LELEAVES Website for July-August 2005 Issue
Excerpted from "Leaflets" column
Our new Holy Father deserves the same love and devotion we offered Pope John Paul II. Just as we welcome our new shepherd, we can still honor Pope John Paul II by following his example. This can be done through prayer, action, education and celebration.
Prayer: Stories tell of John Paul II spending hours each day in prayer. Not all can pray six or seven hours a day, but at the least, we can commit to increase our daily devotions. For those who do not pray daily, even faithfully following through with a ten-minute daily commitment is a step in the right direction.
Try new forms of prayer. If you are familiar and comfortable with praying the Rosary, continue to pray it, but then add some Scripture reading to your daily routine. If you know only memorized prayers, learn new ones or learn how to pray in your own words.
Pray at different times. Begin and end your day in prayer. Elsewhere in this issue are the prayer intentions of the Apostleship of Prayer. When you pray, include the Holy Father in your prayer. Ask God to hear his petitions and intentions. Beg the Lord to help our new pontiff with his awesome task of guiding the faithful.
Have you tried quiet contemplation? Prayer can be listening to God, not just talking to Him. Spend some moments in silence simply waiting for the Lord to enter your heart. Listen closely for His whisperings to come forth.
Action: When John Paul II began his papacy, he was young and energetic. He did not sit back in the Vatican and wait for people to come to him. He went around the world to where the faithful are. When he traveled, he spent many long hours each day in order to be present to as many people as possible.
We do not have to travel the world over, but we certainly can go across town to volunteer at the nursing home or hospital. Food pantries and soup kitchens can always use help. No act of kindness is too small to be noticed by the Lord. He even sees you when you pick up the little piece of paper in your elderly neighbor's front lawn.
Parishes offer all kinds of opportunities for service. From contributing to the annual bake sale to coordinating the parish library, every effort we make helps build up the kingdom of God. In many areas priests are working on overload because of a shortage of vocations. Lay Catholics should do whatever they can to help their local parishes. Call the rectory to see what kind of service is needed.
Education: The writings of Pope John Paul II provide a wealth of spiritual reading. From his poetry to his encyclicals to his public addresses, the Holy Father dealt with the practical and the divine. By studying his writings we are both instructed and inspired.
Material from the Holy Father can be accessed via the internet on the Vatican website (www.vatican.va). Local libraries should also have copies of the Pope's books. Of course, most can be purchased from a local Christian bookstore, from the internet or directly from the publishers.
Block out a certain amount of time regularly to devote to spiritual reading. A daily 10-minute commitment is better than not putting it on your schedule at all. Join a study group or find a study partner. If you meet once a week you can discuss what you have read and plan for future reading.
Celebration: Faith is something to be celebrated and Pope John Paul II was very consistent about his own devotional life. Each day he offered Mass. He regularly celebrated the Way of the Cross. As evidenced by his naming the new Luminous Mysteries, the Rosary held special significance for him. We would do well to follow his example and remember to offer the Way of the Cross and pray the Rosary.
We are still in the midst of the Year of the Eucharist. Pope John Paul II knew how important celebration of the Eucharist is and therefore called for a year honoring this central tenet of our Faith. Let us use this time to deepen our understanding and appreciation of the Holy Eucharist.
To enhance our celebration of the Eucharist, we can arrive a few minutes early for Mass and pray for our hearts and souls to be open to the Lord as we celebrate Mass. The moments after receiving Communion can be used to earnestly pray either spontaneously or by using traditional prayers of the Church.
These are just a few of the ways in which we can honor Pope John Paul II. Our greatest tribute would be to live our Faith to the fullest extent possible, continuing to grow in love and devotion to Our Lord. May God grant you abundant blessings always - Father Thomas Heier, C.M.M.
Excerpted from "Our Family Album"
On a trial basis I was using an apparatus connected to my hearing aid that was designed to amplify my hearing. The electronic adapter was attached to my hearing aid (about the size of a large thimble pulled over my finger) and was intended to activate a small microphone that was hung around my neck.
Experimenting with the device for two weeks, I found it did not benefit me. When I put my hearing aid on the day I was to return the apparatus to the audiology clinic, I noticed that the adapter was missing. Somehow or other it had slipped off the hearing aid.
I searched frantically for it, to no avail, so I went to the audiology clinic with a heavy heart. The audiologist was very sympathetic, but told me I was responsible for paying for the lost article to the tune of over $900.
I went home with my heart pounding and started another diligent search for the article, praying non-stop to the Sacred Heart, Blessed Mother, Ss. Therese, Anthony and Jude. A three-hour search revealed nothing and I was growing more frantic all the time.
In desperation I went to the chapel and stood before the tabernacle, praying: "DEAR JESUS, LEAD ME TO IT. It has to be somewhere, just show me where it is." I went to my pew and, as I entered it, I noticed something on the floor at the far end of the pew. I bent over and picked up the adapter, just seconds after I prayed "LEAD ME TO IT!" I cried with relief.
Ironically I had noticed that article on the floor three days in a row. I thought it was a wad of wool, dust, or lint and I figured that the cleaning person would be along with a mop. But renovations were going on in the chapel and so the cleaning person's duties were on hold. Had the usual mopping been done, neither I nor the audiology clinic would ever have seen the adapter again.
PRAYER IS POWERFUL. Never despair! - Name Withheld.
54-Day Novena
Works Wonders
My donation is in thanks for answered prayer through Our Blessed Mother and the 54-Day Rosary novena. I had a stye on my right eyelid that would not heal. At first there was just one stye and then a cluster of three formed inside the lower eyelid. A specialist gave me eye drops, but I was allergic to them.
The outside of my eye became very red and swollen, so I started the novena that consists of five decades of the Rosary for 27 days in petition, then immediately five decades each day for an additional 27 days in thanksgiving, whether or not the request has been granted.
On the first day pray the joyful mysteries, the second day is for the sorrowful, the third is for the glorious and the fourth day is again for the joyful, and so on throughout the 54 days of the novena. At the end of the novena, my eye was completely healed, thanks to Our Lady - M.W.
Excerpted from Father Engelmar Testimonies
There is now available a booklet of the novena of Fr. Engelmar Unzeitig, C.M.M. You may receive a free copy of it by sending a stamped (postage for one ounce, currently 37 cents), self-addressed envelope to us at:
LEAVES
P.O. Box 87
Dearborn, MI 48121-0087
Thanksgiving to Fr. Engelmar for a favor received. Stomach pains for weeks on end, at times quite severe, had me convinced I had cancer. After a series of tests the disorder was found to be a bleeding ulcer. I promised Fr. Engelmar a donation if the results of the tests showed no cancer. Fr. Engelmar has heard me many times and I pray he will eventually be declared a saint - Mrs. F.R.
+ + +
I want to tell of the wonderful outcome of my prayers through the intercession of Fr. Engelmar. My first grandchild was expected around Nov. 19, 2003. After July's ultrasound my son and his wife were told that the baby's development was slow and the water sac in its brain had not drained properly. The doctors said to wait another month to see what developed. It could have been Downs' Syndrome or worse.
A friend at my new church gave me a copy of LEAVES and I read the wonderful testimonies of "miracles" after praying the novena in honor of Fr. Engelmar. I am a convert and never heard of him before, but I sent for a copy of the novena immediately. The booklet came with only four days until the next ultrasound. I prayed the first five days immediately and then continued. My son called us the afternoon of Aug. 4 and said the baby looks perfectly normal and is even bigger and more developed than expected. I truly feel Fr. Engelmar's intercessions have blessed us - J.M.
St. Anthony can find anything. He even found a home for a little stray cat that I took in and could not keep. What a saint! - Name Withheld.
Housed in gold upon the altar
The Lord of each one reigns --
Majestic, never aloof or haughty,
Hearing our prayers and pains.
Never too busy to hear our story,
Ever ready to heal
Broken hearts and shattered lives,
As each one we reveal.
Would that we could be like Him
In all we think and do,
Loving God so much that we
Are tabernacles too.By Margaret Peterson
There is a very special soap
Available to anyone.
It cannot be bought in any store
And it doesn't cost a cent.
This soap does not do to you
What other kinds of soaps do,
Like leaving a dull white film
Of residue.
This kind of soap
Will make you
Glow and shine on the outside
And will make youPure and clean on the inside.
For a total cleansing
And absolution
Any priest
Can give God's verbal cleansing.
And then
You can receive
Your housel'd due
(Holy Eucharist).
And then
You will
Shine,
Shine,
Shine.
Alleluia!By Helena Parisi