He may fly Aeroflot this time which would make Moscow a possibility. This little guessing game has been fun. I bet Padre Pio is having a good laugh. With his gift of bilocation he did not need an aircraft. Garabandal is near to my heart but heaven is nearer by far. Abba Yahwey is the pilot, JC the co- pilot, flight Control is The Holy Spirit and the Airline is The Catholic Church.
Funny how the mind makes connections - today is the Feast of Edith Stein, a convert from Judaism and who died in Auschwitz for her Catholic Faith. This made me think of another convert, a great friend with whom I worked and who had much in common with Edith Stein. Phyllis Bowman was not religious in her early life. She was Jewish by birth, then agnostic when she began her work for the pro-life cause, having previously been in favour of abortion. After a number of years of being involved in anti-abortion campaigns, she discovered Christianity and subsequently converted to Catholicism. She was named a Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great (DSG) in 1996 by Pope John Paul II. Phyllis was the hardest worker I have ever known, sometimes going with very little food and without sleep for days on end in order to meet dead lines for Parliamentary pro life debates. So what is the connection with Russia. Much of the work was done by Phyllis and volunteers in a ground floor apartment in West London that was owned by Fr Yves Dubois who was a Russian Orthodox priest and who gave the office rent free for the prolife cause. I remember several conversations with Fr Yves about the filioque which split the church into East and West around the year 1054. As Roman Catholics we believe the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Russian orthodox believe he proceeds from the Father. Perhaps today we are praying the price for that schism and apostasy, the price of truth, the fulness of Faith, revealed by a blade so keen that it separates the marrow from the bone. The prayer of Christ was “that they all may be one.” There are now 35,000 Christian denominations. But the prayer of Christ will prevail. Padre Pio said that Russia would teach the West a lesson in conversion. This lesson will be seen in her own example of conversion as prophesied by the Blessed Mother in Garabandal. I have written this in my now empty church after adoration, mass, benediction and parish rosary. This great sinner is greatly blessed. The lines for confession are still seen here twice a week. The Faith is alive and well.
I decided to post on the forum this morning because I felt called to share this prayer by St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) who is very dear to me. My browser was set to this page in the forum. Then I read the post above this one.... Here is the prayer: From today's office: Saint Edith Stein was born into a Jewish family at Breslau on 12th October 1891. Through her passionate study of philosophy she searched after truth and found it in reading the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Jesus. In 1922 she was baptized a Catholic and in 1933 she entered the Carmel of Cologne where she took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was gassed and cremated at Auschwitz on August 9, 1942, during the Nazi persecution and died a martyr for the Christian faith after having offered her holocaust for the people of Israel. A woman of singular intelligence and learning, she left behind a body of writing notable for its doctrinal richness and profound spirituality. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 11th, 1998. From the Common of One Martyr or the Common of Virgins, except the following: Office of Readings Edith Stein Werke (Freiburg, 1987), 11:124-126 From the spiritual writings of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Ave crux, spes unica! ‘We greet you, Holy Cross, our only hope!’ The church puts these words on our lips during the time of the passion which is dedicated to the contemplation of the bitter sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world is in flames. The struggle between Christ and antichrist rages openly, and so if you decide for Christ you can even be asked to sacrifice your life. Contemplate the Lord who hangs before you on the wood, because he was obedient even to the death of the cross. He came into the world not to do his own will but that of the Father. And if you wish to be the spouse of the Crucified, you must renounce completely your own will and have no other aspiration than to do the will of God. Before you the Redeemer hangs on the cross stripped and naked, because he chose poverty. Those who would follow him must renounce every earthly possession. Stand before the Lord who hangs from the cross with his heart torn open. He poured out the blood of his heart in order to win your heart. In order to follow him in holy chastity, your heart must be free from every earthly aspiration. Jesus Crucified must be the object of your every longing, of your every desire, of your every thought. The world is in flames: the fire can spread even to our house, but above all the flames the cross stands on high, and it cannot be burnt. The cross is the way which leads from earth to heaven. Those who embrace it with faith, love, and hope are taken up, right into the heart of the Trinity. The world is in flames: do you wish to put them out? Contemplate the cross: from his open heart the blood of the Redeemer pours, blood which can put out even the flames of hell. Through the faithful observance of the vows you make your heart free and open; and then the floods of that divine love will be able to flow into it, making it overflow and bear fruit to the furthest reaches of the earth. Through the power of the cross you can be present wherever there is pain, carried there by your compassionate charity, by that very charity, which you draw from the divine heart. That charity enables you to spread everywhere the most precious blood in order to ease pain, save and redeem. The eyes of the Crucified gaze upon you. They question you and appeal to you. Do you wish seriously to renew your alliance with him? What will your response be? ‘Lord, where shall I go? You alone have the words of life.’ Ave Crux, spes unica! ____________________
https://insidethevatican.com/news/newsflash/letter-118-2023-fri-aug-4-breaking/ Start the video at the beginning NOW CONFIRMED! Pope is seeking to travel to Moscow in September. Will the wise virgins gather oil for their lamps?
Well now we has his direct testimony, not just a TASS reporter. Background on Leonid according to himself and Moynihan in the video, Robert Moynihan knows him personally... From this article we know from the Russia’s Ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeev, Yurash that Leonid is a personal friend of the Pope. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/whe...a9-Yl9lR9f4cN1Add3Ymvawl7e5gWVkYyyxxz8c2d9PME From a Cossack family. His Grandfather fought against the Bolsheviks and opposed the Soviet Union. His father was a Soviet dissenter and leader of the Old believers who are a sect of the Orthodox Church. He faced persecution as a child and teen under the Soviet rule. He studied at the Orthodox seminary, the Gregorian University in Rome, and Georgetown University in Washington. He became the leader of the Old Believers (sect of Orthodoxy) and is married to the famous Russian opera singer Svetlana Kasyan. He knew Pope Benedict and met with him several times. After Pope Benedict retired he met with Leonid and the Pope related that Russia will play a role in the re-Christianization of Europe. He has met with Pope Francis 8 times and corresponds with him frequently. On May 5th of last year Pope Francis made him his personal ambassador to promote peace between Russia and the Ukraine in Russia. The Pope authorized him to speak on behalf of the Pope (not the Vatican) in Russia to promote peace. The Pope has tasked him with promoting the idea of the Pope should visit Russia. The Pope is proposing that he should stop in Russia on this trip to Mongolia, either on his way there, or on his way back. When the topic of the Garabandal prophesy came up he harkened back to the Fatima message to pray for Russia. He immediately then speaks of meeting with retired Pope Benedict in 2018 (100 year anniversary of Fatima vision) and Benedict speaking that Russia still has a very important role in the Christianization of Europe. He relayed that Russia, Europe and the USA will become united as Christians in the future. and we look for the peace that is to come from the Pope consecrating Russia. Obviously Russia and Ukraine have an important role in the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
I find it interesting that a man from the disputed Ukrainian-Russian region studied in Moscow, Rome and Washington. A man who meets with Pope Benedict in the anniversary year of Fatima (2018) and speaks about the future role of Russia. A man who's grandfather fought against the onset of Communism.
Perhaps this could result from the Pope's short trip... (Rome) On Tuesday, the Lebanese newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour published the news that the United Arab Emirates and the Vatican are jointly launching a new peace initiative. The Emir of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates, Muhammad bin Zayid Al Nahyan, wants to bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj for a meeting "at the request of Pope Francis". L'Orient-Le Jour refers to "exclusive information from Western and Arab diplomats". Pope Francis has had a close working relationship with Mohammad bin Zayid in the field of interfaith dialogue for several years. The Emir hosted a meeting in Abu Dhabi in February 2019, where Pope Francis signed the infamous document on the brotherhood of all people. Which, as the Austrian philosopher Josef Seifert put it, contains the "heresy of all heresies". The Emir is also the initiator and financier of the new temple complex in Abu Dhabi, which combines a synagogue, a church and a mosque in a single complex on an equal footing. Critics see the so-called House of the Abrahamic Family as a building block on the way to a world unity religion. The fact is that Pope Francis and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayid are united in the "spirit of Abu Dhabi". This also explains that Pope Francis is looking to the Arab region in his "peace offensive", as he recently told a Spanish newspaper at the World Youth Day in Lisbon. So far, Vatican diplomacy has already discreetly mediated on the issue of prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of Ukrainian children evacuated by Russia from conquered territories. At yesterday's first general audience after the summer break, Francis contrasted those who plan wars "in certain secret rooms" with the peaceful gathering of young people from all over the world and all nations at World Youth Day. He said that WYD had shown "that another world is possible: a world of brothers and sisters, where the flags of all peoples fly together, side by side, without hatred, without fear, without barriers, without weapons". In the eyes of Pope Francis, Abu Dhabi could be the first stage for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Mohammad bin Zayid, the head of state of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Abu Dhabi, wants to try to bring together the heads of state of the two warring parties at the world climate conference COP 28, which will take place in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December. According to the Lebanese daily, this is being done at the express "request of Pope Francis". Meanwhile, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Pope's special envoy for the Ukraine conflict, is preparing his visit to Beijing. The Holy See sees both Washington and Beijing as key to easing the conflict. The setting for the meeting of Putin and Selenskyj in the course of the world climate conference COP 28 could be the "Peace Meeting of Religious Leaders" that the Vatican is preparing. The coordinator is Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. He said that it was important to offer a "neutral place" for the Putin-Selenskyj meeting, which should also be outside the Vatican. As part of this meeting of religious leaders, the Vatican is also considering a visit by Pope Francis to the Abrahamic Family House temple complex. Pope Francis, according to plans, could open the meeting. The details of holding it have been handed over to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayid, he said. Yesterday, Francis stressed that he had also gone to Fatima during his stay in Portugal precisely to "pray for peace". https://katholisches.info/2023/08/10/treffen-putin-selenskyj-auf-wunsch-von-papst-franziskus-in-abu-dhabi/
It reads like Windswept House. But it matters little. Our Lady has her plan for peace. And it is HER PLAN that will triumph in the end. The question becomes...Will we join her? Conversion, Mass, penance and fasting, Confession, Adoration, daily mental prayer, the rosary? Or will we cling to our attachments? St John of the Cross, the mystical Doctor of the Church, writes that a single thread is enough to tie a bird to the ground. Dear Blessed Mother pray for us, that we may be free to worship Him without fear or attatchment, holy and righteous in His sight.
The highlight above should be considered the normal path to sanctity, though I think mental prayer is the least practiced in the list.
a few days behind, but this was from our friend Fr. Steve's blog.... Who Was Edith Stein? What Can We Learn From Her? By Fr. Steve Ryan, SDB Edith Stein is the given name of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Edith Stein was born a Jew way back in 1891 in Germany. Even as a young girl she possessed a brilliant mind. She was a scholar. She also became negative about religion as a teenager considering herself an agnostic. She wanted to rely exclusively on herself and was adamant about asserting her freedom in making decisions about her life. As a determined feminist she could have succeeded at a variety of careers. She chose to study philosophy under a very distinguished phenomenologist Edmund Husserel. (This philosopher also had a huge influence on St. John Paul the Great). By the time she was 30 she was a well-respected professor of philosophy. She read and studied, seriously seeking the meaning of life. She sought freedom to be her true self – her best self. She anxiously explored which “ism” or school of thought would be the place where she could be her most authentic self. Much to her surprise, and much to the surprise of her academic fellows, she found peace, joy and meaning in Jesus. Not in a series of “open doors” that brought a direction and a path for wholeness – but in Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. She became convinced that there was no peace in a life divorced from God. In 1922 she was baptized. Not only that, she felt she might even be called to be a nun. She had come to love and admire St. Teresa of Avila’s Carmelite spirituality. What’s interesting about her conversion is that it counters the modern criticism of Christianity as an opium for the masses of unintelligent and disenfranchised. Edith went wholeheartedly toward Christ while she had it all – respect, brains, looks, influence. Here is a woman who had academic expertise, friends, money and plenty of friends. Most of her friends were cynics and critics of religion yet she still came to the conclusion in her mind and heart that only those who commit themselves to the love of Christ become truly free. Freedom does not consist of doing whatever we want to do, but in freely choosing Christ – the ultimate good. This woman had to face the challenges of a radically changing century. Her experience is an example to us. The post-Christian world of 2023 boasts of the enticing door which says: everything is permitted. It ignores the narrow gate of discernment and renunciation. We all need to pay attention to the Gospel – John 12, for example: Unless a grain of wheat falls upon the ground and dies… ” In 1934 she made the novitiate and became a Carmelite Sister. The religious name she chose was Teresa Benedicta. Because of the Nazi insanity at that precise moment in history, Sister Teresa would be arrested and executed. She had three strikes against her: (1) she had Jewish blood, (2) she was an academic and a noted scholar, (3) she was Catholic – and even worse to the Nazi’s, a nun. Sr. Teresa was arrested in Holland where she had been assigned by her superiors with the hope of some protection from Hitler. After being rounded up, she was put on a train for transport. Six days later her train arrived at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. She went almost immediately to the gas chamber and died a martyr’s death on August 9, 1942. Quickly venerated, quite well-known in Europe as a saint martyr, St. Teresa would soon have a cult of followers throughout the world. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was able to understand that the love of Christ and human freedom are intertwined, because love and truth have an intrinsic relationship. Some people think that freedom can only be found in a life without God – but Edith Stein proves to us that an atheistic life is not free at all. Only in Jesus Christ can we find true and lasting freedom, a freedom to love and rest in the peace of God. Stay free in Christ.
If we anticipate suffering and are anxious about the tribulations to come, meditating on this prayer by saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) may help... O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will open before me and I shall meet it with peace.
At university her great thesis was on Empathy. Empathy in my understanding is the ability to walk in the emotional and spiritual steps of another. That is quite different from sympathy. In Garabandal Our Blessed Mother told us to think of the passion of Jesus. Even in her name St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was at one with His passion and she lived this unity to the end.
Yes, it seems her dissertation on empathy was a preparation for her later understanding of the mystery of The Cross. "Stein's radical intersubjective account strongly influenced the phenomenological concept of empathy. According to Stein, empathy means “to feel within” what the other “I” is experiencing from a first person perspective. Moreover, this intersubjectivity constitutes the original root and sense of personal subjectivity." Just as empathy is not merely sympathy...one actually experiences within themselves what the other is experiencing, So too is sharing in the sufferings of Christ, within the Mystical Body not merely empathy. Nor is Mystical Union merely empathy. Since we are incorporated into His mystical body we are united with the entire Church and Christ himself not merely an empathetic joining in His suffering. The words of the saint on sharing in The Cross of Christ.... “There is a call to suffering with Christ and, through this, to cooperate in His salvific work. In uniting ourselves with the Lord, we become members of his Mystical Body. Through his members Christ extends His own life and it is He who suffers in them. When we are in union with the Lord, our suffering becomes His suffering. It becomes an integral part of the great work of salvation and is therefore fruitful. This is the basic idea of religious life, of Carmelite life above all: a freely willed assumption of suffering on behalf of sinners and cooperation in the redemption of mankind (Works, vol. 2, p. 163). “Every person must suffer and die; but if he is a living member of the Mystical Body of Christ, his suffering and death take on a redemptive power, which flows from the divinity of Him, Who is his Head. That is why every saint so desires to embrace suffering” (In My Own Words, pp. 68-69). “As the Lamb had to be slain in order to be raised to the throne of glory, so do suffering and the Cross bring to glory all those who are invited and chosen to espouse the Lamb. Whoever wishes to be wedded to the Lamb must allow himself to be nailed to the Cross with Him. All of us who are marked by the blood of the Lamb, that is, all we who have been baptized, are called to this; but we do not all understand His call. To follow Christ means to follow Him with ever increasing faith. This call resounds within the soul and demands an unequivocal answer” (Ibid, pp.156-157). ___________________ This intimate union with the Trinity which we experience profoundly in the Eucharist will be fully realized in eternity. We must do our part...The little that we can do, as St Therese says, in order for The Lord to bring about this transforming union, hopefully in this life....But only by passing through The Cross of the second dark night.
