Please Pray for Mary

The following prayer request is from a colleague of mine at Malvern. Please pray for the following intention:

Dear Friends,

I have a dear friend who has recently been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. She is in stage 4 of 5 and it is progressing extremely rapidly. It began as subcutaneous t-cell lymphoma ( which is basically a cancerous skin rash), and has progressed into her lymph nodes, liver and now into leukemia. This has all happened within the last month. Her name is Mary. She is only 62. She has 4 children and and 12 grandchildren, with one more on the way. She is one of the most wonderful women that you could ever meet. She would literally give anyone the shirt off of her own back. She is a kind Christian woman, whom I have been blessed to know for 39 years. She is my wife’s best friend.  I beg you to pray for her. I would love for you to pray to Pope John Paul II, as we know that he is on his way to beautification and needs only one more miracle for sainthood. I am enclosing a devotion to John Paul.  I thank you all for your time and prayers. I will keep you updated. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The world will be a much sadder place if Mary is not in it. Thank you.

- L.L.

Prayer for asking graces through the intercession of the servant of God, Pope John Paul II

O Blessed Trinity, we thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him. Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints.

Amen

To Make Us Uncomfortable

I love this woman, this young woman who is a gift of God and a passionate defender of life. Her mission, she says, is "to make us uncomfortable." She puts a face on an issue too many want to keep silent. She survived a saline abortion, she survived moreso the shame, pain, and despair that could have choked her like a dark cloud in the fact that she was supposed to be aborted. If this is not the work of Grace than what is? I love Gianna Jessen and you will too as you allow her into your heart in this moving testimony. She tells her story here in an address at Queen's Hall, Melbourne, Australia.

She Talks to Dinosaurs

Or maybe it's dolphins? Either way, it's amazing.

What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

I made a visit to our parish's adoration chapel yesterday for some much needed prayer time, and I saw my future. Well, what I hope to be my future. I finally know what I want to be when I grow up!

Just after 3pm, the Hour of Mercy, the exceptionally loud beeps of our security code box gizmo sounded - a sad necessity today, they say, to keep churches "safe." An old man cracked open the door, a chilly breeze swept into the candle lit womb of the Presence. I looked up to see a face cracked with age and layered with what appeared to be hard years. He saw me, then a smile broke over his wrinkled face and the years dropped off like old brown leaves. He turned and closed the door, then wordlessly shuffled towards the Tabernacle, just a few feet from the door (it's a mighty small chapel - the best kind in my opinion).

First, he knelt before the altar and gave a loving pat to the Golden Box that housed Divinity (also exceptionally small, like our hearts you might say). Then he opened the door that exposed a glass partition, revealing the Heart of Hearts in His Veiled Disguise. I'd forgotten to do this - or perhaps I was subconsciously waiting for this Simeon to appear in the Temple?

Next, he pulled out a little case from his pants pocket and cracked it open. He placed it on the altar, and just inches away from the Eucharistic Jesus, he began to whisper the prayers of the rosary. I could hear his s's and his t's, pronounced in slow and solemn procession, and once in awhile a little groan would escape his lips. I recalled the line from scripture; "... for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings."(Romans 8:26)

His hunched shoulders, his worn black shoes, his gentle caresses of the statues in that chapel all spoke to me and formed the shape of my prayer for the next thirty minutes. I was reading The Old Man and the Sea, as Rebecca said to me later. A man lost in the Sea of God, and for how long? How long had he swam in these divine waters of adoration? Of this Sea of Mercy? I watched his rhythmic movements and thought they must be a daily ritual for this old gnarled sailor of the spiritual life. And I was just a landlubber, a lackey, a deckhand still getting my sea-legs! But I know what I want to be when I grow up. A sailing man, with eyes watchful of the waves, and the gulls, and the dawn, and the deep, and the stars. "Unfurl the sails and let God steer us where He will," sang St. Bede.

Oh Jesus, Who walked on the waters of this world, teach me, lead me, help me hear you in the stillness and in the storm. Steady as she goes... 

Pope John Paul II to be Beatified!!! Yahoooooo!

"Benedict XVI has announced the beatification of of Pope John Paul II. It will take place on May 1. The announcement comes after a miracle was unanimously approved by the Vatican's congregation for the Causes of Saints."


I can't tell you how ridiculously happy this makes me!!! It also makes me a third class relic. Wooohoooooo!!!

TONIGHT — Former Planned Parenthood Director Reveals Secrets about the Abortion Industry!

Former Planned Parenthood director and "employee of the year" to reveal secrets from behind closed doors of the abortion business -- and WHY SHE LEFT Limited spots available for Abby Johnson's "Tell-All" Webcast on Monday, January 10 at 9 PM Eastern Dear Pro-Life Friend, After winning the legal battle against a massive Planned Parenthood lawsuit and restraining order – which was intended to silence her – former abortion clinic director Abby Johnson is finally ready to blow the whistle on her former employer and tell the shocking truth about everything she saw inside the abortion industry — and why she resigned her job to join the pro-life movement. Abby’s entire story has never been revealed publicly … UNTIL NOW! On Tuesday, January 11, Abby’s story will be released to the world in her landmark book, Unplanned, published jointly by Tyndale House, Focus on the Family, and Ignatius Press. One night before — on Monday, January 10, at 9 PM Eastern (8 PM Central, 7 PM Mountain, 6 PM Pacific) – YOU are invited to join Abby for a live webcast “sneak preview” of the no-holds-barred revelations which fill the pages of her book. Register below for the FREE webcast event, where you will discover: What initially attracted Abby to volunteer and then work for Planned Parenthood — America’s largest abortion chain — even after being raised in a faithful Christian home The hidden personal secret that Abby had kept buried for years The shocking discovery that suddenly caused Abby to question everything Planned Parenthood had told her over eight years Planned Parenthood’s confidential plans to expand its biggest money-maker –abortion – all across America The abortion industry’s furious reaction when Abby decided to quit her job and join local and national pro-life efforts What Abby’s court battle brought to light about Planned Parenthood’s REAL agenda The single most effective way to reduce Planned Parenthood’s abortion business and change the hearts and minds of clinic workers You won’t want to miss this eye-opening webcast event … and when you scroll to the bottom of this page and register, you will also be given the entire first chapter of Unplanned for FREE – before it is even released! Here’s what prominent leaders are already saying about Unplanned: ARCHBISHOP CHARLES CHAPUT, Archdiocese of Denver – “Beautifully written, intimate and honest. A wonderful portrait of the power of truth and grace working in the human heart.” FR. BENEDICT GROESCHEL, CFR, Host of “Sunday Night Live” on EWTN – “The moving story of the shocking truth of abortion and how God’s love and forgiveness transformed Abby’s life.”

Dancing in the Mine Fields