Mother Teresa's Dark Night

* Fatima Family Forum
* The Relationship between Mary and the Eucharist
* Sr. Lucia Still Speaks on Fatima Message & Russia in the Light of the Decades of Events
* Priest Taken To Purgatory
* The Splendor of the Extraordinary Form – The Latin Mass
* A Brief History of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
* Left To Tell – The Immaculee Ilibagiza of Rwanda a Story
* Our Lady Of Kibeho - A village in Southern Rwanda
* News Briefs & Comments
* The Holy Habit -
* Heroic Catholic Archbishop Of Russia Transferred
* Questions & Answers
* Mother Teresa’s Strong Faith
* The Bible – What Protestants don’t see & what Catholic miss
* Sr. Lucia and Ratisbonne

The Relationship between Mary and the Eucharist By Richard Nicholas PhD

University of St. Francis

God the Father sent His Son to give the Holy Spirit. The goal or object of this divine mission is to establish a covenantal union with creation. Through original sin Adam and Eve refuse to enter into this covenantal union with God. Yet God's mission will not be thwarted by human sin. In order to accomplish His goal, God creates the New Eve who is preserved from all sin and thus free to enter into covenantal union with His Son. By divine initiative, Mary accepts freely, completely, and unreservedly the offer to embrace her Lord at the moment of Incarnation when she proclaims, "let it be done to me according to your words" (Lk 1:38). Through these words from Mary's heart, the Word of God exists in human form and the New Covenant is established proleptically.

While Jesus and Mary have a perfect union due to the absence of sin in themselves, sin is still an obstacle to a union with God for the rest of creation. As a result, Jesus Christ, the God-Man, took upon Himself the sins of all Adam and Eve's children (with the exception of Mary). Genesis 2:15-17 tells us that death is a consequence of sin (cf. Rom 5:12). Since lesus Christ was sinless, He was not obligated to undergo death. Yet the God-Man freely embraced death because by doing so, He defeated it and its cause, sin. St. Paul expresses it this way, "For our sakes, God made him who did not know sin, to be sin, so that in him we might become the very holiness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). With this supreme act of sacrifice, this laying one's life down for one's friends (Jn 15:13), the obstacle of sin is ultimately removed and the New Covenant is made actual.

Sr. Lucia Still Speaks on Fatima Message & Russia in the Light of the Decades of Events By Fr. Robert J. Fox

Few Catholics in America are aware of the latest published work of Sr. Lucia. It was only a little book but Sr. Lucia was nearly 88 years old when she wrote it. It is 63 pages in length but of great value. Fr. Luis Kondor, SVD, Editor of the Bulletin of the Little Shepherds (July-Sept 2007) writes: "It is in fact a synthesis of her mature spiritual experience." He continues:"In this little book, Sr. Lucia dwells on the essential: the living of the theological virtues. She appears totally centered on God, with an unshakable faith which keeps her always open to hope, even from the humanly impossible point of view....

"As Sr. Lucia matured, her spiritual life became increasingly simple, centered entirely on Love. 'Because it is love which purifies us, gives us dignity and unites us with God,' she wrote. Lucia sees her way clearly: 'This is my way, to renounce myself, embrace the Cross which the Lord gave me, for love of Him and of others for His sake.' This happens to all spiritual people. In the end they find their synthesis. And this synthesis frequently turns into prayer. This happens to the Master Himself. The disciples ask Him to teach them to pray as John the Baptist had taught his disciples; and Jesus teaches them to pray the Our Father which is a synthesis of his Gospel, of the spirituality which animated his life. The same thing happened to all the masters in Israel.

The Splendor of the Extraordinary Form – The Latin Mass A review of Summorum Pontificum -

An Apostolic Letter of Pope Benedict XVI issued Motu Proprio Part 2

By Matthew Frederes

Liturgical prayer is the obligatory, outward profession of man's faith and love for his Sovereign Master. As the Liturgy lavishly makes use of all created things, profound gestures, reverences, poetic speech and song, aromatic incense, colorful flowers and vestments, man submits his faculties and energy to God's Majesty. By employing these signs, the Liturgy appeals to our whole human nature.

By our Baptism we are consecrated in our mission to worship God, effecting in us the image of Jesus Christ, and it is through the Liturgy that we fulfill this sacred role. No private prayer compares, because the Liturgy is the tribute made by the whole Mystical Body, to which we are united. Liturgical prayer must be offered in communion with our brethren, joined in our efforts to give God glory, and bring his blessings upon the whole Church.

Left to Tell – A true Love Story about Forgiveness

Thirteen years ago, the horrific scenes of one of history's most tragic events unfolded before the eyes of an innocent college girl visiting her family over Easter break in Rwanda. Immaculee Ilibagiza spent 91 days hiding in a pastor's 3'x4' bathroom with seven other women, listening to the stories of her family's slaughter and country's holocaust. Since then, she's forgiven her killers, helped Rwandan women entrepreneurs rebuild their communities, and taught humans everywhere how to live side by side with hatred and love.

In spite of the hideous display of humans' inhumanity to each other that was taking place in the country of Rwanda, Immaculee's account below is truly a love story in the purest sense of the word — a story of the triumph of the human spirit, a story of one woman's profound faith and determination to survive against literally impossible odds, in order to tell her tale and to be an agent for ushering in a new spiritual consciousness, and a story of a love for God that was so strong that hatred and revenge were forced to dissolve in its presence.

The Holy Habit By The Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration,

Of Our Lady of Angeles Monastery

Hanceville, Alabama,

The Bride of the Lamb - While clothing may often be thought of as something worldly, in God's scheme of things it holds a very noble position. Scriptures reveal that clothing has a religiously symbolic function. It can represent restored dignity (as in the animal skins in which God dressed Adam and Eve), adherence to the covenant (prayer shawls and head covering), consecration to God (elaborate priestly vestments), authority over God's people (resplendent royal robes), etc. Clothing in the scriptural context, therefore, serves to exhibit externally some inner reality of God's work.

Mother Teresa’s Strong Faith in a Long Dark Night

By Fr. Robert J. Fox

As the 10th Anniversary of Blessed Mother Teresa's death approached, the secular news media was filled with misrepresentations about the faith of Blessed Mother Teresa. A Catholic that knows his faith never ceases to be astonished how the secular media almost consistently gets the Catholic faith wrong in its reporting.

Understanding that they don't understand the Catholic faith or the Christian faith as something serious and factual may help us understand their repeated erroneous reporting. Raymond Arroyo, EWTN News Director, gives a telling example of many reporters who have little or no religious training and view faith as a mere curiosity. They can't understand the significance of what they're covering. Arroyo recalls one journalist for a major network approaching him in Rome at the papal conclave in 2005. "I know they call this the Holy Sea, so when did the water recede?" And he was being serious.

Order the Immaculate Heart Messenger Magazine in our internet store.