It is well known that Padre Pio had encounters with
angels throughout his life. Through these encounters he came to know a
great deal about their powers and their role in our lives: “to light, to
guard, to rule, to guide.”
In a letter he wrote on July 15, 1913, to Anita, one of his spiritual
daughters, he gives her valuable advice regarding how to act in
relation to her guardian angel, locutions, and prayer.
As each and every one of us has a Guardian Angel, it would do us well to take Padre Pio’s advice to heart.
Dear daughter of Jesus,
May your heart always
be a temple of the Holy Spirit. May Jesus increase the fire of his love
in your soul and may he always smile upon you, as he does on all the
souls that he loves. May Mary Most Holy smile upon you during all the
events of your life, and abundantly make up for the absence of your
earthly mother.
May your good guardian angel always watch over
you, and be your guide on the rough path of life. May he always keep you
in the grace of Jesus and hold you up with his hands so that you may
not hurt your foot on a stone. May he protect you under his wings from
all the deceits of the world, the devil and the flesh.
Have great
devotion, Anita, to this beneficent angel. How consoling it is to know
that we have a spirit who, from the womb to the tomb, never leaves us
even for an instant, not even when we dare to sin. And this heavenly
spirit guides and protects us like a friend, a brother.
But it is
very consoling to know that this angel prays unceasingly for us, and
offers God all of our good actions, our thoughts, and our desires, if
they are pure.
Oh! For goodness’ sake, don’t forget this
invisible companion, ever present, ever disposed to listen to us and
even more ready to console us. Oh, wonderful intimacy! Oh, blessed
companionship! If only we could understand it! Keep him always before
your mind’s eye. Remember this angel’s presence often, thank him, pray
to him, always keep up a good relationship. Open yourself up to him and
confide your suffering to him. Be always afraid of offending the purity
of his gaze. Know this, and keep it well present in your mind. He is
easily offended, very sensitive. Turn to him in moments of supreme
anguish and you will experience his beneficent help.
Never say
that you are alone in the battle against your enemies; never say that
you have no one to whom you can open your heart and confide. It would be
a grave injustice to this heavenly messenger.
Humble yourself
before the Lord and trust in him; spend your energy, with the help of
divine grace, in the practice of the virtues, and then let grace work in
you as God desires. The virtues are what sanctify the soul and not
supernatural phenomena.
Pray out loud as well; the time has not
yet come to abandon these prayers. Support the difficulties you
experience when doing this with patience and humility. Also be ready to
suffer distractions and dryness, and you must not, under any
circumstances, abandon prayer and meditation. It is the Lord who wants
to treat you this way for your spiritual advantage.
Forgive me if
I end here. Only God knows how difficult it has been for me to write
this letter. I am very sick. Pray much that the Lord may desire to free
me from this body soon.
I bless you, together with the excellent Francesca. May you live and die in the arms of Jesus. P. Pio
The existence of angels is a dogma of our Catholic Faith, and is
abundantly documented in Sacred Scriptures and Catholic Tradition.
An angel is a spiritual creature, superior to human beings, with a
three-fold mission: to praise God, to act as His messengers, and to
watch over mortals.
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? ... For
thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him
with glory and honor" Psalm 8:4-5
Attribution: Louise Docker
The name "angel" is from the Greek "angelos" meaning "one who is sent" or "messenger".
Though purely spiritual, they can show themselves to men in human form as in the story of Tobias.
Passages in Scripture point to the existence of an angel specifically
assigned to each human being to help, guide and protect him or her
through the journey of life:
"Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep
thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared.
Take notice of him, and hear his voice" Exodus 23:20
And in the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ speaking of children:
"See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you
that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in
heaven." Matthew 18:10
Guardian Angels are often visible to Catholic saints as in the life
of St. Frances of Rome, St. Gemma Galgani and St. Pio of Pietrelcina.
St. Gemma’s angel even delivered letters for her, and brought her coffee
in bed when she was sick.
Like many other feasts, the feast of the Guardian Angels was
celebrated on a local level before it was placed on the Roman calendar.
Pope Clement X officially established the feast of the Guardian Angels for the Universal Church on October 2.
The Five First Saturdays devotion is one of the principal points of
the Fatima message. It centers on the urgent need for mankind to offer
reparation and expiate for the many injuries that the Immaculate Heart
of Mary suffers from the hands of both impious and indifferent men.
On the First Saturday during 5 Consecutive Months, the Devotion consists of:
Going to Confession,
Receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion,
Saying five decades of the Rosary,
Meditating for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary.
All this offered in REPARATION for the sins of blasphemy and ingratitude committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
History
During the third apparition on July 13, 1917, Our Lady revealed that
she would come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate
Heart and for the Communion of Reparation of the Five First Saturdays.
Consequently, she asked for the devotion in 1925 and the consecration in
1929.
"Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother which
is covered with thorns with which ingrate men pierce it at every moment
with no one to make an act of reparation to pull them out."
While staying at the House of the Dorothean Sister in Pontevedra,
Portugal, Sister Lucia received a vision on December 10, 1925 where the
Blessed Mother appeared alongside a Boy who stood over a luminous cloud.
Our Lady rested one hand on the Boy’s shoulder while she held on the
other hand a heart pierced with thorns around it.
Sister Lucia heard the Boy say, "Have pity on the Heart of your
Most Holy Mother which is covered with thorns with which ingrate men
pierce it at every moment with no one to make an act of reparation to
pull them out."
Our Lady expressed her request in the following words,
"See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded with thorns
with which ingrates pierce me at every moment with blasphemies and
ingratitude. You, at least, make sure to console me and announce that
all those who for five months, on the first Saturdays, go to confession,
receive Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company
for 15 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the
purpose of making reparation to Me, I promise to assist them at the hour
of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their
souls." — Our Lady, December 10, 1925
A few days afterward, Sister Lucia detailed this vision in a letter
addressed to Monsignor Manuel Pereira Lopes, her confessor when she
resided in the Asylum of Vilar in the city of Oporto, Portugal.
Why Five Saturdays?
Sister Lucia’s confessor questioned her about the reason for the five
Saturdays asking why not seven or nine. She answered him in a letter
dated June 12, 1930. In it she related about a vision she had of Our
Lord while staying in the convent chapel part of the night of the
twenty-ninth to the thirtieth of the month of May, 1930. The reasons Our
Lord gave were as follows:
The five first Saturdays correspond to the five kinds of offenses and
blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are:
Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
Blasphemies against her virginity
Blasphemies against her divine maternity, at the same time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men
Instilling indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children
Direct insults against Her sacred images
Let us keep the above reasons firmly in our minds. Devotions have
intentions attached to them and knowing them adds merit and weight to
the practice.
Modifications to the Five First Saturdays Devotion to facilitate its observation
The original request of Our Lady asks one to confess and receive
Communion on five consecutive first Saturdays; to say five decades of
the Rosary; to meditate during 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary
for the purpose of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in
reparation for the sins of men.
In subsequent private visions and apparitions however, Sister Lucia
presented to Our Lord the difficulties that devotees encountered in
fulfilling some conditions. With loving condescension and solicitude,
Our Lord deigned to relax the rules to make this devotion easy to
observe:
Confession may be done on other days other than the First
Saturdays so long as one receives Our Lord worthily and has the
intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Even
if one forgets to make the intention, it may be done on the next
confession, taking advantage of the first occasion to go to confession.
Sister
Lucia also clarified that it is not necessary to meditate on ALL
mysteries of the Rosary on each First Saturdays. One or several suffice.
With much latitude granted by Our Lord Himself, there is no reason
for the faithful to hesitate or delay this pious practice in the spirit
of reparation which the Immaculate Heart of Mary urgently asks.
This devotion is so necessary in our days
The culture of vice and sin remains unabated even as one reads this.
Abortion, blasphemy, drug abuse, pornography, divorce and bad marriages,
religious indifference, the advances of the homosexual agenda and
others are just some of society’s many plagues that cut deeply into the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We must console Our Lady amidst all these insults and injuries to her
and her Divine Son. She asks for reparation, she pleads for our
prayers, she hopes for our amendment of life. Let us listen to her
maternal pleas and atone for the ingratitude of men.
The First Five Saturdays devotion stimulates the spirit of
reparation; it instills a tender love for the Holy Sacraments of
Confession and the Blessed Eucharist. It nurtures a holy affection for
the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Rosary. Above all, it is an
excellent means to maintain one in the state of grace while immersed in
the daily spiritual battles and prosaic existence in the neo-pagan world
that we live in.
Let us not delay in observing this devotion for it too gives us hope for eternal salvation.
Solimeo, Luiz Sergio: Fatima, A Message More Urgent than Ever (Spring Grove, PA: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property-TFP, 2008.)
Marie-Françoise Thérèse Martin was born on January 2, 1873 in the
town of Alençon in French Normandy. Her parents were Louis Martin, a
watch maker, and Zélie Guerin, both beatified by the Church. Called
Thérèse, she was the last of nine children, five of which survived to
adulthood.
Growing up in a deeply Catholic family, Thérèse’s life was filled
with love, consideration and kindness. A pretty, blond and blue-eyed
girl, hers was a precocious mind, and passionate, willful, sensitive
nature, a nature made yet more sensitive by her mother’s death of breast
cancer when Thérèse was four.
After his wife’s death, M. Martin moved his family to the town of
Lisieux, and rented a charming home, “Les Buissonnets”, where he raised
his five girls in bourgeois comfort. Thérèse was his “Benjamin” for whom
he had a special affection and whom he called “my little queen”.
For her mothering needs, the little girl turned to her favorite
sister, Pauline, who took the rearing of her “child” seriously looking
after her needs of body, mind and soul.
When Pauline decided to enter Carmel in 1882, the shock made Thérèse
seriously ill. As the illness progressed, and as her family prepared for
the worst, on May 13, the sick girl appealed to a statue of Our Lady by
her bed. “Suddenly,” Thérèse writes, “Mary’s face radiated kindness and
love…” and she was healed. To the family the statue became “The Virgin
of the Smile”.
The “Great Conversion”
On Christmas Eve in 1886 at the age of fourteen Thérèse received a
great grace. In one moment, she was cured of her hyper-sensitivity, and
went through what she calls “her conversion.” From then on she decided
to live no longer to please herself but for love. She felt her heart
burn with the wish to help Jesus save souls.
Murderer, Henri Pranzini
Hearing of a murderer, Henri Pranzini, who had been condemned to
death, but remained unrepentant, she set out to pray and offer small
sacrifices for his conversion, and trusted that God would hear her
against all appearances. She was elated when she read that though
refusing a priest to the last, at the scaffold Pranzini suddenly turned
and, snatching a crucifix from the attending priest’s hands, kissed it
repeatedly.
Thereafter, Thérèse always called Pranzini her “first son”– her course was set.
She entered Carmel at age sixteen, and though only living as a
Carmelite for nine years, she rose to the heights of sanctity through
her “little way” of serving God and others in everyday life, and doing
everything, even the smallest things, with great love and child-like
trust in her God’s paternal love, and mercy.
At the request of her sister Pauline who glimpsed her sanctity, she penned her autobiography, The Story of a Soul.
The Large Aspirations of the Little Flower
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face was called
“the greatest saint of modern times,” in the words of Pope Saint Pius X.
The charm of her “Little Way,” with all its sweetness and mercy,
admirably harmonizes with the traits of a genuine warrior, “I would die
in a battlefield, arms in hand,” she once stated. 1
Her soul had infinite aspirations: she wanted to be a warrior,
priest, apostle, doctor of the Church and martyr; she felt the courage
of a crusader, of a Papal Zouave; she wanted to die in the battlefield
defending the Church; she wanted to preach the Gospel to the four
continents and to the remotest islands. “‘Jesus, Jesus’—she would
say—‘if I were to write all my desires, I would have to borrow Thy book
of life; I wanted to have achieved all these deeds for Thee . . . .’” 2
A New Joan of Arc
This warrior aspect of Saint Thérèse’s soul is dominant in her moral
profile. Yet, even those who love her most, tend to forget this trait.
“In my childhood, I dreamed of combating in the battlefield. When I
began to learn the history of France, I was enchanted with the deeds of
Joan of Arc; I felt in my heart a desire and courage to imitate them.” 3
Saint Thérèse gradually became increasingly aware of the profound
similarities between her life and that of the Virgin of Donrémy. Thus,
on January 21, 1894, the 101st anniversary of the martyrdom of the
unfortunate King Louis XVI, she wrote a theater play titled, The Mission
of Joan of Arc.
The following year, as Pope Leo XIII declared her “Venerable,” and
France celebrated it’s holy martyr and warrior, Saint Thérèse wrote the
play, Joan of Arc Fulfills Her Mission, which the whole religious
community staged. Saint Thérèse played the role of Joan of Arc.
The play featured the conquest of Orleans, the coronation of King
Charles VII, but above all Saint Joan of Arc’s burning at the stake,
which to Saint Thérèse meant the apex of the achievement of the
heroine’s mission.
Saint Thérèse signed her Canticle to obtain the canonization of Saint Joan of Arc as “A French soldier, defender of the Church and admirer of Joan of Arc.”
Saint Joan, the Virgin of Orleans, and Saint Thérèse, the Virgin of
Lisieux, are two models of militant Catholic combatants against the
enemies of the Church and of Christian Civilization. Two great saints,
though leading such different lives—one a strictly military life and the
other a contemplative one—nonetheless have profound affinities with
each other.
Saint Thérèse did not live to see Saint Joan’s canonization, and she
was far from imagining that, on May 18, 1925, Pope Pius XI would present
her, Saint Thérèse, to the Catholic world as “a new Joan of Arc”; and
that during the Second World War, Pope Pius XII would declare her, like
the Virgin of Orleans, “secondary patron of all France!”
A Crusader Soul
The idea of the fight constantly fed the strong soul of the saint of the Little Flower.
“I went to sleep for a few moments during prayer,” she would tell
Mother Agnes. “I dreamt there were not enough soldiers for a war against
the Prussians. You said: We need to send Sister Thérèse of the Child
Jesus. I answered that I agreed, but that I would prefer to fight at a
holy war. But finally I went all the same.
“Oh no, I would not fear going to war. With what joy, for example, at
the time of the Crusades, I would have gone to combat heretics. Yes! I
would not have been afraid to be shot; I would not have feared the fire!
4
“When I think I’m dying in bed! I would want to die in an arena!” 5
The same combative spirit animated her in the struggles of the
spiritual life: “Sanctity! We need to conquer it at the tip of the sword
. . . we need to fight!” 6
Such is the mettle of this extremely active and energetic warrior
soul, according to the testimonies of those who knew her: “Under a suave
and gracious aspect [she] revealed at every instant, in her actions, a
strong character and a manly soul; she would not be discouraged in her
dedication to the interests of the Church.” 7
A “Manly Soul”
“This is a manly soul, a great man,” Pope Pius XI later said. Saint
Thérèse of the Child Jesus thus followed the advice of the great Saint
Thérèse of Avila to her daughters: “I want you not to be women in
anything, but equal to strong men in everything!” 8
Thus wrote Cardinal Vico about the Virgin of Lisieux, “Thérèse’s
virtue imposes itself with incredible majesty: the child becomes a hero;
a virgin with her hands full of flowers causes astonishment with her
manly courage.” 9
A handwriting analysis of Saint Thérèse’s Act of Profession gives
this admirable testimony: “An iron-clad resolution, a great will to
fight, an indomitable energy are expressed here. These traits show at
the same time the fright of a child and the decisiveness of a warrior.” 10
In 1914, when the First World War breaks out, Saint Thérèse appears
some forty times in various battlefields, at times holding a cross in
her hand, at times a saber! The soldiers see her; she speaks to them
matter-of-factly, resolves their doubts, overcomes their temptations and
calms their fears. She protects, consoles and converts them.
French soldiers would invoke her as “my little sister of the
trenches,” “my war patroness,” “the shield of soldiers,” “the angel of
battles” and “my dear little Captain.” A soldier wrote, “In fact, that
gentle Saint will be the great heroine of this war.” Another commented,
“I think of her when the cannon thunders with great roar.”
Countless were the artillery pieces and planes named after Sister
Thérèse; whole regiments were consecrated to her. Countless relics of
the saint that miraculously stopped rifle bullets like real shields,
saving the lives of the soldiers who carried them, are in her convent of
Lisieux, a testimony to the great prodigies of the one who, in fact,
“died with arms in her hand.” 11
The Final Words of Saint Therese
Struck with tuberculosis, Thérèse suffered greatly. Knowing she was
dying she promised, “I shall spend my heaven doing good on earth … I
shall let fall a shower of roses”. Thérèse died on September 30, 1897,
after a brief ecstasy. Her last gasping words were, “My God! ... I love Thee!”
She was canonized by Pius XI in 1925 and devotion to her quickly spread throughout the world.
For her doctrine of “The Little Way” Thérèse was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997.
Notes:
1 Poésies de Sainte Thérese de l’Enfant-Jésus, “Mes armes,” March 25, 1897, Office Central de Lisieux, 1951.
2 Manuscrits Autobiographiques, dedicated to Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart, Office Central de Lisieux, 1956, folio 4 t’.
3 Lettres de Sainte Thérese de l’Enfant-Jésus, Letter to Father Belliere, Office Central de Lisieux, 1948.
4 Carnet Jaune, 4.8.6 in Demiers entretiens, Éditions du Centenaire, Desclée de Brouwer ¬Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 1971.
5 Summarium of the Process of Beatification and Canonization 1, testimony of Celine, 2753.
6 Correspondance Générale,
Éditions du Cerf-Desclée de Brouwer, Paris, 1972, t. I (1877–1890),
Letter (no. 89) Celine, April 26, 1889; Letter to Leonie, May 20, 1894.
7 Summarium of the Process
of Beatification and Canonization 1, testimony of Mother Agnes, 706, and
of Mother Therese of Saint Augustine, 1072.
8 Lettres de Sainte Thérese
de l’Enfant-Jésus, as quoted by Saint Therese of Avila in a letter to
Father Rouland, November 10, 1896, Office Central de Lisieux, 1948.
9 L’Esprit de Ia
Bienheureuse Thérese de l’Enfant-Jésus d’après ses écrits et des témoins
occulaires de sa vie. Office Central de Lisieux, 1924, Preface, at
VIII.
10 Father François de Sainte-Marie, OCDP, Manuscrits Autobiographiques, Office Central de Lisieux, 1956, vol. II, 53.
11 Cf. Interventions de
Sr. Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus pendant la guerre, Pluie de Roses,
Lisieux, 1920; and Ch. Gabriel Sarraute, Un soldat français: sainte
Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus, Imprimerie Morière, 1970.
“I promise you, in the excessive mercy of my Heart
that my all powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy
Communion on the first Friday for nine consecutive months, the grace of
final repentance; they shall not die in my disgrace nor without
receiving the sacraments; my divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in
that last moment.” — Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary
How to complete the First Friday’s Devotion:
Receive Holy Communion on each First Friday;
The nine Fridays must be consecutive;
They must be made in honor and in reparation to His Sacred Heart.
Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Sacred Heart of Jesus, animated with a desire to repair the outrages
unceasingly offered to Thee, we prostrate before Thy throne of mercy,
and in the name of all mankind, pledge our love and fidelity to Thee!
The more Thy mysteries are blasphemed, the more firmly we shall believe them, O Sacred Heart of Jesus!
The more impiety endeavors to extinguish our hopes of immortality, the more we shall trust in Thy Heart, sole hope of mankind!
The more hearts resist Thy Divine attractions, the more we shall love Thee, O infinitely amiable Heart of Jesus!
The more unbelief attacks Thy Divinity, the more humbly and profoundly we shall adore It, O Divine Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy holy laws are transgressed and ignored, the more we shall delight to observe them, O most holy Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Sacraments are despised and abandoned, the more
frequently we shall receive them with love and reverence, O most liberal
Heart of Jesus!
The more the imitation of Thy virtues is neglected and forgotten, the
more we shall endeavor to practice them, O Heart of Jesus, model of
every virtue!
The more the devil labors to destroy souls, the more we shall be
inflamed with desire to save them, O Heart of Jesus, zealous Lover of
souls!
The more sin and impurity destroy the image of God in man, the more
we shall try by purity of life to be a living temple of the Holy Spirit,
O Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Holy Church is despised, the more we shall endeavor to be her faithful children, O Sweet Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Vicar on earth is persecuted, the more we will honor him
as the infallible head of Thy Holy Church, show our fidelity and pray
for him, O kingly Heart of Jesus!
O Sacred Heart, through Thy powerful grace, may we become Thy
apostles in the midst of a corrupted world, and be Thy crown in the
kingdom of heaven. Amen
12 Promises of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary
I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
I will give peace in their families.
I will console them in all their troubles.
I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
Tepid souls shall become fervent.
Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
I will bless those places wherein the image of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.
In
the excess of the mercy of my heart, I promise you that my all powerful
love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First
Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance:
they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the
sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.
