If you, like many of us, have dreamed of traveling through Europe, seeing the majestic architecture and holy sites where saints of old lived and walked, there is a wonderful opportunity for you to fulfill this dream available soon.
Our Sorrowful Mother’s Ministry is hosting a pilgrimage to Spain, Lourdes and Fatima. Some of the places you could see should you decide to join this group would be Ars, La Salette, Lourdes, Avila, Fatima along with all the extras with Msgr. Stuart Swetland, S.T.D departing Chicago, IL, June 11 through June 23, 2010.
It will be the trip of a lifetime. The pilgrimage will take you to Ars, which is the home of St. John Vianny, the patron saint of priests. There, travelers will see where he preached during the 19th century as well as go to the 12th Basilica where his uncorrupt body lies. This stop is only the beginning of this amazing pilgrimage.
Time will also be spent in the French Alps at La Salette ,where Our Blessed Mother appeared to two shepherds in 1846. According to history, she was crying because of the profaning of Her Son’s name and the profaning of the holy day of Sunday. It is an amazingly beautiful site at which mass will be celebrated.
This is just a taste of all that will be available for the traveling pilgrims. They will go to Lourdes for a few days, then on to Avila where St Theresa resided. There are museums and shrines as well as a monastery built over the site of the house where she was born.
The tour will continue to take the travelers to the beautiful city of Santiago de Compostela and to Fatima.
Our Sorrowful Mother’s Ministry has been an ministry of the Church for many years now. The ministry was started by Debby Pryor and Vanessa Keck in Vandalia, Illinois, after going to a conference out of town. Our Lord spoke to them and called them to start hosting conferences right in their small central Illinois village.
From there, the ministry grew with more and more holy priests and lay people joining in as they too caught the vision. The ministry received its official apostolate commission from Pope John Paul II.
The ministry's focus was originally on Catholic apologetics at first but shifted somewhat as the vision of having the ministry be one of reconciliaton and healing has grown within their hearts.
If you are interested in the pilgrimage, you can find more information at Our Sorrowful Mother's Ministry website or by emailing them at osmm@sbcglobal.net.
Prayerfully consider the pilgrimage or if not that, a retreat. You will find love and ministry like you never have before.
Comments
Sounds wonderful!! Any who can take advantage of it should definitely go!! :)
I'm not a religious person, but i find it odd that the roman catholic church has chosen to steer far away from it's own holy book and include things that aren't found anywhere in the bible( Praying to mary, crossing yourselves, confessions to preists, exaltation of the pope, just to name a few)
Jeremy, You are quite right to find Roman Catholicism " odd ", as you put it. Odd, but not of God. When the disciples asked Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to teach them how to pray He gave them a model, an example, for them to follow, but warned beforehand not to be be repetitious in their prayers like the pagans. To whom did He address the prayer? To God the Father of course and not to any dead human being. And remember that the gospels were not written for decades after the events described giving the apostles lots of time to amend Christ's instructions, but they did not. Therefore praying to Mary, Christ's mother is heresy and blasphemous against God to whom alone prayers should be addressed. Catholicism has another false doctrine about Mary - that of the assumption of her body and soul to heaven. The apostle John who cared for her after Christ went to heaven doesn't reveal this in any of his writings? If it happened why didn't he reveal it? He didn't because it isn't true!
a chance of a life time, my mom made a pilgramage to vatican city with her group
carol roach
When did Saint John Vianney preach in the 12th century? He died in 1859.
We do not pray to Mary, we ask for her intercession to her Son our Lord Jesus Christ. The same for all the Angels and Saints. We only pray to the Triune God. Im sorry you all left the One True Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, you of course are always welcome back.
Me: thanks for pointing out my error re: Vianney. He was indeed alive in the 1800s. I meant to say that he is buried in a 12th century church. Mea Culpa!! :)
Me, when you utter the words, " Hail Mary full of grace, pray for us sinners .... " or, " Holy Mary, Mother of God .... " you attempting to address someone. They are prayers in every sense of the word, but not to God the Father whom Christ, His Son. If you carefully read and honestly the New Testament you will discover that there is an intercesor for us with God the Father -one intercessor - and that is Jesus Christ the Son of God - no other. You will also find that there is no mention of the " Trinity " in the Bible. The opening words of the Epistles are in the name of God the Father and Jesus Christ - no third person. Furthermore if you search the Bible - the Old and New Testament - you will discover that death is referred to as sleep. In the Book of Ecclesiastes 9:5 you will find these words, " For the living KNOW that they will die, but the DEAD know NOTHING . . . . " Mary is dead, sleeps in the grave like all the dead and will be one day resurrected. She can't intercede.
To "A Christian": you are almost welcome to raise questions that you are willing to hear both sides, but please stick to the subject of the article that is written. Endless rants will only reduce your credibility.
Every one who has responded to you has been polite and kind. Please do the same. (We will be known by our fruits of the Holy Spirit)
May the peace of Jesus Christ be with you!
Pamela
The article on which I commented concerned the various sites dedicated allegedly to Mary, Christ's mother. At these sights Mary is worshipped as if she were divine - a goddess - on a plane with God the Father and of Jesus Christ, His Son. People are encouraged to pray to her even though she is dead - asleep in the grave. Her own Son, Jesus, instructed His disciple to pray to God and to God alone. I have addressed the subject clearly, but nobody has provided evidence from God's Word, the Bible, to refute what I have stated. As a former Roman Catholic I investigated and found the doctrines which were implanted in my mind as a child were and are false. But you, on the other hand, are not prepared to countenace anything that challenges your beliefs and disprove them by using the sure foundation of Christian faith, the Bible. What faith? The faith, as Jude the Apostle wrote, " which was once for all delivered to the saints ". Paul, writing to Timothy, sanctioned the Old Testament!
I notice that two comments I submitted that were a continuation of a comment I had submitted on March 4th and is still available to be read - those two comments have now been deleted, suppressed or censored by whomever. So much for the freedom of speech and expression as is protected in the US constitution. None of my comments have been refuted through the use of the Bible - God's Word - nor have any of the doctrines that I challenged been proved to be correct by similar use of the Bible. But taking down the comments I submitted? Why am I not surprised?
WHAT? No response, not even to say to me that I am writing nonsense? Nothing to say about the sex scandals in Ireland, Germany and now at the heart of the Roman Catholic Church? YES! I am off message again - not sticking to the article. But no effort to refute through Scripture what I said about Roman Catholic doctrine or the protection of sexually perverted priests,brothers and nuns, bishops who failed the victims, popes who did nothing speaks volumes. " By their fruits you shall know them ", said Jesus Christ.
Dear Christian, I have never met a Christian who does not believe in the Holy Trinity which includes the Holy Spirit. Do you believe in the definitions outlined in the Nicene Creed which an ecumenical council of the most learned Christians at the time formulated after much study and discussion? You are correct, the term "trinity" is not biblical, neither is "sola scriptura". However, at the baptism of Christ in the Jordan, there were three divine persons present, God,the Father, who spoke to Christ,calling Him His "beloved son", and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. You are correct again when you say that Christ is the only intercessor between God and Man. Do you ever ask friends to pray for you? Prayers by any Christian, any member of the Body of Christ,Col 1:18, 1 Cor 12:20-27, Eph 5:30, 1Cor 6:15,are intercessions on our behalf addressed to Jesus Christ who in turn, is the only intercessor to God, the Father.If you believe in life after death,why not in prayers by the "dead"?
P.S. To A Christian: 2 Corinthians 13:14 "The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Remember that from Mass? unfortunately we don't have any video tapes of Corinthians so we don't know if they crossed themselves. Do you object to the sign of the cross? Why? It is the sign of victory over death.
Christine Vincent, Your quote from 2 Corinthians 13:14 does not give credibility to the Trinity doctrine, specifically the words" the communion of the Holy Spirit ". But the words used at the beginning of most of the Espistles do not refer to God as being a trinity - a triune God. 2 Corinthians 1:2, reads, " Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of Jesus Christ . . . . ". These words are typical of the reference to God at the start of most of the Epistles, but none of which include the Holy Spirit in the context of being a personage in the Godhead. Why did the writers of the Epistles fail to acknowledge the Holy Spirit in referring to God at the juncture? Jude 3 states " the faith was once for all delivered to the saints ". But the false trinity doctrine came from pagan religions who had triune god concepts and was brought in long after the Epistle writers had gone to sleep - died - in Christ. They didnt't teach it.
Christine, the Holy Spirit is the very power of God and being manifest in the form of a dove is not evidence of the trinity. I have quoted from the Bible, God's very word, to reject the idea of the dead having any power to interced with God. Ecclesiastes 9: 5 - " For living know they will die, but the dead know nothing . . . . ". Time and time again in both the Old Testament and the New Testament death is referred to as sleep, not going to heaven or elsewhere. I certainly believe in life after death - note I said AFTER death, not DURING death which comes from the pagan immortal soul ideas of Greece and ancient Egypt. I believe the dead will be raised from their graves -in a real resurrection. The New Testament was written anything between 50 and 70 years after the Day of Pentecost and they never claimed any intercessor other than Jesus Christ. Was it because Jude was wrong - the faith WASN'T once for all delivered to the saints "? I think not.
Dear Christian, where in God's word does it say that we are supposed to listen to the bible only. How do you know which writings are God's word? What about John 21:25: " and there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even th eworld itself could not contain the books that would be written."
Your quote from John 21:45 gives authority to the Bible. Just read those words again. John is saying that even more could have been written and had it been would today be part of the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and pointed out to hum that he, Timothy, " from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures [ The only Scriptures then existing were those of the Old Testament ] . . . . All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness . . . . " ( 2 Timothy 3:15-16 ). Yes, if the things Jesus had done had been written, the world would not be able to contain the books they would need. Jesus Christ verified He was by quoting prophecies from the Old Testament and by doing so gave the Bible authority. Juse wrote of the " faith which was once for all delivered to the saints ". The faith was by that time delivered, the whole package - all that we need to very God's word is in the Bible.
Dear Christian, thank you for the debate! I agree with you, the faith was delivered once and for all to the saints. But where and how? As you said yourself, the New Testament was not yet compiled at the time of the apostles. However, there were many other writings about Jesus Christ, some more reliable than others. Where in the Bible does it say "the faith is delivered only in the Bible"? You say the epistles do not speak of the Holy Spirit as a person of the godhead. 1 Thessalonians 3:6 sounds a lot like a person of God to me: Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God who has also given us His Holy Spirit. You may disagree, which shows that Scripture is subject to interpretation. As soon as you abandon the teaching authority of the Magisterium of the Apostolic Church,you end up with a thousand splinter groups founded by individuals who think they alone know the true meaning of Scripture. And as you claim to follow Scripture you will agree that the Church should be ONE
Dear Christine Vincent,
Thank you for your courtesy in responding to my comments. There is ONE Church of God, but the Roman Catholic Church is not she. Again I will point out the manner by which the Epistles refer to Fod the Father and His Son Jesus Christ - no mention of the Holy Spirit when referring to these divine persons. But the Bible isn't open to private interpretation - only the Bible may be used to interpret the Bible. As to your quote from Thessalonians, it by no means gives me the impression that the Holy Spirit is a person, but rather it is the very power of God. It is the Roman Catholic Church that has abandoned Scripture when it didn't suit. But as we are not going to agree I think it better to conclude this discussion. I do wish you well and trust God will one day open your understanding to the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints and is contained in the Bible.
Thank you, dear Christian, I enjoyed the discussion. May Our Lord bless you abundantly!
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