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El Escorial visionary Amparo Cuevas: on a mission for souls

      We continue with the second installment of the apparitions of El Escorial, Spain which began during the same time frame as Betania and Medjugorje and has received little publicity. Yet, like Medjugorje and Betania, El Escorial is still going on and 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. God's chosen messenger to receive these and impart them to the world is a housewife and mother of seven Luz Amparo Cuevas. For part two of The Apparitions at El Escorial, Spain - Planting the seeds of suffering: background on visionary Amparo Cuevas, click on THE AGE OF MARIAN APPARITIONS.

Planting the seeds of suffering: background on visionary Amparo Cuevas

      The visionary Amparo Cuevas was born on March 13, 1931 in the village of El Pesebre, municipality of Penascosa, province of Albacete in Spain. Along with husband Nicasio Barderas Bravo they have seven children between 24 and 36. When she first began experiencing communication with Our Lord her children were between 10 24 and needed more attention. Amparo does not have a formal education and hardly knows how to read and write. She was the perfect candidate to become a humble messenger.

      Both Amparo and Nicasio suffered from poor health. He worked the soil and served as part-time watchman and gate-keeper at the same house Amparo was employed as a cleaning woman. During a pilgrimage to Lourdes, she was healed of a severe heart ailment.

      Amparo's life was one of extreme poverty, sacrifice, and hard work. This background enabled her to prepare well for a life of prayer, sacrifice and penance which the Blessed Mother was going to entrust to her in her messages and private revelations to her for her own spiritual development.

      Her early childhood was marked with tragedy after her own mother died, for her stepmother kept her locked in a room for long hours at a time. Though she did not know how to pray as a child, she invoked the Blessed Mother with filial devotion, and Our Lady responded in kind. From as long as she could remember Amparo always felt a compassionate love toward her neighbor. Yet, her spirituality was surface in the early years for though she acknowledged the existence of a Supreme Being, Amparo was unconcerned about carrying out her religious responsibilities.

      However, toward the middle of November in 1980, Amparo had a religious experience, which would affect her entire life as we all as her relationship with God. She heard a voice, which told her: "Pray for the peace of the world and the conversion of sinners. Love one another. You are going to receive trials of suffering." Indeed, Amparo began to bleed in her forehead and hands, feeling sharp pains. She cried out in fright: "Well, what is this!?!" Our Lord, nailed to the cross, then appeared to her and said: "My daughter, this is the Passion of Christ. You have to endure it completely." Amparo answered, "I will not refuse it." Jesus nodded. "If you do not refuse it for a few seconds, how much would I spend entire hours on the cross dying for the same people who were crucifying Me? You can save many souls with your suffering."

      Jesus then asked Amparo if she would accept and she responded, "With your help, Lord, I will endure it." Thus, in this brief communication from Jesus, Amparo heard two words which she would hear again and again during the course of the next fourteen years in which she would receive messages: PRAYER and SUFFERING (which includes sacrifice and penance). These two words would be the cornerstone of her mission to save souls.

      From that moment on, Amparo became a different person. She learned the importance of and the value of the virtue of humility, which would be stressed in Mary's messages to her. Amparo was instructed to seek opportunities to show that humility. Our Lady would ask her to kiss the ground "for the conversion of sinners", "for consecrated souls", "for the salvation of humanity", "for the souls in purgatory", etc. Slowly Amparo began to develop spirituality and her life became more intense in the practice of virtues such as humility, charity, faith, and others.

Next installment: part three - Mystical Gifts and the Chalice of Suffering .

Cardinal Luis Martinez Aponte: Puerto Rican and proud of it!

      Today we continue with this new series that we will bring you on a regular basis three times a week. Our fifth red hat we feature, in alphabetical order, is the 77 year-old Cardinal Luis Martinez Aponte, also known as Luis Aponte Martinez who has become a permanent fixture in San Juan, Puerto Rico as its archbishop for the past thirty-five years. For more on this red-hat appointed by Pope Paul VI back in the Consistory of March 1973, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

 &nsbp;   One of the few cardinals still living who Pope Paul VI appointed, Cardinal Luis Martinez Aponte is not only one of the more liberal prelates still in the Conclave, but the first native Puerto Rican to head this island nation of over three million Catholics, nearly 83% of the total population. Born in Lajas, Puerto Rico on August 4, 1922 in the southwestern corner of the island, Luis Aponte became a priest on April 10, 1950 after studying for the priesthood in Boston. From his ordination on he was ticketed for the position he now holds for he was appointed secretary to then Bishop James E. McManus, C.ss.R. of the Diocese of Ponce, who was grooming him. On July 23, 1960 he was ordained Bishop, becoming Titular Bishop of Lares and Auxiliary Bishop of Ponce under Bishop McManus. It was the same year the current hierarchy was established. Four years later he was elevated to Archbishop of San Juan on November 4, 1964. He has remained in that capacity for thirty-five years now and there are more than a few Catholics in Puerto Rico who feel his time has come to retire.

      He became a cardinal at the Consistory of March 5, 1973 when Paul VI bestowed the red-hat eight new cardinals, giving him charge of the titular church of St. Mary Mother of Providence in Monte Verde. As archbishop and cardinal his pastoral duties include overseeing one archdiocese and four dioceses with eight bishops and 324 parishes on the one-hundred mile long island. Besides having been a popular parish priest, he has been a staunch crusader of pro-life, campaigning against birth control and sterilization agendas fostered by the Puerto Rican government. Because of his age and non-existent curial experience, he is in no way a candidate for the papacy and has no desires in that direction since, other than his seminary training, has spent his entire life in his beloved homeland.

Events Today in Church History

      Today is the 1027th anniversary of the death of Saint Bruno of Cluny, considered the founder and first abbot of the world-famous Benedictine monastery at Cluny. 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 13:

• 235 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Andrew of Trier, 12th bishop of Trier.

• 262 A.D.
  
• Martyrdom of forty Roman soldiers who had converted to Christianity. When the Roman emperor Gallienus discovered their allegiance to the one true God he had them killed as they marched on the Via Lavicana.

• 322 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Glaphyra, a Christian slave of the emperor's wife Constantia. Her husband Licinius wanted Glaphyra to become a concubine, but she escaped the Byzantine court and took refuge with Saint Basileus who was the bishop at that time. Yet soldiers forcibly entered the bishop's residence and took her prisoner and she died enroute to being martyred.

• 323 A.D.
  
• Death of the first slavic saints - the deacon Saint Hermylus and his servant Saint Stratonicus who were both martyred by drowning in the Danube River at the order of the emperor Licinius who would later that same year be defeated by Constantine at Adrianople thus giving Christians the right to worship.

• 333 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Agrecius, bishop of Trier. Legend has it that he bought the garment that was believed to be Jesus seamless tunic, called the "Holy Coat of Trier." St. Agrecius greatly assisted Pope Saint Sylvester I's policies at the Council of Arles.

• 337 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Leontius, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia who took an active part as one of the Council Fathers in the First Ecumenical Council where the "Creed" was formulated during the pontificate of Pope Saint Sylvester I who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325.

• 368 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers and Doctor of the Church. For more on this saint, see TODAY'S LITURGY

• 612 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Kentigern, the son of Saint Thenaw. After he became a bishop in Ireland, he was forced to flee pagan persecution and settled in Wales and then migrated north to Scotland where he evangelized the faith in Glasgow where he built and restored churches including the Glasgow cathedral where he is buried.

• 850 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Gumersindus a pastor of the local parish in Cordova, Spain and Saint Servusdei, a Benedictine monk. Both were martyred for their faith in Cordova during the persecution of the Saladin Abderrahman II.

• 927 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Berno of Cluny, first Benedictine abbot of the famous monastery at Cluny. He is generally regarded as the founder of the influential Cluny abbey in 910.

• 1097 A.D.
  
• Death of Blessed Hidemar of Arrouaise, an Augustinian hermit who founded the Arrouaise monastery. He died on this date when a fellow cleric, having a vendetta against him, disguised himself as a novice to gain the inner sanctum of Hidemar's cell where he stabbed him to death.

• 1381 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Colette, abbess and reformer of the Poor Clares.

• 1497 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Veronica of Binasco, mystic and religious victim soul who experienced mystical pains and ecstasies throughout her life as a victim soul. At age 52, she died on the exact day she had been told she would by the Blessed Mother six months before.

      Many want to know the difference between an abbey and a monastery. Basically, an abbey must have at least a dozen religious whereas a monastery doesn't. An abbey is usually built around a walled-in quadrangle that contains a novitiate, a guest house, choir, oratory for prayer, infirmary, conference room, kitchen, refectory or dining room, cells for the religious or dormitory, cellars for storage, a small parlor, a revolving door or almonry for alms and gifts, food, etc. from outsiders, and a chapter house for private meetings with the abbot for men or abbess for women. Benedictine and Cistercian Orders have abbeys, while most other contemplative, cloistered orders call them monasteries. Finally, an abbey is like a diocese since the abbot enjoys the same powers as the bishop save the Apostolic succession. In fact, the abbot has independent power over the abbey which a bishop has no authority over because an abbey is usually a territorial jurisdiction. The word "abbey" means "House of the Father" who is the abbot, a word derived from the Aramaic abba meaning "Father." (source: 1999 Catholic Almanac, Our Sunday Visitor; The Catholic Encyclopedia, Thomas Nelson, Publishers; Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon, S.J., Doubleday)

January Gems that sparkle and provide sparkling Food for Thought Appeteasers

      Today, we bring you two short light-hearted vignettes on the irony of the dollar and man's best friend in two small gems that mine the depths of the heart. For the two sparklers, Doldrums of a dollar and It's a dog's life, click on JANUARY GEMS OF VALUE FOR FOOD FOR THOUGHT APPETEASERS

      Today's food for thought come from EJB and Sr. Lucy via e-mail. The first is very short but puts into perspective why most churchgoers do not understand the meaning of tithing while the second will cause us to think about how we live our lives. Do we complain too much, use too many "crutches" to get through each day? Most of us do in some way or another and yet we forget that no matter what happens you'll never hear or see a special friend of ours complain.

Doldrums of a Dollar

Why is it a ten-dollar bill looks so small at the grocery store, but so big at church? That was one of the questions that popped up as the crumpled, tattered and much-used moohlah pressed against each other in the clammy billfold.

      As currency is wont to do, a dollar bill and a hundred dollar bill, folded together, began sharing their life experiences. Naturally, the one-hundred dollar bill began to brag ...

      "I've had a great life," he said. "I've been to all the big hotels. Donald Trump himself used me at his casino. I've been in the wallets of Fortune 500 board members. I've flown from one end of the country to the other. I've even been in the wallet of two Presidents of the United States, and once when Princess Diana visited the U.S., she used me to buy a pack of gum!"

      In awe, the dollar humbly responded, "Gee, nothing like that has ever happened to me ... but I've been to church a lot!"

It's a dog's life

If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you, when through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice, against
creed, color, religion, or politics,
Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.

"God's Love is being poured out over all the world as a torrent of sublime graces."

      Those words from the Blessed Virgin Mary in Message #348 carry the same theme as in her 347th Message on the Solemnity of her Divine Son's Ascension into Heaven when she repeats over and over how good God is but if we don't acknowledge and accept His gifts, He cannot force us to partake at the Heavenly banquet. Our Lady warns her children that too many have refused these gifts from her Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit her Divine Spouse. As a consequence satan as entered the sanctuary and infiltrates all levels of the Church from the lay ranks to the clergy. These messages were imparted in the latter part of May 1993 to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart. For messages 347 and 348, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Messages Three Hundred-Forty-seven and Three Hundred-Forty-eight

(SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD INTO HEAVEN)

      Beloved Hidden Flower, how I love you. No, you must be strong. Do not bend where Truth is concerned. Always speak with humility and charity, and the Holy Spirit shall be your fire and strength.

      On this day when the Ascension of my Divine Son is celebrated, I call all of my little ones to dwell upon the great mystery and glorious dogma of faith. My Divine Son, by His Sacred Passion and Death, overcame sin. By His Resurrection He conquered death. By His Ascension He sealed His promise of life everlasting at the end of all time.

      O! My little ones. The world has been deceived by the evil one who has infiltrated into my Son's True Church. Therefore, I ask you again for deep prayer, prayer from the heart, because by this prayer you shall be filled with the Holy Spirit and you shall have courage to stand firm in your True Faith. I solemnly tell you the full battle is already in progress. The Light of Truth dims every minute, by the seductive breath of the evil one whose words speak to man's fallible logic, but do not come from the heart where God abides.

      My little ones, how faith has been scattered like dry autumn leaves. How shallow is hope, because it is placed only upon the tangible, natural world. You, my little ones, were created for life everlasting with God in Heaven. Therefore, lift up your eyes as my Divine Son ascends, and keep your eyes fixed upon Him. For the line has been drawn. You must be for God, and give Him your all lest you perish in the spiritual darkness.

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

      Beloved Hidden Flower, say to all of my children: God loves you with the greatest, most tender of all loves. It is the Perfect Love. But so many of my children do not recognize this Love because they do not wish to know God.

      The Father gives Himself to each soul, for He alone is the Creator of the soul, the very breath of God. How swiftly you suffocate this breath by your actions which constantly attach you to earthly possessions.

      Little children, when I ask you to pray with and from the heart, I am inviting you to receive fully my Spouse, the Holy Spirit. You must pray that the Holy Spirit - that Perfect Love - come and take full possession of your soul. You, likewise, must desire to be possessed by the Holy Spirit.

      In these coming days after Pentecost as your world sinks deeper into spiritual darkness and the light of Truth fades, call out with all your heart to the Holy Spirit. Let your call, your very being, be humble. Let holy obedience be the wings upon which your call rises to God.

      Little children, without the Holy Spirit you cannot know God. It is the sublime gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit which free the soul from the bond to the created body, and infuses Divine Knowledge into the soul's intellect.

      Therefore, I solemnly tell you that in these end times, God's Love is being poured out over all the world as a torrent of sublime graces. How I weep because so few even desire to receive these graces. Far, far too many of my children cast down their eyes and accept only that which their created senses can grasp.

      If you would understand my words you must lift up your heart by an act of your will. You must seek with the eyes of your soul that which the mortal eye cannot behold. Then, little children, God shall enlighten you. In an instant He shall fill you with Divine Knowledge and Wisdom. But you do not value such gifts. You scoff at them. Your knowledge of God is only a shadow riding on the surface of your soul, which is thirsting for the Truth.

      Recall the life of the Holy Family. Recall the lives of the saints which the Almighty has given you as an example. Then return, my children, to all the virtues, and accord to God the highest place, the first place in your life. Then the reverence, respect, adoration and worship you give to God will show forth in every action!

      O! Do not be led astray by the seduction of the evil one who would lessen your reverence and lift you up as if you were God. This is the great heresy, the great apostasy. It has entered my Divine Son's Church. It has set in motion every innovation to make God common; therefore that which is common is afforded little respect.

      Please heed my words for my time to be with you draws to a close. Call upon the Holy Spirit and grow swiftly in the way of holiness. If you wish to persevere, then you must be holy. If you are holy, then you shall be a humble child before the Almighty Who will lift you up Himself.

      Ponder my words well. Meditate upon them. Hurry quickly, for each day that passes, the great heresy grows broader. Do not be caught up in its insidious lies. For God will soon send His Justice to purify all the earth. Come beneath the Refuge of my Immaculate Mantle by means of prayer.

      I call you. I wait for you. I am your mother, the Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, the Queen of Peace. I love and bless you. I give to you my Divine Son's Peace. Pray! Pray! Pray!

      Today, besides being the First Wednesday in Ordinary Time, is also the feast of Saint Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. Tomorrow is the First Thursday of Ordinary Time. For the readings, liturgies, meditations and vignette on St. Hilary, click on LITURGY FOR THE DAY.

Wednesday January 13:
First Wednesday in Ordinary Time and
Feast of Saint Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Green vestments or White vestments

First Reading: Hebrews 2: 14-18
Psalms: Psalm 105: 1-4, 6-9
Gospel Reading: Mark 1: 29-39

      Born in 315 in Poitiers, Gaul, Saint Hilary was a bishop who lived in the 4th Century in Aquitaine which is today Southwest France. Though he was raised a pagan, life's journey brought him to Christianity at middle age through reading Sacred Scripture. In 353 he became the bishop of his home town of Poitiers and fought hard to support the orthodox cause against the growing threat of Arianism prevalent among his peer bishops. The majority of Arian bishops succeeded in getting him expelled to Phrygia where he spent time in exile. He dedicated his life to stopping this Arian menace within the Church, becoming a thorn in the side to all heretics as he preached love, not hate for those ignorant of the true teachings of Holy Mother Church. For his dedication and contributions, he was called the "Athanasius of the West." While in exile he wrote his most famous treatises De Trinitate, De synodis, and Opus historicum. Finally, after a long battle against Arianism, he returned to the place of his birth Poitiers where he later died in 368 in total peace. We can learn from St. Hilary in that though we are soldiers for Christ, we also need to show compassion and love while never compromising our faith. Pope Pius IX declared St. Hilary a Doctor of the Church on January 13, 1851.

Thursday January 14:
First Thursday in Ordinary Time

Green vestments

First Reading: Hebrews 3: 7-14
Psalms: Psalm 95: 6-11
Gospel Reading: Mark 1: 40-45

      Today's Prayer is taken from the Opening Prayer for the Mass honoring Saint Hilary:

All-powerful God, as St. Hilary defended the divinity of Christ Your Son, give us a deeper understanding of this mystery and help us to profess it in all truth.

    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 13, 1999 volume 10, no. 8   DAILY CATHOLIC