Halloween - a Time to Celebrate the Saints - Light - Not Devils and Darkness
Thursday, October 26th, 2006
Many good Catholic families now gather on All Saints Day or its eve with children dressed in costumes of their favorite saints. I’ve seen this done for years now with good Catholic families and find it most enjoyable as do the children who are then educated into the lives, the Christian virtues of the Saints who become their heroes.
Rather than go on “tricks or treats” journeys through the neighborhood, good Catholic families with growing children gather at one another’s homes with their small children, even teenagers, and come dressed in costumes known to describe some saint. The older children give clues from the lives of the Saint they are impersonating or imitating. At first historical facts from their Saint’s life are related as others attempt to state or guess who the Saint is. The facts become clearer and clearer as more and more is related from the life of a Saint. - More evidence is given - until someone, or sometimes many, suddenly shout the name of the Saint. For the very little children dressed as saints some adult will reador state the clues to help identify the particular Saint the child has chosen. The children, often weeks in advance, sometimesmonths before - are found reading about Saints. They are studying the lives of Saints trying to decide which Saints they should come in costoms to the Halloween gathering for others to discover. Older children can usually give their own clues. The clues attempt to educate in the Christian virtues and invite the intercessory prayers of the Saints.
After all the Saints have been identified, the young people have a party with the treats which the adults provide.
The children are then well prepared to observe ALL SAINTS DAY with the proper spirit.
It is all part of the gradual re-emerging Catholic culture among young families today. Did you know it is again becoming fashionable to have larger families??? Almost all the Catholic families I know through the Fatima Family Apostolate International believe in having children, large families. That is true of the Catholic families which have moved to Alabama to be near the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels - where I offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each day. Interesting that it was the Child Jesus who asked Mother Angelica to build a Temple in His honor. It is a privilege for me to know so many good and large families through the Fatima Family Apostolate and the Shrine here which honors the Child Jesus. The Fatima Family Apostolate - on this website - has available four volumes of SAINTS AND HEROES SPEAK. Pope John Paul II said we must return to instilling in children and youth knowledge of and devotion to the Saints. That is why I wrote the four volumes for young people.
Father Robert J. Fox Director of FATIMA FAMILY APOSTOLATE INTERNATIONAL (FFAI).
500 Year Anniversary - St. Peter’s Basilica - Vatican
Wednesday, October 18th, 2006
The Church is celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Basilica of St. Peter’s, built over the tomb of the Apostle Peter who was appointed by Jesus Christ Himself as the first Pope.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on opening the “Petros Eni” (Peter is here) Exhibition in the Vatican to begin the 500th anniversary celebrations of St. Peter’s reminded us that while God Himself does not need temples built by man, and the first place God desires to make His dwelling is a humble heart of faithful people - yet man needs such expressions.
Man needs symbols, and churches of wood or stone as signs for the community of the faithful, who are the true Church, a spiritual edifice made up of living stones (the Mystical Body of Christ). The Seven Sacraments are made up of Signs of God’s Presence and actions as He gives us grace. But God has given us many other signs in the past 2000 years that He is with us, around us, and teaches and acts through His Church. We are familiar with the miraculous image of the Mother of God in the tilma or cloak of St. Juan Diego, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe image. After 475 years this image which should have turned to dust hundreds of years ago is still bright and beautiful and even an attempt by a terrorist to destroy it was unsuccessful. Yet men wondered how the cactus fiber tilma hangs together.
Devout Catholics who read are well acquainted with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. For some reason and in some ways an even more remarkable image of the Mother of God, now at least 253 years old, is almost unknown in the United States and Europe. It is an image of Our Blessed Mother in solid rock as she holds the Child Jesus and extends the Rosary down to St. Dominic. St. Francis also is in the act of veneration in the image of stone.
AFTER 253 YEARS MOST CATHOLICS IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE NOT HEARD OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF LAS LAJAS (of the Rocks). There is no paint, no pigment and geologists who have studied and experimented tell us the colors of the most beautiful images penetrate the rock deeply. Today a large church is built over what was once a cave where the images were found and remain with all their mystery. God obviously knows we need signs. We are studying all this further and hope to bring it to you in the Immaculate Heart Messenger magazine early in 2007 with pictures of the miraculous images. Also, we’ll include the story of its discovery which is heart touching.
MAJOR CATHOLIC PERIODICALS TO REVIEW: MASCULINITY: THE GENTLE MAN
Friday, October 13th, 2006
THE LATEST BOOK BY FATHER ROBERT J. FOX IS RECEIVING ENDORSEMENTS AND GOOD REVIEWS. Before publication the book, “Masculinity: The Gentle Man” - was reviewed by nationally known authors and Catholic Apostolates with favorable recommendations. These included Catholics United for the Faith, Woman of Grace Apostolates, etc.
RECENT REQUESTS FOR COPIES OF THE BOOK IN ORDER TO REVIEW IT INCLUDE: The National Catholic Register; First Things magazine with editor Father Richard John Neuhaus ; Crisis magazine; also, William A. Donohue, President of the Catholic League forReligious and Civil Rights for its Journal “Catalyst.” Catholic Family Outreach which distributes tens of thousands of pamphlets across the country has included a picture of the book with information for ordering. Read on for more information on this latest book, greatly needed to be read by both men and women. A request has already come from a major Catholic radio station for an interview.
FATHER FOX WHO RECENTLY RETURNED FROM SPEAKING IN NEW JERSEY will speak in CHICAGO for the World Apostolate of Fatima October 20. For more information: Read on:
