Whanganui where Luke lives is a part of New Zealand where earthquakes are common. Most of them do little or no damage. It had one this morning, a four on the Richter scale and 12 km deep. I have lived in New Zealand for 20 years and never felt one. Luke told me he had felt many. I wonder if tomorrow we get a big but harmless one to mark Luke’s departure. Just as an earthquake marked the departure of Our Saviour on Calvary. As a young mother Mary had presented her infant Child to God and heard the prophesy of Simeon. Surely the piercing of the dead body of her Son also pierced her own heart. Then came a second presentation when the body of her son was taken down from the cross and presented to her arms. How many mothers have felt such pain? And it did not stop there. When my baby sister gave birth to her first she told me, “You think the pain must stop or decrease and it doesn’t. You think it can’t get any worse and it does.” Having been taken down from the cross the body of her Son was then taken down from Calvary and that grief stricken procession made its way to the tomb wherein it was laid. As one of the saints said - there Mary left her heart because Jesus was her treasure and scripture tells us that where our treasure is there will be found our heart. How many mothers and wives have suffered this heart wrenching grief? And so it is with Josie who has been taken in prayer with her children to the bosom of this forum. May God and His Blessed Mother give her strength.
It is said that only beeswax candles blessed on Candlemass will burn during the three days of darkness. Even a small one will last the three days. I will take mine for a blessing when I go to confession tomorrow.
Are the small candles made from beeswax? I have a load of the long beeswax candles ready for Candlemass blessing and they're a more creamy shade than the pure white small candles we usually see at the shrines in the church.
Hi Dolours Mine are quite big and thick but any size will burn miraculously for the duration of the three days. The creamy shade of your long candles sounds like genuine beeswax. Sounds like you are sorted. The small white ones are usually a parafin mix. 35 minutes until Saturday here. I hope Luke’s wish comes true.
I have read that the candles must be 100% pure beeswax. It was hard to find those here in Christchurch New Zealand. The CATHOLIC Shop only had 50% Beeswax candles. But thankfully I located some elsewhere.
Tomorrow the 2nd February is the feast of...... 1] The presentation of Our Lord Jesus in the Temple! "In obedience to the Old Law, the Lord Jesus, the first-born, was presented in the Temple by his Blessed Mother and his foster father. This is another 'epiphany' celebration insofar as the Christ Child is revealed as the Messiah through the canticle and words of Simeon and the testimony of Anna the prophetess. Christ is the light of the nations, hence the blessing and procession of candles on this day. 2] The purification of Mary! The announcement of the elderly in the temple in spoke of the Lord’s work of redemption that He would complete associating Himself through suffering to His Mother. Therefore, there is a strong Marian dimension to this feast and so in the Liturgical Calendar of the Extraordinary Form it is called the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This refers to the other aspect of the presentation that consists of the ritual purification of Jewish women after they had given birth. In Mary’s case this purification was not necessary, but it indicates the renewal of her total offering of herself to God for the accomplishment of His Divine Plan. 3] The feast day of Our Lady of Good Success! February 2, 1594, Mother Mariana had her first visistation from Mary, Our Lady of Good success. Mary states among other things that evil will be unbridled in the 20 century! .... in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury, which will ensnare the rest into sin and conquer innumerable frivolous souls, who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. During that epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible hordes of the Masonic sects the corruption of customs, unbridled luxury, the impious press, and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy, and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, the one who should speak will fall silent.” 4] And as God would have it, A First Saturday! During her July apparition at Fatima, Our Lady said to Lucia, “I shall come to ask... that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.” Although she made no further mention of this devotion at Fatima, on December 10, 1925, our Blessed Mother again appeared to Lucia at Pentevedra, Spain, where the seer had been sent to the Dorothean Sisters to learn to read and write. It was there Our Lady completed her request for the Five First Saturdays and gave her great promise. Appearing with the Queen of Heaven in that apparition was the Infant Jesus, Who said to Lucia: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation.” Our Lady then spoke: “See, my daughter, my Heart encircled by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you, at least, strive to console me. Tell them that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.” The 2nd of February does not always fall on the First Saturday but tomorrow it does! Luke has an ardent devotion to the first Saturdays devotions by making every first Saturday a day to give to Mary by attending to her requests at Fatima! Luke has been an prophet and supporter of Our Lady of Good Success! When we consider the feast of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple is just forty days since the angels sang their Gloria on the hills of Bethlehem we realsie that young Mary now understands why the Magi brought with their joyous gifts of gold and incense, the bitter, sad, and sorrowful gift of myrrh! We also see that this is the first official confirmation of the fears and thoughts which concerned her since the Annunciation! We can now appreciate how Mary ia a constant companion of Calvary. Thus Our Blessed Mother is the Mother of the afflicted and she alone can wipe away our tears because she understands sorrow. She can mend our broken hearts because her own was broken. Mary is the Mother of Sorrows so therefore she is the Cause of our Joy! She is Luke's true Mother! Come Oh Holy Spirit! VENI, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. V. Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur; R. Et renovabis faciem terrae. Oremus: DEUS, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti: da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere, et de eius semper consolatione gaudere. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. COME, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Amen. Let us pray: O GOD, Who taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that, by the gift of the same Spirit, we may be always truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dear Jesus, we fuse ourselves with your Divine Will. We offer you the Divine version of Luke's life and all of his Divine acts with and in your Divine Will to the Glory of our Heavenly Father. Also we place our "I love you" on all of Luke's Godly humans acts, all his thoughts, words and actions from the moment of his conception right up to his last breath of life, and we offer them in reparation for all of his ungodly thoughts, words and actions, and to the Glory of our Heavenly Father. We pray this in the name of all mankind from Adam right up to the last person to be created, all to the Glory of the Heavenly Father and pray that His Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen How to receive the Gift of Divine Will: One only needs to desire it. Jesus said to Luisa Piccarreta; "a soul has but to desire it and all is done. My Will assumes all the work." Volume 12. 16th Feb 1921. It is important to remember that it is Jesus who does all the work. Only Jesus can do a Divine act. We always remain creature. How to pray in the DW: We first desire to enter into Jesus. Then we transform ourselves into Him. As St. Paul said, "Put on Christ," so we do everything as another Jesus, since Jesus is doing everything within us; our thought, words, actions, steps, movements, breaths, heartbeats - everything except sin. Next, we take what we find in Jesus. Jesus explained to Luisa (volume 11 - 14 August 1912) that while he was on earth, during his hidden life ie up to the age of 30, He took into Himself all the thoughts, words, actions, everything about everyone from Adam to the last person to be created, and He redid everyone's life in His DW. In this way there is a divine version of each one's life. Why? Because only the divine version can give God perfect glory - our human attempts at glorifying God, no matter how holy we become, would always fall short of absolute perfection. Jesus did not immediately offer the divine version of our lives to the Father, but suspended them within Himelf, waiting for the day that you would come along - and after giving your 'fiat', your 'yes' to the Gift of the DW - you would enter into Him transform yourself into Him and take what you find in Him Now you can find in Jesus the divine version of your life suspended in Him. Take it, make it your own (by desire) and offer it with Jesus to the Father. You can do this repeatedly, not only with your own life, but also repeatedly with every-one's life. Jesus wants you to do this for everyone's life. (Taken from "Living in the Kingdom of the Divine Will" by Tony Hickey. Tony has been spreading Jesus' teachings to her for 25 years worldwide. For anybody unsure of the teachings, there is nothing in them contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Her cause for beatification is expected to progress this year, with a place already being prepared for her remains to be moved to the side of the Church alter in Corato).
As there is only one version of our life in reality! All spiritual graces obtained in life are through our wills alignment to the Will of God! Luke understands that he is not divine nor is he God and as such is dependant on the one Holy God, the Immortal one, the omnipitant one. This pilgramage we creatures traverse in life on earth is a constant dying to self, the divination of a creature happens at the beatific vision where we see God Face to face and are Judged. Remember man that you are dust! St Augustine who is a Father and Doctor of the Church, born in 354, died in 430; settled in Rome in 383 and in Milan in 384; made Bishop of Hippo in 395; his “Confessions,” published in 397), his “De Civitate Dei” in 426..... says the following which Luke lived as a faithful catholic! “Thy kingdom come.” Come it surely will, whether we ask or no. Indeed, God hath an eternal kingdom. For when did He not reign? When did He begin to reign? For His kingdom hath no beginning, neither shall it have any end. But that ye may know that in this prayer also we pray for ourselves and not for God (for we do not say “Thy kingdom come” as tho we were asking that God may reign), we shall be ourselves His kingdom if, believing in Him, we make progress in this faith. All the faithful, redeemed by the blood of His only Son, will be His kingdom. And this His kingdom will come when the resurrection of the dead shall have taken place; for then He will come Himself. And when the dead are arisen He will divide them, as He Himself saith, “and He shall set some on the right hand and some on the left.” To those who shall be on the right hand He will say, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom.” This is what we wish and pray for when we say, “Thy kingdom come,”—that it may come to us. For if we shall be reprobates that kingdom will come to others, but not to us. But if we shall be of that number who belong to the members of His only-begotten Son, His kingdom will come to us and will not tarry. For are there as many ages yet remaining as have already passed away? 4 “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth.” The third thing we pray for is that His will may be done as in Heaven so in earth. And in this, too, we wish well for ourselves. For the will of God must necessarily be done. It is the will of God that the good should reign and the wicked be damned. Is it possible that this will should not be done? But what good do we wish ourselves when we say, “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth?” Give ear. For this petition may be understood in many ways, and many things are to be in our thoughts in this petition when we pray God, “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth.” As Thy angels offend Thee not, so may we also not offend Thee. Again, how is “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth,” understood? All the holy patriarchs, all the prophets, all the apostles, all the spiritual are, as it were, God’s Heaven; and we in comparison of them are earth. “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth”; as, in them, so in us also. Again, “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth”; The Church of God is Heaven, His enemies are earth. So we wish well for our enemies, that they, too, may believe and become Christians, and so the will of God be done as in Heaven, so also in earth. Again, “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth.” Our spirit is Heaven and the flesh earth; as our spirit is renewed by believing, so may our flesh be renewed by rising again, and “the will of God be done as in Heaven, so in earth.” St Augustine
Joe and Terry- I truly appreciate your raising the differences of opinions and sometimes acrimonious exchanges with Mac (Luke). I too had the same experience. I said several sharp and unkind things to Luke and well let’s just say he had no problem firing back . When I learned of his illlness, I knew I needed to reach out to him, so I sent a private message. I apologized and asked for his forgiveness which he immediately and completely gave. He, also recognized his need for my forgiveness as well which I also happily gave. I thought to myself afterward how easy it was for me to label Luke and throw bad words at him because I had in a way de-humanized him over the internet. His illness was a stark reminder that he and everyone on this forum is a real person with a real name. Not a Mac, but a Luke. Like Joe, Luke and I have different opinions on many things, but where we are united- where we all are united is - we are Members of the Body of Christ! Each part is absolutely 100% needed and required. And when one part suffers as now does Luke, then we all suffer, but yet unite for our brother. I’m so gratefully for Luke’s forgiveness. And I believe he lived out in that action which may seem tiny, but to me was large, the words and intentions of the Lord’s Prayer to forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. I continue to pray for mercy for Luke, by trust Jesus will welcome him soon. Peace to all here.
Hi Miker Thanks for your inspiring account of real friendship and forgiveness with Mac. Funny, even though there were times I felt I could have hit him, I never stopped liking him and hoping to get on better. Its 10 to four Saturday morning and I have heard nothing so I presume he has made it!
A beautiful post, Josephite. I will return to it frequently! Safe in the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart!
“Yes he has been suffering a great deal, but he has made it to the 1st Saturday. Now we just need our Lady to come get him” Just got this from Josie
We had a beautiful ceremony of blessing the candles today and my confessional penance was to meditate on the agony in the garden. How appropriate.
Joe thank you so much for all the updates. I like mac have had my differences with you i won't apologise but the love for our Catholic faith and all the stray is what binds us together
Our Indian priest, Fr Thomas Thanniyanickall, a priest for 25 years from the part of India where St Thomas the Apostle preached, blessed our candles, led us in an xtra rosary and prayed for the release of Luke’s soul. I could not stop my tears. As a thank you I bought him an extra hot curry with lots of chilli which he loves.
“Luke passed away in the arms of our Lady at 3.30pm immediately after having received viaticum and after having completed yet another first Saturday. Deo Gratias”
Oh Josie and girls. Dying with viaticum: WOW! What a day to go. What a blessed release but what a great loss for you all. Once again I wept even though I know he is with God. He must have been amazed to meet Jesus and Mary and Joseph and St Michael face to face and be in their arms. Thank you so much for keeping me up to date. I have informed his online friends. If we can do anything please us know and when you can please let me know his funeral arrangements. Much love and all my condolences. I wonder if Luke can enjoy a scotch and coke with a ciggie in heaven. God alone knows. God bless you all.
