First Saturday Parish Rosary at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1/2/2016

Blessed Mother, bless our new year!

I often heard it said that it's always good to pray, before and after, the start of something important.  I completely agree.  Our parish group closed-out last year with the Holy Rosary and the Mass - two of the most powerful and efficacious prayers in the Church - and we began 2016 in the same way.  So I think it's fair to say that our group is off to a good start this year.

As always, the people that gathered today in our parish's Day Chapel did so to intercede with God for World Peace, as well as to ask for it in our own lives.  It never ceases to amaze me how an incredible sense of Peace tangibly descends into the chapel once our prayer gets underway and, which seems to gradually increase, to the point where the atmosphere is thick with it.  It's as though the Day Chapel, for the 30 minutes that we're praying, becomes a refreshing oasis of Divine Peace through which God fills us; enough to last us until the next prayer meeting and enough to pass on to the rest of the outside world that is clearly thirsting for it.  It's a signal grace we can't keep to ourselves - it must be made known and shared.

And the Saint we honored this month was St. John Neumann (d. 1860), an immigrant from Europe who was ordained a priest in New York and became a Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852.  This ministry made 1st and 2nd Class Relics of this Saint available today for us to venerate (left photo) and my audience was also delighted to learn that he has somewhat of a loose tie to Hawaii.  You see... St. John Neumann founded the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, which in turn, spawned the Franciscan Sisters of the Neumann Communities of which our very own Saint - St. Marianne Cope - was a member.  As a result, our parishioners gave St. John an extra-enthusiastic welcome to our prayer gathering.

The next First Saturday Rosary for Peace will be prayed on February 6th in the Day Chapel of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Kailua, Oahu.  As part of our parish's First Saturday monthly devotion one can go to Confession; pray the Rosary; learn about a Saint or Blessed; venerate genuine relics of the Blessed Virgin and a featured Saint of the Month; and finally, attend Mass to receive the most precious gift from God - the Eucharist.  All are welcome to participate!