Third Sunday After Easter 26th April 2015

Third Sunday After Easter

26 April  2015

 

“Amen, amen, I say to you, that  you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy.” Jn. 16:20

In this time after Easter the Church prepares us for Jesus’ Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  “Pentecost,  like Christmas and Easter, is a milestone in the liturgical cycle, but one which has no fixed penitential preparation, such as Advent and Lent. The wisdom of the Church has made up for this in the liturgy of these Sundays after Easter.” The Preacher’s Encyclopaedia: Lent and Eastertide,

p. 556  We see how Christ himself prepares us for Pentecost in today’s Gospel  (Jn.16:16-22), which takes place at the Last Supper and is Jesus’ last will and testament to His apostles. He says, “A little while and you shall see me no longer; and again a little while and you shall see me, because I go to the Father” (Jn. 16: 16).  Uncomprehending, the Apostles ask:  “What is this little while of which he speaks? We do not know what he is saying.” Jn. 16:18.  It will only become clear after His Resurrection and Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.   They will “weep and lament”  and “the world will rejoice” over His death, but then their “sorrow shall be turned to joy” (Jn.16:20) at His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven.  In today’s Epistle (I Pet. 2:11-19), St. Peter, instructs us to live our lives on earth as strangers and pilgrims because we are destined for heaven where we will be filled with joy: “Beloved, I exhort you as strangers and pilgrims to abstain from carnal desires which war against the soul.” I Pt. 2:11

 

The  Coming of the Holy Spirit and Eternal Life

            The Liturgical prayers and the epistle outline what is required for the Christian to prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit.   “The Collect sums it up. In it the Church reminds us of the sublimity of the Christian vocation and of the high degree of sanctity required of us who profess the name of Christ, while the Secret reminds us of one of the most important effects of Holy Communion, which extinguishes within us all worldly desires and inflames the heart with a love of heavenly things, a longing for the true joys of heaven.” Ibid., p.556 In the Postcommunion prayer, we pray again for help in our pilgrimage on earth to heaven.”.: “May the Sacraments which we have received, we beseech  Thee, O Lord, renew us with spiritual refreshment and defend us with bodily help...”  While St. Peter in today’s Epistle is admonishing the faithful to live good lives so that by their good example they will win over the pagans, the underlying reason for living good lives is because it is necessary to obey legitimate authority in order to gain eternal life:  “Behave yourselves honourably among the pagans; that, whereas they slander you as evildoers, they may, through observing  you, by reason of your good works glorify God in the day of visitation.” I Pt.2:12

 

“I will see you again...”

            Venerable Bede tells us: “These words of the Lord apply to all the faithful, who strive amid tears and pain of this present life to reach eternal joy. With good reason they lament and weep with sorrow in this present life, for they are not able to see him whom they love. They know that, as long as they are in this mortal body, wanderers from their true country, they must be, and form their own people. They doubt not that it is through hard work and struggle that they must reach their crown. Their sorrow shall be turned to joy when, once the contest of this life is ended, they receive the reward of eternal life of which the Psalmist sings: ‘They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.’ Ps. 125:5

 

No Joy for the Wicked

“But while the faithful weep the world rejoices; for rightly it is only in this present life that the worldlings will have any joy at all, those who place no hope in the joys of another life or who are without hope that they can attain them. This can be understood especially of the persecutors of the Christian faith; for having tormented and slain the martyrs, they rejoiced that they had conquered. But not for long, because while the martyrs were crowned in secret, these others suffered eternal punishment both for their unbelief and for their  murders. To these it was said by the mouth of the prophets: ‘Behold my servants shall rejoice, while you shall be confounded; Behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of the heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit.’ Is. 65:14

 

Our Birth to Eternal Life

“She remembers no more, he says, the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. As the woman rejoices  because a man-child is born into the world, so the Church  is filled with exultation at the birth of the Christian peoples into life eternal; because of whose birth she now grieves  and is in labour, as a woman who gives birth in this present life.  Nor should it seem strange to anyone that he is said to be born who leaves this present life. For just as he is said to be born who comes from his mother’s womb into light, so also may he truly be said to be born who is delivered of the bonds of the flesh and lifted up to life eternal. For this reason it is the custom of the Church to call those days on which the death of the martyrs and saints of the Church is commemorated their birth or Natalitia.

 

Crowned as Victors by Christ

            “When he says, ‘I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice,’ he meant: I will see you; I will snatch you from the jaws of your enemies; I will crown you as victors; I will prove to you that I was ever with you as you fought, like a witness. For when would he not see his own in the midst of their trials, since he has promised that he will be with them always, even to the end of the world?  When the faithful died in the midst of their tortures their adversaries  thought that they were without aid, saying; ‘Where is their God?’  One such as these, surrounded with torments may well cry out: ‘Behold, O Lord, my afflictions; because the enemy is exalted’ (Lam. 1:9), which means to say: ‘Since the enemy who torments me raises his hand against the lowly ones of thine in pride, sustain us by thy help, O Triumphant Creator; prove to us that thou has seen our struggles when our enemies are driven off and defeated, and that those struggles are pleasing to thee....’

 

The Lord will see us again

“If then, brethren, we are afflicted by salutary sufferings... if with due sorrow  we weep for our own sins and for the miseries of our neighbours, the Lord will see us again, that is, he will show himself to us in the future who once deigned to see us and bestow on us the knowledge of his faith. He will see us that he may crown us who once saw us that he might call us. He will see us and our heart will rejoice, and our joy no man shall take from us; for this is the sole reward of those who suffer for God’s sake, to rejoice  forever in his sight.”   The Preacher’s Encylopaedia, p. 565-66

 

 

May is the Month of Mary:

Our Holy Father Pope St. John Paul II: “The Christian family finds and consolidates it’s identity in prayer.  Make the daily effort to find a time to pray together, to talk with Our Lord and listen to his voice. How beautiful it is when the family prays in the evening, even though it be only a part of the Rosary.  The family that prays together stays together; a family that prays is a family that is saved.  Act in such a way that your home may be a  place of Christian faith and virtue through your praying together.” (Address to families, 24 March 1984)

 

May Crowning and Consecration

 

  Next Sunday, 3 May 2015, we will have a May Crowning of Our Lady and a Consecration to Immaculate (according to St. Maximilian Kolbe) both in the Church (for the Sisters) and in the Lourdes grotto outside on the grounds.   This is a most important devotion as it honours Our Holy Mother during her special Month of May, and it binds us to her as her special “possession and property.”  St. Maximilian Kolbe spoke of all those who are consecrated to the Immaculate “She penetrates our soul and directs its faculties with unlimited power. We truly belong to Her. Therefore, we are with Her always and everywhere...”(SK 461)

And further still: “We are Hers, of the Immaculate, unlimitedly Hers, perfectly Hers, we are, as it were, Her very self. She, by means of us, loves the good God. She, with our poor  heart, loves Her divine Son.  We become the means by which the Immaculate loves Jesus, and Jesus, seeing that we are Her property, a part, as it were, of His most loving Mother, loves Her in and through us. What beautiful mysteries!”  Sk 508  

 St. Maximilian declared that those who are consecrated to the Immaculate would be a means of holiness and grace to others (especially their own family): “She needs to be brought into all hearts,’ so that She, upon entering into these hearts, may give birth there to the sweet Jesus, to God, and bring Him up even to that perfect age. What a beautiful mission!”  SK508

 

            St. Louis de Montfort tells us of Total Consecration to Mary: “This devotion consists, therefore, in giving ourselves entirely to the Most Blessed Virgin that, through her we may belong entirely to Jesus Christ. We must give her: (1) our body with all its senses and members; (2) our soul with its powers; (3) our material possessions and all that we may acquire; (4) our interior and spiritual possessions—our merits, our virtues and our good works, past, present, and future; in short, all that we possess in the order of nature, in the order of grace …” St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, p. 88-9

 

First Friday:  1 May 2015

Now is a good time to continue (or begin) the  devotion to the “Nine  First Fridays” of the Month.   The Sacred Heart of Jesus promised to St. Margaret Mary:  "I promise thee in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving the Sacraments; My Divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment." 

 

Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix

(MIM)    2 May 2015

 

On the First Saturday of every month, we will have our monthly formation program for those who interested in affiliating themselves with the Marian Spirituality of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The day begins at 9:30 AM and goes until 4 PM and includes two conferences, Holy Mass, adoration and the rosary. (see flyer on door)

  This spirituality is Marian and Franciscan and includes the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi,   St. Maximilian Kolbe and other Franciscan saints. “The fundamental aim of the MIM is the fulfilment of God’s plan for the salvation and sanctification of all souls through the maternal mediation of the Immaculate to the supreme glory of the Most Holy Trinity.”  (Article 2: Statute)

It is most important at this time in our world to come together and learn about Our Lady and her messages especially Fatima.  Pope John Paul II:  On November 9, 1976 said in the USA as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla:  “We are now standing in face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through.  I do not think that the wide circles of American society or the wide circles of  the Christian community realize this fully.  We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the Anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-gospel.”

We hope that all of you will consider joining the MIM and work for your own sanctification and the sanctification of  so many souls who are in danger of being lost for all eternity in hell as Our Lady said at Fatima. 

 

 

The First Saturday: 2 May 2015

 

Our Lady told Sr. Lucia in 1925 “…I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."  If only we would do what Our Lady asks, we would be assured of eternal salvation.  Our Lady promises us all the graces necessary for our salvation if we keep The Five First Saturdays! 

 

Why the Rosary is so important!

 

 

“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.”   Pope Blessed Pius IX

“If you persevere in reciting the Rosary, this will be a most probable sign of your eternal salvation.”    Blessed Alan de la Roche

“The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary.”    Saint Francis de Sales

“When the Holy Rosary is said well, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious than any other prayer.”
Saint Louis de Montfort

“The Holy Rosary is the storehouse of countless blessing.”    Blessed Alan de la Roche

“One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world.”   Saint Dominic

“If you say the Rosary faithfully unto death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins, ‘you will receive a never-fading crown of glory’ (1 St. Peter 5:4).”   Saint Louis de Montfort

“You must know that when you say ‘hail’ Mary, she immediately greets you! Don’t think that she is one of those rude women of whom there are so many—on the contrary, she is utterly courteous and pleasant. If you greet her, she will answer you right away and converse with you!”      Saint Bernardine of Siena

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Sunday After Easter 19th April 2015

Second Sunday After Easter

19 April 2015

 

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”

Jn. 10:11

Today’s meditation is taken from Fr. Gabriel of St. Magdalene, OCD’s book, Divine Intimacy (#154):   “The liturgy today sums up in the gentle figure of the Good Shepherd all that Jesus has done for our souls.  The shepherd is everything to his flock; their life, their sustenance, and their care is entirely in his hands, and if the shepherd is good, they will have nothing to fear under his protection, and they will want for nothing. Jesus is pre-eminently the Good Shepherd: He not only loves, feeds, and guards His sheep, but He also gives them life at the cost of His own. In the mystery of the Incarnation, the Son of God comes to earth in search of men who, like stray sheep, have wandered away from the sheepfold and have become lost in the dark valley of sin. He comes as a most loving Shepherd who, in order to take better care of His flock, is not afraid to share their lot. Today’s Epistle ( I Pt. 2:21-25) shows Him to us as He takes our sins upon Himself that He may heal us by His Passion: ‘Who His own self bore our sins in His Body upon the tree that we, being dead to sin, should live to justice; by whose stripes you were healed. For you were as sheep going astray; but you are now converted to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.’  I Pt. 2:24-5   In today’s Gospel (Jn. 10:11-16), Jesus said, ‘I am the Good Shepherd, and I give my life  for my sheep.’ (cf. Jn. 10:11)  In the Office for Paschal-time, the Church chants many times: ‘The Good Shepherd is risen, He who gave His life for His sheep and who died for His flock.’  What could be a better synthesis of the whole work of the Redemption?  It seems still more wonderful when we hear Jesus declare: ‘I am come that they may have life and may have it more abundantly.’ Jn. 10:10  In truth, He could well repeat to each one of us:  ‘What more could I have done  for you that I have not done?’ (cf. Is. 5:4)  Oh, would that our generosity in giving ourselves to Him had no limits, after the pattern of His own liberality in giving Himself to us!  Fr. Gabriel, Divine Intimacy, p.462

 

‘I know Mine, and Mine know Me,”  Jn. 10:14

            Again, Jesus said: “ I am the good shepherd I know Mine, and Mine know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father.’ Jn. 10: 14-15)  Although there is no question here of equality, but merely that of a simple comparison, it is nevertheless very consoling and glorious for us to see how Jesus likes to compare His relations with us to those He has with His Father.  At the Last Supper also, He said: ‘As the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you,’  Jn, 15:9 and again: ‘...as Thou Father, in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us.’ Jn. 17:21  This shows that between us, the sheep, and Jesus, our Shepherd, there is not only a relation of acquaintance, but also one of love, and better still, of communion of life, similar to that which exists between the Son and the Father. It is by means of the grace, faith, and charity, which the Good Shepherd acquires for us by His death, that we arrive at such intimacy with our God—so deep that it makes us share in His own divine life.” Fr. Gabriel, p. 462.

 

“Loving Knowledge”

“A close relationship of loving knowledge is here established  between the Good Shepherd and His sheep—one so intimate that the Shepherd knows His sheep one by one and can call them by name; and they recognize His voice and follow Him with docility.  Each soul can say: Jesus knows me and loves me, not in a general abstract  way but  in the concrete aspect of my needs, of my desires, and of my life; for Him to know me and to love me is to do me good, to encompass me more and more with His grace, and to sanctify me.  Precisely because He loves me, Jesus calls me by name: He calls me when in prayer He opens to me new horizons of the spiritual life, or when He enables me to know my faults and weaknesses better; He calls me when He reprimands  me or purifies me by aridity, as well as when He consoles and encourages me by filling me with new fervour; He calls me when He makes me feel the need of greater generosity, and when He asks me for sacrifices or gives me joys, and still more, when He awakens in me a deeper love for Him. Hearing His call, my attitude should be that of a loving little sheep who recognizes the voice of its Shepherd and follows Him always.”  Fr. Gabriel, p. 462-3

 

Colloquy: Loving Affections

 “O good Lord Jesus Christ, my sweet Shepherd, what return shall I make to You for all that You have given me?  What shall I give You in exchange for Your gift of Yourself to me?  Even if I could give myself to You a thousand times, it would still be nothing, since I am nothing in comparison with You. You, so great, have loved me so much and so gratuitously, I who am so small, so wicked and ungrateful. I know, O Lord, that Your love tends toward the immense, the infinite, because You are immense and infinite..Please tell me, O Lord, how I ought to love You.” 

“My Love, Oh Lord, is not gratuitous, it is owed to you... Although I cannot love You as much as I should, You accept my weak love.  I can love You more when You condescend to increase my virtue, but I can never give You what You deserve.  Give me then, Your most ardent love by which, with your grace, I shall love You, please You, serve You, and fulfil  Your commands. May I never be separated from You, either in time or in eternity, but abide, united to You in love, forever and ever.”  (Ven. R. Jourdain)   Fr. Gabriel,  p. 464-5

 

“The Lord is my Shepherd...”

          “‘O Lord, You are my Shepherd, I shall not want; You make me lie down in green pastures, You lead me to the water of refreshment, You convert my soul and lead me on the paths of justice. Even though I walk in the ravines, in the dark valleys, I shall fear no evil, for You are with me.  Your rod and Your staff are my comfort. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over....’(cf. Ps. 22)   “O Lord, my Good Shepherd, what more could You have done for me that You have not done?  What could You have given to me that You have not given?  You willed to be my food and drink. What more delightful and salutary, nourishing and strengthening pasture could You have found than you own Body and Blood?”  Fr.  Gabriel, p. 463

 

The Good Shepherd Continues in His Church

 

Dom Prosper Gueranger in his book, The Liturgical Year Vol. 7 tells us how the work of the Good Shepherd is continued in the Catholic Church:  “The Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, is come down from heaven, that he may ‘gather together  in one the children of God that were dispersed’ Jn. 11:52), and the time is at hand when there ‘shall be but one fold and one shepherd.’ Jn. 10:16. O Jesus! Our divine Shepherd!  We bless thee, we give thee thanks. It is by thee that the Church thou are now  founding subsists  and lives through every age, congregating and saving all that put themselves under her guidance. Her authority, her strength, her unity, all come from thee, her infinitely powerful and merciful shepherd!  We likewise bless and thank thee that thou hast secured this authority, this strength, this unity by giving us Peter as thy Vicar, Peter our shepherd in and by thee. Peter to whom all, both sheep and lambs, owe obedience, Peter in whom thou, our divine Head wilt be for ever visible, even to the end of the world!” Gueranger p. 134   How blessed we are to have the work of the Good Shepherd continue in the Catholic Church today where Pope Francis, the successor of St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ, governs and sanctifies all members of the Holy Catholic Church.  

 

 

The First Saturday of the Month

2 May 2015

Our Lady told Sr. Lucia in 1925 “…I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."  If only we would do what Our Lady asks, we would be assured of eternal salvation.  Our Lady promises us all the graces necessary for our salvation if we keep The Five First Saturdays!  Just think that when you are  about to die that the Blessed Virgin Mary will be there with you to help you get to heaven!   “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen”   How many times have you said these words in your lifetime?   Note also that Our Lady said at Fatima that when men fulfil my requests of not offending her Son anymore, praying the Rosary and making reparation for sins on the Five First Saturdays then she will bring peace to the world:  “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph and there will be an era of peace for a time.”

 

 

 

How to attend Holy Mass

 

“The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the sacrifice, dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar.  If you wish to hear Mass, as it should be heard, you must follow with eye, heart, and mouth all that happens at the altar. Further, you must pray with the Priest the holy words said by him in the Name of Christ and which Christ says by him.  You have to associate your heart with the holy feelings which are contained in these words, and in this manner you ought to follow all that happens at the altar. When acting in this way, you have prayed Holy Mass.”

 His Holiness, Pope St. Pius X

 

 

 

Divine Mercy Sunday, 12 April 2014

Divine Mercy Sunday, 12 April 2014

Because thou has seen me, thou hast

believed. Blessed are they who have not

seen and yet have believed

. Jn. 20: 29

The words of John’s Gospel (Jn. 20: 19

-31)

are very appropriate for today’s feast of Divine

Mercy. Jesus commended those who have not seen

and yet believe. (cf. Jn. 20:29) We have to trust in

the words of Jesus both in the gospel and in His

words to St. Faustina. Jesus continually spoke of

mercy during His earthly life. He went so far, as

we see

in today’s Gospel, to ordain His apostles and

their successors in the priesthood to forgive sins;

“

Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall

forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins

you shall retain, they are retained.

”

Jn. 20:22-23.

The sacrament of Reconciliation is essential to our

salvation, yet there are many who do not believe.

St. John in today’s Epistle (I Jn. 5:4

-10) tells us

how necessary it is for us to believe in Jesus Christ

if we wish to save our souls:

“Who is he that

overcometh the world, but he that believeth that

Jesus is the Son of God?”

(I Jn. 5: 5) Only with

Jesus Christ can we overcome the evils in the

world. This is why Jesus brought the messages of

“Divine Mercy”

to St. Faustina in Poland just

before World War II.

“Divine Mercy” is a critical

message for our dark and destructive times It is

now more important than ever as the era of mercy

may soon end, and the time of judgment will arrive

with Jesus’s Second Coming. The Mother of God

told St. Faustina:

“Oh how pleasing to God is the

soul that follows faithfully the inspiration of His

grace! I gave the Saviour to the world; as for

you, you have to speak to the world about His

great mercy and prepare the world for the

Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a

merciful Saviour, but as a just judge. Oh, how

terrible is that day! Determined is the day of

justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels

tremble before it...”

(Diary of Divine Mercy #

635 DDM)

Rich in Mercy

Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II has

given us this feast of Divine Mercy and has written

much about the need to go to the fount of mercy

by reciting the Chaplet of Divine Mercy: “

At no

time… especially at a moment as critical as our

own can the Church forget the prayer that is a

cry for the mercy

of God…The Church has the

right and duty to appeal to the God of Mercy

with ‘loud cries’.

(Rich in Mercy, #15) Our

Blessed Lord told St. Faustina that He cannot refuse

a soul who begs for mercy: “

Souls that make an

appeal to My mercy delight me. To such souls I

grant even more, more than they ask. I cannot

punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an

appeal to My compassion.”

(DDM #1146) Jesus

tells us to “

Beg for mercy for the whole world.”

(

DDM #570) “No soul that has called upon My

mercy has

ever been disappointed.”

(DDM

#1541)

But on the contrary, I justify him in My

unfathomable and inscrutable mercy.

” (DDM

#1146)

Channels of Grace

Souls who come to Jesus with trust receive

such an abundance of grace that they radiate it to

others. Jesus

told St. Faustina: “When a soul

approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an

abundance of graces that it cannot contain them

within itself, but radiates them to others.” (

DDM

#1074)

How is this done? “You are to show

mercy to your neighbour always and

everywhere...

(DDM #742)

Mystery of Divine Grace

Sanctifying grace is one of the most

important doctrines of our faith. To be ignorant of

divine grace is to be ignorant of the Catholic faith.

At the Last Supper, Jesus told us,

“I am the vine

you are the branches; he that abideth in me

beareth much fruit, for without me you can do

nothing.”

Jn. 15:5 We can only grow in holiness

and bear much fruit with the grace of God. We

received this sanctifying grace at our baptism when

we were made children of God, heirs of heaven and

sharers in God’s divine nature. We were also called

to be spouses of Christ which is our eternal destiny

in heaven. Grace is nothing else than sharing in

God’s love. In fact, another name for sanctifying

grace is love

. “God is love.” I Jn. 4:17 Jesus told

St. Faustina:

“I desire to unite Myself with

human souls; My great delight is to unite Myself

with souls. Know, my daughter, that when I

come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My

hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want

to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay any

attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and

busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I

am that souls do not recognize Love! They treat

Me as a dead object....” DDM

#1447 How

blessed we are to go to confession and receive Holy

Communion and gain so many graces on this Feast

of Divine Mercy!

The Hour of Divine Mercy

Jesus asked St. Faustina to promote the

Chaplet of Divine Mercy which should be said

frequently especially at the hour of Divine Mercy,

3:00 P. M. He promised:

“In this hour you can

obtain everything for yourself and for others for

the asking: it is the hour of grace for the whole

world

—mercy triumphs over justice.”

(DDM

#1572). He also promised, “

In this hour I will

refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request

of me in virtue of my passion.”

(DDM #1320).

“

For the sake of His sorrowful passion have

mercy on me and on the whole world.”

(Divine

Mercy Chaplet

)

Image of Mercy

Jesus said, “

Not in the beauty of the

colour, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this

image, but in my grace.

” (DDM #313) “The two

rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray

stands for the Water which makes souls

righteous (Baptism). The red stands for blood

which is the life of souls… These

two rays issued

forth from the depths of My tender mercy when

my agonized heart was opened by a lance on the

Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath

of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell

in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall

no

t lay hold of him…

(DDM #299)

Easter Novena of Masses

The Masses from the Easter Vigil, 4

April 2015 to Divine Mercy Sunday 12

April 20154 will be offered for all the

Relatives and Benefactors of the

Franciscans of the Immaculate. May God

bless you all for all the good that you do

for the Friars and Sisters of Lanherne.

Divine Mercy Sunday

(1

st Sunday after Easter)

:

12 April 2015

10:00 AM Sunday Holy Mass

2:00 PM Adoration of the Most

Blessed

Sacrament

- (with

Confessions)

3:00 PM Divine Mercy Chaplet &

Holy Mass

(After the Divine Mercy Services, there will

be tea at St. Joseph’s Hall. All are welcome.

)

Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday, 4-5 April 2015

Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday,

4-5 April 2015

“Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus

who was crucified; He is not here; for He has

risen even as He said.” Mt. 28:5

The Solemnity of the Resurrection of Our

Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday is

the most joyful of feasts. It is Jesus’ triumph over

death and a pledge of our own resurrection from

the dead at the end of our life. The Angel tells this

to the women at the tomb in today’s gospel (Mk.

16:1-7): “Do not be terrified. You are looking for

Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has

risen, he is not here.” Mk. 16: 6. St. Peter also

tells us how important is Christ’s Resurrection from

the dead: “That through His name all who believe

in Him may have forgiveness of sins in His

name.” Acts 10:43 With our baptism, we have

been cleansed of sin through Christ’s sacrifice as

we see in today’s Epistle (I Cor. 5:7-8): “Brethren,

purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new

paste, as you are unleavened: For Christ our

Pasch is sacrificed.” I Cor. 5:7 By Jesus’ Passion,

Death and Resurrection, we have been freed from

sin and reborn to eternal glory in heaven.

Jesus Conquers Death and Sin

Dom Gueranger in his “Liturgical Year,”

Vol. 7 calls Easter “the feast of feasts, and the

solemnity of solemnities...It is on this day that

the mission of the Word Incarnate attains the

object towards which it has hitherto been

tending: man is raised up from his fall and

regains what he had lost by Adam’s sin.

“Christmas gave us the Man-God; three

days have scarcely passed since we witnessed his

infinitely precious Blood shed for our ransom;

but now, on the day of Easter, our Saviour Jesus

is no longer the victim of death; He is a

conqueror, who destroys death, child of sin, and

proclaims life, that undying life which He has

purchased for us. The humiliation of his

swathing-bands, the sufferings of his agony and

cross, these are passed; all is now glory—glory

for himself, and glory for us. On the day of

Easter, God regains, by the Resurrection of the

Man-God, his creation such as he made it at the

beginning; the only vestige now left of death is

sin, the likeness of which the Lamb of God

deigned to take upon himself. Neither is it Jesus

alone that returns to eternal life; the whole

human race also has risen to immortality

together with our Jesus. ‘By a man came death,’

says the Apostle; and by a Man the Resurrection

of the dead; and as in Adam all die, so also in

Christ all shall be made alive.’” (I Cor. 15:21-2)

Gueranger, p. 1-2

Easter Sunday Is the Renewal of Creation

Again, Dom Gueranger recounts the glory

of Christ’s Resurrection on the first day of the week

“...whereby He conquered death and proclaimed

life to the world. It was a favoured day of the

week that he had, four thousand years

previously, created light; by selecting it now for

the commencement of the new life which he

graciously imparts to man, he would show us

that Easter is the renewal of the entire creation.

Not only is it the anniversary of his glorious

Resurrection to be, henceforward, the greatest of

days, but every Sunday throughout the year is to

be a sort of Easter, a holy and sacred day. The

Synagogue, by God’s command, kept holy the

Saturday or the Sabbath in honour of God’s

resting after six days of the creation; but the

Church, the Spouse, is commanded to honour

the work of her Lord. She allows the Saturday to

pass—it is the day on which her Jesus rested in

the sepulchre; but, now that she is illumined

with the brightness of the Resurrection, she

devotes to the contemplation of his work the

first day of the week; it is the day of light, for on

it he called forth material light (which was the

first manifestation of life upon chaos), and on the

same, he that is the ‘Brightness of the Father’

(Heb. 1:3) and ‘the Light of the world,’ (Jn.

8:12),rose from the darkness of the tomb.”

Gueranger, p. 16-7

The Eighth Day---of Eternity—

Our New Sabbath

Dom Gueranger reminds us, “Let then, the

week with its Sabbath pass by; what we

Christians want is the eighth day, the day of

eternity, the day whose light is not intermittent

or partial, but endless and unlimited. Thus speak

the holy Fathers, when explaining the

substitution of the Sunday for the Saturday. It

was indeed, right that man should keep, as the

day of his weekly and spiritual repose, that on

which the creator of the visible world had taken

his divine rest; but it was a commemoration of

the material world only. The Eternal Word

comes down into the world that he has created;

he comes with rays of his divinity clouded

beneath the humble veil of our flesh; he comes to

fulfil the figures of the first Covenant. Before

abrogating the Sabbath, he would observe it as

the day of rest, after his Passion, in the silence of

the sepulchre; but, early on the eighth day, he

rises to life, and the life is one of glory. ‘Let us,’

says the Abbot Rupert, ‘leave the Jews to enjoy

the ancient Sabbath, which is a memorial of the

visible creation. They know not how to love or

desire or merit aught but earthly things...They

would not recognize this world’s creator as their

king, because he said: “Blessed are the poor” and

“Woe to the rich!” But our Sabbath has been

transferred from the seventh to the eighth day,

and the eighth is the first. And rightly was the

seventh changed into the eighth day, because we

Christians put our joy in a better work than the

creation of the world... ‘Let the lovers of the

world keep a Sabbath for its creation; but our

joy is the salvation of the world, for our life yea

and our rest is hidden in Christ in God.’”

Gueranger, p. 17

“If you are risen with Christ, seek the things that

are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand

of the Father.” Col. 3:1

Let us then seek the eternal Sabbath of the

eternal light and rest which Jesus has purchased for

us by His Precious Blood. Our true home is in

heaven! Our salvation, the fruit of Christ’s Passion

and Resurrection, is guaranteed if we, seek the

things that are above where Christ is sitting at the

right hand of the Father.” Col. 3:1

Easter Novena of Masses

The Masses from the Easter Vigil, 4 April 2014

to Divine Mercy Sunday 12 April 2015 will be offered

for all the Relatives and Benefactors of the Franciscans

of the Immaculate. May God bless you all for all the

good that you do for the Friars and Sisters of Lanherne

Services for Holy Week at the Convent

Church of St. Joseph and St. Anne

Confessions one half-hour before all the services

and on Holy Saturday from 10:00 AM-12 Noon.

(If these times are not convenient, just call and make an

appointment.)

Mass of the Lord’s Supper

on Thursday: 2 April at 5:00 P. M.:

After Mass there will be Adoration at the

Altar of Repose after Mass until

Midnight.

Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on

Good Friday: 3 April at 3:00 P. M

Stations of the Cross on Good Friday at

7:00 P.M. (Outdoors, weather permitting)

Holy Saturday: 4 April :

Confessions: 10 AM to Noon

Easter Vigil: 4 April at 8:30 PM.

(After the Easter Vigil Services all are welcome to come to

friary after the Vigil for tea and biscuits and more.

Easter Sunday: 5 April:

Holy Mass-10:00 AM

Divine Mercy Sunday 12 April

(1st Sunday after Easter):

12 April 2014

10:00 AM Sunday Holy Mass

2:00 PM Adoration of the Most Blessed

Sacrament- (with Confessions)

3:00 PM Divine Mercy Chaplet & Holy

Mass

(After the Divine Mercy Services, there will be tea at St.

Joseph’s Hall. All are welcome. )

Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix

(MIM) 11 April 2015

This month because of Holy

Saturday, the MIM will meet on the

second Saturday of April, 11/4/15

We will have our monthly formation

program for those who interested in affiliating

themselves with the Marian Spirituality of the

Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The day

begins at 9:30 AM and goes until 4 PM and

includes two conferences, Holy Mass, adoration

and the rosary. (see flyer on door)

This spirituality is Marian and Franciscan

and includes the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi,

St. Maximilian Kolbe and other Franciscan saints.

“The fundamental aim of the MIM is the

fulfilment of God’s plan for the salvation and

sanctification of all souls through the maternal

mediation of the Immaculate to the supreme

glory of the Most Holy Trinity.” (Article 2:

Statute)

It is most important at this time in our world

to come together and learn about Our Lady and

her messages especially Fatima. Pope John Paul II:

On November 9, 1976 said in the USA as Karol

Cardinal Wojtyla: “We are now standing in face of

the greatest historical confrontation humanity has

gone through. I do not think that the wide circles of

American society or the wide circles of the Christian

community realize this fully. We are now facing the

final confrontation between the Church and the

Anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-gospel.”

We hope that all of you will consider joining the

MIM and work for your own sanctification and the

sanctification of so many souls who are in danger of

being lost for all eternity in hell as Our Lady said at

Fatima.