Maccabean Uprising – Recommendation!!!

A relatively new occurrence has happened in the last two-years, Glorious God has revealed to us that the books of the Old Testament – that of the Jewish people – completely pre-figures, and in chronological order – the history of God's New Testament people, the Catholic Church.

Do have a look; watch my short 1-minute video post about this AMAZING website!

Glory to God in the highest!

R.I.P Nunji

Nunji passed away today, only weeks after her 5th birthday. Here is a short prayer I dedicate to her, followed by another prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, patron of animals and pets.

We comforted her up until her death, she is sadly missed. Such a shock to us.
Born 18/11/2010; Died 17/12/2015.

Thanks to ChurchYear.Net for the prayers.

David and Nunji in happier times, September 2014.

Prayer in Memory of a Pet

Almighty God,
I was fortunate to receive the gift of (pet name) from You
Now that he (she) has left this life,
please help me cope with my loss with strength and courage.
I know that my beloved companion no longer suffers,
and will live on in many fond memories.
May they be treated with the care and respect
As he (she) has enriched my life,
I pray that I may enrich the lives of others. Amen.
Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation.

Prayer of Saint Francis for Animals

God Our Heavenly Father,
You created the world
to serve humanity's needs
and to lead them to You.
By our own fault
we have lost the beautiful relationship
which we once had with all your creation.
Help us to see
that by restoring our relationship with You
we will also restore it
with all Your creation.
Give us the grace
to see all animals as gifts from You
and to treat them with respect
for they are Your creation.

We pray for all animals
who are suffering as a result of our neglect.
May the order You originally established
be once again restored to the whole world
through the intercession of the Glorious Virgin Mary,
the prayers of Saint Francis
and the merits of Your Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ
Who lives and reigns with You
now and forever. Amen.

HAVE NO FEAR

"The greatest weakness in an apostle is fear. What gives rise to fear is lack of confidence in the power of the Lord; this is what oppresses the heart and tightens the throat. The apostle then ceases to offer witness. Does he remain an apostle? The disciples who abandoned the Master increased the courage of the executioners. Silence in the presence of the enemies of a cause encourages them. Fear in an apostle is the principal ally of the enemies of the cause. 'Use force to enforce silence' is the first goal in the strategy of the wicked. The terror used in all dictatorships depends on the fearfulness of apostles. Silence possesses apostolic eloquence only when it does not turn its face away from those who strike it. So it was in the case of Christ's silence. But in that sign, he demonstrated his own courage. Christ did not allow himself to be terrorised. Going out to the crowd, he said courageously: 'I am he.'

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński

Servant of God. 

Preparation for Death

O my God, I thank thee for the time which thou givest me to repair the disorders of my past life. Were I to die at this moment, the remembrance of the time I have lost should be one of my greatest torments. Ah, my Lord, thou hast given me time to love thee, and I have spent it in offending thee. I deserve to be sent to hell from the first moment in which I turned my back upon thee; but thou hast called me to repentance, and hast pardoned me. I promised to offend thee no more; but how often have I returned to sin! How often hast thou pardoned my ungrateful relapses! Blessed forever be thy mercy. If it were not infinite, how couldst thou have had so much patience with me? Who could have borne with me so long? O, how sorry do I feel for having offended so good a God! My Savior, the patience alone with which thou waitest for me ought to enamor me of thee. Ah! Do not suffer me to live any longer ungrateful to the love thou hast had for me. Detach me from every creature, and draw me entirely to thyself O my God, I will no longer dissipate the time thou givest me to repair the evil that I have done; I will spend it all in serving and loving thee. Give me holy perseverance. I love thee, O Infinite Goodness, and hope to love thee for eternity. I thank thee, O Mary; by thy advocacy thou hast obtained for me this time which is given to me. Assist me now, and obtain for me the grace to spend it all in loving thy Son, my Redeemer, and in loving thee, my queen and my mother.

St. Alphonsus Liguori.

“Preparation for Death”

Sunday Snippets: #08

SUNDAY SNIPPETS: A Catholic Carnival. 

Week starting Sunday 19th Week in ORDINARY TIME

We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other. 

I've written quite a few posts this week, guess you can say I'm back blogging more than ever.

• A have a good old rant on belief and believing in God.
• Another rant on the power of the devil.
• This week was the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe: Here is some info I him.
• Some information on my Patron Saint: St. Stanislaus Kostka.
• I also write about my Patron Saint, Stanislaus Kostka and my own life.
• This week I started a Novena for the persecuted in Iraq.
• Day ONE and Day TWO of the Novena.

Enjoy reading! All comments are greatly appreciated and welcomed!

St. Maximilian Kolbe

Today marks the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe, one of the Churches more recent living Saints and one that I have found strength in reading about. Amongst other things, he is the Patron Saint against drug addiction, and for those whom battle with a drug addiction. Quite fitting for me!

Born in Russian occupied Poland in 1894 as Raymond Kolbe, to a poor yet pious family, his parents were both Franciscan lay tertiaries. His father was hanged by the Russians whilst fighting for Polish independence, after which his mother became a Benedictine nun. Raymond's brother also became a priest.

At a young age when receiving his First Holy Communion, he had a vision of the Virgin Mary which changed his life: "I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came ti me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing ti accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said I would accept them both." - St. Maximilian Kolbe.

He founded the Immaculata Movement "Militia Immaculatae" and spread devotion to the "Miraculous Medal". He also started a magazine, "Knight of the Immaculate" which had a big publication rate for its time, and also founded a new monastery, "City of the Immaculate" near Warsaw with land given to him by the Prince of Poland. This monastery eventually started its own radio station, had a religious community of about 800 men, the largest in the world of its day, and was fully self sufficient including medical services and fire brigade. Obviously Maximilian had a great devotion to Our Lady!

He did a great number of other things in his time, but when he was arrested by the Nazi's in their invasion of Poland, eventually ending up in Auschwitz, his love of God and his fellow man didn't diminish. There he would hear confessions and celebrate Mass (with bread and wine smuggled in).

Some prisoners escaped from the camp, and Nazi retribution meant they had to kill ten prisoners for every one prisoner who escaped. The man the Nazi's chose to kill was married, and had young children. Maximilian took that mans place and was to die by starvation. Whilst fellow prisoners died, Maximilian was still fighting on, eventually having to be "killed off" with a lethal injection, dying the way he always wished - in service.

St. Stanislaus & Me

We are a pilgrim people, always on the move and learning more about our spirituality every day. Never can we learn everything our faith has to offer, regardless of how many books you have read; we are learning and improving every day until our earthly-lives are up and we're recalled to God, in Heaven, where our true home is. Life on earth is only for a mere moment in comparison to the eternal life in Heaven we all dream of!

One of my favourite Saints who I attribute to my coming back to believe in God is St. Stanislaus Kostka. He is a popular Saint, but not as widely known of as certain others, such as St. Francis, St. Augustine or more modern day ones such as St. Faustina.

St. Stanislaus died at the tender age of eighteen, so he hadn't written books, been a teacher in theology or worked his way up the hierarchy of Catholicism to be anyone viewed as important, such as a Bishop. In fact, he was only a novice in the Society of Jesus for one-year before his death, so finding information and devotional items is quite rare. It doesn't make him any less significant however; he is a beloved Saint of the Catholic Church.

In my childhood as I prepared to receive the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation (in my family parish we usually undertook the two Sacraments together) I chose to study St. Stanislaus. Originally I chose him because I would take on his name as my Confirmation name, and I thought it was a nice yet different name.

After surviving a car-accident nine-years ago - and finding faith in God once again - I would utilise my time with learning more about this Saint whom I learnt of in my childhood. I had forgotten pretty much everything I had once learned during my years away from spirituality and rejection of the church. All just teenage rebellion, trying to "find myself".

St. Stanislaus basically helped me get back into the faith I was bought up with, as opposed to going to another religion for guidance. I would read about his life, his death, and the certain things that he is a Patron Saint for. I would get very interested in him, firstly because I was at the time nineteen; he died at age eighteen, as well as learning of him being Patron Saint "against broken bones".

In my nineteen years of life, I had never broken or fractured a bone in my body, except for in the car-accident, breaking my spine. Other than that, even now, I haven't broken or fractured a bone since. This was all getting very exciting! I had studied about him in my younger days, thus his name was added to my own birth-name, but after reading he was patron against broken bones, I started to call him "My Patron Saint" once again. I have ever since!

Call it "coincidence" or true spiritual help. I myself don't believe much in coincidences - I believe in God, and through St. Stanislaus Kostka, He was inviting me back to His Church. As I grew in spirituality, I would often look for books or medallions of St. Stanislaus, but to no avail. With the power of the internet these days, however, I was able to find some items for him from international shops. Nothing that significant, but I now own a small prayer card of him, which came with its own medal to put on a chain around ones neck.

He was the first Saint I ever studied, and through his intercession to God, I believe is the reason I am still walking and not in a wheelchair. Thank-you, St. Stanislaus! Help me to become more like you, loving God everyday, through devotion to Our Lady: Queen of Heaven!

St. Stanislaus Kostka

Stanislaus Kostka was only 18 years old when he died, and had been a Jesuit novice for less than a year.  He is one of the popular saints of Poland and many religious institutions have chosen him as the protector of their novitiates.

He was born in 1550 at the family estate in east-central Poland.  His father was a local governor and military administrator, and a senator of the Kingdom of Poland.  His mother was the sister and niece of Polish dukes.  According to the standards of those times, all this meant Stanislaus was a Polish noble destined for public life.

When he was 14, his father enrolled him and his older brother Paul in a new Jesuit college in Vienna that was especially favored by the nobility.  Paul, who always had an eye for comfort, found them rooms in the house of an Austrian senator.

Stanislaus was a serious and quiet person.  He avoided all unnecessary contact with visitors, applied himself to his studies, dressed plainly for a noble, and spent so much time in prayer that Paul derisively nicknamed him “the Jesuit.”  Paul interpreted Stanislaus’ natural meekness and humility as a reproach to his own worldly and carefree way of life.  Whatever Stanislaus did either offended or irritated him. So, he harassed his younger brother, abusing him physically and verbally.  Stanislaus didn’t crack under pressure.  He just became more virtuous and determined to become a Jesuit.

In December 1565, Stanislaus received some heavenly help.  Feeling ill and close to death, he asked to receive Holy Communion.  Paul kept putting him off, saying the illness wasn’t life-threatening.  (Their landlord was a staunch Lutheran and wouldn’t allow a priest into the house).  Stanislaus prayed to St. Barbara to somehow receive Communion, and soon Barbara and two angels appeared to him in his room, bringing him Communion.  They left, and then Our Lady carrying the baby Jesus appeared, and told him he was to enter the Society of Jesus.  Stanislaus regained his health and returned to college.

Now really resolved to be a Jesuit, Stanislaus asked the Jesuit provincial of Vienna for admittance, only to be told he needed his parents’ consent.  Stanislaus knew they wouldn’t give it, and decided to ask further away from home.  In August 1567, he walked the 450 miles to Augsburg, Germany.  Paul heard of it and started after him.  Stanislaus was dressed as a simple pilgrim, and the angry Paul went right past him on the road without recognizing him and gave up the chase.

Stanislaus reached the Augsburg provincial, Fr. Peter Canasis, S.J., and together they agreed that Stanislaus ought to get even further away from his father’s political influence.  They decided on Rome.  In September 1567, he and two Jesuits went on foot, south through Germany and over the Alps to Italy.  It took a month to reach Rome.

There Stanislaus presented himself to the head of the Society of Jesus, Father General Francis Borgia, S.J., and entered the Jesuit novititate.  For the next ten months, his prayer was purified and his union with God grew more intense.

In early August 1568, Stanislaus had a premonition that he would die on August 15.  He took sick on the 10th, and on the 14th he told the infirmarian that he would die the next day, but this Jesuit shrugged it off; the patient didn’t seem critically ill.  Then suddenly he worsened.  After receiving Holy Communion and the Last Rites, he chatted cheerfully with his fellow novices until nightfall.  After they left, he prayed often, “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready!”  About 3:00 a.m. his face lit up joyfully.  He said Our Lady was approaching with her court of angels and saints to take him to heaven.  Then he died — on August 15, the feast of Our Lady’s own assumption into heaven.

Only 36 years after his death, he was beatified.  He was canonized on December 31, 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII.  His feast day is November 13. 

–  Excerpted and edited from Jesuit Saints & Martyrs: Short Biographies of the Saints, Blessed, Venerables, and Servants of God of the Society of Jesus by Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J., Second edition, © 1998 Ignatius Press, Chicago.

"The Way" by St. Josemaría Escrivá

Reading is something I am quite fond of, something I do every day. Whether it's to read FaceBook statuses, news articles and religious essays, I do it all the time without actually recognising what I'm doing - to me, reading comes natural.

Books on the other hand, whilst I enjoy them when I actually get into the story, I go through phases of constantly reading for a period of time, then suddenly stop and not get back into it for a longer period of time.

"The Way" by St. Josemaría Escrivá is one book I have had on my "to-read list" for at least six years now; ever since I first heard of it whilst I was in Sydney for a week-long, fun and faith-filled time as a pilgrim during World Youth Day 2008. Without going off topic, that was the best week of my life and will be pretty hard to top it! Being in such a large city, constantly surrounded by young people who share the same Catholic faith - language being no barrier - we were all one very large family united in Jesus Christ.

I finally ordered a copy of "The Way" two weeks ago and have been guiding my way through it, quite slowly but only ever with a prayerful spirit. So far I have finished a few "chapters" but when I looked this morning, I'm only on page forty (or thereabouts!) but already come to the conclusion that it wasn't $20 wasted; this is a book I had to own and will be flipping through it for the rest of my life.

Those who don't know, "The Way" was written by the founder of "Opus Dei", the first personal prelature in the Roman Catholic Church. Many will call it the handbook of Opus Dei, but it is much more than that, applicable to everyone in life - whether you're Catholic or not. It's not a story, but a book divided into sections with short sayings/quotes that relate to the title of that chapter. Many chapters that you would expect, such as "Prayer" and "Love" as well as more obscure sounding ones, such as "Mortification" (it talks more about spiritual mortification, not physical mortification as many anti-Opus Dei readers would assume).

Basically, the book is about life and finding God in it, no matter how upbeat or mellow ones current situation is. It is written in a very gentle style, one can relate to the author as a brother but at the same time a father or an uncle. It is formed with 999 short quotations applicable to the certain chapter one is reading and very easy to navigate and understand. Some may think it would be a hard book to read as it has no story as such; it is meant to make the reader think about their life, where they're going and the way they go about doing it.

First published in 1939, "The Way" has sold more than 4.5million copies in over 40 languages, and sits alongside other great religious works such as "The Imitation of Christ". It is a book you will always keep, going back through the pages for the rest of your life. It is a book of life, for life!

A Saint’s Guide to Praying in Time of Affliction

“In time of affliction and, above all bodily sickness [depression is in the body], when the heart is often much weakened and without power of prayer, we must not oblige ourselves to try to pray, because simple acts of consent to the will of God, from time to time, are quite enough.  In any case, suffering which is borne by the will, with patience and gentleness, forms an unending and all-powerful prayer in the sight of God, in spite of the complaining and anxiety, which may be felt in our lower nature.” 

 — St. Jane Francis de Chantal 

The Golden Arrow

The Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion is a prayer associated with a Roman Catholic devotion.^[1] The prayer and the devotion are based on reports of visions of by Jesus to Sr. Marie of St Peter, a Carmelite nun of Tours, in 1843.^[2][1] The prayer is an Act of Praise and Reparation for Blasphemy. It is also a reparation for the profanation of Sunday and the Holy Days of Obligation.

On March 16, 1844 Jesus reportedly told Sr. Marie:

"Oh if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, Admirable is the Name of God , in a spirit of reparation for blasphemy."

Sister Mary stated that Jesus told her that the two sins which offend him the most grievously are blasphemy and the profanation of Sunday. He called this prayer the "Golden Arrow", saying that those who would recite it would pierce Him delightfully, and also heal those other wounds inflicted on Him by the malice of sinners. Sr. Mary of St. Peter saw, "streaming from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, delightfully wounded by this 'Golden Arrow,' torrents of graces for the conversion of sinners.^[2][1][3]

Sister Marie of St Peter with the Golden Arrow. The three rings symbolize the Holy Trinity

This prayer is part of the Roman Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and appears in the book “The Golden Arrow”, the autobiography of Sr. Marie of St Peter. In her book she wrote that in her visions Jesus told her that an act of sacrilege or blasphemy is like a "poisoned arrow", hence the name “Golden Arrow” for this reparatory prayer. ^[1]

Words of the prayer:^[2][1]

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable,

most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God

be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored

and glorified in Heaven, on earth,

and under the earth,

by all the creatures of God,

and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Amen.

St. Benedict Medallion

This is the back of a St. Benedict Medallion - the same medallion appears in the proper crucifix used when performing the Roman Rite of Exorcism (rarely done in modern times but still occur!).
What do the jumble of letters mean, you may ask? Here it is, taken from my Catholic Edition Douay-Rheims Bible from St. Benedict Press.

At the top...
PAX = Peace.

In the circles around the cross...
CSPB: Latin: Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti.
English: The Cross of our Holy Father Benedict.


On the cross itself...
CSSMI-NDSMD: Latin: Crux sacra sit mihi lux! Ne draco sit mihi dux!
English: May the holy cross be my light! May the dragon never be my guide!


Surrounding the cross...
VRSNSMV-SMQLIVB: Latin: Vade retro Satana! Numquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venenum bibas! 
English: Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!