Monday, May 27, 2013

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

Saturday, May 25, 2013

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.


Thursday, May 23, 2013

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

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

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).