I notice at the apparition site on Malta this month , Mary is again asking for special prayers for America. She has named 5 countries, Australia, Iran, China, Russia and the USA. http://www.gloria.tv/?video=qtypsfzdxfyh7eus0n8t These are comments from one of the tow priests serving as Spiritual Director to Angelik, the guy who says he is seeing Our Lady. He's a Capuchin, Fr.Hayden Williams ofm (cap). I have a funny feeling that the Franciscans may be more open to such events than other Orders. One llitte red light about these apparitions comes when Our Lady, apparently defends the visionary from attack. I am a little dodgy about this as it seems a little self serving. But the rest , on the face of it seems fine. Still as Michael Brown is fond of saying on Spirit Daily its for your own discernment until the Church makes a decision that is. Still as to countries to pray for I suspect he's right on the mark....which is why I pat attention ,myself..., Comments on A Hidden Treasure 1. Through these comments I wish to clarify some aspects of the experiences that Angelik is sharing with us so that one may be able to anchor one’s faith in God’s Word and in the teachings of the Catholic Church. I wish to stress once more that these comments do not, in any way, mean that the authorities of the Church have approved what Angelik is saying. 2. In the Marian apparitions approved by the Church, the theme of conversion, we can say, is central. Our Lady’s message is the same message as that of her Son Jesus who called us to repent and believe in the Good News. At the same time, this is also the message of the Church. In all that Angelik reports it seems that conversion is also the central message. 3. By conversion we mean that a person accepts Christ’s love, accepts to be loved by God and answers to His love. Therefore, conversion does not only involve a person refraining from doing evil and beginning to do that which is good. This is the first step. Conversion is truly genuine when one recognises how much Jesus loves you in spite of your sins, and, in order to love him back, you leave your life of sin and walk on the road of love. This means that you would prefer to suffer than to sin. And when you further recognise God’s love, you will start suffering whenever you see God being offended by other people’s sins. 4. The answer to Christ’s love is penitence. God’s love is a grace, while penitence is our collaboration with this grace. Penitence is also something that one does out of his own free will, or something that one accepts in his everyday circumstances in order to go against his own sins. Thus, if you are proud, your penitence in your life is to perform an act out of your own free will, or to accept a personal circumstance in which you humiliate yourself or are humiliated. Therefore, in order to do penitence, you need to know what your sin is, and then make every effort to overcome it. 5. That a person accepts or rejects God’s love has consequences beyond this life. Jesus does not enforce his love on us but only offers it. If one accepts it • and answers to it, one will continue living this eternal embrace of love after death: heaven. For a person to live eternally in this love, he must be perfect in love. • God, in his mercy and justice, purifies us from every defect in love and the effects that sin leaves in us until the moment of death: purgatory. He does this in unity with the Church in the sacrifice of the mass as well as in prayers and sufferings of Christians. If a person does not accept this love in this life he continues rejecting it • after death too and lives in desperation in eternal loss (because this is a life cut off from God): hell. Although in our times there are people who do not believe in him, Satan • and hell truly exist. They are not an invention of the Church, nor are they some figurative images. They are real. The Church does not say that there is anyone in hell. However, while her hope is that God wishes that all men are saved, the Church accepts the possibility that a person might refuse, even until death, the grace of salvation, and so live eternally cut off from God. 6. When the Christian progresses in this understanding of Jesus’ love and answers to it, he begins to live the commandment of love as Jesus requested in the Gospel. The Christian truly loves not through his own strength but through the strength of the Holy Spirit in unity with the Lord Jesus. This unity is expressed through acts of sacrifice that one does out of one’s own free will, or through accepting difficult situations so that through them one may unite with Jesus in his suffering. Therefore, while penitence sanctifies you, sacrifice sanctifies others and is therefore a great act of love. 7. Fasting on Wednesday and Friday is an ancient custom in the Church. Fasting has the power to limit our evil inclinations, it helps us to control ourselves and to open our hearts to God and His power. It is also a strong weapon against the devil. In particular, fasting on bread and water allows us to enter more into the mystery of the Eucharist, the Bread of Life. In short, one could express it thus: we make our bodies dependant on material bread to understand and feel the need for our soul to be dependant on Christ in the Eucharist. In the light of this we should observe Thursday as a Eucharistic day. Wednesday could be a day of preparation for Thursday and Friday could be a meditation in more depth on Thursday. 8. Because conversion is a grace from God, we need to pray for it. We must pray for the grace to recognise and accept God’s love for us. It is a grace because it is not a love that can be understood by the mind but it is a profound experience that you can receive through the grace of the Holy Spirit who is the same love of God found in our hearts(Romans 5,5). Jesus told us that he sends the Holy Spirit to whoever asks for him. Therefore, it is necessary to pray for the grace of conversion. The Lord wants to give it to us, and he does give it to us, but we must pray for conversion, both for ours and for others. Our Mother Mary joins us in this prayer because, as the Church teaches us, the prayer of the Church is strengthened through Mary’s prayer. This is why the rosary is such a strong prayer for conversions, because in the rosary we join with Mary, God’s Mother, in her prayer to God for conversions. Fr Hayden 13th October 2007