Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

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!