Shrine of our Lady of the Atonement

Title

Language

English

Year

1924

Subject

Christian shrines

Catholic church buildings

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

"1 Finally, thanks to the Members of the Confraternity of the Atone ment of Graymoor, U. S. and thanks to the generosity of the Catholic visitors of Baguio, the second tower of the Church of Our Lady of Atonement at Baguio is finished. Both towers, from one of the high est hills of the summer capital, point to heaven as much as to say: Cath olics, remember: “heaven is your goal”. But enter the Church and the splendid statue of Our Lady of Atonement will suggest to you: ‘ ‘if heaven is your goal, penance is the way to attain it and atonement as sures your eternity”. “Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish ’ ’, remains ever true. * ‘ Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted” said the Lord. Near the cross on Calvary stood the Mother of the Savior, uniting her tears with the last drops of the atoning blood of her Divine son. She was the Lady of Atonement. Do not our sins cry to heaven for vengeance? Can you count the sins committed against God and heaven in a single day? Do not try to count how often God is offended by the whole world. Look around you even in your own town. How many go regularly to Mass on Sundays and holydays ? How many work on these same days? How many neg lect their Easter Duty ? How many are married civilly ? Listen co the calumnies, the backbiting, the quar rels always going on. How many around you have lost their Faith ? How many children are educated without religion ? What will their future be ? And if a single mortal sin caused the Passion and death of Our Lord, imagine the sorrow of the Sacred Heart, if it could feel sorrow in Heaven and in the Bless ed Sacrament; or rather imagine the consolation of the Divine Heart when you mingle your tears with the tears of Jesus in Gethsemani, when you offer some act of mortifi cation in union with His torments on the Cross, when you compas sionate Him at the sight of the nails which fastened His hands and feet to the Cross and the spear which pierced His Heart after death. Have you ever been very sorry ? Did you ever feel the pangs of a pierced heart? And then, when a friend comes to you to soothe your sorrow, to try to console you by words and deeds, do you not feel your love for that friend increase? What would you not do to repay for that consoling word, for that friendly action, for that participa tion in your pain and sorrow? By your own feelings in such circum stances, judge what the Heart of Jesus, so sensitive, so grateful and also so powerful and generous must feel, when at the sight of His tor ments caused by innumerable sins, as the Mother of Atonement, you shed a tear upon your crucifix, offer a prayer for the conversion of pa gans and sinners and add some act of mortification or an act of self denial to stop even only one mortal sin. Is it then any wonder that the devotion to Our Lady of Atonement should have immensely increased during these latter years in the shape of Atonement? At Gray moor, U. S. as many as sixteen thousand Petitions have been sent in for a single Novena in honor of Our Lady of Atonement, for, there where many graces are granted, many should be asked. So it is likewise in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Atonement at Ba guio. For the Novena of July, nine petition.s well detailed were sent in, asking for the conversion of sinners, while six more asked for the conversion of sinners in generral. Eighteen more came in to ask the cure of sick persons and success in serious undertakings. Thirteen spiritual favors were sollicited. Af ter the novena four persons inform ed us that they had obtained the graces they had asked for. A little later three more acknowledged the succesful issue of some very diffi cult affairs. At the closing of the Novena, no less than two Bishops were present: the Most Reverend Archbishop of Manila and Right Reverend J. Mc Ginley. What created the greatest impression was the solemn blessing of the little children. For the month of August several intention.s were received; or.e of them seems to have come from a very good girl from Manila: she asks to succeed in collecting many subscriptions towards the Little Apostle. Be sure that intention shall be well recommended. The Nove na begins on the 2nd of August: the Saturday after the first Friday of the month. May God hear our prayers and grant the graces asked for. Rev. Fl. Carlu. Catholic Princess Washes Feet of Poor Girl Princess Marie José, the 18-year-old daughter of the King and Queen of the Belgians, washed the feet of a poor Belgian girl on Maundy Thurs day, as a mark of humility. The custom is observed annually at the Sacred Heart Convent at Linthout, Brussels, where the Princess is at school. Twelve poor girls from a neighboring free school went to the convent, wheie twelve girls are chosen annually to perform the act of humility. The Princess asked permission to be in cluded in the number, and she washed and kissed the feet of her poor sister "with the utmost grace and devotion,’’ says the Birmingham Mail, which tells the story.

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