The Satanic Vandalism Against Our Lady's Image in Bordeaux France

lasalettejourney.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-satanic-vandalism-against-our-ladys.html

On the night of October 13th, a statue of our lady was destroyed in Bordeaux, France. The statue had been attached in about three meters height to a corner of an apartment building at Rue Neuve. A strong indicator that this was a hate-motivated crime is the fact that the head of the statue could not be found. And then there is the date: October 13th, the anniversary date on which Our Lady of Fatima appeared for the last time to the three children.

Our culture – and this includes large segments of the Church – has succumbed to satanic pride. As the sexual abuse crisis explodes throughout the Church, as errors cripple the Mystical Body of Christ, as the Culture of Sodomy continues to metastasize like a cancer, officials in the Church hold committee meetings and form panels and conduct studies. All in the vain hope of solving these problems themselves. Pride.

What then is the solution? It is right before our eyes. But it is so simple the proud of this world are not capable of seeing it:

Satan,

proud-winged!

Bold and brazen,

Crushed by

Simple

Sandalled Maiden!

It was Saint Louis de Montfort who explained that, “Mary must become as terrible as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especially in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time – even less now than ever – to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary’s faithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others.

It is chiefly in reference to these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent of the reign of anti- Christ, that we should understand that first and well-known prophecy and curse of God uttered against the serpent in the garden of paradise. It is opportune to explain it here for the glory of the Blessed Virgin, the salvation of her children and the confusion of the devil. “I will place enmities between you and the woman, between your race and her race; she will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her heel” (Gen. 3:15).

God has established only one enmity – but it is an irreconcilable one – which will last and even go on increasing to the end of time. That enmity is between Mary, his worthy Mother, and the devil, between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and followers of Lucifer.

Thus the most fearful enemy that God has set up against the devil is Mary, his holy Mother. From the time of the earthly paradise, although she existed then only in his mind, he gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, such ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel, that Satan fears her not only more than angels and men but in a certain sense more than God himself. This does not mean that the anger, hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the Blessed Virgin’s, since her attributes are limited. It simply means that Satan, being so proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquished and punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humility humiliates him more than the power of God. Moreover, God has given Mary such great power over the evil spirits that, as they have often been forced unwillingly to admit through the lips of possessed persons, they fear one of her pleadings for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats more than all their other torments.

What Lucifer lost by pride Mary won by humility. What Eve ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience. By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Mary by her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with herself and consecrated them to his divine majesty.

God has established not just one enmity but “enmities”, and not only between Mary and Satan but between her race and his race. That is, God has put enmities, antipathies and hatreds between the true children and servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no love and no sympathy for each other. The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world, – for they are all one and the same – have always persecuted and will persecute more than ever in the future those who belong to the Blessed Virgin, just as Cain of old persecuted his brother Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob. These are the types of the wicked and of the just. But the humble Mary will always triumph over Satan, the proud one, and so great will be her victory that she will crush his head, the very seat of his pride. She will unmask his serpent’s cunning and expose his wicked plots. She will scatter to the winds his devilish plans and to the end of time will keep her faithful servants safe from his cruel claws.

But Mary’s power over the evil spirits will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom she will rouse to fight against him. In the eyes of the world they will be little and poor and, like the heel, lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and crushed as is the heel by the other parts of the body. But in compensation for this they will be rich in God’s graces, which will be abundantly bestowed on them by Mary. They will be great and exalted before God in holiness. They will be superior to all creatures by their great zeal and so strongly will they be supported by divine assistance that, in union with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan with their heel, that is, their humility, and bring victory to Jesus Christ.” (True Devotion to Mary, 50-54).

Pope John XXIII looked forward to a New Pentecost and Pope John Paul II spoke of a new Civilization of Love. And we shall have these. Even if they do not occur in the manner most people expect. In many places a cleansing, a purification is needed in individual temples before the Holy Spirit will enter with His Bride. We read in the Gospel of Matthew how, “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those engaged in selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he said to them, ‘It is written: My house shall be a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves.’” (21: 12, 13).

And what is our soul but His temple? Have we made His house a house of prayer? Or have we succumbed to lust, materialism and pride and made His house a den of thieves who have no place there? We have to become Marian. We have to become Mary-like before Christ is reborn again in our modern world through the power of the Holy Spirit.

There will indeed be a New Pentecost in the hearts of men and a Civilization of Love which will endure forever. But only after the Church has been purified through Calvary:

“Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 675).

Satan’s goal is to make a physical and spiritual wreckage of all God’s creation. To accomplish this, he enlists men through the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life. And isn’t this what we’ve witnessed even in the Church? Priests – ministers of the Living God – who have become so arrogant, so puffed up with pride, that they came to view even innocent children as objects to be used for their own sexual gratification and a laity which has also [for the most part] lost the sense of sin and no longer feels a need to confess and live a truly sacramental life.

Pride has brought the Church to her present state. We must become more Mary-like. We don’t need more committee meetings, panels, studies, seminars and countless “experts” – men and women with a string of letters after their names but lacking wisdom – to bring us back to sanity. They are not up to the task. If a blind man lead another blind man, both end up in a ditch.

We need holy men and women who are on fire for the Lord Jesus and who recognize their poverty, their smallness. What we need is children of Mary – the same children (despised by this proud world) whom Saint Louis de Montfort says, “..will become, in Mary’s powerful hands, like sharp arrows, with which she will transfix her enemies.” (True Devotion, No. 56), It is such prayer-warriors who “..will be like thunder-clouds flying through the air at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit. Attached to nothing, surprised at nothing, troubled at nothing, they will shower down the rain of God’s word and of eternal life. They will thunder against sin, they will storm against the world, they will strike down the devil and his followers and for life and for death, they will pierce through and through with the two-edged sword of God’s word all those against whom they are sent by almighty God.” (True Devotion, No. 57).

This isn’t a time for hand-wringing. Neither is it a time to look to so-called “experts,” intellectual frauds who rely on their own intelligence. Fools. Now is the time to have recourse to Mary. The victory has been promised to the simple sandalled maiden. This is something the proud cannot understand or accept. Our Lady will crush the Devil’s head – the seat of his intellect – and she will accomplish this without an academic degree or countless meetings. She will accomplish what the proud cannot. And she will do this through her children, her heel, those little souls consecrated to her.

The Devil fears Mary. Each time the words “Hail Mary” are prayed reverently, all of Hell trembles. The Evil One knows his time is very short now. And so his persecution is becoming ever-more physical.

Hate the Sin Love the Sinner

From Father Shalla's Blog

Written by Alice von Hildebrand

Genesis informs us that when God completed creation, He saw that “it was very good.” Surprisingly enough, these luminous words can easily be misread or misinterpreted. 

God is  clearly telling us that every single being to which He has freely granted “to be” is not only benefiting from the nobility of existence, but moreover  that all these beings not only  “are” but moreover have qualities  and perfections which, according to a huge scale, reflect God’s infinite beauty. A star-studded key awakens in us a feeling of awe, but the most modest insect hidden in the grass, also speaks of God’s glory. There is no such a thing as “naked” being. Pure being is an abstraction.

Let me repeat: All existing beings have qualities and perfections the scale of which is immense – from the awesome greatness and beauty of a star-studded sky to the modest perfection of a gnat. All of them reflect the greatness and glory of God: “Heaven and earth are filled with His Glory.”

The greatness of God’s creation teaches us one of the most fundamental metaphysical laws: exemplarism. This is one of the great merits of Plato: he saw it, even though, living ante lucem, his vision was necessarily imperfect and limited. But his insight was superbly enriched not only by St. Augustine, but very especially by the great St. Bonaventure. He tells us that all material creation – with the exception of man (homo) – are vestigia (traces) of God. Man alone, being made to God’s likeness, is his Imago. This might explain the particular love that Benedict XVI has for the great Franciscan.

Indeed whatever God brought into existence was ontologically “good,” being a reflection of its Creator. But obviously “good” does not refer to moral qualities. These can only be found in persons having free will. It makes no sense to refer to the “generosity” of mountains, or the humility of a blade of grass.

God has created billions and billions of beings. Could He have created billions more? The obvious answer is yes. Is the fact that He in His infinite wisdom, He decided to limit their number be considered an evil? Once again the obvious answer is no. That something was not created that in principle could have existed, cannot be qualified as an evil.

To use Dietrich von Hildebrand’s terminology, all existing beings created by God have ontological value. This is true even though the scale between a human person and a blade of grass is huge indeed.

All ontological values call for our respect. Moreover, one either possesses this value or one does not. One cannot be “more or less” a person and “more or less” an elephant: either one is one or one is not one.

Very different are what the same author calls qualitative values, the most prominent of which are moral values or disvalues (just or unjust) ; intellectual values, ( intelligent or stupid); and aesthetic values, (beautiful or ugly). It is obvious that moral and intellectual values can only be possessed by persons: there is no such thing as a saintly animal or a dog who is an inventive genius.

This undeniable fact opens up a new philosophical horizon:  namely the fact that whereas one cannot be more or less of a person (even though one can be a more or less perfect person), one can be more or less just, more or less intelligent, more or less beautiful. Ontological values have no opposites: the “contradictory” of an elephant is a non elephant which simply is not. It is simply “nothing.” There is no “non elephant.” Whereas moral values can be possessed to a greater or lesser degree reaching a point when the scale turns and we reach a fearful reality:  moral evil. A priest related to my husband that one day, a woman confessed that “she feared she loved her husband too little.” Puzzled, he questioned her further and found out that for months she had been living in adultery. Indeed, adultery “was too little love.”

A confusion between ontological values and qualitative values is widespread among philosophers, including Catholics, and is serious in its consequences.

As mentioned above, the non existence of a possible ontological value is sheer absence, and no evil. It is however, a dangerous equivocation to draw the conclusion that the same applies to immorality or heresy.

To assume that “moral evil’ is just a distorted good, and that therefore, there is no such thing as moral evil, its being just an absence (as darkness is lack of light) and claim moreover that moral Evil pure and simple does not exist, is misinterpreting the Divine statement in Genesis: God saw that His creation was very good and extend it to man’s actions. All the beings that God brought into existence are – in Aristotelian terminology “substances” – possessing qualities called accidents. An act of murder, rape, sadism, sodomy are not “substances” but alas, they are fearful facts. 

The act itself is a sin, and sins are  not distorted goods, but grave offenses of God, which not only separate the sinner from God, but  moreover, deeply stain the sinner’s soul, and moreover,  in most cases, wound and hurt other beings. This is why sin is a terrible reality. Original sin was so grave that it cut off man from his Creator, and created an abyss between Creator and creature that only God’s infinite goodness could span.  It would be strange indeed if God had decided to send His divine Son to earth, have Him incarnated in the womb of a Virgin and destine Him to a shameful and horrendous death, just for mending the harm done by a “distorted” good.

At this point one wishes to have the eloquence of a Cicero, inspired by the writings of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, in which he condemns in the strongest possible words (see Rom.1:18) all the perversions and moral abominations abhorred by the Apostle of the Gentiles, being full fledged realities, and not just distorted goods. Alas, they are fully real acts of revolt. Non serviam. In other words, sexual perversions, immorality, theft, murder, sadism, rape are totally and exclusively man’s doings, and have nothing to do with the goodness of God’s creation. These evils are committed by man alone after creation was completed. The viciousness of these acts is man’s full responsibility and can never be viewed as “an absence or distortion” of something good that God had created.

This was superbly expressed by St. Augustine, referring to moral evil that is either heresies or immoralities. He writes these golden words: Interficere errorem; digiligere errantem. What is false or morally evil is to be “killed”, destroyed, blotted out of existence. There should be neither pity nor compassion for the moral evil referred to above. They must be fought against, with every possible means. They should not be tolerated.  There are things which, St. Paul tells us, because of their evil character that “should not even be mentioned among Christians.” Today, the whole gamut of moral perversions are not only mentioned, but advertised and even praised, as the abolition of “old taboos.” Moreover, their acceptance is praised in the name of “charity” and “compassion.”  Compassion toward sinners should apparently be extended toward sins, because the two are so closely “married.” Secularists and atheists today have become “the great apostles of charity,” reminding Christians that the Gospel is a Gospel of love and forgiveness. Moreover, there is no need for forgiveness – everything is legitimate if it satisfies the person who happens to like it. The whole gamut of tastes should be respected.

Exile of Adam and Eve | Micahel D. O'Brien , studiObrien.comWho is to decide what is right? Joe Biden tells us that being a practicing Catholic, he fully endorses the teaching of the Church condemning abortion. But being “charitable”, he has no right to impose his opinions on others. Some politicians have become “moral theologians.”

The Gospel, when read on one’s knees as recommended by Kierkegaard, tells us a very different story. Far from claiming that there is one redeeming feature in sin, it claims that certaub sins are such a abominations (offense of God) that if “anyone scandalizes one of these little ones, it would be better for him to have a millstone put around his neck and be thrown to the bottom of the sea” (Matt. 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2). 

These are fearful words. Clearly there was nothing “redeemable” in these acts. Pornography is clearly referred to by these words. Still more fearful is Judas’ betrayal. It is in referring to this traitor that Christ spoke the most fearful words uttered in the Gospel of love; “It would have been better for this man had he never been born.” The loving Savior, about to sacrifice his life for us, sinners, clearly could not see anything “positive” behind the abomination of Judas’s treason. It is a grievous error that must make the Angels cry to claim that we should look for the positive behind pornography.

This leads us to the second point: “diligere errantem.” There the divine message is very different; abominable as certain crimes are, as long as the sinner lives, not only can he repent (and this would give immense joy to Angels in heaven), but however stained and filthy (for there is such a thing as moral filth), God’s image is still in him. The Christian message is clear indeed; your love for the sinner is proportionate to your hatred of his sin. A sincere lover of a “pornographer” is the greatest enemy of pornography. In his Purgatory, Dante wrote the following words concerning Malfredi:

Orribili furon li peccati mei

Ma la bonta divina ha si gran braccia

Che prende cio, che si rivolge a lei. (iii, 121 ff)

The message is clear: there are sins which are nothing short of horrible, but God will never turn down a repentant sinner. As a matter of fact, we do not even have to implore for God’s mercy: it is always offered, but the terrible fact is that man can turn it down, preferring damnation to mercy.

Kierkegaard speaks also of this metaphysical rebellion: “… rather than seek help he would prefer to be himself – with all the tortures of hell, if it must be.”

The Christian attitude is superbly expressed in Dietrich von Hildebrand’s words. While discussing the horror of Nazis with a friend whose mother died in a concentration camp, he said, “If Hitler were dying in jail and begged for a glass of water, I would hasten to give it to him.” His friend was shocked, but he was right.

May we live up to both challenges: the hatred of the sin; the love for the sinner.

Alice von Hildebrand is a lecturer and an author, whose works include: The Privilege of Being a Woman (2002) and The Soul of a Lion: The Life of Dietrich von Hildebrand (2000), a biography of her late husband. 
 

Originally published as Intellectual pitfalls By Alice von Hildebrand

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=2433

Stickies

Lovies

Consecreation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Tonight, Father Rostand call on all of us to consecrate ourselves, our families and our workplaces to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  What sound direction!

Below is a great story of Father Desgenettes' parish consecration in 1836, perhaps the first consecration.

Effects of a Consecration

Father Desgenettes consecrated his parish in the heart of Paris, Our Lady of Victories, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1836. When he was first assigned to this parish of 40,000 souls in 1832, around 40 people used to go to Mass. The French Revolution had not only destroyed lives and countries, but also, and more deeply, souls! Despite all his efforts, prayers, and sacrifices, Father Desgenettes saw no fruit for years and was greatly discouraged.

On December 3, 1836, a first Saturday, he heard an interior voice telling him during Mass: Consecrate your parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Immediately he wrote the Statutes of the Confraternity of the “Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary for the conversion of sinners.” The members would commit to assist at Mass on the first Saturday and to pray in particular for the conversion of sinners. On Saturday, December 10, Bishop Quelen approved the new confraternity and authorized the beginning of the devotion the next day, the Third Sunday of Advent. To the ten faithful who were assisting at Mass that day, Father Desgenettes announced that, later that very afternoon, he wished the parish to make an act of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. From that moment, the miracles at Our Lady of Victories never ceased. After Mass, two fathers of families asked for confession. In the evening, 400 to 500 people assisted at the act of consecration. On the following day, M. Joly, the last minister of Louis XVI, who had refused so far to receive the sacraments, agreed to make his confession to his parish priest. In ten days, 214 souls became members of the confraternity, and in April 1838 Gregory XVI made it an archconfraternity for the whole Church. In 1842, there were more than two million members and nine hundred affiliated parishes.

In July 1853, Pius IX crowned the statue of Our Lady of Victories parish. On that occasion he said: “The Archconfraternity of the Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary is God’s work. It is a thought of Heaven realized on earth. It will be the Church’s resource in bad days.”

Saint Michael and the Virgin Mary

Beer Blessings

1. Blessing of the Beer in Latin

V. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.

R. Qui fecit caelum et terram.V. Dominus vobiscum.

R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Oremus.

Benedic, Domine, creaturam istam cerevisiae, quam ex adipe frumenti producere dignatus es: ut sit remedium salutare humano generi, et praesta per invocationem nominis tui sancti; ut, quicumque ex ea biberint, sanitatem corpus et animae tutelam percipiant. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Cardinal Ratzinger enjoy a hefty mug of ale.

2. Blessing of the Beer in English

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

R. Who made heaven and earth.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

Bless, + O Lord, this creature beer, which thou hast deigned to produce from the fat of grain: that it may be a salutary remedy to the human race, and grant through the invocation of thy holy name; that, whoever shall drink it, may gain health in body and peace in soul. Through Christ our Lord.

R. Amen.

And it is sprinkled with holy water.

More on Beer: The 7 Authentic Trappist Ales

Novena

Great day to start a novena!

October 7th (Feast of Our Lady of Victory) through October 15th (Saint Teresa of Avila).  Also includes

October  13 th  (Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima) October 11th (Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

Our Lady Of the Rosary

Tomorrow we celebrate  the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Try to assist at Mass, and say the Rosary.  God Bless.  

Joseph-Maria

"Let the name of Mary be ever on your lips, let it be indelibly engraven on your heart.  If you are under her protection, you have nothing to fear; if she is propitious, you will arrive at the port of salvation." - St. Bernard

Catholic Joke

Joke of the day, from:

http://www.fisheaters.com/jokes.html


A Catholic boy and a Jewish boy were talking and the Catholic boy said, "My priest knows more than your rabbi." The Jewish boy said, "Of course he does, you tell him everything."

Petition to Our Lady of the Rosary - Partial Indulgence

PETITION TO OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF POMPEII

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I.
O august Queen of victories, Virgin who reignest in paradise, whose mighty name causes heaven to rejoice and hell to tremble, o glorious Queen of the most holy Rosary, we, thy happy children chosen by thy goodness in this century to build thee a temple at Pompeii, kneeling at thy feet on this solemn day to commemorate thy latest triumphs on the spot where idols and demons were formerly worshipped, we pour out with tears the feelings of our hearts and with a filial confidence lay before thee our miseries.

From that throne of mercy where thou sittest as Queen, o Mary, turn down thy pitiful eyes on us, on our families, on Italy, on Europe, and the whole Church; take into pity the afflictions which overwhelm us and the cares which embitter our life. Thou seest, o Mother, how many dangers of soul and body, how many calamities and afflictions press upon us.

O Mother, keep back the arm of justice of thy indignant Son, and conquer by thy mercy the hearts of sinners, since they are our brethren and thy children, redeemed through the blood of our sweet Jesus and through the wounds of thy most tender heart pierced with the sword. Show thyself to all in this day, as thou art, the Queen of peace and mercy.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,…
-    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
-    Give me strength against thy enemies.
-    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
-    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

II.
It is but too true that we, although thy children, are the first who crucify Jesus in our hearts and wound anew thy heart by our sins. We confess it, we deserve the severest chastisements; yet remember how thou didst receive, on the top of Golgotha, the last drops of that divine blood, and the testament of our dying Redeemer. And this testament of a God, sealed with the blood of a Man-God, appointed thee our Mother, the Mother of sinners. Thus, as our Mother, thou art our Advocate and our Hope. To thee, amidst sighs,  do we lift up our hands, crying for mercy!

Have pity, good mother, have pity on us, on our souls, on our families, on our relations, on our friends, on our departed brethren, above all, on our enemies, and on so many who claim the name of Christians, yet wound the loving heart of thy Son. Pity, o Mother, we now implore thee for pity on the erring nations, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they may repair repentant to thy heart. Be merciful to all, o Mother of mercy.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,…
-    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
-    Give me strength against thy enemies.
-    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
-    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

III.
What does it cost thee, o Mary, to hear us? What does it cost thee to save us? Did not Jesus entrust to thy hands all the treasures of his graces and mercies? Thou sittest as Queen at the right hand of thy Son, crowned with immortal glory, above all the choirs of angels. Thou extendest thy dominion as far as the heavens expand, the earth and all the creatures that people it are subject to thee. Thy power even reaches hell; and thou alone,  o Mary, canst rescue us from the devil’s grasp. Thou art almighty by grace, and therefore thou canst save us. Now if you sayest thou wilIest not help us because we are ungrateful children and unworthy of thy protection, tell us at least to whom shall we have recourse in order to be released from so many evils? Oh! No, thy maternal heart will never bear to see the ruin of thy children. The divine Child we behold on thy knees, the mystical crown we admire in thy hand, both inspire us with hope that we will be heard. And full of confidence in thee, we throw ourselves at thy feet, we trust ourselves as feeble children into the arms of the tenderest amongst mothers and today, this very day, we expect from thee the graces we are longing for.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,…
-    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
-    Give me strength against thy enemies.
-    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
-    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us ask Mary for her blessing

We now ask of thee, o Queen, a last favor which thou canst not refuse on this solemn day. Grant to all of us thy constant love and in a special manner thy maternal blessing. No, we will not leave thy feet today nor cease clasping thy knees till thou hast blessed us. Bless now, o Mary, the sovereign Pontiff: to the first laurels of thy crown, to the ancient trophies of the Rosary, whence thou art called Queen of victories, add also this one, o Mother, grant triumph to religion and peace to mankind. Bless our bishop, the priests and particularly those who promote the honor of thy Sanctuary; bless finally all those who are associated to thy new temple of Pompeii and who practice and spread devotion to thy most holy rosary .

O blessed rosary of Mary, sweet chain which unites us to God, bond of love, which connects us with the angels, tower of safety against the assaults of hell, sure harbor in the universal shipwreck, never more shall we part with thee; thou shall be our comfort in the hour of agony: to thee the last kiss of our life; and the last word of our dying lips shall be thy sweet name, o Queen of the Rosary of Valle di Pompei. Mother dear, only refuge of sinners, supreme comforter of the afflicted, blessed be thy name, now and forever, on earth and in heaven. Amen.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,…
-    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
-    Give me strength against thy enemies.
-    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
-    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Sister of the Nativity

Jeanne Royer, known in relion as Sister of The Nativity was born at the village of Beaulot, near Ferns, Brittany. Jeanne entered the Convent at the age of 21 years. Her education was rudimentary having learned how to read. She had many visions, and told of prophecies, one being the announcement of the French Revolution, where she envisages the death of the King “One day I was in prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, The Lord showed me that the King would be put to death, I begged not to allow it, my prayers were too weak”

---

“One day I heard a voice which said ‘The new Constitution will appear to many other than what it really is. They will bless it as a gift from heaven; whereas it is in fact sent from hell and permitted by God in His just wrath. It will only be by its effects that people will be led to recognize the Dragon who wanted to destroy all and devour all….”¹

“…One night I saw a number of ecclesiastics. Their haughtiness and air of severity seemed to demand the respect of all. They forced the faithful to follow them. But God commanded me to oppose them. ‘”They no longer have the right to speak in My name’ Jesus told me ‘It is against My wish that they carry out a mandate for which they are no longer worthy…”²

“…I saw a great power rise up in the Church. It plundered, devastated and threw into confusion and disorder the vine of the Lord, having it trampled under foot by the people and holding it up to ridicule by all nations. Having vilified celibacy and oppressed the priesthood, it had the effrontery to confiscate the Church’s property and to arrogate for itself the powers of the Holy Father, whose person and laws it held in contempt” ³

“I had a vision: Before the father and the son both seated a virgin of incomparable beauty, representing the church was kneeling. The Holy Ghost spread His wings over the virgin and two other persons. The wounds of Our Lord seemed alive. Leaning on the cross with one hand, he offered to His father with the other hand the chalice which the virgin had given to him. She supported the Chalice which the master held in the middle. The father placed one hand on the cup and raised the other to bless the virgin.  I noticed that the chalice was only half filled with blood, and I heard these words spoken by the saviour at the moment of presentation?: “I shall not be fully satisfied  until I am able to fill it right up to the brim” I understood then that the contents of the chalice was only half-filled with blood of the early martyrs and that this vision had reference to the last persecution of the Christians who’s blood would fill the chalice; thereby completing the number of martyrs predestined. For at the end of time, there will be as many martyrs as in the early church and even more, for the persecutions will be far more violent. Then the last Judgement will no longer be delayed….” ⁴

“…I see in God that a long time before the rise of Antichrist the world will be afflicted with many bloody wars. Peoples will rise up against peoples and nations will rise against nations sometimes allied, sometimes enemies in their fight against the same party.  Armies will come into frightful collisions and will fill the earth with murder and carnage….”⁵

“…These infernal and foreign wars will cause enormous sacrifices, profanations, scandals and infinite evils, because of the incursions that will have been made into the Church…” ⁶

“…As well as that I can see that the earth will be shaken in different places by frightful earthquakes. I see whole mountains cracking and splitting with a terrible din. Only too happy will one be if one can escape with no more than a fight but no I see come out of these gaping mountains whirlwinds of smoke, fire, sulphur and tar which reduce to sinders entire towns. All this and a thousand other disasters must come before the man of Sin (antichrist)…”⁷

“I saw in the light of the lord that the faith and our Holy religion would become weaker in almost every Christian kingdom. God has permitted that they should be chastized by the wicked in order to awaken them from their apathy. And after the justice of God has been satisfied he will spread the faith and restore the discipline of the church in those countries where it had become tepid and lax…” ⁸

“I saw in God that our mother Holy Church will spread in many countries and will produce her fruits in abundance to compensate for the outrages she has suffered from impiety and persecutions of her enemies…”⁹

“I saw that the poor people  weary of the arduous labors and trials that God sent to them shall be thrilled with a joy that God will infuse in their good hearts. The church will become by her faith and by her love more fervent and flourishing that ever. Our good mother the church will witness many amazing things even on the part of her former persecutors for they will come forwards and throw themselves at her feet, acknowledge her and implore pardon from God and from her for all the crimes and outrages that they had perpetrated against her. She will no longer regard them as her enemies but she will instead welcome them as her own children….” ¹⁰

“…Now all the true penitents will flow from all sides to the Church, which will receive them into her bosom. The entire community of the faithful will pour out their hearts in hymns of penance and thanksgiving to the glory of the Lord…” ¹¹

“…I saw in Gods essence a numerous assembly of ministers of the church who like an army in battle and like a firm and unflinching column shall sustain the rights of the church and of her head and shall restore its ancient discipline.”  ¹²

“…I see in God a great power lead by the Holy Ghost which will restore order through a second upheaval. I see in God a large assembly of pastors who will uphold the rights of the church and of her head. They will restore the former disciplines. I see in particular, two servants of the lord who will distinguish themselves in this glorious struggle and who by the grace of the Holy Ghost, will fill with ardent zeal the hearts of the illustrious assembly….” ¹³

 “…All the false cults will be abolished; all the abuses of the Revolution will be destroyed and the altars of the true God restored. The former practices will be put into force again and our religion –at least in some respects  -will flourish more than ever….” ¹⁴

 “…I see in God that the church will enjoy a profound peace over a period which seems to me to be of a fairly long duration This respite will be the longest of all that will occur between the revolutions from now until the General judgement. The closer we draw to the General Judgement the shorter will be the revolutions against the church. The kind of peace that will follow each revolution will be shorter also. This is so because we are approaching the End of Time and little time will be left for either the elect to do good or for the wicked to do evil….” ¹⁵

“…One day the Lord said to me ‘A few years before the coming of my enemy, Satan will rise up false prophets who will announce the Antichrist as the true Messiah, and they will try to destroy all our Christian beliefs. And I shall make the children and the old people prophesy. The closer we get to the reign of Antichrist, the more will the darkness of Satan spread over the earth and the more will his satellites increase their efforts to trap the faithful in their nets…” ¹⁶

“…One day I found myself in a vast plain alone with God. Jesus appeared to me and from the top of a small hill showing me a beautiful sun in the horizon. He said dolefully: “the world is passing away and the time of my coming draws near. When the sun is about to set one knows that the day is nearly over and that night will soon fall. Centuries are like days for me. Look at this sun; see how much it still has to travel and estimate the time that is left in the world.“ I looked intently and it seemed to me that the sun would set in about 2 hours. Jesus said “Do not forget that those are not millenaries but only centuries and they are few in number” But I understood that Jesus reserved to Himself the knowledge of the exact number and I did not wish to ask him more. It sufficed me to know the peace of the church and the restoration of the discipline were to last a reasonably long time…”¹⁷

“The Holy Father is most unhappy; because of him the whole Church is in desolation..” ¹⁸

“Many precursors, false prophets, and members of infernal secret societies, worshippers of Satan, shall impugn the most sacred dogmas and doctrines of our holy religion, shall persecute the faithful, shall commit abominable actions; but the real and extreme abomination and desolation shall more fully be accomplished during the reign of Antichrist, which shall last about three years and a half. Woe, woe, woe to the last century which is descending! What tribulations precede its commencements. Out of this mighty voice I recognized that these woeful tribulations will make their appearance in the age before the judgment. And as I pondered over and weighed, in God, the century, I saw, that which begins with 1800 will not yet be the last. I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest will do much harm to the Church...” ¹⁹

“When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. Errors will cause ravages as never before. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish...”²¹

“…Antichrist will kill the Pope, probably by crucifixion. As a child of ten he will know more than anyone else in the world and when he is thirty he will begin his real work. Fifteen days after the ascension of Enoch and Eli as into Heaven, terrible catastrophes will come upon the earth: most severe earthquakes, tidal waves inundating much of the earth's surface, culminating in a thick darkness over the entire earth. “ ²²

“My Father, God has manifested to me the malice of Satan, and the perverse and diabolical intentions of his emissaries against the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. At the command of their master these wicked men have traversed the earth like furies, with the intention of preparing the way and the place for Anti-Christ whose reign is approaching. Through the corrupted breath of this proud spirit they have poisoned the minds of men. Like persons infected with pestilence, they have reciprocally communicated the evil to each other, and the contagion has become general. What convulsions! what scandals! The thick vapours which I have seen rising from the earth, and obscuring the light of the sun, are the false maxims of irreligion and of license, which in part originated in France, and in part came to us from abroad. These have succeeded in confounding all sound principles, and in spreading everywhere such darkness as to obscure the light both of faith and of reason.The storm began in France and France shall be the first theatre of its ravages after having been its forge…”  ²³

“…But the church in council assembled shall one day strike with anathemas pull down and destroy the evil principles of that criminal constitution. I saw in God’s essence a numerous assembly of ministers of the Church, who like an army in battle array, and like a firm and unflinching column shall sustain the rights of the church and of their Head, and shall reestablish its ancient discipline… What a consolation! What consolation, what joy for all the truly faithful!…I saw in the Divinity a great power guided by the Holy Spirit which shall destroy all the abuses of Revolution: religions shall be abolished (Protestantism): the altars shall be reestablished and religion shall more than ever flourish…” ²⁴

“When the persecution against the Church has spread like a wild raging fire even to place where it was thought there was no danger then the Lord who knows how to draw glory out of everything will suddenly command the mighty fore stream and Satan to halt. Then will universal peace be proclaimed.” ²⁵

References

1. Yves Dupont Catholic Prophecy  (Tan Books and Publishers, Rockford Illinois 1973 p. 53

2. ibid

3. ibid p 53-54

4. ibid p 54

5. ibid

6. ibid

7. ibid p. 54-55

8. ibid p 55-56

9. ibid p 56

10. ibid

11. ibid

12. Source Unavailable. Please write in.

13. ibid

14. ibid

15. ibid p 57

16. ibid

17. ibid p 59

18. Yves Dupont Prophecies and Portents For Our Times, p. 12.

19. (Ted and Maureen Flynn The Thunder of Justice: The warning, the Miracle and the Chastizement (Maxkol Communications, Steriling VA 1993) p 262

20. ibid

21. ibid

22. (Rev G. Culleton The Prophets and Our Times (Tan Books and Publishers, Rockford Illinois, 1974) p 179-180)

23. ibid

24. ibid

25. ibid

Fall Rosary Procession

11th Annual Candlelight Rosary Procession –

for Peace in the world and peace in families

“Sweet chain of Mary linking us to God.” Pope John Paul II

On Friday October 4th 2013, Father John Paul Erickson will lead the 11th annual Candlelight Rosary Procession from the Minnesota State Capitol to the Cathedral of Saint Paul. In this public witness of our Catholic Faith, we will gather to invoke our Blessed Mother’s intercession as we pray for the intentions of our new Holy Father Pope Francis, for priests and for holiness and peace in families and in the world. At the Cathedral we will entrust our families to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and honor Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

In these times of serious challenge and uncertainty, Our Lady continues to turn our attention to the power of the Holy Rosary. Together let us rededicate ourselves to this prayer, the prayer she has repeatedly held out to us in all her approved apparitions. Remember the words of Pope Pius XII -  “Put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils which afflict our times. Not with force, not with arms, not with human power, but with Divine help obtained through the means of this prayer, strong like David with his sling…”

Gathering time on State Capitol approach – 6:30 pm; Procession begins at 7:00 pm.

Bring a busload from your parish or area. 

Contact: First Student Inc. Charter bus Rental 651-645-3959.

www.firstcharterbus.com

Download a poster/flyer and more details on the Procession website:www.familyrosaryprocession.org

Act with Faith, Hope and Charity

Occasionally, summer's hot temps give us the opportunity to attend mass at a local air conditioned parish, yesterday's high temp in the 90's was once such occasion.  We usually either end up at Saint Odilia's  in Shoreview or Maternity of Mary in Saint Paul.  Yesterday we attended Maternity of Mary, where the Pastor, Father Peter Williams is my favorite homilist (and favorite confessor too).  He gave the a most apropos homily, which I'll try and summarize (wish I had recorded him). 

He started off by relating a story of a three year old he had met the previous week and how the boy had come up to Father several times and showed by word or deed that he was now a "big boy" now.   Later, though, the boy showed his abstinence in other behavior and would throw a tantrum or stomp off.  The only question the boy would ask is "Why".  Why do I have to do this?  Why do I have to eat that?  Why do I have to go to bed? 

In counseling parishioners one of the toughest hurdles that he encounters is how difficult it is for people to get past the why.  Why does my husband have cancer, he is too young.  Why can't I find a job?  Why doesn't my son attend mass?  Why is my boss so inconsiderate?  Why won't my father quit drinking? 

He related that we have to move beyond the "why" to the "where".  Where is God's plan in it?  God's challenges give us the opportunity to grow in holiness.  We need to accept God's challenges, find God's plan in them, and take the opportunity to act with Faith, Hope and Charity.  FHC!

Tolerance #1

For some time I have been wanting to put together a list of good blog entries on tolerance. I was inspired by Jan B's entry today:

"There is also teaching about women and modesty that in my opinion could bear some re-thinking. Last year we had a rosary in the park and invited surrounding parishes to join us, and a few did. It was ferocious weather and we ended up in our church and one of our youth was scandalized by two of the women from another parish who came back to church with us, because they wore pants. The pants were loose, thick, worn under long coats, and were perfectly modest. It made me think that we could perhaps do better to teach ‘modesty’ rather than ‘no pants no where no time’ and also wonder if the present interpretation didn’t originally come from a certain quarter of the community which has departed."

Chapel Veils: Ask Mom for Help

This is a repost from Philothea on Phire

The following is a comment made by good friend of this blog, Elizabeth, on my “Happy Mother’s Day” post. I thought it was worth sharing more widely, as a post of its own.

I wanted to share a "mother moment" I had this morning, I truly believe, with our Blessed Mother. 

Before I entered the church at the nearby Novus Ordo parish, I came up with a compromise of sorts with my self-consciousness when wearing a veil at a NO church. All winter, I simply wore a hat at Mass. Now that it's not hat weather… uh oh.  

So I put the veil over my head and tied it back under my hair, like a bandana. Silly, eh? I figured that this would be a way to ease into wearing it, while at the same time not being quite so noticeable to others. I know… like everyone in the church is looking at me, right? :) And besides, who cares if everyone looks at you! Further silliness!

So I knelt in my spot in front of the gorgeous statue of Our Lady, right up front in the handicapped row, and asked her to please help me to not be concerned about the looks I may get from others, or what other people may or may not think about it (including the army of VII priests there). I asked Her to please help me to don my veil at every Mass – just like I used to when I was able to attend the Traditional Mass, where every woman wears one. Please, please, please. Then I said a Hail Mary and the St. Michael prayer to settle myself in for the Mass, and sat back in the pew.

There was a tap on my shoulder.

I turned around to face a rather handsome, serious-faced man who leaned forward to whisper to me, "I haven't seen a woman wearing a veil in church in decades. I just wanted to tell you how beautiful it is to see you wearing a veil. Thank you for that."

I kid you not: that's what he said. And no one can tell me that that wasn't an answer to my heartfelt prayer! It brought a tear to my eyes, and I thanked Our Lady.

Awesome moment.

Rosary Procession May 5th

May - The Month of Mary

It is now late April, and time to start thinking about one of my favorite months.  Soon we will have May crownings, Rosary processions and other special events to honor our Blessed Mother.  So take time this May for you and your family to honor Mary.  God Bless.  Joseph, Mary and Jesus, Saint Mary Goretti, Gaurdian Angels Ora Pro Nobis

Saintly Humility Quotes

I found these tonight some are quite good.

"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6)

http://whitelilyoftrinity.com/saints_quotes_humility.html

Also, see Litany of Humility, Cardinal Merry del Val
http://sancteioseph.blogspot.com/2012/02/litany-of-humility.html

To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but the greatness of its humility.
--St John of the Cross, OCD

“There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.”
--Saint Augustine

“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”
--Saint Augustine

He who wants to learn true humility should reflect upon the Passion of Jesus. (267)
-- St Faustina, Divine Mercy in my Soul

The soul's true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because the Lord is great, but He is well-pleased only with the humble; He always opposes the proud.
-- St Faustina, Divine Mercy in my Soul

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.
--Saint Augustine

We should let God be the One to praise us and not praise ourselves. For God detests those who commend themselves. Let others applaud our good deeds.
--Pope St. Clement I

'If humble souls are contradicted, they remain calm; if they are calumniated, they suffer with patience; if they are little esteemed, neglected, or forgotten, they consider that their due; if they are weighed down with occupations, they perform them cheerfully.'
--St. Vincent de Paul

'The first degree of humility is the fear of God, which we should constantly have before our eyes.'
--St. Louis de Blois

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.
--Saint Vincent de Paul

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
--Saint Augustine

There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world.
--Saint Teresa of Avila

"It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment."
--St.Bernard

Humility is the mother of many virtues because from it obedience, fear, reverence, patience, modesty, meekness and peace are born. He who is humble easily obeys everyone, fears to offend anyone, is at peace with everyone, is kind with all.
--St Thomas of Villanova

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
--Saint Augustine

Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars.
--Imitation of Christ

A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace. The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger.
--Imitation of Christ

It is a virtue and a prize to listen patiently to and put up with insults for the sake of God
--Revelations of St. Bridget

Humility does not disturb or disquiet or agitate, however great it may be; it comes with peace, delight, and calm. . . . The pain of genuine humility doesn’t agitate or afflict the soul; rather, this humility expands it and enables it to serve God more.
--St teresa of Avila

"Speaking absolutely, humility excels virginity."
--St. Thomas

'As patience leads to peace, and study to science, so are humiliations the path that leads to humility.'
--St. Bernard of Clairvaux

"No one reaches the kingdom of Heaven except by humility"
--St Augustine

" There never can have been, and never can be, and there never shall be any sin without pride."
--St Augustine

"Humility, which is a virtue, is always fruitful in good works."
--St. Thomas

"You cannot attain to charity except through humility."
--St. Augustine

"I make bold to say that it is profitable for the proud to fall, in order that they may be humbled in that for which they have exalted themselves.
--St. Augustine

The highest point of humility consists in not merely acknowledging one's abjection, but in taking pleasure therein, not from any want of breadth or courage, but to give the more glory to God's Divine Majesty, and to esteem one's neighbour more highly than one's self.
--St Francis De Sales

'There is no doubt that God will never be wanting to us, provided that He finds in us that humility which makes us worthy of His gifts, the desire of possessing them, and the promptitude to co-operate industriously with the graces He gives us.'
--St. Ignatius of Loyola

Humility makes our lives acceptable to God, meekness makes us acceptable to men.
--St Francis De Sales

Message of Our Lady September 19, 1846

The message was approved by the Catholic Church and was published in its entirety at Lecce. France, on November 15, 1979 with the imprimatur of Bishop Zola.
Published by the Shepherdess of La Salette with Imprimatur by Mgr. Bishop of Lecce.

"Well my children you will pass this on to all of my people."

Simple reproduction without commentary or controversy of the original edition of Lecce in 1879.

APPARITION of the BLESSED VIRGIN on the Mountain of

LA SALETTE the 19th of September, 1846

The following Secret was given by Our Lady to two children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, on September 19, 1846, while they were tending cattle on the mountain of La Salette, France.
"On the 18th of September (1846), the eve of the Holy Apparition of the Holy Virgin, I was alone, as usual, watching over my Master’s cows. Around eleven o’clock in the morning, I saw a small boy walking towards me. I was frightened at this, for it seemed to me that everyone ought to know that I avoided all kinds of company. This boy came up to me and said:
"Little girl, I’m coming with you, I’m from Corps too". At these words, the natural evil in me soon showed itself, and taking a few steps back, I told him: "I don’t want anybody around. I want to be alone." But the boy followed me, saying: "Go on, let me stay with you. My Master told me to come and watch over my cows together with yours. I’m from Corps."
I walked away from him, gesturing to him that I didn’t want anybody around, and when I was some distance away, I sat down on the grass. There, I used to talk with the little flowers of the Good Lord.
A moment later, I looked behind me, and there I found Maximin sitting close to me. Straightway he says to me: "Keep me with you. I’ll be very good."
But the natural evil in me will not hear reason. I jump to my feet, and run a little farther off without saying a word and again I start playing with the little flowers of the Good Lord. In an instant, Maximin was there again, telling me he would be very good, that he wouldn’t talk, that he would get bored all by himself, and that his Master had sent him to be with me, etc. This time, I took pity, I gestured to him to sit down, and I kept on playing with the little flowers of the Good Lord.
It wasn’t long before Maximin broke the silence by bursting into laughter (I think he was making fun of me). I look at him and he says to me: "Let’s have some fun, let’s make up a game". I said nothing in reply, for I was so ignorant I didn’t understand what games with other people were, always having been alone. I played with the flowers, on my own, and Maximin came right up close to me, doing nothing but laughing, telling me the flowers didn’t have ears to listen to me and that we should play together instead. But I had no liking for the game he told me to play. I started talking to him, however, and he told me that the ten days he was to spend with his Master would soon be over and then he would go home to his father in Corps etc...
While he was talking, I heard the bell of La Salette, it was the Angelus. I gestured to Maximin to lift his soul up to God. He took off his hat and was silent for a moment. Then I said: "Do you want to have dinner?" "Yes, he replied, let’s eat." We sat down and I brought out of my bag the provisions my Master had given me. As was my habit, before breaking into my little round loaf, I made a cross with the point of my knife in the bread, and a little hole in the middle, saying: "If the devil’s in there, may he leave, and if the Good Lord is in there, may he stay!" and I rapidly covered up the little hole. Maximin burst into laughter and kicked the loaf out of my hands. It rolled down the mountainside and was lost from site. I had another piece of bread which we shared. Afterwards, we played a game. Then, realizing that Maximin must still be hungry, I pointed out a place on the mountainside covered with all kinds of berries. I urged him to go and eat some and he went straight away. He ate a few berries and brought back his hat full of them. In the evening we walked back down the mountain together and promised to come back the next day and watch over our cows together.
The next day, the 19th of September, I met Maximin on the way up. We climbed up the mountain side together. I discovered that Maximin was a very good, simple boy, and would willingly talk about what I wanted to talk about. He was also very flexible and had no fixed opinions. He was just a little curious, for, when I walked away from him, as soon as he saw I had stopped, he would run over to me to see what I was doing and hear what I was saying to the flowers of the Good Lord. And if he arrived too late, he would ask me what I had said.
Maximin told me to teach him a game. It was already late morning. I told him to gather some flowers for the "Paradise". We set to work together. Soon we had a number of flowers of various colours. I could hear the village Angelus ringing, for the weather was fine and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Having told the Good Lord what we had learned, I said to Maximin that we ought to drive our cows on to a small plateau near the gully, where there would be stones to build the "Paradise". We drove our cows to the selected spot and then had a small meal. Then we started collecting stones to build our little house, which comprised of a so-called ground floor which was where we were to live, and then a story above which was to be, as we called it, "Paradise."
This story was decorated all over with different-coloured flowers, with garlands hanging from flower stalks. This "Paradise" was covered by a single large stone which we had strewn with flowers. We had also hung garlands all the way round. When we had finished, we sat and looked at the "Paradise". We began to feel sleepy and having moved a couple of feet away, we went to sleep on the grass.

II

When I woke up I couldn’t see the cows, so I called Maximin and climbed up the little mound. From there I could see our cows grazing peacefully and I was on my way down, with Maximin on his way up, when all at once I saw a beautiful light shining more brightly than the sun.
"Maximin, do you see what is over there? Oh! my God!" At the same moment, I dropped the stick I was holding. Something inconceivably fantastic passed through me in that moment, and I felt myself being drawn. I felt a great respect, full of love, and my heart beat faster.
I kept my eyes firmly fixed on this light, which was static, and as if it had opened up, I caught sight of another, much more brilliant light which was moving, and in this light I saw a most beautiful lady sitting on top of our Paradise, with her head in her hands.
This beautiful Lady stood up, she coolly crossed her arms while watching us, and said to us:
"Come, my children, fear not, I am here to PROCLAIM GREAT NEWS TO YOU."
These soft and sweet words made me fly to her, and my heart desired to attach itself to her forever.
When I was up close to the Beautiful Lady, in front of her to her right, she began to speak and from her beautiful eyes tears also started to flow.
"If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go off the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much I can no longer keep hold of it.
I have suffered all of the time for the rest of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually. And the rest of you think little of this. In vain you will pray, in vain you will act, you will never be able to make up for the troubles I have taken over for the rest of you.
I gave you six days to work, I kept the seventh for myself, and no one wishes to grant it to me. This is what weighs down the arm of my Son so much.
Those who drive carts cannot speak without putting the name of my Son in the middle.
These are the two things which weigh down the arm of my Son so much. If the harvest is spoiled, it is only because of the rest of you. I made you see this last year with the potatoes, you took little account of this. It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes, you swore oaths, and you included the name of my Son. They will continue to go bad, at Christmas there will be none left."
At this point, I was trying to interpret the word "potatoes" (pommes de terre): I thought I understood it to be "apples" (pommes). The Beautiful and Good Lady, reading my thoughts, repeated thus:
"You do not understand, my children. I will tell it to you another way.
"If the harvest is spoiled, it does not seem to affect you. I made you see this last year with the potatoes. You took little account of this. It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes, you swore oaths, and you included the name of my Son. They will continue to go bad and at Christmas, there will be none left.
If you have corn, you must not sow it. The beasts will eat all that you sow. And all that grows will fall to dust when you thresh it. A great famine will come. Before the famine comes, children under the age of seven will begin to tremble and will die in the arms of those who hold them. The others will do penance through hunger. The nuts will go bad, the grapes will become rotten."
At this point, the Beautiful Lady, who was entrancing me, for a moment did not make herself heard. I could see, however, that she was continuing, as if speaking, to move graciously her kindly lips. At this moment, Maximin was receiving his secret. Then, turning to me, the Most Holy Virgin spoke to me and gave me a secret in French. Here is this secret in its entirety as she gave it to me: