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Several years ago, it came to my attention that I did not know of any Catholic Church or Chapel that is dedicated to the Eternal Father. Do you? I do not know of any Catholic Church that is named something like: THE CHURCH OF THE ETERNAL FATHER... or THE CHURCH OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER... or THE CHURCH OF GOD, THE FATHER... for example.
In a parish where I was working once, the Pastor was in the process of developing part of what was the sacristy into a side chapel. I mentioned to Him that I did not know of any Church or Chapel (at that time) that was dedicated to the "Glory of the Eternal Father." It was worth mentioning, because when the Pastor had the chapel dedicated, he also had a plaque placed on the Chapel door which read:
Everytime I see that plaque now, I think to myself: "Well, if I’ve done any good in my life, perhaps that dedication will go "before" me as an eternal blessing.
If I am ever in a position as a Religious Superior of a newly established convent and chapel, guess what? The Chapel will be dedicated TO THE GLORY OF THE ETERNAL FATHER. And a plaque will be placed on the Chapel door so indicating.
God, our Father, the first Person of the Blessed Trinity, is deserving of Churches, Chapels, and Shrines being named after Him and being dedicated to Him.
Perhaps too many Catholics think of God, the Father, as God Who exacts justice. It is true that God is All-Just, but He is also a most loving and tender Father Who has literally loved us into existence. Without Him, we would not even BE.
Frankly, I want to be in the “arms” of my Heavenly Father always. I want to be a child in His arms. I want Him to take care of me, to hold me tight and make me feel safe. I want Him to know that I acknowledge that I am completely dependent on Him for EVERYTHING.
This Sunday I am going to give SPECIAL attention to God, my Heavenly Father. I am going to wish Him a "Happy Father’s Day!" and thank Him all day long for being my Father. I shall also beg Him for the salvation of all of His children. (What good Father wouldn’t want ALL of His children close to Him?)
Join me? And for all of the earthly Fathers out there, who wouldn’t be "Dads" unless God, the Father brought them into existence, I wish you a Happy Day, as well!
God bless!
With Father's Day on Sunday, we think of our Father in Heaven Who created us and Who watches over our every breath. So many have a difficult time relating to the Father in comparison to the "flesh and blood" Son, and the charismatic characteristics of the Holy Spirit, but all we need do is think of Him as a loving Parent who will take us and tuck us safely within His powerful sleeve where we will feel the serenity of protection. As for role models today, none are finer than the "ideal father" - Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus and protector of the Mother of God. His quiet, gentle and firm way is an excellent benchmark by which we should all pattern our parental authority after. However, in this frazzled society we live today, keeping our blood pressure in check is not an easy proposition. The distractions and temptations of youth make a parent's job that much tougher, competing with the false prophets of today - the media - not only for affection and love, but for the establishment of character and conscience in the face of peer pressure that pulls souls from their appointed destination toward Heaven. We all know who is responsible for this insurrection; he wears a red tail, sprouts horns and carries a pitchfork in his repertoire. But unfortunately today he isn't quite so recognizable, camouflaging himself like a hungry iguana ready to strike when we least expect. No one is immune from this rebellious reptile and we need to stock up on the anti-venom of grace to dull the bite of this beast's fangs.
Strange how when one speaks of something that slithers, one always seems to return to Mr. Clinton. We bring this up because of his charade over the appointment of a knowingly, unapologetic and blatant homosexual who he is trying to railroad through as the ambassador to Luxumbourg. The problem with ambassadorships is not the competency of the ambassadors but more as a "payoff" for favors granted, usually financially to the administration making the appointments. The man in question is James Hormel, heir to the Hormel Meats fortune which has for decades produced manufactured meats such as chili con carne, sausages and the GI's scorned-staple: Spam. Hormel is openly gay and an active proponent of the homosexual cause. Yet Clinton, with no sensitivity to the people of Luxembourg, which is 98% Roman Catholic, is insisting on awarding this man with the responsibility of ambassadorship to this Christian country with no respect to their feelings or reactions. This is akin to naming Senator Trent Lott as ambassador to the Gay and Lesbian League! We say this because this past week Lott came under fire for his comments which basically reaffirmed what God says - that homosexuality is a sin! Yet Lott has been barbecued over his remarks by the media and self-appointed experts who deride his remarks as out-of-touch with reality. No, they are not! In addition, they have raked the Southern Baptists over the coals for also adhering to what the Word of God says regarding not only homosexuality, but marriage that wives "submit" to their husbands. They have taken it totally out of context - both the detractors and the Baptists - for God did not intend woman to be subservient to man and that is not what the Bible says, rather the true words of Saint Paul to the Ephesians are "Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Let wives subject to their husbands as to the Lord; because a husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is head of the Church, being Himself savior of the body. But just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for her, cleansing her in the bath of water by means of the word; in order that He might be holy and without blemish. Even thus ought husbands also to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife, loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh; on the contrary he nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ also does the Church. (because we are members of His body made from His flesh and from His bones). For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery - I mean in reference to Christ and to the Church. However, let each one of you also love his wife just as he loves himself; and let the wife respect her husband." (Ephesians 5: 21-33) So you see, nowhere is the word "submit" to be found. Furthermore, love is what is emphasized and encouraged in the subjection of wives to husbands in the same manner as the Church to Jesus. Perhaps even more important is the next paragraph where Paul admonishes, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for that is right." (Ephesians 6: 1). That would be all of us to our Father in Heaven and we need to heed Paul's words and obey our Father in Heaven. It will make for a happier and more peace-filled Father's Day. For those who don't, well those people who espouse sin are out of touch with reality and will learn this soon enough if they do not amend their ways drastically and dispose immediately of the dangerous politically correct, satan-spewing Spam!
The on-line publication the DAILY CATHOLIC, which we've made free to the entire world, is one of the best Catholic publications anywhere. It's there everyday. It's absolutely free. We do not try in any way to take anyone away from another apostolate. In fact, we promote the others as well. We do not play that one-upsmanship game. We don't clamor to take benefactors away from Mother Angelica, or any other Catholic services, be that service on-line or not.
We have asked for help, because we have believed for eight years, and continue to believe and somehow know in our hearts, that the ministry and apostolate of Mir-A-Call Center is not finished. Our Lord has instructed us to expect changes, but to keep going forward.
Why does no one help?
Why do people erroneously believe that non-profit means something contrary to its very definition?
Why do the people assume, incorrectly, that as a non-profit, we somehow must be overwhelmed with volunteers, with financial assistance from around the globe, and that my husband and I do little, if anything, to make the ministry all that God seeks of it? The truth is that the ministry, which began through the locutions to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart, and continued through the tireless efforts of my husband, Mike, as editor and executive director of the Center, has always been just the two of us. It has been, as Mike often says, a "labor of love for Love" since day one.
God gave us a gift, a challenge, a cross. He asked us to use the gift and to go out and spread the word to the entire world, to everyone without exception. He challenged our faith, and continues to do so to this day. He has been perfecting us in the way of perseverance, in the manner of utter confidence in Him alone, while permitting us, as we are in our current crisis, to feel what it is to be the poorest of the poor, the shunned, unwanted, the disciples who are driven from place to place because the "Good News" of the Gospel is not wanted, even by those who profess it, but who, in truth, seek to live that "Good News" for their own benefit, and not God's.
Now, God has brought us to that eleventh hour and counting.
Without your prayers, which must always be first, and without your financial help, the apostolate of Mir-A-Call Center will end after nearly nine years that have produced great fruits and conversions, which people from all over the world have written us in testimony. But without the necessary funds to continue, no one can get blood from a turnip. Therefore this ministry will simply fade from existence because no one cared anymore. In not caring about the apostolate, which is God's, not ours, then we, as God's servants and instruments, nothing more or less, the faithful of Mary's little army, those who hunger for the Word, who hunger to know and love Jesus better each day, will have failed their calling as well.
We are not in this thing for ourselves, but for Him, and because of Him, for the entire world.
You suffer. You hurt. You are in financial straits as well. You have illness, heartache, pains, anguish, and you see that it might just be easier if you go along with the flow of the mainstream of today's society. You have your cross to carry, and Mike and I, along with our sons, are the first to acknowledge that before God.
However, for the Symphony of Suffering to be joined to the Eternal, Divine Symphony, are we not obligated, through Love, to share those crosses with one another in a holy way? Are we not also obligated, through Love, to do more than merely "listen" and "sympathize"? Are we not, then, because of Divine Love, obligated before God to reach out to one another? Are we not commanded by God to live the Faith we've been given, which tells us over and over that we must be there for one another in the good times as well as the bad times, and to seek, at all times, to respect the other person and their calling in life.
Mike and I have been called to evangelize in a specific way, and in doing this, to surrender to God our all, to give up everything, in order to Trust in Him for what we need.
Therefore, today, in this sharing, I come to tell you that without you in the Symphony of Suffering, there will be many chords missing in the melody. Without your help and encouragement and belief that this ministry is for God and from God, then we shall have no choice but to cease the work. What will we say to God when we come face to face with Him?
Did we try? Did we Trust in Him? Did we seek to do only His Will and never our own? Did we not ask and beg as He asked and begged? Did we not give everything, even to our children, for His Name's sake, only to be scorned and ridiculed by many? Did we not seek to help ourselves, as He also commands us in Scripture, seeking every recourse to maintain the necessities of life for our sons, and then for ourselves? Did we not, in the face of adversity, continue to praise His Holy Name and accept all things as from His Divine Hand?
Did we not mourn, weep, cry out, and sigh with hearts overflowing with concern for our son; and were not those things done with faith and in utmost trust?
Did we not seek to inform His children of this situation, and in Love to ask for their help - not because we are "different or special", but because He sees each one of us and knows we are "special" to Him, and asks that we all work together in unity of the Holy Spirit, to evangelize to all the world?
What will He say to us? What will He say to you?
I don't know. That is yet to come.
But in the Symphony of Suffering, I have come to understand from Our Lord that it is in obedience that our melody is perfected, that it is in humility that the chords are written, that it is in faith and hope and trust and love that the melody is elevated, joined with the Cross of Our Lord, and in the giving of ourselves totally, that the melody of suffering, its full symphony, is joined with the Heavenly Chorus that eternally praises the Holy Trinity.
Again, if you would like to help this ministry, in dire need of a transfusion, you can make a contribution by clicking on WE NEED YOUR HELP. Thank you and may God bless you.
1097 A.D.
Crusaders capture the city of Nicea from the infidels during the First Crusade, called by Pope Urban II.
1341 A.D.
Death of Saint Juliana Falconieri, virgin and foundress of the Servite nuns who died in Firenze at the age of 71 and was canonized by Pope Clement XII in 1731.
1856 A.D.
Death of Saint Emily de Vialar, daughter of a baron who was left a fortune by her grandmother and used it to purchase and build several facilities to help the poor and sick, founding the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition in 1832. But politicis came into play with Bishop Dupuch of Algiers which closed the houses there, as well as seizing the motherhouse in Toulouse. No matter her struggles, she accepted all as God's Will, always claiming that she had plenty of trials, but that God was always there for her. Despite her struggles there were 40 houses operating when she died. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1951.
981 A.D.
Death of Saint Adalbert of Magdeburg, bishop and Benedictine who was sent to Russia by Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great and became known as the great missionary to the Slavs.
1499 A.D.
Queen Isabella, on the strong advice of Christopher Columbus and his findings, condemns the enslavement of the Indians discovered in the New World. Sadly, many avaricious men discarded her order and mistreated the "savages" for their own purposes.
1632 A.D.
Lord George Calvert Baltimore receives the Charter to found the colony of Maryland, named after the Blessed Mother and open to all faiths, but especially a refuge for persecuted Catholics. To this day Baltimore remains a Catholic stronghold on the eastern seaboard.
1591 A.D.
Death of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, an early Jesuit pioneer who sought to teach the youth and minister to the dying victims of the plague which he also eventually caught and died after receiving the last rites from Saint Robert Bellarmine. He was canonized in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII and later declared Patron Saint of Youth by Pope Pius IX.
1633 A.D.
Italian physicist Galileo is forced by the Court of Inquisition to reject his Copernican heliocentric views, which the Church would later allow when more facts revealed the astronomer was correct in his findings.
