FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
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Q. When we pray long and hard for a miracle healing for someone and we don’t get it, does it follow then that our faith is too weak?
A. I am reminded that Jesus says to one of the apostles that even if he had a little bit of faith, (the size of a mustard seed), he could move
mountains.( Mat 17.20)
It does not follow that our faith is too weak. Jesus says ask and you shall receive. He frequently teaches us to pray with persistence. He says that when two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst. Mary prayed “according to your will”.
Some truths of revelation:
God loves us.
God hears our prayers.
God wants us to ask with persistence.
Sickness is a mystery.
We should pray to be healed.
No prayer is unanswered. God knows best.
My pastoral experience is this. Start off small. I really believe that Jesus would want us to minister to the PERSON, not the illness. Can I give
you an example?
If praying for an arthritic problem, it would be lovely to see a great miracle of healing instantly. This is possible of course, but highly improbable. My suggestion is to pray first for the removal of pain. This is the urgent need and the most caring approach. As things improve even slightly we can pray for better movement, and then after time for healing of the root causes of the problem. This way seems pastorally sensitive, and helps the person. With the persons permission we can pray with hands on. Rev Kev
Q. WHAT IS A PRIEST?
A: My children, we come to the Sacrament of Orders. It is a sacrament which seems to relate to no one among you, and which yet relates to everyone. This
sacrament raises man up to God. What is a priest? A man who holds the place of God - a man who is invested with all the powers of God. ‘Go’, said our Lord to the priest; ‘as my Father sent me, I send you. All power has been given me in heaven and on earth. Go then, teach all nations. He who listens to you, listens to me; he who despises you despises me.’ When the priest remits sins, he does not say, ‘God pardons you’; he says, ‘I absolve you’. At the Consecration, he does not say, ‘This is the Body of Our Lord’; he says, ‘this is my Body’.
St Bernard tells us that everything has come to us through Mary; and we may also say that everything has come to us through the priest; yes, all happiness, all graces, all heavenly gifts. If we had not the sacrament of Orders, we should not have Our Lord. Who placed him there, in that tabernacle? It was the priest. Who was it that received your soul, on its entrance into life? The priest. Who nourishes it, to give it strength to make its pilgrimage? The priest. Who will
prepare it to appear before God by washing that soul, for the last time, in the Blood of Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if that soul comes to the
point of death [through sin] who will raise it up, who will restore it to calmness and peace? Again the priest. You cannot recall one single blessing from
God without finding, side by side with this recollection, the image of the priest.
Go to confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an angel; will they absolve you? No. Will they give you the Body and Blood of Our Lord? No. The Holy Virgin cannot make her Divine Son descend into the Host. You might have two hundred angels there, but they could not absolve you. A priest, however simple he may be, can do it; he can say to you, ‘Go in peace; I pardon you.’ Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his office until he is in heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love. The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest. What would be the use of a house full of gold, if you had nobody to open you the door? The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures; it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of his wealth. Without the priest, the passion and death of Our Lord would be of no avail.
The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you. After God, the priest is everything… If the priest were to go away, you would say, ‘What can we do in this church? There is no Mass; Our Lord is no longer there: we may as well pray at home.’ When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion.
Answer provided by St John Vianney, Cure of Ars
Q. WHAT DO CATHOLICS BELIEVE?
A: … that Jesus, true God, true Man, lives in the Blessed Sacrament in our Church - or whatever Church you are near every day. But do you REALISE it? Many
wish they had lived at the time of our Lord. Do you REALISE that the same pierced hands are waiting there to bless you? Do you REALISE the same gentle
eyes gaze upon you? Do you REALISE the same adorable heart is calling you, loving you, waiting for you? Do you think if Catholics REALISED what they
BELIEVED, that you could go into any Church at ANY hour and find it empty?
...the same pierced hands are waiting there to bless you”
ADORATION of the Blessed Sacrament brings tremendous spiritual benefits for ourselves and all humanity - Adoration makes “reparation” for the evils of
the world. Dominicae Canae
From Letters to a Brother Priest
Who is the “Doubting Thomas” today? People believe in the Resurrection, but do they know where our Risen Saviour dwells? The “Doubting Thomas” today is the one who does not believe that the Blessed Sacrament is Jesus, our Risen Saviour, with all of the power of his Resurrection flowing out to those who come into his Divine Presence! Belief is inseparable from behaviour. If we believe that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament, then we behave according to our belief. We go to him, we come to him, we run to him.
“Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Jn 20:29.
He wants you to come to him in faith that for all eternity he may call you BLESSED. His wounds are now the beauty of paradise. These wounds shine forth more glorious than the sun. These wounds are streams of grace. For coming to him in faith, Jesus wants to give you the fullness of these graces, with all the merits, the glory, the beauty and healing love which flows from these wounds. And each time he is saying to you: Blessed are you because you have not seen, and yet, have believed. Monsignor Pepe Ramirez
Jesus chose death on the cross that we may have the fullness of his life in the Blessed Sacrament. He chose hatred that we may be filled with his love. He chose to be wounded beyond recognition that we may be healed to perfection. He chose the darkness of the terrible abyss that we may have the light and joy of his Real Presence. He chose the agony of being totally abandoned by heaven that we may always have him, Emmanuel, with us on earth. Msgr Pepe
Jesus said: And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself. Jn 12:32
UNFATHOMONABLE MERCY
The Eucharist flows from the Passion of Christ. When we come to the Blessed Sacrament WE COME TO THE CROSS.
During our holy hour we lift up to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus those souls in most need of his mercy. During our holy hour, those in most need of his mercy are stamped and marked with the Precious Blood of Jesus. This includes those who are to die that day. Stamped with the Precious Blood of Jesus, they are saved. If we only knew the value of a holy hour we would never miss a single day without making one. Msgr Pepe
Because the Cross is infinite in merit, there is no limit to the value of a holy hour. “It is absolutely impossible to exaggerate the value of a single holy hour in the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.” Fr John Harden SJ
When we look at the Sacred Host we see how much Jesus loves us NOW. Mother Teresa
Jesus appealed through St Margaret Mary: I thirst with such a terrible thirst to be loved in this Most Blessed Sacrament. His message is that the Eucharist is not a thing, but a person, the person of Jesus himself. In the Blessed Sacrament, he said we would find the most loving of Father’s, our best friend, with the tenderest of all hearts.
St John Vianney saw with his very own eyes Jesus cup the face of each person who visited him in the Blessed Sacrament and give each one a tender
kiss of gratitude. This is the tenderness we find in the Blessed Sacrament. Power goes out from Jesus with each holy hour we make. Each holy hour touches his Heart and releases his healing love upon the earth. Each time we come to him we are sanctified. Each moment deepens our union with Christ.
Q. When we pray long and hard for a miracle healing for someone and we don’t get it, does it follow then that our faith is too weak?
A. I am reminded that Jesus says to one of the apostles that even if he had a little bit of faith, (the size of a mustard seed), he could move
mountains.( Mat 17.20)
It does not follow that our faith is too weak. Jesus says ask and you shall receive. He frequently teaches us to pray with persistence. He says that when two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst. Mary prayed “according to your will”.
Some truths of revelation:
God loves us.
God hears our prayers.
God wants us to ask with persistence.
Sickness is a mystery.
We should pray to be healed.
No prayer is unanswered. God knows best.
My pastoral experience is this. Start off small. I really believe that Jesus would want us to minister to the PERSON, not the illness. Can I give
you an example?
If praying for an arthritic problem, it would be lovely to see a great miracle of healing instantly. This is possible of course, but highly improbable. My suggestion is to pray first for the removal of pain. This is the urgent need and the most caring approach. As things improve even slightly we can pray for better movement, and then after time for healing of the root causes of the problem. This way seems pastorally sensitive, and helps the person. With the persons permission we can pray with hands on. Rev Kev
Q. WHAT IS A PRIEST?
A: My children, we come to the Sacrament of Orders. It is a sacrament which seems to relate to no one among you, and which yet relates to everyone. This
sacrament raises man up to God. What is a priest? A man who holds the place of God - a man who is invested with all the powers of God. ‘Go’, said our Lord to the priest; ‘as my Father sent me, I send you. All power has been given me in heaven and on earth. Go then, teach all nations. He who listens to you, listens to me; he who despises you despises me.’ When the priest remits sins, he does not say, ‘God pardons you’; he says, ‘I absolve you’. At the Consecration, he does not say, ‘This is the Body of Our Lord’; he says, ‘this is my Body’.
St Bernard tells us that everything has come to us through Mary; and we may also say that everything has come to us through the priest; yes, all happiness, all graces, all heavenly gifts. If we had not the sacrament of Orders, we should not have Our Lord. Who placed him there, in that tabernacle? It was the priest. Who was it that received your soul, on its entrance into life? The priest. Who nourishes it, to give it strength to make its pilgrimage? The priest. Who will
prepare it to appear before God by washing that soul, for the last time, in the Blood of Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if that soul comes to the
point of death [through sin] who will raise it up, who will restore it to calmness and peace? Again the priest. You cannot recall one single blessing from
God without finding, side by side with this recollection, the image of the priest.
Go to confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an angel; will they absolve you? No. Will they give you the Body and Blood of Our Lord? No. The Holy Virgin cannot make her Divine Son descend into the Host. You might have two hundred angels there, but they could not absolve you. A priest, however simple he may be, can do it; he can say to you, ‘Go in peace; I pardon you.’ Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his office until he is in heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love. The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest. What would be the use of a house full of gold, if you had nobody to open you the door? The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures; it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of his wealth. Without the priest, the passion and death of Our Lord would be of no avail.
The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you. After God, the priest is everything… If the priest were to go away, you would say, ‘What can we do in this church? There is no Mass; Our Lord is no longer there: we may as well pray at home.’ When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion.
Answer provided by St John Vianney, Cure of Ars
Q. WHAT DO CATHOLICS BELIEVE?
A: … that Jesus, true God, true Man, lives in the Blessed Sacrament in our Church - or whatever Church you are near every day. But do you REALISE it? Many
wish they had lived at the time of our Lord. Do you REALISE that the same pierced hands are waiting there to bless you? Do you REALISE the same gentle
eyes gaze upon you? Do you REALISE the same adorable heart is calling you, loving you, waiting for you? Do you think if Catholics REALISED what they
BELIEVED, that you could go into any Church at ANY hour and find it empty?
...the same pierced hands are waiting there to bless you”
ADORATION of the Blessed Sacrament brings tremendous spiritual benefits for ourselves and all humanity - Adoration makes “reparation” for the evils of
the world. Dominicae Canae
From Letters to a Brother Priest
Who is the “Doubting Thomas” today? People believe in the Resurrection, but do they know where our Risen Saviour dwells? The “Doubting Thomas” today is the one who does not believe that the Blessed Sacrament is Jesus, our Risen Saviour, with all of the power of his Resurrection flowing out to those who come into his Divine Presence! Belief is inseparable from behaviour. If we believe that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament, then we behave according to our belief. We go to him, we come to him, we run to him.
“Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Jn 20:29.
He wants you to come to him in faith that for all eternity he may call you BLESSED. His wounds are now the beauty of paradise. These wounds shine forth more glorious than the sun. These wounds are streams of grace. For coming to him in faith, Jesus wants to give you the fullness of these graces, with all the merits, the glory, the beauty and healing love which flows from these wounds. And each time he is saying to you: Blessed are you because you have not seen, and yet, have believed. Monsignor Pepe Ramirez
Jesus chose death on the cross that we may have the fullness of his life in the Blessed Sacrament. He chose hatred that we may be filled with his love. He chose to be wounded beyond recognition that we may be healed to perfection. He chose the darkness of the terrible abyss that we may have the light and joy of his Real Presence. He chose the agony of being totally abandoned by heaven that we may always have him, Emmanuel, with us on earth. Msgr Pepe
Jesus said: And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself. Jn 12:32
UNFATHOMONABLE MERCY
The Eucharist flows from the Passion of Christ. When we come to the Blessed Sacrament WE COME TO THE CROSS.
During our holy hour we lift up to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus those souls in most need of his mercy. During our holy hour, those in most need of his mercy are stamped and marked with the Precious Blood of Jesus. This includes those who are to die that day. Stamped with the Precious Blood of Jesus, they are saved. If we only knew the value of a holy hour we would never miss a single day without making one. Msgr Pepe
Because the Cross is infinite in merit, there is no limit to the value of a holy hour. “It is absolutely impossible to exaggerate the value of a single holy hour in the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.” Fr John Harden SJ
When we look at the Sacred Host we see how much Jesus loves us NOW. Mother Teresa
Jesus appealed through St Margaret Mary: I thirst with such a terrible thirst to be loved in this Most Blessed Sacrament. His message is that the Eucharist is not a thing, but a person, the person of Jesus himself. In the Blessed Sacrament, he said we would find the most loving of Father’s, our best friend, with the tenderest of all hearts.
St John Vianney saw with his very own eyes Jesus cup the face of each person who visited him in the Blessed Sacrament and give each one a tender
kiss of gratitude. This is the tenderness we find in the Blessed Sacrament. Power goes out from Jesus with each holy hour we make. Each holy hour touches his Heart and releases his healing love upon the earth. Each time we come to him we are sanctified. Each moment deepens our union with Christ.