Discerment in Progress

I blame my recent lack of posting on St Therese.  At the beginning of the month I wrote that I said a novena to her however because I had so much to think about I said for my intention all that is on my heart.  Its funny how the heart can hide things even from the person in whose chest it beats.   As some readers might recall I have said she seems to have taken an interest in me for the past couple of years trying to get my attention for some reason.  After the novena this getting my attention only seemed to increase as I couldnt escape her quotes, her photo, her statue and each time it was like she was staring right at me and saying “follow me, follow me to Christ.”  So naturally my first reaction was something like aaaah, go away, leave me alone,  but she didnt   So I gave in and said what, what do you want? Now it is only because my family & friends dont know about this blog that I can say what it seems she wants from me.  Something I never expected and that is to follow her literally.  To think about becoming a Carmelite nun.  (o_O)  To give up everything in reparation for sins and for the conversion of sinners.  That is why I havent posted lately because Ive spent my free time looking into this.

Updated to add

Well I talked to a priest today for some guidance (three weeks after this started) and that helped a lot. It was definitely a conversation I never thought Id have. No verdict yet just to keep praying and wanting to do God`s will not my own, which is hard for me but he said there would be graces if its meant to be. Ask Mary for her intercession etc. I was kind of hoping he would say Im nuts and to completely forget it because if he did then I could take the easy selfish way out but that didnt happen.

The priest asked me what sort of ministry I felt attracted to such as teaching and I said that for the past year or more I felt drawn to offer prayers and sufferings for the reparation of sins and the conversion of sinners. I had no idea until just recently that the Carmelites are one of the orders that focus on that.  Eek.

I emailed a couple of communities with some questions I had and will see what they say. I knew very little about religious communities, their lifestyles, and formation until just a couple of weeks ago.

Japanese Conversion & Vocation Stories

I was looking at the Daughters of St Paul`s website here and in their section titled who are we they have their vocation stories.    Each story is quite short and can be read in two or so minutes.

St. Damien of Molokai

He was Fr. Damien then Blessed Damien and today, October 11, he is Saint Damien.  EWTN aired the canonization mass which I remembered half an hour after it was over

Here is one of many articles covering the event.

Here is an article about a painting of Fr … I mean Saint Damien that was given to the Pope.   The late artist had Lou Gehrig`s disease but she did an amazing job.

Ex Finance Minster Found Dead

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) — Shoichi Nakagawa, who resigned as Japanese finance minister in February amid accusations of drunken behavior during an international conference in Rome, was found dead in his Tokyo home yesterday. He was 56.

One of many articles on this story.  Another is here

Mr Nakagawa was infamous for a very drunken looking press conference but also for exhibiting drunken behaviour at the Vatican Museum such as sitting down against the  Laocoon statue, touching some of the art, and for opening an emergency exit door.  My original post on that is here.  I will include intentions  for his soul and for comfort for his wife and children when I say my chaplet of Divine Mercy today.

Update

An autopsy on former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has detected numerous anomalies in his cardiovascular system as well as the presence of alcohol, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

article

Feast of St Therese of Lisieux

In January of 2008 I found a prayer card with a novena to St Therese on it while cleaning up some stuff one day.  I thought it would be fun to pray because I had heard that sometimes people receive roses and I wanted to see if that would happen to me too, so I prayed the novena.  I got roses and on my birthday no less   It was also the first time I had ever said a novena.  I also seemed to have gained the interest of St Therese who keeps trying to make herself known to me for almost the past two years now.  I keep encountering her in quotes from her mostly but also by seeing her picture and statue.  Later in 2008 I started to read a free copy of her book Story of a Soul on Project Gutenberg which you can read here but gave up since it`s not very easy to read that much at the computer.  A couple of months later while visiting my family I found a copy on my Mom`s bookshelf and so read the entire book very comfortably.

Her relics have toured the world but have never been to Japan and currently they are in England for a month.  If they ever do come here, and Im still here, I will definitely go say hi.  I also found out that another favorite Catholic of mine, and likely future saint, Archbishop Fulton Sheen`s talks about her have been compiled into a book see here

I found this video which shows the public areas of her convent as well as some of her personal items.

No. of suicides in Japan reaches 22,000 in Jan-Aug

TOKYO —

The number of people who committed suicide in Japan from January through August came to 22,362, an increase of 971 or 4.5% from a year earlier, a National Police Agency report showed Monday. If the current pace continues the annual figure could match the record of 34,427 marked in 2003. Of the total during the eight-month period, 16,008 were men and 6,354 women, according to the preliminary survey.

article

Reducing the number of suicides requires bringing people hope and, of course, since Im Catholic that hope is based in Jesus who, for one example,  in confession absolves us of our sins and by doing so gives us renewed hope.    Pope Benedict speaks of hope many times  and on many occasions.  His latest was several days ago during a homily in the Czech Republic.

Dear friends, regarding the character of today’s liturgical assembly, I gladly supported the decision, mentioned by your Bishop, to base the Scripture readings for Mass on the theme of hope: I supported it in consideration of the people of this beloved land as well as Europe and the whole of humanity, thirsting as it does for something on which to base a firm future. In my second Encyclical, Spe Salvi, I emphasized that the only “certain” and “reliable” hope (cf. no. 1) is founded on God.

History has demonstrated the absurdities to which man descends when he excludes God from the horizon of his choices and actions, and how hard it is to build a society inspired by the values of goodness, justice and fraternity, because the human being is free and his freedom remains fragile. Freedom has constantly to be won over for the cause of good, and the arduous search for the “right way to order human affairs” is a task that belongs to all generations (cf. ibid., 24-25). That, dear friends, is why our first reason for being here is to listen, to listen to a word that will show us the way that leads to hope; indeed, we are listening to the only word that can give us firm hope, because it is God’s word.

I strongly encourage everyone to read the rest of the homily click here

Pope Given Catholic Encyclopedia in Japanese

It took thirty years to make and is around 6000 pages long.  Here are two short articles each with different info on the endeavour.

article 1

article 2

Second Worldwide Rosary for Unborn October 16-18

The second annual Worldwide Rosary for Unborn Babies is scheduled to take place from Friday Oct. 16 to Sunday Oct. 18.

Participants in the event will pray at least one Rosary on any of these days for the intention of an end to the killing of the unborn.

St. Michael the Archangel Organization is also seeking volunteers to publicize the Worldwide Rosary and to translate information into other languages.

The group’s website is here

above article from here

Blue LEDs for Suicide Prevention

JR to install ’soothing’ blue LEDS on Yamanote Line platforms to prevent suicides

As a measure to prevent suicides at train platforms, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) has announced it will install “emotionally soothing” blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on all platforms on its Yamanote Line by the end of October.

Although seven Yamanote Line stations, including Tokyo, Yurakucho and Osaki, already have blue LEDs on their platforms, JR East will install the lights at 58 spots at all 29 stations on the line by the end of next month at a cost of 20 million yen.

However, whether blue LEDs are actually effective in preventing suicides hasn’t been scientifically proven, but some say they are expected to “help relieve mental stress and soothe the mind.”

full article

I`m in favor working to prevent suicides but this measure costs 20 million yen and has not been scientifically proven and there`s one more problem.  What if the suicidal person is color blind and can’t see blue?  Tough luck for them I guess.  I think ads with a free phone number to call that connects the caller to a help line would be far more useful.

Swine Flu Measures Update

Back in May when the Swine Flu scare started many churches in Japan, under orders from their diocese, took certain steps that they thought would help prevent the spread of the flu, or at least make people feel like some action was being taken. Steps such as no more holy water in the fonts, and to not receive the Eucharist on the tongue. Much to my dismay these measures are STILL in effect even though recent news says the flu is not expected to mutate, and is no worse the the ordinary seasonal flu. I do have my own bottle of holy water now though.