This calls for some...

glitter...

St. Frances of Rome

Frances was born in the city of Rome in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will. She decided at eleven that she knew what God wanted for her -- she was going to be a nun.

And that's where her will ran right up against her father's. He told Frances she was far too young to know her mind -- but not too young to be married. He had already promised her in marriage to the son of another wealthy family. In Rome at that time a father's word was law; a father could even sell his children into slavery or order them killed.

Frances probably felt that's what he was doing by forcing her to marry. But just as he wouldn't listen to her, Frances wouldn't listen to him. She stubbornly prayed to God to prevent the marriage until her confessor pointed out,

"Are you crying because you want to do God's will or because you want God to do your will?"

Read the rest of her inspiring life here at Catholic.org >>

"They have no more wine"

It is no big secret, I believe, that we Catholics at one point or another, find it difficult to pray the rosary. There's a long way from the first Hail Mary to the last and so there are lots of opportunities to be distracted. It's a struggle, and perhaps sometimes, we need to find creative solutions.

Of late, I've taken to imagining the mysteries, as suggested by a priest. Got an overactive imagination? Turn it to worthwhile things. So I did. And last meeting, upon meditating on the Luminous mysteries, there was one mystery that stood out so vividly: The Miracle at Cana.

A wedding. People happily celebrating a union. Music, laughter, tall stories fill the air. Our Lord is right in the midst of it, although perhaps no one but His mother fully understood it at that time. Plenty of food to go around, plenty of rich and tasty wine to fill the guests.

Until suddenly, the wine ran out. The waiters were in a pickle. What to do? Surely there wasn't any emergency delivery service at that time. What to do?

The Bible tells us only that "when there was no more wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, 'They have no more wine.' " How could she have known? I wonder.

Perhaps, amidst all the celebration, there was one woman taking everything in silently. The stories, the music, the laughter. But unlike the others, she looks around and perceives more than they could. Perhaps she noticed a distressed look from one of the waiters, a small hint of anxiety. Here she shows how sensitive she is to the needs of those around her. Or perhaps, the waiters had heard about Jesus of Nazareth. Maybe they weren't sure what all the fuss was about Jesus, but just maybe, He could help them. But they didn't know how to approach Him.

'His mother is here,' perhaps someone said. 'We could ask for her help. He would listen to her.' And so they look for her in the crowd. It doesn't take long for them to find Mary, who is ever so close to everyone who needs her intercession. They hastily tell her the problem, growing more desperate as time passed by with the wine vats empty. But she doesn't need too many words; looking at their distress, she understands. Sure enough, she approaches her Son. Just like in the Annunciation, she probably didn't know how He will do it, but she was certain that He will do it.

"They have no more wine." Such simple words that all of us can relate to. We have no more wine. Every week, work keeps on piling up. There's hardly time to breathe. No time to pray. No time to do active work. Someone needs help, someone needs a friendly conversation, but there's just no time to stop. No time to sit and talk. No energy to force out a smile and encourage someone else.

I have no more wine, my Lord. I'm running on empty.

Then you stop for awhile, because the next step is just too heavy to take. You close your eyes, but it's too hard to pray on your own. Fortunately, you have the prayers of the Church. And you start praying the Our Father, the Haily Mary. Just a few, you think to yourself. I just need to relax. So one bead leads to another...and another... And once again you hear her saying, "Your child has no more wine."

And even though Jesus responds that His time has not yet come, He does it anyway. He gets up from the table and goes to the back room. At His mother's request, He responds to a plea for help.

But there's a catch. Mary says, "Do whatever He tells you." A call to obedience. You have asked for help. Now, be humble enough to do what He wants you to do. Believe in Him, and He will provide.

The waiters do not understand. But they already see Jesus walking towards them, and they have no more time to figure out what she just told them. So they take her for her word, for who could better know a son than his own mother?

When Jesus told them to fill the waterpots with water, they must have wondered if they'd heard Him correctly. They needed wine, not water. Did He even know what He was doing? They couldn't understand. But they see Mary, perhaps standing quietly to the side, and they remember her words. "Do whatever He tells you."

And so they do. They give him their active cooperation. They bring the wine to the headwaiter and it turns out to be even better than the first one. And for the rest of the celebration, they have more than enough.

How magnanimous our God is! Just when we think we are running on empty, when we think we've hit rock bottom, we find out that He has been safely holding us in His hands all along. Just when we thought our vat has run dry, He fills it to the brim. He gives us what we need to carry on. To this very day, He continues to offer us His wine, His blood. And when He gives, He gives magnanimously.

When we find ourselves running on empty, let's not forget that Mary is ever ready to help intercede for us. But let us also not forget what she said next. "Do whatever He tells you."

Allocutio for the 998th meeting of Regina Coeli Praesidium

The Holy Eucharist
(allo by Sr. Therese)

Natural event happens following the natural law that we know in the universe. When we consider something is a miracle, usually it refers to a supernatural interference. However, miracle doesn’t break the law of nature. It fits as a new event to the pattern of natural law and assimilates to that pattern. Just as how it happens in the natural law, we understand that the present moment has a direct link to the previous history. We need to take account the previous accident into consideration of our present moment/condition. Holy Eucharist is the most wonderful miracle ever happened. The Holy Eucharist does not behave against the natural law when we take it into our physical body. Once we received the Holy Eucharist, the miracle happens to our being, the Miracle that Christ lives us, and shall affect our present condition. We need to love and believe the Miracle that just happened to us by our living the Miracle, our effort to keep the Presence of God.

PS: guys, I try to summarize as best as I can..so, apologize if I leave out some beautiful analogy and examples that she shows. Please feel free to add about it.

Adoro Te Devote

Therese ended her allocutio today with my favourite Eucharistic hymn:




Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas;
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit,
Quia te contemplans totum deficit.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur.
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius;
Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius.

In cruce latebat sola Deitas,
At hic latet simul et Humanitas,
Ambo tamen credens atque confitens,
Peto quod petivit latro pœnitens.

Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor:
Deum tamen meum te confiteor.
Fac me tibi semper magis credere,
In te spem habere, te diligere.

O memoriale mortis Domini!
Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini!
Præsta meæ menti de te vívere,
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro, fiat illud quod tam sitio:
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beátus tuæ gloriæ. Amen



Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.

On the cross thy godhead made no sign to men,
Here thy very manhood steals from human ken:
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.

I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.

O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.

Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what thy bosom ran---
Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.

Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with thy glory's sight. Amen.

(translation of Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.)

This wasn't the translation she used though...would like to find it.

When was the last time you went to confession?

I remember Fr. Marin's allocutio two or three weeks ago. He stressed on the importance of confession. We cannot forgive ourselves with some hocus-pocus introspection. Nor can we ask others to forgive us. The only way we know for sure that our sins have been forgiven is by receiving it from Christ himself, and that is what we receive when we go for confession. 

From Fr. Z:

Jesus Christ, God and Savior, gave us the Sacrament of Penance, of Reconciliation.

This is the ordinary means by which He desires us to seek forgiveness for our actual, post-baptismal sins.

There is no sin that any limited little mortal can commit which is so bad that God cannot forgive it.

Christ gave His own power to forgive sins to the Church He established, the Catholic Church.

Priests exercise this ministry in the Church, acting by virtue of their ordination, as "another Christ".

When you confess your sins to a priest and he gives you absolution, you sins are taken away… not merely covered over or set aside.  They are no more.  You may remember them in sorrow, but they no longer harm your relationship with God.

Mortal sins break your saving friendship with God.  Mortal sin places you at risk of eternal separation from God and the happiness of heaven… forever.

Confession and absolution repairs that rupture and returns you to a state of friendship with God.

Awareness of mortal sin should drive you to a confessional.

In our weakness we will sometimes put off going to confession.  Perhaps fear or embarrassment keeps us away.   Time slips by.  Days become weeks become months become years.  

Then you die and go to your judgment.

So … maybe the priest is not friendly or the confession schedule is a little narrow…. so what?  A better confessor is some distance away… so?  It is a little hard… not convenient… too much to do….  And?

What is a moment of embarrassment, what is an interruption of your oh-so-important routine compared to the eternity of heaven or of hell?

You do not know the moment when your reckoning will come, friends.

Have you fallen into the trap, willingly or innocently, of going to "general absolution" without making a confession of your sins in the proper way?

The Sacrament of Penance heals your soul, strengthens you against sin, and – simply on the basic level of peace of mind – works wonders. 

I will never forget one somewhat slow afternoon in a confessional… just a bit bored…  I heard someone get in and slid open the window.  "Bless me Father, I have sinned.  It has been sixty years since my last confession…."

When we were finished he wept and said "I’m free."

Our question:

When was the last time you went to confession?

"My Father made it!!"

I can't stop myself to write about this at the end...

A friend of mine, Rina, shared this to me few days ago...

We often take for granted the fact that we are children of God. Yes, this beautiful fact of Divine Filiation has been repeated over and over again, but a lot of time it just pass through and seems that we (I!) don't enjoy the beauty as much again.

Once, a father of a girl is a contractor. When the girl goes around the city, she passed by the buldings that her father made. She proudly said to her friend, "Look! My father made it!"

Just as the Father that loves His children so much, He wants to leave us some 'finger print' that we can always recall His love and presence. Don't you realize that the sunrise is how He said 'good morning to you?', the sunset, wind, your friend around you, is how He said, "I love you"? It's how He wants to keep in touch with you. So, the next time you passed by a beautiful scenery, or seeing a beautiful rainbow, a nice plant or tree, remember always to recall, "Hey! My (yes, YOURs too!) Father made it!" and let yourself be amazed....

Pope Benedict on "Offering up"

I would like to add here another brief comment with some relevance for everyday living. There used to be a form of devotion—perhaps less practised today but quite widespread not long ago—that included the idea of “offering up” the minor daily hardships that continually strike at us like irritating “jabs”, thereby giving them a meaning. Of course, there were some exaggerations and perhaps unhealthy applications of this devotion, but we need to ask ourselves whether there may not after all have been something essential and helpful contained within it. What does it mean to offer something up? Those who did so were convinced that they could insert these little annoyances into Christ's great “com-passion” so that they somehow became part of the treasury of compassion so greatly needed by the human race. In this way, even the small inconveniences of daily life could acquire meaning and contribute to the economy of good and of human love. Maybe we should consider whether it might be judicious to revive this practice ourselves.

- Spe Salvi

I will whisper all my secrets

Mother Mary, will you listen
To the things I wish to say?
How your sweet eyes used to glisten
As you watched Him at His play!

And when He'd creep up to your knee,
And when He'd pause for rest,
You'd lift Him, O so tenderly,
And clasp Him to your breast.

Baby lips would lisp their secrets-
Precious words into your ear.
And you held Him tight and listened,
listened
While you wiped away a tear.

Mother Mary, I've been playing,
And I've come to you for rest.
Lift me up as you did Jesus-
Clasp me safely to your breast.

I will whisper all my secrets-
Halting words into your ear. Though they're not as sweet as His were,
Mother Mary, won't you hear?

Author unknown

Never, Never, Never, Leave the Legion of Mary

(excerpt from Fr. Richard Soulliere, former Legion Envoy to Mexico and presently Spiritual Director of Miami Regia, Florida, at an annual ACIES ceremony)
taken from Maria Legionis 4/2008

"If you see a problem while you are in the Legion, do not drop out, maybe it is your expertise that is needed. Be part of the solution! If you drop out, you will increase the problem for others and you will always look back on it as part of your squandered life.

Mary has given us the example we must follow: In the Annunciation, without warning, out of the blue, totally unexpected, the Angel Gabriel stood before her and asked her if she would become the mother of the Son of God. Fortunately, she said "Yes, be it done to me according to your word!"
Look where God took her! She is now fourth in command, after the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and far above the rest of us!

But, supposing she had said, "no, not me, I'm too busy" or "No, let Mary Jones do it, she's better qualified than I". Then, for the rest of her life, she would have looked back on her squandered life. So, stay in there - say "yes" and see where God takes you!

How blessed we are to be members of the Legion of Mary!
The Legion is constantly striving to make us saints!
So always remember.....


NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, LEAVE THE LEGION OF MARY