Medjugorje Message: Pray For Our Priests

Mirjana Soldo and Miki Musa (translator) speaking to American pilgrims in June'2013.  

If you have been visiting my blog of late, then you probably have read some and hopefully all of the core messages Our Lady has given us with Her "little stones," in Medjugorje. In addition to these core messages, Our Lady also speaks about many other things, one of which is the need for the laity to pray for our priests.

So, what does Our Lady Queen of Peace say about praying for priests? The Medjugorje visionary, Mirjana Soldo (formerly Dragicevic) shares this and other messages, consistently in her talks to pilgrims. You can view Mirjana and listen to her on this specific message as well as the "little stones," and other messages from my blog's sidebar Vimeo video. Again, Mirjana states this very important message in all her talks, so it wouldn't be difficult to find this information from any video search on Google. For your immediate reference, I will quote Mirjana from Medjugorje.com's article, Transform My Messages Into Life" - Mirjana speaks 10-17-07, where Mirjana stated:

But if we can still talk about the privileged ones when we look at Our Lady’s messages, the way I understood, then we would be talking about priests. Because Our Lady never said what they should do, but She always repeats what we should do for them. She says that they don’t need you to judge or criticize them, but they need your prayers and your love. And Our Lady says, “Dear children, God will judge them the way they were as priests. But God will judge you the way you treated your priests.” For if you lose respect for your priests, you will lose it for the Church, and in the end for your God as well...

Unfortunately, many do not follow Our Lady's messages from Medjugorje and therefore, do not understand what the proper approach should be from a lay perspective toward our clergy. Quoting Mirjana further from the above mentioned article, Mirjana elaborated on Our Lady's message for priests: 

And in Her latest messages on the second of the month, She has been constantly emphasizing the importance of the priests. For example, when She is giving us Her blessing during the apparition, She always says, “I am giving you my motherly blessing, but the greatest blessing that you can receive on earth is the blessing you receive from your priests because when they bless, it is my Son Himself blessing.” Then She says, “Do not forget to pray for your shepherds. Their priestly hands are blessed by my Son.” That is why I am always asking from the pilgrims, when you go back to your parishes, show to other people that you were in Our Lady’s school, show that by the way you are treating your priests. If your priest is doing the way in which you think he shouldn’t be doing, do not judge or criticize, because in that way it would just cause bad (fruit) for yourself and for those who are listening to you. You better take the Rosary and pray to Dear God for him, fast for him, because that is the way to help him. Not through judging. Only God is allowed to judge. He does it in a different way than us, because we can see in this world we have a lot of judging and criticizing of the people and very little love and peace. That is what Our Lady desires from us.

The message from Our Lady is crystal clear, with any concerns you have for your priests, take up your daily Rosary and pray for them if you really want to help them because that is the best way to help them. Avoid all criticism and gossiping because this does harm to them and potentially further harms one's faith and the Church as a whole. Unfortunately, there are some who do not know and understand how to live Our Lady's message. I hope this blog post will begin to change that for many. Reading or hearing Our Lady's messages will not suffice. In order to live Our Lady's messages, we need to pray for the grace of acceptance and understanding. Quoting from Medjugorje.org's Core Messages, under the subheading of The Bible, Our Lady states in Her August 25, 1993, message, "...Only by prayer can you understand and accept my messages and practice them in your life..."

The temptation to gossip about priests is probably greater for those who are actively involved in the Church. Whether you are a volunteer or hired to provide some service, involved in a lay ministry or apostolate, design and maintain the parish web site, perform administrative tasks, manage the on line social networks or what ever your involvement may be, such individuals tend to know more about the local parish than the typical Sunday Mass attendee. What ever concerns that may arise from one's involvement with the Church, it should never lead to gossiping. For any concerns that we may have, we should follow Our Lady's message and pray the Rosary for our priests! To talk about the clergy and complain about this and that is gossiping and a sin. Gossiping about anyone is a sin. Gossiping is a sin against the 8th Commandment, "Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbour."  

For those who are not in full communion with the Church, who rarely attend Mass and hardly ever pray, such individuals can also be tempted to gossip about priests simply as a matter of their indifference to the priesthood and the Church as a whole. Others may have had a bad experience with a priest or did not like the advice and guidance given and subsequently left the Church, condemning the entire priesthood in the process. For others, a personal tragedy such as losing a loved one resulted in anger towards God and perhaps even led them to join another Christian community or abandon Christianity all together. Such individuals who have rebounded from difficult and sometimes painful experiences, may have acted out their frustrations, hurt or anger on the priesthood with gossiping. This too constitutes a sin.

Sometimes gossiping is masqueraded as an article at an on line news website, where unsubstantiated claims are made, that accuse the Church or any of the clergy of this or that. The Church has a protocol for dealing with interior matters and issues and does not require overzealous reporting that fails to satisfy the burden of proof and subsequently publish false statements. To make false claims of potential scandals in the Church, is in itself scandalous and a sin. It is an inappropriate use of social communications. Such irresponsible reporting is tantamount to on line gossiping.

I hope that today's post adequately spot lights how wrong it is to gossip about priests, the harm it causes them, the fact that it contaminates recipients, its divisive nature and the disunity and the overall scandal it causes for the Universal Catholic Church. Let us pray to not fall into the temptation to gossip, but instead follow Our Lady's message to pray for our priests. Let us endeavour to better our Church in a spirit of brotherly love and unity.


  
Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Our Lady's Little Stone: The Holy Bible

The statue of Our Lady at Apparition Hill, which commemorates Her first apparition to the visionaries. 

Today's post on the "Holy Bible" is the last in a series of posts I have been publishing on Our Lady's "little stones," the spiritual weapons that she has given us for our earthly pilgrimage.

The analogy of the "little stones" is in reference to the battle of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) in which God gave little stones to David to hurl at and defeat Goliath. Our Lady has also given us Her "little stones" in our battle to hurl at our enemy, Satan.

If we want to be successful in our battle and defeat the Evil One, we must employ the spiritual weapons that Our Lady had recommended.

If this is the first time you have read anything on Medjugorje and Our Lady's "little stones," the subject matter refers to the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, Herzegovina (officially Bosnia and Herzegovina) that began on June 24, 1981. Our Lady appeared to six children who have become the six visionaries of Medjugorje. All six are alive, in their mid 40's and continue to receive apparitions from Our Lady.

Today, Medjugorje has become the spiritual center of world where so many fruits are harvested at this spiritual orchard: vocations to the priesthood and religious life, spiritual, emotional, physical and psychological healing, conversions, answers found to life questions, miracles of all types, where confessions are heard daily, where there are daily recitations of the entire Rosary, several daily Mass celebrations and a host of ministries, all of which spot light how God and Our Lady's love and graces are overflowing in Medjugorje.

If you are new to the Medjugorje apparitions, you might also be wondering why Our Lady has been appearing for all these years. The answer is simple.  Our Lady Queen of Peace, as she introduced herself to the children, loves us (all her children) and wants to help us. Here is an excerpt from one of Medjugorje.com's articles in which Ivan Dragicevic (one of the visionaries) in his August 31, 2009, talk to pilgrims, expressed the following: 

The second thing that I would like to tell you is, Mother is coming to us as the Mother of the Church, and She comes here in order to help us. She comes to us because She wants to console us, and to encourage us. She is coming here because She wants to give us that divine medicine, She wants to cure all our pains. She comes to us, because She wants to take our hands, and She wants to bring us towards peace, towards Her Son. Only in Her Son is our peace. Our Lady says, “Dear children, today, more than ever,” as you know, today’s world, mankind goes through a great crisis, and maybe the largest crisis in today’s world is that crisis of believing in God, having faith in God.

So what exactly is Our Lady telling us about the Holy Bible? Our Lady is asking us for the Bible to be included in our families. This is what has been communicated to the six visionaries. Today's post also quotes Mirjana Soldo who stated that when Our Lady had given her the message about the Bible, Our Lady did not explain it. Like everyone one of us, Mirjana has to pray about the messages to understand them. Specifically with respect to the message of the Bible, Mirjana expressed her understanding as follows:

...You see, when Our Lady gives me the message, She doesn’t explain the message to me. It is the same like every single one of you, I also have to pray in order to understand through my prayer what God desires to tell me through that message. So when Our Lady talks about the Bible, I think that we all have a Bible in our homes, but Our Lady has a desire for us to open it, to read a few sentences every day, it doesn’t matter how much, but that the Bible is really present, and not to have it as a souvenir that we never touched. Our Lady says all the answers to your questions are in the Bible...

Our Lady's "little stone" of the Holy Bible, is a message that is clear and simple to follow. The only question that remains is, are we going to live Our Lady's messages and welcome the teachings of Christ in our families?  If we say "yes" to that question, we will by our life example, show that we belong to Our Lady and follow Christ in our daily lives.

Much in the same way that the other four "little stones," demand our time and effort for their daily employment, so too must we do likewise with the daily reading of the Bible. Even if it is for a few minutes, the reading will have significance in our lives and help us on our faith journey. Below are a few messages from Our Lady on the importance of reading the BIble each day:

• October 18, 1984: "Dear children! Today I call on you to read the Bible every day in your homes and let it be in a visible place so as always to encourage you to read it and to pray. Thank you for having responded to my call." 
• June 25,1991: "Dear children! Today on this great day which you have given to me, I desire to bless all of you and to say: these days while I am with you are days of grace. I desire to teach you and help you to walk the way of holiness. There are many people who do not desire to understand my messages and to accept with seriousness what I am saying. But you I therefore call and ask that by your lives and by your daily living you witness my presence. If you pray, God will help you to discover the true reason for my coming. Therefore, little children, pray and read the Sacred Scriptures so that through my coming you discover the message in Sacred Scripture for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." 
• August 25, 1993: "Dear children! I want you to understand that I am your Mother, that I want to help you and call you to prayer. Only by prayer can you understand and accept my messages and practice them in your life. Read Sacred Scripture, live it, and pray to understand the signs of the times. This is a special time, therefore, I am with you to draw you close to my heart and the heart of my Son, Jesus. Dear little children, I want you to be children of the light and not of the darkness. Therefore, live what I am telling you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
• September 25, 1999: "Dear children! Today again I call you to become carriers of my peace. In a special way, now when it is being said that God is far away, He has truly never been nearer to you. I call you to renew prayer in your families by reading the Sacred Scripture and to experience joy in meeting with God who infinitely loves His creatures. Thank you for having responded to my call."
• April 25, 2005: "Dear children! Also today, I call you to renew prayer in your families. By prayer and the reading of Sacred Scripture, may the Holy Spirit, who will renew you, enter into your families. In this way, you will become teachers of the faith in your family. By prayer and your love, the world will set out on a better way and love will begin to rule in the world. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Let us not neglect to include the Bible in our personal and family life. Spending quiet time dedicated to reading scripture brings us to an encounter with God. Our Bible reading will become a time where answers to questions are given and new lessons are learned. With each reading of the Bible, we will be further rooted in Christ's teachings, and thus, better understand how to live our lives as individuals, within our families and with those who we communicate and come into contact with.

Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Our Lady's Little Stone: The Eucharist

The large number of priests who concelebrate and attend Mass in Medjugorje, at the Evening Prayer Program at the back
altar of Saint Jame's Church

Our Lady's "little stone" of the "Eucharist" is a continuation on a series of posts on the spiritual weapons Our Lady has given us in Medjugorje. If you are relatively new to the apparitions at Medjugorje, Our Lady first appeared to six children in the summer of 1981, giving them messages for the world. These children became the six visionaries of Medjugorje: Mirjana Soldo, Ivanka Elez, Jakov Colo, Ivan Dragicevic, Vicka Mijatovic, and Marija Lunetti.

In the early days, the apparitions and messages were given on a daily basis, which continued until 1984, when Our Lady began to appear and give messages once a week on Thursday. In 1987, Our Lady began to give messages on the 25th of each month to Marija, which still continues to this day. Our Lady also gives messages on the second of each month to Mirjana, and asks for prayers for "unbelievers," those who have yet to know and receive God's love. Of the six, only three continue to receive daily appearances: Ivan, Marija and Vicka. Mirjana, Ivanka and Jakov no longer see Our Lady everyday, but at specific times of the year.

Our Lady's messages are so important and have received so much international attention, that today over 40 million pilgrims have gone to and become spiritually adopted by Medjugorje. The photo above captures just some of those pilgrims, the international youth at the Medjugorje Youth Festival.

There is so much peace and hope emanating from Medjugorje that it has clearly become the spiritual center of the world: where confessions are heard daily, where the entire Rosary is recited daily, where pilgrims arrive daily, where people find the answers to life questions, where conversions occur, where faith and hope is restored, where there are vocations to the priesthood and religious life, where there are all types of healing, where miracles occur everyday, all of which are just some of the fruits harvested in this spiritual orchard we affectionately refer to as Medjugorje.  

Perhaps one of the biggest attractions for pilgrims is to be present at Our Lady's apparition at the Blue Cross on the second of each month. The visionary who receives Our Lady is Mirjana Soldo, who not only needs a personal team of body guards to escort her to the Blue Cross, but is provided with a fenced-off pathway to allow her, and others granted permission to be near her at the Blue Cross, to ascend and wait for Our Lady.

Pilgrims typically prepare for Our Lady's arrival with songs and prayers, but all eyes are on Mirjana, and upon Our Lady's arrival when Mirjana becomes obviously engaged in the apparition, the entire area becomes immediately silent. After the apparition, Mirjana collects herself and dictates Our Lady's message to her friend and Miki, who then reads it to the pilgrims and later sends Her message to be translated and published for the international community. 

There are hundreds of messages that have been given over the years, but here is the core message that is of particular importance, the message regarding Our Lady's Little Stones:

Dear children, I invite you for your individual conversion. This time is for you! Without you God's plan cannot be realized. Dear children grow day by day closer to God through prayer. I give you the weapon against your Goliath. Here are your little stones:

• Pray The Rosary With Your Heart - A daily recitation of the entire Rosary, that is, the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries. 

• Eucharist - Receive the Eucharist on Sunday and when possible, go to daily Mass.

• Holy Bible - Read the Bible everyday 

• Fasting - The best fast recommended by Our Lady is, "bread and water" and to be done on Wednesdays and Fridays, from midnight to midnight (the entire day) 

• Monthly Confession 

When Our Lady's refers to "your Goliath" she is referring to Satan. The reference of "Goliath" is an analogy from the First Testament account of David's fight against Goliath (1 Samuel 17), when God gave David little stones to hurl at Goliath. David used the stones and was victorious over a much stronger and larger opponent. We are to do likewise with the little stones Our Lady has given us, against our opponent, Satan.

The general message of the Eucharist that Our Lady has given us, is that we are to go to Mass and receive the Eucharist every Sunday, and when possible on a daily basis. Our Lady has emphasized how important Mass is with Her communication to the visionaries, when Our Lady instructed them that, if they had a choice between seeing Her or going to Mass, they must choose Mass. Our Lady has reinforced the importance of the Mass by stating that the "Mass is the greatest prayer of God..." (1983)

The remainder of this post lists some of the specific messages from Our Lady regarding the Holy Mass:

• Prepare and Give Thanks For Mass (October 1984): When you go to Mass, your trip from home to church should be a time of preparation for Mass. You should also receive Holy Communion with an open and pure heart, with purity of heart, and with openness. Do not leave the church without an appropriate act of thanksgiving.
• Prepare For Mass (1985): You do not celebrate the Eucharist, as you should. If you would know what grace, and what gifts you receive, you would prepare yourselves for it each day, for an hour at least. You should go to confession once a month.  You should consecrate three days to reconciliation, each month: the first Friday of the month, followed by Saturday and Sunday.
• Let Holy Mass Be Your Life (April 25, 1988): Dear Children! God wants to make you holy. Therefore, through me He is inviting you to complete surrender. Let holy mass be your life. Understand that the church is God's palace, the place in which I gather you and want to show you the way to God. Come and pray. Neither look at others nor slander them, but rather, let your life be a testimony on the way of holiness. Churches deserve respect and are set apart as holy because God, who became man, dwells in them day and night. Therefore, little children, believe and pray that the Father increase your faith, and then ask for whatever your need. I am with you and I rejoice because of your conversion and I am protecting you with my motherly mantle.
• Live The Holy Mass (April 3, 1986): Dear children, I wish to call you to a living of the Holy Mass. There are many of you who have sensed the beauty of the Holy Mass, but there are also those who come unwillingly. I have chosen you, dear children, but Jesus gives you His graces in the Mass. Therefore, consciously live the Holy Mass and let your coming to it be a joyful one. Come to it with love and make the Mass your own.
• Be Reverent At Mass (February 19, 1982): Listen attentively at Holy Mass. Be well mannered. Do not chat during Holy Mass.
• Pray To The Holy Spirit Beforehand: The Blessed Virgin tells Jelena that the Mass should always be accompanied by prayers to the Holy Spirit. Before Mass it is necessary to pray to the Holy Spirit.
• Don't Make Holy Mass A Habit (January 25, 1998): May Holy Mass, little children, not be a habit for you, but life. By living Holy Mass each day, you will feel the need for holiness and you will grow in holiness. I am close to you and intercede before God for each of you, so that He may give you strength to change your heart.
• Don't Hurry To Leave The Church (February 4, 1984): There are...some persons...as soon as Mass had ended, they are in a hurry to leave the church. That is not good. That way they will never be able to give themselves completely (to me). It is not good for them to linger about the church. One must be pious and set a good example for others.
• Unceasingly Adore The Most Blessed Sacrament Of The Altar (March 15, 1984):  Unceasingly adore the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. I am always present when the faithful are adoring. Special graces are then being received.
• Spend Time In Prayer And Adoration: Dear children!  I call you to work on your personal conversion. You are still far from meeting God in your heart. Therefore, spend all the more time in prayer and Adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, for Him to change you and to put into your hearts a living faith and a desire for eternal life. Everything is passing, little children, only God is not passing. I am with you and I encourage you.

Let us embrace Our Lady's Eucharistic messages and allow the Mass to become the summit of our Catholic worship. In so doing, we not only become witnesses that we belong to Our Lady by living her messages, but by praying in front of the Eucharist (personal or group adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament), we encounter the true presence of Christ.

This is Christ's gift to humanity, and an opportunity to make daily contact with the wellspring of grace. (Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 25).


Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Closing Out The Triumph Toronto Screenings

Closing out the Triumph Toronto Screenings at the Fox Theatre

On Saturday, January 4, I had the pleasure of joining the Triumph Team to help close out the last Toronto screening of The Triumph at the Fox Theatre in the Beaches area.

It was a truly wonderful experience welcoming movie goers to the theatre and seeing so many joyful and enthusiastic individuals. Although I had previously viewed the documentary at two other screenings, the anticipation of seeing it all over again was built up with the arrival of each individual.

It was especially nice to see families in attendance, children, young people, and the elderly, all age groups were well represented at Saturday's screening. My best guess is that attendance reached approximately 75% of the theatre's seating capacity. It was a great turn out. At the end of the film, many patrons were moved, expressed their joy and extended their gratitude to us for presenting this film. It was all the evidence we needed to conclude Saturday's screening was a great success.

If you are somewhat new to The Triumph film, it is a documentary of the Marian apparitions at Medjugorje that began on June 24th, 1981, and continue to this day. The film reveals much about Medjugorje primarily through the narrative of a young American man's life, "Ben," who struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. Ben's arrival at Medjugorje was his reaching out to God and Our Lady for help.

Many people are drawn to Medjugorje seeking the answers to life's questions. Once there they open themselves up to God and Our Lady's love, which pours down from heaven in abundance upon each individual. This is what happened to Ben and it was through Ben's journey that we too experienced God and Our Lady's love.

It was obvious that Ben's life was changing, that he was going through a conversion. It was a conversion that needed to be finalized in Belgium with one more relapse into heavy drinking, that brought Ben back to Medjugorje for good where he entered into the Cenacolo Community. The Cenacolo Community is a community for young men recovering from drug and alcohol abuse, who work, live and journey together in the Catholic faith.

As of the release of this documentary, Ben has been in the Cenacolo Community for a year, continuing to make progress with his brothers in Christ. The Cenacolo Community is a wonderful Catholic ministry, just one of the many beautiful aspects of Medjugorje.

In addition to Ben's journey, the documentary took the audience on a tour of the many daily life scenarios and scenic views in Medjugorje: people praying at Apparition Hill; hiking up the rocky paths to Cross Mountain; the many outdoor confessionals where pilgrims received daily confession; brief interviews with many young pilgrims from the International Youth Festival and scenes from the festival itself; the beautiful architecture of Saint James Catholic Church; and the panoramic views of the vineyards and mountain landscapes.

It all spot lighted the great amount of peace, hope and joy emanating from Medjugorje, a place where many fruits are harvested at this spiritual orchard. Ben's conversion is just one of those fruits.

Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Our Lady's Little Stone: Fasting on Bread and Water

Evening Mass at the back altar of Saint James Church

Today's post is a continuation of one of my previous posts, Our Lady's "Little Stone" - Pray With The Heart, The Rosary Everyday. Fasting on "bread and water," is the third of five "little stones" Our Lady has given us from her messages in Medjugorje.

If you are new to the reference of "little stones," they refer to five spiritual weapons Our Lady has given us to fight the good fight against Satan. As God gave David little stones which he used to hurl at Goliath, we are to do likewise in our spiritual battle against our Goliath, the Evil One.

Our Lady has given us these stones because she understands what we need to not only fight the good fight, but to become victorious in our spiritual battle.

Our Lady's request is to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, on bread and water from midnight to midnight; that is, the entire day, "The best fast is on bread and water. Through fasting and prayer one can stop wars, one can suspend the natural laws of nature. Works of charity cannot replace fasting. Everyone except the sick, has to fast." (July 21, 1982) By combining fasting with prayer, we increase the power of our prayers. This is something we should keep in mind especially when praying for a special or urgent intention. By fasting we allow our entire being to participate and offer this sacrifice to God. Let us also not forget that Jesus fasted frequently and he taught the Apostles, that certain devils can be cast out in no other way except by prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29)

The amount of bread and water you consume does not matter, so long as you make the sacrifice of this strict fast and offer it to God. Our Lady appeared to one of the six visionaries, Ivan Dragicevic on August 14, 1984, and gave him the following message, "I would like people to pray with me these days in the greatest numbers possible. Also I would like them to fast strictly on Wednesdays and Fridays, and to pray at least the rosary every day, joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries."

There are many ways to fast, but Our Lady specifically stated that fasting on bread and water is the "best fast." For those not used to fasting, it doesn't have to be something strictly adhered to at first, but eventually implemented over time.

Our Lady's invitation to fast is an appeal to our freedom to live her messages. Officially, the Church only obliges the faithful to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, so fasting according to Our Lady's request becomes our "yes" to our personal devotion to her. By giving our assent to Our Lady to fast, combined with prayer, we may come to know God's love and do his will in our lives:

"Dear children! In a special way I call you all to pray for my intentions so that, through your prayers, you may stop Satan's plan over this world, which is further from God every day, and which puts itself in the place of God and is destroying everything that is beautiful and good in the souls of each of you. Therefore, little children, arm yourselves with prayer and fasting so that you may be conscious of how much God loves you and may carry out God's will. Thank you for having responded to my call." (October 25, 2008)

Fasting and prayer form that perfect combination in our fight against evil. We pray better when we fast, and our love for our Saviour and Redeemer grows. Fasting also heightens our receptivity to listen inwardly to God's gentle voice.

The Evil One hates fasting and tries to discourage us. Saint Paul used to fast before his journeys to clear the way of all devils from his path. Saint Anthanasius who was experienced in fasting is quoted as stating:

It cures diseases; it dries up all morbid discharges of the body. It repels devils and drives out unclean thoughts. It renders the spirit more lucid and purifies the heart. It sanctifies the body and transports man to God's throne. Fasting is a powerful force and leads to great spiritual triumphs.

In these modern times that we live in, it seems so rare to hear of people fasting in the manner in which Our Lady asks of us. If you are new to fasting and wondering about whether or not this is something you can do, it is not difficult or strenuous at all. Fasting is done out of love for Our Lady and performed as an offering to God. Well motivated in this respect makes the days of fasting a great joy, knowing that you are pleasing both God and Our Lady.  

Fasting benefits us in many ways, physically and psychologically, but it is the spiritual benefits that should concern us the most. What we should also consider is that when we fast, combined with prayer, there is an even greater opportunity to receive God's mercy upon us.

The Cure d'Ars or St. Jean Marie Vianney used to fast for days to obtain some divine favour from God and was quoted after he had fasted, "I then obtained from the good God everything I sought." Here are a few more messages from Our Lady regarding fasting that I hope will encourage you to take this "little stone" and employ this spiritual weapon, one that is both powerful and efficacious against the Evil One in all that he tries to do to interfere with your life's goal, your salvation:

• January 25, 2001: "Dear children! Today I call you to renew prayer and fasting with even greater enthusiasm until prayer becomes a joy for you. Little children, the one who prays is not afraid of the future and the one who fasts is not afraid of evil. Once again, I repeat to you: only through prayer and fasting also wars can be stopped – wars of your unbelief and fear for the future. I am with you and am teaching you little children: your peace and hope are in God. That is why draw closer to God and put Him in the first place in your life. Thank you for having responded to my call."
• April 25, 1999: "By fasting and prayer, witness that you are mine and that you live my messages."
• November 6, 1982: "Repeated prayers and fasting reduce punishments from God."
• January 28, 1987: "If you wish to obtain a grace from the Lord by fasting, then let no one know that you are fasting. If you wish to obtain the grace of God through a gift to the poor, let no one know it, except you and the Lord."
• October'1983: "The fasting which you are doing in eating fish, instead of meat, is not fasting but abstinence. The true fast consists in giving up all our sins, but one must also renounce himself and make the body participate in it.

I should note that there are exceptions to the strict fasting of bread and water: in the case of small children; the elderly; and those who are of temporarily ill or have a serious health issue, are not required to adhere to the strict fast.

One of the visionaries, Mirjana Soldo, stated in one of her talks to pilgrims that, "Our Lady does not ask for fasting from those who are sick, but truly sick. Our Lady says that they will realize through their own prayer what fasting they can do outside bread and water." 

In these scenarios and other situations that make fasting on bread and water impossible, fasting could take on another form: a reduction in food intake for the day; the deprivation of coffee or tea; or whatever would constitute a proper offering to God in place of the strict fast. Through prayer, each individual will be able to understand what alternative fast would be appropriate and acceptable to God. 

Our Lady's love for us is so great—evidenced by her messages alone—let us in our response, reciprocate that love by embracing her "little stone" of fasting.

Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us.  

Merry Christmas

The daily morning Mass attendees at St. Margaret Mary Church

The above photo captures most of the regular morning Mass attendees at St. Margaret Mary Roman Catholic Church, here in Woodbridge, Ontario. Each morning Mass is a faith strengthening, grace filled experience that is celebrated by Father Donald White, P.O.C.R. As a daily attendee, I can personally testify that each morning Mass is celebrated with attention, reverence, devotion, and in a well prepared manner. What a great way to start each day strengthened by Christ's gift to us, the Eucharist.

The celebration of the Eucharist is the summit of Catholic worship. There are no other prayers and devotions more powerful than that of the Eucharist. It is a time when the faithful contemplate Christ's presence in the living sacrament of his body and blood.   Quoting Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, "...The Eucharist is a priceless treasure: by not only celebrating it but also by praying before it outside of Mass we are enabled to make contact with the very wellspring of grace..." (25) This treasure is available to each of us everyday, and it is Christ who wants us to receive him daily.

Morning Mass at St. Margaret Mary is not at full capacity, so there is plenty of room in the pews. Depending on your availability, If you are thinking about going to morning Mass and would like to have a profound Mass experience, I can assure you St. Margaret Mary is for you. For those who do not go to confession and do not attend Mass regularly, it is important that you receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation prior to Mass. Even if you are in doubt about being in a state of mortal sin, it would be prudent to go to confession so that at Mass, you will approach the Eucharist with a clear conscience and in a worthy manner. Pope John Paul II specifically notes this very important point in Ecclesia de Eucharistia:  

Keeping these invisible bonds intact is a specific moral duty incumbent upon Christians who wish to participate fully in the Eucharist by receiving the body and blood of Christ. The Apostle Paul appeals to this duty when he warns: “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor 11:28). Saint John Chrysostom, with his stirring eloquence, exhorted the faithful: “I too raise my voice, I beseech, beg and implore that no one draw near to this sacred table with a sullied and corrupt conscience. Such an act, in fact, can never be called 'communion', not even were we to touch the Lord's body a thousand times over, but 'condemnation', 'torment' and 'increase of punishment'”. (36)

The doors at Saint Margaret Mary Church are typically unlocked at 7:30am, affording the faithful quiet time for personal adoration and prayer prior to Mass. Morning Mass begins at 8:00am and usually ends at 8:30am. The church remains available after Mass for further adoration, personal prayer and group recitation of the Rosary. The morning Mass experience at St. Margaret Mary is truly a time of divine intimacy. 

As we journey through this Christmas Season, let us implore God's grace and mercy to transform our hearts and souls, that God may deepen our ongoing conversion and strengthen us on our faith journey. May Jesus find our hearts and souls transformed and overflowing with love, a most welcome and warm dwelling place, fitting for our Saviour and Redeemer. 

To all visitors of my blog, Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones.  

Our Lady's Little Stone: Pray With The Heart, The Rosary Every Day

The Blue Cross where the visionary Mirjana has her public apparitions on the second of each month.

Today's post on praying with the heart the Rosary every day is the second in a series of posts on Our Lady's "Little Stones," that began with my previous post, Our Lady's "Little Stone": Monthly Confession.

If you are not familiar with the topic of today's post, let me briefly explain it. The Blessed Virgin Mary has been appearing to six visionaries since June 24th, 1981 in Medjugorje, Herzegovina (officially Bosnia and Herzegovina) and ever since then, she has been giving them important messages for the world. Today, Medjugorje has become the spiritual center of the world, a place of many miracles, conversions, healing, vocations to the priesthood and religious life, drug and alcohol recovery, a place that emanates hope and peace for the world. Our Lady has appeared there because she loves us, her children, and wants to help us in these perilous times where sin has taken over the lives of so many of "unbelievers," those who have yet to know and experience God's love.

Our Lady's "little stone," to pray with the heart the Rosary everyday, is an important message that we need to take very seriously, as are all of Our Lady's messages. Our Lady has emphasized the importance of praying with the heart in her January 23, 1986, message, "Dear Children, again I call you to prayer with your heart..."  When Our Lady asks of us to pray the Rosary each day, she is asking us to do it with the heart. By praying the Rosary with the heart, we are saying "yes" to Our Lady and allowing her to be our light to Christ, showing us the path to Jesus. There is no other more surest and quickest way to reach Jesus, than through Our Lady.

The Rosary is so essential to our earthly pilgrimage, it is no coincidence that Our Lady has asked us to pray it. Next to the Holy Mass, the Rosary is the most powerful prayer we have available to us. The Rosary is our effective weapon against Satan, "Dear children! Today I call you especially now to advance against Satan by means of prayer. Satan wants to work still more now that you know he is at work. Dear children, put on the armor for battle and with the Rosary in your hand defeat him! Thank you for having responded to my call." (August 8, 1985) 

Our Lady's request to pray the Rosary everyday has been a request made in the past, but neglected by so many. The Rosary was initially given to Saint Dominic in 1214, to convert the Albigensian heretics in Southern France. Our Lady had ordered St. Dominic to recite it everyday and get others to do likewise. Saint Dominic obeyed Our Lady and what resulted was the conversion of entire regions.

Over the centuries the recitation of the Rosary waned in the prayer lives of many families and individuals, some completely omitted it all together from their faith journey. To counter this, Our Lady chose additional servants to reestablish the Rosary. One such servant was St. Louis De Montfort (1673-1716), whose book, The Secret of The Rosary, is dedicated to explaining the importance and significance of praying the entire Rosary everyday.

In our own time, it is a well known fact that Pope John Paul II's favourite prayer was the Rosary. Pope John Paul II's Marian devotion permeated his pontificate and every aspect of his life. The Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae is an apostolic letter that beautifully captured Saint John Paul II's great love and devotion to Our Lady.

Yet with these and so many other examples to draw from, many people still have not embraced Our Lady's message. The apparitions of Medjugorje have been Our Lady's opportunity to teach us anew, to "pray with the heart." Our Lady asks this of us with with great motherly love and concern for our salvation. What remains for many of us, is to say "yes" to Our Lady, much in the same spirit of Sts. Dominic and Louis De Montfort, Saint John Paul II, and the many saints throughout the history of the Catholic Church.

For some, Our Lady's message to pray the entire Rosary each day may seem like a daunting task, but like anything new, all it takes is some time to adjust and a willingness to persevere. No matter what your daily calendar is like, praying the entire Rosary everyday is achievable. The first step requires you to embrace this new inclusion in your life with a great love for Our Lady.

The next step is to seriously review your daily calendar and set reasonable and attainable goals. This is especially important if you have never prayed the Rosary or do not pray in general.

The Rosary consists of four sets of mysteries: Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious. Praying all four sets is what Our Lady asked of us and to complete this each day takes approximately two hours.

The most optimal approach would be to pray the individual sets of mysteries at different times of the day. Each individual set will take approximately 25-30 minutes to complete. If you find yourself pressed for 30 minutes of free time, you can take then divide the recitation of the individual mystery into single decades (one Our Father, ten Hail Mary's, one Glory Be, and one O My Jesus) which will take approximately five minutes. You probably can squeeze in five minutes here, five minutes there throughout your day. In so doing, you will eventually complete one set of the mysteries. Once you do this on a consistent level, seizing those opportunities to recite your Rosary throughout your day, will become second nature.

The last step is all about training to pray the Rosary, which is synonymous to training for a marathon. If you have never ran a marathon before, you need to build up your endurance by setting an initial distance that you can consistently run over a set period of time. Gradually you build up your endurance and add more kilometers. This cycle continues until you have run the entire distance of a marathon.

This is very much the same scenario with the Rosary. Perhaps in the initial stages of your "training" you may only include one or two decades of a particular set of mysteries, but once you recited this initial amount of prayers consistently, you will be able to add other decades, perhaps even enough to complete one of the fours sets of the mysteries. As you continue to build up your prayer capacity, you will eventually have "prayed the distance" and crossed the "spiritual finish line."

Once you do recite the entire Rosary each day consistently, you will come to realize that what once seemed impossible, has now become possible. Like a marathon race, your heart and mind must be in the right place to cross the "spiritual finish line." Each day you will experience the joy having said "yes" to Our Lady's message and completed The Rosary: A Marathon of Grace.  

Whether you are new to the Rosary or you recite some of the mysteries or the entire Rosary, pray for the grace to: recite it each day faithfully and completely, with attention, reverence and devotion; to understand the Gospel lessons contained within; to do as Saint John Paul recommended in Rosarium Virginis Mariae—the apostolic letter issued on October 16, 2002, to bishops, clergy and the faithful on the Most Holy Rosary—to contemplate the face of Christ, and the lived Rosary of Our Lady, and to gaze as the apostles did during the Transfiguration (Fourth Luminous Mystery).

Rest assured that I will include all those who endeavour to do this in my daily Rosary.  I would like to conclude this post and leave you with one of Our Lady's messages to think and pray about:

You know that I love you and am coming here out of love, so I could show you the path of peace and salvation for your souls. I want you to listen to me and not permit Satan to seduce you. Dear children, Satan is strong enough! Therefore, I ask you to dedicate your prayers so that those who are under his influence may be saved. Give witness by your life, sacrifice your lives for the salvation of the world. Therefore, little children, do not be afraid. If you pray, Satan cannot injure you, not even a little, because you are God's children and He is watching over you. Pray, and let the Rosary always be in your hands as a sign to Satan that you belong to me." (February 25, 1989)

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Our Lady's Little Stone: Monthly Confession

In Medjugorje, confessions are available everyday beginning at 6:00pm, and lasts well into the evening.

If this post is the first you have heard of Our Lady's "Little Stones," and the apparitions at Medjugorje, then perhaps it best I explain a little bit about Medjugorje and what has happened there since the very early 1980s.

The Blessed Virgin Mary has been appearing to six visionaries since June 24, 1981, all of whom are alive and continue to receive visions from Our Lady. Since then, Our Lady has been giving the visionaries messages for the world. So important are these messages, that many of the laity and clergy have gone on pilgrimages to experience the beautiful hope, love, and peace emanating from Medjugorje. To date, over 40 million pilgrims have gone to and become spiritually adopted in Medjugorje and many, if not all, return home strengthened and renewed.

There have been so many fruits harvested from this spiritual orchard: conversions; vocations to the priesthood and religious life; drug and alcohol recovery; spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical healing; and answers to life questions and many miracles. It was at one of the apparitions that Our Lady communicated the following message:

Dear children, I invite you for your individual conversion. This time is for you! Without you God's plan cannot be realized. Dear children grow day by day closer to God through prayer. I give you the weapon against your Goliath. Here are your little stones:

• Pray The Rosary With Your Heart - A daily recitation of the entire Rosary, that is, the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries. 

• Eucharist - Receive the Eucharist on Sunday and when possible, go to daily Mass.

• Holy Bible - Read the Bible everyday 

• Fasting - The best fast recommended by Our Lady is, "bread and water" and to be done on Wednesdays and Fridays, from midnight to midnight (the entire day) 

• Monthly Confession

Our Lady's mission is of peace and love. So important is this mission that the Blessed Mother announced herself as the "Queen of Peace." Our Lady has come to reeducate, convert, and bring us back to God.

To ensure our success and give us the spiritual weapons that will allow us to fight the good fight, Our Lady has given us "little stones," just as God gave to David to battle against Goliath, a stronger and more powerful opponent. (1 Samuel 17) Our "little stones" are to be used against our Goliath, the Evil One, the Devil or Satan. As David hurled a little stone at the forehead of Goliath, and sent him to his death, let us hurl our spiritual stone, our monthly confession, and put to death all that the Evil One tries to do to interfere with our faith journey and our daily conversion.  

As to which of the "little stones" to first write about, I purposely chose "Monthly Confession." Entering into this battle, one wants to start off in the best possible manner, and this is what confession provides, a spiritually cleansing and entry into a state of grace. In so doing, we the branches are reconnected to our vine, Jesus Christ, whom acts directly upon our soul through the person of the priest. It is only then, can we begin do anything with Jesus, our Saviour and Redeemer, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)  

The importance of confession or the Sacrament of Reconciliation cannot be overstated. Many have responded to Our Lady's request—as the photo published with this post depicts—and it is a well known fact that the demand for confessions in Medjugorje has risen dramatically. Some who have never confessed in twenty or more years, have gone to confession in Medjugorje.

One of the visionaries Vicka Mijatovic's diary entry of the twenty-eighth apparition, July 22, 1981, notes the following communication from Our Lady, "A good many people have been converted and among them some had not gone to Confession in 45 years, and now, they are going to Confession. Go in the peace of God."

Confession is for many, the humble beginnings of a conversion and that is what Our Lady has called us to, conversion. We need to say "yes" to Our Lady by confessing our sins once a month, complying with her request to live her messages. In so doing, we follow Christ in a closer manner and the more we receive this sacrament the better we will be able to do this.

Not only is confession a sacrament that absolves us of our sins, but it is a source of grace that strengthens our souls against relapses, provides us with the fortitude to resist temptations, and grants us a stronger and more determined resolve to follow Christ with a greater love and fidelity.

Through confession, we come to know ourselves better because each confession is preceded by an examination of conscience. Your conscience is the place where you and God meet, where God reveals the truth about yourself. During confession, Jesus provides us with the remedy for all sins and imperfections and; thus, teaches us how to "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) Here is another of Our Lady's messages regarding confession:

Open yourselves to Holy Confession so that each of you may accept my call with the whole heart. I am with you and I protect you from the ruin of sin, but you must open yourselves to the way of conversion and holiness, that your heart may burn out of love for God. Give Him time and He will give Himself to you and thus, in the will of God you will discover the love and the joy of living. (November 25, 2012)

Mary is our best teacher in the school of Christ; therefore, let us follow her messages with complete trust as she has requested, "Little children, read every day the messages I gave you and transform them into life. I love you and this is why I call you to the way of salvation with God." (December 25, 1989)


Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

The Triumph Medjugorje Movie: A Follow Up

Mirjana at the moment Our Lady appeared to her (The Triumph)

Today's post is a follow up to my previous post on the The Triumph - Medjugorje Movie Vaughan Screening at AMC Theatres. If you have not heard about this movie or the recent events, let me bring you up to speed. Over this past weekend, The Triumph  movie was shown at AMC 30 Theatres here in Woodbridge, on Saturday, December 7, at 9:30 am. Although this was the second showing, the first was at Colossus Theatres two weeks ago, there was an added afternoon schedule of faith sharing and prayer at a local cathedral.

The Triumph is about the Marian apparitions that began on June 24, 1981, to two of the six visionaries, who were accompanied by the other four the next day on June 25. To these specially selected individuals, Our Blessed Mother appeared to them and announced herself as "Queen of Peace." Ever since that first day, Our Lady Queen of Peace has been giving the visionaries messages for the world.

In case you missed this movie, there will be a DVD release once the theatre screenings have completed their run. You can even sign up to be notified of the DVD availability at the The Triumph web site.

Patrick and Nancy Latta after the movie showing at AMC 30 Theatres

When the movie had finished, Patrick and Nancy Latta (two Canadians who now live in Medjugorje) popped in and gave us a quick testimonial of their lives and the wonderful events that took place in their respective conversions, a perfect conclusion to the movie's end. After all this ended, many of us left for the Good Shepherd Chaldean Catholic Cathedral, where we recited the Rosary and heard Patrick and Nancy speak at length about their conversion experiences and continued with adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament, benediction and Saturday's Vigil Mass.  

Patrick, Nancy and Fr. Casullo on the topic of the gift of priests.

Our Lady understands our needs in the battle we face on this earthly pilgrimage. Our Lady has told us we are fighting a goliath and to fight the good fight, She has given us spiritual weapons, the "little stones," which we can use to hurl, like David, at our Goliath the Evil One. Here are the little stones : 

1. Pray The Rosary With Your Heart - A daily recitation of the entire Rosary, that is, the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries.
2. Eucharist - Receive the Eucharist on Sunday and when possible, go to daily Mass.
3. Holy Bible - Read the Bible everyday
4. Fasting - The best fast recommended by Our Lady is, "bread and water" and to be done on Wednesdays and Fridays, from midnight to midnight (the entire day)
5. Monthly Confession

To live Our Lady's messages is serious commitment to want to change for the better, to rid ourselves of all that stands in the way of properly following Jesus Christ, Our Saviour and Redeemer. The above mentioned "little stones" ensures the spiritual progress of our ongoing conversions.

Nancy and Patrick Latta with me after Mass

As you can see from the above photo, I met Patrick and Nancy. If you have never heard of them, they are fellow Canadians who after receiving the call to go to Medjugorje, sold all they had, left nothing behind in Canada, and moved to Medjugorje. Today, they run a successful retreat house in Medjugorje, Our Lady of The Sacred Heart.

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

The Secularization of The Advent and Christmas Seasons

The Nativity - Jesus, Mary and Joseph

With the ushering in of the Advent Season on Sunday, December 1st you have probably already started to think about Christmas? Today, I would like you to consider adding to your thoughts, the growing trend to secularize the Advent and Christmas Seasons.

Many people will soon begin, if they have not already, to prepare for Christmas by shopping for Christmas gifts, putting up Christmas trees, exterior lights and other home decorations, organize parties, plan family visitations, book vacations and other things. Certainly all this is appropriate, but we must be careful not to let all these activities distract us from our proper and true focus, that is, our interior preparation for the coming of Christ.

Currently, we are in the Advent Season, not the Christmas Season. The Advent Season begins four weeks prior to Christmas day and ends on Christmas Eve. The Christmas Season does not officially begin until the first Vespers of Christmas Eve and extends to the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, which is the Sunday after the Epiphany.

It seems though that Advent and the spirit of the season has been removed from the hearts of minds of many people. Instead of preparing to usher in Christmas in the true Christian sense, many have begun or will soon begin, to enter into the frenzy of Christmas shopping and embrace the secularized consumeristic character of Christmas. I am sure you have already been exposed to the retailers' promotions encouraging this frenzy? Do we really need to have all these Christmas products available at least one month before Christmas? Will not one to two weeks prior to the December 25th suffice? Consumerism is a significant distraction and in my view, constitutes one of the major attacks on the Christian spirit and meaning of both the Advent and Christmas seasons. 

So what is Advent and what is it all about? Advent is the four week period before Christmas when the Church celebrates the first coming of Christ and anticipates His second coming. The word “advent” comes from the Latin adventus (Greek parousia), which means “coming” or “arrival.” Advent is not part of the Christmas season, but a preparation for it. This is why we do not sing Christmas hymns or use Christmas readings in Mass until December 25th, the first day of the Christmas season.

Advent provides us all with an opportunity to continually re-orient ourselves to God’s will as we, together with the entire Church, expectantly wait for the true meaning of Christmas, the incarnation of God the Son. The spirit of Advent should help to arouse in each one of us, an intimate and personal expectation of the renewed coming of Christ in our soul. This “coming” is accomplished through grace and the more it matures in us, the more copious it becomes, penetrating us until it transforms the soul into an alter Christus.  

The question I pose to the visitors of my blog, do you think most people are focussing on the true meaning and spirit of the Advent Season? Of course, no one knows the complete answer to this, but we can get a strong sense from our observations and interactions with others. To help answer my question, consider taking a survey of who amongst your family members, friends, colleagues and coworkers, neighbours, those who you communicate and come into contact with, have encouraged you in any way to focus on the spiritual activities associated with the Advent and Christmas seasons. Has there been any mention as what you can do to prepare for Christ's coming in your soul? If the results of your survey yields an overwhelming "no," "no one" or "very few," then it probably is very typical. It is a symptom of the major problem of consumerism and secularism as a whole, which does not limit itself to the Advent and Christmas seasons.

A reoccurring secular pattern in the past several years, during the Advent and Christmas Seasons, has been the greeting of "Happy Holidays" as a replacement for the proper greeting of "Merry Christmas." I am sure that most of us have experienced it. It is sad that so many are willing to throw Christ out of Christmas with such a greeting. Whether they realize it or not, this is exactly what they do. In my view, the "Happy Holidays" greeting represents another major attack on the true meaning and spirit of the Advent and Christmas seasons. It only begs the question, what are we going to do about it? 

As active and practicing Christians, we as Catholics have a responsibility to act upon the secularization of the Advent and Christmas Seasons. In the face of this growing secular trend here in our community in Woodbridge, we must meet that challenge and correct those that greet us without Christ. To do so, is proper to our call to "labour in the vineyard of the Lord," as noted in Pope John Paul II's document, Christifideles Laici, a Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the vocation and the mission of the lay faithful in the Church and the world:  

...[L]ay people as well are personally called by the Lord, from whom they receive a mission on behalf of the Church and the world...Keep watch over your manner of life, dear people, and make sure that you are indeed the Lord's labourers. Each person should take into account what he does and consider if he is labouring in the vineyard of the Lord. (2)

What are some of the possibilities for us to "labour in the vineyard?" In addition to the obvious of responding to someone's "Happy Holidays," with your "Merry Christmas," consider taking an extra 5-10 minutes to speak with the manager of a retail outlet, store or organization and inquiry as to why employees are throwing Christ out of Christmas with their "Happy Holiday" greetings to customers. You can simply argue that you are not only a customer, but a Catholic customer and you find it offensive and do not appreciate that company personnel in their communications with customers, exclude Christ from Christmas.  

Consider "labouring for Christ in His vineyard" by being more attentive to the purchase of Christmas cards, ensuring that it is a true Christmas card with the greeting of, "Merry Christmas." Do not be fooled by what may appear to be a Christmas card. Some may look like Christmas cards, but contain very little Christmas content. Others may contain content that is most inappropriate for such a card. Examples might be with respect to improper humour, references that have nothing to do with Christ and content that draws one's heart and mind away from the true meaning of Christmas.

Consider "labouring in the vineyard" with regard to shopping decisions for Christmas presents. We all have Christmas shopping to do. Why not ensure that your dollars are spent at a store that actually has "Merry Christmas" on display. If a store has, "Happy Holidays," one way you can protest the secularization of Christmas is not to shop at that location. If you see calendars, posters and banners in stores that say, "Happy Holidays," why not speak to the manager and inquire about the rational for such displays? This is what you can do to put faith into action. (James 2:14-18)  Let us not allow Edmund Burke's quote, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," to become our community reality this year. Let us stem the tide of the secularism and help restore Christ in the hearts and minds in our community. Do not let those in our community who carelessly ignore the true meaning of Christmas get away with it. It is up to us to make a difference and put Christ back in Christmas.

As always, our communications should be respectful and maintain a calm and considerate tone, with an attitude of charity and mercy. This is especially important when we are the recipients of opposite treatment: hostility, anger, misunderstanding and a sharp rebuke. Our response must always be a Christian one. Above all, we must not judge those whose faith is less than our own or perhaps minimal, if anything at all. We must pray for them and show them by our example what Advent and Christmas is all about.

Christ will never be removed from the Advent and Christmas seasons, because many of us know, understanding and live the truth. It will never be a "Happy Season." It will always be the Advent and Christmas Seasons!