Monthly Message from the Queen of Peace of Medjugorje: May 25th, 2022

   “Dear children! I am looking at you and thanking God for each of you, because He permits me to still be with you, to encourage you to holiness. Little children, peace is disturbed and Satan wants peacelessness. That is why, may your prayer be even stronger so that every unclean spirit of division and war may be stilled. Be builders of peace and carriers of joy of the Risen One in you and around you, for the good to win in every man. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Celebrating St. Rita... and some other Saints too!

Today, this ministry conducted a presentation - another one for the RCIA Group at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Kailua.  Being that it's May 22nd, the Saint this administrator spent the most time speaking about was St. Rita of Cascia, whose Feast Day is today.

When conducting talks about Saints, I always try to tie in a lesson when sharing the bio of each featured holy person, and St. Rita's life-message was easy: when life gets tough, PRAY... and do it with confidence!  St. Rita exemplified this lesson beautifully since her biography is filled with lots of examples of how she overcame many challenges through persistent prayer and trust in God (click here to read more about her)... and I further emphasized her life by also bringing a relic - "ex habitu" (clothing) - of the Saint for the audience to see and venerate.

Other holy persons I spoke about this morning included St. Bernadette of Lourdes, Ven. Carla Ronci, St. Damien of Molokai, Bro. Joseph Dutton of Molokai, and Bl. Lorenzo Maria Salvi; diverse, yet all inspirational examples of holiness in our Church!

Relics present at this morning's presentation included (from Left to Right): Our Lady's veil, St. Bernadette (1st Class), St. Damien (2nd Class), Bl. Lorenzo (1st Class), and St. Rita (2nd Class).

.... and what particularly pleased me was this year's group of RCIA candidates was comprised primarily of young adults, and several seemed genuinely enthusiastic about what they heard, even staying after the presentation to view/venerate the relics and to ask more questions.  These people are the next generation of Catholics and to see their interest in our spiritual heroes gave me a sense of excitement and hope about the future of the local Church.

It was a Saint (St. Bernadette) who first led me years ago to fall in love with the Catholic Faith... so, may the Saints I shared about this morning intercede for each of my listeners so that they, too, may receive the same grace I did.

Thank you, St. Philomena!

This a little embarrassing for this author but I made a promise to God and St. Philomena that I'd do this if the Saint helped me with a certain health issue.  Well, she did... so here we are today - I'm publicly testifying to St. Philomena's powerful intercession.

To make a long story short, several months ago I noticed a dime-sized reddish rash on my lower right leg.  In the weeks that followed it grew bigger and bigger, and it started to burn and itch.   I had no idea what it was but figured it was some sort of dermatitis.

Reluctant to visit a doctor, I tried various over-the-counter medicated creams (e.g. hydrocortisone) and moisturizing lotions for several weeks but none of it worked.  Instead, the rash grew, got darker, and it was still itching badly; the skin on the rash also turned crusty.

A bottle of blessed oil from the Shrine

of St. Philomena in Mugnano, Italy.

In frustration I decided to turn to Heaven for help and in my heart I felt strongly inspired to do a novena to the Virgin-Martyr.  I prayed a 9-day cycle of the same prayer, while also applying blessed oil a friend brought back for me from the Saint’s Sanctuary in Mugnano, Italy.  At the end of the novena there was no noticeable change to my leg, but rather than giving up, I decided to start a second novena.  When that was all over, I noticed a slight improvement but the rash was still present.

Hopeful, I started a third novena with the daily application of the blessed oil and sometimes using a little hydrocortisone when the itch was bad.  This time around the rash began quickly clearing up until it eventually went away on its own after the prayers finished - see the photos below.

I have to reiterate that prior to praying the novenas, none of the treatments I tried for a couple of months worked.  So, thank you very much to our dear St. Philomena.  I firmly believe she helped me once again... and I am grateful.

For those in need of help, I encourage you to turn to this little Saint with trust.  The prayer I used can be accessed by clicking here; the blessed oil and other St. Philomena devotional items can be ordered from here.

May Jesus bless us all through the intercession of his glorious spouse - St. Philomena, Powerful with God!