MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My sister's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@missretroreads7948

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/v_x2P0oUIaw

This is the story of a marvelous miracle that took place a few days before Christmas of 1956 in Communist-occupied Hungary. The story comes to us through a Fr. Norbert, a parish priest in Budapest, who later fled to the West.

The excellent music in this episode is performed by The Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles. I used it with their permission. Visit their website to purchase this wonderful music: https://benedictinesofmary.org/product-category/music_cds/

Watch the livestream: https://youtube.com/live/_EGwQ...


"Perhaps it was my imagination (although I'm almost sure that it was not), but I had a feeling that nobody was really enjoying the game anymore. But everyone was too polite to mention it. All the same, I had the feeling that something was wrong. All the fun had gone out of the game. Something deep inside me was trying to warn me. 'Take care,' it whispered. 'Take care'. I tried to laugh at myself, but I did not succeed..."

Watch the livestream: https://youtube.com/live/_EGwQ...

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/a9mmQm44Uzk


The Story of the First Nativity Scene taken from “The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi” by Saint Bonaventure (Chapter X, Section 7).

“Now three years before his death it befell that he was minded, at the town of Greccio, to celebrate the memory of the Birth of the Child Jesus, with all the added solemnity that he might, for the kindling of devotion. That this might not seem an innovation, he sought and obtained license from the Supreme Pontiff, and then made ready a manger, and bade hay, together with an ox and an ass, be brought unto the spot. The Brethren were called together, the folk assembled, the wood echoed with their voices, and that august night was made radiant and solemn with many bright lights, and with tuneful and sonorous praises. The man of God, filled with tender love, stood before the manger, bathed in tears, and overflowing with joy. Solemn Masses were celebrated over the manger, Francis, the Levite of Christ, chanting the Holy Gospel. Then he preached unto the folk standing round of the Birth of the King in poverty, calling Him, when he wished to name Him, the Child of Bethlehem, by reason of his tender love for Him. A certain knight, valorous and true, Messer John of Greccio, who for the love of Christ had left the secular army, and was bound by closest friendship unto the man of God, declared that he beheld a little Child right fair to see sleeping in that manger. Who seemed to be awakened from sleep when the blessed Father Francis embraced Him in both arms. This vision of the devout knight is rendered worthy of belief, not alone through the holiness of him that beheld it, but is also confirmed by the truth that it set forth, and withal proven by the miracles that followed it. For the ensample of Francis, if meditated upon by the world, must needs stir up sluggish hearts unto the faith of Christ, and the hay that was kept back from the manger by the folk proved a marvellous remedy for sick beasts, and a prophylactic against divers other plagues, God magnifying by all means His servant, and making manifest by clear and miraculous portents the efficacy of his holy prayers.”


The excellent music in this episode is performed by The Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles. I used it with their permission. Visit their website to purchase this wonderful music: https://benedictinesofmary.org/product-category/music_cds/

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/So64iT9bYQI

In the heart of the French Revolution, a young Catholic resistance fighter faces his imminent demise. Condemned by the Republic, he has just six hours to live. But as the clock ticks down, a miraculous transformation unfolds. Join me for the true story of “The Christmas of a Chouan,” taken from “Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility” —no. 449 by G. Lenotre.

The excellent music in this episode is performed by The Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles. I used it with their permission. Visit their website to purchase this wonderful music: https://benedictinesofmary.org/product-category/music_cds/

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/xCnyX27UwF4

We’ve all heard the song "The 12 Days of Christmas," a delightful but apparently nonsensical rhyme set to music, but it’s a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts. From the year 1558 to 1829, Catholics in England were prohibited by law from the practice of their faith. The religion was officially illegal until Parliament finally enacted the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. Until then, it was a crime to be a Catholic and to be faithful to the Pope. Fr. Hal Stockert claimed that the 12 Days of Christmas was written as one of the catechetical songs to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith. It was a memory aid when to be caught with anything popish would not only get you imprisoned, but possibly hanged, shortened by a head, or even subjected to the awful ordeal of being hung, drawn and quartered. I'm not 100% sure where Fr. Stockert got his information and all of this is being hotly debated online, but in my research no one can definitively prove their argument one way or the other, so at the end of the day there’s no reason why we can't put a Catholic meaning to the song if we want to.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/C90YOuIPzZY

The common thread that runs through latter day prophecies seems to be the foretelling of a terrible chastisement of the world due to an unrepentant mankind and then the resurgence of the Church, and the conversion of the world. E.H. Thompson keenly pointed this out in his book, “Life of Anna Maria Taigi.” In Chapter 18, he wrote: "First they all point to some terrible convulsion, to a revolution springing from deep-rooted impiety, consisting in a formal opposition to God and His truth, and resulting in the most formidable persecution to which the Church has ever been subject. Secondly, they all promise for the Church a victory more splendid than she has ever achieved here below."

Here is Don Bosco's prophecy that I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGu8c9HjTao

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/sHRI77R6vSM

I had just gone to Confession at St. Mary’s Church in York, Pennsylvania when upon walking out into the vestibule, I saw a painting of a young, strong faced bishop with a cross hung around his neck. I learned his name from the plaque on the frame: “St. John Neumann, pray for us.” This painting reminded me of many others I’d seen in Churches all throughout the diocese and even across New York. My mind was plagued with questions about him.  What did he do? Why are there so many portraits of him in northern churches? Little did I know that he built 89 churches in the course of seven years and opened almost a hundred schools. The ground that I walked on was sanctified by his heroic sacrifice more than a hundred years ago. Upon further research, I found that his intransigent personality is best understood when you look at his early days as a missionary priest on the rough frontiers of 19th century America.  In this video you’ll hear of his apostolate at Niagara Falls and Buffalo where he cured a blind girl, shut down an immoral dance at a dangerous bar, publicly debated protestants in their own meeting house and was almost hanged by ruffians. 

These are the books that I used for my research:

“Life of the Right Rev. J.N. Neumann, C.SS.R.” by Johann Berger. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1884. 22. Print.

“Blessed John Neumann: Fourth Bishop of Philadelphia” by James 
Galvin. Baltimore: Helicon Press, Incorporated, 1964. 79. Print.

Creative Commons Attributions:
Ever Mindful Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/Zw-X5BRyZcs

The following stories about the many assassination attempts on Saint John Bosco’s life are taken from a book by Dr. Charles d'Espiney called, “Don Bosco - A Sketch of His Life and Miracles.”