Current News & Inspiration - Missionaries of the Holy Family

"I Feel So Blessed!" Meet the young Catholic gymnast taking her faith to the Tokyo Olympics. What a beautiful witness. Olympic gymnast and 18-year-old Grace McCallum carries a big responsibility on her shoulders: representing the United States in the Olympics. The young gymnast, however, copes well under pressure, as she knows very well to whom she places her trust.

A Priest's Powerful Call for All Men to Spiritual Fatherhood: For a perspective from the Church on the topic of fatherhood, I want to turn to the early desert fathers, our spiritual desert fathers of the third century through the sixth century. Our hermit fathers doubted that religion and politics could ever produce a truly Christian society. They were on to something...

Five things the Church did not stop teaching! I am grateful that many Catholics are starting to wake up to the awareness that there is much they do not know. On the other hand, I want to smack my head on brick walls. Why? It represents a resounding failure on the educational apparatus of the Church. Who is to blame?

Five Amazingly Gifted Saints who Wrote Poetry. God gifted some saints with a literary flair. Since the saints often direct their poetry toward God, it is best to read their poetry in a prayerful manner. Let's look at a few saints who were also great poets in their lifetime:

Five Prayers Revealed at Fatima Every Catholic Should Know. The apparition of an angel and Our Lady to three poor children in Fatima, Portugal, in the early 20^th century is one of the most famous miracles in the Catholic world. The children received many messages, mostly calling for personal conversion and prayer, as well as the words of five new prayers. The first prayer is one many Catholics are likely already familiar with, but the other four are not as well known. Here are the five prayers given to the children at Fatima:

The 12 promises of Jesus for those who practice devotion to His Sacred Heart: Christians have devoted themselves to the veneration of Jesus' Sacred Heart for centuries! While many saints have claimed to have had private revelations about Jesus’ Sacred Heart, the modern Catholic devotion is based primarily on the visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17^th century. As with all private revelations, Catholics are not obliged to believe them.

Our Lady’s Green Scapular: A miraculous, little known, sacramental for healing and conversion. Have you ever heard of the Green Scapular of the Immaculate Heart? Our Lady gave us this little known sacramental through Sister Justine Bisqueyburu of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. After several visions, Our Lady presented the Green Scapular on September 8, 1840.

Are you aware of Pope Saint John Paul II’s shirt relic? A nurse saved his bloodstained shirt after he was shot, and it is now a relic. The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul keep this relic in Rome. The shirt contains blood stains from his assassination attempt on May 13, 1981.

Bullet Holes

People without resources, single mothers, and immigrants come to the Daughters of Charity in Rome for help. However, the house became a pilgrimage center since preserving Saint John Paul II’s garment there. In the image above, you can see the blood stains.

Here’s the story from Rome Reports:

"You can still see the pope's blood stains on the relic, and you can make out three distinct holes,” Sister Maria Rosario of the Daughters of Charity told Rome Reports. "They are holes caused by bullets. Not because there were three bullets, but since the shirt was folded over itself, because of how he was standing."

Sister Maria also explained how the relic came to them – through nurse Anna Stanghellini, who preserved the t-shirt in her closet for many years.

"In the operating room, they cut his shirt into two pieces and threw it on the floor because they had to operate on the Pope," Sister Maria explained. "When they finished, she realized that the shirt was still there and would probably end up in the garbage. So Anna decided to pick it up."

Anna Stanghellini felt close to the Daughters of Charity, so she chose to donate the shirt to their community. The relic’s display attracts many visitors for veneration. The sisters say many share stories of Saint John Paul II’s miraculous intercession.

Miracle through the Relic

"A woman told me that she wanted to have a child, but she couldn’t have one. And she came here to pray almost every day. Finally, she became pregnant, but the doctors told her that she and her child were in great danger. She and her husband asked Pope Saint John Paul II for a miracle. In the end, the child was born and is in good health. So is the mother. They named their son John Paul."

Pope Saint John Paul II, pray for us!

Article source: Rome Reports.

+JMJ+

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This sounds awesome! Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson to star in new film about boxer turned priest, Father Stuart Long. Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson will star in a movie about Father Stuart Long, a late priest of the Diocese of Helena in Montana. Wahlberg will portray Father Stu, while Gibson will portray the priest's father, Bill Long. Wahlberg will partially finance the film.

Mother’s Day and the Forgotten Christian Roots: Did you know Mother’s Day actually has Christian origins? Explained in this brief video are some of the fascinating and surprising historical facts behind Mother’s Day. "There’s actually something more to Mother’s Day – something many have forgotten, and something you may want to revive," the narrator begins.

More Blog Posts

Blog & News

Blessed in Tokyo

Fathers & Spirituality

Not Optional

5 Holy Poets

5 Prayers from Fatima

First Fridays

Green Scapular

Blood Relic

Boxer Turned Priest

Mother's Day