FEAST OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES
Troubled thoughts and FEAR of heart are theirs and anxious foreboding until death.
Life is a journey that is full of
joys and miseries. Every person, high or low, is burdened from birth to death
with fears, anxieties,
and troubles, by day and often by night, the time appointed for rest. For
sinners, the suffering is much greater. What they gained by violence and
injustice is quickly destroyed; but righteousness will prevail. In the end they
will meet the mother of all the living things and return to the earth. Listen
to the words of King David on his death to Solomon.
“I am going the way of all flesh. Take courage and be
a man. Keep the mandate of the LORD, your God, following his ways and observing
his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law
of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you turn, and the
LORD may fulfill the promise he made on my behalf when he said, ‘If your sons
so conduct themselves that they remain faithful to me with their whole heart
and with their whole soul, you shall always have someone of your line on the
throne of Israel.’” (1Kg. 2:2-4)
Our
Lady of Lourdes[1]
Today marks the first apparition of
the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858 to fourteen-year-old Marie Bernade (St. Bernadette)
Soubirous. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin appeared
eighteen times, and showed herself to St. Bernadette in the hollow of the rock
at Lourdes. On March 25 she said to the little shepherdess who was only
fourteen years of age: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Since then
Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and many cures and conversions have
taken place. The message of Lourdes is a call to personal conversion, prayer,
and charity.
The
Message of the Virgin of Lourdes[2]
One
of the better-known apparitions of Our Lady took place in Lourdes, France in
1858. This shrine continues today to be one of the most popular Marian shrines
in the world. Thousands of people visit this shrine every year, a special place
of devotion to Our Lady, where many miracles have occurred.
Beginning
with her first apparition of February 11, 1858, Mary appeared eighteen times to
Bernadette Soubirous, a girl of only fourteen years of age. When Bernadette
asked the Lady who She was, she received the reply, "I am the Immaculate
Conception." Less than four years before, on December 8, 1854, Pius IX had
raised the teaching about the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady to be dogma of
faith with these words:
By the
authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and
our own authority, we declare, pronounce, and define: the doctrine which hold
that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was from the first moment of her conception,
by the singular, grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits
of Christ Jesus the Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain
of original sin, is revealed by God and therefore, firmly and constantly to be
believed by all the faithful. (The Christian Faith #709).
It
is under the title of the Immaculate Conception that Our Lady is especially
honored in our own country.
This
message can be summed up in the following four points:
1.
It is a heavenly confirmation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception that
had just been defined by the Church a few years before.
2.
It is an exaltation of the virtues of Christian poverty and humility that are
perceived in Bernadette.
3.
The spiritual message is that of personal conversion. Our Lady tells Bernadette
that the important thing is to be happy in the next life. To attain this, we
must accept the cross in this life.
4. Mary stresses the importance of prayer, especially the rosary. Our Lady appeared with a rosary hanging from Her right arm. Penance and humility are also part of the message, as well as a message of mercy for sinners and compassion for the sick.
Things
to Do
·
Watch “The Song of Bernadette”, a
masterpiece filmed in 1943.
·
Bring flowers (roses would be appropriate) to
your statue of Our Lady at your home altar, especially if you have a statue of
Our Lady of Lourdes.
·
Obtain some Lourdes holy water and give the
parental blessing to your children.
·
Give extra care to the sick in your community —
cook dinner for a sick mother's family, bring your children to the local
nursing home (the elderly love to see children), send flowers to a member of
your parish community who is ill.
·
Today’s
recipes:
o
Minced
Chicken (or Turkey) a la King
Today
we fight
fight
the Devil in Scottsdale[3]
The
Satanic Temple has announced that Scottsdale has been selected as the site for
the group’s first religious convention. They call it “SatanCon.com”
a three-day event that will take place February 11-13, 2022. Scottsdale
officials made clear that they are, in fact, accepting and inclusive regarding
Satanists. Lucien Greaves (co-founder of the Satanic Temple) stated: “We heard
you, Scottsdale, and we accepted that as an invitation to turn Scottsdale into
the Happy Satanic Fun Capital of the World.” Satanic
Temple To Host Satanic Convention, “We’re To Bring Satan To Scottsdale –
Arizona Daily Independent
Their website
says: ‘Lupercalia in Scottsdale'
What does ‘lupercalia’ in
Scottsdale mean? Lupercalia
is a Roman festival held on Feb. 15 in honor of Lupercus, regarded as the
god of fertility, in the celebration of which dogs and goats were sacrificed
and their skins cut up into thongs, with which the pagan priests ran through
the city striking everyone, particularly women… https://www.definitions.net/definition/lupercali
What Is the
Catholic Response from the Laity?
·
February
11th (Friday) Noon to 3 pm Rosary and Prayer in front of
hotel.
·
February
12th (Saturday) Noon to 3 pm Rosary and Prayer in front of hotel.
·
February
13th (Sunday) Noon to 3 pm Rosary and Prayer in front
of hotel.
Why Is the Rosary So Powerful Against Satan?
The
Secret of the Rosary,
Saint Louis de Montfort said: “Public prayer is far more powerful than
private prayer to appease the anger of God and call down His Mercy, and Holy
Mother Church, guided by the Holy Ghost, has always advocated public prayer in
times of public tragedy and suffering.” Through our prayers we will call
the grace of God down upon us and the city of Scottsdale. We will have a Marian
consecration done for the city of Scottsdale. Catholics must confront this evil
cult in every city they seek to consecrate to satan. Every square inch on
planet earth belongs to Our Lord Jesus Christ, He purchased it with his blood.
This is a rallying cry for Catholic men to stand up and non-Catholic men of
good will.
Click
the button below to view the prayers we will pray during the protest
“Why
Protest”? Below are the FAQs that will help you understand why we should take a
stand in this fight
Why Are We
Protesting? Click Here FAQs
PREPARATION for the Protest
It
is important to be SPIRTUALLY PREPARED for this event. We STRONGLY
recommend that you are in a STATE of GRACE:
·
Go
to CONFESSION within 7-Days before the event and receive the Holy Eucharist as
often as possible
·
Start
a 9-Day Rosary Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patron Saint of the Diocese
of Phoenix, AZ on Wednesday, 02-02-22
·
PRAY:
at least 3 times-a-DAY as Daniel did in Daniel 6:10-11
·
PENANCE:
(Rosary & Divine Mercy on your knees) and fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays
·
BRING:
your Rosary, Sacramentals, and Holy Images
Our
Church is under attack! It is the laity’s time to rise up and “step into the
breach.” We need “boots on the ground” and show the strength of our Catholic
Faith. Make a prayerful discernment on how YOU are going to participate in this
battle for Mother Church!
“I begin
this letter with a clarion call and clear charge to you, my sons and brothers
in Christ: Men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging
around you, the battle that is wounding our children and families, the battle
that is distorting the dignity of both women and men.” – First words
of Bishop Thomas J Olmsted’s 2015 Apostolic Exhortation, ‘Into the Breach’
In this fight with the children of
Satan let us call upon the great St. Joseph who is a Terror of Demons.
Fitness Friday-Suffering[4]
When
I first started training for marathons a little over ten years ago, my coach told me something I’ve never
forgotten: that I would need to learn how to be comfortable with being
uncomfortable. I didn’t know it at the time, but that skill, cultivated
through running, would help me as much, if not more, off the road as it would
on it. It’s not just me, and it’s not just running.
Ask anyone whose day regularly includes a hard bike ride, sprints in the pool,
a complex problem on the climbing wall, or a progressive powerlifting circuit,
and they’ll likely tell you the same: A difficult conversation just doesn’t
seem so difficult anymore. A tight deadline is not so intimidating.
Relationship problems are not so problematic. Maybe it’s that if you’re
regularly working out, you’re simply too tired to care. But that’s probably not
the case. Research shows that, if anything, physical activity boosts short-term
brain function and heightens awareness. And even on days they don’t train —
which rules out fatigue as a factor — those who habitually push their bodies
tend to confront daily stressors with a stoic demeanor. While the traditional
benefits of vigorous exercise — like prevention and treatment of diabetes,
heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and osteoporosis — are well known and
often reported, the most powerful benefit might be the lesson that my coach
imparted to me: In a world where comfort is king, arduous physical activity
provides a rare opportunity to practice suffering.
Few hone this skill better than professional endurance and adventure athletes.
Regardless of sport, the most resounding theme, by far, is that they’ve all
learned how to embrace uncomfortable situations:
†
Olympic
marathoner Des Linden told me that at mile 20 of 26.2, when the inevitable
suffering kicks in, through years of practice she’s learned to stay relaxed and
in the moment. She repeats the mantra: “calm, calm, calm; relax, relax, relax.”
†
World-champion
big-wave surfer Nic Lamb says being uncomfortable, and even afraid, is a
prerequisite to riding four-story waves. But he also knows it’s “the path to
personal development.” He’s learned that while you can pull back, you can almost
always push through. “Pushing through is courage. Pulling back is regret,” he says.
†
Free-soloist
Alex Honnold explains that, “The only way to deal with [pain] is practice. [I]
get used to it during training so that when it happens on big climbs, it feels normal.”
†
Evelyn
Stevens, the women’s record holder for most miles cycled in an hour (29.81 –
yes, that’s nuts), says that during her hardest training intervals, “instead of
thinking I want these to be over, I try to feel and sit with the pain.
Heck, I even try to embrace it.”
†
Big-mountain
climber Jimmy Chin, the first American to climb up — and then ski down — Mt.
Everest’s South Pillar Route, told me an element of fear is there in everything
he does, but he’s learned how to manage it: “It’s about sorting out perceived
risk from real risk, and then being as rational as possible with what’s left.”
But
you don’t need to scale massive vertical pitches or run five-minute miles to
reap the benefits. Simply training for your first half marathon or CrossFit
competition can also yield huge dividends that carry over into other areas of
life. In the words of Kelly Starrett, one of the founding fathers of the
CrossFit movement, “Anyone can benefit from cultivating a physical practice.”
Science backs him up. A study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology found
that college students who went from not exercising at all to even a modest
program (just two to three gym visits per week) reported a decrease in stress,
smoking, alcohol and caffeine consumption, an increase in healthy eating and
maintenance of household chores, and better spending and study habits. In
addition to these real-life improvements, after two months of regular exercise,
the students also performed better on laboratory tests of self-control. This
led the researchers to speculate that exercise had a powerful impact on the
students’ “capacity for self-regulation.” In laypeople’s terms, pushing through
the discomfort associated with exercise — saying “yes” when their bodies and minds
were telling them to say “no” — taught the students to stay cool, calm, and
collected in the face of difficulty, whether that meant better managing stress,
drinking less, or studying more. For this reason, the
author Charles Duhigg, in his 2012 bestseller The
Power of Habit,
calls exercise a “keystone habit,” or a change in one area life that brings
about positive effects in other areas. Duhigg says keystone habits are powerful
because “they change our sense of self and our sense of what is possible.” This
explains why the charity Back on My
Feet uses running
to help individuals who are experiencing homelessness improve their situations.
Since launching in 2009, Back on My Feet has had over 5,500 runners, 40 percent
of whom have gained employment after starting to run with the group and 25
percent of whom have found permanent housing. This is also likely why it’s so
common to hear about people who started training for a marathon to help them
get over a divorce or even the death of a loved one.
Another study, this one published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology,
evaluated how exercise changes our physiological response to stress.
Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in Germany, divided
students into two groups at the beginning of the semester and instructed half
to run twice a week for 20 weeks. At the end of the 20 weeks, which coincided
with a particularly stressful time for the students — exams — the researchers
had the students wear heart-rate monitors to measure their heart-rate
variability, which is a common indicator of physiological stress (the more
variability, the less stress). As you might guess by now, the students who were
enrolled in the running program showed significantly greater heart-rate variability.
Their bodies literally were not as stressed during exams: They were more
comfortable during a generally uncomfortable time.
What’s remarkable and encouraging about these studies is that the subjects
weren’t exercising at heroic intensities or volumes. They were simply doing
something that was physically challenging for them – going from no exercise to
some exercise; one need not be an elite athlete or fitness nerd to reap the
bulletproofing benefits of exercise. Why does
any of this matter? For one, articles that claim prioritizing big fitness goals
is a waste of time (exhibit A: “Don’t Run a
Marathon”) are
downright wrong. But far more important than internet banter, perhaps a broader
reframing of exercise is in order. Exercise isn’t just about helping out your
health down the road, and it’s certainly not just about vanity. What you do in
the gym (or on the roads, in the ocean, etc.) makes you a better,
higher-performing person outside of it. The truth, cliché as it may sound, is
this: When you develop physical fitness, you’re developing life fitness, too.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: End
Sex Trafficking, Slavery
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Rosary
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