Where Faith Begins: Prayer to St. Anthony For the Recovery of Lost Gra...

Where Faith Begins: Prayer to St. Anthony For the Recovery of Lost Gra...: "O great and faithful friend of the Lord, Who by the great purity of thy heart, didst merit to see and converse with Him even in this life..."

Prayer to St. Anthony For the Recovery of Lost Graces

O great and faithful friend of the Lord,
Who by the great purity of thy heart,
didst merit to see and converse with Him even in this life,
Thou to whom He granted,
According to the firm belief of the faithful,
the gift of recovering for those who invke thee
the precious gifts which they had lost,
obtain for us (name your petition)

by the prayers and meritsm all the holy friendship and union with God which we should have had if we had always been faithful to Him. Amen

THE MIRACULOUS RESPONSORY

If then you ask for miracles
Death error, all calamities
The leprosy and demon fly,
And health succeeds infirmities

R. The sea obeys and fetters break,
and lifeless limb thou dost restore,
Whilst treasure lost are found again
When young and old thine aid implore

All dangers vanish at thy prayer
And direst need doth quickly flee;
Let those who know thy power proclaim,
Let Paduans say, "These are of thee"

R. The sea obeys and fetters break,
and lifeless limb thou dost restore,
Whilst treasure lost are found again
When young and old thine aid implore

To the Father, Son and, Holy Spirit, all glory be eternally

R. The sea obeys and fetters break,
and lifeless limb thou dost restore,
Whilst treasure lost are found again
When young and old thine aid implore

Pray for us, St. Anthony of Padua
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Devotion to the Prophet Elijah. An ancient and laudable practice

Prophet Elijah

His name, "Yahweh is my God," may be a title applied to him because of his challenge to Baal worship.

The Providence of God worked through all the life of the Prophet Elijah.  He was the Prophet during the time when Israel is adulterous in their worship to God.  It is during those times that because of a corrupt leader King Ahab who is influenced by a pagan wife Jezebel that Israel had worshiped Baal alongside with their worship to God.  Hence Israel was punished with a drought.

Though the whole country suffers famine Elijah was supplied by God with his daily necessities through the ravens that brought him his daily ration of bread in the morning and meat in the evening. And his thirst is satiated by the streams of  Cherith. (Kings 17: 2-6)

There where miracles brought by this prophet which turned the hearts of the people to worship God and reject their idolatrous worship of Baal.

The first is the Miracle to the Widow and his son in Sidon, where through their charity to the prophet, God reward them with Oil and Flour which will never run out till until the drought is finished.  The Second was the dead child been brought to life (Kings 17:22) The third was Sacrifice consumed by fire 1 Kings 18:38, the fourth miracle was the Captains and men slain by fire 2 Kings 1:10.  And after the many days of drought Rain was brought 1 Kings 18:41. And finally before his assumption in to heaven, by his cloak the Water of Jordan divided 2 Kings 2:8.

Elijah the Prophet was taken up by a Chariot of Fire into the heaven.

The Prophet Elijah appeared  with Moses together with our Lord Jesus Christ in the Mountain of Transfiguration.  This apparition signifies the threefold mission of every Christian, The Priestly, Mission embodied by Christ, The Mission of the King as embodied by Moses, and the Prophetic Mission embodied by Elijah.

Elijah as the Carmelite Patriarch

(A Statue of Elijah in the Church of Mount Carmel, Jerusalem)

When on the holy day of Pentecost the Apostles, through heavenly inspiration, spake in foreign tongues, and worked many wonders by the invocation of the most sacred Name of Jesus ; it is said that many men, who were walking in the footsteps of the holy prophets Elias and Eliseus, and had been prepared for the coming of Christ by the heralding of John the Baptist, saw and were assured of the truth.  They at once embraced the faith of the Gospel, and began to venerate the most blessed Virgin (whose conversation and familiar intercourse they were happily able to enjoy) with a certain peculiar affection, so that they, before all others, built a chapel to that purest of Virgins on that very spot of Mount Carmel where Elias of old had seen a cloud arising, a remarkable symbol of the Virgin. (From the Roman Breviary)

The early Christians prays to their elder brethren in heaven.  As they are the young believers, the elder Saints are the one to whom the Eternal Word has passed through their hearts and by their lips.  And it is so that the devotion to Prophet Elijah goes back to the Ancient times of Christianity.  However our Eastern Brothers and Sisters in the Greek, Byzantine Church still continuous to call on the Prophet Elijah.  And it is also an unceasing devotion of our Carmelite Brothers and Sisters.

REFLECTION:
In this very difficult times, let us turn back to the Lord, whom the secular world has abandoned.  Our present age is similar to that of the Holy Prophet Elijah.  As we are governed by corrupt politicians, and a corrupt government who worships the baal in the form of  worldliness.  We are not aware that we are already forgetting the path of a true Christian. “The Path of Christ”.  The path of Christ is a way of life of entrusting our cares to the Most Powerful Eternal Father who never abandon us, and who loves us.  We are already deluded that the Divine Providence is a Myth and we and the work of our hands are only the reliable agents to brought about our daily necessities.  We make a god of ourselves, in divorcing our dependence on God who can give and grant all that we need.  We all know that God has provided unceasingly since time immemorial, through the words of the Scriptures and through the History of Man his intervention is unceasing.
Man also forgets that his life is only a pilgrimage to eternity and that he in this life is to procure heavenly treasures which not even a moth or worm can destroy, nor can thieves steal.  Man is deluded by his ambition for riches and forgets his eternity.  “Away with the eternity he says to himself, what matters is my earthly life.”  More so man in this meager desires in life is also given to the worship of sexual pleasure, trudging his baptismal grace and Christian dignity he makes way for the dominion of the kingdom of devil and not of God.  Hence the result of this is immorality of the nation, and the degeneration of life.
Let us turn to Prophet Elijah whose spirit and body dwells in heaven.  Let us implore him to return spiritually and visit us in this pagan age.  Let us ask him to teach us never to despair but like the widow in Sidon to carry out the Way of Christ, the Way of Charity.
Our Blessed Mother in her love for  mankind has also given a powerful means to be defended by heaven and to be protected by her maternal protection.  The Scapular, which if we will reflect deeply patterns to the cloak of Elijah.  It is one of the legend that it is the Blessed Virgin who ministered and evangelized the holy hermits who are followers by the Prophet, hence the institution of the Carmelite was established.  May this mantle of Scapular help us to cross the rivers of tribulation.  May it give us the identity of  becoming modern prophet Elijah.  True Christians who believes in God’s power of Divine Providence, believer that this falling nation can be restored back to life, propagator of faith, and an advocate as well as a witness of living a life of grace.  May our actions loudly cry to every people that they are living an idolatrous life of worldliness and impurity.  So that in the end, God’s kingdom shall reign over our life and towards the whole world.

By: Bro. Jose Gerard La Rosa 

Prayer to the Holy and Glorious Prophet Elijah

An angel in the flesh and the cornerstone of the prophets, the second forerunner of the coming of Christ, Glorious Patriarch Elijah sent grace from on high to Elisha to dispel disease and to cleanse lepers.  Therefore, he pours for the healings on those who honour him.

Prophet Elijah of great renown, seer of the mighty works of God, by your comman you held back the rain! Pray for us to the only Lover of mankind! (In silencse say your intentions)

1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria

Holy Glorious Prophet Elijah ..........  Pray for us

THE SONG OF THE FATHER OF THE PRODIGAL SON

THE SONG OF THE FATHER OF THE PRODIGAL SON

By Jose Gerard

Come home to me,

You who were lost from the wilderness.

Come home to me.

For I wait for you in kindness.

And when you are already here.

I will refresh you.

Your mistakes shall be washed out.

And you will never regret, that you are here.

 

Your clothes of rags, shall be exchanged with garb anew.

A royal robe made of silk

A dress of beauty made for you.

Your hand, and your feet of dirt.

Shall be washed, and be cleansed.

And upon your finger, a ring shall be invested.

For my love for you did not change ever new.

Your head shall be anointed.

With fine oils, and perfume.

And upon it a diadem, shall be set.

For you have come to home with me.

And I shall call the serf; together with the nobles we shall celebrate.

For once my child is lost and dead.

And now he is found and has risen from the dead.

And my heart shall rejoice,

And yours shall be satisfied.

And forever gladness shall overflow from your heart.

For you have come to home with me.

The Broken and Rusty Bell

The Broken and Rusty Bell

I will tell you of a story, of a broken and rusty bell.  Once there was an old church with a tower.  And in that tower, there is an old and rusty bell.  It was a long time that worship was celebrated in this old church.  And ever since, no one would enter this old and dusty church.

 This old and empty church caught the attention of the Lord.  Forever since there was no worship, nor sermons done, the people in the land lived a sinful life.  So the lord in his goodness went down to this old empty church.  He wanted to save the souls in the land and be given a chance.  He opened the door, and he cleansed the pew.  He decorated the old and frail altar.  He lighted the candles, he prepared bread and wine.  Then, he said to himself it is now the time to call the people in the land. 

He went into the tower, which holds the broken and rusty bell.   Then he said.  I will sound you to call the people in the land to repentance.  I will use you to call them, to come back home to me.  But the Bell replied:  But,  Master who will listen to such an old and rusty bell. Who will come to you to this house, to worship you and to repent from their own sinful ways?  I am nothing but an old and rusty bell, and people may not listen, because my sound is ugly, and my vibration is frail.  Then the Lord said,  I will use all the things of the world whenever I want to, even if they are old or new, even if they are ugly or pretty, even if they are sinful or holy.  So the Bell said, your will be done oh, Master.

 Then the Lord take hold of the rope, and sounded the chime.  An hour passed, and two people came.  Another hour passed, and five families came.  And  an hour passed, one person came.  Then the Lord went down to the tower, and the people were astonished for it was the Lord.  They all came near to him and asked for his mercy, they all plead and cried for pardon.  Then the Lord said, you are all forgiven, but where are the other hundreds of family, and the youth of weary?  Then the people said, they did not heed the sound of the old and rusty bell my Lord. 

So, the Lord closed the doors, and raised his hand.  Fire and brimstones rained down to the land.  All the unrepentant man and women in the land perished.  And only the few people who came to the church was saved from the chastisement of the Lord.

It is sometimes that the lord use frail spirit to call back man to repentance.  But sometimes we do not hid his call because we judge this frail spirits by their appearance or by their past.  The Lord makes use of everything he wills to use.  And by faith we must see, hear, and f eel him through the others, whatever, and whoever they might be. 

A Glorious Future

A glorious future

Oh men, if you only knew,

What God has prepared for you.

The Happiness and joy in future.

A peace in your being, what bliss so pure.

If you only knew his plan divine.

Maybe you will no longer ask for things in vain.

For more things, and more happiness lies in-store.

Which God had prepared ever since your birth before.

Look at the stars so bright.

And even the nature that was designed so right.

Oh what a beauty, oh what a glory.

For every life is designed in each own particular majesty.

Look at the cross there he hangs.

So great deed that he suffered for us.

In order that the consequences of man’s sinfulness.

Be suspended to give way for man’s eternal happiness.

Oh, man if you only knew.

The glorious things that God had prepared for you.

Maybe you will leave this city of vanity.

And go to the desert, and embrace the silence so holy.

And even if you run away for solitude.

Even if you dwell in the noisy places of the City.

These glorious things will follow you.

For God has a great love for me and you.

And oh men I pray for you.

That you may not build worldly walls around you.

May you not destroy this glorious plan.

Which God has prepared for me and you.

May all of us be not deluded.

By sins, which will make us, secluded.

From this eternal plan.

Which God has prepared for man.

Oh, man if you only knew.

What God has prepared for you.

Let not this hope be destroyed.

By the sadness and trials which the world had employed.

Oh, man if you only knew.

What God has prepared for you.