Posts tagged “Our Lady of Fatima

13 de Mayo – May 13th

Los Heraldos del Evangelio tienen el agrado de invitarlos a la Conmemoración de la

FIESTA DE NUESTRA SEÑORA DE FATIMA

Misa celebrada por el nuevo sacerdote, Rev. Padre Juan Villanueva, E.P

Lunes, 13 de Mayo 2013

En la Co-Catedral of the Sacred Heart

1111 St Joseph Pkwy, Houston, TX 77002

                              6:15 Rosario, Consagración y Coronación

                             7:15 Santa Misa                                        

El neo-sacerdote saludará a los fieles al final de la Misa.

Organizado por Los Heraldos del Evangelio, tel 281-597-8178


The 1st church of the Heralds of the Gospel is now a Basilica

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The first church of Heralds of the Gospel (in the International Seminary of the Heralds’ priestly branch, the Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right Virgo Flos Carmeli) has been made a basilica by Pope Benedict XVI. The Basilica is named Our Lady of the Rosary.  If you look at the pictures, the exterior is not even completed and yet the Holy Father bestows this honor. Inside it some improvements are also in the works.  Here follows an translated excerpt of the news reported by Gaudium Press:

“With the Supreme Apostolic power, perpetually, we elevate the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary to the rank and dignity of Minor Basilica”

These words read yesterday from Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Brief brought joy and hope for the institution of the Heralds of the Gospel.
The feast of Our Lady Help of Christians was doubly celebrated by the Heralds of the Gospel. In addition to the normal celebrations in praise and honor of the Holy Mother of God, Help of Christians, there was something very special to be celebrated: The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, in the Diocese of Bragança Paulista was elevated to the rank of Minor Basilica, just that day .
This church is part of a group of buildings which include the seminary of the Clerical Society Virgo Flos Carmeli and the House of Formation of the Heralds of the Gospel.
The ceremony of the presentation of the Apostolic Brief that raised the church to the status of Minor Basilica proceeded with great solemnity during the Mass celebrated by Bishop Sergio Aparecido Colombo , Bishop of Bragança Paulista, in São Paulo.
The Brief of His Holiness was presented to Msgr. João Clá Dias, founder and general president of the Heralds of the Gospel.  Then the proclamation of the Holy Father’s words followed.
At the end of ceremony the unveiling of the symbols that identify a Minor Basilica, the Papal Coat of Arms, the Coat of Arms of the Bishop and the Papal Keys.
The Apostolic Brief
“Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the seal of the Fisherman, on April 21st in the year 2012, the eighth of Our Pontificate.”
Thus ends the Papal decree that was made known by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of the Holy See.
In it “His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI — Ad perpetuam rei memoriam –” affirms “among the sacred temples of the Diocese of Bragança Paulista in Brazil, stands out, deservedly, the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, erected in the city of Caieiras, to which the faithful of the region tend to go to implore the powerful help of She who is Full of Grace, to guide their existence according the precepts of the Gospel.
For this reason, since the Venerable Brother Sergio Aparecido Colombo, bishop of that See, with the letter of the 1st of March of this year, in the name of the clergy and also the people, requested that we should honor this temple with the diginity of Minor Basilica, We, wishing to give proof of our special benevolence, with supreme satisfaction of those ferverent prayers, judge that it should be granted.”

Thus it is that the Holy Father says still “fully met the requirements that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, with the powers granted by Us, established for this subject,With the Supreme Apostolic power, perpetually, we elevate the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary to the rank and dignity of Minor Basilica, conferred all the rights and liturgical concessions that properly belong to the sacred edifices honored with this title, observing what is determined by the Decree De titulo Basilicae Minoris, promulgated on the 9th of November, 1989.”
And the Supreme Pontiff continues: “We are confident that the honor given shall prompt the hearts of the faithful to venerate even more the Holy Mother of God and the Church. We desire that this letter take effect from now and for posterity, being revoked any provisions to contrary.”

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Our Lady of the Resurrection

Image of Our Lady of the Ressurection,  the invocation of the original name of the House of Formation, Hermitage of Our Lady of the Resurrection

Image of Our Lady of the Ressurection, the invocation of the original name of the House of Formation, Hermitage of Our Lady of the Resurrection

A detail of the living room lights

A detail of the living room lights

A community living room in the seminary of the Herald

A community living room in the seminary of the Heralds


Celebration of the 95th Aniversary of the apparition of Our Lady in Fatima – Mother’s Day

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click to see

Mass of May 13, 2012 at the Parish of Prince
of Peace in Houston, Texas. Eleven new companions were received and a large
number of people made their Consecration to Jesus Christ through the hands
of Mary, according to the method of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort.


Priestly Ordination March 19, 2012


DIA DE LOS REYES: Villancico Español


Easter Music – Hallelujah Amen from Judas Maccabeus by Handel


Stabat Mater sung by the Herald of the Gospel


Mass honoring Our Lady of Fatima

On October 13, 2010, in Houston Texas at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, the Heralds of the Gospel help a solemn rosary and Mass to honor Our Lady of Fatima. The celebration was attended by over 1,400 people. Many Marian groups from around the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston also participated, as well as, a large number of the Knights of Columbus.

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Singing of the Office

The Heralds of the Gospel reunite every Sunday to sing the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office.  It takes place in the church of the Seminary, Our Lady of the Rosary church.


Thabor – Elevation and Discipline II

…continued from previous post

Man is both body and soul. The angels shine contemplating God and singing His praises in pure spirit, but man with his body as well. His actions, every beat of his heart should give glory to God.

Man in Paradise had a perfect nature. All he did was orderly and pleasant to God.  But with original sin, the situation changed …with labor and toil shall you eat thereof all the days of your life… (Genesis 3:17)

No longer are all things in man subject to God’s will.  Man is burdened by disorderly passions. He must fight against inclinations towards evil, as he was cursed to a fallen nature.

“For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.

Oh how we are subject to that just sentence! At every instant our flesh calls us despise the law written in the bronze of our souls! Even worst, not only the flesh, but the Devil and the World conspire against our salvation, against our union with God! How can we maintain our minds in Heaven when our feet are dragging?

Of course, for man that is impossible. Only with God’s grace can man stably practice the 10 commandments.  St. Thomas teaches us that while a man is capable of doing some ethical or moral good, supernatural good is only with His Grace.

But graces come in many forms.  To simplify,  we’ll use an example used a lot demonstrate the difference between  sufficient grace (gratia mere sufficiens) and  efficacious grace (gratia efficax).

Sufficient graces are those that give the person the possibility to do good.

A man who wants to cross a river needs a boat, oars and the strength to do so.

It is analogous to a man who wants to practice good. He needs grace. God gives it.

But when the current is stronger than normal?  When the task at hand is so much more difficult than the common situation? More help is needed.

There God not only gives you oars, but He shall push the boat towards the goal.

Of course, man always has free will, but isn’t it hard to row against a hurricane of graces?

When God sends His winds, at most you need to open the sails to reach the goal. Sometimes not even that.  How many wonderful stories about mystics could we tell? They saw the most sublime things, as if ascended into Heaven. But not only they, but every person, at one point in their lives, was subject such a grace, in a greater or lesser degree.

But the journeys of a Catholic are not always full of winds that push towards the Heavens. How many times have we found ourselves in a dark night, and the boat slipping from our control?

Does God abandon us? No, absolutely not! Does the mother abandon the child when she puts the child down from her arms and gives it her hand as it may walk on its own feet? No, God helps us in the same way, as we may be strengthened. He shall always be there.  Even St. Paul begged God to take Him in His arms as the mother takes child the child and carries it where she wishes and protect it. But the Lord told him, as we read in 2 Corinthians 12:    My grace is sufficient for you: for power is made perfect in infirmity.

This is where discipline comes in. Our small contribution to the action of grace. A man must put order into his life in so that he may triumph over his worst enemy: himself.  To defeat all his evil inclinations he needs both grace and a bit of effort (Or sometimes a lot!) . “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” – St. Augustine.
He needs to make efforts to strengthen his will.  Waking up early and having schedules to follow make a Herald use his time wisely and efficiently.  Practicing ceremonials, be it for mass or the muster of the Credo before classes or even the cortege from dinner to Complines,  helps the body discipline its movements to make them dignified movements yet leaving the mind open to reach the highest contemplations that grace proportions when we are properly disposed for them. If angels had bodies… imagine it…we want to imitate them!

Columns of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Heralds of the Gospel during the singing of the Creed before classes
Discipline is not only work. Everything helps a young herald always with enthusiasm to love, know and serve Our Blessed Mother and Her Divine Son!

Discipline is not only work! Everything helps a young herald be always with enthusiasm to love, know and serve Our Blessed Mother and Her Divine Son!

Cortege to enthrone the Child Jesus before the Christmas feast

Washing dishes,  cleaning, exercise, silence, early wake-up, lights out, drills, music practice, Marian missions (will be the subject of future posts), parish duties, community admonishments, chapters of faults, studies, strong reading habits and being expected to always do everything with a love for perfection creates habits that end up forming ideas, that then forms mentalities and finally forms saints.   All this next to an intense spiritual life make a seminarian ready for anything and willing to go and do anything that Holy Church needs of him. At a young age, obedience already becomes way of life, making him capable of things others aren’t. Living in community, having to follow an Ordo of Customs (again, we hope to write on it later) and constantly having to dominate their will and put it the hands of another make a seminarian be ready for those times that God hands us “just an oar” to give us merits.  These habits end up being connatural to the person, allowing him to fly when life weights down. Without discipline, when aridness begins to ail a soul, it succumbs and is incapable of elevating the minds to God. When God sends His winds to push us towards  great things and great horizons to Put out into deep water” (Luke 5:4 ) it is easy to elevate your mind towards Him.  But when He wants us to suffer the apparent abandonment as He Himself suffered to make us grow, we need to be ready for it. An athlete who wants to win a race can’t rely on having a “good day” . He has to train for it. The path towards sanctity is not always full of  bright skies and and soothing winds.  Sometimes it goes through dark knights and heavy storms. With discipline, overcoming those trials, always with God’s grace, becomes possible, being able to always keep the celestial objective in sight and on the path towards it.

Let us  all discipline ourselves, above all in our prayer life, so we can one day with great joy say:  I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith!


Working

Working

Making pizza on Sundays!

Making pizza on Sundays!

Working with wood with our Master Carpenter!

Working with wood with our Master Carpenter!

Always seeking Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, be it with the greatest consolations or the most challenging aridity

Always seeking Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, be it with the greatest consolations or the most challenging aridity


Phrase of the Day February 12, 2010

“Caprice leads to bitterness and the spirit of criticism”

Msgr.  John S. Clá Dias   02.12.2010

A father teaches his children

“O capricho leva à amargura e ao espírito de crítica!”

Msgr. João S. Clá Dias (12/02/2010).


Reception of habits – Jan. 24, 2010

Some pictures of a ceremony of reception of habit in Our Lady of the Rosary church.


And the phrase of the day…

Our founder, Msgr. João S. Clá Dias, has the custom of, after signing the registry of the masses, to write in a phrase that synthesizes the homily and leave a lasting impression above all in the younger heralds.  So we hope to transmit them often!

“Quem vive em virtude, transborda em alegria!”

“Who lives in virtue, overflows in joy!

16-01-10

Waiting for the phrase after the Mass

Waiting for the phrase after the Mass

“O amor move o universo enquanto a Fé, as montanhas”

“Love moves the universe while Faith, the mountains.

Mons. João S. Clá Dias, 12-01-2010



Thabor – Elevation and Discipline I

Thabor (in English Tabor or Thabor)  is a place where elevation and discipline reign. Banalities and lack of seriousness are naturally discouraged.

Naturally? Yes, naturally. In the sense that without needing to always having to drag a person, heavy with earthly thoughts and desires, to elevated things, he is in a situation where it is, in a way, the only thing possible. From a door handle that ennobles a simple closet  to the way the indirect lighting creates a penumbra enveloping a corner with mystery, turning every detail into an occasion for elevation of the mind towards God. In creatures one can see an aspect of God, a principle behind a design and even opens the mind to the possibilities  of  things God could have created, wonders that exist in God’s infinite mind; these wonders that we hope to contemplate in Heaven.  A prayer that really shows this spirit is one that the Heralds of the Gospel, who voluntarily live in a spirit of poverty, when are in need of some material good, end  the request for them with it, adapted from the litany of the saints.

“Cor Sapientiale et Immaculatum Mariae, ut mentes nostras ad caelestia desideria erigas! Te rogamus, audi nos! ”

Even in the most simple situations, pulchrum involves the life of a herald, so that the union with God, Our Blessed Mother, the Choirs of the Angels and the Community of the Saints is always more intense. Everything proportions an opportunity for mystical graces to touch the deepest recesses  of the soul.

The Church after Complines

The Church after Complines

But then why discipline? Doesn’t the soul fly towards these wonders? Is this not the essential part of a holy person”s life?

Certainly. Without elevation man is nothing. We were created to contemplate and glorify God.

But this is precisely why we need discipline.

To be continued…


A quick video of Thabor during Christmas

    It is a really nice video of scenes around the seminary.
    It is in Portuguese, but the spoken part is minimal as it is mainly scenes.
    Enjoy!


New group of the Shrine Apostolate coordinated by kids

On January 2, in the celebration of the First Saturday devotion, a new group of the Apostolate of the Shirne was formed. Blessed by the Rev. Fr. Michael Greer, pastor of Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Miami, the group has the particularity that it will be coordinated by kids. This ceremony took place the First Saturday preceding the Missionary Childhood Day celebrated today on the Solemnity of the Epiphany.

For more information on the Apostolate of the Shrine in Miami and general please call 1-305 238 2435. Please visit www.heralds.us and click on the top where is says “Shrine”.

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