Fatima Family » Youth For Fatima

In Amazement of St. Bernadette Soubirous

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:00:49 +0000

After reading the life of any saint, we close the book exclaiming, “What a great saint! I did not think something like this could exist.” Indeed, as long as it is well written, the life of any saint is a unique marvel full of surprises.
The life of Saint Bernadette Soubirous is no exception. She was a French peasant girl from an area of the Pyrenees mountains which, from a certain standpoint, blends together aspects of Spain and France. She looks very French although she has Spanish features. Looking at her authentic pictures (not usually found in churches), we see a person with a slightly squarish face with regular and well-defined features. She has large black eyes with a certain fixed Spanish gaze unlike the quicker and darting French gaze. Her Spanish gaze is penetrating almost to the point of an x-ray. Together with her Spanish nose, her face presents a coherence that really stands out and marks her from top to bottom.
Her mindset is direct and straightforward. She does not mince words. She was a person with very high horizons but had a very simple upbringing, meaning that she was never taught to be reserved or discreet. What she thought, she would come right out and say.
Her whole expression is one of complete detachment. She was completely humble and did not want to be anyone special. Her goal was to go about the service of Our Lady without caring about what others think.
Her whole expression is one of complete detachment. She was completely humble,and her goal was to go about the service of Our Lady without caring about what others thought.Consider the fact that Saint Bernadette could have become vain when seeing huge crowds gathered to see her speak with Our Lady at the Grotto during the apparitions.
This fact is aggravated by the fact that Saint Bernadette was from the countryside where such attention causes a much greater impression. The smaller the town, the more importance one attaches to it. It is easier for a New Yorker (to use an American example) to criticize New York than for villagers to criticize their own little town. When the mayor of the small village dies, the whole town shows up for the funeral. The entire village represents the whole world. It is considered extraordinary.
We might add that this atmosphere of the small countryside village has much more life and is more accommodating than the huge modern-day Babels in which the individual is like a loose grain of sand. In the village, each inhabitant is like the living cell of an organism. In New York or Sao Paulo, each is like a grain of sand in a huge pile in which each grain weighs on top of the others, and from which every windstorm takes grains far away.
Thus, we can understand what it meant for Saint Bernadette to have the whole town of Lourdes come see her. It was something extraordinary. However, her reaction was not to become vain. Rather she remained indifferent to the attention. During the whole time, she was completely and naturally herself before everyone. When called by the police to speak about the revelations, she behaved with extraordinary fearlessness and ease. Toward her parents, the parish priest and other upright people with whom she dealt, and later with her religious superiors, she was a model of respect and obedience.
Thus, we can see in her the spirit of a true ultramontane and Catholic woman. She is a true saint totally indifferent to the pomp and esteem of this world. By disregarding everything, she was not disregarded. For if she would have sought the applause of the world, she would not be free to do anything except those actions which would gain her this applause. She would be forced to play to their tune. Saint Bernadette Soubirous’ attitude was to be herself. If the world did not like it, she did not care. All she cared about was being faithful to the Holy Catholic Church.
When it came to legitimate authorities, her attitude was different. She took great care to show extreme obedience and respect. This is because there was a supernatural principle that was involved and not merely the human factor of herself. She did not care about the ways of the world, but she showed all due care and respect to things with a religious root, which came from God.
Our Lady of Lourdes in the grotto where she appeared to Saint Bernadette and declared“I am the Immaculate Conception.”Saint Bernadette Soubirous impressed many by her conduct during the apparitions. She converted countless people simply by the way she made the sign of the cross. She learned this from Our Lady – the supreme model of friends and worshippers of Jesus Christ – and thus she acquired a love of suffering and of the Cross of Christ. Hence something of Our Lady’s unction would show in her when she made the sign of the cross.
Even after the apparitions, she edified people as they watched her make the sign of the cross, something we often do haphazardly without attaching due importance to what we are doing.
However, what most deeply impressed people was her whole demeanor during the apparitions. They perceived she was in contact with something they could not see but came from outside her.
They noted an extraordinary transformation in her. From a simple peasant girl, she would take on a majesty that impressed everybody. One lady from high society who saw her during an apparition said she had never seen a girl from the aristocracy with the bearing and stature of Saint Bernadette while speaking to Our Lady. In other words, because she was dealing with the Queen of Heaven and Earth, this Queen communicated to her something regal, and something of this virtue remained in her soul.
Many people realized that Our Lady was speaking to her, not because they saw Our Lady but because they saw Bernadette as a mirror of Our Lady. Indeed, during the apparitions, the seer was a kind of Speculum Mariae, or better, Speculum Justitiae. It is truly admirable to see how Our Lady communicates her virtues to her devotees, who, so to speak, imbibe them from her.
Through Our Lady, Saint Bernadette acquired a love for suffering and of the Cross of Christ. She offered her life as an expiatory victim for sinners, but aboveall for a mysterious sinner who she did not name.When a sister at her convent insisted with Sister Bernadette to tell them about the dress Our Lady was wearing when she appeared. She answered that if they wanted to know the details let them ask Our Lady to come back so they can see for themselves.
This was characteristic of Saint Bernadette’s many picturesque comments. Her superior often tried to make them less biting and more polite but finally allowed them to go through. Bernadette’s sayings had a note that was both comic and fiery with a sharp edge that showed her bubbly temperament.
When asked if she was proud of being chosen by Our Lady, she replied: “Who do you think I am? The Blessed Mother picked me because I was the most ignorant one. Had she found someone more ignorant than me she would certainly have chosen her.”
Such a comment was not only humble but also quite true. Humility is truth. Our Lady chose her because she was the most ignorant girl in Lourdes. Before the revelations, she was a good girl but not a saint. Our Lady chose her because her ignorance was one of the extraordinary arguments to confirm the apparitions. She was such an ignorant peasant girl that she simply had no means to know about the spiritual things she told the authorities. She did not have the spiritual background to maintain the attitude she maintained. Her ignorance was one of the apologetic aspects of Lourdes.
While very lively, Saint Bernadette could easily go unnoticed. In time, her illness gradually wore her down. Actually her situation is similar to that of Saint Therese, the Little Flower. She offered her life as an expiatory victim for sinners, but above all for a mysterious sinner who she did not name and for whom she suffered horribly so he would make amends and be sanctified. Was it a man of her time or a man to come in the future, whose existence Providence revealed to her? No one knows.
One biography of Saint Bernadette mentions the fact that Our Lady revealed a secret to her, which she never said anything about. It seems that it was something related to the identity of that mysterious sinner. Thus the three great apparitions of Our Lady of our times all had secrets: Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady of Fatima.
Let us ask Saint Bernadette to obtain for us a great devotion to Our Lady and that she may increasingly communicate Our Lady’s virtues to us.

Crossword Puzzle – Mary Mother of God

admin — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:56:24 +0000

http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/pca/crossword_puzzle_Mary.html

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Review- Luke Armstrong

admin — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:31:16 +0000

The world of Middle-earth is back. This time fans will see it in 3D. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey delivers a courageous adventure of heroic proportions. It is the first installment of a planned trilogy of Tolkien’s classic, The Hobbit. Filled with 3D battles that jump off the screen, it’s the movie Tolkien fans have waited nine years, since the last Lord of the Rings film, to see.

Director Peter Jackson says The Hobbit fits the fairy tale framework more than The Lord of the Rings and he and his writers capture that difference well on screen. “I discovered a humor and charm that The Lord of the Rings does not have,” he says.

The film begins in the peaceful Shire of Bilbo Baggins—Frodo’s uncle—sixty years prior to the events of The Lord of the Rings take place. When Bilbo leaves the comfort of his home, it’s one battle after another as Bilbo accompanies Gandalf the Wizard and a company of dwarfs, led by the outcast King Thorin, traveling to reclaim their lost homeland, the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor in the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, from the treasure-coveting dragon, Smaug.

Bilbo and company must navigate through a dangerous world where internal and external evil forces are at work to sabotage their virtuous intentions.

“Can you promise me I will come back?” Bilbo asks Gandalf. “No,” Gandalf responds, “and if you do, you will not be the same.”

Fear and hopelessness begin to take hold as their fight against dark forces loses it’s footing. The courage to overcome these dark forces, Gandalf teaches, is not about an absence of fear, but trust in the higher virtue of hope and practicing mercy.

When questioned why he chose Bilbo, who by any measure is weak, Gandalf says “Perhaps it’s because I’m afraid, and he gives me courage.”

Though Frodo takes a backseat in this film, one of films most beloved characters, Gollum, is front and center and more lifelike than ever. “We were looking forward to doing Gollum again,” said Joe Leterri, the senior visual effects supervisor. “In this business you often don’t get to go back and revisit a character and do it better.”

The film delivers that and more with humorous respites from fight scenes, breathtaking panoramas of the New Zealand countryside where it was filmed and special effects that will be tough to beat for this year’s Oscar. It seems a nearly decade long break from Middle Earth was worth the wait as Peter Jackson and his crew gives fans an early Christmas present.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens nationwide December 14^th.

A Circle of Friends

admin — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:13:57 +0000

Let me tell you today about a sick lady I know. She is ninety- three years old. That is pretty old, isn’t it? Well, for the past fifteen years this old lady has never beem able to leave her bed. Day and night, day and night, for fifteen long years, this poor old lady has been lying in bed. You would be surprised to see how happy she is. She never finds fault. She never complains about God. She spends a lot of time each day saying prayers.
The old lady likes company. She is delighted to have people come to see her. She doesn’t like it if her friends stay away. And do you know what she does? She has a prayer book with the prayers printed in big letters. Into the prayer book she puts a piece of paper on the first day of each month. She makes her daughter draw a circle on the piece of paper. Whenever someone comes to see the old lady, she makes her daughter write the person’s name inside the circle. But the friends who do not come to see her, their names are written outside the circle.
Now, why does the old lady do this? Here is why. The old lady says hundreds of prayers everyday. If her friends visit her, their names are written in the circle and she prays for them. If her friends do not visit her during the month, their names are not written in the circle and the old lady will not pray for them the month they miss seeing her. That’s how the little old lady keeps track of her friends. Believe me, everybody tries to see her at least once a month, so that they can get their names inside the circle. The old lady calls this scheme of hers, “My Circle of Friends.”
I think that God does something just like that. I think that God has a “Circle of Friends.” Wouldn’t it be too bad to find our names written outside God’s circle? But I’m afraid that that is just what we would find, if we could see God’s circle.

You know, boys and girls, our Lord is just like this old lady. Our Lord also has a “Circle of Friends.” Up in Heaven, our Lord writes down in a big book-and it must be a very big book- the names of all His friends. He writes down the names of those who do not forget to pray to Him often, the names of those who do not forget to visit Him in church. Boys and Girls, I think this is a great idea. Just think, down here on earth, maybe, nobody knows or cares who we are, and yet, up in Heaven, God and the angels know who we are. We are so important that God in Heaven writes our name in His Book of Frinds. We belong to God’s “Circle of Friends” and that makes us mighty important.
Now, what about those people whose names are not written in God’s Book? Why, are they the people who always forgot God. He doesn’t write your name in His “Circle of Friends.” How terrible that is!
Here is God, locked up in our church all day long, and all through the night. How many of us boys and girls ever think of stopping in the church to see God, to
pay Him a visit? Don’t you think that God ever gets lonesome? Certainly, He does. And God must do an awful lot of wondering. He must think of all the nice
things that He has done for us. How He made us, and gave us such a good father and mother, how He keeps us well and warm and gives us enough to eat. How He made Holy Communion for us, and how He suffered and died on the cross for us. He must think of all the things and God must wonder and wonder. It must be pretty hard for God to understand us. He waits and waits for us, and we never come.

I don’t think that any little boy or girl wants to be mean to God. It’s just that we don’t think and are very selfish. We think only about ourselves. We don’t think about God.

Now don’t say that you haven’t got time! You are able to go to school everyday, and the school is right next to God’s House. Why don’t you stop in and see Him. It would only take a few minutes and it would make God very happy. You have a lot of time after that to play ball or with your friends. God doesn’t expect you to stay with Him an hour. He knows that you like to play, but can’t you give God just a little of your time?

Let’s get into the habit of stopping in the church when we are near it. Even though you only stop for one minute to talk with God, it will make God happy.
And remember, every time you stop, God will write your name inside His Circle. And that’s just where we want to be – inside the Circle of God’s Friends!

Children can make and play games

admin — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 11:56:15 +0000

Kids who learn to make and play their own games will always have something to do on rainy days or on afternoons when it’s too hot to play outside. Kids naturally excel at creating games for themselves and given a few items they can provide their own entertainment. It’s also a better alternative than paying top dollar for expensive games with questionable content.

Games such as mancala can be improvised using household items and can make for hours of summertime fun.

Checkers is a simple game that’s easy to make and play. There are also a great many variations on checkers which can keep kids occupied for hours. Checkers helps develop kid’s minds by developing critical thinking and planning skills.

A checkerboard can be made of anything that can be laid flat. Many dollar stores sell the game, but if you want to turn the game into a crafts project, you can make your own set from materials around the house.

A simple checkerboard can be made from a cardboard panel, upon which the squares may be drawn. The board must have 8 squares on each side, each square should be at least 1 ½ inches on a side. A little larger is okay. When you finish the board, it will have 4 colored squares and four blank squares on all eight lines. Cloth or any other flat surface can be repurposed into a checkerboard with paint, pencils, or markers.

To create the playing pieces, you may use anything that’s easy to handle. In a pinch, colored bits of paper work, but painted pebbles, bottle caps, or coins will do better. Kids can paint the tops of the bottle caps to make two colors for their board. Red and black are traditional, but any two colors are fine.

The Bookworm Game

Summer reading lists are important, and should be part of any kid’s activities even if their school hasn’t assigned one.

First, select an appropriate book or books for your kids. For younger kids, you may divide the game into chapters, and for older kids you may divide the game into books, or any division thereof. This activity can also be used with the Bible.

Create a small, blank board on anything. Next, using construction paper, cut out the shape of a long worm. It must be large enough to write on. For older kids, you can just create a trail. Next cut the worm or trail into segments. Glue the segments to the paper and write on each segment the assigned reading. Every 3-5 segments, have a covered segment. Under that cover write a prize that will be meaningful to that child. The prize may be an ice cream, a new toy, or any other treat. At the end of the trail (or bookworm) have a grand prize that will appropriately reward your child for completing their summer reading list.

Mancala

Mancala is a game that comes from Africa and has been enjoyed for at least 1,300 years, although archaeologists and historians suggest the game could date to the beginnings of civilization itself. Two players match wits in this game of skill as each tries to fill their house with the greatest number of seeds.

The board can be drawn by hand on cardboard or it can be created from an empty egg carton which has pits that are perfect for holding the seeds. You will need two rows of six cups or “pits.” On each player’s right sits his “house.” Seeds the player wins will go into their house and become their score.

The playing pieces, or seeds can be virtually anything including, seeds, marbles, or small pebbles. You will need exactly 48 of these, colors do not matter.

The board can be colored or decorated to taste.

The game ends when all the seeds are cleared from the board. The winner is the one who earned the most seeds.

Generally speaking, both players sit opposite of one another and they select a cup of seeds to draw from. Choosing their cup, they take all of its seeds then moving around the board to their right, they deposit one seed into each cup, including their house. If the last seed goes into their house, they may go again. If they deposit seeds around the board and come back to their side, they may capture the seeds in the cup opposite them. To do this, the last seed must land in an empty cup on their side of the board. They may then take that seed and the seeds in the cup opposite and put them into their house. They then may take another turn.

Players skip their opponents house.

A turn passes when a player does not end their move with adding a seed to their house.
Despite the game’s simplicity, it is actually a complex game of strategy that involves counting, planning, and improvisation. Each game lasts about 10 minutes on average, but kids will want to play repeatedly.

There are other games out there kids can improvise with a few common items. Tic-tac-toe, hopscotch, word and letter games can all be part of the fun with just a little imagination and industry.

There are an abundance of fun and creative ideas for kids. The secret is to encourage kids to be creative and to develop their own skills for combating summer boredom. In so doing, they build skills that will continue to serve them later in life, learn creativity and resourcefulness, and above all, stay occupied with something constructive over those long, hot summer months.

BLESSED FRANCISCO AND JACINTA MARTO WITH OFFICIAL LITANY

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:49:51 +0000

BLESSED FRANCISCO AND JACINTA MARTO WITH OFFICIAL LITANY

On February 20, the 92nd anniversary of the death of Blessed Jacinta Marto, Bishop António Marto, from Leiria-Fatima, granted the Imprimatur to the official Litany of the Little Shepherds of Fatima, Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta Marto.

The sources used to compose the Litany, besides several liturgical texts, were the homily of John Paul II during the ceremony of the Beatification of Venerables Francisco and Jacinta, the Pastoral Note of the Bishops Conference of Portugal on the Beatification of the Little Shepherds of Fatima, Francisco and Jacinta Marto and the Memoirs of Sister Lucia.

“God of infinite goodness, You love the innocent and exalt the humble; please grant, through the intercession of the Immaculate Mother of Your Son, that, in imitation of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta, we may serve You in simplicity of heart and thus may enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who is God with You in union with the Holy Spirit. Amen!”, as mentioned in the concluding prayer of the Litany.

The first public presentation of the Litany took place when it was recited on the evening of February 19, during the Vigil Mass celebrated in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, at which time an official leaflet with the Litany was distributed to all those present.

The Most Beautiful Thing in the World

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:12:55 +0000

One day the angels up in heaven had a meeting. And, at the meeting, they picked out the youngest angel. They told this young angel to go down to the earth, and find the most beautiful thing in the world, and bring it back to heaven.

So, the angel left heaven. He came down to this world, and walked for miles and miles, looking for the most beautiful thing on earth. He walked out into the Country, and there he found a beautiful flower garden. In the garden there was a beautiful red rose, and thinking that this was the most beautiful thing on earth, the angel picked it, and hurried back to heaven with the rose. Of course, the other angels liked the rose, but they shook their heads “No.” The rose is not the most beautiful thing in the world. And so, the young angel was sent back to earth, to find the most beautiful thing in the world.

This time, the angel was more particular. He looked at everything that was beautiful, the rivers, the mountains, parks, nice dogs, pretty birds, pictures, everything. At last, the angel found a beautiful baby; a baby with blue eyes, brown hair, rosy cheeks. A baby who laughed and smiled all through the day! “Ah,” said the angel, “now I have found the most beautiful thing in the world, a pretty baby!” Quickly the angel picked the baby up in his arms, and hurried back to heaven. Oh, the angels couldn’t help loving the beautiful baby, but the young angel was told to take the baby back to earth. The baby was not the most beautiful thing in the world.

The poor young angel was tired, but back to earth he came on his third trip. This time the angel stopped in a church, and there in the back seat, he found an old man. The old man was getting ready for confession. He was thinking about his sins , and the old man was so sorry for his sins that great big tears came out of his eyes and ran down his cheeks. The angel stooped over and picked up one of the tears and hurried back to heaven with it. And when the angels saw the tear, were they happy? They danced, and they sang all day long, because at last, the angel had found the most beautiful thing in the world- a man who was so sorry for his sins that they made him cry.

Boys and girls, that’s a grand story. And that’s just the way Jesus feels. To Jesus, the most beautiful thing in the world is someone who is really sorry for his sins. That’s why Jesus loves us so much when we go to confession. You know, every time you make a sin, it hurts Jesus; it makes Jesus feel that you don’t like Him anymore. And then, when you go to confession, and Jesus sees that you are sorry, why, He forgets all about you hurting Him. Why, He’s so happy, that He loves you more than He did ever before.

But, remember this about confession, boys and girls. The most important thing about confession is being sorry, and, if you are really sorry, sorry all the way through you, sorry right down to your toes, then your confession is real good. If you are sorry, then you won’t go out and make those sins again.

Some boys and girls think that in order to make a good confession, all that they have to do is tell their sins to the priest. That’s wrong. The big, big thing is to be sorry. And, if you are sorry, Jesus will forgive and forget.

The next time you go to confession, and every time you go to confession, as long as you live, take your time. Think about your sins. Would’nt it be grand if some day your gaurdian angel would find you crying over your sins, and would catch one of your tears, and carry it up to Heaven? That would make Jesus so happy. We don’t want to hurt Jesus. We want to make Jesus happy. Isn’t that true?

Is God Very Big?

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:16:24 +0000

Larry was six years old. One day Larry’s grandmother took hm for a walk. They came to a church. Larry was just like all other little boys. Just as soon as he and his grandmother were inside the church, Larry began to ask questions, what was this, and what is that. He wnted to know everything. His grandmother showed him the pretty pictures on the windows, and all of the statues, and then, she knelt down to pray.

Pretty soon Larry said: “Grandma! What’s that big thing up there in front?” “Why, that’s the altar,” said the grandmother. “Larry,” she said, “do you see that little gold door up there? Well, that’s the door to God’s house. That’s where God lives- up there.” Then Larry asked another question. He said: “Grandma, is God very big? Why, God is so big, that He is bigger than any other person you ever saw, yes, Bigger than your father, bigger than anybody.”

The little boy didn’t talk for a long time, and the old lady went on with her prayers. After a while she felt a tug on her dress. The old lady looked down at Larry, and Larry said: “Grandma, if God is so Big- if God is as Big as you say He is, then, in order to get inside that little door, God must have to stoop preety low.”

Yes, boys and girls, God does have to stoop pretty low. God had to stoop pretty low on the first Christmas night, when He left His home in heaven, and came down and was born in a stable. God certainly had to stoop pretty lowthat night, but He did it because He loves us.

You know, boys and girls, when Jesus carried a big heavy cross through the streets, He had to stoop pretty low. When Jesus let bad men beat Him with whips, spit upon Him, and put sharp thorns on his head, He had to stoop pretty low. And, worst of all, when Jesus let Himself be nailed to the cross, Jesus had to stoop awfully, awfully low. But why does Jesus stoop so low? He stoops so low because He loves us.

Each morning, Jeus is stooping low. I mean, in the Mass, when Jesus leaves heaven and comes down on our altar. But Jesus likes to stoop low, because He loves us, and wants to be with us.

And sometimes, boys and girls, even you make Jesus stoop low. When you are too lazy to say your prayers, when you come late for Mass, you make Jesus stoop low. When you talk and laugh in Church, when you never come to see Jesus, then, you make Jesus stoop low.

Remember, boys and girls, Jesus is always stooping low for you. Please, don’t make Jesus stoop too low.

Live Pure and in faith

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:24:37 +0000

St. maria Goretti was a twelve year old girl who chose to die a bloody death for her purity rather than sinwith an evil young man, Alexander, who filled his thoughts with sinful impurities. Young people you must fight the devil on a daily basis and live the faith and the Sacraments. We are all called to be holy. I know it does not sound like fun but it will be a grace filled happy life and you will eventually have the happy ending of co

Testing Testing Testing

Test

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:23:45 +0000

This is a test post. Live testing in progress!