MY  IMMACULATE  HEART  WILL  BE  YOUR  REFUGE

AND THE WAY THAT WILL LEAD YOU TO GOD (6/13/1917)

Sep 24, 2008 –  Wednesday of 25th Week in Ordinary Time       DAILY LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and diseases" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): Cardinal Points to Faulty Logic in Abortion Bill; Priest and 2 Laypeople Slain in India SAINT OF THE DAY St. Pacifico of San Severino  GENERAL MARIOLOGY The History and Nature of Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:  DIVINE MERCY I See The Lord In My Soul  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: Thank You!   Monthly Index

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Wednesday (9/24):  "Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and diseases" Scripture:  Luke 9:1-6 1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Meditation: What kind of power and authority does God want you to exercise in your personal life and service? God's word has power to change and transform our lives. Jesus gave his apostles both power and authority to speak and to act in his name – to cast out evil spirits, to heal, and to speak the word of God. When Jesus spoke of power and authority he did something unheard of. He wedded power and authority with love and humility. The world and the flesh seek power for selfish gain. Jesus teaches us to use it for the good of our neighbor.   Why does Jesus tell the apostles to travel light with little or no provision? Poverty of spirit frees us from greed and preoccupation with possessions and makes ample room for God's provision. The Lord wants his disciples to be dependent on him and not on themselves. He wills to work in and through each of us for his glory. Are you ready to handle the power and authority which God wishes you to exercise on his behalf? The Lord entrusts us with his gifts and talents. Are you eager to place yourself at his service, to do whatever he bids you, and to witness his truth and saving power to whomever he sends you? "Lord Jesus, make me a channel of your grace and healing love that others may find life and freedom in you. Free me from all other attachments that I may joyfully pursue the things of heaven. May I witness to others the joy of the gospel both in word and deed." Psalm 119:29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163 29 Put false ways far from me; and graciously teach me thy law! 72 The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. 89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is firmly fixed in the heavens. 101 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep thy word. 104 Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. 163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love thy law. RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

Cardinal Points to Faulty Logic in Abortion Bill Notes Promoting Procedure Won't Reduce Its Frequency   WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPT. 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A proposed "Freedom of Choice Act" is not about freedom at all, says the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, pointed out the faulty logic in the proposed act in a letter Friday to all member of Congress. The act "would deprive the American people in all 50 states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA [the Freedom of Choice Act] would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. And FOCA would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government to reduce abortions in our country," the cardinal affirmed. Cardinal Rigali warned that the act is not a mere codification of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize abortion. Instead, it would affect anti-abortion laws and policies that are in effect because they do not conflict with Roe v. Wade. These include such things as policies to protect women's safety, parental rights and informed consent. "The operative language of FOCA is twofold," Cardinal Rigali explained. "First it creates a 'fundamental right' to abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy, including a right to abort a fully developed child in the final weeks for undefined 'health' reasons. No government body at any level would be able to 'deny or interfere with' this newly created federal right. "Second, it forbids government at all levels to 'discriminate' against the exercise of this right 'in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.' For the first time, abortion on demand would be a national entitlement that government must condone and promote in all public programs affecting pregnant women." The prelate included a legal analysis of FOCA's possible consequences with his letter to Congress. "Members of both parties have sought to reach a consensus on ways to reduce abortions in our society," wrote Cardinal Rigali. "However, there is one thing absolutely everyone should be able to agree on: We can't reduce abortions by promoting abortion. [...] No one who sponsors or supports legislation like FOCA can credibly claim to be part of a good-faith discussion on how to reduce abortions." --- --- --- On the Net: Letter to Congress: www.usccb.org/prolife/FOCArigaliltr.pdf. Legal analysis: www.usccb.org/prolife/FOCAanalysis.pdf.   Priest and 2 Laypeople Slain in India Italian Cardinal Urges Solidarity With Persecuted   MUMBAI, India, SEPT. 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- As the wave of anti-Christian violence continues in India, two more laypeople were added Monday to the list of victims. A Catholic priest, Father Samuel Francis, was also killed over the weekend, but authorities have not yet ruled out the possibility that his slaying was the result of a robbery, according to AsiaNews. Attacks continue against churches and Christian centers in the states of Orissa, Chhattisghar, Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. The wave of anti-Christian violence at the hands of Hindu extremists has been heightened since the end of August. The All India Christian Council reported that in Orissa alone, 37 Christians have already been killed, among them two Protestant pastors; more than 4,000 houses have been burned, and close to 50,000 faithful have fled to camps or sought refuge in the forests. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian episcopal conference, spoke out against these events, denouncing the "anti-Christian persecution taking place in India, Iraq and other parts of the world." In his address on the occasion of the meeting of the conference's Permanent Council, being held these days in Rome, the cardinal referred especially to the "wave of Christian-phobia" in India. He denounced "contempt for the law, the impunity of the culprits, the disinformation of the press, the embarrassment of local politicians and the silence of the international community." Cardinal Bagnasco said that "only the voice of the Pope has been raised" against these crimes. He also mentioned the persecutions being endured in Pakistan, and the "Calvary" of Iraq, where two more Christians were killed in recent days. Cardinal Bagnasco reminded Christians of their duty to pray and to show their solidarity with those suffering persecution: "In the Church no one is a foreigner; if one member suffers, all members suffer with him." And the cardinal appealed to politicians, intellectuals and public opinion to again pay "attention to the topic of religious liberty, which is the cornerstone of civilization and of the rights of man, and the guarantee of genuine pluralism and true democracy." "Religious liberty is not something optional that states grant to the most persistent citizens, or a paternalist concession that harks back to the principle of tolerance," he said. Rather, it is "the bulwark of liberties and ultimate criterion for safeguarding them." Finally, Cardinal Bagnasco warned there is a risk that so-called Christian-phobia will reach Europe itself as "the practice of relativism, anti-religious and anti-Christian excesses and the ethical and cultural regression of society demonstrate."   RETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

September 24, 2008 St. Pacifico of San Severino (1653-1721)   Pacifico was born into a distinguished family in San Severino in the Marche of Ancona in central Italy. After joining the Friars Minor, he was ordained. He taught philosophy for two years and then began a successful preaching career. Pacifico was an ascetic man. He fasted perpetually, eating no more than bread, soup or water. His "hair shirt" was made of iron. Poverty and obedience were two virtues for which his confreres especially remembered him. At the age of 35, Pacifico contracted an illness that eventually left him deaf, blind and crippled. He offered his sufferings for the conversion of sinners, and he cured many of the sick who came to him. Pacifico also served as the superior of the friary in San Severino. He was canonized in 1839. Comment: Pacifico lived out the words of St. Francis cited below. His preaching and ministry were linked to his life of penance. Francis urged his brothers to proclaim the Word of God without fanfare or self-interest. In that way, their words were truly God’s and directed toward the welfare of their listeners. The way Pacifico lived made his preaching all the more effective, for his listeners knew the power present in his words. Quote: "Moreover, I advise and admonish the friars that in their preaching, their words should be examined and chaste. They should aim only at the advantage and spiritual good of their listeners, telling them briefly about vice and virtue, punishment and glory, because our Lord himself kept his words short on earth" (St. Francis, Rule of 1223, Ch. 9).   RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

The History and Nature of Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary The following article by Fr. Louis Verheylezoon, S.J., represents a classical treatment of the history and nature of devotion to Our Lady’s most Immaculate Heart. – Asst. Ed. Before the thirteenth century there is no trace to be found of a special devotion to the Heart of Mary. The first pious considerations on this subject occur in the writings of St. Mechtilde (1298), St. Gertrude (1302), Tauler (1361), St. Bernardine of Siena (1444), Justus Landsberger (1539), and especially of St. Francis of Sales (1622). From the sixteenth century onward, theologians and spiritual writers make mention of this devotion. St. John Eudes (1680) quotes, among the writers who speak of it, twelve Jesuits, whom he calls "the twelve apostles of the divine Heart of Mary," the most famous of whom are: St. Peter Canisius, Suarez, Nierenberg and Cornelius a Lapide. Yet it is to St. John Eudes that is due the honor of having given the decisive impulse to the devotion. He was its zealous apostle and learned theologian. Through his preaching of popular missions, he propagated it in about twenty dioceses of France, established everywhere confraternities, wrote a great work on The admirable Heart of the Holy Mother of God, composed a Mass and an Office, and labored to obtain at Rome the institution of a Feast, but without success (1669). After his death, the devotion met with a powerful auxiliary in the movement which originated from Paray-le-Monial. The first apostles of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Margaret Mary, Bl. Claude de la Colombière, Bouzonie, Croiset, were also devout clients of the Heart of Mary. Fr. Pinamonti, S.J., wrote a book on the Devotion (1699), which strongly contributed to its diffusion in Italy. In his remarkable work on "The Devotion to the Adorable Heart of Jesus Christ," Fr. de Galliffet treats at length of the devotion to the Heart of Mary. (1) In his turn he endeavored to obtain a feast in its honor, at the same time as a feast in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1726), but he met with as little success as St. John Eudes. Papal approbation came at last. In 1799, Pope Pius VI authorized the Bishop of Palermo to institute the feast in his diocese. In 1805, Pope Pius VII granted the same favor to those who should ask for it, but with the Office and Mass of Our Lady of the Snow. In 1855, Pius IX approved a special Mass and Office. And in 1944, Pius XII extended the Feast to the universal Church, under the title of Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, (2) with a new Mass and new Office, and transferred the Feast from the Sunday after the Assumption to the 22nd of August. In the meantime four particular events had given a new impulse and an extraordinary popularity to the devotion—namely, the spread of "the miraculous medal," the erection of the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in Paris, in the church of Notre-Dame des Victoires; the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin at Fatima (Portugal), and the Consecration of the Church and of the human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, by Pope Pius XII. 1. The "miraculous medal" owes its origin to an apparition of Our Lady to St. Catherine Labouré, a Sister of Charity, on November 27th, 1830. The Blessed Virgin showed her a medal, bearing on one side a representation of herself with the inscription: "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to Thee"; and on the other side, under the letter M, the Hearts of Jesus and of Mary, the former surrounded with a crown of thorns, the latter pierced with a sword. She ordered the Sister to make and propagate medals after that design, and promised her that all who wore them and devoutly recited this invocation could be sure of her special protection. In a short time innumerable graces, wonderful cures and extraordinary conversions strengthened the confidence of the faithful in the power of the medal, which soon acquired the name of "the miraculous medal." 2. The Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was erected, in 1836, in Paris, in the church of Notre-Dame des Victoires, by the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Desgenettes. The Father was completely discouraged by the lamentable condition of his parish, when, on December 3rd, 1836, feast of St. Francis Xavier, during his mass, he thought he heard an inward voice which, twice over, said to him: "Consecrate your parish to the most holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary." After hesitating for a long time, he obeyed the call, and established moreover a Confraternity, in order to honor in a special way the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to obtain the conversion of sinners through her intercession with the Divine Mercy. Contrary to all expectations, the new association met with an extraordinary success. Sinners returned to the Lord in great numbers, and in a short time the parish was completely transformed. Struck by this marvelous result, Pope Gregory XI raised the confraternity to the rank of Archconfraternity for the universal Church as early as 1838. Everywhere confraternities were erected and affiliated to it; in 1890, there were already more than 19,000, with more than 30,000,000 members. Everywhere they could record miracles of conversion. Nor did Pope Pius IX hesitate to call the Archconfraternity "a heavenly inspiration, a work of God, a source of blessings for the Church," and he enriched it with precious indulgences. 3. In 1917 the Blessed Virgin appeared several times, at Fatima (Portugal), to three children, each time on the 13th day of the month. She asked that people should pray more for the conversion of sinners, and that sacrifices should be made to atone for their transgressions. In the last apparition, she declared: "I am Our Lady of the Rosary. I have come to persuade them to change their ways of living, to no longer offend Our Lord by their sins, to recite the rosary. I desire that a chapel should be built here. If men change their ways, the war will soon come to an end." There then occurred an impressive solar phenomenon, which the Blessed Virgin had foretold in confirmation of the divine origin of the apparitions. On October 13th, 1930, the Bishop of Leiria, in whose diocese Fatima is situated, proclaimed that the visions of the children were fully trustworthy, and that the cult of Our Lady of Fatima was officially approved. Later on, one of the seers related that the Blessed Virgin had recommended the devotion to her Immaculate Heart as a means of converting sinners; that she foretold that if men did not return to God, there would be another war, even more terrible; and that she desired the Consecration of Russia... to her Immaculate Heart. Fatima is at the present moment one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in the world. From the outset many wonderful cures were recorded there; and ever since there has been a remarkable increase of gifts and graces obtained at the shrine. Yet what may be considered the greatest miracle of Fatima is the moral and religious revival of Portugal. 4. On October 13th, 1942, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, Pope Pius XII addressed a broadcast to the Portuguese nation, and, in a moving prayer for peace, for the Church and the whole world, he consecrated the Church and the Universe to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He ended his address with these words: Even as the Church and the whole human race were consecrated to the Heart of Jesus, that they might place in Him all their hopes and that this Heart might be for them a token and assurance of salvation, so may they also for ever be consecrated to Thee, to Thy Immaculate Heart, O Mary, our Mother and Queen of the world, that Thy love and Thy protection may hasten the triumph of the Kingdom of God on earth, and that all nations, reconciled to each other and to God, may proclaim Thee blessed and, from one end of the earth to the other, may sing together with Thee the eternal Magnificat of glory, of love and gratitude towards the Heart of Jesus, in Whom alone they can find Truth, Life and Peace. (3) (to be continued)    RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Silence, Solitude I See The Lord In My Soul Speak little with people, but a good deal with God (Diary, 226). My happiest moments are when I am alone with my Lord. During these moments I experience the greatness of God and my own misery(Diary, 289). Often during Mass, I see the Lord in my soul; I feel His presence which pervades my being. I sense His divine gaze; I have long talks with Him without saying a word; I know what His divine Heart desires, and I always do what will please Him the most. I love Him to distraction, and I feel that I am being loved by God (Diary, 411).   RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

Thank You! Even though I clutch my blanket and growl when the alarm rings, thank you, Lord, that I can hear. There are many who are deaf. Even though I keep my eyes closed against the morning light as long as possible, thank you, Lord, that I can see. Many are blind. Even though I huddle in my bed and put off rising, thank you Lord, that I have the strength to rise. There are many who are bedridden. Even though the first hour of my day is hectic, when socks are lost, toast is burned and tempers are short, my children are so loud thank you, Lord, for my family. There are many who are lonely. Even though our breakfast table never looks like the pictures in magazines and the menu is at times balanced, thank you, Lord, for the food we have. There are many who are hungry. Even though the routine of my job is often monotonous, thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to work. There are many who have no job. Even though I grumble and bemoan my fate from day to day and wish my circumstances were not so modest, thank you, Lord, for life. If we can pass this on to most people we know, it might help a bit to make this world a better place to live in, right? Pass it on.....       RETURN TO TOP

Monthly Index              General Archive 2008 General Archive 2007 General Archive 2006 General Archive 2005 General Archive 2004

Hits since 3/16/2004 Màn điện toán toàn cầu của Thiếu Nhi Fatima được bắt đầu với trang Main từ ngày 9/12/1999, nhưng mãi tới Mùa Hè 2001 mới tạm xong, cuối cùng đã được chỉnh trang về cả hình thức lẫn nội dung từ mùa hè năm 2002, để rồi chính thức tái ra mắt vào ngày 25/3/2003 cho đến nay.   TNFatima.org do Thiếu Nhi Fatima chủ trương và thực hiện Mọi ý kiến đóng góp xin gửi về Webmaster