Initially I was posting this in community discussion, decided to move it here when I thought a bit more about it. I'm just writing a thread to ask how everyone's holding up. I know there's a fine line in present circumstances between sharing on that level and falling into unhelpful, uncharitable comments and ways of thinking, so I understand why we've been quiet here the past few days - but at the same time it's probably more important now than ever that we maintain some sort of community and support in growing in holiness. To avoid those occasions of sin without wanting to avoid each other or the issues, maybe in this thread we could share prayer intentions - both on a personal level and intercessory? I'll start and if you want to join in please post your intentions too! So I suppose obviously one thing were all going to have to do is redouble prayer and penance for the Friars... without despair, our God is One of Miracles!! I can't elaborate on that as i get my info from ye so I'll leave it to the American contingent to let us know if there is any more specific intention in their regards we can get behind! I'd also like to ask prayers in a particular way for the (FSSP) priest who was my confessor in Geneva, he sent us (there was an email list for weekly notices) the most wise and paternal but heartbreaking email Saturday night and has been really on my heart for prayer since. For all the graces he needs and will need... And on a personal level I'd like to ask for prayer as to the discernment of what Jesus wants me to do at this time in order to be most fruitful at the service of the Church. That's a semi-vocational, semi-simply-pertaining-to-disposition-of-heart discernment. The absurdity of the situation has this bizarre effect of increasing my desire but confusing my understanding of how to offer everything to Jesus. Ok so if this isn't just a weird idea, I'd love to know how i can pray for each and all of you, please do comment if something's on your heart! God bless

Hey guys! I'm just writing this message to invite you to join me in something - IF you want and IF you think it would be helpful for your Third Order membership! Basically some friends and I have been working on a project the last couple of months and I thought I'd share it here. The idea is to help people live Marian Consecration in daily life (as opposed to making the consecration and then kinda forgetting about it until the next renewal). To that end there are a couple of things in the project, but the thing I wanted to share here is the monthly Rose Crown for Our Lady because it has actually been SUCH a help to me in regulating my Third Order observance! I actually think it's really providential for my own soul that we started when we did, which was around the the time I stumbled across the Third Order online... So basically the idea is that each month we put up an anonymous form on our website where people pick a title of Our Blessed Lady (or a few titles if you want to divide the spiritual bouquet) and present Her with a number of 'spiritual roses' that we have 'cultivated' during the month. It's a way of stopping to offer not only ourselves in general, but also specific continued efforts and prayers to Jesus through Mary. There are two ways of cultivating these 'Roses' - but the ones that are really relevant to the Third Order are the perennial roses. There's a little table you can print out and fill in and that's the method I use to keep track... The reason it's helped me so much with observance is that the little table keeps one personally accountable for recording - eg. how much of the Office has been said etc. But unlike every other method of keeping record I've ever come up with, at the end I'm not left with a checklist where the main thing I do is beat myself up over the gaps - I'm left with the things I HAVE done and can offer to Our Lady as Roses, and at the same time with a clear indication of the areas in which I could be able to give Her more roses if I try harder next month. So I wind up motivated rather than dejected. Perhaps not everyone is the same and this is just something that helps me, but it's been on my heart to share it here for a while, especially when people were posting in the thread about efforts to keep the rule. I've been busy and not had enough time to explain properly, and also a bit interiorly resistant because some of the 'seed roses' (that's a whole other thing, separate from the perennial roses, that takes longer to explain!) are probably more 'new', and not so traditional so I wasn't sure if you'd like it... But sure if you don't like it that's ok! I just post in case it helps even one person as much as it has helped me =) And here are the specific relevant pages: Perennial Roses and how to count them (you check various areas using buttons at the bottom): https://goldenroseapostolate.com/the-perennial-aspect-regular-roses/ The page where you find the Form to Submit Roses (available from the first Saturday to the 13th of each month) and the printable table to keep track: https://goldenroseapostolate.com/form-for-submitting-roses/ What happens to the Roses on the 13th of each month when the form comes down: https://goldenroseapostolate.com/archive-of-spiritual-rose-crowns/ For a wider explanation of everything else: https://goldenroseapostolate.com/introduction-to-the-golden-rose-apostolate/ It's still pretty new so everything's a work in progress! This is the site in general:

So having seen Leann's email (which made me so happy!), I have a few questions =) Do we get to wear the gear all the time? And if no, when can we? And could we wear it under our clothes at times when we can't wear it over, if there's a time when we can't? Do we get to pick our own names or are they chosen for us or is it a bit of both? Is the white top/dark skirt (or trousers) a thing for us in general or was that just a coincidence or people coordinating for the day that was in it? God bless!! =)

Hey guys, I was just sent this today by a friend back home. Can I ask you to pray for this guy, his family and that whole situation in general? You don't need to watch the full video, the first few minutes will give you enough info. I'm not sure what's going on, but it's terribly odd that they took his children days after this event at Corpus Christi... Regarding the wider story, I left my home country back in January because Sacraments were getting harder and harder to have access to. This church was actually the last place I went to Mass before leaving. The fact that the priest managed to continue saying Mass there up until the raid was amazing... For months in Ireland it was illegal not only to attend Mass, but to travel more that 5km. Mass is still illegal (as is hearing Confession, even outside - hopefully both things lifting in a few weeks), but people can now travel freely within their county borders. To give a perspective on that, Ireland is about the size of Indiana - and it is divided into 32* counties. So still not exactly roaming freely lol! (*6 of those are under a different regime, and since just before Easter have Mass in public again thanks to the protestant government... how the tables turn!) Anyway (despite making a few statements lately), bishops helped to enforce the restrictions on worship, often adding new ones of their own (e,g. refusing permission to administer Holy Communion and have Adoration, which some priests managed to do quietly as 'private prayer'). This means that very, very few priests did much in defiance, and anything that was done had to be extremely underground. The FSSPX were exceptional in the circumstances. However much in normal circumstances one may wish for full unity, their not being submitted to the bishops' conference in the same way as other priests were (especially those within a diocesan structure) gave them a lot of freedom in seeking to continue to administer the Sacraments. They also were incredibly tactful in measuring risks and dealing with the gardaí as and when they encountered them (this controversial raiding was not the first time, usually they manage to handle things with quiet discussion - you will see it even here if you go back to the original videos and watch the priest closely). There was nothing ostentatious or rebellious in the way in which they ministered to people's souls, it was incredibly dignified - and in the circumstances incredibly brave. That young priest who ministers in Athlone, e.g. travels over 100km and through several county borders weekly to get to that chapel - and he is not Irish, so risks being unable to go home if he were to get a criminal record... Please pray for my country. Grace for the Catholics who are seeking their Eucharistic Lord, freedom for the priests who are being held back, conversion for those who are holding them back, protection for those who find ways to quietly attend to souls and for healing in the Church from the sense of hurt, betrayal and frustration that permeates the whole situation now. Please pray for protection of families and for the sanctification of our Church and people... Sorry this is a long post, but I thought it worth explaining a bit as very often if you web search these things you're just going to get polarity and confusion rather than clarity on the facts. And, um... just because I feel this to be something of a cultural obligation in addressing people outside Ireland where there's a slight error (in the video) regarding the language - it's the full title 'Garda Síochána' - pronouned "Gar-da Shee-oh-kawn-ah" - that means keeper/guardian of the peace - the Síochána bit being the bit that means peace. This is generally shortened to the plural 'Gardaí', pronounced 'Gar-dee'... God bless, love and keep you!