Our Lady of the Rosary

 "Dear children! Today I call you to begin to pray
the Rosary with a living faith.  Only in that way I will be able to help you. You wish to receive graces, but you do not pray. I am not able to help you if you do not decide to begin.
  I invite you, dear children, to pray the rosary in such a way
that it will be a commitment for you , achieved in joy.
  In this way,  you shall understand the reason I am with you for such a long time. I want to teach you to pray. Thank you for having responded to my call".

  BVM, Medjugorje, June 12, 1986

 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”  Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther.But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.  They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them Lk 24:25-33

 Reflection: In this story we find that the risen Christ "interpreted for them every passage of scripture which referred to him," so that his disciples would understand the meaning of his life, death, and resurrection.

 In meditating on the mysteries of the rosary, Jesus also helps us to interpret and understand the meaning of his life and death. And today Our Lady as well says to, "let the faithful meditate each day on the life of Jesus while praying the rosary." It is not necessary to concentrate on the repetitive prayer of the rosary, (which serves as a mantra) but to let the quite rhythm of the prayers keep us centered on the particular mystery on which we are meditating.

 The more we reflect on the lives of Jesus and Mary through the mysteries, the more we become like them in mind and heart. By means of the rosary, the Spirit of God gradually transfigures our hearts and minds to resemble those of Christ and his Mother.

Application: Pray the scriptural rosary  if you have a book with the verses, or if not, pray the traditional rosary truly from the heart, "meditating on the life of Jesus," as Mary asks of us. 

Medjugorje Day By Day, Richard J Beyer

The Way

Raymond Arroyo, from the The World Over Live, has actors Martin Sheen and son, Emilio Estevez as featured guests this week. They are promoting their new movie, "The Way" which opens up this Friday. October 7, 2011.

"The Way"  is a powerful and inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges we face while navigating this ever-changing and complicated world. Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. Rather than return home, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage to honor his son's desire to finish the journey. What Tom doesn't plan on is the profound impact the journey will have on him and his "California Bubble Life.”
Inexperienced as a trekker, Tom soon discovers that he will not be alone on this journey. On "The Way," Tom meets other pilgrims from around the world, each with their own issues and looking for greater meaning in their lives: a Dutchman (Yorick van Wageningen), a Canadian (Deborah Kara Unger) and an Irish writer (James Nesbitt), who is suffering from a bout of writer's block.
From the unexpected and, oftentimes, amusing experiences along "The Way," this unlikely quartet of misfits creates an everlasting bond and Tom begins to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world again. Through Tom's unresolved relationship with his son, he discovers the difference between "the life we live and the life we choose."
THE WAY, written and directed by Emilio Estevez, was filmed entirely in Spain and France along the actual Camino de Santiago.

The support of films of faith and purpose depend on us! I hope you will consider asking a friend or family member to come at and see this film this weekend!

God bless, Daily Grace

Sanctify Yourself and You will Sanctify Society

"Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.

– St. Francis of Assisi

Francis of Assisi was poor only that he might be Christ-like.He really believed what Jesus said: "Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper in your purses, no traveling bag, no sandals, no staff" (see Luke 9:1-3).

         He recognized creation as another manifestation of the beauty of God. In 1979, he was named aptron of ecology. He did great penance (apologizing to "Brother Body" later in life) that he might be totally disciplined for the will of God. His poverty had a sister, humility, by which he meant total dependence on the good God. But all this was, as it were, preliminary to the heart of his spirituality: living the gospel life, summed up in the charity of Jesus and perfectly expressed in the Eucharist. 

Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons and Feasts, Leonard Foley, O.F.M, revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M

 

        "Dear children! Without prayer there is no
         peace. Therefore I say to you, dear children, pray at the foot of
         the cross for peace. Thank you for having responded to my call."

         September 6, 1984, BVM, Medjugorge