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Jesus' Favorites : Excerpt from Devotion for the Dying by Venerable Mary Potter

10/31/2011

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They are His favorites who thus treat Him, for Jesus has His favorites, and these are they who lovingly trust Him, who treat with Him confidently, boldly, but-----from their very love and close intercourse with Him-----so reverently.

   Love is ever reverent; true love cannot exist without reverence; and the deeper the love, the more intense the reverence. Love is likewise bold; and the more we love God, the bolder we should become with Him, and the greater favors may we ask from Him. Speak to Almighty God earnestly, boldly telling Him that you have paid Him more than you owe Him for yourself, that there is that which is indefinitely over and above the debt you owed-----will He give it to those who are in such dreadful need? Yes! We may well speak confidently to God, since in offering the Precious Blood, we have more than paid the debt of our own sins; in one sense we indeed owe God nothing-----Jesus has more than paid for us-----we offer Jesus in satisfaction for our sins; we offer the Eternal Father Infinite satisfaction for finite sin. Ah, then, let us plead with the good God Who so loves the bold prayer, Who so loves the charity that prompts it. Ah, what will not charity do? What can it not do? Let us fill our hearts full of that dear, dear virtue.

Excerpt from Devotion for the Dying by Venerable Mary Potter
Tan Books pg 8
First published 1880

Let us with bold confidence bring our paralytics to Jesus for their healing, conversion, and salvation and thus become Jesus' favorites.  Bold confidence in His Love and Mercy.

In Christ,
Big Brother#2

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Saint Michael Saves a Marine: Excerpt from Opus Sanctum Angelorum Website

10/30/2011

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Picture
St. Michael to the Rescue

What follows is a copy of a letter written by a young Marine to his mother while recovering from a wound suffered on a Korean battlefield in 1950. The Navy Chaplain Father W. Muldy, who had talked to the boy, his mother, and to the Sergeant in charge of the patrol, vouched for the veracity of the story.

Dear Mom,  I wouldn’t dare write this letter to anyone but you, because no one else would believe it. Maybe even you will find it hard, but I have got to tell somebody.

First off, I’m in a hospital. Now don’t worry, you hear me? Don’t worry! I was wounded, but I am okay. The doctor says that I will be up and around in a month. But that’s not what I want to tell you.

Remember when I joined the Marines last year? When I left, you told me to say a prayer to St. Michael every day. You really didn’t have to tell me that...ever since I can remember, you always told me to pray to St. Michael the Archangel. You even named me after him. Well, I always have! But when I got to Korea I prayed even harder.

Remember the prayer that you taught me?..."Michael, Michael of the morning, Fresh corps of Heaven adorning..." You know the rest of it. Well, I said it every day...sometimes when I was marching or sometimes resting. But always before I went to sleep. I even got some of the other fellas to say it.

Well, one day I was with an advance detail way up on the front lines. We were scouting for the Commies. I was plodding along in the bitter cold...my breath was like cigar smoke.

I thought I knew every guy in the patrol, when alongside of me comes another Marine I never met before. He was bigger than any other Marine I’d ever seen. He must have been 6’4" and built in proportion! It gave me a feeling of security to have such a body nearby.

Anyway, there we were, trudging along. The rest of the patrol spread out. Just to start a conversation, I said, "Cold, ain’t it?" And then I laughed! Here I was, with a good chance of getting killed any minute, and I’m talking about the weather!

My companion seemed to understand. I heard him laugh softly. I looked at him, "I have never seen you before. I thought I knew every man in the outfit."

"I just joined at the last minute," he replied. "The name is Michael."

"Is that so?" I said surprised. "That’s MY name, too!"

"I know," he said...and then went on..."Michael, Michael, of the morning..."

I was too amazed to say anything for a minute. How did he know my name, and a prayer that YOU had taught me? Then I smiled to myself: Every guy in the outfit knew about me! Hadn’t I taught the prayer to anybody who would listen? Why, now and then, they even referred to me as "St. Michael"!

Neither of us spoke for a time, and then he broke the silence. "We are going to have some trouble up ahead."

He must have been in fine physical shape, for he was breathing so lightly that I couldn’t see his breath. Mine poured out in great clouds! There was no smile on his face now. Trouble ahead, I thought to myself...well, with the Commies all around us, THAT is no great revelation!

Snow began to fall in great thick globs. In a brief moment, the whole countryside was blotted out. And I was marching in a white fog of wet, sticky particles. My companion disappeared.

"Michael!" I shouted in sudden alarm. I felt his hand on my arm, his voice rich and strong. "This will stop shortly."

His prophecy proved to be correct. In a few minutes, the snow stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The sun was a hard, shining disc. I looked back for the rest of the patrol. There was no one in sight. We lost them in that heavy fall of snow. I looked ahead as we came over a little rise.

Mom, my heart just stopped! There were seven of them! Seven Commies in their padded pants and jackets and their funny hats. Only, there wasn’t anything funny about them now. Seven rifles were aimed at us!

"Down, Michael!" I screamed, and hit the frozen earth. I heard those rifles fire almost as one. I heard the bullets. There was Michael...still standing!

Mom, those guys COULDN’T have missed...not at that range! I expected to see him literally blown to bits! But, there he stood...making no effort to fire himself! He was paralyzed with fear ...It happens sometimes, Mom, even to the bravest. He was like a bird fascinated by a snake!

At least, that was what I thought THEN! I jumped up to pull him down, and that was when I got hit. I felt a sudden flame in my chest. I often wondered what it felt like to be hit...now I know!

I remember feeling strong arms about me, arms that laid me ever so gently on a pillow of snow. I opened my eyes, for one last look. I was dying! Maybe I was even dead. I remember thinking, "Well, this is not so bad."

Maybe I was looking into the sun. Maybe I was in shock. But it seemed I saw Michael standing erect again...only this time his face was shining with a terrible splendor! He seemed to change as I watched him. He grew bigger, his arms stretched out wide. Maybe it was the snow falling again, but there was a brightness around him like the wings of an Angel! In his hand was a sword...a sword that flashed with a million lights!

Well...that is the last thing I remember until the rest of the fellas came up and found me. I don’t know how much time had passed. Now and then, I had but a moment’s rest from the pain and fever. I remember telling them of the enemy just ahead.

"Where’s Michael?" I asked. I saw them look at one another. "Where’s who?" asked one. "Michael...Michael...that big Marine I was walking with just before the snow squall hit us."

"Kid," said the sergeant, "You weren’t walking with anyone. I had my eyes on you the whole time. You were getting too far out! I was just going to call you in when you disappeared in the snow."

He looked at me curiously. "How did you do it, kid?" "How’d I do WHAT?" I asked...half-angry, despite my wound. "This Marine named Michael and I were just..."

"Son," said the sergeant kindly, "I picked this outfit myself, and there just ain’t another Michael in it! You are the only Michael in it!"He paused for a minute. "Just how did you do it, kid? We heard shots, but there hasn’t been a shot fired from YOUR rifle...and there isn’t a BIT of lead in them seven bodies over the hill there."

I didn’t say anything. What COULD I say? I could only look open-mouthed with amazement. It was then the sergeant spoke again.
"Kid," he said gently... "Every one of those seven Commies was killed by a sword stroke!"

That is all I can tell you, Mom. As I say...it may have been the sun in my eyes...it may have been the cold or the pain. But that is what happened!

Love, Michael

Excerpt from http://www.opusangelorum.org/English/Guardian.html

Saint Michael the Archangel
Defend us in Battle be are protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil, May God rebuke him we humbly pray and do thou Prince of the Heavenly host thrust into hell satan and all the eveil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.  Amen

Share this with anyone who needs protection from God's greatest Angel,
Saint Michael
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Who Knows the Depths of God's Mercy?: Conversions at the Last Moments: Extract from Purgatory Explained by Fr. Schouppe SJ.

10/29/2011

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For whom are we to Pray ? Great Sinners

Father Ravignan, an illustrious and holy preacher of the
Society of Jesus, also cherished great hope for the welfare
of sinners carried away by a sudden death, when othenvise
they had borne no hatred in the heart for the things of God.

He lived to speak of the supreme moment, and it seems
to have been his opinion that many sinners are converted
in their last moments, and are reconciled to God without
being able to give any exterior sign thereof. In certain
deaths there are mysteries of Mercy where the eye of man
sees nothing but strokes of Justice. As a last glimmer of
light, God sometimes reveals Himself to those souls whose
greatest misfortune has been to ignore Him ; and the last
sigh, understood by Him who penetrates hearts, may be a
groan that calls for pardon ; that is to say, an act of perfect
contrition. General Exelmans, a relative of this good father,
was suddenly carried to the tomb by an accident,
and unfortunately he had not been faithful in the practice
of his religion. He had promised that he would one day
make his confession, but had not had the opportunity to
do so. Father Ravignan, who for a long time had prayed
and procured prayers for him
,
was filled with consternation
when he heard of such a death. The same day, a person
accustomed to receive supernatural communications thought
he heard an interior voice, which said to him, " Who then
knows the extent of God's mercy ? Who knows the depth
of the ocean, or how much water is contained therein ?
Much will be forgiven to those who have sinned through
ignorance." 

The biographer from whom we borrow this incident,
Father de Ponlevoy, goes on to say, "Christians, placed
under the law of Hope no less than under the law of Faith
and Charity, we must continually lift ourselves up from the
depths of our sufferings to the thought of the infinite good-
ness of God. No limit to the grace of God is placed here
below; while there remains a spark of life there is nothing
which it cannot effect in the soul. Therefore we must ever
hope and petition God with humble persistency.
We know
not to what a degree we may be heard. Great saints and
doctors have gone to great lengths in extolling the powerful
efficacy of prayer for the dear departed, how unhappy soever
their end may have been. We shall one day know the
unspeakable marvels of Divine Mercy. We should never
cease to implore it with the greatest confidence." 
 
The following is an incident which our readers may have
seen in the Petit Afessager du Cceur de Marie, November
1880. A Religious, preaching a mission to the ladies at
Nancy, had reminded them in a conference that we must
never despair of the salvation of a soul, and that sometimes actions of the least importance in the eyes of man are rewarded by God at the hour of death.
When he was about to leave the church, a lady dressed in mourning approached him and said, " Father, you just recommended to us confidence and hope ; what has just happened to me fully justifies your words. I had a husband who was most
kind and affectionate, and who, although otherwise leading
an irreproachable life, entirely neglected the practice of his
religion. My prayers and exhortations remained without
effect. During the month of May which preceded his death,
I had erected in my room, as I was accustomed to do, a
little altar of the Blessed Virgin, and decorated it with
flowers, which I renewed from time to time. My husband
passed the Sunday in the country, and each time he re-
turned he brought me some flowers, which he himself had
plucked, and with these I used to adorn my oratory. Did
he notice this? Did he do this to give me pleasure, or
was it through a sentiment of piety towards the Blessed
Virgin? I know not, but he never failed to bring me
the flowers. 
 
" In the beginning of the following month he died sud-
denly, without having had time to receive the consolations
of religion. I was inconsolable, especially as I saw all my
hopes of his return to God vanish. In consequence of my
grief, my health became completely shattered, and my family
urged me to make a tour in the south. As I had to pass
through Lyons, I desired to see the Cure' d'Ars. I there-
fore wrote to him asking an audience, and recommending
to his prayers my husband, who had died suddenly. I
gave him no further details. 
 
"Arrived at Ars, scarcely had I entered the venerable
Cure's room than, to my great astonishment, he addressed me
in these words : ' Madame, you are disconsolate ; but have
you forgotten those bouquets of flowers which were brought
to you each Sunday of the month of May ? ' It is impos-
sible to express my astonishment on hearing M. Vianney
remind me of a circumstance that I had not mentioned to
any one, and which he could know only by revelation. 
He continued, 'God has had mercy on him who honoured
His Holy Mother.
At the moment of his death your hus-
band repented ; his soul is in Purgatory ; our prayers and
good works will obtain his deliverance.' "

Extract from Purgatory Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints, by Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.j.
Tan Books 1986, Pgs 272-275



WE MUST NEVER CEASE TO PRAY FOR THE HEALING, CONVERSION, AND SALVATION OF ALL, ESPECIALLY GREAT SINNERS. 
                
WE SHALL ONE DAY KNOW THE UNSPEAKABLE MARVELS OF DIVINE MERCY.  WE SHOULD NEVER CEASE TO IMPLORE  IT WITH THE GREATEST CONFIDENCE.

IN CHRIST,
BIG BROTHER#2
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Do You Value Grace? Excerpt from Devotion for the Dying by Venerable Mary Potter

10/28/2011

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How sad it is, Dear Reader, whoever you may be now reading what I write. Think: do you value grace? Do you believe that gold and silver and precious stones are but dirt in comparison with what may be termed a little grace, though indeed all grace is great? You do know it well enough; you fully believe it. Then, bring that faith into practice. Look at your past life. You have perhaps had to move from one place to another. Was your first thought to look to the spiritual advantages you might gain by your change of residence, daily Mass and the rest? You may have many a time taken a holiday in the country; did you previously ascertain whether there was a church in the place, or perhaps have you not known there was not one and yet determined to spend your holiday in one place you fancied more than another, though there was no Blessed Sacrament there, no daily Sacrifice of the Mass, no opportunity of receiving the Sacraments?      Think of it, Dear Reader. Look through your life, your daily life, as well as long years back, and see if you are the least bit as anxious to obtain spiritual riches as to obtain worldly goods. Do you not allow any little matter to interfere, for instance, with a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, God put aside for your own comfort! How sad it is! I have said it in another work, [The Path of Mary] but I must say it again: Souls are being lost daily, hourly, momentarily; with every breath we draw, a soul has drawn the last breath in this world of mercy and has entered another region, a region where the Divine Justice is exercised with a severity we shrink back from contemplating; and if we could ask each miserable soul that has already commenced its eternity of woe why it was lost, what, if it answered truly, must be its answer? It had neglected grace. I beg, I entreat all who read this, think of what I say. Do you value the salvation of your soul? Then value grace. Do you care for the souls of others-----your children, relations, those around you whom you love, or those unknown to you, but whom you love because Jesus loves them and died to save them? Do you care to assist with Him in saving them? Then you must value grace. Do you care, with Jesus, to glorify your Father Who is in Heaven? You must value grace.

   These are three motives. You may look at them separately and influence yourself by whichever has most weight with you. You may say to yourself, "For my own good, I will get all the grace I can;" or "for my neighbor's good I will strive not to lose graces that so many poor souls are in such great need of." Or you may say, "For God's good, to glorify Him, that His wonderful mercy may be shown upon this sinful world, I will treasure, I will esteem His graces, as it is His wish I should." Take these three motives separately, if you will, though they are but one in reality, and see if they will not induce you to make a strong resolution for the remainder of your life, to look at grace in a different light, to realize that it is an entity, a real thing, far more real, far more valuable than the greatest treasure this world could give us.

Excerpt for Devotion for the Dying
by Venerable Mary Potter
Tan Books pgs 83-85
First Published 1880


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Exercising Patience : Extract from The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus Liguori

10/27/2011

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THE PATIENCE THAT WE MUST EXERCISE IN COMPANY WITH JESUS CHRIST, IN ORDER TO OBTAIN ETERNAL SALVATION. 

 It is Necessary to suffer, and to suffer with Patience. 

 To speak of patience and suffering is a thing neither practiced nor understood by those who love the world. It is understood and practiced only by souls who love
the God. " O Lord," said St. John of the Cross to Jesus Christ, "I ask nothing of Thee but to suffer and to be despised for Thy sake." St. Teresa frequently exclaimed, " O my Jesus, I would either suffer or die." St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi was wont to say, "I would suffer and not die." Thus speak the saints who love God, because a soul can give no surer mark to God of love for him than voluntarily to suffer to please him. This is the great proof which Jesus Christ has given of his love to us. As God he loved us in creating us, in providing us so many blessings, in calling us to enjoy the same glory that he himself enjoys; but in nothing else has he more fully shown how much he loves us than in becoming man, and embracing a painful life, and a death full of pangs and ignominies, for love of us. And how shall we show our love for Jesus Christ ? By leading a life full of pleasures and earthly delights ?

Let us not think that God delights in our pains; the Lord is not of so cruel a nature as to be delighted to see us, his creatures, groan and suffer. He is a God of infinite goodness, who desires to see us fully content and happy, so that he is full of sweetness, affability, and compassion to all who come to him. But our unhappy condition, as sinners, and the gratitude we owe to the love of Jesus Christ, require that, for his love, we should renounce the delights of this earth, and embrace with affection the cross which he gives us to carry during this life, after him who goes before, bearing a cross far heavier than ours; and all this in order to bring us, after our death, to a blessed life, which will never end. God, then, has no desire to see us suffer, but, being himself infinite justice, he cannot leave our faults unpunished; so that, in order that they may be punished, and yet we may one day attain eternal happiness, he would have us purge away our sins with patience, and thus deserve to be eternally blessed. What can be more beautiful and sweet than this rule of divine Providence, that we see at once justice satisfied, and ourselves saved and happy ? 
 
All our hopes, then, we must derive from the merits of Jesus Christ, and from him we must hope for all aid to live holily, and save ourselves; and we cannot doubt that it is his desire to see us holy: This is the will of God, your sanctification: But true as this is, we must not neglect to do our part to satisfy God for the injuries we have done to him, and to attain with our good works to eternal life. This the Apostle expressed when he said, "I fill up that which is wanting of the Passion of Christ in my flesh." Was the Passion of Christ, then, not complete, not enough alone to save us? It was most complete in its value, and most sufficient to save all men ; nevertheless, in order that the merits of the Passion may be applied to us, says St. Teresa, we must do our part, and suffer with patience the crosses which God sends us, that we may be like our head, Jesus Christ, according to what the Apostle writes to the Romans: Whom He foreknew, them He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.   Still we must ever remember, as the Angelic Doctor warns us, that all the virtue of our good works, satisfactions, and penances, is communicated to them by the satisfaction of Jesus Christ: The satisfaction of man has its efficacy from the satisfaction of Christ} And thus we reply to the Protestants, who call our penances injurious to the Passion of Jesus Christ, as if it were not sufficient to satisfy for our sins. What we say is, that in order that we may be partakers in the merits of Jesus Christ, it is necessary that we labor to fulfil the divine precepts, even by doing violence to ourselves, in order that we may not yield to the temptations of hell. And this is what our Lord meant when he said, The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent seize upon it.* It is necessary, when occasions occur, that we do violence to ourselves by continence, by the mortification of our senses, that we may not be conquered by our enemies. And when we find ourselves guilty through the sins we have committed, we must do violence to God with our tears, says St. Ambrose, in order to obtain pardon. And then, to console us, the saint adds, " O blessed violence, which is not punished with the wrath of God, but is welcomed and rewarded with mercy !" " The more violent any man is with Christ, the more religious is he accounted by Christ. For we must first rule over ourselves by conquering our passions, that we may one day seize upon heaven, which our Saviour has merited for us. And therefore we must do violence to ourselves by suffering contradictions and persecutions, and by conquering the temptations and passions which, without violence, are never conquered. 

God teaches us that, in order not to lose our souls, we must be prepared to suffer the agonies of death, and to die; but, at the same time, he says that for him who is thus prepared he himself will fight, and will destroy his enemies. St. John saw before the throne of God a great multitude of saints clothed in white garments (because into heaven nothing defiled can enter), and he beheld that every one of them bore in his hand a palm, the token of martyrdom. What, then, are all the saints martyrs ? Yes, Lord, all grown-up persons who are saved must either be martyrs in blood or martyrs in patience, in conquering the assaults of hell and the inordinate desires of the flesh. Bodily pleasures send innumerable souls to hell, and, therefore, we must resolve with courage to despise them. Let us be assured that either the soul must tread the body under foot, or the body the soul.  
We must, then (I repeat), do ourselves violence in order to be saved. But this violence is such (it will be said by some one) that I cannot do it of myself, if God does not give it me through his grace. To such a one St. Ambrose says, "If you look to yourself, you can do nothing ; but if you trust in God, strength will be given you." But, in doing this, we must suffer, and it is impossible to avoid it; if we would enter into the glory of the Blessed, says the Scripture, we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. 2 Thus St. John, beholding the glory of the saints in heaven, heard a voice saying. These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their garments, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb* It is true that they all attained heaven by being washed in the blood of the Lamb, but they all went there after suffering great tribulation. 
 
Be assured, St. Paul wrote to his disciples, that God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able.  God has promised to give us sufficient help to conquer every temptation, if only we ask him. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find. ' He cannot, therefore, fail of his promise. It is a fatal error of the heretics to say that God commands things which it is impossible for us to observe. The Council of Trent says: God does not command impossible things; but when He commands, He bids us do what we can, and seek help for what we cannot do, and He will help us. St. Ephrem writes, " If men do not put upon their beasts a greater burden than they can bear, much less does God lay greater temptations upon men than they can endure." Thomas à Kempis writes, "The cross everywhere awaits thee; it is needful for thee everywhere to preserve patience, if thou wouldst have peace. If thou willingly bearest the cross, it will bear thee to thy desired end." In this world, we all of us go about seeking peace; and would find it without suffering; but this is not possible in our present state; we must suffer; the cross awaits us wherever we turn. How, then, can we find peace in the midst of these crosses? By patience, by embracing the cross, which presents itself to us. St. Teresa says "that he who drags the cross along with ill-will feels its weight, however small it is; but he who willingly embraces it, however great it is, does not feel it."  
The same Thomas à Kempis says, "Which of the saints is without a cross? The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and dost thou seek for pleasure Jesus, innocent, holy, and the Son of God, was willing to suffer through his whole life, and shall we go about seeking pleasures and comforts ? To give us an example of patience, he chose a life full of ignominies and pains within and without; and shall we wish to be saved without suffering, or to suffer without patience, which is a double suffering, and without fruit, and with increase of pain? How can we think to be lovers of Jesus Christ, if we will not suffer for love of him who has so much suffered for love of us? How can he glory in being a follower of the Crucified who refuses or receives with ill-will the fruits of the cross, which are sufferings, contempt, poverty, pains, infirmities, and all things that are contrary to our self-love?
Extract from The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ
Tan Books Pg 364-370

Lift High the Cross,
Onward to Heaven,
In Christ,
Big Brother#2

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The Brotherhood: Verses from the Bible

10/26/2011

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1 Machabees 12:10

Chose rather to send to you to renew the brotherhood and friendship, lest we should become strangers to you altogether: for there is a long time passed since you sent to us.

As Four Men brothers it is essential to stay in touch every once in a while to maintain the brotherhood(about once a month).  As a Big Brother don't forget to email or send a real letter or phone call if no email is available to keep the brotherhood, you will never regret it and the insights from the fellowship will help you stay the course. 

1 Machabees 12:17

And we have commanded them to go also to you, and to salute you, and to deliver you our letters, concerning the renewing of our brotherhood.

See they used letters to renew the brotherhood, now we have email but the principal remains, stay in touch, stay in the brotherhood of the Four Men.  Stay in the brotherhood of Jesus.

Romans 12:10

Loving one another with the charity of brotherhood, with honour preventing one another.

The charity which binds us to the One God, we honour each other in love and help us to stay the course.

1 Thessalonians 4:9

But as touching the charity of brotherhood, we have no need to write to you: for yourselves have learned of God to love one another.

The brotherhood is a brotherhood of Love.  Keep it so that we have no need to write to you.  Learn of God to love one another.

Hebrews 13:1

Let the charity of the brotherhood abide in you.

You get what you give, Give much love and you will receive much love.  Love will abide in you.

1 Peter 2:17

Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Of course, Love the brotherhood.

1 Peter 3:8

And in fine, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble:

Again

2 Peter 1:7

And in godliness, love of brotherhood; and in love of brotherhood, charity.

And Again, love the brotherhood.

To all my Four Men brothers, Love the brotherhood, God Bless you and Keep you,
Big Brother #2
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Conversion of Nazis; Excerpt of The Shadow of His Wings: The True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann OFM.

10/25/2011

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That was my first meeting with the Franciscan Missionary Sisters, and it was to mean much to me, for these good Sisters sympathized with our poverty and started a wave of assistance; soon autos came, loaded with good food and clothing and other articles.  This great and unexpected help from the “enemy”—for they were all French—this true love which the Sisters showed, was the best possible advertisement for our religion.  I was aware that many of the men who lined up to receive some of these precious gifts were there only for what they could get; but we asked no questions, simply giving to all no matter what their religion or philosophy of life; that, too, won many hearts.

More important than these material gifts was the fact that these Sisters prayed for the conversion of the prisoners.  Day and night they prayed before the Blessed Sacrament for the conversion of the Nazis, not only the Sisters in Midelt, but also those in another convent.  Soon we had a dozen convents in North Africa praying and making sacrifices for our camp.  In the face of such storming of heaven, many men lost all resistance, expelled the unbelief and paganism of the Nazi credo from their hearts, and accepted belief in God; after some months of prodding they came to confession and received their second First Holy Communion.

Extracted from: The Shadow of His Wings: True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann OFM by Ignatius Press

Another example of the power of prayer and sacrifice leading to the conversion of sinners.  This book is incredible and I recommend it Highly for every possible reason.  I see a movie being made some day but do not wait as the read will help you very much to Seek First the Kingdom of God.   
Keep up the great work,
In Christ,
Big Brother#2

The Shadow of His Wings: True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann OFM by Ignatius Press

Here is the astonishing true story of the harrowing experiences of a young German seminarian drafted into Hitler's dreaded SS at the onset of World War II. Without betraying his Christian ideals, against all odds, and in the face of Evil, Gereon Goldmann was able to complete his priestly training, be ordained, and secretly minister to German Catholic soldiers and innocent civilian victims caught up in the horrors of war. How it all came to pass will astound you.

Father Goldmann tells of his own incredible experiences of the trials of war, his many escapes from almost certain death, and the diabolical persecution that he and his fellow Catholic soldiers encountered on account of their faith. What emerges is an extraordinary witness to the workings of Divine Providence and the undying power of love, prayer, faith, and sacrifice. Illustrated

"An incredible and gripping account of survival by Divine Providence alone. This book proves again the insanity of war and the way that God is able to bring good out of evil if one has faith. This book gives you a lot to think about."
—Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, Author, Arise from Darkness

"The Shadow of His Wings is truly an amazing book. From the first line to the last, the reader will be captivated. This book is a must."
—Alice von Hildebrand, Author, By Love Refined

"This book shows the workings of grace in the most difficult of conditions. A fascinating, gripping true story of a clerical life we can hardly imagine."
—Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., Georgetown University

http://www.ignatius.com/Products/SHW-P/the-shadow-of-his-wings.aspx

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Light Ops: God's Special Forces

10/24/2011

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Black Ops: A popular video game involves the kiling of enemy forces.  Light Ops with the Four Men involves converting enemy forces through prayer and sacrifice.  The choice of a spiritual paralytic involves choosing someone who currently is far from God and bringing him to Jesus.  The devil is losing one spiritual paralytic at a time someone who he was counting on to populate hell.  We are storming the gates of hell and taking out our spiritual paralytics one at a time into the Kingdom of Light.  The ultimate Light Ops.  Salvation of Souls.

Keep up the great work,
In Christ,
Big Brother #2   
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The Four Immortal Chaplains

10/22/2011

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The Story of the Four Immortal Chaplains

USS (USAT) Dorchester

A convoy of three ships and three escorting Coast Guard cutters passed through "torpedo alley" some 100 miles off the coast of Greenland at about 1 a.m. on February 3, 1943. The submarine U-223 fired three torpedoes, one of which hit the midsection of the Dorchester, a U.S. Army troopship with more than 900 men on board. Ammonia and oil were everywhere in the fast-sinking vessel and upon the freezing sea. 

The four Chaplains on board, two Protestant pastors, a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi, were among the first on deck, calming the men and handing out life jackets. When they ran out, they took off their own and placed them on waiting soldiers without regard to faith or race. Approximately 18 minutes from the explosion, the ship went down. They were the last to be seen by witnesses; they were standing arm-in-arm on the hull of the ship, each praying in his own way for the care of the men. Almost 700 died, making it the third largest loss at sea of its kind for the United States during World War II. The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa was able to escort the other freighters to Greenland. Meanwhile the cutters Comanche and Escanaba, disobeying orders to continue the seach for the German U-Boat, stopped to rescue 230 men from the frigid waters that night.

The four Chaplains were Father John Washington (Catholic), Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rabbi Alexander Goode (Jewish) and Rev. George Fox (Methodist). These four Chaplains were later honored by the Congress and Presidents. They were recognized for their selfless acts of courage, compassion and faith. According to the First Sergeant on the ship, "They were always together, they carried their faith together."  They demonstrated throughout the voyage and in their last moments, interfaith compassion in their relationship with the men and with each other. In 1960 Congress created a special Congressional Medal of Valor, never to be repeated again, and gave it to the next of kin of the "Immortal Chaplains."

Excerpted from the Immortal Chaplains Foundation website:
http://www.immortalchaplains.org/Story/story.htm

A Story of Four Men, find out what your immortal Four men can do, 
Praise Jesus,
Big Brother #2
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THE POWER OF FOUR

10/21/2011

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Tom Hanks' Four Percent Solution

From his remarkable speech at Vassar College

Posted by Marion Owen, Fearless Weeder for PlanTea, Inc. and

Co-author of Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul

How many cars would you have to take away from California's crowded roadway to rid them of gridlock? A computer similation supplied the answer: four percent, or four out of a hundred. The study provided inspiration for actor Tom Hanks in a remarkable speech at Vassar College's graduation ceremony on May 22, 2005.

Here is Tom Hanks' speech. Read it. Print it out. Pass it on. Share it with others...

THE POWER OF FOUR

by Tom Hanks

Not long ago I was reading about the problem of gridlock on the freeways of Southern California--the traffic jams which cripple the city, stranding millions and laying waste to time, energy, and the environment. Gridlock is as serious and as impenetrable a problem as any we face, a dilemma without cure, without solution, like everything else in the world, it seems.

Some smart folks concocted a computer simulation of gridlock to determine how many cars should be taken off the road to turn a completely jammed and stilled highway into a free-flowing one. How many cars must be removed from that commute until a twenty-mile drive takes twenty-five minutes instead of two hours? The results were startling.

Four cars needed to be removed from that virtually stuck highway to free up that simulated commute... four cars out of each one hundred. Four cars per one hundred cars, four autos out of every one hundred autos, forty cars from each thousand, four hundred out of ten thousand. Four cars out of one hundred are not that many. Two cars out of every fifty--one driver out of twenty-five drivers.

Now, if this simulation is correct, it is the most dramatic definition in earthly science and human nature of how a simple choice will make a jaw-dropping difference to our world. Call it the Power of Four. One commuter in your neighborhood could put the rush back into rush hour. So, if merely four people out of a hundred can make gridlock go away by choosing not to use their car, imagine the other changes that can be wrought just by four of us--four of you--out of a hundred.

Take a hundred musicians in a depressed port city in Northern England, choose John, Paul, George, and Ringo and you have "Hey Jude". Take a hundred computer geeks in Redmond, Washington, send 96 of them home and the remainder is called Microsoft.

Take the Power of Four and apply it to any and every area of your concern. Politics: Four votes swung from one hundred into another hundred is the difference between gaining control and losing clout. Culture: 2 ticket buyers out of fifty can make a small, odd film profitable. Economics: by boycotting a product 1 consumer out of 25 can move that product to the back of the shelf, and eventually off it altogether.

Four out of 100 is miniscule and yet can be the great lever of the Tipping Point. The Power of Four is the difference between helplessness and help. H-E-L-P: a four-letter word like some others with many meanings.

The graduating class of 2005 can claim, with perhaps more credibility than any other class in history, that during its four years of college the world went crazy. In the fall of 2001, our planet earth and the United States of America were different sorts of places--in tone, in tolerance, in peace and war, in ideas and in ideals--than they are on this spring day in 2005. These past years have been extraordinary in the express rate of change, well beyond the usual standards of culture, well above the personal watermarks you have stamped as college students. As college graduates, you now live in a brand new world, with new versions of political upheaval, global pandemic, world war and religious polarization, the likes of which have rarely visited our planet all at once--and thank God for that.

Today's main purpose is to celebrate your entering into society, but the fact is you have all been very much steeped in it already- Poughkeepsie being the proxy and microcosm of the whole wide world. None of you were untouched by the events in September of your freshman year, none unaffected by the ideological movements of local and geo-politics since. All of you have been staring your individual fate and our collective future right in the eye for the last four years. The common stereotype would have you today, cap in the air, parchment in hand, asking yourself "what do I do now?" You, the class of 2005, have already had many, many moments during your time at Vassar when you asked yourself that question. You might have added the word 'Hell', or some such four-letter word to the phrase: "What the HELL do I do now?" In which case, today might not be all that different from other days on campus-- except your parents are here and they might take you out for better food.

On Commencement Day, speechmakers are expected to offer advice--as though you need any, as though anything said today could aid your making sense of our one-damn-thing-after-another world. Things are too confused, too loud, and too dangerous to make 'advice' an option. You need to hear something much more relevant on this day. You need to hear the most important message thus far in the third millennium. You need to hear a maxim so simple, so clear and evocative that no one could misconstrue its meaning or miss its weighty issue.

So, here goes. It's not a statement, but a request. Not a bit of advice, but a plea. It is, in fact, a single four-letter word, a verb and a noun which takes into account the reality of your four years at Vassar as well as the demands of the next four decades you spend beyond this campus.

It's a message, once made familiar by the Beatles--those Northern English lads who embodied The Power of Four.

Help. HELP. HEEEELLLLLLPP!

We need help. Your help. You must help. Please help. Please provide Help. Please be willing to help. Help... and you will make a huge impact in the life of the street, the town, the country, and our planet. If only one out of four of each one hundred of you choose to help on any given day, in any given cause-- incredible things will happen in the world you live in.

Help publicly. Help privately. Help in your actions by recycling and conserving and protecting, but help also in your attitude. Help make sense where sense has gone missing. Help bring reason and respect to discourse and debate. Help science to solve and faith to soothe. Help law bring justice, until justice is commonplace. Help and you will abolish apathy-- the void that is so quickly filled by ignorance and evil.

Life outside of college is just like life in it: one nutty thing after another, some of them horrible, but all interspersed with enough beauty and goodness to keep you going. That's your job, to keep going. Your duty is to help-- without ceasing. The art you create can glorify it. The science you pursue can prove its value. The law you practice can pass on its benefits. The faith you embrace will make it the earthly manifestation of your God.

Here at Vassar whatever your discipline, whatever your passion you have already experienced the exhausting reality that there is always something going on and there is always something to do. And most assuredly you have sensed how effective and empowering it can be when more than four out of one hundred make the same choice to help.

You will always be able to help.

So do it. Make peace where it is precious. Help plant trees. Help embrace diversity and celebrate differences. Help stop gridlock.

In other words, help solve every problem we face - every single one of them--with the Power of Four out of a hundred. Help and we will save the world. If we don't help--it won't get done.

Congratulations. Good luck. Thank you.

From To Hanks speech at Vassar College 2005
http://www.plantea.com/Tom-Hanks.htm

Start your own Four Men prayer group and realize the POWER OF FOUR,
Keep up the Great Work,
In Christ,
Big Brother #2
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    The Founder Brian Kiczek(The Rosary Doctor) is a dedicated Catholic who is working to Seek First the Kingdom  God in all that he does.  He started the second Four Men Prayer Group on September 15th, 2004 on Our Lady of Sorrows Feast Day.  Since then he continues to strive to Bring Souls to Jesus especially through the Four Men Prayer Groups.

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