From The Bronx To Taiwan

Maryknoll Father Eugene Murray sums up the essence of his 62 years of missionary priesthood in two simple phrases: being kind to people and relying on God’s grace.

“I enjoy my mission life. I love the sacramental part of saying Mass, giving communion, helping the people in their relationship with Jesus,” he says. “As you do the missionary work, you try to keep close to our Lord and you ask for his help and his graces.”

His parishioners at Our Lady of China Church are eager to list the ways the priest’s kindness has impacted their community. “He is selfless and has a big, warm smile,” says Wei Ren Jr., who was baptized at the parish and learned about the Bible from Father Murray.

“He shares God’s love in his daily life.” Wang De Lan, a new parishioner, says she is impressed by the priest’s patience. “He never talks about others’ faults,” she says. “I really like his way of guiding us. He is a good shepherd.” In Taiwan, 88-year-old Father Murray is known as Father Dzeng Syan Dau, meaning “one who makes manifest the teaching.” Parishioners explain how he teaches by example.

“He’s found a lot of the lost sheep,” Wei says through an interpreter. “He cares about the community, going to the hospitals and the jail.” Father Murray has worked in several parishes, been director of the Maryknoll Language Center in Taichung and taught English at a high school and a Catholic university. He also worked as a prison chaplain for over 20 years, visiting inmates weekly. 

“One of them had his whole family baptized and he joined the Legion of Mary,” Father Murray says. 

Eugene Murray, who grew up with eight siblings in the Bronx, New York, was inspired to be a priest while attending Cardinal Hayes High School and hearing Maryknoll Father Joseph English speak about the missions. “He talked to us about how many people have not yet heard the name of Jesus, especially in places like China,” Father Murray recalls. “I was very moved by that.” Then 15-year-old Murray joined the Venard, Maryknoll’s junior seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. Eleven years later, he was ordained a priest. He was assigned to Taiwan in 1958. “It became my whole life,” he says. 

Transformation of Taiwan:  

Recalling the Taiwan he first encountered, Father Murray says: “It was an agricultural society,” where people worked in rice fields but had time between planting and harvesting to listen to priests and catechists. “Maybe 40 to 50 people would study the doctrine and get baptized together, and they would form a community.” 

Industrialization transformed Taiwan in the 1960s, he says, prompting young people to move to the cities to work in factories. Even though the Taichung Diocese and Maryknoll reached out to Catholics in the cities, he says, the demands of modern life made it harder for new people to get involved with the Church. “People are busy all the time, all year round,” the missioner says. Nowadays, he adds, people’s needs are not financial but spiritual. In Taiwan, about 1.5 percent of the population is Catholic. 

“People are looking for things that give more meaning to their lives,” he says. “It is not just making money and producing a lot of goods that makes you happy. It’s peace of mind coming from God.” During the three years he spent away from Taiwan, Father Murray’s work included helping the United States Catholic Conference to resettle Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnam War. He returned to Taiwan in 1976 and was assigned to Shalu parish, which did not have many practicing Catholics. Father Murray and the parish catechist visited the Catholics who were registered to invite them back to the Church. 

He remembers Tio Bi Le, a young factory worker and his first catechumen in Shalu. Before Tio Bi Le was baptized, her mother told her, “Oh, you are going to be a hungry ghost,” referring to the custom to put out food for the dead during big feast days. Father Murray adds, “She told her mother: ‘No, I won’t be a hungry ghost; I remember listening to the doctrine very carefully, and for Catholics, there is an everlasting banquet in heaven.’” She went on to become a catechist, married and raised Catholic children. “The people who believe and are baptized are rather faithful,” Father Murray says. “It’s gratifying to see how much the faith means to them.”  

Immersed in Taiwanese Culture:  

Since 1985, Father Murray has served in Our Lady of China parish in Ching Shui, Taichung. “The majority of my Catholics are mainland Chinese who came over in 1949 with Chiang Kai-shek,” he says. The nationalist Chinese army of Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan after being defeated by the communists under Mao Zedong. Soldiers and their families were living in military villages that the Taiwanese government built for them. 

Ten years ago, the government reclaimed the land, built 10-story buildings and moved the people into these apartments. The soldiers and their families — who arrived in their 20s — are now elderly and often have foreign workers taking care of them. “I visit them often with the Legion of Mary members,” he says. “We bring them communion and we anoint them, if necessary.” 

“He is just like a father figure,” says Li A Hau, a parishioner who accompanies Father Murray on his visits. “When a parishioner needs anything, he tries to fulfill all the needs of the parishioner. But Father never asks parishioners to do something for him.” Father Murray officially became a Taiwanese citizen in 2017 after the government allowed foreigners to have dual citizenship. “I applied at the encouragement of some of my Catholics,” he says. 

Many parishioners laud his fluency in the Mandarin and Taiwanese languages. “He is completely immersed in our Taiwanese culture, tradition, family and societal values,” Wei says. “Except for his appearance, he is totally Taiwanese.” Father Murray feels grateful to have been able to share God’s message in Taiwan. “The credit is to God and God’s grace,” he says. “Everything falls into place.”

Credits : UCA News 

Mary's Prayer Of Adoration

Mary devoted herself exclusively to the Eucharistic glory of Jesus. She knew that it was the desire of the Eternal Father to make the Eucharist known, loved and served by all men; that the need of Jesus’ Heart was to communicate to all men His gifts of grace and glory.  She knew, too, that it was the mission of the Holy Spirit to extend and perfect in the hearts of men the reign of Jesus Christ, and that the Church had been founded only to give Jesus to the world.

All Mary’s desire, then, was to make Him known in His Sacrament.  Her intense love for Jesus felt the need of expanding is this way, of consecrating itself—as a kind of relief, as it were—because of her own inability to glorify Him as much as she desired.

Ever since Calvary, all men were her children.  She loved them with a Mother’s tenderness and longed for their supreme good as for her own; therefore, she was consumed with the desire to make Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament known to all, to inflame all hearts with His love, to see them enchained to His loving service.

To obtain this favor, Mary passed her time at the foot of the Most Adorable Sacrament, in prayer and penance.  There she treated of the world’s salvation.  In her boundless zeal, she embraced the needs of the Faithful everywhere, for all time to come, who would inherit the Holy Eucharist and be Its adorers.

But the mission dearest to Mary’s heart was that of constant prayer for the success of the preaching and the missionary labors of the Apostles and of all the members of Jesus Christ’s priesthood.  It is not surprising, then, that those Apostolic workers so easily converted entire kingdoms, for Mary remained constantly at the foot of the Throne of Mercy, supplicating on their behalf the Savior’s benevolence.  Her prayers converted countless souls, and as every conversion is the fruit of prayer, and since Mary’s prayer could meet no refusal, the Apostles had in this Mother of Mercy their most powerful helper.  “Blessed is he for whom Mary prays!”

Reassessing Our Time In Prayer

“I know God is in my heart. And the fact that I feel Him in my heart does not interfere with my duties. Even when I am dealing with very important matters which require attention, I do not lose the presence of God in my soul, and I am closely united with Him. With Him I go to work, with Him I go for recreation, with Him I suffer, with Him I rejoice; I live in Him and He in me. I am never alone, because He is my constant companion. He is present to me at every moment” (St. Faustina’s Diary 318)


Resurrection: 

It is obvious from the Resurrection passages in the Bible that neither Mary Magdalen or the Apostles really expected Jesus to rise from the dead. When Jesus spoke Mary Magdalen’s name at the tomb on that Easter Sunday morning, it didn’t just change her life, it changed the history of the world. When Jesus spoke to her, she recognised Him. Standing in front of her, loving her, was proof of God’s love. She had come to the tomb with the women to anoint a dead body and prepare it for burial. The burial would never take place. Jesus was alive. He had risen from the dead as He had said many times during His public life. Yes, the offering of His life on the Cross had been accepted by the Father and He was raised to unending life.


St. Faustina also met the Risen Christ:

For St. Faustina, Jesus was not a dead body in a tomb on Easter Sunday morning. For her, He was truly risen. She believed the promise made by God to humanity to send a saviour and that He would rise from the dead. Her evidence was not just on the testimony of others. No, she believed in the Risen Lord because she had met Him herself.


St. Faustina’s Soul:

She had experienced His intimate presence in her prayer and, like Mary Magdalen, had heard Him speak her name. In her prayer, her eyes were opened and she recognised Him. What St. Faustina experienced in her prayer time, she took with her so that even outside her time of formal prayer, she remained in that loving gaze of God and even in the activities of her day her heart was united with His.

Jesus calls to us too:

When we enter into the mystery of prayer and listen closely, the Lord speaks our name too, as He did to Mary on Easter morning. He does so that we may believe that He is alive and that He dwells among us and that He is within the human heart, calling us to the same life that He has.


Prayer Time too Busy:

It is hard to hear the voice of Jesus speak our name in prayer if our prayer time is too busy. What do I mean by too busy? Well, when we are doing all the talking. When we fill our prayer time with words. Yes, it is so important to pray the Chaplet, the Rosary and other such prayers, but how are you really going to hear that loving caring voice of Christ in your prayer unless you listen?


Silence in your prayer time:

Silence in your prayer time is as important as saying prayers. Maybe even more so. It is in the silence that St Faustina reflected on the image of the Christ. It is in silence that Mary, our Mother, pondered all that was happening in her heart. It is in the silence that you too will encounter the Risen Lord.


Re-Thinking Our Time for Prayer:

If you find that your own prayer time is full of prayers, maybe it’s time to create a little time for silence. If you find that in prayer you are doing all the work, then maybe it’s time to create a time just to relax in the presence of the Risen One who loves you dearly and who wants to speak your name. Make that beautiful line ‘speak Lord your servant is listening’ the hallmark of your prayer. Persevere in silence and you too will find that not only do you experience the Risen Lord in your prayer time but that you will feel Him present to you at every moment, just like St Faustina did.

Credits : Divine Mercy Publications, Ireland 

The Divine Mercy Image and The Shroud Of Turin Match Completely

The sacred image of The Divine Mercy was commissioned by our Lord, who appeared in a vision to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska on February 22, 1931.

What Saint Faustina witnessed she described in her spiritual journal in these words: “In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white robe. One hand was raised in the gesture of blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast there were emanating two large rays, one red the other pale…” In Christ’s own words, “The two rays denote blood and water.

The pale ray stands for the water, which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the blood which is the life of souls” (§299). These represent the basic sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist which operate in believers the fruit of the paschal mysteries.

Along with the vision came this command: “I desire that there be a Feast of Mercy. I want this image, which you will paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy” (§49).

The Face:

There exists a hand-written letter in which a “Sister Julianna” recorded a conference on the origins of The Divine Mercy message, image, and devotion given by Saint Faustina’s spiritual director, the Servant of God Reverend Michael Sopoeko, in May of 1940.

From it we learn that Sister Faustina was never pleased with the image, maintaining that it was ugly. But one day, after the artist had already repainted the face of Christ for at least the tenth time, she came to the studio and announced that Jesus said to leave the image in the state it was in. Quoting the Lord she added: “It isn’t good, but it will do; you don’t have to change it anymore.”

The reason for the strenuous effort that was required to depict the Lord’s face in this particular image would remain locked in mystery for two generations. For it was only recently [1996] that a larger image, printed from the 1931 photographic plates of the Shroud of Turin, was placed by chance on top of a comparably-sized poster of the Divine Mercy image painted in Vilnius in 1934 with the result that, when the superimposed images were unexpectedly backlit, they revealed a startling coincidence.

By an eminent photographer’s calculations, the face on the original Divine Mercy image was discerned to be smaller in size than that on the shroud.

But, when the photo of the Divine Mercy painting was enlarged so that the outer line of the hair on the head matched the same line on the shroud image, the result was remarkable. It was found that on both images there is the same distance between the pupils; the nose is of practically the same length; the form of the lips is identical; the moustache and the beard are of the same cut; the hair falls at the sides in the same way. All these points allow for a practically perfect correspondence between the two faces.

It does not appear that the Vilnius artist had a copy of the photo of the Shroud of Turin taken in 1931, the same year Saint Faustina was granted her vision and the mission associated with it. His need continually to alter the countenance on the painting because of the visionary’s disapproval of his attempts would attest to that. How, then, could an image, completed in 1934 after repeated alterations to the face, have features that matched so well those of “the man of the shroud of Turin,” found on a burial cloth now known to be at least two thousand years old?

The Turin photographer, who verified this surprising match, felt that a composite photo of it would not be liked, because the eyes appeared to be directed downward.

Made aware of the fact that in her directions Saint Faustina insisted on the feature and that in her Diary our Lord is quoted as saying, “My gaze from this image is like the gaze from the cross,” he changed his mind and declared the divine mercy image “miraculous.”

This special image shows the Lord’s right hand raised in a gesture of blessing and absolution – priestly ministries. The eyes of the Lord in the painting and the composite image gaze upon us as from the cross, compassionately – “Father, forgive them…

” Jesus offers us the life-giving and light-bearing rays of his mercy. They emerge from his wounded side and from his opened heart – so prominently evident on the shroud – to replace, to transform out hearts of stone.

For the Savior offers to the recipients of his paschal sacraments on Divine Mercy Sunday the promised fruits of his passion and the glory of his resurrection – the complete remission of sins and punishment – at-one-moment with God, the assurance of his unending love for us.

The Sacred Heart Of Jesus and Saint Claude De La Colombiere

If it was the privilege of the daughters of the Visitation Order to make the devotion to the Sacred Heart known, and to be the faithful messengers of this errand of love, it was reserved in a more special manner to the Fathers of the Society of Jesus to promulgate its utility and cultus; and to them the promise was made that their Apostolic Labours should bear fruit beyond expectation, and that this Devotion should be to them Salvation and perfection.

St. Claude La Colombiere was born at St. Symphorien d'Ozan, on the Feast of the Purification, 1641. His name must for ever be coupled with that of St. Margaret Mary and Devotion to the Sacred Heart, for it was this holy Jesuit whom our Lord had singled out to be the director and support of the humble nun who had never before been truly understood.

He was the faithful servant and true friend to whom she had been bidden to go in one of those mysterious communications in the early days of her religious life.

St. Claude de la Colombiere was in his eighteenth year when he passed from the Jesuit College at Lyons to the novitiate of the Society; and after his ordination, at the end of his third year of probation at Lyons, he was sent to be Superior at Paray-le-Monial.

It was at this time that he gave his first spiritual conference to the daughters of St. Francis de Sales; and as St. Margaret Mary Alacoque listened to his words, an interior voice told her that here was indeed the favoured soul who was to share her favours and her trials.

This happened in the year 1674, and in the Lent of the following year he became spiritually acquainted with the state of her soul, as she said herself

Though with much reluctance, I laid bare my whole heart to him, and showed to him the whole state of my soul, both the good and the bad.

St. Claude La Colombiere was not slow to recognise the light and power of God in the revelations and visions confided to him, and though he acted with great prudence, after much prayer he pronounced his belief that they were the work of God.

After this decision, he gave himself entirely to the task of spreading this Devotion to the Sacred Heart, and he began by consecrating him self to Its service on June 21, 1676.

On that day he received such an increase of grace and love of God that he felt more than ever assured of the truth of the revelations and the efficacy of this Devotion.

In a letter he wrote about this time to his sister, who was a nun of the Visitation Order, he says :

I entreat you to receive Holy Communion on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi, in order to make atonement for the insults offered to our Lord. This custom has been recommended by a person of wonderful holiness, who declares that the greatest blessings shall come to those who give this token of love to our Lord.

Try to win over your friends to the practice of a like devotion.

For a whole year after this he remained at Paray, the constant guide and counsellor of St. Margaret Mary, their souls knit together by the bond of that one earnest desire to promote the interests of Jesus Christ, as manifested in this Devotion.

He was, as it were, passing through this school of the Sacred Heart, and learning the lessons of his future Apostolate through the agency of his lowly penitent; but when that period had expired, he went forth to preach what he had learned therein.

St. Claude La Colombiere brings the Sacred Heart Devotion to England:

Fresh from this super natural atmosphere, he was sent to face the Royal Court of the Queen of England, Mary of Modena, wife of James II. As her Chaplain, he had to preach, although secretly, before the Court, and even in many other parts of London, which was at this time steeped in heresy, and teeming with those who were endeavouring to blot out the very name of Catholic from the hearts and memories of men.

Straight from the fire of the Sacred Heart, he had to confront the coldness of a people clamorous for the extinction of every thing holy; yet such was the success of his ministry during the four years he lived in our capital, that it was from St. James’s Palace that the first petition was sent to the Holy See for the establishment of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

It was in the Royal Chapel of this Palace that St. Claude La Colombiere so often said the prayer which he had composed for himself and for England ; and could we breathe a more appropriate one for ourselves and the present interests of the Church than the following :

O my God, Thou must give us a new heart a heart like Thine. Thou must give us Thine own Heart. Come, O loving Heart of Jesus, and place Thyself in my breast ; come and kindle there a love great enough, if it be possible, to fulfil the duty I have of loving Thee.

He had the happiness of seeing this prayer answered in numerous cases; for through his labours many were reconciled to the Faith, many left their life of worldliness for the religious state, and even those whose duty it was to remain amidst the dangers of the Court were influenced by him to be less frivolous, and more earnest in seeking their eternal salvation.

England undoubtedly owes much to this exiled Jesuit, and we cannot help noticing as somewhat remarkable that he was born on February 2, the day on which the Roman Martyrology commemorates the Feast cf St. Lawrence, one of those forty Benedictine monks whom St. Augustine brought over to this land of ours, and whom he consecrated first Archbishop of Canterbury.

Did he not receive with his name the glorious mission of preaching the Gospel on foreign soil? We cannot tell what may have been the Saint’s baptismal gift to this venerable servant of God, but we think this incident will increase the interest of all English-speaking Catholics in furthering the cause of his beatification, even if the Holy Father had not expressed his desire to see him publicly honoured on our altars.

It is two years since Leo XIII styled him:

My friend since my childhood. He said, I have always loved him because of what I read about him, and on account of his relation with the Sacred Heart and Blessed Margaret Mary. Oh yes, I much desire his beatification.

His banishment from England, his sufferings and arrest, are matters of history, and have been so recently described in various magazines that we will not enlarge upon them here.

On his return to Lyons he passed by Paray-le-Monial, and had a brief interview with Blessed Margaret Mary, concerning which he tells one of her Superiors that he was much consoled by this visit; and it was not to be wondered at that this heavenly intercourse was as oil poured out on his soul after the guarded and narrow limits of the English Court.

Leaving Paray, he lived for two and a half years at Lyons, during twelve months of which he was spiritual director of the students of the Society of Jesus. Among those whom he trained and filled with devotion to the Sacred Heart were the Pere de Galliffet and Pere Croiset.

The first named has been honoured with the title of Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, and to him we owe the publication of the memoir of St. Margaret Mary, written by herself. It was he also who, notwithstanding the first rebuff from Rome, persevered until he obtained the sanction of the Holy See for the establishment of the Feast.

Pere Croiset was privileged to have an interview with Blessed Margaret Mary, and she foretold of him that the devotion would be every where made known through means of a book of Pere Croiset, a Jesuit. How this prophecy was in part fulfilled, even in her own lifetime, we think will interest our readers to learn, and therefore we give the account in the holy nun’s own words. Writing to a friend, she says :

“I must tell you something which is for the glory of the Divine Heart, and will cause you to bless It.
I had given one of the Dijon books to a lady from Lyons, who in return gave it to a young Father to read.

Having shown it to his pupils at Lyons, they took such a fancy to it that they made a great many copies, both of the litanies and of the prayers, which they recited very devoutly. And these children having shown them to others, these also got such a great devotion to them. As they were not able to make copies enough, they determined to have one of these books printed, offering to bear the expense.

One young workman was so anxious to take upon himself the expense, that they had to yield to his devotion. And when he went himself to one of the chief booksellers of Lyons, he too felt himself so moved with love of this Divine Heart that he offered out of devotion to publish it without making any charge, which caused a holy combat between the youth and himself. But he, having at length gained his point, got the book of the Sacred Heart, and went to one of his friends to have it written more fully, and a holy religious undertook this.

So it is newly printed, and very beautiful, and well bound, and the sale has been so great that a new edition has been brought out since June 19, and now, on August 21, there are no longer any copies left, and it is therefore going to be reprinted for the third time.”

In 1681 St. Claude La Colombiere was sent from Lyons to Paray, as if to die under the shadow of the sanctuary which he loved so well, for he only survived the change six months, dying on February 15, 1682.

During those brief months he never flagged in teaching his penitents the Devotion of the Holy Hour, of receiving Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, and of setting apart the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi as a special feast in honour of the Sacred Heart.

We cannot do better in concluding this sketch than by quoting a passage from a pastoral letter written by a Vicar Apostolic in India to his people, and which beautifully describes the spirit of un selfishness which inflamed the soul of St. Claude La Colombiere a spirit which is the very essence of Christianity itself, and which must take possession of all souls who wish to share in the life and work of the Sacred Heart.

“A true Catholic”, he says, “is not the man who shuts himself up in his own soul, and is satisfied that is secure, without troubling himself about the good of his neighbour.

No, for the very name of Catholic teaches him that his heart ought to embrace the interests of Jesus Christ in the whole world, and to labour, by prayer at least, if he can do no more, to promote everywhere, and in every soul, the glory of God and the accomplishment of His holy will.”

Father George Kosicki C.S.B. -- A Modern Day Apostle Of Mercy

He was born in Detroit, Michigan on the Feast of Saint Martha, disciple of the Lord - July 29, 1928. Little did anyone realize at the time that he too would become a devoted disciple of the Lord as a Basilian Priest. 

The seeds for this vocation were planted in his early years through elementary Catholic schooling and then at Central Catholic High School in Detroit where he graduated in 1946. He went on to the University of Western Ontario, receiving his Bachelor's degree in 1951. That same year he entered St. Basil's in Toronto, the major scholasticate for the Congregation of Saint Basil, where four years later he was ordained a Basilian priest.
    
He returned to his home state where he enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Michigan acquiring a Masters a year later and then his Doctorate in Biochemistry in 1961. He was assigned by his Order to teach Biochemistry at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada for sixteen years. After eleven years of teaching and experimental research work with twenty-four research publications in biochemistry and his five years of religious formation, Fr. Kosicki felt the pull to renew and deepen his interest in Spiritual renewal, in prayer life and in experimental work in the community.
    
A prolific writer, inspiring preacher, and researcher, Fr. George has written and published a plethora of books and articles beginning in 1966 with his book Like a Cedar of Lebanon published by Sheed and Ward, which was a study of images in Scripture from a biochemical point of view. Talk about an interesting viewpoint! Other books followed, first The Lord Is My Shepherd, a collection of witnesses by fellow priests, and secondly Forty-Days of Intercession, the continuous miracle of a loving community of priests interceding in prayer and fasting for their brother priests. Both books were published in 1975 by Word of Life. Key to the Good News, a summary of the Gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord, was published the same year by Dove Publications.
  
That same year, after active involvement in the Charismatic Renewal and the Houses of Prayer in Detroit for several years, he became coordinator of Bethany House of Intercession, a community of priests, bishops, and deacons in Warwick, Rhode Island and in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York interceding for bishops, priests and deacons worldwide. He remained there until 1983. 

 During that time he wrote a number of articles for several publications: Renewed Religious Life: The Dynamics of Re-discovery followed by The Mountaintop Experience: Its Value and Purpose in Spiritual Growth. A year later he released Steps Toward Christian Community and Assume Nothing: On Making Assumptions Explicit in Religious Renewal. In 1978, he wrote on Intercession, first Intercession: a Re-discovery of Power to Renew for Sisters Today followed by Pope Paul VI, Prophet in our Time and then Eucharist as Intercession in Emmanuel.
    
The year 1979 prompted him to write Keys to Christian Community in Pastoral Life and Pilgrimage and Purification: The Church in Travail in the 80's for The Crux of Prayer. In 1980 he wrote The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!": Mary's role in the New Pentecost for the Ave Maria Institute and then Walk in Forgiveness in 1981, the same year he wrote The Good News of Suffering released by the Liturgical Press in Collegeville, Minnesota. Many of these have been re-released as leaflets or booklets.

After eight years at Bethany where he was in great demand as a speaker throughout the English-speaking world, he was called in 1983 to spend two and a half years with the Fraternity of Priests team working out of the Franciscan University of Steubenville in eastern Ohio where he remained for two and a half years, spending the last half of the third year in solitude with the Camaldolese hermits in prayer and writing. It was during this time he wrote a number of articles for New Covenant Magazine including Bless do not Curse, You are what you Think, Interceding as a Priestly People, and The Holy Spirit: Lord and Giver of Life.
    
He also wrote Born of Mary which was a compendium of testimonies, tensions and teachings published by Marian Press in Stockbridge. Led by a desire to promote the Message of God's Mercy that had been planted when his Polish family was introduced to the Divine Mercy devotion in the 1940's, Fr. George joined the Marians of Eden Hill in Stockbridge in 1987. 

He was later appointed Director of the Department of Divine Mercy, working in the publishing headquarters and devoted himself full time to writing, preaching and publishing the message of Divine Mercy, speaking to thousands at conferences, retreats and appearing often on Mother Angelica's Live Show as a guest on EWTN as well as becoming a regular fixture for years in a popular series on Divine Mercy.
    
During this association with the Marians he has written some best selling books including Revelations of Divine Mercy: Daily Readings from the Diary of Blessed Faustina, Be Apostles of Divine Mercy: Leader's Formation Manual, Now is the time for Mary, and Rejoice in the Lord Always all published by the Marian Helpers. Two of his books have been published by Faith Publishing Co. They are Intercession: Moving mountains by living Eucharistically and Spiritual Warfare, one of his most popular books. He continues to write a quarterly column that appears in the Marian Helpers' official publication the Bulletin four times a year.

After residing on Eden Hill for eight years, he returned to his Basilian roots, choosing to live in community of fellow priests from the Congregation of St. Basil in Rochester, New York. 

Credits : The Daily Catholic 

Aussie Duo Takes Up Saint Faustina's Cause

Invoking the Divine Mercy on the sick, the lonely and the troubled is the passion of an Australian duo who visited India.

Joy Hunt, and associate Ian Gaudery say that “modern day challenges leave many tense, disturbed and in need of God’s Divine Mercy.”

The Australians, who have toured more than six countries in the last 25 years, were in the southern city of Mangalore to spread devotion to the Divine Mercy.

“We were invited to Mangalore, Mysore and Vijayapuram dioceses of South India,” Hunt said, adding that India has more potential with regard to “in-depth spirituality.”

She has been committed to the cause since 1988, when the Combined Society of Mary was established in Australia, and is now its president. Hunt, who has visited India 18 times in the last 15 years, says she has spread the devotion in more than 90 dioceses, addressing approximately more than 2.5 million people.

She recalled that in Hyderabad in 2004, a woman with a heart problem was cured. “After the fourth decade of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, she began to dance and later her cardiologist said ‘she has a new heart’.”

This time we have come with a relic of Saint Faustina, said Gaudery. He said “the Divine Mercy devotion was ignited by Saint Faustina, whose diary is one of the great sources of valuable, mystical and spiritual writings the Church possesses.”

St Faustina, a Polish nun who was canonized in 2000, spread devotion to the Divine Mercy through her diary which noted the messages she received from God.

The Australians have also taken the devotion to Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Samoan Islands, the Tokelau Islands, and Fiji among other places. “This is officially accepted devotion by the Catholic Church and we go as per invitation by the archbishops and bishops,” says Hunt.

They undertake promotional tours for two months at their own expense.

The pair is also accompanied by a Buddhist convert, Maria Tine from Singapore. Tine, who has opened a Divine Mercy Home for children in Tanzania, said: “I was enlightened through Divine Mercy devotion in 1999.”

She said “many conversions have taken place in my family and among others I know which I believe are Divine Mercy miracles”.

Hunt and Gaudery were encouraged to take up the ministry by Fr Henry Poszlusny, a Polish priest who knew Saint Faustina’s family well. “Every year around 2000 major miracles through intercession to the Divine Mercy are reported in Poland while there could be many more which are not reported,” Hunt said.

“Through us, many hearts have been touched and three new churches have been named after the Divine Mercy. That is the success of the mission.”

Credits : UCA News 2012

Michigan Nun's Painting Of Jesus, The Divine Mercy The First In North America

A talented nun, a devoted priest and a devotion that has since become a global phenomenon.

Sometimes, all it takes is a person with faith and a happenstance meeting to create history.

It was 1942, and Father Joseph Jarzebowski, sent on a mission from Poland to spread the word about a little-known sister named Faustina and her devotion to the Divine Mercy, arrived to give a seminar to the Felician Sisters in Plymouth, now Livonia.

It was then that a certain Sister Mary Fabia Szatkowska, inspired by the message of God’s love, painted the first North American version of the now world-famous image, the centerpiece of one of the fastest-growing lay devotions in the world.

When Sister Mary Fabia painted the iconic image, which now hangs discreetly in a quiet hallway at the Felician Sisters’ motherhouse in Livonia, nobody was thinking about the historical significance of the moment but about spreading the devotion.

“Sister Mary Fabia had a tremendous love for Our Lady, tremendous love of the Eucharist,” said Sister Mary DeSales Herman, a member of the Felician Franciscan Sisters in Livonia for 68 years. “Spirituality is a gift, and she had it. You want to express your devotion to Jesus. She had a tremendous love for Jesus, and could express her faith through her work.”

Many of Sister Mary Fabia’s paintings adorn the halls of the Felician motherhouse, including a portrait of Father Jarzebowski. A member of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, he was responsible for bringing the devotion to the United States.

It spread throughout Polish-American communities in the United States after World War II, and today is nearly ubiquitous, thanks to the Marians.

Today, the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy is located on Eden Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the congregation’s headquarters, but Detroit seemed to play an important role in the early days of the devotion’s growing popularity in the North America.

The devotion to Jesus as the Divine Mercy is based on the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska, a young Polish nun who died of tuberculosis in 1938. On the second Sunday of Easter in 2000, St. John Paul II canonized Sister Faustina while establishing the liturgical date as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” 

During her short life, St. Faustina reportedly received messages from Jesus, which she recorded in a diary. In one of her entries, she described in detail how Jesus appeared to her and his desire that she “paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: ‘Jesus, I trust in you.'” At St. Faustina’s request, an artist created the image of Jesus with a hand raised in blessing and red and pale rays of light emanating from his heart and the inscription just below the rays.

St. Faustina told her spiritual director, Marian Father Michael Sopocko, about her experiences. With World War II breaking out across Europe, Father Sopocko entrusted the message to his fellow Marian, Father Jarzebowski, who was fleeing Nazi-controlled Poland for the United States.

To evade Soviet officials, Father Jarzebowski obtained a passport from the Japanese consulate in Lithuania and arrived in the U.S. on a Seattle-bound ship in 1941, with nothing but a folded-up image of the Divine Mercy and a copy of the novena in his pocket. Through a series of recommendations, Father Jarzebowski met a third-year seminarian who became convinced of the devotion’s power and helped spread the message in America.

By October 1942, the Marians had received permission from the archbishop of Baltimore to print the first Polish editions of the Divine Mercy chaplet. The first English translations, some 50,000 copies, were later printed with the help of the Felician Sisters in Michigan and Connecticut.

Another of Father Jarzebowski’s early stops was in Orchard Lake, where the Polish seminary attracted strong devotion to the image of Divine Mercy.

That connection led him to the Felician motherhouse in Plymouth, according to Kathleen Wolski-Nuttall, facilitator of the St. Mary Shrine Chapel Divine Mercy Cenacle in Orchard Lake. She has been researching the history of Divine Mercy devotions in the United States for the better part of two years.

Michigan’s mark on spreading the Divine Mercy devotions in the United States was largely lost to history, Wolski-Nuttall said, but Sister Mary Fabia’s painting remains as a testament to the legacy of Father Jarzebowski’s mission.

It wasn’t until another local parishioner alerted The Michigan Catholic, Detroit’s archdiocesan newspaper, about a letter Father Jarzebowski had written and recorded in a history of the Felician Sisters in America that details of the background of the first image of the Divine Mercy painted in the United States began to come to light.

“The painting in the Felician motherhouse in Livonia is the first painting in the United States. It started here in Michigan, that is definite,” Wolski-Nuttall said.

In the 1940s and through the 1960s, the Marian Fathers had houses throughout Detroit dedicated to the Divine Mercy devotion. The Archdiocese of Detroit one of the first in the country to have such devotions.

But in the 1960s, the Marians Fathers ended their presence in Michigan, taking most of the history with them back to Massachusetts.

Without the support of the Marians, the devotion’s fervor faded again.

Michigan’s part in spreading the devotion is rarely acknowledged, save for a letter Father Jarzebowski wrote in 1957 that is chronicled in “Blazing New England Trails: Love and Service,” the history of the Felician Sisters in Enfield, Connecticut, the first American painting is still with the Felicians in Livonia.

“Our community uses it to promote the honor of God,” Sister Mary DeSales said. “It takes an outsider to make you appreciate all the treasures you have. It’s the nature of religious people not to brag. Sister Fabia didn’t look to brag, taking vows to build a sense of spirituality. She was just an instrument, seeking God’s glory and honor.”

So how could the first painting of the Divine Mercy in the United States, such an important piece of Catholic history in America, go unnoticed for so long? Simple: In 1943, nobody knew it would be history.

“At the time, the devotion to the Divine Mercy image wasn’t a big thing in the United States; she never planned on her painting to be a big deal,” Sister Mary DeSales said. “But she was inspired and painted this right here.”

Credits : The Central Minnesota Catholic 

Artist creates Divine Mercy Windows for Fremont Catholic Church

With colored glass and paint, Ken Eldridge tells ancient Bible stories to modern-day people.

Eldridge is a stained glass artist for St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Fremont. For years, the local man had donated his time to create or restore stained glass windows for the parish.

Last year, he began working on the Divine Mercy windows project.

The windows will be installed in the Fremont church, with the process taking place during the week between Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, an official Holy Day, on April 28.

Currently, there is glass between the church's chapel and a tabernacle room where the sacraments are stored. The Divine Mercy windows will be installed where that glass is now.

The main Divine Mercy window depicts Christ with two beams, one red and one white, coming from his heart.

Parishioners and guests will be able to see through the image of Jesus into the tabernacle room, where a cross is the same height as Christ's heart.

There are 15 separate Divine Mercy windows, the main one of which is 4 feet by 8 feet. Other windows are smaller.

One depicts a dove with a banner that reads: "Jesus, I trust in you." Angels are depicted in two other windows. The lowest window will have a Celtic weave. Subsequent windows will be colored glass.

Eldridge estimates he'll have spent close to 3,000 hours on the project by the time he's finished.

"For me to create this design, I did countless hours of research and continue to do so to make sure I'm depicting my interpretation of the Divine Mercy properly and accurately based on Sister Faustina," he said.

Sister Faustina Kowalska was a Polish woman assigned to a parish in Lithuania.

In 1931, Kowalska said she had a vision of Christ, who said to create a painting of him — with the two beams — and to call it "Divine Mercy." The red beam is said to represent blood and the white or pale one symbolizes water. It was to be accompanied with a banner with the "Jesus, I trust in you" message.

The parish commissioned the painting to be made, which Kowalska saw before her death in 1938. 

She was only 33 years old.

Decades later, Pope John Paul II canonized her and she became Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.

Besides the depiction of Christ with the two beams coming from his heart, Eldridge has added other elements to the main window.

The elements include shamrocks reminiscent of Saint Patrick of Ireland, for whom the Fremont church is named.

He's added five-pedal white roses from the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is especially meaningful to Hispanic parishioners.

In Bethlehem, A New Parish Group ---- The Apostles Of Divine Mercy

At the Church of St. Catherine in Bethlehem, a new parish group was launched: the Apostles of Divine Mercy in 2018.

The group, inspired by St. Faustina Kowalska (the Polish holy mystic of the early 20th century), focuses on the spirituality of the Divine Mercy. The consecration of the parishioners took place on the occasion of the Mass of Divine Mercy on Sunday, April 8.

At the Church of St. Catherine in Bethlehem, Br. Rami Asakrieh, the pastor, presided over the liturgy, before the relic of St. Faustina, which was brought from Poland, and the painting of Divine Mercy, which was blessed by Pope John Paul II. “Just two days before the celebration, a group from Marian movement who was visiting unexpectedly brought this relic,” said the pastor.

Mons. Leopoldo Girelli, the Apostolic Nuncio to Israel and Apostolic Delegate for Jerusalem and Palestine, also participated in the Eucharistic celebration.

The new group is made up of families from the Bethlehem parish and it is led and supported by Fr. Rami.

The Apostles of Divine Mercy will have the task of trying to spread St. Faustina’s spirituality in the same place where the Savior of the world was born. The members of the group will offer their services through prayer and assistance to all those in need, and above all, they will lead Eucharistic adoration in the parish on the first Friday of each month.

“I hope this group will help spread the desire for Jesus transmitted to St. Faustina,” said Fr. Rami. “And make His Mercy known to the whole parish with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the veneration of His image, the Eucharist and with Acts of Mercy.”

Credits : Franciscans Of The Holy Land 

Rome's Center Of Divine Mercy Established By Saint John Paul 2

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.

In 2019, 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.

The World's Best Evangelization Tool -- Divine Mercy Sunday

With so many (so-called) Catholics away from the practice of their faith, there is a great need for evangelization.  Not only are we all called to actively evangelize all peoples, we are called to bring home our lost and alienated brethren.  

Our Lord has given us a great gift called Divine Mercy Sunday that if used properly, can restore our Church to overflowing.

Jesus gave us many parables that would set the standard for us to follow.  He told us how the Good Shepherd rejoiced at finding His lost sheep.  How so many more lost sheep need to be found today.  Not only does He rejoice today when the sheep are found, but He is very much saddened when even just one is lost.

In His revelations to Saint Faustina, which He gave for the world, Jesus remarked that “The loss of each soul plunges Me into mortal sadness” and that “The flames of mercy are burning Me, clamoring to be spent” (from the diary, entry #1397, 50).  If we love Jesus, then we must do everything that we can, to find His lost sheep.

Our Lord has given us a very simple way to bring our lost sheep back home.  It is called the “Feast of Mercy” or “Divine Mercy Sunday”.  This great feast, which the Church has been celebrating universally since Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina, in the year 2000, has everything in it that we need to restore our Church.

Jesus requested that a Feast of Mercy be established in the Church on the Sunday after Easter and He has made a great promise to any soul that would turn to Him by going to Confession and then receiving Holy Communion on that feast-day.

He said “Whoever approaches the fountain of life on this day will be granted the complete forgiveness of sins and punishment” (Diary, 300).  Jesus is attempting to get souls to receive Holy Communion in a perfect state of grace, without sin.

It is quite clear that Jesus wants this particular Sunday to be set apart.  Our Lord said “I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners.  On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open.  I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy.  

The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.  On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which graces flow.  Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet”. (Diary, 699)

That’s not all.  Jesus said “I want to pour out My divine life into human souls and to sanctify them, if only they were willing to accept My grace. The greatest sinners would achieve great sanctity, if only they would trust in My mercy”. (Diary, 1784)

Trust is a key word for Divine Mercy.  Our Lord in His great wisdom knew that in these times, the words “Jesus, I trust in You” would have a profound meaning for those who might need some motivation to come to Him and to ask for His mercy.

Our Lord’s placement of the feast on the Sunday after Easter gives pastors the perfect opportunity to address the greatest crowds that attend on Easter Sunday.  

He knows that many people are looking for a good reason to start coming back to church.  What better reason than to be able to start over again with a great promise for the total forgiveness of sins and punishment?  Who wouldn’t benefit from that?

Topping that off is the fact that Jesus said that “The greatest sinners would achieve great sanctity”.  What could be more beneficial?  Souls achieving great sanctity for just going to Confession and then receiving Holy Communion on Mercy Sunday?  What could be easier?  People just need to be seriously urged to go to Confession!

One of the requirements of Catholics is the confession of their sins at least once a year.  Studies have shown that most people are in great need of fulfilling this most important precept of the Church.  Our Lord said “I desire that priests proclaim this great mercy of Mine towards souls of sinners”. (Diary, 50)  What greater reason could there ever be, than Jesus’ promise, to urge everyone into Reconciliation?

The Vatican has also added a Plenary Indulgence to this feast, which is to remain perpetually in place.  The beauty of this indulgence is the increased amount of time that is gives to priests to hear confessions.  It is allowed for one to go to Confession up to about 20 days, before or after, Divine Mercy Sunday.

It’s so simple.  Just  remind everyone on Easter, that the following Sunday is a very special feast called Divine Mercy Sunday where they can receive the total forgiveness of their sins and punishment.  Sinners will be filled with grace, as Jesus promised, and then they will radiate that love and mercy to others that will cause a ripple effect throughout the Church!  

What a great gift Jesus has given us!   

The 40 Hours Devotion

The Forty Hours Devotion provides a wonderful opportunity for the spiritual growth of each person and the parish as a whole. In a world where temptation and evil abound, where devotion to the Mass and our Lord in the Holy Eucharist have declined, where the practice of penance and confession have been forgotten, we need the Forty Hours Devotion more than ever.

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What is Forty Hours Devotion?

The Forty Hours Devotion is a special 40-hour period of continuous prayer made before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition. Of course, the focus of this devotion is on the Holy Eucharist. The Forty Hours Devotion can be seen almost like a parish mini-retreat or mission in which the faithful are invited to come spend time with the Lord.

Why the number 40?

The number forty has always signified a sacred period of time: the rains during the time of Noah lasted 40 days and nights; the Jews wandered through the desert for 40 years, our Lord fasted and prayed for 40 days before beginning His public ministry. The 40 Hours Devotion remembers that traditional “forty-hour period” from our Lord’s burial until the resurrection. Actually in the Middle Ages, the Blessed Sacrament was transferred to the repository, “the Easter Sepulcher,” for this period of time to signify our Lord’s time in the tomb.

What does Forty Hours Devotion entail?

The Forty Hours Devotion begins with a Solemn Mass of Exposition, which concludes with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The Blessed Sacrament remains on the altar in a monstrance. During the next 40 hours, the faithful gather for personal or public prayer in adoration of our Lord. There will be various prayer services and devotions offered during our celebration, but most often we will offer periods of prayerful silence. We will mark the conclusion of 40 Hours with a prayer service and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

During 40 Hours, for what should I pray and what kind of spiritual graces can I receive?

While the Forty Hours Devotion nurtures the love of the faithful for our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, three special dimensions have also surrounded this devotion: the protection from evil and temptation; reparation for our own sins and for the Poor Souls in Purgatory; and deliverance from political, material, or spiritual calamities. Here the faithful implore our Lord to pour forth His abundant graces not only for themselves, but their neighbors, not only for their own personal needs, but for those of the world. Many great saints such as St. Charles Borromeo, St. Philip Neri, St. Ignatius Loyola, and, in our own country, St. John Neumann were all strong promoters of the Forty Hours Devotion.

A Deeper Understanding Of The Holy Sacrifice Of The Mass

St. Faustina’s Vision of the Sacred Host during Mass
Low Sunday – 28th April, 1935

In the Diary of St. Faustina, she records various visions she had of Our Lord in the Sacred Host. Of one vision, she writes, “Toward the end of the service, when the priest took the Blessed Sacrament to bless the people, I saw the Lord Jesus as He is represented in the Image. The Lord gave His blessing, and the rays extended over the whole world” (Diary 420). What St. Faustina saw in vision happens each time we attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What she saw in a vision, we believe in by faith.

The Priest raises the Sacred Host three times during every Mass:

During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest raises the Sacred Host three times. When we are aware of these three elevations, we come to appreciate the Holy Mass ever more deeply. The first elevation of the Sacred Host is immediately after the Consecration, secondly at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer when the priest sings “Through Him, and with Him and in Him” and finally the priest holds the Sacred Host before the congregation saying, “Behold the Lamb of God”, which is then presented to each of those receiving Holy Communion personally. Each of these actions teaches us the various aspects of the Holy Mass.

When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself:

Jesus told His disciples, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). During the Mass, this “lifting up” of Christ is made truly present to us. Each “lifting up” calls us to relive the meaning of the Mass. Each Mass is the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, the real presence of the living Christ, now in glory in Heaven, and the preparation for the great feast in the banquet of God’s glory in Heaven. In one of his prayers in honour of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of these aspects of the Holy Mass and the Blessed Eucharist, “O sacred banquet in which Christ is received, the memory of His passion is renewed, our minds are filled with His grace and we receive a pledge of the glory that is to be ours”.

The First Elevation of the Host:

The first elevation after the consecration reminds us that the Mass is the re-presentation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross on Calvary now in unbloodied form. Christ on the Cross is lifted up and offers Himself in expiation for all the sins of the world. He is lifted up before the whole of creation as the sacrifice which takes all sins away. His perfect giving of himself to the Father, on our behalf, cancels all the sins of our failure to be open to God and turning away from Him in our human pride. When the priest lifts up the Sacred Host, we are there present, in the moment of the perfect sacrifice of Christ, as love overcomes evil and mercy flows freely over the whole world. At the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the moment of mercy is present for us in our own time and in the midst of our daily struggles.

Christ, in His sacred humanity, offers Himself to the Heavenly Father for us and as the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, Christ offers us in Himself the eternal love of the Father. He is truly ‘lifted up’ so that we can see Christ, the one true mediator between God and man. Before this great mystery of love, we kneel and bow in adoration.

The Second Elevation of the Host:

Secondly, at the end of the Eucharistic prayer, again the priest lifts up the Sacred Host, higher now than after the consecration. For now we are remembering at the Holy Mass is made present not simply the sacrifice of Calvary but also the joy of the Resurrection and Ascension. It is the living Lord Jesus that is present in the Sacred Species. Christ is now in glory and He has, because of his obedience on Calvary, become the Lord of all time and the universe. He is truly Our Lord and God. It is through Him and with Him and in Him that all fitting glory is offered to God the Father. By our response of the “Great Amen” (this is what the Church calls it), we claim Jesus as Lord of our lives and we hand ourselves over completely to Him. So we should shout out that “Great Amen” at the end of the Eucharistic prayer with great love and trust. In “Great Amen”, we say from the depths of our lives, “Jesus I trust in you as my Lord and God and I give you my life, for you are the Risen Lord now in glory in Heaven”.

The Third Elevation of the Host:

Finally, the priest again elevates the Sacred Host at the time of Holy Communion, first of all before the whole congregation when he says “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” and then to each of us as we receive the Blessed Sacrament into our own lives. This third elevation reminds us of yet another aspect of the Holy Mass which is the hope of the heavenly banquet when we will sit with the Lord in a truly holy communion. This is a foretaste of Heaven and heavenly communion. At the sacred banquet in Heaven will come the fruitfulness of the sacrifice of Calvary when all the redeemed in the power of Our Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension will be gathered into the presence of the living and true God and in Jesus be united into the very heart of the Blessed Trinity Himself. Jesus suffered all so that you and I could enter into the heavenly banquet of the love shared by the Most Blessed Trinity.

As we become more aware of the moments of the elevations at Mass, we come to enter more deeply into the celebration and receive ever more graces. For the Lord Jesus is truly “lifted up” for us and for our salvation and is the source of love and mercy for the whole world.

Spreading The Divine Mercy Devotion In Papua New Guinea

ABOUT 19 years ago A Manly, New South Wales Woman Crescentia Anderson, then living in her native Papua New Guinea, had the spark of an idea to start an Apostolate to the Divine Mercy.

The inspiration came from a little leaflet on the devotion she picked up in St Monica’s Cathedral in Cairns.

Today the Awesome Shrine of Divine Mercy Chapel, taking shape in PNG’s Mt Hagen district, can be traced to that initial response.

Meeting Crescentia, a force of nature, is an experience in itself, and an inspirational one.

“Brother Paul, God is great,” she says, before taking me back to that day in January 1994 when she invited three other women to start devotions in honour of the Divine Mercy at St Mary’s Cathedral, Port Moresby.

“The Spirit moved me and ‘bang’ that was it – I realized if I didn’t do it, who would.

“I handpicked each of them; I didn’t really know them but was somehow led to them.

“Each immediately said ‘yes’, starting with a very helpful lady who worked in a Pharmacy in Port Moresby where I sometimes got cough mixture.”

It wasn’t until later, Crescentia realised how fortuitous her choice had been.

“One day in 1998, a young man in the Divine Mercy prayer group said to me: ‘Aunty did you realise four of you represent the four regions of PNG (the Highlands, the New Guinea islands, the PNG mainland and the southern region)?’

“I said: ‘Son, you’re right; this is truly the work of God’.”

Crescentia was initially led in a dream to devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

Full of enthusiasm, she led a pilgrimage group from PNG to South Korea’s Our Lady of Naju shrine in October 1993.

“We brought back two litres each of holy water from Mother Mary’s well there as well as two small statues each,” she said.

“But, I believe the Mother ultimately led me to the Son.”

On her return to Port Moresby, she approached St Joseph’s parish priest Fr Paul Guy about forming a Divine Mercy prayer group at St Mary’s Cathedral.

“Fr Paul had not been enthusiastic about the pilgrimage to South Korea and was not keen on the prayer group either,” she said.

“He said he’d seen others who had tried to start similar prayer groups and had failed.

“I said: don’t compare me with other people, pray for me and if it’s God’s will it will happen; if it’s not, I will have done my best.”

The prayer meeting, to be held each Sunday, had a 1.45pm arrival for a 2pm start.

Prayer and hymns were held for an hour, concluding with the Divine Mercy 3pm prayer.

The apparently miraculous healing of Mt Hagen’s Rose Ume – who suffered from a chronic back problem – at this first prayer meeting would ultimately lead to the start of the Shrine of Divine Mercy Chapel.

At this first meeting, Crescentia challenged the other three women to each bring someone along next time.

“Next Sunday numbers had increased to seven, then they went to nine, then to 12, then to 17,” she said enthusiastically.

“We lost count after that – and by June 1995, we had two other Divine Mercy prayer groups formed in other parishes and soon these had up to 100 attending.”

In December 1995, another significant event occurred when two members of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy visited Australia to promote the Feast of the Divine Mercy.

It had been one of their congregation, St Maria Faustina Kowalska, who had laid the foundations for what became proclaimed by Pope John Paul II as Divine Mercy Sunday on April 30, 2000.

The Pope made the proclamation in his homily at the Polish saint’s canonization.

The Sisters were speaking in some southern states and going as far north as Cairns.

For the ever-enthusiastic Crescentia, the chance to divert these spokeswomen for the Divine Mercy cause was too good to miss.

“Through fundraising around Port Moresby, we managed to find enough money to pay their fares to PNG,” she said.

“St Mary’s Cathedral was packed to overflowing to hear the Sisters’ message, as were other churches they visited.”

Another significant link in the chain of events to start the Mt Hagen chapel came in October 2005 when Crescentia and two other members of the St Mary’s Cathedral group went to Cracow in Poland to attend the Second International Congress on the Divine Mercy message and devotion.

The group lit a candle from one originally lit by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

The candle re-lit and placed in a lamp was welcomed to Port Moresby at a Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral in 2006.

The lamp was then taken by eight women on the invitation of Rugist village, Rose Ume’s home.

“We celebrated the Feast of Divine Mercy there in 2006 and many wonderful things happened,” Crescentia said.

“After we left, I heard people had been touched by the message of the Divine Mercy.

“They were particularly impressed by healing of a young man with epilepsy and saw the power of Divine Mercy.

“It was the people from the village who initiated and decided to build the shrine – I had no hand in this, only God had.”

Funding has been a challenge.

“Business houses in Mt Hagen were approached but there was no response,” Crescentia said.

“The people’s Polish parish priest Fr Bogdan said ‘How are we going to afford to build this?’

“They said they trusted Jesus and the chapel would be built.”

In 2010, the priest went to Poland to appeal for help and received financial support.

Local fundraising began after a statement by Archbishop Douglas Young of Mt Hagen during his celebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy at the incomplete chapel.

So far about 80,000 kina (about $35,000) has been raised and spent but a further 150 to 200,000 kina is still needed to complete the chapel.

“God willing, more money will come in even after the chapel is completed to build a pilgrim house and a convent for St Faustina’s congregation,” Crescentia said.

It’s a huge project but already well on the way. The chapel still needs a roof.

“How do they do it?” Crescentia said.

“To tell the truth, I don’t know … all I asked for was space for images of Mary, St Joseph and the Divine Mercy.

“I’m so amazed with the dedication, love and joy they’re doing this.

“The hope is the chapel can be completed by Divine Mercy Sunday next year so it can be blessed and become a house of prayer.”

Meanwhile, the devotion continues to spread, with five PNG dioceses now involved.

In 2006, 10,000 copies were printed in PNG’s lingua franca, Tok pisin.

In 2009, 20,000 copies on the Divine Mercy were printed in English either to be sold or handed out free to disadvantaged people.

Donations for the Mt Hagen Chapel continue to come in from various sources including $1000 recently from a Wynnum couple.

People often ask Crescentia why she is so passionate about the apostolate.

“Because the most beautiful thing in my life is to have known the Mercy of God – his love is above and beyond our sins; his love is unfathomable,” she said.


Credits : Paul Dobbyn -- The Catholic Leader, Australia 

Our Lady Help Of Christians -- Feast Day May 24, 2020

Mother Mary is the help of every individual Christian. When a child is frightened or hurt or in any need it runs to its mother, and mother always helps. When a child cries for help mother rushes to its assistance. That is just what Mary, Help of Christians, does for each one of us. When we are attacked by the enemies of our soul or body, she hurries to our help. 

One of the greatest enemies of our soul is the world. By the world we mean the spirit of the world, a spirit that entirely forgets and neglects God. The enemy is called "secularism" which means worldliness.

This spirit is not one of faith; it is not one of morals. It is a spirit that condemns or ignores sacred things. It is a spirit that permits and approves immorality, bad example, contraception, abortion, etc., etc. These practices are the enemies of the individual soul and Mary is our protection against them.

 In 1214 she gave the Rosary to Saint Dominic as a weapon to combat the Albigensian heresy which was devastating Southern France. It is very clear to Christians and it is also the Will of God that we have and will continue to have the Help of Mary through the recitation of the Holy Rosary.

In the year 1531 Our Lady appeared in Mexico to an Indian named Juan Diego. He was a humble peasant aged 51. As a result of the apparitions, over 10 million Indians were converted to Catholicism, the sacrificial killings of babies stopped, and Our Lady left an image which is a reflection of herself imprinted miraculously on the tilma of Juan Diego. 

In, 1571 the whole of Christendom was saved by Mary Help of Christians when faithful Catholics throughout Europe prayed the Rosary. The great battle of Lepanto occurred on October 7th 1571. For this reason this date has been chosen as the Feast of the Holy Rosary.

Near the end of the 17th century, Emperor Leopold I of Austria took refuge in the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Pasau, when 200,000 Ottoman Turks besieged the capital city of Vienna. 

A great victory occurred thanks to Mary Help of Christians. On September 8th, Feast of Our Lady's Birthday, plans were drawn for the battle. On September 12, Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, Vienna was finally freed through the intercession of Mary Help of Christians. All Europe had joined with the Emperor crying out "Mary, Help!" and praying the Holy Rosary.

In 1809, Napoleon's men entered the Vatican, arrested Pius VII and brought him in chains to Grenoble, and eventually Fontainbleau. His imprisonment lasted five years.

The Pope smuggled out orders from prison for the whole of Christendom to pray to Our Lady Help of Christians, and thus the whole of Europe once again became a spiritual battle ground, not of arms against ruthless arms, but of Rosaries against ruthless military might. Soon Napoleon was off the throne and the Pope freed from prison. 

After proving her maternal help, throughout the centuries, Our Lady has continued to appear in hundreds of places throughout the world mainly during the 20th century, Lourdes and Fatima being the most famous apparitions.

She has brought help from Heaven, and has warned her children to do prayer and penance as a formula for peace. She has stressed that her children must pray the Holy Rosary daily. 

Let us continue to call on Our Lady, Help of Christians, in these sorrowful times, so that her Immaculate Heart will triumph and her Divine Son Jesus, will reign in the hearts of all mankind!

The Divine Mercy Statue Causing A Stir

KANSAS CITY, Missouri. - 

It is 25 feet tall, weighs 4 tons and overlooks Interstate 35 near Liberty, Mo. And for two months, thousands of motorists have driven by, wondering what it is.

Slow down and you'll see it is a steel statue of Jesus.

Yet it's not near a church, it doesn't look like a monument and it almost appears as if it's in someone's backyard.

It's baffling.

"I just thought it was massive, and it just caught my eye as I drove by," said Patricia Downey of Lathrop, Mo. "I wondered about the significance about it and who owned it."

Some people have barely noticed it, while others have stopped to stare.

For some, it is holy.

"Lots of people will come and pray in front of the statue," said John Harrison, spokesman for Divine Mercy LLC, a development company.

The company owns the statue, the land it stands on and the duplexes nearby.

"Some people will just gaze at it," Harrison said. "It's not quite a billboard, but it certainly has a message."

And that's what everyone wants to know - the message or its meaning.

The best person to answer that question would be the man who commissioned the statue - the owner of the property - but he doesn't want the attention.

It isn't shame, Harrison said. It's that the owner wants this to be about Christ.

"He wants no merit," said Harrison, who attends the same parish as the owner.

Through Harrison, the owner said the purpose of the statue is to be an important image for the public.

According to county property records, the statue is on land owned by Jim O'Loughlin.

But the people who are coming to worship don't seem to care who the owner is or why the statue is there.

In fact, Harrison said, the statue is essentially being donated to the community.

When the statue was completed, it was displayed for 25,000 people at the Eucharist Family Rosary Crusade at Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals, on May 25.

It was supposed to go from there to Divine Mercy's newest development near I-35 and Parvin Road, but construction was delayed, so the statue needed a temporary site.

So for the last several weeks, it has been at 9118 N.E. 73rd St. in Kansas City, across the street from the duplex's leasing office facing I-35.

It will be moved to its final destination soon, Harrison said.

Residents at the duplexes are just as baffled as most I-35 motorists.

"It's just - there," said one man.

But Catholics might recognize the statue.

In 1931, an uneducated Polish nun named Mary Faustina Kowalska began having encounters with Jesus, she wrote in a diary.

During the encounters, he dictated a prayer to her. The prayer is known as the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

But later, he also commanded her to commission a painting of how he appeared to her, and that became the Vilnius image, which the statue portrays in a three-dimensional figure.

Jesus' right hand is raised in blessing and his left hand is touching his heart, with rays emanating from it.

Artist Dale Lamphere of Sturgis, S.D., cast the head, hands and feet with stainless steel, and a lightning-resistant rod supports the hollow body.

At its final site, the statue will be blessed and stand at the head of a reflecting pond. It will be open for public viewing in November.

"It will be in a quiet place where people can contemplate God," Harrison said.

A Divine Mercy Statue in Texas

A vision of Christ seen by a Polish nun in 1931 is the foundation of an increasingly popular Roman Catholic devotion in the 21st century.

"I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment," 26-year-old Sister Maria Faustina wrote in her diary. "One hand was raised in a gesture of blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast."

Two large rays emanated from Christ's chest, one red, the other pale. Christ commanded the nun to artistically re-create the image with the words, "Jesus, I trust in you" as its signature.

In her diary, she wrote that she was told, "I want this image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter. That Sunday is to be the feast of mercy."

The painting that Sister Maria commissioned has been reproduced on countless holy cards. On Sunday, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church will dedicate a 12-foot bronze statue of the Divine Mercy image the nun saw in her convent room.

The statue, atop an 8-foot pedestal, will be hard to miss at the busy intersection of Buffalo Speedway and Holcombe.

"I pray to God there will be no accidents when (motorists) see it for the first time," said the Rev. John T. Weyer, St. Vincent's pastor.

Weyer is an ardent promoter of the Divine Mercy, a devotion to God's compassion revealed to the nun over several years. (The devotion includes a chaplet, or specific prayers said with rosary beads.)

Before Weyer moved to St. Vincent de Paul three years ago, he directed the construction of the Divine Mercy Chapel at St. Laurence Catholic Church in Sugar Land.

"I teach it wherever I go," Weyer said. On Divine Mercy weekend, Weyer intends to preach on the message of God's compassion at six of the church's seven Masses.

The priest said he was introduced to the devotion 14 years ago when a parishioner gave him a copy of St. Maria Faustina's Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul.

The Nun, who had only a third-grade education, described the vision and its effect on her spiritual life in simple sentences.

"I read a little bit each night before I went to bed," Weyer said. "It hit me like a ton of bricks; I was just overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed with the insight into the mercy of God and how much he wants to offer mercy but so many won't even ask for it."

The popularity of the devotion owes a lot to Pope John Paul II, who became familiar with the nun's writings as a priest in Poland.

One of the pope's first encyclicals, released in 1980, was on God's mercy, said Sister Madeleine Grace, chairman of the theology department at the University of St. Thomas.

"It was influenced by her writing," Grace said. "He had read St. Faustina's diary and knew of it."

The nun was beatified in 1993, and the devotion became known because the pope promoted it, Grace said.

In April 2000, John Paul II canonized the nun, declaring her St. Maria Faustina and establishing the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday.

Weyer said God's mercy "is the hope of the world; it is the hope of each individual person."

The basic message of the Divine Mercy, Weyer said, can be distilled into an "ABC" format:

•Ask for God's mercy.
•Be merciful to others.
•Completely trust in God and his providence for you.

Confidence in the divine is reflected in the devotion's prayer, "Jesus, I trust in you," the priest said.

In the image St. Faustina saw, the red rays from Christ's heart symbolize the blood that was shed for mankind's salvation, and the blue symbolizes the water of grace and spiritual rebirth, Weyer said.

The devotion extends worldwide, said Lee Bowers, director of Marian activities for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Her office is also now promoting the Divine Mercy devotion.

"It is a way of life, not just a devotion," said Bowers, an international speaker for the devotion through an outreach of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, an order of priests.

She has spoken to audiences in Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico and the Philippines as well as throughout the United States.

In the Philippines, television, radio and even traffic lights mark the 3 p.m. hour for the praying of the chaplet, Bowers said.

It even attracts some Protestants, she said.

Bowers will celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday at the devotion's national shrine in Stockbridge, Mass.

She will also participate in the taping of a 13-week series on the devotion to be broadcast nationally in October by Eternal Word Television Network, a Catholic cable broadcaster.

Bowers said the devotion reminds people that God can forgive any sin.

"The one thing that seems to touch people's hearts is that God is a merciful God no matter what they have done," she said.

"We have been a world where we forget to forgive our brother for the wrongs done," Bowers said.