May we, through the veneration of Saints of the past, inspire Saints of the future!
“After I had eaten, I didn’t feel at all well so he (her guardian Angel) brought me a cup of coffee so good that I was healed instantly and then he made me rest a while” – from the diary of St. Gemma Galgani.
There you have it. Coffee. The drink of choice given by Angels.
Enjoy!!
Today being the First Friday of the month, I had an idea I’d like to share.
If you are a parent or know a parent with children in a Catholic School, I suggest contacting the school leadership to have them offer First Friday Mass throughout the year. If started in October, this would be exactly 9 First Friday’s before school ends in June.
Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque (1647-1690), a French nun in the Visitation Order, and gave her the special task to spread devotion to His Most Sacred Heart.
He said: ““I promise you, in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the first Friday for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance; they shall not die in my disgrace nor without receiving the sacraments; my divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in that last moment.” — Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary
Our Lord made several other promises, among which are that “Tepid souls shall become fervent” and “Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection”.
What an incredible gift to give to our children! Please prayerfully consider this.
Here is more info about the devotion:
https://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Our-Lord-Jesus-Christ/the-nine-first-fridays-devotion.html
Happy Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today we celebrate when Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was taken up body and soul into her new home in Heaven.
Thank you, Mother Mary, for always saying YES to our Lord. Help us to imitate you, to make God the center of our lives. Help us to love Jesus like you did.
By the power of God, please bring all the holy souls in Purgatory to their final resting place in Heaven. Amen!
All Saints Museum has an On-line Exhibit dedicated to Mary. Please visit it in honor of her. Thank you!
Some harsh words from God the Father in dialogue with St. Catherine of Siena as dictated by her while in a state of ecstasy to her secretaries.
“And I would that you know that, more darkness and division have come into the world amongst seculars and religious and the clergy and pastors of the holy Church, through the lack of the light of justice, and the advent of the darkness of injustice, than from any other causes.”
“Neither the civil law, nor the divine law, can be kept in any degree without holy justice, because he who is not corrected, and does not correct others, becomes like a limb which putrefies, and corrupts the whole body, because the bad physician, when it had already begun to corrupt, placed ointment immediately upon it, without having first burnt the wound. So, were the prelate, or any other lord having subjects, on seeing one putrefying from the corruption of mortal sin, to apply to him the ointment of soft words of encouragement alone, without reproof, he would never cure him, but the putrefaction would rather spread to the other members, who, with him, form one body under the same pastor. But if he were a physician, good and true to those souls, as were those glorious pastors of old, he would not give salving ointment without the fire of reproof. And, were the member still to remain obstinate in his evil doing, he would cut him off from the congregation in order that he corrupt not the other members with the putrefaction of mortal sin. But they act not so today, but, in cases of evil doing, they even pretend not to see. And do you know why? The root of self-love is alive in them, wherefore they bear perverted and servile fear. Because they fear to lose their position or their temporal goods, or their prelacy, they do not correct, but act like blind ones, in that they see not the real way by which their position is to be kept. If they would only see that it is by holy justice they would be able to maintain it; but they do not, because they are deprived of light.”
I do believe that these words apply now more than ever before. Many Priests and Bishops simply will not correct or reproof others, a clear neglect of the Spiritual Works of Mercy – to Instruct the Ignorant and to Admonish the Sinner.
This neglect causes such confusion and conflict.
Take as an example the actively homosexual person who dies. We’ve seen in recent news this very case being debated by a few of our Bishops. There is an intersection between the Corporal Work of Mercy to bury the dead, and an obligation at the same time to the Spiritual Works of Mercy to Instruct the Ignorant and Admonish the Sinner (the deceased person’s partner or family as an example). There needs to be greater teaching about this intersection between the Works of Mercy. Justice demands this teaching and clarification – the light whereby right Mercy can be applied. If we neglect the Spiritual Work of Mercy in this example situation, then we cause great scandal which could lead to the destruction of many souls – and what did it cost? We bury one dead person, but neglect hundreds whose souls may be dead. Yet, with a balanced approach we can still bury the dead appropriately if we also consider the Spiritual Works of Mercy.
Surely today’s Gospel “I desire Mercy not sacrifice”, is made more clear in the light of the Father’s words to St. Catherine. True Mercy applies the ointment only after having treated the wound.
God bless, and may All Saints pray for us. Amen.
Hello All Saints Museum family!
In honor of Saint Gemma Galgani, Patron Saint of All Saints Museum, whose Feast Day is April 11th, I want to encourage you all to say a Triduum Prayer to her. She won’t fail you. Begin it this weekend to end on her special day!
Saint Gemma Galgani was an Italian Mystic born March 12, 1878. She is well known for her devotion to the Passion of Christ, and therefore is a wonderful Saint to venerate during Lent and through Easter. She is one of the few Saints to receive the Stigmata (which are the wounds of Christ). Saint Gemma Galgani died on April 11th, 1903.
Please learn more about her by checking out my dear friend’s website – http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/
You may also be interested in seeing our Saint Gemma Galgani Exhibit, and of course also our Live Wax Museum Exhibit, click on Saint Gemma’s name.
Saint Gemma, Pray for us!
All Saints Museum Family,
Happy Lent! I hope your Lent has been fruitful so far. Keep the faith and the good works!
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2:8), so we know this is Sanctifying Grace which is given by the Sacraments. And faith is “the evidence of things unseen” (Hebrews 11:1), which makes perfect sense because the Sacraments show us visibly the truth which is happening invisibly. Therefore the Sacraments are the visible signs of our faith, evidence of the Grace within us – that is the “participation in Divine Life” (CCC 1997). And moreover this is proof that “faith alone” doesn’t save us, because the Sacraments are in themselves works- that is outward signs, but the Grace is freely given by God. Not our own works, but the work of God through us, through our faith. Jesus came to do the work of His Father, and He sent us to continue His work! (see John 17:18 and John 20:21). And the work of God is this – to believe in Jesus (see John 6:29). Therefor it is neither faith alone nor works alone which saves us, but by Grace through faith – visibly manifest by the works we do in Christ.
In this season of Lent, I encourage you to receive especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation. How wonderful a Sacrament – God’s work in our Heart to Heal and Forgive and impart His Free Gift of Grace. Amen.
All Saints Museum family.
On behalf of the Museum, I would like to wish you all a warm and peaceful Christmas and a New Year full of renewed devotion to the Saints. We have updated our Holy Card Project to include cards from our collection for November and December.
Enjoy, and please keep All Saints Museum in your prayers.
God bless,
All Saints Museum family.
As we continue to add to our Holy Card Project we will keep you updated. Like September, October also has some real power-house Saints including Saint Therese of Lisieux, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Teresa of Avila.
Enjoy, and please keep All Saints Museum in your prayers.
God bless,
Catholic Schools are a ministry of the Church. Therefore, it saddens me to hear parents say that they would sacrifice the Catholic Identity of their school for the academics because they can always teach their kids the Catholic Faith at home. As if the Faith can be given at home any better than academics could be given at home. We can give a basic academic education at home as well, just as surely as we can give a basic Catholic education. But that’s why we choose to send our kids to Catholic School – to get both. Sure, one can provide the Identity at home, but not to the extent the Catholic school does. Individual Catholic formation at home is important, but it is only a piece. A child really truly needs a Community Catholic formation in order to be equipped for God’s purpose in their life. That is the value the Catholic School provides. It’s their mission! It’s almost guaranteed that many of the Catholic Schools are heavily focused on making their schools “academic” at the cost of their soul – because that’s what appeals to the demographics especially in the United States. Little do they even ponder this fact: academics gets us through this life, maybe. Catholic Faith gets us through eternity, definitely.
We had a great opportunity this past week to display a Portrait of Saint Francis of Assisi along with a 1st Class Relic for Veneration in honor of his Feast Day at Saint Leo the Great Church in San Jose. Big THANKS to Portraits of Saints for the beautiful art, and to Saint Leo the Great for allowing this. I’m sure we will never know how many souls were touched.
Please continue to pray for All Saints Museum, that we may be able to bring these kinds of opportunities to more and more people.
In Christ Jesus