Madrid man builds cathedral from junk

30 December 2010 Last updated at 03:17 ET

 Madrid man builds cathedral from junk

By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Mejorada del Campo

Don Justo collects reject bricks and broken tiles from nearby factories and yards

It's the sheer size of the structure that first strikes you. Almost 40 metres (131ft) tall, its spires and giant dome tower over the surrounding apartment blocks in this Madrid suburb.

That's not unusual for a Spanish church. But this one is being built by an elderly man, almost single-handedly, out of junk.
Justo Gallego - or Don Justo, as he's known - embarked on his epic endeavour almost half a century ago.
Now 85 years old, he still has a huge amount to do.
Octogenarian Christmas was a rare rest day for Justo, whose one concession to age - and the weather - is to work inside during winter.
Even so, he's on site by 6am each day, sporting his red woollen skullcap. His grubby overalls are tied loosely with one red scarf; an identical one is draped - almost elegantly - around his neck.
"I do it for faith. That's clear, no?" the energetic octogenarian wonders, pausing to warm himself by an open fire.

Don Justo is neither a qualified architect or bricklayer - he is a farmer

"My mother was very pious. She taught me my faith and I love the Church. So I put everything into this."
But as a printed statement on the wall declares, Justo Gallego is "not an architect or a bricklayer" and has "no training related to construction".
Even his basic education was interrupted by the Civil War (1936-39).
"You don't need to study. You just need strength. It all comes from above," he reasons.
So is Justo's giant construction a remarkable act of faith or pure folly?

His church has no planning permission or formal architectural plans. All the details, Justo says, are "in my head".
“Start Quote

People have called me crazy and insulted me. But they're ignorant”

End Quote Don Justo

Partly modelled on St Peter's in the Vatican, Justo claims his construction also borrows from the White House, various castles and other Madrid churches. It's an eclectic mix.

Oil drums The vast central dome took 20 years to erect and there are two dozen more incomplete cupolas around the building.
There are cloisters, a sacristy, even a cavernous crypt. Sections of several walls have been painted gaudily to depict scenes from the Bible.
But, with no funding, the entire place is built out of recycled materials.
At 0400 every morning, Justo collects reject bricks and broken tiles from nearby factories and yards and deploys them in his church to higgledy-piggledy effect.
The columns supporting the ceiling were moulded using empty oil drums. The covering for one cupola is made from plastic food tubs, cut up.

Don Justo says his construction is partly modelled on St. Peter's in the Vatican

"People have called me crazy and insulted me. But they're ignorant," Justo says defiantly, during a guided tour of his life's work.
"When I look at what I've created, it overwhelms me and I give thanks to the Lord."
A former novice monk, Justo began work on his DIY church when he was expelled from the monastery after contracting tuberculosis. He has since invested his entire inheritance in the project.
He has one faithful helper who dropped by almost 20 years ago to visit.
"I thought the place was a ruin and Don Justo was a tramp," Angel Lopez Sanchez recalls, as he marks patterns onto glass with gold paint. His two ferrets sleep in a cage in the corner.

“Start Quote

The bricks don't meet minimum standards, either in themselves or the way they've been laid.”

End Quote Pablo Queralto Architect working for Mejorada del Campo council

'Icon of the town'

"But we spent all day chatting, he fed me chorizo and as I had a lot of spare time, I told him I'd help. He got so deep into my heart that I'm still here today and very content."

Angel estimates the window he's decorating is about the hundredth. There are around a thousand more to complete.
"But this is all Justo's work, and his ideas" Angel smiles. "I'm just his disciple."
"I work in a hurry, always in a rush," Justo says, as he smashes panes of coloured glass into tiny fragments for Angel to glue to the windows.
"Realising my ideal spurs me on. People today are very passive, they don't value anything. They're slaves to worldly things."

With no funding, the entire place is built out of recycled materials

But Justo is well aware his extraordinary ideal may never be fully realised.
As well as finishing the windows, the central dome still has no cover and the floor is bare; spiral staircases curl up towards the heavens and end in mid-air.
Scrawled on the wall in chalk are urgent appeals to visitors to donate funds for the church's completion.
So far, the town council has tolerated the illicit structure, which lures a steady trickle of visitors to the nondescript suburb. Some suspect the chaotically-constructed church will not outlast its creator.
"It's very difficult to get a license now," says Pablo Queralto, an architect working for Mejorada council.
"For example the bricks don't meet minimum standards, either in themselves or the way they've been laid."
But he described the eccentric edifice as an icon of the town now, unlikely to be torn down.
Justo has bequeathed his building to the local bishopric in the hope it can eventually serve as a fully functional parish church. That's his ideal, though he's pragmatic.
"Who knows what he'll do. It's up to him," he shrugs. But as Don Justo rushes back to yet another urgent task, he says he has no regrets.
"If I lived my life again, I'd build this church again, only bigger. Twice the size," he smiles, his elderly eyes sparkling.
"Because for me, this is an act of faith."

More on This Story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12088560

Understanding Medjugorje: A Reply to Donal Anthony Foley

Understanding Medjugorje: A Reply to Donal Anthony Foley
by Daniel Klimek
December 29, 2010
A few years ago, in June 2006, British author Donal Anthony Foley shared a press release regarding his book about Medjugorje. The press release explained:

News release for 26th anniversary of first Medjugorje visions – 22 June 2006
Understanding Medjugorje: Heavenly Visions or Religious Illusion? (Theotokos Books), by Donal Anthony Foley, was published just over a year ago but there has yet to be any cogent criticism of it. 
Foley and his publicists are right. There has yet to be a cogent response to the book. Foley's book is the latest work by a Medjugorje critic that is highly antagonistic toward the apparitions in the Bosnian village and considers them to be a religious illusion. It is also a book that to this day is hailed by Medjugorje critics as a must-read, as the work that exposes what Medjugorje truly is. Nevertheless, in light of Foley's recognition that a cogent criticism has yet to be offered, here at Ministry Values we proudly and seriously accept the challenge. Our response to Mr. Foley is undertaken for the pursuit of truth, on this highly important subject that has affected millions of Catholics, and we plan to pursue our objective with the most serious scholarly rigor and erudition.

DISTORTING OTHER AUTHORS

DUBIOUS SOURCES – From Discredited Authors to “Lucifer's Echo”

DISTORTING SCIENTIFIC STATEMENTS/FINDINGS
   
OUTRIGHT FALSEHOODS

FATIMA & MEDJUGORJE – Concluding Thoughts

read entire article here -source - http://ministryvalues.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1366&Itemid=125#josc7784

It's 2011 - Time To Try Something New!

It's 2011 - Time To Try Something New!  CLICK TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

On January 1, 2011 we all will begin a “NEW” Year. In the book of Revelation, it talks about a coming day when Jesus will proclaim: “Behold, I make all things NEW.” (Revelation 21:5)
As we begin this New Year, I want to challenge each of us to consider some “new” things that could be helpful to both our physical and spiritual well-being.
The Bible often cautions us with regards to the choices before us. For instance the apostle John admonishes us in the Bible, in 1 John 4:1…

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but TRY the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

I WAS RAISED ON RELIGION
As a boy, not by my choice, I was raised on religion. Mother and Dad sent me to, what I later learned was not a Bible believing church, but rather a very liberal church that proclaimed a social gospel rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In that church I attended Sunday School faithfully, even earned perfect attendance pins. ETC.........

I WAS RAISED ON THE STANDARD AMERICAN DIET (SAD)
I was raised (again, not by choice) eating things that were not in my health’s best interest. I was raised on the Standard American Diet (SAD), a diet of meat and dairy at most every meal, lots of sugary desserts, and almost everything I ate was cooked.  ETC..........

Tessa Dahl, daughter of the famous writer, has finally found peace - in an abbey.

A tale of the unexpected

Tessa Dahl, daughter of the famous writer, has finally found peace - in an abbey.

Tessa Dahl looks out from a page of the Daily Mail online. I had never heard of her until a few days ago when someone drew my attention to the story headed, “Why I’m leaving a life of addiction behind and becoming a nun…”, but most Britons probably know her as the daughter of the famous story writer Roald Dahl and Hollywood star Patricia Neal, a novelist in her own right, mother of cookery show personality and former model Sophie Dahl -- and a woman with a very chequered past.

The 53-year-old shows added signs of wear and tear from the alcoholism and cocaine habit she seems to have beaten, but you can see in the structure of her face the “sharp-cheeked beauty” the Mail refers to, and indeed, you can see her in her prime in another photo (right) taken with her father, who died in 1990. In those days she was a prominent London socialite with a couple of marriages behind her, but recently she has been living in the north-eastern United States where she set up house, near her mother, with some stray animals she rescued.

In the recent photo they have her posed with a Rosary in her hand outside a church. But for the past month or so she has been living at the Regina Laudis Abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut, home of the Benedictine order that she is the process of entering. Helping the Lady Abbess clean the chapel with a mop and pail, making butter, spinning yarn, keeping to a daily schedule of prayer is a far cry from hobnobbing with the rich and famous as she has done for much of her life, but, she says, “It is saving my life.”

It is an extraordinary turnaround, and it is not surprising that some of those who know her are sceptical. After all, her third marriage broke up because she came under the spell of a charismatic female Indian guru. All the same, there is something about the way she speaks in this interview that suggests this woman has found the answer to her lifelong search for inner peace.

‘They want to be sure that I am becoming a nun because I really, really, really love God, and they want me to prove that I can contribute to the abbey, that it isn’t just an escape.
‘Of course it isn’t,’ she adds, citing a moment of divine inspiration. ‘I had an enormous God experience as the nuns sang Vespers.
I felt as if a boulder had been pushed off my heart and it was open to joy.’
“If I wanted to escape,” she says, “I could do coke. But I don’t want to escape. I want redemption.”

Let’s just say, it’s hopeful.
Why her life has been so chaotic can be partly explained by a few biographical facts. As a child she saw her baby brother Theo hit by a taxi and left brain-damaged. Two years later her youngest sister Olivia caught measles and died. When she was nine, her mother had a stroke and the next few years revolved around her recovery. At 14 she discovered her father was conducting an affair with her mother’s best friend. She kept their secret for four years, and when she finally told Patricia, “she went insane.” They gave her bad advice:

‘I was 15 when Mummy encouraged me to become an actress. I was allowed to leave school to make a thoroughly unfitting film, Run Stranger, Run. I played a nymphomaniac murderess.
‘I started going out with older men. Dad had told me there was no point in having affairs unless it was with someone who was very famous and talented.’

In fact, at the time of her first marriage Tessa was 19 and her husband was 37.
Her father was unhelpful in another way too. She says that he “had no belief. He was frightened of feelings, of emotions, of God,” whereas she has always had a spiritual side (hence the Indian guru). But it was her mother who first found her way to Regina Laudis, after her marriage with Roald finally broke up in 1983. Patricia did not enter the order but spent more and more time at the abbey, underwent a religious conversion (presumably to the Catholic faith) and was cared for there in the final months before she died of lung cancer in August this year. Both the loss of her mother and a breach with daughter Sophie have propelled Tessa towards the monastic life.

She has a lot to regret in her life: the broken marriages, the rough ride she has given her four children, the alcohol and drug abuse that has made her a liability for her family, and her estrangement from them. In 1999 she made a suicide attempt and still has depression to battle. She currently depends on nine prescription drugs, AA meetings and intensive counselling for sanity and sobriety.


But she has hope, and I can’t help comparing her good fortune with dark despair that drove Mark Madoff to take his own life recently. The disgrace that has enveloped the prominent New York family over the Madoff business Ponzi scheme and the father’s imprisonment, as well as the possibility of criminal charges against other members of the family, must be among the hardest things in the world to bear.

Retirement to a monastery was not among Mark Madoff’s options, nor is it for the vast majority of people looking for inner peace. But what the monastery stands for -- faith and redemption -- is available to everyone. That is the meaning of Christmas, if people could only see it. And as Tessa Dahl has discovered, there really isn’t anything else solid enough to base your life on. Good luck to her.

Carolyn Moynihan is deputy editor of MercatorNet

This article is published by Carolyn Moynihan, and MercatorNet.com under a Creative Commons licence. You may republish it or translate it free of charge with attribution for non-commercial purposes following these guidelines. If you teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation. Commercial media must contact us for permission and fees. Some articles on this site are published under different terms.

SIGHT RESTORED AT MEDJUGORJE

On October 16, 2010, a party of 46 pilgrims from Switzerland gathered to board a bus to Medjugorje. Among the travellers was a blind woman Joëlle and her 12-year-old daughter Vinciane. They were accompanied by Claudia, a family friend.

The journey to Medjugorje did not go well. It took two days for the group to arrive at a border crossing into Bosnia & Herzegovina only to discover that the Swiss bus did not have the correct documents to travel into the country. The bus and the group moved on and tried another border crossing, but was met with the same decision by border officials. The bus would not be allowed to drive into Bosnia Herzegovina.

Fortunately, at the second crossing it was noticed that there was a local bus service operating a route to Medjugorje. So the party unloaded its luggage from the Swiss bus and waited at the stand for the next bus to arrive that would take them to Medjugorje. They finally reached Medjugorje that evening at 8.00pm.

The next day the group climbed Apparition Hill, including the blind woman Joëlle. It wasn’t an easy climb in the rain, but there was a great spirit of solidarity. Later in the evening, the group gathered again and attended the evening prayer programme at St James’ church, but Joëlle became unsettled after receiving the Eucharist but was put at ease by the pastor accompanying the group.

The following day, most of the group climbed Mt Krizevac, but for Joëlle and a few others, including the pastor, they prayed instead at the Way of the Cross that surrounds the statue of the Risen Christ. The main group on Krizevac prayed earnestly for the needs of Joëlle, and in the hope that she might recover her sight. Six hours later they came off the mountain in time to attend evening Mass at St James.

It was during this Mass that something remarkable happened. At the distribution of the Eucharist Joëlle raised her head and saw in front of her a priest wearing a white alb. She looked up and was able to see the lights in the church, its high ceiling and windows. The shock to Joëlle was so great that she started to feel unwell again and asked her friend to take her outside. When Joëlle made her exit she turned to Claudia and said, “I see the light!”

They continued walking around the outside of the church towards the sacristy area and met with Fr Oliver, a priest who had also traveled with the group to Medjugorje. When he was told what had happened he was deeply moved and immediately returned inside the church to pray the Glorious Mystery of the Rosary as is customary at the evening Mass in Medjugorje.

By then others had started to gather around Joëlle and Claudia, Fr Oliver returned and then suggested they all return inside the church in thanksgiving. The group knelt at the foot of the steps to the altar to give thanks and praise for Joëlle’s wonderful healing, and were reminded of the Gospel passage when 10 lepers were healed but only one returned to give thanks.

Then the group moved on to the statue of Our Lady continued giving thanks and praise before finally returning to their hostel.

Afterwards some pilgrims told how they were placed behind Joëlle when she received communion, and they how had experienced such a strong smell of roses at the time.

Fr Oliver had run ahead of the group back to the hostel and invited everyone to come together in the main room because he had some good news to share. When Joëlle and Claudia eventually arrived back, the whole group was waiting for them.

Now throughout this healing experience, Joëlle’s daughter Vinciane had not been with her, but when her mother returned to the hostel Vinciane was waiting with the rest of the group, not knowing what had happened.

Joëlle then said to her daughter, “Vinciane, you have washed you hair?” Her daughter responded, “Yes, yes, but why have we been asked to gather in this room?” Her mother asked another question: “You see nothing strange about me?” “No” answered Vinciane. “Then look again!” said her mother.

“You can see!” exclaimed her astonished daughter. The two clasped and hugged each other in joy for five minutes. One can only imagine the emotion felt by mother and daughter and all around them at that time. And the praise and thanksgiving continued until the group decided to continue with prayer at the Blue Cross.

Joëlle later gave more details about her healing. She said that it was on the first night after Mass that she was able to distinguish light, see people’s faces and their lips move. During the following days her vision gradually improved. She is now able to see her two brothers and parents after 42 years of being blind. She said it was her parents who taught her to love Jesus and Mary and she has never stopped praying to them. She said she is also grateful for the gift of Vinciane, her “torch” as she describes her daughter.

After she regained her sight Joëlle was faced with many difficulties adjusting to her new world, especially at the sight of so many tall buildings and seeing so many people. This would often produce an adverse reaction in her and she would feel sick. But Joëlle said that with the grace of Jesus and Mary she will overcome the problems and challenges that her healing has brought. Now she can distinguish colours, houses, trees and vegetation, cars, people, the sun, and her cat! And although she is still under the care of an ophthalmologist, Joëlle said that has firm faith that Jesus will complete the work he has started. Her daughter is now able to have her own room in their apartment and has said to her mother, “Peace lives in our apartment!”

A final word from Joëlle: “This healing has given me the body of an adult, but left me with the heart of a child..”
SOURCE - http://crownofstars.blogspot.com/2010/12/sight-restored-at-medjugorje.html

MIRACLES IN OUR TIMES: EXOTIC DANCER TURNS TO MARY

MIRACLES IN OUR TIMES: EXOTIC DANCER TURNS TO MARY

AND LEADS HOLY LIFE OF MASS, ROSARY

The more we listen to our guardian angel or the Lord, the more they speak to us. That was discovered by a woman in Massachusetts who experienced a dramatic conversion from life as an exotic dancer to a promoter of the Rosary -- leaving us lessons along the way.
This is all according to the book, Full of Grace: Miraculous Stories of Healing and Conversion through Mary's Intercession, an anointed work by Christine Watkins that details a number of incredible life turn-arounds.
Druggies. Homeless. A New Ager.
And Angela.
Raised in a violent, broken home, Angela was ostensibly Greek Orthodox and had a Catholic mom, but they didn't practice their faith and she knew nothing about God, Jesus, or the Blessed Mother. By age age sixteen she'd had an abortion, and not too long after found herself earning a living as a stripper at a seedy nightclub.
That was when the tremendous change suddenly came upon her.
One June day as she was getting ready to head for work, "an unexplainable force or feeling," like a "wall," was put inside of her. At the very moment she felt the wall, her intuition told her, "God won't let me go to work today. God won't let me go to work today."
The feeling grew stronger the next day. "This time," said Angela, "I sensed God was telling me to quit." Remarkably, she did. Within days, she was no longer earning big money as a stripper. No one could figure her out. Soon after, she felt "told" to stop taking birth control pills and having premarital sex. "I don't know how I knew to stop, because I hadn't read or heard anything about it being wrong or that it could abort a baby," she reflects. But she listened, and more was spoken. She felt told to go to a church. She didn't know where, and ended up at an Assembly of God, where it was like the preacher was talking right to her ("If you need to be cleansed, come up to the altar," which she did).
Soon, she called her father (who had left the family for another woman). She felt compelled to forgive him. Despite what he'd done, she did -- and gave him a picture of the Blessed Mother! Forgiveness, she was "told," was important. The relief she felt was immeasurable.
At a Marian charismatic prayer session, she met a woman who told her about the Rosary and fasting each Wednesday and Friday. This was right after her conversion, but Angela did it immediately.
Her boyfriend didn't know what to think. She was dressing more conservatively. She was fasting. She was wearing medals. And now, no sex. "By this point," she told Watkins, "just three and a half weeks after my conversion, a love for Mary began to grow in my heart, and I started saying out loud, 'I love you, Mother Mary.' I bought four roses for her, two pink and two white, and put them in my room."
She obeyed God when He told her to sell her house, even though doing so seemed out of the blue, as well as improbable -- and it sold miraculously. She felt compelled to become a Catholic -- and the cardinal would give her special permission for early entry. She felt told to go to the reputed apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina (the site under study by a Vatican commission). "I loved it there and didn't want to come home," she says. "Mary's sweet presence was everywhere, and I felt like I belonged. Wherever I went, people were praying the Rosary, and the whole town seemed to go to Mass. In Medjugorje, I felt that I should confess all the sins from my life."
Just three months after being a stripper, she was climbing a holy mountain in the rain and sleeping at the summit.
Upon return, she began teaching everyone she could to pray the Rosary.
After a Cursillo weekend, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"About twenty minutes later, electricity suddenly began to run through my entire body," says her account in this splendid book. "Terrified, I thought I was being electrocuted; but at the same time, I sensed something supernatural might be happening. I kept my eyes closed, worried it would stop if I opened them. Loud ringing pounded my ears, and a strong jolt of electricity rattled my head. And then, with the eyes of my soul, I saw the outline of a figure appear at the foot of my bed. I couldn't make out any details, but I knew who it was -- a person very familiar to me. 'Mother Mary!' I cried out.
"Then electricity raced through me more powerfully, and in my head, I could hear a loud, vibrating sound, exactly like a tape rewinding." Images of people appeared.
She thought she was about to review her life.
"Then Mother Mary left, and in her place, standing at the foot of my bed, was Jesus.
"My soul recognized Him, although the details of His facial features were hidden. He extended His Hand before me -- a very large Hand that He placed right in front of my face and over my head.
"An extreme heat came from His Hand, and my face felt like it was on fire. This lasted a second, but it was so painful! I thought that if I looked in the mirror, my face would appear black and charred, so I didn't dare open my eyes, but allowed my face to continue burning, with the thought that I was being purified in order to grow more holy, like Jesus.
"Then behind Jesus, a large wooden Cross appeared and then vanished, three times in a row.
"After that, I didn't see or feel anything. I just lay in my bed with my eyes closed, hoping another vision would appear."
It didn't but she was left with an intense, urgent desire for the Eucharist -- which led to her pleading with the cardinal for quick entry into the Church. She became a Catholic the day after the Lourdes feast day. She now feels "free as a butterfly." She has the charism of joy. There is no more anger in her -- only love and peace. Her mother now attends Sunday Mass with her -- while her boyfriend goes with her every day! Her job now: she is a home health aide for the sick, elderly, and dying. She doesn't know what more God has in store with her but is open to whatever He wants. There is no more fear. "It's amazing to really feel faith and live it," she says. "Since my conversion, I walk out of the house and say, 'Ahhh, I have nothing to worry about. God is with me.'"
[resources: Full of Grace and The Fruits of Medjugorje]

Americans Hiding From Reality: Personal Responsibility

Americans Hiding From Reality: Personal Responsibility

Tuesday, 30 November 2010 04:24 Frosty Wooldridge - FrostyWooldridge.com

NBC’s Brian Williams last week reported, “The latest figures show  72 percent of African-American newborns in the United States arrive from single mothers, most of them teenagers.”  (Date: November 7, 2010, NBC Nightly News) They immediately land on welfare rolls as “Aid to Dependent Children.”  Similar figures include Hispanic teen single mothers.  These unmarried teen mothers fail to graduate from high school—while they birth two, three, four and more children while living full-time off welfare.

The rate of U.S. taxpayer welfare dollars for this new generation of illiterate, irresponsible, unemployed and un-trainable armada of citizens and non-citizens—grows annually with massive immigrant loading of 3.1 million. (Source: www.cis.org , Dr. Steven Camarata)  Legal immigrant mothers birth 900,000 newborns annually within the United States.

Additionally, figures show that an average of 350,000 to 400,000 illegal alien un-wed women and pregnant visa over-stayers also land on welfare rolls—paid for by U.S. taxpayers.  U.S. citizens must pay for assisted housing, medical care, breakfasts and lunches, food stamps, K-12 education and more.

Seventeen percent of Asians, 29 percent of whites, 53 percent of Hispanics and 66 percent of Native Americans were born to unwed mothers in 2008. (Source: David Salano, KIAH TV Houston, November 7, 2010)

"It's unbelievable. I didn't realize the number was so astounding," said Kathleen Zein, a native of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti living in Houston. "I think the report is very sad. Hopefully things will change around, but it's an ongoing process.  It's just bad choices, and they don't have the right mentors to guide them and [provide them with the appropriate way of] protecting themselves.”

Today, the American Reading Foundation offers these educational facts:  The United States houses 42 million Americans and non-citizens that cannot read, write or perform simple math.  Another 50 million American citizens cannot read past the 4^th grade level.

ILLITERACY  DEFINES THE THIRD WORLD

In my world travels, I witnessed unimaginable poverty, misery and human suffering in third world countries.  Where you enjoy grocery stores filled with food and schools with teachers, over 1 billion humans cannot find a clean glass of drinking water daily.  Because of that, 18 million humans starve to death annually.

Yet, third world mothers not only birth enough kids to replace the 57 million humans that die annually, those mothers add 80 million net gain newborns every year.

What am I getting at?   Just this: illiteracy defines the third world.  They add 80 million more mouths to feed annually, but cannot maintain or sustain any educational thrust.  Therefore, what do illiterate human beings do?  Answer: while we attend the opera or a football game—they propagate.

Brian Williams also reported  that Detroit, Michigan suffers a 76 percent dropout rate from its high schools and all around the USA, a whopping 1.2 million 18 year olds hit the streets annually unable to read, write or perform simple math.

Yet, we spend $12 billion a month ‘nation building’ in Iraq and Afghanistan—while our own civilization degrades into third world illiteracy.

Bob Herbert of the New York Times followed up with my column last week, “Has the American Dream Come to an End?”, with his own, “America is hiding from reality.”  He said, “However you want to define the American Dream, there is not much of it that’s left anymore.  Wherever you choose to look—at the economy and jobs, the public schools, the budget deficits, the non-stop warfare—you’ll see a country in sad shape. Standards of living are declining.” (November 28, 2010, NY Times)

No kidding Jack!

This country rots deeper in its belly than ever before.  A whopping 41.8 million Americans utilize food stamps.   Yet, our Congress outsources, offshores and insources millions of jobs.  Congress takes jobs away from Americans by the millions—and gives them to immigrants.

The PEW Hispanic Center showed: in the year after the official end of the recession in June 2009, foreign-born workers in the USA gained 656,000 jobs while native-born American workers lost 1.2 million jobs—now totaling 15 million unemployed.

As the U.S. economy adds 95,000 jobs monthly, our Congress adds another 200,000 immigrants every 30 days.  No chance for ever closing the employment gap for Americans! None! Zilch!

“The human suffering in the years required to recover from the recession will continue to be immense,” said Herbert.

While we stagger into 2011, our president and this Congress continue importing 3.1 million legal immigrants and their children annually with no end in sight. (Source: www.cis.org)

Does it make sense?  Who chose this path?  Why do we continue to follow it?  Who benefits?  Why does our Congress continue to do this to American citizens?

We do not see personal responsibility or accountability in our president or U.S. Congress.  Beats the balderdash out of me!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a five minute astoundingly simple yet brilliant video, “Immigration, Poverty, and Gum Balls”, Roy Beck, director of www.numbersusa.ORG, graphically illustrates the impact of overpopulation.  Take five minutes to see for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE&feature=player_embedded

“Immigration by the numbers—off the chart” by Roy Beck

This 10 minute demonstration shows Americans the results of unending mass immigration on the quality of life and sustainability for future generations: in a word “Mind boggling!”  www.NumbersUSA.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muw22wTePqQ

Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents - from the Arctic to the South Pole - as well as six times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. He presents "The Coming Population Crisis in America: and what you can do about it" to civic clubs, church groups, high schools and colleges. He works to bring about sensible world population balance at www.frostywooldridge.com He is the author of: America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans. Copies available: 1 888 280 7715

source - http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010113012231/life-and-science/culture-wars/americans-hiding-from-reality-personal-responsibility.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=37ed622252-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email

The Wisdom of Fr. Svetozar Kraljevic

Fr. Svetozar Kraljevic

Remember.. .only in God is there peace.The Wisdom of Fr. Svetozar Kraljevic-----from The Medjugorje Star --- Oct./Nov. 2010
Fr. Svetozar Kraljevic regularly gives talks to pilgrims in Medjugorje. For those who are unable to travel there, his recent talk has been transcribed by Angela Callan.
There are a number of things I would like to share with you, and I don't know where to start. We are pilgrims, and in this pilgrimage, in this journey of life, everything is "fast forward." There are many surprises and many challenges, and we always wonder how we are doing in this art of living.
We always address ourselves to finding the best answers, the best solutions, the best avenue to get there; to accomplish things and sometimes to be good, to be victorious, to be sensible, to be useful. We answer our calling to be good human beings, to be a good worker, a good mother or father, a good friend, neighbor, brother or sister. So we always wonder and pray and think, "How can we be the best we can be?" And don't we make some terrible mistakes? Someone said, "God, help me to protect my friends from myself." And that is more critical than helping protect myself from others.

We Are Like Scientists-----Probably on a pilgrimage like this we want to answer some of those questions. We want to investigate - basically, we are scientists every day. Did you ever think of that? These scientists have the privilege that they know the formulas of physics and mathematics, to make machines. But how about the mother who is trying to be the best mother possible? She is using everything she has to be the best she can be. Every day she is a scientist investigating her own soul and the soul of her child, and the mysteries of the world, to be the best she can be. And that curiosity that will keep us curious every day to know that the secrets and mysteries have to be part of our living, every day. We will be the best when we are in the image of God. In this world, unfortunately, our basic mistake is that we create God and others in OUR image. That is where we go wrong - we would like to create God and the world, including every human being around us, in our image. That is where we go wrong and where we are broken. So we are becoming these curious scientists of the soul to investigate the mysteries of life, to become the best we can be, the best we need to be for the well-being of our brothers and sisters and for the glory of God.
What is the best way to do this? We all have to investigate our lives to know. When Our Lady comes to speak to mankind with the message of God, with the message of the Holy Spirit, she is addressing precisely that: our human, existential need to be the best we can be.

Pilgrimage is Prayer-----Basically, I would like to reflect on how we can improve our human relationships. Of course, God is very much apart of all this and He would like to help us to be active in these human inter-relationships. There is one message that comes from God the Holy Spirit (and Our Lady is at the service of this message), and that is prayer. It's as simple as that. She is calling us to prayer.
The purpose for us here today is to see what does it mean to pray. We are all called to enter into the business of prayer. I said earlier that we all create God and those around us in our own image, so we create our own prayer, our own beliefs. So we say, "I'm nice, really, I believe in God." - and we do it all wrong. So in pilgrimage Our Lady would like to actually teach us how to pray. In pilgrimage we are into the business of prayer.
Many people will be speaking to you, and people from all over the world are in the same position - we are all pilgrims. You don't come to me or anyone here, you don't come to the visionaries for them to make your pilgrimage -but we all involve ourselves in the business of pilgrimage. The other word for pilgrimage is prayer. Prayer or pilgrimage is a whole cultural way of living, a whole mentality, a whole approach to life. Prayer is something we need to be and prayer is the way to be. Pilgrimage is the way to be. Pilgrimage is basically when I say to God, "I am ready. I would like to be curious and ready. Whatever surprise you might have for me today, tomorrow... I am ready." That is the mentality the Holy Spirit would like to create in us! Without this 'l am ready for you my Lord,' I will do my own thing. But with this 'I am ready,' we say those words of Peter: "Speak to me, Lord, I am ready to listen." Those are the words in the Old Testament, the major words in the Old Testament and the New Testament: "Lord, speak to me, I am willing to listen."

Willing to Listen-----
So in pilgrimage you are basically coming to that attitude, 'I am willing to listen'. There are many things that need to happen in this process of becoming willing to listen. These things will happen in pilgrimage. So pilgrimage is the most profound, the best way of becoming a person of prayer. Actually, without pilgrimage we cannot become a person of prayer. In pilgrimage we are being thrown into a mill and crushed. Our old ways are crushed so that we can receive new ways.
In the Book of Revelation we have, "Behold, I am making all things new," so this is Revelation happening to you. So suddenly you are not reading about Peter, but Peter is you. You are not far distant and an observer of events, but you become the very center; this is happening to you. You become a biblical person, with biblical things happening to you. God is calling your name and bringing you on this long journey so that you can encounter Him.
This pilgrimage is tailored precisely according to your needs. Whatever your thoughts are in the process of pilgrimage, this is something responding to your situation. Your pilgrimage is the most unique, intimate that happened to you that only you and the Lord do know. It has absolutely nothing to do with Medjugorje. Your coming to this place is to deal with the drama in your own life. Medjugorje is just a challenge, a spark from God, that initiates this process in you.
So we are not investigating the mountain; the mountains are helping us to investigate our own soul. We are not investigating the Church's stand on Medjugorje; we are investigating where we stand with the Lord. We are not investigating whether the children are telling the truth or not because, after everything is said and done, there is only you and the Lord, face to face, to speak to. We cannot avoid that reality --in pilgrimage there is that intimate process, you and the Lord. I walk my walk, you walk your walk. I deal with my own stupidity and troubles, you with your own. We will answer to the Lord for these and we will be glorified or punished, but this is something intimate that each of us has to do.

Making Space in Our Lives-----In pilgrimage we create space in our lives for God. That is the basic. Suddenly, you leave your family, your brothers and sisters, your work, your friends, your power, your comforts. In the New Testament Jesus spoke about leaving brothers and sisters for His sake. In pilgrimage you do precisely that. You register these moments when your are packing your suitcase. You cannot take your car, you cannot put your kitchen into your suitcase, your friends, your jobs. You have to leave the props that support the whole system of your life. You have to leave your comfort and security zones and suddenly learn to live without all that, to learn a new art of living.
Suddenly you learn in pilgrimage that you can survive the mountain, and that you are able to climb the mountain. That's prayer. That's the process of surrender .We all have a kingdom of our own. Sometimes it's not large - it's as large, maybe, as your own kitchen. But we do have that kingdom, and suddenly that little we have is gone and lost. We don't have it anymore. It is surrendered. That's pilgrimage. That's prayer.

Walking in Prayer-----Through pilgrimage, prayer is something that is happening to your body and your soul. It's a total experience of your life. That is the way God likes us to pray. We usually pray in our ordinary life with portions of our being.
So we say a few prayers, even spend one hour in prayer every day, but then all the rest of the time we live in this secular world where God is not present that much any longer. We attend church on Sunday, but then we have our business as usual where God doesn't have much to say. In pilgrimage God would like to change that. Suddenly, God enters into all corners of your life. That is the way he would like to teach us to walk in prayer, to live in prayer by becoming pilgrims, to enter into this amazing journey of pilgrimage which is the business of God.
... to be continued in the next edition of The Medjugorje Star

MEDJUGORJE TESTIMONY OF FR. DONALD CALLOWAY

Fr. Don Calloway

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO FR. DON CALLOWAY'S PERSONAL TESTIMONY THAT HE GAVE AT THE MARIAN CONFERENCE IN LOUISVILLE, KY 10-29-2010
http://www.blessedmotherschildren.com/louisville-ky-marian-conference-1029-31.html

Medjugorje Inspired Pro-Life Art

AS WITNESSED IN MEDJUGORJE

THE RAYS GOING FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN ARE THE ABORTED BABIES IN BUBBLES

Medjugorje: Angels over the Vineyards

Medjugorje: Angels over the Vineyards

Photo: Fr. Donald Calloway at the Notre Dame Conference 2004


Angels Over the Vineyards
By Cathy Karem

It was a beautiful fall evening in September, 2005. Father Donald Calloway, the spiritual director for another group from the US, walked into Pansion Nada, where he and his group were staying and where I always stay when coming to Medjugorje. I was sitting at a table having a cup of coffee after awaiting my husband’s phone call from the States.
Fr. Calloway looked at me and said, “Excuse me, could you please come outside with me for a minute?” I said, “Sure, Father.” I didn’t know why or what, but I followed him out the front door to the driveway, which is located right across the street from the vineyards, and to the right of Mount Krizevac. He pointed up into the sky and he said, “ What do you see?” I looked and I gasped, “Oh my gosh, Father. There’s angels!” they were going around in a circle in the sky. It looked like they were playing chase! All of a sudden a huge bolt of lightening and a big thunder boom struck the sky and everyone who had started gathering for this heavenly spectacle gasped with awe.
The angels kept chasing one another in a circular motion and we then noticed inside the big circle of angels was a smaller circle of baby angels chasing one another. After what seemed about 10 minutes or so, another huge bolt of lightening lit up the sky and a huge boom of thunder clapped. That was number two. We all screamed with excitement again! Priests and pilgrims were running out of their rooms and were gathering to see this beautiful heavenly display. Everyone was “ooohing” and “awing” and saying, “Wow! Look at these angels!!!” These precious little heavenly creatures were having a great time playing “Catch me if you can” over the vineyards.
Now, after what seemed to be another 10 minutes had gone by, the third and biggest bolt of lightening struck. It seemed to cover the entire sky. You could see the whole village of Bikavici. The thunder bolt was so loud it seemed to shake the earth!
Everyone was so excited! And with that, the angels were gone! The sky went black and everybody was silent. You could have heard a pin drop. It seemed like the heavens opened up and they were called back to the Heavenly Court.
Why? How??? I kept asking myself. I remembered that Ivan had called us to the Blue Cross for a message and apparition of the Blessed Mother this night and I couldn’t go on this particular evening because I had to wait for my husband’s phone call from the States. As a rule, I would never have missed Her call to the Blue Cross, but I knew, after having missed my husband’s call the previous night, that our Blessed Mother would want me to be considerate and be there this time for my husband’s phone call. When I go to Medjugorje I usually stay a month, so I knew that in all probability that the Blessed Mother would call us again to the Blue Cross, and I would go then.
Boy am I glad that I listened to my heart and that I had awaited his phone call !
Our Blessed Mother has called me to come to Medjugorje many times, and I have been very blessed and privileged to have been able to answer Her call. I have seen the Miracle of the Sun many times, my rosaries have turned gold, and many other beautiful miracles have happened, but never in all my days had I seen a visual miracle of heavenly creatures like these angels!
Our Blessed Mother gives us so many blessings and miracles from Her Son Jesus, but they don’t always hit us like streaks of lightening and bolts of thunder. But this was definitely a gift and all I can say is that miracles do
happen and they come in many shapes and forms, but we must open our hearts to receive them.
This beautiful place called Medjugorje is truly a precious and indescribable gift to the world. How God loves us so much to have sent His Heavenly Queen, our Heavenly Mother all these years to help us through our lives. This place called Medjugorje has truly marked me and millions of other people. Mary’s presence is there! And you can feel Her wrap Her loving arms around you.
I must add something very important to this story… THANK YOU, Blessed Mother and Jesus for loving me!
Editor’s note: Cathy is from Louisville, Kentucky.
Source of this article....http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/july2006.htm

God made our bodies for Veggies

Jeff Markin: Back from the Dead, Reborn Into the Light

Jeff Markin: Back from the Dead, Reborn Into the Light
Dr. Crandall lives in our area of South Fl.

Purgatory: Supernatural & Paranormal Visits - Real "Ghost" Stories for A...

BOOK...HUNGRY SOULS by - Gerard J.M. Van Den Aardweg
page 130
The father returned the following evening. "If I shall have to remain in purgatory three months more it will seem an eternity," he said. "At first I was sentenced to purgatory for many years; and I owe it to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin that my time was reduced to a few months." Sister Seraphine told her community that her father was allowed to ask for her help "in reward for his good works. Moreover he was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whose honor he received the sacraments on all her feasts. He was also very charitable; he spared no trouble to assist the unfortunate. He even begged from door to door to assist in establishing a home for the Little Sisters of the Poor."

Another incident one evening corroborates that the concrete imprints of hands or fingers, or other miraculous traces of the kind exhibited in the Museo del Purgatorio, (The Museum of Purgatory in Rome, Italy) are not autonomous actions on the part of poor souls, but willed by God, and therefore deserve being pondered over seriously and respectfully.

Sister Mary Seraphine offered her father her hand and a copy of the Imitatio Christi and asked him to leave the imprint of his hand on her own hand or on the book, because she was haunted by the doubt that these apparitions might be delusions. "No," was the reaction, "I will not do it. The pain you feel is according to the will of God, and your uncertainty is to hasten my deliverance." Later, he nevertheless touched her twice, first on her right shoulder and the next time above her heart, causing intense pain. Strange to say, though no indication appeared on her habit, her skin on both places had a black spot, as she modestly informed her confessor.

By command of her confessor, on October 30, Sister Seraphine asked her father what prayers would be most helpful to be said on All Souls' Day. Instead of answering this question, he complained, "Alas, the world does not believe that the fire of purgatory is similar to that of hell. If a person could but once visit purgatory, he would nevermore commit the least sin, so rigorously are the souls punished." Another time she asked him if he had been released from the cistern, as she had not seen him in it the last three days. "Oh, no, see the proof!" And she saw the cistern, smoke and flames coming from it.

The apparitions received additional objective confirmation when Sister Seraphine's father also appeared to another sister, who was greatly troubled because her own father had died without the Sacraments, after he had neglected his religious duties for a long time. He said to her, "Your father is saved, but he is sentenced to suffer in purgatory for twenty years. For your consolation, however, I am permitted to inform you that your sister N. was released from the flames a short time ago, and is now in heaven." The girl referred to had died 16 years before, when she was only eight years old; and yet she had to suffer so long in Purgatory.

Sister Seraphine also questioned her father about other souls. For example, she asked him one day about the situation of a sister to whom she had been greatly attached. "She is in heaven already for some time," he replied. He was, however, not permitted to say if any sisters of her community were at present in Purgatory. "Do the souls in purgatory know who prays for them, and are they permitted to pray for the faithful on earth?" He answered in the affirmative. He then disclosed that on leaving this world he had seen the infinite majesty of God, the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ, and the Blessed Virgin Mary and that this vision had left in him a continually increasing and most ardent yearning to see them again. He also told her that St. Joseph was present at his judgment, that he had since repeatedly visited purgatory in company of the Blessed Virgin to console him, and that he often saw his guardian angel, who came to comfort him.

On November 23, she saw her father as usual; but this time he seemed closer to her, and her suffering was thereby greatly increased. She felt as if she were all on fire. He informed her that if the community persevered in prayer as hitherto, he would be released during the Christmas holidays; also, he was aware of the most secret sufferings offered for the poor souls and immediately felt their beneficial effect. Directed by her confessor, she asked her father whether it was true that the torments in Purgatory surpassed in their intensity the sufferings of the martyrs. "It is but too true," was the reply. And on whether the members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel who wore the scapular are released from purgatory on the first Saturday after their death, he said, "Yes, if they have faithfully fulfilled all the conditions."He also revealed that some souls are made to stay in Purgatory until the end of the world: "the ones most tormented and the most forsaken."

On November 30, he told his daughter, "It seems an eternity to me since I arrived in purgatory. At present my greatest torment is the intense longing to behold God and to enjoy His possession. I feel continually elevated towards Him and am at the same time repulsed and cast into the abyss. Sometimes I am on the edge of the cistern, seemingly about to be released from it, when I immediately feel the divine justice detaining me because I have not sufficiently atoned."

She implored her father again, as she had done repeatedly before, to obtain for her the grace of perseverance amid so many interior and exterior sufferings. "I have already prayed for you," he said, "and I shall continue to pray for you, my dear daughter. But you will have to suffer still more before I am released."

On December 3, she saw him again. Still sorrowful, he nevertheless appeared greatly relieved. He described to her the intense love of God that he felt and the increasing desire to behold Him. Some time before she had asked him to repeat some of the acts of love that the souls in Purgatory made. He had not complied with her request then, but now he said, "I continually make these three acts of love: O my God, grant me the love with which the Seraphim are inflamed!

0 my God, grant me still more: grant me the love which inflames the
Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary! O my God, why can
1 not love Thee as Thou lovest Thyself?"

It is clear that this soul was already to a high extent "inflamed" with the love of God, for how else can he find these passionate words of love? He—and the souls in most other apparitions—focuses on their grievous sufferings (among other things) because they come to ask for help; but we can imagine that souls who are so full of love and are ever coming nearer to their Beloved, their definitive, most perfect bliss, must somehow also experience the type of profound joys emphasized by Catherine of Genoa and Francis de Sales.

Next, the man assured his daughter that he implored also for her the love of the Seraphim, adding, "Dear daughter, I am permitted to inform you that, though you are very weak, still you will have to suffer great pain between now and Christmas, on which day I shall be released." She replied, "And then, dear father, what then? Shall I regain my strength, so as to be able to serve God according to our holy rule?"
"That is a mystery not revealed by God," was his response.

From that day until the evening of December 12, the apparitions ceased. Then, and the following evenings, he appeared again, brighter every time. But again, there was a pause from December 14 to 25. Meanwhile, Sister Seraphine suffered so severely that she could hardly visit the chapel. On Christmas night, she succeeded in attending the Midnight Mass, which grace she attributed to the intercession of her father, from whom she expected to receive the announcement of his deliverance. And so it happened. Between the first and the second elevation of the Sacred Host, he appeared to her in supernatural splendor: "My punishment is ended. I come to thank you and your community for all the prayers said for me. From now on I shall pray for you all."

 Upon her return to her room, he appeared to her again for the last time to convince her of his release and to thank her again. She implored him to obtain sufficient strength and health to observe the rule. "I will ask for you perfect resignation to the will of God," he told her, "and the grace of entering heaven without having to suffer purgatory." At this last apparition, he was so resplendent that her eyes could scarcely bear the dazzling light. Her joy and happiness were now supreme. She felt an ineffable peace of soul, and she was glad to have the assurance that she had not been the victim of an illusion.

Having thus caught a glimpse of God's glory, her own craving for God was aroused, similar to the yearning of some people with near-death experiences, however more intense and more similar to the interior Purgatory experienced and analyzed by St. Catherine of Genoa, for thereafter, Sister Seraphine was affected by an illness little known to our age: homesickness for Heaven. Her father's yearning desire for the possession of God seemed to have been bequeathed to her. She was somehow consumed; after six months of suffering, borne with a martyr's fortitude, she died at the age of 28. It was Friday, June 23, the octave of the feast of the Sacred Heart, the Source of all mercies the Church and the living faithful can bestow on the mercy-hungry souls of Purgatory.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gerard J.M. van den Aardweg, Ph.D., is a Dutch psychotherapist in private practice. In addition to his work in parapsychology— writing and speaking about near-death experiences and paranor¬mal events such as those detailed in Hungry Souls—Dr. van den Aardweg has written extensively on pro-life and pro-family sub¬jects. His previous books include Education for Life, The Saint of the Ordinary (about the life of Josemaria Escriva) and On the Origins and Treatment of Homosexuality. Dr. van den Aardweg lives in the Netherlands with his wife, with whom he has seven children and seventeen grandchildren. 

Saint Pio and the Holy Souls

FROM THE BOOK - HUNGRY SOULS BY VAN DEN AARDWEG
THE BROKEN CANDLES - PAGE 112

Now I want to tell you another story that happened in the church. Every evening after supper all the friars used to come together for a common recreation, and Padre Pio would go with them. Then Padre Pio would go to the oratory and pray by himself.
One evening as Padre Pio was all by himself praying in the oratory, he heard a noise in the church. He thought, It must be the students—the boys who are straightening things up in the church. So he didn't pay any further attention to the incident.
There were candles all around the altar. You would have to use a ladder to get to them. As Padre Pio was praying, he heard a noise like—vroom—and everything came crashing down. He got up from where he was and went to the Communion rail. He saw a young man dressed as a friar. The man was kneeling down. Padre Pio went up to him and said in a loud voice: "Eh, who are you?" The young man said: "I am a Capuchin novice, and I am from Purgatory, doing penance for the lack of diligence in my work in the church."

Padre Pio said, "Well, then! This is a fine way to make reparation— breaking up all the candles! Now listen to me. Go away, and don't you come here any more. Tomorrow my Mass will be for you. In this way you will be liberated. Never come back." The novice thanked him, and Padre Pio left the church. When Padre Pio realized that he had been speaking to a dead man, a cold shiver ran up and down his spine.

While this was happening, Padre Emmanuele was passing by. He said to Padre Pio, "Did you talk with a dead man? I was standing near the Communion rail and I realized that you were talking with a dead man. I got so scared I ran out. I went to get help." He returned with Padre Paolino. Padre Pio was shaking. He said, "I'm cold, I'm cold." Paolino asked him what had happened. He answered, "I was talking to a dead man." After about twenty minutes he said to Emmanuele, "Get a candle and come with me." They went into the church to the main altar. Padre Pio said, "Jump up on the altar."
He did. Then he asked, "Now what do you want me to do?" Padre Pio said, "Look behind the altar. Are there any broken candles there?" At the time the altar had a picture of St. Michael on it. He said, "Look under the picture of St. Michael behind the altar, and see if there are any broken candles." Emmanuele looked and said, "Yes, there are some large candles here. They are all broken. Now what else?"
Padre Pio said, "Now come down. That's enough. No more. Let's get out of here." And they walked out of the church.
Here the apparition left no burn mark, but another concrete, meaningful trace. The poor soul gave a demonstration of the negli¬gent friar he had been and that way attracted Padre Pio's attention. He had to do penance where he had committed his fault.

The Weight of Smut - porn

The Weight of Smut

Medjugorje - Miracle of the Sun - May 2010 (1)

MELISA'S EXPERIENCE IN MEDJUGORJE 2010



Fr. Jozo giving talk in Medjugorje, St. James church
on May 25, 1990 at 3:01 pm ,
 our video has USA time of 10:01 am



Saturday, August 28, 2010

SOURCE -My experience in Medjugorje

--by MELISA 2010

"To be able to give, you must have. Love to be true has to begin with God in prayer. If we pray, we will be able to love, and if we love, we will be able to serve."– Mother Teresa

The quest for God is what I was after all along...and yoga was a tool necessary to bring me along in that all important journey.

My time in Medjugorje was nothing short of miraculous in a very personal way, and extremely challenging spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. I can talk, blog, argue my point of view for the rest of my life, but what would be the point in doing that. There is something going on in Medjugorje for those who don't know and there is no resource that can give you an accurate picture of this very holy place on the Internet or even in the written word. There are several videos about Medjugorje, I would say the 20/20 piece on Medjugorje done in the 80's when it all started would be a good place to start to find out more information,

if you can find it.

I discovered in Medjugorje the courage to follow my heart in listening to the more beautiful and profound message of God and how God speaks to me. God speaks to different people in different ways and this is how Our Lady speaks to people in Medjugorje, in an inexplicable, deeply personal way! There are so many miracles I experienced myself and saw other people experience during my 3 month stay that would make absolutely no sense if I tried to express this in the written word. The message of Our Lady is to be lived, it is a message of conversion and that is what is happening to me even now, especially now that I am back home. The main message of Our Lady of Medjugorje for the past 29 years is simple but urgent call: Pray! This call from God to each and every person to pray is only heard and understood on a personal level if you are able to visit and experience Medjugorje yourself. There are no words to accurately describe the experience of Medjugorje!The following is Our lady's latest message to the world on August 25th:

“Dear children! With great joy, also today, I desire to call you anew: pray, pray, pray. May this time be a time of personal prayer for you. During the day, find a place where you will pray joyfully in a recollected way. I love you and bless you all. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

I have a desire to be sincere in my prayer To God, and in my relationship with God, and it so personal and new that I want to keep praying until I find that connection with God that the saints have. This is the message Our Lady wants to deliver to each person, this desire to reach God at all costs because this relationship IS EVERYTHING!!!Here is a short video of some highlights from my visit, the music is from the St. James parish music ministry:http://animoto.com/play/imKNb5MkMT3D5v1ImmKSUQ?autostart=true

"Flowers for Our Lady of the Rosary" QUILT

SOURCE LINK - Creative Longarm Quilting by Karen Marchetti: Judy's "Flowers for Our Lady of the Rosary":

"It all started with a class... a class that Judy signed up for. The class was for the 'Passion Flowers' quilt in the book Applique Outside..."