Heaven Rejoiced

Yesterday while praying the rosary and meditating on the 4th and 5th Glorious Mystery, I allowed myself to imagine the scene, what it MAY have been like, and it was breathtaking.

Our beautiful Blessed Mother drifted off to sleep, closing her eyes for the final time in her earthly flesh. Before death could settle in, her beloved Joseph and her Glorified Son appeared at her side. They came to take her home. Her husband, her earthly protector, St. Joseph gently lifted her up into his arms, and oh how much he was looking forward to this moment. Together the Holy family rose to heaven. As they reached heaven St. Joseph carried his precious Mary over the threshold with Jesus by their side into her heavenly home, all of Heaven rejoiced!

After gently placing her on her feet, the Holy Family made their way to the Queens thrown. Her white gown gently flowing as she made her way through the crowd of heavenly souls. It was clear to see her sweetness and humility as she slightly bowed her head and smiled at each soul she passed.

After she sat on her thrown, Jesus placed a beautiful crown on her head and a light burst forth from her Immaculate Heart. As the light of glory passed through her pure soul, prisms of light danced all around her and spread out over all of heaven as they bowed down, laughing with joy and singing praises to God for her arrival. Her beauty and radiance filled all with tremendous joy. Our Lady had come to take her rightful place next to the King as Queen of all, also known as the Gebirah. All of Heaven celebrated!

The mission of the Holy Family on earth was complete. Now together from Heaven The Holy Family would begin their heavenly mission to make Jesus known throughout the earth, and through the Holy Spirit, set the world on fire!!

Come Lord Jesus Come!! Alleluia Alleluia!!!

Just Behind The Mystical Veil

I recently heard there was a poll done questioning Catholics about their belief in the true presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Around 70% said they believe that the Eucharist is just a symbol, that they do not believe in transubstantiation and that Jesus’s Body and Blood are concealed within the Host and Wine. At first this shocked me, but only for a second because it actually makes sense.

So many of us were never properly catechized by the Church or by our parents. I had no idea about this truth until I was in my early 30’s. There are many reasons for this lack of knowledge which I won’t go into right now. To make matters worse, we are now living in a time of advanced science, relativism and a bunch of other isms that lead to skepticism. And let’s face it, it was a hard teaching 2000 years ago for Jesus’ followers as well. Let’s read what Jesus had to say.

John 6:52-55 – The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

With those words we see many of his followers becoming more upset with what He was saying.

John 6:60 – Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

Finally we see the result.

John 6:66 – As a result many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”

They walked away, they knew what he said and many of them rejected it. He didn’t try to stop them. He could have said, no wait a minute, you misunderstood, but He didn’t. He let them leave.

It was a hard teaching during the reformation just over 500 years ago and it’s a hard teaching to this day. Who in their right mind would believe that Jesus would allow through the hands of his priests to turn bread and wine into His body and blood? You bet it’s hard. But the reality is many Saints, followers and lovers of Jesus have died over the last 2000 years to defend this truth.

I chose the title Just Behind the Mystical Veil for this blog because I believe with all of my heart the main reason people have lost their faith is because by and large we no longer believe in the miraculous. Our spiritual senses have been dulled. We’re all skeptics. It’s good to be skeptical to a certain degree, as long as we are hearts are open to the possibilities. I know there isn’t anything I could write that will add to what has already been written, there isn’t any new information per say. But I feel the need to write none the less. Because of modern science we have found that some miracles of the Eucharist around the world are scientifically proving some pretty amazing truths. The Veil is thin for those who truly believe.

As I share some stories with you, that many of may have never heard before, I hope your hearts are open and the Veil thins for you as well.

If anyone would like to understand a little more history about how the first disciples of Christ did believe what Jesus said, I would highly recommend a book written by Brant Pitre titled Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist. I couldn’t put it down and he digs into the history of the Jewish faith through ancient history to help explain how this made perfect sense to the Jewish people whose hearts were open to hear it.

Resurrection

The day before yesterday I saw a rather large yellow butterfly dancing around me while I was taking a walk. I stopped to watch it flutter about, landing just a few feet from me on the ground. Looking at him, I thought how beautiful he was and how rare it is to even see butterflies anymore, then he took flight again, circling around me until eventually disappearing into the nearby woods.

Certainly seeing a yellow butterfly isn’t an usual event, even with all the pesticides we can still manage to see one now and again, but for some reason this one seemed special. I mentioned to my son that I had seen this beautiful yellow butterfly earlier in the day and he stopped short, looked at me a bit surprised and said he too had seen one just a few hours ago when walking a few miles from here. Strange, we both agreed, but again not totally out of the ordinary.

I just couldn’t get this little beauty out of my mind so I decided yesterday after praying my rosary that I would open my bible and see if the Lord had anything special to say to me. This is not unusual for me to do, but today I thought I would just see if my little visitor had any special meaning. As many probably know the butterfly in Christian tradition represents the Resurrection. This is because of the transformation the butterfly takes from caterpillar to butterfly.

Closing my eyes I said a prayer and opened my bible not knowing where it would be. 1 Corinthians Chapter 15, The Resurrection. “Oh wow” I thought. Then I read slowly through St. Pauls first letter to the Corinthians to see what the Lord was wanting me to know.

The message I took away from this is Jesus is Risen and He will indeed make all things new! I’ve been feeling called to write but I’m a hopeless procrastinator. God has been so good to me and showered me with more Grace than I deserve. It is my responsibility as a believer to be a witness and to not ignore His call for my help anymore.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the word of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

If procrastination doesn’t take hold of me again, I’ll be back soon with more! Peace!!

John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live…”

Feast of St. Cabrini

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Feast of Saint Frances Cabrini

Today, Nov. 13, is World Kindness Day! It is also the feast day of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, our first US citizen to be canonized. What was she canonized for? Her kindness of course!

In 1880 Mother Cabrini’s bishop requested that she found the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in service of hospitals and the poor children. Then in 1889 she left her homeland of Italy with 6 other sisters and settled in New You working with immigrants.

In 1902 she moved to Denver, Colorado and settled in Golden. By the time of her death in 1917, she founded 67 institutions worldwide including schools, orphanages and hospitals.

There is a beautiful shrine in Golden that is well worth the trip. There is a magnificent 22 foot tall (33 foot with base) statue of Jesus dedicated to His Sacred Heart. 373 steps were placed up the side of the mountain to reach the statue. It is said St. Cabrini loved being here “I am happy to have a mission in the Rocky Mountains where I always desired to go, May God be praised!” – Mother Cabrini.

The two miracles that secured her sainthood include restored vision to a child who was blind and the healing of a nun that was terminally ill.

She was made patroness of immigrants in 1950.

In memory of this great saint, let’s go out and do something kind today!

 

 

Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today, September 12th,  we celebrate the feast day of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Blessed Mother loves us and desires to protect us. Her mission is to guide her children toward her son Jesus so that we may know Him and see how much He loves us.

This feast day began in Spain in 1513 and spread throughout the region. In 1683 muslim forces were pushing their way into Poland and John Sobieski, the king of Poland, entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary. After that, they easily defeated the muslims. Pope Innocent XI then extended the feast to the entire Church.

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