USCCA7- Episode 7- The Good News: God Has Sent His Son

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Archbishop Lucas offers insights on the US Catholic Catechism for Adults Chapter 7:

We ponder Christ’s person and his earthly words and deeds in terms of mystery. His earthly life reveals his hidden divine Sonship and plan for our salvation. His parables, miracles, sermons, and wisdom sayings help us “to see our God made visible, and so we are caught up in love of the God we cannot see” (First Preface for Christmas).

The Most Reverend George J. Lucas leads the Archdiocese of Omaha.

For other episodes in the visit our Archbishop George Lucas page

This programs is based on:

More information can be found here.

We wish to thank the USCCB for the permissions granted for use of relevant material used in this series.
Also we wish to thank Chuck Adams and Miriam Gutierrez for their vocal talents in this episode.

CW3 St. Francis of Assisi – Conversion, Crisis, Relationship, and Prayer  – The Great Cloud of Witnesses: Guides for Prayer with Fr. Mark Cyza

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Fr. Mark Cyza discusses the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.  He speaks of the radical intimacy of St. Francis and Jesus Christ and how it was born from the saint’s continuing conversion and how it was fueled by his relationship with Christ in prayer.  How can his prayer be a beacon for our own: the center of our spiritual life must be focused on Christ….if it gazes on anything else we fall off track.

Resources:

Fr. Paschal Robinson’s circa 1906 translations of The Writings of St. Francis, in pdf from Sister’s Bookshelf

Biographies of him were written soon after his death, by people who knew him and by people who interviewed those who knew him. We have many near contemporary sources, aside from Francis’ own writings, through which we can come to know Francis.

The Little Flowers of St. Francis is the only one of these source documents commonly available on the web for reading free. There are several sources, which we give here for you to read this work, or listen to it, if you download the MP3s from CCEL.

Attributed to Br. Ugolino, The Little Flowers of St. Francis from Christian Classics Ethereal Library

Another copy of The Little Flowers, this one from EWTN

 

The Chaplet of St. Charbel – for text click here

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Countless…countless…miracles are attributed to this rmarkable saint of the Middle East…St. Charbel.  I didn’t know of him until a wonderful member of the Fransican Friars of the Renewal, Br. Martin Ervin introduced us to this extraordinary man.

“In the 19th century Father Charbel Makhlouf-along with a few other saintly men-had tried to live again the austere life of the desert fathers of the early church. He belonged to the Christian body known as Maronites, a group which traces its name back to Saint Maro, a friend of Saint John Chrysostom. This group of Christians, most of whom still live in Lebanon, have been united to the Western Church since the 12th century, thus bringing into Western Christendom traditions of great value that might readily have been forgotten. These traditions are ones of enormous self- discipline, and few have exemplified them better than Charbel Makhlouf.

After 23 years of this ascetic life, Charbel had a paralyzing stroke just before the consecration while celebrating the Eucharist in his chapel, and died eight days later on Christmas Eve. After his death many favors and miracles were claimed through his intercession in heaven. Today his tomb is visited by large numbers of people, not only Lebanese Maronites and not only Christians” – Mansour Mouasher

In 1950, Father George Webby, a Maronite priest from Scranton, visited Lebanon, took a photo of monks outside the wall of the monastery in which St. Charbel had lived and upon development of the picture saw that St. Charbel miraculously appeared with the monks, according to information provided by St. Anthony’s Church.

Art work for holy pictures of this saint is now taken from this photo.  Can you see him?  (Hint: smack dab in the middle)  click on the picture and then zoom in….

St. Charbel is listed among The Incorruptibles, saints whose bodies were found intact years after burial. His body kept pouring oil and blood until the year before his canonization in 1977.

Here is a neat video entitled “The Saint Charble Song” …it’s special…

Prayer of Saint Bernadette

“Let the crucifix be not only in my eyes and on my breast, but in my heart.O Jesus! Release all my affections and draw them upwards. Let my crucified heart sink forever into Thine and bury itself in the mysterious wound made by the entry of the lance.”

Prayer to St. Bernadette

O Saint Bernadette, who, as a meek and pure child, did eighteen times at Lourdes contemplate the beauty of the Immaculate Mother of God and received her messages, and who afterwards wished to hide yourself from the world in the convent of Nevers, and to offer thyself there as a victim for the conversion of sinners, obtain for us the grace of purity, simplicity and mortification that we also may attain to the vision of God and of Mary in Heaven. Amen.

 

The Life of St. Bernadette and the miracle of Lourdes

Incorruptible Bodies of Saints

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‘Remember o man that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’  We hear these words each Ash Wednesday to remind us of death and judgment awaiting us all.  While our bodies are the source of so much focus in our culture, they will decay into dust, until they are ultimately resurrected and reunited with our souls at the end of the world.

God has granted exceptions to this, however, in the “incorruptibles”—saints whose bodies are miraculously preserved in tact after death, as a visible sign of their holiness.  These miracles have withstood in-depth scientific and medical examinations that rule out any possible hoaxes and make clear that they are entirely distinct from those bodies preserved through extreme temperatures or mummification.

When St. Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes was examined in 1909, thirty years after her death, her body appeared the same as when she had been alive: her body was odorless and her skin was supple and had coloration—while the rosary in her hands had rusted over.  Today her body can still be observed and pilgrims state that looks as if she were merely asleep.

And then there’s the St. Anthony of Padua.  Years after his death his body had decayed, but God had preserved the great preacher’s tongue alone—those present reported that it was perfectly pink.

Sometimes you just smile through an entire interview wishing it wouldn’t end…that’s what it is like talking with Joan Wester Anderson.  What a truly lovely woman!  She seems to have a very special mission for the Father in Heaven – to make known the glory of those special messangers of the Lord, the Holy Angels of God, and to relate the heavenly miraculous moments which occur in  the everyday around the world.  Joan is a beautiful story teller both in print and on the air.  I know you will enjoy our conversation….[powerpress]

Visit Joan’s website at http://joanwanderson.com/
It’s really inspirational!

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Here is another conversation with Joan on the Angels