HOW TO BECOME A DISCIPLE

Sayings:

Some old men said, "If you see a young man climbing up to the heavens by his own will, catch him by the foot and throw him down to the earth; it is not good for him."

At first abba Ammoe said to abba Isaiah, "What do you think of me?" He said to him, "You are an angel, father." Later on he said to him, "and now, what do you think of me?" He replied, "You are like Satan. Even when you say a good word to me, it is like steel."

Abba Moses asked abba Sylvanus,"Can a man lay a new foundation every day?" The old man said, "If he works hard, he can lay a new foundation at every moments."

Stories:
It was said of abba John the Dwarf that one day he said to his elder brother,"I should like to be free of all care, like the angels who do not work, but ceaselessly offer worship to God." So he took leave of his brother and went away into the desert. After a week he came back to his brother. When he knocked on the door he heard his brother say, "Who are you?" before he opened it. He said, "I am John, your brother." But he replied, "John has become an angel and henceforth he is no longer among men." Then John besought him, saying, "It is I." However, his brother did not let him in but left him there in distress until morning. Then, opening the door, he said to him, "You are a man and you must once again work in order to eat." Then John made a prostration before him, saying, "Forgive me."

Abba John said, "A monk is toil. The monk toils in all he does. That is what a monk is."

OBEDIENCE ...Desert Father's stories

Sayings:

The holy Syncletia said, "I think that for those living in community obedience is a greater virtue than chasity, however perfect. Chastity carries within it the danger of pride, but obedience has within it the promise of humility."

The old men used to say, "If someone has faith in another and hands himself over to him in complete submission, he does not need to pay attention to God's commandments but he can entrust his whole will to his father. He will suffer no reproach from God, for God looks for nothing from beginners so much as renunciation through obedience."

Abba Mios of Belos said, "Obedience responds to obedience. When someone obeys God, then God obeys his request."

Story:

They said that abba Sylvanus had a disciple in Scetis, named Mark, who possessed in great measure the virtue of obedience. He was a copyist of old manuscripts, and the old man loved him for his obedience. He had eleven other disciples who were aggrieved that he loved more than them.

When the old men nearby heard that he loved Mark above the others,they took it ill. One day they visited him and abba Sylvanus took them with him and, going out of his cell, began to knock on the door of each of his disciples, saying, "Brother, come out, I have work for you." And not one of them appeared immediately.

Then he came to Mark's cell and knocked, saying, "Mark". And as soon as Mark heard the voice of the old man he came outside and the old man sent him on some errand.

So abba Sylvanus said to the old men, "Where are the other brothers?", and he went into Mark's cell and found the book in which he had been writing and he was making the letter O; and when he heard the old man's voice, he had not finished the line of the O. And the old men said, "Truly, abba, we also love the one whom you love; for God loves him, too."

MIR Christian Internet TV Station

Just an announcement that the MIR TV website is now up and can be found at the link on the right or going to http://mirtv.weebly.com .

Any producers of Christian content out there who would like their work to be on the channel let us know. If it glorifies God, we want to see it.

Go to the site and take our poll, what do want from a Christian Internet TV Channel ?

The Railway Children

Fr Stan Fortuna ... everybody got to suffer

St. Bridget Prayers For 12 Years

These prayers, as given by the Lord to St. Bridget of Sweden, are to be prayed for 12 years. Was the person praying these to die before the twelve years are over, the Lord will accept as having been prayed in there entirety. If a day or a few days are missed due to a valid reason, they can be made up for later.

1) The soul who prays them suffers no Purgatory.

2) The soul who prays them will be accepted among the Martyrs as though he had spilled his blood for his faith.

3) The soul who prays them can choose three others whom Jesus will then keep in a state of grace sufficient to become holy.

4) No one in the four successive generations of the soul who prays them will be lost.

5) The soul who prays them will be made conscious of his death one month in advance.

O Jesus, now I wish to pray the Lord's prayer seven times in unity with the love with which You sanctified this prayer in Your heart. Take it from my lips into Your Divine heart. Improve and complete it so much that it brings as much honor and joy to the Trinity as You granted it on earth with this prayer. May these pour upon Your Holy Humanity in Glorification to Your Painful Wounds and the Precious Blood that You spilled from them.

1) THE CIRCUMCISION

Our Father... Hail Mary...

Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the first wounds, the first pains and the first Bloodshed as atonement for my and all of humanity's sins of youth, as protection against the first mortal sin, especially among my relatives.

2) THE SUFFERING on the Mount of Olives

Our Father... Hail Mary...

Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the terrifying suffering of Jesus' Heart on the Mount of Olives and every drop of His Bloody Sweat as atonement for my and all of humanity's sins of the heart, as protection against such sins and for the spreading of Divine and brotherly Love.

3) THE FLOGGING

Our Father... Hail Mary...

Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the many thousands of Wounds, the gruesome Pains and the Precious Blood of the Flogging as atonement for my and all of humanity's sins of the flesh, as protection against such sins and the preservation of innocence, especially among my relatives.

4) THE CROWNING OF THORNS

Our Father... Hail Mary...

Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the wounds and the precious Blood of Jesus' Holy head from the Crowning with Thorns as atonement for my and all of humanity's sins of the Spirit, as Protection against such sins and for the spreading of Christ's Kingdom here on earth.

5) CARRYING THE CROSS

Our Father... Hail Mary...

Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the Sufferings on the way of the Cross, especially His Holy Wound on His shoulder and its precious Blood as atonement for my and all of humanity's rebellion against the Cross, every grumbling against Your Holy Arrangements and all other sins of the tongue, as protection against such sins and for true love of the Cross.

6) CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

Our Father... Hail Mary...

Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You Your Son on the Cross, His Nailing and Raising, His Wounds on the Hands and Feet and the three streams of His Precious Blood that poured forth from these for us, His extreme tortures of the Body and Soul, His precious death and its non-bleeding Renewal in all Holy Masses on earth as atonement for all wounds against vows and regulations within the Orders, as reparation for my and all of the world's sins, for the sick and the dying, for all holy priests and laymen, for the Holy Father's intentions toward the restoration of Christian families, for the strengthening of Faith, for our country and unity among all nations in Christ and His Church, as well as for the Diaspora.

7) THE PIERCING OF JESUS' SIDE

Our Father... Hail Mary...

Eternal Father, accept as worthy, for the needs of the Holy Church and as atonement for the sins of all Mankind, the precious Blood and Water which poured forth from Jesus' Divine Heart. Be gracious and merciful toward us. Blood of Christ, the last precious content of His Holy Heart, wash me of all my and other's guilt of sin! Water from the Side of Christ; wash me clean of all punishments for sin and extinguish the flames of Purgatory for me and for all the Poor Souls. AMEN.

"If God Is with us, who can be against us"

Every married man has a mental (well thumbed) copy of the manual, compiled by men across the centuries, entitled ‘How to come through when your wife asks the impossible’

It was 4.30am, 30’C, 90% humidity, and she had to leave early for a factory visit and where were her only pair of jeans ? (she had nothing else to wear).They were in the laundry shop because someone had forgotten to pick them up. I groaned internally.

It was true. It was my job. Every week, with the precision and efficiency of the German Railways, I picked up the laundry and dropped off the new batch. It takes 20 minutes dead. The shop didn’t open until 8am and she needed to leave by 5am.

I reached for the manual. There was only one reference entry for this situation, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. One stick of dynamite on each side of the laundry door, blow it open, rush in , get the jeans , come back, save the day and do 10 years for criminal damage. It might have been worth the stretch too but my dynamite was in my other jeans, and you know where they were. No, not even Beckham could score from this angle.

At the end of my strength I did the only thing I could do, I hid; behind the shield that we use to put out the flaming darts of our loved ones, I stated the obvious: ‘I was not a magician’. And then, as if by magic, the cavalry arrived.

The power and majesty of the living God could not have been more obvious if a giant hand had shot down through the sky, come crashing through the roof and pointed, or if a voice had bellowed ‘Behold’ or if my Guardian Angel had grabbed the last un-chewed part of my remaining ear and pulled it down into the laundry basket. I knew in this moment how Moses felt as he watched the Red Sea open before him: there they were, sat on top of the basket: her jeans.

I was tempted to savour this moment, borrow a top hat ,black cape and white gloves,(maybe a cane), string a few socks together and put on a brief show first but the clock was ticking so I just brought them over to her and got back the sweetest smile ever. She knows a miracle when she sees one too. The ball was in the back of the net, and God saved the day.

In my minds eye I could see all my tutors grinning back at me, the men I respect and admire who have gone before me, who had stood in the arena alone, who know, as I am beginning to know, that God is Good, faithful, present, and He is our alliance.

My last mental image as dawn breaks and the coffee percolates is my favourite, a Spitfire, skirting the white cliffs, engine roaring, about half throttle, the pilot gently pushes the stick to the right and it turns over in a smooth victory roll; then banks right and climbs steeply up into the sun. The post-it note on the altimeter reads, ‘pick-up laundry’. Not by precision or efficiency but through adversity to the stars.