Airbournemillennial

The  historic Christian practice  of asking our departed brothers and sisters in Christ—the saints—for their intercession has come under attack in the last few hundred years. Though the practice dates to the earliest days of Christianity and is shared by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, the other Eastern Christians, and even some Anglicans—meaning that all-told it is shared by more than three quarters of the Christians on earth—it still comes under heavy attack from many within the Protestant movement that started in the sixteenth century. Can They Hear Us? One charge made against it is that the saints in heaven cannot even hear our prayers, making it useless to ask for their intercession. However, this is not true. As Scripture indicates, those in heaven are aware of the prayers of those on earth. This can be seen, for example, in Revelation 5:8, where John depicts the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God under the form of “golden bowls full of incense, which are ...

Because of the Unusual Abilities Padre Pio was Claimed to Possess. The Holy See instituted Investigations of the Related Accounts. The Local Bishop, P. Gagliardi, did Not Believe Padre Pio’s alleged Miracles, Suggesting that His Capuchin Brothers were Making a Display out of the Monk to Gain Financial Advantage. When Pi us XI Became Pope in 1922, the Vatican became Extremely Doubtful. Padre Pio was Subject to Numerous Investigations.  The Vatican Imposed Severe Sanctions on Padre Pio to Reduce Publicity about him: It Forbade Him from Saying Mass in Public, Blessing People, Answering Letters, Showing His Stigmata Publicly, and Communicating with Padre Benedetto, His Spiritual Director. Padre Pio was to be Relocated to Another Convent in Northern Italy. The Local People Threatened to Riot, and The Vatican Left Padre Pio Where he was. Fearing these Local Riots, the Vatican Dropped a Plan to Transfer Padre Pio to Another Friary, and a Second Plan for Removal was Also Changed. Fro...

HOW KING RATBOD PUT OFF HIS BAPTISM TILL IT WAS TO LATE Ratbod, King of the Frisons, who is mentioned in ecclesiastical history in the eighth century, at one time was ready to get Baptised and even met Saint Wolfrand at the Baptism waters. But the king refused to be baptised at the last minute after discovering he would be unable to find any of his ancestors in Heaven and even proudly boasted St. Wolfrand that he was not afraid of hell; that he wished to be there with the k ings, his ancestors, and most illustrious personages. “Moreover,” he added, “later on, I shall be always able to receive baptism.” “Lord,” answered the Saint, “do not neglect the grace that is offered to thee. The God who offers the sinner pardon, does not promise him tomorrow.” The King did not heed this advice, and put off his conversion. A year after, learning the arrival of St. Willibrord, he dispatched an officer to him, to invite him to come to the court and confer baptism on him. The officer having travel...

HOW THE HOLY SOULS REPAY US FOR OUR HELP . “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” (2 Mac 12:46) . St. Thomas of Aquinas, the Prince of Theologians, says that the fire of Purgatory is equal in intensity of the fire of Hell, and that the slightest contact with it is more dreadful than all the possible sufferings of this Earth. . St. Augustine, the greatest of the Holy Doctors, teaches that to be purified of their faults prior to being admitted to Heaven, souls after death are subjected to a fire more penetrating, more dreadful than anything we can see, or feel, or conceive in this life. “Though this fire is destined to cleanse and purify the souls”, adds the Holy Doctor, “still it is more acute than anything we can possibly endure on Earth.” . St. Cyril of Alexandria does not hesitate to say: “that it would be preferable to suffer all the possible formats of Earth until Judgment day, than pass one day in Purgatory.”...

Prayer of St. Vincent Ferrer to be Sinless at the Hour of Death Lord Jesus Christ, who wiliest that no man should perish, and to whom supplication is never made without the hope of mercy, for Thou saidst with Thine own holy and blessed lips: "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, shall be done unto you"; I ask of Thee, O Lord, for Thy holy name's sake, to grant me at the hour of my death full consciousness and the power of speech, sincere contrition for my sins, true faith, firm hope and perfect charity, that I may be able to say unto Thee with a clean heart: Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O God of truth, who art blessed forever and ever. Amen. (Indulgence of 3 years once a day.) Seven Petitions to St. Vincent Ferrer (May be said every Friday.) First Prayer: Most faithful St. Vincent, Thou who with so much zeal extended the faith of Jesus Christ, grant, I pray Thee, that uniting my works to my faith, I may have, like ...

God alone knows the number of souls whom our Saint led from sin to penance by a daily course of preaching extending over a period of twenty years. But if we may judge by the exterior signs which everywhere accompanied his presence, we can easily conceive that there would be very few persons, who were privileged to see and to hear him, and could still resist the efficacy of his influence on their souls. And how was it possible to remain insensible to his touch? He preached with such energy, such vivacity and vigor, that he no longer appeared an old man broken down by age and infirmity, but a youthful herald of the Gospel fired with an impetuous ardor. He could be heard at a great distance round; and he was understood by people of every nation, although he spoke only the Valencian dialect. His sudden display of energy during his preaching was as a miracle which enraptured his hearers. On leaving the pulpit, he became feeble, weary, and infirm; his countenance was ...

The Mahometans, like the Jews, were spread throughout different parts of Spain. In proportion as the noble-hearted Spaniards recovered possession of their provinces which had been subjugated by Saracen invasion, they re-established Christianity in all its rights, and favored by every means in their power the conversion of the followers of Mahomet, who dwelt in the country. There were many, however, who resisted this influence. Like the Jews, they were possessed of wealth and industry; it was necessary, therefore, to deal gently with them. St. Vincent labored with all his might to reclaim them from their unclean errors; he spared neither suffering nor fatigue to lead them to the saving waters of baptism. And to this end, wherever he preached he compelled the Mahometans, by the king's order, to be present at his discourses, reserving for them, as in the case of the Jews, the most convenient places. But why constrain such people to hear him, since the law of Mahomet especially ...