Showing results by author "Bob Lord" in All Categories

Paray le Monial is a beautiful, quiet town nestled in the center of France. But the power that emanates from this town is pure Holy Spirit. You can still feel the presence of our Lord Jesus. For, it is here that our Lord appeared to a nun over a period of 17 years. He brought his faithful message of love to an unfaithful people who had grown cold. Here, he, once again, spoke of that tremendous love of his to become man and suffer death - even death on the cross.

As her illness had taken a toll on her strength, Saint Gemma Galgani was not able to return to school. She remained at home and taught her sisters and brothers. At her beatification, one of her brothers said, "Gemma always brought the olive branch." She lovingly cared for the needs, both spiritual and physical, of her family, often at the neglect of herself. She had no use for fancy clothes, and adorned herself in simple, extremely austere black dresses.

Born of a very devout mother and father who, in times when families were feuding amongst themselves, were called by some, "Jesus Christ’s peacemakers," it would appear from the very moment of her birth, God had special designs on Rita. There is a tradition in Roccaporena that as an infant, while she slept in a basket, in the fields where her parents were working, white bees swarmed around Rita’s open mouth. Not only did the bees not sting her, but it is said that they dropped honey into her mouth without her uttering a cry of warning to her parents.

When Saints like Saint Philomena were removed from the Church Calendar after Vatican Council II, many were hurt, thinking their favorite Saint had been deposed at best, and discredited at worst. But to alleviate any fears and correct any misconceptions, the Role Call of Pontiffs, beginning with Pope Gregory XVI, then Leo XII, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X, and Benedict XV, using the supreme authority passed down to them from Jesus, have declared, down through the centuries Philomena a saint, virgin, and Martyr.

Saint Edith Stein was born in Poland on October 12, 1891. Her parent were Jewish. She was a brilliant student. When she turned seventeen, she entered a Girl's High School in Breslau. At the same time, in another part of Germany, another teenager - Adolph Hitler was failing an entrance exam to the Academy of Arts and already blaming it all on the Jews. Two teenagers, one a Saint and the other damned to hell for all eternity.

The battle is on for souls! Families are waking up, taking notice of the world’s influences on their children’s lives and they are horrified! And rightly so! They’ve lost control. We get call after call commending us on our television programs on the Super Saints. And they are from Catholics and non-Catholics, lay people - like parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles; religious, Nuns and Pastors - thanking us for bringing heroes their young people can use as role models. The cry is always the same!

Fatima, the pleas of Our Lady, and the promises of Fatima have been repeated to and embraced by everyone she has touched. A new generation of believers, people like us who were not born when Our Lady gave us this gift, have become completely enthralled by the power of Jesus and the love of Mary, as revealed to us at Fatima.

We follow Mother Mary on a journey again to a far-off place high up in the mountains, where no one would consider going. We have never really paid much attention to what towns are located where in Japan, other than Tokyo, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima. In looking on a map, we find Akita to be a thriving metropolis in the north of the country, with a population of about 300,000 people - a lot more than you would consider for a small town in the mountains of Japan.

Learn about the life of Saint Martin De Porres.

We could not think of writing a book about saints and powerful men who have changed the course of our lives and not include Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I must admit I never watched Fulton J. Sheen on television, nor was I influenced by him while he was alive. But, as we began to discover our Catholic faith as adults, his words and his living based out of those words, became a strong part of our journey of faith toward new life in the Lord.

The cold, biting air of the November morning sent a chill across his face. His hair blew in the wind. The sun was shining brightly. It was a glorious day. Miguel surveyed the situation in the courtyard. It was as he feared. Soldiers were lined up for a firing squad! All the eyewitnesses, various generals and dignitaries, as well as members of the press, came to attention as they saw for the first time, the famous Jesuit, who had made such fools of President Calles and his entire police force for so long.

The devil uses any means to kill us. For so many years, in the United States, the Polish people have been the brunt of very poor ethnic jokes. It is true, every new group coming into our free society inherits the suffering that the minority group before them endured. It's like being a freshman in college. The only difference is, growing up out of the persecution is swifter, but the freshman is only degraded for a year, not a lifetime.

Prophetess of Germany, visionary, mystic, doctor of the Church. Come with us as we travel to Bingen, Germany, and the area of the beautiful Rhine River which is where St. Hildegard lived and had her visions. It was also here where she wrote her books on her visions and many other things, like a morality play put to music, which she also wrote. She wrote a book on herbal medicine, which is used to this day in that area of Germany.

We know Our Dear Lady was upset about how her priests and nuns, as well as the laity were being treated. She had always been so loving to her children. It was she whom Jesus allowed to intercede on our behalf. We drove him beyond reconciliation, and yet, because of her, he allowed his arms to be held back. It did not seem that mankind was going to get any better. It was time for tribulation. But the Mother, the loving Mother, asked again for one more chance to reason with her children, and again, the gift was given by the Son to the Mother.

Our story is not only about a saint, but about a land blessed by the blood of martyrs, its every mile named after the holy - Sacramento (after the Blessed Sacrament), San Francisco (St. Francis), San José (St. Joseph), Santa Ana (St. Ann, Mary’s mother), San Gabriel (St. Gabriel the Archangel), to mention just a few. History is history, and sometimes history can be offensive to certain peoples, but it does not make history less history. Our story is about Junípero Serra.

When we talk of saints who have been maligned, misunderstood, and mistreated, no one deserves more a place in this book than venerable Pope Pius XII. We have learned late in life that the history passed down depends on the authors, not necessarily on the facts. We can remember in our lifetime, the escalator of our emotions and intellect, as a country ascended from enemy to friend and then descended, back again, from friend to enemy.

The story of Oscar Romero is one of transformation, from one born of poverty, to one living comfortably within the system, to one determined to change the system. The story of Oscar Romero is one of conversion, of Paul on the road to Damascus, of a man who was blinded, and whose eyes were opened by the Lord, to see his brothers and sisters in agony and misery. The story of Oscar Romero is one of a man who committed his life to right wrongs to his flock, or die trying. The story of Oscar Romero is one of a Martyr for Christ.

This story is about another who suffered, only as a Dry Martyr for her Lord, a willing victim of sacrifice for her Church. Just as Blessed Anna Maria Taigi was being born in Italy, another child was coming into the world, Napoleon Bonaparte. When Anna Maria opened her eyes and let out her first cry, it was to a world groaning in pain, a world inundated by sin and perversion, very like our own. The throne of France was heading madly toward its own destruction and demise, taking Christianity down with it.

Saint Vincent de Paul could have stayed and basked in the glory that was Rome, but knew he had to go on to Paris. News of his involvement in the conversion of the apostate came to the attention of Pope Paul V, and in 1608, Vincent was commissioned to go to Henry IV on a confidential mission. Vincent departed for Paris, posthaste.

Rose of Lima is a very important saint; you’ve got to know all there is to know about her. You will learn from her life, experiences, and the gifts the Lord gave her. Rose Flores, raised to the level of sainthood for all the world to know and renamed for posterity as St. Rose of Lima, is the first canonized saint in the Americas, thus her title "Patroness of the Americas".