Nativity of Our Lord 2007

Let every soul, then, enter the stable and see that tender Infant, who is weeping as He lies in the manger on that miserable straw. See how beautiful He is; look at the light which He sends forth, and the love which He breathes; those eyes send out arrows which wound the hearts that desire HIm; the very stable, the very straw, cry out, says St Bernard, and tell you to love Him Who loves you; to love God, Who is infinite love; and Who came down from Heaven, and made Himself a little child, and became poor, to make you understand the love He bears you, and to gain your love by His sufferings.

[Our Holy Father St Alphonsus, The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ, Pg. 148]

The Fathers and Brothers of the

Transalpine Redemptorists,

of

the Golgotha Monastery Island,

Papa Stronsay extend to you their warmest greetings

and best wishes for this holy and joyful

season of Christmas.
We will remember you all in our Midnight Mass,

'On that most blessed, holy and silent night of Christmas,

- When the rod of Jesse flowered and brought forth that never fading and Divine Rosebud,

-When the bright morning star ushered in that refulgent and everlasting Sun whose radiance dispelled the blindness and darkness of the hearts of men

-When a Child was born to us, the desire of the everlasting hills and the yearning of the prophets,

-When the heavenly choirs roused the dozing shepherds with the jubilant notes of the first Gloria.

-When the Lily of the valley and the Flower of the fields

blossomed in that tiny stable of Bethlehem.'

May the Most Holy Virgin Mother and Her New-Born Christ-Child, the Infant Jesus, bless, protect and shower you with every grace in this coming year.

Christmas Eve

"Consider how, after so many centuries, after so many prayers and sighs, the Messias Whom the holy Patriarchs and Prophets were not worthy to see, for Whom the nations sighed, the desire of the eternal hills, our Saviour is come! He is already born and has given Himself entirely to us. A child is born to us, and a son is given to us - (Isaias ix., 6)

"A child gives easily" says Saint Bernard; children readily give anything that is asked of them. Jesus came into the world as a Child, in order to show Himself ready and willing to give us all good gifts: In whom are hid all treasures - (Colossians ii., 3) The Father hath given all things into his hands - (John iii., 35)

If we wish for light, He is come to enlighten us. If we wish for strength to resist our enemies, He is come to comfort us. If we wish for pardon and salvation, He is come to pardon and save us. If in short, we desire the supreme gift of Divine love, He is come to inflame our hearts with it; and above all for this very purpose, He has become a child, and has chosen to show Himself to us deserving of our love, in proportion as He was poor and humble, in order to take away from us all fear, and to gain our affections."

[Novena for Christmas - Meditation III]

Basilica of Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine

A Serious Issue

The time for sending out Catholic, together with our latest book has arrived once again. It has however been brought to our attention, by the alertness and quick thinking of Mr Richard Bullard, that for the last 6 months, (that is the last two issues) almost nobody in the USA who gets their copy of Catholic individually through the mail, has received it!
The devil is clearly at work here. We are doing our very best to rectify the situation, but we ask you please to be patient. The process has already begun, and all the copies of the latest Catholic for the USA agents are already on their way from Papa Stronsay to the US. The agent’s copies for all other countries will soon be following. As soon as we have organised the system of shipping the individual copies, they will also be sent out. Please bear with us. We are aware of the situation, and are at present doing all we can to sort things out. You can help us in this by imploring Our Lord and His Holy Mother to lend Their aid, and to ensure a safe passage for Catholic to the USA, and to the rest of the world.

We will be happy to reimburse those readers who have not received either the copy of Catholic containing the book “The Sign of the Cross” or the copy containing the book “Silent Night”, by adjusting their subscription accordingly. If you have missed out on either of these issues, then please email us. Since there is likely to be a very many such cases, we ask that you keep these emails as brief as possible, stating only how many copies you have missed out on, your name and your address. Thank you very much, and we offer our apologies to those who have missed out on their Catholics over the last 6 months.

The Christmas Spirit

Once again, we find ourselves at ‘Gaudate Sunday’; Advent is almost over, and Christmas is just around the corner. And it will bring the same old thoughts to many of our minds: “I hope it will be a good Christmas this year”, or “I hope we have a better Christmas this year than we did last year”, or “Will Christmas be as good as last year?” But what we fail to realize, is that it is not up to mere chance how good our Christmas will or won’t be. How well something (and this is especially applicable to the great feasts of the Church) comes up to our expectations depends on the quality and fullness of the preparation that we give to it. So how good Christmas is going to be this year is completely within our own hands, since if we make a good preparation for Jesus’ birthday, then He will be sure to grant us many graces, one of them most certainly being a great spiritual joy. “But”, I hear you say, “Advent is almost over, what are you telling me this now for?” In answer, it is never too late. Today begins the novena for the feast of Christmas, the nine days leading up to Christmas day. A great thing to do for these last days of Advent, is to try and spend a little more time in prayer, thinking about and contemplating with great expectation the great mystery of God made man, which is about come about before us. Now practically, what does this mean? It could mean more time spent alone on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament or in our houses before the crucifix. However, although this is undoubtedly a great thing to do, often, it is hard enough to find time in the day for the little bit of prayer that is managed each day, and beside, Christ’s command was to pray always, and it is certainly not possible to spend ones entire life kneeling in prayer. Therefore if there is no time do devote solely to prayer, we must fit some prayer in while we’re working. During jobs which do no require us to focus all our attention on them, why not call to mind the mystery of the Incarnation, or some other aspect of our good Lord’s coming into this world, for example, the different virtues that He practiced in the stable at Bethlehem: His poverty, His silence, His spirit of prayer, His humility etc, or else simply repeat the holy names of Jesus and Mary – if possible you could count them on your beads, so that it demands even less attention, and thus makes it easier to do at the same time as something else. In this way, we can try and keep in our mind the upcoming feast of Christmas. We must remember that it is morally impossible for him to be saved who does not pray. Therefore, it is just a case of working out how to fit this prayer into our often busy and hectic daily lives.

The Holy House of Loreto

Today is the feast of the translation of the house of the Holy Family to Loreto. In honour of this occasion, Rev Fr Michael Mary, C.SS.R. celebrated the Holy Mass by candlelight this morning, with the community assisting.

The Story of the Holy House of Loreto

Some time after the year 313, the emperor Constantine the Great had a great basilica built over the site of the Holy House of Nazareth, in which Our Lady, St Joseph and the child Jesus had lived. In about the year 1090, the Saracens invaded the Holy Land plundering and destroying many of the shrines sacred to Christians, and they did not spare the Basilica of the Holy House. However, the House itself was left intact. After the Crusaders had liberated the Holy Land from the Moslems, they built a new Basilica over the site. In 1263, the Moslems took the Holy Land once again, and again destroyed the Basilica, but the house escaped once more, being hidden under the ruins of the Basilica. Finally the Crusaders were totally driven out of the Holy Land. On May 10, 1291, the Holy House of Nazareth was lifted from its foundations by angels, and transported out of the Holy Land, to Dalmatia (present day Croatia) to a small town called Tersatto. The priest of the parish church, Alexander Georgevich, was most puzzled by the sudden arrival of a small church-like structure in his parish, and he prayed that he might know what was meant by it. He soon received a vision of Our Lady in a dream, and she told him that the building was the Holy house of Nazareth, in which had taken place the Annunciation. In confirmation of this, She cured him of an illness from which he had suffered a long time. In 1294, the Moslems took over Albania. Some shepherds reported seeing the house being carried through the air by angels on December 10th 1294. It was once laid to rest in woodland about 4 miles from Recanati, Italy. The news spread fast and soon it was visited by a great many pilgrims. But soon, bandits began attacking the pilgrims, and so the Holy House was once more transported by the angels, to a spot a small distance away. However, the land on which the house was now situated, belonged to two brothers, and the newly arrived building caused some arguments, and so the house was once more moved, and finally set down where it now stands. The people sent a group of 16 men to determine the exact origin of the building. The men took down all the dimensions and other characteristics of the house and then when first to Tersatto, and then to Nazareth. On returning, they were able to relate that the foundations of the house were still in Nazareth, and that they matched the house in Loreto which has no foundations.

The inside of the Holy House

A double celebration

Today we celebrate, not only the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, but also the 30th aniversary of the final profession of Rev. Fr Michael Mary, C.SS.R. We ask St. Andrew to look with kindness upon Father, and to obtain many graces for him, as well as for Scotland, whose principal patron he is. The following account of his life is taken from the lessons of the Roman Breviary for matins.

The Apostle Andrew was born at Bethsaida, a town of Galilee, and was the brother of Peter. He was a disciple of John the Baptist, and heard him say of Christ, “Behold the Lamb of God”, whereupon he immediately followed Jesus, bringing his brother also with him. Some while after, they were both fishing in the Sea of Galilee, and the Lord Christ going by, called them both, before any other of the apostles, with the words “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. They made no delay, but left their nets and followed Him. After the death and resurrection of Christ, Andrew was allotted Scythia (The Pontic-Caspian steppe: Kazakhstan, southern Russia and eastern Ukraine. The northern Caucasus area, including Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Sarmatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland up to Oceanus Sarmaticus known also as Baltic. Southern Ukraine with the lower Danube river area and Bulgaria, also known as Scythia Minor) as the province of his preaching and after labouring there, he went through Epirus (southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania) and Thrace (The historical boundaries of Thrace have varied. Ancient Thrace included present-day Bulgaria, European Turkey, northeastern Greece and parts of eastern Serbia and eastern Republic of Macedonia. Its boundaries were between the Danube River to the north and the Aegean Sea to the south, to the east - the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara and on the west to the Vardar and Great Morava rivers. The Roman province of Thrace was somewhat smaller, having the same eastern maritime limits and being bounded on the north by the Balkan Mountains; the Roman province extended west only to the Mesta River), where he turned vast mutitudes to Christ by his teaching a mirachles. Finaly he went to Patras is Achaia (Peloponnese in southern Greece and bordered on the north by the provinces of Epirus and Macedonia), and there also he bought many to the knowledge of Gospel truth. Ægeas the Pro-consul resisted the preaching of the Gospel, and the Apostle freely rebuked him, bidding him know that while he held himself a judge of his fellow men, he was himself hindered by devils from knowing Christ our God, the Judge of all. Then Ægeas being angry answered him “Boast no more of this thy Christ. He spake words even such as thine, but they availed Him not, and He was crucified by the Jews.” Whereto Andrew bodly answered that Christ had given Himself up to die for man’s salvation; but the Pro-consul blasphemously interupted him, and bade him look to himself and sacrifice to the gods. Then said Andrew, “We have a altar whereon day by day I offer up to God, the Almighty, the One and the True, not the flesh of bulls, nor the blood of goats, but the Lamb without spot, and when all they that believe have eaten of the flesh thereof, the Lamb that was slain abideth whole and liveth.” Then Ægeas being filled with wrath, bound the Apostle in prison. Now the people would have delivered him, but he himself calmed the multitued, and earnistly besought the mutitude not to take away from him the crown of martyrdom, for which he longed and which was now drawing near. Some short while after he was brought before the judgement seat, where he extolled the mystery of the cross and rebuked Ægeas for his ungodliness. Then Ægeas could bare whith him no longer, but commanded him to be crucified in imitation of Christ. Andrew then was led to the place of martyrdom, and as soon as he came in sight of the cross, he cried out, “O precious cross, which the members of my Lord have made so goodly, how long have I desired thee! How warmly have I loved thee! How constantly have I sought thee! And now that thou art come to me, how is my soul drawn to thee! Welcome me from among men, and join me again to my Master, that as by thee He redeemed me, so by thee also He may take me unto Himself.” So he was fastened to the cross, whereon he hung living for two days, during which time, he ceased not to preach the faith of Christ, and finaly passed in to the presence of HimThe likeness of Whose death he had loved so well. All the above particulars of his last sufferings were written by the Priests and Deacons of Achaia, who bear witness to them of their own knowledge. Under the Emperor Constantine, the bones of the Apostle were first taken to Constantinople, whence they were afterwards (by the Crusaders, A.D. 1210) brought to Amalfi. His head was carried to Rome, where it is kept in the Basilica of St. Peter.

We also remember with heartfelt thanks the meeting that took place 20 years ago on the Feast of St Francis Xavier, 3rd December, between Archbishop Lefebvre and Fr Michael Mary during which the Archbishop encouraged father to begin the foundation of the Transalpine Redemptorists. This followed by a meeting with Cardinal Gagnon, Apostolic Visitator at the time, who encouraged father also to make a foundation, clearly indicated God's Holy Will and there was no option but to obey. Te Deum laudamus.

Letter to Greg

Last night we received a welcome comment from 'Greg', a visitor to our blog (with a great name!). He left comments on the subject of the little number of the saved. This matter is of interest to many and so, with very best wishes to everone, we post our reply to 'Greg' here:

Dear Greg
Thank you for your most important questions about the little number of the saved. I agree with you that it is something that makes us wonder if it could be true. Probably everybody who has considered this matter would hope that 100% of humanity was saved for the Holy Ghost tells us that 'God wants all men to be saved'. Yet it would appear that it is not the case that the greater number is saved.

But let us first say that, with God's grace, it is not extremely difficult to be saved. Everyone who dies in a state of grace is saved. To die in a state of grace it is necessary that we be truly sorry for all our mortal sins, with a sorrow that is either perfect, or made perfect in Confession by the sacramental absolution.
Remember the young man who asked Our Lord what was necessary to enter into life. Our Lord simply replied to keep the commandments.

Many of the canonised Doctors of the Church, considering all the aspects of the matter tell us that a true devotion to Mary is an assurance of salvation.
St Alphonsus summed them up by saying that 'a child of Mary can never be lost'. A child of Mary is one who has a true devotion to Her.

To have a true devotion to Mary, he teaches, two things are necessary:
1 either that he be in a state of grace or that he truly desires to abandon sin
2 that he is constant in his practise of devotion to the Mother of God.

Then the Holy Doctor teaches that any devotion no matter how small would be sufficient provided that it is constant.

• So far it seems pretty easy for someone who wants to save his soul:
• If he is in sin he has to (seriously) want to get out of it;
• and he has to be constant in his practise of devotion to Our Lady;
• and he will make it into heaven.
  
  Saint Alphonsus even gives you his well considered minimum requirement for what he means by devotion.
  
  He says that he would consider that you had a constant devotion to Our Lady if every morning and every evening you knelt down and said the following prayer three times:
  Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with Thee,blessed art Thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
  By Thy Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy. My Mother, free me this day/night from mortal sin.
  
  And Greg, that's it.
• Saving your soul is not massive amounts of aceticism,
• nor is it knowing abstruce knowledge
• nor being in a state of de facto canonisation
• nor being among the top 1-2 % of humanity.

For:

• Even if you are trapped in mortal sins and
• really want to get out of them,
• and if in this terrible state you want to be a child of Mary and get to heaven,
• and if you will get on your knees every morning and every evening
• and say that prayer to Our Lady....

She on Her part will not reject you.

• She will take you as Her child,
• She will intercede for you with Our Lord,
• you will get the opportunity of making a good confession,
• you will return to friendship with God,
• you will get to heaven.

That's not difficult. And it is theologically certain that a child of Mary can never be lost.

But Greg,
will people take the means? Here is the fork of the river. This is where the people vote by their behaviour and where, even though it is so easy, the greater number of people seem to choose not to bother, or not to care. So the saints throughout the ages, watching the way people live, have constantly taught that the greater part (or percentage) of adult souls are lost. They don't teach this as good news; it is noted that many taught it with tears and in fear.

And these authorities are the greatest Doctors and Fathers of the Church, here are a few of them:

• St Basil the Great,

• St John Chrysostom,

St Augustine,

then:


• St Gregory the Great (the Popes' Pope!)
• Thomas Aquinas, (the Angel of the Schools)
• St Bonaventure,
• St Anselm,
• St Ephrem,
• St Alphonsus
  These people are all the big 'heavyweights' of the Church:
• They are canonised saints because of their heroic virtues and holiness
• They are the Doctors, the great luminaries of the Church-
• it represents eminent holiness and theological depths all talking in unison.
  
  Then there are the lists of canonised saints who are not doctors but who also taught the same doctrine, whether by

the silent witness of St Simon Stylites in the desert

or the booming voice of St Vincent Ferrier of the Middle Ages

or the gentle voice of the Cure of Ars in the 1800's; they taught that the greater number of souls are lost and the lesser number are saved

as did a host of saints in between them.

And what does it say when there is not a canonised saint who contradicts this opinion of the Doctors or even ventures to say that it is possibly a bit exaggerated?

I have not found a saint who contradicts this opinion of the Doctors. I've been looking. If you find one such Saint please send me their quotes.

But is it just the Doctors and Saints of the East and West who agree on this terrible point?

Let us go to Truth Himself and we find in the Holy Gospel a man asking Our Lord:

'Lord are they few that are saved?'

And how does Our Lord take it? Does he take the man aside? Does He whisper in his ear? Does he give some private answer so as not to frighten anyone? Does the Gospel say: "But he said to him..." ? Not so! The Holy Ghost says that he addressed everyone present using the plural: "But he said to them:

Strive to enter by the narrow gate:

for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able...." (St Luke Ch XIII:23-24)

In St Matthew's Gospel it is the same and more, Our Lord says that they are "many" who are lost and they are "few" who are saved:

"Enter ye at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction: and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate and strait the way that leadeth to life: and few there are who find it. ..." (St Matthew VII: 13-14)

It is easy in our time to give way to discouragement but if we will follow St Alphonsus by practising the Three Hail Marys there is no need for this discouragement.

I agree with you, Greg, that making sense of it all is another step. God's Victory is that everything of His Creation will glorify Him from their own free choice. With the angels we know that by their free choice one third of them chose to become devils for eternity. It is a cause of tears that many of our fellow men will choose to join them for eternity and that few in comparison to the many will be citizens of heaven.

However this few of the saved is to be understood as being in comparison with the many of the lost; but that is still a great number. "I heard as it were the voice of much people in heaven, saying: Alleluia." (Apocalypse XIX:1)

We are taught by the Holy Ghost that in heaven there is "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues..." (Apocalypse VII:9). So there will be so many people in heaven that it will be impossible to count them all; that is how many the 'few' will be; we are talking billions and there is no reason why you and I should not firmly hope to be among their holy number. They will be glorifying God's attribute of mercy; let us also do it.

In hell there will also be a great number and, by the free choices they have made in their lives, they will have chosen rather to glorify God's attribute of Justice. Let us keep away from this by being truly sorry for our sins, by going to frequent Confession and Holy Communion and by our constant practise of the Three Hail Marys asking the protection of Our Blessed Mother to keep us from mortal sin (which is the great evil).

Finally, may I comment on your point that there is another opinion on this matter in the same Catholic Church. Yes, there is. But it is an opinion that is not certified by the Saints and Doctors of the Church nor by the weight of 2,000 years of tradition going back to the voice of Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The opinion that 'many are saved and few are lost' also makes people careless about so many issues that are mortally sinful. Let me simply say, as others have said, it is better to believe Our Lord's words and the teaching of the Doctors and Saints. Their doctrine is life-giving. By following it one is attentive to do everything possible to grow in holiness. But the chances are that if you follow the opinion that 'nearly everyone is saved' you will probably do very little to save your soul; and you run the risk of not doing enough. It is dangerous thinking. It is the thinking that leads so many to the eternity of hell where they will be glorifying God's Justice. For we will all glorify either God's mercy or His justice for eternity.

I hope this helps in some way, and if you would like to discuss the matter further you could send a comment with your email address and the request that the comment be not posted on the blog. We could make contact that way.

Your devoted servant,

Fr Michael Mary, C.SS.R.

The twelve days of Christmas

Christmas comes but once a year, but in a Redemptorist monastery, you can enjoy the true spirit of Christmas 12 times a year! As part of our aim as Redemptorists, which is to imitate Christ's life, and also to honour the infant Jesus, we celebrate a 'little Christmas' on the 25th of every month of the year. On this day our morning meditation is on one of the virtues practiced by the infant Jesus, and a Redemptorist priest has the privilege of saying the Mass of Christmas day. Here at Papa Stronsay we also set out in the Church a manger with a statue of Our Lord inside and candles either side. We often sing Christmas Carols after Holy Mass, as well as at recreation seen below. In this way, we keep alive the true spirit of the birth of our Saviour throughout the year, and as a Redemptorist priest once said, we celebrate Christmas well 12 times a year, to make reparation for those who celebrate it badly once a year.

To order one or more of our recently printed Christmas book, 'Silent Night', as seen in use in the above photo, please write to:

The Desert Will Flower Press,

Golgotha Monastery Island,

Papa Stronsay,

Orkney,

KW17 2AR,

United Kingdom

275th anniversary of the CSSR!

Today we celebrated the 275th anniversary since Our Holy Father St. Alphonsus Liguori founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer!!!

Ad multos annos! Vivat in aeternum!

Papa Stronsay in a breeze of 80 knots!

Today winds reached 80 knots from the North West. Because our monastery is located on Southern side of the island, we didn't suffer any damage, it was a breeze; but on Stronsay, across the water, our St Magnus Priory together with rest of Whitehall Village lost its supply of electricity.

Looking accross of Papa Stronsay territorial waters towards Stronsay.

Having finished the conference in Cleveland, Ohio, Rev Fr Anthony Mary, C.SS.R. and the two brothers moved on to Canada to pay a visit to Fr Gruner at the Fatima Center. Fr Anthony was interviewed for possible TV programs which the Fatima Center puts out once a week on two Canadian Channels and one American Channel. Father gave a number of sermon-like talks and also some interviews.

The entrance to the Fatima Centre .


Fr Anthony Mary, C.SS.R. talks to the camera.


Father is interviewed by Fr Gruner.

All Souls Day on Papa Stronsay

Redemptorists abroad

Although not at home, we thought it might be of some interest to you to hear of some recent activities of the Transalpine Redemptorists abroad. Recently Rev Fr Anthony Mary, C.SS.R., went with Br Dominic Mary, C.SS.R. and Br Martin Mary, C.SS.R. to the Unites States, where Rev Fr Anthony Mary spoke at the annual Catholic Family News conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

Father joined nine other top class speakers including John Vennari, Fr Patrick Perez, Michael Matt and Dr. David Allan White. The conference was commemorating the centenary of Pope St. Pius X’s landmark anti-modernist encyclical, Pascendi. Rev Fr Anthony Mary spoke on the subject of saving your soul amidst the present crisis. Just as Father was talking about the importance of being aware of the presence of Angels and Devils all around us, the fire alarms were mysteriously triggered in the conference room, disrupting the conference quite considerably. However, all Satan managed to achieve was a few extra decades of the rosary, recited by all 210 members of the audience, while they waited for the alarms to be shut down. The large number of people attending made this the most successful Catholic Family News conference yet. We hope that every one present received many graces and renewed strength to keep up the combat for the Faith.

No strings attached!

New Zealand foundation update!

Rev. Fr Clement Mary, C.SS.R. rector of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour Monastery, Christchurch, New Zealand, has begun a new blog: Transalpine Redemptorists in Christchurch. Please feel free to go visit it:

http://www.transalpineredemptorists.blogspot.com/

Our island of Papa Stronsay is not connected in any way to the neighboring islands, and that’s not just talking about roads. There are no water pipes coming to Papa Stronsay. There are no gas pipes, electricity or telephone cables either. Our Water is pumped from large underground wells, and for electricity, we have a generator powered by a diesel engine. If the generator breaks down, we have no electricity at all. This also leaves us without water, because the pumps, which bring the water, the sometimes 100ft distance from the wells to the surface, are powered by electricity. Therefore, it is vital to get it back up and running as soon as possible. Below can be seen our generator being repaired after a breakdown.

Rev. Fr Anthony Mary, C.SS.R. and Br. Magdala Maria, C.SS.R. working on our 16 KW generator.

The generator split into two parts.


Out with the old...


...and in with the new.


Fr. and Br. working on the new generator set.

Our Lady, Queen of the Rosary.

We know that today’s feast was instituted by Pope St Pius V after the stunning victory of the enormously outnumbered Catholic naval fleet over the Moslems at Lepanto on 7th October 1571. But what we can we take from it? The Pope attributed the Catholic victory to Our Lady and to the praying of the rosary. If we take a look at the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, we can see that there is a central point which just keeps coming back again and again: "Pray the Rosary every day". So the Holy Mother of God instructs us to pray the rosary every day, but what kind of an answer can we expect to get from the praying of the rosary? Sr. Lucy answered this question for us herself:

"The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which
we live has given new efficacy in the recitation of the Holy Rosary. There
is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot solve
by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves.
We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of
many souls."

Our Lady also gives us a proof of this in the apparitions. She told the three children, that they should pray the rosary everyday to obtain peace in the world and the end of the war (World War I). These are two great graces. Peace for the entire world, every country, every place! And the end of the war! In another place, Lucy presented some petitions from other people to Our Lady. Lucy said afterwards that she couldn't remember exactly what these were, or the individual replies, but that Our Lady told her that these people would have to pray the rosary to obtain their requests. So the rosary, according to the Mother of God, will obtain both great graces and small ones. Did Our Lady give any other examples of Graces that could be obtained through the rosary? She told Lucy that she and Jacinta would go to heaven, and that Francisco would also go to heaven, but that he would have to pray "many rosaries". It is unlikely that Francisco at his young age, would have had such a great stock of sins to expiate in order to save his soul, so perhaps there is another explanation of Our Lady’s remark. It seems that Our Lady gave the rosary to Francisco to be for him a shield against the corruption of the world. If he were to escape sin, save his soul and get to heaven, he would have to pray "many rosaries". So there are two more graces that can be expected from the recitation of the rosary: protection from temptations and the allurements of a sinful world, and the salvation of souls.
We conclude then, that if Our Lady, the most perfect being after God, who in the Kingdom of heaven, stands above all other creatures, comes down from her heavenly throne, and in every one of her apparitions at Fatima stresses that we should pray the rosary Every Day, we should probably take her advice.


Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us!

140th anniversary of Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos', C.SS.R. death

Father Francis Xavier Seelos, C.SS.R.

Born January 11th, 1819, Fussen, Southern Germany
Professed as a Redemptorist May 16th, 1844
Ordained priest December 22nd, 1844
Died in the odour of sanctity October 4th, 1867

"Father Seelos, cure me!"
The voice came from a crippled man in the Redemptorist monastery of St. Philomena's Church in Pittsburgh. "My good man, I'm no doctor. I can't cure you," replied Father Seelos. You may well imagine how startled the good priest was when he saw the crippled man pick up his crutches and throw them out the window!
"I'm not leaving until you cure me!" It was easy to see that he meant what he said. There was an expression of genuine amazement on the face of the priest as he marvelled at the great faith and trust in the soul of the man. "I know he has overestimated my power," the priest thought to himself. "But maybe.....???

"wait a minute," said Father Seelos. Back into the monaster he went. Returning a few moments later with the Gospel in his hand, he told the man to sit down. He opened the Holy Gospel according to Saint John and began to read. When he finished, he closed the book, lifted his eyes to heaven and began to pray with all his heart. Then from the ritual blessing of the sick...

"Dominus Jesus Christus apud te sit, ut defendat... May Our Lord Jesus Christ be with thee to defend thee, ... Benedictio Dei Omnipotentis, Patris, et Filii, + et Spiritus Sancti, descendat super te, et maneat semper. Amen."

A strange indescribable feeling came over the crippled man. Somehow his legs felt strong again. Tears of joy began forming in the corners of his eyes. He took several sobbing breaths and slowly stood upright. Legs which for a long time could not carry him were now able to support his body.

"God be praised!" he cried, "May God be praised! Oh, thank you, Father Seelos. Thanks be to God!"

The harvest is over

The last week has seen the members of the community working together in the field to get in our harvest of potatoes. After a long spell of wet weather, the good Lord saw fit to send us a few days of dry, bright, sunny weather, which we took full advantage of. We have been truly blessed this year since the harvest was excellent. We bagged approximately 9 - 10 tonnes of potatoes, enough to last us to next years harvest.

The view from the tractor cab.

Rev. Fr Anthony Mary, C.SS.R. pulls the harvester through the field.

After the harvester has passed by, the potatoes are left on the surface to be collected.

Br. Columba Maria, C.SS.R. inspects the crop.

The hard work having paid off, the potatoes and the brothers take a ride out of the field.


The potatoes now lie drying, after which they can be stored.

Deo gratias et Mariae!