Monsieur Vincent et Mère Mectilde

From Vultus Christi:

When they returned to Saint-Mihiel, it was obvious to all who saw Mother Mectilde and her two companions that they had received extraordinary graces; they seemed transfigured. Much later, Mother Mectilde let slip a few words that intimated that, in the sanctuary of Benoîte-Vaux, Our Lady revealed to her God’s designs on her life. A few days later, a commissary of Monsieur Vincent, named Mathieu Renard, asked to see the prioress and, with no preliminaries, said, “I have come, Mother, to take two of your religious to Montmartre, I have orders to do this, and Madame the Duchess of Aiguillon has provided me with money for the journey.” What happened at Montmartre that caused the Abbess to have so complete a change of heart? On the very night that Mother Mectilde and her companions were praying at the sanctuary of Benoîte-Vaux, the Lady Abbess of Montmartre woke up all of a sudden and summoned the two religious who slept in her bedchamber to look after her in illness. The Abbess was in a dreadful state of fright. She said that it seemed to her that she saw the Most Holy Virgin and her Divine Son reproaching her for her lack of hospitality to the poor homeless Benedictines in the Lorraine; they threatened her with a rigourous judgment should they, through her fault, perish in their misery and need. The next day the Abbess convened her senior religious; all agreed that they had to execute the manifest will of God. (Read more.)

Always Wear Your Scapular

From Aleteia:

One day a French priest on pilgrimage was walking to the local church to celebrate Mass. As he was near the church the priest realized he forgot something. While putting on his clothes in the morning, the priest had forgotten his Brown Scapular that typically went underneath his clothing.
This disturbed him and he couldn’t think of offering Mass without honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Brown Scapular. However, he would be late for Mass if he went back to his lodging. The priest decided to run back and put on his scapular, preferring to celebrate Mass with his scapular.

The booklet, Garment of Grace, narrates what happens next.

Later, as he was offering the Holy Sacrifice, a young man approached the altar, pulled out a gun, and shot the priest in the back. To the amazement of all, the priest continued to say the prayers of the Mass as though nothing had occurred. It was at first presumed that the bullet had miraculously missed its target. However, upon examination, the bullet was found ADHERING TO THE LITTLE BROWN SCAPULAR which the priest had so obstinately refused to be without. 

The story does not have any other details, such as the name of the priest, date or location, but it is not the first time that someone was saved from a bullet by a holy item they were wearing (such as a World War I soldier who was saved by his Bible). It highlights the faith of the individual and how their faith literally saved them from danger. While these stories do not guarantee someone will be saved if they wear something holy, it does reinforce the need to have an authentic faith in God, trusting that he will protect them during their time of need. If we have an authentic trust in God, anything is possible. (Read more.)

Before and After: Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Kenosha, Wisconsin

So beautiful! From The Liturgical Arts Journal:

It has been a little while since we have shown a church as part of our ever popular "before and after" series and today we are very pleased to be able to showcase the work of Stephen S. Cascio at his very own parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Read more.)

54-day Rosary Novena

From August 15 until Oct 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Let us join in prayer for our country, especially for the conversion of America. From Roman Catholic Man:

The novena consists of five decades of the Rosary (one set of mysteries) each day for twenty-seven days in petition; then immediately five decades each day for an additional twenty-seven days in thanksgiving, regardless of whether or not the request has been granted yet. So began six novenas of Rosaries — which became known as the 54-day Rosary Novena. To do the novena properly — one must pray the Rosary for 54 consecutive days, without missing a day, and must pray the particular Mystery indicated for that day following the correct sequence. That is, the first day of the novena always begins with the Joyful Mysteries (regardless of what day of the week the novena is started); the second day, the Sorrowful Mysteries are prayed; and the third day of the novena, the Glorious Mysteries are prayed. The fourth day of the novena begins again with the Joyful Mysteries and continues on in that sequence throughout the 54 days of the novena...(Read more.)

More from Fr. Heilman, HERE.

The Sign of Jonah and Millennial Day Theory

From Unveiling the Apocalypse:

It is perhaps no coincidence that the story of Noah's flood is similarly related to a 120 year time period. After the description of the fallen angels/Watchers sinning by engaging in sexual relations with human females given in the Book of Genesis, God said He would destroy the world by the Great Flood in 120 years as a consequence of this abomination:

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” (Gen 6:1-3) 

So Noah similarly had a period of 120 years between a warning being given and the timing of the flood, which parallels the swallowing up of the flood poured out from the mouth of the Dragon in Rev 12. It is again no coincidence that Noah's Ark is traditionally held to have settled on Mount Ararat in Armenia after the occurrence of the flood, since the Armenian people faced one of the greatest persecution of Christians the world has ever known at the start of the period of the unbinding of Satan, which was perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks at the start of the First World War. The Armenian Genocide is also alluded to in the unbinding of the four angels of the Four Angels at the River Euphrates described in Rev 9:13-15, since this location focuses on the Khabur River, which was the exact site on which the Armenian Genocide was centred in the concentration camps of Deir es-Zor. (See the post The Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Genocides of the 20th Century for more details on the significance of the Armenian Genocide in relation to the period of the unbinding of Satan). 

If the millennial day theory discussed by the Early Church Fathers is concerned with providing us with a prophetic dating of the timing of the period of the short time of Satan rather than giving a literal date of creation, this means we can dispense with the Young Earth Creationist theory. A theory which is frequently used by vocal atheists such as Richard Dawkins as fodder for the whole science versus religion debate. (Read more.)

Saints Louis and Zélie Martin

From The National Catholic Register:

We see that very clearly in the life of the Martins. They were both already seeking holiness prior to their marriage: Louis had spent time in an Augustinian monastery but couldn’t master Latin, and Zélie had sought to become a Sister of Charity, but, because of respiratory difficulties and migraines, was not accepted. God had another holy vocation for both of them in mind. 

Zélie prayed that God would give her many children who could become consecrated to God. God blessed them with nine, four of whom died soon after they were divinely consecrated in baptism, while the other five discerned vocations to live out a more intimate form of consecration as religious sisters. 

The most famous of their children is St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who spoke effusively about how she had been blessed with “incomparable parents” and how God had given her “a mother and a father more worthy of heaven than of earth.” 

When they were beatified in Lisieux in 2008, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints emphasized in his homily, “Louis and Zélie understood that they could sanctify themselves not despite marriage but through, in and by marriage, and that their nuptials would be considered as the starting point for a mutual rise.” 

He proposed them as models for engaged couples in purity of heart; for married couples in mutual love and honor; for parents as ministers of love and life; for educators in guiding the vocational choices of the young; for widows and widowers in approaching loss with faith; for the dying in peaceful surrender to God, and for every Catholic in living with a missionary spirit. (Read more.)

More HERE.

Novena to Saints Louis and Zélie Martin

From Pray More Novenas:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Dear Lord, You have given us Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin as examples of holiness and fidelity in family life. Help us to follow their example of openness to Your will, that we might be as ready to follow Your call as they were. Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, you both desired to give yourself entirely to God in a religious vocation. You loved Him so dearly that you wanted to devote your life to Him in a special way. But God showed you both that His plan for you was different. When you saw that He was calling to you a different vocation than you had planned, you readily gave yourselves to Him in a different way. Pray for me, that I may be as open to God’s will as you were. Help me to be ready to do even the unexpected when God asks me to. Please also pray for (mention your intentions here). Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, pray for us!

(Read more.)