Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

We believe that God can touch our lives, transform our hearts and change us from sinners to saints, right what is wrong, enlighten our understanding, enlarge our hearts and strengthen our wills. And, yet, from week to week, we see no progress in our spiritual lives and we feel frustrated. Our Confessions are an endless repetition of the same sins. Spiritual advancement seems quite impossible and we feel discouraged, desolate and near despair. We must long and ask for the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. They were given to us at Baptism and strengthened and renewed through the Sacrament of Confirmation. They are already ours! There is nothing lacking to us. We must desire and pray that they will be alive in our hearts.

The Gift of Wisdom enlightens our minds to know God, to be aware of Him and to live in His presence. The Gift of Understanding comes to help us perceive His plan for us. The Gift of Counsel is given to us to know the right thing to do and have the courage to do it. The Gift of Fortitude gives us the courage to forge ahead and to rely upon the strength of God. The Gift of Knowledge gives us the grace to distinguish good from evil, to discern what is Good, True and Beautiful! The Gift of Fear is really not a fear of God but a fear of losing Him. Through ingratitude, presumption and pride, I might lose Him. I know God will never cease to love me but I know, too, that I have the ability to walk away from God! The Fruits of the Holy Ghost in our lives are a sign that we possess His Gifts.

How little we understand the Fruit of Benignity, this marvelous Fruit of the giving of self! So many of us are wrapped up in selfishness. Our hearts become narrow and close out those around us. Sin is rooted in selfishness. Happiness is found in giving. Do I perceive the needs of others? Have I a forgetfulness of self? Am I able to put my own needs aside and respond generously to others? Or, am I focused on my needs, my wants, my pleasure, my plans, my time and my body? Let us beg God to make us aware of the needs of others and generously give of ourselves to help them. What joy, what consolation, what strength will then be given to us!

O Holy Spirit, Sweet Guest of my Soul, abide in me and grant that I may ever abide in Thee!

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

PATTI MELVIN, Director ULRA

Our heartfelt gratitude for the wire you sent for the postage as this will greatly help in our mailings. Thank you also for the FOREX box which arrived on December 28. I am sorry that I was not able to respond to you right away because we were busy cleaning our house on the farm, the surrounding cottages and our family chapel. All were badly damaged. It is two months since the super Typhoon Yolanda hit us but it is only recently that we were able to clean the surroundings and damaged areas. We do not know how we will be able to have our house on the farm and our family chapel repaired because we are financially hard up now. Before, we relied on our coconut trees for our income but, because of the super typhoon, only a few coconut trees are left. If ever we will have money in the future, we will have our chapel rebuilt first, because is God’s house and a Mass is held there every month.

I am confident that prayers will work this miracle. Hence, we are asking for your prayers through the powerful intercession of St. Philomena and the Immaculate Heart of Mary that we would be able to find generous donors who will help us in re-building and repairing our chapel which is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Attached here are photos of our properties that were badly damaged. In spite of all the damages, we are grateful to God for protecting us and giving us another chance to be of service to Him. I know that God has a reason why all these things had happened, perhaps to test us and make our faith grow stronger. We are fortunate that our residential house was untouched and our lives were spared. Our prayers saved us. Our house was blessed and enthroned to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Blessed objects were hung inside and outside our house, like the Miraculous Medal, Benedictine Cross, Brown Scapular and the Rosary. During the typhoon, our family prayed the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and also the prayer of blessings against the storm. The typhoon lasted for almost five hours and the winds were very strong and its sound was like a chain-saw. When the super typhoon came, there was a storm surge in Bantayan but we were lucky that it was a low tide. If it were a high tide, when the typhoon came, many people would have died in our place, just like in Leyte. The Immaculate Heart of Mary protected us. Every Saturday, we had a Dawn Rosary and procession around the town in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. Furthermore, we faithfully pray our Decade in the Living Rosary daily. The statues of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart of Mary Shrine on our farm still remains even through the nearby houses and structures were destroyed. What a miracle!

We have already written and sent Sacramentals to promoters in Leyte and other places that were greatly affected. So far, only three promoters have responded and they said they were safe. While one of the letters was returned to us, others have not yet responded. Perhaps, they have evacuated to another place and some must have died in this tragedy or the post office was destroyed. We are praying and hoping that they will respond and be able to cope. When the storm came to Bantayan Island, about 95% of the homes were roofless. Now, two months later, our neighboring houses are not able to recover yet. They just placed tarp on their roofs but, when it rains, they will get wet. How I pity them and wish I could help them! Since we are also affected, the only thing we can do is to help them spiritually through our prayers.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary bless and protect you always! Love and prayers,

Teresita
PHILIPPINES

Our Divine Master tells us, “Whoever shall humble himself… is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven.” ( St. Matthew, XVIII: 4 )

No one can make us humble. We possess the material for humility within ourselves. Many persons afford us the means and the opportunity to become humble, and they are our greatest benefactors.

Love and Humility are synonymous. Were it not for the Love of our dear Lord, not one of us would strive to acquire humility. No one would silently bear the cutting or unpleasant remarks of others if he were not totally in love with the Humiliated Christ! Were our eyes not fixed upon the Divine Victim of the Cross, which one of us would suffer patiently and, even cheerfully, the tidal waves of sorrow that sweep over our frail souls, making them much like wind-driven craft on the sea of life?

Accept humiliations before they lose their freshness. Kiss the Cross immediately, before repugnance has set its seal upon thy countenance. These are God’s own personal touches upon our souls. He pleads with us to purchase from Him this fire-tried gold that we may be made rich, and may be clothed in white garments. (Apocalypse, III: 18). We must pay for this gold by our sufferings and our humiliations. Humility and obedience are inseparable. We have bound ourselves to Christ. We have sworn our allegiance to Him and, to Him, we owe our obedience. Therefore, we should spend our days awaiting His orders – for our interest is His Will and our glory is His service. But, only to the truly humble will this obedience be easy, for this obedience is the exchanging of our self for the loveliness of the Master, the Divine Guest of our souls.