Memorial Day and Fr. Kapaun, the Shepherd in Combat Boots

No-one Has Greater Love - U.s. - Catholic Online

The following excerpt is from Catholic Online:

By Deacon Keith Fournier

Honoring those who have died in service to the Nation on Memorial Day is a beautiful American custom. There are numerous cities which claim they were the first to celebrate the Day.  There are varied explanations of its history.

Memorial Day has evolved into a unique American moment for reflection, rededication and resolve. This holiday on the last Monday of the month when we are all invited to pause to remember the men and women who died while serving our Nation in the military, challenges us to live our lives differently as well.

Though considered a secular holiday, many do not know that a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. At that time we are asked to observe a moment of silence and prayer. Throughout the day, Americans visit cemeteries or memorials dedicated to the war dead and spiritually reflect on those existential issues which are the ground of faith. 

We also celebrate the memory of the lives of those who died in service. There are community wide parades and picnics. The Holiday has also become the unofficial start to the summer season in the United States. So engrained has its observance become that many public pools often time their opening to the observance.

In a special way on this Memorial Day I am also drawn to another heroic chaplain. On April 11, 2013, Father (Captain) Emil Kapaun, a Catholic priest who witnessed to just such a higher calling by demonstrating heroic virtue while serving this Nation as a Chaplain, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. You can read the White House Statement on Fr. Kapuan here.

Father Kapaun represents such a beautiful example of living those words of Jesus with integrity and moral coherence. "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:13) It is no surprise that his cause for canonization is moving forward. He is a Saint. How we need his witness, his prayers and his message in this urgent hour.

Read more: Memorial Day and Fr. Kapaun

Our Lady of Medjugorje: Message of May 25, 2013 to Marija Pavlovic

Photo by Loci B. Lenar

The Medjugorje Web - Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje

Our Lady's Message to Marija Pavlovic:

"Dear children! Today I call you to be strong and resolute in faith and prayer, until your prayers are so strong so as to open the Heart of my beloved Son Jesus. Pray little children, pray without ceasing until your heart opens to God’s love. I am with you and I intercede for all of you and I pray for your conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Do You Believe? Holy image appears behind child battling leukemi

19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports

The news video and following excerpt is from 19 Action News:

KIRTLAND, OH (WOIO) - Believer or not, the image behind Erin Potter, a Kirtland girl battling leukemia, is stunning. It certainly stunned her mom.

"My reaction immediately, it's Mary, they hear us, she's there," Jen Potter said.

The picture of Erin, running with sparklers, was taken in her backyard by a friend just after the family learned that Erin's cancer was back, for the third time, and she was facing a second bone marrow transplant.

"I didn't necessarily see it as a sign that Erin is fine and is going to walk out of this, but it's a sign that we're watching over her," Jen added.

Just after the picture was taken, Erin had that transplant, and right now, she's cancer-free.

Read more: Do you Believe?

Image of Virgin Mary Seen on Cortlandt Street Tree

Around Town - Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow, NY Patch

The following excerpt is from Tarrytown.patch.com:

By Krista Madsen

Right across from the Holy Cross Church on Cortlandt Street police erected barricades overnight to control a crowd of people that had gathered to see something sacred in the tree bark.

On Sunday, a Sleepy Hollow resident who had probably passed the tree innumerable times, suddenly noticed a pattern resembling the Virgin Mary. The image rests in about a three-inch knot above eye level in the bark of a young, otherwise negligible, tree.

The supposed Virgin, also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, is best viewed by early morning light, as one man shared his photo of the tree bark compared to a picture of the Virgin on a seven-day candle, and the resemblance is more apparent. Another man noticed Joseph behind Mary's left shoulder in his photo. People believe her hands are clasped as if in prayer.

The pilgrims are coming. One woman, who said her sister called her after seeing the tree on Channel 12 last night, drove here from Stony Point in Rockland County. Juliette Bosquet is a nurse who works the night shift at Columbia Hospital and she wasn't going to sleep until she got here to find our tree. Bosquet said she had no idea where the tree was and she asked all around the villages until she found her way here to the corner of Chestnut and Cortlandt. 

Read more and view photographs: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Pope Francis says atheists can do good and go to heaven too!

Pope Francis - Catholic Online

Living Faith - Home and Family - Catholic Online

News excerpt from Catholic.org:

Pope Francis has good news for atheists. Jesus died and was raised for them as well. His redemptive embrace was for all, not just a chosen few. The choice to accept its reach is our own. The Holy Father was not teaching anything new. In fact, this hope that all who do not yet know God are not only capable of doing good - but will progress toward that knowledge of God by doing good - is ancient. The Church wants all men and women to be saved.

Read more: Good News

Pope Francis: To Evangelize, We Must Be Open to the Action of the Spirit of God

News Excerpt from Catholic Online

VATICAN CITY (Vatican Radio) - The Vatican Radio translation of Pope Francis' General Audience catechesis on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 is offered below.

To evangelize, we must be open to the action of the Spirit of God, without fear of what He asks us or where He leads us. Let us entrust ourselves to Him! He enables us to live and bear witness to our faith, and enlighten the hearts of those we meet. This was the Pentecost experience of the Apostles gathered with Mary in the Upper Room, " Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim"(Acts 2:3-4).

The Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles, compels them to leave the room in which they had locked themselves in fear, makes them come out of themselves, and turns them into heralds and witnesses of the "mighty works of God" (v. 11). And this transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit is reflected in the crowd that rushed to the scene and which came "from every nation under heaven" (v. 5), so that everyone hears the words of the Apostles as if they were spoken in their own language (v. 6 ).

We should all ask ourselves: how do I let myself be guided by the Holy Spirit so that my witness of faith is one of unity and communion? Do I bring the message of reconciliation and love that is the Gospel to the places where I live? Sometimes it seems that what happened at Babel is repeated today; divisions, the inability to understand each other, rivalry, envy, selfishness. What do I do with my life? Do I bring unity? Or do I divide with gossip and envy? Let us ask ourselves this. Bringing the Gospel means we in the first place must live reconciliation, forgiveness, peace, unity, love that the Holy Spirit gives us. Let us remember the words of Jesus: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).

Prayer for the Sick

Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

Prayer of the Day for Sunday, May 19, 2013 - Catholic Online

Father of goodness and love, hear our prayers for the sick members of our community and for all who are in need. Amid mental and physical suffering may they find consolation in your healing presence. Show your mercy as you close wounds, cure illness, make broken bodies whole and free downcast spirits. May these special people find lasting health and deliverance, and so join us in thanking you for all your gifts. We ask this through the Lord Jesus who healed those who believed. Amen.

Windows into Heaven: Russian Icons and Treasures

Knights of Columbus Museum - New Haven, CT

News Release: The Knights of Columbus Museum has opened a new exhibition titled Windows into Heaven: Russian Icons and Treasures.

The exhibit contains over 225 Russian icons along with liturgical and devotional items.  Icons have been called windows into heaven because they are said to give a glimpse of the eternal realm. Many icons are more than 100 years old, predating the Bolshevik Revolution.  The exhibit will run until April 27, 2014.

When Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Christianity — along with his country — in 988 A.D., iconography was introduced as a means of fostering religious understanding and devotion among the people of Kievan Rus (present day Ukraine, Belarus and northwest Russia). It followed the strict models and formulas of the Byzantine practice from which it originated but, through time, developed its own distinctions and styles. Today, Russian Orthodox icons are renowned throughout the world.

As a form of sacred art, iconographers historically prayed or fasted before and during the creation of an icon. Traditionally, icons were painted in egg tempera on wood and often accented with gold leaf or covered with ornately gilt metal covers called rizas. Rich in symbolism, they are still used extensively in Orthodox churches and monasteries, and many Russian homes have icons hanging on the wall in a “beautiful” (or prayer) corner.

“Icons have been synonymous with Christian prayer and practice for centuries,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “One of the great traditions of Eastern Christianity, icons are less well known here, and we are pleased that this exhibit will enable residents of the Northeast to grow in their understanding of the history and religious significance of these windows into heaven.”

The museum offers free admission and parking. They are open daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

The museum is located on 1 State Street, New Haven, CT, 06511.  Telephone: 203-865-0400

Pope Francis elected after supernatural 'signs' in the Conclave, says Cardinal

News excerpt from The Telegraph.co.uk

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, who was himself widely tipped as a possible successor to Pope Benedict, said he had personally had two “strong signs” that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was “the chosen one” in the run up to vote.

He said only divine intervention could explain the speed with which the Argentine Cardinal - who did not feature on any of the main lists of likely candidates compiled by Vatican experts - was elected.

Speaking to an Anglican conference in London, he also said the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, had a “strange similarity” to the new Pope.

He said that the two elections were a “little miracle” and a “sign from the Lord” that the two churches should work towards closer unity.

Read more: Cardinal Christoph Schönborn

What is a Canonization?

News excerpt from RomeReports.com

A person is not born a saint. In fact, the process of actually being declared a saint is quite lengthy. It includes an investigation on the life, faith and possible miracles the person interceded in. If they are approved  the candidate becomes canonized, which means being declared a saint.

The process itself is divided into four main stages. The first begins at a local diocese. It's here that a detailed report on the life and virtues of the candidate is prepared before being submitted to the Vatican. If it gets the green light the person is declared a Servant of God. The next phase is being declared 'Venerable.' That happens when historians, theologians and cardinals agree that the candidate's heroic virtues merit that title.

In the third stage the person is declared a Blessed. For that to happen a miracle has to be attributed to his or her intercession. The miracle has to be scientifically inexplicable and it must be approved by scientists and theologians. From that point on, blesseds can be venerated in sites that are connected to their lives. Once a year, their feast day is celebrated.

The fourth and final step requires a second miracle that must happen after the candidate was beatified. If the miracle is approved, the candidate can then be declared a saint.

But before any of this happens, the Pope must first approve the entire process. Once the candidate is officially declared a saint, he or she is recognized as someone who lived an exemplary life that's worthy of the Church's highest honor.

Prit Adams: An Undeniable Miracle

News from CBN.com

Prit Adams was in a coma for fifty-two days after a brain aneurysm, but a families' prayers and the help of doctors set the stage for a miracle.

FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER

St. Joseph - Photo by Loci B. Lenar

News from Catholic News Agency (CNA)

St. Joseph has two feast days on the liturgical calendar. The first is March 19—Joseph, the Husband of Mary. The second is May 1—Joseph, the Worker.

“Saint Joseph is a man of great spirit. He is great in faith, not because he speaks his own words, but above all because he listens to the words of the Living God. He listens in silence. And his heart ceaselessly perseveres in the readiness to accept the Truth contained in the word of the Living God,” Pope John Paul II had once said.

There is very little about the life of Joseph in Scripture but still, we know that he was the chaste husband of Mary, the foster father of Jesus, a carpenter and  a man who was not wealthy. We also know that he came from the royal lineage of King David.

We can see from his actions in scripture that Joseph was a compassionate man, and obedient to the will of God. He also loved Mary and Jesus and wanted to protect and provide for them.

Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph had probably died before Jesus entered public ministry.

Joseph is the patron of many things, including the universal Church, fathers, the dying and social justice.

Delivered from Danger by the Power of Prayer

News Excerpt and Video from CBN.com

A heart malfunction caused Steve DeMoss to go into a coma from which he miraculously awakened after being anointed by his pastor.

Doctors told Sharon DeMoss that Steve needed to wake up from the coma within 5 days, or he would suffer major brain damage. On the fourth day, he was showing no signs of recovery. She called a local church for prayer. “They came over immediately and they spent a long time,” Sharon said. “We worshipped. We prayed together. We held hands. We prayed over him. They anointed him with oil.”

By the next morning, Steve was awake and had no signs of brain damage. “When I woke up, my wife says, ‘Do you realize what just happened?’ I had all these tubes in me and everything. Then my kids came to me, my daughter and one of my sons, we huddled and we realized that the worst had passed.”

“I remember just being able to breathe after that,” Sharon said. “Like, it was going to be okay.”

“That was a pretty joyful realization that God’s restored what we had almost lost,” Steve said.

That same afternoon, Steve was walking around the hospital, and he was released just days later. “When I woke up, I heard that people were praying all over the world,” Steve said. “I had friends in Senegal, Uganda. I really believe that the prayers of the people is what brought me back. It was extremely touching for me. It just made me feel like, ‘I am so glad I am a part of the body of Christ.’”

***

The following scripture is a testament to God's word being true in our time as well as two thousand years ago:  

Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  James 5:14-15