Speaking Presentation & Holy Relics Exhibit: St. Anthony of Padua Church, 11/1/2015

It was all about the Saints today at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Kailua.  Fitting, given the entire Church was celebrating a special day - the Feast of All Saints.

The floor plan on our Relic Exhibit

Guide that was distributed to the audience,

and which showed the names of Saints and

Blesseds whose relics were on display

for public veneration.

In honor of this hallowed day, my ministry was invited to speak to our parishioners about Saints and to bring multiple relics for public veneration.  In response, me and a team of volunteers organized an exhibit of Holy Relics, consisting of thirty-three 1st and 2nd Class Relics from various Saints and Blesseds.

  

Parishioners gathered for the Saints

and Relics Presentation/Exhibit in our

Parish Hall.

The event started with a short talk, during which I emphasized the role of Saints as our spiritual heroes and intercessors; role models for all Catholics to look up to and emulate. After the presentation, parishioners - consisting of adults and many children - were invited to walk around 5 tables on which were displayed the Relics of Saints and Blesseds.  Among those present were genuine relics from many popular Saints:  St. Bernadette of Lourdes, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Christopher, St. Gerard Majella, St. John Paul II, St. Philomena, St. Padre Pio. St. Rita of Cascia, St. Therese the Little Flower, etc.

Some of the many relics that were

displayed at our parish's exhibit.  Also

included were relics of the True Cross

of Jesus and clothing-relics of Our

Lady and St. Joseph.

 

It was a joy to see entire families, standing in front of the relics discussing the Saints whose relics were represented.  Square pieces of fabric were also handed out to each family, to be touched to the relics of the Saint(s) who had inspired them the most during my talk.  Many made use of their cloth, moving from table to table, prayerfully touching the reliquaries.  I could see from peoples' facial expression that most were considerably impressed by their personal contact with the Saints and several wept with emotion.  It was definitely a memorable event for our participating parishioners, as well as my ministry; my first ever large-scale exhibit.

Parishioners making their way to the

various displays of our Relic Exhibit.

 

After the event ended, our team celebrated with a fellowship luncheon of spaghetti, sweet bread rolls, softdrinks, and dessert.  Our conversation was fun, lively, and meaningful.  It was a perfect ending for our Saints Day Celebration and I couldn't help but think that this is how this feast should be observed each year.  With that stated, God willing, I'm aiming for another exhibit in 2016... bigger and better!

Thank you, Lord, for the gift and blessing of your Saints!

Monthly Messages from the Queen of Peace of Medjugorje: October 2015

Dear Children...

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

   "Dear children! Also today, my prayer is for all of you, especially for all those who have become hard of heart to my call.  You are living in the days of grace and are not conscious of the gifts which God is giving to you through my presence.  Little children, decide also today for holiness and take the example of the saints of this time and you will see that holiness is a reality for all of you.  Rejoice in the love, little children, that in the eyes of God you are unrepeatable and irreplaceable, because you are God’s joy in this world.  Witness peace, prayer and love.  Thank you for having responded to my call."

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

   "Dear children, I am here among you to encourage you, to fill you with my love and to call you anew to be witnesses of the love of my Son.  Many of my children do not have hope, they do not have peace, they do not have love.  They are seeking my Son, but do not know how and where to find Him.  My Son is opening wide His arms to them, and you are to help them to come to His embrace.  My children, that is why you must pray for love. You must pray very, very much to have all the more love, because love conquers death and makes life last.  Apostles of my love, my children, with an honest and simple heart unite in prayer regardless of how far you are from each other.  Encourage each other in spiritual growth as I am encouraging you.  I am watching over you and am with you whenever you think of me.  Pray also for your shepherds, for those who renounced everything for the sake of my Son and for your sake.  Love them and pray for them.  The Heavenly Father is listening to your prayers. Thank you."

St. Anthony of Padua Church - Rosary for Peace Candlelight Procession, 10/17/2015

It was another awesome evening of prayer and Marian Devotion at my beautiful parish of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Kailua (Oahu), Hawaii.  Our priest wanted to celebrate October - the Month of the Rosary - in a special way... so we did some quick planning and put together another one of our candlelight rosary processions with the popular "Living Mysteries" performed by a group of youngsters from our parochial school. 

  

Above: The First & Second Joyful

Mysteries enacted by our students

Below: The Third, Fourth, & Fifth

Mysteries

We weren't as organized as the previous processions, but still - it was a great exercise in Faith and the turnout was decent considering the lack of publicity... and the gloomy, rainy weather throughout the day.  In fact, thanks to Divine Providence, the weather cooperated and not a drop of rain fell during the procession.

Above: A short video of our parishioners

in procession behind Our Lady's statue

carried by Knights of Columbus

Below:  Parishioners praying at Rosary Mystery "Stations"

Our devotional event, after a shaky start, proceeded smoothly... as our prayer participants prayed and walked from one Mystery Station to another.  Designated Prayer Leaders lead us in the Rosary Prayer and in reading reflections based on the scenes of the lives of Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph from the Joyful Mysteries.  The children performed their parts earnestly and we, the audience, enjoyed watching their reenactments of the biblical scenes.

A video showing flakes of escarchas

manifesting on the arm of my friend,

Donna, the primary procession organizer.

You can hear witnesses referring to the

escarchas as "Mary's dust".

Heaven, itself, must have been pleased with our parish's efforts, as "little signs" were manifested during tonight's event as with, again, the previous processions.  Escarchas were witnessed appearing on both arms of our primary event organizer - gold, green, and beautiful sky blue-colored flakes in various sizes.  There were so many of them, but I'm not surprised, given how hard my dear friend had worked to bring this event to completion despite a hectic schedule.

And speaking of "sky blue"... during the prayers at the final Mystery Station - The Finding of Jesus in the Temple - I walked several feet away to snap a few photos of the scene and was surprised to see multiple beams of sky blue-colored rays of light shoot down from the dark sky upon the praying crowd.  I was bewildered and dismissed it as my imagination until I got home and discovered that a couple of the photos actually captured the luminous blue rays! The only explanation I could think of was the light was a tangible sign of blessing descending on us; rays and signal graces of the Holy Rosary from the hands of Our Lady of Grace (picture those popular images of Mary with rays streaming from her hands)!

Mysterious rays of sky blue-colored

light can be seen coming down on the

crowd to the left, center, & right of

this photo.  Graces from Heaven? 

So you see... the Holy Rosary prayer is indeed a powerful channel of grace.  Escarchas; rays of unusual light - I don't need any of these to convince me... but how generous is our God in manifesting his loving presence with us in such a tangible and wondrous manner.  HE is good... and so is our beloved Heavenly Mother, the Mediatrix of all Grace!