Friday 22 November 2013

St Leonard of Port Maurice

St Leonard of Port Maurice - image Wikipdia
St Leonard of Port Maurice on the Little Number of Those Who are saved

St Leonard was a Franciscan Friar, d.1751. One of his most powerful sermons was on the little number of those who are saved. It is not for anyone to judge the state of a person’s soul, but just to try and follow Jesus and His Church. It is out of charity that we include the following quote sent in by one of our supporters. Anyone who sits down in front of Coronation Street or East Enders or any other TV programme that depicts sin in a positive way should consider the below:

            ‘He represented the ugliness of the sin of impurity so forcefully that a woman fell dead of sorrow in front of everyone. Then, coming back to life, she said, "When I was presented before the Tribunal of God, sixty thousand people arrived at the same time from all parts of the world; out of that number, three were saved by going to Purgatory, and all the rest were damned."’
           
It very important to pray for the leaders and opinion formers both in politics and in the media; for if they are giving examples of lifestyles that are contrary to the Gospel they are in grave trouble. This is none more so than in their example to children, for Jesus said “But whosoever shall cause one of these little ones which believe on me to stumble, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:6.

But what is considered family viewing today? Here is a cutting from the MailOnline

X Factor up to its old tricks as Gaga strips: Raunchy pre-watershed performance attracts 100 complaints MailOnline 29/10/2013

The X Factor is embroiled in yet another sleaze row after a raunchy performance by Lady Gaga prompted hundreds of complaints. The controversial singer stripped to her underwear and danced provocatively across the stage in a pre-watershed results programme watched by nearly a million children on Sunday night.

This is just one of the reasons why we ask all our Prayer Crusaders to adopt a celebrity and pray for them. We pray for their well-being and their success but most of all we pray for their conversion, true conversion to God’s one and only true Church: that they accept all her teachings and disciplines in all their wonderful glory.  Click on this link Adopt a Celebrity

3 comments:

  1. Alarming indeed, as is the vision of hell experienced by the child seers of Fatima.

    The revelations made to St. Faustina during the 1930s potentially offer great consolation to anyone fearing that their sins may put them beyond redemption. The Church (through Blessed John Paul II) has recognised these revelations and established an annual Feast of Divine Mercy on the Sunday following Easter. St. Faustina heard Jesus say to her: "If a soul is sincere and repentant and goes to Confession and Communion on my Feast of Mercy, he or she will be forgiven all past sins and will not suffer any punishment for those sins in the next life".
    Another quotation, referring to the "Three o'clock prayer" (the moment of Jesus's death): "immerse yourself completely in My Mercy... for at that moment mercy was opened wide for every soul."

    Every soul - not just a little number - but complete repentance and trust in Jesus's mercy is essential, and many may find this difficult while many more may not even be aware of it.

    Member under the patronage of St. Teresa of Avila

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  2. Please be careful in relaying this story of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, which may be apocryphal (look up other blog versions, the story differs). Our Lord's Divine Mercy through St. Faustina, Padre Pio's comment to biographer John Mccaffrey that he believed few went to hell as God would give them the opportunity to see the effect of their sin and repent, and others such Maria Simma of Austria (google her) who was blessed to received visitations from the Pour Souls....all point to God's mercy, not the salvation of 3 out of 60,000 souls. And mathematically, how would that be possible? A decent percentage would have been those dying under the age of reason.

    Hell is real we know from Scripture, and we all must continue to pray for as many conversions as possible in this sad world and offer up our daily sacrifices. But, let's not publish stories that would lead people to despair and to say, "only 3? then I don't stand a chance".

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    Replies
    1. Thank your for that it certainly made me feel better. There is always a concern when posting such things that we are being judgemental – judge not least you be judged. I try very hard to be chartable and then I start to think about the real nature of charity.
      There are many views on salvation I know someone who believes that simply being baptised is enough and that all who have received this Grace at baptism will ultimately be saved they can’t help but do otherwise. But is that being presumptuous? Even if it’s something we all hope for – for everyone.
      Perhaps to strike a balance we should have a look at what Jesus himself says regarding salvation. In Luke 13:23-24 and 28, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able ... There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”
      Happily for us Jesus is still working to help us and here are a few helps we have besides the Divine Mercy which the Prayer Crusader – St Teresa of Avila reminded us of another one of our supports emailed me a list, here are some from it:
      • The Sacred Heart and first nine Friday devotions – St. Margaret Mary
      • The Holy Face
      • The Precious Blood
      • The wound on His Shoulder – St. Bernard
      • The Holy Wounds
      • First Five Saturdays – Immaculate Heart Devotion
      • The Rosary
      • Meditating on The Bible
      • The Holy Rosary
      • The Brown Scapular
      • Prayers for the Holy Souls
      • Intersession of the Saints

      I do also think we should be very careful do to follow false prophets they are many who purport to be seers and many believe they are being given private revelations. Which are soon shared with the world we should be very careful here too. At CUT and our prayer wing The Crusade of Prayer we simply follow the teachings of the Church this should be enough for any Catholic to discern that much of the modern media is evil.

      But we should always pray for those in the media for these are the formers of Knowledge, Values and Beliefs today.

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