Picture of Jesus

I came across this picture and story last week and just had to share it. In short, the picture was taken by a Sister that had just completed a three-day retreat for living in the Divine Will of God. She was taking photos inside a church after a mass. This smiling man showed up in the photos when they were developed. I found the story and photo on The Beautiful Gate blog. (Since the link to that particular page doesn't seem to work, I'm getting a 404 error message, I am quoting the direct text of a portion of the page that has the history of the picture on it. She retains her copyright. The links that are in the text have been disabled as they are broken ones. If you are interested in reading more about Luisa you can visit the website for her beatification at: http://luisapiccarreta.co/.

"Luisa Piccaretta  was a Catholic mystic and you can read more about the Cause of the Beatification of Luisa Piccarretta at http://www.padrebucci.com/id4.html, along with other information about Luisa, including her connection with St. Padre Pio (no, I can't remove the Padre part...lol). Thanks to my friend, who painstakingly translated much of Luisa's writing, I have had the opportunity to read quite a bit about "The Little Daughter of the Divine Will". 

The picture was taken during a retreat on living in the Divine Will. Here is the story behind the photo:

At the end of three days of talks about the Divine Will, given by Fr. Gustavo (who has a number of her original writings) in Leon Guananjuato, Mexico, in closing, he celebrated the Holy Mass on May 25th, 1998 to thank the Divine Volition. After Holy Communion, the new children of the Divine Will pronounced their solemn consecration (their promise to live in the Divine Will of God).

One of the sisters was taking photographs. When she received her developed photographs she discovered what you now see, sharp and clear, without any touch up, of the photograph of Jesus, which shows Him with a beautiful smile. 

"I am the Divine Teacher, the Teacher of the Divine Will, and the souls who live in my Volition are my SMILE." (A locution received by the person who took the photo.)

If you carefully observe the region of Jesus' chest, you will see the silhouette of Fr. Gustavo, dressed with the priestly vestments when celebrating the Holy Mass, when he was raising his arms in the moment of the elevation of the Most Holy Sacrament at the Consecration.

                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My friend also left me another "explanation" of this picture - "this is from Vol 12, Jan 7, 1921"

“My beloved daughter, after the great sorrow which creatures are giving Me in these sad times, to the extent of making Me cry – and because this is the crying of  God, it resounds in Heaven and on earth - a smile will take over, which will fill Heaven and earth with gladness. This smile will arise on my lips when I see the first fruits - the children of my Will - living not in the human sphere, but in the divine sphere."

Having had my own experiences I am thrilled to share this beautiful photo with you. More important is the message that he gave to the Sister, It is so important to live daily in the Divine Will.

Amen to that Prince of Peace! 

Have a peaceful day everyone.

Mare

Divine Office and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Whew, I have been busy lately. I am trying to squeeze in pleasurable things like reading Anna Karenina, which will be an accomplishment in and of itself when I do finish it. On the Kindle it is almost 14,000 pages. At the moment I am 23% done and we are just scratching the surface of each of the stories, but I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Products have been selling every day on ebay. Personally I am not a big fan of ebay, but it is one way to reach new clients and let them see just how beautiful some of our items are. Not all of them are on the website, but most are. The majority of the prices are the same on both.

At the moment we do have a special ONLY for those that purchase through ebay on our hematite wrap bracelets. There are 8 of them on there that can be purchased for just $5.00 plus shipping. That is approximately another 30% off our already low prices on this product. The ones on the website are not on sale. It is a special  price just for the ebayers. We also have some cross pendant necklaces, rosary necklaces, and a 7" guardian angel lithograph that are not available on the website. So get your tookis over to our ebay site at  http://www.ebay.com/usr/gloryglorygifts.

I have begun reading the Divine Office each day and it is absolutely beautiful and inspirational. You DO NOT have to be Catholic to read it. It is filled with songs, psalms and Gospel readings and takes about 20-25 minutes to read. It is well worth it though. I found a site that posts the daily Divine Office prayers so if you want to start it yourself the link is: http://divineoffice.org/. It has morning, daily, evening and night time prayers as well. Save it on your bookmarks and be inspired every day.

I have also started the Divine Mercy Novena, which began on Good Friday and continues through Divine Mercy Sunday, which is the first Sunday after Easter (this coming Sunday). Check your church events and see if your parish is hosting a day of reflection and immerse yourself in Jesus' Divine Mercy. Those that attend the readings, venerate His image, say the chaplet, receive Communion and attend Confession are forgiven of ALL of their sins, those they remember and those they do not. It is a beautiful day.

Again, you DO NOT have to be Catholic to immerse yourself in His Divine Mercy. The Chaplet can be said daily, at 3:00 P.M. or at any time of the day. If you are unable to say it at 3, a simple, "Jesus, I trust in You," can be said and the Chaplet at another time of the day. I am including the Chaplet here for your convenience. It is said on a standard, 5-decade rosary, but I do it on a one decade (that is getting a bit worn out from overuse).

Immerse yourself in His love and forgiveness. I highly recommend both the Divine Office and the Chaplet to ALL Christians. After all, we are ALL brothers and sisters in Christ and God hears ALL prayers.

Peace!
Mare

His Divine Love

Lord, your rays of divine mercy engulf my soul
I feel your forgiveness and unconditional love
with each pulse of my heart
Lord, if I could, I would wash your feet with my tears
Let them fall as softly as a morning mist on a meadow
tho they be oceans of tears of regret
for not always living my life in your light
Oh Lord, that I could wipe the sweat from your brow
anoint your wounds with a soothing salve
and loosen myself from this world
that I may glorify you and give you thanks and praise
as I should
each and every moment
Without the temptations of this world
how focused and insular my prayers and thoughts would be
Make me worthy, Lord, to be with you for all eternity
I am your humble servant who longs to see your face

For this I pray

Amen

An original painting by Ron Gatto, Artist, of New York (used with his permission)

I just never know how Our Lord and Savior is going to inspire me. Jesus, I DO Trust in you. This poem was written while in the Holy Child Adoration Chapel today. Copyrighted 2014, it is an original work by Marianne E. Hare.

May He fill you with peace and love today. God bless.

Mare

3 Days of Darkness

Another day, another strange dream. I dreamed that I was sleeping in a house that my Mom was at and when I woke up every single clock in the house read 3:67, even mine which is a battery-operated one. Every single clock was actually blinking 3:67. Then I looked outside and even though it was August there was snow on the ground. I mentioned to my Mom how odd it was that the clocks all showed a time that was not possible and she replied that she was shocked and awed by the sudden change in temperature. It was 90 degrees yesterday and today there is snow on the ground in August and it had been a bitter night.

Of course, now I am sitting at the computer so I googled Bible verses of 3:67. Only one came up on my computer - Daniel - so I am going to grab my Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible and see what it says. Daniel reads:

Cold and chill, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

Huh, okay. So much for anything prophetic, so instead I just had Tom play the numbers for the evening. Hey! You never know and as they say you have to be in it to win it. This is definitely a first for me; I am not a gambling woman at all; not when it comes to money and certainly not when it comes to my soul.

I am still reading The Mystical City of God, but something came to my attention recently that I had never heard of before in this detail and frankly it freaked me out a bit. Quite a number of mystics of the church have spoken of the 3 days of darkness. Even St. Padre Pio, more recently, mentioned it in his writings. According to the mystics the entire world will be shrouded in an absolute darkness. The only thing that will light the way is candles made of pure wax that have been blessed by a Priest. These candles will only light for those that are true followers of Christ and once lit the candles will not extinguish until the 3rd day has passed and the earth has been cleansed of all evil. Not only will there be complete and utter darkness, there will be earthquakes and flooding and Hell will be emptied of all its inhabitants who will be taking the souls outside and those that look out of their windows back to Hell with them. It is further suggested of the mystics that the only way to protect yourself is to cover all windows, do not go outside, sprinkle holy water in front of every door and window and around your house and light the blessed candles. Anything on which the candles are sitting will not be affected by the quaking. During the 3 days you are urged to say the rosary, kneel or prostrate yourself on the floor and give constant glory to God. (Of course they also mention to have enough food and water for yourselves and your animals during the days.) You can also read the Bible and other readings or prayers of the day or writings of the saints. The good news is that there will be a sign that comes before the 3 days of darkness, which will be seen all over the world. This sign will be one that makes you feel your sins magnified and is one that will (hopefully) make you repent.  The bad news is that if men do not repent during those 40 days then the 3 days will come upon the entire world on the most bitter of all nights.

It is no wonder that I am dreaming of snow in August and bitter cold nights. I even searched to see if I had beeswax candles in the house, which I do thanks to a trip to Williamsburg my parents took in the 70s. Now I just have to have them blessed. It never hurts to be prepared especially since it IS mentioned in the Book of Revelation, just not in the same detail that I have read on various sites. Since I have not read any other books by the mystics I think I will just continue to put my faith squarely in my Lord and Savior who says that we know not the time nor the hour. We all know just how informative and dis-informative the internet can be (did I just make up a new word?). Aside from that Oliver Platt lived with my Mom in the dream and came into the house shaking the snow from his jacket and stomping his feet. Since I do not know the man personally I will attribute his foray into my head by The Big C commercial that I saw yesterday.

Whatever is in store for any of us is already in Gods hands, so live your life the way that he would want you to. If something stumps you just ask yourself what would Jesus do? I do not think he would run to the local deli to play the numbers but wow that be grand if we actually won!  I will keep you posted on our luck (or lack of it). In the meantime, look into the 3 days of darkness yourself and if you can

have a peaceful and pleasant week!

Mare

Update! We did not win the pick 3 for the day, Alas. Back to work.