World Congress of Families 2013

Dear Friends,

Please look  at the link below and make this the place to go and the place to be
 May 15-18,  2013.

I went to the 2012 WCF in Madrid and it was spectacular, 2013 WCF in Sydney
 promises to be more  spectacular.  In a beautiful city, with speakers extraordinaire, during a time of the year which is beautiful in Australia, and the congress itself to defend family in its natural  formation and understanding.   Lets gather together.

Be early to book as it is expected that it will be booked out.

Hope to meet you there my friends .

Anne.

http://wcfsydney2013.org.au/

A Happy and Holy Christmas

Dear Friends,

I wish for you a Happy and Holy Christmas
And a New Year filled with graces, blessings and friendships
which last forever.

God Bless
Anne

Violence of Abortion.

Abortion by its very nature is a violent act. It is the intentional destruction of a very small child, by a so-called doctor and with the compliance/insistence of one or both of its parents or significant others. We now know that there are psychological sequelae to abortion. The woman experiences life long after effects whilst the male is also affected but differently, generally through his sense of impotence in the matter. For the male it is often the sense of helplessness at being unable to do anything to protect his child and this anger is then turned inwards to self punish or outwards also as a self punishment in type of violent behaviour.

 Prior to the birth of the baby, the father has absolutely no rights in respect of the child. He cannot do anything to protect the life of his child and if the mother of that child does not want to sustain, keep, or give birth to that child then there is no one who can prevent the abortion from happening. No-one, including the state, because the state has purchased into the argument by legislating that the life of that new individual whilst in utero is a nonentity, and therefore dependent upon the whim of the host body.  Legislation has not decreed that the relationship between woman and infant is symbiotic but at the same time the infant is independent and deserving of the utmost respect.  It has in fact decreed that the life or death of that infant is dependent upon the vagaries of the stronger of the two parties.

The violence we are daily seeing through all forms of media is symptomatic of the “just below the surface” violence within the community. There is a tension, which must be released and will not evaporate without leaving in its wake a disaster.

Perhaps an explanation of the unconscious response to abortion and the violence inherent in it, may shed some light on this era of violence. Since the onset of the culture of the “pill” and “self-ism” the woman has progressively taken control of her fertility and her body. And indeed to be able to understand her body and to guard and protect her body as inviolate is a good thing.  However, this is not what has happened. The woman has demanded control over her body in as far as her fertility is concerned, and has removed from her husband/partner any rights and responsibility towards an act which has resulted in a conception. This has led to decisions to end the life within her.

This,  taking control, "its my body I will do with it what I want" whilst ostensibly “good” as far as some men and women are concerned has ultimately failed all.

Today, whether he chooses or not, a man can walk away from his responsibility towards a child he has engendered. Conversely should he choose not to walk away from the responsibility it can be forcibly wrenched from him so that he cannot do anything to change the situation. The removal of responsibility has not spelled equal rights, as has been suggested, but indeed unequal suffering. The woman suffers lifelong anguish. Yes it’s real. It happens even for those who blithely believe that it hasn’t affected them. The man suffers loss of something of his essence, of his fatherhood, of his fathering, of his manhood.

 For the woman,   in her very being there is a rupture unlike any other. There is a grief quite unlike any other. The kind of wrenching grief which is the result of guilt. The kind of grief which is the result of the intent behind the loss.   The kind of grief which says, powerlessness, hopelessness, utter despair.  That is the kind of grief which abortion leaves in its wake and is the legacy for the woman and man (either short term or long term) who have acceded to the abortion experience.

For the state and nation which has decreed that the killing of its future citizens is lawful, there is to be other losses which cannot ever be recouped. 

All citizens begin their life as zygotes, embryos, fetuses, babies, young ones, adolescents, youth, and mature individuals.  Citizens of a nation have not just been deposited there from outer space. They have been conceived and permitted to be born and to be members of the state, nation, and above all humanity. Abortion of an in utero infant must lead to death at other end of life because not enough citizens born to maintain the other end of life.

Sadly what the state of Victoria and following all states (as is the intention) has now  done is enshrined into its statutes, a law which says that infants are not really wanted.  The death of pre born infants to 40 weeks. Full mature babies.

What a great tragedy that the women themselves have demanded their own extinction because at least 50% of infants killed are little baby girls.

Reflection on the Year of Grace, Year of Faith.

Sir, we wish to see Jesus (Jn 12:21)

In this Year of Grace we are invited by the Australian Bishops to make a pilgrimage into the inner sanctum of our being.   A journey of faith having before our eyes an icon or as an entry point into the inner sanctum, the face of Jesus. Not only His face as the human face of God, enfleshed, but the image of the invisible God. Jesus, the Icon which shows us the truth and reality of God.  To experience “charis” and discover the divine truth of who God is in the person of Jesus, the first born of all creation and the first born from death (Col. 1:18).  To discover the truth of the human person, whose blueprint is in the likeness of Jesus. The prototype of all creation.

This journey of faith in a year or moment designated “grace” is to stop and to find and contemplate Jesus, who then shows us the real human being. The image which God  had envisioned for the human beings  from before time began and before sin brought a forgetting of that image.  A forgetting that we have been designed in His own beautiful image, and in the seeing this then it is to recognize and see more clearly, Jesus.  The principal task of all “life” is to mirror Jesus, so that those who see “me” might see clearly ...Jesus.
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus”  (Jn. 12:21) is the soul’s yearning  to  recognise Jesus or His icon made visible in the other.  To seek Him in daily life and in every one who has “life” breathed into them. “Sir, we want to see Jesus” It’s you whom my soul longs for and desires.
We seek Jesus in the noise of life but also He can be found in turmoil of life and He comes in moments of graced silence where words are not needed but the effect of true humanity is seen and felt, because Jesus opens up the panorama which clearly shows what the human being can be and is in the mind of God. The vision shows the design and possibilities of grace. A divine bequest.  An ecstasy overflowing and uncontainable which overflowed into life and allowing the human a share of God’s own inexpressible life. Life is the result of an overflow of the love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the home designed for life is heaven with a vision of the face of divinity forever.
This year of Grace gives us the opportunity to live so that development of divine manners maybe accomplished in order that we may not be found wanting like the unprepared virgins (Mt. 25:1-13).  Those manners lost in the eons past may during these moments of Grace  be relearned so that at the  end of life we stand before God not as strangers and  homeless in what should be our natural homeland,  Paradise, but as sons and daughters who have been on a journey and are returning home to their Father. This year of Grace opens the vista for a vision of glory to be seen as a sign post towards home.
Nothing of the life journey’s effects is lost but all is retained, though it is  re organised in a manner which grace has purified .   Indeed preserved are all of life’s imprints, triumphs, sorrows, which grace then purifies. Thus re-established, grace, together with all its valuable gifts leads to transfiguration and finally ascension; Life with its grace filled purification is raised higher into the grace of God and ultimate union with Him.  
Jesus has opened the portals for us to enter. He leads the procession of those going home to the Father who engendered them through His ecstatic love.  Now they are returning home with Him as the Shepherd who has not left one of those given to Him behind (Jn 17:12)  He leads and they joyfully follow.  “Come let us go towards the light of my father’s love, I am your shepherd I will lead you, I will not leave one of you behind. Come follow me.”   Be at home here in the high places (Hk.3:19).
When on this lofty ground we encounter the Messiah. “We have found the Messiah” (Jn1:42).  What joy to finally encounter the Messiah who has silently accompanied and led  us on the journey to the high places (Hk.3:19)  To finally see his face. (Mt.17:1-9)  I have done the journey of Grace with Jesus who has done for me Il Camino.  Who has been for me the prayer itself and I have been the pilgrim prayer, bringing with Me Jesus to  those loftier grounds .

The Year of Grace, a gracious moment, a moment of abundant faith.

 

 

 

Milano Italy October 2012.

What a joy to be invited to be present at a gathering of Medjugorje people.  To be present on the anniversary of Blessed Virgin Mary's final appearance at Fatima on October 13th 1917 and to be asked to give a talk on this special day was an enormous priviledge. Indeed I was asked to give two talks one on the 12th (3000 people) and one on the 13th of October (6-8000 people) and the talks were to be on my work post abortion grief.  I know that the Blessed Virgin grieves deeply over the loss of the infants and has spoken much in Medjugorje on this issue of abortion.
I must admit that I didnt quite know what to expect from such a weekend as I had not attended a similar one before but it is an event which should be attended by every human  being on earth because if they did we would no longer have wars, abortions, euthanasia, homosexuality, anti life wants/laws but desire to be whole as God had desired for us in the first place.
The whole weekend was filled with music, prayer, adoration, witnesses of God's Mercy and to cap it off a visiation to Marjia (visionary) by the Blessed Virgin.
I will try and explain this experience as I felt it at the time.
It occurred during the Rosary during the third mystery and in the middle of the Rosary at the word "Blessed....." a sudden silence descended throughout the whole stadium (6-8000 people) instantly, not slowly or gradually, but instantly a silence, an awe descended which was and could not be explained.  There were two babies crying and even their crying become the only thing heard.  Even a pin dropping would have been heard. This went on for some minutes but I couldnt say how long.  As I said to someone next to me it seemed an unearthly silence. Then after a time a "normal" resuming of the Hail Mary "blessed is the fruit of your womb..Jesus" and a continuation until the end of the mystery.
After the visionary Marija left the stage I had the great pleasure of meeting her and we hugged and she looked at me and promised to pray for me.  It was a moment of grace for me especially during these difficult times of cancer treatments and these difficult times of enormous attack against my work.  I felt that this invitation was a gift just for me to help me to continue when it would be easy to give up.  So I am so grateful to many people who made the journey and pigrimage to meet Mary and be with spirit filled people who love God and His Mother and who made me feel very special for the time I was with them. I was treated like gold.
Thank you Andrea B.  for recommending me as a speaker. Thank you to Sabino for the invitation, Thank you to Marija Z.Caronti for looking after me. Thank you Marianna, Benedetta, Irma, and all those who took wonderful care to make my stay perfect.  Hope we can do it again.
Thank you especially to my wonderful priest friend Fr Raymond who always does things to make life easier for me in this work that I do. You Father Ray are a marvel a priest in the order of Melchizedek.
love you to bits.

Hail Mary

 Hail Mary full of grace
The Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou amongst women

And blessed is the fruit of your womb.......Jesus.
Holy Mary Mother of God
Pray for us sinners, now
And at the hour of our death...........Amen.

 Rejoice (Gaudēre-Ltn) O Gracious one, beloved of God,  Chaire (Gk) O favoured one.  Shalom,  O beautiful one (Hb),  the salutation of the Angel Gav-riel to Miriam,  a young  Jewish almah  (virgin) who bore the same  name as  Moses’ sister Miriam, and a common name for women during the late centuries before the arrival of Emmanuel.

This name,   “O beautiful One” “highly favoured” with an inference to “highness” or even “exalted One” is the name given to the new Eve “woman.”  In the name alone there is much said which implies the greatness later professed in the prophetic words of the Magnificat “All Generations will call me Blessed”(Lk1:48).
The inference to “O beautiful one” reminds us of the words always used by seers who have professed to have had visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and without exception, all have been speechless at her great beauty.  “The beautiful lady” (the seers of Fatima) “the beautiful lady” (seers of Medjugorje) the beautiful lady (Bernadette Soubirous). Always attempting to describe the beauty of the Blessed virgin in words of earthly language for someone from a heavenly reality.  The words used always falling short of describing the beauty and perfection of the Mother of God.

Even the inference to “highness” and “exalted one” has its type or shadow  in Old Testament words  “Then Bathsheba came to king Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah: and the king arose to meet her and sat down upon his throne: and a throne was set for the king's mother and she sat on his right hand. ” (l Kings 2:19). Highness, exaltedness and honour paid to the mother of the King. “Oh highly favoured one.”  Great will be your honour as Mother of the “fruit of your womb”...Yeshua.

“Full of Grace”, (kecharitomene-Gk) or even “enriched with grace,”  the Angel says of her (Lk 1:28), an expression never used before this time. Not even in OT testament Scripture is “Full of Grace” addressed to another human being.  “May you be blessed, my daughter, by God the most high” are words spoken to another woman (Judith13:18) and “Yahweh   is with you valiant warrior” the Angel’s words addressed to Gideon (Judges 6:13), but “Full of Grace”  is not given to another. Is this to be her new name?

It’s an interesting thought that the Angel begins the dialogue with Miriam by possibly giving her a new name “Full of Grace” “highly favoured one” which has its precedence in Torah (Sarai to Sarah) Mother of the son of the covenant. Abram to Abraham Father of faith  and later we see Jesus change the name of Simon to Kephas (Petros, Peter).  So could  the Angel  have begun his  salutation and dialogue  by announcing her change of name from what it was,  “Miriam,” to that which will describe her and her  mission, to give birth to “The Eternal Full of Grace”  Perfection? Son of God?

 

“Blessed is the fruit of your womb.....Yeshua (God Saviour)”  

The honour given to a woman’s most honoured body organ “womb”  is praised (blessed) for its issuance of the Holy One. Redemptive and holiest maternity which would begin the journey towards the new covenant, and new Son of the Covenant, and redemption, which was promised eons earlier. The time had now come for that redemptive work to begin and it had to begin with “Full of Grace,” “Beautiful Lady”, “Highness”  “Highly favoured one”.  One adorned with gifts and graces not given to another because only this one “Full of Grace” would be worthy of giving birth toYeshua, the Emmanuel, God saviour.
Holy  “Full of Grace” “Mother of God,”   Theotokos  (CCC495)  Mother of the Son whose nature is both human and Divine,  Son of His Father,  in union with the Shekinah (Holy Spirit) overshadowing  Full of Grace, the  God Bearer,  the new  tabernacle not made of wood but of  human flesh,  bearer of the kabōd  (glory of Yahweh),  Pray for us sinners now (sixteenth century addition)  (intercession),

And at the hour of our death when satan’s rage is at its most fierce ...........Amen.

 

Road to Emmaus

This beautiful scripture "Road to Emmaus" (Lk.24: 13-35) has inscribed within it many levels of understanding. It is in itself a beautiful commentary of two friends on a journey and discussing recent events and joined by another who also joins in on the discourse.  However, there is more. Much more.
The words of the stranger (Jesus post Ressurrection)"you foolish men! so slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into His glory? Then starting with Moses and going through all the prophets He explained to them the passages throughout scriptureswhat were about Himself"
And so it is that we can place ourselves on that same road or our own "Road to Emmaus" journey, life, and going through every event (prophetic moments) recognise the passages and moments where God spoke in those moments.  We can recognise Him in the suffering, in the joys in the story and history which makes up the story of our own life.
As Jesus spoke of his story going back into antiquity while still walking forward, so for each of us there is a "road" leading ahead, while looking backwards to the moments that made that "road" possible.
"It is nearly evening and the day is almost over stay with us" (Lk 24:30) this is the end of the road and the end of the journey when "evening" comes and we invite Him to stay with us and show Himself to us and share our meal with Him as He shows Himself to us in His glory.
Beautiful is the Road to Emmaus...our journey forward, whilst looking backwards to see the moments of testing and the moments of encounter.

Salt of the earth Matt. 5:13

 This week this term “salt of the earth” seemed to have floated past my ears and past my vision so often that I had to stop and listen or see if it was trying to say something to me.  I looked it up.

 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It   is good for nothing and can only be thrown out to be trampled under people’s feet.”

  It seems that salt is so important that it holds the earth or makes the earth better, but if it loses its flavour then it’s useless and suitable for throwing out.

What does this mean?

 Well to start with, salt is a white sandy type of substance which is found both in sea water and on land and is a substance which is required by both human species and the animal species as part of their life and diet.   For us human people who cook and preserve we need salt to flavour and to preserve at least olives, and peperoni and aubergines and sardines etc. Salt is a preservative which prevents undesirable things happening to what we are trying to preserve.  flavour our food.  Imagine trying to eat pasta and meatballs without putting salt in the boiling water which cooks the pasta. Not an option!  And I am sure it has many other uses. So Salt is naturally available and a very much needed substance.

So it must be important and Jesus must have known this because he used a known and valuable substance in order to make a point.   That was his style. His parables clearly show this.  He used what his listeners understood, wheat, flour, vineyard, wine, fish, bread, water, labour, so it should not come as a surprise that he used salt to explain a very important point and it must have been a very important point because salt was once considered more precious than gold. A golden lesson!!!

So what was Jesus saying and why was it speaking to me “salt of the earth” this week?

The only thing that I can think of is that as a believer in Him and a lover of Him I have to endure. I have to help make the way of the other better.  . I have to be stable and not run after other voices. I have to “flavour” those who come into or are in my life.  I have to be that “thing” which makes my life and the life of others in my care have “Taste” good.  And those who come into that life know, experience, feel that taste. Otherwise if this is not I what I do then all the words and works are tasteless and useless.

It’s a hard saying  because we are all sinners.

Garabandal-Spain

Recently, after attending the World Congress for Families in Madrid, I had the great pleasure of fulfilling a very long dream of going to visit Garabandal also in Spain. I first read about Garabandal about 30 years ago and since longed just to go. I have already visisted, Lourdes, Medjugorje, Fatima, and Now Garabandal! God is really good.
After the end of the congress I, together with a spanish friend Marisa, caught Ryanair and headed for a one hour flight to Santandar where I hired a "smart" car (fiat brand new 3 klms on it) and began our drive to San Sebastian where two rooms had been pre booked for both of us.
Garabandal is a tiny village of about 300-400 people and no straight roads with very ancient houses and older type roof tiles.
Lucia's House where we stayed had lovely rooms and modern conveniences and price not expensive included breakfast.  We also had lunch there it was huge and beautiful.
On our first day there I looked around the Church (St Sebastian) which is the centre of the village and activity seems to surround it.  Its a beautiful older type of church with the altar being slowly repaired.
There is no resident priest but a priest comes daily to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and other activities of a priest's work.
On the first day Marisa and I also drove up to the hill where the apparitions and the "pines" are. I was a bit glad that we drove even though the road was soooooooo narrow because the top of the hill is quite steep.  The pines are also said to be where the Blessed Virgin will leave a sign that she has appeared there.
Right on top of the hill looking down on the village is a marvel to behold, and to even see how the young seers (over 40 years ago were able to ascend towards the pines is a mystery.
The time at the top was beautiful, we (Marisa and I) prayed on our own.
I was drawn especially to the 13thirteenth station of the cross.  This was a large image of this station and I had never quite looked at it intently before. I was drawn to this image because of the similarity between it, Michaelangelo's Pieta and abortion.
I just sat on the grassy patch in front of the image and thought and thought and thought.  Later I moved and looked around at the other stations but I kept being drawn to the thirteenth station. It was speaking to me and I was trying to listen but couldnt hear what it was saying. But the sorrow in the eyes of the mother was very evident.I think its the sorrow I see in the eyes of post abortive women.
Later we drove back down to our guesthouse for lunch and met an Irish man John and an Australian lady from Queensland (Sarah) and another man who has been going every year for 26years.
John said that now that he is retired he goes yearly and as he lives in Ireland its a short flight so its easy.
Late afternoon Marisa and I decided we would walk up the hill but this time the hard way, walk the way the children did and I wondered if someone might have had to stretcher me down, but no I made it! I walked up the hill! someone who couldnt tie shoe laces walked up the hill (bit puffed though) but I did it! I especially wanted to do it because in Medjugorje I didnt climb Mt Krisvac because I thought I couldnt do it, so this time I was determined. And I did! Not bad for an "ancient person"
As we walked along, we met the other stations of the cross, same..beautiful, and came across a small chapel dedicated to St Michael the Archangel, whose presence is always wherever Mary of Nazareth is. He announced to the children her arrival to speak with them. Wow.
There is a rock there on which St Michael is said to have stood on. OH goodness I touched the rock!
When we reached the top and I had photogaphed all the stations of the Cross, the chapel, and prayed some more and looked for a little while at the most beautiful of God's creation-so green-so shining-so golden days. People even said that these last two days  had been beautiful and serene. Perhaps Our Lady helped and loved me and made it easier for me to see.
After a time we began our descent but this time not by the craggy rocks but by the long way which we drove the earlier. It was only about 2 klms and along the way we met John again and a lady doctor who had retired from her work in another country and moved to live there.
That night we had cheese and fruit for dinner in our bedroom and retired early.
Next morning we went to 9am Mass and interestingly the Gospel for the day was "Mary left her home to go to the hill country and visit her cousin Elizabeth"  and I was moved by this because "Anne left her home and went to the hill country to visit her "mother" Mary"
The day before, whilst sitting in front of the image of the descent from the cross I had asked Mary would she let me know she heard me and knew the things ask of her and her Son.
I hadn't known what the Gospel for the day was and was very moved by this very tangible sign as a response to my pleas. I also met the visiting priest (Fr Rolando).
After Mass I did the business part of our stay, said our goodbyes, and left. I would so much love to return or even live there there forever and ever.  It such a simple life. people live, pray, go to Mass. Life is slow and not frenetic.
After we left Marisa showed me aroundSantadar surrounds, majestic castles, ancient churches.  The very ancient and visible signs of Christianity, yet today abandoned for "nothing". We climbed turrets in castles, visited museums, San Vicente de La Barquera, Playa Del Sardiniero, La Magdalena Palace built El Capriccio  by Gauda who also designed (was the architect) for the Sagrada Famiglia (Holy Family) CathedralBarcelona in.
We made our way to Santander airport and left after fulfilling this dream.
Back in Madrid I stayed a few days with Marisa and her husband Javier and children Elias and Grazia and did some sight seeing. OH goodness the Al Mudena Cathedral and Crypt. Out of this world. Unknown here in Australia, and many other beautiful spots.
Thank you Lord for your care for me.

World Congress of  Families Madrid 2012.
Attending this congress for the first time was an immense experience. It was a gathering of family organisations whose purpose is to see that the family as God designed it remains intact. A family made up of man, woman and children, and not become deconstructed into forms which are not "family".
Listening to many speakers and experts on the importance of families for the health of societies, nations,  men, women and children, expressed and strengthened the need to be strong in this attack on the most basic law of "life" that is "life" created by the meeting and embrace of male and a female and from this a child who will lead into the future.  Every child conceived spells "future"
Whilst seeming  to be speaking to a converted audience, these congresses are important because we need to be encouraged to continue in this war against the family.
In a time when the natural family is considered "unnatural" and perhaps even despised, the World Congress of Families gathers to say NO to this, we believe that marriage is as God and nature decreed, that is between man and a woman. Other couplings may occur and indeed it is their freedom to choose same sex coupling or other couplings,  but "marriage" has from time immemorial has a meaning attached to it.  All tribes, nations, societies, times, have understood "marriage" to mean the same. Intimacy between man and a woman and from this children which lead to future.  Marriage means fecundity.  Same sex and other inappropriate coupling means sterility and no future.
The World Congress of Families and its affiliates reject the anti life mentality and beliefs by means of global abortion demands, sterility, contraception, euthanasia, indeed all beliefs which can rightly be called the culture of death.
The World Congress of Families meets to bring speakers who can expertly speak against  the new death dealing ideologies and further meet to strengthen each other and then strengthen the brethren.
From the opening ceremony through all the plenary sessions there was one theme prevalent, family and life and the only possible difficulty was that there were so many speakers that it became impossible to know who to listen to.....a little bi location might have helped here!
The Speakers were of so much note, e.g. Cardinal Ennio Antonelli (Vatican) Chief Rabbi of Madrid Rabbi Moses Bendahan, the Archbishop of Madrid and so many other eminent spokespeople intheir own fields.
The Demographic winter issue (not enough children being born to sustain the future) is frightening (Steve Mosher PRI)  Pornography (Patrick Fagan) which is destroying society through its violence and demeaning of sexuality and life.
The congress ended with a beautiful concert and handing over the reins to the next host...Australia in 2013...An important event in Australia
As I wandered from talk to talk I noted the tragedy at the heart of this era is the attack on family. Loss of awe of God and Life. Loss of respect for marital life.  Indeed I would say that there is a danger that through loss of "family" children will lose their sense of knowing who they are  and  sense ofidentity.
Children have a "RIGHT" to a mother and father.  They are designed with XY and XX chromosomes meaning male or female and need to model their life according to their genetic makeup.
This is what those who would destroy "marriage" selfishly deny or simply do not know. The genetic material is XY and XX nothing can change that.
Children have a need for a father and mother to teach them male and female models. Father to teach his son how to be a son and then a father. His daughter how to be valued as a girl child and then woman. 
A woman needs to model her son and show him how to be soft for his future wife and to teach her daughter how to be a woman...these are the needs of children for their mental, emotional, spiritual and psychological health.  Children have a "right" to "good."
Transmission of life is written into the cells of nature and belongs in marital embrace where the process of beginning of life (fusion of ova and sperm and their following dynamic) is mysterious. Therefore artificial  sterile couplings are an offence against nature and an attack against the Holiness of God and the dignity of the human person who has received "life" (mystery) from God and has value because it is inhabited/received by God.
Much had to happen to prepare the world for a human family to receive Jesus, and it will grieve God very much to have this the concept of "family" destroyed,  as at the beginning.

 FATIMA’S WARNING:  THE ANNIHILATION OF NATIONS.

 

The least spoken of prophecies pertaining to Our Lady of Fatima and the whole Fatima story is the prophecy of the “annihilation of nations.”  Perhaps  the reason for this is because this is believed to be a prophecy still to come.  However, I think that whilst there is always the possibility of annihilation of whole nations through war, nuclear or otherwise, natural disaster  (and possibly still to come) there has been an “annihilation of nations” every year for the past forty years, yet this has escaped our notice because of a collective societal “blindness.”

Today amongst other famines and deprivations we are experiencing a new famine and this new famine is so merciless that whole nations have died.

Behold the days are coming says the Lord

When I will send a famine on the Word

Not a famine of bread nor thirst for water

But a hearing of the Words of the Lord.

Amos 8:11-12

It is this new famine, which has annihilated the nations and is continuing to annihilate whole  nations and generations.  It is the famine of listening and not hearing, of viewing and not seeing that is annihilating the nations. This famine of hearing the words of the Lord brings with its own fruit, that is, a society whose ethos is “death”.

 The 20^{th    and into 21st}  centuries has been noted for its magnificent achievements yet it has also been marked by its crossing over the fine line between human and non human.  Perhaps this is the way of humans. They simply do not know when or how to stop. For every marvellous life enhancing invention or discovery there has been its anti life counterpart.  The “moon adventure” has its counterpart in the rise of immorality misadventure.  The advancements in health have their counterparts in the new and more sophisticated anti life machinations.  We have reached the

moon walk experiment, extended human life for those who can fund this life, and decreed that other life whether, foetal, or handicapped, unwanted, is disposable.  Indeed life is so disposable and so unimportant that human genetic material can now be mixed with beast genetic material in order to create a new form of creature- An abomination.

 The story of Fatima and Our Holy Mother’s visit to her children began in 1917; and since then  ( 2 biblical generations later) the world has succumbed to the depravity spoken of by this visitor from Heaven.  Indeed all her prophecies have come to pass.   Man has, without even intending to do so, fulfilled what God had foreseen and tried to warn and prepare humanity for.

 The flaming sword of Fatima,  (third secret) the rays from our heavenly Mother’s hands, the falling corpses led by the Holy Father, the roughly hewn cross, the words “penance, penance, penance” should have alerted all of us that all is not well.  The thrice-repeated word “penance, penance, penance” should alert us to the importance and urgency of this word.  Biblical writing always stresses something important by repeating, twice, three times the word e.g. “holy, holy holy” (thrice Holy Lord God) as we today might say holy, very holy and extremely Holy, Biblical authors, simply repeated the word to alert to the importance of the word.  Extreme penance is required by humanity in order to call down the graces (through Our Lady’s hands) and avoid the deserved justice of God. 

 The role of Mary in the plan of Salvation gives us much hope that indeed all is not lost.  Where the human person is negligent and despising, Mary “fulfils all righteousness”

Where human mothers take their children to be aborted (in the proportions of whole nations-annually) the heavenly visitor, Queen and Mother, comes and gathers the unwanted children and gives birth to them in Her heavenly realm. 

 Our heavenly Mother always will act as the intermediary so that what the spirit of evil would occasion below, the Spirit of Holiness can reverse from above.  Mary, Mother, Queen, gathers her “aborted nations” year in and year out, and mothers these children in her maternal bosom.  Indeed as she gathers and holds the broken bodies of her aborted infants, abused children, abandoned children, Aids infected children, she remembers holding her own beautiful son with His body broken in her arms.   Indeed both images mirror one another.  50,000,000 times per year a broken infant is held in her arms (abortion) and 50,000,000 times per year The Mother remembers.

 The annihilation of the nations  has been occurring (in some nations legally) since the Roe v Wade law which declared that infants in the womb are not human till today they can now be aborted to full term.    A whole large nation annihilated every year.  This is the unseen nation.   Every nation lost annually is 2 ½ times the size of the population of Australia so indeed it is a large nation,.

The Queen of Heaven came to Fatima to advise, help, to warn.  As at Cana in Galilee  (Jn 2:1-11) Mary exercises, on behalf of her children her role of Mother and Queen.  As queen Mother her advocacy cannot be denied her by her Son/King  (1Kgs 2:10 ).  She came to intercede for an on behalf of, not only the annihilated nations (victims)  but also those who would annihilate them.  The Queen Mother came to Fatima to intercede just as surely as she interceded at Cana.  The Queen Mother came to Fatima just as she came to Calvary, to hold broken children in her arms.  She came to gather the harvest of souls “despised and rejected by men” (Is.53:3)   and to call for thrice deep contrition and penance.  The Holy Mother came not to call attention to the fantastical but to call attention to the loss of millions upon millions of human beings through human malice rather than divine intention.

Indeed the “annihilation of nation” is occurring before our eyes yet we are not seeing.

      

Good Friday 2012

WILL YOU WAIT A WHILE?

“Will you walk into Gethsemane with me?  Will you wait a while?  It’s very cold tonight and I am so burdened. Will you wait a while?  It is lonely here-so desolate a feeling.  It feels like all around me is mourning.  I am weary.  The time has come and I am lonely.  Come sit by me. Don’t be afraid. I need your comfort tonight. This moment. I need your comfort. Rest a while-wait with me.

Can you see the blood on my face?  It’s failing down like drops of dew.  I’m lonely.  Rest a while.  Wait with me.  I have a weight, a burden on me and its so heavy.  This is a new feeling for me.  What can it be that is so suddenly heavy and dark?  Ah yes! Now I know-its sin.  Will you wait a while with me?  I’m so lonely.  Even the night has lost its stars.  Father where are you?  I’m lonely without you-My father where are you? I can’t see you.

There is a faint light-Ah yes its coming closer-where are you my friend? Will you walk with me?  Will you accompany me? Where are my friends?  Where are those whom I healed and fed and touched and comforted and loved?  Will you run too?  Come walk with me, we’ll meet the approaching night together-walk with me-hold my hand and one day I will hold yours too.

Can you stand by me during the hours of torment as I am accused and abused and tormented?  As I am denied and spat upon?  As I am ingloriously led by a leash, with no one to say a kind word on my behalf?  Will you speak for me? Will you speak words of comfort to me?

My thorns hurt so much they are pressing further down and piercing so deep that it feels like my brain is being pierced.  They can’t even touch it with their bare hands. that accursed crown and yet they press it harder to inflict more pain, and they feel no compassion for me.  How depraved has humanity become to feel no compassion for someone in  pain?  Will you ease my pain a little?  Your compassion and your love will suffice to help me endure.  Father I am weary and so lonely. I can’t see you.  Your image, your face is blurred.

 Can you my little one rest a while with me?

 I am mocked and I am scourged and tortured.  Father I came for this and I do your will but Father I am in pain-I travail with not even one little one to love me.  Wouldst that one of these had an inkling of compassion then it would be worthwhile.  I am so lonely.  Would you rest a while with me.?

My blood is slowly being drained from my being.  I am giving my life’s blood for yours.  Will you at least stand and wait a while?  Even from a distance wait with me so that I can see a gentle face?  Wait a while.  You will see that you will not regret it for one day I too will wait for you.  I will stand by you and extend my hand in welcome.

Will you walk with me along the road to the top of the mound?  It will be very slow and arduous journey for I am very weak now.  Step by step we get closer, and I am beginning to fall more often..  The burden is getting heavier and heavier.  Will you carry my cross even for a short distance so that I may rest a while?  Ah yes! it is a heavy burden my child it is not possible for you to carry it alone-here I will help you.  See how easier it is when we share the load.  I wouldn’t let you carry it alone, you see if I did let you it would crush you.  Too heavy is the weight of the cross, so I will carry the heaviest part for you.  Rest a while.

We have reached the summit-walk the rest of the way.  Can you bear to come closer to watch while I am stripped of my garments? OH the humiliation!  My dearest ones have to endure the humiliation too.  OH Father this further ignominy is unbearable.  Wait a while stand by me.  See this humiliation I also ask you to share.  Don’t be afraid I am here.  Will you hold my hand one more time before the nails are hammered in?  Hold my hand tightly.  Give me some comfort-let me feel that all this suffering is not in vain.  That someone does love me.  That someone will know how great my sacrifice is.  Come stand by me.  Your presence is enough.

Oh my Father the searing pain as the nails are driven in.  OH Father how can they do this to the Son of the most high God? Father how can they do this to you? OH My Father how far they have fallen. No compassion.  Little one come closer, look up at me.  Let me see your face-don’t cry.  I am assured of your love. Yes my Father this sacrifice is appropriate am loved at least by some and because of them it is worth all the pain humanity can inflict.

MY Father!! It’s getting dark.  All is a blur. I can’t see. My eyes are dimming. I can’t even see the faces of those who love me.  Father….. Have you gone too?  No ,  that cannot be.  You would not abandon me.  But Father there is a darkness that surrounds me.  There is shield and I cannot see your light anymore.  Father where are you I feel a loathsome burden.  How much longer Father will this earth’s sins cover me?  Father…if only they knew the barrier that sin erects.  Father every sin conceivable has been poured onto me and now it is so dark I can’t see the light of my father’s love.

Father my spirit is trapped like a diamond in the heart of the mountain of charcoal.  If it hidden and darkness cannot allow your light to pierce through.  Father…I know your eyes are too pure to gaze upon iniquity, but father I cannot bear it much longer.  Help me Father because I am ready to come back to you.  INTO YOUR HANDS FATHER I COMMIT MY SPIRIT for now I have finished the work you entrusted to me.  Father I come to you. Wait a while little one, wait a while and you will be with us too.

The Anawim

MERCY AND THE ULTIMATE  ANAWIM

By Anne R. Lastman BA, Dip Ed. MRel Ed., MTS.

MACA FVC

We live in a time of Divine Mercy and extreme Mercy. A time between kairos moments and a time in which we need to gather rather than sow.  Indeed we live in a time of gathering the harvest.  This time of Mercy is Harvest time. It is a time when all past labours are coming to an end and rest is possible because the work is done.  Today we live in a time of both sin and Mercy. Wheat and darnel.  Sin abounds and Grace and Mercy abound all the more.  Sin against life (abortion) abounds, yet in His infinite Mercy God grants time to return.  His Mercy is from age to age and yet remains mysterious.  

 Mercy does not only consist of empathy, sympathy, compassion and forgiveness,  but in its totality is a mysterious response that clearly shows the intrinsic worth and high estimation of the value of the human person. This, most especially, to those who through the fault of others have been stripped of their inherent dignity. 

It is the dignity inherent in the human that requires and indeed demands that Mercy be shown. It is in the essence of its humanity where the restoration of worth through Mercy is most evident. The restoration of an aborted infant to the human family is not only an act of Mercy, which can heal the parents and those who aborted the infant, but can also heal society whose ethos embraced abortion.  This, because the child is part of that family and that society.  By this option to restore the aborted child to the human family through recognition that its passing was a mistake and an enormous sin, it is shown an act of Mercy and a preference for the primacy given to love.

The anawim embraces many categories, the hungry, the weak, the marginalised, abandoned, homeless, cold, aged, indeed the true “anawim” but also in charity it must gather into its embrace the “aborted,” these are truly the poorest of the poor.   These little ones who live in their short lives, all the categories that characterise the “anawim.”  All the categories of anawim can rightly be seen to converge into one in the “aborted” child.  These are the most defenceless, rejected, despised, marginalised; unwanted, needy group in human society, and these, because of their very alone ness manifest a true reflection of their own poverty, and the poverty of a society whose ethos is one of abject failure.   It is in the treatment of the “anawim” and especially these “anawim” that the character of a society is remembered and honoured or not honoured.  It is in the treatment, rememberance and rescue of these “anawim” that the merciful will receive mercy. Thier lives are anawim.

Trip to India

Hello dear friends sorry I have been silent for some time. I have had an opportunity to go to India (Kolkata) for 2 weeks and have since my return raced through days trying to write newsletter and then get some volunteers to help with stamping labelling and folding of same newsletters so in less than a week back its been a mad rush.
Thank you to Creos (who now lives in India and was mediator in this exercise of going to India) I experienced something which I probably never thought I would get a chance to do. Sit at the tomb of a saint, Mother Teresa. And to see the work she started and continues.
On arival we were met by Creos's friends (they had beautiful flower  for me..how lovely of them) and also by Marjorie and Clare two sisters who promote the Divine Mercy Apostolate in Kolkata (they were holding an image of Divine Mercy-how lovely flowers and Mercy, not a bad start!)
I had a long sleep at "hotel Heaven" about 50 metres from mother House the Missionaries of Charity house where the tomb of mother Teresa is and where the Missionaries of Charity live.
After a long sleep (about 18 hours getting there) Creos took me to Mother house and introduced me to Very Revered Sister Superior Sr. Prema now the Sister in charge of all Missionaries of charity, the second superior after Mother Teresa, and also Sr Lumen a doctor from USA, and Sister Joseph from Australia, and Sister Mercy Maria and Sr Andrea and I am sure many others but my head was in whirl and couldnt remember.
For the first several days I just wandered around and tried to acclamatise myself to the culture shock, coming from "clean" Australia to a place of great poverty. Something I never in my wildest imagination thought existed in our day. But it does. and I felt sad. I wanted to shake the government of India to make them do something to alleviate such poverty and suffering and indignity.
Over the many days I slowly began to visit people I had gone to see (Pro lifers) and speak at various places including schools,  and met with people who pray for pro life workers in the field, and met a coule Dolly and John and a Missionary of Charity priest Fr Joel who are interested in starting a pro life group and Carmelite order and Sister from Holy Cross convent, and so many others.  It was good to be there.
One of the greatest pleasures I had was visiting daily a child in the Mother Teresa orphanage, Umang, who is severely disabled and not expected to survive, he just lies there and he simply stole my heart. I started seeing him whenever I could and we played "clap hands" (he couldnt see me-blind) but could hear me and by the time I had to leave I think he could recognize my voice, though he was very sick with an infection. He even smiled at me once. that was a great gift to me.  I have since heard from one of the other volunteers that he just lies there alone, I am sad.He is very visibly disabled and doent look "nice" so its hard also he cannot be lifted up (though only six months old) so he lies in a cot, washed, fed, cleaned but just lies there.  I wish I could have brough him with me.
It was a trip organised in hurry but a marvellous experience, met some lovely people and have been invited to go back which I am happy to do.
Please pray for the Missionaries of Charity and their fabulous work for the poor. saw the leper colony and the work they do there magnificent..Shishu Bhavan the orphanage, Prem Dan house for dying and other special homes sarted by mother Teresa and which continue helping.
Please pray for me and for them.
"Whatever you did for th least of these you did it to me" (Jesus) I hope I did well for Him.

One of the Greatest Sins is the Unlived Life.

This is a beautiful poem.  All the more so because it touches at the very deepest levels of ones being.  It points somehow to an error in our judgement of our God. We do him an injustice. 
One of the lines from this poem reads, “one of the greatest sins is the unlived life”   I think for me this line says very very much because It speaks to me of the things that I would have liked to have done but didn’t because of the “what would people say” reason.  I have yearned to climb on top of Mt. Tabor and just sit there but I have not done this because “others” would have criticized my action and told me the money would have been better spent elsewhere.  I have yearned to paint, not a masterpiece in the true sense of the word but a masterpiece of words  but it hasn’t happened because the time was better spent elsewhere.  The litany of “should have” is long because the longer we live the more we could have done something and didn’t. 

 Why Didn’t I?     

 Many of the things which remain undone, the dreams unfulfilled remain so because of hesitation, fear, lethargy, insecurity and behind these emotions and behaviours lies a deeper reason, fear of God and neighbour.  Fear of trying in case a mistake is made.  Fear that humiliation will be the outcome.  Indeed behind the barriers holding up the gateway to a realized humanity is lack of trust and an unnamed fear of God.  Perhaps this is part of what we call “original Sin” we hide from God because we fear His “what is this you have done?”  (Gn.3:13)

Gerald Jampolsky’s book “Love is Letting go of Fear”[1] comes close to a clue as to how to reach  the end of life and not have  any  “unlived life”  to regret.  It is to love unconditionally.  It is to love fully and without counting the cost.  It is to risk something so that a new experience may be encountered and experienced.
I think it was St. Augustine who also said something similar “love and then do what ever you want.”  This is such a deep and wise comment because we all know that when we love someone we will never ever hurt them.  That the lover wants for the beloved all that is good.  To love is to live in a state of complete trust.  It is what children know (before disillusionment sets in) it is what the Father asks of His children.  To trust Him, that all is well that which is done.  That all the hidden talents that I have and we all have, need to be used in order to discover the greatest talent of them all, that is to love.
God has created each of us different, unique, and each individual has his/her Father’s seal.  This should free us from the tyranny of fear and give us winds to fly towards our home.  We know that along the way there will be obstacles (some large ones) but all of them have to be negotiated and sometimes ingenuity has to be resorted to.  The ingenuity is the “lived life.”  The times that I stood outside of myself and challenged me to go further and maybe even differently
I am different, unique, and to try and live a life according to the demands of others contributes my “unlived life”  Others must journey and live with me but not to the point of sacrificing me because to sacrifice me is to help me not to live my life.           

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[1] Jampolsky, G.J. Love is  Letting Go of  Fear (New York: Bantam, 1970).

Anam Cara.Book of Celtic Wisdom, John O'Donohue, (Harper Collins, 1998).

Forgiveness for the Post Abortive woman

To forgive means to be able to see the humanity of the other. Distorted at times. Discoloured at times. Disfigured at times, but still humanity.  To forgive truly someone who has wronged does not mean that what was done was acceptable or should go unpunished but rather to cut the chords which keep on binding the wounded one with the one who has wounded.  It is these toxic ties, which continue to re wound.  The chords can be cut using more violence or by forgiveness.  Violence adds to the wounds a new dimension of pain.  Forgiveness says “no more.  you have no more power over me.  You cannot harm me again” but refrains from hurting the other. Again this adds to the dimension of humanity of both  the victim, and the perpetrator.

That’s why forgiveness is healing especially to the wounded.  Compassion and forgiveness means sharing with another their load, walking alongside, so that humanly speaking the load is lightened.  The prisoner chained in pain is still a human person in pain and chained but who still needs bandaging.

Remembering that a post abortive woman/man will suffer from lack of self esteem. Her own dislike of herself.  The barrier, which existed between herself and everyone else.  Her sense of having “lost” herself. Her belief that she is not worth living or helping.  At times even her own comments “I have killed my baby...I am a murderer I don’t deserve anything”   Her continual need to “disappear” to a “safe place” (mentally) when life difficulties arise and in that place she cannot see her life experience.  Her compulsive need to wash her hands (sense of feeling guilty  and dirty)  and her lips (because she agreed and said YES to the abortion) All these need to be recognised as signs that she cannot forgive herself and needs help in this area of her life. To begin to forgive herself so she can forgive others who “forced” “encouraged” “urged” “made” her have the abortion.  Even the medical profession who carries out these procedures.

Over time much has to be spoken about and explored and forgiven and then let go.  Many losses discussed and wept over and let go.   Loss of security. Loss of normal life without abortion in the history. Loss of femininity, loss, of confidence in mothering, loss of motherhood, loss of place in family...many losses. 

But most importantly helping the woman to see herself as good person beginning from when she was a child. To see that little girl, that continued to make progress and grow, and that the abortion, terrible as it was, has given her a new  but different opportunity at life.  An opportunity to begin again but as a different person (a mother) because now she has known suffering and loss as only a parent can know,  and has come through it, not without scars, but different because of her suffering.  She cannot go back to a time pre abortion, but she can continue in another way but equally good way. The Way of forgiveness. The Way of Jesus. The way of the Cross.