First Saturday Parish Rosary at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 7/7/2015

Happy 4th of July!  Our monthly Rosary Meetings focus on interceding for PEACE in this life in a widening range: Peace within ourselves; within our families; within our neighborhoods; within our country; and finally, Peace for the entire world... but this month - being that today commemorates the birth of the USA - I couldn't help but be preoccupied with the spiritual well-being of my country, which urgently stands in need of prayer.

All one has to do is turn on the television news and every other month it almost seems that there's a mass-shooting occurring somewhere in the USA; sometimes followed by rioting... and we all know what the Supreme Court recently did on June 26th, 2015: same-sex marriage was legalized... and now guess what? There's a man with two wives (the practice of bigamy) somewhere in the country who just launched a court battle to have his second marriage legalized.  I don't even want to speculate what will follow next.  All I can foresee is my poor country slipping more and more into moral degradation... and eventual self-destruction.  God help us.  

So it was good we prayed this evening, America's 239th birthday... and surprisingly, despite the popular 4th of July celebrations that were planned throughout the island, we actually had a decent turnout.  About 16 people attended when I was only expecting to see less than half of that number in our Day Chapel tonight.

A rare relic of Bl. Peter: leather
from a belt he wore when he died.

Our Saint of the Month - Bl. Peter To Rot - was also appropriate in lieu of current events.  He died in July 1945 and his annual Memorial will fall on this Tuesday, July 7th.  Bl. Peter was a lay-catechist of Papua New Guinea who was martyred by Japanese soldiers (Japan occupied the small island nation during WWII) because of his staunch defense of Church Teachings, which the foreign invaders outlawed.

In particular, our Martyr was found guilty of encouraging resistance to the revival of polygamy (multiple marriages), which the Japanese encouraged in an effort to undermine western influence in Papua New Guinea, including Christianity. Bl. Peter instructed his fellow Catholics to remain monogamous and not break their marriage vows; hence, the reason for his arrest and execution. One can see why his example and intercession is more relevant for today's society than it has ever been.  Let us ask Bl. Peter's prayers for the world, especially on his upcoming Memorial.

The next First Saturday Rosary for Peace will be offered on August 1st.  We invite all those seeking peace and special graces in their lives to come and pray with us.  The Rosary Prayer is powerful and the more people praying together, the louder our knocks at Heaven's door.  God bless America!