Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

Padre Pio was born in Campania, Italy in 1887 and died in 1968.  He is credited with a good may miracles including the stigmata, bi-location, levitation and healing the sick.  And most of all he is my favourite Saint.

A Prayer by Padre Pio

O Lord, we ask for a boundless confidence and trust in Your divine mercy, and the courage to accept the crosses and sufferings which bring immense goodness to our souls and that to Your Church.  help us to love You with a pure and contrite heart, and to humble ourselves beneath Your cross, as we climb the mountain of holiness, carrying our cross that leads to heavenly glory.  may we receive You with great faith and love in Holy Communion, and allow You to act in us as Your desire for Your greater glory.  O Jesus, most adorable heart and eternal fountain of Divine Love, may our prayer find favor before the Divine Majesty of Your heavenly Father.  Amen.

"Pray, pray to the Lord with me, because the whole world needs prayer.  And every day, when your heart especially feels the loneliness of life, pray.  Pray to the Lord, because even God needs our prayer."

 "Joy, with peace, is the sister of charity.  Serve the Lord with laughter." - Padre Pio

Tribute to Mother Teresa 1910 - 1997

Let us forget what happen around us, I want us to be showered with inspiration of:

Mother Teresa

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, born in Yugoslavia on August 27, 1910. She attended a Roman Catholic elementary school when she decided that her vocation would be to help the poor. At 18 she joined Irish nuns, after training in Dublin for a few months, she went to India and in 1928 she took her initial vows as a nun.

From 1929 - 1948, she became a teacher at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta. In 1946, she got permission from her superiors to leave the school and help the poor in Calcutta. She started an open air school for homeless children without any funds but voluntary helpers soon joined her and she received financial support. October 7, 1950 she received permission to start her own "Missionaries of Charity" which cared and loved the people who nobody else cared for.

For all the work that Mother Teresa has done, she received the following awards: In 1971, Pope John XXIII, 1972 The Nehur Prize for International Peace and Understanding, 1979 The Balzan Prize for Promotion of Peace and Brotherhood in Nations.

In her own words

"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."

Mother Teresa taught us by her sample what it really means to 'live' the Gospel.

"I think today the world is upside down, and is suffering so much because there is so very little love in the home, and in family life. We have no time for our children, we have no time for each other, there is no time to enjoy each other."

"Love begins at home; love lives in homes, and that is why there is so much suffering and so much unhappiness in the world today ... Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world."

On Serving God

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

"Each 0ne of them is Jesus in disguise."

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

"I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness."

'I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."

"Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus."

"Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience."

"There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough."

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

On Her Life's Work

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

"The other day I dreamed that I was at the gates of heaven. And St. Peter said, 'Go back to Earth. There are no slums up here."

- Quoted as telling Prince Michael of Greece in 1996.

"The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it."

On War

"I have never been in a war before, but I have seen famine and death. I was asking (myself), 'What do they feel when they do this?' I don't understand it. They are all children of God. Why do they do it? I don't understand."

- Beirut 1982, during fighting between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas.

"Please choose the way of peace ... In the short term there may be winners and losers in this war that we all dread. But that never can, nor never will justify the suffering, pain and loss of life your weapons will cause."

- Letter to U.S. President George Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, January 1991.

On Love

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

"I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn't tough a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God."

"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."

"I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do know that when we die and it comes time for god to judge us, he will NOT ask, How many good things have you done in your life?, rather he will ask, How much LOVE did you put into what you did?'

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."

"Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired."

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

Good works are links that form a chain of love.

On Abortion

Abortion "is murder in the womb ... A child is a gift of God. If you do not want him, give him to me."

"The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

On Poverty

"I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. It is not a beautiful experience?"

- 1974 interview.

"When I see waste here, I feel angry on the inside. I don't approve of myself getting angry. But it's something you can't help after seeing Ethiopia."

- Washington 1984

"The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved."

"The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather feeling of being unwanted."

"There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation than for bread."

"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty."

"Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness."

"Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go."

"We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass grows in silence, see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence ... We need silence to be able to touch souls."

"At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in."

10 of The World's Most Unique Churches

1. Harajuku: Japanese Futuristic Church

This futuristic non Catholic church is located in Tokyo and it was first unveiled by the design firm of Ciel Rouge Creation in 2005. The ceiling is specially made to reverberate natural sound for 2 seconds to provide a unique listening experience for worshipers and tourists.

2. Saint Basil's Cathedral: The Red Square's Colorful Church

The St. Basil's Cathedral is located on the Red Square in Moscow, Russia. A Russian Orthodox church, the Cathedral sports a series of colorful bulbous domes that taper to a point, apparently named onion domes, that are part of Moscow's Kremlin skyline. The cathedral was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of the Khanate of Kazan. In 1588 Tsar Fedor Ivanovich had a chapel added on the eastern side above the grave of Basil Fool for Christ, a Russian Orthodox saint after whom the cathedral was popularly named.

3. Hallgr mskirkja: Iceland's Most Amazing Church

The Hallgrmskirkja (literally, the church of Hallgrmur) is a Lutheran parish church located in Reykjavk, Iceland. At 74.5 metres (244 ft), it is the fourth tallest architectural structure in Iceland. The church is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrmur Ptursson (1614 to 1674), author of the Passion Hymns.State Architect Gujn Samelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937; it took 38 years to build it.

4. Temppeliaukio Kirkko: The Rock Church

The Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church) is a thrilling work of modern architecture in Helsinki. Completed in 1952, it is built entirely underground and has a ceiling made of copper wire. It was designed by architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and completed in 1969. They chose a rocky outcrop rising about 40 feet above street level, and blasted out the walls from the inside.It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Helsinki and frequently full of visitors.

5. Cathedral of Braslia: The Modern Church of architect Oscar Niemeyer

The Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida in the capital of Brazil is an expression of the architect Oscar Niemeyer. This concrete-framed hyperboloid structure, seems with its glass roof to be reaching up, open, to heaven. On 31 May 1970, the Cathedral's structure was finished, and only the 70 m diameter of the circular area were visible. Niemeyer's project of Cathedral of Braslia is based in the hyperboloid of revolution which sections are asymmetric. The hyperboloid structure itself is a result of 16 identical assembled concrete columns. These columns, having hyperbolic section and weighing 90 t, represent two hands moving upwards to heaven.The Cathedral was dedicated on 31 May 1970.

6. Borgund Church: Best Preserved Stave Church

The Borgund Stave Church in Lrdal is the best preserved of Norway's 28 extant stave churches. This wooden church, probably built in the end of the 12th century, has not changed structure or had a major reconstruction since the date it was built. The church is also featured as a Wonder for the Viking civilization in the video game Age of Empires II:The Age of Kings.

7. Las Lajas Cathedral: A Gothic Church Worthy of a Fairy Tale

The Las Lajas Cathedral is located in southern Colombia and built in 1916 inside the canyon of the Guaitara River. According to the legend, this was the place where an indian woman named Mara Mueses de Quiones was carrying her deaf-mute daughter Rosa on her back near Las Lajas ("The Rocks"). Weary of the climb, the Mara sat down on a rock when Rosa spoke (for the first time) about an apparition in a cave.Later on, a mysterious painting of the Virgin Mary carrying a baby was discovered on the wall of the cave. Supposedly, studies of the painting showed no proof of paint or pigments on the rock - instead, when a core sample was taken, it was found that the colors were impregnated in the rock itself to a depth of several feet.Whether true or not, the legend spurred the building of this amazing church.

8. St. Joseph Church: Known for its Thirteen Gold Domed Roof

The St. Joseph The Betrothed is an Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Chicago. Built in 1956, it is most known for its ultra-modern thirteen gold domed roof symbolizing the twelve apostles and Jesus Christ as the largest center dome. The interior of the church is completely adorned with byzantine style icons (frescoes). Unfortunately the iconographer was deported back to his homeland before he was able towrite the names of all the saints as prescribed by iconographic traditions.

9. Ruica Church: Where Chandeliers are made of Bullet Shells

Located over the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, Serbia, the Ruica Church is a small chapel decorated with trench art!Its chandeliers are entirely made of spent bullet casing, swords, and cannon parts.The space the church now occupies was used by the Turks as gunpowder storage for over 100 years and it had to be largely rebuilt in 1920 after WWI. Though damaged by bombings there was an upshot to the terrible carnage of The Great War. While fighting alongside England and the US, Serbian soldiers on the Thessaloniki front took the time to put together these amazing chandeliers. It is one of the world's finest examples of trench art.

10. Chapel of St-Gildas: Built into the base of a bare rocky cliff

The Chapel of St-Gildas sits upon the bank of the Canal du Blavet in Brittany, France. Built like a stone barn into the base of a bare rocky cliff, this was once a holy place of the Druids. Gildas appears to have travelled widely throughout the Celtic world of Corwall, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. He arrived in Brittany in about AD 540 and is said to have preached Christianity to the people from a rough pulpit, now contained within the chapel.

Where's The Respect?

An Islamic magazine in, Al-Islam has published a story written by their Malay Muslim journalist who went into two Catholic churches in Kuala Lumpur. They wanted to investigate a claim that the Catholic church is converting Muslim youths. They didn't find any conversion taking place. However, they partook the Body of Christ, considered holy and blessed and intended only for Catholics. Two Catholics from Penang have made a police report against the magazine.

Al-Islam

As a Christian, we’ve called to high standard of humanity, love and forgiveness. But when our Church being abuse by some what so call Islam ‘journalist’, receiving ‘Holy Communion’ and 'spit' it, then took picture on it, is that the right way to show respect? What's wrong with these people?? Goshhh! do they know what is respect??? Yes, anyone can enter the Church, sit or even sleep inside and nobody will 'interupt' but PLEASEEE Do Not receive HOLY COMMUNION, even me (coz i've not having my confession yet!!!) not even dare to receive it! How can you want other to respect you, if you, yourself don't even want to respect others?? And for those who are not even understand what's Holy Communian for us as a Christian, I've gathered some info bout it and please do archive it in your EMPTY mind.

~ Eucharist or Holy Communion ~

The Last Supper as represented by Leonardo da Vinci

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Eucharist

The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or The Lord's Supper, is a Christian sacrament, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest and eventual crucifixion. The consecration of bread and a cup within the rite recalls the moment at the Last Supper when Jesus gave his disciples bread, saying, "This is my body", and wine, saying, "This is my blood".

There are different interpretations of the significance of the Eucharist, but "there is more of a consensus among Christians about the meaning of the Eucharist than would appear from the confessional debates over the sacramental presence, the effects of the Eucharist, and the proper auspices under which it may be celebrated."

The phrase "the Eucharist" may refer not only to the rite but also to the bread and wine (or, in some Prostestant denominations morally opposed to the consumption of alcohol, unfermented grape juice) used in the rite, and, in this sense, communicants may speak of "receiving the Eucharist", as well as "celebrating the Eucharist". And for:

Roman Catholic (RC)

Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church refers to both the celebration of the Mass, that is the Eucharistic Liturgy, and the consecrated bread and wine which according to the faith become the body and blood of Christ. Blessed Sacrament is a devotional term used in the Roman Catholic Church to refer to the Eucharistic species (the Body and Blood of Christ).

Anglican

In most of the national or regional churches of the Anglican Communion, the Eucharist is celebrated as the principal service. The rites for the Eucharist are found in the various prayer books of Anglican churches. Wine along with wafers or bread are used. Daily celebrations are now the case in most cathedrals and many parish churches. There are now only a small minority of parishes with a priest where the Eucharist is not celebrated at least once each Sunday. The nature of the ceremony with which it is celebrated, however, varies according to the orientation of the individual priest, parish, diocese or regional church.

Methodist

Methodists are encouraged to celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday, though monthly celebration on the first Sunday of each month is the actual norm. In the United Methodist church grape juice is often used instead of wine. The current Book of Worship of the United Methodist church says that "the pure unfermented juice of the grape, or an equivalent, shall be used during the service of Holy Communion.

Seventh-day Adventists (SDA)

The Seventh-day Adventist Church observes Holy Communion four times each year. The Lord's Supper is preceded by the ordinance of footwashing. Unleavened bread and unfermented (non-alcoholic) grape juice is used. Open communion is practised. The communion service must be conducted by an ordained minister or church elder.

Baptist

The bread and "fruit of the vine" indicated in Matthew, Mark and Luke as the elements of the Lord's Supper are interpreted by Baptists as unleavened bread (although leavened bread is often used) and, in line with their historical stance (since the mid-19th century) against partaking of alcoholic beverages, grape juice, which they commonly refer to simply as "the Cup".

Jenovah's Witnesses

Jenovah's Witnesses commemorate Christ's death as a ransom or propitiatory sacrifice by observing The Lord's Evening Meal, or Memorial, each year on the evening that corresponds to the Passover, Nisan 14, according to the ancient Jewish calendar. They believe that this is the only annual religious observance commanded for Christians in the Bible. Of those who attend the Memorial a small minority worldwide will partake of the eating of the unleavened bread and the drinking of the wine.

St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier

(1506 - 1552)

Known as 'Apostel of the Far East', Francis Xavier was born in the family castle of Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre on 7 April 1506. Born to an aristoctratic family of Navarre, the youngest son of Juan de Jasso, privy counselor to King John III of Navarre and Maria de Azpilicueta y Xavier, sole heiress of two noble navarrese families. His father died when he was only 9 in 1515. Later, he went to Venice, Italy and there he was ordained to the priesthood on 24 June 1537.

The vision of St. Francis Xavier by Giovanni Battista Gaulli

Statue of St. Francis Xavier in Basilica of Bom Jesus, Goa, India

Altar with the still fairly well incorrupt body of St. Francis Xavier, Basilica of Bom Jesus, Goa, India

The head of St Francis Xavier

Left hand of the saint. With his 2 hands, where he was baptised about 1 million souls in his 11 years of apostolic work in Asia

Walking the burning sands of South India or the freezing snow of Japan. Almost always barefeet. Watering these lands with the blood of his feet

After read some of the information on the net, I was so surprise that he has been to Malacca in October, 1545. He waiting for 3 months in vain for a ship to Macassar and he gave up the goal of his voyage and left Malacca on January 1, 1546.

He was beautified by Paul V on October 25, 1619 and was canonized by Gregory XV on March 12, 1622. He is a Catholic saint and as well as the patron saint of missionaries. His feast day is December 3.

Foot Binding Chinese Tradition

The ancient Chinese custom of foot binding has caused severe life-long disability for many millions of elderly women, even in today’s China.

The practice of foot binding began in the Sung dynasty (960-976 BC), reportedly to imitate an imperial concubine who was required to dance with her feet bound. By the 12th century, the practice was widespread and more severe — girls’ feet were bound so tightly and early in life that they were unable to dance and had difficulty walking. By the time a girl turned three years old, all her toes but the first were broken, and her feet were bound tightly with cloth strips to keep her feet from growing larger than 10 cm, about 3.9 inches. The practice would cause the soles of feet to bend in extreme concavity.

This cruel practice lasted from the tenth century to 1911, when it was banned by the new Chinese republic.

UCSF researchers examined a randomly selected sample of 193 women in Beijing (93 at 80 years or older and 100 between 70 and 79 years). They found 38 percent of women in the 80s age group and 18 percent of those in the 70s age group had bound foot deformities. The study shows that women in the 80 years or older group with bound feet were more likely to have fallen during the previous year than women with normal feet (38 percent vs. 19 percent) and were less able to rise from a chair without assistance (43 percent vs. 26 percent).

Saint Michael the Archangel

War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness

Roman Catholics refer to him as "Saint Michael the Archangel" and also simply as "Saint Michael".

The Roman Catholic Church honors Saint Michael with four main titles. He is the Christian angel of death, carrying the souls of all the deceased to heaven, where they are weighed in his perfectly balanced scales (hence Michael is often depicted holding scales). At the hour of death, Michael descends and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing, thus consternating the devil and his minions. St Michael is the special patron of the Chosen People in the Old Testament and is guardian of the Church; it was thus not unusual for the angel to be revered by the military orders of knights during the Middle Ages. Last, he is the supreme enemy of Satan and the fallen angels. In the War of the Sons of Light Againts the Sons of Darkness, Michael is described as the prince of light, leading forces of God against the darkness of evil, who is led by Belial. He is described as the "viceroy of heaven", a title that is said to have formerly belonged to The Morning Star.

The Saint

Meaning of Saints in Latin word is Sanctus. They are a human being just like us, who has been called to holiness. In Roman Catholic, a Saint is generally one to whom has been attributed a high level of holiness and sanctity. Therefore, a saints is not simply a believer, but they are one of whom has been unusually transformed. There are about 10,000 Roman Catholic saints. Formally and the older term for saints is martyr, meaning someone who would rather die than give up their faith, or more specifically witness for God. Saints are described the whole of Christian witnesses, both martyrs and confessors.

In Catholic theology, since God is the God of the Living, then it follows that the saints are alive in Heaven. As "special friends of God" they can be asked to intercede or pray for those still on earth. A saint may be designated as a patron saint of particular causes or professions, or invoked against specific illnesses or disasters, but this is only in popular thought, and is not official Church doctrine. They are not thought to have power of their own, but only that granted by God. Relics of saints are respected in a similar manner to holy images and icons. The practices of past centuries in venerating relics of saints for healing is taken from the early Church. The veneration of saints is sometimes misunderstood to be worship, in which case it is derisively termed "hagiolatry". The God be the glory, Great things He has done.

Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

Prayer for the Intercession of St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Dear God, You generously blessed Your servant, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, with the gifts of the Spirit. You marked his body with the five wounds of Christ Crucified, as a powerful witness to the saving Passion and Death of Your Son. Endowed with the gift of discernment, St. Pio labored endlessly in the confessional for the salvation of souls. With reverence and intense devotion in the celebration of Mass, he invited countless men and women to a greater union with Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Through the intercession of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, I confidently beseech You to grant me the grace of (here state your petition). Amen.

Glory be to the Father... (three times).

To see him resting so peacefully it's hard to believe that he died 40 years ago

St. Bernadette

Her body was buried, only discovered 30 years ago. After church officials decided to examine it, they discovered her body is still fresh until today and if you go to Lourdes, France, you can see her body in the church in Lourdes. Her body isn’t decomposing because during her lifetime, the Mother of Jesus would always appear to her and give messages and advice to all mankind on the right way to live on this earth. Many miracles have taken place in this place, Lourdes and still do until today. These pictures show St Bernadette’s body after 122 years.

Incorruptible body after 122 years ago

Melanau

Melanau 'tall house'

I come from the Melanau tribe. Both of my parents are from Mukah but I born in Miri. This mean I consider myself as Mirian...hihihi!!!

'Siet' or ulat mulong...yummmyyy!!!

Melanau can also be found in Kalimantan Indonesia. They are the earliest settlers of Sarawak. In 19th century, they settled in scattered communities along the main tributaries of Rajang River. Word Melanau does not used by the Melanau to refer themselvess until recently, they use to call themselves a-likou, means 'people of the river'. It also was given by 1 of the Sultans' Brunei to the inhabitants of the coastal swamp flats and riveranks.

There are 6 different groups which are; Melanau Mukah, Melanau Dalat, Melanau Oya, Melanau Matu-Daro-Rejang, Melanau Bintulu, Melanau Balingian and Melanau Miri (this is which Melanau I come from). Each of these groups has its own characteristic dialect but however they share the same cultural and lingual backgroud, except Melanau Bintulu, which can hardly be understood.

Melanau also known as a fisherman as well as sago farmers. They are a skilled boat builders. Their houses are of the usual Malay type. Majority of Melanau tribes is either Christians or Muslims.