if you feel you need prayers..maybe this link can help you

Especially now with all this fear in the air..

hope it helps

for health,love in my family..healthfor all and me.. thanks.

A Very Merry Christmas to you and your family Wildhoney.

Appearing in volume four of the Italian-language edition of Padre Pio's letters, this essay was taken from Padre Pio's hand-written notebooks.

Padre Pio's Christmas Meditation

Far into the night, at the coldest time of the year, in a chilly grotto, more suitable for a flock of beasts than for humans, the promised Messiah – Jesus – the savior of mankind, comes into the world in the fullness of time.

There are none who clamor around him: only an ox and an ass lending their warmth to the newborn infant; with a humble woman, and a poor and tired man, in adoration beside him.

Nothing can be heard except the sobs and whimpers of the infant God. And by means of his crying and weeping he offers to the Divine justice the first ransom for our redemption.

He had been expected for forty centuries; with longing sighs the ancient Fathers had implored his arrival. The sacred scriptures clearly prophesy the time and the place of his birth, and yet the world is silent and no one seems aware of the great event. Only some shepherds, who had been busy watching over their sheep in the meadows, come to visit him. Heavenly visitors had alerted them to the wondrous event, inviting them to approach his cave.

So plentiful, O Christians, are the lessons that shine forth from the grotto of Bethlehem! Oh how our hearts should be on fire with love for the one who with such tenderness was made flesh for our sakes! Oh how we should burn with desire to lead the whole world to this lowly cave, refuge of the King of kings, greater than any worldly palace, because it is the throne and dwelling place of God! Let us ask this Divine child to clothe us with humility, because only by means of this virtue can we taste the fullness of this mystery of Divine tenderness.

Glittering were the palaces of the proud Hebrews. Yet, the light of the world did not appear in one of them. Ostentatious with worldly grandeur, swimming in gold and in delights, were the great ones of the Hebrew nation; filled with vain knowledge and pride were the priests of the sanctuary. In opposition to the true meaning of Divine revelation, they awaited an officious savoir, who would come into the world with human renown and power.

But God, always ready to confound the wisdom of the world, shatters their plans. Contrary to the expectations of those lacking in Divine wisdom, he appears among us in the greatest abjection, renouncing even birth in St. Joseph’s humble home, denying himself a modest abode among relatives and friends in a city of Palestine. Refused lodging among men, he seeks refuge and comfort among mere animals, choosing their habitation as the place of his birth, allowing their breath to give warmth to his tender body. He permits simple and rustic shepherds to be the first to pay their respects to him, after he himself informed them, by means of his angels, of the wonderful mystery.

Oh wisdom and power of God, we are constrained to exclaim – enraptured along with your Apostle – how incomprehensible are your judgments and unsearchable your ways! Poverty, humility, abjection, contempt, all surround the Word made flesh. But we, out of the darkness that envelops the incarnate Word, understand one thing, hear one voice, perceive one sublime truth: you have done everything out of love, you invite us to nothing else but love, speak of nothing except love, give us naught except proofs of love.

[link to www.sanpadrepio.com]

Last Edited by Phennommennonn on 12/21/2012 02:22 PM

Merry Christmas to you too Hope you are well

Thank you for posting that..

Its the Love tat fills..

The healing is taking it's time, I fill it with prayer.

You are an amazing example

Stole this from your biography....
Preach the Gospel at all times..and when necessary use words.
The world is pushing people to look at themselves only, they are missing the good that is around them, you may see the good examples in the volunteers at retirement homes, especially Alzheimer patients, the elderly have become today's lepers.

I was volunteer at a retirement home run by nuns..and lots of the patients had alzheimers..I used to help them eat..and just hang around and speak to them..make them laugh..tell them my hopes and dreams..just chat..they loved it..and so did I :)

The nuns were lovely..

One elderly lady used to semi sleep all the time and call out to her Mummy....

I had to leave that city and I have often wondered about the ones that I visited..

I knew you were the amazing example, don't forget it.

I dont think I am, but thank you ..I dont usually talk about this stuff, no one knows..but thats the way its supposed to be right? :)..I say more on Glp than outside.. :)

I havent done much in the last couple of years though...been busy with stuff to attend to..just busy coping..

Peace...
[link to www.youtube.com]

Im having a problem streaming it..so cant comment on it yet..thank you though

Try Aloe Vera ..if you havent already..the actual leaf...the juice..preferably buy the actual plant..not bottled if you can

Try this:
[link to ca.search.yahoo.com]

Plastic surgeon said it would take months for wounds to heal, throbs after I work with my hands, it's not too bad, kind of get used to it, more to offer up.

I know the pain...

Burned both my thighs/legs when little..no scars..which is amazing, a miracle considering the burns..but the pain I remember vividly..

you are a Saint..

If you can do try the Aloe sap

Will give it a try... I hope everything is ok, you used the word coping? Spain is having its difficulties.

..the sun is shining..the oranges are maturing on the trees
Thats Spain

Lucky you, we got 30cm of snow yesterday, my OJ is frozen.

MANY SOULS SAID TO BE RELEASED ON CHRISTMAS FROM TORMENTS OF PURGATORY
Aside from gift-giving and spending time with family and remembering the birth of Jesus, Christmas should be a day to pray for the deceased. It's on Christmas -- according to two highly reliable revelations -- that most souls are released into heaven and thus are in need of final prayers.

One revelation was in 1879 to a holy nun in a French convent. Identified as Sister M. de L.C., she received revelations from a deceased nun who authorities identified only as Sister O -- and who at the time was herself suffering the torments of purgatory. The revelation was granted an imprimatur from the Cardinal of Baltimore, Maryland, and was approved by noted theologians such as Canon Dubosq, promotor fidei of Saint Therese the Little Flower. The transcripts of what she said may be the most valuable we've seen on purgatory.

"On All Souls' Day many souls leave the place of expiation and go to heaven," said the deceased nun. " Also, by a special grace of God on that day only, all the suffering souls, without exception, have a share in the public prayers of the Church, even those who are in the great Purgatory. Still the relief of each soul is in proportion to its merits. Some receive more, some less, but all feel the benefit of this extraordinary grace. Many of the suffering souls receive this one help only in all the long years they pass here and this by the justice of God. It is not, however, on All Souls' Day that the most go to Heaven. It is on Christmas night."

This message was confirmed in dramatic style more than a hundred years later -- in 1983 -- when a seer at Medjugorje reported nearly the same message, and with virtually no chance of having been privy to the obscure French revelation (which had not been published). Said the Virgin at Medjugorje on January 10 of that year: "In Purgatory there are different levels. The lowest is close to Hell and the highest gradually draws near to Heaven.

It is not on All Souls' Day, but at Christmas, that the greatest number of souls leave Purgatory."

At Medjugorje it has been said that the Virgin appears in great golden splendor on special days like Christmas, and the French nun likewise said Our Blessed Mother goes to Purgatory on her great feast days. She takes souls that are ready -- and all they may need is one final Mass, or even a final prayer. Those on the "threshold" can gain Heaven that day with our help, while those in deeper parts of Purgatory will be relieved of suffering.

"There are many souls in Purgatory," said the Blessed Mother at Medjugorje. "There are also persons who have been consecrated to God -- some priests, some religious. Pray for their intentions, at least the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be seven times each, and the Creed. I recommend it to you. There are a large number of souls who have been in Purgatory for a long time because no one prays for them."

This puts an entirely new perspective on Christmas. It's a time of great joy not only on earth but in the eternal and a day that our own joy must be joined with concern for those who have gone before us -- who may be "graduating" that day.

Pray for them. Pray for everyone you have ever known who is deceased. Pray for every purgatorial soul on Christmas. If they don't need the prayers, the Lord can designate them to souls who do.

And one day -- perhaps on Christmas night -- they'll be there to help you.
[Sister O's revelations are in a booklet called "An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory," available here]
[Footnote: account from Maronite website:
Pat Murnahan was coming back from a business trip to New York during the month of November, 1996. He felt his presentations had gone very well and he felt relaxed as he sank back into his seat ready for the flight to London and then on to Dublin. He had chosen a window seat so that he could sleep and not be disturbed by people coming and going. As more passengers entered the plane and it began to fill up, he could hear the hum of continuous conversation up and down the aisles, mixed with the sound of bags being stowed in the overhead lockers.

After ten minutes Pat was beginning to snooze and the rhythmic sound finally lulled him to sleep. But just minutes after he fell asleep he found himself sitting up fully awake. He heard nothing and wondered what had woken him, then he realized there was complete silence in the plane.

He sat fully upright wondering what had caused the silence, he felt a slight tinge of terror, the first thing coming to mind was that terrorists were taking over the plane.
Pat turned his head to see what was happening and his mouth dropped open when he recognized the slight bent figure and smiling face that had caused the complete silence as she moved quietly up the aisle; it was Mother Teresa of Calcutta, with another slight bent figure in similar dress following behind her.

Both nuns were dressed in simple white habits edged in blue. The familiar face, the wrinkled skin and the warm smiling eyes were instantly recognizable by everyone, from the youngest back packers to the eldest on board. The plane was full of American tourists who had never been so close to this world renowned figure before in their lives. An image they had seen on hundreds of television newscasts and on the covers of Time Magazine, on more than one occasion.

The two nuns stopped and Pat realized with a start, that the designated seats of this most extraordinary person and her companion were the seats beside him and he felt strangely unworthy as Mother Teresa herself was the one beside him. As the last few passengers settled in and the flight prepared to take off, Mother Teresa and her companions took out their Rosary beads. He noticed as they unfolded the beads that each decade was a different color.

They both closed their eyes as they immersed themselves in prayer and Pat stole a closer look at the unusual Rosary beads. He noticed that the decades at the beginning were totally black but as the beads went on they got lighter until, at the end of the rosary, they were completely white.

After about three Rosaries Mother Teresa and her companion put away the beads and she took out a little red prayer book. But before she opened the book she turned to Pat and asked him where was going. When he told her Ireland and then having replied to her next question to confirm the ‘yes, he was Irish,’ he raised himself up in his seat more, no longer eager to sleep as he suddenly felt elated and privileged to be taking part in a conversation with probably not only the most famous person on the planet but also probably the holiest. He was not ready for her next comment which showed that her knowledge of the Irish was from another era.

She said, “Well, you being Irish you must of course be Catholic and very prayerful.”
Pat felt embarrassed and didn’t respond. Then he felt even more embarrassed, if that was possible, as she put away her little red book and took out her Rosary again, saying “As you are Irish we will say another rosary for you and the wonderful country you come from.” Pat knew if he could see himself then in a mirror his face would have turned a very crimson red.

She told him, “Is there anyone in particular you wish to keep in prayer?” Pat thought for a minute and he suddenly thought of his elderly grandmother who was bedridden and just clinging to life. He knew she would really be taken with the thought of Mother Teresa praying specially for her, so he mentioned his grandmother’s name to Mother Teresa.

As she took out the Rosary he ventured to ask about the differing colors of the beads. She explained they were called Holy Souls Beads and the changing colors signify coming from darkness into light. We know as we pray a Rosary for the holy souls, Jesus brings many of them out of darkness into the light. Mother Teresa asked Pat to take out his Rosary and they would begin.

Pat fumbled around in his pockets feeling extremely embarrassed as this saint in waiting expected hi to take out a Rosary, which she undoubtedly thought every Irish person carried around with them. After a short interval Mother Teresa handed him her Rosary, which he was relieved about as he did not want to tell even half lie to this saint, as he was about to, saying, “I don’t seem to have one on me,” somehow implying that he normally did.

She produced another one for herself and he was also glad that they said all the prayers very quietly, so his mumbling was accepted as discreet prayer in unison with them. He did, however, notice their petitions in between decades were for the souls in purgatory and did not include the name of his grandmother.
Afterwards, he asked the Reverend Mother why his grandmother’s name wasn’t mentioned in the petitions. Her answer surprised him.

“When you pray for the souls in purgatory God will be so pleased with your unselfish prayers for those you don’t even know, that he will grant you your dearest wish, without even asking and sometimes maybe without you even knowing what your dearest wish is.”

Though Pat considered himself not very religious, knowing when he did go to church he went mostly just out of habit with his family and hardly ever prayed outside a church, he found these prayers extremely uplifting and he was in explicably happy afterwards, as he returned the Rosary to Mother Teresa.

As she smiled again at him Pat understood for the first time in his life what people meant when they spoke of a person possessing an ‘aura’ and, as his eyes connected with hers, a sense of peace overwhelmed him; he felt like when he was a little boy sitting by the river, with a warm summer breeze blowing through his hair, completely at peace with the world.

As they landed at Heathrow and alighted from the plane Mother Teresa was just ahead of him. She turned back to him and asked, “Do you say the Rosary often?” “No, not really,” he admitted. She took his hand, looked straight at him with her extraordinary gentle loving eyes and said, “Well, you will now,” and she pressed her Rosary into his hands.
Two hours later Pat entered the waiting area at Dublin airport where he was met by his wife, Alice. “What in the world?” she asked, when she noticed a Rosary in his hand. They kissed and Pat explained the Rosary and described his encounter with Mother Teresa in the plane as being like a visit to heaven. Driving home he said, “I really feel as if I have met a living Saint.”

The next day he heard his grandmother was up out of bed and seemed to have found a whole new lease of life.
Six months later Pat and Alice visited a close friend of theirs who they had just heard had cancer, with a short time left to live. The friend told them that many prayers had been offered for her. Then, after reaching into his pocket and taking out the special beads, Pat gently entwined Mother Teresa’s Rosary around the friend’s fingers. He told her the story and said, “Pray for the Holy Souls, it may help you.” Although the friend wasn’t Catholic, her hand closed willingly around the black and white beads.

Between one thing and another, Pat did not meet the friend again for a month. This time her face was simply glowing, she hurried toward him and handed him the Rosary.

“I have carried it with me ever since and prayed for the Holy Souls whenever I got the change,” she said, and you won’t be surprised to hear that just this week I had another check up, the doctors could find nothing, the tumor was gone. Pat, I am completely healed!”

Pat Murnahan vowed that day to get some more of these special Rosary beads, he knew they were not special in themselves but special in what they inspired people to do. To help Jesus bring souls into the Kingdom would be reciprocated by that person receiving great graces from God.
With this particular friend of Pat’s not only did it bring physical healing to her but spiritual healing as well, for two years later she joined the Catholic Church.
Pat now promotes this Rosary telling people it can save lives and souls.

Hi..whats an OJ

brought tears to my eyes

Ha! OJ is orange juice

Bust out the kleenex..
(CNN) -- Colleen O'Bara bathed her older sister, Edwarda, and fixed her hair. She fed her through a feeding tube like she'd done countless times. It was going to be a good day, the day before Thanksgiving.

With her morning routine complete, Colleen planned to fetch a cup of coffee. She bent down and kissed her big sister, told her she'd be right back.

"She gave me the biggest smile she has ever given me in her life," Colleen recalls. "Her face was aglow. There was a sparkle in her eyes."

But just then, Edwarda closed her eyes.

For 42 years, her family held vigil. They awaited the day Edwarda would awake, the miracle that never came.

At the age of 59, Edwarda died, believed by medical experts to have lived longer than anyone in a comatose state.

Her father, Joe, died six years after she fell into her diabetic coma, the strain of working three jobs to pay her medical bills too much. Her mother, Kathryn, had promised to never leave her side; she died in 2008 after caring for Edwarda for 38 years.

Former President Bill Clinton, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, singer Neil Diamond and other celebrities visited the home over the years. Renowned self-help author Wayne Dyer penned a book, "A Promise Is A Promise," about Kathryn's unconditional love.

Thousands of people -- from Japan to Australia, from Italy to Canada -- took the pilgrimage to the O'Bara home, inspired by the devotion of her mother. They were drawn too because they believed Edwarda had miracle healing powers: A woman with an inoperable brain tumor was cancer free months after she touched Edwarda. Two girls with cystic fibrosis were apparently healed in the months after visiting her room. Even skeptics said they felt a strange aura when they walked into the North Miami home.

Kathryn claimed Mother Mary appeared in visions. Mom wrote Pope John Paul II. He responded with letters of his own.

On the walls of Edwarda's room, Mom pinned inspirational quotes: "Where there is great love, there are great miracles."

The Hemlock Society phoned often, pleading with the mother to let her daughter die. The day after Christmas in 1981, someone called to say he was going to put Edwarda out of her misery. A few hours later, three bullets were fired into the home. No one was hurt.

Edwarda was just 16 when she fell into her comatose state. Her favorite song then was "Bobby's Girl," because she had a crush on a boy named Bobby.

In the decades that followed, Bobby would visit the home, but she even outlived him.

It seemed Edwarda touched everyone she came into contact with, even the doctor who saved her life. He struggled with the ethics of what he'd done.

He wondered: Would it have been better if I'd let her die?

A promise kept

Edwarda and Colleen were inseparable, born just 18 months apart. Edwarda was the studious, obedient, loving child. Colleen was the mischievous tomboy.





Edwarda and Colleen visit with Santa Claus. It was during Christmas break in 1969 that Edwarda fell into a coma.

"She kept me in check," Colleen recalls. "I had a short fuse on my temper when we were younger. My sister was just calm. She put up with me unbelievably."

Family photos show the bonds of sisterhood at an early age: as ballerinas, on Santa's lap, playing with the family's German shepherd. Birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas were a bundle of fun, a time to celebrate as family.

"All I ever wanted in life was to have two girls. God was very good and granted me my wish," Kathryn O'Bara told Dyer in his book.

Kathryn McCloskey and Joe O'Bara married in 1948, a promising young couple eager to start a family. She was the daughter of the mayor of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He was the Navy's middleweight boxing champion during World War II and went on to star on the University of Pittsburgh's football team.

The family eventually settled in South Florida. Joe became a physical education teacher at a Catholic elementary school. Kathryn -- Kaye to family -- taught math at a high school.

Kathryn's niece, Pam Burdgick, remembers her aunt and uncle as pillars of the family. She went to college in the mid-1960s in South Florida and would stay with the O'Baras on weekends. "Kaye was the personification of unconditional love. That was for all of us, not just Edwarda."

Edwarda, then 12, would watch her put makeup on. "She was a sweet, loving child."

Like so many girls, Edwarda and Colleen loved horses. At a nearby ranch, the sisters' friendship grew. "Colleen had horses, and Edwarda had a pony because she was always the cautious one," says Burdgick.

Edwarda did the hard work around the stables, allowing her younger sister a lot more time to ride the horses. "My sister would clean the stalls, brush the horses, let me have all the fun, and she would do all the work."

"That's what she wanted to do for me. She's the most giving sister that anybody could possibly have had," Colleen recalls. "She was my best friend in the whole wide world."

Edwarda was diagnosed with diabetes in late 1969. She was prescribed an oral insulin medication -- a medicine that is no longer given to adolescents due to harmful side effects.

Her diabetes didn't hinder her studies. A junior in high school, she got straight A's. Edwarda had been accepted to the University of Notre Dame, at a time when the school was mostly male. She hoped to become a pediatrician.

The family looked forward to Christmas that year. But during the break, Edwarda fell ill with the flu.

"She was sick and throwing up and stuff," Colleen says.

If Edwarda had been given insulin shots, her bad bout with the flu likely would have been just that, nothing more. But every time she vomited, she was throwing up her medicine -- and sugar was building up in her system.

By the time anyone realized what was happening, her health had deteriorated.

Joe O'Bara had just returned from a fishing outing when he went into his daughter's room. The skin on her legs had sugar lumps under them, like Charley horses. They were all over.

"My sister was screaming. I remember it like it was yesterday," Colleen says. "My dad started rubbing her legs to try to get the sugar to flow in her legs. He picked her up, and we just rushed her to the hospital."

It was January 3, 1970, when Edwarda arrived at North Miami General Hospital around 2 a.m. -- Joe and Kaye's 22nd wedding anniversary.

Dr. Louis Chaykin, who was on call that night to treat another patient, remembers seeing Edwarda and her mother in the emergency room. Daughter and mother were holding hands.

"I remember the words the daughter told the mother when she was lying in the emergency room: 'Don't ever leave me,'" the doctor says. "And the mother said she never would."

Soon, her lungs collapsed. Her kidneys failed. Her heart faltered, causing a lack of oxygen to the brain.

Chaykin was 35 then. A nurse suggested Edwarda's mother ask him to care for her daughter. He was an endocrinologist with specialized skills.

"When I saw her, she was almost near death. It was a Sunday. We worked on her for hours," he says. "We got her into intensive care, and we were able to reverse a lot of the metabolic abnormalities, but the damage that was done to the brain appeared to be permanent.

"She was in a comatose state. She would respond to pain, but that was it."

Colleen, then 15, continued her life at school, thinking her sister would eventually be OK. "I didn't realize how bad it really was," she recalls. "You see, my sister wasn't on any machines or anything. She just didn't wake up and speak."

For five months, Edwarda was treated at the hospital. The family refused to put her in a nursing home. Medicaid would have paid for those expenses, but mom had made a promise. And so they brought Edwarda home.

"To my parents, if you promised somebody something," Colleen says, "you never broke a promise."





Edwarda and Colleen dressed for a recital. The sisters, born 18 months apart, were inseparable.

The parents' bedroom in the family's humble bungalow was transformed into a round-the-clock care center, with Kathryn serving as chief nurse. She set up a folding chair next to Edwarda's bed. It was eventually replaced with a brown velvet recliner. Every two hours, she fed her daughter baby formula through her feeding tube. She had more than a dozen alarm clocks. They went off at midnight, 2, 4, 6 in the morning. Angel figurines and family photos adorned the room.

Mom gave insulin shots, turned her daughter so bedsores wouldn't grow, changed her diaper. Mom's back grew hunched from slouching over. She got arthritis. Sleep came in 75-minute power naps.

Chaykin pledged to treat Edwarda for free. He set up an IV for fluids and the feeding tube through her stomach.

"It's not a big deal," says Chaykin, 77. "Recognizing the cost of just maintaining Edwarda, it was a non-starter. I wouldn't accept any money."

Kathryn called the doctor her angel.

Yet, as he watched the family grapple with Edwarda's condition and her father die under the weight of it all, the doctor worried that he might've done the wrong thing by saving her.

"I felt that it was very futile," Chaykin says. "That was early on."

His views, though, changed with time. "I became so impressed by the dedication and the love that this mother had. As I grew older, I thought that, perhaps, God had a better reason for me allowing Edwarda to survive, albeit in a comatose state."

He remembers watching hundreds, if not thousands, of people visit Edwarda's bedside because they believed "there were certain miracles that would happen if they came and visited Edwarda and touched her."

"There were different things that happened that I could not explain as a doctor," he says.

He wondered: Was it coincidence or something more?

'A mystery of faith'

No one remembers exactly when the first of the perceived miracles happened. Most everyone from those early days has died. But whatever the cause -- a mother's devotion, visions of Mother Mary -- word spread, and people ranging from sick children to missionaries on healing trips flocked to the home.

Joi Mejia brought both of her young daughters, around 6 and 8 years old, to the home. They suffered from cystic fibrosis.

"I was willing to do anything and try anything," she says.

Kathryn O'Bara had been Mejia's kindergarten teacher. She had heard of Edwarda's healing powers and felt the urge to visit -- the start of a friendship that lasted until Kathryn died.

"The feeling of peace and love in the room was so profound," she says.


See rest of article with pictures....
[link to www.cnn.com]

tears to my eyes

says everything....

and this Merry Christmas WH
[link to www.godlikeproductions.com]

Thank you GfG