THE MEDJUGORJE WITNESS

Dear children! Also today I call you to conversion. May your life, little children, be a reflection of God’s goodness and not of hatred and unfaithfulness. Pray, little children, that prayer may become life for you. In this way, in your life you will discover the peace and joy which God gives to those who have an open heart to His love. And you who are far from God’s mercy, convert so that God may not become deaf to your prayers and that it may not be too late for you. Therefore, in this time of grace, convert and put God in the first place in your life. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, August 25, 2007

Block paving – it’s all the rage,

Cobble stones of modern age.

Laid to cover grass and weed, 

Suppressing all growth of seed.

Laid in regimental lines,

In pretty patterns–sometimes.

Laid to smooth our way ahead,

And drain all rain from homestead.

But block paths are not adverse

To nature’s signs of converse.

A shadow cast from above,

The sign of God’s saving love.

BG

Recent media reports suggest that the famous painting of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci will have a new home. It’s currently housed at the Louvre’s Salle des Étates and visited by 20,000 to 30,000 visitors a day, so viewing time before the painting is restricted to just a few minutes. 

Now the Louvre is planning to relocate the picture, possibly in an underground location at the museum, in the belief it will provide a better experience for visitors.

I wonder what Leonardo would have thought of the crowds clamouring to view the Mona Lisa? Seemingly, he wasn’t a believer in the Christian custom of standing and praying before holy pictures and statues, seeking intercession and help from the saints.

He said: “People are talking to people who don’t hear them at all. People talk to them, but they (the saints) will not respond. They seek forgiveness from somebody who has an ear, but he will not hear. They do light candles for these saints who cannot see. They seek help for the alive ones from somebody who has been dead for a thousand years…”

I wonder also what Leonardo would make of current day claims of statues weeping tears and blood – and even the Risen Christ sculpture at Medjugorje that weeps droplets of water at times?

Some historians suggest Leonardo may have been a convert to Islam. Some believe he died a Christian, while others claim he was of no religious conviction, but perhaps an agnostic.

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• Sphinx: Latin Sphinx, from Greek Sphinx, "to squeeze", “strangle”, “restrict”.

There’s a popular anecdote about Medjugorje that tells of the “silence of the birds”, a phenomenon that happens at the time of the Virgin Mary’s daily apparitions there. Before her appearance, the sparrows can be heard loud and clear, chattering in the trees beside St James church. But as soon as the time of Our Lady’s scheduled appearance, usually at 6:40 in the evening, the birds go silent.

In Luke’s gospel (12-24), Jesus speaks of another phenomenon concerning birds. He said, “Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap, they have no storehouses or barns; yet God feeds them.”

The picture above shows a sparrow feeding its chick. It was taken at 10:43 on a Sunday morning outside St James church. So it would be around the time that priests would be distributing Holy Communion at the 10:00am Mass for English-speaking pilgrims seated outside the church. 

God feeds them!

Dear children! At this time, do not only think of rest for your body but, little children, seek time also for the soul. In silence may the Holy Spirit speak to you and permit Him to convert and change you. I am with you and before God I intercede for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, July 25, 2006

In the silence of my heart, may my faith revive;

In the silence of my heart, may my hope survive;

In the silence of my heart, may Love come alive.

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BG

You must not offer to the Lord an animal that is blind, lame, mutilated, ulcerous, or suffering from skin disease or sore. Leviticus 22 : 22

Dear children! Today I am calling you to live your new life with Jesus. May the Risen One give you strength to always be strong in the trials of life and to be faithful and persevering in prayer; because Jesus saved you by His wounds and by His Resurrection gave you new life. Pray, little children, and do not lose hope. May joy and peace be in your hearts and witness the joy that you are mine. I am with you and love you all with my motherly love. Thank you for having responded to my call. Medjugorje message, April 25, 2019

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Prayer before a Crucifix:

I kiss the wounds that heal, and heal the wounds I kiss.

In a Note on the relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence, the Dicasteries for the Doctrine of the Faith and for Culture and Education highlight the potential and the challenges of artificial intelligence in the areas of education, the economy, labour, health, human and international relations, and war.

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The Note, ANTIQUA ET NOVA, can be accessed at this link.

DO NOT FORGET the things your eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart all the days of your life; rather, tell them to your children and to your children’s children. Deuteronomy 4 : 9

• Maybe it’s because I am at an age in life where I am beginning to forget things is why this passage from Deuteronomy registers with me.

And I was speaking with someone recently who was also experiencing memory lapses and we were consoling each other that it isn’t such a bad thing to live in or for the moment and not get too concerned about all that has happened in the past which we have forgotten about. Life is not about the past but what is to come.

Our Lady also asks in her messages not to forget, so that tells me she is very familiar with the memory lapses. But her occasional prompts are welcomed by me. It’s not always a case of being forgetful but distracted.

DO NOT FORGET... to seek God’s graces... to live the messages... I am with you... this is a time of grace... your home is in heaven... without God you can do nothing... love conquers through prayer... I love you with a tender love... I am your mother... to read Sacred Scripture... you are travelling to eternity... you are passing like a flower in a field... your freedom is your weakness... you are all important in God’s great plan... that Jesus gave his life for you to be saved... you live in a time of grace... your shepherds...

But my favourite reminder has to be: “Do not forget that your life does not belong to you, but is a gift with which you must bring joy to others and lead them to eternal life.”

I suppose there is always a danger for anyone who has experienced the graces of Medjugorje, to put aside at times all that has been received, and even to bury the gifts. I don’t think this is ever intentional, but the world does have a way of making its presence felt and reducing our attention and commitment to keep walking in the direction Our Lady would want us to. Hence her reminders and repeated teaching – lest we forget.

• From Luis, (Guadalajara, Mexico)...

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I visited Medjugorje only once, almost 23 years ago in June 2002, looking for a sign from Heaven and Our Lady on what was wanted for me as my vocation, as I had doubts since I was in college whether if I should join the Diocesan seminary or a religious organisation. But the answer from God came through the fellow pilgrims as they asked me two or three times if I was married, which was kind of strange to me.

I had dated three girls before going to Medjugorje, and I couldn’t find one that shared my spiritual priorities, so I thought maybe I was destined to be a priest or something similar. But very soon after I came back from Medjugorje I knew one devout and beautiful girl . We started dating after a couple of months of friendship, and married two years later.

Now we have four children aged 10 to 19 years old. We try to pray the rosary every day with them and I now go to mass daily. I can say our marriage has been filled with God’s blessings and love for Jesus and Mary, thanks to that pilgrimage to Medjugorje 23 years ago.

Just wanted to share this personal testimony with you.

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Blessings from Luis

The election of new leaders, and changes in government, is often an outcome of a dissatisfied spirit among groups of people. Unhappy with the current state of affairs and administration, change is called for. Let someone else take the lead and do better.

But in reality, so often the new regime fails to satisfy all of the people all of the time, and eventually another switch at the top is demanded.

Following leaders can seem at times to be akin to the blind leading the blind – and the pit is often close by.

Thomas Aquinas believed the best form of government was monarchy, because it best served the common good. He argued that the goal of any ruler should be the unity of peace.

In the Book of Wisdom, kings and governors are reminded that their sovereignty and power is a gift from God, but those who act in ungodly fashion “will come trembling to the reckoning of their sins, and their crimes, confronting them, will accuse them”.

So we should pray for our leaders, of all kinds and persuasion.

Our Lady at Medjugorje invites us to pray for her intentions and plans. She is a monarch that calls for unity of peace in hearts and in the world. She is the Queen of Peace

With her Medjugorje messages Our Lady has been conducting a long-running campaign for change – for 44 years. She also recognises the difficulties that we find ourselves in and presents a solution for our needs. She too wants to lead us to a better future. She also makes promises, that if we listen and respond to her messages, then she will lead us to a place in our life where we can live in peace.

She too is a leader and asks for our mandate, our ‘yes’. If we decide for Our Lady and her plan of salvation then she promises to lead us. As to where and how, allow Our Lady to voice some of her manifesto:

• I desire to lead you, but you do not wish to listen to my messages...

• I wish to lead you further in love...

• I wish to lead you daily more and more in prayer...

• I desire to lead you on the way of holiness...

• I want to lead you all along the way of conversion...

• I am here, dear children, to help you and to lead you to heaven...

• Be of just and innocent heart that I may lead you to your Father...

• I wish to renew you and lead you with my heart to the heart of Jesus...

• Listen to me and permit me to lead you to this in a motherly way...

• Give your hand to me, your mother, and permit me to lead you...

• I come to you today to lead you on the way of humility and meekness...

• I will be with you and will lead you...

• I am with you, to lead you towards what your heart yearns for...

• I desire to lead you to the joy of your life...

• With my love I will teach you simplicity of life and richness of mercy and I will lead you to my Son...

Allowing Our Blessed Mother to lead us will bring change, a continual conversion of our heart – ‘change we need’.

• Today I call you to give me your heart so I can change it to be like mine...

• Pray with your whole heart and day by day to change your life...

• God blesses you day after day and desires a change of your life...

• I invite you to change your life because you have taken a path of misery, a path of ruin...

• I call you to begin to change your life from the beginning and that you decide for conversion not with words but with your life...

• Little children, in the silence of the heart, remain with Jesus, so that He may change and transform you with His love...

• Conversion will be easy for all who desire to accept it...

• Dear children, I am calling you individually to conversion...

And just as the politicians point out the dangers of following the wrong leader, so does Our Lady warn us about the danger of making the wrong choice:

• You should not allow him (satan) to lead you and your life...

• These days Satan wants to frustrate my plans. Pray that his plan not be realised...

• Satan wants to work still more fiercely to take away your joy from each one of you...

• Dear children, do not allow Satan to get control of your hearts...

• Satan is strong and wants to destroy and deceive you in many ways...

• Pray, because Satan wants to destroy my plans of peace...

I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner. Luke 15 : 10

It’s an unexpected truth to learn that here on earth each of us is capable of generating joy among God’s angels in heaven. Mostly we are conditioned to petition heaven to send joy to the world instead.

But in Luke’s Gospel (15 : 4-7), Jesus tells us exactly how this happens, how his angels are constantly rejoicing. I say constantly, because Jesus says his angels rejoice over one repentant sinner. One!

If just one different person repents each minute of the day, that gives the angels 1,440 repentant souls to rejoice over daily. Not a lot, is it? But enough for the angels in heaven to receive continuous joy!

And imagine how that joy intensifies as the number of repenting souls on earth increases.

So for the angels in heaven, what a wonderful source of joy Medjugorje must be – the confessional of the world!

“I am here, dear children, to help you and to lead you to heaven, and in heaven is the joy through which you can already live heaven now.” part Medjugorje message, May 25, 1991

Today, the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time is the 'Sunday of the Word of God' - a day, instituted by Pope Francis on the Feast of Saint Jerome in 2019, devoted to the celebration and study of Sacred Scripture.

• “Devoting a specific Sunday of the liturgical year to the word of God can enable the Church to experience anew how the risen Lord opens up for us the treasury of his word and enables us to proclaim its unfathomable riches before the world.”

Pope Francis, Aperuit illis

Our Lady calls us to our individual conversion. This is the reason why Our Lady is appearing – so that my conversion may commence. Her apparitions create a climate of conversion in the Church and it is this climate that we experience the power of grace and truth. With her motherly love, with her prayers and with her holiness, she calls each one of us to convert. No one can replace or substitute us in this.

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• Fr Jozo Zovko OFM (from the book: As She Asks)​​

“What can you see?” is a question pilgrims often ask of each other at Medjugorje, and mostly at times when they stare at the spinning sun phenomenon, shielding their eyes from its glare. The question usually prompts answers like, “I can see the Host” or “I can see angels” or “I can see Jesus (or Mary)” or “I can see a heart.” Some will admit to seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

Then there are the countless photographs taken by pilgrims and the same question is repeated: “Can you see anything?” “I can see this”, or “I can see that”. Some will see people when others will only see what look like trees or clouds, or rocks and stones – perhaps an example of seeing only what we want to see.

The above photograph shows a pilgrim’s hand stretching to the place where water oozes from the right knee of the Risen Christ sculpture.

But there is another view that can be considered – the profile of a lion’s head – “See, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.” (Revelation 5 : 5)

View the right leg as a ‘golden’ mane and the left leg as the head in profile.

The detail in the above image is from the Visitation station of the Joyful Mysteries erected on Apparition Hill at Medjugorje. It depicts the time the Virgin Mary travelled to a town in the hill country of Judah to visit her pregnant cousin Elizabeth.

In the corner of the bronze plaque is a skinny cat sitting at the base of the tree whose branches extend to cover Mary. The cat’s role is to protect the tree from rats and other vermin gnawing at its roots. But in this instance the cat is distracted by the arrival of Mary at her cousin’s house, and in particular the Virgin’s exposed toes placed at a level with the cat’s eyes. Cat owners will know that this type of distraction is a common trait among “mousers”, especially if toes twitch.

But distraction and curiosity is not exclusive to cats. It’s also a characteristic of people. Who hasn’t taken their eyes off the ball, so to speak, and suffered because of doing so?

Some years ago, in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis delivered a meditation on the day’s Gospel passage from St Luke (17 : 20-25). He noted that the Pharisees ask Jesus: ‘When will the kingdom of God come?’ The Holy Father explained: “They were curious! They wanted to know the date, the day…”

In all of Our Lady’s messages given at Medjugorje, she has only mentioned once the word “curiosity” It was in response to a question put to her by the seer Marija on April 30, 1984, when she asked the Madonna why she didn’t give her the customary Thursday message for the parish.

Our Lady replied: “I do not wish to force anyone to do that which he/she neither feels nor desires, even though I had special messages for the parish by which I wanted to awaken the faith of every believer. But only a really small number has accepted my Thursday messages. In the beginning there were quite a few. But it has become a routine affair for them. And now recently some are asking for the message out of curiosity, and not out of faith and devotion to my Son and me.”

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The Medugorje seer Jakov Colo provides an answer to the curious. He once said: “Many pilgrims come to Medjugorje and ask many questions. Everybody would like to know something! They ask questions I cannot answer, but Our Lady teaches us and says: Pray, and through prayer you will know the answers to all that you are looking for.”

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• More details about the station of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth at this link.

One Friday afternoon, three men, Brian, Izzy and Inky, arrived at the foot of Mt Krizevac when they were approached by Robert, a Frenchman in a wheelchair. Communication was difficult as Robert kept pointing up to the mountain. Izzy and Inky had never gone up the mountain – this was their first pilgrimage to Medjugorje – but with the help of Brian they lifted Robert, a heavy man, out of his wheelchair and started to carry him up the steep and rocky path. Soon they were joined by other willing helpers, Mario from Austria, Andrea from Italy, Dragan from Croatia, Jim from Ireland and Bertenauld from Reunion Island.

It was a difficult and tiring climb as each man took a turn in supporting and helping to carry Robert. Priests on the mountain came forward to bless the group. Crowds parted to make way and joined hands to offer prayer and sing praises.

Eventually, the summit was reached and Brian, Inky and Izzy lifted Robert and sat him on the altar ledge at the foot of the white, concrete cross. He turned to each of them and said: “You my Simon, you my Simon, you my Simon.”

It was a very special experience for all concerned, but particularly for Inky and Izzy, making their very first ascent up Mt Krizevac. Had they known what lay ahead they may have decided not to go to the mountain that afternoon. Had Simon known what lay ahead for him as he made his way from Cyrene to Jerusalem, he may not have set out that day.

In life’s journey we discover the unexpected challenge and the gift of the cross, be it our own or someone else’s. 

• Moses spoke to the Lord: “... I am not able to to carry this nation by myself alone; the weight is too much for me.” Numbers 11 : 14

• You parishioners have a great and heavy cross, but don’t be afraid to carry it. My Son is here who will help you. Medjugorje message, April 5, 1985 (Good Friday)

I have two sons and one of them also has two sons. I have a daughter who has two sons. My father had two sons. So the Gospel reading (Matthew 21 : 28-32) comparing two sons rings bells with me.

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In his question put to the chief priests and elders, Jesus makes clear he identifies them as the son who says he will go and work in the vineyard but then feels he has no need to. The other son, in the guise of tax collectors and prostitutes, refuses at first to work in the vineyard but then experiences a change of heart and does so. 

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Does the father of the two sons love them any more or less because of their response to his request? No. The lack of love is shown in the response by the son who refuses to do his father’s will after saying he would.

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I suppose it could be said that the different attitudes of the two sons exists in many of us at times. We make promises that we fail to keep, or sometimes refuse a request but later think better of it.

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Wanting to right oneself, or putting things right, is really what matters most – making our peace with the Father. 

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‘Righteousness’ in the form displayed by the chief priests and elders, who didn‘t feel the necessity to receive the baptism of repentance offered by John, is criticised by Jesus, and he makes the point of saying that the tax collectors and prostitutes, because they repent and accept John’s baptism, are making their way into the kingdom of God ahead of the self-righteous.

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I remember once going to confession at Medjugorje at the start of a pilgrimage. I had only been to confession a few days earlier and felt I had nothing really to confess. I explained this to the priest. His response was: “Let’s start with pride!”

Perhaps this is also the point Jesus is making to the chief priests and elders when he asks them: “Which of the two sons did the father’s will?” 

Yesterday’s Gospel reading, The Wedding at Cana (John 2 : 1-12), pointed out that the miracle of water changing into wine was the first of the signs given by Jesus. “He let his glory be seen and his disciples believed in him.”

There are many signs and wonders witnessed at Medjugorje. God lets his glory be seen and the people believe. In the early days of the apparitions Our Lady commented on these signs:

• All these signs are designed to strengthen your faith until I leave you the visible and permanent sign. (October 22, 1981) 

• These are signs of salvation... the sun is the source of light which enlightens us. (November 22, 1981) 

• It is God who gives them... It is necessary to awaken the faith... It is a gift from God. (Spring 1982) 

• Now I am going to give you a sign in order to strengthen your faith. (August 6, 1982)

One summer, during the Medjugorje Youth Festival, a priest incorporated this lesson into his homily:

One day a teacher said to his friend after a discussion about disagreements, “If you find it hard to forgive someone after having a difference with them, take a potato, half it and on one half write your name and on the other half write their name. Then put the halved potatoes in a plastic bag and carry it around.”

“Ah, that’s easy, I’ll do that.” said the friend. When he had an argument or disagreement with someone, he did as he had been advised, halved the potatoes and wrote both names on it and put it in a plastic bag and carried them around.

After a week the bag was getting pretty heavy and there was a terrible stench from it. He went back to the teacher and said “Surely there must be an easier way?”

The teacher replied “The bag is a reflection of your soul. You are carrying around unforgiveness. Bring your ‘rotten potatoes’ to Confession.

Jesus says, in Matthew 18:21, when asked about forgiveness, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.’

There are times in all of our lives when the wine can run out, especially in relationships. Meditating on the passage from John’s Gospel (2 : 1-12) and praying the second Mystery of Light is a most powerful prayer for improving and healing relationships, be it with friends, family, marriage, enemies – or even with Jesus himself. Pray the rosary decade and meditate on the mystery every day and see the new wine begin to flow in relationships – for oneself or for others!

Imagine if I were to break a petal off a rose. No one could make it whole again. Not one human. Someone greater is needed. The One Who created it. There is one way to come to peace and wholeness, one way to be healed and forgiven – the Sacrament of Confession.

• Fr Jozo Zovko OFM (from the book: As She Asks)

Following on from the Holy Embrace picture I posted yesterday, this morning I received an email from Maria Cruse directing me to a website that shows the statue viewed from the front and with the Child Jesus as part of the group, holding hands with Mary and Joseph. Mystery solved.

The original statue was sculpted by Arnaldo Gianneli, founder of the Egregia company in Volterra, Italy, that manufactures alabaster statues. Among his most famous works is a bust of the former American president Dwight Eisenhower.

• More information is available at the Egregia website.

I was searching through some old photo files recently when I came across this image of a statue displayed in the window of someone’s home at the famous English Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Could the statue be of Joseph and Mary embracing each other? There’s no sign of Jesus, which could suggest they may be comforting each other while searching for their twelve-year-old son when he went missing in Jerusalem after the Passover festival.

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Or could the hooded figure even be Jesus embracing his Blessed Mother?

Today is the feast of the Oratorian Saint Joseph Vaz, the Apostle of Ceylon. Ordained in Goa in 1676, he was renowned as a zealous pastor. Joseph lived a simple life, often walking barefoot. He joined a group of priests to establish the first Oratory of St Philip Neri in India, at the church of the Holy Cross of Miracles, and was elected the first Provost of that community.

He then travelled to Ceylon, to help persecuted Catholics. He went about disguised as a labourer, encouraging the faithful. Despite various trials, Joseph earned the respect and protection of the Buddhist King of Kandy after Joseph’s prayers for a miraculous rainfall were answered. He became known as the ‘Sammanasu Swam’ – the angelic priest. Many Fathers of the Goa Oratory joined Joseph in Ceylon, and he famously refused the mitre and office of Vicar Apostolic. On 16 January 1711, Joseph died with the Holy Name on his lips, surrounded by members of his community.

• Fr Anton Guziel

Some random thoughts on blessings.

My life is a blessing… every moment is a blessing… 

My life is a blessing to others… the lives of others is a blessing to me…

Look for the blessing in others… and find Jesus...

Always see the blessing of God in every situation, in every joy and every difficulty…

The Presence of Love in every situation… God’s blessing…

God’s blessings… so often taken for granted…

Meditate on God’s blessings when praying the Rosary…

Count blessings every day… 

Look for blessings every day… Seek the Lord… seek his blessings…

Learn to recognise God’s blessings, even in the smallest things…

Jesus is a blessing for the whole world…

Blessing is God’s gift…God’s love…

Reflect on all the personal gifts received, past and present…

Sometimes, when someone close dies, it is only then that we really become aware of the blessing that person was in our life…

We take blessings for granted… We expect, even demand…

But we should always seek God’s blessing…

Sometimes a blessing is revealed when we are in darkness…

We may see it… we may not… Others may see it…

When we seek and recognise blessings there is little room left to accommodate any disappointment…

It is important to give thanks and praise to God for all blessings, known and unknown…

Give daily thanks for the blessing of life itself… God’s love, the greatest blessing…

Write down all the blessings received…

Every moment is God’s blessing… Life is a perpetual blessing...

Being aware of blessings makes for a joyful heart...

Born to bless and be blessed...

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• The blessing image is detail from Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi

Leo Daly’s Australian Medjugorje website is up and running again. As well as promoting Medjugorje, Leo intends to set up a national database for Eucharistic Adoration and for the growing number of Rosary Crusades. The new url for the Australian Medjugorje website is https://www.ausmedjugorjecentre.com

Leo’s email address is medjugorjeaus@gmail.com

Vatican News speaks to Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, who was sent by Pope Francis as Apostolic Visitor to Medjugorje. He is tasked with reading the messages attributed to the ‘Queen of Peace’ and authorising their publication.

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Interview by Andrea Tornielli at this link.

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan is also the first decade that introduces the Rosary’s Mysteries of Light.

The image above is detail from a Renaissance painting by Andrea del Verroccio, assisted by his apprentice Leonardo da Vinci. It’s displayed at the Uffizi in Florence. Verrocchio is portrayed as the ‘Master’, while another Florentine artist, Domenico Ghirlandaio represents John the Baptist. Elsewhere in the painting are Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli portrayed as two angels.

• More about this painting at: Baptism of Christ.

Jesus was in one of the towns when a man appeared, covered with leprosy. Seeing Jesus he fell on his face and implored him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once.

Luke 5 : 12-13

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GENTLE JESUS

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Gentle Jesus, here I am, 

Holding on as best I can.

Knowing you will hear my prayer,

I’m in need of love and care.

You can heal me if you choose.

Say “Of course I want to!”

You can say to me “Be cured!”

You can make me new.

Gentle Jesus, here I stand,

Arms outstretched with open hand..

In my weakness, blind and lame,

Calling out your holy name.

You can heal me if you choose...

Gentle Jesus, here I kneel,

Knowing only you can heal,

Placing all my faith in you,

Praising all the good you do.

You can heal me if you choose.

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BG – October 2010

A straight-forward prayer to Saint Jude, courtesy of the Shrine of Saint Jude Dominican Friars:

Most holy Apostle, Saint Jude Thaddeus, friend of Jesus, I place myself in your care at this difficult time. Help me know that I need not face my troubles alone.

Please join me in my need, asking God to send me: consolation in my sorrow, courage in my fear, and healing in the midst of my suffering. Ask our loving Lord to fill me with the grace to accept whatever may lie ahead for me and my loved ones, and to strengthen my faith in God's healing powers. Thank you, Saint Jude Thaddeus, for the promise of hope you hold out to all who believe, and inspire me to give this gift of hope to others as it has been given to me.

Saint Jude, Apostle of Hope

Pray for us!

Jesus then ordered them to get all the people together in groups on the green grass, and they sat down on the ground in squares of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the people.

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Mark 6 : 39-41

May the mountains bring forth peace for the people and the hills, justice.

May he defend the poor of the people and save the children of the needy.

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Psalm 71 : 3-4

The Feast of the Epiphany is generally the day Christmas decorations are taken down and packed away for another year.

Postage costs in the UK have risen sharply in recent times and it is becoming more expensive to send out Christmas greeting cards to family and friends.

This year I was curious to see the balance between religious and secular themed cards I received through my letterbox. The split was almost even but with the percentage of secular cards coming out on top – 51% to 49%.

Six hundred years ago (1425), Pope Clement V proclaimed a Holy Year “with two novelties: a special commemorative Jubilee Medal and the opening of a Holy Door in the Cathedral of Saint John in the Lateran”.

The Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck referenced the 1425 Jubilee in his painting of the famous Ghent Altarpiece (also called Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) – and the “two novelties”. They are located in the Singing Angels panel in the upper register.

A posthumous copy of the Jubilee Medal, produced about 1800, is shown above.

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• You can read more about the medal and its connection to the Ghent Altarpiece at this link.