Little Flower

Wherever you are now, South or North, here are a few words for you from a child who died at age 24 and became St-Therese, nicknamed "Little Flower":

"My life is but an instant, an hour that passes by; a single day that slips my grasp and quickly slides away. O well, you know, my dearest God, to love you, I only have today."

Good people of New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, keep on being brave and don't loose hope. Bernie.

Our hearts are reaching out now to the suffering survivors of this natural disaster and human tragedy down South. Time is for all Americans to show solidarity and to set aside all their diverging views on the situation, past mistakes, initial slow response because of the ultra catastrophic and unimaginable consequences of an event hard to predict in all its aspects. We are amazed by the gigantic response of the country, and full of admiration for all the rescue workers and volunteers who give their heart out round the clock to save lives of all races and faiths. National and international solidarity reminds us the trying and painful time of the man-made tragedy of Sept 11 up North. Yes, it is different, as the wrath this time down South is coming from Mother Nature, not from criminal evildoers.

What is important now, is not to ask why this happened or what could have been done to avoid it, but to ask ourselves how to help including at the individual/local community level, even at small scale. With time, talents, money and prayers, there are many ways you can help families who survived the disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama so that people are fed, sheltered, healed and able to work again, and that children can go back to school. Our non-profit, Mary Mother of Peace-Medjugorje Charity will launch a God-parenthood program that will contribute to rebuilding the life of suffering families by sponsoring children. A model contract is available. Volunteers are needed to help identify beneficiaries and family, community and corporate sponsors. With those who want to help, our common goal will be to complement on a case by case basis the major response of the Government and large humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, The Salvation Army, "George and Bill" Katrina Relief Fund, US Freedom Corps and others.

Whatever the Charity you wish to support to come to the rescue of our fellow citizens, you can also volunteer time to organize a fund raising event to the benefit of the victims, talk to your employers for matching grants, and ask your Church or school to have a special collection made. Southerners need our compassion to get back on their feet, regain dignity, and put hope, faith and love in the first place in their life. The important thing is not how much you accomplish, but how much love you put in your deeds every day. What do you suggest? Thank you for responding. Bernie.

Nurture peace like a flower which is in need of water, tenderness and light.
Do you agree? How?

Amidst the historic devastation in New Orleans and its surrounding regions, we are rightfully shocked with the gravity of the suffering presently being experienced by the victims of Katrina, particularly the children and babies without food and water, the elderly and infirm without medication and care, and all the rest who are deprived from basic necessities for human existence.
We pray and plea that Heaven will assist them. We pray that, rather than giving in to any possible temptation to shake their fists in anger at God for this tragedy, they will open their hearts to Abba Father with new or renewed faith and hope in the God whose mercy is infinite. The Heart of God, the Father of all mankind, will pour forth extraordinary spiritual graces to his children/refugees at this perilous hour, graces that can last for all eternity, regardless of the limitations of human modes of material assistance. The Father has not forsaken them. He has never been closer to them.

For some, it is intolerable at a time of such human suffering to speak of any possible connection between the devastation of Katrina and the specific moral evils for which New Orleans and its surrounding regions of Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi were nationally infamous: voodoo centers and haunted graveyard tours, homosexual bars and transvestite clubs, striptease and porno houses, gambling casinos and prostitution establishments, and the like. In fact, the hurricane has prevented the annual Big Easy festival previously scheduled to take place this Labor Day weekend entitled, "Southern Decadence," which is advertised as being "gayer than Mardi Gras" and a unique exhibition of "naked flesh."

Wouldn’t such a connection be judgmental and lacking in compassion for the victims at such a time of tragedy? Yet the reason why many Christians (and also non-Christians) are examining the possible connection between concentrated sin in a particular geographic area like New Orleans and God at least permitting that area to experience the brunt of a natural calamity is precisely for the purpose of mercy: to encourage the prevention of the potential repetition, or even escalation, of the human misery as tragic as that experienced by our beloved brothers and sisters in the southern Gulf coast right now.
If we do miss what is intended as a providential message about the immediate need for conversion, repentance, and a return to God beyond any securities that money and the material of this life can offer, then we set the stage for a repeat of this providential message—and each repeat would demand still greater volume, since the message was not properly heard the previous time.
It is in any case a time for spiritual examination of conscience for the entire country, and the world at large. What is the remedy for a nation and world that to a significant degree have lost sight of their absolute need for God, who no longer follow his commands of love and life, who no longer respect his authority for the termination of human life, and presently seek to be free of his authority for its beginning through the abomination of cloning?

The remedy, at once simple and profoundly mysterious, is the Mother. How could the mother of Jesus be posed as the remedy to the ubiquity of problems facing our nation and our world, as well as the immediate needs of the Katrina victims?
Because the Mother is the Mediatrix of all graces, and the answer to every single difficulty facing the human family today is remedied through the redemptive graces of Jesus Christ, Savior of the universe and solution to all its woes. As Co-redemptrix, she suffered alongside the Redeemer to merit these graces; as Mediatrix she distributes these graces to every open heart; as Advocate she brings the petitions for his graces to the throne of Christ the King.
The Mother is the remedy because the Son is the remedy, and it is the will of the Son that only through beholding the Mother given to us by him (cf. Jn. 19:25-27), that grace, redemption, and peace will be granted to our world. Mary is an essential part of Heaven’s peace plan, as the message of Fatima makes clear: "Only she can help you…God wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart…in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph…and a period of peace will be granted to the world" (July 13, 1917).
Ultimately, because God wishes the world to recognize and acknowledge that it is only through the intercession of Mary, spiritual mother of all peoples and nations, that peace and grace will transform our present world into an era of peace, the pre-requisite for this historic Triumph of her Immaculate Heart and its consequent fruit of global peace is the official and solemn recognition of this saving action of Our Lady by the highest authority of the Church. A solemn papal declaration that we, the human family, acknowledge and accept God’s plan for peace as coming specifically through the profound intercession of Mary Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces and Advocate is what God awaits, and the Mother herself awaits, to bring the world the coveted graces of spiritual peace and global peace.
In short, Mary is the remedy, and the papal proclamation of her roles is a necessity for the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart and the prophesied era of peace. We must pray daily for the Dogma and the Triumph, if our hearts’ desire is an end to that degeneration, disaster, and war which is presently faced.
For some who may perceive the conclusion of Mary as the remedy for our times to be simplistic, pietistic and naïve, we close with the insight of the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger-- now Pope Benedict XVI, as articulated by interviewer Vittorio Messori in The Ratzinger Report: "To the crisis in the understanding of the Church, to the crisis of morality, to the crisis of woman, the Prefect has a remedy… ‘a remedy whose reputation seems to be clouded today with some Catholics but one that is more than ever relevant.’ It is the remedy that he designates with a short name: Mary." Written by Mark Miravalle, Mother of all Peoples

There is a great need now to care for our disabled service people who have sacrificed much in an effort to defend freedom in the world. Physical, mental and spiritual healing can take place in various ways. Medical experience has shown that physical recovery can be speeded and enhanced if one’s mind and spirit are actively engaged in meaningful projects. Medicine has also learned that helping others in constructive ways is a most effective way to attain personal satisfaction, restore confidence, and make oneself again feel needed and useful.
I believe that those who have suffered the trauma of warfare, like our service personnel, can help restore their health and well-being by aiding other victims of conflict. Especially deserving of help are children whose families have been scarred and destroyed by war or other tragedies.
Your views are sought on how to approach and listen to our wounded veterans to connect them directly with war orphans overseas and/or US children who lost a father or mother. The aim is to mutually rebuild lives, those of American service people and of young victims. Specific program activities under preparation could include material assistance to overseas orphanages, correspondence and visits, and educational support to individual orphans abroad or at home. Does this make sense? Or better said, how can this be done in cooperation with military hospitals to make it a reality in practical terms? Thank you for responding. Bernie