What’s a Catholic to think? What are we to say? We hear about the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing behind every rock, tree, and even in toast?! How has the Church determined which are truly supernatural and which are not?
A convert to Catholicism, author Elizabeth Ficocelli joins us this week to speak about living in The Age of Mary – about true Marian apparitions, and the urgent messages they have for us and our lives.
Elizabeth will be coming to San Antonio for the Catholic Women’s Conference October 7-8, 2011. (For more information, click here.) She may be known by Catholic radio listeners and the EWTN television audience as a guest on programs like The Abundant Life with Johnette Benkovic and Bookmark with Doug Keck.
Sounds great! How can I participate in this program?
South Texans can tune into Time Warner Cable channel 15 or radio 89.7 FM – and anyone can listen online by clicking the LISTEN LIVE button on CatholicismLive.com from 8pm – 9pm Central Time!
Submit questions and comments using the form on CatholicismLive.com or call in during the program: (210) 734-5371
More information related to this episode of Catholicism Live!:
- San Antonio’s Catholic Women’s Conference – Elizabeth to speak (click here)
- Elizabeth Ficocelli’s website (click here)
- Prayer for Women, by the Catholic Women’s Conference – (see below)
Saint of the Week: Archangels Sts. Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel (September 29)
The name Michael means “one who is like God”. His will is focused, immovable, and entirely driven toward accomplishing goodness; he is the protector of souls, and wields his powerful sword against the poisonous and vindictive aspirations of Satan, who is known as a liar from the beginning.
All three monotheistic religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – have devotions to St. Michael.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great once preached, “Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, Michael is sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what God does by his superior power.”
During a visit to the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel, John Paul II said, “The battle against the devil . . . is the principal task of Saint Michael the archangel.”
Scripture relates such a truth: “Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. Although the dragon and his angels fought back, they were overpowered and lost their place in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent known as the devil or Satan, the seducer of the whole world, was driven out; he was hurled down to earth and his minions with him” (Rev 12:7-9).
Following Scripture, Christian tradition gives to St. Michael four offices:
1. To fight against Satan.
2. To rescue the souls of the faithful from the power of the enemy, especially at the hour of death.
3. To be the champion of God’s people, the Jews in the Old Law, the Christians in the New Testament; therefore he was the patron of the Church, and of the orders of knights during the Middle Ages.
4. To call away from earth and bring men’s souls to judgment.
Gabriel means “God is my strength”. He was sent from God to Nazareth, “to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, . . . and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, ‘Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you’” (Lk 1:27-28).
Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote: “He [Gabriel] came to announce the One who appeared as a humble man to quell the cosmic powers. Thus God’s strength announced the coming of the Lord of the heavenly powers, mighty in battle” (excerpt from Hom. 34, 8-9).
Gabriel is mentioned only twice in the New Testament, but it is not unreasonable to suppose with Christian tradition that it is he who appeared to St. Joseph and to the shepherds, and also that it was he who “strengthened” Our Lord in the garden. Gabriel is generally termed only an archangel, but the expression used by St. Raphael, “I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord” (Tobit 12:15) and St. Gabriel’s own words, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God” (Luke 1:19), have led some to think that these angels must belong to the highest rank; but this is generally explained as referring to their rank as the highest of God’s messengers, and not as placing them among the Seraphim and Cherubim.
Raphael means “God is my health”. He is one of seven angels “who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord” (Tob 12:15). The meaning of Raphael’s name reflects his role in the book of Tobit. Here, he first appears disguised in human form as the travelling companion of the young Tobias. Raphael calls himself “Azarias the son of the great Ananias”. The story of the adventurous journey demonstrates the protective influence of the angel, including the binding “in the desert of upper Egypt” of the demon who had previously slain seven husbands of Sara, daughter of Raguel (Tobit 5-11). After the return and the healing of the blindness of the elderly Tobit, Azarias makes himself known as “the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord” (Tobit 12:15. Cf. Revelation 8:2).
Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, pray for us!
Biography adapted from the following sources: Catholic Online, Catholic Encyclopedia, and SQPN Saints.
Pearl of the Week:
Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope and Charity, by Elizabeth Ficocelli. Available from Paulist Press
online or by calling (800-218-1903), or contact your local Catholic bookstore.
Includes foreword by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, nationally acclaimed scholar, theologian, author, speaker and host of “Sunday Night Live with Father Benedict Groeschel” on EWTN.
Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, in Lourdes, this book is an overview of the sanctuary’s past, present, and future.
A fascinating look at Lourdes, one of the world’s most popular Marian places of pilgrimage. Includes the history of the apparitions to Bernadette Soubirous, the response of the Church, the advent of cures and pilgrimage, and Lourdes today as a powerful center for physical, spiritual, and emotional healing. Featuring interviews with the Bishop, Medical Director, and other key personnel of the Sanctuary.
Prayer for Women, by the Catholic Women’s Conference
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Lord Jesus,
Thank you for the constant love you have for me.
Thank you for the gift of life and the gift of faith.
Today, take me into your Sacred Heart and renew my life.
I open my heart to your grace, to be healed where healing is needed.
Replace any wounds or worries with your peace and joy.
Send your Holy Spirit into my life.
Guide me to be the woman you have created me to be:
your beloved daughter, disciple, and friend.
Make me a woman of faith, hope and charity.
Please remove any obstacles which keep me from living this way.
Lord, pour out your grace upon this year’s Catholic Women’s Conference.
May it be a time of spiritual renewal, healing, reconciliation and joy for all who attend.
Thank you, Lord Jesus. For all this, I pray in your sweet Name.
Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Hope, pray for us.
Amen.
Praised be the Holy Trinity and our Blessed Mother for a blessed, grace-filled, and joyful Catholic Women’s Conference! The speakers came from different parts of the U.S. and it is interesting how the Holy Spirit wove a thread of a common theme with their presentations of Mary and spiritual warfare. The participants heard powerful presentations. Mother Adela spoke about the importance of a personal relationship of Jesus and how an encounter with Jesus can bring new life, hope and healing. And beautifully explained how women are called to be “Marian – like Mary, the Mother of God” as models of purity and virtue. She and Deacon Tom Fox led the Friday evening Eucharistic Healing Service. On Saturday, the participants heard various presentations from the theology of the body in relation to food and Christ, the role of Mary, the Mother of God in our live, the reality of spirtual warfare, especially against the vocation of woman, the lies of New Age practices and so much more. The Catholic Church has given us the Sacraments and numerous spiritual tools such as the Rosary, fasting, a life of prayer, sacramentals and more to build a civilization of love and hope!
