Young African woman crawls 2.5 miles to attend Sunday Mass

Valencia, Aug 28, 2008 / 01:42 am (CNA).- The Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly in Chissano (Mozambique) took into their home this week a 25 year-old African young girl named Olivia, who despite not being baptized at the time and not having any legs, crawled 2.5 miles every Sunday to attend Mass.

full story

What an example of faith she is and she wasn’t even baptized at the time!! I am in awe because if only everyone who called themselves Catholic had the same devotion to mass the world would be a better, different place.  Her example makes my mass attendance seem so easy.  I have two healthy legs to walk with and it only takes me fifteen minutes to reach the church how can I complain!  Everyone should hear her story and remember it every time they don’t feel like going to Sunday mass.

Buddha statues switched with fakes

SHIZUOKA–Nine statues of Buddha have been stolen from temples and other places in five cities and towns in Shizuoka Prefecture since late July, with thieves using such methods as replacing them with fakes during the thefts, police said.

The about one-meter tall parqueted statue belongs to the Hozoji temple in the city. It is said to date from the late Muromachi period (1333-1568) and is only shown to the public once every 60 years.

full article here

As a Catholic who can have the body blood soul and divinity of Jesus at mass everyday if I wanted to I am surprised that treasures of Japanese Buddhism are often hidden from public view and even shown only every sixty years in the above case.  I appreciate that the treasure of my faith is so easily accessible.

Homeless in Japan

This very interesting site talks about a homeless area of Osaka called Kamagasaki.  It will probably take you fifteen minutes to look at each photo and read each caption but it is time well spent.

click here

The day that I first met my bearded friend (to the left), he walked up to me, and shook my hand. Then in perfect Queens English and with a sharp eye told me “Don’t underestimate me, I may be dressed in rags, but my mind is still sharp, and I haven’t lost my dignity. Now, close your gapping mouth and take a photo of me and my friend”. He was found dead on the street on a cold winter day, a few months after this photo was taken.

Japan`s Abortion Numbers

Reading stories like this makes me angry. Why? Because throwing money around isn’t going to restore the millions of people killed by abortion in Japan since 1949!! It is hard to find numbers in English on the numbers of abortions so I finally found a chart in Japanese. click here. The left column is the year and next to it is the number of abortions performed that year. The two middle columns I need to get clarified and will update my post when I do so, and the last column is the number of sterilizations performed that year. Total number of children killed by abortion since 1949 36,577,547

The damage has already been done and no amount of government spending can bring those people back now.  At the same time we must offer up our prayers and reparations and beg God`s mercy over this slaughter we, as humans, have committed.  Even though we personally may not have actively participated in having an abortion or aiding someone in having one remember the sin of omission, of doing nothing.  We must not be idle while innocents are being killed we must at least pray for an end to the killing.

Sex, the Olympics, and Showing Your Faith

After reading this article I think that if it at all reflective of what actually goes on then I actually feel sorry for these athletes who are engaged in such behavior.  What is the point of striving to achieve your physical best but failing to strive for your moral best too?  God will judge each of one of us, even gold medalists, upon our death and it wont mater to Him how many medals you have but how well you did what He asked of you.  Where is the reward if you gain the world but lose your soul?

When I was a child I don’t remember seeing any Olympic athletes wearing a cross or making the sign of the cross.  Of course that doesn’t not mean that didn’t happen its just I never saw it.  I think it would have made a good impression with me if I had seen that as it would have shown me that people I was looking up to for their excellence in sport shared my faith and weren’t ashamed to show it too.  This Olympics I have noticed some athletes wearing crosses and/or crossing themselves and its nice to see athletes who are on the same team as me as well as daring to show their faith to China and the world.

California Supreme Court Rules Doctors Must Provide Treatment That Violates Their Religious Beliefs

full article

and another article

From the second article

Although the doctors paid for a referral to other fertility specialists without any objections to performing the procedure, Benitez sued both under California’s civil rights laws.

The Christian Medical Association’s CEO Dr. David Stevens attacked the decision, saying in a press release:

“This case was never about discrimination against patients on the basis of sexual choices; it was about discrimination against healthcare professionals on the basis of their sincerely held ethical standards. The physicians in this case had determined to only provide in-vitro fertilization to married patients. That’s hardly a novel or extreme ethical position.

Feast of the Assumption was it a Holy Day of Obligation Here?

Do any of my readers know if it was a Holy day of Obligation here?  I thought that the bishops of each country could decide which days would be days of obligation for their own particular country am I wrong?  Growing up in my home country I never recall going to mass on the feast of the Assumption and so had no idea until this year.  I have a religious calendar now that has all the feast days and such.  For the Assumption it says Holy Day of Obligation but since it was printed in another country I wasn’t sure if it applied.  I checked several English speaking church websites to see if they mentioned whether or not it was an obligation and found nothing.  My home parish on the previous Sunday said the mass times for that day but nothing about it being an obligation.  They emphasized that the additional mass was in Vietnamese I think it was and so I thought it was mainly for them and didn’t concern all parishioners.  I even phoned a church to get an answer and the secretary, after putting me on hold to ask someone, came back and said no it wasn’t an obligation.  Thinking the day was optional  I opted not to go.

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today is also the day Japan surrendered in WWII. Ok everyone knows that but did you also know it was on this day in 1549 St Francis Xavier went ashore here? Several days before on August 9 the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki exploded 500 meters over Urakami Cathedral, and Ive read there was a mass going on at the time too. So the bomb exploded over the most holy city in Japan over a church, and not just any church. Urakami is the name of the district of the city however the cathedral has another name too. St Mary`s. Coincidence? Perhaps. I cant help but wonder if Mary has a special interest in Japan and if the Japanese don’t have an interest in her too? After all for a country where 99% of people aren’t Christian the song Ave Maria is popular, and most people have no animosity or hatred toward her. There are people in this world who call themselves Christian yet have more animosity toward Mary than the average Japanese.

I watched a short video clip of a parade in Paris for the feast of the Assumption and wondered of the impact the same thing would have here. Id bet a large amount of gelato many people would be very captivated.  I think in particular the image of the  Mother and child Jesus would be very powerful because of the million of abortions Japan has had in the last sixty years.  Yes abortion was legalized in 1948 so that means there are a lot of hurting parents out there who have to deal with that and the image of Mary offering her Son to them could lead them to healing if they received the child Jesus Our Lady presents.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Feast of St Maximilian Kolbe

St Maximilan I ask beg your intercession on behalf of Japan for God`s mercy on this country and that its people may come to know love and serve Christ.  I also ask beg your intercession for Russia, Georgia, and that entire region for peace and for conversion.  Amen.

1894 January 8: Raymond Kolbe is born at Zdunska Wola, the second son of Julius and Marianne (Dabrowska) Kolbe. The same day he was baptized in the parish church.

1930 February 26: Father Maximilian, prompted by a chance meeting with young Japanese, sets out for Japan to found another City of the Immaculata. He is accompanied by four Brothers, Zeno Zebrowski, Hilary Lysakowski, Sigmund Krol, and Severin (John) Dagis. He makes plans in Shanghai to found another City there.

1930 April 24: They arrive in Nagasaki, where Bishop Hayasaka permits them to publish a magazine on the condition that Father Maximilian teach philosophy at the diocesan seminary.

1930 May 24: One month after their arrival the first issue of the Japanese Knight, Seibo no Kishi, is published with a press run of 10,000 copies.

1930 June and July: Father Maximilian returns to Poland across Siberia to attend the Provincial Chapter.

1930 July 24: He is reappointed superior of the Japanese mission and his brother, Alphonse, the guardian of Niepokalanow and editor of the Knight.

1931 March 4: Father Maximilian purchases land for a new friary in the poor district of Nagasaki-Hongochi at the base of Mt. Hikosan.

1931 May 16: The friars move to the new facility, which is named Mugenzai no Sono (Garden of the Immaculata).

1933 July 17-20: He attends the Provincial Chapter in Krakow, during which he remains as editor of the Japanese Knight and the general administrator of the MI for the whole world. The ex-provincial, Fr. Cornelius Czupryk, is named superior of the Japanese mission.

1936 April 16: A minor seminary is opened in the Japanese Garden of the Immaculata.

1936 May and June: Father Maximilian leaves Japan for good, returning for the Provincial Chapter in Krakow, where he is appointed guardian of Niepokalanow on July 16.

1941 February 17: He is arrested and taken to Pawiak Prison in Warsaw by the Gestapo where he is cruelly treated.

1941 May 28: Father Maximilian is transported in a trainload of prisoners to Oswiecim (Auschwitz) where is is tattooed with the number 16670.

1941 July 28 – August 1: Between this five-day period Fritsch, the Commandant, sentences ten prisoners from Block 14 to death by starvation in retaliation for an escaped prisoner from their block. Father Maximilian’s offer to die for one of the condemned, Francis Gajowniczek, is accepted. The condemned are placed in the basement bunker of Block 13.

1941 August 14: Father Maximilian is killed by an injection of lethal acid.

1982 October 10: Pope John Paul II, in a huge ceremony in St. Peter’s square, declares his compatriot a “Saint,” a martyr of charity.

from here

New Study: Oral Contraceptives Disrupt Ability to Choose Genetically Favorable Mate

full article

The ability to choose a genetically favorable mate is ascribed in part to pheromones, chemicals that can cause behavioral changes in the opposite sex. These chemicals also contain the genes involved in immunity response.  When these genes interact with normal skin bacteria, they influence an individual’s particular body odor.

Addressing the implications of such a disruption, he states: “Not only could [gene] similarity in couples lead to fertility problems, but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odour perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners.”

People called Japan behind for only starting to sell the pill in 1999, and ever since it still hasnt been popular so people should count themselves lucky they avoided these problems.