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Elizabeth and Zechariah

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 Nov 5 - Feast of St Elizabeth and Zechariah Who were Elizabeth and Zechariah? In the days of King Herod, in the hill country of Judea, possibly the modern town of Ein Karim, there lived a priest named Zechariah a priest of the Old Covenant, and his wife Elizabeth , who came from the priestly family of Aaron and was a relative of the most BVM.  The Gospel of Luke describes them as righteous before God, faithful to the Lord’s commandments. Yet they carried a deep sorrow: both were advanced in years, yet they had no children - which was a curse at that time.  Zechariah's encounter with the angel of God One day, Zechariah was serving in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. By lot, he was chosen to enter the sanctuary and offer incense, while the people prayed outside. There, beside the altar of incense, an angel of the Lord appeared. Zechariah was frightened, but the angel told him not to be afraid: his prayer had been heard. Elizabeth would bear a son, and they were to name him J...
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St Martin de Porres

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 Nov 3rd - Feast of St Martin de Porres     Saint Martin de Porres (1579–1639) was the illegitimate son of Don Juan de Porres, a Spanish nobleman, and Ana Velásquez, a freed woman of African descent; who faced discrimination and rejection all his life - yet by taking on himself the sins of his age - slavery, scorn of indigenous people and the oppression of the poor - he was able to lead an exemplary life as a true disciple of Christ. From his very childhood, Martin loved God —the most tender Father of all— with a deep affection, expressing this love through simple, sincere gestures that could not fail to delight God Himself.   Spanish colonial law barred individuals of mixed heritage from joining religious orders, so in 1594, Martin entered the Dominican Convent of the Holy Rosary in Lima as a " donado " —a volunteer servant- performing menial tasks like sweeping, laundry, and cooking. As a Dominican lay brother in colonial Peru renowned for his relentless care for t...
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Location: Lima, Peru
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All Souls Day

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 Nov 2 - All Souls Day All Souls Day - pray for all the living and dead   All Souls’ Day gives the faithful a unique opportunity to remember all souls, living and dead, known and unknown, related and unrelated , indeed all faithful pilgrims on earth, the souls of the faithful departed being purified, and the blessed in heaven - all souls who together form the one body of the Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and the intercession of his saints is always attentive to our prayers.  CCC 962 emphasises that death does not erase the communion of Christ’s faithful: those different states belong together in the one Church - the body of Christ.  "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Death is the ultimate vanquisher of hopes and dreams. In secular society, death is an almost a forbidden, taboo subject and there is a continuous conscious attempt to banish the thought of it from our minds - yet paradoxically death to...
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St John of Capistrano

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 Feast of St John of Capistrano   Saint John of Capistrano (1386–1456), known as the "Soldier Saint," was a fifteenth-century Italian Franciscan priest, preacher, and reformer. He is the patron saint of jurists, lawyers, and military chaplains ... keep reading and you'll soon understand why.   St John of Capistrano is remembered for his tireless preaching, his work to purify and strengthen Franciscan religious life, and his role in rallying defenders  during the Ottoman siege of Belgrade in 1456. His life combined intense devotion and missionary energy with actions shaped by the religious and political conflicts of his day and age. Early life John was born in Capestrano, in the Abruzzo region of Italy, around 1386, and studied civil and canon law at the University of Perugia, establishing himself as a brilliant jurist. His skill caught the attention of King Ladislaus of Naples, who appointed him Governor of Perugia in 1412 at age 26 to restore order in the turbu...
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Cursillo

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 My Cursillo Experience   “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)      The dictionary definition would say that the Cursillo is a method of Christian renewal based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to give doctrinal foundation and spiritual structure, and was originated by a group of laymen, assisted by Bishop Hervas y Benet, on the island of Mallorca, Spain, on January 7, 1949.               All that is true and yet like everything that the Holy Spirit does, one has to to truly experience it to understand the tsunami of God's love that flows lavishly converting even the most sceptical and the practising" Catholic into truly the person who God's intended to be. It's an ineffable even indescribable joy but it sets the soul on fire like only the Holy Spirit can.   Purpose:      A cursillo (short for Cursillos de Cristiandad ,  which t...
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Location: 2381 Laurel Glen Rd, Soquel, CA 95073, USA
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St Teresa of Avila

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 Oct 15 - Feast of St Teresa of Avila   Happy Feast of St Teresa of Avila [also known as St Teresa of Jesus]. Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus, is one of the most dynamic, charismatic, and intellectually formidable figures in Christian history. Celebrated on October 15, her feast day honors a Spanish Carmelite nun who was simultaneously a profound mystic, a practical reformer, an accomplished author, and a master administrator. Early life St Teresa, whose name was Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada, was born in Avila, Spain, in 1515 into a large family, her “father and mother, who were devout and feared God”, she also had three sisters and nine brothers.  While she was still a child and not yet nine years old she had the opportunity to read the lives of several Martyrs which inspired in her such a longing for martyrdom that she briefly ran away from home in order to die a Martyr’s death and to go to Heaven (cf. Vida, [Life], 1, 4); “I want to...
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Location: Ávila‎, Ávila, Spain
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Miracle of the Sun at Fatima

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 Oct 13, 1917: Miracle of the Sun at Fatima     Oct 13 - anniversary of the last apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary at Fatima, Portugal, when she asked us to pray:  O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fire of hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.   Our Lady of Fátima appeared to three poor shepherd children,  Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, in Fátima, Portugal from May 1917 through October 1917. The first apparition was on May 13, 1917 with further visions on the 13th of each five following months through October 13, 1917.        The final apparition, on October 13, 1917, is the best known when a large crowd, estimated at around 70,000, gathered at the Cova da Iria, and many reported seeing the sun appear to dance or spin in the sky, an event known as the “Miracle of the Sun.” Lúcia describes three separate visions in her memoirs as follows:    ...
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Location: Fátima, Portugal
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St Carlo Acutis

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 St Carlo Acutis, Disciple of the Eucharist   Early life  Carlo Acutis, was born May 3, 1991, in London, where his parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, were working, and the family moved to Milan a few months later. Though his parents were not fervent Catholics, Carlo asked to receive First Communion early, at seven, and from then on attended Mass daily. His mother wasn't religious and said she had been to Mass only for her First Communion, her confirmation, and her wedding but young Carlo's unique and unexplained devotion led to her deep conversion. The priest promoting his cause for sainthood noted that Carlo “managed to drag his relatives, his parents to Mass every day. It was not the other way around; it was not his parents bringing the little boy to Mass, but it was he who managed to get himself to Mass and to convince others to receive Communion daily.”   Carlo had a great devotion to Mary and loved to pray the rosary, saying, " The Virgin Mary is the on...
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Location: Piazza del Vescovado, 3, 06181 Assisi PG, Italy
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St John Henry Newman

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  Saint John Henry Newman   Saint John Henry Newman (not to be confused with St. John Neumann of New York whose feast day is January 5), is widely regarded as the 19th-century’s most important English-speaking Catholic theologian.  Pope Paul VI said Vatican II was "Newman's Council" - that's captures the vast shadow his teachings and writings cast. After spending the first half of his life in generous service to the Church of England which he deeply loved, John Henry Newman spent the second half in the service of the Catholic Church, showing a deep sincerity and unflinching loyalty in searching for the truth rooted in the writings of the Fathers of the Church, which are the common patrimony of all Christians. Lead Kindly Light In 1832–1833, while still an Anglican clergyman at Oxford, Newman took a trip to the Mediterranean to recover his health. While traveling through Sicily, he contracted a life-threatening fever and was bedridden for weeks in Castrogiovanni (moder...
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Location: 141 Hagley Rd, Birmingham B16 8UE, UK
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