Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

The thirst of all mankind must be quenched in the cooling waters of the Love of God. Every soul must be filled with the Light of God and carry it to others. The perfect harmony of the Holy Family is for us an example of Love at its pinnacle. Of all the virtues that flourished in the little House at Nazareth, the Gospel names but one: Christ’s submission to His parents; submission made all the more wonderful by the superiority of the subject to those who had authority over Him. Jesus is God, yet He obeys creatures. Mary is privileged beyond all other women, yet She recognizes Joseph as head of the House and obeys him. In that holy House, the Lord of Hosts obeyed a Woman, accomplishing the tasks She set for Him according to Her wishes. In all simplicity, Mary fulfilled the humble duties of any housewife.

God, Who made the world, learned His trade from a village carpenter whose instructions He followed exactly! The exercise of authority at the holy House of Nazareth is an example to all those in authority. Mary and Joseph gave orders; it was their duty to do so. But, with what respect they treated one another! All parents and superiors should treat those entrusted to their care with great respect. With the example of Jesus, Mary and Joseph before our eyes, who would dare to ask if his superior or parent was more learned, more experienced, or holy enough to have a right to command him? He has only to submit in all simplicity. In His Life, our God associated with men, but none longer and more intimately than Mary and Joseph. With them, He made the House in Nazareth a Home of Love, Peace and Joy.

Yet, Christ brought with Him the Cross for only by this means can He draw us to Himself, assimilate us and transform us. If we are one with Christ, the Life of His whole Body pulses through our being; Its needs and pain are our needs and pain. If we love with Christ’s Love, it is the neighbor who lies wounded on the roadside who will be the special object of our compassion and care. He who accepts suffering is an apostle; he who avoids it whenever he can, is a servant of self, a barren fruit-tree! Like our saintly foundress, Ven. Pauline Jaricot, let us love with the Heart of God all those who are in travail and pain even more than we love ourselves.

BEHOLD, THE CRIB OF BETHLEHEM!

“I have come to be your ransom and also your Model in conforming your life
to the Will of God. Hasten to the crib and learn the true secret of happiness,
and let this be your guiding Light in life and in death. Thy Will be done!”

Our prayers are¬ with you both day and night.

PATTI MELVIN, Director – ULRA

Let us pray for one another.

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Human respect, often called common prudence, respect for the opinions of others, and the like, paralyses the powers of action of those who are called to be apostles and reduces works for souls to triviality. Living in the midst of great communities of pagans or non-Catholics or the lapsed, the faithful make little or no effort to convert them and the graces God offers are returned unused. Aware of this, the Army of Mary sets itself to a deliberate campaign against the operation of the spirit of human respect in its members. The principal means employed are insistence upon sound and strict discipline and constant indoctrination of the fact that human respect in a Child of Mary is comparable to cowardice in a soldier. Love, loyalty and discipline, if they are genuine, will certainly result in sacrifice and courage. “What a shame to be the delicate member of a Thorn-crowned Head!” … words of St. Bernard which the member must constantly apply to himself.

“If you fought only when you felt ready for the fray, where would be your merit?” asks St. Terésè of Lisieux. “What does it matter even if you have no courage, provided you behave as though you were really brave? If you feel too lazy to pick up a bit of thread, and yet do so for the love of Jesus, you gain more merit than for a much nobler action done on an impulse of fervor. Instead of grieving, be glad that, by allowing you to feel your own weakness, Our Lord is furnishing you with an occasion of saving a greater number of souls.”

PRAYER – The Life of The Soul

Courage is shown not only in the performance of his apostolic work, but also in his prayer-life. His devotion to the means of grace appointed by the Church and fidelity to prayer have a quality of heroism and are models and inspirations to the rest of the faithful. Only thus will he attain the degree of courage expected of him in his work for souls. Natural timidity and fear, false or well-grounded, must be overcome. Every member amongst the most wretched and dejected of the population must not only be visited but known personally and intimately. That is the goal, and his courage must rise to attain it. He always remembers that his search for each individual member of the degraded classes may be their only chance of eternal life. How intense, how earnest, how courageous must that search be!

Natural philanthropy serves humanity for humanity’s sake; but that is not love and it requires no courage. The apostolate sets itself to a devoted and universal attention to the “down-and-out,” the hopeless, the impossible, the unlovely, the repulsive elements of the population that those who see it at work are amazed at the courage of such love and recognize in it a confounding of the materialistic systems which offer but a counterfeit of Christian charity. The effect is electrifying; even the irreligious are startled into a new seriousness towards religion; modes of thought are changed, and new and better ways of living begin to show themselves.

Through the strictly disciplined system of the apostolate, the member is thoroughly trained in the spirit and practice of prudence. He is warned against a common fallacy of the present day which confounds the Christian virtue of prudence with that which is merely natural – the prudence of the flesh.

The exercise of prudence demands, in the first place, a mature deliberation of which the best means to attain the end in view may be discovered and a wise judgment as to the means likely to be most effectual. Secondly, it requires that the plan adopted be executed without delay, but with foresight, discretion and necessary caution. The Gospel must be preached to every creature. That supreme wish must swallow up every difficulty and overcome every obstacle.

The Child of Mary is trained in such a way that his outlook will invariably be apostolic. The apostolic spirit enters his soul and reigns there as master. By a judicious mixture of prudence and courage, he sets himself against the spirit of cowardliness which seems to prevail even amongst the good. His training fits him to undertake difficult work and the system reduces the possibilities of harm to the absolute minimum. When it is known that a work is difficult and dangerous, but yet is necessary if certain souls are to be saved, everything possible is done in the interests of safety and the attack goes on with appropriate materials. They do not stand by and look on while souls are being plunged into hell.
One of the reasons why so few of us succeed in attaining the higher reaches of the spiritual life is simply that we do not persevere. Aware of this, the apostolate trains all its members in perseverance and determination. We are warned that, unless we aim at perfection of membership, we cannot hope to persevere. It would be too much to expect perseverance to be achieved without regular performance of acts which are bordering on heroism. Thus, the stamp of persevering effort characterizes every duty. Instability and novelty-seeking, which result inevitably in the breaking down of discipline, are shunned. The only way to achieve anything great and real is through sustained effort and that, in its turn, arises only from the unconquerable will to win.

The Child of Mary never accepts defeat, nor does he court defeat by classifying items of work as unpromising, hopeless, and the like. As far as he is concerned, no soul is in a hopeless position. He considers it wrong to abandon priceless souls to their own ways, therefore leaving them free to pursue unchecked their reckless course to hell. He is not immediately concerned with results. Whether a harvest springs up at his heels or not, he carries on, impelled by only the highest considerations. He never allows that grain of doubt to enter his mind as to whether his efforts are justified or not. He knows they are, just because souls are worth the infinite price of the Precious Blood of Christ. His is a life of faith and he never subjects faith to the approval of human reasoning. He perseveres in spite of the natural timidity, the pettiness and the worldly prudence which tempt him to present only a casual or half-hearted service to his Queen. For him, intensity of purpose is more important by far than the completion of a definite program of works.

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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.
Imprimatur: X George Cardinal Mundelein, Archbishop of Chicago

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:

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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 NO. 1303, DICKINSON, TEXAS – 77591

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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