|
|
Monday thru Friday on the
CATHOLIC-INTERNET NETWORK at http://www.catholic-internet.org
See why so many consider the
Daily CATHOLIC as the
"USA Today for CATHOLICS!"
e-mail: DailyCatholic@catholic-internet.org
|
THURSDAY
October 1, 1998
SECTION ONE vol 9, no. 192
To print out entire text of Today's issue, print this section as well as SECTION TWO
We honor the Little Flower
On this first day of October we celebrate a very special Saint - Saint Therese of Lisieux also known as the Saint Therese of the Child Jesus for she herself was a child, dying of Tuberculosis at the tender age of 24. But she was also totally aligned to the Will of God and in her simplicity, one of the wisest of saints, evidenced by Pope John Paul II proclaiming her a Doctor of the Church two years ago. Friday is another great feast - the Feast of the Guardian Angels. For today and tomorrow's liturgy, meditations and vignettes on these feasts, click on LITURGY FOR THE DAY.
Thursday, October 1, 1998
Thursday October 1:
Feast of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Religious and Doctor of the Church
White vestments
First Reading: Job 19: 21-27
Psalms: Psalm 27: 7-9, 13-14
Gospel Reading: Luke 10: 1-12
Feast of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Religious and Doctor of the Church
The youngest of nine children, Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus was born Maria Frances Theresa Guerin in 1873 at Alencon near Normandy in France and was one of four of the daughters who survived infancy. Five of the other children born to Theresa's parents Louis Martin Guerin and his wife Zelie-Marie had died in their infancy. Theresa was sent to the Benedictine monastery in Lisieux where she became known for her total suppression of her own will in favor of what Jesus wanted, offering every little sacrifice she could. Frail from birth, Theresa had been healed of a serious illness in 1883 through the intercession of Our Lady, and decided then and there she would become a Carmelite Nun. However her age prevented her from pursuing this immediate goal. Undaunted and persistent that Jesus wanted this, she even approached the Holy Father Pope Leo XIII during a group audience with him in Rome on pilgrimage, asking him to allow her to enter the convent. He was somewhat taken aback by her forwardness but replied gently, "Whatever your bishop advises, you follow, my child." This news from such a powerful prelate forced Theresa to bite her lip for she thought surely the Pope would allow this. Saddened she returned to France where she waited until old enough to be admitted which she was in 1888 and given the name Sister Theresa of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face. Five years later at the age of 20 she was chosen mistress of novices. Three years later in 1986 Tuberculosis set in. Once this was known, Theresa's older blood sister, Mother Agnes of Jesus insisted that Theresa write down her memoirs for posterity. This she did and after her death this work entitled The Story of a Soul was widely circulated. In it, Theresa emphasized her doctrine on the "little way" of spiritual childhood stressing that she wanted to save souls to help priests save souls by prayer, sacrifice, and suffering. Her "little way" means loving and trusting in God as a child, held in His loving arms as she writes, "From the age of three, I never refused our good God anything. I have never given him anything but love. I just want to love God. I want to do hard things for Him. I want to pray for priests and for sinners. I want to shine like a little candle before His altar." She exemplified two of the greatest virtues, humility and total dependence on the Will of God. She even prayed that God would hear her prayer and save so many souls by offering herself in total reparation, including letting God give away any graces she would earn to any soul who needed it. As she lay dying in the convent in 1897, she pressed her precious crucifix to her heart and peering Heavenward replied, "I love Him! My God, I love You!" Shortly afterwards the tuberculosis took its toll and Theresa died on September 30, 1897 at only 24. True to her promise that she would let fall from Heaven a shower of roses," she became known far and wide as the "Little Flower" with many miracles of intercession attributed to her throughout the world so that in 1925 Pope Pius XI canonized her proclaiming, "St. Theresa of the Child Jesus is the greatest saint of modern times." In 1944, at the height of World War II when France was being pummelled by German howitzers, Pope Pius XII proclaimed her patroness of France along with Saint Joan of Arc. French aviators and soldiers took up the battle cry encouraged by her intercession and many attribute the fall of Germany to storming Heaven. Theresa also shares a title with Saint Francis Xavier as patroness of Foreign Missions. Though Theresa never had the opportunity to set step outside of Europe, she had a longing to go to a Carmelite mission in Hanoi, Vietnam in the late 19th Century. On September 19th of 1996, Pope John Paul II officially proclaimed St. Therese a Doctor of the Church, making her the third female saint to be so honored.
Friday, October 2 1998
First Reading: Job 38: 1, 12-21; 40: 3-5
Psalms: Psalm 139: 1-3, 7-10, 13-14, 24
Gospel Reading: Matthew 18: 1-5, 10
FEAST OF THE GUARDIAN ANGELS
This devotion dates back to the Middle Ages, most probably in association with the account in Tobit of the Archangel Raphael leading Tobias which had been widely spread in art. It was specifically introduced in 1411 in Valencia, Spain to venerate the guardian angel of the city. Pope Sixtus V in 1590 allowed a special privilege to Portugal - that of a special Liturgy honoring the guardian angels. Pope Paul V added the feast universally to the Church in 1608, slotting it in the first available date after the feast of St. Michael. There are many accounts of angels, mentioned in over two thirds of the books of the Bible. They are not named specifically other than the three Archangels; the rest are referred to as "an angel" or "angels" in both the Old and New Testament. The Psalmist David makes frequent mention of the angels. The concept of "guardian" is first mentioned in Exodus 23:20--23, "See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way" as well as in Psalm 33: 8, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them" and in Matthew 18: 10 in the New Testament when Jesus said to His disciples regarding the little children, "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you their angels in Heaven always behold the face of My Father in Heaven." As we all know, angels were plentiful in great numbers at the Incarnation and with Jesus throughout His mission as He confirms in John 1: 51, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you shall see Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." These same angels are there in full force adoring Jesus during each and every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass universally throughout the world. Today angels have had a resurgence in secular society, but in Holy Mother Church Guardian Angels are not a superstition or "fad" but rather a reality that each soul created by God is assigned at least one Guardian Angel to them for their lifetime. Though so often the Guardian Angel is associated with children as every Catholic child is taught the beautiful Angel of God Prayer, our Guardian Angels stay with us even as we become adults for though in the eyes of the world we are grown, in God's eyes we will always be His children. It is Catholic belief that the angels are with us always and we need to lean on them more often, ask for their assistance.
PRAYER & DEVOTIONS
Today's prayer is honors Saint Therese in the Preface from the Carmelite Missal for today's Mass:
For the ninth and final day of the Nine Day Novena to Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, click on NOVENA:
Novena to the Little Flower
To be prayed nine days in a row
O Little Therese of the Child Jesus, please pick for me a rose from the Heavenly Gardens and send it to me as a message of love.
O Little Flower of Jesus, ask God today to grant the favors I now place with confidence in your hands...
(Here mention specific requests)
St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did, in God's great love for me, so that I might imitate your "Little Way" each day. Amen.
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks. You reveal the secrets of Your kingdom to those who become like little children. Among them You chose St. Therese, hidden in Christ, to proclaim the good news of Your merciful love. Your Holy Spirit moved her to make her life a loving oblation of prayer and self-denial for the salvation of all mankind through Christ and His Church.
Traveling down Interstate 2000 toward the new millennium we must watch our speed limit and be alert for the signs
In our third part of the series on SIGNS OF GOD'S MERCY AND JUSTICE we focus on the freeway toward the new millenniu, one we like to call I-2000 the Jubilee Highway. But it isn't always smooth sailing on this freeway for it can become gridlocked with temptations, vice, and force us into the slow lane that might veer us off the main road and into a detour if we are not concentrating on where we are going and how we are getting there. The only way is through prayer and striving to live God's Will by obedience to His commandments and His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. For the Seventy-eighth installment of this on-going megaseries, click on WHERE IS HOLY MOTHER CHURCH HEADING AS WE NEAR THE MILLENNIUM?.
Installment Seventy-Eight
The Thirty-Sixth Clarion: SIGNS OF GOD'S MERCY AND JUSTICE
part three:
"Amen I say to you,
unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven."
Matthew 18: 3
All the signs God gives are there for our benefit. They may appear to
some as negative, burdensome signs. Perhaps we view them in this way
because we don't want to face up to the reality that recognizing God's
signs and obeying Him causes us to change…and change, sometimes, can be
painful. It's difficult to leave a particular comfort zone to which we
have grown accustomed. That's the nature of the beast…and that's the
nature the beast of darkness takes in getting us to compromise, to
rationalize our way around everything. Just as seasons change and each
seasonal period has purpose, so also in our spiritual lives. God's signs
are there to help all of us to change, to be guided back to Him. That is
the only road we can afford to take.
In our daily travels around town, we've all passed the warning sign
CHILDREN AT PLAY cautioning us to slow down. But God also gives the sign
that says: "LOOK AND LISTEN< CHILDRE AT PRAYER! Yes, we are all God's
children. He calls us "His children." Jesus went out of His way to
emphasize this in the Gospels, stating in Matthew 18:3, "Amen I say to you,
unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven." Likewise, Christ's invitation to "Let the little
children come to Me and do not hinder them, for of such is the Kingdom of
God." (cf. Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14, and Luke 18:16) brings home the
analogy of being His children and as children we must be child-like, not
childish. God knows only too well that as children we will make many
mistakes, do things adults wouldn't do, and not always understand what is
being told to us. No wonder He calls us "children." The evangelists St.
Paul and St. John used the tern "little children" in addressing the crowds
as evidenced in Galatians and 1 John; and adults far outnumbered the few
actual children among the crowds. So also, Our Lady calls us "little
children" in her messages and apparitions. There were three little
children at Fatima. The visionaries at Medjugorje were indeed children
when the apparitions first began over 15 years ago. Even though they've
all matured into young adults, they are still considered "little children"
because they understand the way of spiritual childhood. There were
children at LaSalette, too. In fact, in all the messages imparted to
visionaries and messengers down through the centuries, down through the
decades, the Mother of God and her Divine Son Himself have called us
"children" "or that is indeed what we are called to be.
As children, we are traveling down the JUBILEE INTERSTATE, 1-2000 toward a
new millennium. What will happen in the coming years only God knows, but
He's given us a pretty clear indication through the many apparitions of His
Blessed Mother.
This is the time of change. Ultimately, God's Will shall be done on earth
as it is in Heaven. We are coming to that time known as the fulfillment of
the "Our Father", and the Reign of the Sacred Heart which will be ushered
in by the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. But to arrive at this
destination, the other changes are not going to be easy, nor pleasant
world-wise, unless we have our spiritual vehicles well-tuned and aligned
with all Holy Mother Church teaches, and our eyes focuses on the signs of
these critical times.
What we must do, and seek to do with our whole being, is to be steadfast
in the faith give to us as a gift from God; to adhere with loving obedience
to all the Roman Catholic Church and her Magisterium teaches; to turn a
deaf ear to the deafening, illogical cry of the "political correct" jargon
that is hollow and meaningless in the overall scope of God's master plan.
Jesus has instructed us to "Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who
enter that way. How narrow the gate and close the way that leads to life!
And few there are who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14).
Yes, He has made it very clear that it will be a difficult road, but not
impossible. He loves us so much that in these troubled times, when the
potholes of the world, flesh and the devil have swallowed up so many
traveling the road of life, He has sent His Own Emissary - His Own Blessed
and Immaculate Mother to be a guide for us, to point out the signs and lead
us by the hand and heart through the minefields set by satan to thwart us
from our destination to Mary's Divine Son Jesus.
In the next installment we will study the Signs of the Sacraments and other helpful guides
in the rich Deposit of Faith.
The New Ark has been sent to guide us through the rough seas and safely to the harbor of God's grace and Heart.
That is an important aspect of the Blessed Mother Mary's words in the 211th and 212th messages to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart, which we bring you today. Our Lady urges her children to return to the refuge of her Immaculate Heart and her Divine Son Jesus' Most Sacred Heart in light of the coming events which will rock our world as she has been foretelling since La Salette on. Click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."
Messages Two Hundred-Eleven and Two Hundred-Twelve
Message Two Hundred-Eleven, July 30, 1992
(Imparted to the Hidden Flower by the Immaculate Heart of Mary)
Beloved Hidden Flower, why are you afraid? Because of the privilege given to me to be Mother of God, I love with His love and I do not abandon my children, but seek constantly their eternal salvation.
Now to all my children I again invite you to convert your heart. My children, do you realize that in converting your heart you enter upon the way of love, God's love. To have God's love is to live that love in every circumstance of your life, rejoicing in His Infinite Mercy.
In conversion of heart Divine Mercy is unleashed and it rains softly down upon the soul, becoming a flood upon all the world. In such a cry for Mercy the Justice of God is mitigated, perhaps even delayed and mankind embraces the celestial air.
I, your Heavenly Mother, do invite you with all motherly affection to love my Divine Son, to pray profoundly from your heart, particularly before the Tabernacle, allowing Him to speak to you in the depth and stillness of your being.
Learn again the reverence due to God at all times and know, my children, that so depraved is your world that unless you return to God you shall see the destruction of your world.
Oh! So many ridicule and scoff at my words, but yet shall all be fulfilled. Great shall be the tribulation and chastisement which shall come upon you, and it shall be of natural disasters, man-made disasters and Divine Punishment.
Come, my little ones. Be gathered beneath my Mantle where I lead you into my Son's Sacred Heart. Come, heed my words. Become a living prayer, a fragrance pure and holy before God. Be a light to all who are lost in darkness, for then shall you behold the light for all eternity.
I love and bless you. I give you God's peace. Thank you for responding to my Call!
Message Two Hundred-Twelve, August 1, 1992
(Feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguori)
(Imparted to the Hidden Flower by the Immaculate Heart of Mary)
Beloved Hidden Flower I bless you. Now I say to all my children. Dear little ones, please do not become distracted for this, too, is a trick of the evil one who would plant doubts in your hearts. Oh! How close is the world to the moment of great trial, when the evil shall reach its peak and my little ones will be greatly persecuted in every way. The evil one has succeeded in arranging his army of demons. Events throughout the world shall be for those gathered beneath my Immaculate Mantle the further signs of the reign of the antichrist. But for so many of my children it will appear as if at last peace is to come.
My children, do you realize how Godless is your world? Yes, there are gods. There are so many gods which rule my little ones lives. There are far too many who use my Divine Son's name and yet are wolves who devour. My precious ones, the great apostasy, the great schism will soon befall the world, ripping apart my Son's true Church. Oh! Pray for your Holy Father, my beloved son, who weeps and dies for love of my Son and who is truly my Martyr of Peace. I shield him, but the evil one seeks his life and too few pray for him.
I solemnly tell you that the events now taking place were revealed to the world when I came among you at LaSalette. I again foretold these events at Fatima and later at Garabandal, but the evil one would turn your ears deaf, your hearts to stone. Now in this age I speak again at Medjugorje and in many other places on every continent to my chosen ones. Will you listen, my beloved little ones? I am your Heavenly Mother, Queen of Peace and ever-Virgin Mother of God. I come as the New Eve, the New Ark, the precursor of my Son's Glorious Return. Please heed my words. Accept this time of extraordinary mercy, for it is indeed a great grace. My children, the winter approaches. Beyond lies the awakening of nature. In this time great shall be the signs of satan's reign and of the approach of my Immaculate Heart's Triumph. Beloved, you must be of one mind and one heart through the grace of the Holy Spirit that as the terrible spiritual darkness is universal, my little ones may gather together, the faithful remnant. Many, many places of refuge must begin in this coming spring. I beseech all of my little ones to pray ardently that they might discern and be enlightened, for the places of refuge shall be as the first Christians formed holy communities and preserved the Truth despite persecution.
I have often called to you to convert for as your Mother I seek your soul's eternal salvation. Therefore, my places of refuge are to be as beautiful and pure as any monastery should be, and those gathered will live as ones consecrated to my Divine Son through my Immaculate Heart.
I beseech all of my little ones to begin now to pray with great fervor, to fast even more by removing yourself from the world, that you might then allow me, your Mother, to speak to you and prepare you for what you must do.
Pray! Pray! Pray! The world wears the face of evil and it would appear that the universe fills with the hideous roar of satan's laughter.
I solemnly tell you when the moment comes when satan's mocking laugh fills the universe, the swift Justice shall fall from the sky and the world shall be purified. Then satan's laughter shall change into a scream of defeat as he is forever cast into hell.
Behold! God exists. He Is. He is not to be mocked, but adored and obeyed! Therefore, I am asking each one of you to turn your life and your world back to my Divine Son.
I love and bless you. Thank you for responding to my Call!
September 25th Medjugorje Monthly Message
Dear children! Today, I call you to become my witnesses by living
the faith of your fathers. Little children, you seek signs and
messages and do not see that, with every morning sunrise, God
calls you to convert and to return to the way of truth and salvation.
You speak much, little children, but you work little on your
conversion. That is why, convert and start to live my messages, not
with your words but with your life. In this way, little children, you
will have the strength to decide for the true conversion of the heart.
Thank you for having responded to my call
For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE AND MORE
Click here to go to SECTION TWO or click here to return to the graphics front page of this issue.
October 1, 1998 volume 9, no. 192 DAILY CATHOLIC
