Announcement: Partners in Holiness is Now an Audiobook!



I'm pleased to announce that Partners in Holiness: Guardian Angels in the Lives of the Saints is now available as an audiobook. Featuring the inimitable vocal talent of June Entwisle, these timeless tales of angels and saints are sure to delight fans of all ages. 

Get you copy now at Audible, Amazon, or iTunes. 

Padre Pio: Go to St. Michael!


   

St. Michael is always ready to defend us against evil. The demons of hell are no match for the great Archangel whose Hebrew name translates to the rhetorical question, “Who is like God?” St. Padre Pio, whose own devotion to the holy angels is legendary, knew this better than anyone.

One day after Padre Pio finished hearing confessions at the church in San Giovanni Rotondo, a distressed mother brought her daughter before him and begged for his help. The mother believed her daughter was possessed by a demon, and given the girl’s frantic thrashings and unearthly shrieks, it appeared to be the case. Several large men had to hold the girl back as she howled pitifully in front of the saintly priest.

“Stop! Enough!” commanded Padre Pio, at which point the girl collapsed on the floor and lay still as if sleeping. Padre Pio then instructed the men, one of whom was a doctor, to bring the little girl to St. Michael at the shrine of Monte Sant'Angelo, about nine miles away.

The shrine is housed inside a large cave, which had once been the site of a pagan temple in pre-Christian times. It is believed that St. Michael himself made four visible visits to the site beginning in the year 490. On the third visit, Saint Michael appeared to the local bishop and stated that he consecrated the shrine himself, since his request years earlier had not been granted. The site, declared Michael, would henceforth be a place where prayers would be answered.


The group accompanying the afflicted girl were desperately hoping their prayers would be heard. Having arrived at the shrine, the girl woke up and began thrashing and howling once again. With a mighty effort, the adults holding on to her brought her close enough where a monk was able to touch her hand to the altar. Immediately the girl dropped to the ground.

A few minutes later the girl woke up and asked her mother, “Could you buy me an ice cream?” With relief and joy, the group returned to San Giovanni Rotondo to thank Padre Pio for his wise instruction to go to the altar of St. Michael. In the blunt manner for which he was famous, Padre Pio drew the mother aside and cautioned her: “Say to your husband not to curse anymore, or else the demon will return.”

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Demons are difficult to get rid of, sort of like lice and cockroaches. But they can never harm us if we live by virtue and make frequent use of the sacraments.


Plus, we have this guy on our side:



O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day. Amen

Be Happy - Choose Joy




With the news channels reporting non-stop tragedies, scandals, and woes of one type or another, it’s easy to allow ourselves to become disgruntled and despondent. But we have to fight against that urge. Not only is it a form of spiritual suicide to wallow in such feelings, but it is exactly what our enemy wants.

Catholic blogger and author Michael H. Brown posted this message recently on his website Spirit Daily. It bears repeating:

For Satan is a supreme liar, and will whisper into your ears discouragement, disparagement, false notion, umbrage, anger, false memory, exaggeration. He can also make you hear something other than what a person is saying. 
As far as anxiety, that’s a form of fear. The devil makes you dread for the future, for your job, for your health, and for your family; and especially he wants you to fear him. He wants you afraid because his minions are parasites; they use fear to energize and materialize their disembodied existence; they revel in and feed off anxiety, anger, and fear.

This doesn't mean we have to go around with smiles pasted on our faces at all times. I know this would be hard for me, given my personality.

But we can at least be mindful that choosing gloom and doom isn’t what God wants for us. We have a choice. We can choose to walk out from under the black cloud and into His light. We can choose to be what we are called to be: joyful children of God.