Monthly Messages from the Queen of Peace of Medjugorje: June 2017

Medjugorje, June 2017 ~ 36 years of grace!

Our Lady's Monthly Message to the World on June 25th:

   "Dear children! Today, I desire to thank you for your perseverance and call you to open yourselves to profound prayer. Prayer, little children, is the heart of faith and is hope in eternal life. Therefore, pray with the heart until your heart sings with thanksgiving to God the Creator who gave you life. I am with you, little children, and carry to you my motherly blessing of peace.  Thank you for having responded to my call."

Our Lady's Message to Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez during her annual apparition on June 25th:

   "Little children, pray, pray, pray."

Our Lady's Special Message to Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo on June 2nd:

   "Dear children, as in the other places where I have come to you, also here I am calling you to prayer. Pray for those who do not know my Son, for those who have not come to know the love of God, against sin, for the consecrated - for those whom my Son called to have love and the spirit of strength for you, for the Church. Pray to my Son, and the love which you experience from His nearness will give you the strength to make you ready for the works of love, which you will do in His name. My children, be ready. This time is a turning point. That is why I am calling you anew to faith and hope. I am showing you the way by which you need to go, and those are the words of the Gospel. Apostles of my love, the world is in such need of your arms raised towards Heaven, towards my Son, towards the Heavenly Father. Much humility and purity of heart are needed. Have trust in my Son and know that you can always be better. My motherly heart desires for you, apostles of my love, to be little lights of the world, to illuminate there where darkness wants to begin to reign, to show the true way by your prayer and love, to save souls.  I am with you.  Thank you."

Feast Day Celebrations: St. Anthony of Padua Church in Kailua, 6/13/2017

Happy Feast Day, St. Anthony of Padua! And congratulations to all fellow-devotees of this most wondrous of Saints (learn more about him by clicking here).

St. Anthony of Padua,
our beloved Patron,
pray for us!

Tonight, our parish of St. Anthony of Padua Church celebrated the feast of our illustrious patron in the usual awesome manner - first with a meaningful Mass and a relic-veneration service... followed by a big potluck party, as only our Kailua residents can do it - with lots and lots of diverse ethnic food, and family-friendly fun and entertainment!

I can't express enough how much I enjoy this particular annual parish celebration because it's almost like going to a Baby Luau or a wedding. I run into friends I haven't seen in a while and we all get the chance to catch up and re-bond... and even make new friends.  So not only do we get blessed in the spiritual sense, but we also get blessed in the social sense through the fellowship and joy that's shared within our faith community; a feeling of belonging or, as we locals like to call it - "Ohana"... and tonight's Feast Day celebration was no different.  It was just a great night and a fitting way to honor our Saint, who we are so proud of. Again, congratulations, St. Anthony... hope you enjoyed our celebration for you!

        

Above-Left:  Our priest, Fr. Exse, prays a healing blessing over the congregation, as our parish's 1st Class [bone] Relic of St. Anthony is displayed on the altar.  Above-Right:  Immediately after, people lined up to kiss and venerate the relic of our Patron Saint (click on each photo to view larger images).

Above Video:  This is how my island parish celebrates a Feast Day... with

beautiful Hawaiian music and impromptu hula dancers.  Beautiful!

Below Video:  And because we have three priests, all from the Philippines,

they couldn't let the night pass without representing the Filipino culture,

as well, with their own traditional dance.

... until next year's celebration, St. Anthony of Padua, pray and watch over us!

First Saturday Parish Rosary at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 6/3/2017

St. Juliana Falconieri,
the Handmaid of the Eucharist

It was nice to see this month's First Saturday Rosary event exceptionally well-attended... and there were many new people who came, which is always a welcomed sight! I always feel the more people praying, the better... and I particularly enjoy seeing what the "newbies" look like when they first arrive, compared to their appearance when they leave the chapel after. Most look relieved; lighter and brighter.  I'm not making it up.

So before beginning our Rosary for Peace, I first introduced our June Saint (and accompanying relic) - St. Juliana Falconieri - to our parishioners. I shared that, in a nutshell, Juliana is best remembered for the Eucharistic Miracle that happened at the very end of her life. Unable to receive Viaticum because of constant vomiting, the Host was instead laid on a corporal that was spread over her chest. St. Juliana died peacefully soon after but the Eucharist went missing... only to be found mysteriously "imprinted" onto the skin over her heart! It was then evident that Christ had satisfied the Saint's desire for Holy Communion at a time when she really needed His comforting presence; just in manner that was unconventional and obviously miraculous.

So what was the moral of the story? A. Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist... and B. He'll always pull through when we need Him the most; we just have to have faith. That was the dual-message I wanted to illustrate through the life of St. Juliana Falconieri and I think the parishioners were encouraged by it.

After the Rosary Prayer ended several people went up to the display altar to view and venerate my Fatima pilgrim statue and the 1st Class (bone) Relic from St. Juliana that I had brought to the meeting. As I might have mentioned in a previous posting, I can always gauge how much a Saint or Blessed's life had impressed the attendants by the number of people who stay to venerate a relic before leaving to attend the Mass next door. More people than usual lined up to view St. Juliana's relic; say a short prayer; take pictures; etc...

 

Our Lady and the Saints have a way of touching people's hearts before,

during, and after our monthly First Saturday Rosary.

Our next First Saturday Rosary for Peace will be offered on Saturday, July 1st, beginning at 4:25pm in the Day Chapel of St. Anthony of Padua Church, Kailua. I actually ran into one of the newbies after and she testified that she had never experienced the Rosary like how she did at today's meeting. She felt that special aura of peace that fills the chapel during our prayer and she'll be coming back next month - Praise the Lord! Come and experience the same peace.  All are welcome!