Patrician Meeting - October 2009

Apostolate!

"A CATHOLIC WHO NEVER TRIES TO WORK FOR THE CONVERSION OF NON-CATHOLICS OR TO BRING BAD CATHOLICS BACK TO THE SACRAMENTS IS A SOLDIER WHO LET THE ENEMY WIN WITHOUT PUTTING UP A FIGHT."

From the Baltimore Catechism

On the Feast Day of the Holy Rosary

I came across this in the Opus Dei website :)
Happy feast day everyone!
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“Don’t those who are in love always say the same things to each other?”
The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you will be amazed at the results. (The Way, 558)

The beginning of the way, at the end of which you will find yourself completely carried away with love for Jesus, is a confident love for Mary.

—Do you want to love Our Lady? —Well, get to know her. How? —By praying her Rosary well.

But, in the Rosary... we always say the same things! —Always the same? And don’t those who are in love always say the same things to each other?... Could it not be that there is monotony in your Rosary because, instead of pronouncing words like a man, you emit sounds like an animal, while your mind is very far from God? —Moreover, listen: before each decade we are told the mystery to be contemplated. —Have you... ever contemplated these mysteries?

Become little. Come with me and —this is the essence of what I have to confide— we will live the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Each day we will render them a new service. We will hear their family conversations. We will see the Messiah grow up. We will admire His thirty years of hidden life... We will be present at His Passion and Death... We will be awed by the Glory of His Resurrection... In a word: we will contemplate, carried away with Love (the only real love is Love), each and every instant of Christ Jesus. (Holy Rosary, Introduction)

Allocutio by Fr. Marin on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 6, 2009)

***Paraphrased version only***

Many people don't like praying the rosary. Some people say it is only boring, vain repetition. Consider this: when you like a new song and you want to remember it, you usually repeat it again and again. And even the songs that you sing probably repeat the same things again and again. Are these vain repetitions? The rosary is a very beautiful prayer. In it, we repeat the words of an angel and a saint. And in the end is added a very beautiful and interesting request, "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." Every word of the Hail Mary is filled with so much meaning. And although it may seem that we are giving too much attention to Mary, by repeating the Ave Maria more times than the Lord's Prayer and the Glory Be, we mention the Most Holy Name of Jesus just as often, if not more. For at the center of each Ave Maria is Jesus. When the mystery of each decade is announced, it is not just a phrase that we announce. It leads us to a meditation on the life of Our Lord like Mary, who kept the words of Jesus in her heart and contemplated on them.

Now, it is true that we sometimes find difficulty in praying the rosary. Oftentimes, we get distracted. We start praying the first decade and before we know it, we've reached the fourth decade, and realize that in between, we have spaced out. Our minds had fluttered to other things again. But we should not despair. St. Therese used to confess in her letters that she prayed the rosary so badly. She would always be distracted or feel sleepy. But still, she tried to pray it well everyday. I'm sure that Our Lady is not standing beside you, criticizing you everytime you pray the rosary distractedly. Of course, we should give it our best effort and say it as lovingly as we can. But I'm sure the effort you put in praying the rosary, although you may get distracted, will make Our Lady very happy.

In this month of the Rosary, it would be good for us if we can say the rosary daily. Not only do we make Our Lady happy, we also attain many graces for ourselves. We should also encourage our family and friends to pray this prayer. The Rosary is a prayer that has been loved by all the saints, endorsed by the Church for hundreds of years, and endorsed by Mary herself in the apparitions approved by the Church. What more recommendations do we need?

"Blessed be that monotony of Hail Marys which purifies the monotony of your sins!"

- St. Josemaria Escriva

The True Face of Heroism

"It must always be remembered that the work of the Lord will bear the Lord's own mark, the mark of the Cross."

“My real crime? I joined the Legion of Mary.”

***

Outlaw: One Priest in the Underground Chinese Church

By Theresa Marie Moreau

First Published in Crisis Magazine



“Chu lai! Chu lai!”
Guang-Zhong Gu awoke in the pre-dawn hours, bathed in the sweat of a balmy Shanghai September.

Unfamiliar voices barked, “Come out! Come out!”

Lights overhead flashed on. The cold steel snap of ammo clicked into machine guns. Fists pounded at the doors lining the long corridors of the Xujiahui Seminary, normally bustling with the quiet sweep of long, black robes.

Gu, a 23-year-old third-year seminary student, leapt out of bed. Already dressed in shorts and a shirt, he stuffed his feet into a pair of shoes. No time for socks. He stumbled through the door without looking back. He’d never see the room again.

http://tmmoreau.com/gu1.html

The Legion of Mary: it's global mission

This is so wonderful!!! :)

The Butterfly Circus

At the height of the Great Depression, the showman of a renowned circus leads his troupe through the devastated American landscape, lifting the spirits of audiences along the way. During their travels they discover a man without limbs at a carnival sideshow, but after an intriguing encounter with the showman he becomes driven to hope against everything he has ever believed. Starring Eduardo Verástegui (Bella), Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth, Fantastic Four) and featuring the debut performance of Nick Vujicic.

Our General

Villancico VI for the Feast of the Assumption, 1676 (excerpt)

Clear the way for the entrance
of the bold adventuress
who undoes injustice,
who smashes insults.

The sun's rays are her
resplendent armor
the stars her helmet,
the moon her boots.

On her shining shield
with which she dazzles hell,
a mountain is emblazoned
and golden letters: Tota Pulchra.

Celebrated for her beauty,
feared for her ferocity
she is jaunty and valiant,
and angelic is her beauty...

She dispelled the charms
of the ancient serpent
whose conspiracy
sets us under slavery's yoke.

She avenges wrongs
and annuls unjust laws,
gives refuge to orphans
and shelter to widows.

She liberated prisoners
from that prison where,
were it not for her daring spirit,
still they'd await their release.

All hell trembles at the mere
mention of her name.
And they say its very kings
fast on her vigil...

She is the one, whose tread
no demon can endure.
When he sees her feet,
he takes to his heels.

Crowned with glory and honor,
the deeds that brought her fame,
since they cannot be contained on earth,
send her riding out of this world.

As knight errant of the spheres
on a new adventure,
she finds hidden treasure
sought by so many.

--Sor Juana Inésde la Cruz (1648-1695)

Via the Shrine of the Holy Whapping

Feast of the Queenship of Mary

El Lucero de la Grada, Monastery of Carmel, Cuenca de los Andes, Ecuador

Collect: Father, you have given us the mother of your Son to be our queen and mother. With the support of her prayers may we come to share the glory of your children in the kingdom of heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer to Our Lady, Queen of Heaven

Beautiful prayer to Our Lady, Queen of Heaven written by St. Lomman, Abbot

O Mary, when our eyes close in our last sleep, and open to behold thy Son, the Just Judge, and the Angel opens the Book, and the Enemy accuses us; in that terrible hour, come to our aid. Be with us. When death came to Joseph, you and your Son were with him: Thy Son to judge, thou to console. O Happy Joseph! When death comes for us, be near us. O Mary, when we are held captive in the place of atonement; plead for us, and visit us, that we may find consolation in thy presence. Stretch forth thy hand to help us; deliver us from our bondage. We are thy children: Thou art our Mother. As little children we come to thee; we know no fear. O Mary, He changed water into wine for thee, even as He said: My hour has not yet come. Now He will not refuse thee, when you plead for us thy children. O Mary, come quickly to our aid. Do not let us stray from the Fold. The wolf is waiting to destroy us. There shall be neither night nor day to thy praises. Adoration to the Father Who created thee! Adoration to the Son, Who took flesh from thee! Adoration to the Holy Spirit, Thy Divine Spouse! Three in One, One in Three. Equal in all things. To Him be glory for ever. For ever. For ever. Amen.

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