* August 9 – Our Lady of the Parish (Italy, 1829)  * If you don’t go to Our Lady as Mother…  --- An initiative of the Association Mary of Nazareth  August 9 – Our Lady of the Parish (Italy, 1829)  If you don’t go to Our Lady as Mother…  A beautiful relationship with Our Lady, the relationship with Our Lady helps us to have a good relationship with the Church: both are Mothers … You know the beautiful passage of Saint Isaac, abbot of Stella: what can be said of Mary can be said of the Church and also of our soul. All three are feminine, all three are Mothers, all three give life. The relationship with Our Lady is the relationship of a son … Watch over this: if there is no good relationship with Our Lady, there is something of an orphan in my heart. I remember once, 30 years ago, I was in Northern Europe… And a family of practicing Catholics invited me… (they were) enthusiasts of Jesus Christ… (and) they said: “Yes, thank God we have surpassed the stage of Our Lady…” And how is this?, I said. “Yes, because we have discovered Jesus Christ, and we no longer have need of her.” I was somewhat pained; I didn’t understand well… And this isn’t maturity! It’s not maturity. To forget the Mother is something awful… And, to say it another way: if you don’t go to Our Lady as Mother, you certainly will have her as a mother-in-law! And this isn’t good.  Pope Francis On May 12, 2014, during an open-hearted dialogue with priests and seminarians of the Roman Pontifical Colleges www.zenit.org Let’s pray together  Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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 death. Amen.   .  Share A Moment with Mary and give your loved ones the opportunity to discover a new aspect of the mystery of the Mother of God each day.

Spiritual Gems-It Is Always About Love and Souls-August 8, 2015

It Is Always About Love and Souls

"My life was spent entirely for others. I loved and I saved.  You child, love and save...Win souls. Work for souls. Prayers, yes, but also sacrifices.  Few of you think of this.  Many laugh at it. And yet it is the money that buys and redeems. But do everything in a gladsome way.  Be joyously in love....How fleeting and small the earthly sacrifices are! Do you know that the saints in Heaven would envy you; their time of sacrifice is over."

Our Lord to Gabrielle Bossis from "He and I"


A Free Flame of Love book can be ordered in the US at www.flameoflove.us.
 

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God Bless you and your work,
 

		Tony
		Anthony Mullen
		MyConsecration.org
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Please pray for Asia Bibi: "I cannot wait to see the light of the sun again"

Asia Bibi

The woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, while her trial is before the Supreme Court, sends a message from prison and calls for continued prayer

“I cannot wait to feel the sun and the cold again, to see the open sky, the stars and the moon. Please continue to pray for my release from this darkness, so I can be with you in the sunlight.” Dreamy, mournful but full of hope, this is the latest message from Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death and jailed for six years on false charges of blasphemy towards the Prophet Muhammad.

Read more here: http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/pakistan-pakistan-paquistan-42725/

"We are hated because we persist in wanting to exist as Christians"

FIDES NEWS 08-08-2015

All the published material is licensed under Creative Commons and can be used at your disposal. We only ask that Fides Service be clearly cited as the source. News Fides Service ASIA/IRAQ - "We are hated because we persist in wanting to exist as Christians", testimony of Mgr. Warda    Erbil (Agenzia Fides) - Fides has received from the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer the testimony of His Exc. Mgr. Bashar Matti Warda, C.SS.R., Archbishop of Erbil (Iraq) on the terrible situation that the Church lives in this part of world. Here is the full text sent to Fides: For the Chaldean Church, and our sister churches of the East, the persecution our community is enduring is doubly painful and severe. We are personally affected by the need, and by the reality that our vibrant church life is dissolving in front of our eyes. The massive immigration that is now occurring is leaving my church much weaker. This is a deeply sorrowful reality. We who are part of the church hierarchy are very often tempted to encourage our parishioners to stay – keep the presence of Christ alive in this special land. But truly I and my brother bishops and priests can do no more than to advise young mothers and fathers to take all the necessary considerations into account and to pray long and hard before taking such a momentous, and perhaps perilous, decision. The Church is unable to offer and guarantee the fundamental security that its members need to thrive. It is no secret that hatred of minorities has intensified in certain quarters over the past few years. It is difficult to understand this hate. We are hated because we persist in wanting to exist as Christians. In other words, we are hated because we persist in demanding a basic human right. There are then, two things that we, as a church can do: the first is to pray for all refugees around the world and in Iraq. The second is to use the relationships and networks we share in as part of the Church of Christ as a pulpit to raise awareness about the true risk to our survival as a people. I cannot repeat or loudly enough that our well-being, as a historic community, is no longer in our hands. The future will come, in one way or the other, and for us this means waiting to see what sort of aid (military, relief aid) arrives. So far, more than 5000 families have so far left the country since the summer of 2014. Some have been welcomed into Europe, the States, or Australia, but many of those families are now simply waiting for their number to be called. They are in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, and their future is on indefinite hold. Through support from benevolent people we have sought during this crisis to ease the needs of our IDP families and provide them with the basic needs for subsistence wherever we have happened to find them. We have made shelters in church gardens and halls, catechism classrooms, public schools, tents, incomplete building structures, and in rented houses where we have had to accommodate some 20-30 individuals per house. Realizing that the crisis is going to take a long time and as winter was approaching, we took quick steps to lease houses for refugees in different sections of the province of Erbil to accommodate 2000 families and to set up 1700 caravans. Now, all of our Christian IDP’s are in at least a semi-permanent dwelling. This is far from ideal, but certainly an improvement on the original tents and semi-completed buildings which had been the best we could do for many. We have also opened two medical centers to offer free medical services to the refugee community. The Sacred Heart Sisters from India are running St. Joseph’s clinic, assisted by 12 young doctors who are training as volunteers to offer medical services especially to those suffering from chronic disease. The clinic serves some 2000 patients by providing them with medication at a monthly cost of US$ 42,000.00. At present we are rehabilitating a building structure to serve as a maternity and child care hospital. We have also opened a trauma response center to respond to the needs of many who have been scarred deeply by the crisis. Based on our conviction that illiteracy and ignorance are the most dangerous long-term enemy that we face here in the Middle East, and urged by a wish to heal the wounds in the hearts and souls of our faithful, we have been working to help our students pursue their studies. Archbishop Bashar WARDA CSsR

* August 7 – Feast of Our Lady of Los Reyes - Our Lady of the Kings (Seville, Spain)   * Our Lady of the Kings, the cathedral with the 27 Marian chapels --- An initiative of the Association Mary of Nazareth  August 7 – Feast of Our Lady of Los Reyes - Our Lady of the Kings (Seville, Spain)   Our Lady of the Kings, the cathedral with the 27 Marian chapels The Cathedral of Seville (Spain), also called Our Lady of the Kings, is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the third largest church by its dimensions, after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and Saint Paul’s in London. In 1987, this cathedral was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. It contains 25 statues of the Virgin Mary and 27 Marian chapels. Its most important treasure is "The Virgen de los Reyes" (The Virgin of the Kings) that sits in a side chapel, the so-called royal chapel housing the tomb of King Saint Ferdinand of Castile, founder of Andalusia, who died in Seville. This huge cathedral is the principal church of the diocese of Seville and therefore the central place of the liturgy and the sacraments for this city. Every year, from August 6th to 15th, Seville prepares to celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady and the "Virgen de los Reyes" is dressed up for the occasion with magnificent royal garments, and then taken in procession through the entire city, on August 15th. The Mary of Nazareth Team Let’s pray together  Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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 death. Amen.   .  Share A Moment with Mary and give your loved ones the opportunity to discover a new aspect of the mystery of the Mother of God each day.

* August 6 - Transfiguration – Our Lady of Mercy (Italy)  * The Marian foundation of all the "mysteries of light" --- An initiative of the Association Mary of Nazareth  August 6 - Transfiguration – Our Lady of Mercy (Italy)  The Marian foundation of all the "mysteries of light" In these mysteries, apart from the Miracle at Cana, the presence of Mary remains in the background.  The Gospels make only the briefest reference to her occasional presence at one moment or other during the preaching of Jesus (cf. Mk 3:31-5; Jn 2:12), and they give no indication that she was present at the Last Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist. Yet the role she assumed at Cana in some way accompanies Christ throughout his ministry. The revelation made directly by the Father at the Baptism in the Jordan and echoed by John the Baptist is placed upon Mary's lips at Cana, and it becomes the great maternal counsel which Mary addresses to the Church of every age: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). This counsel is a fitting introduction to the words and signs of Christ's public ministry and it forms the Marian foundation of all the “mysteries of light.” Saint John Paul II Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, On the Rosary, Excerpt from Chap II, § 21 Let’s pray together  Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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 death. Amen.   .  Share A Moment with Mary and give your loved ones the opportunity to discover a new aspect of the mystery of the Mother of God each day.

These Stone Walls: The Holy Spirit's Home Run

The Saints Prison Ministry sent a Pennsylvania team of ballplayers behind these stone walls. When the Saints came marching in, it was a day that transcended prison.Saints Prison Ministry
When a man is sent to prison, the first thing to be checked at the prison door – besides freedom, of course – is pride. Prison is a powerful equalizer, and a constant discouragement for anyone with an ego needing to be fed. The examples are legion, but I encountered one just weeks ago. I was in the prison ball field walking the perimeter one morning when the Assistant Director of the Recreation Department stopped me. “We’re hosting a ball team from the Saints Prison Ministry on July 9th,” he said, “and we’re putting together the best players from each of our teams to take them on.”
He had my utmost attention! I could not suppress the grin that was forming on my face as I eagerly awaited his next sentence. Seeming to notice, he hastily added, “So even though you’re not one of them, we’d like to invite you anyway in case you want to write about it.” It could have been worse, I suppose. He could have said, “We’d like to have you there in your official capacity” which, to be honest, is more or less to fetch water for the team these days. This is what my life in confinement is reduced to.
You don’t have to like baseball to read this post. In fact, it might even be an obstacle if you do. Something magical and wonderful took place out on that field on July 9th, and I’m not certain I have the writing skills to convey it with justice, but I’ll try.

 Please, read and share, "At Play in the Field of the Lord."

--

Sent on behalf of 

These Stone Walls

www.TheseStoneWalls.com

An initiative of the Association Mary of Nazareth  August 5 – Our Lady of the Snows – Pope Leo XIII wrote the liturgical text for the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary   "The Rosary floods the soul of those who recite it…"  Photogram of the 1896 film Sua Santitá papa Leone XIII, the first time a Pope appeared on film. Pope Leo XIII wrote many encyclicals on the Rosary:  Encyclical Supremi apostolatus, September 1, 1883  Encyclical Octobri mense, September 22, 1891  Encyclical Laetitiae sanctae, September 8, 1893  Encyclical Magnae dei Matris, September 7, 1892, in which we read: "The Rosary floods the souls of those who devoutly recite it with a sweetness of piety that never grows weary, impresses and stirs them as though they were listening to the very voice of the Blessed Mother explaining the mysteries and conversing with them at length about their salvation." The Mary of Nazareth Team Let’s pray together  Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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 death. Amen.   .  Share A Moment with Mary and give your loved ones the opportunity to discover a new aspect of the mystery of the Mother of God each day.