Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

We have received your wonderfully generous donation in the post. This gift from your heart is a great help for us in doing the world-wide missionary work in which we are engaged. These times are very difficult and this work is vital to families, Nations and Holy Mother the Church. It is a beautiful act of reparation to the Heart of Christ and Our Blessed Mother. May God reward you abundantly both in time and throughout eternity!

Ven. Pauline Jaricot’s life and work was, above all else, to help by every possible means in the salvation of souls. Her home of Lorette became a bustling center where all, who needed to come in contact with a devoted heart and a firm and tender hand, were sure to find a friend. Her hospitality was nobly and generously exercised. She embraced every kind of work and ministered to every need.

The essence of her rule of life was to sacrifice every private devotion and every occupation, all her personal interests, for the good and consolation of others and to be always the humble servant of the servants of God. Pauline’s charity was boundless. Letters from all parts of the world gave witness to her charity. Her purse was at the service of all who were in need. The treasures of her soul were equally lavished on anyone in danger or in sorrow. Both the rich and the poor came to her in their trials to unburden their hearts. Pauline listened to them with the full attention, which expresses more eloquently than words real sympathy and interest in another’s misfortune. Her own work was then done during the hours meant for sleep and rest.

Pauline did all in her power to render those around her happy for this leads to prosperity and draws down upon us the blessings of God. The sanctification of the Priesthood was one of her constant thoughts and the subject of her most earnest prayers. Pauline united the two most powerful weapons with which to conquer the Heart of God and that of man: unlimited self-sacrifice and ardent charity. She wished to love without measure, without end!

Our beloved Pauline, a great prodigy of heroic charity, suffered betrayal and underwent a slow torture of calumny, humiliation, ingratitude and the loss of every human consolation. She knows what you suffer; she feels your pain. Go to Pauline, open your heart and have great confidence in her power to help you!

PATTI MELVIN, Director ULRA

Let us pray for one another!

INFINITE LOVE OF THE DIVINE EUCHARIST (continued)

THE EUCHARIST

It is you, priests of the Most High, who are the means by which the graces and the merits of the Blood of Jesus Christ are poured into our hearts. Your priesthood is the river of milk and honey which waters the plains of Zion. If your ministry is to us, so sweet and so precious, could it become bitter and sterile for you? The bee collects the nectar of the flowers for us as delicious nourishment and, by its labor, is the first to profit from the fruits of its activity. He finds safety in his hive from the ravages of the seasons.

O, my priests, do take notice of this comparison! You will find in the Garden of Olives, in the Praetorium, on Calvary and in all the Savior’s Passion, the purest fruits of Infinite Love. Begin, then, by satiating yourself with them before giving them to our souls. How can you not find, in the faith that you preach to us, an invincible army to turn back all the enemies’ attacks? It is in vain that you will seek enlightenment in the counsels of man and science. Who will be able to give you guidance in the troubles which agitate you so often and those which even you cannot explain? Who can animate your zeal when fears come to dishearten your courage and leave you uncertain about the manner in which you are to conduct others to salvation? Who can reassure you, when you almost regret your first steps in the sanctuary due to the present corruption of our century, the poor fruit of your words and your own battle to persevere? Who will you consult in all the sorrows attached to your ministry, if not Jesus Himself whom you have the happiness of approaching so familiarly? Jesus, your Master and celestial Friend, wishes to remain honored by your confidence, and He complains that you do not confide in Him always and trust Him with all your heart. Where will you find a better Counselor or a more admirable Consoler?

Only He can guide you in the direction of souls and speak, by His Grace, to those whom your voice leaves indifferent. How many times, in response to your prayers, will He not confound the audacity of the corrupters in order to preserve the innocent from the universal contagion! He may use even you to save the people. Ah, do not doubt! If you but realized your power over the Heart of Jesus, your sadness would be changed into joy each day and you would bless your election to the priesthood. The apparent sterility of your labors would yield ample rewards. To enjoy the consolation of Jesus Christ, you must ask Him for it. Already, He has made all the advances. He demands that you respond to them by bringing to Him your heart, your spirit and your vows. He has given everything to you in giving Himself to you. Present yourself to Him at the throne of His Love and He will grant you all things. Emulate Moses! In all your anxieties, go knock at the Tabernacle door!

O Infinite Love, contained in the Divine Eucharist, the ingratitude of men serves Thee as an occasion to better show Thy Love. Just as a fire which is kindled grows by the shower which would seem to extinguish it, the Love of Jesus seems to become more ardent, more impetuous, more ingenious in making sacrifices, the more we become indifferent to It.

While hidden in the secret of Thy Tabernacle, O God of Love, the proud one forsakes Thee. Nothing in Thee flatters his vanity. Thou art a King, accessible to the poor, to the ignorant and even to simple children. To reign in the heart of the proud, is unknown to Thee. The ambitious neglect Thee because they know only worldly grandeur. They would not be content to rest in the hidden place of Thy Heart. This pleasure could not satisfy their love for luxury and ostentation. Scientists neglect Thee. They are keen on brilliant discoveries which can obtain for them admiration and celebrity here below. For the science of salvation, they have little concern. The rich abandon Thee. Their eyes, accustomed to the glitter of gold, silk and precious gems, cannot rest upon a God – poor, annihilated and hidden under the most humble appearances. Warriors desert Thee. Their greed for glory gives them a disdain for the spiritual battle offered them by Thee, the conquest of hidden enemies and triumph over their passions. Thy heavenly Kingdom does not appear to them a glorious enough enterprise. Merchants forsake Thee. Thou desirest them to purchase Heaven by acts of charity and they thirst for gold. Farmers desert Thee. They are more anxious to harvest their fruits than to receive Thy celestial gifts. The idea of laboring for souls within Thy Heart is scorned by them. Young folks neglect Thee. Bound by a thousand secular affections, they have not the courage to break these attachments to bind themselves to Thee. The elderly forsake Thee. Crushed beneath the weight of the chains which tie them to their bad habits, they would rather waste the time left to them by occupying themselves with souvenirs of their dissolute youth than to prepare themselves for eternity which is soon to engulf them.

If I go over all ages and all the levels of society, I find everywhere ingrates who forsake Thee and I cannot stop myself from crying out, “Where then are the elect? Are they only to be found in the adorers of Thy august Sacrament? Ah! There are but few from each walk of life.” It is only Thee, alone, Who thinks of man’s true happiness! Man distances himself from Thee and Thou dost redouble Thy pursuit of man! As our faith weakens, the Church, always directed by the Holy Ghost, exposes Thee more and more to the adoration of the faithful. She multiplies the Benedictions of the Blessed Sacrament, She renders the sanctuaries of our churches more accessible and She seems to strip Herself of every rigor to place the Throne of Thy Mercy within the reach of all who desire it!

SHELTERING THE DIVINE OUTCAST (continued)

LOVEST THOU ME?“Feed My lambs, Feed my sheep.” ( St. John, XXI: 16-17 )

Man is weak. If his spiritual life is neglected, he soon loses his taste for it. Absorbed by material cares, in the end, he finds pleasure in them.

Our inner life must be like a branch filled with sap, of which our works are the flowers. St. Bernard says: “If you are wise, you will be cisterns, not channels.” For the channel lets the water run off without holding a drop, while the cistern, on the contrary, fills itself first and, then, without becoming empty, pours forth its water upon the fields from its over-supply, which is constantly being refilled.

We, as followers of Christ, are like chalices. Filled to the top with the Life of Jesus Christ, the overflow of them thus pours forth upon other souls. Says St. Teresa: “Saintly soul does more real good for souls than a great number of other souls who are more gifted and learned.”

Thus, by the order fixed by God, our intimacy with Him glorifies Him far more than all the good which we may be able to do for a great many souls, at the expense of our own spiritual progress. Our Heavenly Father wishes this harmony to be always present in our zeal for souls.

God supplies His workers in the interior life always with the means of making progress in virtue. “Our union with God,” says St. John of the Cross, “consists in the union of our will with His, and is measured entirely by His Will.” Instead of seeing, by a false idea of spiritual life, the possibility of progress in this union with God as only done in calmness and solitude, St. Teresa judged on the contrary. She judged that union with God dwells in the activities imposed by Him upon our state in life, thus increasing our spirit of sacrifice, our humility, and our devotedness for the Kingdom of God. This helps to increase the intimate union of the soul with her Lord, thus giving life to all of her daily work and leading her ever onward toward sanctity.

Only as the Soul is immersed in God,
Is her service filled with life!

She who is united to God, and allows Him to work freely in her heart, contributes more to the sanctification of the church, and the salvation of souls in one hour, than does another in many years, whatever may be her gifts and talents. Our apostolate will be successful only in the measure that we live that inner life, of which Jesus is the source.

Endurance depends much on silence.
Power escapes with too many words.

Thank you so much for the beautiful metal link Rosaries, prayer cards, wrist cords, prayer cards to St. Philomena and Consecration to St. Philomena cards which we begged for, the beautiful CD on the Life of St. Philomena and Sacrifice Beads of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. We shall send you the consecration photos. You are working hard to see that we all become saints, and that is what we are all called to be. Thank you very much!

Thank you for more copies of booklets on Fr. Mateo’s Rosary Meditation, the Future of the Church and Consecration Cards for the Children of Mary and St. Philomena’s Cards in French, etc. and the novena prayers to Our Lady of Perpetual Help; as I pray this novena, rest assured that all your intentions and those of our benefactors and the whole ULRA will be raised to Our Lady. I sincerely thank you and all those who are working hard to produce these spiritual materials in order to enrich us spiritually. May God bless and reward them for us! We are praying for you all.

I am tempted and already I have fallen into the temptation of begging for more St. Philomena cord prayer cards and the beautiful small prayer card of St. Philomena for the Youths, and the Exorcism prayer against Satan; it will be good for more people to pray this prayer against Satan. We are united in prayers for Ukraine too!

Dearest Patti Melvin, the Lord is good all the time! Please, kindly join me in thanking God for His faithfulness and goodness to me. Sometime in September 2014, I shall be celebrating my silver jubilee in Religious life. My Congregation has granted me an opportunity to go to Rome, Assisi and Brixen for pilgrimage in July. I wish I could reach Mugnano to visit the shrine of St. Philomena. Rest assured that as I visit all those shrines, your intentions, those of our benefactors and the whole ULRA will be presented to the Lord.

With lots of love and gratitude! Happy Feast of St. Joseph in advance! God bless!

Sr. Mary Florence Angwe
St. Joseph’s Convent
Shisong
Cameroon
West Africa

My sister, Emily, and I have been members of the Living Rosary Association since 1996 and we have always known St. Philomena to be very powerful. We have never suffered from any illnesses. I had not been to the doctors for about 6 years when I started to feel ill and suffer from tummy aches. I thought it was food allergies so spent ages cutting out different food groups. Then, I became really weak and tired, and generally more unwell and eventually went to the doctors. That day, they rushed me in to hospital because my blood count was 4 (I only had a third of my blood) which usually, if I was older, I would not have survived. I had a blood transfusion for the iron-deficient anaemia in July 2013 and thought that would solve all my problems. Two weeks later, however, I went back in because I could not breathe properly and they thought it might be a blood clot on my lung. They told me I had pneumonia and kept me in overnight. In the morning, there was a doctor who did not want to let me go without further investigation so he did a CT scan and they found multiple blood clots on my lungs. I was 10 days in hospital – never having had anything to do with hospitals before – and was seriously ill not able to breathe. We prayed to St. Philomena for my health to improve and everything to be sorted out. The doctors wanted to do a colonoscopy, I had had an endoscopy because I was convinced my problems were to do with wheat and gluten intolerance (coeliac disease) which causes tummy aches and is linked to anaemia too. The endoscopy said I was okay but suggested I have a colonoscopy and barium meal. The barium meal showed a slight narrowing where the large intestine meets the small. They sent me home to recover a bit and come back for a colonoscopy which I did.

When I had the colonoscopy in September 2013, they came across a large bowel tumour which
they believed was responsible for all my problems. The doctor said it had been growing for about three years! I had to have a CT scan to check my liver and lungs, and we prayed so hard to Saint
Philomena for a clear scan – after 3 years of a tumour growing and bowel tumours can spread to the liver and lungs, it seemed impossible it would not have gone further. Incredibly, our prayers were answered and the scan was clear!

Then, I had to have major surgery to remove the tumour and, unfortunately, it had to be done quickly. They could not wait 6 months for my lungs to clear up. So I had to have an operation while taking blood thinners for the blood clots in my lungs (risk of bleeding). The operation had a high mortality risk. All this was completely new to us and I was reading about St. Philomena and how a man had prayed for a friend who was having an operation and he asked St. Philomena that the doctors would come up to him at the end and say that the operation was a great success or uneventful or a certain word so that he would know she would have interceded for him. In the story after the operation, the doctor came up to him and said the exact word he had asked him to say and everything was well with his friend.

I prayed to St. Philomena and we used her oil. We asked that my operation would be absolutely simple, straightforward with no complications. I went in and when the doctor came round afterwards the first thing he said was, “It was totally straightforward, uneventful.” It was incredible!

Next, they had to study the tumour to see if it had gone into the lymph nodes. It seemed near impossible that it had not, as the tumour was so big it had almost blocked my bowel. After a few weeks, we went for my results and although it was a T4 tumour (the biggest), the nodes were completely clear – ranking a zero! Even the doctors were scratching their heads and wondering whether to give me chemotherapy ‘just in case’ but the answer to the question whether to give chemotherapy or not; no if the lymph nodes are clear. But as I was so young (32), they decided to do a new microsatellite test on the tumour to see on the microscopic level if they should give me ‘just in case’ chemotherapy. This test, after much prayer, also came back with really good news – no chemotherapy needed – a favourable prognosis.

All my friends who had been praying are amazed and pleased at how well my recovery has gone, and how things seemed to turn around. On the day of my operation, when we were told the op was straightforward and uneventful like we had asked St. Philomena, dad was driving home and saw on the bus stop “Philomena” written. It was really spooky and incredible. So, it’s been five months since my operation and I am running about with endless energy feeling totally well! All that remains are regular checkups via CT scans and I will continue to pray to Saint Philomena, Wonder-Worker, that all will continue to be well.

I am sorry about the length of this email but I wanted to tell you the whole story and how St. Philomena helped me and achieved everything I asked for every step of the way. She really is amazing! God bless you!

Bernadette
United Kindgdom