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Brides Of The Most Blessed Trinity
1681 Bayou Dularge Road
Theriot,
LA
70397
clairerosebmbt@yahoo.com
Our Lady of the Bayou
The Family That Prays Together Stays Together
St. Hilary Church 5-4-08 Ask Father for a blessing! Please pray with me & for me! Come Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of Thy faithful! Enkindle in us the FIRE of Thy LOVE! Send forth Your SPIRIT and we shall be created and YOU shall renew the face of the earth! Hail Mary, full of Grace. The Lord is with Thee! Blessed art Thou among women. Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, JESUS! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners NOW and at the Hour of our death. Amen. I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak through me the words that He wants us all to hear! First, I would like to thank Father Dean for inviting me to come tonight. And I want to thank you all for coming. Months ago when Father asked me to speak on this night he asked me what the title of this talk would be. Without a moments hesitation out of my mouth popped…….. “THE FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER!” I wondered, “Where did that come from?” Just as quickly, I knew it was the Holy Spirit! Normally I have to think and pray about something before I say yes. ***************** Journey of Life In the journey of our life, God is our Source and our Destination, our beginning and our end. At the moment of our Conception, God gives to each of us a body and an immortal soul and He assigns to us a Guardian Angel. Our Guardian Angel guides and protects us until we are safe in Heaven. From the moment of our Conception, our whole life is a mystical journey, a journey back to God. You will hear me say this a few times tonight. God Created us out of goodness and love for us. He breathed life into us. All life comes from God, which is why all life is so precious! All life is pure gift from God! It is God’s desire that all of us live in His Will while we are on the earth so that we will spend Eternal Life with Him in Heaven. In all of God’s Creation, human beings are the only living creatures to whom God has given an immortal soul. That means that our soul will never die! Our body will die and turn back to dust, but our soul will live forever. Our life on earth is like a circle, beginning in God and hopefully through God’s Mercy, ending in Him when through the door of death, we enter a new life, eternity! According to how we live our life on earth will determine where we will go after death. It’s up to us. We have a choice. Both roads are clear. Heaven is real. Hell is real. The choice is ours! This life is short compared to eternity, like the blink of an eye, even if we live to be one hundred years old. Our life here on earth is only a preparation for our next life in eternity. Where will you spend eternity? Where will I spend eternity? Jesus came to show us the way. Jesus said, “They will know you are My disciples if you have love one for another.” I did not always understand this Truth as clearly as I do now. In the beginning God created everything in perfect order. To human beings, God gave us something called free will. He is a gentleman and He will never force us to love Him or to obey Him. Sadly in the Garden of Paradise, our first parents, Adam and Eve were misled by satan and were disobedient to God. They had everything their hearts could desire with no illness or death. Their disobedience brought disorder upon the earth that we still see all around us today. Throughout the history of mankind, God has called forth ordinary men and women to help guide us to Himself on this journey of life. Abraham comes to my mind, Moses, the Holy Prophets of the Old Testament, even Jonah who tried to run away!! They didn’t all say “yes!” the first time they were called. But God used them to get His message across in spite of their weaknesses. Think about St. Peter, an ORDINARY FISHERMAN OF HIS TIME AND WHAT GOD ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH HIM!! God has always used weak, ordinary souls to do His Work. I believe this is to show the world, to show others that it is Him at work and not the person. I am here to share my own journey of life with you. To give witness to what God has done and is doing in my life. Our beloved Late Holy Father John Paul II asked us all to be part of the “New Evangelization, the New Springtime” that he saw would sweep over the earth! My life, like your own has had many mountain tops and deep valleys. God has been working on me for almost 68 years. He still has a lot of work to do. Some of you may already be there, but I am not! We are all called to become holy saints while here on earth. We are not the great Saints of the past. We are not the great Saints of the future. We are called to be and struggle each day to become saints of this moment in time. God loves us and He calls us to live in the present moment in fullness! We cannot change the past so why drive ourselves crazy trying or worrying over something that makes no sense. Padre Pio used to say, “Why worry, when you can pray?” This is not always easy to do. We get distracted, we forget! We get caught up in something that happened years ago and hold on to it. Then we can’t enjoy the present moment and all the goodness and beauty that God gives to us on a daily basis. Or we start to worry about the future and what if this happens or what if that happens??? When we worry too much about the past or the future, we MISS THE PRESENT MOMENT! How can we waste our precious time on such foolishness? God is in control, not us. How can I speak like this? Because I have lived that walk. I am here to tell you that we cannot change anything or anyone, but ourselves! And that is a lifelong project only done with God’s constant love and care and tons and tons of Grace and the love of the others He has placed around us! Conversion, turning to God at all times and in all things is a daily, on-going process. Some call it Inner Healing. Others would say it’s growing spiritually. Daily Conversion is just what it says! It is a lifetime DAILY work, like a garden. In a garden, you can pull all the weeds today, water your plants and fertilize them. But go back tomorrow or the next day. Some worm that was hidden in the soil cut your nicest tomato plant or ate those pretty little green beans that were just sprouting. And in a few more days there are more weeds! Sometimes we lose courage and give up on the garden. We say to ourselves, “It’s just not worth all the work.” We decide we will go to the store and buy vegetables. It’s the same if you grow flowers and trees. You can’t just plant them and forget them or you will have no fruit. This is all part of the disorder brought upon the earth by Adam and Eve’s disobedience. We have to work in the garden to have vegetables, flowers and fruit! I have come to realize that my soul is a garden and that Jesus is the gardener. Once I prayed, “O Jesus, make my heart like a freshly tilled garden where You can plant the seeds that You want to grow in me.” Well, when He started to pull the weeds out, ouch! I thought I would die! As I look at the journey of my life I see God’s Hand in all the events of my life from the time I was a small child until now. Even in the times I turned away from Jesus or did not realize where He was, He was always next to me with His Arms open. Jesus was waiting, filled with love for me, calling me back. His Love is like an ever-flowing refreshing fountain, a rushing river, a cleansing flood always pouring toward us and drawing us into Himself at the same time. Jesus calls and calls each one of us into a personal intimate relationship with Himself. And He promises that when He comes into us He will bring Our Father and the Holy Spirit! The Most Holy Blessed Trinity pursues and calls each one of us. We are each precious and special to God! We are all on a daily mystical journey in our ordinary life! Each one of us has a special unique mystical journey. We are all given different gifts and talents by the Holy Spirit. God’s Love is the common thread among us. Jesus is not the same kind of gardener that we are. He will not give up on us when He encounters a few sins, weeds, worms or bugs in our soul and life. No! Jesus will never leave us or abandon us. We are all broken, wounded creatures. We are broken and wounded by our own sins and the sins of others. We are broken and wounded sinners because of own free will, because of the choices that we make and by the circumstances of our life that are beyond our control. We are all part of the disorder on the earth. The disorder has affected our relationship with God and with one another. The disorder causes wars in families and among neighbors and nations. Jesus calls and calls to us! He comes to us as we are! He uses various means to get our attention. When we finally recognize that He is there constantly knocking on the door of our heart, we all have different reactions to His Call! Some of us hide behind the door, surrounded by the walls of self-protection that we have built through the years! “I don’t want to let anybody in, I might get hurt again! I might have to change the way I’m living! I’m fine just the way I am!” And so on………. Some of us crack the door open a little bit, but the safety chain is still in place. Because of our own wounded ness and sinfulness some of us cannot open the door of our hearts all at once. When we open our hearts and souls to Jesus, He comes in LOVE! When Jesus comes into you in this deep new way after some time He will gently begin to ask things of you. Each one of us was created, called and chosen by God for His Plan of Salvation and His Purpose. And if we respond totally to His Call He will provide all that is needed to fulfill His Will for our lives. This that I am speaking of is a life long process in a few sentences. The thing that most amazes me about how God works is that as He is healing us, as He is pulling weeds and removing bugs and worms from our hearts and souls somehow He is using us to help others on their journey! How awesome this gentle Jesus is! He does not wait until we are healed or totally weed-free to use us or He wouldn’t have ANY helpers and servants. None of us is totally healed or free from sin until we reach Heaven. God chooses the time and the place. Sometimes we respond slowly, sometimes we respond quickly. Sometimes we fail Him, sometimes we please Him. Sometimes we don’t understand what He wants of us even when He speaks clearly. He still loves us in the same way. His Love is Patient. His Love is Kind. He does not brood over injuries, nor should we. His Love is CONSTANT, REAL, PURE, EVER FLOWING TO US AND DRAWING US. HIS LOVE IS REFRESHING. HIS LOVE WILL HEAL AND RENEW US. HIS LOVE WILL MAKE GOOD OF EVERYTHING! Jesus chooses the most ordinary to do the extra-ordinary. Just like He chose simple bread and wine, something the people of His day ate and drank every day. He chose the simple and ordinary to become His Body and Blood. The grains of wheat crushed together become the bread that becomes His Body. The grapes crushed and pressed together become the wine that becomes His Blood. Jesus left Himself to us in this way! He is with us still through the blessed and anointed hands of the Priest! Jesus could have chosen to stay with us another way. He didn’t! In the Will of Our Father, Jesus remains with us still. In the Sacred Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Holy Sacrament of Holy Communion we receive Jesus in Fullness. This means that when we receive Holy Communion in the state of Grace, that is without serious unconfessed sin, we start to become like the ONE we receive, Jesus! Yes we are called to become Jesus’ Body on the earth. We are called to become like Jesus to one another. We are called to be Christ-like with and to one another. Jesus said the Great Commandment is to love God above all things and to love one another with the same Holy Love. Moses was given Ten Commandments by God for us to obey. They are not 10 suggestions. The first three are concerning our relationship with God. The last seven are concerning our relationship with others. Jesus put all 10 into one Great Commandment. If we all truly loved God and one another all sin, all division, all wars would be wiped off the earth. Wouldn’t that be awesome? That’s why Jesus came to earth. He came to teach us by word and example. He suffered, died, and was buried and then He ROSE from the dead to open the Gates of Heaven for us. He came to free us from the power that sin and death had over us because of the disorder brought into God’s perfect world by the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Jesus came to earth as a human being, like us in every way except sin! Jesus did not come to lower His Divinity. He came to elevate our humanity! He came to open the Gates of Heaven for us. He came to teach us about the Kingdom of Heaven! Jesus came to teach us how to live and how to love one another. It is so simple! Jesus said, “They will know you are My disciples by the LOVE you have for one another!” Why is this so hard for us to do? Because we fail to see Jesus in one another! Why can’t we see Jesus in one another? Because we do not look for Jesus in one another! Seeing Jesus in another and LOOKING for Jesus in another are two different things. When we look for Jesus in another, we will see their good. There is good in everyone. The more we look for Jesus in another, the more we will see Him. Sometimes we fail to see Jesus in others because of our own woundedness. When God allows us to see another’s faults sometimes it is because He wants us to look inside our own souls. What we dislike in another might very well be our own worse fault that we are blind to. Jesus came to set us free so we can be all that Our Father created us to be. God created us to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him on this earth so that we can be with Him in Paradise for all eternity. To know Him is to love Him. If you truly know God you cannot help but love Him! To serve God is to love others. Yes, we serve God by loving others! This is so simple, yet so profound that we miss it. It is the Great Commandment! “Love God above all things with your whole strength and mind and soul and love one another as I love you!” God gives us all gifts, different gifts for the same BODY! We, the Church are the Body of Christ! We are the Bride of Christ! He doesn’t give us gifts to keep for ourselves for then they are useless. He gives us gifts to share with one another, for the good of ALL! How hurt must Jesus be when one comes to share a gift with another and the other walks away. Yet we must continue to give and to share our gifts even when others walk away from us. We must remember that some even walked away from Jesus and He is God. And those who walk away Jesus loves them dearly. He loves them so much that he sends us to them. So we go forth and we go on, not for ourselves, but for Jesus. Now I will share with you a little of what Jesus has done and is doing in my life. As a small child I was taught that God created us out of love. I was loved by my parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins. I was surrounded by love. I now realize that not everyone was blessed in this way. ***** In my earliest memories as a small child I remember my whole family kneeling down to pray the Rosary, after supper, at night in the kitchen by the light of a kerosene lamp. My family consisted of Mamma and Pappa, my Grandma, 6 brothers and 2 sisters. I am the baby of 9 children. I was born a year before Pearl Harbor. 2 of my brothers and 2 brother-in-laws went to war in Europe. I learned my prayers in French and in English. I remember our whole family going to Sunday Mass, Missions and many Holy Hours with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. I recall the fragrance of Easter Lillies for Easter Sunday Mass. I remember the Creche` with Baby Jesus at Midnight Mass! I remember playing on the floor under the pew during Mass and I could not understand why mamma would get so upset if I crawled away from her. Mamma had a great devotion to St. Jude. She promised that if all my brothers came home safe from the war she would buy a statue of St. Jude for our parish church. When I was 6 years old they all came home for Christmas, so later Mamma bought the statue as she had promised. Two of my most precious memories of my pappa are seeing him kneel at the foot of the bed every night making the Sign of the Cross and praying before going to bed, the other is when he would let me wash his feet in the foot tub. Jesus and Mary were the center of our home. Mamma had an altar in her bedroom where she put fresh flowers often. There were holy pictures throughout the house. We lived a simple life. Pappa was a fisherman. Mamma’s family were farmers. The only places we went were Church and visiting with family. God was first in our family life. Pappa was the head of the family, Mamma was the heart. My world was very small. I started school at six. I was the only one in my family to speak English when I started school, the rest of my brothers & sisters spoke French. The Church was next door to the school. We were blessed to have a small convent between the school and the Church. There were always 2 or 3 Sisters in their beautiful white habits who lived there, Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic. The priest and the sisters were a great influence in our lives. Mamma and Pappa taught us to love and respect them because they represented Jesus and Mary on earth. The sisters taught us that the Church was Jesus’ House and that He lived in the Golden Tabernacle. I remember the day of my first Confession like it was yesterday and the priest, Fr. Brue was Jesus to me. I felt so clean after. When I got home, Mamma bathed me and washed my long hair. Tomorrow was going to be a very special day! The next morning Mamma woke me up early! She dressed me in a white dress, white shoes and socks and she put a white veil with a crown of silk and velvet flowers on my head. Mamma said, “Today is the most special day of your life! Today you will receive Jesus! You will be His little bride and He will be your Bridegroom for your whole life!” When Father gave Jesus to me I thought I would die of joy! I remember walking outside the Church after Mass and everything was more beautiful than before, the grass was greener, the sky was bluer. I have never forgotten that glorious day! We went to Daily Mass because the bus would drop us off at Church and we would walk to school after Mass. We had to fast from midnight in those days so we brought a little snack to eat after Mass, like a biscuit. We also brought our lunch to school. We must never underestimate what our words can instill in a child. The Sisters taught us to make short visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, in the Golden Tabernacle. Many of us made these visits on our lunch hour. When I was 9 or 10 a special priest came to our parish, Fr. Patrick Peyton. He was called the Rosary priest. He said “The Family that prays together, stays together!” He encouraged families to pray the Rosary together daily. We were already doing that. Fr. Peyton told us that the Blessed Mother had Appeared to 3 little children in a place called Fatima in Portugal. I had never heard of this before. The next morning I remember I told Mamma, “O Mamma, if only the Blessed Mother would Appear in our lifetime, we could go!” Mamma smiled. I said, “O Mamma, I want to see the Blessed Virgin Mary!” Mamma smiled as if she knew a secret, she said, “Maybe if you are good, maybe one day you will see Her!” We started to have a neighborhood Rosary every afternoon in May and October under the oak tree at our house. Mamma taught me to lead the Rosary and the Litany. We also sang Hymns to Mary. Fifty-six years ago in 1952, when I was 12 years old in the 6th grade, I went to visit Jesus in the Golden Tabernacle as I had done many times before. During this short visit, Our Lady Appeared to me for the very first time. I got scared and ran out of Church. I told Mamma and she told the Sisters. About this time I wanted to go into the convent but the Sisters said I was too young. I prayed another Rosary every night with Grandma, after we went to bed. My Grandma was a holy saint. She died at 95, after a short illness, fully conscious, in that same bed as we prayed the Rosary around her. It was 8 o’clock in the morning, Thanksgiving Day, 1954. After Grandma died, her room and her bed were mine. The 2nd time Our Mother Appeared to me was the following year, I was 15. This was just before I was engaged to be married. She came in the night, near the foot of my bed. She was so beautiful, no words can describe Her. She was dressed in a rose colored dress with a blue veil or mantle. Her Hair was medium brown and Her Eyes were brown with all colors in them. I can still see her Eyes and they were so filled with LOVE I can still feel what I felt at that moment. I was not afraid. I had been praying to Our Mother about something and She told me I would make the right decision. A few months later when I was 16, I was married to Buddy, my husband of 51 years. In those days most people were married on Sunday after Mass or on Sunday afternoon. I wanted to be married during Holy Mass and on a Saturday because it was Our Lady’s Day! In 7 years we were blessed with 5 children, 4 girls and 1 boy. So you know we were busy. This was long before throw-away diapers! I quickly learned that all I could do was love my babies, keep them clean and fed and teach them about Jesus and Mary. We would always pray night prayers with them when we put them to bed. We had built a house next door to Mamma and Pappa and we were poor but happy. In 1960, when I was 20 with 3 children, one Sunday my Pastor spoke about the 2nd Baptism. I had never heard of that before. I said, “Jesus, that sounds good! I want it!” I was never shy about asking God for something. My love for priests increased at this time. I began to see suffering in them. When I was 22, my Pappa became sick with cancer. After 7 months of suffering, Pappa died as I held him in my arms. All of his children were around him. I was heart broken. The family that had prayed around Pappa all those years ago was still together as he entered eternal life! Soon after Mamma moved in with us. I was expecting my 4th child and felt blessed that Mamma was with us. Our last child was born when I was 24. A few years later when our baby was 6, Buddy had the offer to go work in the North Sea and we moved to Holland. We wanted to bring Mamma with us but she decided to move back into her house. It was hard to leave her. God was looking after us because He found us a tiny house in a Catholic neighborhood in a small village with a free Catholic school about 2 blocks from our house. The Church and the village center was in walking distance. Our three older children went to an American school in the nearest city by train. They walked to the station which was a mile away. The 2 youngest went to Catholic school where they learned to speak Dutch. Our neighbors became our closest friends. They were Catholic. The lady was my age and she and her family had lived through World War II. The area where we were living in Holland had been occupied by the Germans during the war so her experience and that of her Mamma were so different than mine. At one time they had to eat flower bulbs to survive. There was one thread we had in common. The Rosary! They prayed the Rosary. And their whole family came through the war safe. We went to Holy Mass together on Sundays. They taught me to ride a bike so I could use it to go grocery shopping. We lived there for a year but these people are still our friends. I moved to England so all of my children could go to the free public schools. There again God was looking after us. He found us a little house next door to a wonderful holy older couple, Billy and Polly, who had never had any children. We adopted each other. They were not Catholic, but very prayerful and holy. They took care of me & the children and watched over us. Buddy was offshore most of the time so I was alone with my children. We were there 4 years.
In that time our oldest daughter was married with a beautiful Church wedding in England the week before Christmas. The next day I got a call from my sister that Mamma had been diagnosed with cancer and she had 6 weeks to live. I was devastated! A few days later I packed our clothes & me & my children came home. Mamma lived 3 months and I lived with her. We took care of her at home just like we did with Pappa. She died, fully conscious, on a beautiful day, in Grandma’s bed, surrounded by her children and grandchildren as we prayed the Rosary! Again, the family that had prayed together was together! Part of me died with Mamma & Pappa. I realized that God had sent me to another country to begin to detach me from my beloved Mamma. In all the years that I’ve shared with you I met many holy priests here at home, in Holland, England and other places that I traveled. I loved them all. I saw Jesus in all of them in a special way. I visited many Churches. In England I lived next door to a church that was built as a Catholic Church in the Year 1060. I saw where King Henry VIII’s soldiers had broken and defaced the statues and paintings of Jesus, Mary and the Saints. I walked on the ruins of Monastery Churches that the soldiers had destroyed in obedience to a King who wanted to divorce his wife & the Pope would not let him. A King who broke away from my beloved Catholic Church and who declared himself head of a new church. I grieved and prayed as I visited these holy places that had been so desecrated. I went there again and again. I was in my early 30’s at this time. I visited a small Shrine where Our Mother had Appeared to a Lady in the Year 1061. For many years I had had no visits from Our Blessed Mother, no words. I did not think I ever would again. In the early 1970’s Our Mother returned. She spoke to me and I saw Her several times. I have heard of people who see Her for the 1st time & they ask Her, “What do you want of me?” This never occurred to me to ask something like that. Maybe I’m extra slow, but I never ever thought that God would have something for me to do for Him. I knew with all my heart that I needed Him, but never dreamed that I could do something for Him. Except for being a wife & mom & teaching my children about Him. In 1974 I received the 2nd Baptism, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, that I had so boldly asked God for in 1960. I was healed of a serious condition with my legs. I slowly began to receive gifts from the Holy Spirit, visions, words, praying in tongues, and some of the people I prayed with received healing. I was more surprised than anybody when this happened. We began to go to prayer meetings and conferences with our children. This was a whole new experience for us and within the Church! I will fast forward to 1987, 21 years ago. At this time Our Mother began to call me to pray more for priests. I have always loved priests since I was a child, but the love in my heart for them increased! I made a Cursillo week-end. This was another life changing event for me. I asked Fr. Roch to be my Spiritual Director. I did not know what that was but somehow I knew I needed one. Father said, yes. I had one meeting of 2 hours with him where I shared my journey up to that time. In September of 1987 Our Mother said to me: “You will begin a new order. Your house will become a holy dwelling place where many priests, even Bishops will come and be healed. Get a room ready for Me!” Being very practical I cleaned the front bedroom ceiling to floor. I even washed the curtains. It would be quite a while before I realized She was talking about my soul. I cried On Dec. 8, 1987 Our Mother Appeared to me in the night and made Her 1st Request of me and for the 1st time, She gave me the Title, Mother of Divine Love. She asked me to ask my Pastor, Fr. Roch Naquin to Consecrate our Parish, St. Eloi’s in Theriot to Her Immaculate Heart. She said this would insure Her Protection. A few weeks later Our Mother came with the same Request for Fr. Adrien Caillouet, who was Pastor of Holy Family Church in Dulac. Both parishes were Consecrated in 1988 during special Masses. 19 years ago In January 1989 Our Mother gave me one young priest to fast and pray for. Love through my open heart for priests increased at this time. Out of Love for God and in Thanksgiving to Him for all He had given to me, inspired by St. Therese the Little Flower, I gave my body to God as a living sacrifice for priests. Then Our Mother asked me to ask this priest, “Please Consecrate your parish to My Immaculate Heart.” This 3rd priest was Fr. Dean Danos. Fr. Dean did Consecrate his Parish on Oct. 7, 1989, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Fr. Dean has been my main Spiritual Director since Sept. 24, 1989. This coming October it will be 19 years that Our Mother is asking us to set aside the Last Saturday of each month as a Day of Prayer for Priests. She asks us to pray for holy priests and She asks us to pray for more priests. Our Mother says, “Pray for your priests and Bishops to be holy! Each time one of My priest sons is holy My Immaculate Heart triumphs!” Dec. 8, 1989, I met with my new Spiritual Director for the third time. He became Jesus in front of me and we were taken into an ecstasy for 3 hours. Later Our Mother said that She had taken us to Heaven. The room where this took place is now a 24 Adoration Chapel. That night I gave myself to God as a victim soul for priests. 18 & ½ years ago, Dec. of 1989, two of us met for the 1st Last Saturday in obedience to Our Mother’s Call to pray for priests on that day. Each month Our Mother came to pray with us. She spoke a few words to us. “Consecrate yourselves, your families, your homes, your priests, your Bishops, your parishes and your dioceses to My Immaculate Heart.” On Ascension Thursday 1992, in obedience to the Holy Spirit Lin Crossman from California and I went to my parish Church to ask for a blessing. We were told, "today is the first Official Day of the Order, Brides of the Most Blessed Trinity." Both of us were given the name separately. My Pastor gave us a beautiful blessing. Our Mother always leads us to Jesus. We were simply to pray for priests, offer sacrifice and suffering for holy priests and for more vocations to the priesthood. Lin & I floated around all day long! Our Mother gave us promises and a Rule of Life. I can honestly say that we did not understand. In 1994, Our Mother revealed that She has come to Theriot in response to a prayer prayed to Her under the Title, Mother of Divine Love by Holy Father John Paul II when he was in New Orleans in Sept. 1987. Our Mother gave us many messages in those years between 1987 and 1999 that have not yet been made public. The Mission of the Brides was multiplying in this country. In 1995 we were given the Morning Offering by Our Mother. Lin, Shirley & I had given talks in several states between 1992 and 1999. In 1998 in a message to Fr. Dean Our Mother revealed that She would come for visitations for everyone beginning on the last Saturday of April 1999. Our Mother told us that Her visitations were extended because people were responding to Her Call! ************* Our Bishop Sam Jacobs has designated 2008 as the “Year of the Family” in our Diocese. The Theme of this special year is “Family at the Heart of the Church.” The family is the first church. The family is the first community. Our community here at St. Hilary is called our parish family. We often refer to the human race as the human family. The family is at the center, the heart of the church, at the center of the battle between good and evil. In the Holy Bible throughout the Old Testament from the very beginning, its pages are filled with the history of mankind, the history of God’s Chosen People, from Creation until the Coming of the Awaited Messiah, the Savior. At the heart of this history is the story of many families with their joys and suffering, trials and triumphs. Adam and Eve and their children, Abraham and his family, Noah and his family are a few that come to mind. All different, all unique, all precious and special to God! Each person, each family has an important place in God’s Plan. 4 months ago we celebrated Christmas, the Birth of Jesus, Our Savior. When Jesus became a human, He did not leave His Divinity in Heaven. He came not to lower His Divinity, but to elevate our humanity. He was born into and became the center of the Holy Family. The Holy Family is the Heart of Christmas. Jesus entered into human history through the family. By His Incarnation, Jesus united Himself with every person. He labored with human hands and loved with a human heart! He truly became one of us and except for sin; he was like us in every respect. Scripture tells us that we, the Church are the Body of Christ. Christ is the Head of the Body. The human body is made up of many parts and each part is important. The smallest part of the human body is a cell. EACH FAMILY IS A LIVING CELL IN THE BODY OF CHRIST! EACH FAMILY IS A MINI-CHURCH! Each Parish Family is part of the Diocese Family. All make up the Universal Church, the entire Body of Christ in the great family of nations. Just as every individual person is unique and special to God, so is every family. After the Feast of the Holy Family, we as a Church Family walked the 40 days of Lent that brought us to Holy Week. There we relived the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus! Jesus, by His Birth, Death and Resurrection made us His sisters and brothers. His Father is Our Father. His Mother is Our Mother. Because of this simple yet profound fact, we are Heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. We are all God’s children, one big family. When one of our family members hurts, we all hurt. Normally a person comes into the world within a family. Most of us owe our very existence to our family. It is within the family that we are first loved and nurtured, encouraged to walk and talk. When a person comes into the world without a family he may develop an anguished sense of pain and loss that can burden him his whole life. The family has a fundamental role to play in the life of a person. In a healthy family all the members give and receive unconditional love. This allows each person to grow in holiness and wholeness. Every human person is given gifts and talents by God. Each person is important and necessary to God’s Plan. A person goes forth from the family in order to realize a new family unit, in his particular vocation in life. In this life, the reality is, there are no perfect families except the Holy Family, because families are made up of broken, wounded and sinful creatures. God created the world in perfect Order, but satan deceived Eve and Adam and their sin brought disorder into the world that is still with us today. There is no perfect family because we are all sinful and imperfect. Families today are being stretched and torn apart by many factors in society. Immorality, difficulty in relationships and lack of spirituality are among the many reasons that families break down in crisis. There are many added pressures on today’s families that were unheard of one or two generations ago. To name a few, drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, pornography, keeping up with the neighbors, social acceptability, the need to excel, peer pressure, parents wanting to provide more for their children than they had, etc. The family is under attack by the evil one. If he can destroy the family, he thinks he will destroy the Church. If he destroys the family there will be no future priests and Religious. We are in a crisis time, a challenging time. In other places many churches have had to close and parishes have had to join other parishes because of the lack of priests. Here at St. Hilary & St. Anthony we now have only one priest where there used to be two. Two things strengthen family life. 1st is Prayer. Prayer, both personel and family prayer. Prayer brings Christ into everyday life! Pray the Rosary, the Joyful Mysteries, the family that prays together, stays together still holds true! Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, God has entrusted the passing on of our Faith to us!! Parents are the 1st and most important teachers of our Catholic Faith to our children. Use the Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn and to teach our Faith. Through Baptism God is Our Father. Mary is Our Mother! We are children of GOD!! To quote a very great Saint, His Holiness John Paul II the Great! “Do not be Afraid! Open the doors of your hearts to Christ! If you begin to be afraid, turn to Mary, Seat of Wisdom!” Prayer raises our minds and hearts to God to ask Him for His Mercy and His Blessing! The Holy Family is our model, our ideal to imitate. The Blessed Virgin Mary said ‘yes’ to God when the Archangel Gabriel came to Her, even though She did NOT fully understand. St. Joseph was disturbed until the Angel of God came to enlighten him. From that moment on he worked to protect, feed and shelter Mary and Jesus. Jesus was obedient to Mary and Joseph and They were obedient to God Our Father by living the Commandments and by living their faith. They lived in Divine Order. Even though Jesus and Mary were perfect and St. Joseph became a great Saint, their lives involved joys, sacrifice, suffering, trials, tribulation, false accusation, persecution, death on a Cross. Their lives were not exempt from troubles and ours are not exempt either. We can begin to bring Divine Order into our lives, into our families when we put God first. The father should be the holy head of the family. The mother should be the holy heart of the family. Today there are many one parent families for various reasons. Many grandparents are rearing their grandchildren. This fact alone is not new. In past generations many young women died in childbirth, some men died young and left several children to be reared by spouses or grandparents. There was always a strong family support system nearby in times of crisis. This is no longer as common as it once was but still can be found among our families here on the bayous. We are blessed in that way. What can we do to protect our families, to strengthen our families, to keep our families and its members close to God and to one another? PRAYER MUST BECOME THE DOMINANT, THE FIRST AND THE PRIMARY ELEMENT IN THE FAMILY! Prayer makes Jesus Present among us because He said, “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, I am among them.” MT 18:20 Prayer by the family. Prayer for the family. Prayer with the family. Prayer is the highest form of action. It is a time when all can bow their heads in humble submission together and pray, as Jesus did, to Our FATHER! Prayer is talking to God, sometimes in silence from your heart. There can be no greater example or lasting memory than for a child to experience its parents or parent turning to God in prayer. The greatest gift a parent or grandparent can give to a child is to teach them about God’s LOVE and constant Presence. The family is strengthened and becomes closer when the family prays together. It is NEVER TOO LATE TO START. This can begin as simply as a prayer before meals, a morning offering, evening prayer before sleep, a Rosary, an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, or an Act of Contrition before going to sleep. When we instill daily prayer in the hearts and lives of our children, we give them a gift that becomes a lifelong habit. In and through prayer we come to discover in a simple and yet profound way, our dependence on God Who loves us! God is with us in the high moments and in the low moments of our lives, on the mountain tops and in the low valleys. Parents if your relationship is shaky for any reason, I encourage you; I challenge you, PRAY TOGETHER, every day even if it is only five minutes! Forgive one another as God forgives you! We all have faults. I promise you that your prayer time will grow and your forgiveness and love for one another will grow. Your love for God and obedience of Him will grow. You will become more aware of your own faults than that of your spouse. And Peace and healing will come into your home. You will grow closer to God and to one another and this will be the living example that your children see. For those who have chosen the single life you are all part of a family. We are chosen by God to love. Real sacrificial love to be lived in the family. Father, mother and children. Family is given to us by God as a gift. The church family is made up of all the basic family units; thus the church family will be as strong as the basic family unit. It is our hope that we can help families to refocus on their relationship with God and with one another. As a Church Family we can only hope to help families cope with the pressures of daily life and to learn once more what the core values are that will bring them closer to God and to each other. I encourage you all to consecrate yourselves, your marriage, your home, your children to Our Mother’s Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ask for Their Help and Protection. God is ALL-POWERFUL; there is nothing that HE cannot do! Why Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary? Jesus came to us through Mary, the perfect vessel! How can we do better than go to Her, who is Our Mother? I thought my relationship with God was fine until I asked Our Mother to help me to renew my relationship with Her. Mary’s Immaculate Heart, the Heart of Our Mother is the open Doorway to deepest Union with the Most Holy Blessed Trinity. The Kingdom of Heaven here on the earth is experienced through and in this Holy Union. In this deepest Holy Union, not only does God dwell in us as in a holy tabernacle, but we, though mysteriously, we, our human body and immortal soul, dwell, ABIDE IN HIM!!! Through Our Mother I was brought into this holy union that I did not know existed on this earth! Jesus said, “Where I go and make My dwelling place, I will bring my Father.” Close your eyes and imagine this: The Three Persons of the Most Holy Blessed Trinity, Our Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are constantly giving Love to one another. At the same time, They are constantly receiving Love from one another. This makes Them One. Their Love continually pours out. Picture Jesus going from house to house down a street. He knocks at each door. He has an allotted portion of love for each person. He is filled with Love for each person and is looking for an open heart. Many do not answer his knock on the door. When someone does answer, Jesus not only gives to that person his allotted portion of Love, but He gives to the person with the open heart the portion that was for those who did not open the door.
When we come to Jesus through Mary’s Immaculate Heart we experience the closest Union with God allowed to souls upon this earth. Jesus came to us the first time through Mary. Why not continually? This is God’s Will in perfect Order. When we give our selves to Mary, our hearts & souls open to Jesus. That is why total Consecration to Mary is important. All She does and desires is God’s Will. She is the only human being who cooperated fully with God. Divine Order reigned in Her soul and life. She was totally submissive and obedient to God. There was no disorder in Her. She was created perfect, Immaculate by God because She was chosen to be the living Tabernacle where Jesus would be conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Mary’s Immaculate Heart is the Doorway to deepest Union with God.
Holy Eucharist is God in Fullness. God Our Father Jesus Holy Spirit The Most Holy Blessed Trinity! They are ONE and cannot be separated! Going through Mary’s Immaculate Heart leads us to deeper understanding of God and deepest Union with God, The Most Holy Blessed Trinity! Consecration to Mary leads us to Adoration of God! For through Our Mother we come to understand the Love God has for us. We cannot have the fullness of God without PRIESTS!!! Because priests have said yes to God, we have in Confession the forgiveness of our sins. Because priests have said yes to God we receive Jesus in fullness in Holy Communion. By virtue of our Baptism we are living Tabernacles where God dwells! Yes we are all on a daily mystical journey in a most ordinary life! May we look for and see Jesus in one another because HE IS IN EACH ONE OF US! Last Saturday a week ago we celebrated the 9th Anniversary of Our Mother’s Visitations to us in Theriot. We also celebrated the 16th Anniversary of the Blessing of the Brides of the Most Blessed Trinity. My family is very supportive of this Mission, a great blessing! We have a web site where all the history of our Apostolate and all of Our Blessed Mother’s Messages can be found and printed. We invite you to go to the site. There is also a Summary Letter that Fr. Dean, Buddy, Lin and myself with 20 other Consecrated Brides brought to Rome in October of 2003. Under obedience to Our Mother we placed this into the hands of Cardinal Arinizi` to be given to Our Holy Father, John Paul II. There are now over 700 worldwide who have offered themselves as victim souls for priests. Many thousands daily pray the Morning Offering through out the world. Only God can do the impossible. Our Mother explains it in this way: “God always provides for the needs of His Church. This is needed now, so it happens now. This (so many to offer themselves as victim souls for priests) has never happened before in the history of Our Church. It is needed now so it happens now! You simply have responded to God’s Call.” I will close by reading part of the letter we brought to His Holiness. Our Mother’s Words to Her priest sons: Our Mother's main message to Priests: Our Mother says over & over: "My Precious and Most Beloved Sons: I love you. I love you. I love you! I come to you in love. I come to bring you love. Come home to your Mother. I await you. I call you to holiness. Turn to Me. I long to hold you. I will help you. I will help to wash you clean like a mother who washes her children clean when she calls them in for supper after they have played in the dust and dirt all day. Go to Confession to your brother priest. I give to you My own Heart. I need you My sons. My Son Jesus needs you. You represent My Son Jesus as no one else can. You have been chosen. Your life, your ministry as a holy priest is the highest calling on this earth. Your life must be a living example of true holiness. Come home to Your Mother's Heart. To the world you are a shepherd, to Me Your Mother you are My own little lambs. I love you. Come home My beloved sons. Come back to Me with all your heart. I love you. Mother of all hearts. I have many Titles, I am one Mother, Your Mother, Mother of Divine Love. My Son Jesus in Holy Communion is Divine Love. I have been Crowned with a special crown for you alone My sons, My priests. Crowned by the Most Holy Blessed Trinity, by Our Beloved Father; by My Beloved Son, Jesus and by My Beloved Spouse, the Holy Spirit. There is One God in Three Persons. I love, worship and adore God. In humble submission and in obedience I accept this Crown of all Crowns for your benefit My beloved priest sons. It is the desire of Our God that I be known as Patroness of Priests under the Title Mother of Divine Love. I receive this honor in total love for My God and for you My beloved priest sons. Through this mission of Divine Love the Church of My Son Jesus; the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; My beloved Church will be made one again. It will be restored to holiness and wholeness. This is the new springtime that My beloved son, His Holiness, Our Holy Father John Paul II is awaiting. He is the greatest Saint of your times. Love him! Obey him. He speaks for My Son Jesus and for Me, Your Mother. I am Your Mother just as if I gave birth to you for I gave birth to your vocation as a holy priest. Where are you, My sons? Where are you? I am with you at all times. Where do you bring Me? Come home. I love you. I love you. I love you. Your Mother, Mother of Divine Love." To us Our Mother says: "PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! Embrace your little crosses. Join your sufferings to the suffering of My Son Jesus. Offer these sufferings and sacrifices for My beloved priest sons. My priests are My Hands in this world. Help Me to mend My Hands. When you pray for holy priests you are praying for yourselves and your children for many generations. Be converted. Repent of your sins. Forgive one another My children. Go to Confession to My priest sons. In the Holy Confessional you encounter My Son Jesus. My Son Jesus in Confession is DIVINE MERCY. Receive My Son Jesus with a clean soul in Holy Communion. My Son Jesus in Holy Communion is DIVINE LOVE. Love one another as I love you. All missions will come together in this Mission of My Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, this Mission of the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of My Beloved Son Jesus, this Mission of Divine Love." I invite you all to come on the Last Saturdays to pray with us for our priests. The rosary begins at 2 p.m. May God bless our families! Remember the family that prays together.
