Knights of the Holy Eucharist

Poor Clares, Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, Ireland

Dolores Hart (Former Hollywood Star) now Mother Dolores, Benedictine Nun

Dolores Hart (pictured now) was the first film star to kiss Elvis Presley. She went on to perform in several more films in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1961, she played St Clare in Francis of Assisi. That year she met Pope John XXIII and told him, "I'm Dolores Hart, the actress playing Clare." The Pope said, "No, you are Clare!" Those words were prophetic, as a few years later, Dolores entered the Regina Laudis Benedictine Abbey in Connecticut, and took her final vows there in 1970. As a Benedictine Sister, she has lived a very quiet, structured life, praying the Office every day. The community is self-sufficient and has its own 160 hectare farm, pottery and foundry.

 Through the years, Mother Dolores has been instrumental in developing the abbey's connection with the community through the arts. Paul Newman helped her with funding for a lighting grid, when she decided to start a year-round arts school and a better-equipped stage. Another friend, the Academy Award winning actress Patricia Neal also helped support the abbey's open-air theatre and arts program. Every summer, the abbey's 38 nuns help the community stage a musical. Shows have included West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man, and My Fair Lady. In 2006, Mother Dolores visited Hollywood again after 43 years in the convent, to raise awareness for peripheral idiopathic neuropathy disorder, a neurological disorder from which she now suffers. In April 2006, she testified at a Washington congressional hearing on the need for research on the painful and crippling disease. Reverend Mother Dolores Hart became Prioress of the Abbey in 2001, but she remains a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, having in recent years become the only nun to be an Oscar-voting member. This year, she will be attending the Oscars herself, because she is the subject of the short documentary, God is Bigger Than Elvis, which is up for an Academy Award.

The Choir of the Abu Ghosh Benedictine Monastery

Religious Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen

All Religious Orders and Congregations in the Catholic Church began as small communities of devout men and women united by simple guidelines. Over a period of time, each Order adopted a Rule and Constitutions which were approved by the Church. The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, or CMRI (Congregatio Mariae Reginae Immaculatae), has followed the same steps.

This Congregation began in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 1967, as an association of lay Brothers and Sisters devoted to spreading the message of Our Lady of Fatima. The Congregation held its first General Chapter in July, 1986, at Mount St. Michael in Spokane, Washington. During this meeting, CMRI established its Rule and Constitutions. In the same year, the Rule was approved by Bishop Robert McKenna, O.P., whose episcopal lineage can be traced back to Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo-dinh-Thuc. (Archbishop Thuc received extraordinary patriarchal powers from Pope Pius XI on March 15, 1938. By means of these faculties, he could legitimately consecrate bishops without the usual mandate from Rome. These faculties were renewed on December 8, 1939, by Pope Pius XII and were never rescinded.)

As the Congregation grew, it was called upon to minister to the spiritual needs of many Catholics who would not accept the Modernism of Vatican II. With the death of Pope Pius XII, and with the convocation of the Second Vatican Council, an unprecedented situation befell the Church, which attacked her very doctrines and worship. In order to provide for the preservation of the Catholic Faith and the traditional Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Sacraments, the Priests, Brothers and Sisters of the Religious Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen profess and adhere to the Catholic Faith as it had been consistently taught throughout the centuries since the time of Christ. CMRI upholds the 1917 Code of Canon Law and the principle of epikeia which reflects the mind of the Church that “the salvation of souls is the supreme law.”

The current Superior General of CMRI is Bishop Mark A. Pivarunas. The Mother General of the Marian Sisters is Reverend Mother Mary Agnes. The Religious of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen serve over 40 churches and chapels in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. They also operate a seminary in Omaha, Nebraska, while the Sisters’ motherhouse is located in Spokane, Washington. CMRI members foster true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and strive to promote Our Lady’s requests at Fatima to pray the Rosary, wear the scapular, and to practice reparation and amendment of life.

Website:  http://www.cmri.org/index.html

Cistercian Life...

Hermits of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel..

Between the years of 1206 and 1214, there existed a group of hermits living in Mt. Carmel in Palestine that had formed themselves into a group under the leadership of a man named Brocard.

This group proceeded to ask Albert, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to provide them with a "formula vitae" or rule of life which became the Carmelite rule.  Because of the association of Mt. Carmel with the Prophet Elijah, these first Carmelite hermits took him as their "Dux et Pater", or leader and father. They also had a particular devotion to Our Lady, building an oratory dedicated to her, and by doing so pledged themselves to her service and placed their community under her patronage and protection. Hence they later became known as "the Brothers of St Mary of Mount Carmel."

Hermits, belonging to ancient Orders or New Institutes, or being directly dependent on the Bishop, bear witness to the passing nature of the present age by the inward and outward separation, from the world. By fasting and Penance, they show that man does not live by bread alone but by the work of God. Such a life "In the Desert" is an invitation to their contemporaries and to the ecclesial community itself, never to lose sight of the supreme vocation, which is to be always with the Lord.

The Hermits of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel are a community of men called to a life of silence, solitude, prayer, and penance for the good of the Church and the salvation of the world. The hermits live in a Laura, a colony of Hermits living in separate dwellings around a central chapel, following the original Carmelite rule. 

The vocation of the Carmelite Hermit is the contemplative vocation, and the foundations of his life are the Eucharist, Sacred Scripture and devotion to Our Blessed Lady under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel . For the hermit the cell is the place of encounter with God. 

For more Info:  http://www.carmelitehermits.org/

Knights of Columbus

To Jesus Through Mary........

Venerable Matthew Talbot - Triumph over Addiction

Matthew Talbot was born on May 2, 1856, the second of 12 siblings, in Dublin, Ireland. He had three sisters and nine brothers, three of whom died young. His father Charles was a dockworker and his mother, Elizabeth, was a housewife. When Matthew was about 12 years old, he started to drink alcohol. His father was a known alcoholic as well as all his brothers. The eldest brother, John, was the exception. Charles tried to dissuade Matthew with severe punishments but without success.

Matthew worked as a messenger boy when he was twelve and then transferred to another messenger job at the same place his father worked. After working there for three years, he became a bricklayer's laborer. He was a hodman, which meant he fetched mortar and bricks for the bricklayers. He was considered "the best hodman in Dublin.

As he grew into an adult, he continued to drink excessively, He continued to work but spent all his wages on heavy drinking. When he got drunk, he became very hot-tempered, got into fights, and swore. He became so desperate for more drinks that he would buy drinks on credit, sell his boots or possessions, or steal people's possession so he could exchange it for more drinks. He refused to listen to his mother's plea to stop drinking. He eventually lost his own self-respect. One day when he was broke, he loitered around a street corner waiting for his "friends", who were leaving work after they were paid their wages. He had hoped that they would invite him for a drink but they ignored him. Dejected, he went home and publicly resolved to his mother, "I'm going to take the pledge." His mother smiled and responded, "Go, in God's name, but don't take it unless you are going to keep it." As Matthew was leaving, she continued, "May God give you strength to keep it."

Matthew went straight to confession at Clonliffe College and took a pledge not to drink for three months. The next day he went back to Church and received communion for the first time in years. From that moment on, in 1884 when he was 28 years old, he became a new man. After the he successfully fulfilled his pledge for three months, he made a life long pledge. He even made a pledge to give up his pipe and tobacco. He used to use about seven ounces of tobacco a week. He said to the late Sean T. O'Ceallaigh, former President of Ireland, that it cost him more to give up tobacco that to give up alcohol.

The new converted Matthew never swore. He was good humored and amicable to everyone. He continued to work as a hodman and then as a laborer for timber merchants. He used his wages to pay back all his debts. He lived modestly and his home was very spartan. He developed into a very pious individual who prayed every chance he got. He attended Mass every morning and made devotions like the Stations of the Cross or devotions the Blessed mother in the evenings. He fasted, performed acts of mortification, and financially supported many religious organizations. He read biographies of St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux, and St. Catherine of Sienna. He later joined the Third Order of St. Francis on October 18, 1891 even though a young pious girl proposed to marry him. Physically, he suffered from kidney and heart ailments. During the two times he was hospitalized, he spent much time in Eucharistic adoration in the hospital chapel. Eventually, Matthew died on June 7, 1925 while walking to Mass. He was 69 years old. Here is a wonderful quote from Matthew to remember:

"Three things I cannot escape: the eye of God, the voice of conscience, the stroke of death. In company, guard your tongue. In your family, guard your temper. When alone guard your thoughts."

Article From Savior.org

The First Gypsy Saint....Bl. Ceferino Jimenez Malla (El Pele)

Marthe Robin ...Victim Soul

[The following article from the Voice of Padre Pio speaks of another soul, who like Padre Pio, offered herself to God on behalf of others.]

She neither ate, drank nor slept, but lived for seven decades and carried on a busy apostolate.
Padre Pio passed to his heavenly reward in September 1968.

At that moment a sister soul, a laywoman who also suffered the stigmata and the Passion of Christ was still living her mission. She lived in the Galaure Valley in the southern half of France. It would seem that she and the Padre had much in common.

Last year, just after my biography, The Pierced Priest was published, I was interviewed on a French radio station. They were fascinated to hear more about Padre Pio and I realised that perhaps he is not quite as well known there as in some places because France had its own 'Padre Pio'. She was Marthe Robin. The interviewer was surprised that Marthe, in turn, is very little known so far in English-speaking countries.
In researching Padre's life, I understood that he was in some way part of that "Legion of Little Souls" that St Therese of Lisieux so confidently prophesied would follow her and continue her 'Little Way.' As well as the 'explosion' of apparitions with which the Lord seemed to be gracing this century, I understood that in his mercy He was also inspiring chosen souls to become 'victims' with Him to appeal to the Divine Mercy of our Father on this apparently Godless age.

Padre Pio was born in 1887. We know that as a student he read the newly-published 'autobiography' of St Therese. (He was also much influenced by another devotee of Therese, that incomparable little flower herself, St Gemma Galgani.)

Therese died in 1897. I think she somehow in her last months experienced that near-despair which would be the lot of so many of our contemporaries in the twentieth century. Marthe Robin was born in 1902.

Her only food was the Holy Eucharist

From the age of 28 she was completely paralysed and bedridden. At first she still had the power to move thumb and forefinger of one hand whereby she could still tell her beads. Eventually this, too, was lost to her and she was completely immobile apart from her head which she could move slightly. Since the previous year, at the age of 25, she could not eat anything at all. And from the age of 26 and her total paralysis she couldn't even take a sip of water. When doctors tried to force some water down her throat, it merely came down her nostrils.

For the next 53 years Marthe's only food was the Holy Eucharist. Once a week her spiritual father brought her the Sacred Host. On more than one occasion both he and other visiting priests, saw the Host apparently leap from their hands and fly directly to her mouth. Even a bishop testified that he saw it apparently dissolve once it passed her lips.

Her Holy Communion was weekly. Once she had received Jesus she went immediately into ecstasy and then began her weekly re-living of Christ's Passion and crucifixion. The stigmata and the scourging, the crowning with thorns appeared on her body. The whole crucifixion seemed to be re-enacted on this little countrywoman and from the moment of Christ's death on the Cross she too appeared dead. Thus she would remain until 'called back' to life under obedience by her spiritual father on the Sunday. (This would eventually become the Monday and then even the Tuesday following the Friday crucifixion.)

I said that for 53 years Marthe ate not a crumb of food. Neither did she sleep. She was in constant prayer and intercession for the world. On the days when she was not reliving the Passion she would receive a stream of visitors. Like Padre Pio she had the gift of seeing into people's souls and would very simply tell them what they most needed to hear. Also like the Padre she could not abide anyone coming to see her out of mere curiosity or expecting to 'have their fortunes told.'

One famous French philosopher and member of the prestigious Academie Francaise, Jean Guitton, wrote how he was bowled over on meeting this extraordinary little woman on a visit to her family's small farmhouse where she lived in a bed in one small room. As a renowned intellectual, Guitton was fascinated by the fact that she never slept. He concluded that she was a "living brain" which was constantly active. Soon, of course, he realised that she was "more, much more, than that."

She was directed to found a school, first for girls and then one for boys, in her native village. All this she directed and led to the smallest detail from her bed in her darkened little room! But more was to follow. She was then told to found a community which would welcome retreatants and which would be a home of "light, charity and love." It became known as the 'Foyer de Charite' and there are now some 70 houses and communities throughout the world.

Our Lady gave very specific instructions about what was to happen in these houses. Each one was to be led by a priest, 'the Father', and the retreats were to be in complete silence apart from the prayers and the preaching of the Father which would lead to a complete renewal in the Faith of the participants. And they were to be five days long. Three days was "not enough to change a soul." The retreats were, and are, based very much on the teaching of that great Marian apostle, St. Louis de Montfort. Indeed, one time after an ecstasy a copy of his Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin was found on Marthe's bed. No one knew where it had come from. Marthe told them our Lady left it!

Like Padre Pio and others who live a high degree of union with Our Blessed Lord, Marthe also had to suffer assaults from the Devil. As in a similar incident with Padre Pio, our Lady assisted Marthe and one time when she was thrown onto the floor, herself placed a cushion under Marthe's head.

Like Padre and other truly holy souls, Marthe was also very discreet about her supernatural experiences. But she did often speak to close friends about her special relationship with St Therese of Lisieux. On more than one occasion she confirmed that St Therese had appeared to her three times. She said that Therese had told her that her work, like that of Therese, would be much greater after her death than while she was alive in her Carmel of Lisieux. And Therese said that Marthe would have a great mission to continue in her 'Little Way.'

"For your beloved souls, the priests"
An offering made by Marthe in 1939 (renewing her Act of Abandonment of 1925) echoes so closely that made by Padre Pio. She said, "Lord, I offer myself, I give myself again to You for all the souls in the world, for the sanctity of your beloved souls the priests, especially for those whose sins I carry in my heart.
"That through me, Lord, by my prayer, by my love, by my sufferings, by my immolation, by any exterior actions I may have, that by my whole life their apostolate will be more effective, more fruitful, more holy, more divine."

Another paragraph of that offering would surely have struck a chord with Padre Pio, who offered the Mass with such love, devotion and tenderness that he would often weep. Marthe prayed for her beloved priests, "May their Mass be less of a sumptuous exterior ceremony during which they are busy, distracted, distant, and more an act of profound tenderness."

And like Padre Pio, Marthe seemed to be able to be - or at least see what was happening - elsewhere. She could tell her spiritual father, exactly what had happened that day during the retreat in the Foyer in the village. She could tell him which parts of the talks he gave were good and where he might have been a bit distracted for example. And this ability and concern for the well-being of the retreatants reached down to the smallest detail. She would point out clearly to the members of the community if there had been any lack in charity or if the silence had been broken. She would say if the retreatants needed more heating or if something was not good enough with the meals.

When Marthe died aged 79, after suffering the Passion and Crucifixion a last time in February 1981, over 250 priests and several bishops concelebrated her Requiem. Her work of the Foyers de Charite continues and grows.
Thank God who in his infinite Mercy has given us such souls as our beloved Padre Pio, St Gemma Galgani, Marthe Robin and who knows how many hidden 'victims' to intercede with Him to the Father for mercy in these times we live in.

The very existence of a Padre Pio, a Marthe Robin, surely proves once again the "loving mercy of the Heart of our God." He cannot change. He sent his only Son to die for us. The Holy Spirit, our Advocate, inspires certain chosen souls to identify in a special way in the redemptive work of our Saviour. They are led and helped particularly by she who stood by the Cross, Our Blessed Mother of Mercy.

What a mighty God who in this century of atheism, rejection of his ways, mass murder, and all sorts of blasphemy and sacrilege should respond with grace upon grace. May we respond, with our brothers and sisters those victim souls, before it is too late. May St Therese Padre Pio, Marthe Robin intercede for us and inspire us

[The above article was from the Voice of Padre Pio speaks of another soul, who like Padre Pio, offered herself to God on behalf of others.]

Vocations to Follow Jesus in Religious Life..

Servant of God Frank Duff...Founder of the Legion of Mary

Servant of God Frank Duff (June 7, 1889 - November 7, 1980) was a native of Dublin, Ireland, born as the eldest child of a wealthy family. He is best known for bringing attention to the role of the laity during the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church, and for founding the Legion of Mary.

Early life

Francis Michael Duff was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 7, 1889. He attended Blackrock College, then joined the Roman Catholic organization for laity known as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1913 and was greatly influenced by the spirit of the Society. He entered the Civil Service at the age of 18 and had a distinguished career. His free time he at first dedicated to sporting activities, but at the age of 24 he joined the Society of St. Vincent de Paul where he was led to a deeper commitment to his Catholic faith and at the same time he acquired a great sensitivity to the needs of the poor and underprivileged. Along with a group of Catholic women and Fr. Michael Toher, a priest of the Dublin Archdiocese, he formed the first branch of what was to become the first praesidium of the Legion of Mary on September 7, 1921.

From that date until his death, November 7, 1980, he guided the world-wide extension of the Legion with heroic dedication. He attended the Second Vatican Council as a lay observer. He died on the evening of November 7, 1980 aged 91 years. His Cause for Beatification was introduced by His Eminence Desmond Cardinal Connell, the then Archbishop of Dublin, in June 1996.


In 1916, aged 27, Duff published his first pamphlet entitled "Can we be Saints?" In it he expressed the conviction that all without exception are called to be saints, and that through Christian faith all persons have available the means necessary to attain such sainthood.


In 1917 he came to know the Treatise of St. Louis de Montfort on the True Devotion to Mary, a work brought to his attention the importance of Mary in the life of the laity. feast June 7

The Legion of Mary
On September 7, 1921 Frank Duff founded the Legion of Mary. This is a lay apostolic organisation at the service of the Roman Catholic Church, under ecclesiastical guidance. Its twofold purpose is the spiritual development of its members and advancing the reign of Christ through Mary.
The Legion operates throughout the world. Today between active and auxiliary (praying) members there are in excess of 10 million members worldwide.


Later life

In 1965 Pope Paul VI invited Frank Duff to attend the Second Vatican Council as a Lay Observer, an honour by which the Pope recognised and affirmed his enormous work for the lay apostolate. Frank Duff would question the lack of apostolic zeal of many Catholics, leading him to wonder whether they had the Catholic faith to begin with.


In his book about Frank Duff, Fr Robert Bradshaw said that Frank Duff had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus but he had difficulty at first becoming a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association because it meant wearing the badge which has a picture in the center of the Sacred Heart. Frank did not like wearing his religion in public. But feeling that he was denying Our Lord he became a member and went even further by having a special Pioneer badge made for himself which would make the picture of the Sacred Heart more visible.


Later Frank helped Joe Gabbett set up the Catholic Breakfast center for the poor in Whitefriars Street because Protestant Proselytizing Centers were obliging the poor to listen to a Protestant service in order to obtain a Breakfast. Frank was very impressed by the big picture of the Sacred Heart that Joe Gabbett had overseeing their breakfast center. Frank made promotion of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus a part of the Legion Apostolate. Frank took to heart the words of Our Lord to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque "My Heart is so inflamed with Love for men that it is no longer able to keep within itself the flames of its burning Love. It must make itself known unto men in order to enrich them with the treasures it contains" and on another occasion Jesus told her "Behold this Heart which has loved men so much and yet is so little loved in return". And later when Frank joined the Secular Franciscan Order he probably really absorbed Saint Francis weeping lament about Jesus when he said "Love is not loved".

Frank would spend his life trying to make 'Love loved' by as many people as possible and to make them realise that Love loved them. To this end he would try to have Legionaries get the picture of the Sacred Heart enthroned in the homes they visited. He also encouraged Legionaries to use and explain the Miraculous Medal to their contacts which also has a picture of the Sacred heart on the back. Frank probably understood Jesus' words when He said "I have come to set fire to the earth and how I wish it was burning already" (Lk 12:49) to mean that Jesus wanted everyone to know about the fire burning in His Sacred Heart for mankind so that all mankind would be burning with love for God. It is no coincidence that Frank Duff was born and died on the First Friday of the month. He had a mission to fulfill for the Sacred Heart of Jesus.


Frank had great faith in the Mercy and love of Jesus for mankind, he wrote the following prayer:

"O Lord, all hearts are in Your Hand You can bend as it pleases You the most obdurate and soften the most hardened. Do that honour this night through the Blood, merits, wounds, names and inflamed Hearts of Your Beloved Son and His Most Holy Mother by granting the conversion of the whole world. Nothing less My God, Nothing less because of Mary Thy Mother and because of Thy might and Thy Mercy"

On November 7, 1980 Frank Duff died and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.


In July 1996 the Cause of his canonisation was introduced by the Archbishop of Dublin, Desmond Connell.


From Wikipedia..

Venerable Concepción Cabrera de Armida

The Venerable Concepción Cabrera de Armida (born on December 8, 1862 in San Luis Potosí, Mexico and died on March 3, 1937 in Mexico City) was a Mexican Roman Catholic mystic and writer.

She is also referred to as María Concepción Cabrera Arias de Armida, sometimes as Conchita Cabrera de Armida or Conchita Cabrera Arias de Armida, and often simply as Conchita.

 

Her Life

She was born to Octaviano Cabrera Lacaveux and Clara Arias Rivera who had a respectable, but not lavish family life. She had a simple, happy and at times playful childhood. Although she recalled to have often disobeyed her parents as a child, she showed a special love for the Holy Eucharist from an early age.
In 1884 she married Francisco Armida and had nine children between 1885 and 1899. In 1901, when she was 39 years old, her husband died and she had to care for her children, the youngest of whom was two years old. Her life as a widow was not made any easier by the fact that the Mexican Civil War raged from 1910 to 1921 and took the lives of 900,000 of Mexico's population of 15 million. Yet her writings reflect an amazing tranquility, amid the chaos that surrounded her.

As a mystic, she reported that she heard God telling her: "Ask me for a long suffering life and to write a lot... That's your mission on earth". She never claimed direct visions of Jesus and Mary but spoke of Jesus through her prayers and meditations.

Her spiritual life started before the death of her husband. In 1894 she took "spiritual nupitals" and in 1896 wrote in her diary: "In truth, after I touched God and had an imperfect notion of His Being, I wanted to prostrate myself, my forehead and my heart, in the dust and never get up again." During her life her writings were examined by the Catholic Church in Mexico and even during her pilgrimage to Rome in 1913 where she had an audience with Pope Pius X. In all cases, Church authorities looked favorably on her writings.

Her writings were widely distributed and inspired the establishment of the five apostolates of the 'Works of the Cross' in Mexico: 'Apostolate of the Cross' founded in 1895, 'Congregation of Sisters of the Cross of the Sacred Heart of Jesus' founded in 1897, 'Covenant of Love with the Heart of Jesus' founded in 1909, 'The Priestly Fraternity' founded in 1912, and 'The Congregation of Missionaries of the Holy Spirit' founded in 1914. These apostolates continue today.

Conchita died on March 3, 1937, at the age of 75 and is buried at the Church of San José del Altillo in Mexico City. She had lived a multi-faceted life, being a mother, a widow, a mystic and a writer. Of herself she wrote:

"I carry within me three lives, all very strong: family life with its multiple sorrows of a thousand kinds, that is, the life of a mother; the life of the Works of the Cross with all its sorrows and weight, which at times crushes me until I have no strength left; and the life of the spirit or interior life, which is the heaviest of all, with its highs and lows, its tempests and struggles, its light and darkness. Blessed be God for everything!"

As a lay woman, she often aimed to show her readers how to love the Church. She wrote: "To love the Church is not to criticize her, not to destroy her, not to try to change her essential structures, not to reduce her to humanism, horizontalism and to the simple service of a human liberation. To love the Church is to cooperate with the work of Redemption by the Cross and in this way obtain the grace of the Holy Spirit come to renew the face of this poor earth, conducting it to its consummation in the design of the Father's immense love."

Her book I Am: Eucharistic Meditations on the Gospel, was the results of meditations during Eucharistic adoration. It aims to clarify the words with which Jesus defines Who He is in a variety of statements beginning with the words: "I am".

In Seasons of the Soul she viewed the maturation of spiritual life as an ongoing process through the various seasons until the soul has fulfilled its purpose on earth. It discusses how the Holy Spirit is at work gradually transforming the soul through its seasons in the image and likeness of Jesus.

The book A Mother's Letters reflects the fact that she was not a cloistered mystic but a busy mother with nine children and a widow during a turbulent time in Mexico's political history. The letters provide a glimpse of her warm, human side as she communicates with her family.

Her other books include: To My Priests, Holy Hours, Before the Altar, You Belong to the Church and Irresistibly Drawn to the Eucharist.

Her canonization process was started in 1959 by the Archbishop of Mexico City, at which time about 200 volumes of her writings were submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Pope John Paul II declared her venerable on December 20, 1999 and she is currently in the process of beatification.

Article from Wikipedia..

Confraternity of Catholic Priests Australia...

The Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy is a private, voluntary and fraternal association of Catholic clerics of the Dioceses of Australia constituted in 1987 under statutes in conforming with the 1983 Code of Canon Law under Canon 278 §1:

Their fraternity helps members to build up one another in the grace of their priestly vocation; it increases the wider flourishing of authentic living and exercise of vocations among bishops, priests and deacons; and it attracts younger men to consider a vocation to the sacred ministry of the Church.

Secular clergy have the right of association with others for the achievement of purposes befitting the clerical state.

Objectives

The aims of the ACCC are to:

• give glory and honour to the Most Blessed Trinity;
• assist the eternal salvation and holiness of members;
• foster unity among Catholic priests and deacons with the bishops in loyalty to the Supreme Magisterium;
• encourage faithfulness to priestly life and ministry;
• assist bishops, priests, and deacons in the fulfilment of their ministry of teaching, sanctifying, and governing.

Membership
All Australian bishops, priests and deacons are invited to membership. Priest or deacon associate membership is open to priests and deacons who are members of religious institutes or secular institutes. Lay faithful who wish to support the clerical association in its objectives are invited to lay associate membership.

Website:  http://www.clergy.asn.au/

Hearts Home and the Fraternity of Molokai

France-based Heart’s Home was founded by Priest Father Thierry de Roucy in 1990. Five years later, he started the Fraternity of Molokai, a priestly branch of the group, now with about 30 priests and seminarians. The name, he said, came to him in an inspiration while he was in Senegal. He chose St. Damien as a patron because of “his desire to exactly the same life of the lepers of his parish.” But instead of naming the group after Damien, Father de Roucy named it after the island of Molokai, in homage to the people.

“It’s the people that make us what we are,” explained Father Gonzague Leroux, a member of the fraternity. Ten priests from the group came to Molokai.

“It was special to see where he became a saint,” said another member, Deacon Edward De Grivel, “and have mass in the first chapel he built.”

The Heart’s Home group stayed at Pu`u O Hoku Ranch during their week-long stay on the island, where they learned about St. Damien’s life and work on Molokai, held masses and enjoyed the tranquil landscapes. They also visited Kalaupapa during their trip, described by Father Leroux as a “theological vacation.” 

“The aloha spirit is so beautiful,” he said.  “We carry the same spirit all around the world.”

In a special mass held at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, three members became “lay-consecrated” by taking the same life-long vows of poverty, obedience and chastity taken by priests and nuns, but without becoming ordained or wearing a habit. While many people take their vows surrounded by family and friends, these three young people chose their consecration to take place on Molokai.

“When they proposed the Molokai trip, I thought, ‘it’s a gift,’” said Alexander Descours, one of the three newly lay-consecrated. “It’s unbelievable [to take vows in St. Damien’s home].”

Heart’s Home, inspired by St. Damien’s work and dedicated to compassion for those in need, has 45 centers in 22 countries around the world.

Sylvie Muller is a lay-consecrated member who made the journey to Molokai. Muller’s current mission is in Brooklyn, New York. She began with Heart’s Home, as many do, as a volunteer, first sent to serve in Argentina over 10 years ago. She said though her work with Brooklyn’s elderly, under-privileged and home-bound is often difficult, she is inspired by Saint Damien’s closeness to the people he served and how much he loved them.

“You don’t know how I was longing to be closer to Damien and follow in his footsteps,” said. St. Damien “gives meaning to what I do and what I am.”

Article from:  http://www.themolokaidispatch.com/following-his-footsteps

Their website:  http://heartshome.org/

Catherine de Hueck Doherty....Madonna House Apostolate

She was born Ekaterina (Catherine) Fyodorovna Kolyschkine (Екатерина Фёдоровна Колышкина) in Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire. Her parents, Fyodor and Emma Kolyschkine, belonged to the minor nobility and were devout members of the Russian Orthodox Church who had their child baptized in St. Petersburg on September 15, 1896. She was not baptized on the same day that she was born because her mother was worried she might get a disease since she was born on a train.

Schooled abroad because of her father's job, Catherine and her family returned to St. Petersburg in 1910, where she was enrolled in the prestigious Princess Obolensky Academy. In 1912, aged 15, she made what turned out to be a disastrous marriage with her first cousin, Boris de Hueck (1889–1947).

At the outbreak of World War I, Catherine de Hueck became a Red Cross nurse at the front, experiencing the horrors of battle firsthand. On her return to St. Petersburg, she and Boris barely escaped the turmoil of the Russian Revolution with their lives, nearly starving to death as refugees in Finland. Together they made their way to England, where Catherine was received into communion with the Roman Catholic Church on November 27, 1919, becoming a Russian Greek-Catholic.

Immigrating to Canada with Boris, Catherine gave birth to their only child, George, in Toronto in 1921. Soon she and Boris became more and more painfully estranged from one another, as he pursued extramarital affairs. To make ends meet, Catherine took various jobs and eventually became a lecturer, travelling a circuit that took her across North America.

 

Friendship House

Prosperous now, but deeply dissatisfied with a life of material comfort, her marriage in ruins, Catherine began to feel the promptings of a deeper call through a passage that leaped to her eyes every time she opened the Bible: "Arise — go... sell all you possess... take up your cross and follow Me." Consulting with various priests and the bishop of the diocese, she began her lay apostolate among the poor in Toronto in the early 1930s, calling it Friendship House.

Because her interracial approach was so different from what was being done at the time, she encountered much persecution and resistance, and Friendship House was forced to close in 1936. Catherine then went to Europe and spent a year investigating Catholic Action. On her return, she was given the chance to revive Friendship House in New York City among the poor in Harlem. In time, more than a dozen Friendship Houses would be founded in North America.

In 1943, having received an annulment of her first marriage, as she had married her cousin, which is forbidden in the Church, she married Eddie Doherty, one of America's foremost reporters, who had fallen in love with her while writing a story about her apostolate.

 

Madonna House

Serious disagreements arose between the staff of Friendship House and its foundress, particularly surrounding her marriage. When these could not be resolved, Catherine and Eddie moved to Combermere, Ontario, on May 17, 1947, naming their new rural apostolate Madonna House. This was to be the seedbed of an apostolate that, in the year 2000, numbered more than 200 staff workers and over 125 associate priests, deacons, and bishops, with 22 missionary field-houses throughout the world.

Catherine Doherty died on December 14, 1985 in Combermere at the age of 89. Since then, the cause for Catherine's canonization as a saint has been officially opened in the Catholic Church.

Quote from Catherine:  "The duty of the moment is what you should be doing at any given time, in whatever place God has put you. You may not have Christ in a homeless person at your door, but you may have a little child. If you have a child, your duty of the moment may be to change a dirty diaper. So you do it. But you don't just change that diaper, you change it to the best of your ability, with great love for both God and that child.... There are all kinds of good Catholic things you can do, but whatever they are, you have to realize that there is always the duty of the moment to be done. And it must be done, because the duty of the moment is the duty of God."

Websites:  http://www.madonnahouse.org/doherty/
                 http://www.catherinedoherty.org/life/

Traditional Benedictine Monastic Order......

The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles is a traditional monastic community of women who desire to imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary in the giving of herself to God to fulfill His Will, especially in her role of assistance by prayer and work to the Apostles, first priests of the Catholic Church.

Society in these latter days is in obvious dire need of re-evangelization and sanctification through the ministry in particular of the sacred priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. Although times have changed, the divine mission committed to the first Apostles, as well as the needs of those to whom they were sent, have not. It is their ideal to imitate Our Lady's retirement from the world in quiet seclusion, as well as her apostolic charity. Consecrated entirely to her and filled with her spirit, which is none other than the Holy Spirit of God, they aspire to be, to the successors of the Apostles in our times, what she was to them in the beginning: behind-the-scenes encouragement, assistance and support.

Their charism, therefore, is to be united at the foot of the Cross with Our Lady who receives the mercy and grace, that blood and water which Our Lord's Heart cannot contain, for His priests in the person of St. John. They are simply vessels in her hands; she fills them, and only to pour them out again. This explains their joy! With the sacred contents, she nourishes and strengthens the priest in his spiritual life, washes him from the contagion of the world, and quenches his thirst after preaching the Word. Being sent to bring God's mercy and His life to the nations, they are a "light shining in the darkness".

From:  http://www.benedictinesofmary.org/page-home.html

St. Gianna Molla

Gianna Beretta was born in Magenta (Milan) October 4, 1922. Already as a youth she willingly accepted the gift of faith and the clearly Christian education that she received from her excellent parents. As a result, she experienced life as a marvellous gift from God, had a strong faith in Providence and was convinced of the necessity and effectiveness of prayer.

She diligently dedicated herself to studies during the years of her secondary and university education, while, at the same time, applying her faith through generous apostolic service among the youth of Catholic Action and charitable work among the elderly and needy as a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. After earning degrees in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Pavia in 1949, she opened a medical clinic in Mesero (near Magenta) in 1950. She specialized in Pediatrics at the University of Milan in 1952 and there after gave special attention to mothers, babies, the elderly and poor.

While working in the field of medicine-which she considered a “mission” and practiced as such-she increased her generous service to Catholic Action, especially among the “very young” and, at the same time, expressed her joie de vivre and love of creation through skiing and mountaineering. Through her prayers and those of others, she reflected upon her vocation, which she also considered a gift from God. Having chosen the vocation of marriage, she embraced it with complete enthusiasm and wholly dedicated herself “to forming a truly Christian family”.

She became engaged to Pietro Molla and was radiant with joy and happiness during the time of their engagement, for which she thanked and praised the Lord. They were married on September 24, 1955, in the Basilica of St. Martin in Magenta, and she became a happy wife. In November 1956, to her great joy, she became the mother of Pierluigi, in December 1957 of Mariolina; in July 1959 of Laura. With simplicity and equilibrium she harmonized the demands of mother, wife, doctor and her passion for life.

In September 1961 towards the end of the second month of pregnancy, she was touched by suffering and the mystery of pain; she had developed a fibroma in her uterus. Before the required surgical operation, and conscious of the risk that her continued pregnancy brought, she pleaded with the surgeon to save the life of the child she was carrying, and entrusted herself to prayer and Providence. The life was saved, for which she thanked the Lord. She spent the seven months remaining until the birth of the child in incomparable strength of spirit and unrelenting dedication to her tasks as mother and doctor. She worried that the baby in her womb might be born in pain, and she asked God to prevent that.

A few days before the child was due, although trusting as always in Providence, she was ready to give her life in order to save that of her child: “If you must decided between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child - I insist on it. Save him”. On the morning of April 21, 1962, Gianna Emanuela was born. Despite all efforts and treatments to save both of them, on the morning of April 28, amid unspeakable pain and after repeated exclamations of “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you», the mother died. She was 39 years old. Her funeral was an occasion of profound grief, faith and prayer. The Servant of God lies in the cemetery of Mesero (4 km from Magenta).

“Conscious immolation», was the phrase used by Pope Paul VI to define the act of Blessed Gianna, remembering her at the Sunday Angelus of September 23, 1973, as: “A young mother from the diocese of Milan, who, to give life to her daughter, sacrificed her own, with conscious immolation”. The Holy Father in these words clearly refers to Christ on Calvary and in the Eucharist.

Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, during the international Year of the Family. She was canonised by Pope John Paul in 2004.

Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT)

The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, whose spirituality leads to communion with the Most Holy Trinity through discipleship of Jesus and Mary, was founded on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16, 1958, by Father James H. Flanagan under the guidance of Archbishop Edwin V. Byrne, D.D., of Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. The Society’s international headquarters is currently located in Robstown, Texas, in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. When the Society achieves pontifical status, the headquarters will be transferred to Rome.

The Society of Our Lady is comprised of priests and permanent deacons, religious, and single and married laity united in the solidarity of graced friendships as a family, in fidelity, loyalty and charity. United to the saving mission and ministries of the Church, the members serve in Her apostolic works, especially in the areas of deepest human and spiritual need.

By serving together on ecclesial teams, the members of Our Lady’s Society present to the People of God an image of the Church-as-Community in the gift of Her three vocations of priest, religious and laity. By their special dedication to imitate Mary in her communion with the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity and in her communion with all in becoming like Jesus, they bear witness to the People of God of the Church-as-Community.

Website: www.societyofourlady.net/

The Christian Missionary & Olympian who put God in First Place

Eric Liddell was a Scottish Olympic champion at 400 m and a famous Christian missionary; his inspirational life was captured in the film 'Chariots of Fire'

Although his parents was Scottish, Eric Liddell was both born and died in China. He was born on 16 January 1902 in the city of Tientsin (now Tianjin) in north-eastern China.

He was sent to Eltham College, a Christian boarding school for 12 years. In 1921, he moved to Edinburgh University where he studied Pure Science. From his schooldays he was an outsanding sportsman, excelling in short distance running, rugby union and cricket. In 1922 and 23 he played for Scotland Rugby Union in the Five Nations. However, it was at running that he really excelled, and after setting a new British record in the 1923 100 yards sprint, he was considered a great prospect for the Olympics in 1924.

Eric Liddell was a committed protestant Christian. Because the heats of the 100m sprint was held on Sunday, he withdrew from the race - a race considered to be his strongest. Instead he concentrated on the 400 metres as the race schedule didn't involve a Sunday.

Liddell was considered to be a strong favourite for the race. Before the final the US Olympic masseur slipped a piece of paper into his hand. It included the words from the Bible 1 Samuel 2:30 "Those who honour me I will honour".   Sprinting from the start, Liddell created a significant gap to the other runners and held onto win Gold and set a new Olympic record time of 47.6 seconds. He described his race plan:

"The secret of my success over the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can. Then, for the second 200m, with God's help I run faster." 

He also won bronze in the 200m. In this race, he also beat Harold Abrahams a British rival and team-mate.
Liddell's running style was unorthodox. Towards the end of the race he would fling his head back, with mouth wide open appearing to gasp for breath.

Life as a Christian Missionary

In 1925, Liddell returned to northern China to serve as a missionary like his parents. In China he remained fit, but only competed sporadically.  Liddell married Florence Mackenzie a Canadian missionary. They had three daughters Patricia, Heather and Maureen.
In 1941, the advancing Japanese army pressed Liddell and his family to flee to a rural mission station. Liddell was kept very busy dealing with the stream of locals who came to the station for medical treatment and food.
In 1943, the Japanese reached the mission statement and Liddell was interned. Aggravated by the shortage of food and medical treatment, Liddell developed a brain tumour and died five months before libeartion.

Many camp internee's attest to the strong moral character of Liddell. He was seen as a great unifying force and helped to ease tensions through his selflessness and impartiality.
In "The Courtyard of the Happy Way", Norman Cliff, wrote of Liddell

"the finest Christian gentleman it has been my pleasure to meet. In all the time in the camp, I never heard him say a bad word about anybody".

A fellow internee, Stephen Metcalfe, later wrote of Liddell: "He gave me two things. One was his worn out running shoes, but the best thing he gave me was his baton of forgiveness. He taught me to love my enemies, the Japanese, and to pray for them."


Citation : Pettinger, Tejvan. "Biography of Eric Liddell ", Oxford, UK www.biographyonline.net, 22nd Jan. 2011

Above article from:  http://www.biographyonline.net/sport/athletics/eric-liddell.html

"We are all missionaries. Wherever we go we either bring people nearer to Christ or

we repel them from Christ."  - Eric Liddell

The Emmanuel Community.....

The Emmanuel Community is an "International Public Association of the Faithful" of pontifical right under Canon Law. Its Statutes were officially approved by the Pontifical Council for the Laity on December 8, 1992. By granting it "public" status, the Holy See recognizes that the Emmanuel Community acts in the name of the Catholic Church, that is not only for the particular good of its own members but for the common good of the whole Church, participating in this way in the renewal of missionary conscience among all the baptized.

The Emmanuel Community gathers more than 8,000 members around the world and is present in 57 countries. It brings together families, single people, priests (233), seminarians (100), and consecrated lay people living in celibacy for the kingdom (25 brothers and 170 sisters). Four bishops have already been appointed from priests of the Emmanuel Community.

The mission of the Emmanuel Community is to offer a path to its members to answer God's call to holiness and proclaim Christ in today's world. It is particularly through Eucharistic adoration, compassion, and evangelization that its members are called to manifest God's presence with us ( "Emmanuel"). The Emmanuel Community proposes concrete ways to its members to grow spiritually, notably through the attendance of daily mass, the invitation to take long times of silent adoration each day, the call to leave a joyful and simple life with a constant heart of praise, and various communal activities, including praying together and sharing on a weekly basis on the Word of God and evangelization efforts.

The Emmanuel Community carries out significant evangelization events around the world, such as its famous five-day summer retreat sessions in Paray-le-Monial (France), which gather over 30,000 people every year. The Emmanuel Community is regularly entrusted major responsibilities in the organization of the World Youth Days. As a sign of trust and proven track record in the field of evangelization, numerous bishops around the world have given to the Emmanuel Community the responsibility of more than 60 major diocesan parishes as well as numerous pilgrimage sanctuaries. Since 1984, the Emmanuel Community has been charged by the Pontifical Council for the Laity to coordinate the Pope's International San Lorenzo Center for Young People just off Saint Peter's Square. The Emmanuel Community also runs several evangelization schools around the world, such as the Emmanuel School of Mission in Rome.

The Emmanuel Community has been present in the United States since 1992, particularly through a vibrant prayer group in New York City that remained in existence for twelve years (first at Old Saint Patrick's Cathedral Church, then at New York University Holy Trinity Chapel). It has also organized numerous evangelization events throughout the United States.

Above article From:  http://www.emmanuelcommunity.com/

Supporting Family Life.......

The Holy Family Apostolate is an association for Roman Catholic families who, while not presuming to be composed of holy members, take seriously the command of Our Lord Jesus Christ, “Be ye perfect as your Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48).

Their field of apostolate is firstly to themselves as individuals, then family members, from whom they have to answer directly to God, and lastly other families, as good families will necessarily produce a better society.

They take as their patrons the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, whose love for us cannot ever be adequately expressed, and to whom we can best show our love and admiration by attempting to emulate.

Many worthy groups and many good materials exist to support families in their vital role, and they aim, when possible, to promote the best of these and produce their own material for the good of families. In this regard they currently produce a newsletter which aims to form and inform. They occasionally arrange ‘ family days’ (in Scotland) sometimes meeting socially at, for example places of Catholic interest, or at a family home for a talk and activities. They also arrange, twice yearly, ‘Catholic family Weekends’ which have proven to be highly popular.

The mission field of the married person is firstly within the threshold of his or her own house; here he or she is obliged to practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

The enemies of our souls referred to by Our Lord Jesus Christ as “the world, the flesh and the devil” are increasingly influencing the age we live in, and many parents today are alarmed at the increasing spiritual and moral danger their children are being exposed to, and feel let down by those in positions of authority who have failed them. They often feel isolated and overwhelmed by the pace of change in a  world that is rapidly becoming pagan and immoral.

The Holy Family Apostolate was established by concerned parents in order to support each other in carrying out this important mission. The Holy Family Apostolate encourages parents to ‘work as if everything depends on them, but pray as if everything depends on God’. Ora et Laborais just as necessary for the parent as it is for the monk.

Pius XII prophetically stated “to consider the state as something ultimate, to which everything else should be subordinated and directed, cannot fail to harm the true and lasting prosperity of nations”. Laws are now passed which attack or undermine family life, and the forces of good seem at times to be powerless against the all-mighty state.

The Holy Family Apostolate encourages all to fight for the family and the Faith in whatever ways they can, and if, like Peter, they begin to sink ebeneath the waves, to do as Peter did, and cast our eyes on Jesus, our harbour and our hope.

The Holy Family Apostolate promotes the traditional Church and Marian devotions, including the family Rosary and the Brown Scapular, encouraging all to take refuge in the heart of Our heavenly Mother, whose Immaculate Heart will ultimately triumph, and only then will true peace come to the world.

If you believe in adhering to the magisterial teachings of the One Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church and are of good will and serious about your sanctification and the sanctification of others, well perhaps you would like to join them. They are fairly new and don’t promise to do great things, but hope to do little things well, for the good of souls. Good will and a desire for the salvation of ourselves and others is expected of all members.

Abpve from their website: http://holyfamilyapostolate.wordpress.com/

Other Contacts...

• Holy Family Apostolate, c/o 22 Milton Road East, Edinburgh EH15 2NJ (Scotland);
• tel. no.: +44 (0)131-669 1434;
• email: holyfamilyapostolate at gmail.com

Jackie Pullinger - Serving Christ in the Most Broken and Abandoned..

Voice in the above video is that of Jackie Pullinger...

Jackie Pullinger born in 1944,  is a British Protestant Christian.  She is founder and director of St. Stephen’s Society in Hong Kong.  At the age of 15 Pullinger graduated from the Royal College of Music having specialized in the oboe. She wanted to be a missionary, so she wrote to various missionary organizations. At first she wanted to go to Africa, but then she had a dream that impressed upon her the idea of going to Hong Kong.   Unable to find support from missionary organizations, she sought advice from Richard Thompson, a minister in Shoreditch, who told her that she should buy a ticket for a boat going as far as she could get and to pray to know when to get off the boat. She followed his advice and went to Hong Kong by boat in 1966.

Jackie felt called by God to Hong Kong to work amongst the prostitutes and drug addicts living in the notorious walled city. Though fearful for her own safety, daily she would try to make contact with people who lived in some of the worst conditions one could imagine. But after six months little had been achieved and despair set in.

She agonized about it for days. If God has called me to be here why aren’t people responding? One morning she realized what was wrong. She’d been telling people that God loves them and that Jesus loves them and wants to forgive them but she’d not been loving them in any practical way. She needed to go and be as Jesus, with them.


The next three months she spent “soaking herself in Scripture and prayer - and being drenched by the Holy Spirit!” Her new and very practical approach yielded a remarkable response. Providing food, shelter and healthcare, visiting prisons, speaking up for victims, these became the ingredients of her everyday life. The situation was so transformed that even the drug barons watched out for her safety.


She’s still there and so is the church that grew from her work but the Walled City isn’t. It was demolished ten years ago. Though the St Stephen's Society began and continues to grow in Hong Kong, it also serves in countries surrounding Hong Kong, as well as the Philippines and Thailand.


Jackie grew up in England but has been living in Hong Kong since 1966.


For more information on Jackie and her work...http://www.ststephenssociety.com/ 

The Cenacolo Community

The Cenacolo community was founded by Sr Elvira Petrozzi, an Italian nun in 1983. For many years she had been concerned by the destruction she had seen among young people through drug abuse and she longed to help them. Since she had no formal training to work with addicts and the charism of her order was teaching, it was 8 years before she managed to persuade her superiors that this was a genuine call of God and to release her for the work.

She began with two companions - a fellow religious, Sr Aurelia, and a teacher Nives Grato. They were given an abandoned old house in the city of Saluzzo in Italy, which was leased to her by the city for a dollar a year, and on July 16th, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Cenacolo community officially opened. Soon young people began to arrive on her doorstep needing help and the work began. Sr Elvira has leamt as she has gone along. In the beginning the young addicts were allowed to smoke and have a glass of wine, Italian style, with their meals. She soon leamt, however, that such social niceties were not possible for people fighting with addiction. One evening she came back to find the young men in the community were all drunk, having bored a hole in the pantry wall and finished off all their supplies of wine. Now alcohol and tobacco are not allowed on the premises for anyone.


"A SCHOOL OF LIFE"

While secular de-tox programmes will use methodone and other drug substitutes to wean people off hard drugs, Sr Elvira has a completely different method. She believes that the problem of the young people is not so much one of chemical dependence on drugs, but that drugs are the only way that these young people have found to cope with their problems in life. She sees her job as showing them, a better and much more effective option - Christ. Thus Cenacolo is not so much a therapeutic community or drug rehab centre, as a school of life with prayer at its heart. The young people are thus put through a kind of intensive spiritual boot camp where they leam to live in a totally new way - to accept a simple lifestyle, and to rediscover the gifts of work, friendship and of faith in the Word of God, instead of relying on the crutch of drugs to escape from everything that is too painful to deal with. In their brochure the Cenacolo members explain their biggest problems are not the chemical withdrawals but re-orienting their lives.

One of the keys to the healing of the drug addicts is the role of their "guardian angels". These are fellow addicts who are further along the spiritual journey, who can offer emotional and spiritual support to new boys. The guardian angels provide 24 hour support for their charges, listening to them, encouraging them, making them cups of tea if they wake up in the night troubled, or even doing their work for them, if they feel too ill to do it. This unconditional love melts the hardest of hearts and helps prepare the newcomer for the day when he will do this for someone else on the programme. Later it is hoped they will take this giving attitude out into the world and help others, instead of being stuck in the self-centred spiral that many addicts find themselves in because of their drugs habit.

Article from  http://www.ccr.org.uk/archive/gn0501/g07.htm

Check out Website of Cenacolo Communita:  http://www.comunitacenacolo.it/

Protecting Human Life.......

From Pope Benedict on Vocations...

VATICAN CITY, February 10th  2011 (CNA/EWTN News) - The vitality of the Church depends on individual Catholics fostering vocations in their homes and parishes, the Pope says in his annual message for the May 15 World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

"It is essential that every local Church become more sensitive and attentive to the pastoral care of vocations," the Pope writes in his new statement issued by the Vatican on Feb. 10.

He speaks of the role of the Church in helping children and young people to grow in a real friendship with Jesus, to increase their familiarity with the Scriptures, to understand the truth of his message and to be generous in creating relationships with others.

The theme of this year's prayer for vocations day is "Proposing Vocations in the Local Church." The Pope says this "means having the courage, through an attentive and suitable concern for vocations, to point out this challenging way of following Christ which, because it is so rich in meaning, is capable of engaging the whole of one's life."

Answering Jesus' call of "Follow me!" is "no less challenging" today than it was for the disciples 2,000 years ago, says the Pope.

"It means learning to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, growing close to him, listening to his word and encountering him in the sacraments" and "learning to conform our will to his."

The Church is called to protect and love the gift of God's call to people to share in his mission and serve as ordained ministers and consecrated religious, he says.

"Particularly in these times, when the voice of the Lord seems to be drowned out by 'other voices' and his invitation to follow him by the gift of one's own life may seem too difficult, every Christian community, every member of the Church, needs to consciously feel responsible for promoting vocations."

According to a report from the U.S. bishops, there are currently 5,131 men enrolled in the U.S. seminaries. The number is up from 4,973 in 2009.

The Pope urges the faithful to take every opportunity to develop vocations. "Every moment" in Church community life from catechesis to prayer and pilgrimages can be "a precious opportunity for awakening in the people of God ... a sense of belonging to the Church and of responsibility for answering the call to priesthood and to religious life by a free and informed decision," he says.

"The ability to foster vocations," Pope Benedict concludes, "is a hallmark of the vitality of a local Church."