Backyard garden shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes

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Our Lady of Fatima (regarding Purgatory)

Our Lady of Fatima said that a girl named Amelia would stay in Purgatory until the end of the world. This is a sobering thought. If we pray for Amelia, her time in Purgatory might be shortened. 

Remember that Sister Lucia said that missing one Sunday Mass (deliberately) can send one to hell for all eternity. The same applies for missing a Mass deliberately on a Holy Day of Obligation. 

In view of this, it is good to remember St Therese’s teaching on avoiding Purgatory and going straight to heaven. The teachings are summarized here:  http://www.franciscan-sfo.org/ap/litfwrpu.htm

The Rosary (Poem)

In the Rosary
There is great power.
Miracles on earth,
It can shower.

Miracles of healing
And every kind of grace,
The Rosary can bestow,
Upon the human race.

Take up the Rosary,
And say it well,
It’s a weapon against,
All the powers of hell.

More of my poems

The grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in France

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is the famous grotto at Lourdes, France.  It is the place where Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette, on February 11,  in 1858.  There a miraculous spring there.

Only a Taste of Lourdes Water

A Jesuit Father writes the following account to a religious paper :

 

The horse which was to have brought me to the railway station, fell on the slippery streets, and, so I missed my train. This was indeed very vexing as I had taken every precaution to be in time. We arrived at the station just as the train was moving off; regrets were useless, so I patiently submitted to my lot, and thought I would say my Office during the time which would elapse before the next train, which was due in about an hour. This was no easy task in a busy station, but if I went away, I did not know what to do with a large bottle of Lourdes water, which I had with me. To put it in the luggage room did not seem quite reverent, but I noticed in the corner of the waiting-room, a man, closely wrapped up, who, to all appearance, meant to sit there for several hours. So I walked up to him, and asked if he were going to remain there for some time. “Yes,” was the reply. This ‘Yes’ was uttered shortly, and signified, rather, ‘What does it matter to you?’  “Are you going to stay till eleven o’clock?” “Yes,” was the curt rejoinder. His voice sounded still gruffer. “If I leave this article here, will you look after it?”  “What is it”? he asked. “Oh, nothing very particular; but will you have, the kindness to take care of it?”

 

In a sulky voice, I at length got the reply- “Very well, leave it there.” I then went off to a quiet spot under some trees, near the station. Having finished my Office, I bought a newspaper, in order to pass away the remaining twenty minutes. Scarcely had I begun to read, when I seemed to hear a voice saying to me: “Go and see what has become of the bottle!” “Stupid bottle!” I could have said but the remembrance of its contents restrained me. I wanted to read, but the voice seemed to repeat: “Go and see what has become of your bottle!” I could stand this no longer, so I went; the man was still there, the man of the slow, rough and morose answers, but he sat with his face buried in his hands, and the tears welling through his fingers. “Oh, Father”, he said, “I will tell you all, yes all.” (How I wondered at this unexpected manner of address.) “You see that I am already an old man. I was born and baptized in the Catholic Church, and until the age of eleven, I practised my religion; then I lost my mother, and my father being already dead, I was left alone in the world.

 

Fortunately, I was in the hands of a good master, but he was a staunch Protestant, and he eventually constrained me to embrace his religion; and to please him, I became a Protestant. Later on I married, and God gave me a good Catholic wife who continually entreated me to return to the religion of my childhood; but I put it off from year to year. When you went away, leaving this bottle standing here, I was curious to know what it contained, and to try what a papist priest’s brandy tasted like, but I soon perceived that it was only water after all. As soon as I had taken a mouthful, a change came over me, I felt determined to become a Catholic once more; and I will do so immediately. So I beg of you, Father, to hear my confession.” This announcement was so strange that at first I believed the good man had been drinking something more than my water, and so I wanted to get rid of him. “We have not any time now,” I replied, “for the train will be here in a few minutes; besides, this is not the place for such things. Come to me at X.”

 

“Now, Father, now,” was the rejoinder. “I cannot come to X; do hear my confession and I promise you that I will go to church next Sunday with my wife.” “Do you know,” I asked, “where this water comes from?” “No” he replied. “It is from the miraculous spring of the Immaculate Mother of God at Lourdes.” “Well then, it is the Blessed Virgin Mary who has obtained this grace for me,” he said. Thereupon I lost no more time and before the train left, I had reconciled this aged sinner to his God.

 

The 54 Day Rosary Novena

 The 54 day rosary novena is a simple devotion which was revealed by Our Lady to a girl in Italy in the 19th Century. It is done in the following way: You say the Rosary for 54 consecutive days in a row. The first 27 days are for the petition and the next 27 days are for thanksgiving. Regardless of anything that has happened, you still go ahead and thank Our Lady for the outcome.                            

I and many other people have experienced terrific answers to prayers that seemed to have been bordering on the impossible. One of these petitions was very big and I had prayed my heart out for it for about two years and this seemingly impossible request was granted in the most wonderful way after I did a 54 day Rosary Novena as a final resort to get it granted and the answer was far more abundant than I had even requested or imagined when I made my petition. I can highly recommend this devotion to you.  Its power has been demonstrated to me in wonderful ways and I certainly am not alone in enjoying its fruits.  Many people throughout the world had done so too. Making this novena is a good way to keep up your motivation for saying the rosary on a daily basis.  

Read my book: Help from Heaven (Answers to prayer) including those from the 54 day Rosary novena by pressing here.

 

Loretta Young

The following story was told by the late Father Aeden McGrath an Irish missionary priest at a talk which he gave in Sydney, Australia.  Father McGrath was in China during World War II when the Japanese Army were in the country.  The Japanese were advancing toward the area where his parish was located. The local women were terrified of what was going to happen when the Japanese soldiers arrived. They begged Father McGrath who was a very short man to protect them.  There was very little that he could do. He prayed to Our Lady for help.  The Japanese soldiers arrived.  The Japanese sergeant had a big crush on Loretta Young the Hollywood actress, who he had seen in movies. He was keen to find out if Father McGrath had ever met Loretta Young.  As a matter of fact Father McGrath had met her, probably through association with Father Patrick Peyton (the founder of the Family Rosary Crusade). The sergeant ordered his soldiers to leave the people in peace, because Father McGrath knew Loretta Young!

This is one of the stories in my book: Help from heaven (Answers to prayers). The book can be read free on-line by pressing here. 

            

The Fitness Plan

When Pat decided

to get fit,

He purchased himself

an exercise kit.

 

For a week, he worked hard,

at sit-ups and crunches,

And then he began to skip

corporate lunches.

 

After a week,

His muscles were sore.       

Pat decided to exercise

and diet no more.

 by Mary Ann (the owner of this blog)

 

Help for people who are suffering from Panic attacks

Prayer is the most important thing to help the sufferer of panic attack. I have had firsthand experience of this unpleasant condition and have also given voluntary counseling, to people who have been sent to me, by a priest friend who did not know what else to do to help people who came to him, seeking prayers and help to overcome their panic attacks.

These people did recover from the condition.  When you add prayer to the equation things improve out of sight.

 

As well as prayer, I would like to recommend to your friend the following advice.  There are many books on panic attack, however the one which I would recommend to your friend is entitled: Living with It. The author of the book is Bev Aisbett. It is published by HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd.

 

A search of the Internet  will quickly locate web sites which distribute the book.  What is different about this book, is that it is actually a cartoon book with captions.  The author of the book Bev Aisbett, is a professional cartoon artist, living in Sydney.  She wrote this book, after suffering and recovering from this debilitating condition.  The visual humour in the book is extremely valuable to the sufferer of panic attack, and instructs them in what the condition really is, and the techniques which you can use to overcome panic attack.

 

Briefly the symptoms of panic attack are caused by a release of a large flood of adrenaline into the blood stream, which ordinarily is meant to protect you in dangerous situations, such as when you would flee if you saw a violent person running toward you to physically attack you, or to help you to move with great haste out of the path of a speeding car, which was coming toward you. However in the case of panic attack the body releases a flood of these chemicals inappropriately, (when there is no real danger).  However you are not sunk in this matter. There are steps that you can take to deal with the situation and be healed of panic attack.

 

I will outline some of these for you now.  If you feel the condition of panic attack coming upon you with its unmistakable symptoms of heart palpitations, sweating, shaking, extraordinary fear that doesn’t match the situation that you are in, (for example you may be just simply shopping at the supermarket, where no real danger exists), there are special breathing techniques which can be used.  Another technique is that you dare your body to unleash the symptoms upon you.  The symptoms will abate or stop completely, if you adopt an attitude that says,  “I do not care if the body unleashes the symptoms of panic attack upon me”.  The release of adrenaline in panic attacks is not able to operate when this attitude is adopted.  The more often you get on top of this matter the sooner you will recover from this condition. 

 

It has been observed that consciously switching to a calm attitude, during a panic attack, somehow enables the brain to switch off further releases of Adrenalin, thereby minimising the severity of the attack.

 

The habitual use of relaxation techniques, such as lying down and listening to soothing music or using imagination techniques, such as the imagining yourself in a very relaxed calm place such as the beach, are also useful in the treatment and management of panic attack.  It is important to replace negative and fearful ideas with the calming and positive ones.

 

It doesn’t really matter what stresses in your life led to panic attack, the important thing is dealing with it, and recovering from it.

 

My book on answers to prayer (on line free): (An Appeal for more stories)

Dear Friends,

I have recently put up online the first edition of my book: Help from heaven (Answers to prayer).  

There are many stories of answers to prayer. They cover several saints, the guardian angels, St Raphael the Archangel, Our Lady and Our Lord (invoked under several titles), the Miraculous Medal, The Divine Mercy, The Sacred Wounds of Our Lord, The intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory for their benefactors, etc. There are also prayers, an article on how to meditate on the Rosary, an article on miracles, some poems etc. The stories came from friends, relatives and  acquaintances.  

The book is an apostolate to help people. It is not a commercial venture. 

I thought that it would be good if the book contained more stories of answers to prayers. If you have a story of an answer to prayer (that is original) that you think might be suitable for the book, please email me at:

 catacomb@bigpond.com 

Through your feedback the book might be improved.

Greetings and prayers for all your intentions,

Mary Ann

(Australia) 

The book is in two parts and can be read at the following links:   

Help from heaven (part one)

http://missionbell.homestead.com/HelpFromHeavenBook.html 

Help from heaven (part two – final section) 

http://missionbell.homestead.com/HelpFromHeavenBookPartTwo.html 

Please let your family and friends know about the book also, so that they can have a look.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

(for using up leftover uncooked vegetables)

1 Kg. mince meat

Two 450g cans of tomatoes

1 or 2 cans of thick tomato soup

2 large onions (chopped)

Leftover uncooked vegetables (found at the back of the fridge). Only use vegetables which are mould free.

Any vegetables which children don’t like e.g. spinach. Put the last two items through a food processor. Put it all in a heavy (large) saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for about 1 hour.

Optional: Put in half a cup of red wine if desired for more flavour. Serve over spaghetti or noodles. (Potatoes are not a suitable vegetable for use in this recipe).

Healing of autism (Mary Help of Christians)

In the 1980’s an outdoor shrine of Mary Help of Christians was built and blessed in Sydney. Our daughter was three years of age at the time. She had severe autism and could not talk. The man who was in charge of the shrine was a friend of our family. He told us that he had a plan to hold regular gatherings at the shrine, where people would pray for specially chosen intentions. e.g. a person with cancer. He selected our daughter as the first person who would be prayed for. We willingly agreed. It was his hope that our daughter would receive a miracle healing. On the appointed day, a group of people gathered at the shrine. A Jesuit priest brought our daughter up to the microphone and introduced her to the people and explained to them that she had autism.  He asked them to join with him in saying the Rosary for her healing. At the end of the Rosary the priest asked the people to keep this intention in their prayers. There was no instant miracle that day, but in the years to come our daughter made spectacular progress.

 

Useful information 

The powerful intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory for their benefactors and ways to help them

 

Novena to St Philomena the Wonder Worker for the healing of autism