Oh my, another place I always wanted to go! So much still on my bucket list in terms of travel, but now everything is being locked down and travel is a mere dream. In fact, the question now becomes, how and where to survive the coming onslaught. Anyway, once, while visiting my parents in Europe, I took my wife and kids on a trip to Poland. We visited the village where our family origins from. This is close to Czestochowa, so went to that wonderful shrine as well. I felt a desire to go via Auschwitz, to visit one of my favorite saints St. Maximilian Kolbe. But it did not happen, partly because I did not want to burden my young family with a visit to that dreadful place. Yes, I totally agree with comparing St. Louis de Montfort with St. Maximilian Kolbe. Baron De Montford founded the legion of Mary, in conjunction with Frank Duff (an Irishman!). Pater Kolbe founded the Militia Immaculatae. Both are end-times fighting armies established by Our Lady. I am a member of both. Which reminds me, need to say my prayers daily and not get too caught up with other things. God bless!
Yes I visited Jasna Gora right after leaving the Concentration Camp(s). We had hired a car out and it took I think a two or three hour drive. I always, always wanted to see the Black Madonna since I was a child and it did not dissappoint. The monastery itself reminds me very much of a Fortress. There is the most wonderful statue of Pope St John Paul 2 on the walls, quite huge. Polish spirituality and the Polish spirit itself seems to me very,very military; it reminds me of the Arcangel Michael. The Irish are fighters too (we have had to be, given our history) but the Irish like to sing and laugh and fight, the Polish to me seem quite sombre and fierce, but I suppose they have had to be so too. I saw a vision of Pope St John Paul and St Faustina one morning in Kracow when I was going out to visit the Divine Mercy Convent. Both John Paul and Faustina walked towards me in welcome. Both seemed so happy and smiling they seemed to dance. Pope John Paul had on the most gorgeous Golden Chausible that seemed to gleam. Oh how happy people must be in heaven, dancing and joy.
Which reminds me of a vision St John Bosco had of his dead mother walking towards him as he passed a Church. She looked just as she had in life but very happy. He asked her if she had gone straight to heaven. She answered that no she had been detained a while before entering heaven (the is very revealing and the lady is headed for sainthood in Rome). John Bosco begged her to tell him what heaven was like. She said it was impossible (as St Paul says , 'Eye had not seen nor tongue told nor ear heard'. ) But Bosco insisted and at once she changed before his eyes, her robe becoming white and studded with jewels her appearance became majestic, like a Queen and she began to sing.
This also reminds me of the young Carmelite Nun saint St Elizabeth of the Blessed Trinity. She was widely regarded as a saint even before her early death as a young woman. One of the nuns asked her if, after going to heaven like St Therese of Liseaux she would spend her life, 'Doing good on the Earth?' To which St Elizabeth replied,, 'No , I will spend my Eternity praising God (God had revealed to Elizabeth that her heavenly name was, 'In praise of His glory. We all have secret heavenly names as is revealed in the Book of the Apocalypse, were they are shown as written on white tablets. Our Heavenly names are true descriptions of who and what we are)
Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception of Sameiro, Braga, Portugal: Its construction began in 1863, nine years after the dogmatic proclamation done by Pius IX, and is one of the three main Marian pilgrimage centers in Portugal. Sister Lucia is said to have stated that the statue in this sanctuary is the most similar to Our Lady.
if we are to consider the analogy of Mary as a representation of the Church (which the Orthodox accept) we are reminded of Christ's promise that the Church would retain its original purity since its creation, which is represented by the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
How beautiful! I am a little sorry that they did not have pictures from inside....now let me see.. I really want to see that statue that Sr Lucia mentioned..
I had a dream many years ago ...about 35 of Our Lady standing in heaven with angels around her ,swirlling in admiration of her Heart. Her heart was just this great very pure white light. St Margaret Mary Alocoque had many, many visions, some of which are not reported very much. Anyway one of them was from a court yard in her convent in which she saw the Sacred Heart surrounded by Seraphim (the Highest Angels..the angles of Love) swooping and swirlling all about). This reminds me of the close relationship of the two hearts. The Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart.
Pope John Paul II was there and celebrated an outdoor mass there on May 15, 1982, and delivered a very strong homily in defense of the family and the indissolubility of Christian marriage, after the exhortation Familiaris Consortio. In that homily, he specifically adressed the case of divorced and civilly remarried people and clearly explained why they cannot receive Holy Communion. Ironically, three decades later, the local Archdiocese of Braga, which is several centuries older than the country itself, would be the first in Portugal to announce the opening of the Holy Communion to people living objectively in a situation of adultery and, a few months later, the first two cases of adulterous couples who passed the tests of discernment and were already authorized to receive Holy Communion. It makes you wonder what Saint John Paul II would have to say today to the local archbishop Jorge Ortiga and to the people of Braga and Northern Portugal.
Do you think there are a number of persons or legion who are named "In praise of His glory" or each name is unique to a person in heaven?
I believe that this is the most beautiful statue of Our Lady I have ever seen in my entire life. Breathtaking. You would think she was about to step out and walk and talk. The artist was truly inspired. Wonderful. I see today is the Feast of Juan Diego (of Gualdalupe). In all of Mexico could Mary have picked someone more lowly or simple. Ina ll of Paris could Mary have picked someone smaller that St Catherine Laboure/ In all of the Pyrennes could she have picked someone lower than St Bernadette Laboure? In all of Israel someone more unexpected than the Blessed Virgin? Man regards outward appearance, God sees the Secret of Men's hearts.
I suspect, 'In praise of His Glory', refers to a particular one of the Nine Choirs of Angels. But of course all of those in this specific choir will not sing or praise in the same way. I don't think God will need to repeat Himself, there is so much to Praise. Ephesians 1:12 …11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. 13And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,… Revelation 2:17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
Did you ever notice how many Saints there were around the Polish City of Kracow in the immediate period just before and during the Second World War? it's just incredible.
