Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

Winter is coming and I want to protect the church from the rain and snow. My Bishop has put me in charge of this work. The roof has to be repaired before the snow falls. Your help and support will be vital to the restoration of our church. The total cost of the construction of the roof is U.S.D. 36,700.

Thank you and God bless all of you!

Father Ivan Kolodiy – The Living Rosary, Ukraine

+ In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Fr. IVAN KOLODIY
Byzantine Rite, Greek-Catholic Church, UKRAINE

Donations to Father can be made online: WWW.PHILOMENA.ORG
through PAYPAL using your Credit Card.

WE WILL SEND A TAX RECEIPT FOR YOUR DONATION!

If payment by Check / Money Order / Cash, please mail it directly to the Living Rosary.

Estamos haciendo la gran obra de esparcir la devoción del Rosario Viviente de S. Filomena en medio de la revolución que nos rodea. Yo com-prendo que también es un tiempo muy difícil y complicado en los E.E.U.U. pero, debo extender mi ruego a ustedes, si es posible ayudarme con la renovación del techo de la iglesia.

El invierno se acerca y quiero proteger la iglesia de la lluvia y nieve. Mi Obispo me ha puesto a cargo de esta obra. El techo tiene que ser reparado antes que caiga la nieve. Su ayuda y apoyo es vital para la restauración de nuestra iglesia. El costo total de la construcción del techo es $36,700. DLS.

¡Gracias y Dios los bendiga a todos!

Padre Ivan Kolodiy – El Rosario Viviente, Ucrania

Donativos p/el Padre se pueden hacer online: WWW.PHILOMENA.ORG

por PAYPAL usando su tarjeta de crédito.

¡Les enviaremos un recibo por su donativo!

Si el pago es por Cheque / Giro / Efectivo, favor de enviarlo directo al Dom. abajo:

THE LIVING ROSARY, P.O. BOX 1303, DICKINSON, TEXAS 77539, USA

“TO LOVE WITHOUT MEASURE! TO LOVE WITHOUT END!”

Venerable Pauline-Marie Jaricot

Dear Apostles of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

The Universal Living Rosary has for its life the very breath of the Holy Ghost and it must necessarily be full of charity; then only will it bring charity to the world.

The principle of our labors is to bring the Immaculate Heart of Mary to every individual, that She may form them into Jesus Christ for the Glory of the Father in time and throughout all eternity.

We are the soldiers of Mary Immaculate, whose courage in following her Son to the foot of the Cross of Calvary has never been excelled. We are called to be firm of mind and purpose, to cast aside vain fear and to summon all our powers and resources in order to achieve the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart! We must never yield to the spirit of the world, to the suggestions of the powers of evil, to human respect, timidity or tepidity. With the help of the Immaculate, we will meet frustration with resiliency, tepidity with ardor, faint-heartedness with fearlessness, discouragement with fortitude, and cowardliness with gallantry. Souls which could be saved are left alone. Non-Catholics who could be brought into the Church are not even approached! The lapsed are allowed to pursue their sinful course. All this because the Catholic body is paralyzed by the deadly poison of human respect. We must look upon human respect as a soldier looks upon cowardice: it is despised and punished without mercy. What a shame to be a “delicate” member of a Thorn-Crowned Head!

Our Petit Manual outlines the authentic organization of the Living Rosary. Any variation means departure from authenticity. Insofar as a group or center departs from the instructions of the Manual, they cease to be the authentic Living Rosary. One variation often leads to another, which leads to yet a third and a fourth. Even though the new creation manufactured by an individual group does valuable work, it is not doing it with the blessings that Holy Mother the Church has given the Association, for it is simply not the authentic Living Rosary.

The Living Rosary has developed in a most wonderful way all over the world. This steady development has demonstrated that the official organization is adaptable to circumstances which exist anywhere in the Church. There is never any need for special legislation for special cases or special places. Those who are genuinely convinced in conscience that the organization or system of enrollment needs modification for the circumstances in which they intend to operate, should not start the Living Rosary, but another organization. They, who do not keep the whole rule, are not entitled to use the name of Living Rosary.

Clever men think they can pick parts from the original and weld them into a new composite. They may do so but the resulting creation will never possess the sweetness and inspiration of the original Association. You cannot cut out pieces from a living body and make another living body. The result of this species of surgery is a corpse!

Self must be suppressed in order for us to work in common. Some are full of zeal, immensely competent, undeniably efficient, but incapable of working with others. It is in moderating our own individuality that we serve the Living Rosary best. We must not try to bend the Association to our own ideas, but adapt ourselves and our ideas as completely and harmoniously to the system as we can. Let each of us, then, be renowned for his fidelity to the Manual. If we notice any deviation or breaking of the rules, it is our duty to draw it to the attention of our local Center or to the Universal Center. You must accept the whole, or reject the whole!

FINANCIAL HELP IS NOT OUR MISSION! REFER FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO OTHER AGENCIES WHO ARE ESTABLISHED FOR THAT VERY PURPOSE.

Every apostle of the Living Rosary is a soldier of Mary Immaculate. We must never forget or under-estimate our privilege. We go to prepare the way for Jesus Christ, NOT TO RADIATE OURSELVES! As soldiers in the army of the Queen of Heaven, we must excel in those qualities which make us the greatest fighting force against evil known to man. We must be invincible and the secret of invincibleness lay in its spirit and its method. The individual soldier must merge his personality into that of the legion to which he belongs. Essential is our unquestioning obedience, utter devotedness, undaunted courage, dogged perseverance and absolute loyalty to the cause in even the tiniest details. These qualities super-naturalized and offered to our Queen will enable her to achieve victory. We must imitate Mary in her humility and obedience. The entire world is the great wide field of our Apostolate, awaiting conquest by the Holy Ghost through the Immaculata and her children.

The Living Rosary is a closely-knit Association. Over FIFTEEN Million members are united in one purpose. Every member in the world is connected with every other member. All are united into one; all are connected through the breath of charity. Life flows through these connections from the Heart of the Apostolate to even the smallest group, or single member living in the most remote area in the world. There is a ceaseless flowing of Grace in every direction. If there is a break in unity, life does not flow. It is loyalty which preserves the unity among all. We are not allowed to act independently. When there is a doubt or when a new and difficult situation arises, we must consult the proper authority for guidance or permission. Loyalty bears the fruit of obedience. You cannot really understand obedience unless you have deep faith. Adam sinned because he wanted to rule. That was Original Sin – the desire to rule. Original virtue, then, is the will to serve. We obey because we recognize the authority of God in all those who are over us and follow the example of Christ. To submit our wills to the wills of others, may seem like a spiritual death at times but, when it is necessary to preserve the unity and life of the work, we will bear this death gloriously.

Ideally, all the members should be familiar with the work of the whole Association. Routine and apathy will not enter in where there is a lively interest in the progress of the Association everywhere in the world. Obedience will be made so much easier if we can see the army at work as a whole. The Living Rosary Newsletter is not an extravagance or wasted effort. Through the Dedicated Decades, we can see the life of the movement rather than the qualities of the individual members. The Newsletter is vital to the loyalty, respect, support and unity of the Association. We must make every effort to see that the Newsletter reaches all members. It is our “GIFT” to each associate and a great insurance that he will continue to pray and remain in union with the Heart of the Apostolate. We must never lose that Heart! If success comes to us, we thank God for it, but our work does not depend upon it. When failure threatens us, we fight it. The more worthwhile our work, the more difficulties we will encounter. We are always on duty for souls for this is the spirit of Mary. Apathy and the spirit of Mary are contradictory. Mary could never be anything but enthusiastic in the love of virtue and the battle against sin. We must remember that we are not alone. We work for God in union with Mary and, oh, how She longs for the success of our work!!! She is the Virgin Most Powerful. We must believe in her and never forget that, through her prayers, we have at our disposal nothing less than the all-powerfulness of her Divine Son.

Our approach to souls must be like that of the Good Shepherd. Nothing in it must be controversial, nothing overbearing, nothing uncharitable and nothing critical! LET US COMBAT ERROR BY PROCLAIMING TRUTH! Our every word must breathe humility, sincerity and affection. When people see that we are sincere, kind and loving, they will not resent our approach. They will like us and that is the first step to bringing the Living Rosary into their lives and uniting them with Mary Immaculate. Remember always, that our Catholic Faith is Goodness, Truth and Beauty Itself! God created the minds of all men to appreciate and seek out what is good, true and beautiful. Let us not by-pass anyone. We must try to attract all to our precious Catholic Faith. Our greatest ally in this is the Holy Mother of God!

In His Wisdom, God knows what is best for an Apostolate which is according to His Will. In His Love, He gives it to us. He does not treat us as saints when He knows we are sinners! He does not treat us as learned when He knows we are ignorant! He does not treat us as strong when He knows we are weak! When He graces our work with the Cross, it is always to make it more fruitful. It is ever God’s pleasure to show His Power by extracting success from unpromising conditions and by accomplishing His greatest miracles of Grace through the most inadequate instrument. The more difficult the circumstances under which we have to work, the more indelibly is the Cross imprinted upon our work. The Cross is always the Sign of Hope!!! Where did She whom God loved more than all His other creatures find herself? At the foot of the Cross, with her Soul pierced by a seven-fold sword and on her head the mystic crown of Queen of Martyrs! Each and every associate is united in their desire and prayer to bring about the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary through the propagation of the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular. The sunshine and honey of our work is Saint Philomena who encourages us with visible signs of God’s favor. She imparts to us great courage and a solid hope of success in all that we undertake for our Rosary Queen.

Mary exists to bring Christ to the world. True union, TRUE DEVOTION to Mary cannot be separated from apostleship. United with Mary, we will mother souls.

How Our Sorrowful and Immaculate Mother gazes upon the masses of the human race today, with longing and love: upon the followers of her Son, who are so self-centered, so apathetic, so lacking in zeal; upon the wealthy materialists, upon the hundreds of millions of pagans, upon those who make war on the very idea of religion. Never was, or has there been, a greater need for a bold apostolate. Our privilege and duty as Christians demands that we take an active part in this apostleship.

At every moment, we are dependent upon Mary for Grace. This Grace is the very life of our souls. Without it, we cannot breathe spiritually and we will perish. Let us then with all zeal, no matter what sacrifice is required, bring the Immaculate Heart of Mary to souls that they may have LIFE!

Let us beg the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our beautiful Mother of Mount Carmel, to make our faith courageous. Filled with firmness of spirit, we will cast aside all fear. O Maria! Let us never submit to timidity or yield to human respect! When failure comes, let us be resilient. When the powers of hell rage around us, let us hold fast for God is with us. Against the falsehoods of the world, may we be faithful and true. May our faith be intrepid, valiant and heroic so that we are brought to the foot of the Cross of Calvary united with thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart in life and at the hour of our death! We must believe that we have, at our disposal, nothing short than the all-powerfulness of God Himself!

We must strive to make our souls a CITY OF THE IMMACULATE! Let us spare no sacrifice to give Our Lady to souls, and souls to Our Lady. God gives His Graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary! This Grace is life itself to the soul, and so, our mission is life-giving and vital. Saint Philomena is the New Light of the Church Militant and how badly we need her heroic charity, humility, purity and obedience to all that is the Will of God.

May God and His Blessed Mother be with you in everything that you do, ALWAYS and FOREVER! You are remembered daily in our prayers.

Yours in the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary and our anchor of hope, Saint Philomena!

PATTI MELVIN, Director ULRA

Let us pray for one another.

ESSENTIAL POINTS OF THE TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY

First Point: We should consecrate ourselves wholly to Mary in order to belong wholly to Jesus.

In order to practice this excellent devotion, says St. Louis Grignion, we should first choose some special feast on which to offer and consecrate ourselves to Mary; and we should, then, of our own free will, purely from love, without the least constraint, offer to Mary and through Her to Jesus, all that we are and have, without the least exception or reserve: our body with all its faculties, our exterior property such as our home, our family and our income in order to make use of them as well as we know how, for the honor of and according to the Will of God and of Mary. We should dedicate to Her, moreover, our spiritual and interior treasures, namely: our merits, Graces, virtues and good works, not only of the past and present, but also of the future; in a word, all that we have or may have in future, in the order of nature, of Grace or of glory. All this, we should dedicate to the Blessed Virgin without reserve, for all eternity, not expecting any recompense for our sacrifice other than the honor of belonging to Jesus in Mary and through Mary.

By this Act of Consecration, we sacrifice to Jesus through the hands of the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, that which is most precious and dear to us. We forfeit the right of disposing of the interior value or fruit of our good works, prayers, alms, mortifications, etc. so as to leave the entire disposal of them to the Blessed Virgin, to be applied as She wills for the great glory of God, which no one knows better than She.

Moreover, by this devotion, we give to the Mother of God all our prayers and good works that She may distribute and apply them to whomsoever She pleases. After having made this oblation though not by vow, we are no longer masters of our good works, prayers, etc. for the Blessed Virgin may apply them according to Her good pleasure: now, for the relief of a suffering Soul in Purgatory or, again, to obtain for some poor sinner the Grace of conversion.

After making the Act of Consecration, we may continue our prayers and other devotions just as before. We may pray for ourselves and for others as formerly. If Our Lady sees fit to apply our prayers according to our intention, She will do so; if not, She will apply them to a better purpose. In any case, we may be quite sure that She will not neglect our obligations of justice and charity. By giving ourselves in this manner unselfishly to Mary, neither the Souls in Purgatory, nor poor sinners, nor our friends, nor we ourselves will be the losers.

Finally, we give to Mary, in virtue of this True Devotion, our actual merit which we obtain through every truly good work. Certainly, the increase of Sanctifying Grace and heavenly reward which we merit in justice by every good work performed in the state of Grace is our own, and we cannot and do not hand it over to anyone else. But, we can offer it to Mary in the sense that we ask Her to preserve our spiritual gains and make them increase.

Second Point: We should give ourselves to Mary in the Quality of Slaves.

This devotion consists, furthermore, in giving ourselves to Mary in the quality of slaves, as Her full possession. St. Louis Grignion mentions three kinds of slavery. The first is the slavery of nature: all men, good and bad, are the slaves of God in this sense. The second is the slavery of constraint: the devils and the damned are the slaves of God in the second sense. There is nothing left for them but eternally to suffer the punishment they incurred through their own grievous fault, and thus be monuments of God’s terrible justice. The third is the slavery of love, and it is in this sense that we ought to consecrate ourselves to God through Mary, as being the most perfect way in which a creature can give himself to his Creator.

According to his nature, man must necessarily belong to God. But man can, of his own free will, ratify God’s right over him. And, since Mary is the only creature perfectly conformable to the Will of God, we can best give ourselves to Him through Mary and, with all confidence, permit Her fully to dispose of all we have or ever can have.

Happy, a thousand times happy, the generous soul who magnanimously consecrates herself entirely to Jesus through Mary as a loving slave! What a vast difference to be a slave of Mary or be a slave of Satan! By living willfully in mortal sin, one becomes a slave of Satan.

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.

Please Click here to Share Your Gift of Faith