My Dear People,

May we free ourselves from the chains of endless material wants, by recognizing and being grateful for the tremendous gifts that God has already bestowed upon us.
Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,
Fr. Mark
Here You Will Discover Hard Hitting, No Holding Back, Totally Faithful Catholic Blogging Under The Patronage Of St. Robert Bellarmine.
“What happens with this motu proprio is as if they would have taken this tip of the iceberg. When we see this, we have the impression, OK, they take the tip, so they take everything which is below. That’s not exactly what they did. They tried to take the tip and to plant it on the other iceberg, the iceberg of the new thing. And so we have two tips and they say it’s only one tip. But if you try to go and see and look under the water, what is below, you will see that they maintain that the only thing you can have below is the new thing.”
The first care should be to repair any neglect in arranging your temporal and spiritual affairs. Your family matters should already be arranged so Satan can no longer harass your mind. You should, too, send for your confessor, and reconcile yourself to God speedily, with a good examination of conscience that you may be the better prepared for any event.
Receive your sickness as coming from the hands of God, with a perfect resignation to His Holy Will and as a just punishment for your sins. Frequently offer yourself up to Him, and beg that He will grant you patience, sanctify your sufferings and that He will accept your sufferings in union with Jesus Christ crucified, in reparation for your sins and the sins of the whole world.
“For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
(I Peter 1:6-7)
Ps.91
[1] He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty,
"The next word dwells, means a great deal. It is a little word, but full of power and energy. Notice that what is said in not 'he who trusts' or he who confides,' but he who dwells.' This is to bring home to us that we are not to fly to the Divine protection as men do to a tree or a doorway when it rains, but rather as little boys are wont to rush to their fathers' arms when anything frightens them. We see them playing with their companions in the streets, but no sooner does the least thing go wrong, than they are off home as fast as their small legs will carry them. It never occurs to them to doubt the security of home. They know that they have mother and father there who would gladly give their hearts' blood to protect them.
But people who seek refuge from rain under a tree, have a good look round first, and it is only when no better shelter offers that they run willy-nilly to the tree.
Why is it that some men implore the Divine assistance without receiving it and seem to put their trust in God without being protected by Him?
The reason is that they do not really dwell in the aid of the Most High, nor take shelter under the Providence of God as in their Father's house.
They rather make sporadic dashes to it in time of trouble, as they do to a tree when there is a sudden shower. It is therefore very necessary for us, dear brethren, to get into the way of always and instinctively turning to God. We must try by constant exercise of holy confidence to build for ourselves a house where we may abide safely when the dark hours come. And we must carry our trusty house about with us wherever we go, just as we see the snails do. They wander here and there and everywhere and yet they are always at home."
- Dakota, A 4 Year Old, Has A Brain Tumor On The Stem - Original Post
- Signs of Saintly Intercession With Unbelievable Dakota Quote Full of Courage and Understanding
Here is the letter from Father Corapi thanking you for your prayers.
I want to take a moment to thank all of our friends and supporters for over 3,000 get well cards, birthday cards, and ordination anniversary cards that I received in the past few weeks. I do not take this for granted. I am very grateful to each of you for your prayers and for your kindness.
I am not sure if you know how valuable your little acts of kindness, generosity, and support mean to your priests. For me, they are a reminder that I was ordained for you. My day to day ministry does not involve contact with the People of God personally, but as many of you have told me, “I feel like I know you. You have been in my home so many times through television, radio, the internet, or CDs and DVDs, etc.” Indeed, technology is a gift from God, and it helps us to be united in so many ways. One day I was marveling at the great charisms God had given to some of His saints. St. Pio was able to bilocate, being in two places at once. I asked the Holy Spirit if it would be good for someone a lot less than a saint, like me, to have such a gift. The answer was immediate and hit me like a lightning bolt, “You are speaking to large numbers of people every minute of every hour of every day in so many diverse parts of the world through all of the means of social communication.” It’s not a miracle above nature, but it is a miracle when you think about it. Our Father takes care of us in so many ways.
This weekend we celebrate Fathers’ Day. First of all let’s be thankful to our heavenly Father for all He does for us. Let’s thank our priests, who are spiritual fathers too. “No priests, no Eucharist.” I’m so thankful for priests. Then, let’s make sure we commend our natural fathers, living or deceased, to our heavenly Father.
I’ll pray for each of you on this Fathers’ Day, for in some mysterious way God our Father has related us spiritually. A father transmits life to his children. I’ll try to be faithful to that mission of the transmission of spiritual life. Pray for me, please, that I might always do this.
God bless you,Fr. John Corapi
- Father John Corapi has a parathyroid tumor! The first confirmation concerning his tumor.
- Original Father John Corapi post concerning his tumor here: The email by Fr. Corapi asking for prayers.
- One the lighter side: Father Corapi Top 10 One liners!
All I wanted was a little bit of black dust for one of our monastery printers. In my search for a toner cartridge, I was suddenly struck with how incredibly expensive this black dust and a few squirts of ink were. "There must be a better way," I said to myself.And so began my foray into the world of imaging supplies. What I discovered was a revelation. Simply stated, the mark-up on ink supplies is sinfully high, reaching in some instances into the 1,000-2,000 % levels. I also discovered that there were many companies that manufactured either new compatible cartridges or remanufactured cartridges at a fraction of the cost of the big name brands. My thoughts starting racing. Imagine the money we could save schools, churches, and other organizations if we could negotiate some deals with the manufacturers directly and cut out the middlemen. And that is how LaserMonks.com was born.
Fr. Bernard McCoy, O. Cist.
Steward of Temporal Affairs, Cistercian Abbey
CEO, LaserMonks
"Mommy do not cry because someone had come to visit me in my dreams. He told me that he's taking me to heaven to be with God and the Angels."
Thanks DonaNobis_Pacem for writing out the prayer.
God our Father, we lift up this precious little boy in prayer to You. You love the little children so much that Your Son took a child in His arms and gave us a model of how we are to live: with the humility, simplicity, and innocence of a child. Jesus said that we are to come to You as children, and ask much of You. Lord God, command that Dakota's guardian angel be at his bedside as his protector; send the guardian angels of Dakota's parents and grandparents to shield them from despair, as it is one of the chief weapons of Satan. Strengthen this boy's family in their faith.
Jesus, our loving, merciful Savior, act as the Divine Physician and drive out the tumor that afflicts Dakota. Guide the doctors who will perform surgery on him to remove the tumor; we ask for a miracle for this boy. Astound those who are taking care of him, so that they may realize that You, God, are capable of all things.
Mother Mary, take care of Dakota as only you can. Carry him in your maternal arms through this time of trial, and act as his nurse. I ask through your intercession that God will send a miracle for him and his family, as he is an only son and grandchild.
St. Michael, Prince of the Heavenly Armies, send your legions of angels to keep the devil at bay and provide defenses for Dakota's parents and grandparents. Remind them that the Lord God, above all, fights with them and for them.
I pray all these things in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
While Mary, therefore, was engaged to Joseph, there came to her news of the wondrous apparition of the angel to Zachary in the Temple, and the miraculous conception whereby her cousin Elizabeth was to be the mother of the Lord's precursor, the Baptist. What must the Virgin's thoughts have been when hearing the Messiah was at hand, and her own family the instrument of His coming! Did she covet the honor every daughter of Israel coveted? No doubt in her humility she never deemed it possible. Anyhow, had she not consecrated herself to God? And dearer even than the honor of being His Mother was the happiness of being His virgin spouse. Six months had passed, and once again the angel of Zachary's vision, Gabriel, came and hailed the Virgin as the Mother of God. Mary's astonishment was not so much that such a message should be sent to a woman of Israel, but that she should be the one she, a lowly maid, not married yet, and bound by solemn vow never to be known of man.St. Robert Bellarmine, pray for us that we may dive into a deeper contemplation of the mysteries of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth.
How did her gentle heart flutter and her spirit glow with love and thankfulness when from the angel's lips she heard that virginity and motherhood are not things incompatible in her whose offspring is a God; that He who made the barren Elizabeth conceive, could of Mary's flesh and blood alone build Him a body for His indwelling. "Behold," she says, "the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word," and in that very instant the hopes of ages were fulfilled; the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.
Brethren, Mary's first impulse was to be away from Nazareth, to open her overflowing heart to some sympathetic woman, and so with haste she sped to whisper her secret to her cousin Elizabeth. Supposing even that some vague doubts still haunted Mary's mind, they must have been utterly dispelled by Elizabeth's greeting of her as the Mother of her God, and the bound the Baptist gave at the approach of his unborn Saviour. There Mary spent three happy months, and then the sword began to pierce her gentle heart.
Then Go To . . .