 Dear Apostles and Benefactors of the Living Rosary,
This is the solemn month of remembering our departed Loved Ones who await union with God in the purifying fires of Purgatory. Your suffrages for them and the thirty days of Sacred Masses being offered by us, will hasten the day of their union with God in Eternal Beatitude. There is no greater charity. Christ is the world’s greatest Teacher. He spoke unforgettable parables and confounded the sinfully wise in their wickedness. Still, it is not uncommon for each of us to go through spells when He seems silent to us. We listen for His voice and hear nothing. In His silence, He is speaking to us. We must listen. In the Gospel at Holy Mass, He speaks to us; through the voice of our superiors, through our Daily Duty, through the wise guidance of a spiritual book: all these are God’s voice speaking to us that we may find Truth and have direction. The Son of God walks with us today, but we cannot see His Face. He comes from the secret streets of Heaven, but hides Himself in the Host, in the Tabernacle and in our hearts. It was sin that forced His divinity into hiding. Yet, even in hiding, God is constantly revealing Himself to us. He is in the works He created, the beauty of the flowers and in the mighty strength of the atom. His tender love shines in a mother’s eyes, His generosity shows in the lavishness of nature. Although God may seem to sleep, He is steering the ship hidden by the storms and waves. The earth is potent with grain and wheat, but it must be dug and plowed. Wisdom and knowledge await us, but only after painful and tiring search. We long for friends but friendship must be sought and nurtured. God does not force Himself upon us or rudely demand attention. He waits for our questing heart. He will reward our tireless and longing desire to look upon His Face. We must patiently search for Him, listen for His voice, and receive Him frequently in Holy Communion. We wait for the happy day when life’s quest will end in the face to Face vision of our Eucharistic King. Let us accept death as an homage and adoration which we owe to God’s divine Majesty, for death is the only means we have of going to God, our beginning and last end. “Father, into Thy Hands, I commend My Spirit!” I impart to all of you, my priestly blessing: In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
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 Dear Patti,
Greetings in the Lord! This letter is very much overdue. I apologize for the delay of my response to your kind letter last July. I thank you very sincerely for the Holy Mass Crucifix you sent me. I feel very privileged to have been gifted with such a very vivid “reminder of the reality of Calvary present to all time and place in the Holy Mass.” Thank you also for reminding me of my assigned Decade given to me years ago by Sister Lily Ann Ayu-on, DST, who enrolled me in the Universal Living Rosary Association. Sister Lily Ann had died some two or three years ago. God rest her soul. She was in charge of the Catechetical Apostolate of the Diocese of Naval, and she also enrolled in the association some of the catechists of the diocese. During the last AD LIMINA visit to Rome of the Philippine Bishops in 2011, I had the opportunity to visit the St. Philomena Shrine in Mugnano. Msgr. Braschi, the Director of the shrine gave me the privilege to celebrate Mass at the altar of St. Philomena and made me wear a beautiful vestment that a cardinal had worn many years ago at his Mass in the shrine. He also gave me a relic of St. Philomena. For all this I am very grateful to St. Philomena. This is the reason why I humbly accepted the request of Bro. Gelson Abecia to be the Spiritual Director of the Living Rosary Association in our diocese. I intend to ask Bro. Gelson to recruit more members and to expand his responsibility towards two or three parishes in my diocese bordering his “CENTER.”
Thank you very much, Patti, for your kind letter. I appreciate the last two paragraphs which are very beautiful reflections on Our Lady and the Holy Rosary. Incidentally, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary is the Patroness of the Diocese of Naval. The word “NAVAL” is reminiscent of the Naval Battle of Lepanto. We pray to Our Lady to once again defeat the evil intentions of the enemies that are persecuting Christians in some parts of the world. Please, pray also for me as I do for you and your work for the Universal Living Rosary Association around the world. God bless you abundantly! ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF NAVAL |
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 Dear Patti Melvin, ULRA Director,
I am an inmate in a federal prison. My name is Matthew Rogers and I am 34 years old. A year and a half ago, I was in the county jail and facing a US attorney who wanted me to serve 20 years plus. I prayed the Rosary daily and petitioned the Saints, went to Confession often and attended Holy Mass whenever the opportunity arose. Even through extreme darkness, the light was always Mary’s most pure and loving Heart. Our Lady was always with me. I had a vision once during a long cold night in the dungeons cell. She appeared in my mind as a self-luminous beacon in the dark. The light of God shone through her. It was like She was a candle in God’s Hands. She wore royal blue and her hair was brown. She looked youthful and filled with perfect peace. I am Mary’s child and She does not abandon her own. I admire what the Living Rosary does in helping the world to recognize Mary as the gift that She truly is. A week ago, I helped a man learn to pray the Rosary using the Rosary leaflet put out by the Living Rosary. It isn’t the first time I have used your materials to teach a person about the true Faith. To me, nothing I have done in my life is more important than this. My locker is adorned with prints and icons that you sent to the prison; prayer cards and other images fill my living space. Most inmates hang dirty pictures of naked women in their lockers but, for me, the ever Virgin Mother of God is far more beautiful. There is such little purity in this hell-like prison. In such darkness and filth, Mary’s perfect Heart lights the way! When federal prisoners receive their sentencing, none of their property goes with them. All my Catholic books, Rosary, Crucifix, medals and all that brought me comfort were stripped from me. Yet, even then, I did not give up hope. Sitting in a solitary confinement cell for four days straight, I fashioned a Rosary out of toilet paper and meditated on the Mysteries. There are times when this experience hurts so much, yet if I turn and unite my suffering with His Cross, I can bear anything!
With much gratitude! Matthew Prison Inmate |
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THE GREATEST PRIVILEGE IS REAL AND IT IS OURS!
The Scapular was given to Saint Simon Stock, Prior of the Carmelite Order in England, in the year 1251. On 16th July, Our Lady held out the Brown Scapular to St. Simon Stock and promised, “Whoever dies piously wearing this Scapular will not suffer eternal flames.” Through a Papal Bull on 3rd March 1322, the Sabbatine Privilege was given to the Church and this great privilege has been confirmed by nine subsequent Popes. The Brown Scapular is the Sacramental of the Church; it is a gift from Heaven and a symbol of salvation ~ for a true child of Mary is never lost! Those clothed in her Garment of Grace will be protected and sanctified. It is a safe-guard in danger, whether physical or moral; it invites its wearer to penance and purity while shielding him from Satan and sin! The Brown Scapular marks the militia of the Immaculate One. Before God’s holy angels, it designates those who wear it as servants and slaves of Creation’s Queen, as specially beloved sons and daughters of the sun-robed Virgin who has crushed the serpent’s head. To serve the Mother of God is the highest privilege and, truly, our pledge of eternal peace. The Brown Scapular is the being the garment of Mary Immaculate and, as such, it is a constant call to modesty in dress and conduct; a silent protest against present-¬day permissiveness and a hidden appeal to reparation for the insolent nakedness of proud neo-paganism! The Brown Scapular is much like a miniature hairshirt and a mild reminder of the need for constant mortification. The Brown Scapular is like swaddling clothes in which Our Heavenly Mother wraps her spiritual infants to protect them from the coldness of sin, to adorn them with the beauty of virtue and to warm them with God’s Love. No matter how advanced we may be in years or learning or social standing, we are all but infants in virtue, helpless as babes in the woods of this bleak world. We stand in dire need of our Mother’s constant care. The Brown Scapular is a vital part of the Fatima message. Sr. Lucia told us we cannot separate the Rosary and the Scapular; both are essential to our life of grace in bringing about the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and subsequent Reign of Christ the King. Letter of Pope Pius XII “Truly, the Holy Scapular, the habit of Mary, is a sign and pledge of the protection of God’s Mother, but those who wear it, must bear in mind the words of the Apostle: In fear and trembling, work out your salvation. To all Carmelites, belonging as they do by a special bond of love to the family of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let this reminder (the HOLY SCAPULAR) be a mirror of humility and chastity; let its unpretentious form be for them an epitome of modesty and simplicity; above all, let this garment which they wear day and night, be for them an eloquent symbol of the unceasing prayer by which they ask for God’s help and, finally, let it be for them a consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary! Our good Mother shall most certainly see to it that, by her intercession with God, all her children who go to Purgatory to expiate their sins shall reach Heaven as quickly as possible, according to that tradition called the Sabbatine Privilege…” Given at St. Peters, 1950 Our conflict today is not for land or national rights, it is for the souls of men; a conflict between the absolute who is God-man, and the absolute who is man-god: God who became man vs. man who has made himself God! The religion of the man-god is a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy all religion. The forces of evil are united; the forces of good are divided. We cannot unite at the cost of TRUTH, but what is needed is a unity of prayer. We may not be able to meet in the same pew ~ would to God that we could ~ but we can meet on our knees! To a faithless deadlocked world, Our Blessed Mother comes offering us a choice: DEATH IN LIFE, OR LIFE AFTER DEATH! RECEIVE THIS GARMENT We have all been invited to the Wedding Feast of the King. Will we beg to be excused due to lack of interest, the demands of our manifold duties, a new bride? And, if we do appear at the Feast, will we be clothed in the wedding garment? God forbid that, through ignorance, pride and disobedience, we will appear before the King naked, only to be cast into the darkness outside where there will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Through our beloved Spiritual Director, Fr. John Luke of the Holy Ghost, Our Lady is reaching out to each one of us to become members of the Scapular Confraternity of Mount Carmel and obtain the blessings and protection of the Sabbatine Privilege. Write to us today, giving your Christian name, address, and country. Include a small donation to help cover the cost of Scapular materials, your Confraternity card and the monthly Masses for members. More than ever before, we must redouble our missionary efforts, if not to convert the world, then at least to salvage as many souls from materialism and the aggression of socialism as possible. Every conversion is a matter of efficacious grace and apostolic activity. The suffering, which awaits us, is almost without limit. Let us fortify ourselves wisely for the trials ahead by putting on the armament of the Immaculate One! |
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TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY (continued) Our exterior life with its actions should more and more resemble that of the Holy Family at Nazareth. Our Lord once said to St. Gertrude: “Just as a usurer never willingly loses a chance to gain some profit, much less would I permit even one of your thoughts, one of your slightest movements prompted by love for Me, to be without profit for your soul. I will make all this redound to My great glory, and your eternal salvation.” All our actions, even the most common, done in the state of Grace and with a supernatural intention, are of immense value in the Eyes of God, and the merit increases in proportion to the purity of the motive that inspires them. Place, then, every morning, all your actions in Mary’s hands, and renew this offering frequently during the day. This good Mother will purify them, says St. Louis de Montfort, from every stain of self-love and every unconscious attachment to creatures, which glide even into our best actions. Mary will beautify them and adorn them with Her own virtues and merits. By giving up our own intentions and by submitting them to the wish and will of the Blessed Virgin, we follow the example of Jesus Christ Who wished to be dependent on His most Blessed Mother. We thereby glorify God and share in Her sublime intentions which were so pure that the very least of Her actions gave more glory to God than the most heroic virtues of the greatest Saints. Let us imitate this beautiful model: in our labors, leisure, studies and trials. In a word, in all things, let us be dependent on Mary and put everything into Her hands. ALL THROUGH MARY, FOR JESUS! Oh, what joy for the angels, what glory for God, what favors for ourselves and for others we shall daily procure by this simple practice! STUDY AND MANUAL LABOR 1. Study: Mary is the seat of wisdom and the source of Divine Light. If we wish to succeed in our labors and studies, we must have recourse to this august Mistress. St. Louis Grignion de Montfort wrote to his brother, Joseph, that he would be one of the best in his class if he confided his studies to his tender Mother, the Blessed Virgin, and continued to serve Her, for She would obtain for him whatever he needed. O student of Mary, especially you who study for the priesthood, imitate the Saints. Before beginning to study, kneel down and say a Hail Mary to this radiant Star; She will banish the darkness of your intellect and give rest to your heart. At the close of your mental labors, place them again in Her hands, with the petition to let them redound to the honor of Her Divine Son. 2. Manual Labor: How pleasing to God was Mary’s work! “Even as an infant in Her cradle,” says Christopher de Vega, “Mary honored God more than St. Lawrence roasting on the gridiron, because She was inflamed with greater love. This lovely Child gave more glory to God by Her infantile actions than the greatest Saints have given Him by their heroic deeds.” And what can be said of Her works in later life! If, then, we want to give great joy to God and to His Angels, we must place our manual labors in Mary’s hands, if only by a simple act of the will. |
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IN MEMORY OF YOUR DEPARTED LOVED ONES When we love, we remember, and this memory – the effect of love – is not a barren thought. It resolves itself into DEEDS for the loved one. They are at peace for they have escaped Hell forever. But, they are sentenced for a time to expiating fire. Behold their plight and helplessness. Listen to their lamentations. In sympathy and charity, hasten to their assistance. Enroll your Departed Loved Ones in thirty days of Requiem Masses in Ukraine. Fr. Ivan Kolodiy has arranged for these Masses to be offered from 1st to 30th November. The names you send will be placed upon the Altar during this time. A Mass card will be sent out to you for each one you enroll. SUGGESTED STIPEND DONATION: $5.00 each for Enrollment in the NOVEMBER Bouquet of thirty days of Requiem Masses for your departed Loved Ones: PRINT VERY CLEARLY EACH NAME! |
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Share Your Gift of FaithFor 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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You mentioned in your letter whether there is anything we need for the Association. Yes, we need Sacramentals, Rosaries and some religious articles which some prospective members are asking. I remember Sister Lily Ann used to give some of those to members when she organized the Living Rosary Association in Naval.
I ask a few favors: a Rosary, prayer book, little holy card and a prayer leaflet. I ask you please to try and remember to pray for all prisoners, homeless and suffering people, for all those who fall asleep alone and unwanted, the lonesome, the afraid and the sick. This I beg of you. Love humanity as Mary does. See even your enemy through Mary’s eyes. May we be united with her pure Heart in Heaven! Tangible goodness is so precious and so rare in prison. The inmates who see me “being Catholic” really start to wonder, in good ways, what it is all about. So many people are missing the freedom that faithful obedience offers. I am trying my best to help.
Heaven and Hell are locked in mortal combat and the earth shakes from the shock of the encounter; but no one feels it, no one sees it, no one hears it… no one cares! The salvation of my soul is the most imperative and most urgent objective of my life on earth. It is the greatest and grandest occupation that I can engage in. In fact, I am here for no other purpose.
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