Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

Faith is a soothing balm to our wounds: Faith in God! We must really believe and, if we do, our fears will be healed. Faith gives us courage even during the gravest hardships. Fear is not of God. It is completely out of place in a Christian’s life. Neither is worry, because worry is the fear we feel when we are trying to trust God, but we doubt that He cares enough about us to make a difference. We doubt that He sees our sufferings or hears our prayers.

Trusting God will heal our anxiety and we will have hope. Hope produces courage. Our courage may sag when we get distracted by trials and hardships, and focus on our weakness and inability to cope. Courage grows when we remember to gaze upon the Loveliness of God and meditate on His awesome Power, Promises and Love.

Like the Magi, we must keep our eyes focused on the brilliant star that led them across deserts, through great dangers and months of isolated travel in foreign lands, until finally they reached the humble cave of Bethlehem where the Christ Child and His Holy Mother awaited them.

Let us place our trust in HIM!

I remain, one with you in the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

PATTI MELVIN, Director ULRA

PATHWAYS TO PEACE

FAITH – The First Pathway

If we lived by faith, we should also live in peace. Faith teaches that God loves us, each one, in a personal way, individually: He knows my name; He has my image graven in His Heart. Moreover, I can be sure that His Heart is ALL MINE, because Our Lord does not love as we do, by half measures. When He loves, He loves with His whole Heart, He loves in an infinite manner. At times, with a mixture of love and ignorance, we may say: “I wish that Our Lord would love me more.” But, is that possible? He cannot love you more than He loves you now – infinitely more than we could ever dream or imagine. Some will say: “God loves me too much, I don’t deserve His Love.” It is an excess! Infinite love must ever be so. How difficult it is for souls to be convinced that God loves them! If they would but be convinced how many inquietudes would be calmed! His Love for us is not sterile; on the contrary, it is a Love that is active, provident, watchful and solicitous; it is a Love that never for a moment forgets us, that protects us without ceasing, disposing minutely every detail, every happening of our life, from the most important to the smallest and most insignificant detail. I do not exaggerate – Jesus Himself affirmed it: “Not a single hair of your head shall fall without the Will of your Father.“ (Matt. 10:29). There is not a moment of our life in which Our Lord withdraws His Eyes from us, not an instant in our life in which His Hand does not guide us, in which His power does not overshadow or His Love envelop us! If a child knows that it is in the arms of its mother who loves, cares for and protects – why would it fear? Why, then, the strange phenomenon, the inexplicable illusion that we, Christians, knowing as we do that God bears us in His Arms and envelops us with His Divine tenderness, should lose heart!

With earthly eyes, we focus on ourselves – our troubles, our infidelities, our ill health, our poverty, our sorrows and future insecurity: SELF – past, present and future! Can it be possible that one of these events is foreign to the Will of God and Providence? Was Our Lord distracted when He determined such a thing should happen to us? Did His Love suffer an eclipse? NO! A THOUSAND TIMES, NO! There is not one event in our lives unknown to God. Our entire life is governed by Him. When we are disturbed with what has happened, is it because we are unwilling to accept it and to resign ourselves to His Divine Will? We forget that we are not alone. We forget that we are borne in Divine Arms and that those Arms not only protect us in all that may happen, but that they are the very Arms that manage the whole world. It is so strange that Christians should be filled with disquietude. Above all, we should believe in the consoling dogma of the Love of God and of His solicitous and constant Providence. We should need nothing more. If I become ill, if I am persecuted, if my children turn to hate me, if I die … these are incidents without importance! At their depth, all these things shall contribute to consolidate my peace and to augment my happiness while I continue to rest tranquilly in the Arms and in the Heart of Jesus. An active, living faith, in the consoling and most sweet dogma of the Love Our Lord has for us, is one of the straight and sure paths for arriving at peace. Does the Love of God and His Providence REALLY influence ALL the details of our lives?

Is not sin and the persecution of the Church contrary to the Love of God? Is it possible that one can sin in the Arms and in the Heart of God? Persecutions from without and struggles from within, dangers and temptations, our defects and our very falls: Everything works together for the good of those who love God! If this is true, then, absolutely nothing should disturb me. If I am persecuted, blessed be God! It will shake off my lukewarmness. If I am ill, blessed be God! This infirmity will sanctify me. If I am cured, blessed be God! My health shall be a means of doing good. From this, it follows that to know what the future will bring is very secondary; for I already know beforehand that whatever its nature, all events to come will lead me to God. To be allowed to choose the means of our going to Heaven would be the worst thing that could happen to us. We would choose desolation when we need consolation and consolation when desolation would be more salutary; we would choose work when it would be better that we rest, and rest when it is necessary to labor. We are too short-sighted to know ourselves and God’s designs, and the way of perfection. St. Paul tells us that we do not even know the simplest thing we should ask and that is why the Holy Spirit asks for us with unspeakable groanings. God sends us, at every step, what is for our best. It may not be to our liking but, if it sanctifies us, what does it matter! If it is sent by God, He sent it for a purpose; He loves us more than we love ourselves; He loves us more than anyone else loves us and He is solicitous for our good. If we could but comprehend these truths, what could make us lose our peace? I may suffer and weep but, in the depths of my heart, I will not lose my peace.

History clearly shows us that God draws good from evil. The tyranny of the Caesars during the first three centuries of the Church gave rise to innumerable multitude of martyrs in whom we glory. The heresies following these persecutions gave occasion for the Fathers and Doctors to explain doctrine and confirm dogma. Invariably, God always draws good from evil. Our faults and sins humble us and make us realize our own nothingness. Unfortunate, indeed, would be our soul if it had no misery, for it would be in imminent danger of falling from grace.

Whatever may be our faults and our wanderings, we have no right to lose either our hope or our peace. We are Christians and, as Christians, we have received the Seal of Jesus Christ: the PEACE that the world cannot give and still less take away. Oh, if we but understood! If we but knew how much God loves us and watches over us, all fear would vanish from our souls and, on the wings of hope, we would rise above the miseries of life and the Kingdom of God would be established in our souls.

Faith is walking to the Edge of all you have …
and taking One more Step!

What better way to begin the New Year, then, by counting the blessings of the year gone by: big or little, no matter how insignificant they might have seemed? Every time, we thank God for a blessing, it is the leaven of our lives. Doing this, keeps us whole and aware of the Kingdom of God truly within us. God is always in control, always acting for our greatest good.

A grateful person is a happy person. The key to a constant flow of grace is a constant flow of gratitude. Acts of gratitude will erase darkness from our mind, heart, body and soul, and fill our whole being with light. Gratitude is a source of energy; give thanks in all circumstances, in joy and in pain. Thankfulness is a builder and a healer! It is a lifter and life-giver, a fortifier and comforter! When praise is used, unexpected good happens in every corner of our lives. Look up to Heaven, look above your problems and thank God for His goodness and His Love.

May our life be a Hymn of Praise to God, not in WORDS but by WORKS!

PATTI MELVIN, Director ULRA
Let us pray for one another!

PREFACE

Over the Great Road of Life, the Divine Outcast of the world wanders day and night. Before each heart-door, He begs for admittance. Watch Him as He walks up the lane and taps, with infinite tenderness, on the crimson casements of the throbbing pulses of the world. Before some, He stands and waits; moss-covered are the steps, and moldy is the casement. There is no life within; no response to the loving pleadings of the Outcast. He turns sadly away. Through lordly mansion-gates He passes and, on the marble steps before the heavy oaken door, He stands expectant. Music and song and laughter reach the Outcast’s ear. He knocks, but no one hears. And so, heart-sore and weary, He moves away. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!”

Thus, along the Road of Life, the eager, but thwarted, Outcast makes His way and, with love and fear commingled, taps on the hearts of His chosen ones. If He is graciously received, He will enter and sup with them, and their hearts will be transformed into Living Temples wherein will dwell the Source of Goodness and of Love. Here, He will reveal to each soul, in intimate converse, a deeper and more practical understanding of this truth: “GOD IS THE DIVINE GUEST OF MY SOUL!”

“If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (St. John. XIV: 23)

This, Our Lord’s own promise, leaves us without a doubt that not only His Gift of Grace, but His very Godhead dwells within us.

“Courage, then, O Soul most beautiful, thou knowest now that the Beloved Whom thou desirest, dwelleth within thy breast! Strive, therefore, to be truly hidden with Him and, then, thou shalt embrace Him, and be conscious of His Presence with loving affection!” (Spiritual Canticle)

Would that we could realize this!
How intimately we would live with Our Guest Divine!

“Although I knew,” said St. Teresa of Avila, “that I possessed a soul, yet I did not appreciate its value or remember Who dwelt within it, because I had blinded my own eyes with the vanities of this life. I think, had I understood, then, as I do now – that so great a King resided in the little palace of my soul – I should not have left Him alone so often, but should have stayed with Him sometimes, and not have kept His dwelling place in such disorder.

You might think that, when necessary occupations drag you away from the interior retreat of your heart, you are guilty of a great breach of recollection. You are mistaken! Provided that afterwards you faithfully return to it, the Divine Master will make everything contribute to the benefit of your soul. Open, therefore, the eyes of your soul and you will find Heaven!”

“It is true,” says St. John Chrysostom, “that in Heaven, God gives His care to His Angels and Saints, and to the grand designs of His wisdom and sanctity but, in YOUR home, within the sanctuary of YOUR soul, alone with Him, His providence and love are intent upon what concerns you and you alone, waiting to be loved by you, to induce you to tell Him all your troubles, all your family cares, all about your daily work, and all about your inner life. Speak to Him freely and with love! Let Him hear from you all you know about yourself!

Acknowledge your faults to Him as soon as you have committed them – ‘My God, I have just spoken unwisely,’ or, ‘I have just acted imprudently.’ You must imitate the little child, who after an act of disobedience, instead of running away from his father, goes, as soon as he has committed the fault, and throws himself into his loving arms to implore forgiveness.”

When you act thus towards Jesus, Saint ‘Little Thérèse’ assures us, “the fault, thus thrown with filial confidence into the furnace of love, is immediately consumed forever.” In everything, look at Jesus face to face. Let yourself be borne along by that love which longs to give more and more. Introduce into your life both sacrifice and duty. You will often have to go against yourself, forget your fatigue, and set self aside. No good is ever done without some sort of self-immolation.

The efficacy of love is the foundation of the ‘Little Way of Spiritual Childhood.’ His Holiness, Benedict XV, expressly recognized that Saint ‘Little Thérèse’ had received a definite mission from Heaven. He pointed out, emphatically, that this child of grace came from God to teach her ‘Little Way’ of Spiritual Childhood to all without distinction – to the humble, as well as to the learned who, perhaps, need it even more. Therein lies the ‘secret of sanctity’ for every soul. It is, moreover, the formal opinion of Pope Pius XI that ‘Spiritual Childhood’ is, without giving to anyone the assurance of reaching the heights to which God has led Thérèse, a way which is truly possible, and easy for all.

A few days before she died, Saint ‘Little Thérèse’ said, ‘I want to give my little way to souls. I want to make known to them the simple means that have so perfectly succeeded for me. I want to tell them that there is only one thing to do here below, and that is to cast down before Jesus the flowers of little sacrifices and to win Him by caresses. That is how I have won Him, and that is why I shall be so well received.’

On New Year’s Day, we begin our pilgrimage into the unknown. Political unrest and war surround us, and greatly affect our business and family lives. There is much fear in our hearts as we speculate what this year might hold for us and for our families. In times of political upheaval, war, famine and pestilence follow suit. People become selfish, lovers of money, boastful, conceited, gossips, impatient, angry, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful and unholy. They are unable to love and unable to forgive; they become slanderers, without self-control, cruel, enemies of good, traitors, shameless, full of pride, more in love with pleasure than with God.

Our great progress in science, theater, education and technology, has turned against us, and enslaved us. We have lost touch with our children, our traditions, and our roots. At every level, there is division and dissent. How is it possible to restore what we have lost? We must persevere. We must never quit. So long as we are able to pray, suffer, sacrifice and love, we must not quit. Depression and discouragement are the chief tools Satan will use to ravage our souls. We have no idea of the good we do by our Rosary Decade, our gifts to the missions, and our desire to save souls. The Sacred Masses we have offered, our prayers, spiritual gifts and sacrifices all produce marvelous affects in the many souls who receive them.

We must be aware at all times that WE ARE AT WAR! The colossal battle at hand is a spiritual one and only spiritual weapons will obtain the victory. God has provided for these times. Our Blessed Mother told Sister Lucia of Fatima that God wished to establish in the world devotion to Her Immaculate Heart. She also asked for the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary every day and promised that the dogmas of the Faith would be preserved through these means. Almighty God, with full knowledge of the apostasy to come and realizing that millions of the faithful would lose sight of the Church, provided us with a sure way of preserving the Church through Mary and of remaining within Her bosom during this terrible time of turmoil and betrayal. There is a mysterious identity between Mary and the Church, so that we could say, paraphrasing Jesus’ words to the apostle Philip, “He who sees Mary, sees the Church.”

St. Cyril of Alexandria spoke these words at the close of the Council of Ephesus in 431:

“And so, brethren, may it be granted to us to adore with deep humility the indivisible Trinity. And then let us praise with songs the joy of Mary ever virgin, who Herself is clearly the holy Church, together with Her Son and Her most chaste Spouse. To God be praise for ever.”

St. John Eudes wrote: Mary’s pure Heart is truly a heaven of which the sky over our heads is a mere shadow and image. It is a heaven exalted above all others, of which the Holy Ghost speaks when He says that the Savior of the world, when He came on earth to redeem mankind, went out from a heaven surpassing all others in excellence. The heavens are the work of God’s Hands, but the Heart of the Mother of God is the unequalled masterpiece of His Omnipotence, His unfathomable Wisdom and His infinite Goodness.

The admirable Heart of Mary is the Heaven of Heaven, because it contains the entire Church, which is called in Sacred Scripture the Kingdom of Heaven and because all the children of the Church receive through Mary the life of grace. Those who have true devotion to Mary will never lose the faith! The Church says on the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, “Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; for you alone have destroyed all heresies in the world.”

It is for this reason that the devil hates and fears Mary more than all others. His plan to destroy the Church is foiled by this humble and immaculate Virgin. The weapons of excellence in this battle are the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Her Holy Rosary. In the end, “LOVE ALONE MATTERS!”

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

If we love with a divine passion, with blind and boundless trust, we will be saints. If we truly wish to be a saint, we can be one, and a great one! All is great where love is great. Does God lock the tabernacle door to those who offend Him, to those who have pierced His Heart again and again? NO! He loves them and comes to them as if they were saints. Jesus is wholly ours. During the New Year, let us surrender ourselves entirely to Him. If we are completely abandoned into His Arms and His Sacred Heart, we will have everlasting peace.

You will be remembered in our every prayer during the New Year.

I remain, one with you in the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

PATTI MELVIN, Director ULRA
Let us pray for one another!

HOPE: The Second Pathway to Peace

Our weakness and want of confidence make distrust a natural thing for us. Hope is a divine virtue and a forgotten virtue! Hope vanishes when there is discouragement – the greatest and most frequent temptation in the spiritual life. Hope is the inseparable companion of pain; it establishes and fixes the soul in peace. We may look forward with confidence to the ultimate attainment of divine union and eternal happiness, for we have God’s Promise and HIS PROMISES ARE REALITIES. My faith must be as strong as if I already possessed it, for I embrace it with the immense arms of hope. I will not waiver; I know I shall arrive at my aspirations because to reach it, I rely not on my own strength but UPON GOD’S PROMISES, upon His almighty Power and bounty. There is only one condition – A GOOD WILL! Will it, long for it, labor and pray for it. Hope gives us not only the security of beatitude, but also the certainty of the graces necessary for sanctification. God’s Grace will never fail me, because God is faithful and He has promised to give me all that I need to attain the sanctification of my soul. A firm Hope dispels all discouragement.

CHARITY – The Third Pathway to Peace

There remains yet another path to the heights of Peace, the highest, the most excellent and the safest: CHARITY! Perfect love casts out fear! If we pray, we will believe; if we believe, we will love; if we love, we will serve. Love is something which no person or thing can take from us. The powers of earth and hell are able to despoil us of everything else, but never the Love of God which is in Jesus Christ. Intense love does not measure, it just gives. And so, filled with the Love of Christ, we will ourselves be a vessel and outpouring of that Love upon the earth.

FAITH – HOPE – CHARITY

These three virtues impart Peace for, by them, we come into intimate contact with God, Who Himself is our Peace. Inseparably bound to Him by the ties of confidence and love, we will pass tranquilly through the arid wastes of this desert, with eyes and heart fixed on that sweet region where peace is converted into never-ending happiness. With Faith, Hope and Charity in our soul, we shall be able to endure all trials, saying with the audacious boldness of the Apostle Paul, “I can do all things in Him Who strengthens me.”

Comforted by the immortal promises of God, carrying in the fragile vessel of our flesh the heavenly treasure of these Divine virtues, we go our way in peace, with the sweet song of Bethlehem echoing in the depths of our soul – an echo of Hope: Glory to God in the highest and, on earth, Peace to Men of Good Will!

Oh, for the Peace of a perfect Trust, my loving Lord, in Thee:
Unwavering faith that never doubts Thou chooseth best for me.
Best, though my plans be all upset; best, though the way be rough:  Best, though my earthly store be scant; in Thee I have enough!

Best, though my health and strength be gone; though weary days be mine, Shut out from much that others have; not my will, Lord, but Thine.  And even though disappointments come, they too are best for me; To wean me from this changing world, and lead me nearer Thee!

Oh, for the Peace of a perfect Trust that looks away from all;
That sees Thy Hand in everything, in great events or small;
That hears Thy voice, a Father’s voice, directing for the best,
Oh, for the Peace of a perfect Trust, a heart with Thee at rest!

In all my doubts, perplexities and temptations, JESUS, HELP ME!

In hours of loneliness, weariness and trials, JESUS, HELP ME!

When I feel impatient, and my cross irritates me, JESUS, HELP ME!

When others fail me, and Thy Grace alone can assist me, JESUS, HELP ME!

When I throw myself on Thy tender Love as a Father and Savior, JESUS, HELP ME!

The Angels, while announcing to the world the unique and incomparable joy of the Birth of Jesus Christ, made two promises – one for Heaven, the other for earth: For Heaven, the Glory of God; for earth, Peace to MEN of GOOD WILL. These two promises embrace and sum up the whole work of Jesus Christ in this world.

PEACE is what Jesus Christ brought from Heaven. It is HIS Gift, the Gift of God; a Gift so beautiful, so profound, so efficacious that we shall never be able to fully comprehend it. If we but realized what peace is! If we but understood all the treasures Our Lord has placed in it! Peace is the resume, the crowning and the synthesis of all graces and all heavenly blessings.

Peace is the Seal of Christ!

The life of the Church is nothing else but the same Canticle of Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, Peace to Men of Good Will.” The Church has done nothing else, nor does it intend to do anything else, nor has it any other mission than to give glory to God and peace to men of good will. It is God’s Peace, a Peace which the world can neither give nor understand. The world falsifies everything: it falsifies happiness into something artificial and grotesque; it falsifies wisdom casting into darkness those who would believe; it falsifies love giving this sacred name to brutal passion and egoism. The world, the child of Satan, the father of lies, is essentially a liar, falsifying everything. But, there is something it cannot falsify: PEACE. The world cannot give peace because it is something DIVINE. The world, today, tries mightily to do away with PEACE by crushing all religion and all belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God: God Himself, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity.

The Peace which Our Blessed Lord gives us is Profound! It is not superficial or purely exterior like the peace that reigns in sepulchres – solitude, emptiness and desolation. God’s Peace touches the depth of our hearts; it is something that pervades us like an exquisite, penetrating perfume – reaching to the very depth of our soul and spirit. It is plentitude, IT IS LIFE! It is indestructible. Nothing and no one can deprive a soul of this gift which it has received from God. Neither the persecutions of tyrants, nor the assaults of the demon, nor all the vicissitudes of earth can trouble a heart in which God has established His Peace. On the eve of His Passion, Our Lord told His Apostles that He would give them His Joy: “and your joy, no man shall take from you.” The very same may be said of God’s Peace. Men may deprive us of everything, but the Peace of Christ can still reign in our hearts despite all miseries, sadness and bitterness of life. The Peace of Christ is full of sweetness and tenderness. It is the mark of a Christian and the Seal of Jesus Christ.

WHY, O WHY, IS PEACE SO TRAGICALLY WANTING IN SOULS, TODAY?

We, Christians, have a right to suffer, to be afflicted, to be persecuted; but we have no right to lose our peace. Where there is God, there is peace and we bear God within our hearts. Neither life nor death, nor the powers of Heaven or those of hell, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, can tear from our hearts this God whom we possess; then, why is not our entire life embalmed with His Peace? Nothing is so necessary as to discover the secret of peace. Peace is not a thing to be sought after with lukewarmness and negligence, but with ardor and with solicitude. We should constantly seek peace. To lose our peace and live in a state of inquietude is a great evil! Affliction, YES! Pain, YES! Desolation, YES! But, inquietude and anxiety, NO! A THOUSAND TIMES, NO! All our inquietudes have their origin in ignorance, selfishness or want of confidence in God.

Good morning to you, Sr. Patti, and team. I greet you all in the Holy Name of Our Almighty God and Creator! It’s been a while now since I wrote to you due to some internet problems. I can’t stop thanking Our Mother Mary and Her beloved daughter St. Philomena, you and the team for everything that we receive from the Centre: all the powerful prayer cards, DVDs, Rosaries, Scapulars, Medals, and posters. I have also received materials from Sr. Margaret Mary Uutoni as you can see in the picture. Since I joined the ULRA group, it’s been such a pleasure for me to share with all my friends and family about the Living Rosary, St. Philomena and Ven. Pauline Jaricot.

This year, so many miracles have happened to me whereby I developed a desire of giving back to Our Heavenly Father, an unforgettable thanks to Our Mother for Her Son’s Mercy and Graces. The Holy Spirit helped me so much to go on a missionary trip. I decided to take my yearly leave of two weeks to visit three Parishes: Holy Trinity Parish in Karasburg, Mater Dolorosa Parish in Aroab and my birth town Most Holy

Name of Jesus Parish, Gibeon in the Southern Africa. I started to prepare the program which I would use at all three Parishes. I made copies of prayers and posters for each Parish, and compiled a prayer book with Novenas, Litanies, Chaplets and some information. After I finished, I contacted our director, Sr. Uutoni who gave me the contact phone number of Bishop Phillip Pollitzer, OMI, from the Keetmanshoop Diocese to present the program. I informed him that I would visit those Parishes since he gave his permission. He was very happy about it. It was a blessed journey down to the South. St. Philomena and our finance lady, Ven. Pauline, took care of my transportation, accommodation and food. The group in Keetmanshoop is already growing. I lost my camera in the photo shop but found it the next day just before my travel to Gibeon, which is my birth place. I was so proud and happy that I could share the Universal Living Rosary Association with the adults and school mates who were attending the talk. The next morning, I had to travel back and stayed in Windhoek. It so happened I could visit my old Primary School principal and his wife. The house assistant called me to visit them because both of them had pain in their legs. I managed to visit them. We prayed together and I applied St. Philomena’s oil on them. While I was there, I received a call to visit a young girl who had knots in both her breasts after giving birth. I gave her some oil and a Rosary, and I told her to pray the Rosary and apply the oil with deep faith and told her that she would be healed if she really believes. After two weeks, I received a call from the girl’s aunty saying that Natasha is healed. I was very happy after my mission. The ULRA group has grown slowly but surely. Fr. Joseph from another small town, Luderitz, in the South, heard that I was there, so he invited me to visit them. I said “YES” with a big smile and happiness, praying that I will save some souls. Thanks to Our Immaculate Heart of Mary! I traveled on 15th November to meet with them on the 17th. We are assured of your prayers and thank you and your team in advance.

Sr. Patti, I will attach some pictures of the places I visit. Therefore, I promise that my missionary trips will carry on till I cover all the parishes in the South. I am looking forward for that big box as I am planning with God’s Grace for the first Annual Conference next year in September.

Thank you and your team for the hard work, patience, love and care to make sure everyone gets something. May God bless you abundantly!

We deeply appreciated it from our hearts. Keep up the good work!

Regards, lots of love and prayers,
Maria Mutota
NAMIBIA

I am really happy that two boxes reached me safe. Rosaries and other religious books are very much appreciated. We launched a mission of making good and quality Scapulars and this has become a reality. Here are our promoters, they sacrifice their food even for the mission. We are reaching out to so many and we are indeed happy. Your toils and sac-rifices are bearing fruits here. May God be blessed every where forever. The names of the promoters sent by you reached me today by post. Among them Msgr. Ruban and Mrs. Muriel have gone to their eternal rest. Please pray for them. Please don’t send any one any sacramental as some freely distribute and others sell, but ULRA doesn’t grow. Please forward their requests and addresses to us we will find out their need and real situation and do the needful.

Many thanks!

May Almighty God bless you + the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Fr. Andrew
SRI LANKA

Dear Apostles of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

With all our hearts, we thank you for your generous support and for your prayers. We realize clearly that the New Year will be a singular challenge and that the great pillar of the Holy Rosary will be our joy, consolation, strength and protection. Let us come humbly to the poor crib of the Divine Infant Jesus and learn from Him those virtues which most draw down upon the world God’s Mercy.

Oh, what a beautiful time of pilgrimage we enter with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, as we journey with them to Bethlehem! Over the hills by day and by night, the sound of rushing trees and flocking birds fills the air. Here, now, we can meditate on our lives seeking to discover ways in which to make room for the Divine Infant King. Possessions beguile our hearts, pamper our bodies and promise us liberty and happiness. Our poor mind is completely occupied with them while lofty thoughts of sacrifice, love and loyalty are smothered. Before us, we face a long stretch of desert. We stand sorely in need of holy joy which can only be obtained through fidelity to grace and faithfulness to the duties of our state in life. Fidelity is the raw material of perseverance, and its importance cannot be exaggerated. Without an interior spirit and supernatural intention, the seed of our words and works is sown upon rocks.

This journey across the hills on foot with the Holy Family will give us true liberty of spirit. May we, too, serve God at the sacrifice of self and with absolute generosity! Let us aspire to have their faith, hope and trust. Is His service our sole work? Is our ruling passion a horror of sin? Are we working towards a devout life? Search out the secret of the Christ Child’s infancy. He has done nothing in half measures. His is unreserved generosity for the glory of the Father and the perishing souls of men.

Sinlessness was not the great prerogative of Our Blessed Mother. Her greatness, from the very first moment of Her Immaculate Conception, was an entire and joyous surrender of Herself to God. This was never retracted for so much as an instant through all Her years of labor, prayer, uncertainty and pain. Mary remained firm and intrepid in Her love and trust in God from His Birth in the stable at Bethlehem to His Death on the Cross at Calvary. May we embrace Him affectionately and thank Him for loving us and giving to us His very own Mother! Let us empty our heart of things and make room for the weary travelers who seek refuge from the cold.

God love you!

One with you in the Heart of Mary,One with you in the Heart of Mary,

PATTI MELVIN, Director ULRA

We are promoting the Marian devotion. So, I am very happy for the Sacramentals that you sent us. I distributed it to all the newly registered members. Here, many Christians are giving witness through the prayer of the Rosary which has miraculous aspects. As you know, Ethiopia is very poor country and many youth are migrating to different parts of the world searching for better life and future. However, many are dying on the way because of hunger, violent attacks, harmful animals and sinking in the quicksand.

Let me tell you one Christian’s witness: When he was migrating abroad with his friends, on the journey, they met with pitbull terriers which came to attack them. At that time, this Christian had the Bible and Rosary in his pocket. He took the Bible out and held the Rosary up and said: “Please Mary, the Mother of God, come soon to help and protect me from these terriers.” He kissed the Rosary and then showed it to the terriers. They left him and attacked the others who were with him. His witness makes many to understand how powerful the Rosary is.

Now again, I send lists of new members enrolled. I await your response for their Sacramentals. May God bless you for your action and effort!!!

Father Adane Woldemariam
Apostolic Vicariate of Hosanna
Danalega Holy Trinity Catholic Church – ETHIOPIA

This picture was taken on the feast of the Assumption on 15th August when we had the First Holy Communion Day in St. Agnes Parish. Fr. Leonard Che is standing directly behind the two girls with pictures in their hands and one of my volunteers, Nelly, is on the extreme right.

I am happy to inform you of the posting of French speaking Rev. Father to our Parish and another to St. Agnes parish (a neighbouring Parish). These two priests will assist the French speaking in other parishes in Kumba. Their presence has increased our congregation as many Francophones have started attending Masses and taking part in other church activities, apostolic groups, etc.

You will now see why I have to ask for double of what I requested in my last letter. Please include French language pamphlets, letters, books, etc. You may have to double the parcel you promised in your last letter – Sacramentals, Decade cards, St. Philomena oil/cord and very large St. Philomena images. You know what we need.

Please don’t forget to extend my special greetings to your little staff, to your mother and those taking care of her in your absence.

OBASI CLETUS
ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA PARISH
KUMBA
CAMEROON

Pauline never identified herself with anyone of her works. Her vocation is not limited. She never intended to simply “get something done” but she placed herself on a totally different plane. Putting her hand in the Hand of God, she reached out beyond self and sacrificed her whole being that all might be animated and illumined by the Divine Light of Christ. Pauline joined the magnificent vision of St. Paul for the Church: “You will represent my Church; therefore, I will unite with you by the same union I have united with the Virgin Mary, your unique Mother and Mother of the Church. While devoted to the salvation of all, you will endure everything that the Church will suffer from the impious, and they will exhaust upon you their hate against Her.”

Pauline’s mission inserts itself in the missionary vocation of Lyon and France. Since the first century, Lyon was the cradle of Christianity in the West. The church of St. Nizier where Pauline spent so many hours in prayer, and vowed herself to God and is buried, is connected to the memory of the first forty-eight martyrs of Lyon and Gaul, executed in 177, among them were St. Pothinus, St. Blandina and St. Irenaeus. Pauline has been chosen by God to keep alive this tradition. France was going to lose forever the price of the blood of her martyrs. God chose Pauline as the vase, which would receive and preserve their precious merits.

Pauline-Marie Jarocot is the glory of Lyon! Pauline is the glory of France! (Cardinal Tomko). This great contemplative is the mother of the missions. She was God’s instrument to give the Church the admirable works, which today procure the extension of His reign to the ends of the earth. By her life, we are reminded that intimacy with Christ is the source of all apostolic fertilization. Her profound interior allowed her to carry her heavy cross with love. Pauline confirmed with joy that the ardors of fire which consumed her, the torments which assaulted her, the serious sickness that overwhelmed her for many years, were to prepare her for the sorrows that would befall her one after the other, almost without interruption, from her 40th year to her death. All were nothing compared to the pleasures and glory given to her as God’s servant. Death by Love for all men ~ Holiness, the Triumph of Love!

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
But the Master gently said, “Child, you must wait.”

“Wait! You say, wait!” my indignant reply.
Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is Your arm shortened or have You not heard?
By faith, I have asked and am claiming Your Word.

My future and all to which I relate hangs in the balance
And You tell me to wait!
I am needing a ‘YES’, a go-ahead sign,
Or even a ‘NO’ to which I will resign.

And Lord, You promised that, if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
Lord, I have been asking … I need a reply!

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”
So I slumped in my chair, grieved in my gut,
And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting for what?”

He seemed then to kneel, and His Eyes met with mine …
And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.”

“All you seek, I could give and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want, but you would not know Me.
You would not know the depth of My Love for each Saint;
You would not know the joy of resting in Me,
When darkness and silence were all you could see.”

“You would never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You would know that I live and I save for a start,
But you would not know the depth or the beat of My Heart.”

“The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith I give you to walk without sight.
The depth beyond getting just what you ask
Of an infinite God Who will make it last.”

“You would never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My Grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,
But, oh the loss! If you lost what I’m doing in you!”

So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though My answers oft may seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still … WAIT!