Spiritual Warfare Campaign in Lead Up to November 6 Elections Fr Richard Heilman October 11, 2018 Here is the way things are shaking out in the lead up to this monumental election: The forces of evil know they are losing and are in full blown panic mode. Now, we see high level politicians advocating violence in order to gain power. Even witches have risen against President Trump, and now against Justice Kavanough. Then we discovered that evil even planted the Arch of Baal on the grounds of our Nation’s Capitol, during the Kavanugh/Ford hearings. We all know that if this pure evil regains power, we are in terrible trouble. We simply must do everything we can to “stand in the breach,” beginning with our belief in the power of prayer. On November 3rd (First Saturday) – just 3 days before the elections – Fr. Chad Ripperger will lead a powerful evening of prayer and reflection at St. Mary of Pine Bluff, WI (This will be live-streamed). The evening begins with 4:00pm Mass (This is a Novus Ordo Mass offered ad orientem). This will be followed (5:00pm – 6:00pm) by a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration, Confession and Rosary. At 6:00pm, we will pray the Angelus, followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. At approximately 7:15pm, Fr. Chad Ripperger will give his amazing talk on “Different Levels of Spiritual Warfare.” This will be followed (approximately 8:30pm) by a social with Fr. Chad Ripperger. When I spoke with Fr. Ripperger about a possible topic for his talk, I said, “What does it look like if someone really wants to go all in – totally serious and committed – as a kind of “Navy Seal of Spiritual Warfare?” That’s when he offered the topic of “Different Levels of Spiritual Warfare.” Different Levels of Spiritual Warfare This is the approach we are taking, in the lead up to the 2018 elections. Depending upon your state in life, you will be able to choose which of these 5 levels of spiritual warfare (below) you are willing to accept. We want to be sure everyone is, at least, praying the novena prayers (Level One). In the lead up to the November 6 elections, we will offer two consecutive novenas, beginning on October 20. This is exactly what we did in the lead up to the 2016 election (If it aint broke, don’t fix it). The first is the Novena to St. Jude (October 20-28). The second is the one offered by the Knights of Columbus in 2016, and is offered to Mary of the Immaculate Conception (October 29 – November 6). Choose Your Level of Spiritual Warfare: LEVEL ONE Pray in a State of Grace (Go to Confession) Believe God will answer our prayers October 20 – October 28 – Pray the St. Jude Prayer October 29 – November 6 – Pray the Immaculate Conception Prayer LEVEL TWO Pray in a State of Grace (Go to Confession) Believe God will answer our prayers October 20 – October 28 – Pray the St. Jude Prayer October 29 – November 6 – Pray the Immaculate Conception Prayer Pray the Rosary Daily LEVEL THREE Pray in a State of Grace (Go to Confession) Believe God will answer our prayers October 20 – October 28 – Pray the St. Jude Prayer October 29 – November 6 – Pray the Immaculate Conception Prayer Pray the Rosary Daily Add Penance (recommend follow through on some health challenge) LEVEL FOUR Pray in a State of Grace (Go to Confession) Believe God will answer our prayers October 20 – October 28 – Pray the St. Jude Prayer October 29 – November 6 – Pray the Immaculate Conception Prayer Pray the Rosary Daily Add Penance (recommend follow-through on some health challenge) Pray the St. Michael Chaplet LEVEL FIVE Pray in a State of Grace (Go to Confession) Believe God will answer our prayers October 20 – October 28 – Pray the St. Jude Prayer October 29 – November 6 – Pray the Immaculate Conception Prayer Pray the Rosary Daily Add Penance (recommend follow-through on some health challenge) Pray the St. Michael Chaplet (Call upon St. Michael & Nine Choirs of Angels) Enlist 18 Saints & 18 Holy Souls into your Holy Alliance, and pray for 18 people in need of conversion (Learn how HERE) October 11-19: Prayerful Discernment & Preparation for Spiritual Warfare Campaign Please use these last few days, before our Spiritual Warfare Campaign begins on October 20, to discern: What level of Spiritual Warfare will I choose? When will I get to Confession? What penance am I choosing? What 18 Saints, 18 Holy Souls will I enlist? What 18 people in need of conversion will I pray for? What Spiritual Tools/Weapons do I need to order? October 20-28: Novena to St. Jude Say once a day for 9 days, especially beginning on 20 October and ending on 28 October. When the Novena is finished, you must publicly thank St. Jude for his prayers for you. This can be done by posting your “thank you” on social media. To Saint Jude, Holy Saint Jude, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke thy special patronage in time of need. To thee I have recourse from the depths of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given such great power to come to my assistance. Help me in my present and urgent petition, in return I promise to make thy name known and cause thee to be invoked. Saint Jude pray for us and all who invoke thy aid. Amen. Recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be (3 times). Keep your promise to St. Jude and make his name known. October 29 – November 6: Pre-election Novena to Mary, Patroness of the US In the lead up to the 2016, the Knights of Columbus released a novena addressed to Mary, the Immaculate Conception, who is the patroness of the United States. We will repeat this call. The novena consists of nine days of prayer, starting Oct. 29 and running through Nov. 6, the day of the election. In 1791, America’s first bishop, John Carroll, entrusted his diocese – which was the entire country at the time – to Mary in 1791. The U.S. bishops affirmed that dedication in 1846, declaring Mary the Immaculate Conception to be patroness of the United States. The novena prayer comes from the 1959 dedication of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. It was approved that year by Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle, then-archbishop of Washington. Novena Prayer to be prayed each day from October 29 – November 6: Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in Heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your Spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother, in union with Mary we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority. Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our President and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy, born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the tempted, sinners — on all who are in need. Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give ourselves to you. Protect us from every harm. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen. Tools/Weapons for Spiritual Warfare: You can find rosaries, chaplets, etc. anywhere. These are some I designed, specifically, for spiritual warfare. Along with the book I wrote. Combat Rosary St. Michael Combat Chaplet Spiritual Weapons Case Church Militant Field Manual
I’m going to do this. St Jude is one of my patrons. I love Fr H My son is a Knight, too! We were at the Shrine this past Tuesday and lit a candle for the people on the forum. I will try to get back there during this Novena at some point and offer prayers for this intention as well as for MOG again.
Today we start: Reflections "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor." - George Washington "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable." - George Washington "Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of Thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in Thy fear, and dying in Thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy son, Jesus Christ." - George Washington, Prayer Level of Engagement We are asking everyone to do, at least, numbers 1 thru 4 below. If at all possible, we would like as many warriors as possible to go "Full On Spiritual Navy Seal" by doing all eight of these, every day from October 20 to November 6 (Election Day). Pray in a State of Grace (Go to Confession) Believe God will answer our prayers October 20 - October 28 - Novena #1 - Pray the St. Jude Prayer October 29 - November 6 - Novena #2 - Pray the Immaculate Conception Prayer Pray the Rosary Daily Add Penance (recommend follow-through on some "get-healthier" challenge) Pray the St. Michael Chaplet(Call upon St. Michael & Nine Choirs of Angels) Enlist 18 Saints & 18 Holy Souls into your Holy Alliance, and pray for 18 people in need of conversion (Learn how HERE) We are adding St. Patrick's Lorica Prayer today (Lorica Prayer HERE), as witches are gathering to put a hex on Justice Kavanaugh October 20-28: Novena to St. Jude Say once a day for 9 days, beginning on 20 October and ending on 28 October. When the Novena is finished, you must publicly thank St. Jude for his prayers for you. This can be done by posting your "thank you" on social media. To Saint Jude, Holy Saint Jude, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke thy special patronage in time of need. To thee I have recourse from the depths of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given such great power to come to my assistance. Help me in my present and urgent petition, in return I promise to make thy name known and cause thee to be invoked. Saint Jude pray for us and all who invoke thy aid. Amen. Recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be (3 times). Keep your promise to St. Jude and make his name known. Please Note: You can read about this spiritual warfare campaign in greater detail HERE Order the St. Michael Combat Chaplet I designed HERE Order the Combat Rosary I designed HERE Daily Emails I will send daily emails with these prayers and reflections. Please sign-up HERE. (If you have signed up for Novena for Our Nation or Nineveh 90, you should be signed up already)
I'm in and thank you for posting. I have a hunting trip coming up for part of this but I will have the opportunity to pray out in the wilderness.
I'm in as well. Love the National Anthem you posted. Just returned from Capon Springs, WV. Every morning at 8:30 they raised the flag, played the National Anthem and everyone stood with hands over hearts. Excellent, great way to start the day. Now we can pray for this to continue in our country. I live close to some of these historical places. Francis Scott Key was on board the ship with Dr. William Beanes from Upper Marlboro, MD. The British were holding them captive in Baltimore Harbor. By the dawn's early light, Francis Scott Key saw that our flag was still flying above Fort McHenry. That meant the British lost the battle waged on Fort McHenry. (William Beanes and his wife are buried in a tomb in Upper Marlboro, MD. I have seen it. )
Reflections "The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity." - John Adams "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God." - John Adams "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." - John Adams "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams "I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world." - John Adams "The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity."- John Adams Level of Engagement We are asking everyone to do, at least, numbers 1 thru 4 below. If at all possible, we would like as many warriors as possible to go "Full On Spiritual Navy Seal" by doing all eight of these, every day from October 20 to November 6 (Election Day). Pray in a State of Grace (Go to Confession) Believe God will answer our prayers October 20 - October 28 - Novena #1 - Pray the St. Jude Prayer October 29 - November 6 - Novena #2 - Pray the Immaculate Conception Prayer Pray the Rosary Daily Add Penance (recommend follow-through on some "get-healthier" challenge) Pray the St. Michael Chaplet(Call upon St. Michael & Nine Choirs of Angels) Enlist 18 Saints & 18 Holy Souls into your Holy Alliance, and pray for 18 people in need of conversion (Learn how HERE) We are adding St. Patrick's Lorica Prayer today (Lorica Prayer HERE), as witches are gathering to put a hex on Justice Kavanaugh October 20-28: Novena to St. Jude Say once a day for 9 days, beginning on 20 October and ending on 28 October. When the Novena is finished, you must publicly thank St. Jude for his prayers for you. This can be done by posting your "thank you" on social media. To Saint Jude, Holy Saint Jude, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke thy special patronage in time of need. To thee I have recourse from the depths of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given such great power to come to my assistance. Help me in my present and urgent petition, in return I promise to make thy name known and cause thee to be invoked. Saint Jude pray for us and all who invoke thy aid. Amen. Recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be (3 times). Keep your promise to St. Jude and make his name known. Please Note: You can read about this spiritual warfare campaign in greater detail HERE Join our "Special Forces" Facebook group HERE Order the St. Michael Combat Chaplet I designed HERE Order the Combat Rosary I designed HERE Daily Emails I will send daily emails with these prayers and reflections. Please sign-up HERE. (If you have signed up for Novena for Our Nation or Nineveh 90, you should be signed up already)
The evil one never rests it seems anywhere. Interesting article that shows this even in the most "remote" types of spots for faith: Mount Athos, a Male-Only Holy Retreat, Is Ruffled by Tourists and Russia Father Jerome in Xenophontos Monastery. CreditCreditMauricio Lima for The New York Times By Neil MacFarquhar Oct. 20, 2018 MOUNT ATHOS, Greece — The skulls, lined up five deep on wooden shelves, date back hundreds of years, with the names of the more recently deceased scratched onto their foreheads — Monk Theolothelis, 91, 26-6-1986, or Monk Kyprianos, 100, 14-8-87. They are exhibited in Xenophontos Monastery here on Mount Athos, a peninsula in northern Greece that is the spiritual heart of the Eastern Orthodox Church. One skull carries a more philosophical message: “Brother, Look at the glory of man.” That invitation to reflect on mortality encapsulates why the dead are exhumed and their bones displayed, explained Father Jerome, 50, who has an untamed salt-and-pepper beard and wore washed-out gray robes. “Today you are here, the next day you are not,” he said. “If you remember death every day, it keeps you from doing evil.” While the skull display underscores human transience, the 20 monasteries and a host of smaller dwellings on Mount Athos seem eternal. Monks have been chanting psalms here daily for centuries. “It is an ancient community, organized just like now for more than 1,000 years,” said Abbott Alexios, 79, who found Xenophontos collapsing when he arrived in 1976, and has since led its rebuilding. “The church has its traditions, but Mount Athos is transcendent.” The peninsula could almost be another Greek tourist resort with its peridot shallows, pine-covered hills and the 6,670-foot Athos peak dominating one end of its nearly 130 square miles. But the Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain is a place apart. For almost as long as there have been monks here, women have been barred — considered a distraction and undue competition for the Virgin Mary, the patron saint. There are no hotels, no bars, no stores, no television and no swimming, plus a daily quota limits visitors. Travelers arrive on boats providing the only public access to the peninsula. Collectively, the monasteries play host to an average of 1,200 people nightly, all without charge. The difficult access and the high monastery walls once built against marauding pirates seemed to keep time at bay, too, but now the modern world penetrates on cellphone signals and internet connections. Modern life intrudes at Xenophontos Monastery. CreditMauricio Lima for The New York Times Geopolitics has sneaked in, too. Greece last summer denied visas to several high-ranking Russian Orthodox Church officials headed to Athos, in which President Vladimir V. Putin has shown a keen interest. Greek officials fear any revival of the pre-revolutionary effort by czarist Russia to dominate the peninsula. Athos holds a special place in the Greek psyche, as a throwback to when the might of the Byzantine Empire meant Greek culture dominated the eastern Mediterranean. There have been monks here since the sixth century or so, and Mount Athos is a kind of storehouse of Byzantium civilization, with monasteries sticking to the Julian calendar, 13 days behind the more common Gregorian calendar. “We preserve the Byzantine Empire because it is a treasure of Orthodoxy, not because this is the relic of a secular state,” said Father Jeremiah, 48, a Protestant convert from San Angelo, Tex., who came to Xenophontos on a pilgrimage 22 years ago and has lived there ever since. “This is not a museum, but a living place.” Ancient texts dictate the rhythm of daily life for the approximately 2,000 monks on Athos, defining everything from the liturgy to the diet. The monks, mostly Greek, spend about six hours in church daily. They rise six hours after sunset for morning prayers, summoned by a monk banging a semantron — a wood hammer on wood board — echoing the way Noah was said to have beckoned all living creatures into the ark. Then shadowy figures pad across uneven flagstones with their cowls pulled over their heads. Prayer is deemed particularly effective during darkness. “Evil spirits roam during the night, so somebody needs to stay awake to keep watch,” said Father Damaskinos, 33, who, unusually for Athos, returns to his native Finland regularly to work as a theology professor. There are just two daily meals. One menu consisted of lentil purée, tomatoes, olives, fruit and water or red wine, at 9:30 a.m. “We eat fast,” Father Jeremiah warned. A typical meal lasts 15 minutes. One monk reads prayers, and any visitor who tries to talk is shushed. A monk banging a semantron — wood hammer on wood board — as a sign for prayer time in Xenophontos Monastery. CreditMauricio Lima for The New York Times After the morning meal, the monks work — gardening, cooking, painting icons — until it is time for vespers before sunset, the evening meal and bed. Even while working, most pray, their lips constantly moving with the refrain, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” Monks often summarize their existence in pithy shorthand. “He is happy because he has nothing, but he has everything,” Abbot Alexios said of a monk’s life. Yet Mammon and the material world seem to have intruded. Monasteries sell their own line of products, including wine, olive oil, herbal teas and even body creams. The gift shop at Vatopedi Monastery sells icons for more than $17,000. Expensive SUVs now whisk affluent visitors along dirt roads once limited to donkeys and trekking pilgrims. Xenophontos extols its woodworking shop, but laborers imported from Albania and Egypt do the hard work. Some monks grumble about the tide of visitors overwhelming their devotions. Some pilgrims dislike it, too. “I am an adherent of the old traditions, and I am against all these roads, these SUVs,” said Mikhail Miroshnikov, a middle-aged Russian pilgrim who comes twice yearly for spiritual discussions with the monks. “Some monasteries here are becoming more for business and not for the soul.” Construction cranes hover over many monasteries; all but a few have been extensively rebuilt using European Union funds for historic preservation. Senior government and church officials have said Russia planned to spend $30 million to restore the imposing Russian monastery, St. Panteleimon. Both public and private spending across Athos since 2005 might have reached $200 million, according to a BBC reportseconded by several donors and experts. When Mr. Putin last visited Athos in 2016, the Russian press reported excitedly that he was treated like a Byzantine emperor. Some Greek government and church officials found the comparison alarming. Czarist Russia made a play to control Athos around 1913, flooding it with several thousand monks and insisting that it become independent. Athos ended up as an autonomous part of Greece. Russian interest waned after the 1917 Revolution, but recent influence peddling has Athens worried about a renewed effort at domination. Hard-line newspapers distributed free at Vatopedi, for example, shower praise on Russian Orthodoxy while pillorying Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who controls Athos, as an enemy agent. The patriarch, considered the “first among equals” in church affairs, is engaged in a fight with Moscow over creating an independent church in Ukraine. Last Monday, the Russian Orthodox Church banned its adherents from communion at churches under Bartholomew’s supervision, including all on Athos, but it is unclear how that will affect the tide of pilgrims or donations. Monks and pilgrims tend to dismiss political questions, saying they came to Athos for spiritual sustenance and the intrinsic holiness of a place devoted to prayer. “There is both historical holiness here in terms of relics and icons, and living holiness through monasticism,” Father Damaskinos at Xenophontos said. Abbot Alexios, 79, center, reciting a prayer during the early morning mass in the church of Xenophontos Monastery. CreditMauricio Lima for The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/20/...tion=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage
This is exactly why evil will never win. The world still have many good catholics who will take this fight with prayer. God Bless those who take the lead and gather the flock to pray.
Sam, Thank you for this thread. I had wanted to bump it yesterday, the day that some of the prayers changed. This is just a late reminder to those participating in this.
Good article from Spirit Daily today.....Power of St. Michael Statue: Angels & Dragons XV: The St. Michael Statue PUBLISHED OCTOBER 25, 2018 • WRITTEN BY DEACON GUADALUPE RODRIGUEZ In 490 A.D. St. Michael the Archangel appeared to Bishop Lawrence Maiorano (the second apparition) at Gargano, Italy, giving him instructions on how to defend the area against a vast army of pagan invaders. During the battle a sand storm overwhelmed the attackers, blinding them and pelting them with giant size hail-stones, making them flee in fear, never to return. Later in thanksgiving for the miraculous victory and deliverance by St. Michael, a Michaelmas was celebrated on the anniversary of the apparition of May 8th and the prayer during the mass Gradual states, “The sea was shaken and the earth trembledwhen the Archangel Michael came down from heaven. Alleluia!” In 1507, Andrea Contucci Sansovino sculpted a statue of St Michael in white Carrara Marble for the cave at Gargano, Italy, where St. Michael appeared. The statue measures 4 feet and two inches in height, and it shows the Archangel crushing the devil, who was portrayed… “as a monster who has a monkey face, a goat’s thigh, lion claws, and a snake’s tail…St. Michael appears as an adolescent with a crown…The right arm is raised holding a sword threateningly, and he wears the armor of a Roman legionary with a military cloak. Annually, the sword is taken from the hand of the Archangel on September 29th, and it is carried in solemn procession through the streets of Monte Sant’Angelo.” (Translation from Grotta di San Michele) In September of 1656, while a plague was killing much of the population at Gargano, Italy, in the Mont Sant’ Angelo area, Bishop Alfonso Puccinelli placed a prayer in the hand of the St. Michael statue at the cave. The magazine called The Angels – Messengers from a loving Godwrites, “During the morning prayer, Bishop Alphonso first heard what sounded like an earthquake,after which in a flash of dazzling light, he (bishop) saw St. Michael the Archangel.” Was it really an earthquake? The people at that time had no way of measuring small earthquakes or was it simply a vision? St. Michael proceeded to give instructions to the bishop on how to use the relic stones to deliver the people from the plague. Fr. Wolfgang Seitz, ORC, states that physical healings continue today when people are blessed with the relic stones or when they pray with the relic stone by holding it in their hands. In our own day, Adam Blai (Vatican approved Peritus and auxillary member of the International Association of Exorcists) shares a story of how the St. Michael statue of Gargano was brought to the bi-annual gathering of exorcists from around the world known as the International Association of Exorcists which was founded by Fr. Gabriel Amorth (Vatican’s Exorcist) in 1990. Adam shares that the conference began with all the exorcists gathered around the Blessed Sacrament while the ancient statue of St. Michael from Gargano was to the side of the altar where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed. When the holy hour started, simultaneously a small earthquake was felt underneath them and the floor shook while they all prayed. The next day the newspapers reported the earthquake with no damage having occurred. Was the earthquake a simple coincidence or was St. Michael accompanying the dragon slayers reminding us of the ancient mass Gradual at the Michaelmas that states “the earth trembled when the Archangel Michael came down from heaven.”? The Hospital where the St. Michael statue delivered the possessed boy in the movie The Exorcist Likewise, in the real story of the movie The Exorcist, a three foot statue of St. Michael brought by the Alexian Brothers was what finally delivered the boy from demonic possession when St. Michael spoke through the boy, “Satan! I am St. Michael, and I command you, Satan, and the other evil spirits to leave the body in the name ‘Dominus’ [the Latin word for ‘Lord’]. Immediately! Now! Now! Now!” A loud explosion was immediately heard throughout the hospital. When the boy awakened he was delivered, and he remembered St. Michael with a flaming sword defeating Satan and his minions. St Mary’s Cathedral Austin – Tower detail Interestingly enough, Nicholas J. Clayton, the architect who designed Saint Mary Cathedral in Austin, Texas in 1906, planned to have a large 8-10 foot statue of St. Michael on the upper bell tower so that St. Michael would arise mightily above the skies of Austin protecting all of God’s people. At the time the Cathedral was one of the tallest buildings in the city. Clayton built a pedestal for the statue, but mysteriously this pedestal has laid hidden for 112 years until August 8th of this year, 2018, on the Feast of St. Dominic. Placement of intended Michael the Archangel statue One can only wonder, “What is St. Michael up to in Austin, Texas and around the world?” http://atxcatholic.com/index.php/2018/10/angels-dragons-xv-the-st-michael-statue/#.W9hYiS-ZM1K
Quite a guy it would seem. God is good with His many diverse callings.....no stereotypes in the ways His qualities emanate from each unique individual: Michael Sherliza, 62: Priest was known for confessions, compassion Michael Steven Sherliza Michael Sherliza, 62: Priest was known for confessions, compassion By all accounts Michael Sherliza was the iron man of priestly confession. He took confession at practically any hour of any day, sometimes at offbeat locations such as, one time, the corner of a Waffle House. Confession lines often wrapped around Marietta’s St. Joseph Church when Father Sherliza was in the house. Through confession he met a software developer named Greg White and the two eventually became close friends, with White now even considering becoming a lay deacon. “When I first met Father Sherliza,” White said recently, “I’d been away from the church many years. I brought him a laundry list of sins.” He was known as “The Mercy Priest.” A gifted listener when it came to the sufferings of others, for years Sherliza endured more than a few of his own. His mother Liz Sherliza believes his health problems began when a truck rear-ended his car 25 years ago, causing perpetual back and neck woes. But in recent years he’d s also had diabetes, arthritis, congestive heart failure and colon cancer that disappeared before returning and spreading to his liver. “Nobody could come close to his hospital ministry,” said St. Joseph pastor, Monsignor John Walsh. “He had had radiation and surgeries — he knew what it was like to be a patient.” Several years ago, while recovering from surgery he was summoned to another room to give last rites, which he did from a wheelchair while wearing a hospital gown. Father Michael Steven Sherliza, 62, a priest of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, died from complications of colon cancer on Oct. 22 surrounded by friends and family, including his three siblings and both his parents. The funeral was Oct. 26 at St. Joseph, where he served the last 10 years as parochial vicar. Sherliza was born Oct. 2, 1956, in North Attleboro, Mass., the son of a first-generation Polish-American and a mother raised in the Baptist church in Walhalla, SC. Years later, describing the thundering resonance of Michael Sherliza’s voice, Walsh would say, “He had a little bit of the Baptist preacher in him.” The family moved to Griffin, Ga., when Michael was 12 and by his senior year at Griffin High in 1974 he planned on attending The Citadel for a possible military career. But on Palm Sunday that year, when asked to be a server at the family parish, Liz said she saw a light dappling her son’s head. “It just appeared for a second or two. … I don’t think Michael knew anything about it — he never said anything about it to me. It was very strange and it bothered me. But a few weeks later, after he returned from a senior trip to Spain he told his father he wanted to be a priest.” After high school he attended seminary for four years and served one year as novitiate, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1979. He then attended graduate school briefly but left before taking final vows. For the next 15 years he worked as a trucking dispatcher for several companies and as a security guard. “He always knew he wanted to be a priest. But he wasn’t sure what is calling was,” Greg White said, “whether to be in a religious order that did traveling revivals, or to be a parish priest.” In 1995 he enrolled at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and four years later was ordained as a priest. He served nine years at three different churches before coming to St. Joseph in June 2008, a parish that now has about 5,000 families and offers five celebrations of Mass on Sundays. When Sherliza moved in, Walsh, who arrived at St. Joseph the same month, couldn’t help noticing “two big crates of books on the front lawn, and then more white containers of books. He was a one-man Amazon Prime.” White said, “He was as prolific a reader as I’ve ever seen. He had thousands of books. He gave me a reading list to end all lists — I’ll never come close to getting to all of them.” Sherliza inhaled science fiction and fantasy, theology, particularly regarding the Catholic Church, and world history, particularly the Roman Empire. He also liked traveling, camping on the Appalachian Trail, gaming and attending DragonCon, often donning his priest’s robes and sprinkling holy water on witches, demons and anyone else he perceived needed it. But his health was failing, particularly in the last three years. He’d often go to confession with his pain medication, and deliver Mass while leaning on a cane, sometimes his arthritic arm shaking so badly he’d have to grip the altar. His friend and nurse Barbara Ange said that even in the last few months, when he could no longer work, Sherliza “kept going. He fought so hard,” she said. “Oh, he was obstinate. But that spirit of his! He had that full-throttled laugh even when he was at his weakest.” Father Bryan Kuhr, Sherliza’s fellow parochial vicar at St. Joseph, believes this “fight” was less obstinacy and more Sherliza’s philosophy of the priesthood. “He looked at his illness as a gift,” Kuhr said. “His suffering allowed him to become closer to God. He was going to use every ounce of his suffering to offer up for other souls.” Michael Sherliza is survived by his parents, Robert Joseph and Liz Sherliza, brother Mark Sherliza (Kathy Gant) and sisters, Jane Wier (Charles) and Kathleen Littleton (Mike). https://www.ajc.com/news/local-obit...onfessions-compassion/UwhKTxiHA6LXJXudqilDeN/
I always understood that the real story of The Exorcist took place in the Washington, DC, area and the boy was from Mt. Ranier, MD, just outside the city limits. After doing a little research, I learned that the boy, Roland Doe, was from Cottage City, MD, near Mt. Ranier, and that the family moved to Missouri. He was indeed delivered from evil spirits at the Alexian Hospital there.
Sam, thank you for posting about Fr. Heilman's prayer campaign, and Carol, thank you for updating us. I wish to publish my thanks to St. Jude here on this thread.
I as well would like to publically thank St. Jude for his prayers to make America holy again and for favorable election results tomorrow. May God's will be done and may St. Jude's name be known throughout the world. I hope everyone is well. I still pop in from time to time and please know that I am praying for Mac at this time. God bless!
So happy to hear from u PS. There's hope for the forum yet if u feel still called to 'check in' from time to time
Today is the last day of the novena to the Immaculate Conception, the patroness of the U.S.A.: Novena Prayer to be prayed each day from October 29 - November 6: Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in Heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your Spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother, in union with Mary we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority. Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our President and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy, born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the tempted, sinners - on all who are in need. Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give ourselves to you. Protect us from every harm. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen. Fr. Ripperger spoke to an overflow crowd at St. Mary of Pine Bluff Catholic Church on how evil manifests itself and what the faithful can do to combat it:
Done - but we must continue to pray as the enemy is on the warpath! Did you read Fathers email from last night "Vote the Kingdom"? There is a great article written by Daniel Greenfield, "A Civil War has Begun".
My final thoughts on the eve of these elections ... In my lifetime, we have witnessed the most aggressive campaign to overthrow God that has been seen in all of civilization. Sure, not all sides are perfect, but one side is totally dedicated to continue this anti-God campaign, while the other side has all "those who are serious about their faith" rooting for God, and getting in the battle to save our country. The choice is crystal clear, when one sees it in this context. Did Christians squirm at Constantine's morals? Yes. But, were they grateful how he opened the way for Christianity to thrive? Yes. I am convinced we are in the throes of the greatest spiritual war of all times. While much of it is played out in the political theater, it goes to the heart of everything we Christians hold near and dear to us, because it is a battle fought for Deus Vult (The will of God). The enemy, just as it was in the Crusades, is seeking to seize ground by force and unjust tactics, while we are trying to protect this ground or even reclaim surrendered ground. Here is my assessment ... More Christians have died for their faith in this past century than all other centuries of church history combined. Since 1973, 1,720,000,000 babies have been sacrificed on the altar of sexual hedonism. Sex outside of marriage has become the norm. Humans are copulating as they were the beasts (hook-up culture). Birth control is a way of life. Marriage has been redefined for the first time in civilization. Illegitimacy rates have soared. The divorce rate is at epidemic proportions. Sodomy and homosexuality are celebrated openly. Grown men must be allowed to share bathrooms with little girls. With the advent of high speed internet, scores of men, in particular, are now addicted to pornography and masturbation which, in their spiritual death, makes them incapable and disqualified (no grace) to serve in this spiritual warfare. Drug use and addiction has exploded. Islamic terrorism has erupted worldwide. Christian values and morals are disparaged as a "problem," not a remedy in our culture, as religious freedom is under constant assault. Every major institution of influence has been captured by the radical secular left ... The media, Hollywood, TV, universities, public schools, theater, the arts, literature - they relentlessly promote the false gods of sexual hedonism and radical individualism. In this Information Age (television, internet, etc.), the anti-God indoctrination is, as never before, in hyperdrive. A Civil War Has Begun Daniel Greenfield writes ... A civil war has begun. This civil war is very different than the last one. There are no cannons or cavalry charges. The left doesn't want to secede. It wants to rule. Political conflicts become civil wars when one side refuses to accept the existing authority. The left has rejected all forms of authority that it doesn't control. The left has rejected the outcome of the last two presidential elections won by Republicans. It has rejected the judicial authority of the Supreme Court when it decisions don't accord with its agenda. It rejects the legislative authority of Congress when it is not dominated by the left. It rejected the Constitution so long ago that it hardly bears mentioning. It was for total unilateral executive authority under Obama. And now it's for states unilaterally deciding what laws they will follow (As long as that involves defying immigration laws under Trump, not following them under Obama). It was for the sacrosanct authority of the Senate when it held the majority. Then it decried the Senate as an outmoded institution when the Republicans took it over. It was for Obama defying the orders of Federal judges, no matter how well grounded in existing law, and it is for Federal judges overriding any order by Trump on any grounds whatsoever. It was for Obama penalizing whistleblowers, but now undermining the government from within has become "patriotic". There is no form of legal authority that the left accepts as a permanent institution. It only utilizes forms of authority selectively when it controls them. But when government officials refuse the orders of the duly elected government because their allegiance is to an ideology whose agenda is in conflict with the President and Congress, that's not activism, protest, politics or civil disobedience; it's treason. After losing Congress, the left consolidated its authority in the White House. After losing the White House, the left shifted its center of authority to Federal judges and unelected government officials. Each defeat led the radicalized Democrats to relocate from more democratic to less democratic institutions. cont.
This isn't just hypocrisy. That's a common political sin. Hypocrites maneuver within the system. The left has no allegiance to the system. It accepts no laws other than those dictated by its ideology. Democrats have become radicalized by the left. This doesn't just mean that they pursue all sorts of bad policies. It means that their first and foremost allegiance is to an ideology, not the Constitution, not our country or our system of government. All of those are only to be used as vehicles for their ideology. That's why compromise has become impossible. Our system of government was designed to allow different groups to negotiate their differences. But those differences were supposed to be based around finding shared interests. The most profound of these shared interests was that of a common country based around certain civilizational values. The left has replaced these Founding ideas with radically different notions and principles. It has rejected the primary importance of the country. As a result it shares little in the way of interests or values. Instead it has retreated to cultural urban and suburban enclaves where it has centralized tremendous amounts of power while disregarding the interests and values of most of the country. If it considers them at all, it is convinced that they will shortly disappear to be replaced by compliant immigrants and college indoctrinated leftists who will form a permanent demographic majority for its agenda. (Continue reading here) It Is These Who Set Up Divisions As more and more people rise up and stand their ground against this evil infiltration, they will be accused of "causing division." You and I have not moved. We remain committed to the Judeo-Christian values (Kingdom Values) of our ancestors, while the ungodly Left moves further away, and points an accusing finger back at us. St. Jude reminds us that it is the world that sets up division, not you and I ... "But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; they said to you, 'In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.' It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And convince some, who doubt; save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh" (Letter of St. Jude 1:17-23). Vote Kingdom! For me, it is more about voting for a "team" or, better yet, a platform. The Democratic platform is a disaster. In many respects, it is pure evil (see above). No matter what the quality of a candidate may be, they have to commit to the platform, and to the desires of their constituents to a great degree. I'll take the desires of a "guns and religion" (RE: Obama Quote) constituency over the raging mob of snowflakes any day. To be clear, we are now witnessing a "Crusade" to stand against this evil infiltration in our culture, witnessed in the voting booths that have now brought to power conservative dominance in all three branches of government. The radical secular elites are losing power as more and more people are becoming aware of their evil designs, and are "Voting Kingdom." We must do all we can to keep this momentum moving toward God. This is a war for souls; this is a war for the heart of America. We need everyone to enlist in this battle!! VOTE KINGDOM!
