In this edition of A Minute with Mary, we hear the amazing story of how Our Lady came as a missionary to Mexico, and brought 9 million natives to the faith.

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The post Our Lady, Juan Diego & the Tilma appeared first on Cradio.

“Sitting at the school of the Heart of Mary is where we learn the deepest mysteries of Christ!” – Mother Adela Galindo

Pope Paul VI and St John Paul II both called Mary ‘the star of evangelisation’. What does this mean, and why is it significant in the times we are in? Paul Elarde explains in this final edition of A Minute with Mary.

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Pope Paul VI expressed his desire in 1975 for Mary to be the “Star of the Evangelization” for the Church. Building on this St John Paul II entrusted the work of the New Evangelization to Mary, calling her the “Star of the New Evangelization.”

We are living in unprecedented times; the battle between good and evil spoken about in Genesis 3 are coming to a climax. This is the culmination of the age of Mary which great saints like St Louis De Monfort and St John Paul II spoke about.

Stephen Walford writes:

The Church of the twenty-first century needs to be in the Upper Room with Mary in the cenacle of a new Pentecost. It needs to listen to Mary while being docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who is the beginning and end of all missionary activity. As Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, it is given to her as our Mediatrix and Advocate to lead this new evangelization and to obtain from Him the necessary graces.

Mother Adela writes:

Who better than Mary can reveal Christ? Was it not in Her arms that the world – the shepherds (representing Israel) and the wise men (the Gentiles) – found Jesus? Is it not She who presents Christ to the world? Is it not She who, as teacher and singular witness, reveals to the newly born Church the mysteries of Christ? Yes, sitting at the school of the Heart of Mary is where we learn the deepest mysteries of Christ!

The post Mary: Star of the New Evangelisation appeared first on Cradio.

Are you familiar with the five first Saturdays devotion? Paul Elarde explains why it exists and what it involves in this edition of A Minute with Mary.

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One way we can give something of great value to Jesus and Mary is to fulfil Mary’s request to make reparation for our sins and the sins of the world by doing what is called the Five First Saturdays of the month devotion.

The sins of the world greatly offend the love that Jesus and Mary have for every person. Mary said She is especially offend by blasphemies and ingratitude. Who will make an offering of love to repair for the hurt? Hopefully, every Catholic will want to step out to show their love! Not only is the act of love very simple, but Mary offers to those who do, the promise of assistance at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for their salvation. Now that’s akin to something like you being asked to pay just $10 to settle a $100,000 debt and in then appreciation, the lender gives you back a gift of a million dollars!! God’s love is astounding!

So on the first Saturday of each month for five consecutive months, we do the following:

Go the confession with 8 days; receive Holy Communion worthily; prayer five decades of the Rosary; meditate for 10 to 15 minutes accompanying Mary, reflecting about some mysteries of the Rosary.

Remember to do all this with the intentions of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If we don’t respond to Our Lady’s request, then who will? This simple act of love could be one of the greatest things you ever did in your whole life!

The post What is the Five First Saturdays Devotion? appeared first on Cradio.

One major obstacle in your relationship with God could be your tendency to focus on your failures. Paul Elarde reflects in this edition of A Minute with Mary.

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When was the last time you spoke to your mother? OK, so when was the last time you spoke to your heavenly Mother? Do you realise that Mary knows and loves you even more than your earthly mother? Run to Her like a child runs to its mother and bring all your worries and miseries to Her. Ask Her to teach you how to love Her and Her Son, Jesus. Ask Her to obtain for you the grace so you can allow God to love you.

Sometimes we block God’s love because we focus too much on our failures and by doing so we keep God at arms distance. Ask Mary to obtain for you the grace to be able to focus on God’s love for you, not your failures. That way you will experience His mercy and learn to trust Him.

When a child is learning to walk the parent does not punish the child every time he falls over. No, the parent focuses on the child’s rising. They simply want the child to keep trying, only then will the child make any progress. In fact, a child can only learn to walk through falling. God loves us the same way. He is not interested in focusing on our failure but wants us to focus on His love and mercy. In fact, we only learn about His love and mercy through our falls. O Mary, teach us these truths so we can love You and Your Son more every day, even when we fall.

The post Learn Mercy Through Your Falls appeared first on Cradio.

Haven’t got time for prayer? Paul offers some words of advice in this edition of Minute with Mary.

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The importance of prayer can never be overstated. The crisis of Christianity today is a lack of prayer – even for those dedicated to God. We live in a fast-moving age and in a world where work and entertainment are among the top of our priorities. How often do we hear good people say, “I don’t have enough time for prayer?” Well I once heard of a great remedy for those who feel they have little time for prayer. The solution is this:

When you find you don’t have enough time for prayer, then pray only during those times you would normally eat your meals. Then afterwards, it will be very easy to find the time to eat!

So the reality is that we do have enough time for those things which have a priority in our hearts. Where is your heart? If there is not enough time in your life for prayer, then can I politely suggest to you that your heart is attached to false things? We get attached to our own inner compulsions that we justify, are somehow more important. But the irony is that these activities never satisfy the deepest yearnings of our heart. Only through prayer will you be able to satisfy the hunger in your heart! The challenge is for us to stop living a lie and start living the truth – a relationship with Jesus and Mary is indeed the truth about a meaningful and productive life!

The post The Truth About Prayer & Priorities appeared first on Cradio.

“To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth, that is not living, but merely existing.”  – Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati

In this edition of Minute with Mary, Paul shares about one of his favourite people, the youthful practical joker Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.

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The young Italian, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died in 1925 at just 24, is a great model and inspiration for all people. Pier Giorgio was a practical joker; he loved people and was a natural leader. He was very athletic and he especially loved to climb the mountains. But he was also a great evangeliser, continually witnessing his faith through love of God and love of neighbour. He had a deep and active prayer life that was a springboard for his joy-filled life.

When asked regarding certain slum houses of the poor he visited, ‘how do you overcome your revulsion at the nauseating smell?’ Pier Giorgio replied,

‘Don’t ever forget that even though the house is sordid, you are approaching Christ. Remember what the Lord said; the good you do to the poor is good done to me’. He went on to say, ‘All around the sick, the poor, the unfortunate, I see a particular light, a light that we do not have.’

Pier Giorgio’s best friend Marco said:

I would not hesitate to say that the secret of Pier Giorgio’s spiritual perfection is to be found in his devotion to Mary. …A day never passed that did not find him at the feet of his heavenly Mother with his rosary, his favourite prayer, entwined in his fingers.

My personal favourite quote of Pier Giorgio is this:

To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth, that is not living, but merely existing.

Pier Giorgio’s incorrupt body now lies in the cathedral of Turin, Italy.

The post An Inspiring Young Witness: Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati appeared first on Cradio.

“Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”  – Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI

In this edition of Minute with Mary, Paul looks at the significance of devotion to the hearts of Jesus and Mary, and our call to personal relationship with them.

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When God gave us the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, He did so because the Christian life is about a living, personal relationship with Jesus and Mary. It’s not a head trip. Pope Benedict XVI once said:

God made our hearts yearn; it can only be satisfied by Him! How foolish and time wasting it is for us to seek satisfaction in the things of the world. How tragic it is that some people waste their whole lives on the trivial and miss the meaning of life! Scripture tells us that in the end, we will be judged not on our success, but on how much love is in our hearts. By tapping into the source of love – the Hearts of Jesus and Mary – we bring truth and lasting happiness into our lives. Sadly, most of us wait until our material world crashes into pieces before we seek a deeper meaning to life. God has structured life so that it continually calls us to truth. God calls us to have devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary – the ‘Two Hearts’ as it is sometimes referred to – it’s not the two minds! Jesus and Mary will lead us to the way, the truth and the life – eternal life!

The post Why a Devotion to the ‘Two Hearts’? appeared first on Cradio.

Paul continues his reflections on the angels by sharing the thoughts of Christian angelic commentators on the fall of Lucifer and the elevation of St Michael.

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The post St Michael the Archangel: Who is Like God? appeared first on Cradio.

There are many common misunderstandings about what angels are and how they came to be. Paul provides the basics on the existence of angels, as well as the role of Mary as their queen, in this two-minute reflection.

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The post What Are Angels? appeared first on Cradio.

Christ is very strong in asking us to forgive those who hurt us – but this is easier said than done. In this two minute reflection Paul provides some advice on how to forgive.

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The post Forgiveness is Not a Feeling appeared first on Cradio.