Why Is She Crying? Probably Because of Something YOU Did

CHICAGO, Illinois -- Some worshipers see a sign from God after a caretaker at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago saw what looked like tears pouring from the Virgin Mary's eyes.

The caretaker noticed the shocking sight early Sunday morning, as she prepared for what could be one of the church's final services.

The church faces foreclosure and is due to go to bankruptcy court Tuesday morning. The community was in shock at the weeping icon.

"There's something she's trying to tell us, so we're just going to seal our lips and listen to what she has to say," said Father Nick Jonas.

Monday the residue of the oil-like substance streaming from the Virgin Mary's eyes remained, with many believing the oil has healing properties and that its origins are a blessing from God.

"I can't explain why she is tearing, but I do know as human beings we are usually crying for two reasons: either joy or sorrow," Fr. Jonas said.

Mark Your Calendars! February 2!

On February 2, 2018, which is the day celebrating the double Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (also called Candlemas), there will occur throughout the  United States the gathering of faithful in their parish churches  to pray the Rosary for the intention of the Purification of the Church, and the Triumph of the Light of Christ over all sin and error.
The Presentation celebrates the coming of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, into His Temple. It is, in fact, the premier Feast of Light¸ and the Triumph of Light over the Darkness of Evil. Traditionally called Candlemas, it signifies the “success” and triumph of the Incarnation, has been traditionally celebrated with triumphal candlelight processions, and is the liturgical day designated for the blessing of candles.

The Church has now been penetrated by a darkness greater than at any time in its history – not only the darkness of sexual sins and other moral “filth”, but that which consists of every conceivable form of error masking itself as truth, and of darkness masquerading as light. The task of unmasking these “thoughts”, and thus paving the way to the Triumph of the Truth of Christ, has been entrusted to Mary. Most specifically, it has been entrusted to Our Lady of the Rosary. St. Paul writes, “The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.” The Rosary, as revealed in the messages of Our Lady of Fatima, is this armor of light possessing the power from God to cast off the works of darkness which now pervade the Church, the world, and especially the minds and hearts of individual Catholics.

The Centennial of the "Dancing Sun" of Fatima, October 13

Father Z reports:

Are any of you reading stories about an event in Nigeria on 13 October 2017, the 100th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun?  Apparently the bishops of Nigeria consecrated Nigeria to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  After the Mass, the Sun supposedly… did things….
There are videos on YouTube.
I don’t know what to make of this.  I haven’t heard anything official.

 I'm not sure what to make of this. It seems to me that the people there don't seem to be paying the sun much attention...

News From the Archdiocse of Verapoly

Kochi, India, Oct 14, 2017 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Both Hindu and Catholic schoolchildren in India claim to have witnessed an apparition of Christ and several appearances of the Virgin Mary accompanied by the scent of jasmine, the gift of contrition, and the healing of a girl’s ear problem.
The site of the alleged apparitions is St. Ambrose Church and Lower Primary School in Edavanakkad, in the far southwestern state of Kerala, 16 miles northwest of Kochi. The parish and adjacent school are under the Archdiocese of Verapoly. The Marian apparitions are said to have happened on at least two separate dates.
The apparition reportedly began Sept. 28 when a student at the school, a Hindu girl named Krishnaveda, went to the church to pray for her ear problem. She put some holy water on her ear. She later told her fellow students that the holy water immediately helped her ear.
When the children left the school to pray in the church, they looked up and saw in the sky a vision of Christ being scourged. They recited the name of Jesus and went into the church to thank God for healing the girl’s ear.
The only Catholic girl among them, Ambrosiya, volunteered to lead the students in praying the rosary. However she did not know the Luminous Mysteries recited on Thursday and sought a teacher’s help. The children were in prayer when the teacher reached them at about 1:45 in the afternoon.

I am impressed that the little Catholic girl even KNEW Thursday is the Luminous Mysteries.


When D’Silva took the children back to the church so they could pray, the children claimed to see the Virgin Mary standing under the altar. The adults could not see anything.

Under the altar?

 

Holy Snakes!

Athens, Greece, Aug 15, 2017 / 03:03 am (Church Pop).- Every year, on the Orthodox feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, a monastery on a Greek island experiences a miracle – dozens of snakes come to 'venerate' an icon of Mary.

In a phenomenon that has reportedly been happening for hundreds of years, black snakes begin appearing on the Greek island of Kefalonia between Aug. 5 and Aug. 15, the days when the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates the dormition of the Theotokos (Mother of God).
According to tradition, the miracle of the snakes began in 1705, when nuns of the monastery were about to be attacked by pirates. 

 

Legend has it that the nuns prayed fervently to the Virgin Mary, asking her that she turn them into snakes to avoid capture. Other versions say that the nuns prayed that the monastery be infested with snakes so as to scare away the pirates. Either way it happened, they were spared.
Since then, the small black snakes, known as European Cat Snakes, appear every year just before the feast, and make their way to the walls and entryways of the Church to 'venerate' the silver icon of Mary known as the Panagia Fidoussa, or the Virgin of the Snakes.

Do It While You Can!

Deeply Significant is an Understatement

What began with glowing rosaries and the rediscovery of a statue of the Virgin Mary in Argentina has now been approved by the local bishop as a series of apparitions that are “of supernational origin” and worthy of belief.

And the designation is deeply significant, recognizing the messages of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas, which exhort peace and give dire warnings, one miracle researcher says.
Bishop Hector Cardelli of San Nicolas in Argentina’s Buenos Aires province made the announcement May 22 at the conclusion of a Mass during the well-attended pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas.
The bishop has investigated the contents of the apparitions through 1990....


The apparitions began after some rosaries in homes throughout San Nicolas de los Arroyos in Buenos Aires Province began to glow without any explanation.

Gladys Quiroga de Motta

 
A wife and mother named Gladys Quiroga de Motta saw these glowing rosaries and began to pray to the Virgin Mary. The Virgin appeared to her on Sept. 25, carrying the infant Jesus and wearing a blue gown and veil. Her figure glowed with light.
With only a fourth-grade education, Gladys had no great knowledge of the Bible or theology. She is a mother of two daughters and a grandmother.  
At various times, the Virgin Mary apparition referred the woman to several Bible verses. One month after the first appearance, the apparition gave Gladys a white rosary and said, “Receive this Rosary from my hands and keep it forever and ever. You are obedient; I am happy because of it. Rejoice, for God is with you.”
The Virgin Mary asked Gladys to go look for a statue that had been blessed by a Pope and was forgotten away in a church. She found the statue on Nov. 27, 1983. It was in the belfry of the diocesan cathedral.
The statue in question was of the Mother of God holding the Child Jesus. It had been brought from Rome after it was blessed by Pope Leo XIII. Following the Virgin’s instructions, it was found in the bell tower of the church. The statue resembled the apparition.

Solemnity of the Carbon Offset

VATICAN CITY, Dec. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On Dec. 8, a humanitarian coalition comprised of Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Inc., the Li Ka Shing Foundation and Okeanos, in partnership with The Oceanic Preservation Society and Obscura Digital, and under the auspices of the World Bank Group's Connect4Climate initiative, will present a gift of contemporary public art entitled "Fiat Lux: Illuminating our Common Home" to Pope Francis on the opening day of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. At this unprecedented and historic event, beautiful images of our shared natural world will be projected onto the façade of St. Peter's Basilica in a contemporary work of public art that tells the visual story of the interdependency of humans and life on earth with the planet, in order to educate and inspire change around the climate crisis across generations, cultures, languages, religions and class.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:
 
 Sacrilege: “The irreverent treatment of sacred things, persons or places, i.e., those dedicated by God or the Church to sacred purposes.  It is a sin against the virtue of religion, of its nature grave, but admitting smallness of matter. Sacrilege may be either personal, as when violence is done to a cleric or religious; local, as when certain crimes are committed or actions done in a church; real, as by the abuse of sacraments, the theft of sacred objects or their irreverent misuse and the sin of simony. These varieties of the sin differ specifically from one another.”

And to do it on THE SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION??? Was Mary born without a carbon footprint?

Picturing Mary

The National Gallery of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. is holding an exhibit entitled, Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea". I don't know what the idea is, but the paintings are amazing! There is an interactive on-line version located here. Check it out!

Madonna with the Child, Sandro Botticelli (1467)

Interestingly, one of the sponsors of the exhibit is Jacqueline Badger Mars, whsi weird because her husbands last name is Badger. ANyway, she is ranked as the 15th richest person in America, worth more than $19,000,000,000 as an heiress to the Mars candy bar empire.

Why is Mary Crying?

Probably because of something you did.

From Yahoo News:

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hundreds of people have flocked to a small town in northern Israel to view a statue of the Virgin Mary that residents say "weeps" oil.

Why We Pray the Rosary

Mary giving you the "Jesus doesn't like it when you're not nice to me" look.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8

The question was asked if the Holy Day of Obligation of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is moved to Sunday this year. According to About.com "Because this feast honoring Mary, the Mother of God, celebrates one of the most important events in salvation history, it is never abrogated, even when it falls on a Saturday or a Monday."