The first Marian apparition in the US has been formally approved in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

If video fails, go to http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2010/12/first-marian-apparition-in-us-has-been.html



Three apparitions in 1859
In October 1859, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on three occasions to Adele Brise, a young Belgian immigrant. Brise stated that a lady dressed in dazzling white appeared to her and claimed to be the "Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners."

The Lady asked Brise to pray for sinners, as well as to gather the children and teach them what they should know for salvation. The Blessed Virgin followed the commands with these words of assurance to Adele Brise, "Go and fear nothing, I will help you."

Since 1859, countless faithful have made the pilgrimage to Champion, Wisconsin to offer prayers of thanksgiving and petition to Jesus and to ask for intercession from Our Lady of Good Help.

Fulfilling obligations
After receiving the apparitions, Adele Brise immediately began to fulfill the obligations the Blessed Virgin entrusted to her. She gathered local children and taught them how to pray, make the sign of the cross, and to give love, thanks, and praise to the Lord.

As part of her commitment to the Blessed Virgin, Brise set up a Catholic school and began a community of Third Order Franciscan women. Eventually, a school and convent were built on the grounds to further the mission entrusted to Brise.

Spared during Peshtigo fire
The 151-year history of the Shrine is rich with written and oral accounts of prayers that have been answered at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. The sources document physical healings and conversions that have taken place as a result of pilgrimages to the Shrine.
In addition, as the Peshtigo fire of 1871 engulfed the surrounding area, the entire five acres of land consecrated to the Blessed Virgin remained unscathed after Brise organized a prayer vigil that circled the area.

Excerpted from Green Bay Diocese

Go therefore into liberal web sites and proclaim the truth

If you have a Facebook account, you can become a fan of the Huffington Post. Yes, you read it right – a fan of the most liberal web site in this political town. I did and as a fan, I posted links in their page or wall. Half of my posts stayed up; the others got taken down after someone from Planned Parenthood, I suspect, reported them. The thing is, this group has over 18,000 fans, so by the time my posting has been taken down, it received some exposure. And that is big because as Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

Then, I go in their postings and put in my 2 cents – usually the dissenting opinion but hey, it’s fun. I get challenged a lot because of my thoughts, but I respond respectfully and reasonably. And that’s where the payoff comes because people who were previously misinformed get to see the truth. Some don’t want it but others do. I don’t go in there saying, “the Pope says so”; instead, I take the Abp. Chaput and Fr. Barron approach of conversing with the world, defending truths and rights in the public square with reason. My greatest win so far was when a furious pro-abort raised the question of a cancerous uterus that has a living fetus. I presented St. Thomas Aquinas’ principle of double effect assuring her that it is moral to remove the cancerous uterus despite the collateral damage to the fetus. And that changed her tone. She doesn’t bust my chops whenever she sees my comments.

I found out that these liberals don’t reject the Church or religion as much as the caricature of the Church or religion. So, when I share their values of advocating for the poor and the disenfranchised, they become more open to my point of view.

So far, the posts that I still have standing there are a graphic depiction of abortion, the latest “Right to Life” march in DC, the MSM biased reporting of it, a primer on the public option, Alveda King’s sharing about her abortion and a few more. These are powerful presentations that they allowed surprisingly.

Preaching to the choir and sharing within a nurturing community at my blog site and those of kindred spirits have its value and place. But I think there is a need to go beyond comfortable zones into the public square. There was news about the Pope encouraging priests and lay folks to blog and participate in the forum of ideas. I did and found it rewarding because, I saw their perspective as well and tended to demonize them less.

St. John Bosco said that he is willing to tip his berretta to the devil if the devil will allow him to snatch a soul from hell. The Huffington Post is an interesting place and definitely one where people can be snatched from falsity into truth.

Video: Sermon in a Song

A preacher uses secular songs in his sermon and those get a fresher and deeper meaning when used for God.



Link at http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2009/12/video-sermon-in-song.html

Video: Run from fake or diluted or twisted Christian teachings

Political parties have misused Christian teachings in the US to get themselves elected. They continue to do so to further their agendas. Watch these videos and see if you recognize these false or twisted reproductions of Jesus' teachings.



Source click here or use this address: http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=9fb9e41674e0b7874f12