From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Give and forgive - the two wings of prayer   
      
   Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) describes Jesus double precept to give   
   and forgive as two essential wings of prayer:   
      
   "Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given you.   
   These are the two wings of prayer on which it flies to God. Pardon the   
   offender what has been committed, and give to the person in need"   
   (Sermon 205.3). "Let us graciously and fervently perform these two   
   types of almsgiving, that is, giving and forgiving, for we in turn   
   pray the Lord to give us things and not to repay our evil deeds"   
   (Sermon 206.2).   
      
   ============   
   September 19th - Our Lady of La Salette   
      
   On September 19, 1846, Our Lady appeared to two small shepherds,   
   Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat. The beautiful lady, as the children   
   called her, appeared in an attitude of profound sadness asking prayers   
   and penance to help her prevent the arm of her Son from falling over   
   humankind for its sins. Our Lady also revealed to the shepherd   
   children a secret. Since this apparition took place on the mountain   
   call La Salette in the Diocese of Grenoble, France, a new invocation   
   of Our Lady soon spread throughout the world – Our Lady of La Salette.   
      
   There have been three major apparitions of Our Lady in the last 150   
   years: La Salette, Lourdes and Fatima. In all them the Church accepted   
   the authenticity of the apparitions and endorsed them by making   
   special feasts to commemorate them. In each of those three apparitions   
   Our Lady left a secret. In all of them, Our Lady manifested herself as   
   profoundly sad because of the state of mankind, and predicted an   
   enormous chastisement that would come at a chosen moment.   
      
   You are constantly in contact with members of the High and Low Clergy   
   as well as with Catholic laypeople who are very happy, who think that   
   everything is going very well. If you tell these people that a   
   chastisement is being prepared for humankind, they respond that it is   
   absurd. They affirm that today Religion is in an extraordinary   
   progress.   
      
   Next to such people we look gloomy and sad. We play the role of the   
   pessimistic hypochondriacs who do not fit into the joyful, carefree   
   atmosphere of our days, which always disseminates an optimistic and   
   positive opinion about everything. Our role is a hard one, because it   
   is always hard to foresee and announce chastisements for a mankind   
   turned toward enjoying life. It is not surprising that very few people   
   are willing to believe and follow our political and religious   
   perspectives regarding events, which demonstrates the ever greater   
   victory of the Revolution. They do not want to hear about the great   
   chastisement that God is preparing.   
      
   This is characteristic of all epochs that take the wrong path. When   
   people hear someone saying that they are going astray, they do not   
   listen to him. For this reason, the great chastisements come. If the   
   people would listen, they would convert, and the chastisement would be   
   averted. It is precisely because they do not open their souls to the   
   message that the catastrophe becomes inevitable. The fact that they do   
   not believe in Our Lady’s messages is the proof that those messages   
   will be fulfilled.   
      
   Someone could object:  Over 150 years have gone and nothing has   
   happened. How have these messages been fulfilled? I sustain that in   
   ovo (in the egg; in its seed) the great chastisements have begun. Our   
   Lady appeared in La Salette in 1846; in 1870 the Franco-Prussian war   
   started as a result of the rivalry between France and Germany. This   
   rivalry would reach an apogee in 1914 and be the most profound cause   
   for World War I, as well as for World War II. The quarrels of WWII   
   have still not been resolved completely and the perspective of a World   
   War III lies on the horizon. A possible WWIII with its nuclear   
   apocalypse can very well be the start of great chastisement predicted   
   in La Salette and Fatima.   
      
   The great chastisements of God defy the patience of those few who are   
   faithful. The most characteristic example was the Deluge where   
   everybody laughed at Noah who was building his ark in expectation of a   
   great chastisement. It took him 100 years to complete his work, and   
   then the Flood came. At times Noah might have been tempted to think   
   that he was wrong and that the people laughing at him were right. But   
   he did not relent. He remained faithful to the message he received   
   from God and continue to prepare for the chastisement. The fact that   
   it took a long time to come did not mean that it would not come;   
   rather, it meant that it would be an enormous chastisement.   
      
   Our Lord predicted that the Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed.   
   When He died, an earthquake shook its floors and the veil of the   
   Temple was rent in the middle. Some walls were damaged but the Temple   
   remained standing. Decades passed and the prophecy was not fulfilled.   
   Several times the faithful of Jerusalem thought that the signs were   
   ripe for the chastisement and fled to the mountains, as Our Lord had   
   advised them to do. However, nothing happened and they returned to   
   their normal lives, perhaps a little discouraged. Then, 40 years after   
   Our Lord’s death, and apparently by chance, a soldier from the army of   
   Titus threw a torch into one of the side windows of the Temple; the   
   fire spread quickly, swallowed all the buildings, and then, in truth,   
   not one stone remained over the other just as He had predicted.   
   Afterward the Temple was never rebuilt.   
      
   We should be convinced that we were chosen to be among the few who   
   listen to the voice of Our Lady and wait for the chastisement she   
   predicted. These cherished ones must give proof of their love. They   
   must give proof of their fidelity before the word of God is   
   accomplished. This is the situation we are in. I don’t know how many   
   years we must await the promises of La Salette and Fatima to be   
   fulfilled. At times we think: “Now it has to come, because it is   
   impossible for the situation to be any worse.” Then, it doesn’t come.   
   The stormy sky releases just some few drops of rain and dissipates.   
   Again the sky becomes stormy… People laugh at us. We should remember   
   Noah. When the rain finally fell, it was the Deluge.   
      
   To confide against all appearances, and believe after all the delays   
   is the demand of God in selecting those with whom He will make His   
   alliance. This is the great teaching of La Salette. This is the spirit   
   we should ask to receive on the feast day of Our Lady of La Salette:   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)