| Dear Patti,Thank you immensely for your kind letter and especially for your prayers for my health. Indeed, I am grateful and very much obliged to you. I have received the boxes you sent including the one for Sister Yvette Sam. We thank you very much. The feast of St. Philomena went off well and the attendance was good, as you can see from the picture.
As usual delegates came from the neighboring parishes. It was indeed very encouraging. Fr. Pochal, my parish priest who joined the Living Rosary group last year and Fr. Clement who is also a member of the Living Rosary and Diocesan Chaplain to Marian devotions joined in this great celebration. I enclose 41 lists of new members and we thank the Lord for the good numbers. I have been down with malaria and our plight in the tropio malaria and no vaccine is available for treating this disease. We pray for Afzaal and thank our dear members in the USA who helped to provide funds to send him to India for spinal surgery. We pray for his father, Javaid Anwar that the Good Lord reward him with Eternal Life. We thank you profoundly for the precious devotionals and articles which we will share with the leaders to draw souls to the joy and peace of our holy Faith. I pray daily for your family, staff and for your financial situation. Thank you so much for the joy, peace and happiness you bring to so many across the globe. May the Good Lord reward you a hundred-fold! Sincerely yours in Christ,
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| I was so happy when I received your envelop. I sat down and prayed to St. Philomena. Whenever I receive your parcel, I feel that St. Philomena is with me. I will share all the things with my friends. There is one miracle I wish to share with you. When my brother went to tie our goats, he saw one goat’s face was swollen and was skinny. He told my father who took the goat to the animal doctor but the doctor had gone elsewhere on call. I told my father that we have a great doctor and it is Saint Philomena. I put some holy oil on my goat’s face and prayed to Saint Philomena and told her I love my goat, and to heal him fast. The second day, when my brother went to tie the goat, he told my mother that the swelling on goat’s face had gone and it is feeling well and has been healed. This is a miracle in my family. Please send me some cords and oil of St. Philomena and books on her life, and Sacramentals and prayer cards as I want to take it to church to share with my friends.Yours faithfully Irene Lal – Fiji Island |
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OUR SAVIOR’S LAST APPEAL The tragic hour the aged Simeon had foreseen in his terrible prophecy came to pass. The Cross stands out against a cloud-filled sky. A dreadful silence resounds through that city liable for the murder of its God. Jesus is expiring. At the foot of the gibbet whereon the great Victim is nailed stands Mary, motionless, silent, engulfed in untold grief, gazing upon her dying God. What created mind could fully understand her suffering? We are familiar with trials: loss of material goods is not fatal and bodily ills make our flesh tremble, yet our minds can remain at peace. Doubts, discouragement and despondency cast shadows on our lives and may make it unbearable, but the greatest suffering springs from the heart when love is wounded. Mary suffered through the love she bore her Son. Hers was a martyrdom which surpasses that of the martyrdom of blood. To comprehend the intensity of her pain, we would have to comprehend the depth of her love. She gave herself unreservedly to her Son, for original sin had not tarnished her Immaculate Heart. Now, her beloved Son, endures before her very eyes the most cruel, the most unjust, the most ignominious of tortures. Step by step, She follows the somber procession wending its way up Calvary. She witnesses the horrible scene of crucifixion, hears the heavy hammer drive the sharp nails into the adorable hands and feet of her Child, tearing His Flesh as His Precious Blood spills onto the ground. The soldiers jeer and the high priests mock His goodness, His holiness and His very divinity. Not for a moment does She abandon Him, nor does She miss a single moment of His suffering. When Jesus dies, She is at His Feet. There is a phenomenon the medieval philosophers called ecstasy. Love takes the heart, so to speak, of the one who loves and exchanges it with the heart of the beloved. All of Jesus’ sufferings resonated in Mary’s Heart. When the soldier’s lance pierced His Heart, it simultaneously pierced the Virgin Mother’s Soul. When a heavy cross is laid upon our shoulders, we accuse God of unfairness and uncaring cruelty, and we abandon our faith. “How could a good God do this to us!” Did the Father not love His only Son? Did God not love the purest Virgin whom He had made the Mother of His Son? Yet, God found no more precious gift for His Son and His Mother than suffering! Through suffering, the great work of Redemption is accomplished. God sends suffering to purify us and to save us. When suffering comes, we must trust God, lovingly receive the cross and know that the victory of Easter awaits us. With Mary, let us take courage. We will climb the steep hill of Calvary so that, one day, we may savor the joys of eternal Beatitude. “The highest veneration, after God, is due to Mary because there is no other being in Heaven or on earth arrayed in so sublime a dignity and so near to God as is Mary, the Mother of the Most High, the Spouse of the Holy Ghost. When Mary was on earth, She was exalted to the pre-eminent dignity of having the Son of God subject to her and, now in her full glorification, shall She behold her dignity lowered and the love of her Divine Spouse and Son, lessened? NO! On the contrary, She shall receive, as a reward for the love She bore her Divine Son on earth, the greatest participation in His Eternal Glory. She shall sit as His beloved Mother on the right Hand side of her Son, upon the throne of glory and majesty so that the whole heavenly court may offer to their Queen the eternal homage due her as the promised Victress over Hell by reason of the Fruit of her virginal body.” Taken from the SERVITE MANUAL ——————– Make haste to enroll your family and friends in the forty days of Holy Masses which prepare our hearts for Good Friday only to open them to the Joys of Easter Sunday! THE HOLY MASS IS YOUR LIFE! The rational man needs the Mass to pay Almighty God the debt of homage and adoration he owes Him. The grateful man needs the Mass to pay his debt of thanksgiving. The sinful man, and who among us is without sin, needs the Mass to propitiate God’s Justice and to pay his debt of satisfaction. The needy man needs the Mass, that praying with Jesus Christ and through Him, he may offer a prayer that is worthy of being heard and, thus, discharge his duty and debt of petition. At the hour of death, the Masses you have heard will be your greatest consolation. Every Mass will go with you to judgment and plead for pardon. At every Mass, you can diminish the temporal punishment due to your sins. Assisting devoutly at Mass, you render the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, the greatest homage. He supplies for many of your negligences and omissions. He forgives you all the venial sins you are determined to avoid. He forgives you all the unknown sins you have never confessed. The power of Satan over you is diminished. By hearing Mass, you afford the Souls in Purgatory the greatest possible relief. One Mass heard by you, during life, will be of more benefit to you than many offered for you after death. Holy Mass preserves you from many dangers and misfortunes that would otherwise befall you. You shorten your Purgatory by every Mass and win for yourself a higher degree of glory in Heaven. At Mass, you kneel amidst the multitude of Angels who are present at the adorable Sacrifice with reverential awe. You receive the priest’s blessing which Our Lord Himself ratifies in Heaven. You are blessed in your temporal goods and affairs. Nihil Obstat: P. L. Biermann, Censor Librorum. The names you send for individual enrollment for the Sacred Masses during the Lenten Season and Easter Octave will be placed upon the Altar. Fr. Ivan Kolodiy and all the priests you have helped in Ukraine will offer these Masses. Suggested donation for each enrollment is $5. Mass cards will be provided for the persons enrolled. Please PRINT the names CLEARLY: 1. 7. 2. 8. 3. 9. 4. 10. 5. 11. 6. 12. Make your payment online through PAYPAL / CREDIT CARD at: WWW.PHILOMENA.ORG If payment by Check / Money Order / Cash, please mail it directly to the address below: THE LIVING ROSARY, P.O. BOX 1303, DICKINSON, TX 77539, USA |
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St. Philomena, Wonder-Worker (continued) One year, owing to political unrest, the alms offered at Mugnano had diminished so much that Don Francesco had not enough to pay for the usual celebration of the Feast of the Saint. He cut down the expenses of it by half. Even so, he had to borrow thirty ducats towards them. On the evening of the feast, he went home tired and anxious not knowing how to pay the rest. A young girl asked to see him. She looked so full of trepidation that Don Francesco imagined she bore bad news of the revolution at Naples. He begged her to tell him the worst quickly. It was not that at all. St. Philomena had appeared to her in a dream complaining with much displeasure that Don Francesco had given her such a poor feast. She mentioned everything on which he had economized, including the music and the brocade hangings. “I am a Martyr and a Virgin. What does he take me for? How grieved I am!” What, asked the poor girl, was she to say to the saint if she appeared again? Don Francesco knew his saint. His conscience was clear, for since he had no money to pay for them, it would have been dishonest to incur heavier expenses. He smiled and said, “Tell her to come to me for the answer; we shall see who is right, the saint or I. Go in peace!” Parish priests have their dignity too; they are in charge of the parish expenses. But, Philomena had the last word; for when he came to pay the bills, after settling them all, he found in his alms-box ninety ducats left without touching the thirty he had borrowed. Philomena was as fond of her feast as most little girls of thirteen are of their birthdays. On the first anniversary of the Translation of her relics, just when the bells were going to be rung for the first Vespers, two hundred and forty soldiers, the troops of Joseph Bonaparte, entered the town. Seeing the crowds, the commander became very suspicious, stating that it looked to him like a conspiracy against the Bonapartist Government. “Oh, a festival is it! Well, any more talk of a festival and my soldiers and I will settle down at Mugnano to keep an eye on it. The townsfolk will have to provide us and our horses with shelter and food.” In those days, Mugnano was so full of trust in Philomena they simply went to her about it. The wise commander, seeing such an air of peace and piety about the people, and not being a bad man, changed his mind. He not only gave leave for the feast to continue, but begged that it might be celebrated as it had been intended. Everybody was delighted. St. Philomena showed her power and would have her feast; the French officers would have no trouble at all. Good humored among the child-like people, the soldiers decided to join in the feast themselves. This miracle-working Saint sounded delightful to them. The whole regiment, in full dress uniform, was ordered to be stationed about the town and actually in the church to keep order. The delight of the inhabitants at seeing the enemy turned into a Guard of Honor for Philomena knew no bounds. They rang the bells and let off mortars all night. The French had no objection to using up their own gunpowder in this pacific manner. By the next morning, everyone was in such a good humor that the whole squadron accompanied the procession, and added greatly to its pomp. Alternately, they kept the crowd in order, and took turns playing the drums and flutes of the village. Next day, unexpectedly, the commander ordered his men back to Naples. The burden of feeding and sheltering such a number of men and horses was suddenly and miraculously removed. St. Philomena must have been smiling to herself as they rode away. |
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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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Tags: Association, Catholic, Filomena, Living, Philomena, Philomene, Rosary, Saint, Santa, Universal