(106) Review of the Visit of the Pilgrim Icon (image) of Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Marian Prayer Program of the Knights of Columbus at St. Louis Church Gallipolis December 11-16, 2012

AMDG

The Inauguration of the Marian Prayer Program at the National Convention August 2011

The Knights of Columbus is sending the Pilgrim Image to parishes all over the U.S. for a day or two in its 2011-2013 Marian Prayer Program as part of the New Evangelization.  Each of its 72 jurisdictions (each state, almost every province in Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Dominican Republic, Guam, and Puerto Rico) has a copy of the image to circulate an image.  This image touched the original image and the frame has some of the earth from where Mary appeared.  See http://www.kofc.org/un/en/service/church/marian/index.html.

    

REVIEW OF THE VISIT OF THE PILGRIM IMAGE OF GUADALUPE:

THE MARIAN PRAYER PROGRAM OF THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

St. Louis Church Gallipolis December 11-December 16, 2012

            Only eight weeks after receiving the statue of the International Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima, St. Louis Church Gallipolis, Ohio was especially privileged and blessed to receive the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from the Knights of Columbus on her great feast day, December 12.  

Very important was to prepare the people for the image on the two previous Sundays with announcements in the bulletin and from the pulpit.  To really appreciate the image, it is imperative to understand the history and meaning of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Thus Paul Sebastian, one of the knights of Council 3335, wrote two bulletin inserts (2 pages each) to help to prepare the people for the Pilgrim Image.  More detail and photos are included in two December blogs at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com.   

After hearing that a member of one council didn’t even know who the image was after the visit, we asked our pastor to briefly explain from the pulpit the importance of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a little of its history since many don’t read the church bulletin and don’t regularly attend Mass every Sunday.  We opened the viewing of the image to the public with a blurb in the local newspaper promised by the editor for five consecutive days and left the church opened through most of the weekend of December 14-16 in addition to the feast day itself on December 12.

The Knights of Columbus gave us no such information on the history and meaning of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe nor anything about what they were trying to accomplish with this wonderful initiative of their Marian Prayer Program.  Thus we found on www.kofc.org the letter of Carl A. Anderson, the Supreme Knight on the “Mother of the Civilization of Love” (See http://www.kofc.org/un/en/resources/service/church/olog_letter.pdf) and read it to the membership at the Council meeting the day before the arrival.  Furthermore, we put notices in the bulletin and send out e-mails to as many parishioners and knights as possible.  We were, however, happy to receive prayer pamphlets and holy pictures that came with the image

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Reception of the Image. Because of the death of one of our knights, Don Robinson, our 4^th Degree members were occupied with being his honor guard, we did not welcome the image or send it off with a procession of knights in regalia nor did we have a 24 hour honor guard during adoration as we did with the visit of the International Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima October 14-15.  To promote solidarity in the Council, it was proposed that the knights attend a Holy Hour specifically for the K of C, but we could not agree on a common hour. 

    

Bruce Davison, an elder and former Grand Knight of Council 3335 St. Louis Church Gallipolis, picked up the 30 x 18 inch image from the council at Sacred Heart Church Pomeroy, Ohio on Tuesday, December 11.  He placed it on a tripod in front of the main altar at St. Louis.  At 5:30 pm Paul Sebastian gave a talk on the history and meaning of the image.  This was followed by benediction and rosary.  At 7:30 pm he gave another talk in the church basement on Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Unborn with a greater focus on how she transformed a Culture of Death among the Aztecs to a Culture of Life with a comparison to our own Culture of Death.

Eucharistic Adoration. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed for adoration for the next 24 hours through the night of December 11-12 into the great feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Jaga Sebastian signed up two people to commit themselves to adoration during each hour.  Often several would be there.  At 9 am about 12 members of the Latin American community had an hour of rosary and guadalupan song in Spanish with a CD recording of a Mexican Mariachi band to accompany them in tribute to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.  Having lived near the shrine in Mexico City for a month of language training for my 14 year mission in Peru and visiting it every day, I was moved to tears.  Following Mexican custom, they walked on their knees from the back of the church until each one touched the image.  Other parishioners present were very impressed.  Since Fr. William Myers, our pastor emeritus, with the prodding of Bruce Davison started a monthly Sunday afternoon five hour Eucharistic Adoration in about 2005 with 24 hour adoration for special occasions as the Prayer Vigil for Life December 8/9 and the Visit of the Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima, this was our best participation ever for Eucharistic Adoration.

The image has an official certification from the Rector of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City as being an authentic copy.  This is important because many copies have a slightly different tint and there are many versions.  Just the same as the original image in Guadalupe, the facsimile looks even more beautiful and vibrant from a distance.  The Catholic Women’s club put a bouquet of beautiful pink roses before the image along with a basket for petitions that would be offered at each Mass during the presence of the image. 

 

Closing Days & Summary. The 24 hour Eucharistic Adoration was closed with a well attended Mass and benediction at 5:30 pm in the evening.  The image remained on display below Mary’s altar and statue through the Masses of Sunday December 16.  Then we packed the image in its protective case with this report enclosed and Keith Elliott, the Worthy Navigator of our 4^th Degree Assembly, took the image to its next destination.  

 About 100 people attended the special opening talk, benediction, & rosary; the 24 hour Eucharistic Adoration; and Mass on the great feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12.  Probably twice that number saw the image at the well-attended funeral on December 13 plus the three regular Masses of the weekend of December 15-16.  Of course, these figures include double counting of people who saw the image more than once.  The parish is small with about 120 families or 250 faithful.

  

In this way during the 2011-2013 Marian Prayer campaign of the Knights of Columbus, which includes the Year of Faith, Mary is continuing her great mission of nurturing our faith and bringing us closer to her son as she has done over the centuries.

(59) Family of the Year: You Mean Us?

        At the end of a sport season or year many publications, organizations, and institutions often award "This of the Year" and "That of the Year".  With the Knights of Columbus, our turn came after being a Knight for about ten years.  Our family continually strives for the ideal.......to be just a tiny bit like the Holy Family.  Obviously we come far short of what we should be and have much to improve on.  Now we're going through the tumultuous teen age years with our youngest two.  Clearly, the jury is still out and we won't know how our four kids will turn out until they are safely with the Lord in eternity. 

        Although each family member has a free will and there are so many secular, cultural, and environmental influences beyond our control, the greatest tragedy and failure of a parent is for one of his or her children not to make it into heaven.  True, many parents do everything right and one or more of their children leave the Church.  I know at least two large families where some of the children are pillars of the parish, including a priest and others have left the Church.  All we can do as parents is our best and constantly pray for our children.  In our case, we know that we are trying and we're doing at least some things right. 

          WE ARE THE DOMESTIC CHURCH.  Every home, every family is its own domestic church within the universal Church.  Every father is supposed to be a priest, a teacher, and take the lead in that domestic church which is the fundamental building block of the universal Church, the Body of Christ with our Lord as the head.  Every mother is a nurturer, a teacher, the heart of the family, and a leader in the domestic church.  As the family goes, so goes the Church.  If the Family is strong, the Church is strong.  If the Church is in crisis, it is because the Family is in crisis.  That is certainly the case in regard to religious vocations.  Are we doing our part?  What a huge responsibility for every parent!  The Lord will judge us on how we complete our most important mission......raising our kids for eternity and the great mission that God has for each one of them here on earth.

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       When one family breaks apart, the Church, the Body of Christ is wounded.  Friends and everyone in the parish grieve while the evil one gloats.  We must preserve the family at all costs because the cost of a broken family is always so much greater.  No marriage is easy nor always harmonious; no marriage is perfect; every marriage has problems from time to time; every marriage has its ups and downs.  Marriage is hard work.  Marriage is making up and forgiving every day; it's starting anew again and again.  Marriage is overlooking the other's faults while gently working for mutual sanctification starting first and foremost with one's self.  

       The mother must continue with the same feminine charm that attracted her husband in the first place.  The husband must continue to woo his wife and win her hand as he did during the courtship without looking for or expecting reciprocity although that will come some day.  Since the husband won her hand and she accepted him as he was, good and bad, it's his responsibility to make her happy even if it may seem to be impossible at times and require considerable humility.  It was probably easier during the courtship when we were young and the hormones were flowing and more active.  From the wedding day, the evil one works very hard to plant discord in families, especially in families striving to be holy families.  

        We must keep the family intact and do whatever it takes every day.......the little kind words, deeds, hugs and kisses for continuous nurturing of the relationship; serving the other without concern about who does more for the relationship and the family; the complete giving of self to the other, giving more than 50% each while striving for 100% each.......and as necessary or opportune: counseling; consultations with the pastor who may have to recommend temporary separation for certain extreme cases for treatment, e.g., alcoholism or wife battering; marriage encounters; Retrovaille; Cana Conferences; giving in; compromise; negotiation; and most of all prayer.  There is so much truth in Fr. Patrick Peyton's theme:  "The family that prays together stays together".  Research shows that couples that stick it out are usually happier in the long run......happier than those who quit and break up.  Generally the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence as remarriage brings a Pandora's box filled with a larger set of new problems, more often than not......worse.
 

       With much of the above in the back of my mind I wanted to share some thoughts upon accepting our award.  Perhaps we could be an example.  Perhaps a few families could learn from us.  The following is a testimony that I felt a need to share with other families in order to stimulate thought when we accepted the Family of the Year Award for 2008-09 from the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus. Laced with bits of humor, you might enjoy it.  In the coming new year may we make renewed efforts to be more loving spouses, more responsible parents, to strengthen our families and bring them all closer to God.
 

At the Columbus Airport when John Paul returned  from Ave Maria University May 2009 or so.

FAMILY OF THE YEAR, YOU MEAN US?

Knights of Columbus Council 3335 June 17, 2009

        You're giving the Family of the Year Award to US? Are you kidding? If you'd pop in on us at our little house in Rio Grande, you'd certainly find a big mess. And if we're home, a lot of noise.......whining, bickering or arguing about something. I've lost my cool more than once. Ask the neighbors; they'll tell you and they're a hundred yards away. I'm not proud of that.

        Our family is like a perpetual sitcom. Jaga is like Blondie. And me?.....some kind of a combination of Dagwood Bumstead, Archie Bunker, and Father Knows Best. Those characters go a long way back. Remember them? You're showing off your age. And you want to make US the Family of the Year?????

        But you know what? We're doing something right, maybe a lot of things right.

• We know that it's extremely important for the father to take the spiritual lead in the family. So Jaga lets me think I'm the head of the family, but she claims to be the neck.....to move the head. If Jaga feels strongly about something she usually gets her way. She's really the heart of our family. Without her, I wouldn't be on time for anything. Jaga complains that she always has to wait for me. Why I had to wait for her for 50 years and I was celibate the whole time. Honest. She keeps me on the straight and narrow, even praying for me over 15 years before we ever met.

• We really try to be a Christ centered family with family prayer every night. The saint to be Father Patrick Peyton, the founder of the Family Rosary movement and also the once popular national radio and TV show out of Hollywood, “Family Theater”, always said: “The family that prays together stays together.”

• We have EWTN on all the time and a little altar in the living room with a Marian art gallery throughout the house. Jaga wanted to become a nun..... until she met me. So now I'm married to one and we live in a convent.

• We all go to Mass EVERY Sunday.....no exceptions. That's not negotiable.....period. We go in our Sunday best or almost best.....no jeans, no shorts. After all, we're visiting the King of the Universe, not a rock star. We encourage daily Mass too and most of us attend.

• We insist on modest dress in helping them to maintain purity. I don't want any punk kid ogling at one of my daughters or flirting. We pray that they will wait until that wedding night when for the first time and always she exclusively for him and he exclusively for her. That's special.

• We encourage participation in sports and the boys are big sports fans; I can't get Jaga interested. But we place a much higher value on education. We expect our kids to study hard and do their very best in school. We try to use TV, videos, and travel for education as much as possible. You want to play another computer game.....OK, but no zip 'em, zap 'em, or shoot 'em up games. And first.....read a book.

• We strongly believe what Pope John Paul the Great taught: “The parents are the primary educators in the Faith”. CCD is only a supplement, as important as it is. We read Catholic publications and refer to the Bible and the official Catechism of the Catholic Church. We try to send our kids to a genuinely Christ centered Catholic college, not to a secularized one that has lost its original Catholic mission. John-Paul is a sophomore at Ave Maria University.

• We're fiercely loyal to the Pope and Church teaching. It's all or nothing, the complete package for our house. We're not in the cafeteria business of picking and choosing only what we like. Morality is absolute, not relative. It's the Ten Commandments, not the ten suggestions.

• We've attended several of Catholic Familyland's pray and play vacation retreats for families near Steubenville. It's a great Catholic experience of fun, fellowship, and spiritual growth for family members of all ages. We thank them for their help.

• We teach the kids honesty and to do what is right despite the consequences (integrity). We try to instill a work ethic --no where near as good as the Stapletons-- but we're working on it. We all serve as community and parish volunteers to give something back from our God given gifts and talents.....a grave responsibility. After all, life boils down to love of God first and then neighbor. That is, family, parish, community, and Country. I build on a teaching of Spiderman and tell the kids: “Great talents and gifts entail great responsibility.......to use them for the benefit of Society.” We ask the kids to seek and pray for discernment of the will of the Lord or vocation for their lives.

• Everybody in our family belongs to a parish group. We try to participate in as many parish activities as possible because every single person is MOST important toward building a strong parish community and making each parish event a success by his/her presence.

• Because the Eucharist is the source, the summit, and the life of the Church, the entire family spends at least an hour at the St. Louis Church monthly Eucharistic Adoration. As Jaga suggested, I wrote the first draft of this talk in front of the tabernacle. See I listen to my wife. Isn't that right, Jaga?

• Since spiritual directors recommend monthly confession, we try. That's harder to follow. Jaga rounds us up like the old nuns used to do with us as kids and marches us to confession.

       We're not old fashioned dinosaurs from another age. Do I look like a dinosaur? Did I hear someone back there call me Barney?

        We have a long way to go as a family, but we're trying. The jury is still out on how well we are doing. The future will tell and God will be our judge during our encounter with Him after death. Lord, please help us to be what you want us to be as a family. Maybe we can all repeat that prayer again and again and again.

        Thank you so much for this award. It's humbling because it makes us realize that the award gives us a BIG responsibility to live up to its ideals. After all, the Knights of Columbus are all about family. Every time we have an argument or quarrel, I'm going to scream: “Family of the Year, REMEMBER?” That reminder should help us to work out our disagreements more quickly. Thanks again and God bless you all.

(39) A Knight's Prayer to Christ the King and Mary Our Queen Mother

 Although the ceremonial dress of the Knights of Columbus is that of knights of the age that Christopher Columbus lived and centuries before, we look at ourselves as 21st Century knights of Christ the King…….willing to defend the Church against physical, legal, and verbal attack; fight to conserve Christian values in our society; serve God, our parishes, and our communities; protect the Blessed Sacrament and Christ in the tabernacle with our lives. Thus the order is restricted to faithful practicing Catholic men. 

A painting of our founder, Fr. Michael McGivney (1852-1890)
     with the people he served in the background. 

           In 1881 Fr. Michael McGivney, then a 29 year old holy Catholic priest whose cause for canonization is in process, saw a need for a fraternal society for faithful, practicing Catholic men to give more security for their families.  There were too many poor widows --as a result of industrial accidents-- who had to cope alone with their young children.  His idea was to provide low cost life insurance to protect the families of the knights.  Fr. McGivney's vision also included fraternal fellowship and the spiritual formation of its members while promoting good family life, patriotism, and serving the parish and the community.  He died in 1890.

Since the Masons were so vehemently anti-Catholic at the time, Fr. McGivney most likely hoped that the Knights of Columbus would be a Catholic alternative to Masonry.  In fact the Church today still forbids Catholics to be members under the pain of grave sin that deprives them from the sacraments and being accepted as Knights.  Today, militant masonry has mellowed, but much of it, especially at the higher degrees are against Church teaching as brought out by a 32^nd Degree Mason, John Salza in his book, “Masonry Unmasked: An Insider Reveals the Secrets of the Lodge” (http://scripturecatholic.com/MU.pdf).   

See also 

http://www.consecration.com/default.aspx?id=46,

http://bustedhalo.com/questionbox/can-i-be-a-catholic-and-a-freemason,

http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/what-does-the-church-say-about-freemasonry
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0161.html,

https://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/BACAFM.HTM,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_Freemasonry_within_Christianity

A bird's eye view of some of the activities of the Knights of Columbus with its emblem.

        Knights of Columbus Life Insurance has financial ratings among the very highest in the industry.  The profits (i.e., surplus) are distributed, not to stockholders, but to its insured and is also used for charities around the world.  For example, the Knights of Columbus are among the leaders in the pro-life movement; many councils make the annual pilgrimage to the March for Life in Washington.  It successfully helped to initiate and lobby for the insertion of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 and continues to fight secular efforts to remove it in the courts.  Today the Knights of Columbus has grown to more than 14,000 councils and 1.8 million members throughout the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, Guatemala, Guam, Saipan, and among off-duty military.  For more information go to www.kofc.org.

       If you are not a Knight, please talk to a member and look at its websites for more detail at www.kofc.org.  There are many opportunities for great fellowship, a fabulous life insurance program to protect your family, and opportunities to serve the parish and the community.  An active council in which all of its members participate can indeed be a force for good in the parish and the surrounding community.

       Knights of Columbus Life Insurance has financial ratings among the highest in the industry.  The profits are used for charities around the world.  For example, the Knights of Columbus are among the leaders in the pro-life movement.  It successfully helped to initiate and lobby for the insertion of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 and continues to fight secular efforts to remove it in the courts.  Today the Knights of Columbus has grown to more than 14,000 councils and 1.8 million members throughout the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, Guatemala, Guam, Saipan, & the military.  For more information go to www.kofc.org.

      May the following two prayers help to always keep us strong and active, always faithful to the Church and the mission of the Knights of Columbus as envisioned by our founder, Fr. Michael McGivney.

A KNIGHT’S PRAYER*

-Lord, you are the Christ, Christ the King, King of the Universe.

-We are your humble knights ready to serve at your command.

-Use us according to your will, to serve you and your people well and give you glory. 

-Don’t let us do anything that might dishonor your Holy Name.

-We are always your loyal knights from the vigor of our youth to sickness and old    age…..  when we will unite our crosses with your cross and offer them for your  kingdom on earth.                                                                                

**Help us to be noble and worthy knights in the spirit of the knights of old…..

-To generously do good in serving your Church, the parish, the community, and our country;

-To perseveringly help and promote the cause of the poor, the defenseless, and the unborn;

-To be men of prayer, honor, character, and integrity;

-To boldly but prudently do what is right, morally and ethically, regardless of consequence;

-To act with courtesy, modesty, and humility, but firmness without giving offense;

-To be patient, caring, kind, and gentle men of courage and virtue,

chaste and pure according to our states of life;

-To be devoted and faithful to our families as fathers, husbands, and sons…..conscientious parents, providers, and protectors with St. Joseph as our patron.

-To graciously treat all women with respect, dignity, and honor;

-To do our part to restore our Christian culture to what it once was and to what it should be;

-To be good Catholic leaders and blameless role models for youth to follow;

-To encourage and promote vocations to the religious life;

-To fearlessly defend the Church, the faith, and the truth against attack;

-To appropriately evangelize in little or big ways by prayer, example, word, and deed; 

-To protect our King, ever present in the Eucharist, against defilement with our lives.

**Father, help us to do our part to establish your kingdom

-And further your divine will on earth as it is done in heaven.

-Holy Spirit, guide us in our decisions; tell us what to do, what to say, and what to write.

-Sanctify us, strengthen us, and grant us your gifts, especially fortitude, wisdom, and understanding, for the realization of your divine will.

-Mary, our mother, you are our queen, Queen of Heaven and Earth.

-We are your loyal knights ready to serve at your command.

-Use us according to the will of your Son.

-Nurture our faith and keep us faithful to the Church and its teachings.

-Mother, take us each by the hand and lead us through life to eternity with you and your Son.

-Venerable Father Michael McGivney, intercede that we effectively continue your work  for God and Country

-And recruit new members who will be consistently faithful in following your mission.

-Pray that we always live up to the ideals of the Knights of Columbus which you founded.

* When time at a meeting is short for oral prayer, the second and/or third paragraphs (**) may be omitted.

             A KNIGHT'S PRAYER OF TRUST*

-Lord, you are the Christ; Christ my King.

-I am your knight.

-Please use me according to your will.

-Wherever You send me, I will go.

-Whatever you ask of me, I will do.

-What mission you give me, however small or great, I will embrace.

-And when you take that mission away from me and give me another,

-I will always accept your will with the same zeal and trust

-Even if it is a life of prayer and sacrifice in a sick bed…….as I unite my cross with your Cross by offering up my aches and pains to you as a dynamic prayer for the Church, my family, and the world.

* If you are a Knight and like these two prayers, you might want to consider reciting one or the other at the beginning or end of meetings and ceremonies either regularly or occasionally.  You may also consider giving copies to your members and to newly inducted 1st degree knights.