July 2021 Diocese of Calgary 15206 Township Road 262 ▪ Calgary, AB, T3P-1A7 ▪ (587)755-1019 ▪ [email protected] www.sistersofdivinemercy.org The Divine Mercy Centre opens its doors to those seeking rest and a deeper relationship with the Lord. If you have any questions or would like to visit us at your convenient time, please feel free to contact the Sisters of Divine Mercy. DIRECTION TO THE DIVINE MERCY CENTRE: From Highway 2: Take exit 275 (West Balzac), go West on (Highway 566) for about 7 minutes, pass Panorama Rd, pass Sunset Ridge Dr, turn right at the Divine Mercy Centre sign FROM STONEY TRAIL: Take exit Symons Valley Rd, go north pass Symons Valley Ranch burnt Market, turn right on Mountain View Rd, go straight to Stop sign and turn right, Divine Mercy Centre will be on your left. “There is not a single soul in whom Christ is not interested. Each soul has cost Him the price of His Blood.” -St. Josemaria Ecriva DIVINE MERCY CENTRE - JULY 2021 HOLY FATHER’S INTENTIONS OF THE MONTH HOW ST. PADRE PIO RESPONDED WHEN THE VATICAN SILENCED HIM Social Friendship: We pray that, in social, economic and political St. Padre Pio was banned from celebrating Mass publicly situations of conflict, we may be courageous and or even giving spiritual direction to his followers. passionate architects of dialogue and friendship. Many were skeptical of Padre Pio’s miraculous stigmata and all the attention he was getting from the thousands of THE SANCTUARY CANDLE: The candle next to the pilgrims who flocked to his monastery. Some in the Vatican Blessed Sacrament at the Divine Mercy Centre burns worried that Padre Pio’s fame was based on a lie and that peo- ple were following a false prophet. They launched multiple this month for: investigations and even planted secret listening devices to hear Needed Graces and Special Blessings his conversations. There were a few among the hierarchy who upon Lauralee Sopczak were bent on catching Padre Pio, and who insisted that he was fooling everyone and leading a double life. This culminated in To reserve any one of these candles, an effort to move the beloved friar to a different monastery please contact Sr. Katrina at (587)755-1019 and to forbid him from acting as a priest in a public manner. or email: [email protected] Furious mob comes to his defense: The local people were furious when they heard he was The vigil candles by the Blessed Virgin to be moved. According to the biography Padre Pio: The True Mary and St. Joseph are lit this month: Story published by Our Sunday Visitor, “Around 10:00 p.m., a furious mob descended upon the friary.” They barred the door In Loving Memory of from a priest they believed would take Padre Pio away. The Antonio and Tomiko Gueco crowd didn’t leave until Padre Pio spoke to them, saying, “My blessed children … Now I implore you to listen to me, as you always do, and return to your homes without harming DIVINE MERCY CENTRE WISH LIST anyone.” This made it clear to Church officials that Padre Pio could not be moved peacefully. Instead, the Vatican decided 1) Paper Towel & Toilet Paper to restrict his faculties, removing him from public life. 2) Cases of bottle water ‘Padre Pio is to be stripped of all the faculties of his priestly The month of July is dedicated to the Precious ministry except the faculty to celebrate the Holy Mass, which Blood of Our Lord. Like the Sacred Wounds of Jesus, His he may continue to do, provided that it is done in private, Precious Blood deserves special honor because of its close within the walls of the friary, in the inner chapel, and not relation to the Sacred Passion. That honor was given to it publicly in church.’ from the beginning by the Apostles who praised its redeem- ing power. (Rom 5:9 “We are justified by His Blood”; Heb. It was a difficult cross for him to bear, but he obeyed and 13:12 “and so Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people submitted to the decree. The superior of the monastery read to by His blood, suffered outside the gate”; 1John 1:7 “and the Padre Pio the decree and the saintly friar responded, “God’s blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”) will be done … The will of the superiors is the will of God.” When Pope Pius IX was in exile from Rome in Padre Pio would spend the next several years in silence, cele- 1849, he has as his companion Don Giovanni Merlini. This brating Mass privately and accepting no visitors. He couldn’t even write to his spiritual children. saintly priest suggested to the pope that he make a vow to give the feast of the Precious Blook to the entire church, if Humble and obedient son: he should regain the papa territory. Without binding himself During this time many came to Padre Pio’s defense, by the vow, the pope immediately extended the feast to the submitting petitions, writing letters and even publishing whole church. books. Padre Pio was appalled by this response and urged On August 10, 1849 he made it official and them to stop, writing to the local bishop to assert his proclaimed that the 1st Sunday in July will be dedicated to dissociation with them. the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Later, Pope Pius X ‘ I must repeat that I am very disgusted by the unworthy assigned July 1 as the fixed date of this celebration. behavior of certain false prophets who speak in my behalf … After Vatican II the feast was removed from the they should stop this false and unworthy propaganda, but calendar, but a votive Mass in honor of the Precious Blood meanwhile they have followed in their morbid fanaticism, not was established and can be celebrated in the month of July caring about the supreme authority of the church. I turn, (as well as most other months of the year). therefore, as a son most humble and completely obedient to the Catholic Church … With profound humility I kiss your Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul sacred ring and profess myself to your excellency your most and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, humble and obedient son.’ Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins Above all, even though the accusations put against and those of the whole world. him proved false (and he would eventually be allowed to “Here is a rule for everyday life: minister without restrictions), Padre Pio submitted to the Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God.” decree and remained silent, trusting in God’s provident plan. -St. John Vianney -www.aleteia.org Ask Mary to untangle the knots, away our peace and serenity. They are dangerous, since many and help you trust in God’s mercy knots can form a tangle which gets more and more painful and By Woodeene Koenig-Bricke, wau.org difficult to undo. But we know one thing: nothing is impossi- A Knotty Marriage: ble for God’s mercy! Even the most tangled knots are loosened The portrayal of Our Lady as Undoer by his grace. And Mary, whose yes opened the door for God to of Knots has only recently become well undo the knot of the ancient disobedience, is the Mother who known, but its origin dates back more patiently and lovingly brings us to God, so that he can untangle the knots of our soul by his fatherly mercy. than four hundred years. Unlike devotions that are rooted in Marian The Knot in My Life: apparitions such as Lourdes and Fatima, this one springs out of What are these “knots of our soul”? Knots of financial stress, Mary’s intercession in a troubled marriage. It happened in wayward children, addiction, illness, depression, divorce, in- September 1615, when a German nobleman, Wolfgang Langen- fertility, unemployment. Most of us are dealing with at mantel, and his wife, Sophie, were experiencing serious marital least one large knot. Not all of them are the result of our own problems. In a last-ditch effort to avoid divorce, Wolfgang sought sin. Some are simply the painful situations that come from liv- counsel from Fr. Jakob Rem, a Jesuit priest who was known for ing in a fallen world. Whatever their cause, the knots can be- his devotion to Mary. Fr. Rem encouraged Wolfgang to bring his come so entangled that we fall into a sort of despair that they marital issues to Our Lady. will ever be undone. I know I have. One aspect of my life—my The two men prayed together four times over a period of finances—became so knotted that I had just about given up on twenty-eight days, and at their last meeting, Wolfgang gave trying to untangle it. Fr. Rem his wedding ribbon. (As was customary at the time, the The knot began when I left my job to take care of my bride and groom were tied together with a ribbon during the mother in her last year of life—a year that extended to five. marriage ceremony, a symbol of their new unity as a couple.) The situation became complicated by the theft of her invest- While they prayed, Fr. Rem held the ribbon up to a picture of Our ments in a Ponzi scheme that wasn’t revealed until the week of Lady of the Snows, offering her “the ties of matrimony” and her funeral.