Baltimore Archdiocese to Probe Whether 'Miracle' Cancer Cure Tied to 19th-Century Priest - Cancer - FOXNews.com

Baltimore Archdiocese to Probe Whether 'Miracle' Cancer Cure Tied to 19th-Century Priest - Cancer - FOXNews.com

The Archdiocese of Baltimore plans to investigate whether an Annapolis woman's cure from cancer was a miracle, a possible step toward sainthood for a 19th-Century priest.

Mary Ellen Heibel was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2004 and early 2005 for malignant tumors in her lungs, liver, stomach and chest. After she was diagnosed, Heibel began praying to Blessed Francis X. Seelos, and urging others to pray as well.

Heibel, whose cancer was terminal, experienced a recovery her doctors did not expect and can't explain. She continues to pray to the priest, who served in Maryland before dying in Louisiana while treating yellow fever victims.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore plans to begin investigating the case in a few weeks, marking only the fifth such investigation in its history.

For countess who gave it all up, Medjugorje is in the heart

For countess who gave it all up, Medjugorje is in the heart

 Countess Milona von Hapsburg tells of her epiphany in Medjugorje where she now lives For countess who gave it all up, Medjugorje is in the heart

MARIAN VISIONARY. Countess Milona von Hapsburg tells of her epiphany in Medjugorje where she now lives.(Editor’s Note: Medjugorje, a small village in western Bosnia-Herzegovina in the former Yugoslavia, is a popular pilgrimage site for Catholics worldwide because of reports of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six younglocal Catholics on June 24, 1981. The visions were said to have continued until the six visionaries were given 10 special messages each. The phenomenon is not officially approved by the Catholic Church.)
When June Keithley introduced me to Countess Milona von Hapsburg last Thursday, Oct. 6, I was struck by the great contrast between her storied royal lineage and her sweet simplicity of dress and demeanor.
Here, clearly, was a person who had succeeded in transcending the trappings of “royalty” to focus exclusively on the more important aspects of life that now mattered most to her.
They were mostly significantly led by the spiritual mission that had prompted her many years ago to uproot herself and her family and live in the Marian apparition site of Medjugorje, a small village in the former Yugoslavia.
Unexpected blessing
June had invited some religious and lay leaders to have lunch with Milona and listen to her sharing, not about her privileged life and lineage, but about her unique mission in Medjugorje, and the deeply transformative effect it has had on her and her loved ones.
First off, June revealed to us that Milona’s visit was in itself an unexpected blessing, because she had not been scheduled to come here, certainly not this year. Recently, however, quite out of the (Marian?) blue, some Filipino friends requested her to pay a private visit to Dumaguete City to join a big religious celebration at the cathedral, and to Cagayan de Oro, to help mark the 10th anniversary of a religious radio program that promotes two of her most cherished involvements—Medjugorje itself, and the charitable movement known as Mary’s Meals.
Milona was scheduled to stay in the Philippines for only a few days, but June has been friends with her for years, so she succeeded in persuading her to spend a couple of days in Manila to speak at a couple of events, before she flew back home via Rome, where a visit had also been arranged for her with the Philippine envoy to the Vatican, Mercy Tuason.
Delighted by Filipinos
After June’s brief backgrounder, it was Milona’s turn to speak to us, and she immediately charmed us, not just with the simplicity of her demeanor, but also with her obvious delight at being in the country. What about her unexpected visit had made her so happy?
Milona said she was overwhelmed by many Filipinos’ obvious and unstinting love for Jesus and Mary, so rare to find in the world these days. “Even the poorest of the poor,” she said, greatly moved, “express this love, not just in their prayers, but also in the way they live their lives.”
This was deeply gratifying to Milona, because it vivified what Our Lady seeks to help effect in the world—a return to God in all ways, through peace, love, faith, conversion and fasting.
Life-changing pilgrimage
Milona recalled that her father had taken their family to other apparition sites in Europe, like Fatima, but they had not made that big or deep an impression on her. But, when she and her relatives went to Medjugorje on a three-day pilgrimage when she was in her 20s, the effect of that brief visit on her was profound, even life-changing.
In fact, it prompted her to eventually give up her high-flying and pampered life in Geneva to become a volunteer in Medjugorje, performing humble tasks like interpreting for Father Slavko and the six young Marian visionaries—Ivan, Ivanka, Jackov, Marija, Mirjana and Vicka—living there.
What was it about “the Medjugorje experience” that had given it such a profound charism and impact on Milona’s entire view of the world and her very existence? At times to the point of quiet tears, she shared:
“The minute we arrived in that small village in the western region of Bosnia, there was something in the air. Many people were on their knees! We realized later that we had arrived while the apparition that day was taking place!
“After that, things soon went back to ‘normal.’ Life went on. But, slowly but surely, the grace of the place started to work on us.
Personal encounter
“I myself was privileged to have a personal encounter: After a long and tiring climb uphill, I looked down at the valley beneath me—and a presence came around me and covered me like a mantle. It felt like two eyes were looking deeply into me, into my very soul, and for the first time, I saw my entire life, and what it amounted to. There was no judgment at all, just total truth.
“Then, I was asked questions about how I lived my life thus far, and why I had fallen so short of what God wanted. At that point, I felt the great desire to give my whole life back to Him!
“After that unforgettable encounter, when I went back to the place where my family was staying, I felt so content—but, they were shocked at my appearance, because I looked completely transformed—not the same face and eyes at all. In fact, my mother was so moved at the sight of the ‘new me’ that she prayed, begging, ‘Yes, you can have her, but please give us some more time with her before you take her!’”
“And, right after that day, my faith became the most important aspect of my life. I couldn’t live without daily Mass! I ran to Confession, desperately needing to instantly get rid of what separated me from The One.”
Still controversial
In the course of her sharing, Milona admitted that “controversies” surrounded the Marian apparition at Medjugorje, and that even a couple of bishops there doubted the authenticity of the daily visions and visitations. But, she pointed out that three international commissions have been studying the contentious issue and that no official disavowal has been proclaimed.
In any case, for many pilgrims and devotees, the authenticity and transformative power of Mary’s daily visitations since 1981 have had a deeply beneficial effect on their lives. All six visionaries, now in their 40s, remain ardently loyal to Her, and live their lives according to the messages she has shared through them.
Urgent spiritual instructions
Milona shared some of those urgent spiritual “instructions”: “I implore you, do not judge your priests.” “You can always count on your Mother.” “God will judge us according to His love.” “He should always take first place in our lives.” In addition, she stressed the need to fast and go to confession, and to form prayergroups.
Of the six visionaries, she said further: “They have been chosen by God for this special charism, but it’s important to realize that they are still very human. They struggle with life just like the rest of us. So, a profound life of faith is not beyond our own reach. Like them, we simply need to strive harder to live with love, and a huge compassion for all humanity.”
After Milona’s sharing, some of the people in the room in turn privately expressed how profoundly they had been affected—not just by her words, but also by how the new life she had chosen for herself vivified and lent irrefutable credence to the extent of her conversion.
Spiritual fruits of visit
A Marian devotee was impressed that Milona, “an archduchess of Austria’s former royal family,” had given “all that” up to work as a “mere volunteer” in Medjugorje, and that she had even chosen to live with her husband and child in that remote place, a far cry from her “glittering” life in Geneva.
She pointed out that, in a sense, Milona was like Mary Pyle, the American lady who had herself also chosen to live in San Giovanni Rotondo to support the mission and advocacies of St. Padre Pio.
Another devotee was interested in one of Milona’s key advocacies, Mary’s Meals, a project that provides daily meals to children in Romania, Africa and Asia, and pledged to touch base with its Philippine counterpart. And other listeners said they would go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje to experience its special charism for themselves.
Already, so many spiritual fruits from such a small, private talk and visit!
Later that day, Milona was scheduled to speak to a bigger audience at the Greenhills chapel. Who knows what greater gifts would result from that personal sharing, as well?
It’s true what its most ardent devotees say: “Medjugorje is in the heart!”

Medjugorje Testimony of an Exorcist, Priest Leonid

Priest Leonid, redemptorist from Ukraine province, participated in the 15th International seminar for priest in Medjugorje and gave the testimony, first to the other participants and then to Radio Station Mir Medjugorje. 

We publish the testimony as it was given:
When I was in great pain, when I suffered and when I was tempted daily, I was not able to pray at all. I would go to confession every single day, but Satan tempted me all the times. The temptations were so strong that I lost peace in my soul completely. And not only that, I also felt that I lost my priesthood and my vocation. I felt that was complete and total destruction of my life. In that difficult reality, while I was still unable to figure out what was happening to me, somebody offered me to come to Medjugorje. And I came. I was with a group of priests. I was just not able to pray, not even when they prayed. During that pilgrimage I met one other priest, father Ambrosias from Slovakia. He completely sacrificed his life and his vocation working with people from Ukraine in the region of Carpatho – Ukraine. He travelled soon after heart attack, and he also had diabetes. He was a Franciscan priest who came to Medjugorje five times before that. He absolutely thrilled me with his life and humbleness. He became my friend, I would help him around, take him by the hand, as he was older man. It appeared as I was helping to him, but the truth was that it was the other way round.


 We were once climbing up the Hill of Apparitions and it was to be the apparition to one of the visionaries. Everything was packed with people, priests. I sat next to Fr. Ambrosias and I turned my back to the apparition site. I felt myself not worthy of being there at all. But during the time of the Rosary, I felt desire to look towards that direction, to see what was happening there. At the same time, as I felt that desire, other inner voice was saying to me not to look there. You are failure and you will end up in hell, I heard. It was horrible. Those first, positive feelings directed my look towards the apparition site. I started to look and I was searching for a sign. Maybe I was to see something at the end. Hope was being born in me slowly, but also more new arguments about how my humiliation was not to be changed. But, I believed in crucial moment. Just for a moment. And in that very moment, as the answer to all of the questions ever rose, I was able to feel how Our Lady was coming down, from Heaven to this world. It was horrible in that moment. Such a powerful perception, scent of the other world I used to feel up to that point. And then, I was appeased by certain gentleness, light touch, like a gentle breeze of Our Lady’s presence. She was coming closer to me. And as She was closer to me, the power of evil was disappearing. In my heart I experienced new revelation. I was able to experience how powerful Her presence is, how she was humble. Then I realised that She does not cast away evil spirits, but they ran themselves. The are not able to bear Her purity and beauty of Her presence. She does not humiliate them nor She sends them away. She simply loves them and they can not stand that! And then, change of spirits within me took place. Spirit of Satan, spirit that destroys, disappeared with all of his depressions and fears. Instead of that spirit, Our Lady’s spirit took place. In my heart, I heard the voice: “Do not be afraid, I am your mother! I am your guarantee that you will not be destroyed, that you will not fail.” Everything was changed. 
That experience of presence of Our Blessed Mother became miracle of love that saves me, my vocation and my life! 


I started to feel Our Lady’s presence in every exorcism I perform. I will just share one little example, since there are many similar ones. Our priests were dealing with one possessed girl who came to confess in front of one young priest who just returned after his studies in Rome. And as he was saying the absolution words, that person, Satan in that person hit that priest so hard that he felt down immediately. Then, the same person started calling other priest in some strange voice. That priest was scared and he called me. After few moments that girl was in front of me and I started to pray over her. As I began exorcism, I knew the diagnosis straight away, the girl was severely possessed and I invited five devoted faithful to pray as well. As I recited traditional prayers of exorcism, Satan just laughed. It spoke to me in English language, humiliated me and constantly laughed at me. Then, I began to pray to Our Lady. I was totally exhausted. I began to be nervous as well. I felt that I need to finish my prayer, but the evil spirit was not going away. It was the spirit of suicide. I began to call Our Lady with all of my heart. In the same way as the child calls his mom. And real screaming began at those moments: “ I can not stay here any longer, Our Lady is here, I need to go away.” And the spirit was gone. This was just one situation and there are so many similar ones. During these five years, as I have been entrusted the service of exorcism, I experience many temptations and trials. I had those before; I know I will have those in the future as well. But, Our Lady keeps me in Her heart. I CAN NO LONGER LIVE WITHOUT MEDJUGORJE AND JERUSALEM. I need to be in Medjugorje and Jerusalem every year. That is what faith is for me. Here I have faith, blessing and grace. I am grateful to dear God that I am able to witness Our Lady’s grace in this way. I would like each one of us to want to love more our Blessed Mother, Mother of God. She is our Mother. She loves Her children. She is prepared to do anything Her children ask of Her. I feel that if it wasn’t for Her presence, we would all be destroyed. That is why we should try to live every second of our lives with Her. I feel personal invitation to help other people to come to Medjugorje. To bring here all of those people who experience tremendous spiritual suffering.”At the end, priest Leonid blessed all of the listeners of Radio Mir. 

source - http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/priest-exorcist-no-longer-live-without-medjugorje/

The Deceiver by LIVIO FANZAGA***

Satan seduces, but you are the one who decides. Even though his seduction is very powerful, he can not bend your will to do evil. Even though the tempest of thoughts, desires, resentment, and hatred he stirs in your heart is overwhelming, there is no sin without your free and conscious consent. Eve sinned because she wanted to sin. God has put our will exclusively in our hands.

The Corruption**

There are apostles of evil. They are people who besides ruining themselves drag along other souls also. They have perverted themselves into becoming demons, as Saint Catherine of Siena asserted, and thus "fulfill the office of the demons," inducing others to sin. It is truly said that one never sins alone. Our sin is negatively reflected in our neighbors. If we do not repent quickly and return to God the heart is hardened and, almost to reassure ourselves, we drag others along the way of ruin.

Eve was so possessed by evil that she did not hesitate to entice Adam also. "She also gave some to her husband, and he ate" (Gen 3:6). When you examine your life, remember all the times that by your words, evil example, and complicity you have pushed your neighbor into the arms of the evil one. Think of all those souls that are lost in sin because of you. Repent before God, repair the damages you have caused, and make yourself an apostle of good.

The corruptors of souls are the great strength of the demon. In the contemporary world, they occupy very significant and visible positions in various fields such as culture, science, politics or economics, including the realm of the mass media. They have learned the vernacular of flattery and lies from their teacher. Despising truth and exalting error, they disparage good and virtue while exalting evil and vice. They are the faithful servants of Satan, and they will go with him to his kingdom of death in recompense.

Watch out for such people, even if they are very close to you and united to you by bonds of affection. You show your worthiness as a human being by saying no to evil, even if the one who proposes it is most dear to you. If Adam had said no to Eve, he would have undoubtedly saved himself and perhaps even her. No human respect, no bond of friendship, no reason of human nature, nor any interest must ever cause you stay with anyone who proposes evil. It is much better to lose a friend or family member than to lose God for all of eternity.

Nevertheless, Adam took the fruit Eve offered him without argument, and he ate it. He blindly followed his wife, even when fell into the abyss. How many behave like this! Like leaves in the wind, they are dragged where the world wants, and Satan rejoices over the spoils obtained so cheaply. The law of the herd, public opinion polls, and social brainwashing dominate the modern world. You, however, must be very attentive to the voice of God. Keep your conscience illuminated by the Church and never stray from her, no matter what others think, even if they are those whom you love the most.

From Disillusionment to Illusion**

When man commits evil, he is inevitably degraded. He then opens his eyes and all that before seemed beautiful and desirable, afterwards entirely loses its attractiveness. First evil attracts you, then it poisons you. From the illusion of obtaining much happiness follows both disillusionment and disappointment. Once the fruit was eaten "the eyes of both were opened." Adam and Eve had deluded themselves into thinking that they could become "like God" but found themselves deprived of divinity and its gifts. The conscience begins to feel remorse. That God Whom you have driven from your heart by sinning does not abandon you. In His goodness He makes you hear His voice in the depths of your being. It is a voice that disapproves of the evil you have committed and at the same time is an invitation to return to the straight way.

OUR LADY OF GRACE

Consider this great grace that opens the eyes after the satanic temptation. It is the moment in which, if you are honest with yourself, you realize that Satan has deceived you. With all that he has offered you he has succeeded in destroying your dignity, morality and your soul. He has given you something, but he himself has taken your heart. You, like Adam and Eve, realize your nakedness. You have been stripped of sanctifying grace and of the gifts of spiritual beauty and wisdom that adorned you: now you see yourself in your misery.

The disillusionment that comes after every sin, with the verification of the deception, the remorse of conscience, and the consciousness of the damages you have suffered, constitutes a moment of great grace, even though in the context of a spiritual catastrophe. After every sin, the Divine Wisdom opens our eyes so that we see the despicable face of evil. This always happens unless a person, persevering on the way of ruin, suffocates his conscience and hardens his heart.

Adam and Eve, having realized the lie of the tempter and the existential catastrophe into which they had fallen, would have been able and should have cried out to God from the depths of their misery. The Creator in His goodness would have listened to them and would have come to their aid. So we, dear friend, have at the moment of the grace of disillusionment the possibility of a ready rehabilitation, if we turn humbly and contritely to that God Whom we have foolishly abandoned.

Unfortunately, this happens all too rarely. More often, man falls again into that satanic deception, desiring to try again the fruit which has proven to be so untrustworthy and poisonous. The disillusionment is followed by a new illusion, and this process continues, so that man enters into a deadly mechanism that crushes the soul, driving it to blindness and to total death.

Many men waste their lives following illusions which are followed immediately by disillusionment. "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again," declare Jesus (Jn 4:13). Only the mercy of God can break this satanic chain which renders us slaves, but you must cooperate with the grace which opens your eyes every time you do evil. Think of the last sin you committed. Were you happy to place your trust in the demon? Didn't you become disillusioned, saddened, and degraded? Why then do you wish to repeat the same experience, believing again and again the allurements of the tempter?

There may come a time in which, having sinned, your eyes are no longer opened. It is a very alarming signal, because it means you are entering the spiritual status of impenitence. This happens when you advance unperturbed along the way of perversion and our conscience is finally snuffed out completely. Then the worst crimes can be committed without your feeling remorse. How many souls move in this level of deep darkness, in which they have given their unconditional consent to Satan and to his kingdom of perdition! Only a great grace, with the awakening of conscience, could now save them.  
I WOULD SAY IT WOULD BE OUR LADY OF GRACE.

The Truth About Demons

http://desertvoice.excerptsofinri.com/ Thursday February 12, 2004 Homily by Fr. Robert Altier   Fifth Week in Ordinary TimeReading (1 Kings 11:4-13)   Gospel (St. Mark 7:24-30)     

 In the first reading today, we hear again about Solomon and the folly that he had fallen into in his old age. Solomon had done, on several levels, what had been completely forbidden by God for Israel. It was forbidden by God to multiply wives – he had six hundred. It was forbidden by God to multiply gold – it is the only other place in Scripture [besides the Book of Revelation] where you will find the words “six hundred and sixty-six” because it is the number of talents of gold that he had piled up. And it was forbidden by God for the Israelites to have horses, because the only place in the ancient world where horses were raised was Egypt; and, in order to have horses, they would have to have some kind of pact with Egypt, which, of course, was their enemy. He did all of these things. And not only with Egypt did he make a pact, but he figured out (as modern politicians have done as well) that if you marry the daughter of foreign kings you can make a pretty good pact with them because they now have a vested interest. 

So he had all these wives from foreign lands.Because he was already disobedient to God (what we would understand and, perhaps, they did not fully understand then), he was in the state of mortal sin – deeply in the state of mortal sin. And it is not possible for anyone who is in the state of mortal sin to think clearly. (not a free pass though) Therefore, he started giving into the whims and desires of his foreign wives, and he started building altars and high places to these foreign gods. Now what we have to realize is that there is only one God.

 If there is anything else, or anyone else, that is claiming to be a god, if there is anyone else to whom any form of worship is being given, it is not truly a god or a goddess but it is a demon, pure and simple. We even heard that in the psalm: “They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.” What Molech required was human sacrifice, and he had built a place across the hill from Jerusalem where Molech was going to be honored, as well as Astarte and all of the others that we heard about. 

So what happened is he himself not only built these places in honor of these demons, but he himself took part in the sacrifice and in the worship of these demons. Now we do not like to think in our day about demons. We like to suggest that somehow this is a medieval myth that was made up and that we do not need to deal with this anymore because now we have modern psychology so we know that no such things as demons exist. Well, I would recommend, once again, looking at the Gospels. First, in today’s Gospel, we see Jesus casting out a demon from this little girl. We heard many times about Jesus casting out demons from a variety of people. In our modern rationalistic society, people try to say, “Well, there really weren’t demons. They had mental illness problems and they just didn’t know what mental illness was back then. Or perhaps they had somebody suffering from epilepsy and that is why they were thrown to the ground. They just thought it was something demonic,” – except that there is in the Gospels someone whom we are told explicitly had epilepsy, and it does not say that Jesus cast a demon out of him; it says that Jesus healed him. So it is very clear in the inspired Word of God that the Son of God came into this world and He cast out demons, and He gave to His apostles the authority to cast out demons.These vile creatures are as real as you and me.                      

The devil and all of his minions are real beings. The problem is that if we want to play with them, they are going to be more than happy to play. But always remember the rule, as one priest put it: The devil always double-crosses his dupes. If you want to play with the devil, he will give you what you want and then he will double-cross you. The devil has only one desire and that is that you go to hell for eternity.                         That is the only thing he wants. 

God has only one desire, ultimately, and that is that you go to heaven for eternity. In order to be able to do that, we need to be obedient to God. And so we need to be very careful.Somebody like Solomon would start out with just mortal sin. Pretty soon, he was heaping sin upon sin. After a while, he was falling into the worship of false gods; not immediately, he just started building altars and shrines to these false gods on behalf of his foreign wives. Then, after a while, he joined them in offering incense and sacrifice. That is the way mortal sin operates. The devil is shrewd. He is not so impatient that he wants to get it all in one shot. If he can get you to fall into sin, then he knows he can get you to fall into something a little more and a little more and a little more. That is what he does. It is what happened to Solomon. It is what can happen to any of us.

So we need to be exceedingly careful, first of all, to be humble like this woman in the Gospel was, and secondly, to be obedient. We are told explicitly in the first reading that Solomon was disobedient to the commandments of God, and it was for this reason that he got himself in trouble. There is also a very important statement in the first reading by God Himself. He says to Solomon: “Since this is the way you want things to be….” You see how God operates. He gave you a free will and He is not going to interfere in your exercise of that free will, even if you choose to use it against Him. He will look at us as we commit sin, and in our foolishness in giving into the devil’s little ploys we will say, “Well, if God didn’t want me to sin, He can stop me!” He is not going to do that because you have a free will and He is not going to interfere with it. So He will look at each one of us and say, “Well, since this is the way you want it to be, go right ahead. But this is what is going to happen to you…” And all of us know what the punishment is going to be. We cannot claim ignorance because we know what is going to happen if we choose mortal sin. 

So we need to be extremely clear about these matters.There is only one God; anything else is from the devil. The devil is real, and if we want to play with the devil we are going to get burned. You do not play with fire and walk away unscathed. So we need to make a clear choice. We cannot do what Solomon did and say, “As long as I worship the one true God then I can play around with all these other ones.” No, we cannot. We need to get rid of sin, we need to get rid of everything that is not of God, and we need to worship the one true God and Him alone.*  This text was transcribed from the audio recording of a homily by Father Robert Altier with minimal editing.Labels: demons

American Wonderworker, The Life and Miracles of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

American Wonderworker, The Life and Miracles of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos C.Ss.R.By Rev. Carl Hoegerl, C.Ss.R.
“Today we will not study; last night the Blessed Mother told me that I’m to become a missionary in America.” This is how Francis Xavier Seelos told his younger brother Adam that he was going to give up his study of theology at the University of Munich. He was going to become a missionary priest in the United States. He was going to Baltimore to make his novitiate and join the Redemptorists. And so it happened.

Urged on by this Marian experience, Francis set sail for New York on Saint Patrick’s day, 1843. His departure cost him dearly. He loved his family very much and was close to his parents and all his eight brothers and sisters. Saying a last goodbye would be too painful for everyone. So he decided not to go home one last time but, like his namesake St. Francis Xavier, said farewell in a letter and departed for Le Harve and the sailing ship that would bring him to the New World. He had just turned twenty-four.

Francis, or Xavier as he was always called in the family, was bom January I 1, 1819, in Fiissen, a village in southwest Bavaria, on the edge of the Austrian Alps. He grew up in a thoroughly Catholic family and town. In later years he would write home to his mother: “I want to thank you for instilling into us children a great devotion to Mary.” And often in his letters he asked his two unmarried sisters to go to the Shrine of our Lady of the Mountain and pray for him and his missionary work.
During his vacations from school Francis went on long walking trips. Each year he made sure that he visited one of the shrines of Mary that were famous in the region, some close, some not so close. A school companion of his related that when he stood before Mary’s altar, he used to give full voice to his devotion and sing so loud that it filled the whole church. He could not be deterred and insisted on singing all the verses to his beloved Mother.

Once in the States, after thirty-five days on the high seas, matters went quickly for Francis. He made his religious profession as a Redemptorist in Baltimore on May 16, 1844, and was ordained that same year on December 22. The following year he began a nine-year ministry to the German immigrants at St. Philomena Church in smokey Pittsburgh. Here also he began a priestly career that was remarkable for a special gift in the confessional. Penitents flocked to go to Confession to him. They often waited for hours. His confessional, usually the last one at the back of the church, was besieged, even when the other priests had long departed. .

People were convinced that Father Seelos had the gift of reading hearts. Some said that he knew what they were going to say before they said it. Others remarked that he made Confession so very easy, even pleasant and enjoyable. He himself once admitted that he gave his penitents a chance to tell their story and found that this put them at their ease. Above all, he brought great peace to troubled hearts.
His kindness in hearing Confession brought its toll. One of his converts, an elderly lady, took up a lot of time with her Confession. Father Seelos, knowing that there were many others waiting, said to her one day: “There’s a poor gray-headed old woman outside waiting to come in.” “Yes Father,” she replied, “and there’s another gray-headed old woman inside and one gray head has as much right as another.”

As an inexperienced young priest in Pittsburgh, he once had a sick call to someone on the other side of the river. He had to take the ferry to get there. Because he was carrying the Blessed Sacrament, he thought it only proper to kneel down on the deck in adoration of his Divine Lord. Some rough and tough characters gave him a hard time, even hinting at throwing the hated Catholic priest into the river. Luckily a sharp-tongue Irish serving girl came to his rescue and gave a sound verbal lashing to the ruffians. St. John Neumann, his superior, cautioned him about this for the future. Those were the days of much anti-Catholic sentiment.

It was in Pittsburgh, too, that Father Seelos became known as the priest who could heal the sick and the troubled. When the afflicted came to him, he sent them into the church, to the altar of our Blessed Lady. There he prayed with them and gave them a blessing. Many were the cures that were reported through his prayers.
His reputation for the special grace of healing was so widespread that one day a man came to him in the parlor of the priests’ house. He was on crutches. When Father Seelos entered, the man said he wanted to have his legs cured and threw his crutches out the window and said he would stay there until he was cured. Father Seelos, dumbfounded, gave him a blessing, and sure enough the man walked out of the house by himself and unaided.

Father Seelos had a fine opportunity to prove himself a special devotee of Mary in Baltimore where he became pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish in 1854. A Protestant woman, whose husband had fallen from a scaffold while working on the church, asked to become a Catholic. Her minister, finding out that she was under instruction, arranged that he and Father Seelos discussed the Catholic faith in her presence especially its teaching on Mary. Father Seelos defended devotion to Mary so well that she, in effect, dismissed her minister and said she was even more convinced than ever that the Catholic Church was the true one.

While he was pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Cumberland, Maryland, and prefect of the Redemptorist seminarians, he often had them sing his favorite hymn to Mary during evening recreation. When some students complained about always singing the same hymn, he calmly said, “Once beautiful, always beautiful.” When one of the students had some reservations about the Assumption of Mary, Father Seelos remarked that, even though not defined by the Church, the faithful had always believed in Mary’s Assumption and that it was always better to believe too much rather than too little.

After some few years as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Annapolis, Maryland, and three years as superior of the Redemptorist mission band, Father Seelos fittingly came to St. Mary the Assumption Parish in New Orleans. Here as elsewhere he distinguished himself as a gentle confessor, an inspiring preacher, and a kindly friend of one and all.

Almost a year to the day in New Orleans, Father Seelos contracted yellow fever in September during the great epidemic of 1867. Already affected by the dreaded disease, he insisted on making one last sick call. He came home, went to bed, and never got up again. He lingered until October 4, during which time he admitted to the brother attending him that he had seen the Blessed Mother often. After singing his favorite hymn to Mary, “Gentle Queen,” with his confreres assembled around his bed, he died the death of the just. As a true devotee of Mary, he was buried in the sanctuary of her church, Our Lady of the Assumption.
It was in New Orleans, as well as elsewhere, that witnesses insisted they had seen an aura of light around Father Seelos as he walked down the street or when he visited the sick. Through the years many cures have been attributed to his intercession. Confidence in his power with God has continued to this day around his tomb. The Seelos Center records monthly some of the favors received through his prayers. The Father Seelos and Sanctity bulletin for April 1998 has these remarks from people who prayed to Father Seelos: “my health has greatly improved,” “a favor I prayed for has been granted” “my daughter delivered a beautiful baby boy by c-section, one month early, after a very stressful pregnancy,” “he has obtained many favors and answered my prayers and this for 28 years.”
Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos was a very happy, cheerful and holy man, always smiling or laughing. A contemporary described him this way: “His look was piety, his glance was comfort, his expression was love. Charity glistened in his eyes, and benevolence played around his venerable aspect.”
The secret of his holiness was very simple: he trusted completely in God, he trusted completely in the prayers of Mary. He used to call God his best spiritual director who arranged all the events of his life in order to lead him to holiness. All that he had to do was to follow the lead of God, accept it, be happy with it and everything would go along nicely and he would become holy.
His cause for canonization has been introduced in Rome and is progressing favorably. The “case” for his heroicity of virtue will most likely be presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints this spring. If this is approved, the way will be open to present a cure that, it is hoped, will lead to his beatification. A woman of New Orleans had cancer of the liver. Very little of her liver was left. She prayed for the help of Father Seelos. She is still hale and hearty today, thirty-two years later.
If you are interested in knowing more about the Servant of God, Francis Xavier Seelos, C.SS.R., write to: The Father Seelos Center, 2030 Constance Street, New Orleans, LA 70130-5099.

Reprinted with permission from the January-February 1999 issue of Soul Magazine

Fr. Munoz in Medjugorje

http://marytv.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=400

John Wayne's grandson in Medjugorje testifying.

Obama and Catholic Traitors

Report: Facebook, Google, Apple censor religious speech :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Report: Facebook, Google, Apple censor religious speech :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Nashville, Tenn., Oct 4, 2011 / 06:15 am (CNA).- Major internet media platforms and service providers have policies that hinder Christian evangelization and censor speech on controversial issues of the day like abortion and marriage, a new report says.

“Christian ideas and other religious content face a clear and present danger of censorship on web-based communication platforms,” said the National Religious Broadcasters’ report “True Liberty in a New Media Age.”

If Christian content is “censored” by new media platforms like the iTunes App Store, Facebook, Google, or internet service providers, “the Good News of the Gospel could become one more casualty of institutionalized religious discrimination,” the broadcaster organization’s president Frank Wright said in the report’s foreword.

The National Religious Broadcasters was founded in 1944 to oppose government regulations and policy decisions by major broadcast networks which impeded the ability of evangelical ministers to buy radio airtime.

Some new media companies have banned Christian content, while others have public positions that make censorship “all but inevitable.”

Except for the microblogging service Twitter, all the new media platforms and services examined have policies “clearly inconsistent with the free speech values of the U.S. Constitution,” the report said.

New media companies are responsive to “market forces” and the demands by “pressure groups calling for censorship” of otherwise lawful viewpoints.

As examples of “anti-Christian censorship,” the report cited the Apple iTunes App Store’s removal of the Manhattan Declaration app that defended traditional marriage. The store also removed an app from Exodus International that said that homosexuality is inappropriate conduct which can be changed through a spiritual transformation.

Internet search engine giant Google refused to accept a pro-life advertisement from a Christian organization in England and its China-based internet service has blacklisted some religious terminology. The company’s advertising guidelines explicitly bar the phrase “abortion is murder” on the grounds it is “gruesome language.”

The report also cited Facebook and other outlets for a policy that bars ads for “politically religious agendas.”

Meanwhile, Facebook has partnered with gay rights advocates to halt “anti-homosexual” content and it is participating in gay-awareness programs. This suggests that Christian content critical of homosexuality, “gay marriage” or other practices will be at risk of censorship.

Apple, Facebook, MySpace, Google, Comcast, AT&T and Verizon all prohibit “hate speech,” which the National Religious Broadcasters report called a “dangerously undefined and political correct term” that is often applied to “stifle” Christian communicators.

“The ongoing technological convergence of these various new media platforms suggests that these free speech-inhibiting practices and unconscionable policies will be further entrenched unless corrective action is taken immediately,” the report said.

The report suggested that companies should follow a “free speech paradigm” guided by the basic First Amendment rules, even where those do not strictly apply to private businesses. It also suggested federal legislation or regulation to forbid “viewpoint censorship.”

“When we started our John Milton Project for Religious Free Speech, I sensed a gathering storm building, with 'new media' companies like Apple, Facebook and Google considering the option of censoring Christian content off their sites,” National Religious Broadcasters’ senior vice president Craig Parshall said on Sept. 13.

“Now, a little more than a year later, after finishing our extensive study, I am convinced that religious free speech rights will face a First Amendment hurricane if action is not taken immediately.”

Blessed Mother, Patroness of Depressed Enthroned in Argentina

Our Lady's image on tile

ZENIT - Patroness of Depressed Enthroned in Argentina

There is a feast of the Madonna of the Holy Well on 8 September, 
and a night vigil on 26 September, the anniversary of the miracle of the well.

PATRONESS OF DEPRESSED ENTHRONED IN ARGENTINA

Prelate Sees Modernity Leaving Many Lonely and Uncertain

LOS CARDALES, Argentina, OCT. 3, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the depressed was enthroned in a parish in Argentina.

Bishop Oscar Sarlinga of Zarate-Campana on Saturday enthroned Mary in her manifestation as Our Lady of the Well (Madonna del Pozzo).

In 2006, the bishop established this devotion to Our Lady as a recourse for the depressed, due to the tradition surrounding the image.

Santa Maria in Via church

This dedication dates to the year 1256. The original image of Our Lady of the Well, painted on a stone tile, is in the church of Santa Maria in Via in Rome.

One account relates that in the 13th century, a servant at a Roman cardinal's house flung the heavy stone into a well, perhaps out of contempt, anger or hatred. Tradition holds, however, that it remained miraculously floating on the waters. Another version states that the well overflowed, and the image was found floating on the water.

The people of Rome and the Pope himself believed that the Virgin wished to show that despite our being submerged by those who hate us or do not know us, or are wounded and seek to wound us, we can always surface and rise, even against the physical laws of nature and the psyche.

Pope Honorius honored the image in 1256 carrying it in procession through the city of Rome.

Now this Virgin suggests to many faithful the possibility of being able to rise, to surface from the depths of distress, sadness and sorrow.

Christian joy

Bishop Sarlinga acknowledged the "pastoral need to address with faith and hope the realm of anxiety and depression in which not a few of our brothers and sisters live."

In a letter addressed in 2007 to people suffering from depression, anxiety and situations of great need, the bishop reminded that Christian joy "stems from hope that cannot disappoint, from that 'already but not yet,' which is the anticipation of the glory of heaven."

According to the prelate, "depression is a particularly complex ailment present in our contemporary age that is characterized -- as in no other age -- by progress in scientific knowledge and man's control over the planet, but also marked by abandonment, loneliness, uncertainty and the myriad possibilities of frustration, so often originating in the senselessness of life, that is, in which human life seems for many to have no meaning, or otherwise originating from external factors, such as grave inflicted injustices, unjust poverty, disappointments, calumnies, frauds, tragic loss of loved ones, loss of faith and hope because of scandal or laziness or the malevolence of those who should help."

He encouraged the depressed to accept their suffering as a way of participating in the Passion of Christ, and to pray and have frequent recourse to the sacraments.

"A spiritual recovery will be invaluable help for those suffering from anxiety, depression and states of urgent need," the bishop said, "because they will be helped to love themselves more, to appreciate themselves more and to recover the sense of a just struggle, of hope, and of a way out from the darkness of despair."

In the first chapel on the right, the Cappella della Madonna del Pozzo constructed by Monsignor Canobio, is the holy well. The chapel is built around the well, and the icon is preserved there. It is painted on a tile fragment. In1646, it was crowned by the Vatican and framed in polychrome marble. A Servite friar will serve you fresh water from the well. The chapel is also decorated with a painting of The Annunciation by Aldobrandini and The Adoration of the Magi and The Nativity by Cavalier d'Arpino. The painting to the right showing Cardinal Capocci receiving the icon is of the school of Carravagio about 1606.

click on this link and then click on the photo and then it will come up large so you can see the Blessed Mother's image left on the stone.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trevi_-_santa_Maria_in_Via_-_il_pozzo_1000266.JPG

from the INTERIOR CASTLE...ST. THERESE OF AVILA

SOUL IN MORTAL SIN

1. BEFORE going farther, I wish you to consider the state to which mortal sin brings this magnificent and beautiful castle, this pearl of the East, this tree of life, planted beside the living waters of life which symbolize God Himself. No night can be so dark, no gloom nor blackness can compare to its obscurity. Suffice it to say that the sun in the centre of the soul, which gave it such splendour and beauty, is totally eclipsed, though the spirit is as fitted to enjoy God's presence as is the crystal to reflect the sun.
2. While the soul is in mortal sin nothing can profit it; none of its good works merit an eternal reward, since they do not proceed from God as their first principle, and by Him alone is our virtue real virtue. The soul separated from Him is no longer pleasing in His eyes, because by committing a mortal sin, instead of seeking to please God, it prefers to gratify the devil, the prince of darkness, and so comes to share his blackness. I knew a person to whom our Lord revealed the result of a mortal sin  and who said she thought no one who realized its effects could ever commit it, but would suffer unimaginable torments to avoid it. This vision made her very desirous for all to grasp this truth, therefore I beg you, my daughters, to pray fervently to God for sinners, who live in blindness and do deeds of darkness.
3. In a state of grace the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of clearest crystal. Its works are pleasing both to God and man, rising from the River of Life, beside which it is rooted like a tree. Otherwise it would produce neither leaves nor fruit, for the waters of grace
nourish it, keep it from withering from drought, and cause it to bring forth good fruit. But the soul by sinning withdraws from this stream of life, and growing beside a black and fetid pool, can produce nothing but disgusting and unwholesome fruit.
Notice that it is not the fountain and the brilliant sun which lose their splendour and beauty, for they are placed in the very centre of the soul and cannot be deprived of their lustre. The soul is like a crystal in the sunshine over which a thick black cloth has been thrown, so that however brightly the sun may shine the crystal can never reflect it.

WHO DOESN'T LIKE JOHN WAYNE?! AND A CONVERT TO CATHOLICISM

 Rome, Italy, Oct 1, 2011 / 12:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- John Wayne, for many, was a Hollywood legend who symbolized true masculinity and American values. To Fr. Matthew Muñoz, though, he was simply “granddaddy.”

“When we were little we’d go to his house and we’d simply hang out with granddaddy and we’d play and we’d have fun: a very different image from what most people have of him,”  Fr. Muñoz told CNA on a recent visit to Rome.

Fr. Muñoz was 14 years old when his grandfather died of cancer in 1979. In his lifetime, “The Duke” won three Oscars, the Congressional Gold Medal and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Of all those achievements, though, Fr. Muñoz is most proud of just one – his grandfather’s conversion to the Catholic faith.

“My grandmother, Josephine Wayne Saenz, had a wonderful influence on his life and introduced him to the Catholic world,” said 46-year-old Fr. Muñoz, a priest of the Diocese of Orange in California.  

“He was constantly at Church events and fundraisers that she was always dragging him to and I think that, after a while, he kind of got a sense that the common secular vision of what Catholics are and what his own experience actually was, were becoming two greatly different things.”

Fr. Muñoz’s grandparents married in 1933 and had four children, the youngest of whom – Melinda – is his mother. The couple civilly divorced in 1945 although, as a Catholic, Josephine did not re-marry until after John Wayne’s death. She also never stopped praying for her husband’s conversion – a prayer which was answered in 1978.

“He was a great friend of the Archbishop of Panama, Archbishop Tomas Clavel, and he kept encouraging him and finally my granddaddy said, 'Okay, I’m ready.'”

As a result of a change in Panamanian leadership, Archbishop Clavel was exiled from his native land in 1968. Three years later, Cardinal Timothy Manning, then the Archbishop of Los Angeles, invited Archbishop Clavel to Orange County, where he served as pastoral leader to half of Orange County's 600,000 Latinos.

By the time of Wayne's request, however, Archbishop Clavel was too ill to make the journey to the film star's residence.

“So Archbishop Clavel called Archbishop McGrath,” Fr. Muñoz said, explaining that Archbishop McGrath was the successor to Archbishop Clavel in the Archdiocese of Panama. 

“My mom and my uncle were there when he came. So there’s no question about whether or not he was baptized. He wanted to become baptized and become Catholic,” Fr. Muñoz said. “It was wonderful to see him come to the faith and to leave that witness for our whole family.”

Fr. Muñoz also said that his grandfather’s expressed a degree of regret about not becoming a Catholic earlier in life, explaining “that was one of the sentiment he expressed before he passed on,” blaming “a busy life.”

Prior to his conversion to Catholicism, though, John Wayne’s life was far from irreligious.

“From an early age he had a good sense of what was right and what is wrong. He was raised with a lot of Christian principles and kind of a 'Bible faith' that, I think, had a strong impact upon him,” said Fr. Muñoz recalling that his grandfather often wrote handwritten notes to the Almighty.

“He wrote beautiful love letters to God, and they were prayers. And they were very childlike and they were very simple but also very profound at the same time,” he said.

“And sometimes that simplicity was looked at as naivety but I think there was a profound wisdom in his simplicity.”

Fr. Muñoz summed up the hierarchy of his grandfather’s values as “God coming first, then family, then country.” It’s a triumvirate he sees repeatedly reflected in his grandfather’s films. He believes those values are much needed in Hollywood today and, if “the Duke” were still here he’d be leading the charge.

“My grandfather was a fighter. I think there would be a lot of things he’d be disappointed and saddened over. But I don’t think he would lose hope. I think he would look at the current time as a moment of faith. People are in crisis and they’re looking for something more meaningful, more real,” Fr. Muñoz said. 

“So I think he would look at the situation and say – don’t get discouraged! I think he would say get involved. Don’t go hiding in a shell and getting on the defensive from Hollywood. Get involved and be an agent for the good. I think he would do that. That’s what he did in his time.”