Showing results by narrator "Luz Elena Sandoval-Lord" in All Categories

St. Paul of the Cross was born Paul Francis Danei, on the January 3, 1694, the second of 16 children. One of his brothers John Baptist would be very instrumental in the work Our Lord had chosen for St. Paul. His parents, although of nobility, were neither affluent nor privileged. Even though the town hall at Castellazzo had once been the family palace, St. Paul's father, a cloth merchant, was always in serious debt.

Padre Pio was gifted with the cross of Jesus from his earliest days. His personal relationship with Jesus and Mary manifested itself to him from the time he was a child. His entire world centered around the little church of Our Lady of the Angels in his little home town of Pietrelcina. It might as well have been his home. He spent more time there than at his home. All the important events in his early life took place in that church.

Fatima, the pleas of Our Lady, and the promises of Fatima have been repeated to and embraced by everyone she has touched. A new generation of believers, people like us who were not born when Our Lady gave us this gift, have become completely enthralled by the power of Jesus and the love of Mary, as revealed to us at Fatima.

We follow Mother Mary on a journey again to a far-off place high up in the mountains, where no one would consider going. We have never really paid much attention to what towns are located where in Japan, other than Tokyo, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima. In looking on a map, we find Akita to be a thriving metropolis in the north of the country, with a population of about 300,000 people - a lot more than you would consider for a small town in the mountains of Japan.

Our Lord Jesus loves us so much, he made detailed preparations for our well-being, right up to the end of his life. He wanted to have a last supper with his disciples. He had instructions for them. He wanted to be sure they understood their role in Salvation History, and how they were to conduct themselves. He wanted to leave them and his Church ammunition for the days ahead.

One of the most fascinating gifts the Lord has given us is His own burial cloth. How His image was projected onto that cloth, and how it has survived these 2,000 years is nothing short of miraculous. We have always had a great love for and devotion to this gift of Our Lord. Let us share with you the history and the journey of the Shroud.

March 25 is the Feast of the Annunciation. On this particular year 1945, it fell on Palm Sunday. This is such an important season in our church. But in those times, during the final days of the war, thoughts were not focused on Palm Sunday, or the Feast of the Annunciation, or even Easter, for that matter. Ida Peerdeman, the woman to whom the virgin Mary chose to come, called it a "hunger winter". Priests would visit private homes, rather than take a chance on Nazi retaliation for trying to perform religious ceremonies, like Mass, especially not in public places, like churches.

We know Our Dear Lady was upset about how her priests and nuns, as well as the laity were being treated. She had always been so loving to her children. It was she whom Jesus allowed to intercede on our behalf. We drove him beyond reconciliation, and yet, because of her, he allowed his arms to be held back. It did not seem that mankind was going to get any better. It was time for tribulation. But the Mother, the loving Mother, asked again for one more chance to reason with her children, and again, the gift was given by the Son to the Mother.

The Lord had an urgency to give Saint Faustina Kowalska the message of divine mercy with or without a spiritual director; and so, the day was to come, on February 22, 1931, in Vilnius, when the Lord’s mission would begin to be revealed to her. She was in her cell; she saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment.

When Our Lord wants a message to get out to his church, he raises up a powerful saint to do the task. Such a saint was Gertrude the Great! She was the one to plant the seed which would bloom through the hands of another powerful saint and visionary St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, four centuries later, and subsequently through Saint Faustina Kowalska in the 20th century, through the Mission of Divine Mercy.

Our walk with our most precious Pope John Paul II began in June of 1979. We had come back to our Church four years before and once we tasted of the vine (our 2000 years of unbroken heritage), we couldn’t stay away from all that was Catholic and Church. We took every opportunity to return to the roots of our Faith - the Holy Eucharist, Mother Mary, the Saints, the Angels, and the Martyrs, making Journeys of Faith to Europe, the Holy Land, Mexico, and Canada.

God's beloved children of Ireland are a paradox in terms. Those who only see the surface of the Irish people, don't know about the years of suffering, persecution, famine, Martyrdom, and near annihilation of them as a people, all for their faith. When they joke that there are more Irish in Boston than in Ireland, there is somewhat of a note of melancholy, mixed with the joke.

The Life of Saint Veronica Giulianni. Discover the monastery where she spent her life as a religious. The cell where she lived; the bed she slept on, the pillow-case which still shows the blood-stains from her Stigmata, the tree to which she levitated, the cross upon which she hung, and the cross she carried. The Devil attacked and tormented her.

Lourdes is such a tribute to, and affirmation of, the love and care, the concern, patience, and attention that is showered on us by our Heavenly Family. It is also a magnificent prayer of faith the world has been given in the the desire of Our Sweet Mary, Bernadette’s Aquero (Dear One), to take care of our physical and spiritual needs. The natural question we are asked after we have visited Lourdes is, "Did you see any miracles, any cures in Lourdes?" The account of the apparitions at Lourdes, France 1858.

Prophetess of Germany, visionary, mystic, doctor of the Church. Come with us as we travel to Bingen, Germany, and the area of the beautiful Rhine River which is where St. Hildegard lived and had her visions. It was also here where she wrote her books on her visions and many other things, like a morality play put to music, which she also wrote. She wrote a book on herbal medicine, which is used to this day in that area of Germany.

To study the history of the world, especially Europe, is to discover the history of the Church. For, the Church has always played an integral part in the annals of history, as she continues to follow her master Jesus Christ, who told the apostles, “I will be with you till the end of the world.” For, since the children of God are living in the world, then so must the happenings of the world be intertwined with Mother Church as her children are affected by the world they live in.

The account of the "Apparitions of Our Lady at Tepayec Hill in Mexico City - 1531".

Ireland is a magical land, famous for its shamrocks and harps, leprechauns, shillelaghs, and green-eyed colleens with skin as white as milk. It is called the Emerald Isle, and the national color is green; Ireland is lush green, almost tropical in certain areas. The national drink is Guinness, although he’s a “damned Protestant”. Ireland is not only a country; it’s a state of mind, a way of life. We think of the Irish people as being quite fanciful, partly because of Barry Fitzgerald, who gave us our unofficial description of what an Irishman should be.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. A faithful daughter, a loving wife and mother, an obedient nun, a lover of the eucharist and mother Mary - a role model for today.

It is popularly believed Arius was born in Libya in AD 270. He is credited with having started one of the most deadly heretical sects to attack the early church - that of Arianism. It has continued assaulting the church until today, under many titles. Our first encounter with Arius is somewhere between AD 300-311, when he joined up with a group of heretics called Meletians. Evidently, he did not find what he was searching for and left them. Explore more with the audiobook, Arianism and 4th Century Heresies.