Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

FR. MATEO ON THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS (continued)

“HE DELIVERED HIMSELF FOR US.”

There is a scriptural passage which vividly describes the unity among the Mysteries of the Incarnation, the Redemption and the Mass: “He delivered Himself.” (Eph. 5:2). Let us consider its doctrinal import.

The Word of God, for the glory of His Father and the redemption of sinful men, delivered Himself up to death, to the death of the Cross and, in addition, to the immolation of the Divine Eucharist throughout the centuries. He is, then, the Victim of love for the expiation of our crimes and transgressions. At the Altar, He is the holocaust of expiation and propitiation, appeasing the wrath of the Father. His Heart vanquishes this wrath and keeps it captive forever.

During Mass, there is a transcendent and peculiarly priestly action the Consecration. When the priest performs this act, he partakes of the Priesthood of Christ, invested as he is with a unique power conferred by the commandment given by Jesus Christ Himself on Holy Thursday.

As He came into the world, Our Lord said, “Father, behold I come to do Thy Will, by dying a cruel and ignominious death.” This is the Innocent One, the Just, the Holy One who is speaking! That we might be less unworthy of celebrating with such a High Priest, and that we might participate more intimately in His Eucharistic Sacrifice, it is necessary that we know how to deny ourselves. It is thus that we adhere in spirit and truth to the Victim of the Cross and altar. We must never forget that it is in this daily dying to ourselves, in this abandonment of our will to the wisdom and love of the Father, that the most genuine and sublime celebration of the Holy Sacrifice consists.

In order truly to communicate with His Body and Blood, one should communicate in His Life and Death. He continually offers Himself. As it is for Him, so it should be for us in celebrating Mass with Him, an unreserved self-surrender. You cannot separate the Victim from the celebrant and keep the integrity of the Mass, for the celebrant must be like Jesus Christ, a victim. Let us not be deceived. Only a love as strong as death gives us a solution of this sublime Mystery. Only the heroes of love know how to die in this way, for they alone know the meaning of self-surrender. They alone, with complete understanding, desire to reproduce in themselves the “He delivered Himself” of Christ, His total surrender on the Altar.

On my recent mission, I had a very tiring journey. The train was late and we reached Faisalabad at 1 a.m. At about 8 a.m., the train stopped at a small station and it was announced that the coach in which I was sitting had caught fire. We had to evacuate and I could hardly pull my bag out. The damaged car was removed and passengers had to find room in other coaches. For the next 38 miles, we had to travel standing. Then, we were given only seats and not the berths we had paid for. From Rohri to Karachi, I had to travel sitting still. It was very hot with bad condition of seats and I developed boils on my back. We reached Karachi at 8:30 p.m. on the 14th.

Thanks be to God, Fr. Ghulfam sent his driver to pick me up. There is not much room in the parish so I had to be in Fr. Ghulfam’s room in the same bed. We visited St. Michael Church, Catholic Church in Karachi and St Joseph Church. On the 11th, I visited the La Salette School. I have sent the pictures to share with you.

Afzaal – The Living Rosary – Pakistan

With heartfelt gratitude, I acknowledge the wonderful packet mailed on 6th May, which arrived on the eve of Pentecost. Thank you immensely for this gift of spiritual materials that came to us flooded with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit! May you and your Team be rewarded!

Thank you for the Dedicated Decades (which has my picture and the Christians of Shey, Cameroon), Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Sheltering The Divine Outcast, Miraculous Medals, Rosaries, Scapulars, St. Philomena Cord and Oils and Wrist Cords, Agnus Dei, and leaflets on Pray the Rosary Daily in French, Pauline Marie Jaricot, To Jesus through Mary, The Holy Sacrifice of Mass, Mary’s Miraculous Medals, The Future of the Church, Lukewarm Catholics and other wonderful pamphlets etc. We are most grateful to God for you, dearest Patti Melvin, for feeding us always spiritually. Yes, I also thought so, that so much evil in the world is as a result of the lukewarmness of some of us, Catholics. We, Catholics, can change the world to be heaven on earth if we were all serving the Lord zealously in Faith. We keep praying that we may cooperate with the Grace of God to work greater things in us and through us for His great Glory.

Please find attached some photos of the Children of Mary and St. Philomena’s Prayer Group taken during their dedication with Sr. Bernadette in Repaccol Nkar, Cameroon. They are very happy and grateful for the spiritual materials they get from you always for their spiritual growth. I am preparing seriously now for the pilgrimage. The day of departure is the 28th of June. Kindly pray for us. I hope to write again and to send you the registration forms before I leave. Thank you very, very much! We are united in prayers. God bless you all!

< Sr. Mary Florence Angwe, St. Joseph’s Convent Shisong, CAMEROON – WEST AFRICA >

Share Your Gift of Faith

For centuries, our cherished Catholic faith has been passed from person to person, parent to child, etc. Each of us carries in our heart a special memory of how God first graced us with the knowledge of the faith and how Our Blessed Mother, Saint Philomena, Venerable Pauline Jaricot and other saints changed our lives and brought us closer to Christ.

In our work in the Universal Living Rosary Association, we see first hand how millions of souls are currently living without that knowledge of God and are living outside of His grace. We have been given a beautiful opportunity to carry out Christ’s work and pass on our faith and blessings to others who would otherwise never be introduced to Our Lord, the Savior of all mankind. Just as we pray for the souls in Purgatory who have no one to pray for them, we should also make it a part of our life’s mission to pass on our faith to as many souls as possible who have no one else to pass it on to them, who don’t know Our Lord and His promise of salvation.

This is the box we send out to the foreign Missions $77.95. It contains Rosaries, Scapulars, Miraculous Medals, Cord & Oil, Newsletters, Calendars, Catechism books, 2 TAN books, large color prints, lists and encouragement for our Promoters.

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