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You are currently browsing the archives for the Persecution category.
Ave Maria Meditations March 7: Saints Perpetua and Felicity With the lives of so many early martyrs shrouded in legend, we are fortunate to have the record of the courage of Perpetua and Felicity from the hand of Perpetua herself, her teacher Saturus, and others who knew them. This account, known as “The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity,” was so popular in the early centuries that (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
No, I was not helpless or worthless or useless in that prison. I was not terribly humiliated because I was rejected as a priest. These men around me were suffering, they needed help. They needed someone to listen to them with sympathy, someone to comfort them, someone to give them courage to carry on. They needed someone who was not feeling sorry for himself but who could truly share in their sorrow. They needed someone who was not looking for consolation but who could console. They needed someone who was not looking for respect and admiration because of what he was but someone who could show them love and respect even if spurned and rejected himself. As Christ had set the example for me, so could I be to them an example of Christian charity and concern. If nothing else, if they insisted upon shunning me, I could at least pray for them and offer up for them to the Father of us all the suffering and anguish that their rejection of me as a priest caused me. Christ had prayed for his persecutors, “Father, forgive them.” If I could do nothing else at this moment in the prison at Perm, I could do that. (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
She found in the Catholic faith what her soul had been hungry for since she was a little girl – the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist While with these Catholic families, she began to see the beauty of the Catholic faith, and to question her own faith. One day she witnessed a procession of the Blessed Sacrament and her heart cried out. If Jesus was truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, then she MUST become a Catholic! She prayed ‘ If I am right, Thy grace impart still in the right to say. If I am wrong, Oh, teach my heart to find the better way.’ She began to long to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.
It was a time of persecution against the Roman Catholics and the good Bishop was deliberating whether to institute the 40 Hours of devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, considering the dangers that might occur: One night, he was working very late at his desk and fell asleep in his chair. The candle on the desk burnt down and charred some of the papers, but they were still readable. He awoke, surprised and thankful that a fire had not ignited. He fell on his knees to give thanks to God for protection, and heard His voice saying, “As the flames are burning here without consuming or injuring the writing, so shall I pour out my grace in the Blessed Sacrament without prejudice to My honor. Fear no profanation, therefore; hesitate no longer to carry out your design for my glory.” (Therefore) he introduced the practice of 40 Hours Devotion in his diocese. |
Ave Maria Meditations
Prayer to end abortion, the present day slaughter of Innocents: O Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and earth and all things, You create today millions of human beings who are never permitted to see the light of day because of the sin of abortion. Grant to mankind the wisdom to respect human life at every stage of development. You infuse souls into innocent babies even while still in their mothers’ wombs, their temporary homes. Grant that no one deprives your most innocent ones the privilege of your holy Baptism whereby they may be born again to Your supernatural life by grace. One soul in Your eyes, Almighty God, is of more value than the whole created universe. Accept the precious blood of Your Son Jesus Christ, present on our altars and in our tabernacles, throughout the world in reparation for the sins of abortive murder. Even before Your Divine Son was born of Mary, dear God, when Your holy Mother greeted Elizabeth shortly after the conception of the Divine Child. Elizabeth asked, “How am I worthy that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” Long before the birth of the Divine Child the Holy Spirit inspired Elizabeth to call Mary “Mother” and the unborn Child, her “Lord.” Almighty God, remove the scourge of abortion from the face of the earth. Amen.
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Ave Maria! In case you thought we could relax in regard to our prayers:
via Report shows Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. |
Tuesday, November 02, 2010 Our Lady of Deliverance  It appears in the latest update below, but something about this photo — an image of the Madonna at the entrance of Baghdad’s Syrian Catholic cathedral, damaged in Sunday night’s “bloodbath” within its walls — powerfully stood out, and calls out for it to stand alone. |
Fifty-two dead in siege of Catholic church in Baghdad BAGHDAD (AP) — The toll from the bloody siege of a Baghdad church rose Monday to 52 dead with dozens more injured, Iraqi officials said. The standoff began at dusk Sunday when militants wearing suicide vests and armed with grenades attacked the nearby Iraqi stock exchange and then entered the nearby Our Lady of Deliverance church — one of Baghdad’s main Catholic places of worship — taking about 120 Christians hostage. Iraqi forces stormed – More … |
