Thursday, October 31, 2013

Pope Francis ranks among Forbes' most powerful people


News from RomeReports.com

Who are the most powerful people in the world? According to Forbes magazine, first on the list is Russia's president, then the United States followed by China. Fourth on the list is Pope Francis.  

So Vladimir Putin takes the number one slot, then Barack Obama, followed by the Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping. 

Forbes magazine explains that since Pope Francis was elected in March, a new wave of energy was given to Catholicism, the world's largest religion with over 1.2 billion people. The magazine notes that Pope Francis also has a presence in social media. On Twitter alone, he already has over 10 million followers. He's also the first Pope to have taken a picture of himself with a cell phone. 

The ranking places the Latin American pope above others political and financial leaders like Angela Merkel and Bill Gates.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Our Lady's Monthly Message to Visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti


Medjugorje WebSite - Our Lady of Medjugorje Messages and Apparitions

Latest Medjugorje Message of October 25, 2013

Dear children! Today I call you to open yourselves to prayer. Prayer works miracles in you and through you. Therefore, little children, in the simplicity of heart seek of the Most High to give you the strength to be God’s children and for Satan not to shake you like the wind shakes the branches. Little children, decide for God anew and seek only His will – and then you will find joy and peace in Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.

(Photograph From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Friday, October 18, 2013

Sister Antonia Brenner dies at 86; nun moved into Tijuana prison to tend to inmates

Sister Antonia Brenner consoles inmate Jorge Villalobos - Los Angeles Times Photo

News Excerpt  from LaTimes.com

By Richard Marosi

Guards and inmates in La Mesa penitentiary referred to Brenner as the prison angel. In the cellblocks she was known as 'Mama.'

Sister Antonia Brenner, a Beverly Hills-raised mother of seven who became a Roman Catholic nun and moved into a notorious Tijuana prison where she spent more than three decades mending broken lives, easing tensions and dispensing everything from toothbrushes to bail money, has died. She was 86.

In 1977, after her children were grown and two marriages had ended in divorce — a source of sadness that she rarely talked about — Brenner gave away her expensive clothes and belongings, left her Ventura apartment and moved to La Mesa penitentiary. She had delivered donations in the past to the prison, each visit filling her with compassion.

"Something happened to me when I saw men behind bars. … When I left, I thought a lot about the men. When it was cold, I wondered if the men were warm; when it was raining, if they had shelter," Brenner told The Times in a 1982 interview. "I wondered if they had medicine and how their families were doing. …You know, when I returned to the prison to live, I felt as if I'd come home."

Small of stature, with blue eyes peeking out from under her traditional black–and-white habit, Brenner cut a strikingly serene presence in the overcrowded prison of 8,000. She lived as any other inmate, sleeping in a 10-by-10-foot cell, eating the same food and lining up for morning roll call.

She would walk freely among thieves and drug traffickers and murderers, smiling, touching cheeks and offering prayers. Many were violent men with desperate needs. She kept extra toilet paper in her cell, arranged for medical treatment, attended funerals.

A revered figure in Tijuana, where she counted police chiefs and politicians among her friends, Brenner was honored with the naming of a street after her outside the prison. In the late 1990s, she established her own religious order, the Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour. Tijuana Archbishop Rafael Romo said she possessed the qualities of a saint and said her death was a "terrible loss" for the city, the Tijuana newspaper Frontera reported.

Read More: Sister Antonia Brenner

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Blessed Angela of Foligno is declared a Saint by Pope Francis



News story from RomeReports.com

The Vatican announced that Blessed Angela of Foligno has been declared a saint by Pope Francis. The 13th century mystic writer was born in Umbria back in 1248. After experiencing a powerful religious conversion, she recorded her journey in a publication titled: 'Book of Visions and Instructions.'   

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints made the official announcement on Friday, but Angela of Foligno was declared a saint by Pope Francis on October 9th, 2013.

Read more: Angela of Foligno

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Feast of the Guardian Angels (October 2)

Photo by Loci B. Lenar

Please give thanks to God for His angelic protection as we honor our guardian angel on this special day!

Daily Prayer to Guardian Angel

Angel of God
My guardian dear
To Whom His love
Commits me here
Ever this day
Be at my side
To light and guard
To rule and guide.

Amen


Regarding angels, one of the most dramatic stories of God's angelic protection is found in Scripture, the Acts of the Apostles.

About that time King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the people he proceeded to arrest Peter also. It was the feast of Unleavened Bread. He had him taken into custody and put in prison under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. He intended to bring him before the people after Passover. Peter thus was being kept in prison, but prayers by the church was fervently made to God on his behalf.

On the very night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter, secured by double chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while outside the door guards kept watch on the prison. Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him saying, "Get up quickly." The chains fell from his wrists. The angel said to him, "Put on your belt and your sandels" He did so. Then he said to him, "Put on your cloak and follow me." So he followed him out, not realizing that what was happening through the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first guard, then the second, and came to the iron gate leading out to the city, which opened for them by itself. They emerged and made their way down an alley, and suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter recovered his senses and said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people had been expecting." Acts 12:1-11

Stained glass window photographed inside Saint Peter the Apostle Church, Parsippany, NJ, USA.

Photograph Copyright Loci B. Lenar
www.Christian-Miracles.com