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The Heavenly call to Prayer, Penance and Sacrifice

      In today's installment we begin a series on the apparitions of El Escorial, Spain. Occurring during the same time frame as Betania and Medjugorje, it has received little publicity but is as important as the others for Our Lady comes as Nuestra Senora de los Dolores - "Our Lady of Sorrows" to call all her children back to her Divine Son Jesus through Prayer, Penance and Sacrifice in atonement for our own sins and those of the entire world. Her chosen messenger is a housewife and mother of seven Luz Amparo Cuevas and, like both Medjugorje and Betania, are still on-going. For part one of The Apparitions at El Escorial, Spain - Sacrifice leads to Salvation, click on THE AGE OF MARIAN APPARITIONS.

A vital petition from Our Lady of Sorrows for Prayer, Penance and Sacrifice

      From El Escorial in Spain comes a special "victim soul": visionary and mystic Amparo Cuevas promotion the vital petition for Prayer, Penance and Sacrifice from nuestra Senora de los Delores - Our Lady of Sorrows.

      Shortly after Our Lady began appearing to Betania visionary and mystic Maria Esperanza di Bianchini on a remote farm south of Caracas in Venezuela, and a month before she appeared to six children in another remote mountain village known as Medjugorje, the Blessed Mother Mary chose a middle age mother of seven to impart her messages of Prayer, Penance and Sacrifice for the world. Like the others before and after, the Blessed Virgin chose a smaller municipality a short distance from a major city to be a magnet to attract pilgrims from al over. And like Betania and Medjugorje, these lesser-known apparitions are still taking place.

      Approximately 60 kilometers (a little over 37 miles) northwest of Madrid lies the municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. It has served as the focus of religious pilgrimages by people from different nationalities and cultures from throughout the world for the past fourteen years. The reason for these pilgrimages is that Jesus and His Blessed Mother had been appearing to one of the members of the community at Prado Nuevo (New Meadow), at an area of El Escorial.

      The visionary, Luz Amparo Cuevas, a victim soul, had been receiving apparitions there until recently when the civil authorities decided to fence off Prado Nuevo for the expressed purpose of defying the visionary and the people who attended this event. They also constructed a major thoroughfare a very short distance from the Prado. Civil authorities even tried to burn down the beautiful Ash Tree where Our Lady appeared every first Saturday, but their efforts were futile. God would not allow it. (Similar obstruction has been recorded at Lourdes, Fatima, Garabandal, Medjugorje and many other apparition sites including Conyers, Georgia where local ordinances have been drafted to hinder pilgrims from conveniently getting to the holy hill and apparition room.)

      These efforts on the part of the local government to discourage the faithful from going to Prado Nuevo have proved fruitless. Many people still meet on one side of the thoroughfare and facing the Prado recite the Rosary every Saturday afternoon as cars whiz by. As many as 1,000 gather there on a regular Saturday and then congregate in a nearby rented building secured by a group of believers which provides a forum for priests to speak as well as Amparo to convey the most recent message. She continues to receive apparitions from Our Blessed Mother on the first Saturday of each month and record the messages imparted by Our Lady at another location other than the Ash Tree which has been corded off for now by civil authorities in an effort to thwart the apparitions and influx of pilgrims. Regardless of the weather or season of the year, the multitudes, which gather there on the first Saturday each month, have been estimated near the 20,000 range. The more they are restrained, the more they come in faith.

      Though Our Lady has requested a chapel be built on the site of the Apparition, the Blessed Mother understands that Amparo must first of all be obedient to the Magisterium and neither the Bishop nor the Cardinal have approved the Apparitions nor begun an investigation. Therefore, no masses are allowed on the site, but the Rosary is prayed fervently, taking an hour to say full five decades in Spanish.

      On every Saturday, there are phalanxes of policemen sent to protect and guard the faithful who have gathered to pray. On the first Saturdays of each month, the force mushrooms to well over 25 police cars. The reason for all the protection is threats to pilgrims by fanatics who have threatened Amparo and her followers.

      The majestic Ash Tree, which had become the centerpiece of the Apparition site was constantly adorned with flowers and candles which the faithful would bring similar to all other apparition sites. Nearby, was a water trough with an underground fountain which Our Lady assured was healing water. These are now all blockaded, but through prayer and a concentrated effort by believers to negotiate reopening it. There is a movement underway to return to the Ash Tree and, prayerfully, someday a chapel will be built just as one was built at Lourdes, LaSalette, Fatima, San Nicolas, and now being built at Betania.

Next installment: Planting the seeds of suffering: background on visionary Amparo Cuevas.

Toronto can boast of one of the newest of cardinals in Slovenian-born Cardinal Ambrozic

     Today we continue with this new series that we will bring you on a regular basis three times a week. Our second red hat we feature, in alphabetical order is the 69 year-old Cardinal Aloysius M. Ambrozic from Toronto, Canada. He was among the twenty-one cardinals the Holy Father created last February in the consistory at St. Peter's. For more on Cardinal Ambrozic, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

2.    Cardinal Aloysius Matthew Ambrozic

     Born in Gabrje, Slovenia on January 27, 1930, he emigrated to Austria in 1945 and then on to Canada in 1948 where he attended the seminary and was ordained a priest on June 4, 1955. Five years later he became a member of the faculty of St. Augustine's Seminary where he taught Sacred Scripture for seven years before moving on to Toronto's School of Theology teaching New Testament exegesis. He was ordained a bishop on March 26, 1976 and became co-adjutor of the Toronto Archdiocese on May 22, 1986. Four years later Pope John Paul II approved of his becoming Archbishop which he officially became on the feast of Saint Patrick in 1990.

      He became one of the newest of the Sacred College when the Holy Father elevated him to the rank of Prince of the Church, bestowing on him the red hat at ceremonies last year in St. Peter's Basilica when the Pope created twenty-one new cardinals on February 21, 1998. Cardinal Ambrozic is currently the Archbishop of Toronto and a member of the Curia on the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People as well as the Congregation for the Clergy. This sixty-nine year-old prelate's titular church is Saints Marcellinus and Peter.

     The Pentateuch. It is a strange word with tremendous impact for it comes from the Greek word meaning "book of five rolls" and stands for the first five books of the Old Testament - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy - all written by Moses and dealing with the history of creation from the first man (Adam) to Moses own death. Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy also deal with the laws of the theocratic system of the Jews. (source: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Thomas Nelson, Publishers)

January Gems that sparkle and provide sparkling Food for Thought Appeteasers

      As we head into the new year, we have a richness of material to share with you in mining the depths of the heart. Today, however, we start out on both a serious and humorous note to keep everything in balance for gems are precious, but fun too. For the two vignettes, What If and What's a mother to do?, click on JANUARY GEMS OF VALUE FOR FOOD FOR THOUGHT APPETEASERS

      Today's food for thought are both serious and humorous. The former deals with the simple thought-provoking preposition "What if" and can give us all cause to plan better; the latter is a light-hearted look at "What is a mother to do with you" from biblical times with the top ten replies, ala David Letterman's Top Ten List-style. Both were submitted by EJB via e-mail.

WHAT IF

What if,
GOD couldn't take the time to bless us today because
we couldn't take the time to thank Him yesterday?

What if,
GOD decided to stop leading us tomorrow because
we didn't follow Him today?

What if,
we never saw another flower bloom because
we grumbled when GOD sent the rain?

What if,
GOD didn't walk with us today because
we failed to recognize it as His day?

What if,
GOD took away the Bible tomorrow because
we would not read it today?

What if,
GOD took away His message because
we failed to listen to the messenger?

What if,
GOD didn't send His only begotten Son because
He wanted us to be prepared to pay the price for sin.

What if,
the door of the church was closed because
we did not open the door of our heart?

What if,
GOD stopped loving and caring for us because
we failed to love and care for others?

What if,
GOD would not hear us today because
we would not listen to Him yesterday?

What if,
GOD answered our prayers the way
we answer His call to service?

What if,
GOD met our needs the way
we give Him our lives???

What's a mother to do? or

Top Ten favorite expressions of frustration by Biblical Mothers

10. Samson! Get your hand out of that lion.
You don't know where it's been! (Judges 14:5-8)

9. David! I told you not to play in the house with
that slingshot! Go practice your harp.
We pay good money for those lessons!

8. Abraham! Stop wandering around the countryside
and get home for supper!

7. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!
Leave those clothes outside, you smell like a dirty ol' furnace!

6. Cain! Get off your brother!
You're going to kill him some day!

5. Noah! No, you can't keep them!
I told you, don't bring home any more strays!

4. Gideon! Have you been hiding in that wine press again?
Look at your clothes! (Judges 6:11)

3. James and John! No more burping contests at the dinner table, please.
People are going to call you the sons of thunder! (Mark 3:17)

2. Judas! Have you been in my purse again?!

...and finally, the number one reply:

1. Jesus! Close that door!
You think you were born in a barn?

"O! How I weep for men have been cleverly deceived."

     Those words from the Blessed Virgin Mary convey the state of her sorrowful heart as she implores her children to not be fooled by the false prophets of the world or those who would lead us away from the True Light - her Divine Son Jesus. She warns to be on the watch that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass be preserved and not be deceived by reducing it to a mere meal. She imparted these words in Italy in May 1993 to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart and again asked her children to pray that her Immaculate Heart will triumph soon. For messages 336 and 337, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Messages Three Hundred-Thirty-six and Three Hundred-Thirty-seven

      Beloved Hidden Flower, have peace. Persevere! I love you. I guide you. Give all your pain of body, mind and soul to my Divine Son. In your earthly exile all shall be a veil of sorrows. But you will know in your heart what is God's Will, and He will be your strength to endure all.

      Believe. Trust. Love and bear all for love of God, Who alone is pure Love. You have been obedient. You have done all I have directed you. Man's free will must never be forgotten. Like walls of impenetrable concrete the free will of man blocks the Divine Will. Soon that moment will come when man's will once again will be united with the Divine Will. Therefore, pray. Your journey has already borne good fruit and you must leave all to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

      Now, to all of my little children I say: Your faith is as weak as a flame whose light is wafted by the breath of satan. It is not high, but distorted in all directions. Thus confusion reigns in many hearts, and few have the will to be a burning flame of love.

      O! Pray! Pray for the Triumph of my Immaculate Heart to come now. Pray! Pray! Pray! O! Satan gains power over you because you are stubborn and proud. Therefore, if you would persevere you must be nothing that God might be all!

      I love and bless you. Thank you for responding to my Call!

      Beloved Hidden Flower, say to all of my little ones that the cup of bitterness has been poured out upon the world. This cup shall seep into every home. It shall penetrate every life.

      I do solemnly tell you that in these days I, the Mother of God, still call all of my children back to God. But I weep, for the lukewarm souls are as a plague, and in so very few places can be found the bright Light of True Faith.

      The world has abandoned God. They have made Him a mockery, a joke, and so proceed down the path of perdition.

      All are God's children. He alone rules. All authority comes from Him, the Creator and is given unto His creatures to be used with the Wisdom and Counsel of the Holy Spirit.

      In every land authority rejects God. Even in my Divine Son's Church the Light of Truth has grown dim for Satan is truly within the sanctuary.

      God rejoices at a pure heart. God is all Mercy to a contrite heart. Through my Divine Son's most Holy Passion each soul can be washed clean by His Sacred Body and Blood. There is no other path to salvation!

      O! How I weep for men have been cleverly deceived. The Mass is and will always be the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass when my Divine Son's cruel death takes place just as at the moment on Calvary. God, Who is Eternal, has no time. That which He has planned for all men - The Redemptive Act - is repeated daily where Holy Mass is said as a true Sacrifice. Where it has become a "meal", a "remembrance", a gathering of community who are there as other Christs - this is an abomination before the Throne of God.

      Therefore, as you journey to the hallowed place where my Divine Son called Francis to rebuild His Church, so I, your Heavenly Mother ask each of my children to do likewise now. Do this by your humility and obedience, which makes manifest true reverence for God.

      Thank you for responding to my Call!

Events Today in Church History

     On this date in 1622 Pope Gregory XV, in an effort to enhance missionary evangelism, established the Pontifical Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith - "Propaganda Fide" which today is called the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and headed by Cardinal Jozef Tomko, ably assisted by the former Superior General of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Bishop Marcello Zago, OMI. For other pertinent events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES

Historical Events in Church Annals for January 6:

• 1088 A.D.
  
• Death of the French theologist, Berengarius nine years after he had retracted his errors on the Eucharist which the Council of Rome condemned for his works denied the true presence of Christ under the appearances of bread and wine.

• 1275 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Raymond of Penyafort, Spanish priest and religious who worked in ransoming Christians from the infidels. For more on this saint, see TODAY'S LITURGY.

• 1374 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Andreas Corsini, Bishop of Fiesole in Italy.

• 1412 A.D.
  
• Birth of Saint Joan of Arc in Domremy, France. She would go on to fight for her homeland and her faith and die for it, being burned at the stake on the false charges of heresy and witchcraft and canonized by is handed over to the court of Bishop Pierre Cauchon and charged with heresy and witchcraft because of her mystical visions she received from God. Five months later, on May 30th she would be burned at the stake and not absolved until Pope Callistus III would find her innocent in 1456 and nearly five centuries later Pope Benedict XV would canonize her in 1920.

• 1622 A.D.
  
• Pope Gregory XV. in an effort to assist missionary efforts, establishes the Pontifical office of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith which today is called the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

• 1873 A.D.
  
• Pope Pius IX issues his 32nd encyclical Quartus supra on the Church in Armenia and the sensitivities to the Armenian rite.

• 1928 A.D.
  
• Pope Pius XI publishes his 10th encyclical Mortalium animos on religious unity.

• 1937 A.D.
  
• Death of Blessed Andre Bessette, religious brother. For more on this beatified Canadian, see TODAY'S LITURGY.

• 1946 A.D.
  
• Pope Pius XII releases his 9th encyclical Quemadodum in pleading for the care of the world's destitute children.

    Dear children! In this Christmas joy I desire to bless you with my blessing. In a special way, little children, I give you the blessing of little Jesus. May He fill you with His peace. Today, little children, you do not have peace and yet you yearn for it. That is why, with my Son Jesus, on this day I call you to pray, pray, pray, because without prayer you do not have joy or peace or a future. Yearn for peace and seek it, for God is true peace. 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.

January 6, 1999 volume 10, no. 3   DAILY CATHOLIC