible choice on the level of that of the good angels, but diametrically opposed. Instead of accepting a God full of love, they rejected Him, inspired by a false sense of self-sufficiency, of aversion and even of hatred which was changed into rebellion.

This long quotation from the Vicar of Christ was worth making to teach us the contrary roles that the angels and the devils play in our lives. The good angels inspire us to follow their example of choosing God as our final Good. The devils instigate us to choose ourselves contrary to the will of God.

The Mission of the Angels. After describing the good angels as meriting the vision of God, the Pope explains how they have been messengers of God from the dawn of human creation. The Old Testament might almost be called a testament of angelic service to the human race. In every period of pre-Christian history, angels are at the service of the Chosen People.

With the coming of Christ, the angels become an integral part of the Savior’s ministry. From His Incarnation in the womb of Mary to His Ascension into heaven, angels served our Lord so constantly that, without them, the Gospels would not be intelligible. They not only served the Master during His visible stay on earth but, we are assured, continue to serve His Church until the last day. Then, to close angelic history, the angels will accompany the Savior when He comes to judge all the living and the dead.

The Angels in Our Lives. Drawing on the massive evidence of Scripture and Tradition, Pope John Paul brings out how important the angels are in our own spiritual lives. Unlike us, they have no bodies, but how it needs to be emphasized that they are not “nobodies.” Our materialistic culture has seduced millions into identifying reality with materiality and has practically identified spirituality as unreality.

Not only are the angels real but they are our constant guides and protectors as we go through time into eternity.

The Church confesses her faith in the guardian angels, venerating them in the liturgy with an appropriate feast and recommending recourse to their protection by frequent prayer, as in the invocation ‘Angel of God’. This prayer draws on the treasure of the beautiful words of St. Basil “Everyone of the faithful has beside him an angel as tutor and pastor, to lead him to life.”

Certainly the angels are important in our lives. Better still, they are indispensable.

Satan the Liar and Murderer. Divine revelation teaches us that the devil is a liar by his very fallen nature. He lied to our first parents when he seduced them to disobey God. Throughout the Bible, Satan was the arch-deceiver who misled so many people to reject the love of God. It was Satan who entered the heart of Judas and led him to betray Jesus Christ.

The Bishop of Rome quotes our Lord as saying that the devil was “A murderer from the beginning and has not stood on the truth because there is no truth in him.” The first meaning of the devil as murderer is his ambition to destroy “the supernatural life of grace and love” in human beings. Needless to say he has been diabolically successful in this ambition.

The devil’s tactic, as the Pope explains, is to use deceit for the mind to mislead the will into sin. The most basic lie in the devil’s vocabulary is the claim that we, and not God, are masters of our own lives.

Christ’s Victory Over the Devil. You will notice that the Holy Father divides his reflections on the angels almost equally into two parts. In the first part, he concentrates on the good angels. In the second part, his focus is on Satan and the evil spirits.

We are reminded that the devil is the prince of this world. This is the world of which Christ said, “I do not pray for the world.” It is the world of those who, like Satan, refuse to repent.

All that we know of human history tells us there has been a constant struggle between Christ and Satan, between the followers of Jesus and the followers of Lucifer. What we dare not forget is that the future of this conflict is predicted. By His death on the cross, Christ has conquered the demonic forces that are hell-bent on destroying the spiritual life of the human race, and casting them into the second death which is St. John’s synonym for hell.

Before we close this article, it is worth quoting what the Supreme Pontiff tells us about the final victory.

This is the great certainty of the Christian faith: “The prince of this world has been judged; the Son of God has appeared, in order to destroy the works of the devil.”

It is therefore the crucified and risen Christ who has revealed Himself as that “stronger One” who has overpowered “the strong one,” the devil, and has cast him down from his throne.

The Church shares in Christ’s victory over the devil, for Christ is given to His disciples to cast out the demons. The Church has this victorious power through faith in Christ and prayer.

Anyone who sees what is going on in the modern world has no doubt how active the devil is in our day. Once civilized nations legalizing the murder of the unborn; millions suffering dire poverty without even the means of staying alive; the Catholic Church undergoing the worst persecution in her twenty centuries of history – all of these are eloquent witness to the power of the devil in our day.

What Pope John Paul warns us against is discouragement that may even tempt some people to despair. The widespread success of the prince of this world in our times is really a powerful inspiration to great confidence in Jesus Christ. Never have the words of St. Paul been more relevant than today, “Where sin has abounded, there grace will even more abound.” Christ and not Satan will win the final victory over the human race.

Suppose we close with a prayer to St. Michael.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God restrain him we humbly pray, and do thou O prince of the heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

 

 

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FEAST OF ST. THERESE “THE LITTLE FLOWER”

st. therese

ST THERESE “THE LITTLE FLOWER”

The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will
(Note the Holy Card of St. Therese at the foot of the Crucifix)
St. Therese of Lisieux was a favored Saint

of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will–

Apostolic Letter Proclaiming

St. Therese a Doctor of the Church

(excerpts)

Apostolic Letter Proclaims St. Therese Doctor Of The Church

  • Apostolic Letter Proclaiming St. Therese a Doctor of the Church (excerpts)Following are excerpts from that Letter:“Among the small, to whom the secrets of the Kingdom have been manifested in a wholly special way, shines Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, professed nun of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, the centenary of whose entrance into the heavenly homeland is celebrated this year. During her life, Therese discovered ‘new lights, hidden and mysterious meanings’ and received from the divine Master that ‘science of love’ that she manifested with particular originality in her writings.”“The Shepherds of the Church, beginning with my predecessors, the Supreme Pontiffs of this century who proposed her holiness as an example for all, also highlighted the fact that Therese is a teacher of spiritual life through a particular doctrine, simple yet at the same time profound. …This spiritual doctrine has been transmitted to us especially through her autobiography, derived from the three manuscripts which she wrote during the last years of her life and published one year after her death with the title ‘Histoire dune Ame’. … This autobiography, translated along with other writings of hers into nearly fifty languages, made Therese known in all the regions of the world, even outside the Catholic Church. …Therefore it is not surprising that many petitions were presented to the Apostolic See asking that she be endowed with the title of Doctor of the universal Church. …In a special way, as the first centenary of her death approached, …and in light of these facts, I decided to have an attentive study be done to see if the saint of Lisieux, had the prerequisites to be able to receive the title of Doctor of the universal Church.”“Often during Vatican Council II, the Fathers evoked her example and her doctrine. Paul VI… proposed her as a teacher of prayer and theological hope, a model of communion with the Church, entrusting the study of her doctrine to teachers, educators, pastors and theologians themselves. I myself, in various circumstances, have had the joy of referring to the figure and doctrine of this saint, in a special way during the unforgettable visit to Lisieux on June 2, 1980. …The fact that recourse is taken to her doctrine in many documents of the ordinary Magisterium of the Church is a sign of the ecclesial reception of the saint’s teaching, especially when speaking of the contemplative and missionary vocation, of trust in a just and merciful God, of Christian joy, of the vocation of holiness. The presence of her doctrine in the recent ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’ is a testimonial of this. …Therese possesses a singular universality. …The strength of her message lies in the concrete illustration of how all of Jesus’ promises may find full realization in the believer who knows how to welcome trustingly his own life the saving presence of the Redeemer. All these reasons are a clear testimonial of the current relevance of the doctrine of the saint of Lisieux and of the particular incidence of her message upon the men and women of our time.” About St. Therese, “the little flower”:

 

  • Important Dates in the Life of St. Therese
  • Important Dates in the Life of St. Therese
  • “Meeting the wishes of a great number of Brothers in the Episcopacy and very many faithful from throughout the world, having heard the opinion of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and obtained the vote of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in what regards the eminent doctrine, with certain knowledge and mature deliberation, by the power of full apostolic authority, we declare Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, virgin, Doctor of the Universal Church. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
  • “The main source of her spiritual experience and her teaching is the Word of God, in the Old and New Testaments. She herself confesses to this, especially highlighting her passionate love for the Gospel. In her writings more than one thousand Biblical quotes can be counted: more than four hundred from the Old Testament and more than six hundred from the New. …Under the influence of the Spirit she reached for herself and for others a deep knowledge of revelation. …Her doctrine coincides, as already noted, with the teaching of the Church. From childhood, she was educated by family members to participate in prayer and liturgical worship. …Therese nourished herself from her youth with the teaching of the ‘Imitation of Christ’, which, as she herself confessed, she knew almost by heart, …as with the mystical doctrine of Saint John of the Cross, who was her true spiritual teacher. Thus it is not surprising that in the school of these two saints, later declared Doctors of the Church, she too, an excellent disciple, became a Teacher of spiritual life. The spiritual doctrine of Therese of Lisieux contributed to the spreading of the Kingdom of God.”
  • “The reception of the example of her life and her evangelical doctrine in our century was rapid, universal and constant. …Pius XI proclaimed her Blessed on April 29, 1923. A short time later, on May 17, 1925, the same Pope, before an immense crowd, canonized her in St. Peter’s Basilica. …Following these acts of recognition, the spiritual irradiation of Therese of the Child Jesus grew in the Church and spread throughout the world. …Her message, often summed up as the so-called ‘little way’, is none other than the Gospel path of holiness for everyone.”
  • “This past August 24, at the praying of the Angelus, in the presence of hundreds of bishops and before a multitude of youths from around the globe, gathered in Paris for the 12th World Youth Day. I wished to announce personally the intention to proclaim Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face as Holy Doctor of the universal Church on the occasion of the celebration of World Mission Day.”
  • Vatican City, October 19, 1997 (VIS)- Pope John Paul’s Apostolic Letter for the Proclamation of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face as Doctor of the Church was made public today in French and Italian. It will be available in other languages in coming days.
BirthdayBaptismDeath of her Mother, Zelie GuerinPauline, her sister, enters Carmel

Our Lady’s Smile; Therese Healing

First Communion

Confirmation

Christmas Conversion

Audience with Pope Leo XIII

Entry into Carmel

Profession of Vows

Death of her Father, Louis Martin

Her Death, Entry into Heaven

Her autobiography “Story of a Soul” is published

Cause of Beatification Introduced at Rome

Beatification

Canonization

Declared Doctor of the Church

January 2, 1873January 4, 1873August 28, 1877October 2, 1882

May 13, 1883

May 8, 1884

June 14, 1884

December 25, 1886

November 20, 1887

April 9, 1888

September 8, 1890

July 29, 1894

September 30, 1897

September 30, 1898

June 10, 1914

April 29, 1923

May 17, 1925

October 19, 1997

 

 

Her Parents

The Beatification of Louis and Zelie Martin

On Saturday, July 11, 2008, 7:00P.M., it was announced that Louis and Zelie Martin, parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, will be beatified on Mission Sunday this year.

 

Louis and Zelie Martin

 

THE WATCHMAKER – Louis Martin

Louis Martin (1823 – 1894) was a watchmaker by trade, and quite a successful one. He also skillfully managed his wife’s lace business. But, as with so many men, Louis’ life had not turned out at all the way he had planned.

Born into a family of soldiers, Louis spent his early years at various French military posts. He absorbed the sense of order and discipline that army life engenders. His temperament, deeply influenced by the peculiar French connection between the mystical and the military, tended toward things of the spirit.

At twenty-two, young Louis sought to enter religious life at the monastery of the Augustinian Canons of the Great St. Bernard Hospice in the Alps. The blend of courage and charity the monks and their famous dogs manifested in rescuing travelers in Alpine snows appealed powerfully to Louis Martin. Unfortunately, the Abbot insisted the young candidate learn Latin. Louis, whose bravery would have carried him to the heights of the Alps in search of a lost pilgrim, got himself lost among the peaks and valleys of Latin syntax and grammar. His most determined efforts failed. He became ill and dispirited, and abandoned his hopes for the monastic life.

Eventually, Louis settled down in Alencon, a small city in France, and pursued his watchmaking trade. He loved Alencon. It was a quiet place and he was a quiet man. It even had a lovely trout stream nearby, offering him the opportunity to pursue his favorite recreation.

THE LACE MAKER –  Zelie Guerin Zelie Guerin

 

Most famous of Alencon’s thirteen thousand inhabitants were its lace makers. French people greatly admired the skill and talent required to produce the exquisite lace known throughout the nation as Point d’ Alencon.

Zelie Guerin (1831 – 1877) was one of Alencon’s more talented lace makers. Born into a military family, Zelie described her childhood and youth as “dismal.” Her mother and father showed her little affection. As a young lady, she sought unsuccessfully to enter the religious order of the sisters of the Hotel-Dieu. Zelie then learned the Alencon lace-making technique and soon mastered this painstaking craft. Richly talented, creative, eager, and endowed with common sense, she started her own business and became quite successful. Notable as these achievements were, Zelie was yet to reveal the depths of the strength, faith, and courage she possessed.

THE MARTINS

Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin eventually met in Alencon, and on July 13, 1858, Louis, 34, and Zelie, 26, married and began their remarkable voyage through life. Within the next fifteen years, Zelie bore nine children, seven girls and two boys. “We lived only for them,” Zelie wrote; “they were all our happiness.”

The Martins’ delight in their children turned to shock and sorrow as tragedy relentlessly and mercilessly stalked their little ones. Within three years, Zelie’s two baby boys, a five year old girl, and a six-and-a-half week old infant girl all died.

Zelie was left numb with sadness. “I haven’t a penny’s worth of courage,” she lamented. But her faith sustained her through these terrible ordeals. In a letter to her sister-in-law who had lost an infant son, Zelie remembered: “When I closed the eyes of my dear little children and buried them, I felt sorrow through and through….People said to me, ‘It would have been better never to have had them.’ I couldn’t stand such language. My children were not lost forever; life is short and full of miseries, and we shall find our little ones again up above.”

The Martins’ last child was born January 2, 1873. She was weak and frail, and doctors feared for the infant’s life. The family, so used to death, was preparing for yet another blow. Zelie wrote of her three month old girl: “I have no hope of saving her. The poor little thing suffers horribly….It breaks your heart to see her.” But the baby girl proved to be much tougher than anyone realized. She survived the illness. A year later she was a “big baby, browned by the sun.” “The baby,” Zelie noted, “is full of life, giggles a lot, and is sheer joy to everyone.” Death seemed to grant a reprieve to the Martin household. Although suffering had left its mark on mother and father, it was not the scar of bitterness. Louis and Zelie had already found relief and support in their faith.

The series of tragedies had intensified the love of Louis and Zelie Martin for each other. They poured out their affection on their five surviving daughters; Marie, 12, Pauline, 11, Leonie 9, Celine, 3, and their new-born. Louis and Zelie named their new-born; Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin. A century later people would know her as St. Therese, and call her the “Little Flower.”

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FEAST OF THE ARCHANGELS ST. MICHAEL, ST. RAPHAEL AND ST. GABRIEL

 

A_Archangels1

 

The Sacred Scriptures have revealed the proper names of only three Angels, all of whom belong to the Choir of the Archangels. The names are well known to all, namely: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. Ancient apocryphal literature of the Old Testament contains several other names of Archangels in addition to the three just mentioned. Like the sources themselves, these other names are spurious. Names like Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, and Jeremiel are not found in the canonical books of Sacred Scripture, but in the apocryphal book of Enoch, fourth book of Esdras, and in rabbinical literature. The Church does not permit proper names of Angels that are not found in the canonical books of the Bible. All such names that were taken from apocryphal writings were rejected under Pope Zachary, in 745. There must have been danger of serious abuses in this regard during that century.

The Church honors the archangels, invokes their intercession and relies on their assistance in the spiritual warfare we daily face. In Hebrew, “Michael” means “Who is like God?” Saint Michael is mentioned four times in Scripture: Daniel 10 and 12, in Jude and in Revelation. Scripture reveals to us that Saint Michael is known as the “Prince of the Heavenly Host,” hence, the leader of all angels. It is to the Prince of the Heavenly that we owe a debt of gratitude for casting down to Hell Lucifer and the evil spirits; he is invoked for protection against Satan and all evil.

Sacred Tradition teaches that there are four offices connected to Saint Michael:

  • to fight against Satan, his minions and the power of evil

  • to rescue and protect the faithful from evil, especially at the hour of death

  • to lead the people of God to full communion with God Himself

  • to call our souls to judgment before God. “I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord” (Tobit 12:15) Saint Raphael, whose name means “God has healed” because of his healing of Tobias’ blindness in the Book of Tobit. This book in the Old Testament is the only book in which Raphael is mentioned. He is the archangel of healing and acts of mercy. Tradition tells us that Saint Raphael is the angel in John 5:1-4 who descended upon the pond and bestowed healing powers upon it so that the first to enter it after it moved would be healed of whatever infirmity he was suffering. 9/29 Feast Day of the Archangels St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. RaphaelThe three Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are the only Angels named in Sacred Scripture.T

  • Thus Luisa begins Volume One in the “Book of Heaven, The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose for which He was Created by God

  • “:. . . Most Holy Virgin, lovable Mother (The Blessed Mother), come to my aid, obtain for me from Your sweet Jesus and mine, grace and strength in order to do this obedience. Saint Joseph, my dear protector, assist me in this circumstance of mine. Archangel Saint Michael, defend me from the infernal enemy, who puts so many obstacles in my mind to make me fail this obedience. Archangel Saint Rafael and you, my Guardian Angel, come to assist me and accompany me, and to direct my hand, that I may write nothing but the truth. . . .

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