Excerpted from "Leaflets" column

 

 

    The Holy Father's October's Apostleship of Prayer Intention is that "World Missionary Day be a favorable occasion to elicit an ever deeper missionary consciousness in every baptized person." This year October 21 is the day for Catholics around the globe to stop for a moment to recall the missionary obligation all the faithful have.

 

On the occasion of World Missionary Day, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI tells us:

"Missionary commitment, then, remains ... the Church's primary service to humanity today, in order to guide and evangelize cultural, social and ethical transformations, and to offer Christ's salvation to modern mankind, humiliated and oppressed in so many parts of the world because of endemic poverty, violence, and the systematic negation of human rights."

 

The LEAVES family has been a devoted partner to Mariannhill's missionary work. Through your loving support we are able to bring the precious Good News to places the world over. Our heartfelt thanks to you.

 

The Holy Father says, "The first and principal contribution we are called to make to the Church's missionary activity is prayer. ... May all communities join in the choral invocation to ‘Our Father Who art in heaven,' that His kingdom may come on earth!"

 

We ask that on World Missionary Day all our dear LEAVES family pray for our work in the missions to bear fruit that will last. Just as you raise prayers on behalf of our missionary workers, know that we, too, will be praying for you and your concerns.

 

Another way to spread a missionary spirit is to share a copy of your LEAVES magazine. When you finish reading this issue, take a moment to think of friends and family who might enjoy the prayers, requests and shared stories of faith. A constant note we get from readers is that you pray for all the others in the LEAVES family. What a marvelous gift! We thank you all.

 

We are proud of our LEAVES family. We are tied together with bonds of faith and love. We see life through the filter of faith. This is not always consistent with society's view. However, we look to the goal of eternity with the Lord, not to what is popular here and now. How wonderful that we can support one another on our faith journey.

 

Benedict XVI concludes his message for World Mission Day by calling on the Virgin "to guide our footsteps" to "a Pentecost of love. In particular, may she make us aware that we are all missionaries, ... called by the Lord to be His witnesses in every moment of our lives."

 

October is the month of the Rosary. Why not dedicate one of your Rosaries during the month to missionaries wherever they may be. You might also say another rosary on behalf of the LEAVES family members for all their spiritual and temporal needs.

 

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

 

 

 

 

Excerpted from "Our Family Album"

 

 

Rosary Promotes

Peaceful Sleep

 

In the April 07 LEAVES a reader asked for prayers for a sleep peaceful from demonic attacks. It has been my experience that saying my Rosary prior to sleep keeps my dreams decent and my sleep protected from evil. If I fall asleep without completing the Rosary, I often wake up in the morning feeling sorrowful and emotionally drained.

 

The Rosary is like spiritual armor. One of the Blessed Mother's promises for saying the Rosary daily is that we will never be devastated by evil. [Editor's Note: October is the Month of the Rosary and a particularly appropriate time to begin praying the Rosary.]

 

Medals are also our daily protection from evil. I wear medals of the Blessed Mother and St. Benedict. I have escaped two accidents in the past five years without a scratch. Others in the vehicles were not so lucky.

 

Our Catholic Faith has given us powerful protections during dangerous times if we will only use them. I am sending this letter on the day following the massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech (April 16). Our religion has given us the resources to feel safe from dangerous predators - Mrs. S.M.

 

 

Scotland Family and

God's Precious Sheep

 

Many thanks for the LEAVES magazine and the novena booklet (Fr. Engelmar) I received here in chilly Scotland. My friends at the pro-life prayer group are as excited as I am in what is a new devotion for us. I will aim to try and find out everything I can about Fr. Engelmar and his example. To have another heroic person in heaven willing us onward is a tremendous boost and source of encouragement.

 

I am a cradle Catholic happily married to Moira, who is also my best friend, and although I am undeserving, Jesus has been kind to me. Our Lady has poured many a grace on my wee Scottish family, and I know she will continue to do so till we all make it safely home to heaven. We have four children: Gerard who is 10 years old, Maria who is 6, Benedict who is 5 and wee Anthony who is only 3.

 

I would like to share this wee bit of information with you. Out of my four children, only Benedict is unaffected by autism. Gerard, Maria and Anthony are all at different parts of the autistic spectrum, with only Anthony awaiting official diagnosis. Yes, sometimes the going is tough, but I've learned that we are never alone.

 

In conversations I refer to the "blessing of autism" and people always ask why I do so. The answer is what I want to share with you. I believe - indeed I am certain - that God has given my children the grace of autism to allow Him to keep them as His own. Apart from Benedict, my children will never truly understand the harsh brutality of this world: abortion, immorality, hatred, greed and all the other evils.

  

The Messiah has touched my children in a special way to shield them from these evils of the world. As they do not fully understand right from wrong, He has protected them from the snares of the evil one. Jesus wants them for Himself … and that's fine by me!

 

Yet people ask me, "Why doesn't your God cure them?" I tell them I've never asked Him, and never will. If they in their innocence have been given a direct route to their true home, why on earth would I ask that it would be lifted? Yes, the world sees them as retarded, delayed and autistic, but I ask this of the world: Which sheep will Jesus carry in His arms? The ones that are sure and healthy, or those that He knows have special needs? We both know the answer - Gerry Hamill.

 

 

 

Excerpted from Father Engelmar Testimonies