Our Lady of Medjugorje: Monthly Message to Visionary Mirjana Soldo



Photograph by Loci B. Lenar


The Medjugorje Web - Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje

Our Lady of Medjugorje's message of May 2, 2011 to visionary Mirjana Soldo:

"Dear children; God the Father is sending me to show you the way of salvation, because He, my children, desires to save you and not to condemn you. That is why I, as a mother, am gathering you around me, because with my motherly love I desire to help you to be free of the dirtiness of the past and to begin to live anew and differently. I am calling you to resurrect in my Son. Along with confession of sins renounce everything that has distanced you from my Son and that has made your life empty and unsuccessful. Say 'yes' to the Father with the heart and set out on the way of salvation to which He is calling you through the Holy Spirit. Thank you. I am especially praying for the shepherds, for God to help them to be alongside you with a fullness of heart."

Mass of thanksgiving for beatification of Pope Blessed John Paul II

YouTube - Mass of Thanksgiving for Beatification of Pope Blessed John Paul II

The following excerpt is from Catholic Online:

VATICAN CITY, (VIS) - At 10:30 Monday morning in St. Peter's Square, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., secretary of state, presided over the thanksgiving Mass for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. The liturgical texts were those of the new Blessed.

The celebration included music performed by the Choir of the Diocese of Rome, with the participation of Warsaw's Polish Union of Choirs and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice. Preparation for the holy rite began at 9:30am with the reading of poems by Blessed John Paul II in alternation with pieces performed by the orchestra and choir. Before Holy Mass, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, addressed those present.

"The dialogue of love between Christ and the human person characterized the entire life of Karol Wojtyla ...", Cardinal Bertone said in his homily. "We all recall how, on the day of his funeral, during the ceremony there was a moment when the wind shut the book of the Gospels placed on the coffin. It was as if the wind of the Spirit wanted to signal the end of the spiritual and human existence of Karol Wojtyla, illumined by the Gospel of Christ. With this Book he discovered God's plan for humanity and for himself, but he also learned of Christ, His face and His love, which was always a call to responsibility for Karol".

"He was a man of faith, a man of God," the cardinal emphasized. "His life was a constant prayer that lovingly embraced all who inhabit our planet, created in the image and likeness of God, and therefore worthy of the greatest respect; redeemed by Christ's death and resurrection the human person is therefore truly become the living glory of God. Thanks to the faith that he expressed, above all, in prayer, John Paul II was a true defender of the dignity of every human person and not a mere activist for political or social ideologies".
 
Read More: Pope John Paul II

Angelic Tails: True Stories of Heavenly Canine Companions

Angelic Tails: True Stories of Heavenly Canine Companions

This newly released book is by author Joan Wester Anderson, renown for writing books on angelic visitations and miracles.  The book is published by Loyola Press.

The following excerpt is from Loyola Press:

Angelic Tails is a collection of down-to-earth true stories from ordinary people who believe that God has graced their lives through heavenly canine companions. Each of the 30 stories challenges readers to reconsider their conception of angels—from the story of a former Air Force colonel whose golden retrievers served as his heavenly helpers in the Colorado wilderness to the account of St. John Bosco, who, for more than 30 years, was protected by an angelic dog as he walked the dangerous city streets. In the end, for all who see through the eyes of faith, this book is evidence that God can use even muddy paws and cold noses to fulfill his purposes in our world.

Joan Wester Anderson has been a freelance writer and public speaker for almost thirty years. Her fifteen books include the New York Times Bestseller Where Angels Walk (Ballantine Books, 1993) and Where Wonders Prevail (Ballantine, 1997), and she is a popular guest on radio and television talk shows. The mother of five adult children and grandmother of two, she lives in Prospect Heights, Illinois.

Visit her website: Joan Wester Anderson

Read more: Loyola Press

A New Springtime of Christian Unity has arrived in the Church

The Holy Spirit
Photograph by Loci B. Lenar


Anglican Converts Send Easter Message of Hope for New Springtime in the Church - International - Catholic Online

The following excerpt is from Catholic Online:

By Randy Sly

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Around 900 Anglicans, including 61 clergy, from England and Wales became Catholics this Easter in response to the invitation from Pope Benedict through what is commonly being called the Anglican Ordinariate.

It is a sign of things to come and the flowering of unity that has long been desired by many on both sides of the Anglican-Catholic chasm. Soon we will also receive word of a second wave - the Anglican Ordinariate in North America.

Read more: Anglican Converts Send Easter Message

Woman says Pope John Paul II behind miracle cure

Statue of Pope John Paul II
Photo by Loci B. Lenar

Lockport woman says Pope John Paul II behind miracle cure - Herald News

The following excerpt is from the Herald News:

LOCKPORT, IL — Mary Kern says a miracle cured her of eyelid spasms that could have caused blindness.

That miracle, she says, came in 2009 after her prayers to the late Pope John Paul II that asked him to intercede on her behalf before God.

Now the Lockport woman is petitioning the Vatican to have her miracle recognized as a grounds to elevate John Paul to sainthood.

This Sunday, John Paul will be beatified based upon a miracle reported in France. That brings the former pontiff one step closer to sainthood.

A second confirmed miracle — and Kern is hoping it is hers — would make John Paul eligible for full sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.

Kern prays to God every day. She had a strong prayer life before her illness struck in 2006. In 2008, she began to pray particularly for healing. And since her healing in 2009, she has prayed every day in gratitude.

“I had a good prayer life before this, but this has made me more aware of miracles in life, miracles in other people’s lives that they take for granted,” Kern said. “It makes me more aware of the goodness of God, of the greatness of God, and that he does answer prayers — not always in the way we want them, but he does answer prayers.”

Read more: Mary Kern

Vatican Investigating Possible Miracle Attributed to Blessed Kateri

Blessed Kateri
Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

KOMO News: Vatican investigating possible miracle in Washington state

The following excerpt is from KomoNews.com:

FERNDALE, Wash. - The Vatican is investigating a possible miracle right in Washington state.

Doctors at Children's Hospital worked miracles five years ago to save a young boy's life. But now the pope wants to know if more than medicine played a role.

To look at him today, nobody would guess Jake Finkbonner nearly died.

"He was as sick as any case ever seen," says Dr. Craig Rubens.

In the last minute of the last game of his 2006 season, Jake cut his lip.

"I fell down and hit my lip on the base of the basketball hoop," he says.

A flesh-eating bacteria raced through his lip and devoured his face. Now 11 years old, Jake recalls the day he died.

"I went and saw God up in heaven, and it was so beautiful I asked if I could stay. And he refused to let me stay - said my family needed me here on earth," Jake remembers.

His mother, Elsa Finkbonner, says, "That was his day in heaven, our day in hell."

Surgeons couldn't stay ahead of the fast-spreading infection.

"It got to the point where we called in a priest to give his last rites," says Jake's mother.



Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

Father Tim Sauer urged the Finkbonner family to pray for the intercession of Blessed Kateri, a Native American who converted to Catholicism. Smallpox scarred her face, and legend claims the scars disappeared when she died.

Kateri is now in the early stages of sainthood.

The day a friend named Kateri visited the Finkbonners, they gave them a relic of the blessed Kateri that the family placed on their son's hospital bed. It's the same day Jake's school prayed for him, and it's the same day his disease stopped.

"If it's a coincidence - wow," says Jake's mother.

"I think it's a matter of a miracle," says Jake.

The Vatican is investigating whether Kateri should become a saint and sent an investigative team from Rome to question Jake's family.

"We've given them everything," says Elsa. "They've spoken with all of our family friends and priests."

Read more: Jake Finkbonner