Religion: Feast Day of Mother Mary September 8

September 8 commemorates Mary's birtday and it's also the feast day of Our Lady of Velankanni.  I'm posting the Novena Prayer to our Lady of Velankanni, also known as Our Lady of Good Health.

Some friends and I have been praying to Our Lady of Velankanni who has showered us with many gifts.

Novena Prayer to Our Lady of Velankanni 


Oh Most Holy Virgin! You were chosen by the Most Adorable Trinity from all eternity to be the most pure Mother of Jesus. Permit me, your humble and devoted servant, to remind you of the joy received in the instant of the Most Sacred Incarnation of our Divine Lord and during the nine months you carried Him in your chaste womb. I wish most sincerely that I could renew, or even increase that joy, by the fervour of my Prayers.

Some Prayers for Peace and Serenity

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdow to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the nest.

Amen.

Prayer attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr. It has been adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs.

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France Brittany: St. Vincent Ferrer in Cathedral of Vannes

Remains of St. Vincent Ferrer in the Cathedral of Vannes, Brittany

This is about St. Vincent Ferrer, Spanish saint who died and is buried in Vannes, Brittany.

I grew up hearing about St. Vicente Ferrer but knew little about him. Some friends who learned I was touring Brittany told me to be sure and visit his burial site in Vannes, which I did.

Call for Submissions - Religious book on Marian Sites

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

This is a call for submissions of creative nonfiction for an anthology tentatively titled, MAMA MARY’S PILGRIM SITES. The book will be edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and published in the Philippines by Anvil. Contributors will receive copies of the book as compensation for the use of their work.

The manuscript should be approximately 1,300-2,000 words. This should be emailed to palhbooks@gmail.com.

The book will collect true accounts of pilgrims’ visits to Marian sites. The anthology will be something like a “tour guide” to other devotees of Mary who are interested in visiting Marian sites.

The editor is looking for well-written religious essays about people’s experiences when they visited Marian sites, in particular sites where Mary has appeared or where miracles have occurred because of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some of the questions that should be addressed are: Why did the person make the visit? Where is the Marian site located? What is the history of the site? What did the person do while at the Marian site? What did the person experience while there or after the visit? Did the person experience any emotional or physical healing? Did the person experience any psychological change as a result of the pilgrimage?

Some Marian sites follow: Fatima, Lourdes, Medjugorje, Knock, Pontmain, Pellevoisin, Giertzwald, Beauraing, Banneux, Paris, Rome, La Sallete, Guadalupe, Syracuse, Vellankani (India), Montserrat, La Vang (Vietnam), Zaragoza, Ephesus, Loreto, Czestochowa, Philippine-sites, and many more.

Some writers have promised to write about: Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima, Velankanni, Ephesus, Ethiopia, Our Lady of Pillar, Medjugorje, Greenbay - the book will try not to duplicate Marian Sites.

The publisher is Philippine-based; contributors with a Filipino connection are preferred.

Deadline for submission is October 15, 2011. Early submissions are welcome. Please send your manuscript and bio (approx. 150 words) in people-friendly narrative form. Be sure and include your contact information.

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ABOUT THE EDITOR: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author/editor of over a dozen books. (http://www.ceciliabrainard.com)

Our Lady of Velankanni Prayer Group

A group of us have been meeting once a month to pray to Our Lady of Velankanni (Our Lady of Good Health) at Maria Ciocon's house, under the spiritual guidance of Father Sebastian and Father George. The group picture shows: Miguel,Marietta, Lucy Adao McGinley, Patrick McGinley, Beverly Bonzon, Father Sebastian, Maria Ciocon, Med Villanueva, Cecilia Brainard


The picture of three shows: Sim Ciocon, Father Sebastian, and Maria Ciocon

JESUIT ONLINE RETREAT - NOW

It only takes a few minutes - come on! Do the Jesuit Online Retreat!

Jesuit Online Retreat - https://www.phjesuits.org/features/762-of-kisses-and-alabaster-jars

ASH WEDNESDAY

"But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31 (From the song sang in church today.)

Ash Wednesday today - St. Monica's crowded. I went to neighboring St. Paul's to park and got scolded for parking there, although I understood that during weekdays it's all right to park in their not-full lot. The parking lot attendant asked, "Are you going to Mass?" with a scowl on his face. I said, "Yes," happily. "You can't park here." I explained that I understood it was all right to park there during the week, not the weekend. He said he knew nothing about that, and I moved my car. Tsk, tsk, St. Paul's for being so un-Christian.

St. Monica's was crowded - standing room only. It was a great Mass, and the ash on the forehead always brings back childhood days. I almost laughed though when I walked down the aisle and saw all these people with the black Cross on their foreheads. For just a heartbeat, the scene actually looked spooky.

OK - Monsignor Torgesen is giving up sweets. I'm not sure what I'll do for Lent. I'm thinking of re-reading The Diary of Faustina.

And there are practical things like replanting the garden and getting the house in shape for Easter.

Meantime, I've started teaching Writers' Sketchbook at the Writers Program at UCLA Extension. We had our first class last Thursday. I've got a great group with great energy.
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Photo shows Joe Biden (Can I call you, Joe?) - courtesy of boston.com

Mother Teresa's Dark Night of the Soul

I finished reading the book "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" (Doubleday 2007). The book collects her letters and some letters to her; these reveal the 55-year-long spiritual condition of Mother Teresa called "dark night of soul." Soon after she received her "call within a call" to found the Missionaries of Charity, she felt abandoned by God, alone, rejected, worthless. Early on, she wrote:

"Please pray for me, that it may please God to lift this darkness from my soul for only a few days. For sometimes the agony of desolation is so great and at the same time the longing for the Absent One so deep, that the only prayer which I can still say is - Sacred Hear of Jesus I trust in Thee - I will satiate Thy thirst for souls."

When these feelings first came she was puzzled, but she never wavered in loving Christ, even when she felt rejected by Him. She did not mind her "feelings" and focused on her work, anchored herself in firm faith in Jesus. Not feeling connected with Jesus made her connect in a deeper way with the poor, the sick, the hungry, the rejected, the abandoned in whom she saw Christ. They were not just "like Christ;" they were Christ.

Some of her spiritual confessors had suggested to her that her dark night of the soul was her intimate sharing of Christ's Passion. He too felt abandoned, rejected - "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me."

Edited by Brian Kolodiejchuk who was one of her champions for her sainthood, the book is a fascinating look at this woman who suffered much interiorly, but never showed her sufferings to the rest of the world, and she never wavered in her love and commitment to God. This was a woman who had visions of Jesus and Mary, who conversed with them, but who remained practical and grounded, as to allow her to found an order and make it grow. She gave God all the credit; but certainly God availed of Mother Teresa's common sense, intellect, passion, and unwavering love and commitment to the poorest of the poor.

She had a grand life - a love story featuring her love for Jesus and the poorest of the poor (whom she saw as Christ disguised).

Excerpts from The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

I bought a hardcover edition of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I had a paperback, which I now can't find. The book consists of letters from Screwtape, an older devil who is mentoring his devil nephew Wormwood. It's funny and insightful at the same time. It cleverly reveals how evil seduces people. Here are some excerpts from Screwtape's letters:

- Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to have a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn't think of doctrines as primarily "true" or "false", but as "academic" or "practical", "outworn" or "contemporary", conventional" or ruthless". Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the church.

- Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defense against Christianity. They will definitely encourage him to think about realities he can't touch and see.

- The best thing, where it is possible, is to keep the patient from the serious intention of praying altogether.

- Of course a war is entertaining. The immediate fear and suffering of the humans i a legitimate and pleasing refreshment for our myriads of toiling workers.

- One of our great allies at present is the Church itself.

Etc. etc. - the book is great! Blurb from the back cover, "Screwtape is an experienced devil. His nephew Wormwood is at the beginning of his demonic career and has been assigned to secure the damnation of a young man. Their letters are one of C.S. Lewis's most brilliant imaginative creations."

NUNS ON BARSTOOLS & NUNS IN BUMPER CARS

I found these pictures of nuns. They are so cute. They remind me of the time Lauren and I were in Rome, near the Santa Maria de Magiorre. After seeing the church, we hung around the plaza outside. Then suddenly we saw four Carmelite nuns, dressed in long brown robes; they looked like the type that practised perpetual silence, the ones that used to be locked up forever. There they were, striding together, a cluster of brown, heading toward a gelato parlor. It was summer and there was a line of people impatient for their gelato. The nuns waited, patiently and quietly. There was no talking, no giggling. They could have been standing in a confessional line. I watched from outside and didn't know what they ordered, but when they left the parlor, one of them was carrying a huge tub of ice cream, and they strode back decidedly, from where they had come.

I imagine it was someone's birthday and Mother Superior had sent the group of four out to buy a treat.

COFRADIA SAN JUAN BATISTA IN CEBU

Louie Narcorda, founder of the Cofradia of St. John the Baptist in Cebu City, sent some pictures of their recent celebration of St. John's feast for his beheading. Here's some information about St. John the Baptist: He was the son of Zachary and Elizabeth, cousin of Mary. The Angel Gabriel told Zachary his wife would have a son even though she was old. St. John lived as a hermit in the desert. When he was 30, he began to preach. Jesus went to him in the river Jordan to be baptized. John recognized Him and said, "It is I who should be baptized by you." John was beheaded by Herod at the request of Salome. St. John's feast is celebrated on June 24. His beheading is celebrated on August 29.





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Photos:1) top left foto - L-R: Dr. Joy Gerra, Doña Luz Mancao vda. de Sandiego,
Dr. Mae Cabahug Mendoza, Janet Trocino Hermosa and Jenara Regis Newman;

2) top right foto - front row - L-R: Val Sandiego, Soly Taladua, Inday
Abarre, Joy Gerra, Cookie Newman, Luz Sandiego, Linda Martinez, Janet
Hermosa, Ofelia Sandiego, Josefa Gorordo de Revilles.
back row, L-R: Louie Nacorda, Ferdinand Ventura, Jerry Martin Noel
Alfafara, Gavin Bagares, Chilet Hermosa, Bingo Redoble;

3) Lower left foto - L-R: Val Sandiego, Margie Matheu, Chilet Hermosa,
Cookie Newman, Msgr. Cayetano Gelbolingo, P.A., Vicar General of the
Archdiocese of Cebu and spiritual director of the Cofradia de San Juan
Bautista, Janet Hermosa, Pepita Revilles, Inday Abarre and Louie Nacorda.

4) Lower right foto - L-R: Louie Nacorda, Jerry Martin Alfafara, Chilet
Hermosa and Nandy Ventura.