Cross Mountain

Need I say more?

Many graces and blessings from our climb.

Our Day... Our Call...Our Mission

Here are some photos from our day.
The first is from atop Apparition Hill.
The second is in front of St. James. Later that morning we listened to the visionary Ivan.
We then attended Mass and another talk.
Of course after praying so hard...it was time to nourish the gut.
A few more pics of St. James and the Hill.

Many blessings from our climb this day...hang on!
God Bless.

Pilgrims

Mass

Arrival

In what seemed like a blink of an eye we arrived at Dubrovnik airport.

Then it started.
First the power shuts off in the entire airport leaving us in the pitch dark for a moment.
Then out of nowhere hail starts to bounce off our bus windshield.
Our guide smiled and whispered to my wife and I, "There will be great and many fruits for this group."
But more was to come...
We began reciting the rosary...
Never before had I witnessed such a phenomena.
From the sky--a fireball shot towards us striking the road some 20 yards in front of us. Then the driver pointed to the temperature which dropped from 28 to 7 Celsius (40F difference)
Hail began to drown out our prayers.

We rolled up our spiritual sleeves and prayed louder.

Soon after we pulled into Medugorje we wasted little time...we attended Mass this evening and went to confession.

Pray for us.
And you are in ours.

(I am having trouble posting photos to this site)

Arrival

A quick trip.
A rosary.
And a fireball from heaven.

We attended the evening parish Mass.  More to follow.

On our way

Please pray for us.

On Our Way...

Please offer a prayer for us.
Of course we will pray for you

A Good Start ...Morning Prayer Pentecost

Canticle
Daniel 3
Let all creatures bless the Lord

Let every spring of water bless the Lord; let everything that lives in water sing a hymn to God. Alleluia.

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord.
You heavens, bless the Lord.
All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord.
All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Sun and moon, bless the Lord.
Stars of heaven, bless the Lord.

Every shower and dew, bless the Lord.
All you winds, bless the Lord.
Fire and heat, bless the Lord.
Cold and chill, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, bless the Lord.
Frost and chill, bless the Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord.
Nights and days, bless the Lord.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord.
Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.

Let the earth bless the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Mountains and hills, bless the Lord.
Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord.
You springs, bless the Lord.

Seas and rivers, bless the Lord.
You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord.
All you birds of the air, bless the Lord.
All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord.
You sons of men, bless the Lord.

O Israel, bless the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord.
Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord.
Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, bless the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.

Let us bless the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Let us praise and exalt him above all forever.
Blessed are you, Lord, in the firmament of heaven.
Praiseworthy and glorious and exalted above all forever.

Let every spring of water bless the Lord; let everything that lives in water sing a hymn to God. Alleluia.

24 Hours

24 hours until we depart for Medjugorje. Then it will be approximately another 24 hours until we arrive. Even by today's travel standards it can be considered a trek. Still, it is nothing like the pilgrimages of centuries ago. Those were life changing events that took years to complete.
My prayer today is that the pilgrims enter into the journey.

It is Pentecost and the timing is God sent
I pray the Holy Spirit continues to lead and guide our lovely group.

Petitions

We leave in a few days for our Medjugorje Pilgrimage.
Thanks for the prayers.

Speaking of prayers--
 I opened my email today and someone sent me prayer petitions to take with me to Medjugorje.
It is the practice that pilgrims collect prayers from individuals and carry them on the journey.
They are then given to the Virgin Mary via one of the visionaries during an apparition.
I first heard of this practice years ago when I went on my first pilgrimage.  The pilgrimage director said, "Don't forget to write your petitions on a piece of paper and give them to me."
I'll be honest--I thought it was kind of silly.  I mean, after all I pray to God and Jesus and even ask the Blessed Virgin along with some other saints to intercede.  I knew way too much theology and philosophy and psychology and even spirituality.  Come on, do I really need to write down what is in my heart?

So I did what every overeducated priest/minister/therapist would do.
I looked to my wife.
She was writing.

I fumbled for a piece of notebook paper and a pen and I wrote one sentence.
That's all...one.


Days later I was knocked off my horse, blinded by the Holy Spirit, and stricken mute by an angel.

Don't tell me there isn't something to writing a petition.
Writing is not a passing thing.  It isn't fleeting.  Barring physically erasing or destroying what was written, writing is permanent.  Somehow when you write--God responds and then writes on your heart.

I hope everyone who is going is being touched with petitions.

Medjugorje Pilgrimage Holy Spirit Novena

COME HOLY SPIRIT

May 2011 waking up on the transatlantic

This post is for all the pilgrims readying themselves for our May 28 departure.

Please begin praying the Holy Spirit Novena that you received in your information packet.


God Bless

Another One Down--Celebrity Priest

Good he came clean.
Too bad he missed out on being a dad and husband--maybe his time of reflection will help him accept some new possibilities and responsibilities.

Check Out Pilgrimage Page

For the pilgrimage group, family and friends, please bookmark the pilgrimage page.

Novenas

We are getting ready for a pilgrimage to Medjugorje and praying hard.

As a family we began the 33 Day Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort and we are in the middle of the prayers.  I understand a few others have accepted the invitation and am glad they are on their knees.  I first prayed de Montfort's prayers years ago and ended up returning to the Roman Catholic Church.


Now, in a few days, the pilgrimage group will begin the Holy Spirit Novena, a very powerful prayer.  


This morning my son and I began another novena.
Now, years ago, as a young priest brought up and formed in the faith era of ennegrams and beating drums and guitars--I would have suggested that one novena was too much let alone starting having a couple going at once.
But I was stupid.
Anyways this new novena is a little different.
My son and I are running for nine straight days. We began this morning's early morning run and I lost him after the first Hail Mary.
He finished, then came back to get me.


Didn't St. Paul say something about running the race?

Bad Form, priest. Bad Form

So an Australian Roman Catholic Priest has revealed a secret.
He is married.
He has been secretly living a double life--for a while.

Yep. I have a glass house.
And, yep. I am going to toss a stone.

Not that he got married--though there is something I would question as to why he waited so long to finally commit-not very fair to the woman or the church.
But that's not my stone.

CNN reported that the majority of parishioners and whoever else they could get to share an opinion had decided that priests should be permitted to marry.
Thanks for that authoritative and well-researched insight CNN.
But that's not my stone.

The priest piled it on.
***warning this is the stone***
He needed to divert the pressure.
He needed a spin.
So he played the celibacy/pedophilia/i'm a healthy priest card.
Oh, and there is one more point--he's going to write a book exposing all the problems of the church and all the double lives that the majority of the priests are living.

Why not just go be with your wife?  Do you really need to justify your choice by hiding behind the sins of others?

Bad form priest, bad form.