LEAVES Website for September-October 2005 Issue
Excerpted from "Leaflets" column
In October this year, the Year of the Eucharist will formally close. This special year was called by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II. As a tribute to the late Holy Father, let us use the final months of the Year of the Eucharist to honor the memory of Pope John Paul II by making an effort to honor the Holy Eucharist.
If you were to attend some special event, you likely would prepare carefully for it. You would be sure that your attire was appropriate, formal for a concert or ballet, casual for a baseball game. Do you have clothing that is specially set aside for wearing to church? Is your clothing modest, clean and pressed? Are your shoes shined?
Before going to a football game, you might read about the teams and possible strategies that might be used. Many people have started reviewing the readings from the Mass beforehand. This allows for a greater awareness and understanding of the Scriptures. It takes only a few moments to read through the Bible passages. Keep in mind, that when something is important, we don't hesitate to spend more time devoted to it.
Try getting to church 15 minutes early in order to quiet yourself and prayerfully prepare for Mass. Determine whom or what you wish to dedicate your Mass to. Does someone need healing or is there someone who is neglecting the sacraments? Will someone be celebrating a birthday or anniversary in the upcoming week? Offer Mass on their behalf.
Take a prayer book with you to Mass and, before it starts, pray one of the Church's traditional prayers or simply kneel or sit quietly in your pew and listen for the Lord speak to your heart. Look around you. Perhaps one of your fellow parishioners could use your prayers. Pick different people for each Mass and pray that God be with them and give them what they most need.
Offer up an Act of Contrition before you take Holy Communion. Better yet, make the Sacrament of Reconciliation a regular habit. The best preparation for the Eucharist is a clean soul. Ask forgiveness for your sins and receive absolution. In turn, if someone has offended you, grant him your forgiveness.
Don't forget the one-hour fast before Communion. Let that be the minimum. Hold off on that first cup of coffee until after Mass. Fasting is good for the soul. Consider abstaining from meat (or some other food or treat) one day a week. We are no longer required to fast on Fridays (except during Lent), but that doesn't mean that we can't do so voluntarily.
Cherish the Lord in Communion with prayer and meditation after Communion and after Mass. Instead of using "Go in peace" as a signal to rush out the door, take your time leaving your pew. Say a final prayer and then go peacefully. As an added benefit, you end up missing the traffic jam in the parking lot.
If possible, add another Mass to your weekly schedule. Offer this Mass for the Holy Father's intentions or for the Holy Soul most in need of prayer. If you can, go to Eucharistic Adoration in a nearby church or chapel. Sink down on both knees in profound homage to Our Lord in the Eucharist.
The ways to honor the Eucharist are many. The time for the Year of the Eucharist is drawing short, so be sure to avail yourself of the many chances for bountiful graces.
… God grant you abundant blessings always - Father Thomas Heier, C.M.M.
Excerpted from "Our Family Album"
I am writing to keep a promise I made to St. Jude. He has answered my prayers to him in two separate instances. I have to begin by saying that I had never prayed to St. Jude before, but was motivated to "try him" because I read in LEAVES how people got their prayers answered by praying to him in desperate cases, and I was truly desperate then.
It was last October when a larger amount of money, Mass offerings, had been entrusted to me to give to a priest in Tanzania. Somehow the money got lost on the way. I prayed, but no answer. Then an issue of LEAVES got into my hands and I read about St. Jude. That's when I decided to try him, saying, "If you, St. Jude, really exist, please help me find that money."
On the fifth day of the novena, I received a phone call that the envelope containing the money was found and was brought to the priest concerned. That was the first time I had prayed to St. Jude and received an answer before I had even finished praying the novena!
The second time happened just now. Since Friday I somehow had misplaced or lost three valuable keys for the main doors of our provincial house and convent. I looked everywhere, but in vain.
Getting desperate again, I remembered my first experience with St. Jude and decided to try him again and also to invoke our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. Lo and behold, this afternoon when I opened the cupboard in the office, which I had opened many times since last Friday, I suddenly saw the keys lying there right in front of me!
I was so stunned that I decided to keep my promise immediately and let LEAVES magazine know: St. Jude together with the late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, have answered my prayers.
I feel confirmed in my faith and I am proud and grateful to belong to a Church with such powerful intercessors and saints - Sister Mary Frances, CPS. [Sister M. Frances has been a missionary in Kenya since 1983.]
Novena Brings Peace
My donation is in thanksgiving for several urgent prayers being answered after praying the novena to Fr. Engelmar. It is also in thanksgiving for a very important paper being found after praying to St. Anthony.
Regarding the Fr. Engelmar novena, I had prayed for some years to many dear saints, angels, holy souls, our Blessed Mother and the Holy Trinity for these urgent needs. After praying to Fr. Engelmar, the prayers are being granted. I am still praying the novena. It brings me some peace and teaches me. Some prayers are still to be answered and I continue to pray.
I am so very thankful that we were able to move closer to our son and daughter-in-law. I am praying for their return to the Faith, for our health and for peace and conversion - T.U.
Family in Need of Prayer
My donation is for the many years of enjoyment I have received reading LEAVES magazine and all of its spiritual information. It has probably been 25 years and I still look forward to each and every issue.
Our family is in dire need of prayers and we are hoping the LEAVES family can help us pray for a miracle. We have gone through a year of much anguish over many health issues: prostate cancer scare, a niece with anorexia, a sister with ovarian tumors, myself badly injured in a car accident - all of which through prayer are being helped.
Another beloved niece has tried for all the years she has been married (nine) to have a child. She suffered from endometriosis for most of her young life and had two operations in which they tried to remove growths. Finally, in Feb. she received the joyous news that she was going to have a baby. Because of her long wait and patience in all that she endured, everyone was overjoyed.
At age 36, my niece is considered advanced maternal age, so the doctors ordered an ultrasound. They diagnosed the baby with what is called a cystic hygroma. The parents were told the worst case scenario, that this indicates a tumor on the baby's neck which means the baby could have a multitude of problems such as retardation, Downs' syndrome, heart problems and even death in the womb.
The coldness of the doctors has plunged my niece and her husband into a deep depression and our family is in great torment worrying about them. The doctors have made it known that it would be best to abort such a child. The young parents, as well as our whole family, are pro-life, so that is not an option. We are looking for a miracle because no matter what science says, God is still producing this child. We have invoked as many people as we can to pray with us that the cystic hygroma will disappear and this child will be born healthy and will be a source of joy to the parents who have cried so many tears over the terrible sentence the doctors have given this child.
In addition to Our Lord Jesus and the Blessed Mother we have invoked many saints: Ss. Therese, Jude, Anthony, Euphrasia, Faustina, Joseph, Pio, Philomena, in addition to those not yet saints: Mother Teresa, Father Stanislaus Papczynski, Bl. Margaret, John Paul II, Fr. Engelmar, as well as Our Lady of Czestochowa, Our Lady of Lourdes and Fatima.
Please help us and my niece and her husband, Melanie and Robert. Thank you so much - J.A.K.
Excerpted from
Father Engelmar Testimonies
There is now available a booklet of the life 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
I truly enjoyed reading the life of Fr. Engelmar - a short life but long on love and the novena prayers mean much - E.W.
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Many thanks to Fr. Engelmar. My 83-year-old mother was diagnosed with bone cancer. After saying the novena, further tests proved no cancer. My mother has always been a strong believer in this novena and Fr. Engelmar took care of her - L.H.
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I am so touched and inspired after reading the book, "Martyr of Brotherly Love," by Adalbert Ludwig Balling and Reinhard Abeln (Crossroad Publishing) which I bought from the bargain books in a religious shop in the Philippines. It helps fortify our faith and service to God in His afflicted people, having an inspiration like Fr. Engelmar. May the fruits of the Holy Spirit be with you always as we pray for one another and persevere in the holy service of Our Lord. Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, may God grant us peace and unity - Br. B.D.E.
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Fr. Engelmar did me a great favor. My donation is in thanks for all my saints and especially Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary do for my family and me. They have never failed me so far. I believe in the power of prayer - Mrs. R.
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I want to thank Fr. Engelmar for favors received. I go through Fr. Engelmar's novena book over and over again. It has done a lot for me. I will continue to pray. Right now I am praying my oldest granddaughter will succeed in life and be able to make ends meet with her little house she bought. She tries so hard. I also pray my health will keep improving, that my blood pressure and thyroid will remain normal and for the well being of my family. I feel Fr. Engelmar's novena has helped my friend who is now deceased. The doctor had given him a year to live with his colon cancer, but he lasted one year and nine months and did not suffer too much - V.R.
Happy Birthday, Mary
A holy couple so long ago yearned for a child to love and cherish.
God heard their prayers and granted their wish.
Happy Birthday, Mary!
The child grew in wisdom, beauty and grace,
Bringing joy to us all in the human race.
A handsome young carpenter, Joseph by name,
Chose her to wed - when the angel came.
She bore a Son sent from above;
A holy family were they, overflowing with love.
She taught Him His prayers, developed His faith,
Prepared for His mission, shared in His fate.
She walked the last mile, helped carry His cross,
Weighed down by the wood and a mother's loss.
She cradled His body, broken and sore,
Swaddled Him in cloth as in days of yore.
Her heart filled with joy at His resurrection
And glorious peace upon His ascension.
She prayed with the twelve, drying their tears;
While awaiting the Spirit, she calmed all their fears.
He gave her to us to love and to cherish,
To keep us in touch, our faith to nourish.
We love her, we pray, we have our devotion,
We offer our hearts, minds and flowers in one motion.
By Ruth P. Regensburg
[Feast of the Birth of Mary is Sept. 8.]
On Apr. 14, 2005, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri affirmed: "To us, above all, falls the task of bringing to fruition the legacy that this extraordinary Pope [Pope John Paul II] left to the Church and to the entire world in the course of his life and at the moment of his death."
Archbishop Sandri continued, "Those who were able to follow the Pope's daily activity most closely witnessed his profound love for the Eucharist. Before making important decisions, he would spend a long time before the Most Holy Sacrament, taking the dossiers to be studied with him into his private chapel and setting aside a time for reflection and prayer before the Tabernacle. Each choice would thus always and exclusively arise from the search for God's will and for the true good of the Church."
The archbishop referred to "a new element that emerged of the personality and the spirituality of the Pope, especially in the months marked by a progressive worsening of his health: the simplicity and poverty of his life. Those who had the opportunity to meet him on various occasions in the last weeks could not avoid feeling a sense of admiration for the modesty of the furnishings that surrounded him, as well as for his humility and simplicity, his sense of detachment and the complete willingness with which he abandoned himself in God's hands."
"Here is the great example," the archbishop concluded, "and the precious teaching that the late pontiff leaves to each of us called to work in the Roman Curia, the heart of Catholicism. It is an example of simplicity and detachment, of faithful and disinterested service in the Lord's vineyard, of constant willingness and docile compliance with the will of God."
The Year of the Eucharist closes in October of this year.
Guardian Angel
Angel of God, my guardian dear,
to whom His love commits me here,
ever this day be at my side
to light, to guard, to rule and guide. Amen!
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This prayer we often said as children
especially at night when mother heard our prayers.
It reminded us to know our angels
and upon them place our cares.
Then at school
every single day
our teachers fixed our thoughts on God,
how He provided safety for our play.
They told us everyone had an angel
and said to give it a name,
so in times of trouble and temptation
the devil it would shame.
And now that I am older,
I still recall those times.
When a friend is quickly needed,
I know my angel doesn't mind.
By Sister Marcella LaKoske, OP
[Oct. 2 is the feast day of guardian angels.]