NOVENA: PREPARATION FOR TRAVEL, DAY 8 WE PRAY TOGETHER

There are many of you who will be receiving this novena preparatory prayer for the first time today.  It is because I became aware that I had not turned to the proper source of information.  So forgive me.
Je dois avouer qu'il y en parmis vous qui recevront cet email pour la premiere fois aujourd'hui.  C'est parce que je ne me suis pas rendu compte que je n'avais pas fourre assez profondément dans les sources d'information.  Et naturellement, j’écris tout le temps en anglais.  Mais n'importe, je vous envoie les nouvelles quand même parce que je sais que c'est plus facile de lire que de parler ou d’écrire.  Et vous pourrez toujours jouir des photos. :-)  Et vous voyez que mon ordinateur, bien que je l'ai réglé  ne connait pas très bien le français.
Debo pedir perdon por no aver escrito anteriormente.  No me di cuenta que faltavan varios elementos de informacion por cuanto mira los nombres de personas seleccionadas como representativos (ambassadores?).  Y mas, se ve que no escrivo muy bien a fuera de Ingles.  Ahora, el mail ira a todos, o quasi todos.  Todo ira mejor cuando podemos compartir ideas ojo a ojo. 
A los Brasileiros damos un gran agradecimiento por el sito Internet, aun que no en el vuestro idioma.  Me fío mas a mi español en este caso.  No quiero correr el riesgo de comunicar una mala grosería sin darme me cuenta del dano que poderia causar.  Eso me sucedo varias veces in algunos países en los cuales viví y trabaje.  A mi edad, es mejor que evite calamidades de esta natura.

Now, to follow the pattern to which we have become accustomed, I owe you a picture.  
This is an artist from the Philippines, as far as I know.  It comes from a website where you can find a gallery full of creative renditions of statues of Our Lady of La Salette.  You are invited to click here to travel to Manila and take a few moments to enjoy the collection.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/la_salette/pool/

When we meet the representatives from the Philippines, we will be able to ask them if they are familiar with this collection.  

Tonight we are sending you the list of delegates as a PowerPoint show attached to the introductory email.

Now we pray.

8.      Mary leads us to her Son.

                John's Gospel, chapter 2, verses 1 to 5

                Do I think like Jesus?  Do I look at the world with love as Jesus did?  

                Do I act with compassion as Jesus did?

                                  MEMORARE TO OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE
Remember, Our Lady of La Salette,
true Mother of Sorrows,
the tears you shed for us on Calvary. 
Remember also the care you have taken
to keep us faithful to Christ, your Son.
Having done so much for your children,
you will not now abandon us.
Comforted by this consoling thought,
we come to you pleading,
despite our infidelities and ingratitude. 
Virgin of Reconciliation,
do not reject our prayers, but intercede for us,
obtain for us the grace
to love Jesus above all else.
May we console you by a holy life
and so come to share the eternal life
Christ gained by his cross.  Amen.

NOVENA: PREPARATION FOR TRAVEL, DAY 7 WE PRAY TOGETHER

Click here for copyright information

We hope that you will enjoy this original work of art.  It is visible in better quality by clicking on the link.  We hope that you will enjoy it as much as we do.  I wonder how many of our Polish brothers and sisters whom we will meet at La Salette in France are aware of this.  Since we do not have any of them on our emailing list, we will have to wait until we meet them to find out.

Yesterday's picture of Our Lady is a statue designed and cast by Brother Juan, MS who lives in Spain.  You can see the picture from yesterday by scrolling down.
                                                             
The prayer list is growing.  The faithful members of the St. Christopher parish are praying for us and asking us to support them with our prayers as well.  As usual, you can see the intentions that we have on the list by clicking on the words in red above.  


We also invite you to continue praying for Father Maurice Cardinal.  He is patiently awaiting his eye surgery scheduled for the 26, this coming Friday.  We ask also that you think of Brenda in your prayers.  She is a nurse, member of our parish community, who has been helping with the dressings on Father Maurice's wounds.


Our Novena.
7.     After the apparition, water was flowing in the previously dry ravine. [It flows to this day]
        John, chapter 4, verse 10   "He will give you living water."
        Faith, like water, sustains life and growth.  Am I living water for others?


                                  MEMORARE TO OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE
Remember, Our Lady of La Salette,
true Mother of Sorrows,
the tears you shed for us on Calvary. 
Remember also the care you have taken
to keep us faithful to Christ, your Son.
Having done so much for your children,
you will not now abandon us.
Comforted by this consoling thought,
we come to you pleading,
despite our infidelities and ingratitude. 
Virgin of Reconciliation,
do not reject our prayers, but intercede for us,
obtain for us the grace
to love Jesus above all else.
May we console you by a holy life
and so come to share the eternal life
Christ gained by his cross.  Amen.

NOVENA: PREPARATION FOR TRAVEL, DAY 6 WE PRAY TOGETHER

Another artistic creation of Our Lady of La Salette by a local artist in North America.  I will try to get his / her name before publishing.
I did not receive the name of the artist.  When  get it, I'll tell you.
I understand that some of you did not received the Blog Post about "Day 5" of the Novena.  It is perhaps that I sent the email out before the Blog Post was scheduled to publish.  I hope it will not happen again.  I'll force myself to publish the Post and the Email at the same time.
Now to the novena.

6.     If they are converted
             Mark, chapter 1, verses 14 and 15
             Be converted and believe in the Good News.
             Does my style of life invite other people to
             change of heart? or conversion?


We have received some more prayer requests.  You can visit them by clicking here.
There will be more tomorrow as they will be submitted by the daily Mass community from St. Christopher.
We are still awaiting yours.

NOVENA: PREPARATION FOR TRAVEL, DAY 5 WE PRAY TOGETHER

Please let me introduce you to a piece of art that we do not see too much, at least not in North America, that I know of.  It is an icon of the Weeping Mother of La Salette from the Province of Our Lady Reconciler of Sinners, Switzerland.  It graces the cover of the book <All My People> Written by Father Marcel Schlewer,MS in 1998.  I am looking forward to seeing Father Schlewer again after about 50 years of separation.  That should be quite an experience.  

We intend to exhibit this picture at the September 17, 2011 event to be held in Moreno Valley, California at St. Christopher Parish.

Yesterday we received the Newsletter from the Province of Mary, Mother of the Americas.  It gives me the incentive to give you the link one more time.  There are some fascinating historical articles to be found there.  I myself will spend more time there this evening.  Click on this link and explore.

We now continue our novena.  It is not the 5th day.  Takeoff is fast approaching.

5.  Mary cried.

     John 19, 25 - 27 

     At the foot of the cross there stood Mary.

     What happens to me when I see a mother cry? How do I feel knowing that, at La Salette, 

     Mary cried for me?

I know that we have a crying mother, homeless, with her 14 year old son by her side on the prayer list.  

                                   MEMORARE TO OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE
Remember, Our Lady of La Salette,
true Mother of Sorrows,
the tears you shed for us on Calvary. 
Remember also the care you have taken
to keep us faithful to Christ, your Son.
Having done so much for your children,
you will not now abandon us.
Comforted by this consoling thought,
we come to you pleading,
despite our infidelities and ingratitude. 
Virgin of Reconciliation,
do not reject our prayers, but intercede for us,
obtain for us the grace
to love Jesus above all else.
May we console you by a holy life
and so come to share the eternal life
Christ gained by his cross.  Amen.

NOVENA: PREPARATION FOR TRAVEL, DAY 4 WE PRAY TOGETHER

Hello to all.  Prayer requests are pouring in.  Click here and you will be sent to the Prayer Page
Now to the 4th days of our novena for and with those who are preparing to travel to the international gathering of La Associates of the La Salette Community.

Let us pray:
4.     Famine, children dying, mother-earth is sick
        Exodus, chapter 10, verses 12 to 20 The plague of the grasshoppers
        Do I understand how ecology is related to reconciliation and to the quality of life of human
        beings?
                           MEMORARE TO OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE
Remember, Our Lady of La Salette,
true Mother of Sorrows,
the tears you shed for us on Calvary. 
Remember also the care you have taken
to keep us faithful to Christ, your Son.
Having done so much for your children,
you will not now abandon us.
Comforted by this consoling thought,
we come to you pleading,
despite our infidelities and ingratitude. 
Virgin of Reconciliation,
do not reject our prayers, but intercede for us,
obtain for us the grace
to love Jesus above all else.
May we console you by a holy life
and so come to share the eternal life
Christ gained by his cross.  Amen.
                              Update about Fr. Maurice Cardinal,MS

Update on the condition of Father Maurice Cardinal, MS, whom many of you know.  Father was operated on for a skin cancer near his left eye.  It was discovered that the cancer had invaded his left eyeball.  Therefore the decision was taken to remove the left eye.
Isabel and I visited Father Maurice this evening [August 20, 2011] and chatted with him for about an hour.  Father Maurice is comfortable with his situation.  He is thanking God that he will still have good eyesight from the remaining eye [right].  He is in good spirits and is not indulging in anything close to self pity.  In fact he is praying for some missionaries of Our Lady who are in the process of loosing their eyesight to macular degeneration.  He feels bad for them because they are still only half his age.
Father Maurice is a source of inspiration to all of us.  Many years ago he was cured of asthma during a visit to La Salette.  He then told Our Lady, "If you want me to continue working, you have to spare me from this asthma."  He went back to the Philippines and hasn't had asthma ever since.  Many decades have passed and he knows that we are going to La Salette.  We told him that we are praying that Our Lord and His Holy Mother will keep him strong because there is still a lot of work that he can do.  Besides, it will be only half bad, right? ;-)
Father made a joke about the operation.  Once the eye is removed, the doctors will take a sheet of skin from his thigh.  They will then do some reconstructive surgery to make the face easier to look at.  Father asked the doctor is he would consider putting a nice tattoo on the graft.  We laughed.  When we asked if the doctor had laughed, he said, "No, not really.  Maybe it's because he's Korean.  They don't laugh as easily as we do."
Father's surgery is scheduled for August 26, 2011.  Let's pray for another miracle.