LEAVES Website for March-April 2005 issue

Excerpted from “Leaflets” column

            This issue will be arriving at the end of Lent. Use this remaining time of the Lenten season to prepare fully for Easter. Make Holy Week a special time of spiritual concentration. Dedicate a part of each day to attending Mass, reading the Bible or the writings of the saints, or meditating and reflecting on the Passion of Our Lord.

          Center your week’s activities around the Faith. Fasting during Holy Week helps us to empathize with the poor and hungry. Offer prayers of thanksgiving that your hunger is a voluntary and temporary situation, unlike others who are less fortunate. Read the stories in the Bible relating to Christ’s love and care for the poor.

          In parishes across the country those participating in the R.C.I.A. programs will be entering the Catholic Church at Easter. Pray especially for these people that the good Lord will shower His greatest blessings upon them. Welcome them personally or send them a note saying how glad you are to have them as brothers and sisters in the Church. Let them know you are praying for them.

          Take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This can, indeed, be a very important preparation for Easter. Consider how pleasing to God it will be that those partaking of the Holy Eucharist will be in a proper state of grace.

          The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that each Friday and the other days of Lent are intense moments of the Church’s penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works) (CCC 1438).

          No matter how you have celebrated Lent so far, make a point to spend these final days of the Lenten season devoted to faith-filled activities. Doing so will significantly enhance your Easter celebration.

… May God grant you abundant blessings always - Father Thomas Heier, C.M.M.

Excerpted from “Our Family Album”

Miraculous Answer to Novena Prayer

          My donation is in thanksgiving for the miraculous answer to my prayers to Fr. Engelmar. My son was homeless and unemployed for more than two years. I am a widow and I opened my home to him for the past year. He had been away from the practice of his faith for over 25 years.

          I began a novena in January both for employment and for his return to the faith. On Ash Wednesday he accompanied me to church and received ashes and has attended Mass each Sunday since. He had applied for many openings, but the unemployment rate in this area is one of the highest in the nation.

          On Holy Thursday my son received a call to report for work on Monday, Easter Monday. The job is perfect for him in regards to both talent and experience.

I am saying over and over again, “Thank You” to our dear Lord, the Blessed Mother and Fr. Engelmar both for my son’s return to the Faith and for employment. Also, a thank you to Ss. Joseph, Jude, Anthony and Monica - E.McI.

Gold Bracelet Lost

          St. Anthony and St. Therese are very special to me. They have answered my prayers many times. The following story is a true spiritual experience I had in June of 2003.

          While visiting Ottawa to see my son and to attend the wedding of a godson, I discovered, after coming from the wedding reception, that my gold bracelet was not on my arm. It was a 40th wedding anniversary gift from my husband. We both were quite upset over this as we “retraced our steps.”

          We checked in the car we had rented and the underground parking area. We also checked the elevators in the motel where we were staying, but not a sign of the bracelet.

          I planned to call my sister-in-law (it was her son’s wedding) to have her check the church and hall. It was some 50 miles away, but I was quite sure I had the bracelet on leaving the wedding. I went to bed very troubled, praying to St. Anthony and especially asking St. Therese to find it. They had never let me down.

          The next day, Sunday, our son met us at the motel and then took us to Notre Dame Cathedral to attend Mass. We went up the center aisle to a pew about midway. There was nothing on the seat.

          I noticed to the left of the main altar there was a side altar with a large statue of St. Therese and an array of candles on the floor around and in front of the altar. People were going up to it and lighting candles. So I went up and lit a candle also and prayed there.

          When I came back to my seat and turned to sit down, there on the pew was a beautiful rose petal. It was dark red and fresh as if it just fell from a rose. There was not one rose to be found in the church, in fact, there were no flowers at all, not even on the altar! My son looked at me and asked, “Where did this come from?” Then he said (just as I was thinking it), “St. Therese!”

          I knew then that I was going to find my bracelet. After Mass when we went back to get the car, I opened the back door. There wedged between the bottom of the seat and the floor was my bracelet. St. Therese came through again. I still have that rose petal, a gift from her - C.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

          My appreciation for a favor received through the intercession of Fr. Engelmar. In March of 1995 I was found with an enlarged prostate. In August my PSA blood cancer test registered 10.1. In April 1996 my prostate was hurting me. In that same month I made a novena to Fr. Engelmar and the pain left me. In the same month another PSA test was done and this time it registered 8.7. An ultrasound was done and showed no sign of malignant tumor.

          Nov. 1996 I made another novena and the blood test this time was lowered to 8.1. An ultrasound and biopsy was performed and no sign of any cancer. This absence of cancer and a lower PSA reading proved to me the intercessory power of Fr. Engelmar for whom I am eternally grateful - J.T.M.

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          My daughter-in-law had a tubal pregnancy and through the intercession of Fr. Engelmar she came through fine. Also a personal matter for me was granted before I finished my novena. Praise God. Also, thank you, St. Anthony - M.R.S.

Resurrection

With restless heart,

With heart of stone

I come to You, Lord,

You alone.

I place this rock

Beneath Your cross,

This heart of stone,

My albatross.

Please bury it

If there is room

Close to You

Within the tomb.

May it rise with You

On Easter morn

With life anew,

A heart reborn.

 By Bea Walz

A Gift of Daffodils

Not as summer flowers may bloom

In day-glow colors flashily,

As always in this quiet room

Life is sheltered, growing steadily.

On spindly stalks a pale blob grows

And rears its frail trumpet to the light,

Proud harbinger of Spring’s short lease

And golden days of hope and peace.

By Sister Marcella LaKoske, OP