Saturday, 11/19/2016: A full day for Mary...

Yesterday was a very busy day and I - am - tired. I spent the majority of my Saturday driving around and doing things for our dear mother - the Blessed Mother, that is - so I was fine with it all. Besides, what Our Lady gives back in return, far outweighs any effort we put into whatever we do on her behalf; trust me - she never fails us when it's our turn to ask her for something.

+ Speaking Presentation & Holy Relics Visitation: Mary, Star of the Sea Church

Saturday morning I had the privilege of speaking to 25+ members of the Third Order of Mary based in Kahala. I spoke to them in 2014 about the Saints, but this time around, their leader asked me to share about Marian apparitions with them. So the talk I put together for the group consisted of an overview of the Church's view on private revelations; examples of approved Marian apparitions around the world; and a synthesis of the Blessed Virgin's overall messages through her seers.

Being that this ministry is also known for sharing relics, I couldn't not include Saints and Relics in my presentation... so a segment on the lives of beatified/canonized Marian visionaries, whose relics are in my custody, was incorporated into my talk. Being that my audience was comprised of people who have made a personal commitment to Our Lady, I though it important to emphasize certain spiritual traits from each Saint/Blessed that we could imitate in our own faith journeys (e.g. child-like confidence in Mary).  After the presentation, the audience was given the opportunity to venerate the relics.

In the end, it appeared to have been a very successful presentation, despite a rocky start (my laptop repeatedly malfunctioned under strange circumstances). Based on the feedback and comments I received, I was satisfied that many of the people had found the presentation interesting and informative. I especially enjoy it when individuals introduce themselves and share their own personal stories of how Our Lady or a certain Saint had blessed or touched them. The stories are always intriguing and provide me with inspiration for my ministry. It wasn't any different yesterday and I left Mary, Star of the Sea Church feeling uplifted and having made several new friends.

     

Relics of St. Bernadette of Lourdes,

St. Catherine Laboure, St. Padre Pio,

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and all

three Fatima Seers were present

during today's presentation.

+ Holy Relics Visitation: Our Lady of Fatima Prayer Group

Our Lady's statue with our group's

newly acquired image of St. Joseph

& the Christ Child.

After my presentation on Saturday morning, I rushed home to put the relics and my equipment away and took a short break before I had to head out to Mililani for my monthly meeting with Our Lady of Fatima Prayer Group. We, as a spiritual family, celebrated Thanksgiving early. Although we thank God each time we pray, giving special thanks to Jesus and Mary ended up being our main theme tonight.

In the past few months, Heaven has granted us what seems to be an escalation of extraordinary graces and confirmations of our Blessed Mother's presence, such as the unusual movements we've witnessed in our group's Rosa Mystica statue. We thanked God for all of it, but more importantly, we thanked Him for blessing us with each other; the genuine Christian fellowship, support, and love we've shared during the past four years are the biggest gifts we've received from Christ through the hands of Mary, our Heavenly Mother.  We consider ourselves very fortunate.

A few other highlights of the evening included hope-filled prayers for the good of our country and the veneration of St. Leopoldo Mandic. With the Year of Mercy closing today, this Saint's life was a reminder that God's mercy does not end with the Holy Year - it continues to be extended to us, especially in the confessional.  Then, of course, we feasted on an awesome potluck meal.

Our group's early Thanksgiving dinner was an untraditional menu that included diverse delicacies such as Chicken Curry, Chili with Hot Dogs, Lumpia, Macaroni Salad, Pork Adobo, & Pumpkin Crunch for dessert.  God is good, people - Happy Thanksgiving to all!