Amidst Conflict In Syria Christianity Prospers

The streets of the Old City are alive with hymn singing and perfumed with incense and jasmine as Christians flock to churches to mark the crucifixion of Christ.The police have closed main streets to vehicles, making way for tens of thousands of pedestrians. 

 

A Christmas tree still stands at the entrance to the Christian quarter; the cobbles underfoot are polished by centuries of wear. Shops selling snacks, clothes, toys, food and mementos are open. Lights blaze after years of power-rationing

 

A burst from a machinegun fired into the air at a wedding or a funeral rattles no one, although last week these streets were empty, shops were closed and families hid at home.

Mortars shot by insurgents in eastern Ghouta struck churches, schools and houses. Now the armed groups observe a ceasefire and negotiate surrender or evacuation to a distant province. “Christians who left the country will start coming back,” says Joseph, who guides my colleague Karin and me to seven churches traditionally visited on Holy Thursday night.

Syria is caught between two Easters. The Catholic one this Sunday, the Orthodox one next Sunday. Christians make the rounds of each other’s churches in a popular celebration of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection. Ecumenism is at work in Damascus, the cradle of Christianity.

We begin at the Maronite Catholic Church of St Anthony as the priest prepares to wash the feet of several men standing beside him before the altar to commemorate Jesus’s bathing the feet of his disciples before the Last Supper. The church slowly fills while the choir sings sweetly from the gallery.

Many Altars :

At St Francis Latin Catholic Church, 11 elderly men, five in wheelchairs and six on chairs, sit facing each other at the front of the congregation while a priest with a fine, sonorous voice sings the Mass. Incense hangs in the air. Red carnations and white lilies decorate the church’s many altars.

The next house of God, the fourth we have on our programme, is the massive Zeitoun Greek Catholic (Melkite) church. Spotlights set behind the building range across the sky. A giant television screen mounted on a frame in the courtyard shows Patriarch Joseph Absi carrying a huge cross in a procession within the church, tightly packed with the faithful.  

Welcome Welcome ---

A woman asks where I come from. “Cyprus, ” I reply. “Welcome, welcome,” she says, yielding her place and pushing me forward so I can glimpse the procession making its final round of the church. A Muslim woman in a white headscarf is here with friends.

The streets are filling. We meet Joseph’s son and his girlfriend on our way to the Syriac Orthodox Church of St George. People come, listen to the choir, cross themselves and pause to recall the April 23rd, 2013, kidnapping of Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox bishop Boulos (Paul) Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox bishop Gregorious Yohanna (Gregory John) Ibrahim while on a mission to free two priests who had been abducted earlier. Despite rumours of their release, the clerics have never been seen since.

Asked how many churches there are in the Old City, Joseph reels them off by denomination, reaching 15, not counting chapels. Then, of course, there are churches elsewhere. “On this night some people cross to the new city to attend services there,” he says. “They keep going till 11 or 12 before going home. When I was a teenager I used to spend the night visiting churches with my friends. Before long the streets will be packed.”

St Therese’s Chaldean Catholic Church, our sixth, has few visitors. The priest at the Armenian Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, our seventh, proclaims the Mass in Armenian. A young man outside takes us around the back to the school to show us the place where a mortar struck last week, the hole patched with cement but not yet painted white to blend with the wall.

Groups of friends and families pause in their rounds to drink coffee, tea and wine at restaurants and cafes open late for the celebration.

In the West the faith languishes; Christianity, plagued by war, remains vigorous in Damascus, from where St Paul launched his mission to the world. 

Credits : The Irish Time, March 31, 2018 

We make our way along the Street Called Straight to the entrance to St Paul’s Syriac Catholic Church where Joseph pauses to greet a grey-bearded soldier on guard, his assault rifle slung from his shoulder, and to pluck a cube of sweet bread from a basket held by a girl scout. The scouts are out in force tonight, tending to the throng of visitors. The music here is in a very different style to the other two churches, the language of the Mass the same: Arabic, the tongue of most congregatWe make a detour from our set route down a narrow street where, along both sides, candles in white paper bags decorated with crosses light the way to the first Christian church, named for St Ananias. He was told by Jesus in a vision to go to a house where he would find and heal Saul of Tarsus, blinded by Christ on the road to Damascus. Ananias objected as Saul persecuted Christians but followed his master’s command, laid his hand on Saul, restoring his sight and transforming him Down a flight of steps are two small caves where early Christians worshipped in secret, fearing persecution by the pagan Romans. The rooms are simply furnished, one with an altar and the other with a series of pictures depicting the story of Paul. He escaped capture by fleeing to the site of St Paul’s Church, which we have just visited. Here, at the wellspring of Christianity, the church is filled with chatting, cheerful teenagers, the future of the faith in this ancient l‘Welcome, welcome’

Understanding The Sacred Blood Of Our Lord

To understand the devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we should look carefully at the meaning of blood and blood that is shed. By doing this, we can then consider the meaning of the shedding of the Precious Blood of Christ.

We all know that blood is biologically part of our body. However, blood is also intimately associated with the vital element of the individual as a person. That is why we give to the Blood of Christ all the adoration due to Christ Himself.

Our blood is naturally meant to be inside the body. Hence, every time we bleed, it is something of an unnatural or catastrophic nature. Many illnesses, for example, are perceived by bleeding caused by some malfunction inside the body. Bleeding is almost a sign of alarm, which because of its violence, calls attention to the fact that something is terribly wrong with the person.

Besides illnesses, bleeding also calls to mind fighting and crime. For example, the idea of bloodshed instantly calls to mind the blood of Abel, shed by Cain and which, according to Scripture, rose to God clamoring for vengeance. When blood is shed by crime, we sense a profound violence applied to the body that conveys the idea of something unjust, brutal and iniquitous which profoundly disturbs an existing order and clamors to God for the reestablishment of order.

That Blood was shed by the great anguish of soul when Our Lord, in His agony, began to suffer and sweat blood all over His Body.

When we consider the infinitely Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, many things come to mind.

We think of that blood begotten in the womb of Our Lady. We think of that Blood that was shed, leaving His Body from whence it should never have left. That Blood, like everything else in the Body of Christ, is in hypostatic union with Him and when it leaves His sacred Body, it is as if symbolizing all the dignity of that Body.

We might compare this departure to the juice that comes from the grape to make up wine. That juice represents the essence of the grape, all the best the grape has to give. So also Our Lord’s Blood represents the best of blood – the blood of David, the blood of Mary, the Blood of God-Man.

Through a series of unspeakable, violent deicidal actions, that Blood was shed in the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the Holy Cross and torments of all kinds. That Blood was shed by the great anguish of soul when Our Lord In His Agony, began to suffer and sweat blood all over His Body.

That Blood shed and falling on the ground clamorously attests to the insult made to the God-Man. It is a manifestation of how far human wickedness can go. It is a manifestation of the mystery of iniquity. We see in that Blood how much God tolerates. We are reminded how fallen human nature in this valley of tears (above all when guided by sin and the devil) is capable of going to the extremes of evil shrinking from nothing.

These considerations should lead us to always be extremely suspicious towards evil. We should follow Our Lord’s precept: “Watch and pray.” Our suspicions are based on the fact that evil is capable of the worst infamies. One can expect everything from it. Thus, we should do great violence to ourselves to fight against it.

We should avoid all drowsiness, foolish optimism or procrastination in face of evil. Indeed, failing to combat evil is a true crime since we see that if evil was capable of such horrible acts against Our Lord, it is capable of everything. Evil calls unto other evils and can go to the very depths of all evil.

In a sense, every drop of blood is like a tiny death, for it is a drop of life that goes away.
Our Lord wanted to go through these “deaths” to show how infinite is His love for us.

Looking at this bloodshed, we should note that the mercy of God wanted all that Blood to be shed with unheard-of abundance. All the blood in the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ was shed, as if to show that He gave us everything, without holding back even one drop, because of His immense desire to save us. 

One drop of His blood would have sufficed, yet He shed all His blood to the point that the last drops were mixed with water that left His Side when Longinus pierced His Heart with the lance. He wanted to hold nothing back in order to redeem us.

This superabundance of blood, suffering and offering up of self recalls Our Lord’s words: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Considering the devotion to the Most Precious Blood, we might say: “Greater Love than this no man hath, than He who gave His life for us.”

However, He did even more than just giving His life. He wished to suffer death from the beatings, anguish and the shedding of every drop of blood in His sacred Body. In this sense, every drop of blood is like a tiny death, for it is a drop of life that goes away. He wanted to go through all these “deaths” to show how infinite was His friendship for us.

Such considerations lead us to confide in His mercy. If He so wanted to save us, we should understand that we might cover ourselves in His Blood and present ourselves to the Eternal Father.

Begging forgiveness thus covered in His Blood, we should confide that we can obtain it. On the other hand, we must consider how horrible is the eternal destiny of the damned. If Our Lord suffered all these torments to spare us from eternal doom, then this damnation is a very serious thing. So let us meditate on the depths of Hell by considering a drop of the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
This inevitably leads us to other considerations. First, we must see how the Blood of Christ calls to mind the tears of Mary, shed along with the Blood of Christ. Our Lord did not want Our Lady to shed any drop of her own blood. He allowed all types of torments against Himself but forbade the powers of evil from raising even a finger against His Immaculate Mother.

Thus, she suffered no physical torments. None of her blood was shed on behalf of humanity, nor would it have had the redeeming force of the infinitely precious Blood of Christ. The entire Redemption would come specifically from the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, Our Lady did shed a kind of blood: Her tears. It would serve as only a kind of complement to Our Lord’s Blood. We can say that Tears are the blood of the soul. She suffered all the pain of His death and shed tears. That is why it is impossible to think about the Blood of Christ without at the same time considering the tears of Mary that were joined to that Blood and constituted the first tribute of Christendom to complete the part of His Precious Blood that God wanted to be completed – with the suffering of the faithful – so that souls would be saved in great numbers.

Finally, we should think about the Holy Eucharist. The Blood of Christ was shed in streets, squares, Pilate’s palace and on top of Mount Calvary. That Blood of Christ is found entirely in the Holy Eucharist. How many times we have received this Blood of Christ in us.

Thus, as we receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we should remember this. We are receiving this Precious Blood, shed for us. Inside us, it is like the blood of Abel, not to clamor for punishment against us, but to clamor for mercy for us. So let us receive the Eucharist with great confidence and joy, as we receive the Blood of Christ that rises to Heaven clamoring for mercy on our behalf.

 Credits : Tradition, Family, and Property 

Full Of Grace Cafe, Small Town Parish Thinks Big

When Fr. Josh Johnson arrived as pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church over a year ago, he slept in a room above the choir loft.

The church and rectory had been ravaged by a flood a couple years prior that had destroyed or damaged 95 percent of the small town of St. Amant, Louisiana. The pastor of Holy Rosary had also left due to health reasons, leaving the wrecked parish without a pastor.

Knowing he was coming into a difficult situation, Johnson called in the big guns: he asked communities of cloistered nuns to surround his new parish in prayer.

“I immediately reached out to the cloistered convents and was like: ‘Hey y'all, here's the deal. I'm going to this parish that's just been devastated, can y'all please adopt this parish as spiritual mothers and intercede for these people?’” Johnson told CNA.

Then he bumped up the amount of time that the sacraments would be available to his parishioners. He rearranged the schedule so that his staff could start their day with Mass and adoration.

Fast-forward to today - the prayers of those nuns, and of the people of the parish of Holy Rosary, have come to fruition in the booming and thriving Full of Grace Cafe, a one-stop-shop community center run out of the renovated rectory.

The full name of the rectory-turned-community-center is: Full of Grace Cafe: Quenching God’s Thirst for Charity & Justice.

And the name fits, because it’s hard to come up with a service that Full of Grace Cafe doesn’t offer.
It’s a coffee shop, but it’s also a food pantry and a soup kitchen and a diaper drive and a laundromat.

There are volunteer Human Resources specialists, psychological counselors, a hair stylist, a Creighton FertilityCare specialist and an ultrasound machine. There’s a room for small groups and bible studies. There’s a fireplace and a pool table and a courtyard for outdoor movie nights and socials after Mass.

That wasn’t the original vision. At first, Johnson had the simple idea to move the existing food pantry to a more prominent location, and to maybe one day open a coffee shop.

“I had a very small vision at first, just put the food pantry up front, that way when people come to our campus, you see a beautiful church, and then you see a space for service of the poor,” he said.

“And then from that, different parishioners just began to share their dreams.” All of the services are offered pro bono by parishioners who wanted to share their gifts with the community, Johnson said.
“One lady came to me and said I have the gift of doing hair, and then she said my friends do too, and we would love to come and do hair for free there. And so I said ok, cool, it can be a food pantry and a salon.”

As word got out about the cafe, the offers of help just kept coming.

“And then someone said why don't we make it a soup kitchen too? I love to cook. These people out here can cook well! So I was like ok, we can do that. Then another woman who works with me, she's a Creighton fertility care specialist, and she was like, I can walk with couples and do Creighton FertilityCare for people who are infertile or who have endometriosis or cysts on their ovaries or who want to do Natural Family Planning.”

Johnson also recruited the help of local branches of Catholic Charities, St. Vincent de Paul, and other non-profits in the area to bolster the services and to provide legal help and counseling.

He said he hopes to bring Jesus to people in a way that is non-threatening, in a way that informs, but doesn’t force anything. He said he wants people to feel heard, and for them to know that the cafe is a place where people can come and mutually share their gifts and their lives.

“The goal is really to have a place where the body of Christ can come together to give and receive,” he said.

“I'm going there to receive too, I'm certainly going to give in there, but I'm also receiving. Like when
I do a bible study with our parishioners, God speaks to me through their wisdom and through their love for the Lord. And whenever I'm with the poor I'm receiving as much as I'm giving, so its a place of mutuality, where I can give to you and I can receive your gift and we can accompany each other toward heaven.”

Johnson is not foreign to mission work. Before he became a priest, he spent time serving with Mother Teresa’s order, the Missionaries of Charity, in Calcutta, India. He’s served the poor with a religious order in Jamaica, and several years ago he was on mission at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But the cafe is just a means, Johnson said, not an end. The goal is to point people to Jesus, and ultimately, to make saints.

“On the wall for (Mother Teresa’s) home for the dying and the destitute, there's a quote on the wall that Mother Teresa said to God,” Johnson said. “She said: I will give Holy Mother Church saints.

And I remember when I saw that quote it pierced my heart, so it’s on my ordination card...and this is my way of drawing people to the sacraments.”

Johnson himself left the Church when he was young. What brought him back, he said, was the Eucharist.

“The Eucharist is what brought me back to Jesus and so I believe if I could just get people to come to our campus, then I have the opportunity to point them to Jesus and the Eucharist because the Eucharist is where transformation happens,” he said.

“The Eucharist is going to do everything else, I've seen Jesus work miracles, it’s so cool,” he said.
He’s invited Protestants to come to Eucharistic adoration at his parish, and “I've just seen legit transformations... people who don't even know what's going on have these hardcore transformations because Jesus is alive, and I think we just need to believe that Jesus is God and that he can do what he says he does.”

Johnson has endless stories of all kinds of providential encounters that have happened through the Full of Grace Cafe. There was Micky, a homeless man who wanted community and is now connected to a bible study. There was a distressed young man in the parking lot who needed a job - and was able to take a roofing job that another man had told Johnson about the day before.

Something else Johnson wanted to emphasize was the evangelizing aspect of the Full of Grace Cafe. He didn’t just want to offer food or laundry services to people in need without also trying to tell them about Jesus, he said.

“One thing I noticed in seminary, helping out at Catholic apostolates, when they did work for the poor and with the poor, they wouldn't evangelize well,” he said. “They would give people food, like handouts and stuff, but they wouldn't try to tell people about the story of salvation, and share Jesus with people and really proclaim the faith.”

That’s why in every room of Full of Grace Cafe, there are scripture verses on the wall and pictures of saints. “And they're really diverse saints, because I want everyone who comes to see a saint who looks like them,” he said, from Our Lady of Kibeho to Our Lady of Guadalupe to Fr. Augustus Tolton, St. Jose Sanchez, St. Dymphna, Saints Peter and Paul and more.

“So whether you're white, black, Asian or Hispanic, you're going to see someone who looks like you who's a saint, so you're going to be inspired. You're going to see scriptures on the wall. You're going to meet people who aren't just going to give you a hand-out, but who are going to ask you your story and ask if they can pray with you. I want it to be a place where people would legit encounter Jesus.”

He’s also hoping that he will find an order of religious sisters who will fill the convent in the back of the cafe and help out at the parish.

“I want nuns!” he said. So far he’s had a few different orders of religious sisters come and visit to see if the parish would fit them.

“I want nuns who love Jesus and who love the poor and who love the Blessed Sacrament,” he said.
Johnson said one of the most rewarding things about Full of Grace Cafe has been seeing how willing his parishioners are to pitch in and share their gifts with the community.

“They're like my kids,” he said of his parishioners. “It’s like wow, I'm younger than them because I’m only 31, but I'm like oh man, look at my kids, they're happy about this, they're excited about doing ministry.”

“I recognize I am a limited member of the Body of Christ,” he added. “I'm a necessary member for sure, but I'm very limited, my role is limited, so if I can just build up my parishioners to say yes to being the particular member of the body of Christ that they're called to be, I've done my job well because then we're gonna run, we're gonna thrive.”

The projects at Holy Rosary parish and Full of Grace Cafe have only just begun.

Taking another cue from Mother Teresa, the next step for Johnson is, unsurprisingly, building an adoration chapel and setting up perpetual adoration.

“I've been telling people ok, now, we have to set up perpetual adoration because I don't want any of us to become a bunch of heretics out here thinking we're gonna work our way to heaven,” he said.

“We've got to focus on the Eucharist and we're going to see so much more supernatural fruit.”
He said that when Mother Teresa’s sisters prioritized time in prayer in front of the Eucharist, they saw their order and apostolates flourish in new ways.

“We're going to follow the model of saints,” he said. “We're going to next focus on getting an adoration chapel built so that we can have really hardcore time of just Jesus and I, and adore the Lord and watch him work! Watch the Lord do his thing, and he will, he will. It’s so exciting.”

Credits : Catholic News Agency, December 2018 

Rome’s Center of Divine Mercy established by St. John Paul II

Each day at 3 p.m. people gather to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet in Rome’s Santo Spirito in Sassia, a church containing relics of both St. Faustina Kowalska and St. John Paul II.

Located just steps from St. Peter’s Basilica, Santo Spirito in Sassia is Rome’s official Divine Mercy church.

"At the hour of Divine Mercy … truly the church is filled with many souls -- the young, the sick, couples, and people facing great difficulties of a moral nature who come to implore the Divine Mercy," Monsignor Jozef Bart, the church’s rector told CNA.

The Polish priest was personally selected by St. Pope John Paul II to transform the 16th century church, originally built as a hospital chapel, into a center for the spirituality of Divine Mercy in 1994.

"Today in particular, I am pleased to be able to give thanks to God in this Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, attached to the hospital of the same name, and now a specialized center for the pastoral care of the sick, as well as for the promotion of the spirituality of divine mercy," John Paul II said on Divine Mercy Sunday in 1995.

"It is very significant and timely that precisely here, next to this very ancient hospital, prayers are said and work is done with constant care for the health of body and spirit,” he said of the church.

This year, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin celebrated Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday in the church and Pope Francis extended a greeting to all who gathered in Santo Spirit in Sassia for the feast during his Regina Coeli address.

The Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, the order to which St. Faustina belonged, help to lead the daily prayers and catechesis on the Divine Mercy in Santo Spirito in Sassia.

“Jesus told St. Faustina, ‘Man does not find any peace until he turns with faith to the Divine Mercy,’” Monsignor Bart said.

The church offers Eucharistic adoration with priests available for confession in several languages, including English, at 6 p.m. each day.

“We priests must remember that we are channels, instruments of the Divine Mercy,” Bart explained.
"Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity at the dawn of the third millennium,” St. John Paul II said on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2001.

“‘Jesus, I trust in you.’ This prayer, dear to so many of the devout, clearly expresses the attitude with which we too would like to abandon ourselves trustfully in your hands, O Lord, our only Savior,” he continued.

"A simple act of abandonment is enough to overcome the barriers of darkness and sorrow, of doubt and desperation. The rays of your divine mercy restore hope, in a special way, to those who feel overwhelmed by the burden of sin,” John Paul II said.

The Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia is located at 12 Via dei Penitenzieri in Rome, a five minute walk from St. Peter’s Basilica.

Credits : Catholic News Agency, April 28, 2019 

In war-torn South Sudan, two Spanish priests build a shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary

Ave Maria, the parish church outside Mupoi, South Sudan, fell into disrepair decades ago. It was abandoned at the beginning of Sudan’s civil war, and then ransacked. It is dilapidated and practically unusable.

But two strong-willed Spanish missionaries in South Sudan are working to change that. They have a vision for the church, which they hope to turn in a continental Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The church, near Mupoi, in the South Sudanese diocese of Tombura-Yambio, is massive. It was built almost a century ago by Combonian missionaries from Italy.

The missionaries are followers of St. Daniel Comboni, the first Bishop of Sudan, who founded their order in the late 19th century. The Combonians became the leading evangelizing force of Sudan, and were especially successful in converting to Catholicism the tribes in the territory that today comprises the new nation of South Sudan.

Sudan became an independent nation in 1956. Its first prime minister, Ismail al-Azhari, in order to appease the Islamists of the country’s north, expelled all Catholic missionaries from the country. The majority of those missionaries were Italian Combonians.

Their churches, rectories and missions were either abandoned or transferred to young native clergy and religious. Ave Maria was one such Church. But after the missionaries were expelled, and the civil war began, most of the region’s Catholic population fled. The Church building was left to crumble.

But Catholics are returning to the area. And two Catalonian priests, themselves missionaries to the region, are determined to turn the massive Catholic church into the continental Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary.

"Now that the people has returned to this area, our goal is to rebuild physically, but most importantly spiritually, with a comprehensive vision” says Fr. Avelino Bassols, pastor of the mission parish.
Bassols and his vicar, Fr. Albert Salvans, belong to the Missionary Community of St. Paul  the Apostle (MCSPA) made up of men and women, priests and lay people, who have decided to leave everything behind  in order to follow Christ as missionaries in the most demanding areas of the globe.

The MCSPA was founded by the Spanish missionary priest Francisco Andreo García, who died of cancer in 2013 at Nariokotome Mission, in Turkana, Kenya.
Garcia moved to Kenya in 1988. After that, each time he visited Spain, he strengthened his relationships with the young people from the parishes where he had served during his years in Spain.

This group later became the seed of the MCSPA, which now includes members not only from Spain but also from Kenya, Ethiopia, Germany, Malaysia, Italy, Mexico and Colombia.

Ave Maria Parish is now the epicenter of the peace and rebuilding effort in the northern part of war-ravaged South Sudan’s Diocese of Tombura-Yambio.

"Our mission here is to bring the Gospel in full, and that means not only spreading the Gospel, but also bringing education, peace and reconciliation to the region," the Bishop of Tombura-Yambio, Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, told CNA.

While the priests work in the slow rebuilding of the shrine, a building for a secondary school has been started with financial help from the U.S. based Sudan Relief Fund. The Catholic school will cater to all the students from the nearby towns of Yubu, Ngpotoneyo, Nboko and Sabamile.

"Many African Catholics come in pilgrimage to the shrine of the Holy Cross in nearby Mupoi," explains Fr. Bassols, "Bishop Eduardo has proposed to connect both shrines, thus, people can come to pray to Our Lord in Mupoi and to Our Lady here."

Fr. Bassols does not hide his enthusiasm when he explains: "We are located at the very heart of Africa. If you draw a cross from North to South and from East to West in an African map., Ave Maria is almost at the exact center."

"In the state of Tombura, 84% of the population is Catholic, and I mean, truly Catholic. We need schools, drinking water, a healthcare facility, issues we are addressing with the help of the Sudan Relief Fund. But what we have in abundance here is a deep faith. Our people have survived persecutions, the expulsion of the missionaries, many decades without priests... but their deep faith remains," Fr. Bassols told CNA.

"Is wonderful to devote one's life to the people that need, the most and to preach them the Gospel. Catholics, especially the young, should remember that our baptismal call to be missionaries is not only fulfilled by being evangelizers to  our neighbors, but also to respond to Jesus' call to 'go to all the nations' and therefore, become missionaries Ad Gentes... we invite young people to seriously consider becoming missionaries here," Fr. Salvans added.

Bassols and Salvans are hopeful that in 2023, the centenary of the foundation of Ave Maria, the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary will be completely restored, and will attract Catholics from all over the world.

Credits : Catholic News Agency, May 31, 2019 

A HARVEST OF GREAT FRUITS IS AVAILABLE FOR THE ASKING FROM EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

Like many others across Scotland, the children of our parish are now in the final stages of preparation for their First Holy Communion in the coming weeks.

I must say I find the excitement with which they’re looking forward to the big day rather edifying.

I remember there was a little girl in my previous parish who, in the weeks after her First Communion, would come up to me at the end of Mass and say, eyes wide with excitement, ‘Fr Jamie, that was my seventh Communion!’

Great Joy:

I’m not sure if she’s still counting, but it was clear that the great joy of receiving our Lord in the Eucharist was still fresh in her mind.

For most of us, though, the excitement of novelty wears off soon enough. The reception of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Saviour becomes, by its regularity, something we can come to take for granted.

Our Faith in the Holy Eucharist, the mystery of the Lord’s Body and Blood made truly present on our altars and in our tabernacles, might weaken with time: we begin to doubt if the Lord is really there, we begin to forget what a tremendous gift the Eucharist is, and we might even begin to ask ourselves what the point is in coming to Mass at all.

Danger to Faith:

Familiarity, even if it doesn’t always breed contempt, can be a dangerous thing for our Faith.
If this is true in our own lives, it’s also true in the history of the Church.

There have been periods in the Church’s pilgrimage through history when the Eucharistic Faith that was handed on by the apostles has been denied, or has been mis-represented, or has simply been neglected.

Love for the Eucharist:

In the 16th century, the great, reforming Archbishop of Milan, St Charles Borromeo, established the practice of 40 hours of continuous, solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in his diocese to foster a greater love for the Eucharist in the aftermath of the Reformation.

The practice has survived to this day and is still celebrated around this time in parishes throughout the country.

In a few weeks, we’ll celebrate the Forty Hours devotion in our Cathedral in Edinburgh as a way of renewing and refreshing our Faith in the Holy Eucharist, asking the Lord Jesus to pour out his blessings on our parish, on our city and on our country.

Faithful Souls:

We’re fortunate to have a good number of the faithful souls described by Fr Michael last week who already attend Mass every day and who have already committed to keep watch with the Lord: people who already have a deep Eucharistic Faith and who, like Simeon and Anna in St Luke’s Gospel, seem ‘never to leave the Temple but worship there with fasting and prayer night and day.’ Thanks be to God for them!

We have many others who come to Mass on Sundays, and who are perhaps feeling the Lord calling them to move beyond their comfort zone to the ‘deep waters’ of quiet prayer with him.

We also have people, whose stories I’ll never know, who drift in and out of our church all day long—some are tourists, come to admire the beauty of the cathedral, others come carrying heavy burdens to lay before the Lord and his saints.

Something for everyone:

That’s one of the great things about Eucharistic Adoration! There’s something in it for everyone, wherever we are on our journey of Faith.

The American lay evangelist Sherry Weddell says that we ought to think of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament not only as a devotion for the already convinced, but also as a form of evangelisation.
She describes it as the perfect point of access for postmodern people: experiential, non-judgmental and mysterious.

As she says, it’s accessible to everyone: “the non-Baptised, the unchurched, the lapsed, the sceptical, the seeking, the prodigal and those who aren’t sure that a relationship with God is even possible.”

Daunting :

As much as I love the Mass and the liturgy, I know it can be daunting to someone who doesn’t know what to say or what to do. At adoration, you can (within reason!) say or do whatever you like. You can say or do nothing, if you prefer.

The Cure d’Ars once famously asked one of his illiterate, peasant parishioners what he did during prayer and received the wonderful response: “I look at Him and He looks at me.”
Of course there are as many ways of praying as there are people who pray. We can pray anywhere: indoors and outdoors, in our bedrooms and in the car.

Presence of Jesus:
But, in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, we enter into the presence of Jesus in a very special way.

Parishes which are able to offer regular, and even continuous, periods of Eucharistic Adoration, often reap a harvest of great fruits: the Lord Jesus is never outdone in generosity.

Whenever we come to adoration with open hands and with open hearts, the Lord always responds with abundance. He’s waiting for us in the Blessed Sacrament: come, let us adore Him

Bronze Statue Of Our Lady Installed At The Marian Sheshan Basilica in Shanghai

A new bronze statue of Our Lady holding up the Child Jesus installed on the rooftop of the Sheshan Marian Basilica is seen by Shanghai Catholics as the restoration of a revered heritage.

Local Catholics have longed for the installation of such a statue since the original Marian statue was destroyed more than 20 years ago.

The new statue was blessed by government-recognized Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai when it was installed on top of the belfry of the Marian Basilica at the Sheshan hilltop outside Shanghai, eastern China.

At the April 18 ceremony Bishop Jin thanked all who have showed love and care for Shanghai diocese, and prayed to Our Lady of Sheshan for her blessings to the diocese and all its Catholics.

The rooftop statue project is part of the diocese´s celebrations for the Jubilee of the Year 2000, the basilica parish pastor Father Wu Jianlin told UCA News April 27. Many Catholics and priests have been longing for the statue, he noted.

Some 10,000 Sheshan Catholics have contributed 300,000 yuan (US$36,234) since last May for casting and installing the statue, Father Wu revealed.

The statue, which is 3.87 meters tall and weighs one ton, resembles the original statue that featured Mary standing on a dragon and holding up the Child Jesus above her.

In 1936 the Marian statue was placed on the basilica´s rooftop and has become the symbol of the Sheshan Marian Basilica built in 1935.

However, the statue and many parts of the basilica were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution 1966-1977. When the church was restored in the early 1980s, a cross was erected on the rooftop where the Marian statue stood.

With the installation of the new statue, the cross has been moved to the Sheshan Regional Seminary located beside the basilica, according to Father Li Junzhong, who was in charge of the statue project.

Attending the April 18 ceremony were about 300 Catholics including the vicars general of Shanghai Fathers Joseph Ai Zuzhang and Joseph Xing Wenzhi, priests and seminarians of the Sheshan seminary.

The basilica was founded on a site where the Jesuits first built a church dedicated to Mary Help of Christians in 1873.

In 1942, Pope Pius XII gave the title of Basilica Minor to the Sheshan church. In 1947, a coronation ceremony took place for the Marian statue.

Every year in May, Sheshan becomes a pilgrimage site for Catholics along the Yangtze river, neighboring Shanghai city, and from other parts of China.

The basilica marks the feast of Mary Help of Christians May 24 as its annual feast.

The Great Jubilee is a year of pilgrimages and the Sheshan basilica has been a popular pilgrimage site, particularly in the Marian month of May. With the new statue, the basilica will attract more pilgrims, Father Wu said.

The present Gothic-Roman basilica on the hilltop together with three mid-hill pavilions of the Three Holy Ones -- Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as well as 14 stations of the cross along the hillside are popular prayer sites for pilgrims.

Credits : UCA News 

Eucharistic Adoration makes a Parish come alive on Long Island

Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was introduced a little over a year ago at St. Catherine of Siena parish of Franklin Square, Long Island.

The parish had already had adoration for a few hours a month, but then pastor Msgr. Rick Figliozzi expanded it to perpetual adoration (24 hours a day).

The chapel of a former convent was updated to become a dedicated adoration chapel, and a committee was formed to spread the word and enlist a schedule of regular adorers to cover every hour of the week.

Since then, the adoration chapel has had a constant stream of worshipers.

About 50 people are committed to an hourly schedule, to ensure that the Blessed Sacrament is never alone. Adoration “captains” are notified if someone isn’t able to make his scheduled hour, so someone can fill in. Other people come by for a few minutes to a few hours. Over the course of a week, there are now about 350 people visiting the Blessed Sacrament.

I’d heard the saying, “once you start going, you just have to go back.” I thought, really? Yes, it’s true!

The Real Presence is like nothing else, and the peace is undeniable.

There’s a wide range of people on their knees before the Blessed Sacrament. Older couples, businessmen in suits stopping by before or after work or at lunchtime, entire families, a young guy in painter’s clothes, a woman in tears, a 20-something guy with tattoos and a sweatshirt, a priest from a neighboring parish.

One couple come regularly with their adult disabled daughter. A dad brings his three sons straight from school. They follow him right up to the Blessed Sacrament and kneel beside him with their backpacks. A family of four generations came to pray together.

Diane started going to Adoration when the chapel first opened. “At first, I couldn’t sit there for more than a few minutes. I wasn’t used to that kind of quietness, and I was in so much turmoil; I couldn’t calm myself down.

But I’d force myself to stay, and I poured out my heart to Him. I wanted to be in control all the time, but I started giving my troubles and sufferings to God and I said, ‘I place this on your shoulder.’ I realized I was getting so much peace there. I was staying longer, and I kept wanting to go back. I’m now closer to Jesus. Even if the problems don’t get resolved right away, I now have acceptance and calmness. I say, ‘Jesus, I can’t do this alone. I give it to You.’ When I sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament, I learn to let God be in control.”

For Cathy, having a perpetual adoration chapel nearby has made the difference between visiting the Blessed Sacrament only rarely and now regularly. “The increase in my faith has been tremendous. I love the peace and quiet. With everyone connected on social media and on their phones, it’s just completely different to be apart from that and just alone with God.”

Dan started coming to the chapel on his way to work last year, and now finds he looks forward to it. “Before it seemed to be an ‘extra’ thing I thought I was doing for God; now it’s an essential time I need for myself. If I haven’t been in a week or so, I really feel it; I miss it.”

Three months ago, Therese started experiencing extreme pain, which she assumed was from herniated discs. But an MRI found a completely different and unexpected cause — a large tumor. Her doctor said the first thing she had to do was get to an oncologist immediately. Therese knew going to God first was how she was going to handle this.

“So I went to adoration. I put my report from the doctor on the floor in front of the Jesus and I said, ‘Jesus, You are my doctor. If You want to heal me, I know You will heal me. If You don’t want to heal me, I accept that. I place all my hope in you.’” Alone in the chapel in the middle of the night, Theresa lay down before the Blessed Sacrament. Tears came, but she knew that her confidence was with Jesus. The next day, she scheduled the oncologist and continued to go to adoration until her appointment the next week.

All sorts of tests were run by the oncologist, and then Therese had to wait another few days for the results. “I just kept going to Jesus, and I told Him I accept what He decides; if He chooses to heal me, or not heal me. My trust was in Him, not in the doctors.”

Theresa noticed that her pain was subsiding. Back at the oncologist’s office this past January, she caught a look on his face she couldn’t read. Then he shared with her that in spite of her previous MRI conclusively showing a large tumor, there was now no tumor to be found anywhere in her body.

The doctor was stunned and had no explanation. Theresa knew Whom she had to thank, and she went right back to the adoration chapel to thank Him. She’s had no pain or symptoms since.
Lisa and her husband Tom find themselves saying to each other, “Want to go up to the chapel?” at random times even for a quick visit. “We know that we will find moments of peace in our sometimes hectic days. It is a true reprieve from the stress of daily life or a place to bring a specific prayer intention right to Jesus. It strengthens us to continue on our journey toward heaven. We bring our teens to try to give them these gifts as well. They have many pressures on them, and we believe just being in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament brings seeds of faith, and belief will be planted.”

 The pastor has received several notes from adorers who are grateful for perpetual adoration. One wrote, “A few years ago, my life was going nowhere. I was not in a state of grace and wanted nothing to do with the Church. I started to attend Mass and signed up to be a regular (scheduled) adorer. I prayed, asking for my daughters to find their way back to God. As months went by, I decided to ask my daughter who lives with us if she would like to learn to say the rosary. I was skeptical because she had a very rough life as a young child. She suffers from a lot of trauma we only found out about recently.

 Last night I received a text from her, asking me to teach her the rosary. This was truly a miracle performed by Mary. I was never so happy because I knew my prayers were answered! The power of prayer is unbelievable.

My greatest wish is for my family to find God and to be with me in eternity one day. Thank you for all your hard work to bring perpetual adoration to our parish. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if the adoration chapel didn’t exist!”

Another visitor to the Blessed Sacrament wrote, “The chapel is changing my life and my faith in God. Please use this check to pay for maintenance and upkeep of the chapel. I have ignored my faith for most of my life, and now my God is giving me a chance to save my soul. I can’t thank you enough for having an adoration chapel in my church!”

The Story Behind The Gigantic Statue Of Our Lady Of Butte, Montana

The third tallest statue in the United States bears the image of the Blessed Mother and stands astride the jagged Rocky Mountain Continental Divide 3,000 feet above the city.

The massive 90-foot tall, sixty-ton steel statue is called Our Lady of the Rockies, overlooking Butte, Montana.

For being one of the world’s great engineering marvels, she is a gem that is slowly being discovered. Since she was built in 1985, people from all over the world have been traveling to this remote outpost to see her in ever greater numbers. So how did this statue come to be?

As we shall see, Our Lady of the Rockies is a manifestation of Butte’s close-knit community. The magnificent figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary is anchored on the mountaintop just east of the city. She is visible to all for miles around; an icon for Butte’s residents and countless travelers along Interstate 90. This Madonna, and the people who put her there, tell an incredible story of resilience, innovation, and trust in God.

Butte began as a humble silver mining camp until the discovery of rich, subterranean copper veins in 1880 coincided with the advent of electrification and the nation’s veracious appetite for telephone wire and conductors. Overnight, miners and laborers flocked to Butte from all over the globe, including England, Italy, Slovakia, China, and specially Catholic Ireland. Butte’s economy skyrocketed.

As the networks of miles-long tunnels grew beneath ground, the city above flourished, consisting of diverse ethnic neighborhoods, beautiful architecture, and a sophisticated arts scene. What was once a collection of tents around a muddy creek ballooned to a population of 90,000, at one point becoming the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. It was easily the world’s top copper producer, and it was said that there were more Irishmen in Butte than in Ireland.

Butte’s riches were also spiritual. Since a large majority of the miners were from Italy, Germany, and Ireland, Catholicism also thrived. It took faith and determination to pile into a crowded mine-cage and plummet thousands of feet to the dim, hot, dusty tunnels from which were formed with drill bit, blasting cap, and miner grit to extract the ore that illuminated cities and powered progress.

Men of true grit — Butte’s copper miners.

 Complete with baptismal picnics, Eucharistic processions, St. Patrick’s Day revelry, and Irish wakes, Catholicism was woven into everyday life in Butte. The city once boasted ten Catholic churches, seven parishes, nine Catholic schools, and was known across the state as a lush fountain for religious vocations.

Sadly the source of Butte’s material prosperity ran dry. As the demand for copper lessened and the mining industry expanded internationally, the mines and Butte’s economy took a terrifying nose-dive.

By 1975 nearly all the mines were closed, leaving the community reeling.

With the loss of thousands of mining jobs, the industry which had historically created millionaires and high-paying  labor positions mostly vanished. What was once America’s boomtown had now shrunk to a population below 40,000 souls. Locals feared Butte would become a ghost town.

A long-time electrician in one of Butte’s surface pits, Bob O’Bill, however, had a setback of another kind. In 1979 his wife was seriously ill with cancer and was fighting for her life. A devout Catholic, Bob promised God he would erect a life-sized statue of the Virgin Mary if his wife recovered.
Miraculously, Mrs. O’Bill made a complete recovery.

Bob was at work in the pit when he told his mining buddies about his plans to make good on his promise and build a small statue to Mary. The miners–haul drivers, electricians, iron workers, and explosives experts–surprised Bob by saying, “That’s not good enough for your wife’s healing. This statue has to be the tallest in the country and visible for all to see.” Thus began the plan to put Mary on the mountain.

Many scoffed at the proposal. The task was extraordinarily daunting and ridiculously expensive. No one had money, and the town was on the verge of bankruptcy. Yet eventually the notion caught fire among the community, especially among the hardest hit: the miners, engineers, and metal workers. Not one of them were professional artists, promoters, organizers, or public figures. They were God-fearing lunchpail laborers, not unlike Jesus, the carpenter.

In 1980 a volunteer crew began bulldozing a five-mile road up the steep mountain ridges, sometimes advancing only twelve feet a day, often facing treacherous conditions, the elements, and mechanical failures of outdated equipment. After two long years, the extremely dangerous and rough path was completed, while work on the statue continued.

An amazing hero, Leroy Lee, a man with only a grade school education and no design experience, led a team of volunteer welders and steel workers—often working nights and weekends—to assemble Our Lady in a local heavy equipment yard. The initiative involved entire families; while the men bulldozed and welded, the wives and children threw fundraiser potluck dinners and raffles, keeping the project alive with vital funds.

Lee’s ingenious design required construction of three gigantic segments. Each 20-ton segment was airlifted by a heavy-lift National Guard helicopter, maneuvering past jagged peaks and swirling winds. At one point the helicopter was thrown by a gust over the side of the mountain to the horror of onlookers, workers, and news camera operators. Instead of dropping the load, the pilot fought to regain control against all odds. When the aircraft and segment reappeared over Saddleback Ridge that morning, people cried tears of joy.

December 17, 1985.

On December 17, 1985, when the final segment—the strong, reassuring head of our Lady—was lifted into place, the entire town was at a standstill, nervously watching. When they saw their completed project, the town erupted into cheers. Sirens, church bells, and horns could be heard echoing throughout the valley. Six years of hard work had brought a struggling community together. Their dream had become a towering reality, a gift for generations to come, Butte natives and travelers alike.

The fruits have been immeasurable. Though the mines never re-opened to their former capacity, Butte’s economy and spirits vastly improved during construction and the years immediately following: jobs increased, several business started and reopened, while the last brothel (one of the country’s few remaining) finally closed its doors.

Today, Our Lady of the Rockies stands a source of pride for Butte and a beacon for all who travel by on Interstate 90 and for all who see her. During the day she watches diligently over the valley, while at night she is illuminated in votive memory for the city’s deceased. She is a testament to the city’s spirit, a resilient, can-do attitude and unshakeable faith that through her Son all things are possible.

The History Behind The 32 Foot Statue Of Our Lady Queen Of Peace, Santa Clara California

In August of 1980, Msgr. John Sweeny, then pastor of Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara, California, fulfilled a long-time desire to give special honor to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

That month, he commissioned Charles C. Parks, a noted sculptor, of Wilmington, Delaware, to design a 32-foot stainless steel statue of Our Lady, under this title. Thus began a remarkable odyssey, of a truly extraordinary image of the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God. After several models, the masterpiece was begun.

The statue, which some have called “the awesome Madonna,” was finished in the Summer of 1982. It stands higher than most three-story buildings. The 7200-pound statue rises to a height of thirty-two feet and rests on a twelve-foot landscaped mound. The head, hands, and feet are cast in stainless steel.

The gown is constructed of welded strips of stainless steel.

It was erected outdoors, on the lawn of the artist’s studio. It created so much interest and attracted so many visitors — day and night — that the Mayor of Wilmington invited the sculptor to put it on public display in the heart of the city. There it remained from September 1 to October 10, 1982. Many busloads of pilgrims came from distant cities, to see the statue, and to pray.

During that period, the local paper printed a special supplement titled “The Madonna In Rodney Square”, telling the story of the statue and of the vision of Fatima. The first 10,000 copies sold out in one day. In November 1982, Delaware Today magazine published a special article with full color pictures under the title “The Madonna Phenomenon.”

The statue was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Pierre DuMaine of the Diocese of San Jose, in Santa Clara, California. The ceremony took place on October 7,1983, Feast of the Most Holy Rosary. Msgr. Sweeny considered the date significant. This date was the 15th anniversary of the beginning of monthly First Friday all-night vigils in this parish.

Pope John Paul II sent a special blessing for the dedication ceremony. During the three days of October 7th to 9th, there were religious and civic ceremonies and public acknowledgements at the foot of the statue. At the final service, on Sunday, October 9th, Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., of the Family Rosary Crusade, gave the homily.

The Shrine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Our Lady of Peace is the only major Marian Shrine on the West Coast between Our Lady of Sorrows Shrine in Portland, Oregon, (over 700 miles to the north), and the famous Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, (over 2,300 miles to the south).

Eucharistic Adoration Brings Us Closer To Jesus Christ ----- A Story From Arkansas

There are 168 hours in a week. Each week, adults on average watch about 27 to 36 hours of television, spend at least 40 hours working and about 56 hours sleeping.

Faithful Catholics devote at least an hour a week to Mass, but devoting just one more hour to enter into a personal relationship with Jesus can open up another world of spirituality during Lent.

Eleven Arkansas parishes out of 128 have perpetual Eucharistic adoration, adoring Jesus Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Dozens of other parishes offer it from one hour to six days a week.

“We come to know ourselves best when we know God. And there is no greater way to know the Father than through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit within the holy Mass and then going on into Eucharistic adoration,” said Taffy Council, a well-known promoter of perpetual adoration in Arkansas.

“It has been my place, the calm within my storm to sit in the chapel and just let him speak to me, to heal me wherever I need to be healed.” Jo Ann Gourley

‘Here I am’:

Council, a parishioner at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Benton, began her parish’s perpetual adoration program 18 years ago. Since then, she has helped several parishes throughout Arkansas, neighboring states and even as far away as California and Nova Scotia to start perpetual adoration or keep theirs afloat. She travels to speak with about three parishes a year and corresponds with more via email and phone calls.

“We come to Mass as community. We participate in the liturgy together with all of our senses — we’ve got the bells, the smells, we extend our hands, we pray together,” Council said. “… It makes even more sense to then take the grace of that sacrament before the Blessed Sacrament: ‘OK Lord, here I am; I’m bringing what you just gave me and I’m here to spend this time with you and lets unpack it.’”

“He just asks us to be there,” she said. “Where else today can we find a place that we can just be. There are no expectations but simply to come and look at Jesus and let Jesus,” speak his will in our life.

Changing Lives:

Jo Ann Gourley has been praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament even before perpetual adoration started at Our Lady of Fatima. Getting in the chapel is a process, walking to the back of her van with a cane to unload her wheelchair. Stormy weather presents challenges, but she’s been blessed by help when needed. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994.

“Going there helps me to deal with what I’m going through. I have come to the adoration chapel at the time when it first came about at Our Lady of Fatima; I was going through a divorce and the MS had just taken a turn for the worse,” leaving her to raise two children on a fixed income. “I was hurt that he would allow this” but “sitting at the chapel has been a time of getting to know God better and knowing he is with me through it all. It just gives me a lot of strength.”

She adores from 9 to 10 a.m. on Fridays, taking a break in the summers when the heat is overwhelming.

“It has been my place, the calm within my storm to sit in the chapel and just let him speak to me, to heal me wherever I need to be healed,” she said.

Judy Wurtz, perpetual adoration coordinator for St. Paul Church in Pocahontas admits she was “one of the doubting Thomas’” when fellow parishioner Pennie Earsa and others suggested perpetual adoration.

“I said, ‘I just don’t think we can get it 24 hours seven days a week,’ but I’ll take an hour if you want me to do it,” Wurtz said.

But when a priest with the Missionaries of the Most Holy Eucharist came to speak, “I guess the Holy Spirit moved me. I heard an inner voice of Jesus saying to me, ‘Judy, get the ball rolling.’”

With about 200 adorers in a parish of just 400 families, that ball has been rolling for the past 22 years.

While there are challenges at times, dedicated adorers pick up the slack. Earsa and her husband Daniel have two adoration hours. Up until this year, she also went by herself from 2 to 3 a.m.

“It’s like being with a true friend. I can just speak to him and he listens and sometimes if I listen well enough, he speaks to me,” she said. “I think when one part of the family hurts, the whole family hurts. We can present our petitions to Jesus right there for the desires of the whole parish so they can be united and heal.”

Todd Krauser, parishioner at Christ the King Church in Little Rock for the past six months, jumped back into adoration after a hiatus while attending a church without a perpetual adoration program.

“You feel like you’re missing something,” he admits.

Though his schedule is busy as co-president of Metro Appliances & More in Maumelle, he makes the time from 4 to 5 a.m. every Tuesday. He has read the Bible cover to cover and prays the rosary. “It just makes me take a step back … to put my family in perspective and where everything is at. Say a prayer over the company every single day and giving thanks.”

From about March until November, sunrise to sunset, Rob Roberts is busy on RDR Farms, where his family raises rice, soybeans and corn. The Pocahontas parishioner felt called about four years ago to start adoration, taking 2 to 3 a.m. Mondays.

In adoration, he’ll pray and read the Bible. After, he’ll head home and pay the bills for the week before work begins.

“If it wasn’t for this hour in adoration there would be times of the year where I would just drift away more than I would now. I still go to church on Sundays as usual, but it brings me back and a little bit closer to where I need to be,” he said.

‘Save the world’

Transformed lives are a hallmark of adoration, but getting Catholics to surrender in the busy world can be a little like herding cats. But there’s always a light bulb moment, Council said, likening it to hearing a favorite song.

“Every time you hear it, something just kind of pings inside of you … That’s your ‘ah-ha’ moment about that song. There’s something about that that touches your heart. The word of God is like that. The same thing happens for us when we are before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”

In an effort to help perpetual adoration programs run more smoothly, Council said a secure website is in the final stages that will be open to all parishes that adorers can use to as an up-to-date database for communication, information and catechesis. It will be free and include a Spanish version.

Amid the countless distractions that can pull faithful away from God, Eucharistic adoration is a chance to make a difference in our lives and the world.

“We’re living in a culture of fear and a lot of sin. Eucharistic adoration can save the world, saints have talked about that. It can save the Church,” Council said. “We cannot afford not to take the time to come to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”

Credits : The Arkansas Catholic 

Slovak Teenager To Be Beatified As A Martyr To Purity

A 16-year-old peasant girl will be beatified as a martyr in Slovakia, seven decades after she was shot in front of her family for resisting rape by a drunken Soviet soldier.

Anna Kolesárová “embodies the faithful layperson living in their family, regularly receiving sacraments, praying the Rosary and approaching God through good works. Her heroic testimony, drawn from a sincere spiritual life, is something every Catholic and believer can aspire to,”

Archbishop Bernard Bober of Kosice, Slovakia, told Catholic News Service Aug. 21.

He said honoring Kolesárová, whose “reputation for holiness” had inspired young Slovaks, would give the local Church a unique chance for spiritual growth.

“The story of 16-year-old Anna Kolesarova offers a strong message, of course, for the younger generation,” he said.

“Celebrating the divine grace which was present in her life will enable us to gather the faithful, but also to reach the wider civil society,” Archbishop Bober said. “Her story provides a spiritual response to today’s nostalgia for purity. It’s a message not confined to the younger generation, but one to move all faithful people.

“Servants of God who gave their lives for Christ in modern Slovak history were the victims of a totalitarian communist regime which suppressed religious freedom, and this will be the first layperson declared blessed,” he added.

Cardinal Giovanni Becciu, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes, will beatify Kolesárová in Kosice Sept. 1. At least 30,000 Catholics are expected to attend the beatification in Lokomotiva Stadium.

Kolesárová was born July 14, 1928, at Vysoka nad Uhom, near the present Slovak-Ukrainian border.

When Kolesárová was 13 her mother died, so she took over household duties and regularly attended Mass and Rosary services with her father and elder brother.

When the Red Army captured the village Nov. 22, 1944, witnesses said Kolesárová had donned her mother’s black dress to disguise her youth; she took refuge in the cellar. Asked to find food when a drunken soldier entered the house, Kolesárová broke free when he tried to rape her. She was shot twice through the head in front of her father and neighbors.

The 16-year-old was buried at night in a makeshift coffin but was given a formal funeral a week later by Fr. Anton Lukac, who recorded that she had received confession and Communion before her death and made a “sacrifice of holy purity.”

In a website statement, the Kosice Archdiocese said accounts of her testimony had been secretly gathered in the 1950s by Jesuit Father Michal Potocky. The statement said her grave had become a place of pilgrimage only after the 1989 collapse of communist rule.

In a pastoral letter, read in churches Aug. 19, the Slovak bishops’ conference said Kolesárová had been “fully aware, despite her young age” of what awaited her, and had instinctively “followed the voice of conscience” rather than “having time to think and philosophize.”

“Today, the temptations against purity are much greater than before — they weigh on the young soul from every direction, via the internet and media,” the letter said.

“We are tempted to ignore or succumb to manifestations of our imperfect human nature and the fragilities which characterize us as sinful people. In the light of faith, however, we are called to observe limits and boundaries, to be greater and more persistent.”

Credits : The Catholic Sun 

Catholicism In North Korea ---- A Silent and Suffering Church

For Western Catholics who sometimes despair of keeping the faith in a secularized world, or passing it on to their children, Fr. Paul Hwang might offer a bit of perspective: Try it in North Korea sometime.

The country’s microscopically small Catholic population – estimated at 3,000 by the government, 800 by the local church – has no resident priest, no access to the sacraments, no possibility of overt catechesis or faith sharing, and can’t even engage in simple gestures such as the Sign of the Cross in public without fear of surveillance.

Hwang, a South Korean, said he is certain there is no Catholic Mass being celebrated anywhere in the North, in a nation of some 23 million people, even underground.

“The South Korean church would know if it were happening,” he said. “It would not be possible because of fear of the security forces.”

Hwang is the National Director of Caritas Corea, a Catholic relief agency based in Seoul, South Korea, and part of Caritas Internationalis, a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations worldwide. In the last four years, Hwang has been in and out of North Korea 10 times.

In the early twentieth century, North Korea was home to a small but flourishing Catholic community, with two territorial dioceses and a territorial abbacy entrusted to the Benedictine Order.

During the 1950-53 Korean War, however, the Catholic presence was all but snuffed out – every priest in the country was exiled, imprisoned or executed, and all Catholic institutions were seized by the state.

All 18 Benedictines in North Korea at the time of the war perished, either by immediate execution or from eventual death in a labor camp. Their abbey was taken over by the Communists, and is today a Faculty of Agriculture.

The last Bishop of Pyongyang, Francis Hong Yong-ho, is still listed in the Annuario Pontificio, the official Vatican yearbook, as “disappeared” since March 10, 1962. Since that time, the archbishop of Seoul, South Korea, has been designated the apostolic administrator of Pyongyang.

Today, Hwang described a situation that in some ways seems eerily reminiscent of the catacombs.

The only believers who have even a rudimentary sort of religious formation, he said, are North Korean Catholics who have crossed the Tumen River in the northeast of the country, into a Chinese border zone where family members from the two Koreas often reunite. There, Catholics from the south can pass on some basic religious instruction to family members from the north.

“Some were baptized in this way,” Hwang said.

Afterwards, Hwang said, the northern Catholics go home and practice the faith as best they can in private. They dare not engage in any public conversation about matters of faith or any religious practice, however, for fear of harassment from security forces.

While all religions are kept on a tight leash, restrictions sometimes fall on the Catholic Church in specially harsh fashion.

Monsignor Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Undersecretary for Relations with States, pointed out Oct. 19 that Catholics are the only Christian body in Pyongyang without their own minister appointed by that church’s authorities.

There is only one Catholic church in the capital city, called the “Changchung Church” after the neighborhood in which it’s located, where a Liturgy of the Word is offered on Sunday.

However, the church is administered by the “North Korean Catholic Association,” created by the Communist government in June 1988 as a means of control over Catholic life – much like the “Patriotic Association” which regulates Catholic affairs in China.

 Also Read :

Witnesses Tell About Christianity In North Korea

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-asia/2019/02/01/witnesses-tell-about-christianity-in-north-korea/

The Evangelizing Power Of Eucharistic Adoration By Adam Janke

Before my wife and I entered the Catholic Church in 2005 I found myself spending increasing amounts of time in Eucharistic Adoration at our local perpetual adoration chapel in Grand Rapids, MI.

As a young twenty-something Baptist I was struck by the sense of peace I found in this "sacred space." During my three-year journey into the fullness of faith I started attending Adoration even before I went to Mass on a regular basis. The fast pace of life had left me constantly strained and stressed out and Catholic friends suggested I spend quiet time in prayer at Adoration to regain my bearings. The chapel was less distracting than praying at home and Protestant churches were not open late at night.

As time went on I started to retreat there more and more often and Jesus allowed me to enter into His rest. The very act of spending time before the Lord, exposed in the Eucharist, transformed me even if I did not yet fully realize the implications for my family.

The Catholic Church offered something that would fulfill an immediate need I had in my life. Looking back I realize now how Christ was working on my heart in those silent moments. In speaking about the Eucharist Benedict XVI said: "Christ's death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against Himself in which He gives Himself in order to raise man up and save him.

This is love in its most radical form" (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 8).

Cardinal Raymond Burke follows up, "The Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord are, in fact, only fully understood in the context of the Lord's Supper, the Eucharistic Sacrifice and Banquet" (Divine Love Made Flesh, 80). No wonder then, that I felt so at home and at peace in Adoration. I was with Christ who was pouring out His love for me.

After my conversion and since accepting work as a Director of Religious Education (who also does
youth ministry), I take every opportunity I can to help my parishioners spend time with Our Lord in the Eucharist. Many of my parishioners have also been transformed by the evangelistic power of Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration.

Our youth started experiencing Adoration in the summer of 2007 at their first youth conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville. With no prior knowledge, prompting, or leading by any of the staff, two of our teens experienced a gift from the Holy Spirit known as "resting in the Spirit."

While it is difficult to define, Fr. Robert DeGrandis describes this grace as a "full surrender of the body during prayer when a person can be literally overwhelmed by the power of the Holy Spirit and falls to the ground in a peaceful state of prayer." Many of them experienced healing and one teen even felt convicted by Jesus to immediately go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

This girl told our youth group about how she had been resistant to go at first, but how free she felt after Confession. When we got back to the parish our teens cornered our pastor in the sacristy after Mass and demanded more opportunities for Adoration at the parish. They had fallen in love with Jesus. Our startled pastor was only too happy to oblige.

Over the next few years we expanded opportunities for Adoration at youth ministry events such as our New Year's Eve lock-in and our opening and closing of the year ceremonies for our Parish School of Religion. Our parents share with me how much they love having Adoration and how it has given them a new and deeper relationship with Jesus.

More recently our parish has started offering a monthly "Festival of Praise," which is centered around a meal and an hour of Eucharistic Adoration. Prayer teams are available to pray with participants, and we offer confession whenever possible. After our very first festival, a senior citizen came up to me in tears and told me that is the first time she felt the presence of the Lord in her heart.

During a procession our deacon stopped in front of a six-year-old boy, holding the Eucharist out to him. The deacon was about to move on but sensed he should stay a few moments longer. The boy, named Joseph, held out his hand to the monstrance with a look of wonder. Afterward, I asked Joseph what had happened and he said, "I was tired of holding my candle so I was glad that I got to put that down. Jesus came over to me and he told me that he loved me and that made me happy."

Jesus speaks to, converts, blesses, and transforms us through his True Presence. We have also added thirty minutes of Adoration to our First Communion retreat. I have found that the children, more so than the adults, get it. They want to be there. As a catechist I see it as the fulfillment of my duties: to bring them to Jesus, get out of the way, and allow Jesus to love them.

Cardinal Burke again states: "The Holy Eucharist is an incomprehensible gift of God's love which fills us with gratitude and with the desire to make this most wonderful gift, our Lord Jesus Himself, known to all our brothers and sisters. If, as is true, the Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of the Church's life, the Holy Eucharist is also the source and summit of the Church's mission in the world" (Divine Love Made Flesh, 178).

I have spoken to youth ministers who believe that teens won't like Adoration because it isn't fun enough, and I've reassured them that through Adoration and the experience of the True Presence of Jesus, those teens (and all of us) are becoming disciples of the Lord.

In Evangelization we are tasked to proclaim Jesus Christ. Is there any more powerful way this side of the Parousia than proclaiming Jesus through the Eucharist?

A Church On Fire Because Of Eucharistic Adoration -- IN THE TOWN OF ACUSHNET

This is the story of a Catholic Parish In The North - East United States that is vibrant and alive.

FYI -- THIS IS A CATHOLIC PARISH IN THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 


A little church in a small town, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church was facing tough times. The congregation was dwindling, and Mass attendance was at an all-time low. The empty confessional was collecting dust, and donations were dismal.

But then the unthinkable happened.

Today, St. Francis Xavier is one of the most vibrant parishes in the diocese with standing-room only Masses, confessional lines, a busload of parishioners participating in the March for Life, and an abundance of freewill donations that will make them debt-free by April.

“Jesus is on the property,” said Mary Cardoza, the spark that inflamed the parish. “We are a church on fire.”
Brought up in a Catholic family, Mary Cardoza attended Catholic schools.

“I had one foot in the world and one foot in the Church,” she said.

But although she fulfilled her Sunday obligation, she never participated in church activities and often rebelled against the laws of the Church.

“I was always a zombie Catholic,” she said laughing.

When she turned 40, she decided it was time to cultivate a relationship with God.

“You only go to Him when you are in trouble,” she said.

She began meeting with a group for moms after church, who began teaching her about the faith.
It was on a group pilgrimage to the Divine Mercy Chapel in Stockbridge, where she had a life-changing experience. A message board of activities listed “Eucharistic Adoration”.

“What’s Adoration?” she asked the group. “Jesus is really in the Eucharist,” they answered. “But what do you do?” she asked. “You talk to Him,” they said. “Okay, so I go in there, kneel down and something happens — a spiritual experience. I’m on fire for an hour,′ she said.” I knew without a doubt Jesus was in the Eucharist. He was real. We were connected.”

Back at home, she had no idea what to do with her newfound faith.

After Sunday Mass, her pastor, the Rev. Daniel Lacroix, asked her to attend a Stewardship Committee meeting.

“So I go to this meeting, and it is the most depressing meeting I’ve ever been to,” she said. “They start telling me all the stuff that is wrong — church attendance and collections were down; no one was going to Confession; not many people were attending church activities. I go home and cry.”

But then, she said her prayers were answered with the solution to all that ailed her parish.

“I go back to Father Dan and tell him I have the answer — Adoration,” she said.
Lacroix offered her the use of a little room in the church basement, an exit hall to the elevator, but he had no funds to spare.

Shortly after, Cardoza received a phone call from a neighbor who had a package for her. It contained step-by-step instructions on how to start Adoration in your church.

“Her uncle had mailed it to her 10 years prior,” said Cardoza. “She had kept it until she found out about me.”

The next problem was that they needed kneelers, which cost about $500 each.

She received a call from another friend, who had started up a conversation with a woman wearing a Divine Mercy pin at Dunkin Donuts. When her friend mentioned that her church needed kneelers, the lady gave her a number to call.

“I called the number, and the Franciscans Sisters of the Immaculate in Fairhaven told me to pick up four kneelers that night,” Cardoza said.

Now, all they needed were adorers.

Cardoza spoke to the parishioners at all the Masses that weekend. She needed adorers to serve one-hour increments from Friday at 9:30 a.m. through Saturday at 3 p.m.

“Personally, I think Adoration is the best kept secret,” she told them. “I give Him all my problems; He gives me answers. I give Him all my fears; He gives me peace beyond any human understanding. I give Him my tears; He gives me joy. If you’re looking for a place to refuel with God’s graces to get through another hectic week, then Adoration is the place to be.”

Fifty people signed up.

In 2008, Lacroix was assigned to a parish on Cape Cod, and the Rev. Monsignor Gerard P. O’Connor became pastor of St. Francis Xavier’s.

“Monsignor looked at me and said, ‘Adoration in an exit hall? Put Jesus in the church,’” recalled Cardoza. “He loves Jesus with his whole heart and soul, and he loves his people. He puts Eucharist first and makes it the center, which brought the people back. As soon as he put Jesus in the church, Adoration exploded.”

Parishioner Susan Charbonneau knew something was missing in her life. She had been divorced for 10 years and was often distracted when she prayed at home.

Her friend asked her to cover her Friday Adoration hour at 5 p.m.

Charbonneau’s first prayer before the Blessed Sacrament was “I don’t love you. I’m sorry that I don’t really love you.”

Growing up in a strict Portuguese Catholic family, Charbonneau attended Mass every Sunday, observed all the religious holidays, and the family prayed the rosary together every night.

“I was dragged to Confession regularly, but I never had a personal relationship with Jesus,” she said. “I knew of Him, I knew about Him, but I didn’t know Him. I didn’t love Him because you can’t love someone you don’t know.”

Sitting in the last pew in the church, she said she was bored out of her mind and spent most of the time looking at her watch.

Her second visit to Adoration was a few weeks later, and it was much the same.

“I didn’t pray,” she said.

A couple of weeks later Cardoza asked her to become an adorer. Caught off guard, she reluctantly agreed.

Then came the Saturday morning at an especially low point in her life that she found herself kneeling and looking at the Blessed Sacrament. She also eventually made it to Confession, which she said was an extremely important part of her journey.

“Adoration has improved every aspect of my life, one of which is that my marriage has been restored,” said Charbonneau. “I’m no longer in a state of constant worry about situations I have no control over. I don’t know what the future holds, but I find great comfort in knowing the One who does.”

Forty years ago Stephen Watts returned from the Vietnam War and married his wife Jeannine at St. Francis Xavier Church. A non-practicing Methodist who had never been baptized, he made a promise to God that he would raise his children in the Catholic faith. Year after year, his family went to church without him.

After 21 years working for the electric company, Watts retired.

“My kids had grown up and moved out, and me and my wife were drifting apart,” he said.

One Sunday he asked his wife to bring home a bulletin from church, and he noticed the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) program. Intrigued, he signed up for classes.

“I was a sponge,” he said, absorbing as much information as he could. With the guidance of Lacroix, who was pastor at the time, Watts made the decision to become a Catholic.

On the day he received all his sacraments — Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation — Watts said that he experienced a miracle.

“As I bent over the font to be baptized, I felt the Holy Spirit, like a wind, rush over my back and neck and across the water,” he said. “When I looked down at the water in the font, I saw the water ripple. I not only felt but heard the Holy Spirit, who sounded like a breath in my ear.”

Watts is now the captain of Tuesday Adoration.

“I do see a difference,” he said of his relationship with God after spending time in Adoration. “I believe I was wavering in some of my beliefs, but now I can focus more clearly. This one hour is really not enough time. So I try and make it my best hour spent with Him.”

Parishioner Tony Pimentel had been serving as an adorer for five months, but when he sat in front of the Blessed Sacrament every week, a guilty conscience plagued him. He had not been to Confession in 26 years.

“I knew that despite basically being a good person, I was hanging on to years of compounding sins and making new ones all the time,” he said.

Pimentel was raised in a Catholic family and had attended Catholic school.

“I believe in God and Jesus, and I went to Mass; but I had a superficial faith.”
He said that he was frightened to go to Confession because of the judgment of the priest.

When Pimentel finally entered the confessional, he said he expected admonishment, but instead the priest began with a prayer of thanksgiving to God for bringing him back home.

Pimentel had brought a document with him that he downloaded from the Internet entitled “Steps to Making a Good Confession”.

They spent 30 minutes together.

“When my Confession was over, I exhaled an exhale I had not felt for as long as I could remember,” he said. “I felt as light as a feather, as though all those sins I had been holding on to for all of those years had been removed in one fell swoop. I thought I would be excommunicated from the Church.

But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Hadn’t I been listening? I mean, Jesus’ whole ministry was centered on the forgiveness of sins.”

Currently, St. Francis Xavier offers 54 hours of Adoration every week. There are 70 adorers and 21 substitute adorers. The Adoration schedule is Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., followed by Benediction and Evening Prayer; and Friday at 9:30 a.m. through Saturday at 3 p.m.

Everyone is welcome.