Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. Little children, be joyful carriers of peace and love in this peaceless world. By fasting and prayer, witness that you are mine and that you live my messages. Pray and seek! I am praying and interceding for you before God that you convert; that your life and behavior always be Christian. Thank you for having responded to my call.
For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE AND MORE

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Without prayer the mirror of malaise will reflect our ills.

      In his column today, Pat Ludwa gives his take on the events over the past week in which he points out that we reap what we sow and the harvest may not be what we expected, chiefly because we have not followed the tilling advice of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes, La Salette, Fatima and beyond. The only antidote to the hate and self-righteous road so many opt to take is prayer and we're evidently not doing enough of that considering the state of things today. For Pat's column We have met the enemy, click on VIEW FROM THE PEW

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Message to the Americas:
The Path to Conversion means a change in mentality or metanoia

      Following up a year after the Bishops of North, Central and South America, along with the Caribbean contingent, met for the month-long Synod of the Americas in Rome at the end of 1997, Pope John Paul II officially closed the Synod with his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico City in January 1999. Because of its significance for all Americans, we bring you this important document in several installments over the next few months. For those wanting to read the entire encyclical or check footnotes, go to Ecclesia in America For the ninth installment on Chapter Three: The Path to Conversion - The urgency of the call to conversion , click on THE VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS.

Approach the empty tomb with faith and trust

      In Chapter 11, My Lord and my God! Our Lady asks us if we would have the same kind of faith the Magdalen had. She asks if we are willing to stand strong in our faith and to accept the bitterness of the cross and the lonely void of the tomb for only by doing that can we share in His Resurrection. These are some of the things the Blessed Mother shares with us through the interior vision imparted to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart after Pentecost 1993. They are meant to inspire and prompt a greater understanding of the Glorious Mysteries. For part three of Chapter 11, click on "MY LORD AND MY GOD!"

Placing the blame on others is not the answer to our social ills

      In the wake of the deadly and shocking shooting spree at a Denver suburban high school Tuesday, the city's chief shepherd Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap. begins the rebuilding phase of this difficult process by addressing his flock, an address which will be released in the Denver Catholic Register this coming Wednesday but which we have permission to print today. For his special letter, Ending the violence begins with our own conversion, click on MITERS THAT MATTER

Cardinal Jozef Glemp - primate of Poland was handpicked by his fellow Pole John Paul II to be Archbishop of Warsaw

      Our forty-eighth red hat we feature, in alphabetical order is the 70 year-old Cardinal Jozef Glemp current Archbishop of Warsaw who was elevated to the cardinalate on February 2, 1983 during the second Consistory held by his close friend Pope John Paul II. For more on Cardinal Glemp, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

SIMPLY SHEEN: Remember when being on one's knees was a psychological advantage

      They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".

"Psychiatry is not as much a modern discovery as it is a modern need. Its method has been known for centuries, but there was never the occasion to apply it, because in other ages men knew they could not 'get away with it.' Their purgations, reparations and amendments were settled on their knees in prayer, rather than on their back on a couch. "

      Today is the Fourth Monday of Easter and tomorrow we continue in Pascaltide with the Fourth Tuesday of Easter. For the readings, liturgies, and meditations, click on DAILY LITURGY.

Events Today in Church History

      On this date in 757 Pope Stephen II died. As the 92nd successor of Peter, he was embraced warmly by the people who hoisted him on their shoulders as they carried him through the streets of Rome in joyous celebration. This gave rise to the sedia gestatoria. For other pertinent events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES

"Stand firm in the faith and do not compromise for the sake of worldly peace which is false."

     Those words from the Blessed Mother were imparted to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart in Message #494 on May 15, 1994 in which Our Lady beseeches us to lean on her Divine Spouse the Holy Spirit Who alone can shed light on how to attain true peace. She prefaces this with her 493rd Message on the 77th anniversary of the first Apparition at Fatima by reaffirming that all she has revealed at Fatima and subsequent apparitions will be fulfilled soon and her Immaculate Heart, as she promised at Fatima, will triumph. For Messages #493 and #494 from Blessed Mary, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Denver Archbishop reaches out to all within the sound of his voice as a true shepherd

      Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., head of the Archdiocese of Denver spoke at a prayer gathering on Friday and echoed much of what he writes in his address today (above) in which he advises that families take account for their own actions and strive toward a non-violent culture beginning at that level and working up to where the culture of life - the sanctity of life will become special and cherished and help snuff out the culture of death which so threatens our society today. For more, click on Archbishop Chaput.

Heroic testimony of faith marks tributes to fallen at Columbine High to enlighten public in a a world of dire darkness as smoke begins to clear

      Accounts of some of the fallen high school students who were shot by suicidal snipers in a Denver suburban high school last Tuesday reveal a tremendous heroic faith in Jesus which they were not afraid to exhibit in the face of certain death as verified by witnesses in the aftermath of the terrible tragedy that shocked the world. For more, click on Young faith.

Holy Father releases special letter to artists on the occasion of introducing special exhibit honoring Pope Paul VI

      His Holiness Pope John Paul II released a letter dated Easter Sunday in which he reaches out to artists everywhere charging them with the responsibility to create a harmony with the Creator in their art. The letter coincided with a special art show that opened at the Vatican honoring Pope Paul VI, his life and his work. For more, click on Artists and Pope Paul VI .

Serbs offer an Orthodox compromise to the fighting gridlock in the Balkans

      What many reports have failed to report is that ever since the Vatican sent a delegate and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch met with Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic the latter has been more willing to seek peace. The latest is his acceptance of Christian Orthodox troops to act as mediators and observers in the Balkans, something of a breakthrough in negotiations over the past few months. The biggest stumbling block right now is Bill Clinton and his stubborn, self-righteous, pompous stance trying to forcefeed NATO to the American people as his own precious poll ratings plummet. For more, click on Orthodox observers

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales. Both CWN and NE are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

CATHOLIC CANVAS: Daily Dose of curious contents of the Church:

Holy Father's Letter to Artists

     The title Catholic Canvas indicates a tableau of art and the logo is a palette, therefore we present as our canvas today the Holy Father's brilliant address to artists released this past weekend. We present the first half of this today at Holy Father's Letter to Artists part one. To read the entire document you may go go ZENIT documents