Well, fall is almost here! Welcome to all new members! Last Sunday I was in Seattle and Father spoke about the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast or day of recollection is September 15th. It may seen ironic that we celebrate this feast. Rather seems like a sad day. But with the remembrance of her seven sorrows, we might forget how much she went thru for us, for all mankind, for our salvation. We all know that we are not meant to stay on this earth forever. What we don't know is how and when..... What Father pointed out to us is that the Blessed Virgin knew at the time of the Presentation of the Child in the temple, when Blessed Simeon spoke to her, saying that her own soul a sword would pierced. She received an infused knowledge of exactly what would happen to her Son in thirty-three years time. He would die a horrible death, a death on the cross. A death meant for the worst of criminals. He would be abandoned by His disciples. He would not be "heard" by His Father; that this cup would pass away from Him. Maybe this talk should be commented on during Lent....But I thought I would touch on it today; for slowly these thoughts of mine would fade by Christmas....Sometimes, actually most of the time, the anticipation can be worse that the actual event. In this case, the event is also very sad and painful but knowing of it for thirty-three years can be unbearable. It is sad Our Lady told some seers, that as each day while Jesus grew in grace and size, she felt more and more pain as the day approached when she would see her Son hanging on the cross. It felt like a dagger growing deeper and deeper... So it seems it was not a very happy three decades, because every time she looked at her Son, she saw the nails driving in His hands, the thorns pressing down on the crown of His head, the blasphemies from the crowds, the taunts from the soldiers "Who is it that struck Thee." One point Father pointed out to the attendants, is what the Blessed Virgin also commented on......namely, that every time she wrapped her new baby in His swaddling clothes, she saw how the soldiers would rip all His clothing on after scourging Him, with His skin tearing off, and she just wanted to hold and protect Him. But neither she nor her Son would complain. So us too, when times are tough.... I don't think any of us will go through anything like they did....And they did it for us. This sermon really moved me alot. I really hadn't thought about these things. The girl sitting beside me got teary up, just thinking of that Baby, who happens to be God being hurt. I just wanted to pass this on to others.... We don't often get sermons like that. Maybe you might live where there is no mass on a regular basis. Anyway, hope this helps you.

God bless!

Hello to all ,especially to the new members! It is already August and it is still hot around here! the feast of the Assumption is just around the corner. As we Catholics all know,this day we commemorate and celebrate the earthly death of the Blessed Virgin and her assumption of both her body and soul into heaven where she will untimately be crowned Queen of heaven and earth. She will also be reunited with her divine Son, staying on earth abit longer while the early church was in it's baby stages. This day is a holy day of obligation in many countries. Let's hope we all make it to mass on that day!

The feast of her Assumption , which we meditate and ponder on the 4th Glorious mysteries of the rosary, has been celebrated by the early eastern church by at least the 6th century. It has been documented in a letter of "The Falling Asleep of the Mother of God" from the 4th century. St. John recalls the events of the Blessed Virgin passing at Jerusalem or Ephesus, where St. John lived at the time of her passing. After the death of Jesus on the cross, Mary stayed with St. John per Jesus' wishes. It has been the opinion per Pope Pius Xll, that when he proclaimed the dogma of the Blessed Virgin in "Munificentissimus Deus " that he verifies that it is a dogma, under pain of being cut off of the Catholic faith, that the Blessed Virgin was assummed body and soul into heaven, making some reference to her death prior to the doing so. He states that "that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." This dogma was declared on November 1,1950. Some theologians feel the Blessed Virgin may have only fallen asleep, as she was without stain of sin, and death being the penalty of sin, it seemed logical that she did not have to die like the rest of us. But it also seems likely that the Blessed Virgin wanted to follwo in the footsteps of her Son and pass thru death to eternal life.

I think it would be wonderful to have her there at our death to guide us to heaven.Let us all invoke her for a holy and happy death!

Hello and welcome to all new members! Hope everyone is able to go on some kind of vacation this summer. I would also like to give a shout out to my sister Martina, as it is her birthday today (won't say how old she is!). One of the saint's feast for today is Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha who live from 1656 until April of 1680 . She was declared venerable in 1943 and later beatified in 1980. She has been called the Lily of the Mohawks, and is considered the first Native American in line for sainthood. Her canonization is set for this October 21st by Pope Benedict XVI. She is also the patron saint of the environment and ecology.

Kateri was an Algonquin Indian and born near Auriesville, New York, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. Her mother died of smallpox when she was four, and she ended up being cared for by her aunts and uncle.Kateri was also affected by the disease ,and she came away with scars on her face. When she was eleven, she meet the Jesuit missionaries:Jacques Fremin, Jacques Bruyas, and Jean Pierron had come to her village in view of a peace treaty with the Iroquois. Her uncle did not wanted her to hang out with the religious as he did not want her to convert to Christianity. Kateri was excited by the words of the priests and attended catechism by Lamberville, who observed Kateri advance in her study so much so that, in 1676, he felt she was ready for baptism. From what I have read, the Jesuits did not baptize right away unless in danger of death, until they were certain of coming back to help them in the faith. After Catherine was baptized at age twenty, she stayed in her village for a few more months , as the other indians made life so dificult for her because of her new faith. But Kateri remained strong inspite of obstacles. Lamberville recommended she leave and go to the the Jesuit mission in Canada. She ended up leaving very quietly with a couple of Indians as I am sure her tribe would have not let her leave .There at the mission, she lived in prayer and penance, and cared for the ill and elderly. It was said that she would get up even in very cold weather to wait before the chapel door each morning around 4a.m. and stay until the last mass ended. She would devote her life to God and remain a virgin inspite of encouragement to get married several times. At the mission, she met a lady named Anastasia, who taught Kateri about penance and together they studied their faith. Kateri died at age twenty-four on April 17th after professing her vows of virginity. When she died, it was noted that her face became beautiful and all her scars disappeared.

Today, March 19th, is the feast of St. Joseph. He is such an important person and he played such an important role in Our Lord's life. Though the records of the bible, there is no mention of anything that St. Joseph said, it does speak of him a few times, as in the case of the angel appearing to him to encourage him to take Mary as his wife inspite of questions that he may have had about Mary's pregnancy, and also when after Jesus was born, he was instructed at night to take the Child and His Mother and flee into Egypt as King Herod was seeking to kill Him. The Bible also goes thru the lineage down to St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary from King David in the books of Matthew and Luke. When the Christ Child was twelve, the Bible states "His parents" were looking for Him and finally found Him in the temple after searching for three days. Another remark was made in the Bible, that when Jesus was preaching, people questioned His knowledge by refering to His background---"Was He not the son of the carpenter in Nazareth?" Here this implies that St. Joseph was a carpenter by trade, and Jesus very likey helped Him. I have seen pictures of the Child Jesus helping St. Joseph with the woodworking and the Blessed Virgin Mary is looking on either from a staircase or while hanging the laundry.

Have you ever been see the Staircase of Loretto in Santa Fe, not far from,Albuquerque, New Mexico? IT is beautiful! It is also called the miraculous staircase, which many believed

was constructed or inspired by St. Joseph the Carpenter, was built sometime between 1877 and 1881. It took at least six months to build, and has two 360 degree turns with no visible means of support. The sisters had made a chapel built but there was no plan set up to get to the choir. These nuns recited a novena to St. Joseph,patron saint of carpenters. On the last day of the nine day novena, a man showed up riding a donkey and carrying a tookbox looking to work. When he finished a beautiful circular staircase without nails but using wooden pegs, he left with getting paid. He had also used wood not found in the area to build this wonderful masterpeice.Many peoples believed it was St. Joseph himself who answered the sisters' prayers.

St. Joseph is the patron saint of all workers and . Pope Pius IX declared him to be the patron saint and protector of the Catholic Church in 1870. St. Joseph is also the patron saint of diferent countries, including canada.

St. Joseph, pray for us!

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes

This month of February is not just the month of Valentine hearts and roses. On February eleventh, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. She appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous, who was only fourteen years old, in a grotto outside of Lourdes called Massabielle, in 1858, and requested a church or chapel be built. The Blessed Virgin was to appear eighteen more times, and promised Bernadette that she would not make her happy here in this world but in the next. Bernadette would call her "aquero"( in other words "that") and decribed her as a lady wearing a white veil with a blue girdle, and a single yellow rose on each foot. Many did not believe her, including her mother; but those who did believed the apparition considered that it was the Blessed Virgin herself. The Blessed Virgin's last visit there was on
July 16th of the same year. When, after many a request to ask her her name , as the local priest Father Dominique Peyramale had specifically wanted to know, the Virgin told her  "Gascon Occitan", meaning "I am the Immaculate Conception." This identity had been defined as dogma of the Church just four years earlier by Pope Puis IX that the Blessed Virginunlike the rest of us had been conceived without the stain of original sin. Bernadette, who had never heard of this, kept repeating this name over and over on the way to the priest's house so she would not forget.

Lourdes is one of the greatest pilgrimages in the world, and thousands flock there to pray and ask for healing,as many miracles have been wrought. The miraculous water, which healed many after Bernadette dug the dried ground and ate the grass as directed by the Lady, still flows, and many pilgrims take plenty home with them. Lourdes is a very nice place to meet with other Catholics and share the faith, which is such a gift from God and not always appreciated around the world or even in Lourdes. When I was there last,for example, our server at the dinner table admitted he did not believe any of it, which was sad to hear, as onein Lourded is so close to seeing exactly why we really are here on this earth.

St. Bernadette was declared Venerable by Pope Puis X, then later declared Blessed on June 2nd,1925 by Pope Puis  XI. She was canonized a Saint also by Pope Puis XI on December 8th in 1933.The year " 2009" was declared "The Year of Bernadette.." Bernadette's body remains incorrupt in the Chapel at the Convent of Nevers, where she spent the last years of her life as a sister there. I have been there twice, and she looks so beautiful in person, the pictures of her do not do justice!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dear friends,

Just a quick note to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a properous and blessed New Year. For me, Christmas was spent with the Christmas eve vigil followed by midnight  high mass. The chapel was packed with other parishoneers eager to well in the Christ Child's birthday. After the midnight mass, Father went right into the mass at dawn, so the religious ceremonies ended just around 2 a.m. I spoke to one of my sister's later, and, as she lives far away from mass, went and spent an hour singing Christmas carols with the people in the town where she lived, and thoroughly enjoyed it. My husband and I later worked during the afternoon and evening, but it was filled with good cheer and free meals as well as plenty of cookies and cupcakes from the local religious communities. There goes all the calories!

Anyway, how was you Christmas? Hopefully, it was a blessed and happy one, with family and friends. I spent quite alot of time on the phone catching up with fiends and family who were not in the area. The next day, I spent some time in Seattle, taking in the sites, going out for my free meal at the Ram( an restaurant I highly recommend especially if you like burgers!), as well as my free mud pie, courtesy also of the Ram. I could not finish it all my myself, so I had help from a friend. What are friend's for, anyway? Just kidding!

As the new year approaches, we can all plan new or renewed resolutions. The daily  Rosary would be a good thing for all. One can never go wrong with that! I heard that this time of year is also when many singles go on line looking for that special someone to spent time with. I have heard that on-line lookers increase by at least ten percent. Well, whatever the percentage is, it is a good idea to try and meet new friends and hopefully make lasting relationships. I sure hope 2012 will be an exciting year for all and one to be remembered by all.

Until next time I write.....

God bless,

Melissa