Hello to all our members! How is your Holy week going? I wanted to give a quick note about the chapet of Divine Mercy, which starts tomorrow,Good Friday.

This feast of Divine Mercy, as recorded in Saint Faustina diary, we can receive from Jesus the biggest promises of Grace in the Devotion of Divine Mercy. This feast day is on the Sunday after Easter,also called Low Sunday. Jesus states that the soul that goes to Confession around this time, and receive Holy Communion on that day, shall obtain the total forgiveness of all sins and punishment. Also, the Roman Catholic Church grants a plenary indulgence (under the usual conditions) with the recitation of some simple prayers nine days prior, and may include the daily rosary.

Now more about this feast......

St. Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who had visits and talks with Jesus Himself. He asked her to paint the vision of his Merciful Divinity being poured from his sacred heart and specifically asked for a feast of Divine Mercy to be set on the first Sunday after Easter so people would turn to Him. He wished to be publicly venerated, so all would know about Him.Jesus also stated that humanity would not find true peace until all souls turn to trust in the Divine Mercy. This devotion was promoted by Pope John Paul, who canonized Saint Faustina on April 30th,2000, and put the date of Divine Mercy Sunday in the Roman Calendar. The following year, the Pope re-emphasized the feast. The Divine Mercy Image is often carried in processions,and later placed in the local church. It is interesting to note that John Paul II, who died in April 2005 on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, was himself beatified on Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011, by the next pope, Pope Benedict XVI .

For the daily prayers, please look towards the site about the Divine Mercy Sunday on the internet.Happy Easter!

Melissa

Hello to all subscribers! How is your Lent coming along? Just under a couple of weeks to go, and then there's the celebration of Easter. During this time, we focus on the Passion and death of Jesus and look for ways to make sacrifices, though smal,l are pleasing to God. Alms-giving is also very meritorious during this time in the liturgical year.

But we can also focus on the sorrows of the Blesse Virgin...Look at the sacrifices she undertook when she gave her Son for us on the cross. She is not only a witness to His suffering on Calvary, but she also forsaw what would happen to Jesus, her Son, even before He was born. She knew He would suffer and later die on the cross. What Mother can go thru life knowing what is in store for Him for thirty- three years. She lived in obedience to God's laws and loved all of us sinners that she followed God's plan, even when it was so hard, for she loved Him so much. And after He died upon the cross, she held Him in her arms for a last embrace. The "Pieta" scene, as one can see in St. Peter's at Rome, you see the Mother of Sorrows holding her Son's lifeless body.... You can picture Mary looking over her Son, the gaping wounds of hands and feets,and a large cut in His side. His whole body is scared and torn. She thinks over His life and now where it has taken.She knows that the torture is over. She gives Him one last kiss before He is wrapped and placed in tomb. St. John will help her home;Jesus had asked him too. I don't think she slept that night.

So, I will leave you with these thoughts. Will try to write more next week!

Melissa

 

Well, Lent has started and will last until April 8th this year. Have you made any Lentin resolutions yet? It is not too late, still around 5 weeks to go. I know most people give up food, like chocolate (my favorite!) or injesting meat only once a day. The new canon law states that one needs to abstain from meat all the Fridays in Lent. All other Fridays through-out the year, it is a good practice to abstain from meat but it is no longer required under pain of sin. The stations of the cross is also often recited during this time of year, and very often on Fridays at the local parish church or even privately at home.

 

There  are other things we can do to help sanctify our souls. Repentance for our sins is one of them. Oftentimes a Ignatian retreat of 5 days is offered by diferent retreat houses or centres. I have been to the one in Phoenix, AZ , and it was excellent, with Father Burfett as the main preacher. Los Gatos and St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary are other locations. Go to the SSPX website for more information. Self-denial can also be praticed or at least an attempt to undertaking your daily duties without complaint. Alms-giving is again another practice for those who can afford to stretch out a helping hand to a neighbour or a parishioner who may need it. Prayer and meditation of the passion of Jesus is a good way to get ourselves in the mode of Lent.

 

Lent is forty days. For some of us, it seems like an eternity. My sister-in-law has already complained after a week that Lent is already

 affecting her in a food kind of way. (Maybe because I sent her pictures of my delicious meal of the day!What a tease!) Anyway, getting back to the number forty, Jesus was lain in the tomb for forty hours after dying on the cross. Jesus fasted for forty days in the desert before he was tempted. Jesus has recommended fasting to His disciples, so I am sure that also applies to us. Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai with God, as you can see from the book of Exodus. Elijah walked for forty days and night enroute to Mount Horeb, noted in the book of Kings. During the great flood, it rained for forty days and night. The Hebrews walked the desert for forty years while trying to get to the promised land.

Jonah gave forty days to the people of Nineveh to repent or die. So it is our turn to give forty days to work on our souls and hopefully give them to God!

 

Happy Lent!

 

 

This period of the church concentrates on the Passion of Christ, His Death, and His subsequent Resurrection on Easter Sunday. During this time, we can gain so many special graces when we meditate on His Passion, pray on each of the fourteen Stations of the Cross, and offer daily sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. Many eat only one meal of meat daily with Fridays no meat. Others can fast with no eating between meals. The big days of fast and abstinence in the Catholic Church are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Anyone can fast, but those most encouraged are those between the ages of seven and sixty-five. St. Theresa says, " I wish to suffer everything that my Beloved wishes. I wish to allow Him to do with His little ball whatever He desires." Also ," I am no afraid to suffer for you." She further states that nothing is too great to suffer in order to win the palm of eternal life. So we should try to carry our daily cross, offer up little crosses and tribulations for our sins and the conversion of others who don't know the way to Him. According to one passage in the book of Hebrew : Let us run with persevereance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesu,s the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Lent is composed of forty days. That is approximate six and one half weeks, not including Sundays. It is such an important time in the liturgical year. This is the time when our Lord procures heaven for us by paying the debt owed to omnnipotent God for original sin. Have you watched the movie The Passion? I think it is very good to watch during this time of year, and it helps us think about what Christ went thru during His Passion, including how the devil tempts Him and how the disciples abandoned Him. I think it shows how God truly loved us. God truly showed how He loved us as He willingly died on the Cross for us, the ultimate sacrifice of His love. Envision the Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross; she says nothing but looks at Him sorrowful, but knowing that He is doing the will of the Father and praying for all of us, her children. Let us never forget what she does for us, continually pleading for us before God. Let us also consider why we were created, to love and serve God , and be happy with Him someday, in heaven.