saints

2009-11-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

The last unicorn: The Beginning

2009-09-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Charlie's Angels

2009-09-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzgl5-WOH-c

HOLY GOD WE PRAISE YOUR NAME

2009-08-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

HERE I AM LORD

2009-08-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

Prayer Of St. Francis---Beautiful Catholic Song

2009-07-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

2009-05-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Our Family Tree-The Cross

2009-05-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

2009-04-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

My Commercial on Slim A Bear Ice Cream Sandwiches

2009-02-18T13:34:00.000-08:00

2008-12-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

see my other website

2008-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

My Picture For My Home Page

Hope you'll like it.

2008-11-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

Saint Chapelle in Paris, France

You may have to load quicktime player CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD- THIS IS VERY QUICK AND EASY AND WORTH DOING!

Please turn on speakers
Please move the mouse around and it will move
the picture which ever way you want it to be.

2008-11-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

Paris view

2008-11-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

see view

2008-11-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

see web

see paris

2008-11-24T13:53:00.001-08:00

see cool website

Paris view

St. Martin de Porres Feastday - November 3rd

2008-11-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

St. Martin de Porres was born at Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish gentleman and his mother a coloured freed-woman from Panama. At fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary at Lima and spent his whole life there-as a barber, farm laborer, almoner, and infirmarian among other things.
Martin had a great desire to go off to some foreign mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as, aerial flights and bilocation.
St. Martin's love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans and to animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cats and dogs hospital at his sister's house. He also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated in his solving his sister's marriage problems, raising a dowry for his niece inside of three day's time, and resolving theological problems for the learned of his Order and for bishops. A close friend of St. Rose of Lima, this saintly man died on November 3, 1639 and was canonized on May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3.

The Medal of Saint Benedict

2008-10-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Medal or Cross of Saint Benedict
Medals, crosses, rosaries, statues, paintings and other religious articles have long been used as a means of fostering and expressing our religious devotion to God and the saints. Icons, or painted images of Christ and the saints, are especially popular among Eastern Christians as an aid to Christian piety and devotion.
The use of any religious article is therefore intended as a means of reminding us of God and of stirring up in us a ready willingness and desire to serve God and our neighbor. With this understanding we reject any use of religious articles as if they were mere charms or had some magic power to bring us good luck or better health. Such is not the Christian attitude.
Origin of the Medal of Saint Benedict
For the early Christians, the cross was a favorite symbol and badge of their faith in Christ. From the writings of St. Gregory the Great (540-604), we know that St. Benedict had a deep faith in the Cross and worked miracles with the sign of the cross. This faith in, and special devotion to, the Cross was passed on to succeeding generations of Benedictines.
Devotion to the Cross of Christ also gave rise to the striking of medals that bore the image of St. Benedict holding a cross aloft in his right hand and his Rule for Monasteries in the other hand. Thus, the Cross has always been closely associated with the Medal of St. Benedict, which is often referred to as the Medal-Cross of St. Benedict.
In the course of time, other additions were made, such as the Latin petition on the margin of the medal, asking that by St. Benedict's presence we may be strengthened in the hour of death, as will be explained later.
We do not know just when the first medal of St. Benedict was struck. At some point in history a series of capital letters was placed around the large figure of the cross on the reverse side of the medal. For a long time the meaning of these letters was unknown, but in 1647 a manuscript dating back to 1415 was found at the Abbey of Metten in Bavaria, giving an explanation of the letters. They are the initial letters of a Latin prayer of exorcism against Satan, as will be explained below.
The Jubilee Medal of Montecassino
The above features were finally incorporated in a newly designed medal struck in 1880 under the supervision of the monks of Montecassino, Italy, to mark the 1400th anniversary of the birth of St. Benedict. The design of this medal was produced at St. Martin's Archabbey, Beuron, Germany, at the request of the prior of Montecassino, Very Rev. Boniface Krug OSB (1838-1909). Prior Boniface was a native of Baltimore and originally a monk of St. Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, until he was chosen to become prior and latter archabbot of Montecassino.
Since that time, the Jubilee Medal of 1880 has proven to be more popular throughout the Christian world than any other medal ever struck to honor St. Benedict.
Description of the Jubilee Medal
Because the Jubilee Medal of 1880 has all the important features ever associated with the Medal of St. Benedict, the following description of this medal can serve to make clear the nature and intent of any medal of St. Benedict, no matter what shape or design it may legitimately have.
The Cross of Eternal Salvation
On the face of the medal is the image of Saint Benedict. In his right hand he holds the cross, the Christian's symbol of salvation. The cross reminds us of the zealous work of evangelizing and civilizing England and Europe carried out mainly by the Benedictine monks and nuns, especially for the sixth to the ninth/tenth centuries.
Rule and Raven
In St. Benedict's left hand is his Rule for Monasteries that could well be summed up in the words of the Prolog exhorting us to "walk in God's ways, with the Gospel as our guide."
On a pedestal to the right of St. Benedict is the poisoned cup, shattered when he made the sign of the cross over it. On a pedestal to the left is a raven about to carry away a loaf of poisoned bread that a jealous enemy had sent to St. Benedict.
C. S. P. B.
Above the cup and the raven are the Latin words: Crux s. patris Benedicti (The Cross of our holy father Benedict). On the margin of the medal, encircling the figure of Benedict, are the Latin words: Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur! (May we be strengthened by his presence in the hour of our death!). Benedictines have always regarded St. Benedict as a special patron of a happy death. He himself died in the chapel at Montecassino while standing with his arms raised up to heaven, supported by the brothers of the monastery, shortly after St. Benedict had received Holy Communion.
Monte Cassino
Below Benedict we read: ex SM Casino MDCCCLXXX (from holy Monte Cassino, 1880). This is the medal struck to commemorate the 1400th anniversary of the birth of Saint Benedict.
Reverse Side of the Medal
Crux mihi lux
On the back of the medal, the cross is dominant. On the arms of the cross are the initial letters of a rhythmic Latin prayer: Crux sacra sit mihi lux! Nunquam draco sit mihi dux! (May the holy cross be my light! May the dragon never be my guide!).
In the angles of the cross, the letters C S P B stand for Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti (The cross of our holy father Benedict).
Peace
Above the cross is the word pax (peace), that has been a Benedictine motto for centuries. Around the margin of the back of the medal, the letters V R S N S M V - S M Q L I V B are the initial letters, as mentioned above, of a Latin prayer of exorcism against Satan: Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas! (Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!)[.JPG versions of the
front and
back of the Medal of Saint Benedict.]
Use of the Medal
There is no special way prescribed for carrying or wearing the Medal of St. Benedict. It can be worn on a chain around the neck, attached to one's rosary, kept in one's pocket or purse, or placed in one's car or home. The medal is often put into the foundations of houses and building, on the walls of barns and sheds, or in one's place of business.
The purpose of using the medal in any of the above ways is to call down God's blessing and protection upon us, wherever we are, and upon our homes and possessions, especially through the intercession of St. Benedict. By the conscious and devout use of the medal, it becomes, as it were, a constant silent prayer and reminder to us of our dignity as followers of Christ.
The medal is a prayer of exorcism against Satan, a prayer for strength in time of temptation, a prayer for peace among ourselves and among the nations of the world, a prayer that the Cross of Christ be our light and guide, a prayer of firm rejection of all that is evil, a prayer of petition that we may with Christian courage "walk in God's ways, with the Gospel as our guide," as St. Benedict urges us.
A profitable spiritual experience can be ours if we but take the time to study the array of inscriptions and representations found on the two sides of the medal. The lessons found there can be pondered over and over to bring true peace of mind and heart into our lives as we struggle to overcome the weaknesses of our human nature and realize that our human condition is not perfect, but that with the help of God and the intercession of the saints our condition can become better.
The Medal of St. Benedict can serve as a constant reminder of the need for us to take up our cross daily and "follow the true King, Christ our Lord," and thus learn "to share in his heavenly kingdom," as St. Benedict urges us in the Prolog of his Rule.
Two Special Uses of the Medal
By a rescript of the Sacred Congregation of Religious (4 May 1965) lay Oblates of St. Benedict are permitted to wear the Medal of St. Benedict instead of the small black cloth scapular formerly worn.
By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites (6 March 1959), the Blessing of St. Maur over the sick is permitted to be given with a Medal of St. Benedict instead of with a relic of the True Cross, since the latter is difficult to obtain.
Approved Blessing of the Medal of St. Benedict
Medals of Saint Benedict are sacramentals that may be blessed legitimately by any priest or deacon -- not necessarily a Benedictine (Instr., 26 Sept. 1964; Can. 1168). The following English form may be used.
V. Our help is in the name of the Lord. R. Who made heaven and earth.
In the name of God the Father + almighty, who made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, I exorcise these medals against the power and attacks of the evil one. May all who use these medals devoutly be blessed with health of soul and body. In the name of the Father + almighty, of the Son + Jesus Christ our Lord, and of the Holy + Spirit the Paraclete, and in the love of the same Lord Jesus Christ who will come on the last day to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire. Amen.
Let us pray. Almighty God, the boundless source of all good things, we humbly ask that, through the intercession of Saint Benedict, you pour out your blessings + upon these medals. May those who use them devoutly and earnestly strive to perform good works be blessed by you with health of soul and body, the grace of a holy life, and remission of the temporal punishment due to sin.
May they also with the help of your merciful love, resist the temptation of the evil one and strive to exercise true charity and justice toward all, so that one day they may appear sinless and holy in your sight. This we ask though Christ our Lord. Amen.
The medals are then sprinkled with holy water.
Permissu superiorum
Nihil obstat and Imprimatur, Saint Cloud, 24 April 1980.
Authentic 1880 Jubilee-design Medals
Authentic, Beuronese-style, Benedictine medals (Monte Cassino, 1880) have been available since 1926 in a wide variety of sizes and materials from Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN 56321.
Liturgical Press uses the same high quality supplier in Italy that is used by Christ the King Priory in Schuyler, Nebraska. Their Benedictine Mission House also sells Benedictine medals at quite reasonable prices.
Johnson1836, Barazante, Italy, offers high quality wholesale lots. La Genesi features Benedictine items crafted in Italy.
Totally Catholic and Catholic Supply are retail distributors that offer online a wide selection of modern spin-offs such as "Benedictine" rosaries and crucifixes that feature the Medal of Saint Benedict as a component.

Saint Benidict

2008-10-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Order of Saint Benedict (Latin name: Ordo Sancti Benedicti) is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community (which may be a monastery, a priory or abbey) maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests. Today the terms "Order of St Benedict" and "Benedictine Order" are also used frequently to refer to the total of the independent Roman Catholic Benedictine abbeys, thereby giving the wrong impression of a "generalate" or "motherhouse" with jurisdiction over dependent communities. The Benedictine Confederation, which was established in 1883 by Pope Leo XIII in his brief Summum semper, is the international governing body of the order.

2008-10-20T14:16:00.000-07:00

2008-10-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Honoring Blessed Teresa of Calcutta 9 /5/ 2008

2008-10-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus. ”Small of stature, rocklike in faith, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was entrusted with the mission of proclaiming God’s thirsting love for humanity, especially for the poorest of the poor. “God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor.” She was a soul filled with the light of Christ, on fire with love for Him and burning with one desire: “to quench His thirst for love and for souls.”
This luminous messenger of God’s love was born on 26 August 1910 in Skopje, a city situated at the crossroads of Balkan history. The youngest of the children born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu, she was baptised Gonxha Agnes, received her First Communion at the age of five and a half and was confirmed in November 1916. From the day of her First Holy Communion, a love for souls was within her. Her father’s sudden death when Gonxha was about eight years old left in the family in financial straits. Drane raised her children firmly and lovingly, greatly influencing her daughter’s character and vocation. Gonxha’s religious formation was further assisted by the vibrant Jesuit parish of the Sacred Heart in which she was much involved.
At the age of eighteen, moved by a desire to become a missionary, Gonxha left her home in September 1928 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. There she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In December, she departed for India, arriving in Calcutta on 6 January 1929. After making her First Profession of Vows in May 1931, Sister Teresa was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta and taught at St. Mary’s School for girls. On 24 May 1937, Sister Teresa made her Final Profession of Vows, becoming, as she said, the “spouse of Jesus” for “all eternity.” From that time on she was called Mother Teresa. She continued teaching at St. Mary’s and in 1944 became the school’s principal. A person of profound prayer and deep love for her religious sisters and her students, Mother Teresa’s twenty years in Loreto were filled with profound happiness. Noted for her charity, unselfishness and courage, her capacity for hard work and a natural talent for organization, she lived out her consecration to Jesus, in the midst of her companions, with fidelity and joy.
On 10 September 1946 during the train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received her “inspiration,” her “call within a call.” On that day, in a way she would never explain, Jesus’ thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart and the desire to satiate His thirst became the driving force of her life. Over the course of the next weeks and months, by means of interior locutions and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of His heart for “victims of love” who would “radiate His love on souls.” “Come be My light,” He begged her. “I cannot go alone.” He revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love. He asked Mother Teresa to establish a religious community, Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor. Nearly two years of testing and discernment passed before Mother Teresa received permission to begin. On August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white, blue-bordered sari and passed through the gates of her beloved Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor.
After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. On 21 December she went for the first time to the slums. She visited families, washed the sores of some children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and TB. She started each day in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and then went out, rosary in her hand, to find and serve Him in “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for.” After some months, she was joined, one by one, by her former students.
On 7 October 1950 the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established in the Archdiocese of Calcutta. By the early 1960s, Mother Teresa began to send her Sisters to other parts of India. The Decree of Praise granted to the Congregation by Pope Paul VI in February 1965 encouraged her to open a house in Venezuela. It was soon followed by foundations in Rome and Tanzania and, eventually, on every continent. Starting in 1980 and continuing through the 1990s, Mother Teresa opened houses in almost all of the communist countries, including the former Soviet Union, Albania and Cuba.
In order to respond better to both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity Brothers in 1963, in 1976 the contemplative branch of the Sisters, in 1979 the Contemplative Brothers, and in 1984 the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. Yet her inspiration was not limited to those with religious vocations. She formed the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with whom she shared her spirit of prayer, simplicity, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble works of love. This spirit later inspired the Lay Missionaries of Charity. In answer to the requests of many priests, in 1981 Mother Teresa also began the Corpus Christi Movement for Priests as a “little way of holiness” for those who desire to share in her charism and spirit.
During the years of rapid growth the world began to turn its eyes towards Mother Teresa and the work she had started. Numerous awards, beginning with the Indian Padmashri Award in 1962 and notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, honoured her work, while an increasingly interested media began to follow her activities. She received both prizes and attention “for the glory of God and in the name of the poor.”
The whole of Mother Teresa’s life and labour bore witness to the joy of loving, the greatness and dignity of every human person, the value of little things done faithfully and with love, and the surpassing worth of friendship with God. But there was another heroic side of this great woman that was revealed only after her death. Hidden from all eyes, hidden even from those closest to her, was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, painful and abiding feeling of being separated from God, even rejected by Him, along with an ever-increasing longing for His love. She called her inner experience, “the darkness.” The “painful night” of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life, led Mother Teresa to an ever more profound union with God. Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus, in His painful and burning longing for love, and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.
During the last years of her life, despite increasingly severe health problems, Mother Teresa continued to govern her Society and respond to the needs of the poor and the Church. By 1997, Mother Teresa’s Sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and were established in 610 foundations in 123 countries of the world. In March 1997 she blessed her newly-elected successor as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity and then made one more trip abroad. After meeting Pope John Paul II for the last time, she returned to Calcutta and spent her final weeks receiving visitors and instructing her Sisters. On 5 September Mother Teresa’s earthly life came to an end. She was given the honour of a state funeral by the Government of India and her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. Her tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage and prayer for people of all faiths, rich and poor alike. Mother Teresa left a testament of unshakable faith, invincible hope and extraordinary charity. Her response to Jesus’ plea, “Come be My light,” made her a Missionary of Charity, a “mother to the poor,” a symbol of compassion to the world, and a living witness to the thirsting love of God.
Less than two years after her death, in view of Mother Teresa’s widespread reputation of holiness and the favours being reported, Pope John Paul II permitted the opening of her Cause of Canonization. On 20 December 2002 he approved the decrees of her heroic virtues and miracles.

St. Teresa of Avila Doctor of the Church Feastday: October 15

2008-10-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

Patron of Headache sufferers

Doctor of the Church" St. Teresa of Avila Doctor of the Church
Less than twenty years before Teresa was born in 1515, Columbus opened up the Western Hemisphere to European colonization. Two years after she was born, Luther started the Protestant Reformation. Out of all of this change came Teresa pointing the way from outer turmoil to inner peace.
Teresa's father was rigidly honest and pious, but he may have carried his strictness to extremes. Teresa's mother loved romance novels but because her husband objected to these fanciful books, she hid the books from him. This put Teresa in the middle -- especially since she liked the romances too. Her father told her never to lie but her mother told her not to tell her father. Later she said she was always afraid that no matter what she did she was going to do everything wrong.
When she was five years old she convinced her older brother that they should, as she says in her Life, "go off to the land of the Moors and beg them, out of love of God, to cut off our heads there." They got as far as the road from the city before an uncle found them and brought them back. Some people have used this story as an early example of sanctity, but this author think it's better used as an early example of her ability to stir up trouble.
After this incident she led a fairly ordinary life, though she was convinced that she was a horrible sinner. As a teenager, she cared only about boys and clothes and flirting and rebelling -- like other teenagers throughout the ages. When she was 16, her father decided she was out of control and sent her to a convent. At first she hated it but eventually she began to enjoy it -- partly because of her growing love for God, and partly because the convent was a lot less strict than her father.
Still, when the time came for her to choose between marriage and religious life, she had a tough time making the decision. She'd watched a difficult marriage ruin her mother. On the other hand being a nun didn't seem like much fun. When she finally chose religious life, she did so because she though that it was the only safe place for someone as prone to sin as she was.
Once installed at the Carmelite convent permanently, she started to learn and practice mental prayer, in which she "tried as hard as I could to keep Jesus Christ present within me....My imagination is so dull that I had no talent for imagining or coming up with great theological thoughts." Teresa prayed this way off and on for eighteen years without feeling that she was getting results. Part of the reason for her trouble was that the convent was not the safe place she assumed it would be.
Many women who had no place else to go wound up at the convent, whether they had vocations or not. They were encouraged to stay away from the convents for long period of time to cut down on expenses. Nuns would arrange their veils attractively and wear jewelry. Prestige depended not on piety but on money. There was a steady stream of visitors in the parlor and parties that included young men. What spiritual life there was involved hysteria, weeping, exaggerated penance, nosebleeds, and self- induced visions.
Teresa suffered the same problem that Francis of Assisi did -- she was too charming. Everyone liked her and she liked to be liked. She found it too easy to slip into a worldly life and ignore God. The convent encouraged her to have visitors to whom she would teach mental prayer because their gifts helped the community economy. But Teresa got more involved in flattery, vanity and gossip than spiritual guidance. These weren't great sins perhaps but they kept her from God.
Then Teresa fell ill with malaria. When she had a seizure, people were so sure she was dead that after she woke up four days later she learned they had dug a grave for her. Afterwards she was paralyzed for three years and was never completely well. Yet instead of helping her spiritually, her sickness became an excuse to stop her prayer completely: she couldn't be alone enough, she wasn't healthy enough, and so forth. Later she would say, "Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love."
For years she hardly prayed at all "under the guise of humility." She thought as a wicked sinner she didn't deserve to get favors from God. But turning away from prayer was like "a baby turning from its mother's breasts, what can be expected but death?"
When she was 41, a priest convinced her to go back to her prayer, but she still found it difficult. "I was more anxious for the hour of prayer to be over than I was to remain there. I don't know what heavy penance I would not have gladly undertaken rather than practice prayer." She was distracted often: "This intellect is so wild that it doesn't seem to be anything else than a frantic madman no one can tie down." Teresa sympathizes with those who have a difficult time in prayer: "All the trials we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles."
Yet her experience gives us wonderful descriptions of mental prayer: "For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything."
As she started to pray again, God gave her spiritual delights: the prayer of quiet where God's presence overwhelmed her senses, raptures where God overcame her with glorious foolishness, prayer of union where she felt the sun of God melt her soul away. Sometimes her whole body was raised form the ground. If she felt God was going to levitate her body, she stretched out on the floor and called the nuns to sit on her and hold her down. Far from being excited about these events, she "begged God very much not to give me any more favors in public."
In her books, she analyzed and dissects mystical experiences the way a scientist would. She never saw these gifts as rewards from God but the way he "chastised" her. The more love she felt the harder it was to offend God. She says, "The memory of the favor God has granted does more to bring such a person back to God than all the infernal punishments imaginable."
Her biggest fault was her friendships. Though she wasn't sinning, she was very attached to her friends until God told her "No longer do I want you to converse with human beings but with angels." In an instant he gave her the freedom that she had been unable to achieve through years of effort. After that God always came first in her life.
Some friends, however, did not like what was happening to her and got together to discuss some "remedy" for her. Concluding that she had been deluded by the devil, they sent a Jesuit to analyze her. The Jesuit reassured her that her experiences were from God but soon everyone knew about her and was making fun of her.
One confessor was so sure that the visions were from the devil that her told her to make an obscene gesture called the fig every time she had a vision of Jesus. She cringed but did as she was ordered, all the time apologizing to Jesus. Fortunately, Jesus didn't seem upset but told her that she was right to obey her confessor. In her autobiography she would say, "I am more afraid of those who are terrified of the devil than I am of the devil himself." The devil was not to be feared but fought by talking more about God.
Teresa felt that the best evidence that her delights came from God was that the experiences gave her peace, inspiration, and encouragement. "If these effects are not present I would greatly doubt that the raptures come from God; on the contrary I would fear lest they be caused by rabies."
Sometimes, however, she couldn't avoid complaining to her closest Friend about the hostility and gossip that surrounded her. When Jesus told her, "Teresa, that's how I treat my friends" Teresa responded, "No wonder you have so few friends." But since Christ has so few friends, she felt they should be good ones. And that's why she decided to reform her Carmelite order.
At the age of 43, she became determined to found a new convent that went back to the basics of a contemplative order: a simple life of poverty devoted to prayer. This doesn't sound like a big deal, right? Wrong.
When plans leaked out about her first convent, St. Joseph's, she was denounced from the pulpit, told by her sisters she should raise money for the convent she was already in, and threatened with the Inquisition. The town started legal proceedings against her. All because she wanted to try a simple life of prayer. In the face of this open war, she went ahead calmly, as if nothing was wrong, trusting in God.
"May God protect me from gloomy saints," Teresa said, and that's how she ran her convent. To her, spiritual life was an attitude of love, not a rule. Although she proclaimed poverty, she believed in work, not in begging. She believed in obedience to God more than penance. If you do something wrong, don't punish yourself -- change. When someone felt depressed, her advice was that she go some place where she could see the sky and take a walk. When someone was shocked that she was going to eat well, she answered, "There's a time for partridge and a time for penance." To her brother's wish to meditate on hell, she answered, "Don't."
Once she had her own convent, she could lead a life of peace, right? Wrong again. Teresa believed that the most powerful and acceptable prayer was that prayer that leads to action. Good effects were better than pious sensations that only make the person praying feel good.
At St. Joseph's, she spent much of her time writing her Life. She wrote this book not for fun but because she was ordered to. Many people questioned her experiences and this book would clear her or condemn her. Because of this, she used a lot of camouflage in the book, following a profound thought with the statement, "But what do I know. I'm just a wretched woman." The Inquisition liked what they read and cleared her.
At 51, she felt it was time to spread her reform movement. She braved burning sun, ice and snow, thieves, and rat-infested inns to found more convents. But those obstacles were easy compared to what she face from her brothers and sisters in religious life. She was called "a restless disobedient gadabout who has gone about teaching as though she were a professor" by the papal nuncio. When her former convent voted her in as prioress, the leader of the Carmelite order excommunicated the nuns. A vicar general stationed an officer of the law outside the door to keep her out. The other religious orders opposed her wherever she went. She often had to enter a town secretly in the middle of the night to avoid causing a riot.
And the help they received was sometimes worse than the hostility. A princess ordered Teresa to found a convent and then showed up at the door with luggage and maids. When Teresa refused to order her nuns to wait on the princess on their knees, the princess denounced Teresa to the Inquisition.
In another town, they arrived at their new house in the middle of the night, only to wake up the next morning to find that one wall of the building was missing.
Why was everyone so upset? Teresa said, "Truly it seems that now there are no more of those considered mad for being true lovers of Christ." No one in religious orders or in the world wanted Teresa reminding them of the way God said they should live.
Teresa looked on these difficulties as good publicity. Soon she had postulants clamoring to get into her reform convents. Many people thought about what she said and wanted to learn about prayer from her. Soon her ideas about prayer swept not only through Spain but all of Europe.
In 1582, she was invited to found a convent by an Archbishop but when she arrived in the middle of the pouring rain, he ordered her to leave. "And the weather so delightful too" was Teresa's comment. Though very ill, she was commanded to attend a noblewoman giving birth. By the time they got there, the baby had already arrived so, as Teresa said, "The saint won't be needed after all." Too ill to leave, she died on October 4 at the age of 67.
She is the founder of the Discalced Carmelites. In 1970 she was declared a Doctor of the Church for her writing and teaching on prayer, one of two women to be honored in this way.
St. Teresa is the patron saint of Headache sufferers. Her symbol is a heart, an arrow, and a book. She was canonized in 1622.

St. Jude Thaddaeus-Feastday:October 28-Patrion of Desperate Cases

2008-10-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

St. Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, and a relative of Our Saviour. St. Jude was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lybia. According to Eusebius, he returned to Jerusalem in the year 62, and assisted at the election of his brother, St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem.He is an author of an epistle (letter) to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. This Apostle is said to have suffered martyrdom in Armenia, which was then subject to Persia. The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity did not take place until the third century of our era.Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. Little else is known of his life. Legend claims that he visited Beirut and Edessa; possibly martyred with St. Simon in Persia.Jude is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them. Therefore, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and his feast day is October 28. Saint Jude is not the same person as Judas Iscariot who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God's mercy.

St. Christpher

2008-10-10T15:48:00.001-07:00

St. Christopher
Before the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across. When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers and is invoked against storms, plagues, etc.. His former feast day is July 25.
Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- for example, the story of the Buddha traveled west to Europe and he was "converted" into a Catholic saint! In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.
Some saints were considered so legendary that their cult was completely repressed (including St. Ursula). Christopher's cult was not suppressed but it is confined to local calendars (those for a diocese, country, or so forth). His name Christopher, means Christ-bearer. He died a martyr during the reign of Decius in the third century.

St. Monica--Feastday:August 27-Patron of Wives Abuse Victims-387

2008-10-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

St. Monica was married by arrangement to a pagan official in North Africa, who was much older than she, and although generous, was also violent tempered. His mother Lived with them and was equally difficult, which proved a constant challenge to St. Monica. She had three children; Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Through her patience and prayers, she was able to convert her husband and his mother to the Catholic faith in 370· He died a year later. Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious Life. St. Augustine was much more difficult, as she had to pray for him for 17 years, begging the prayers of priests who, for a while, tried to avoid her because of her persistence at this seemingly hopeless endeavor. One priest did console her by saying, "it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish." This thought, coupled with a vision that she had received strengthened her. St. Augustine was baptized by St. Ambrose in 387. St. Monica died later that same year, on the way back to Africa from Rome in the Italian town of Ostia.

Daily Prayers

2008-10-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver from us evil.

Amen

The Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amont women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God , Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Amen

Glory Be to the Father

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son , and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end.

Amen

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God , the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ , His only Son, Our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.

Amen

Outline of The Mass

2008-10-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Introductory Rite

The Eucharist consists of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist plus introductory and Concluding Rites

During the Introductory Rites acts of prayer and penitence prepare us to meet Christ as He comes in Word and Sacrament. We gather as a worshiping community to celebrate our unity with and in Him.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

We enter now into the Eucharristic sacafice itself, the Supper of the Lord. We are God's new people, the redeemed brothers and sisters of Christ, gathered around His table.

Preparation of the Gifts

We bring foward our gifts of bread and wine as well as our monetary offerings for the upkeep of the church building and the clergy, and the relief of the poor. These are but a symbol of our inner readiness to give God all of ourselves with our our hopes and disappointments, our work and leisure, and our whole everyday lives.

Eucharistic Prayer

The Eucharistic service of praise and thanksgiving is the center of celebration. We join Christ in His sacrifice celebrating His memorial and acknowledging the wonderful works of God in our lives.

At the consecration of the bread and wine. Chrst's words spoken though the priest accomplish what they signify; His Eucharistic Body and Blood, His Real Presence with all the riches of the Kingdom.

The people now praise Christ in the Memorial Acclamation. We celebrate the fact that Christ has redeemed us, is with us now to apply that Redemption to each of us, and will return in glory to

perfect that Redemption for all.

Communion Rite

The Communion Rite is the conclusion of the Mass. It is the part when God gives a gift to us after we have presented our gift to Him : Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world. We receice the Body and Blood. Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Bread of life, that gives access to eternity.

Concluding Rite

We have heard God's Word and responded to it. We have received Christ's body and Blood and achieved greater union with Him and others. Now we leave to praise and bless the Lord in our daily lives.

Prayer Before Mass

Eternal Father, I offer you the sacrifice wherein Your dear Son Jesus offered Himself upon the Cross, and whch He now renews upon this alter, to adore You and to render to You that honor which is Your due, acknowledging our supreme dependence on You. You are our first beginning and our last end.

I offer it to give You thanks for the many benefits I haved received, to appease Your justice prevoked by so many of people, and to offer You worthy satisfaction for them, and finally to implore Your grace and mercy for myself , for all those who are in trouble anddistress, for all poor sinners, for the whole world and for the souls in purgatory

Prayer After Mass

O God, Your mercies are without number and Your goodness is an infinite treasure. I render thanks to You most gracious Majesty for the gifts. You have bestowed upon us.

At the same time, I also implore Your mercy, that as You grant the prayers of those that ask You. You will forsake them, but will prepare them for the future reward. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

The Mass------------------Our Greatest Prayer

2008-10-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

Essence of the Mass

Thus the Mass is:

(1) The true sacrifice of the New Covenant, in which a holy and living Victim is offere, Jesus Christ, and we in union with Him, as a gift of love and obedience to the Father;

(2) A sacred meal and spiritual banquet of the children of God;

(3) A Paschal meal, which evokes the passage (passover) of Jesus from this world to the Father; it renders Him present and makes Him live again in souls, and anticipates our passage to the Kingdom of God;

(4) A communitarian meal, that is, a gathering together of the Head and His members, of Jesus and His Church, His Mystical Body, in order to carry out a perfect Divine worshop.

Thus, the Mass is the greatest prayer we have. Through it we give thanks and praise to the Father for the wonderful future He has given us in His Son. We also ask forgiveness for our sins and geg the Father's blessing upon us and all human beings.

St. Anthony - Patron of the Poor

2008-10-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

St. Anthony

O holy St. Anthony, gentess of saints, your love for God and charity for His creatures nade you wothy even on earth. Miracles waited on your word, which you were ever ready to speak to those in trouble or anxiety. Encourged by this thought. I implore you to obtain for me. The answer to my prayer may require a miracles. O gentle and loving St. Anthony whose heart is full human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet infant Jesus. Who loved to be into your arms, and the gratitude of the heart will be ever.

St. Patrick

2008-10-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Story of St. Patrick

St. Patrick was born in Wales in 387. His father's name was Calpornius and his mother's name was Conchessa. He lived in a villa in the country. He was captured by a man named Niall of the Nine Hostages or as most people know him as Niall Naoi nGiallach. They took him to Ireland and sold him to a farmer who lived in Antrim.
The farmer's name was Milchu. Patrick minded sheep on a hill and sometimes he tended pigs. They say he wasn't looked after very well. Sometimes he ate the pig's swill to keep him alive. He prayed every night. Then one night he heard a voice. It was God. He was telling him he had to escape. He thought he was dreaming but God told him he wasn't. The voice said that there was a ship waiting for him in Port Laraige (Waterford). He had to walk there and that wasn't easy. He had to kill animals for food to stay alive. He survived and got there.
There was a ship waiting for him but it had a cargo of wolfhounds for France. Patrick asked the captain, "Is this boat heading for France?" The captain asked him, "Why are you in such a hurry". Then the captain said, "You're a slave and you want to escape". Patrick said, "Well actually, I am". Quickly the captain replied, "I'm not taking a slave in my boat". Patrick got off. The ship left the pier and suddenly the hounds went berzerk and they had to return quickly. They tried again and each time the hounds went mad. Patrick said, "If you let me on that boat I will make sure that the hounds will settle. The captain answered, "OK but if you're lying well throw you overboard". And surely the hounds calmed down as soon as Patrick boarded the ship. They stayed calm until they got to France. It took a longtime to get there around about six days. He was about 17 at this stage.
He got through it and eventually got back to Wales. He wasn't there long when again he heard the voice telling him to go back to Ireland to tell the Irish pagans all about Jesus. He realised then that he wanted to become a priest. It wasn't easy. He went back and started his training. He went to St.Martins Monastery in Tours, France to train. Then he went back to England. He met Pope Celestine. The Pope was very happy with him. Then Patrick told him the whole story including the voices. The Pope told him that it was definitely God. Patrick wasn't the first person to be sent to Ireland. But that person failed. His name was Pallaclius. He went to Ireland in 431.
Shortly afterwards Patrick returned to Ireland. He had some priests with him. It was Easter now. They got off the boat and headed inland. He camped at Slane. They decided they would light a fire. That night was a very special night for the Pagans. It was the beginning of growth and they were celebrating the coming of Spring. Unknown to him he had broken the law. Normally, the king, whose name was Laoghaire, would light the fire first and everybody would see it and then light theirs. Someone looked out and saw Patrick's fire and said, "Look that must be the king's fire". So they lit their fire and then everybody started lighting their fires. The king looked out and saw everybody's fire lit. He was furious. He shouted, "I didn't light my fire yet". So they went to the place where they thought the fire had started. They arrested all the foreigners including Patrick. They tried and tried and couldn't put the fire out, but only Patrick could do it because he had God on his side.
The chieftain Laoghaire didn't want to learn about God but he let Patrick speak. They were surprised how Patrick knew their language so well. Then Patrick picked up the shamrock and asked, "How many leaves are there?" They all said three. Then Patrick asked how many seeds were needed to make it. Someone said one. This is how he explained the Blessed Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The chieftain let him preach to anybody who would listen to him. A pagan priest said, "I will follow him".
He travelled up the east coast to Strangford Lough. He went ashore at Kilough in Co. Down. He went north and built a small church. He moved on to Connacht and then to Munster. He spent sixty years in Ireland. During that time he consecrated 350 Bishops to follow his ways. He died on the 17th of March 493 in Sabhall in County Down. Patrick's name comes from the name Patricius meaning Father. Most people couldn't pronounce his name properly at that time in Ireland so they originally called him Catrige.

St. Dympha - Hope

2008-10-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

Prayer to St. Dymphna - Hope
Good St. Dymphna, you placed all your hope in Christ's promises, and sacrificed even your life in that hope. The Lord, God, rewarded your constancy by making your name known and loved over many centuries by the thousands whom you have aided in time of difficulty. Please assist us now in our present necessity, and intercede before God for our intentions. Obtain for us a firm hope like your own in God's unfailing protection. Amen.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

2008-10-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

Padre Pio recited this novena every day for all those who requested his prayers. Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of JesusI. O my Jesus, you have said:
"Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you." Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of...... (here name your request)Our Father....Hail Mary....Glory Be to the Father....Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. II. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you." Behold, in your name, I ask the Father for the grace of.......(here name your request) Our Father...Hail Mary....Glory Be To the Father....Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. III. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away." Encouraged by your infallible words I now ask for the grace of.....(here name your request) Our Father....Hail Mary....Glory Be to the Father...Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your tender Mother and ours. Say the Hail, Holy Queen and add: St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us. -- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Divine Mercy - First Sunday after Easter Sunday

2008-10-06T13:49:00.001-07:00

The Divine Mercy Message and Devotion

The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us — all of us. And, he wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy.
The Divine Mercy message is one we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC:
A - Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.
B - Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.
C - Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.
This message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God's mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread.
The message and devotional practices proposed in the Diary of Saint Faustina and set forth in this web site and other publications of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception are completely in accordance with the teachings of Church and are firmly rooted in the Gospel message of our Merciful Savior. Properly understood and implemented, they will help us grow as genuine followers of Christ. Spend time to learn more about the mercy of God, learn to trust in Jesus, and live your life as merciful to others, as Christ is merciful to you.

St. Agatha - Feast day: February 5.

2008-10-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

Born in Catania, Agatha was a young, beautiful and wealthy Christian girl. Unfortunately, her beauty caught the eye of Quinctianus (or Quintain), a magistrate that actively and brutally persecuted Christians. When she refused Quinctianus, she was sent to a brothel and was beaten. Failing to the corrupt Agatha, Quinctianus turned in anger to torture. That horrific torture included the amputation of her breasts without the aide of any medication or bandage to dress the wounds. It is said that Saint Peter appeared to Agatha in a vision and dressed her wounds, helping her survive. When all of Quinctianus' attempts to break Agatha's spirit and faith failed, she was stretched out on a rack and thrown onto glowing coal ambers. During this torture of fire, there was a violent earthquake; her torturers took this s a sign and they promptly ran away. Surviving even this torture, Agatha was returned to her cell where she finally died with a prayer on her lips.

St.Clare Feastday: August 11 Patron of sore eyes

2008-10-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

St. Clare was a beautiful Italian noblewoman who became the Foundress of an order of nuns now called "Poor Clares." When she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach, her heart burned with a great desire to imitate Francis and to live a poor humble life for Jesus. So one evening, she ran away from home, and in a little chapel outside Assisi, gave herself to God. St. Francis cut off her hair and gave her a rough brown habit to wear, tied with a plain cord around her waist. Her parents tried in every way to make her return home, but Clare would not. Soon her sister, St. Agnes joined her, as well as other young women who wanted to be brides of Jesus, and live without any money. St. Clare and her sisters wore no shoes, ate no meat, lived in a poor house, and kept silent most of the time. Yet they were very happy, because Our Lord was close to them all the time. Once, He saved them from a great danger in answer to St. Clare's prayer. An army of rough soldiers came to attack Assisi and they planned to raid the convent first. Although very sick, St. Clare had herself carried to the wall and right there, where the enemies could see it, she had the Blessed Sacrament placed. Then on her knees, she begged God to save the Sisters. "O Lord, protect these Sisters whom I cannot protect now," she prayed. A voice seemed to answer: "I will keep them always in My care." At the same time a sudden fright struck the attackers and they fled as fast as they could. St. Clare was sick and suffered great pains for many years, but she said that no pain could trouble her. So great was her joy in serving the Lord that she once exclaimed: "They say that we are too poor, but can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly called poor?" We should remember this miracle of the Blessed Sacrament when in Church. Then we will pray with great Faith to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist: "Save me, O Lord, from every evil - of soul and body." Her feast day is August 11.

St.Rafael, St.Michael, St. Gabrial Feast Day September 29, 2008

2008-09-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

Saint Gabriel

Saint Raphael

Saint Michael

The name Gabriel means "man of God," or "God has shown himself mighty." It appears first in the prophesies of Daniel in the Old Testament. The angel announced to Daniel the prophecy of the seventy weeks. His name also occurs in the apocryphal book of Henoch. He was the angel who appeared to Zachariah to announce the birth of St. John the Baptizer. Finally, he announced to Mary that she would bear a Son Who would be conceived of the Holy Spirit, Son of the Most High, and Saviour of the world. The feast day is September 29th. St. Gabriel is the patron of communications workers.

The name of this archangel (Raphael = "God has healed") does not appear in the Hebrew Scriptures, and in the Septuagint only in the Book of Tobias. Here he first appears disguised in human form as the travelling companion of the younger Tobias, calling himself "Azarias the son of the great Ananias". The story of the adventurous journey during which the protective influence of the angel is shown in many ways including the binding "in the desert of upper Egypt" of the demon who had previously slain seven husbands of Sara, daughter of Raguel, is picturesquely related in Tobit 5-11, to which the reader is referred. After the return and the healing of the blindness of the elder Tobias, Azarias makes himself known as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord" (Tobit 12:15. Cf. Revelation 8:2). Of these seven "archangels" which appear in the angelology of post-Exilic Judaism, only three, Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, are mentioned in the canonical Scriptures. The others, according to the Book of Enoch (cf. xxi) are Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, and Jerahmeel, while from other apocryphal sources we get the variant names Izidkiel, Hanael, and Kepharel instead of the last three in the other list.

Father Pio

2008-09-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Healings

http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/Biogr.htm
A gentleman, who came from Foggia, Italy, was 62 years old in 1919 and he walked using two canes. He had fallen from a carriage breaking his legs. The doctors had been unable to help him. After confessing himself to Padre Pio, the friar told him: "Stand up and go away! You have to throw away these canes. That man carried out the order and started to walk by himself again. All of the witnesses were astonished.

Another extraordinary event happened in 1919 in San Giovanni Rotondo. A gentleman was 14 years old in 1919. When he was four years old he caught typhus. He also developed a side effect. His back became deformed. Once he confessed himself to padre Pio who touched him with his holy hands. Suddenly the boy stood up and the deformity in his back disappeared.

Grazia was a peasant who was twenty-nine years old. She had been blind from birth. She used to go to the little Church of the convent in order to meet padre Pio. Once Father Pio asked her "if she wanted to see", "Of course, I would!" answered the girl, "but I want to see, only if this is not due to me, not to any pity", "Well, you will recover said padre Pio and he sent her to Bari, Italy where there was a very good doctor who was the husband of one of padre Pio's friends. But the doctor, after checking the patient's eyes, told his wife: "There's no hope for this girl! Padre Pio can heal her only by a miracle but I must send her back home without operating on her." His wife insisted and told her husband: "But if padre Pio has sent her to you...you could at least try to operate on her, at least on one of her eyes." The doctor agreed and operated on both of her eyes. Grazia's eyes were healed! She could see now. When she was back in San Giovanni Rotondo, she ran to the convent and she knelt down at padre Pio's feet. The friar ordered her to stand up. She told him "Bless me, Father...bless me! So he marked the sign of the Cross on her but she was still waiting to be blessed. In fact, when she was a blind woman, padre Pio used to bless her by making the sign of the Cross on her head with his hand. So at that point padre Pio said: "How do you want to be blessed? With a bucket of water poured on your head?

A woman said “In 1947 I was thirty-eight years old and I had been suffering cancer of the intestine. The cancer was found by x-ray, and it was decided to operate. Before going to the hospital I wanted to visit San Giovanni Rotondo to meet Padre Pio. My husband, my daughter and one of her friends, took me to him. I desired to confess my sins to Padre Pio and to speak with him concerning my disease, but it was not possible to meet him. My husband told my problem to one of the friars. That friar was much moved and he promised to report all to Padre Pio. In a short time I was asked to go into the corridor of the convent where Padre Pio would pass. Padre Pio walked through the crowd, but he was interested only in me. He asked me the reason for which I was so distraught and told me I was thinking correctly concerning the surgeon. After that he encouraged me and he said he’d pray to God for me. I was amazed. In fact, he did not know the surgeon who was going to perform the operation, and nobody told him that I was the right person to speak to in the crowd. Yet, he appeared to know both the surgeon and me. I faced my operation hopeful and with peace. The surgeon was the first one who spoke of a miracle. He performed an appendectomy despite previous x-rays that showed cancer. The surgeon did not believe in God, but since then he put a crucifix in each room of the hospital. There was no evidence of cancer anymore. After this miracle and a short time of rest I returned to San Giovanni Rotondo in order to meet with Padre Pio. The saintly friar was going to the sacristy when he suddenly stopped and smiled at me - he said: “What do you know? You have come back here!”...and he gave me his hand to kiss, which I affectionately held in my hands.

A gentleman said: “My left knee was swollen for days and I had great pain in that part of my leg. The doctor told me the situation was very serious and he prescribed a lengthy series of injections. Before starting the treatment I wanted to go to Padre Pio. After my confession I spoke to him about my knee and I asked him to pray for me. When I was leaving San Giovanni Rotondo that afternoon, the pain disappeared. I observed my knee and noted it was not swollen anymore! Both my legs were now normal. So I immediately ran to Padre Pio in order to thank him. He said: “You do not have to thank me, but you have to thank God! Afterwards, he added smiling: “Tell your doctor he can get the injections himself”.

A woman said: “I had a normal pregnancy in 1952, but during the birth some problems occurred. My son was born with complications and I needed a blood transfusion. But, because of the emergency they did not properly assess which type of blood I needed. I am “O” type but they gave me “A” type. The following consequences were very serious: high fever, convulsions and a pulmonary constriction along with other health problems. A priest was even called in order to give me holy viaticum, and he had to give it to me with a little water because I was in a very bad condition. When my relatives took the priest to the gate, I was alone. At that point Padre Pio appeared to me by showing me his stigmatized hands. He said: “I am Padre Pio, you will not die! Pray with me an “Our Father” and in the future you will come to San Giovanni Rotondo to meet with me.” The result of this apparition was the following: I was going to die some minutes before and I stood up and sat down some minutes later. When my relatives came back to my room they found me praying. I invited them to pray together with me and I told them about the vision. We prayed and my health got better. All the doctors realized a miracle had occurred. I went to San Giovanni Rotondo after several months in order to thank Padre Pio. I met with him and he gave me his hand to kiss. When I was thanking him I smelt the famous Padre Pio perfume. He told me: “You received a miracle but you do not have to thank me. The Sacred Heart of Jesus sent me to rescue you because you are devoted to His Heart and you practised the Nine First Friday’s of the month.”

A lady told: “In 1953 I had a medical check and x-rays because of pains to the abdomen. The situation was very serious: I needed an urgent operation. A friend of mine, to whom I confided my problem, suggested to me: “write a letter to padre Pio in order to ask for his prayers and help”. I had an answer in which padre Pio suggested me to go to hospital: he would pray for me there. So I went to hospital and I had a medical check-up and x-rays again prior to facing the operation. But the same doctors who told me I was seriously sick were astonished and realized I did not have the serious illness anymore. After forty years I am still thanking Padre Pio for his help. In fact he does not deny his powerful help to whoever asks for help.
A lady said: “In 1954, my father, who was a railway-man, fell ill with a strange disease which immobilized his legs. He was forty-seven years old at the time. He was treated by a lot of doctors without any success and after approximately two years of treatment my father was going to have to retire from his work. Since the situation got worse, my uncle suggested my father to go to San Giovanni Rotondo where a friar had been living to whom God had given a lot of gifts. So my father went to San Giovanni Rotondo with my uncle’s help, facing a lot of problems. In the Church he met Padre Pio who said: “Let that railway-man pass!” Yet, Padre Pio had never met my father before then so he could not know my father was a railway-man. Anyway, Padre Pio and my father met and spoke to each other for some minutes. Later, Padre Pio put his hand on my father’s shoulder, he consoled my father and he encouraged him with a smile. As soon as my father left Padre Pio, he realized he had been healed. While my father took in his hand the tools he needed to walk he was not using them anymore, my uncle followed him astonished.
A gentleman, who came from the south of Italy in Puglia, was a famous atheist in this region. He was well known for the fervor with which he fought the Catholic Religion. His wife was a Catholic woman but her husband had strictly forbidden her to go to church and speak about God to their children. In 1950 that man fell ill. The doctors made a serious diagnosis: he had two cancers, the first one in the brain, the second one behind the right ear. There was no hope for him! Here is his report: “I was taken to the hospital in Bari. I was very frightened by the pain and the thought of death. The fear drove me to pray to God. I had not prayed since I was a child. They moved me from Bari to Milan in order to try to operate on me and save my life. The doctor, who visited me, told me the operation was very difficult and there were a lot of doubts about its outcome. At night, when I was in Milan, I dreamt of Padre Pio. He came to touch my head and he told me: “Don’t worry you will recover in the future”. The morning after, I felt better! The doctors were astonished because of my improvement, however they thought it was necessary to operate on me. On my part, I was very terrified of the operation so I escaped from the hospital just some minutes before going into the operation room and I hid myself in my relative’s house in Milan, where my wife was as well. Some days later I had pain again and I went back to hospital. The doctors did not want to take care of me anymore but they did. They made other checks before going ahead with the operation. At the end of the medical checks all the doctors were astonished to realize, that I had no cancers. I was astonished too because I had smelt the scent of violets during the medical checks and I knew it was a signal of Padre Pio’s presence. I asked for the doctor’s bill before leaving the hospital but the doctor told me: “I haven’t done anything in order to heal you so you do not have to pay me”. When I went back home I wanted to go to San Giovanni Rotondo to thank Padre Pio. I was sure he had healed me. But when I arrived at the church convent, I started to have pain again. It was so painful I fainted! Two men carried me up to the Padre Pio’s confessional. As soon as I saw him I said: “I have five children and I am very sick, save me father, save my life.” - He answered: “I am not God, nor Jesus Christ, I am just a priest like any other priest, not more, maybe less. I can not do miracles! I implored crying “Please, Father, save me.” Padre Pio turned his eyes to the sky and I saw his lips praying. At that same moment I smelt the scent of violets I had smelt in hospital. Father Pio told me: “Go home and pray! I will pray for you! You will recover! - I went home and the pain disappeared.

A gentleman said in 1950, my mother-in-law was taken to a hospital for an operation. She had cancer in the left breast. In fact, it was necessary to operate on the right side some months later, but due to the dissemination of the cancer cells in her body, the doctors said she could not live more than four months. In Milan somebody told us about Padre Pio and his miracles to us. I immediately went to San Giovanni Rotondo and I awaited my turn for confession. I asked Padre Pio to help my wife’s mother and heal her. Padre Pio sighed long twice and said: “We have to pray, everybody has to pray. She will recover! It happened! In fact my mother-in-law recovered after her operation and she went by herself to San Giovanni Rotondo to thank Padre Pio who smiling told her: “Go in peace, my daughter! Go in peace!” - Instead of four months my mother-in-law lived for nineteen years! We all have thanked father Pio for years.

Another Padre Pio miracle was considered a permanent miracle. This miracle concerns a Tuscany railway-man who died in 1983 when he was seventy years old. He said: “I am a living challenge to science! In 1945 I lived in the Siena province. I was married and had a son. He was a caretaker in a railway electrical plant system. On 21st of May, in the morning, when he was going to work by motorbike, he crashed into a truck. He was taken to the hospital and the doctor diagnosed a fractured skull, the breach of the left eardrum, some ribs broken and five fractures of the left leg. Only several days after the incident could the doctors establish if his life was still in danger. He had had good improvement but not in his leg. The doctors could not heal it. He was taken from one hospital to another in order to find the right solution for his leg. He said: “I was taken to the Orthopaedic Hospital of Siena where I had been under care for one year. Then I went to the Rizzoli Hospital in Bologna. I can say that after some operations my femur had recovered but because of several problems my legs became completely rigid. The doctors told me I had a fibrous anchylosis on my left knee and they were not able to heal me. Moreover the wounds caused by the operations were not healing. Several trials had been done in order to bind up my leg without success. At that point the doctors of the Orthopaedic Hospital of Siena decided to go ahead with another trial; in fact they wanted to practice a forced bending of my leg by using the Zuppinger machine in total anesthesia. Unfortunately the last attempt to recover my leg was done without success. In fact, when the doctor insisted with that effort, my femur broke again and and I was forced to have my leg put in plaster for a further two months. In 1948, at the beginning of the year, I was discharge from the Orthopaedic Hospital of Siena and I was declared incurable. I had to remain with my rigid leg for all my life. I was thirty-five years old and I did not want to give up. So I decided to try with other doctors but I had so few hopes to recover, that I did not want to face a new operation. I was so demoralized and sad that I looked like a wounded beast. I could not stand anybody. In desperation I didn’t want to live anymore! I vented all my anger against my wife who supported me. I used the canes to move myself but I hardly succeeded in dragging myself only for few meters. My legs were both rigid and full of bleeding with painful wounds. I often tried to do something by myself but I usually fell down. So I cried, cursing everyone and God. My wife believed in God, but I did not believe in God. She went to Church and I told her off. I swore out of spite and she cried! A religious once came to our parish to hold a lecture. Somebody told him of my condition and he wanted to speak to my wife in order to give her support. Furthermore he told her: “Why don’t you take your husband to San Giovanni Rotondo, to Padre Pio, a friar that does miracles? My wife told me those words hopefully but I burst out laughing and I profanely spoke against Padre Pio. But my wife did not want to lose that chance so she decided to write a lot of letters to Padre Pio but she did not get any answer. Then she started again to speak to me about the friar asking me to satisfy her request. My condition was getting worse and I realized my life was ending. So I hopelessly surrendered myself to my wife and told her: “OK, let’s try this too! I had a very bad trip! When I was on the train I was laid on a stretcher but when I had to get up and go into the carriage I felt an atrocious pain in my leg. The first step was to Rome, the second step was Foggia. In order to arrive in San Giovanni Rotondo there was only a bus from in Foggia, which usually started in the early morning, so we decided to spend the night in a Hotel. While I was dragging myself with my canes, I fell down in a puddle. The railway station workers had heard I was a railway-man like themselves and asked me to spend the night in an office of the railway-station. So I spent the night there. In the early morning my wife, my son and I took the bus to go to San Giovanni Rotondo. The bus stopped two kilometers from the little church and Friary. At that time the roads were not asphalted. I don’t know how I managed to arrive at the church. As soon as I went into the little church I sat down on a chair exhausted. I had never seen a Padre Pio photo; therefore, I could not recognize him. In the church there were a lot of friars. Now close to me there was a friar who was hearing a woman’s confession. The curtain, which hides the priest in the confessional, was opened. The friar was inside the confessional was looking on the floor and his hands were hidden in the sleeves of the garb. When he raised his head to bless the woman in front of him I noticed he wore some particular half gloves. In that moment Padre Pio watched me for a couple of seconds. Under that look my body started to shake like a violent electric shock had hit it. Father Pio went out from the confessional some minutes later and went away. In the afternoon, at four p.m. we went again into the church. My son took me into the church while Padre Pio was still hearing confessions. There were some people before me and fifteen minutes later my turn came. Using my canes I approached Padre Pio. I tried to say something, but he did not give me time to speak. He started to speak and told me exactly my life, my character and my behavior. I was completely taken by his words and I forgot my leg and my problems. When he raised his hand to bless me I felt the same shake I had felt before in the morning. Without paying attention to my knee I knelt down and signed myself with the cross. Then, I stood up, took my sticks in my hands and I went away walking without any problem. My wife, who was in the Church, watched me with the sticks in my hands as I was going without any help but she did not see I was walking by myself. She just told me: “What a beautiful face you have!” We stopped and prayed for a while and we went toward the gate. Only at that point my wife realized what had happened. She said, “Giuseppe, are you walking? I stopped and noticed I had the sticks in my hands. “It is true, I am walking and I do not have any pain”. “Daddy” my son said, “you even knelt when you were in front of Padre Pio”. I could now make all movements without any problems or pains. I examined my legs and I noticed all my bleeding and painful wounds had been healed. Now I could see just the dry scars. “I am really healed,” I told my wife and I burst out crying. My trip on the way home was a show. In fact whenever I had a stage, I spoke about my healing. I went again to the Orthopaedic Hospital of Siena for a medical visit. The doctors were appalled. In fact they could not believe I had been walking. Moreover; after the x-rays were done again on my leg, they also realized that my leg had not changed. The fibrous anchylosis of the knee was still there and for that reason I could not have walked. My case was also shown during a medical conference in Rome. I was visited by a lot of scientists who came from foreign countries. Everyone went away amazed.
Sister Pagani said: "I had planned a trip to see Padre Pio again but before I left I wanted to go to greet Brother Gianfranco. He was the priest of my town and he was in Hospital for a cancer to the lung. The patient asked to me to recommend him to the monk: "Tell the Father something about my illness."
When I arrived at St. Giovanni Rotondo, together with some other person, somebody let me stand in the corridor of the convent. Padre Pio would have crossed the corridor. I was absorbed in my thoughts when Padre Pio arrived. He shook the hand to me in order to kiss them and I spoke a little. The Father said: "Do you have other things to tell me? ".
I was surprised at the question, but I said: "Father! Our priest has a cancer and he is waiting for some word from you."
Padre Pio said: "..if God wants to him to die, what can we do?
"Father he wants to heal."
The Saint stayed few minutes in silence and then he said: "OK, it is not a problem...
When I went back home I knew that Brother Gianfranco had left the hospital. I went to him and I explained to him what padre Pio said.

"Our Lady of Guadalupe"

2008-09-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Senora de Guadalue), also called the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe) is a 16 century Roman Catholic icon depicting an apparition of the Virgin Mary. It is Mexico's most beloved religious and clttural image.Our Lady of Guadalupe is known in Mexico as "La Virgen MORENA", which means "The brown-skinned Virgin".

Our Lady of San Juan

2008-09-15T12:49:00.001-07:00

Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos is located in the state of Jalisco, in central Mexico, 76 miles northeast of the city of Guadalajara. The small town of San Juan de los Lagos is the second most visited pilgrimage shrine in Mexico. The sanctuary's history begins in 1542 when Father Miguel de Bologna, a Spanish priest, brought a statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Concepion to the village. The town was then called San

Juan Mezquititlan Baptist but its name was changed to

San Juan de Los Lagos in 1623. In that year the daughter of some local Indian peasants fell ill, her parents prayed for her health, and the young girl recovered. Following this miracle, the statue began to be venerated by an increasing number of pilgrims including Indians, Spanish and mestizo. During this

period the statue acquired its own local identity as Our Lady de San Juan de los Lagos.

Between the early 17th century and the middle of the 19th century a pilgrimage fair was

held each year on November 30 to celebrate the original installation of the statue in the shrine.

St. Michael the Archangel

2008-09-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

He is one of the principal angels. His name was a war-cry of the
good angels in the war against the evil one and his followers St. Michael is spoken of in the book of Revelations 12:7-8, and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hulrd down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

It is St. Michael's prayer, at the left, that is given to us as a strong prayer against the evil one.

God Himself has asked us to pray this prayer daily in True Life in God. It is the same source that gives us the words of St. Michael as spoken to Vassula Ryden...

"Daughter of the Most High, allow Me to tell God's children that they should pursue Peace: "Who among you delights in Life? Then come closer to the Holy One and never give Him up....stand firm forever....how blessed are those whose God is Yahweh! They are the heirs of His Kingdom! I tell you, friends of the Christ,today Christ is wearing sackcoth to manifest His grif....for the sake of His Love, fast this Friday on bread and water to relieve His Heart; offer Christ this sacrifice; I have indeed called lyou here to honor the Most High and I, the Archangel, Saint Michael, am mightily touched by your visit; My hands are in full battle and My arm is constantly raised to keep evil away....pray to Me as you do and encourage others too, to do the same; The Enemy of God weakens with this prayer; 1 praise God and no one else; Lift your heads to God and to no one else; Lov eGod with all your heart and soul; So not fall into temptations; Ponder on all the good things you receive from the Most High and Bless Him; and now come and visit, Me again; I Love You;"

Saint Michael, God's Archangel

Prayer

St.MichaelThe Archangel, defend us in the day of battle, be our safeguard against the wickedness and smares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do Thou, The Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits who prowl the earth seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Movie

2008-09-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

ST. Theresa The Little Flower

2008-09-08T12:41:00.001-07:00

History:
Born at Alençon, France on January 2, 1873Died at Lisieux, France on September 30, 1897Canonized by Pope Pius XI 1925
Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, one of the most instantly popular saints of the twentieth century, was canonized less than thirty years after her death at the age of twenty-four.
A principle reason for her great appeal to ordinary Catholics was her "Little Way" to holiness -- her example of achieving sanctity, not through undertaking great deeds, but through personal devotion and dedication. The young nun's autobiography, L'histoire d'une âme (Story of a Soul), written at the command of her prioress, was much admired for its deep spiritual wisdom and beauty. The book presented people with a compelling example of spiritual maturity and piety achieved by an ordinary young girl. An anecdote, that she had promised to send roses as a sign of her intercession led to the affectionate nickname, the "Little Flower". Her shrine at Lisieux, France, is still one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe.
Thérèse was born in Alençon on January 2, 1873 to Louis Martin and Azélie-Marie Guérin. When Thérèse was only four, her mother died, and so her father moved the family to Lisieux, where the five children were watched by their aunt. An older sister, Mary, ran the household and the eldest, Pauline, made herself responsible for the religious upbringing of her sisters.
Pauline later entered the Carmel, an order of contemplative nuns, at Lisieux and Thérèse began to be drawn in the same direction. When Thérèse was fourteen another sister joined Pauline in the Carmel. During the following year Thérèse told her father of her wish to become a Carmelite, and he agreed; but both the Carmelite authorities and the bishop of Bayeux refused to hear of it because of her young age. A few months later she was in Rome with her father and a French pilgrimage. At the public audience, when her turn came to kneel for the Pope Leo XIII's blessing, Thérèse broke the rule of silence on such occasions and asked him, "in honor of your jubilee, allow me to enter Carmel at fifteen". Pope Leo was clearly impressed by the young girl, but he upheld the decision of the immediate superiors. At the end of the year the bishop gave his permission, and in 1888 Thérèse entered the Carmel at Lisieux, taking the name of Theresa of the Child Jesus.
One of the principal duties of a Carmelite nun is to pray for priests, a duty that Sister Theresa performed with fervor. Although she was physically frail she carried out all the practices of the austere Carmelite rule. Yet, photographs taken by her sister within the cloister show Sister Theresa in high spirits in the costume of Joan of Arc for a drama the nuns staged, working happily in the kitchen with other nuns, and in the familiar portrait (above).
In 1893 Sister Theresa was appointed to assist the novice mistress. In 1894 her father died, and soon after her sister Céline, who had been looking after him, becoming the fourth Martin sister to enter the Lisieux Carmel. Eighteen months later, Sister Theresa heard, "as it was, a far-off murmur announcing the coming of the Bridegroom": it was a hemorrhage at the mouth from tuberculosis. Although she had hoped to serve as a missionary, her disease advanced, and the last eighteen months of her life was a time of physical suffering and spiritual trials.
In June 1897 she was removed to the infirmary of the convent where she died on September 30. She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1923 -- he canonized her in 1925. In 1927 she was named the heavenly patroness of all foreign missions, and of all works for Russia.

Prayer of St. Francis

2008-09-05T19:54:00.001-07:00

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there hatred let me sow love;
Where there is injury,pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master,grant that I amy not so
much seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to
eternal life.

"Angels"

2008-09-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Let me be an angel to soothe a worried soul,
Let me be an angel to help one reach their goal,
Let me be an angel to set a spirit free,
Let this be the time Lord, your glory I will see.

Thank God for our Guardian Angels they come from
Heaven above sent down to watch and protect us and
fill our hearts with love.

Wrap your wings around me,
Guardian Angel from above.
Protect me from all harm, and tell me of God's Holy Love.

Guardian Angel be at my side, because I love you so.
I know that you'll grant me this wish, no matter where I go

I'll carry Jesus in my heart so we can both adore.
His might and His majesty, nor could we ask for more!

Special people come our way, as angels from above.
They hold such innocence and joy, like children filled with love.

Send me an angel to help me along. Each day may I journey
to a sweet angel song. Yes, send me an angel; I pray evermore.
A blessed dear angel to guard my front door. In the still of the night and
all throughout the day, whether working or sleeping, at leisure or at play.
Your Guardian Angel keeps watch over you, with care and devotion and
love ever true.

The angel said "Do not be afraid; for behold, I procclaim to you some
good news of great joy that will be for all the people."

Let us thank God for his angels, for He left us not alone. They will guide
through lifes journey and then our Heavenly home.

For last night an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I serve:
stood by me.

Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly
entertained angels.

Saints and Angels

2008-09-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

I am a Catholic and I do believe in Saints. I was named after St. Theresa "The Little Flower of Jesus." I do not worshop them; I do venerate them. There are many,many Saints, each Saint has a different purpose that they represent. I'll be writing about a few of them.