On September 4, 2016, Mother Theresa will be canonized as a saint by Pope Francis.
We already have everything reserved for a pilgrimage to Rome for the canonization!
Join us the first part of September 2016 for a full Rome and Assisi Pilgrimage. More details soon!
Contact Suzanne at Sparran@ctscentral.net or (313) 744-2530 or toll-free 1-800-727-1999, ext.121.
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A banner day with perfect weather! We spent the day in San Giovanni Rotundo at the churches of St. Padre Pio. We had Mass where he celebrated Mass and saw his body displayed in the glass casket.
Super exciting was watching a movie about his life, personally meeting one of his brother Cappuchins and being blessed on our heads with Padre Pio’s stigmata mitten and his crucifix. Our people kept saying “Wow!”
Then to Mount St. Michael to visit the cave where Michael the Archangel appeared four times and the only Catholic Church in the world not consecrated by a bishop since St. Michael said he consecrated it himself. Enjoy the day.
I put up two videos: one of the day’s adventures and one of my short talks telling a short biography of Padre Pio.
TODAY’S ADVENTURES
STEVE’S TALK ON PADRE PIO
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By Susan Wills:
George Santayana’s famous statement — “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” — would be a great subtitle for a little known essay called “The Fate of Empires” (1976) by the little known British general and historian Sir John Bagot Glubb.
He explains that we generally fail to learn vital lessons from humanity’s past errors because history is taught in disconnected chunks, narrowly focused on this region or that era and almost never as a comprehensive study of the history of humanity. Plus historians, like the rest of humanity, are not above lying to burnish their nation’s history and tarnish the memory of ancient foes.
Sir John Glubb confined his analysis of superpowers to the 3,000-year history of the Middle East and Europe — from Great Britain to Russia — where his knowledge was broad and deep, conceding that he was not an expert in the history of the Far East or of South America. In comparing the rise and fall of the eleven great empires that flourished between 859 B.C. and 1950 A.D., he uncovered a pattern of conquest, growth, maturity and decline that, remarkably, was common to all.
What surprised him even more: for each superpower, the whole process took place over ten generations or roughly 250 years. He saw the same trajectory being repeated in the United States of America. The most pressing question we now face is this: Can the values and habits that made America a great nation be restored or is its collapse — within the next 25 years — inevitable?
Seven ages can be identified in US history and in the histories of eleven past superpowers (Assyria, Persia, Greece, the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, Arab Empire, Mameluke Empire, Ottoman Empire, Spain, Romanov Russia and Great Britain). The Age of —
(1) Pioneers (“The Age of Outburst”)
(2) Conquest
(3) Commerce
(4) Affluence
(5) Intellect
(6) Decadence
(7) Decline and Death
We sometimes think of pioneers and conquerors as “barbarians,” like the Mongolians who conquered Persia or the Germanic tribes who sacked Rome, and assume that they conquered “effete civilizations.” But that’s not always the case.
For example, the pioneers in what became the US subdued “less advanced” tribal groups, but still fit the arc. Sir John describes pioneers as “normally poor, hardy and enterprising and above all aggressive”; “they abound in courage, energy and initiative, overcome every obstacle and always seem to be in control of the situation.”
For the whole insightful article click here.
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