Brothers of Mercy of St. John of God

July – Month of the Precious Blood

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July – Month of the Precious Blood

With wonderment and love

let us bow humbly

before the Mystery of the effusion

of the Blood of Jesus,

before the Mystery of a God-Man

Who, for love of us,

pours out His Blood

on the Cross and on the Altar.

Our Beloved Lady saw

in the Blood of Jesus the Price

of her Immaculate Conception,

of her Divine Maternity.

With her let us bow humbly

in adoration and thanksgiving

before the Mystery of the God-Man

Who for love of us

pours out His Blood

on the Cross and on the Altar.

July 1, Feast of the Most Precious Blood

July 17, Feast of the Humility of Mary

July 2011

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Dear Friends of St. John of God,

By tradition the month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood - or better to say- to the mystery of God’s great love revealed in the outpouring of His Blood in agony. And so we invite you to join us in “loving this Love” made manifest in the mystery of the Precious Blood, especially at Holy Mass and in the recitation of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.

Tradition also remembers on the seventeenth of July the “Humility of Mary”. In the words of the hymn: “All alone I cannot praise Him as I would. Share with me the praise of my Humility.”

Through the mystery of the Most Precious Blood and through the intercession of Our Lady of the Precious Blood may the Lord grant us all health of mind and body in this world and in the world to come LOVE everlasting.

Glory to the Blood of Jesus!

Br. Raymond M. Marquez, fm

Prior

Brothers of Mercy of Saint John of God

_________________________

This year we celebrate the 125th year of the Proclamation of Our Father Saint John of God as Universal Patron of the Sick and Hospitals

Misericordia page 1

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MISERICORDIA

“Jesus seeing the multitudes had compassion on them because they were distressed,”

The word MISERICORDIA means ‘heart of mercy’: the Heart of Jesus.

Misericordia seeks to be a continuing extension of the Mercy of the Heart of Jesus for the distressed, the sick, the needy, the abandoned.

A religious Order, even all the religious Orders together, could reach very few of the vast number of poor-sick, socially maladjusted, of the homeless, of needy youth. All of whom look for someone to care for them.

The idea of Misericordia is to make use of the man-power of each Parish, and each Diocese, men, women and young people, dedicating themselves according to their availability to those in need in their own Parish and their Diocese.

Misericordia is not an “Association’’ with a central house, it is an IDEAL derived from the example the great Patron of the sick and of the socially deprived, Saint John of God. It is truly a splendid work of Mercy. And in fact it is the only way for the Church to reach the multitude of those needing assistance.

Misericordia assists the bishop and the parish priest to fulfill their obligation to the infirm and needy who are under their care.

Pope Saint Pius X when asked what was the greatest need of the Church at the time replied:

“What is most necessary at the present time is to have in each parish a group of laymen, virtuous, enlightened and truly apostolic.”

And this is the founding principle of Misericordia.

Misericordia then is composed of a group of laypersons in each parish with their own Director, one chosen from among themselves. And in the Diocese, collaboration among all for the maintainance of the Grand Hospice and the center for the deaf and blind.

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Misericordia page 2

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II
The Parish and the Diocese

In Each Parish

A Youth Center

A Temporary Shelter for the Needy

Visitation– of those who need assistance in their own houses; of those confined in hospitals and other institutions, especially institutions for the young and those in correctional institutions.

In Each Diocese

A Grand Hospice with Divisions– for emotionally disturbed youth; long term psychiatric patients; the aged and infirm; orphaned and needy youth, girls in moral danger.

A Center for the Deaf and Blind

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Happy 80th Birthday

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Happy 80^th Birthday

Last July 14, 2010, we have celebrated the 80^th birthday of our very own Bro. Francis Joseph, fm. held in Hospicio de San Juan de Dios. This is a surprise social gathering of our Companions, friends, and benefactors. We would like to extend our warmest gratitude to the Lord for what He had done to make this commemoration possible and providential than what we have expected. Fr. Avel Sampana, our chaplain, offered the mass in honor of St. Camillus de Lellis. Afterwards, a simple lunch for our guests proceeded. Despite of the inconveniences and incommodity of our services, because of the loss of electricity all over Bulacan, Manila, and Laguna, the celebration continued. As the result of which, we haven’t shown the prepared video presentations for the celebrant. We would like to acknowledge the help of our Companions, friends, and benefactors, especially, Mrs. Lam, who personally baked the birthday cake and lots of decorated cupcakes for the celebrant and patients. Also, to the Lions Club from Quezon City who brought us the couple clowns who uplift the cheerfulness of the crowd. And most of all, to those who shared their time, bread and vigorous effort to make this celebration memorable and unforgettable for one another.

Notice to the public

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To all our friends and benefactors,

We want to inform you about a person: Ritchie Verdeflor Buenavides- who calls himself Fr. Paulus Maria Sanguinis Sacris MSSPP- he might use our name “San Juan de Dios”. He is collecting money from persons in Manila.

He has a school called “San Juan de Dios Learning Center”, at Sinsuat St., Purok Manga, Zone 1, City of Koronadal. But it has no connection with us.

Asking a remembrace at Holy Mass.

Br. Francis Joseph, fm

Feast of Our Lady of Humility

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Feast of Our Lady of Humility

We celebrated last July 17, the feast of Our Lady of Humility and offered a Holy Mass in honor of Her with Fr. Boyet Conception as celebrant. It was held in Hospicio de San Juan de Dios- Bustos, Bulacan. Our chapel is filled with Nursing students came from Our Lady of Fatima University- Valenzuela, Boys came from Tahanan at Yaman ni San Martin de Porres, our patients and staffs, Companions and friends of ours. The homily is simple but touched us with the emphasis on: “Mary, a true model of humility.” Afterwards, a simple breakfast was served.

21th Anniversary

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21^thAnniversary

Last July 1 was our 21^thanniversary of the Brothers of Mercy of St. John of God. Fr. Avel Sampana, our chaplain, offered a votive mass for the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. At vespers, we sung the Te Deum for our deep gratitude and appreciation of the continuous guidance of the Holy Spirit and Divine Providence on a year after. We are very grateful to the Lord for He has not leave us desolate in time of need and look upon us as a loving Father to His children.

Newsletter December 2009

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BROTHERS OF MERCY OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD

Misericordia

PrioryHospice of St. John of God

Igulot, Bocaue,

3018 Bulacan,Philippines

DECEMBER2008-November 2009

Do good to yourself, by doing good to others

September 26, 2009 -After the flood

The whole ground floor of the Priory-Hospice was flooded.- patients, Brothers,workers and neighbors were crowded together on the second floor. Beside the material damage to the buildings, all our official documents and many of our books were destroyed. What supply of rice we had was also destroyed.

But more serious than this was the sickness and death among the patients due to post flood infection. It will take a long time to repair the Hospice. In spite of all this, things are running smoothly here again.

November 14-16, 2009 Catholic Deaf Care

I (Br. Terence) andBr. Bernard attended the 20th Catholic Congress for the Deaf held at PacoCatholic School, Paco, Manila.

July 1

FEAST OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD. And at the same time, the 20^thAnniversary of the Brothers of Mercy of St. John of God in Bulacan. After Holy Mass, a short program was offered for our Patients, Relatives, Friends and Benefactors with our Chaplain Rev. Fr. Avel Sampana and guest priests. Br. Ignatius Sudol, O.H. and Ms. Irene Moffat from theUnited States arrived to celebrate our twentieth anniversary with us. Awarding Ceremony to those who finished and passed the Graduate Psychiatric Attendant Course and also for those who finished the classes on the Spirituality of St. John of God.

National Episcopal Commission Congress on HealthCare

April 22. We attended the First National Episcopal Commission Congress on Health Care held at Lay Formation Center, San Carlos Seminary, Guadalupe, Makati. We were invited to speak about the apostolate forthe mentally-ill.

Symposia

March6- 9^thSymposium on Mental Illness at Bocaue, Bulacan with the theme:

The Filipino Bonding Traits of SocialLife with students from different colleges, young people, Barangay Health Care Workers and Church Organizations.

Nov.15-10^thSymposium on Mental-Illness with the themes: What DrivesYour Life?

was held at the Colegio de
San Gabriel Archangel, Sapang Palay, City of San Jose del Monte.

February 10- 8^thSymposiumat Colegio de San Gabriel Archangel, Sapang Palay, City

of San Jose del Monte,Bulacan with the theme: Understanding Mental-illness. participating were more than a hundred psychology students.

Holy Communion

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Holy Communion

Jesus says: “he shall dwell in Me and I in Him.” Jn. 6:56. O most divine and most human words! It is not enough for Him to say: “I shall hide Myself in him, and remain, and dwell, and nourish him with My Flesh and Blood.” No. he tells us very much more of His love and of the work of His love in us when He says: “I shall abide in him and he in Me.” How gentle those words and powerful to console.

While it is true that this sacramental union is primarily spiritual, grace and virtue being communicated to us through the Eucharist, still, we must believe equally that Christ unites Himself physically to us, His most holy Body to ours by means of the sacramental species. And in this union that first pure matrimony is accomplished of which it was written in figure: “the two shall be one flesh only. So that they are no longer two, but one flesh only.” Mt. 19:5-6.

Therefore, we are members of the Body of Christ, ‘flesh of His flesh, bone of His bone’ “…we are members of His body.” Eph. 5:30. So that anyone of the faithful, receiving Communion worthily, may say: “this is flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone.” Gen. 2:23. Just as we call the red-hot iron “fire”, not because it has changed its substance, but because the fire has so assimilated itself to it as to impress on it its qualities, its heat, its flame, and all its effects, so it is with him who is united to Christ in Holy Communion.

A CARTHUSIAN MONK

Holy Mass

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Holy Mass

On the evening before the departure of the Jews from Egypt, Moses- according to the command of God-sacrificed a lamb. The lamb was offered to God, then prepared and consumed by the people, s a sign of their union wit the sacrifice. The blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the door-posts of the Jews to protect them from t5he avenging angel. For God had said: “I will see the blood and I will spare you.”

On Mount Calvary, Jesus the lamb of God sacrificed Himself, pouring out His Blood to ransom not only the Jews but all mankind.

Each Mass is a continuation if Jesus’ sacrifice- the bread becomes His Body and wine His Blood. This separate consecration manifests in a spiritual way the death of Jesus the Lamb of God who in a symbolic sense still pours out His Blood in sacrifice to the Father in adoration, reparation, thanksgiving and petition.

The priest who offers holy Mass may have his own personal defects, but the offering of Christ, the mystical outpouring of His Blood, is holy, divine and perfect. There is nothing in this world of more value than one Sacrifice of the Mass. We unite with the priest in offering this sacrifice; we consume the Sacrificial Victim in Holy Communion.

No Protestant Church, no other Religion can offer this Sacrifice or receive the Divine Lamb.

On the entire world the sun never sets- twilight in one place is dawn in another. So the Chalice of the Blood of Christ – even at this moment as you read – is being raised up, the Sacrifice of the Mass is being offered somewhere. In spirit let us unite ourselves to the Divine Victim and let us receive in spirit the Body and Blood of Christ in “Spiritual Communion.”

O crimson splendor of the Blood of Christ be our sun that never sets. O Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on us. Receive our oblation united to your own, a Sacrifice of Praise!

The Companion of Jesus

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The Companion of Jesus

We often think: “how fortunate the apostles who were the companions of Jesus….. in His company, by His side, day and night.” But we too, if we wish, may be His Companions.

Are we not in His Company when we visit Him present in the Blessed Sacrament, and especially at the time of Holy Communion? And as we read the Gospel or pray the Rosary are we not present to Him Who as God-Man sees us truly before Him. We become His Companions if we wish, in all mysteries of His life, death and resurrection!

Is He not present in all the events of each day and hour – however veiled and hidden He may seem? “Think only that God ordains all, and where there is no love put in love and you will draw out love,” (St. John of the Cross). In all these events of daily life He is seeking our company.

Jesus is present – as He Himself tells us – in our neighbor, especially in the little ones, the sick, and the afflicted. And when we reverence His presence, and serve Him in our neighbor, then most truly we become His Companions.

To seek Jesus in those who live on the margin of society – the mentally ill, disturbed youth, the wayward – this is what it means to be a Companion of Jesus! One need not to go outside ones own neighborhood to find in need…. “as long as you did it to one of these you did to Me”. Happy he who is the Companion of Jesus in all these who are in need of companionship! “I saw them so poor and ill-cared for that they broke my heart.” (St. John of God)

Let us consecrate ourselves to the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of the Father loving Jesus and the Spirit of Jesus loving the Father, entering into this Union we become ever more perfect Companion of Jesus.

“the wise man built his house on rock, rains came down, floods rose, gales blew, and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock.” MT. 7:24-25. The rock foundation of our house is Faith and Hope; its light and warmth is Charity. And in this house –our soul- we dwell in the company of Jesus. The storms, trials and distractions of life may beat upon my house but I am safe within, the Companion of Jesus.

The Gesuati

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THE GESUATI

The rich and influential merchant of Siena, John Colombini, touched by a special grace, leaving his wealth and embracing the poverty of Christ, gave himself completely to God. Others, convinced by his example, later followed him in his imitation of Christ: the Poor for Jesus Christ. But the people called them ‘Gesuati’ because of the frequency with which they invoked the Holy Name of Jesus (Gesù). Neither priests nor religious, the Gesuati, according to the desire of Blessed John Colombini, are to follow the poor and abandoned Jesus in poverty, prayer and fraternity… “with song and jubilation”.

Apostolate of Music

Music, or better to say, the apostolate of music, was the particular characteristic of the first Gesuati. The Church today has need of new Gesuati who will consecrate their talents to the service of the Divine Liturgy. The Second Vatican Council called for those who would restore the official music of the Church- those who would refuse entrance into the Liturgy of music which would be unworthy of Divine Worship, music that is secular, banal, and often theologically incorrect I its orientation and in its lyrics. “The Liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows… All who are made sons of God by faith and baptism come together to praise God in the midst of His Church. Liturgical Worship is given a more noble form when the divine offices are celebrated solemnly in song. The Church recognizes Gregorian chant as being especially suited to the roman Liturgy.” (Document of the Sacred Liturgy). Other kinds of sacred music are not excluded from liturgical celebrations ‘so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action.’ Gesuati Chant is simple, solemn, and quickly learned by the people, and the very texts of the Proper to each Mass are easily adapted to it because it is based on tones (Cords) sung in one or more voices, rather than on melodies, here is the apostolate of the Gesuati today!

The Message of Blessed John Colombini

“Seek to imitate the life of Jesus Christ; and when your works imitate Jesus (Gesù), then you will be Gesuati. Have always His Holy Name in your heart and on your lips, and in all that you do. Be valiant knights of Jesus Christ and with His help battle bravely against all the temptations of the flesh, of the world and of the devil. Give yourself to Christ! Who is abandoned a thousand times more than you believe. Seek to clothe yourselves with the white garment of purity of heart; confessing frequently, and receiving the holy Sacrament of the Body of Christ. Let your prayer be more of the heart than of the voice. Greatly have in mind the most holy life and Passion of Jesus Christ. Be joyous and serve the Lord with gladness; Love one another as good brothers; When a companion is ill, care for him with the utmost charity, remembering that it is Jesus Christ whom we serve. “Have great love, singing with all creatures and making jubilee, manifesting unmeasured love.”

Testament of Blessed John Colombini to the Gesuati

“My beloved ones, be not negligent nor slothful, but hasten to encounter the great gift of God! with unmeasured charity, with a love that savors of folly, with desire for holy poverty, with fraternal love among you, with rejoicing, jubilee and song. Abandon carefully all worldly attachments because Christ will never enter a soul occupied by affection that is not love of Him, or love for Him. Therefore, despoil yourselves of empty yourselves, and clothes yourselves, and beclothe yourselves of Jesus Christ, the Blessed One, and of Him be filled! Who gives Himself to you with a powerful affection that warms and inebriates. O Goodness all unknown! O Treasure all hidden and ignored! O souls, blind and cold, that give not of yourselves to have and to enjoy the goodness of the Blessed Christ. Rouse the sleeping! Raise up those already half dead! Behold the Christ Who will awaken the nations! Who will inflame the coldness of the hearts! Who will re-enkindle the extinguished fire! Arise valiantly then for this Blessed Christ Who with haste is coming to you!”

July 31^st

Blessed John Colombini

St. Augustine

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St. Augustine

He was born in 354 at Tagaste, now Souk-Ahras, Algeria. His parents saved to give him the best education and sent him to Carthage for his final two or three years. There, at seventeen, he already had a son by a woman with whom he would live for thirteen years. S. Monica’s admonitions on purity seemed exaggerated to him. Her faith, he abandoned-though he was catechumen-to join the semi-Christian Manichees. One of the turning points in his life was reading Cicero’s ‘Hortentius’ at the age of nineteen, for it inflamed him with an intense and abiding desire for true wisdom, So he turned to the Scriptures to see what they had to offer him, but soon gave them up as inferior to Cicero. Then, in Tagaste, Carthage, Rome, and Milan, he taught rhetoric. Gregarious and a natural leader with a remarkable capacity for friendship, he became the center of a group of intellectuals who at one time were thinking of forming a commune. For nine years he was connected with the Manichees. Then came a period when he thought sceptics were probably the wisest men. Such was his state of mind on arriving at Milan in his thirtieth year. There he met S. Ambrose. “I came to love him,” Augustine wrote, “for his kindness towards me. I attended carefully when he preached...Opening my heart to learn how eloquently he spoke, I came to feel, though only gradually, how truly he spoke...I began to see that the Catholic Faith could be maintained on reasonable grounds.” Augustine began to appreciate Scripture and again became a catechumen. Neo-Platonism by teaching him to reflect on his own mental processes, showed him a way out of materialism. He also came to see evil as an absence of good rather than as the positive thing the Manichees made it. But a moral problem remained. “Lord,” he would pray, “give me chastity, but not yet.” Then came the dramatic experience in the garden, the child’s voice bidding him “take up and read; take up and read,” The words of Saint Paul on chastity pierced his heart effecting his conversion; as likewise the previous reading of the life of Saint Antony Abbot. For he now found himself with the strength to observe Christ’s law. He was baptized at thirty-two, and immediately founded his first monastery at Tagaste. The Rule which he wrote -valued especially for its brevity, discretion, and emphasis on charity, became the basis of all other ‘rules’ in the west; it is observed today by more than one hundred and fifty Orders and Congregations throughout the world.

St. John of Avila

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St. John of Avila

He was born in Almodò del Campo in Southern Spain on the 6^th of January 1500 (he was therefore about five years younger than St. John of God). His mother , Catherine Xixon was of noble Christian family, but his father, Alphonsus de Avila, was a Jewish origin. All his life the future saint would have to suffer because of the violent suspicion toward the so-called “New Christians” of Jewish of Muslim ancestry. This, however, does not seem to be the motive for which he has left the University of Salamanca. He enter a religious order for some time, but then returned home.

As a priest, he desired to go to Mexico as a missionary but this plan was frustrated because of his Jewish ancestry. No “New Christian” was allowed by law to “pass to the Indies”. John of Avila dedicated himself therefore to his priestly ministry in southern Spain: teaching Catechism to both children and adults, passing long hours in the confessional, preaching, directing many souls to a greater sanctity of life through the exercise of mental prayer, meditation and recollection.

But there were those driven, no doubt, by jealousy, who denounced him to the Inquisition on the false grounds that his teaching was like that of the Protestants of the north. He was therefore, arrested and passed almost a year in the prison of the Inquisition. He bore his unjust imprisonment with great strength of soul, using the time to translate the Imitation of Christ into the Spanish language, and to begin his own important book “Audi Filia”. Being found innocent of the accusations brought against him, he left the prison without ever uttering a word against those who falsely accused him.

Although Master Avila (as he called) did not take part in the great Council of Trent directly, he had not a little influence in it through correspondence. In Granada, he became the spiritual father of St. John of God as we know well. But he was spiritual director to many other holy people as well: St. Francis Borgia, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Peter Alcantara to name a few.

St. Raphael Archangel

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St. Raphael Archangel

These good spirits are assigned to help us while always remaining in the presence of God. The word ‘angel’ means messenger. They are God’s messengers first of all, but their service is broader and is ideally portrayed in S. Raphael, who accompanied the son of Tobit. “Do not worry,” Tobit assured his wife, “for a good angel will go with him. His journey will be successful, and he will come back safe and sound.” Tob5.20:21.

St. John Grande

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St. John Grande

In a celebrated vision, Christ appeared to him covered with wounds and said: “John, go to the hospital and in serving the sick you will heal these ‘Wounds.” From that time until his heroic death serving the plague-stricken, he devoted himself untiringly to the service of the suffering members of Christ. When Pope Saint Pius V approved the hospital of Granada founded by S. John of God as an autonomous religious house under the Rule of S. Augustine, John Grande adopted the Rule and Vesture of Saint John of God for his hospital in Jerez. But later he steadfastly refused to associate himself with the centralization of the Order under a Prior General. Both he and his companions remained as autonomous houses according to first approbation of S. Pius V. S. John Grande was one of the greatest of the great Spanish mystics. He is the Patron of the Diocese of Jerez.

St. Rita of Cascia

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St. Rita of Cascia

She was the only daughter, and although she wished to enter the convent, on the insistence of her parents she was obliged to marry a young man of good will but violent character. After 18 years of married life, Rita’s husband was assassinated. She not only forgave the assassins but begged God to take her two sons if necessary so that they would not seek a terrible revenge (Vendetta) on their father’s murderers. In truth, the two boys died only a short time after their father’s death. Alone now, Rita sought to actualize her desire to consecrate herself to God. The nuns, however, were reluctant to receive one recently involved in well-known assassination... perhaps out of fear of the anger of the assassins. However, by the force of her love, Rita was finally admitted to the Augustinian monastery of St. Mary Magdalene in Cascia. Here she lived the monastic life faithfully for 40 years. During the last 15 years of her life, Rita bore the wound of a thorn in her forehead, sharing in the Passion of the Lord in this singular manner. The Wound is still visible today in her incorrupt body. Rita died Saturday night, the 22^nd of May. What especially characterizes St. Rita is her calling to the various states in life: wife, mother, widow, Religious – all lived in the spirit of generous love. The prayers of the Mass of St. Rita remind us of her sharing the Passion of Christ, bearing in her forehead the Wound of the Thorn of Christ’s Crown and asks that our hearts be pierced with the thorn of salutary contrition. Love was the vital force by which Rita was guided in the various states of her life. By the way of the Cross, she was led to the joy and the light of the Resurrection. St. Rita is loved by the people, because she loves the people, and is invoked the world over as the “Saint of the Impossible”.

The Mystery of the Blood of Christ

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The Mystery of the Blood of Christ

(In the writings of St. Catherine of Siena)

God is the highest and eternal good, and He cannot will other than our good; it is His will that we be made holy in Him, and everything that He does or that He permits is directed toward this end. And if we were to doubt this, I assure you that we could remove all doubt by looking at the Blood of the humble and immaculate Lamb, wounded, filled with pain, and afflicted with thirst on the cross. This shows us that the great and eternal Father loves us inestimably, to the point of giving the Word for us His Life, driven by love to the infamous death of the cross. So you see that the Blood of Christ destroys all doubt, if there were to be doubt that God might will other than our good. (L 13)

What then do we need? We need the Blood of Christ. In his blood we will find the firm hope that will remove from us every servile fear. We will find that living faith which will make us know and experience that God wills naught but our good.

Because in the Blood of Christ we see the ineffable love which God has for us – more than anything else the Blood of Christ manifests the love and charity of God – we feel drawn to love Him in return with all our heart and soul and strength. (L 299)

The soul, gazing into the depth of the charity of God, understands the He who is the highest and eternal Good, out of pure love has created us and redeemed us in the Blood of His Son. With this same love He ordains all: tribulation and consolations. The blood which you see poured out with so much fire of love manifests to us that this is the truth. (Dialogue Chap. 138)

Let Him who wills drink of the Chalice of the Blood of Christ. Here only is the thirst of man satisfied. If a man possessed the whole world it would not satisfy him, because he is greater than all these things and something less than himself could never satisfy him, but only the Blood of Christ! For in the blood of Christ is found the eternal Godhead – infinite Deity greater than the man. The desire of man can be satisfied only with the fire of divine charity. Hasten! That the memory receive that which the intellect knows of divine charity and you will find yourself clothed with the fire of the Blood of the Son of God. (L 146)

Our self-will always generates trouble and bitterness, but who has immersed his will in the Blood of Christ, he is in perfect peace. (L359)

I write to you in His Precious Blood with the desire to see you filled with the remembrance of the Blood of Christ, and the eye of your intellect open to the fire of divine charity manifested in the Blood of Christ. Then your will and your heart will be filled and satiated with love. The three powers of our soul- memory, intellect and will, are united, as the Lord said: “where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them”. Gather together, then, these three powers of the soul, and go to the well-spring of Christ’s Blood that the vessels of your memory be filled. (L 375)

Love the Blood of Christ! Drink deeply of the Chalice of this gentle Lamb, that the fortress of your soul be strong. (L 36) he has come as our Captain, without weapons, His hand nailed to the cross. He has defeated our enemies. With his Blood He encourages us to fight like men without the slightest fear. (L 169) Drink and drink again of the Blood of Christ that as one wholly in love you may run into battle and combat manfully. (L 293)

His Blood is not without fire. Rather, it was poured out with the fire of love. In this glorious Blood you will begin to love the love of God; you will be made strong and patient. Nothing shall disturb you because you have seen in the light of Faith that God wants only our sanctification and for this end he wills or permits all that occurs in our life. The soul, immersed in Christ’s Blood, in nothing seeks self; seeks neither time nor place nor its own way, but only the will of God.

How good it is, then, to drink deeply of this precious Blood by continuous remembrance, for great is the benefit which follows. To this good I invite you. (L 381)

My soul inebriate by the Blood of Christ, loses all thought of self, of self-love, of servile fear; seeks no glory except the cross of Christ Crucified. All the powers of the soul are occupied with the Blood of Christ. By means of this Blood divine love is found, and love of self cast out. Thus, it is that I want that you and I be gently inebriated with the Blood of Christ Crucified, so that all which is bitter seems sweet and heavy burdens light; from thorns and trials we draw out roses and peace and quiet. ( L25)

Therefore, run – let us run together – a faithful Christians in the love of this Blood. Like men who have drunken too much wine, we have become drunken from the Blood of Christ, burned and consumed in divine, tender, charity, made one in Christ. Like a drunken man who has no thought of himself but only of the wine he has taken and has yet to take, drink deeply, deeply of the Blood of Christ Crucified. Do not permit yourself to die of thirst; do not drink only a little but drink deep and long until you have become totally forgetful of self. (L 29)

So well does the Blood of Christ inebriate the soul, that all thought of self is lost, nothing remains… neither time nor place, nor consolation, nor tribulation, nor self-will, nor self-choosing, but all is submitted to the Will of God found in the Blood of Christ. (L 124)

The Son of God is that Blood which warms, casting out any chill, enriching the voice of him who drinks of this Chalice, giving joy to the soul and to the heart. For this Blood was poured out with the fire of divine charity, and so much does it inflame a man his old self is cast out. (L 208)

I tell you: drink deeply, deeply of the Blood of Christ! Let It be your only nourishment! (L 208)

Immerse yourself in the Blood of Christ Crucified; cleanse yourself in His Blood; deeply drink, and become as one drunken; clothe yourself with His Blood; repent and rejoice in His Blood; let your weakness and your blindness be lost in the Blood of the immaculate Lamb. In the light of Christ’s Blood, run as a manly soldier in search of the love of God. (L 333)

Bear the armor of true charity covered with the red garment of the Blood of Christ Crucified. Let all men see this Blood; and never be ashamed of the Blood of Christ. ( L 128)

Bear witness to the Blood of Christ openly before all men in good and holy works. Do not behave like so many foolish people who embarrassed to give witness to the Blood of Christ before the world, and to own themselves servants of Christ, unwilling to be seen clothed in the Blood of Christ. Oh! The confusion of the world! which is ashamed to remember Christ and His Blood – by which they were redeemed with so much fire of love – and they feel not ashamed of their iniquity! (L 128)

Wage a gentle and holy warfare against evil. The more we remember the gentle Savior, the more we will be animated to wage an even stronger combat, seeing that because of sin our Father died. Just as son is filled with anger against the enemy who has slain his Father, so the soul, seeing the Blood of His Creator, feels a horror for the enemy who has slain him. Thus I want you to do. And in order that you may combat well, I want you to place before you the remembrance of the Blood of the Son of God poured out with so much fire of love. This Blood will be for us a continuous baptism of fire always purifying ad inflaming our soul, removing from it the chill of sin. (L 148)

This is not the time to sleep but to rise from the sleep of negligence, to put aside the blindness of ignorance and to espouse the truth with the espousal ring of the most holy Faith, announcing the truth freely and widely, not hiding it for whatever fear, willing to give our life if need be, wholly inebriated by the Blood of the humble and immaculate Lamb. (L 330)

GLORY TO THE BLOOD OF JESUS!

St. Francis of Paola

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Saint Francis of Paola

Saint Francis of Paola lived in a very troubled time: secularism, unbelief and selfishness pervaded not only the world about him but also the Church. He, with his spiritual son, Saint John of God, were beacon lights for the Faithful in the descending gloom and darkness of the Protestant ‘reformation’. His was a period very much like our own. So that his threefold message of Humility, Charity, and Penance is especially needed today.

Conscious of the words of scripture ‘what have you that you have not received for every good gift comes from above’, he called himself ‘the least one’ (Minim). And he wanted his followers to consider them-selves also as the ‘least ones in the house of God: (Minims). This title is symbol and glory, and is fulfillment of the words of Jesus to ‘learn of Him because He is meek and humble of Heart’.

Saint Francis of Paola loved the solitary life, the life of a hermit. Prayer was the life of his life, and love was the life of his Prayer. But with tireless energy and compassion he received and relieved all those who came to him in sickness and distress even the animals were beneficiaries of his miracles!

The charity of Saint Francis of Paola is reflected in the works of his spiritual family; Saint Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Love of God, who especially opened the doors of holiness to the Laity, and is the patron of the Deaf; Saint Joan de Valois, saint of the ‘imitation of Mary; Blessed Gaspar de Bono, precursor of devotion to Saint Joseph; Saint Vincent Pallotti, pioneer in the active participation of the laity in the apostolate of the Church, and originator of the ‘Octave for Christian Unity’; Blessed Francis Faa di Bruno, advocate of devotion to the Holy Souls; Blessed Nicholas Barré, whose inspiration has filled the entire world with ‘Christian schools’.

The charity of Saint Francis of Paola is especially reflected in his spiritual son, Saint John of God, the father and guide of the Brothers of Mercy for the assistance of the mentally ill, the poor-sick, the way ward, the homeless, the Deaf.

The modern expression of devotion to the Blood of Christ (Agnes of the Incarnate Word); the apostolate of Our Lady of Sion for the conversion of the Jews (Alfonse Ratisbonne); the spirituality of the Humility of Mary; all these find their origins also in the Minim milieu.

Saint Francis of Paola received from God the mission of opposing, by his austerity and penance, the rising pagan spirit of his time. (How much more pagan and selfish our own time!) As a solemn protest he observed and asked his followers to observe a life of penance, precisely, a life lived in a spirit of ‘Perpetual Lent’, a ‘Lent’ continued throughout the year . . . fasting frequently, and frequently abstaining from meat, eggs, milk and its products, (this was the Lenten fast of the early Church). Thus to combat the invasion of sensuality, egoism, and unbelief.

The message of Saint Francis of Paola extends to all the ends of the earth. His voice speaks to generous souls to combat pride, selfishness and sensuality, to be ‘signs of contradiction’, to become holy and to cause others to become holy, by following him in HUMILITY, CHARITY, and PENANCE.

The Unusual Story of St. John of God

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The Unusual Story of Saint John of God

The perpetual snows of the high Sierras were made silverwhite by the quiet radiance of the moon. And the cold winter blew down on a sleeping city, Granada. The numerous bell towers were silent. The narrow, winding streets deserted. And even behind the massive walls of the Royal Hospital, in the wards of the mentally disturbed, the peace of the night had brought some tranquility.

We pass bed after bed, each holding its burden of human misery, until we come to an empty by the wall beneath the window. An empty bed - rather, a bed that has become the support for the young man kneeling beside it. His face, lighted by the moon, expresses the torment of his mind. It is a face stained and beaten, with eyes fixed on heaven. And his lips seem to utter over and over again but one prayer: “Mercy, O my Lord! Lord have mercy!”

His name is John –John Ciudad.

**********

A child coming into the world doesn’t really ask for too much. He only asks for a mother and a father to care for him, to be near him. With a good parent on either side, he is able to walk through the dependent years confident and unafraid.

To John Ciudad, so much of this was denied, that one may trace his great personality difficulties to a childhood lived outside the warmth of parental love. For, after age of eight, he never saw his parents again.

Why he was separated from them as a child, we do not know. Had they died, leaving orphan? Or according to the anti-Sematic laws of the time, were his parents-- if they were Jewish, as some believe—banished from the nation of Portugal — Ciudad’s native land—and he given to others that he might be raised a Christian ? Who knows? Who can say?

This much we do know, and this much we can say: Time—called the great healer—never healed the wound inflicted on a mind that was especially sensitive. And the circumstances and situations of his adult life reflect again and again the anxieties of his childhood.

In God’s mysterious plan, John Ciudad is to become a saint. A Saint, yes– but the saint of the unhappy, the anxious, the disturbed and the troubled. He is to be refuge- the asylum, if you will- of all those whom the world in its foolishness, will call foolish.

**********

Yes, Ciudad did seek peace—but he could not find it. First, he was to leave the only home he knew—the home the chief shepherd in Oropeza, Francisco, called the majoral. Francisco had hoped that John would eventually marry and settle down in Oropeza as an assistance. It was not to be. Was it the security of belonging to one place, to one person, that suddenly caused young Ciudad to leave all behind and enlist in the army? The little town of Oropeza, over the Portuguese border in Spain, couldn’t have been more peaceful. Too, the quiet occupation of shepherd should have radiated some of its tranquility to his restless mind. It didn’t!

He would become soldier, and nearly lose his life. Much worst than that though, he nearly lost the practice of his faith, which had been to him his one deep source of inner peace.

No, the army was not for him. Rather he would bring his newly recovered faith to the service of those Christians held captive by the moors. He would go to Africa. He was young and strong and personable. He would do great good.

But, Africa brought him no peace. On the contrary! Young strong though he was, overwork and misguided zeal brought him to such a state of nervous exhaustion that the priest advised him to return to Spain.

“Seek peace ad follow after it.” But for John Ciudad there was no peace – yet.

**********

The Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. In solitude and suffering the merciful redeemer inaugurated his public life. The same spirit now led John Ciudad to Granada—that city which was to be for him successively the desert of his humiliation, the object of his merciful love, and finally the witness of his glory.

Saint John of Avila came to Granada to preach. And among his listeners one day was a man whose hunger and thirst for God had never ceased increasing from the time he had regained his weakened faith – Ciudad. So stirred was he by Master Avila’s words that he cried out like a man who had lost his reason. All through the streets he ran –tearing his clothes, crying, seemingly unable to control himself.

Was it exceptional sorrow for his sins? Or was it another manifestation of emotional disturbance? For our part, we must say it was both. He was taken to the Royal Hospital and placed with the mentally ill.

But see how wonderful are the mysterious ways of God! Here, in this sad place, the man who had lived all his life without home or family, fund in these poor ones a new family, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. He was like a man born again he would live for them!

**********

Released from the Royal Hospital, John Ciudad rented a house for the care of the poor and the sick. “More madness”, the people said. But “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom”. (1 Cor. 1:25) So, for thirteen years, until his death, he labored with all his heart for the relief of all forms of human suffering, the sick, the outcasts, the deformed and, above all, the mentally ill.

No longer was he called John Ciudad, rather John of God. Scripture says that he who has charity is of God. In one of his few letters, John of God unwittingly gives us a glimpse into his merciful heart. He writes of entering a poor home one day, and of finding the whole household sick. He says, “I saw them so poor and ill- cared for that they broke my heart”.

The vision of Jesus suffering was always before Him, suffering in His passion; suffering in His poor and afflicted members. Here was the principle of his whole spiritually. “There is no higher contemplation,” he said, “than the sacred passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ”. John of God knew. In the bitterness of his own personal sufferings, had he not been “nailed to the Cross with Christ” (Gal. 2:19)

**********

One day, it is said; as John of God was praying, Mary appeared to him, taking the crown of thorns from the Crucifix, she placed it on his head. What an ideal symbol for a man whose life was characterized by sufferings of the mind—by personality difficulties which never seemed quite able to master.

In spite of his limitations- we may almost say because of them- John of God attained an intimate and continuous union with God in Love. A union that was made complete by his precious death. Thus they found him one day, alone in his room, kneeling upright, Crucifix in hand – but his spirit had gone with God to that promised land of eternal rest.

Having recognized the great holiness of his life, and the many miracles which were a proof of it, the church canonized him a saint – Saint John of God – and officially appointed him as a representative before the throne of God for the sick and the dying. The Church asks him to continue in heaven his work of merciful love for the afflicted on earth.

And so we have a protector in heaven who understands us. One whose vigil over us will know no ending until the promise of the Spirit is fulfilled: “And God will wipe all tears from their eyes; there will be no more mourning or sadness. The world of the past has gone”. Rev. 21:4

Ø Universal Patron of the Sick and those who serve them

Ø Father of the Poor

Ø Apostle of God’s Mercy

Ø Angel of the Hospitals

Prayer

O Blessed Father John of God, full of love and compassion for the afflicted,

obtain for us the grace ever to see Jesus Himself in the person of our neighbor

that we may be found worthy to receive the eternal bliss promised

to those who serve Christ in the person of the sick, the poor and the needy.

Amen.

Apostolate- Outreach

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OUTREACH

Counseling

Sign Language

Symposia

Visitation

Vocation of Brothers

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The Enclosure

Our Vocation

We live in community

under the Rule of

Our Father Saint Augustine

and the

Statutes of

Our Father Saint John of God.

In the spirit of

Poverty, Chastity Obedience,

and Hospitality.

Main Apostolate- Hospicio San Juan de Dios

2010-03-16T01:54:00.001-07:00

* The Hospice is reserved for those patients who are unable to pay.

Patients in Bocaue and Bustos:

Male 94

Female 43

With Relatives = 67

Relatives who visited them = 23

Abandoned = 114

Schizophrenia

84

Mentally retarded

29

Bipolar

9

Epileptic

12

Depression

5

Anti-social Personality Disorder

1

Drug Induced Psychosis

14

Dementia

2

Family Integration

• Since the institution is exclusively for

long-term patients (not acute)

the residence of patients is indefinite.

• If a patient has a caring relative or friend,

then upon possible discharge

they are given to such person.

But the majority are either indigent

or of families unable to assist

after discharge.

*Often the family is not able to continue

medications, so that the patient returns to the

hospice in a disturbed condition.

• There could be about 20 discharges during

the year – but many return – as explained above.

FOLLOW-UP VISITS

- During the visits of the U.S.T. Psychiatrists,

discharged patients are brought to the Hospice

for follow-up.

Programs:

1.) Daily Hygiene

-daily shower

tooth brushing

change of clothes

shaving

2.) Exercise

-gymnastics (morning)

-sheltered garden

3.) Occupational Therapy/Socialization/Group Activities

- for those able to cooperate

4.) Assistance in house cleaning,

assistance in laundry

5.) Music therapy and T.V.

6.) Holy Mass and daily prayer

7.) Medical/Psych. Check-up

FACILITIES WITHIN HOSPICE

1. Room for Occupational Therapy/Socialization

2. T.V. room

(there is also a T.V. in the main ward for evening viewing)

3. Enclosed garden

4. Isolation room for contagious diseases –i.e. T.B..

5. Isolation room for patients with anti-social behavior

6. Dorm for the aged and weak patients

7. Dorm for the Manageable patients

8. Main ward

9. Dorm for the younger patients

10.Counseling Room

11. Medicine Station

12. Recreation Hall & Basketball court (half)

13. Office

14. Chapel

COURAGE

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SAME SEX ATTRACTION (SSA)

1. Persons with SSA are called to be chaste by the virtue of self- mastery that teaches them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendships, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually resolutely approach Christian perfection. (Item 2359)

2. Experiencing an exclusive or dominant attraction toward persons of the same sex is most often an experience that is discovered, not freely chosen. (Item 2357 to 2358)

3. While having an SSA or even bisexual orientation is not in itself morally wrong or sinful, the Church calls persons with SSA, like their single heterosexual counterparts, to be chaste.

4. “Recognize your dignity…you have been rescued.” (Item 1691)

The Society of Catholic Social Scientists

has alerted our Bishops about a trend among some ministries to Catholics with SSA that contradict authentic Catholic teaching on the SSA condition and are founded upon erroneous scientific assumptions.

The Society highlights:

1. False statements are being made about SSA being biologically determined.

2. Catholics with SSA are being told wrongly that further psycho-sexual development is never possible.

3. The term “gay” is being used wrongly to describe people with SSA who do not identify with the gay socio-political position.

4. A separate “gay spirituality” is regrettably is being encouraged, and gay ministries tell us that a person who suffers from the SSA condition has special “gay gifts” for the Church.

5. Catholics are being informed wrongly that the SSA condition is not disordered.

COURAGE is a spiritual support system that is designed to assist men and women struggling with SSA to live chaste lives through prayer, fellowship, truth and love in obedience with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Five Goals of COURAGE:

1. CHASTITY - Live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on SSA.

2. PRAYER AND DEDICATION - Dedicate one’s life to Christ through prayer and service to others, spiritual reading, prayer, meditation, individual spiritual direction, frequent attendance at Mass, and the frequent reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.

3. FELLOWSHIP – Foster a spirit of fellowship in which all may share thoughts and experiences, and so ensure that no one will have to face the problems of SSA alone.

4. SUPPORT – Be mindful of the truth that chaste friendships are not only possible but also necessary in a chaste Christian Life and in doing so provide encouragement to one another in forming and sustaining them.

5. GOOD EXAMPLE – Live lives that may serve as good examples to others.

MINISTRIES WITHIN COURAGE:

EnCourage is a ministry within Courage dedicated to the spiritual needs of parents, siblings, children, spouses and other relatives and friends of persons who have SSA. Standing by the true teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, EnCourage members support one another and their loved ones through discussion, prayer and fellowship.

Priests WITH COURAGE is a network of priests committed to ministering to persons struggling with SSA, with the love of Christ and the full teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the area of chastity.

CONTACT INFO:

Website: www.couragerc.net

Blogspot: http://courageph.blogspot.com

Email Address: courageph@gmail.com

Contact Number: (0917) 8427434, (0928) 5066974

Contact Person: Rollie delos Reyes II

Nihil Obstst:

Rev. Fr. David J. Clay, MSSC

Asst. Exec. Secretary, ECFL

Imprimatur:

+ Paciano B. Aniceto, D.D.

Chairman, ECFL

Brothers of Mercy of St. John of God

July – Month of the Precious Blood

July 2011

Misericordia page 1

Misericordia page 2

Happy 80th Birthday

Notice to the public

Feast of Our Lady of Humility

21th Anniversary

Newsletter December 2009

September 26, 2009 -After the flood

The whole ground floor of the Priory-Hospice was flooded.- patients, Brothers,workers and neighbors were crowded together on the second floor. Beside the material damage to the buildings, all our official documents and many of our books were destroyed. What supply of rice we had was also destroyed.

But more serious than this was the sickness and death among the patients due to post flood infection. It will take a long time to repair the Hospice. In spite of all this, things are running smoothly here again.

November 14-16, 2009 Catholic Deaf Care

I (Br. Terence) andBr. Bernard attended the 20th Catholic Congress for the Deaf held at PacoCatholic School, Paco, Manila.

National Episcopal Commission Congress on HealthCare

Holy Communion

Holy Mass

The Companion of Jesus

The Gesuati

St. Augustine

St. John of Avila

St. Raphael Archangel

St. John Grande

St. Rita of Cascia

The Mystery of the Blood of Christ

St. Francis of Paola

The Unusual Story of St. John of God

Apostolate- Outreach

Vocation of Brothers

Main Apostolate- Hospicio San Juan de Dios

COURAGE

Schizophrenia	84
Mentally retarded	29
Bipolar	9
Epileptic	12
Depression	5
Anti-social Personality Disorder	1
Drug Induced Psychosis	14
Dementia	2