Excerpts on St. Michael the Archangel, Conductor of Souls were taken from the messages from a Soul in Purgatory [Sister M.G.] to Sister M. de L. C. who was under the care of a spiritual director (priest) when receiving the messages. The messages were published in a book called: AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT ON PURGATORY The… [Read More]
CONSECRATION TO ST. JOSEPH VI: ST. JOSEPH MOST FAITHFUL, PRAY FOR US!
One of my favorite sections in the book “CONSECRATION TO ST. JOSEPH, THE WONDERS OF OUR SPIRITUAL FATHER” by Fr. Donald Calloway is Day 21 – St. Joseph Most Faithful, Pray for Us. This section and meditation show St. Joseph’s faithfulness in rescuing Jesus and Mary in different life and death circumstances (Mat. 2:13 &… [Read More]
Consecration to St. Joseph V: St. Joseph, Hope of the Sick, Pray for Us!
One of my favorite parts in the book Consecration to St. Joseph, The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father by Fr. Donald Calloway is Day 29 – St. Joseph, Hope of the Sick, Pray for Us. This is and was a powerful part of the book during the consecration because it covers the miraculous physical healings… [Read More]
Consecration to St. Joseph III: St. Joseph’s Staff!
As thousands prepare to consecrate themselves on March 19th (Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary) and others prepare for the second consecration beginning March 30th and ending May 1st (Feast of St. Joseph the Worker) let us contemplate the power of our spiritual father St. Joseph and his mighty “Staff” which is a prefiguration… [Read More]
Consecration to St. Joseph II: The Medal of St. Joseph
As February 16, 2020 nears for the start of the Consecration to St. Joseph let us begin to prepare our hearts to encounter the man who most influenced Our Lord Jesus Christ, St. Teresa of Avila, St. André Bessette, and many others. Let us prepare for 33 days to enter St. Joseph’s workshop every day… [Read More]
Processing the truth about Fr. Michael Sullivan and why we should
We Catholics love our priests so much. Without them we could not practice our beautiful Catholic faith. We receive the Eucharist at their hands. They extend the mercy of the Lord to us. They give us spiritual counsel. They represent Jesus to us. They are there for us in the most intense times of our… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XXVII: St. Michael the Archangel in Thassos
At the end of the 11th century a monk named Luke lived for fourteen years on a Greek island called Thassos. The place he lived was later called Louka in his honor, but not before he constructed a church in honor of the beloved apostle St. John the Evangelist. Later, seeking a more contemplative life,… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XXVI: The St. Michael Relic Stone Miracles
For centuries, St. Michael the Archangel has used relic stones from his cave in Gargano, Italy, to perform miracles. (See: St. Michael Relic Stone article September 2, 2017.) On September 25, 1656, St Michael said: “I am the Archangel St. Michael. Anyone who uses the stones of this grotto will be liberated…” At the St…. [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XXIV: The Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel
The Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel is a sacramental of the Catholic Church. It was blessed by Pope Pius IX in 1878 and formally approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1880. The official blessing and investiture prayer found in the Roman Ritual for the Scapular of St. Michael the Archangel has seven important statements… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XXII: St. Michael the Archangel in Mexico
On April 25, 1631, St. Michael the Archangel appeared in Tlaxcala, Mexico to a 17-year-old named Diego Lázaro de San Francisco who was married to Francisca Castillian Xuchitl. The apparition occurred as everyone was processing in celebration of a previous apparition of St. Michael to St. Gregory the Great (April 25, 590 A.D) during a… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XXI: St. Michael the Archangel in Spain
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony (Rev. 22:16).” On June 18, 1961, St. Michael the Archangel appeared to four girls, Conchita Gonzalez (12), Mari Cruz Gonzalez (11), Jacinta Gonzalez (12), and Mari Loli Mazon (12), at Garabandal which is a small village in Spain consisting of 300 habitants. As in… [Read More]
Sister Lynn’s “Lectio on Life
I had been talking to Sister Lynn D’Souza, OSB about the way people interpret dreams and often feel God is speaking to them in the stories and symbolic situations of their dreams. I had thought that one could also interpret life and its events as messages from God. In some situations, I tend to… [Read More]
The Crowning of St. Joseph!
“Thus should he be honored whom the King desires to honor!” The Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary is on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. This year is also the 61st anniversary of the church approved apparitions of St. Joseph in America in which Sr. Mary Ephrem (1916-2000) saw him being crowned… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XIX: The Angel of Peace in America
In the fall of 1954, the Angel of Peace came to prepare Sr. Mary Ephrem (1916-2000) of the Sisters of the Precious Blood of Jesus for the coming of Our Lady of America. In 1960 and 1972 these apparitions received official imprimatur approval from Archbishop Paul F. Leibold (1914-1972) and in 2007 the president of… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XVIII: St. Michael the Angel of Peace!
For centuries St. Michael the Archangel has been known as the Angel of Peace! In the pre-Vatican Roman Breviary (Liturgy of the Hours) published in 1482 and in use until Vatican II, it clearly states, “St. Michael is the Angel of Peace because he was the leader of the heavenly hosts that fought the rebel… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XVI: St. Michael & All Souls
What happens when we die? And what does the Archangel Michael have to do with our life after death? The Catholic Church teaches through the mass prayers, Her prayers for the dying, and through the lives of the saints that St. Michael has been given a very important role both during and after our death…. [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XIV: Mont Saint Michel
Saint Aubert, the Bishop of Avranches in France, founded Mont Saint Michel in 708 after St. Michael the Archangel appeared to him in his dreams three times. Saint Aubert ignored the Archangel in the first two dreams, but in the third dream St. Michael drove his finger into Aubert’s skull and commanded him to build… [Read More]
Cardinal Sarah: Defender of the Faith
Within the ranks of the Church leadership, Robert Cardinal Sarah stands out as a rare example of outspoken zeal for the faith accompanying his conspicuous love of God. Born and raised in Guinea, he first became a priest and then archbishop of Conakry (covering all of Guinea). He was made Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XIII: The Glorious Michaelmas!
The Michaelmas is the centuries-old Latin Mass celebrated in honor of the Archangel Michael on September 29th. Devotion to St. Michael the Archangel existed in the Old Testament (Daniel 10:13, 10:21, & 12:1), and it continued in the New Testament (Jude 1:9 and Revelations chapter 12.) The Apostle John prophesied a healing spring which was… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XII: St. Michael’s Flaming Sword!
St. Padre Pio did spiritual battle with demons to free souls, and at his shrine, there is a mosaic of the Archangel Michael handing Padre Pio a sword. In the book “Deliverance Prayers For Use by the Laity,” exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger uses the sword of St Michael, together with the sword of Our Lady… [Read More]
On Disagreeing With the Pope
On August 2, in light of an address last October to the Pontifical Council, Pope Francis made a modification to the Catholic Catechism declaring that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”. As an officially declared teaching of the Church, this poses a serious… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons XI: “Michael the Archangel will Arise.” (Dn.12:1)
Throughout history St. Michael the Archangel has arisen to protect God’s Church and heal God’s people. St. Michael will arise now during these most turbulent times, but we must invoke his protection with prayer, consecrations, penances, novenas, and processions as in the ages past. In the year 590 Pope Pelagius and many souls died of… [Read More]
The Church is true but we are a very sick family right now
I entered the Church officially at the age of 22, in 1990. It took me a long time. I attended daily mass for two years even though almost everything about the Catholic Church freaked me out. I had authority issues. I had spiritual issues. I had sexual abuse issues. I had issues with men. I… [Read More]
The Jesus We Never Knew
The Gospels we hear week by week focus on the venerable accomplishments of Jesus as He went about His ministry here on earth. And generally the homilies that follow focus on the message to be gained by these stories in conjunction with the other readings. We are exhorted to imitate this message in our… [Read More]
Crowd Funding Hail Marys
After a week of losing sleep over the suffering of little children taken from their parents at the border, many days of speaking out and also of sending what money I could to organizations trying to help these separated families, I texted to one of my sisters in Carmel, still feeling very sad. I asked… [Read More]
Blessed Isidore Bakanja – Martyr of the Brown Scapular
Blessed Isidore Bakanja is the first martyr of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel whose feast we celebrate on Monday, July 16th. Isidore Bakanja was a young black teenage martyr from the Boangi tribe in Zaire, Africa with plenty of zeal, valor, and faith for the gospel and Our Lady. Receiving the… [Read More]
Sin? Not a problem.
Sin? No problem. This Sunday we heard the Gospel reading on the Fall, of the moment sin entered creation and divided all that was meant to be united. Since then the human person has been faced with the conditions of inner division and brokenness as a personal reality and as a reality in creation. Yet,… [Read More]
Jesus, give us your Heart, make us strong to love!
I have to think, in these dark times, during this epidemic of heartlessness, that we need to look to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that we need the refuge and the example of His Heart more than ever. Every day I think we are all having to find ways to decompress from all the hatred,… [Read More]
The Modest Ornaments of the Day: simple routines that re-center
I have a cup of coffee, and I am listening to jazz (Alice Coltrane today,) because it is 2 o’clock. That’s what I always do this time of day; jazz and coffee. Somehow this makes me feel more present in the day. The loose, open-ended routine of stopping the day, at least a little bit,… [Read More]
The Corpus Christi Procession and Divine Mercy
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (the feast of Corpus Christi) is the celebration of Christ’s Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. As Our Lord is carried through the streets of cities and villages around the world, the faithful give public witness to their faith and devotion to the Holy… [Read More]
Come, Holy Spirit, renew my life
Something that seems to be returning to me as I very slowly recover from the grief and trauma (it’s complicated) of these past few years is a sense of self determination. I had not realized it was gone in the first place. What I did know is that for a long time it was… [Read More]
Love as presence
I want to talk about a great part of my life, Mac, who has Cerebral Palsey, and about what it’s like to spend my days with “his Eminent Lovableness. ” Mac and I don’t actually “do” much. I mean, not really. We mostly just hang out together. We mostly just “are.” Fortunately, we are really… [Read More]
Dear Austin, let us pray…
It is a morning to pray. We woke up to the news today that the suspect behind the recent package bombs had been caught, and indeed had taken his own life in the process. Let us pray this morning together for peace in our city, for peace in our families, for peace in our own… [Read More]
A traditional St. Joseph altar in the Brazos Valley
He is sweating in the morning sun, easily turning a huge table top over in a cloud of wood shavings. I cough but he doesn’t break his concentration, only smiles as he measures an edge with his hands, squinting, nodding to himself as he stands up. “You still do this kind of thing in Heaven?”… [Read More]
The Betrothal and Love of Joseph and Mary
As the Solemnity of Saint Joseph approaches let us contemplate the betrothal and love of Joseph and Mary and how it can help couples today. It is mentioned very little in scripture. Yet it was the foundation for the family into which Jesus Christ was born. Blessed Pope John Paul II says in the church… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons IX: 40 Days to Slay Your Dragon!
“Rise up; this matter is in your hands (Ezra 10:4)!” Your time has come Dragon Slayer! On your feet! You can no longer be “the brother of dragons,” (Job 30:29) for “Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare!” (Pope Benedict XIV) How will you spend your 40 Days of Lent, in what may… [Read More]
The Presentation of the Lord; a story
I woke up early, long before my usual time. I could feel morning coming on as Yeshi slept deeply; still and warm between Joseph and me. He was on my arm, making it numb, but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed these moments of silence and warmth listening to Joseph’s and the baby’s breathing. I moved… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons VIII: St. Gemma Galgani Relic
A fierce female dragon slayer! St. Gemma Galgani died at the young age of 25 on April 11, 1903 (Feast Day), but she lived an extraordinary life. She wanted to be a Passionist religious nun but was not accepted due to her health so she joined the lay Passionist association and took private vows as… [Read More]
Angels & Dragons VII: Transferences
In the heat of the spiritual battle there is a lot clashing of swords, shields, spears, and other armor in the fight between St. Michael and his angels defending us against the dragon and his angels. (Rev. 12:7) Sometimes the good guys get wounded in the tussle and scuffle. Concerning deliverance prayers, the good news… [Read More]
The Most Important Prayer in a Cataclysmic Event (Part II)
While the Act of Contrition prayer is the most important prayer for someone facing imminent death in a cataclysmic event, it is also the most important prayer for a survivor. During cataclysmic events like the current California fires, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, and the 7.1 earthquakes in Mexico, victims gather in huge numbers… [Read More]
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