Here is a rose for Hope. I noticed Hope has left the forum. I do hope she will be back. Hope if you are reading this,..I want you to know I am sending this rose to you to thank you for all the prayers you have said on the forum rosary thread and for all the prayers you will continue to say. You were a real blessing here and I hope and pray someday you will be back. I know sometimes things can get a little heated here, but I think we all have the same goal in mind, and that is seeking the truth and hopefully support one another in these dark times. You were always there with your prayers. God Bless Hope
HOPE Guest New Please accept my resignation from the forum. I feel the need to just pray. Will keep all on the forum in my prayers. Thank you
The forum, our soul's the Church, the Entire world. Aren't we like the leaves in Autumn carried by wind? The wind of the Holy Spirit which blows us where He will? Let us through prayer ensure this wind of goodness gives us all safe landing.
I hope it wasn't due to some of the infighting posts- I know it tired me greatly mentally, spiritually and physically reading all those posts
Hope; I miss you already! I will keep you in my prayers; thanks for your generosity in praying for all of us.
I can't seem to not fight back. My tone of voice is so harsh. I'm sorry its so harsh. Even at home it is harsh. My Church is having a MARIAN FEST. Its the first one and we are all going crazy getting ready for it. We will process with the Knights of Columbus and all the people into the Church with the priest and everyone. The KC will carry our Lady of Fatima into the Church. She is at least 4 ft. tall! We will have Mass and then consecrate ourselves to the Holy Family. Then process out and into the parking lot where an area that I created with Icons and Statues under a tent she will be put on a stand. We are having ethnic food and bands, popcorn, rosary making and kids games. Tons of raffles and we hope to make it annual. This week twice the secretary of the Church came to the Church and a flyer was GLUED to the door and it was from the Church of Satan. She took it and tore it up twice. Everyone is being attacked big time spiritually. This consecration to the world is VERY IMPORTANT! Right now my husband and I are almost in the worst fight since I can remember. He left on a trip and now I have that beautiful statue of our Lady of Fatima in my living room. I have such a heaviness of heart, yet suddenly it occured to me this is all because we are doing her work! DUH....! So , I must go to confession tomorrow before the Mass and as I sit here and make paper flowers for the children to put in vases for her during the Mass, I am praying for India. Sorry for the uncharitable tone. Gotta work on that big time. I'm sorry HOPE has left. Please come back HOPE. I'm sorry if I offended anyone. God's peace!
Yes, it is very difficult not to respond to ridiculous, inflammatory posts. I would rather eat a dirt sandwich than get into a confrontation, but then I think of readers who may just be dipping their toes into the Church, and I think there has to be an answer. I've even thought of just replying with Bible verses or quotes from the Catechism. This is our Blessed Mother's forum; I believe she will protect it.
Lets pray Hope can feel led back here when I have damped down a couple of fires on the forum at the moment. I should maybe buy a fire truck. It goes without saying that we should be kind and gentle with one another, the world can be hard and harsh enough as it is.
Padraig, I will bring an extra hose! Hope, like your name says, I will pray and hope that more beautiful souls like you come or in your case return to this forum that needs you! I pray that in your prayers it will be clear what you need to do for The Lord! As for the fighting, it is hard for me to back down as well, I just try to find gentler ways. You see for the past 14 years, I have studied the ways of the samurai off and on. I follow the bushido code and realized that I am a warrior for God's will and cause. I have given my life and "sword" to Him for His use. The samurai way is not so different than the way of saints and righteous. I urge you all to find your own inner samurai and stand strong without fear for God. The Samurai Warrior, · holds loyalty, courage, veracity, compassion, and honor as important, above all else · has an appreciation and respect of life · is deadly in combat and yet so gentle and compassionate with children and the weak · strives for enlightenment for good judgment, personal growth, and self-awareness · practices some type of martial art skill or something that helps him or her develop physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually · uses Death as his or her advisor not his or her enemy · seeks to understand the phrase, “Know thyself!” · seeks communal and family relationships and understanding the role of the servant and the master
I am glad that this discussion is taking place. I too was and to a certain extent remain troubled by some of the discussions that have taken place on this site during the last several weeks. I realize there are differences amongst us, but I had an uneasiness in how the discussions turned argumentative and even accusatory. There were some harsh words that were used that disturbed me. I prayed on whether I should take a break as Hope has decided to do, but in my case I felt the call to stay on. I think it's mainly because this site and the people who contribute are all seeking the Truth, you are all seeking Jesus, and you love Our Lady. I know for me, I sometimes put false idols in front of God by my labeling of others as "orthodox", "liberal", "conservative". When I do that I'm in a sense imposing "my version of God" on God Himself! He is all encompassing and all loving and I think when I realized my sin, it made be look at some of the discussions in a different light. Anyway, I do pray that Hope comes back because we need to hear and listen to ALL of Gods children.
I have no problem with not everyone agreeing on, whether Medjugorje or for that matter Garabandal, is authentic or not. What I had a problem with is Father Rino repeatedly calling the seers of Medjugorje liars. They came on this site to raise a ruckus and that they did. Padraig was right to close that thread as it was going nowhere. The thing to keep in mind is that God gave each of us gifts for defending, articulating, speaking towards the faith, but all of us are different. We are all unique and if we don't learn how to appreciate these different gifts in charity we close the doors to discussion. I for one appreciate the delicate "rose" who is sensitive to rash discussions and may not enter into them, however I also appreciate those who have been given the gifts of persuasion as Mark Mallett did with Stephen a few months back. Some probably did not like this either, but I learned much from this heated discussion of our faith, as it was done in charity.
