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

Book of Heaven 
11/11/00 – Vol. 4

It seems that the blessed Lord wants to exercise me in patience; He has no compassion, either for my tears or for my most sorrowful state. Without Him, I see myself immersed in the greatest miseries; I believe that there is no soul more wicked than mine. Even though when I am with Jesus I see myself cattiva [bad] more than ever, however, since I am with Him who possesses all goods, my soul finds the remedy for all evils. But when I do not have Him, everything is over for me – there is no more remedy for my great miseries; and what is more, I am oppressed by the thought that my state is no longer His Will, and not being in His Will, I seem to be outside of the center, and many times I think of how to go out of It.

Now, being with these dispositions, I felt Him behind my shoulders, saying to me: “You are tired, aren’t you?” And I: ‘Yes Lord, I feel quite tired.’ And He continued: “Ah, my daughter, do not go out of my Will, because by going out of my Will, you come to lose the knowledge of Me, and not knowing Me, you come to lose the knowledge of yourself. In fact, only in the reflections of the light can one distinguish with clarity whether there is gold or mud; if everything is darkness objects can easily be confused. Now, the light is my Will, which gives you the knowledge of Me, and in the reflections of this light you come to know who you are; and in seeing your weakness, your pure nothingness, you cling to my arms and, united with my Will, you live with Me in Heaven. But if you want to go out of my Will, first you would come to lose true humility, and then you would come to live on the earth and would be forced to feel the earthly weight, to moan and sigh like all the other unfortunate who live outside of my Will.” Having said this, He withdrew without even letting Himself be seen. Who can say the torment of my soul?

Interior Lateran Basilica

The pavement of the basilica dates from Martin V and the return of the popes to Rome from Avignon. Martin V was of the Colonna family, and the columns are their badge. The high altar, which formerly occupied the position customary in all ancient basilicas, in the centre of the chord of the apse, has now beyond it, owing to the successive enlargements of the church, the whole of the transverse nave and of the new choir. It has no saint buried beneath it, since it was not, as were almost all the other great churches of Rome, erected over the tomb of a martyr. It stands alone among all the altars of the Catholic world in being of wood and not of stone, and enclosing no relics of any kind. The reason for this peculiarity is that it is itself a relic of a most interesting kind, being the actual wooden altar upon which St. Peter is believed to have celebrated Mass during his residence in Rome. It was carefully preserved through all the years of persecution, and was brought by Constantine and Sylvester from St. Pudentiana’s, where it had been kept till then, to become the principal altar of the cathedral church of Rome. It is now, of course, enclosed in a larger altar of stone and cased with marble, but the original wood can still be seen. A small portion was left at St. Pudentiana’s in memory of its long connection with that church, and is still preserved there. Above the High Altar is the canopy or baldacchino already mentioned, a Gothic structure resting on four marble columns, and decorated with paintings by Barna of Siena. In the upper part of the baldacchino are preserved the heads of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the great treasure of the basilica, which until this shrine was prepared to receive them had always been kept in the “Sancta Sanctorum”, the private chapel of the Lateran Palace adjoining. Behind the apse there formerly extended the “Leonine” portico; it is not known which pontiff gave it this name. At the entrance there was an inscription commemorating the dream of Innocent III, when he saw the church of the Lateran upheld by St. Francis of Assisi. On the opposite wall was hung the tabula magna, or catalogue of all the relics of the basilica, and also of the different chapels and the indulgences attached to them respectively. It is now in the archives of the basilica.

(Excerpt from Catholic Encyclopedia)