St. Anthony: Amazing Miracles! - Explaining the Faith with Fr. Chris Alar

Well, thank you everybody for joining us here at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy on Father Chris. It's an honor to have all of you with us.

Now, uh, before we begin our prayer, I know that Saint Anthony's Feast Day has just passed. It's June 13th, but this is such a huge saint, and we're going to tell you why. Uh, these stories are absolutely amazing, and then there's something called a miraculous prayer, unlike any of the other saints. This one is incredible, and it's a miraculous prayer that we're going to lead you through, uh, during this talk as well.

Also, it's the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and so Saint, uh, Anthony's the perfect saint because he had such a devotion. Um, so this is a beautiful day, and we're glad you're with us. One of the beautiful things of our faith is the saints. They're, that we don't worship them. We do not. They are examples for us to follow and to learn from because they're human, just like us, and they show us that we can do it.

So let's begin with a prayer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we ask you send the Holy Spirit down upon us to open our minds and hearts to receive the grace you wish to give us, and through the intercession of Saint Anthony, may our lives be filled with grace and mercy and dedication and devotion to you through a life of virtue. And we ask all this through Christ Our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

So this is one of the top five saints in the history of the church. And funny, because the other one that's in the top five is Saint Francis, and they were together. They lived at the same time. They knew each other. So what an incredible time. Um, saints. Now, saints, as I said, are great examples. We don't worship them. Um, there's such a misconception in, in amongst the non-Catholics of the role of the saints, and I have a good talk, uh, up here on the YouTube channel called "The Role of the Saints" and explain all of that. We do not worship. They are intercessory, and that is what the Bible tells us to do.

But then some people say, "Well, they're dead." Father, well, yeah. So was Moses on the Mount of Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration, but he was very alive. The Bible tells us that those Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are very much alive, and this was way after they had died. And so the saints are not dead. They are alive in Christ, and so they give us the example of how to get to heaven. They show us we can do it.

And so Saint Anthony is one of the greatest, one of the most popular of all the saints. Now, we know him as Saint Anthony of Padua, but he was not born in the Italian city of Padua, and neither was his birth name Anthony. Okay? He was born Fernando in Lisbon, Portugal, actually in 1195. He was the son of a well-to-do family. His army officer was his dad. Now, he was educated by priests, and later we're going to tell you about all his amazing miracles, which I find fascinating.

But a little bit about him, uh, he made his own decision to enter religious life at 15 years old. So he knew early. And we kind of know him, who do we pray to if we lose something? Saint Anthony. He's the patron saint of lost or stolen articles. But he was more. He was a Franciscan, uh, priest, great preacher, and teacher. But he's also known as the saint of the poor. People don't know that. Sailors and fishermen. If you're ever out on the water and you're in trouble, he's the guy. He's also the patron saint. People don't know this, of priests and travelers. We think of Saint John Vianney for priests and Saint Christopher for travelers, but Saint Anthony's right up there. He's also the guardian of the mail. So if your mail never arrives or it's late, or you really need a package to get there overnight, he's the one to pray to.

Now, let's take a look at the next slide. Saint Anthony is typically seen holding the Child Jesus. How many times have you walked into a church or seen a Catholic statue of a saint holding a child? Most often, that is Saint Anthony. And we have Saint Anthony on our property. We have a beautiful Saint Anthony statue. Go, go over there and see it, holding the Child Jesus. But as you see on the slide, he also would hold a lily and a book, or all three. And we'll talk about that.

So, as with any saint, as I said, he shows us how to live. He had much courage during life's ups and downs. We don't, we take that for granted that when our life gets difficult, we're not, we don't turn to the saints enough. And so, um, he's responsible, very responsive to all people for all needs. So here's the thing, everybody. The church has said that his intercessory power before God is the most awesome. Now, of course, we know our Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. They're kind of in a different league. But amongst the, the saints, um, this is it. This is it. It's powerful.

So let's, what do we know about him? Okay, at 15, we said he entered, but he didn't enter as a Franciscan. He went to this, the Augustinian, the Order of Saint Augustine. Now, he didn't really like monastery life because it wasn't peaceful, um, for, and again, he was known as Fernando, and he couldn't really pray and study because his friends kept coming to visit, and, um, he would get into political discussions, and he just, he didn't get focused. So after two years, he was sent to Coimbra, and there he began nine years of study, learning Augustinian theology, not a Franciscan yet, but later he would combine that with his Franciscan experience. So he took life, you know, trying to serve God.

Now, here's where his life changed. You know, have you ever had a life-changing moment? Right? Here's how his life changed. When they saw the bodies of five Franciscan martyrs that were returned from Morocco. Now, what happened was, they continued to preach Jesus despite being warned by the Muslims to stop. These five continued to teach about Jesus. They were tortured and beheaded. Now, what happened was, this happened right before the queen, or the procession of these bodies happened before the queen and a crowd as they carried the remains in a procession to the local monastery. That was a Franciscan monastery. So that's where he got it.

So he made a decision, a huge decision, and he went to this little Franciscan friary and said, "Brothers, I would gladly put on the habit of your order," meaning the Franciscans, "if you would promise to send me as soon as possible to Islamic lands that I may gain the crown of Holy Martyrs." Now, I laughed because I did the same thing with Father Kaz. I was convinced a few years ago that I was called to Iraq because of the persecuted Christians. Please pray for the persecuted Christians. They are the most in need of help, especially in the Middle East. Our Christians are being beheaded. They are being slaughtered, and there's no attention paid to it by the U.S. government. We're more focused on redefining gender and and and people, um, offending each other than we are in the lives of the Christians being killed. And so pray for them.

Well, anyway, I went to Father Kaz and I asked him to go to Iraq, and he said, "No, no, absolutely not." And that's exactly what happened. Um, you know, to some of us in religious life, we have our own plans, but God has other plans. So listen to what happened to Saint Anthony. Let's go to our next slide. He was allowed to leave, and he received the Franciscan habit. That's a beautiful little picture there, isn't it? I mean, how momentous to be able to receive that.

So he receives the Franciscan habit. He took the name Anthony. That was not his name. His name is Fernando, but he took the name Anthony after the desert monk Saint Anthony of Egypt, back from the fourth century. So now the Franciscans did allow Anthony to go to Morocco, unlike Father Kaz with me in Iraq, to be a witness for Christ and even a martyr. But the difference was, God didn't allow it. That's kind of where God spoke to Father Kaz with me, "You're not going." But, um, the gift that he wanted to give, his martyrdom, was not the gift God asked of him. Um, he became ill and he couldn't go.

So after several months, he realized he had to go back home. Problem was, he never arrived. What happened? His ship ran into a huge storm, and the winds, they blew him all the way across the Mediterranean, and he arrived at Sicily. Um, okay, Sicily. And the friars there in Messina, though they didn't really know him, welcomed him, nurtured him back to faith. And this was what he wanted, a quiet life of prayer, contemplation, living in a hermitage as a hermit. If that would have happened, you never heard of him. But sometimes that's a better life.

Well, anyway, after a dinner one night, the provincial superior said that we wanted a friar to give a short sermon, and he was called on. Nobody knew him. They didn't even know he had any education or not, and he was asked to give something simple. But he was just, just a dishwasher. Don't ever think God can't use you because you're nobody. I mean, this is who God uses. He was just a dishwasher, and they thought he had no education, even though he did. And he began to speak very simply, but then he got this fire, and in this fire, and all of a sudden, his knowledge came out, and his holiness came out. Everybody was really impressed, and basically, he was exposed. I mean, they found out that this guy has got a gift. And so his quiet life of prayer and penance at the hermitage was now over.

So he became a public preacher. And, um, it's funny because when I came to the Marists, I did not, I wanted to just be in the background, being in a quiet prayer, just like Saint Anthony. And I had no desire to teach or preach. I just wanted to pray. I just wanted to be quiet. And people say, "Father, you cannot be quiet." And I was helping Father Dan at a mission, and Father Dan Cambra was in the confessional, and he had a long line of people, and he was scheduled to speak. And I had no desire, no intention of ever speaking or teaching at all. I just wanted to be a brother behind the scenes, praying a quiet life. And this is how God works.

So Father Dan's in the confessional, and it's getting closer to seven o'clock when the time begins, and I'm getting nervous because I was organizing everything for Father Dan, selling his books, and arranging his talks. And he's scheduled to speak at seven. He's got a church full of people. And so I'm outside the confessional door, a little nervous, and it's seven o'clock, and the next penitent comes out. So I go rushing into the confession. I said, "Father Dan, you got to speak. They're waiting for you." And he said, "Well, there's too many people waiting for confession. You go talk." I had never spoken. I said, "Father Dan, I haven't prepared anything." He says, "It doesn't matter. You just follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit." I said, "What?" He said, "Yeah, you know a lot about Saint Faustina. Just talk about Saint Faustina." I about panicked. I had nothing. I had no notes. I had nothing written down. I had no idea what I was going to say. And so he says, "I need to stay here in the confessional. I'm being called." And so I'm like, "You got to be kidding."

So I went up there, and there were words coming out of my mouth. I had no idea where they were coming from. I had no idea. And it just came out. And afterwards, uh, Father Dan came out of the confessional just as a little bit before I was finishing. And ever since then, I've been doing these talks, going around speaking. Started with Father Dan, and that's how it began for me. That I felt, "Okay, Lord gives different people different missions." And what a blessing to be able to talk about Divine Mercy. And this is what happened to Saint Anthony. He didn't plan this. He was called upon, how funny, by another priest to give a short talk. It was the same thing. And so I find this very interesting.

Now, what happened was, uh, um, it was thought, you know, as I said, he was thought to be uneducated, but now it's becoming evident that he was gifted, and he became the great preacher, theologian. Um, Saint Francis. Now, we're talking about Saint Anthony, but Saint Francis, the other top five saint in the church, heard about him, and they got to know each other. So he assigned Saint Anthony to preach in Northern Italy. Now, he's from Portugal. So the problem was his, and this was the same problem with many preachers. Their lifestyle was different. They were living a pretty good life, and he's like, "Something's wrong here. I'm a priest, but I'm not living the poor like the poor to whom we preach." And so Anthony saw that words were not enough. That's why us Catholics are not just about words. "Well, you just got to profess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You don't have to do anything. Jesus did it all. You don't have to worry about anything. Jesus does all the worrying. It's just what you say, 'I profess Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior.'" No. The Bible says, "Not everyone who says, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of the Father." That's why we must do works of love, not the works of the law. And Anthony saw this. He had to show the life of the Gospel poverty, gospel poverty.

Now, people wanted more than just some preacher. They wanted somebody living the Gospel. And this is who Saint Anthony was. And in him, they found it. They were moved by who he was, not just what he said. And, um, so he made 400 visits around the area, choosing to go into cities, um, where mainly the heretics were were strongest, and he took on the heretics. He was nice. Sometimes I take on the heretics, but I need to be a little nicer.

In 1226, okay, he lived in the 13th century. He became provincial superior. Again, he was shocked. When I became provincial superior, I was shocked. I made all these trips to go out and preach, never expecting that I would be made provincial superior. Now I have to cancel a whole bunch of them. So please pray for us because I hate to do that, but I have to. And he went around, um, and and he, but he still held to prayer. Now, he became sick because this began to be very tough on him, and he, um, and he became very sick. But he was still provincial, and he went to the general chapter in Rome. I just finished our general chapter in Rome. In, so I'm just reading Saint Anthony, going, "Oh my gosh, this is amazing." Um, and he asked to be relieved of his duties. When I was in Rome, I asked not to be elected because they're actually, the general asked me not to be elected so that I could stay here in the United States. And, um, so anyway, he asked that, well, anyway, it was denied in a very funny way. Um, and he was sent finally now to Padua. This is why we call him Saint Anthony of Padua, even though he had not been from Padua. And so this was a town in Italy, not far from Venice, just west of there, and it was one of the most important cities in Italy.

Now, is where he preached his last and most famous sermons. Crowds, 30,000, 30,000 people. That's amazing. They have a lot less people then than we do now, in terms of the population, but they had a lot more at the sermons. Now, the churches could not hold them, so he would go to the piazzas and the open fields, just like Jesus, and he would preach. And people waited all night long to hear him. In fact, he needed a bodyguard because people would come up with scissors and would cut pieces off his habit because they wanted relics. Well, anyway, he lived in the confessional, many confessions lasting all day, sometimes he fasted, sometimes all day. Um, he was a great man of penance, zeal, but he was primarily a saint for the people, always with the people. Um, amazing.

And so anyway, he had this great energy, but the problem was, he wore himself out. So in 1231, he was sick, he was exhausted, and he was getting close to death. And he wanted to return back to Padua because he had kind of gone around the local area. And so in a wagon, they brought him back, but he was so weak, he didn't make it. And he had to stop at a town away called Arcella. And there he blessed Padua from a distance, just like Saint Francis blessed Assisi from a distance. And there in Arcella, he received the last sacraments, sang and prayed with the friars there. And one of them asked him, as they saw him, he was kind of just steering away, and he said, "I see my Lord. He's coming for me." I mean, can you imagine seeing Jesus coming for you? That's what our faith is waiting for. That's our hope. And anyway, he died shortly after that. He was only 36. This is just like the great Saints Therese, Saint Faustina. I mean, amazing. And, um, he'd only been a Franciscan 10 years.

Now, let's go to our next slide, because the following year, he was declared a saint because of all the miracles. And his feast day, we just celebrated June 13th, um, and that's the day he died, June 13th, 1231. And so many miracles, this is why he was canonized.

Now, let's talk about this, because devotion to Saint Anthony started happening right away after he died. Now, I'm going to explain to you why we have devotion to Saint Anthony. Thousands came to view his body, uh, and to attend his burial. And at his grave, all these miracles started happening. So all of a sudden, all these miracles. So Saint Anthony is also depicted with a Child Jesus, with a book in his hand, and a lily. Now, this has to do with his miracles. So let's talk about this.

Now, he also has been painted preaching to fish, holding a monstrance in front of a mule. We're going to explain these are all his miracles. They are fascinating. All right, why do the we live, though? I'm going to start with why do we pray to Saint Anthony for lost things? Anybody know why? All right, let's start there. Why do we pray to Saint Anthony when you lose something? And I am famous for that. It's starting to be clear to me after doing this talk on Saint Anthony that I think the Lord might be putting me under Saint Anthony. You know, that's how you get your patron saints. Your patron saints, you can get one of three ways. One is the day you're born. Okay? So you're born, I'm born July 26th. That's the feast day of Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary. Angelicum is known as a father, and they go, "Wow, my patron saint is Saint Joachim because I'm a father." And, um, your patron saint can come the day you're born. So my sister's born on January 31st. She's her patron saint is Saint John Bosco. So your patron saint is the day you are born, whose feast day that is. Okay?

But it also can be, uh, based on your name. So my patron saint is Saint Christopher, who happens just to be the day before his feast day is July 25th, and I was born one minute after midnight on July 26th. So I'm right between Saint Christopher and Saint Joachim and Saint Christopher's the patron, my patron saint by my name. You can also get a patron saint by your vocation, your, your, um, what you do, your, um, your vocation or your occupation. All right, if you're a doctor, who's your patron saint? Okay, Cosmos and Damien. They were surgeons, right? Um, if you, um, if you have a certain vocation, it could be based on what your, um, who your patron saint is. But also the big way is who God assigns to you. And God will reveal your saint to you as people start giving you like prayer cards of him. If you keep seeing statues of him or her, God will give you sometimes a patron saint. And so why he may have given me Saint Anthony? I lose everything. I always am losing things.

Now, how did Saint Anthony become the patron saint of lost things? Okay, the reason that we invoke him, and I think this is a great story, because, uh, when we lose something, so we need to find a lost or stolen item, is traced back to when he had a book of Psalms. He had the book of Psalms, and in it, he had notes and comments that he had collected. He had written over the years. Now, there was a novice in the Franciscans that decided to leave, and he took Saint Anthony's book with him. This devastated Saint Anthony. Years of notes in that book, and it was a special book to him. So he prayed and prayed that it would be found or returned to him. And after his prayer, this novice, who had taken it, miraculously was moved and returned this book to Saint Anthony, and he returned to the Order of Franciscans, and they accepted him back, which they never did back then.

And now the legend has it that this novice was stopped by a devil, one of the devils with an axe, and threatened to trample him if he did not return the book. But this is kind of odd because the devil would hardly command you to do something good. So I'm not sure about that part. But anyway, the stolen book is now preserved in the Franciscan friary in Bologna, if you ever make it there. And shortly after his death, people prayed and started finding lost things. And so he, this is how he happened.

Now, I want to show you my favorite miracle. It's called the Baby Jesus. Now, Saint Anthony, as we just said, is often shown holding the baby Jesus. Now, why, why was Saint Anthony shown holding the baby Jesus? Let's watch a two-minute video, and it's going to tell you the story.

Have you ever heard the story of why we always find Saint Anthony of Padua depicted holding the baby Jesus? What follows will explain. The Friars Minor had no monastery within the walls of Padua. The nearest one at Arcella, outside the city, being about three-quarters of an hour's walk. It often happened that owing to the gates being closed early in the evening, it was impossible for Saint Anthony, on account of his missionary work, to return home. But he easily found a knight's shelter among his friends, who were only too happy to have him for their guest. Tito Borghese, Count of Campo San Pietro, one of the saint's dearest friends, was among the few whom he honored the most with his presence. This noble man had so great a veneration for him that he carefully noted down all that took place during his visits, even rising up at night to watch his guest through the keyhole. Once, when thus visiting him, he noticed an extraordinary light piercing through the chinks of the saint's room. Anxious to discover the cause of this, he drew near and to his great surprise saw through the cracks of the door Saint Anthony holding a beautiful child in his arms, whom he was lovingly caressing. His host was first at a loss to understand how this lovely infant had entered the apartment of his guest, but soon discovered through his majestic bearing and the rapture of Saint Anthony that the child was no other than our Divine Lord, who under this form had come to console, encourage, and strengthen his faithful servant. The apparition lasted some time, then suddenly disappeared, leaving the room in total darkness. At once the saint rose from his prayers and on going to his bedroom knocked against his host in the dark, as if guilty of a crime. He entreated his friend not to betray his secret. During the lifetime of Saint Anthony, the count faithfully kept his word, but after his death, with tears streaming down his face, he gave a minute account of everything that had taken place.

Okay, what a fascinating story. Um, now this guy, when, when Saint Francis was startled, and this man walked in, how many times do we fear people walk in and we're doing something we shouldn't be doing, and he walks in, and Saint Francis, uh, Saint Anthony's holding the baby Jesus, and this guy recognized what was happening, and Saint Francis, I keep saying Saint Francis, Saint Anthony made him swear that he wouldn't tell anybody. And he's holding the Child Jesus. Can you imagine? And so this man did until the day Anthony died. And then after the day he died, this man told everybody, and they found out later that it was confirmed through some other sources and some comments that were made by Saint Anthony's. So we know this to be true. What an amazing story.

But I'm going to give you a couple more miracles, uh, that are fascinating, uh, because it can be a shorter talk today. Um, there is a miracle called "Where is Your Treasure?" Now, listen to this. Anthony once preached at the funeral of a guy who was a money lender. And you know how we go to funerals and we always canonize the person, no matter who they were. That's not good. They need prayers. And so Anthony's preaching at this guy's funeral, and he told the listeners that they should not bury his body in consecrated ground, for his soul was in hell. Could you imagine saying that at somebody's funeral? And he said that the man's heart was no longer in his body. Now, the body's laying there, right in front, this is during the funeral, and the family members got irate. And he says, "Trust me, the heart is not in his body." And they said, "You're lying," and they screamed at him and called him a liar. But Anthony said, "The gospel has been fulfilled, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be." So guess what happened? They opened up the man's side. They didn't believe Anthony, and they found his heart was missing. Now, later, they found his treasure chest, and they opened the treasure chest, and there was the man's heart. Whoa! All that money that that man stored, cheated from people. The Bible says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be." Anthony's teaching this at his funeral, saying, "This man's heart's not in his body." The family gets irate. They open his side right there. His heart's missing. And then later, they find his treasure chest of money. They open it up, and there's his heart. Oh my. Where will they find your heart? Now, they'll probably find mine in the river fishing. We can't make anything else. Our God.

Now, speaking of fishing, my favorite miracle, the miracle of the fish. Have you heard this miracle? Once, once Anthony traveled to the city of Rimini because he heard it was a hotbed of heresy. And so the city leaders there ordered everyone to ignore him, so no one turned up when he went to speak. You know, I heard that they did this to Cardinal Burke in New Zealand. I was shocked by this. Shocked. I went to New Zealand, and there's some great priests, great bishops, don't get me wrong, but there's a few that are very not faithful to the teaching of the church. And one of the liberal bishops there, her Cardinal Burke was coming. God bless Cardinal Burke, a man of the truth. And he ordered everybody not to go. He didn't even have a ride at the airport. Nobody even came to pick him up. Finally, one priest got the courage, went and picked him up. And Cardinal Burke came, and all of a sudden, everybody came to his talks. You can't crush the truth.

And so what happened? The leaders of the city told nobody to show up. So Anthony walked along, praying and reflecting upon, reflecting upon what just happened. There's nobody here. And he walked outside of the town and came to the mouth of a river. There he began to address not crowds, but fish. Let's look at the next slide. All of a sudden, fish started popping their heads out of the water, and he started to preach to the fish. All of a sudden, he cried out, "You fish of the river and the sea, listen to the word of God, because the heretics in this town do not wish to hear it." Suddenly, there were thousands of fish that came and neatly arranged themselves in rows, and they all pushed their heads up through the water, through the surface of the water, and they were listening to every word. Now, all of a sudden, word got out, and all the people of the town who neglected Anthony and were told not to listen to him, the people of Rimini started coming out. They saw this miracle. They saw all the fish listening to Anthony, and it converted the entire town. See what happens when you try to crush the truth? And the same thing's gonna happen. You may have the politicians trying to crush the truth. Let me tell you, as soon as we have the illumination of conscience and God enlightens us, there ain't going to be nothing they can do to crush the truth. Right now, the truth is being looks like crushed, but it won't be.

Now, the truth is in the miracle or the Eucharist. The other great miracle called The Miracle of the Mule. Have you heard this one? It's one of my favorites. Saint Anthony worked hard to convert people, non-believers and heretics, because he felt sorry for them. So he saw that they were deprived, they deprived themselves of the most precious gift of all, the Eucharist. And he believed that no one could survive spiritually. You might be able to survive physically, but not spiritually. You've got to have it. Your body has to have food. How many people here who have not eaten in the last week? Have you eaten in the last seven days? I doubt there's anyone here or listening that's not eaten in the last seven days. Have you received Holy Communion in the last seven days? Because we all need food for the body. You've got to have food for the soul.

And so anyway, one day, a heretic told Anthony that he would believe that Christ was truly present in the Eucharist only if his mule bowed down to it. And so the heretic, so they had a little challenge, kind of like in the Old Testament. Um, we've seen this before. And this heretic starved his mule for three days. They arranged in three days they'd have seen Anthony bring the Eucharist. So he starved his mule for three days. Now, after that, they brought the mule, and Saint Anthony stood on one side with a consecrated host in his hands. He was a priest, while the heretic stood on the other side of the mule holding food for the mule to eat. Now, the mule, ignoring being extremely hungry, hadn't eaten in three days, went straight over to Saint Anthony, and there are hundreds of people around. Nobody's making this up. This is documented. Hundreds of people were there, and he knelt down and genuflected before the Eucharist to adore it.

Now, let's go to our next slide, because they have a statue of this in Maryland. This is a beautiful statue. Look at that statue. This is an, um, Ellicott City or something like that in Maryland. That is a gorgeous statue. I want to get a little mini version of that. And there's the mule genuflecting before. Look at the flowing robes of Saint Anthony, and he's got the Blessed Sacrament. This is another documented miracle.

Now, another great one is the miracle of the reattached foot. This one was a young man in Padua named Leonardo. Went to Saint Anthony for confession, and he confessed that he once kicked his mother so hard that she, it really harmed her, and she suffered a nasty fall. And Saint Anthony muttered under his breath during the confession, "The foot that strikes father or mother deserves to be cut off." Now, he didn't intend for this young man to hear that, but he did. And he took it literally. Because the man, not understanding the meaning, because doesn't Jesus say, "For sin, your hand causes you to sin, cut it off"? So he didn't understand it. And he returned home, and he took a hatchet and he cut off his foot. He took it literally.

Now, do we read the Bible literally? Yes. Well, then that would mean, "Father, cut off your hand," because the Bible says, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off." So does that mean all of you should go home tonight, take a hatchet, and cut off your hand like this man did his foot? No. We read the Bible literally. True. That means that the message in the Bible is literally true. What's the message? That if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. The literal message is, if there's anything in your life causing you to sin, get rid of it. If it is a computer, get rid of it, or a boyfriend or girlfriend, get rid of them. That is the literal meaning. If there's something in your life, get rid of it. But we don't read the Bible as literalists. That means, as a literalist, you actually take a saw and cut off your hand. Jesus did not mean that. But this is how this guy took Saint Anthony.

Now, the word got out to Saint Anthony. So Saint Anthony found this youth, found his house, and went into the young man's bedroom. Now, let's take a look at our next slide. This is a famous painting. Now, if you saw this painting at an art museum or religious church, you probably wouldn't know what it is. You know, you ever see this? You're going to churches, you see paintings, you have no clue what it is. I saw this before in a church in Europe. I had no idea what this was. I didn't know who it was. Now, all of a sudden, I'm doing this talk on Saint Anthony, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this is Saint Anthony praying, holding the severed foot close to the leg of the man." He made the sign of the cross, and instantly the foot became attached to the leg.

Brother Mark tells us these stories. He used to be involved in exorcisms, and he said there was a story, and I think it was one of the things, I don't remember if it was Saint Brigid that he was talking about, that or somebody else, I forget. I've asked him later, but they watched the man's toe grow during the miracle because it was, it was a healing. And this is what happened to this man. This amputated foot literally was attached. It grew back, so to speak. And so the young man jumped up, praised God, gave thanks to Saint Anthony for healing him. But you know what? Saint Anthony took out of this, not that he's some great healer. Saint Anthony took a lesson that priests need to be careful what they say in confession. And so pray for your priests before you go to confession. Sing, and, uh, Faustina tells us all the time, pray for your priests before you go to confession, so that he'll know the right words to say.

All right, what about this other amazing miracle? These are incredible miracles. These are, I mean, next to Saint Charbel, these are the most incredible miracles I've ever seen in a saint. There is one called the drowned child. Now, in Lisbon, Portugal, there was a boy named Parisio. Again, this is all documented. And he decided to go out on the boat with some friends, but he didn't tell his parents. Suddenly, there was a violent storm, and the boat capsized. The other boys were older, they knew how to swim, and they were able to save themselves, but Parisio drowned.

Now, after hearing that about this tragedy, the boy's mother ran to the beach, and she pleaded with the sailors to find the body. So they lowered their nets, and they actually drug up the lifeless body, and they gave it to this desperate mother. So she's got this body of her son. Now, the next day, the family wanted to take the body to the church for the funeral and the burial, but the mother would not allow it. Right? She continued to pray to Saint Anthony. Now, remember, all of this is because of the faith of those who are praying. If, if you say, "Well, gee, I pray all the time, Father, nothing happens." How's your faith? Do you really believe? This mother did. She prayed to Saint Anthony, promising that if her child would be brought back to life, she would consecrate him to the Franciscans.

Now, let's look at our next slide. This is a picture of it. On the third day, on the third day, he rose again. In front of his parents and relatives, the boy suddenly awakened, as though he was like in a deep sleep. The mother's prayers to the Lord through the intercession of Saint Anthony were answered. Now, when this boy Parisio became older, he entered the Franciscans, and he always told the story. It's documented. This shows the power of the faith of the mother. My favorite gospel passage is the four men and the paralytic. The man who was injured, he was paralyzed, he was lowered through the roof. Jesus healed him. But did he say to that man on the mat, "Your faith healed you"? No. He looked up at the four men and said, "Your faith has healed this man." So when you have somebody that has fallen away from the church, and you come up to me all the time, you say, "Father, I'm distraught. My child is not in church. He doesn't believe." You have to have faith. You have to have faith. And then you don't always know if it'll be converted in this lifetime. Many times, Jesus told Saint Faustina in the diary, Saint Faustina, "Most conversions happen after it looks like they're dead." Did you know this? This is unbelievable. In fact, let me show you. I'm just thinking of this on the spur of the moment. Paragraph 1698. Listen to this. This is one of my favorite passages in the gospel. You got to do like Saint Anthony. You got to intercede for those loved ones of yours who have fallen away from the church, or living a bad lifestyle, who have insane marriages, or or not going to church. Even though that you may not see their conversion, God does. Listen to this paragraph 1698, Diary of Saint Faustina: "God's mercy sometimes touches the sinner at the last moment in a wondrous and mysterious way. Outwardly, it seems as if everything were lost. Looks like they've died, haven't converted, but it is not so. The soul, illuminated by a ray of God's powerful final grace, turns to God in the last moment with such a power of love that in an instant it receives from God forgiveness of sin and punishment." Well, outwardly, it seems to show no sign either of repentance or of contrition. This takes faith. You pray for them, even though it looks like they don't convert at the moment of their death, you won't even see it, but they do. Because souls at that stage no longer react to external things. Oh, how beyond comprehension is God's mercy. Although a person is at the point of death, the merciful God gives that soul the interior, vivid moment, so that if the soul is willing, it has the possibility of returning to God. And most of that is going to have to be from your prayer, because they don't have the faith. Just like that paralytic, when the men lowered them down, Jesus didn't say, "Your faith healed you." He pointed to the four men and said, "Your faith has healed this man." You have a lost son or daughter. Your faith can help save that person. You gotta have trust and faith, though. So this is what this woman did. So anyway, this shows the power of the mother's faith in intercession.

Do you know, in our Catholic faith, we know of 400 cases where saints raised the dead? Do you know who one of them raised the dead and it's documented? Our founder, Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, the founder of the Marian Fathers, he raised someone from the dead. In the church history, you know of 400 cases. Now, what's the difference then? How come, Father, we don't honor them like Jesus? Jesus rose from the dead because they will die again, like Lazarus in the Bible. Jesus rose from the dead, but he still died. But a resurrection of Christ, he will never die again. And that is the resurrection we are seeking.

Now, there's another incredible miracle, a dead man speaking. I love this one. In Lisbon, the city where Saint Anthony was from, there were two people who hated each other. Now, the son of one of them met the son of the other. Now, isn't that something? Because when I was a kid, if my dad didn't like somebody, I didn't like the son or the son of, of that man. And this is what happened. They lived near Saint Anthony's parents. Now, filled with hatred, and seeing that no one else was around, the one man stabbed and killed the other. And you know what he did? He buried the corpse in the garden of Saint Anthony's father, Martin. Now, Martin tried to prove his innocence, but when they found the murdered body buried in his garden, he was blamed. Now, God revealed all of this to Saint Anthony, who was in Padua. All right, about what was happening with his father.

Immediately, the saint, Saint Anthony, got permission to go away for one night. Now, the problem, the distance between Padua and Lisbon is 1,200 miles. So what happened? Anthony only had one day to be away, but he got there immediately. He bilocated. He bilocated. And in the courtroom, they were trying to convict his father. The saint showed up, and he asked that the body of the murdered man be brought in. So they bring in the body of this murdered man. He's dead. So Saint Anthony goes up to the corpse, and in a firm voice says to the man, "Tell us who killed you." Could you imagine if you're a juror? And shocking to everyone, they have hundreds of testimonies to this. The corpse sat up and announced the name and pointed at the murderer. Could you imagine if you were that murderer? And he pointed and announced the name of the murderer and attested to the innocence of Saint Anthony's father. The court was in shock. They freed his dad at once. And then the revived man, who had been murdered, turned to Saint Anthony and asked for absolution from his sins. And Saint Anthony gave him absolution, and then he turned right around and died again. Oh my God, that's unbelievable. And so miraculously, the next day, he was back in Padua. They didn't have no planes. He bilocated. He only asked to be away for one night. I mean, these are amazing.

Now, there's another great one about the speaking baby. Now, all of these are documented at the Basilica of Saint Anthony, Padua, in Padua, Italy. All of these were documented. So this miracle, there was a nobleman who was very jealous of his wife. So when his wife got pregnant and had their first child, he refused to believe it was his own. He was sure that she was unfaithful, and this was somebody else's baby. No matter how much the woman tried to tell him that she had not been with another man, he rejected the new baby. The baby was just born. So in her desperation, she went to Saint Anthony for help. The Saint Anthony talked to this man for hours, and it seemed like he was finally beginning to see that this is absurd and begin to believe that I'm just jealous. And just then, the nurse brought in the newborn infant. This is a brand new born baby. And all of a sudden, the man got mad again, and he saw this child, and he started to get all mad again. At this point, Saint Anthony turned to the newborn infant and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, speak and tell us who your father is." [Laughter] The baby looked up and said, "This man is my father." This is a newborn baby, and in the voice of a child years older, points says the man's name and says, "This man is my father." The man totally broke down, went into tears, who took the child in his arms and praised God.

Now, this is why God sometimes allows miracles, and this is why we see in the saints examples. Saint Anthony's saved a marriage. And so, you know, we see the miracle of, we just watched a video of the miracle with the Child Jesus. Is why you see statues of Saint Anthony holding the Child Jesus. These are beautiful stories. Only the Catholic Church has this richness in history. If you leave the Catholic Church and go to another faith, you've got to erase all this stuff that happened in the 1500 years before Martin Luther, back to Jesus. Are we just going to

erase all that are we just going to just forget all that because all of that is based on the Catholic Church. These are miracles. Are examples. Now he's the patron saint of sailors and fishermen. Why all right, according to his biographers, the statue of Saint Anthony is sometimes put up on the ship's mast, and sailors are sometimes even scolded him if he doesn't respond quickly enough when they pray.

That comes from another miracle. In 1647, a priest named Father Villani in Padua was returning by ship to Italy from Amsterdam, and the ship was caught in a violent storm. Now, the priest encouraged everyone to pray to Saint Anthony. Now, then the storm got violent. They're gonna die. The ship's being torn apart. I tell you, there's nothing, nothing more fearful to me than when you're about to have death at sea.

A story I've never told before. When I was in, um, out just after graduating college, I went with my girlfriend to Lake Erie. Out a few miles off the Lake Erie coast is an island called Putin Bay in Ohio, and we went by my boat, by just a little 18-foot open bow boat, and we went to the island to spend the day. And we're getting ready to leave because I had to go to work the next day. And we're getting ready to leave, and everybody's telling us to stay on the island. Well, I didn't want to stay on the island. We're not married. I just didn't want to do that. And also, the weather's getting bad, and we see the purple rolling in. Now, this island is several miles from Catawba Point, the mainland. And I just got this little open bow 18-foot boat with seats in the front. And also, there's this big giant boat that's leaving to go back to Catawba Point. And I said, well, I'm going to follow him. And you know, when you follow a big boat, the wake behind it is kind of smooth. And all of a sudden, we go, and we're over halfway there. And I was so worried about getting back to work the next day. Now, how my times have changed. You know, nobody cares about emergency trying to get back to work the next day. This was Sunday night. And so all of a sudden, the rain started coming, and the wind was blowing. The waves were like waves I've never seen. I mean, they were as high as those chandeliers. And and the, and once a wave, you can handle the swell, but when waves start breaking, they're going to swamp your boat. Well, this other boat turned back. Well, we're already closer to Catawba Point than going back. And I thought, I'm not going to try to go back. I'm going to try to make it to Catawba Point. And I'm the only boat on the lake. And Julie's in the front. I ordered her to the floor, and I said, get on your life preserver. And I ordered her to the floor. I can't even see the compass. I have my electronics, everything. The water, the, the rain, it's blinding. I can't see two feet in front of the boat. I have no idea where I am in the water, and we're basically blind. All I got is the compass. And so I, I remember the bearing of Catawba Point. And so I'm ordering Julie onto the floor. She's got her life vest on. And I'm standing above the wheel where the windshield is so I could try to kind of see in the blinding wind and the rain and in these waves like I've never seen. And the boat's just being tossed. And all of a sudden, I'm, we're being swamped in the boat. The keys, you have to turn into the wave. If you get turned sideways to a wave, you're dead. And I'm trying to keep the boat, and the boat's cavitating. And all of a sudden, we slammed down. And the next wave breaks, and that hits the boat going up. And I completely flew where I was standing. And I completely flew to the back of the boat. I just happened to put a ski post on the back of the boat like that week before. And as I flew to the back of the, it knocked me all the way to the back. I happened to catch that pole. That pole got caught on my life preserver, which basically, see, but the problem was the boat turned sideways. And the boat turned sideways. And all of a sudden, Julie, who was on the floor, had the instinct. I never taught her this or told her this. She wasn't a boater. Instead of rushing to me, thank goodness. I mean, you would think that that would be her natural reaction because I was thrown off the back of the boat. I'm basically hanging on the back of the boat. Her natural reaction should have been to run to me. If she would have, we'd be dead. There's no way I would be here. Instead, she jumped to the wheel and turned the boat back around because what happened is the boat turned sideways just as this giant swell was coming over. And I'm watching this swell just coming over, and I'm like, that's it. And she turned the wheel just at the perfect moment to turn the boat just enough to catch the swell. And we went back over the thing and did not capsize.

Well, anyway, by only a miracle. I knew nothing of Saint Anthony back then. I knew nothing of Saint Anthony back then. And just then, as we turned, and we got by the grace of God, we were able to find Catawba Point. I never kissed the ground ever in my life before we got to a point where Catawba Point. And I remember vividly a man being at the boat dock, and he couldn't believe that I got in. I couldn't believe it. He says, where did you come from? I said, Put in Bay. He said, Oh my gosh, you must have been praying to Saint Anthony. I'm like, who's Saint Anthony? And so how amazing that a saint's looking out for you and you don't even know what to think if you actually pray to him. And I'll never forget the guy at the boat dock seeing, you must have been praying to Saint Anthony because he's the patron of fishermen and and and sailors. I didn't know that. What an amazing faith we have that God gives us this body of Christ like this.

And so anyway, here's what happened. So in the storm, they're all praying to Saint Anthony. And at once, he threw some pieces of cloth that had touched the relic of Saint Anthony earlier, and he threw it into the ocean. Each time a piece of the cloth hit the waves, they died down. Then at once, the storm completely ended, and the wind stopped, and the sea became calm. So the moral to that story, if you are ever caught out, and and I think there was a tragedy recently, wasn't there? Of 50 people that just died in a, in a migrant boat that capsized? I think I, I might be wrong, but please pray. This is this is part of our faith. So if you're ever caught out on the water, this is who you pray to.

Now, final one, final miracle. Saint Anthony is also known as the guardian of the mail. If you need a package delivered, don't call FedEx, call Saint Anthony. In 1792, there was a heartbroken wife seeking to know if her husband was okay. He had traveled from Spain to Peru, but she didn't hear anything from him. So she was writing many letters but not getting any answers. So in desperation, she went to the chapel and wrote a letter and put it in the hands of Saint, Saint Anthony. Now, she wrote a letter to her husband. Now, she went to the chapel and she put that letter in the hands of Saint Anthony and prayed that he would somehow intercede for her and deliver the letter. Yeah. So she put this letter in his hand. Now, the next day, she returned to the chapel and she was disappointed because in his hands was the letter. Well, somehow she didn't get discouraged. She went up to the letter, she opened it. It wasn't her letter. It was a letter back from her husband. Can you imagine? So she realized her letter had been replaced by a letter from her husband. He wrote that her last letter had been delivered by a Franciscan priest. And so he wrote, overjoyed to receive her letter because he thought she was dead, not hearing from her for so long. And she thought he was dead for not hearing from him for so long. So they put the letter in the hands of Saint Anthony. So if you ever need a package miraculously delivered, I forgot my medicine and, uh, I'm on heart medicine and blood clot medicine that I could die if I'm without it for a few days. And I sure enough went on a mission and couldn't get my heart medicine and my blood clot medicine. I had forgotten it. And of course, I couldn't get it. I was in, um, where was I? Was I in Europe? And it's just a nightmare trying to get prescription medicine when you're out of the country. And it's just, it's an absolute nightmare. So I had them overnight it or two-day it. And, um, they said it'll never get there because, you know, overseas, even overnight or two days, it's not going to happen. It's going to take a week minimum. Take a week minimum. I had heard this about Saint Anthony. This was just last year. Pray to Saint Anthony, and I got that package of medicine in two days. And so my body can survive for two days. But always trust. And so Saint Anthony, if you got a package that you need to have delivered, do it.

Now, another miracle involved, kind of like Saint Benedict, they tried to poison him and they couldn't kill him. Well, Anthony, they gave him a poisoned meal. Now, why you would try to kill Saint Anthony, I have no idea. But anyway, Anthony, uh, ate it with not being harmed after making the sign of the cross over it. And the people who tried to kill him were shocked because they had poisoned it, and they watched him eat the food. He never died. As soon as he made the cross over it, there was no poison. So all these things are why Pope Gregory IX, who actually knew Anthony personally, canonized him one year after his death. Now, Saint Anthony was canonized in the shortest time in the history of the Catholic Church. Did you know that? No other saint, 11 months. No other saint in the history of the Catholic Church was was canonized faster. He's known as The Hammer of Heretics. I love it. But he's also was very peaceful. He was very calm, gentle. In 1946, Pius XII declared him a Doctor of the Church. This means he's one of the big dogs. He's one of the ones.

Now, we have a bunch of today's Filipino day here at the National Shrine. And you all know my love for the Filipino people. You know my love for the Philippines. I can't wait. I'm going back there last week of, uh, July. I'll be giving a retreat to the many, many hundreds of priests and bishops of the northern part of the Philippines. Then in August, first week or 10 days of August, I'll be traveling down to El Salvador City at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy there. That's our shrine. And, um, Cayagan de Oro, Kian dioro. And that's where I'll be. We're going to publish a schedule of this. So please share this because I'm going to be there, and I'm going to be speaking. I would love to meet your family and your friends. Um, if you live in the United States, tell your family, friends in the Philippines. But there is a National Shrine of Saint Anthony. Do you know this? Of Padua in Laguna. In Laguna, Philippines. Let's take a slide. Look at this. Here's the picture of it. Let's look at your slide. This is the shrine, the National Shrine of Saint Anthony of Padua in Laguna, Philippines. And the Laguna National Shrine was built in 1578. This is amazing. So it's an important pilgrimage site.

And I'm wrapping up, everybody. So hang with me. I only got two minutes left. So one of the reasons that we follow this saint is likely that his life was what every Christian life is meant to be. All right, a very steady courage to face the ups and downs of life, the call to love, the call to forgive, to be concerned for the needs of others, to deal with things with gentleness, both trial and tribulation, to have our feet solidly on the ground, trusting in the law of independence on God. The miracles, this guy, I mean, next to Saint Charbel, these miracles are incredible. And so anyway, I want to finish. I've been all over the world. I have been to every continent except Antarctica. I just was now in Australia, which is a continent. And I have heard about all the beautiful churches of the world. You know, the most beautiful church I've ever seen right here in Massachusetts. The most beautiful church I have ever seen anywhere in the world. If you are ever in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Saint Anthony's. Let's take a look at the slide. This picture does not do it justice. That's a picture of Saint Anthony's Catholic Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts. That church, that picture can't do it justice. I have been to hundreds, if not thousands, of churches in Europe, in America, in Australia, New Zealand, in, you know, Africa. If you have ever seen a beautiful church, it does something to you. This Saint Anthony's in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the most beautiful I have personally seen. So if you're ever in the area, please stop by.

And in fact, as we said, I'm going to finish now. We have a statue of Saint Anthony on our property. For all the great Filipinos here, go visit Saint Anthony on our property before you leave. And today is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We cannot stop without mentioning Saint Anthony's great love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. He had a tremendous love for her. And so let us on this day, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, do what Saint Anthony did and ask him to intercede for us because the hand or the heart of Mary is what we want to follow, and it leads us to Christ. We're not going to Mary instead of Jesus. We're going to Jesus through Mary. And this is what we have.

So I want to finish with what was the title of this talk? The Miraculous Prayer of Saint Anthony. So let's go to our next slide. This is the unfailing prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua. So we are going to finish with this prayer. Now, what I, I've understood in the tradition of the church, yes, there's other miraculous prayers, but my understanding and what I've learned is this miraculous prayer to Saint Anthony is regarded as the most miraculous in the church to any saint. Now, prayers directly to God, obviously, but asking for the intercession of Saint Anthony. We're going to pray it together. Or no, I'm sorry. If you don't, if you can't see it, just open your heart. I'll recite it. Let the word sink into your heart. But we're going to put it on the screen. You can see this video after you leave here. You can read the prayer again, but just let the words I'm going to read sink into your heart. And it's the same as praying this prayer. But I ask you to do it in faith because nothing is answered if we don't believe, if we don't have faith. And remember, every prayer is answered, but maybe not the way we want. God answers what's best for us. But this prayer is miraculous. Let's go to our next slide.

The Miraculous Prayer to Saint Anthony. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Oh, holy Saint Anthony, gentlest of saints, your love for God and charity for his creatures made you worthy when on Earth to possess miraculous powers. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me. And now let's take a brief moment to offer your intention. Okay. We'll go to our next slide. Of this prayer. Oh, gentle and loving Saint Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms. The gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God bless everybody. We're going to be wrapping up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And before we finish with the final blessing, I just want to invite all of you to be part of our Marian family. If brother Mark and put on the screen, there is a way you could become a member of our Marian family. It doesn't cost a dollar. You do not have to pay anything. You don't have to donate anything. Now, if you do, and God puts on your heart, beautiful. We're trying to build a new monastery to house all our vocations. But if not, that's fine. You still get the grace. Go please to micprayers.org. And there it takes 20 seconds and it doesn't cost anything. Become a Marian helper. And when you become a Marian helper, you receive by decree of the Holy See, not by us, the Holy See has designated us a spiritual benefit society so that you receive all the graces of our rosaries, prayers, indulgences, just like you were a Marian priest of the Immaculate Conception. Now, what a great deal because you get the same grace I do without having to be a Marian priest. And so we invite you to be part of our Marian family. All you have to do in return is try to pray for us when you can because we're all praying for you. When you become a Marian helper, I pray for you every day. Our congregation prays for you every day. You don't want to miss that grace. And in return, you just try when you can to pray for other Marian helpers. Remember, Jesus said there's more power when people pray together. Right now, there's a million and a half Marian helpers. Now, not all of them are active. I'm trying to reactivate all of them. Only about a quarter million are active. So try to join us and be active. And this is beautiful.

All right, next, um, if you'd like to get my DVD of some of my earlier talks, um, you can visit, is this called my Explain in the Face series on DVD? shopmercy.org or call us at 800-462-7426. And finally, I got a couple books out there that might help you. One is, one very important understanding Divine Mercy. This book has everything you need to know about Divine Mercy. Easy to read. You can get that also on shopmercy.org or call us 800-462-7426. And lastly, our book with Jason, Deacon Jason, the suicide after suicide, basically this book helps anybody who's had any kind of suffering or loss, not just suicide. It's about the suicide of my grandmother, so I call that After Suicide, There's Hope. But it really could be called After Any Tragedy, There's Hope. You lost a loved one, or you have strange relationships and you're struggling, get this book. You can get it at suicideandhope.com or also at shopmercy.org and 800-462-7426. And I tell you what, if you can't afford it, but you really wanted to read it, my assistant Peter's in today. You can call him if you truly can't afford it, you truly will read it. I'll send you a free copy. And you can call Peter at 413-298-1302 or email him at peterjames@marion.org. And I'll send you a free copy. That's how much I want to get this message of mercy out to the world. So God bless all of you.

And please join us next week because next week, Saturday at 11 o'clock, be live streaming in person. It's the big talk on wokism and what this whole movement is and what does the church teach about it. It's not hack on anybody. What it is, is a teaching of the truth. So we hope that you'll join us. The Lord be with you. May almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Go in peace. The talk has ended. Thanks be to God. Thank you, everybody. God bless you. Thank you. Member of the Association of Marian Helpers, you can receive all the graces of our masses and prayers and penances just like you were a Marian priest or brother by decree of the Holy See. It doesn't cost anything and it takes but a few seconds to sign up. Please visit micprayers.org or call us at 800-462-7426. God bless you.