The Paralytic (Luke 5) and the Communion of Saints

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

That is today's 'quote of the day' on myCatholic.com. But this day has been even more special to me. I experienced the communion of saints in a very particular way.

Yesterday, as I was praying that rosary of the Seven Sorrows. I realize more of the mysteries of the human heart. Somehow the Lord explained to me how graces are gained by a meditation on the suffering of Mary. If we love Jesus we have to be concerned with his mother as well. When a person like me review how much she has been good to me. I can't just seat and remain indifferent. I have a very long and rich experience with Our Lady. Before I personally consecrate myself to her in many ways, I think my father consecrated me to her when I was born. I know he did it to my little sisters. Plus, he always put on our neck a miraculous medal specially when we were in danger (like during the Rwandan Genocide). But I personally experienced her direct influence on me when she saved me from a very near death. Both times my family thought I was surely dead, but I implored her help and she came for me. In addition to that she called me in her wonderful Schoenstatt family: a grace I don't know how I can describe. Despite all this and many more, I never really understood the mystery of her 'sacred heart' until yesterday when I was meditating on her sorrows. She pondered everything in her heart. She looked at the world from her heart. I realize more and more that life is more 'full' and purposeful when we look at other people's heart. We can notice their needs and related better to them. Titles like 'Queen of Peace' are connected to the human heart. Peace of heart: not worries, no regrets, peace of being forgiven, reconciliation, hope, more faith and confidence, etc.

What does all this have to do with today? Well, I decided to keep meditating on the sorrows and her relationship with me. Today, as I was going to work, I reached into the pocket of my coat and discovered a small prayer to St. Peter. I decided to pray it about five times. Then I prayed Hail Mary's in honor of the Seven Sorrows. After a while, I realise that I need help in praying to her. Just as I need her help to pray to Jesus, I realize I need somebody help to pray to her. So I kind scanned my mind looking for a saint to do the job. Blessed Pio showed up (EWTN was talking about him recently), and later I got St. John Vianney. Later, I remembered my guardian Angel. So I spent the day with these three guys. Asking one after an other to pray for me and with me.

At the end of the day. By an act of obedience and surrender to the will of God (I had something else in mind), I found my self watching Mother Angelica again. This time she is talking about the paralytic. Few months ago, I used to see myself paralyzed in my dreams frequently. Later, I realized that, before, I had asked God to help me to see how my spiritual state was like. In almost all those dreams, I had had to call 'Jesus' before I could become 'normal'. Jesus didn't show himself or speak loudly "get up and walk..." but I came to understand that God had been speaking to me through my dreams. I have other cases which proved later that they were special announcements.

When Mother Angelica started talking about the paralytic, I remembered a 'Healing Novena we are finishing with the Sr. Patricia (and other Franciscans praying for many people around the world...). But then I had a strong, sad feeling: " What if this is what my dreams were about !!!" Before I started wondering whether some 'men' took/are taking me to the Lord, Mother Angelica confirmed my suspicions with a small anecdote: " ...our protestant brothers have clever ways... I see many clever signs in front of their churches...one of them says: DON'T WAIT UNTIL SIX STRONG MAN CARRY YOU TO CHURCH... " Mother Angelica had immediately mentioned that we are very often spiritually paralyzed. You can tell like "when you confess the same sin over and over again..."

Well, I don't' generally miss weekly Mass, but I must be spiritual paralytic for a reason. Bad confessions would be the most likely reason. Going to confession often doesn't necessary mean spiritual health. It is really most important to do a good and deep examination of conscience. A simple scan may not show any sin. And we may think we are okay. But over many years, we may turn out to be spiritually paralyzed without realizing it. In my case it will requires some 'strong men' to realize it. Just look at these men who carried me to Jesus :):

1. Blessed Padre Pio: famous for being a good confessor with capacity to read people conscience and minds...
2. St. John Vianney of Ars: famous confessor who gave confessions for about 20+ every day
3. My guardian Angel: well....
4. St. Peter: power to bind and loose...
5. The Blessed Mother
6. My Schoenstatt friends who carry me always to the Shrine and many other saint-friends of mine...

Six strong men huh :)!!!

This is how wonderful is the communion of saints. The paralytic was healed because his friends (or people who know him) brought him to Jesus. It is even said that his physical paralyzes might have been related to his sins. Jesus healed his sins first, and then his physical illness next.

Well, I want to finish with a note of thanks for all those who pray for me. No matter how healthy we may feel, if we ask God, he can show us more areas where we need help. And we can be surprised that while we thought we were serving God we were also hurting him without knowing it. Then we can have the Lord's Peace. That's probably where the rosary of the Seven Sorrows is so powerful: a more powerful antivirus. Our Lady always promises us more peace, less time in purgatory, and other wonderful things. Protestants and and even catholics see this as nonsense... isn't this a result of some paralysis? We need all to participate in this wonderful communion of saints. Carrying each other in our hearts to the Lord. We never know what the next miracle will be.

Last, one of the Church Fathers reminds us of one word the Lord said to one of the paralytics he healed: "sin no more lest some worse thing happen unto you." This article was supposed to appear yesterday, but didn't because of some editing (which are still not over...). It looks like my publishing is getting worse...I need to review my schedule.

Feast of Our Lady Of Sorrows

One of the reasons I started this blog was so I can collect most basic useful information about life for me and those who visit this blog. It occured to me that the Church is alive and that it is working seriously for a clear and noble purpose than the average person realize. The Church is building a civilization of love. People in the Church are working in millions of ways to make the Father's Kingdom come. I figure I could participate by making their noble actions known to me and those about me.

Today (pacific time - sorry I was too late in posting this post)is the Feast Our Lady of Sorrows. Someone made a YouTube video about a rosary of the Seven Sorrows. Here it is. This is just the first part, the other parts will show up in small windows after the movie is over.

Our Lady's Birthday

Today the Church celebrates the Blessed Mother's Bday. She is so wonderful to the Church, to the World, to each one of us. What Present are we giving her? what flower do we give to her?

Everyone in the World, especially every christian should give her something...at least for her big eternal 'YES'. Every christian should say together with the Church: 'I love you Mom!'. St. Gemma used to do contests with her guardian angel to see who say 'I love you' to Jesus most lovingly. May be we can enter our hearts and search for all the ways/reasons we should celebrate our Mother's day.

Assumption of Our Lady

I interrupt my 'break' to get my blog to celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady:)

The pope gave a great homily today about how Mary is closer to us than ever, now that she is one and in heaven with her divine son.



Nous te saluons,
Ô toi Notre Dame,
Marie,vierge sainte que drape le soleil.
Couronnée d'étoiles, la lune est sous tes pas.
En toi nous est donnée
L'aurore du salut
1. Marie Eve nouvelle et joie de ton Seigneur
Tu as donné naissance à Jésus le Sauveur.
Par toi nous sont ouvertes les portes du jardin
Guide-nous en chemin, Etoile du Matin

2. Tu es restée fidèle, mère au pied de la croix.
Soutiens notre espérance et garde notre foi.
Du côté de ton fils, tu as puisé pour nous
L'eau et le sang versés qui sauvent du péché.

3. Quelle fut la joie d'Eve lorsque tu es montée,
Plus haut que tous les anges, plus haut que les nuées,
Et quelle est notre joie, douce Vierge Marie
De contempler en Toi la promesse de vie.

4. Ô Vierge immaculée, préservée du péché,
En ton âme, en ton corps, tu entres dans les cieux.
Emportée dans la gloire, Sainte reine des cieux,
Tu nous accueilleras un jour auprès de Dieu.

Please pray for Schoenstatt here in Canada

Last time I forgot to ask for your prayers for Schoenstatt here in Canada.

In Vancouver, we are currently going through some legal actions in order to introduce the Schoenstatt movement in canadian parishes. Please pray for us, for those who have already been introduced to Schoenstatt, and for those who will be. Pray that our Mother be victorious. That Christ increase in us and that we decrease!

Child of God, what have you done up to now to help the souls around you? You
cannot be content with that passiveness, with that idleness of yours. He wants
to reach others through your example, through your words, through your
friendship, through your service.
– St. Josemaria Escriva, The Forge, #880

Grey areas and "Abandonment to Divine Providence"

- Man Must Learn to Hear Truth, Says Pope -

Growing in charity is also a matter of knowing how to make a difference between what is right and what is wrong with certainty. And also how to power ourselves up for the good action. Both of these are accomplished by abandonment of ourselves to the will of God. But how do we know the will of God? This book go throught it all. Below are few quotes. I like how it sound schoenstatt. Those quotes themselves explains something of the schoenstatt picture of grace of the MTA.

On then, my soul, on with head uplifted above earthly things, always satisfied
with God, with everything He does, or makes you do. Take good care not to
imprudently entertain a crowd of anxious reflexions which, like so many
trackless ways, carry our footsteps far and wide until we are hopelessly astray.
Let us go through that labyrinth of self-love by leaping over it, instead of
traversing its interminable windings.

On, my soul, through despondency, illness,
aridity, uncertain tempers, weakness of disposition, snares of the devil and of
men; through suspicions, jealousies, evil imaginations and prejudices. Let us
soar like the eagle above all these clouds with eyes always fixed on the sun,
and on its ways, which represent our obligations. All this we must needs feel,
but we must, at the same time, remember that ours is not a life of mere
sentiment, and that it does not depend upon us either to feel, or to be callous.

Let us live in the higher regions of the soul in which God and His will form
an eternity ever equal, ever the same, ever unchanging. In this dwelling
entirely spiritual, wherein the uncreated, immeasurable and ineffable holds the
soul at an infinite distance from all that is specific in shadows and created
atoms, it remains calm, even when the senses are tossed about by tempests. It
has become independent of the senses; their troubles and agitations and
innumerable vicissitudes no more affect it, than the clouds that obscure the sky
for a moment and then fade away, affect the sun.

On the Priest for Life show on EWTN at this moment, you can read on screen the number of abortions as they (the Show people) speak. It increases by 3-6 every second.

Abortion is one of the things that some people even some churches are still confused about their evilnes. Fr. Corapi likes to say that the Devil's favorite color is not black as we usually think: It is gray!
The Devil confuses people. In all kinds of moral situation people don't know exactly if something is bad. If they feel that it arranges them, then they conclude that it must be okay since...this and that...even God can undestand this particular situation...etc.

The good thing about being Catholic is that our Church is not one of those ones who are confused about 'gray' issues. Dispite the largeness, or how many traditions, spiritualities, etc, the entire universal Church knows exactly what it wrong what is right in matters of morals and faiths. Jesus is with us. And He would never fail to answer you question cleary and to find a solution for it.

If you are confused about any matter you can be sure to get an answer. Here in the internet Catholic Answers' people can clear any doubt you may have.

On this blog, Theology of the Body, and Gospel of Life are themselves great moral resources left to us by our beloved pope John Paul II. They propose a deep and genuine undestanding of life, love, and truth based on the Bible, Reason and Faith .

An other kind of 'grey' area we often experience is about understandig the will of God at any moment of our lives. At work, and real life I always get confused on how to testify for truth without sounding judgemental, or feeling prideful.

There is a schoenstatt song we used to sing in Africa. It said:
" If Mother send you to (complete here with any charitable deed you can do for your neighbor)
Will you go right away?
Ans: Yes, I will go, of course I will go right away...

Now, some case are very easy. However, others are just 'grey'. You can feel her sending you, but you just can't figure out which way to proceed. Or, you are not well disposed to act. In either case, if something goes wrong later, you can really fell hurt. Mother sent you to her child and you failed her. You can fell the sadness. If this happened to you, this is one of the things you can do (you probably know others :)).

But it is bette to find avoid it from happening in the first place. We are told that we need to arm ourselves because the devil is always 'closer than we think'. The commandement of the King is to love. But love can be sometime very confusing. It is amazing how some acts that we may think are out of love may be precisely the opposite. From keeping silence out of 'respect' to a mother aborting her child because she is not ready (so it is good for both of them), all kind of acts and decisions may seem to be out of love. So how do we tell real love? How do we tell the reel will of God? and How do we find enough strength to do it?

In my previous post I provided links about "crashing the head of the Old Dragon". Remember that this dragon is mostly preocupied by our Mother and us who try to keep the commendements. Well, we are the strategic 'points'. We should always remember that we are in dangereous positions of the front. We are not in the occupied area, nor on the unoccupied area. We are on the frontline. Fr. Corapi has a great series on his web site about this spiritual warfare: Surrender is Not an Option. I think it is probably still running on EWTN (saturday and sundays).

Again this is the wonderfull document about Divine Providence. Read it and don't loose your blessings or miss to deliver God's blessings to others.

It is great for any christian, specially for Schoenstatters. I am not sure but it must have been written by a schoenstatter. I saw it few years ago in french but its font was not attractive and I was not in mood to read, so I missed the treasure. When I realised that I saw it, I had a feeling which might be similar to that of St. Peter after denying Jesus. The remorse of taking yourself more serious than God.

VISITATION OF MARY

I missed posting on Pentecost (Birthday of the Church), and stories of the impressive saints; saint Rita and Saint Philomena on their feast day few days ago. I am glad to post something about the Blessed Mother in her month.

Today is the feast of the Visitation of Mary. May everyone get a special visit from her!

VISITATION OF MARY

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2006 (CNA)

The Visitation of Mary is
one of the many Marian feast days on the liturgical calendar. The feast of the
Visitation recalls when a pregnant Mary visits her cousin, Elizabeth, who is
also pregnant. At the sight of Mary, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb “jumped with
gladness”, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth then spoke
the words that Catholics now recite in the Hail Mary: “You are blessed among all
woman, and blessed is the child you will bear.” Soon after, Elizabeth gave birth
to her son, John

Pentecost



And stories of St. Philomena and St. Rita.