Where Jesus was Born in Bethlehem 

Book of Heaven
Volume 15: July 14, 1923

The world is exactly at the same point as when I [Jesus] was about to come upon earth.  All were awaiting a Great Event, a New Era, as indeed occurred.  The same now; since the Great Event, the New Era in which the Will of God be done on earth as It is in Heaven, is coming – everyone is awaiting this New Era, tired of the present one, without knowing what this new thing, this change, is about, just as they did not know it when I came upon earth.  This expectation is a sure sign that the hour is near.  But the surest sign is that I AM Manifesting what I want to do, and that turning to one soul, just as I turned to My Mama in descending from Heaven to earth, I communicate to Her My Will and the Goods and Effects It contains, to make of them a Gift for the whole of humanity.

—Fr. Hal Stockert, Fishnet

You’re all familiar with the Christmas song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” I think. To most it’s a delightful nonsense rhyme set to music. But it had a quite serious purpose when it was written.

It is a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts.

Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law – private OR public. It was a crime to BE a Catholic.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” was written in England as one of the “catechism songs” to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith – a memory aid, when to be caught with anything in *writing* indicating adherence to the Catholic faith could not only get you imprisoned, it could get you hanged, or shortened by a head – or hanged, drawn and quartered, a rather peculiar and ghastly punishment I’m not aware was ever practiced anywhere else.

Hanging, drawing and quartering involved hanging a person by the neck until they had almost, but not quite, suffocated to death; then the party was taken down from the gallows, and disembowelled while still alive; and while the entrails were still lying on the street, where the executioners stomped all over them, the victim was tied to four large farm horses, and literally torn into five parts – one to each limb and the remaining torso.

The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith.

The “true love” mentioned in the song doesn’t refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God Himself. The “me” who receives the presents refers to every baptized person.

The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ’s sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: “Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so…”

The other symbols mean the following:

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the “Pentateuch”, which gives the history of man’s fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed

For us the festivals of the Liturgical Year, according to the Church, should not be mere commemorations of past historical events, but should rather be opportunities, here and now, to re-live these events and participate in them as though they are just now taking place.  The person of Jesus Christ in whom the whole cycle of the Ecclesiastical Year is centered is not a dead person, who once lived, worked, and passed into history.  Jesus Christ is eternally alive and active.  Just as He once did on earth, so He does now.  He teaches and admonishes us, sanctifies and forgives us, offers Himself up for us, saves us, and draws us to Himself by His example.  “Jesus Christ,” says St. Paul, “is the same today as He was yesterday, and as He will be forever.”  (Heb. 13,8)  The Liturgical Year, then, is a continuation of Christ’s life, work and doctrine among us today.  It is the mystical repetition of the mysteries of Christ’s life in the hearts of the faithful.

In his encyclical letter of November, 1947, “Mediator of God”, Pius XII wrote:  “The Liturgical Year devoutly fostered and accompanied by the Church is not a cold and lifeless representation of the past, nor a simple, bare record of a former age.  Rather, it is Christ Himself who is ever living in His Church.  Here He continues that Journey of immense mercy which He lovingly began in His moral life ‘going about doing good’ with the design of bringing men to know His mysteries and in a way live by them.  These mysteries are ever present and active … they are shining examples of Christian perfection as well as sources of Divine grace.”  (§165)  Similarly, the decree of the Second Vatican Council on the “Constitution on the Liturgy” states that: “Recalling thus the mysteries of redemption, the Church opens to the faithful the riches of her Lord’s powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present for all times, and the faithful are enabled to lay hold upon them and become filled with saving grace. (§102)

Book of Heaven
3/24/14 – Vol. 11

Continuing in my usual state, I (Servant of God, the Little Daughter of the Divine Will, Luisa Piccarreata) was lamenting with Jesus who had not come yet. Finally He came and told me: “My daughter, my Will hides my very Humanity within Itself. This is why, sometimes, I hide my Humanity from you as I speak to you about my Will. You feel surrounded by Light; you can hear my voice but cannot see Me, because my Will absorbs my Humanity within Itself, since my Humanity has its limits while my Will is eternal and without limits. In fact, when my Humanity was on earth, It did not cover all places, all times or all circumstances; however, my interminable Will compensated for It and arrived where my Humanity could not reach.. So, when I find souls who live completely from my Will, they compensate for my Humanity – for the times, for the places, the circumstances and even for the sufferings, because they live in my Will and therefore I can use them just as I used my Humanity. What was my Humanity, if not the organ of my Will? Such are those who do my Will.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe

In her liturgical cycle, the Church, to whom God has committed the work of our sanctification, has instituted a method of holiness whose aim is to make our souls like Christ himself, for, as St. Paul tells us, the Father has predestined us “to be made conformable to the image of His Son”  [Rom. 8: 29]

Every year, therefore, the Church keeps the different anniversaries connected with Our Lord’s life to enable us to take part in al His mysteries, to offer them in homage to Almighty God at Holy Mass, and even more and more to experience their salutary effects within our souls.

The Church, whose petitions are always heard by Almight God, asks for us the Graces which correspond to the different Feasts which she keeps.  For this reason it is of the greatest importance that we should recognize the characteristic spirit of each season of the Church’s liturgical year.

If we permit ourselves to be guided in this way throughout the whole year by our Holy Mother the Church, we shall accomplish our sanctification most methodically and we shall glorify God, as the psalmist says, “according to the greatness of His power.”

In the Roman liturgy we find that Advent lasts four weeks.  The First Sunday of Advent is always the Sunday next to St. Andrew’s Day, which is kept on November 30th.

With the Church at the very opening of the liturgical cycle, let us put all our confidence in Jesus, who at Christmas and at the end of the world will reward those who yearn for Him and await Him.

“Those who trust in Him shall not be confounded”  [Ps. 24: 2]

The whole of the Mass this day prepares us for the double coming of mercy and justice.  This is why St. Paul tells us to cast off sin in order that, being ready for the coming of Christ as our Savior, we may also be ready for His coming as our Judge.

The Gospel tells us that Saint John the Baptist, while fulfilling his mission of preparing souls for the coming of Our Lord, pointed out the Messias to his disciple Andrew.

Prayer to Obtain Favors

It is piously believed that whoever recites the following prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew, November 30th, until Christmas, December 25th, will obtain what is asked. Let us now pray it in the Divine Will:

“Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother.”  Amen.

+Imprimatur: Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York
New York, February 6, 1897

Fiat, Domine, Voluntas Tua,
Sicut in Coelo et in Terra.  Amen.

Click here for the video

Tom, born in 1947, the year Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta entered into Heaven,

Luisa Piccarreta known to the world, working even shortly before his entrance into Eternity.

The world knows Luisa better from his blessed efforts.

His love, patience, and humility touched the hearts of all who knew him,

and he will be greatly missed. Thank you, Tom, for your love and generosity in the Fiat!

Please keep Tom and his family in your prayers.

Requem Aeternam dona ei, Domine, et Lux Perpetua Luceat ei. Requiescat in Pace. Amen. Fiat!

Obituary: https://www.myersdurborawfh.com/obituaries/thomas-osborne

Livestream funeral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmAxK2VD5j8

https://www.youtube.com/@saintjosephcatholicchurche3988/streams

Letters of Luisa #1 – May the Divine Consoler, Jesus, Console you and put Balm on the deep wound opened in your hearts by the loss of dear M…  But no, you have not lost [her].  [She] has left for Heaven and you have acquired a peacemaker and protector before God, just as [she] was on earth.  [She] will continue to do, from there, the office of peacemaker; (…) Therefore, all we can do is to say “Deo gratias” for the fortunate M.., and “Fiat” for ourselves who have lost [her], and this “Fiat” will Remedy everything.  So, let us not get discouraged by sorrow and losses; they are always bearers of Graces, Light, and most Surprising Aids.  We have an Omnipotent Will with us; therefore there is nothing to fear… Blessed Jesus and our Celestial Mama will be together with you, to Guide you and Dispose all things according to their Adorable Will.

Your most devoted servant, Luisa Piccarreta – Corato, February 24, 1932