A Summary of the Blog sites & Articles

If you would like something nice and spiritual each month, send me an Email; Fr. Joseph Dwight: josephdwight57@gmail.com.

If you would like to see the other web sites and articles of Rev. Joseph Dwight, click on the photo.

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Jesus said: "This generation will not pass away till all these things take place” (Mt 24:34; Mk 13:30; Lk 21:32). There are a great number of indications and signs from the saints, the popes and from the messages of Our Lady that we are “this generation” which Christ referred to in Matthew 24. I believe that our “generation” will witness the most underhanded, sly and devastating deception of Satan in the history of the world and of the Church. I also think that THIS FRAUD WILL BE DONE AS SMOOTHLY AS POSSIBLE, as hidden as possible, so as to fool as many people as possible. As Saint Hildegard wrote (who was made a doctor of the Church only a few months ago!!!): “two-thirds of the Christians will go with him” (the false Pope, the false prophet, the second beast of the Apocalypse)! Forewarned is forearmed! Visit: “The FALSE POPE – Saint Hildegard”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/02/resignation-of-pope-benedict.html.

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To read about my struggle against the selling of PORNOGRAPHY and the indifference of the owners of a bar here in Italy, visit:

http://wordbelife.blogspot.it/2013/04/james-59.html .

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If you would like to read a letter that I sent to a priest who forbid me (Fr. Joseph Dwight) to offer to the people, in his parish church (in Italy, 2009), printed copies of the Testimony of Gloria Polo when I substituted for this priest at a few Sunday Masses, visit:

“AN OPEN LETTER TO A FELLOW PRIEST”;

http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-letter-to-fellow-priest.html .

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If you would like to see a simple harmonica lesson by Father Joseph Dwight, visit: "Fr Joe - Harmonica Lesson" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE9fOIjhi4M).

To see the whole “playlist” in English, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnnTPDWPu_U&feature=PlayList&p=C6F67F2B82F5A476&index=0&playnext=1

To see the whole “playlist” in Italian, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HfAYppchf4&feature=PlayList&p=CF214421C11AAB38&index=0&playnext=1

To see a little bit of the culture of Italy today where I live, visit: “La Sagra dell'Oca Antria 2008”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbRZsC_cWac&list=PLF9E69B9705889A0D&feature=plpp)

If you might be interested, I have begun to post on Youtube MY SUNDAY HOMILIES IN ITALIAN (audio) with various photographs for the video. You can find the playlist for “OMELIE di Don Jo con le Foto Varie” at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m25x_NHQO4E&list=PLB235770674366A41

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A Life's Adventure

I have spent my life persevering in seeking to discover the truth, often in the midst of subtle but deep-seated contradictions. Although born and raised a Catholic, it took me years to dig out of the non-constructive, critical traditionalist mentality of my parents. After finishing a BA in mathematics at UCLA (1974), I followed my parents into a cult based on a false private apparition at Necedah, Wisconsin (1980-1983). Only by the grace of God, after about two and a half years in this cultic type environment, I began to see the real situation into which my family and I had fallen into (see http://necedah-cult.blogspot.com/ and http://priv-rev.blogspot.com/). Although my parents and my sister and her husband, who she met in the cult, left Necedah, they never had the chance to study and to overcome the sectarian and elitist, schismatic traditionalist mentality which is most often permeated by Jansenism as well as a strong critical spirit toward the living authority of the Catholic Church. While I went on to learn and study about the beauty and wisdom of the documents of the Second Vatican Council as a religious seminarian (see http://o-m-v.blogspot.com/), as well as getting to know the profound spirituality and life of the charisma of Unity (Chiara Lubich), my parents, sister and brother-in-law were reading only extreme traditionalist books like “The Devil’s Final Battle” by Father Paul Kramer which ultimately led my sister and her husband and seven children to loose the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church along with the many recent gifts that the Holy Spirit constantly gives to his bride, the Church, which are especially needed in these most difficult times. I wrote an article trying to convince them to come back to the Catholic Church but to no avail (see http://schis-trad.blogspot.com/). In a very confusing world, under the “tyranny of relativism”, I believe in the words of Jesus Christ for each living Pope until the end of time: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18).

The Church on earth, the “Church Militant”, is made up of saints and sinners and everything else in between; Christ founded His Church on 12 men who were sinners, not 12 angels from heaven. Those who seek a “perfect” group on earth (like the Donatists of old) very often end up in the cults and the sects. But if one discovers that one’s cult is not “perfect”, one seeks another “perfect” sect according to ones own making and criteria. If one does not have enough humility to submit to the Church that Jesus Christ founded with the living “Rock” that Jesus promised to guide until the end of time, to whom does one submit? To himself? To the “perfect” group that agrees with him or her? To a charismatic leader? Where is our anchor, our “Rock”? Did Jesus abandon us and leave us without an infallible guide 500 years ago with the protestant reformation, or 50 years ago after the Council, in a world filled with innumerable opinions and propaganda? The saints tell us very clearly that without humility there is no virtue! Jesus admonished his disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy!” (Lk 12:1)

After going through good as well as difficult experiences with the religious congregation, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary (http://o-m-v.blogspot.com/), as well as suffering a lot (even serious depression) with groups and people in the Church who did not learn from Jesus Who is “gentle and lowly in heart” (Mt 11:29) (see http://trueevangelization.blogspot.com/), I finally have been able to forgive these people totally from my heart and thus I have found the peace that only Jesus, “the way, the TRUTH and the life”, can give. I have slowly come to realize that these humiliations and sufferings and sorrows are masked treasures from a God who loves me immensely (see “Let Us Love Our Spouse!” at http://spir-food.blogspot.com/2008/05/let-us-love-our-spouse.html) and Who offers to help us to become detached from everything except Him Who is our only true and lasting Treasure.

I try ever more to love Jesus in each person that I encounter in each present moment while praying, especially the Rosary, as much as I can on my knees before the Most Blessed Sacrament and reading daily good spiritual writings. I have learned from the writings of the saints, including our saints of today, especially Chiara Lubich, that true love is inseparably related to recognizing, embracing and loving Jesus crucified personally in each and every suffering and sorrow within us and outside of us in our daily lives; this is the source of TRUE FREEDOM which only God can give. “A Manuscript On Purgatory” (see http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com/) really brings home the reality of how short life is and how long eternity is as well as how much Jesus loves each of us! We have so little time here on earth to arrive at a greater intensity of love of Jesus who loves each of us immensely even to the point of suffering and dying on the cross for each one of us personally!

The world is in pretty tough shape (http://god-politics.blogspot.com/) but God is always in charge even if He often takes the back seat and allows Satan to have a lot of freedom, in particular in the last hundred years or so, since we human beings have freely diminished our prayers and have increased our sins, thus giving more power to the forces of evil. I believe that one of the many gifts that God has give us today to help us break out of the “tyranny of relativism”, as Pope Benedict XVI puts it, is “The Testimony of Gloria Polo” (http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/).

For many years I have been interested in studying prophecy especially as related to the current events of today; I have posted a summary of some of my studies on this topic “Catholic Prophecy Today” (http://markbeast.blogspot.com/).

God likes to crush the pride of the devil using His true and humble followers who trust totally in Him; “Jesus, I trust in you” (St. Faustina)! “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph” (Fatima)! Alleluia!

Rev. Joseph Dwight
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To see the photographs of “The Life of Joseph Dwight”, go to: http://picasaweb.google.it/josephdwight57/TheLifeOfJosephDwight .

The Second Visit of the Pope to the USA

If you would like to read other articles by Rev. Joseph Dwight, click on his photo and choose the topic you are interested in. If you would like a good monthly meditation in MS Power Point Slide Show format with nice music and images in the background, choose the topic title “Spiritual Food” (or go directly to: http://spir-food.blogspot.com/) and then choose “The Importance of a Meditation!”

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The photo above with Joseph Dwight and Raymond Frost with Pope John Paul II was taken in 1987 after the Good Friday liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica (Rome).

This article was written (November 1987) for the official magazine of the Religious Congregation, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary.


The Second Visit of the Pope to the USA


When we first heard that our Holy Father had accepted the invitation of the American bishops to visit our country for the second time, and especially our home state of California, we wanted very much to be able to contribute to the success of his visit. Following similar lines of the charism of our venerable founder of our congregation, Father Pio Bruno Lanteri (1759-1830), we found ourselves hoping to try in some way to help spiritually and pastorally prepare our fellow Americans and Californians for the Pope's second visit to our country.

Venerable Pio Bruno Lanteri

With the encouragement of our superiors, the project began to take form in the early part of 1987 while studying theology in Rome. Receiving our initial impetus and ideas from the tremendous effort that our fellow Canadian Oblates put forth for the visit of the Pope to Canada over three ago, we began writing a suitable one-page leaflet (entitled, 'You Are Peter') as well as printing in Italy a prayer card with the Pope’s picture with a suitable prayer on the reverse side to help facilitate the success of the Pope’s visit. While considering ways of distributing the leaflet, we had initially considered reaching the goal of printing and distributing about 10-20,000 leaflets and prayer cards. Thanks to the prayers, help and generous financial support from many Catholic organizations and private individuals, we were able to print and distribute over 400,000 leaflets in northern and southern California as well as about 10,000 leaflets in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio for the Detroit visit of the Pope. (To see the leaflet, visit: http://josephdwight.blogspot.com/2008/06/you-are-peter.html).

In order to better insure that the leaflet would be read and not just tossed aside, the vast majority of the leaflets were distributed on a one-on-one personal basis. This was done both before and during the papal visit through the collaboration of hundreds of men and women of various groups, especially the Legion of Mary, the Knights of Columbus, the National Association of the Holy Rosary, St. Joseph's Radio and the Blue Army. Each of these groups helped distribute the leaflets in the manner according to the charism of their particular organization so that this modest, catechetical type preparation might reach as many people as possible whether it be in the parishes or groups or among family, friends, neighbors or fellow workers. We coordinated this distribution by way of numerous letters and phone calls as well as speaking at over a dozen major meetings of the above mentioned organizations with at least 50 people at each meeting, as well as at numerous minor meetings up and down our state of California. Many tens of thousands of the leaflets were also distributed at the papal motorcades in Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as at the outdoor Masses of the Pope while the people waited to see and hear the Holy Father at Dodger Stadium and the Coliseum in Los Angeles.

Pope John Paul II poses in San Francisco, Ca, with the Golden Gate Bridge in background in this Sept. 17, 1987 photo.

Our goal for this project remained constant from start to finish. Right from the start, as we went through many draft copies of the leaflet with the very helpful criticism of many American and English speaking priests and seminarians in Rome, we always tried to put ourselves in the shoes and situation of our fellow Americans. We had hoped to recall to thousands of Catholics and interested non-Catholics a greater understanding, appreciation and love of our precious Catholic faith. Thus, our goal, as Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles welcomed and confirmed in his responding letter (May 19, 1987) to our proposal, was to help "in promoting a better understanding of the role of our Holy Father" as well as "to help people prepare spiritually and pastorally for his coming visit to us in California." We felt that one of the important tasks of the leaflet should most especially be to help the reader to understand and appreciate better the supernatural role of the Church and her visible head, the Pope, as given and intended by Christ so that we might help to overcome our very wide-spread mentality of a 'pick and choose, smorgasbord type Catholicism' and religious apathy in our country.


Keeping this situation in mind, ever so similar to the times of Father Lanteri but even more diffused by the mass media beyond the elite circles of the "aristocrates" (Introduction to the 'Directory of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary' (Italian edition, p.6)), we had hoped to help prepare a more open and warm response toward the Pope and his message by going directly to the people utilizing lay organizations. We worked along these lines so that, despite the spreading of confusion and misinformation in our country regarding the teachings of the Church and the essential role of her visible head, many Americans might come to a mature and trusting acceptance of the whole truth revealed to us by God, through Christ, which is preserved and authentically interpreted throughout time and culture by His Church. We felt that by helping our fellow Americans to overcome and to breakthrough our materialistic and non-supernatural-minded society of today, the supernatural character and task of the Church and her visible head, the Pope, would be more easily understood and welcomed. Thus, we hoped that by assisting in this endeavor, we, as well as all those who joined in the effort, could truly contribute to "Unity in the Work of Service; Building Up the Body of Christ", the official overall theme of the second papal visit to the United States of America.


We wish to sincerely thank all those who prayed for the success of this project and the many Oblates and generous friends who contributed so much time and effort toward helping to prepare a warm welcome for the Vicar of Christ to the United States of America.

In Jesus and Mary,

Joseph Dwight, O.M.V.

Raymond Frost, O.M.V

When Joseph Dwight and Raymond Frost met the Pope for the first time on the first of January 1987, we offered to try to help prepare for his visit to our state of California that same year during the summer. Precisely during this photo taken on Good Friday 1987, the Pope actually remembered us and said "California"!

"You Are Peter"!

In preparation for the visit of Pope John Paul II to the USA in 1987, over 400,000 of the following leaflet were distributed in northern and southern California as well as about 10,000 leaflets in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio for the Detroit visit of the Pope.
(See also “The Second Visit of the Pope to the USA” at:
http://josephdwight.blogspot.com/2008/06/second-visit-of-pope-to-usa.html).

"YOU ARE PETER"!

Treasure
California! Land of opportunity; land of promise; land of sunshine; land of treasure!

Over a century ago one could almost breathe the excitement that filled the air! Thousands of our ancestors came flocking into the rich valleys and mountain ranges of California. Many risked their lives in the hope that their dreams for a better future might pan out in the gold fields and mining towns of California. Some did get rich. Others died on the way. But many more made their homes in the richly blessed land of this new frontier.

A Happy Future!
How much we desire a better future! Our innermost longings and deep natural yearnings are restless until we find enduring peace and true joy. But this deep craving of our hearts can only be satisfied by the infinite God; He created our hearts with these longings for eternal peace and contentment. "You have made us for Yourself, 0 God, and we will be ever restless until we rest in You" (St. Augustine). The eternal kingdom of God is our home and our treasure - "the pearl of great price!" (Mt 13:44-46) "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him" (lCor 2:9).

A Treasure Guide
But how do we get there? Like hunting for treasure, we need a map to find the prize. We need a guide to help us to interpret the map and to show us the safest and shortest way to this most highly prized goal. It is precisely to encourage and to help guide us during our earthly pilgrimage toward our eternal home that Pope John Paul II comes to our homeland this September of the Marian Year.

Christ's Church
Christ, the eternal Shepherd of the People of God, "established and even sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as a visible organization through which He communicates truth and grace to all men… Christ was sent by the Father 'to bring good news to the poor ... to heal the contrite of heart' (Lk 19:10). Similarly, the Church encompasses with her love all those who are afflicted by human misery and she recognizes in those who are poor and who suffer, the image of her poor and suffering Founder" (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church 'Lumen Gentium', 8). But at the same time, while harmoniously fulfilling her "earthly responsibilities ... and temporal duties" (GS 43), the Church "seeks and is concerned about those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, where the life of the Church is hidden with Christ in God until she appears in glory with her Spouse (Col 3:1-4)" (LG 6).

We should be very thankful for such a precious gift, the Church, bought and paid for by the Son of God Himself. Jesus had on one occasion compared the Church to a mustard seed - "the smallest of all seeds; but when it grows up, it is larger than any herb and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches" (Mt 13:31-32).

One, Holy, Catholic, & Apostolic
Although she has truly grown "larger than any herb" with over 800,000,000 members and constantly growing, she is still, as she always was, as intended by Christ, ONE (LG 4) in her doctrine, her Baptism, her Sacrifice (the Mass), her sacraments, and her government under one visible head, the Pope. We should rejoice that we are members of the Church whose Founder is all-HOLY - a Church whose doctrines are holy and lead to a holy life. Many thousands of her members in all walks of life, by the imitation of Christ with the help of her sacraments, have attained great sanctity and holiness. Their example is worthy of our imitation. We should be grateful, indeed, that the Church teaches the divinely revealed truths to all nations at all times, and is therefore UNIVERSAL. Her priests and bishops have gone to all parts of the earth to teach and preach "the full and living Gospel" (DV 7), to celebrate the Eucharist, and to administer the sacraments. We should also be thankful that the Church to which we belong can trace her origin back to the APOSTLES. The Catholic Church is governed by the lawful successors of St. Peter who can claim an unbroken succession from the first to the present Pope (CD 2). The Catholic Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, teaches the same truths that were taught to the Apostles by Christ Himself. We should therefore constantly pray for the grace to be true and faithful members of this glorious heritage - the Catholic Church!

The Indefectable Ship
This incomparable barque, launched by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, is sailing the high seas of life today, still captained by Christ. He, through the person of His visible representative and Peter's successor, the Pope, stands at the helm (LG 18). The chief mates are the successors of the Apostles, the bishops, who in union with their helmsman, teach, govern, and sanctify all those on board, and seek in every way to bring all to the fulness of truth and saving "elements of sanctification" (LG 8) given by Christ to the Catholic Church (UR 1).

Above the ship, under the figure of a dove hovers the Holy Spirit. It is He Who keeps the ship intact as Christ built her; He it is Who infallibly guides her unswervingly along the narrow course of Christ's teaching throughout time, to the harbor of eternity and the City of Eternal Happiness.

Our Personal Challenge
We enjoy the protection of Holy Mother Church and share in her graces. This remembrance should cause us to thank God every day for such a privilege. But it should also cast before us a challenge.

The history of the Church has shown us those things which hamper the Mystical Body of Christ in her efforts to carry the graces of the Redemption to mankind as well as those things which help her bring the inspirations of the Holy Spirit to their fullest fruition. With the challenge and the warnings of the lives of the saints and the sinners of twenty centuries before us, the torch of Faith is placed in our hands. We now are to have our brief day. Will we bravely carry the light forward or will we timidly carry it back? Will we hold it high or smother it in the ground? Will we build up Christ's Body or tear It down?

The Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, has been walking the earth, preaching and teaching and doing innumerable works of charity and service through her clergy and laity for almost 2000 years. Yet she has been despised and rejected by many and disobeyed even by her own sons. She has suffered and died a thousand times in her martyrs and saints, all that men may live.
But WE are that Mystical Body (ID 5), the "People of God"! - a "visible assembly and a spiritual community, ... one complex reality composed of a divine and of a human element" (LG 8). "For by communicating His Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as His Body those brothers of His who are called together from every nation" (LG 7). Christ can now live and work in the world only in and through us. He can also be persecuted in and through us. What shall it be? Our human wills, under God's grace, hold the answer. Will we be with Him or against Him? Will we be with or against "our Mother" (LG 6), the Church, the Bride of Christ (Eph 5:25-28)?

Mary - Our Mother
Let us raise our eyes to Christ's "first ... and most perfect disciple," Mary, our "model of the virtues" (Redemptoris Mater 20, 47, 6). She is not only the most illustrious member of the Church, but also the Mother, "full of grace" (Lk 1:28), dispensing through her gentle hands the life saving graces of her divine Son as "the advocate of grace... Mary, the exalted Daughter of Sion, helps all her children, wherever they may be and whatever their condition, to find in Christ the Path to the Father's house" (RM 47). Thus, just as Christ came into the world through Mary and died on the cross before her very eyes, may we complete our "pilgrimage of faith" (RM 25-37) with Mary's maternal, intercessory help and constant care so as to arrive safely to our heavenly home of eternal peace and happiness with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior (LG 52-69).

Let Us Welcome Our Holy Father
Pope John Paul II has certainly become a popular Pope. But truly, his real dignity and character come from the fact that he is the successor of St. Peter and the visible head of the whole Church. The divinely given attributes of the office of the papacy, such as the charism of infallibility or the attribute of authority (LG 18), are not a personal prerogative, nor a reward for virtue, but rather a result of the assistance of the Holy Spirit as promised by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (Jn 14:16,26).

But above and beyond the great dignity as well as the tremendous responsibility of the office of the papacy, John Paul II has been truly blessed by God. He speaks eight languages fluently; he is the author of many books; and he is a philosopher in his own right. Before he became a priest, he earned his bread as a factory worker. He has suffered for the Christian faith. He came from Poland, a nation persecuted for its religious beliefs for centuries. His work in defence of human rights and on behalf of the poor has given hope to many. As we all know, the present Pope was shot in 1981 and remained in critical condition between life and death for several days afterwards. He later embraced and pardoned his would-be assassin, Ali Agca, while visiting him in his prison cell. Recently the Pope received Agca's mother in the Vatican. Everytime he goes out abroad to serve and embrace his beloved brothers around the world, he is exposing himself to other possible bullets. Yet, since 1981, he has made numerous journeys and visited numberless lands. He is now coming for the second time to our own country. Let us all unite to receive the Vicar of Christ with open arms so as to give him a welcome worthy of our faith and traditions.



A PRAYER TO PREPARE FOR THE COMING OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
Lord God, You Who have chosen Your servant John Paul II to become the successor of St. Peter, head of the apostles, and to be the representative of Christ in these times, help him to strengthen your people: that he might build your Church in unity, love and peace, that all the Church might be in communion with him, and that all might find in You, 0 Father, truth and life. Dispose our minds and hearts to receive the words which he will speak to us in the name of Your Son, under the movement of Your Spirit, so that we may find in them the expression of Your will for us, the response to the questions that the world presents to us today, and the courage of a renewed interior fidelity. May his presence in our land help us to free ourselves from slavery to sin and vice in order that we might truly live in the liberty of the sons of God. We ask You this through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

With Ecclesiastical Approval.

A Life's Adventure

If you would like something nice and spiritual each month, send me an Email; Fr. Joseph Dwight: josephdwight57@gmail.com.

If you would like to see the other web sites and articles of Rev. Joseph Dwight, click on the photo.

- - - - - - -

A Life’s Adventure

I have spent my life persevering in seeking to discover the truth, often in the midst of subtle but deep-seated contradictions. Although born and raised a Catholic, it took me years to dig out of the non-constructive, critical traditionalist mentality of my parents. After finishing a BA in mathematics at UCLA (1974), I followed my parents into a cult based on a false private apparition at Necedah, Wisconsin (1980-1983). Only by the grace of God, after about two and a half years in this cultic type environment, I began to see the real situation into which my family and I had fallen into (see http://necedah-cult.blogspot.com and http://priv-rev.blogspot.com). Although my parents and my sister and her husband, who she met in the cult, left Necedah, they never had the chance to study and to overcome the sectarian and elitist, schismatic traditionalist mentality which is most often permeated by Jansenism as well as a strong critical spirit toward the living authority of the Catholic Church. While I went on to learn and study about the beauty and wisdom of the documents of the Second Vatican Council as a religious seminarian (see http://o-m-v.blogspot.com/), as well as getting to know the profound spirituality and life of the charisma of Unity (Chiara Lubich), my parents, sister and brother-in-law were reading only extreme traditionalist books like “The Devil’s Final Battle” by Father Paul Kramer which ultimately led my sister and her husband and seven children to loose the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church along with the many recent gifts that the Holy Spirit constantly gives to his bride, the Church, which are especially needed in these most difficult times. I wrote an article trying to convince them to come back to the Catholic Church but to no avail (see http://schis-trad.blogspot.com). In a very confusing world, under the “tyranny of relativism”, I believe in the words of Jesus Christ for each living Pope until the end of time: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18).

The Church on earth, the “Church Militant”, is made up of saints and sinners and everything else in between; Christ founded His Church on 12 men who were sinners, not 12 angels from heaven. Those who seek a “perfect” group on earth (like the Donatists of old) very often end up in the cults and the sects. But if one discovers that one’s cult is not “perfect”, one seeks another “perfect” sect according to ones own making and criteria. If one does not have enough humility to submit to the Church that Jesus Christ founded with the living “Rock” that Jesus promised to guide until the end of time, to whom does one submit? To himself? To the “perfect” group that agrees with him or her? To a charismatic leader? Where is our anchor, our “Rock”? Did Jesus abandon us and leave us without an infallible guide 500 years ago with the protestant reformation, or 50 years ago after the Council, in a world filled with innumerable opinions and propaganda? The saints tell us very clearly that without humility there is no virtue! Jesus admonished his disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy!” (Lk 12:1)

After going through good as well as difficult experiences with the religious congregation, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary (http://o-m-v.blogspot.com/), as well as suffering a lot (even serious depression) with groups and people in the Church who did not learn from Jesus Who is “gentle and lowly in heart” (Mt 11:29) (see http://trueevangelization.blogspot.com), I finally have been able to forgive these people totally from my heart and thus I have found the peace that only Jesus, “the way, the TRUTH and the life”, can give. I have slowly come to realize that these humiliations and sufferings and sorrows are masked treasures from a God who loves me immensely (see “Let Us Love Our Spouse!” at http://spir-food.blogspot.com/2008/05/let-us-love-our-spouse.html) and Who offers to help us to become detached from everything except Him Who is our only true and lasting Treasure.

I try ever more to love Jesus in each person that I encounter in each present moment while praying, especially the Rosary, as much as I can on my knees before the Most Blessed Sacrament and reading daily good spiritual writings. I have learned from the writings of the saints, including our saints of today, especially Chiara Lubich, that true love is inseparably related to recognizing, embracing and loving Jesus crucified personally in each and every suffering and sorrow within us and outside of us in our daily lives; this is the source of TRUE FREEDOM which only God can give. “A Manuscript On Purgatory” (see http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com) really brings home the reality of how short life is and how long eternity is as well as how much Jesus loves each of us! We have so little time here on earth to arrive at a greater intensity of love of Jesus who loves each of us immensely even to the point of suffering and dying on the cross for each one of us personally!

The world is in pretty tough shape (http://god-politics.blogspot.com/) but God is always in charge even if He often takes the back seat and allows Satan to have a lot of freedom, in particular in the last hundred years or so, since we human beings have freely diminished our prayers and have increased our sins, thus giving more power to the forces of evil. I believe that one of the many gifts that God has give us today to help us break out of the “tyranny of relativism”, as Pope Benedict XVI puts it, is “The Testimony of Gloria Polo” (http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/).

For many years I have been interested in studying prophecy especially as related to the current events of today; I have posted a summary of some of my studies on this topic “Catholic Prophecy Today” (http://markbeast.blogspot.com).

God likes to crush the pride of the devil using His true and humble followers who trust totally in Him; “Jesus, I trust in you” (St. Faustina)! “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph” (Fatima)! Alleluia!

Rev. Joseph Dwight
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To see the photographs of “The Life of Joseph Dwight”, go to: http://picasaweb.google.it/josephdwight57/TheLifeOfJosephDwight# .

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The photo is of Joseph Dwight shaking hands with Chiara Lubich, the foundress of the Focolare Movement. The photo was taken on the 11th of May, 1995 at Loppiano in Incisa Valdarno, Italy, 15 miles south of Florence.

The Mysterious Staircase

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The Mysterious Staircase

City of Santa Fé, in New Mexico, USA.

A mystery of over 130 years and attracting around 250 thousand visitors every year. Point of attention : Loretto Chapel

What makes this chapel different from all others is that the subject of the supposed miracle that took place in it is a Staircase

A chapel was constructed somewhere in hte 19th century. When it was ready, the nuns found that there was no staircase built to take them to the top level

They spent 9 days praying to St. Joseph, who was a carpenter.

On the last day, a stranger knocked at their door and said that he was a carpenter who could help them build the staircase.

He constructed the staircase, all by himself, which was considered to be the pride of carpentery.

None knew how the staircase could stand by itself as it did not have a central support.

Then the carpenter, who did not use a single nail or glue to construct this staircase, disappeared without even waiting for his payment.

There was a rumour in the city of Santa Fé, that the carpenter was St. Joseph himself ...

...sent by Jesus Christ to attend to the nuns’ problem. Since then, the staircase was known to be called “miraculous” and turned out to be the site for pilgrimage.

There are 3 mysteries in this case, says the spokesman of the chapel : the 1st mystery is that, until today, the identity of this man is not known.

The second mystery – all the architects, engineers and scientists say that they cannot understand how this staircase can balance without any central support.

And the 3rd mystery – from where did the wood come? They have checked and found out that the type of wood used to build the staircase does not exist in the entire region

There is another detail that has just increased the belief in the supposed miracle : The staircase has 33 steps, the age of Jesus Christ.