Has the Virgin Mary Appeared Again in Egypt?

A report from the OCP Media Network:

It is reported that, after the events of the massacre of Copts in Maspero, Virgin Mary appeared in Cairo and Alexandria.

Reports says that, Virgin Mary in the sky, in Cairo and Alexandria and at different areas nearby. Lights appeared in the sky, followed by voice. Copts believe that the voice came from heaven to reassure that their prayers are heard after what they have suffered severely in the events of Maspero, which killed 27 believers and left dozens wounded.

Some of the TV channels have broadcasted the miraculous appearance of the holy Theodokos.

Carmelite Nun to be Beatified

The Catholic News Agency reports:

Sister Maria Carmen Crespo Roig, or Teresa of the Incarnation, was born in Beniarres, Spain on March 25, 1912. “From a young age she was very involved in the life of her parish and worked tirelessly in its activities and movements,” the Archdiocese of Valencia said.

During the Spanish Civil War in 1936, she risked her life to help priests and nuns who were in need of assistance. In 1941, she entered the Carmelite convent at Ontinyent, “where she lived for the Church and the salvation of souls” until her death on Feb. 4, 2006.

“Day after day, during her 93 years of life and 65 years as a religious, Maria Carmen Crespo learned to offer her joys and sufferings to God in good spirits.” As a Carmelite, “she was an example to her religious sisters and to those she met with and were her friends,” the archdiocese said.

She also patiently bore her sufferings, as she was of frail health from a young age.  At the end of her life, she suffered both from a stroke that left her unable to move and from cancer. (Read entire article.)

On Holy Humility

Thoughts of Blessed Charles de Foucauld.

God has not bound salvation to science, to intelligence, to riches, to much experience, to rare gifts which not all have received, no.  He has bound it to that which is within the reach of everyone, absolutely everyone, the young and the old, human beings of every age and class, of whatever degree of intelligence and of whatever condition…He has bound it to that which everyone, absolutely everyone, can give Him, to that which every human being, whoever he may be, can give Him, having a little good will: a little good will is all that is necessary in order to gain this Heaven which Jesus binds here to humility,  in making yourself little,  in taking the last place,  in obeying, and which elsewhere He links to poverty of spirit, to purity of heart, to love of justice, to a spirit of peace, etc. (Read entire post.)

Prayer Tips from the Carmelites

I found these suggestions worth pondering:

• Take a line from the liturgy of the day and repeat it during the day – a new line every day. The responsorial psalm and the Gospel Acclamation theme are good ones to use.
• Let a spiritual thought from a hymn or a book or Mass be as background music in your mind during the day.
• Take a holy card (or picture) of Christ and place it where you can see it so that you may think of Him.
• Make a spiritual communion every hour. I set the stop watch I use.
• Fix your inward gaze upon Him amidst your occupations.
• Find a “trigger moment,” such as putting your keys on the desk; turning off the computer, or laying out clothes for the next day that can serve as a reminder to take a moment for short prayer.
• Instead of a coffee break, take a short prayer break. In the mid-morning or mid-afternoon, get up and move into a different space and think of God.
• I think of God every time I look at a watch or clock.
• I sing hymns in my heart during the day.
• Make Spiritual aspirations during the day. (Read entire post.)

The Temple of God

The little world of each of us with its persons and places, its sunshine and its shadows, its joys and its pain, is the one and only Holy of Holies, in which is tabernacled the Will of God, the chosen temple in which He alone accepts our worship. "I shall dwell in their midst" was His promise, and He is present in every happening.

The saints are those who see God speaking His desires to them in every situation of their lives. They were not less human than we, and God's Will is not less in our lives than in theirs.

Whatever the future holds, your part is peaceful abandonment- there is no greater gift to God. It makes one a living Amen to His least good pleasure.

Love and sacrifice are the essentials for a life of union with God. How many opportunities for both lie daily around us. Grace and great graces are hidden in every one, if we are but generous enough to correspond with the designs of Divine Providence in fashioning them. An ever increasing faith sees God's design in even the most trivial things- His design to sanctify us.

~Fragrance from Alabaster by Mother Aloysius of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD

Simple English Propers

For those who are tired of having banality at Mass, Fr. Mark recommends a wonderful book.

This extraordinary book has been met with widespread acclaim for the beauty and versatility of the music - and also for being the first generally accessible book of chanted propers in English for every parish. It provides complete entrance, offertory, and communion propers in English with Psalms in modal chant, with four-line notation, for all Sundays and feasts. They can be sung by a single cantor or a full choir. The modes from the Gregorian original are wholly preserved to capture the sound and feel of the Graduale Romanum proper chants. They follow a total of 24 chant formulas to make singing easy for any choir in any parish. (Read entire post.)

Cling to Jesus

Michael O'Brien passes on some powerful advice.

Confusion is created everywhere through media.  Media is the primary shaper of consciousness of our times.  In every nation it was the primary worry of apostolic people—clerics as well as lay apostles.  The unprecedented power of film and television is something we Christians have never had to deal with before on this scale. So new strategies are being initiated everywhere in every country that I went.”

“Everywhere there is the sense of facing a Goliath, a monster that feeds or is driven by money, profit and an underlying agenda of social revolution on a scale I don’t think we have ever seen before in the history of man.  What we are looking at is the dismantling of the great treasure Christianity gave Western civilization.”

“When I was in Italy, I had the most awesome privilege of meeting the fiction writer in his 80’s named Eugenio Corti. His name is being touted around for the Nobel Prize in literature, but I don’t think that is going to happen.”

O’Brien asked Corti: ‘Do you have a word of advice for me?.’  “He leaned forward and he took my hand and he said, ‘We are at war.  We are at war and we will be at war until the end of time.  Cling to Jesus—through everything that is about to happen.’” (Read entire article.)