MAILING LIST SURVEY … IF YOU READ NO FURTHER TODAY, PLEASE ANSWER OUR MAILING LIST SURVEY! Virtual Ministry started out as an email service each Friday (you can read more about our history by clicking on the “About Us” page above), and continued to email everybody about the weekly updates. Then we decided to ask you if you wanted to be reminded when the webpage was updated. We would like to honour your requests, however our list has been deleted and we need you to spread the word about this and to let us know if you want the weekly reminder. It will be as simple as clicking here if you want to be reminded of the updates to the site (which usually happen every Friday). If you choose not to be reminded – please remember to come back and visit weekly.

I am hoping that you will read the whole issue. If not you may miss hearing about the sunny south, at the very bottom.

Please see Graham's Corner for a link to the text (3 pages) of Pope Benedict's message for Lent 2006, which considers the problem of poverty and the Church's response to it.

This week’s lighterside AGAIN comes from Tim Novecosky.

Are you aware of the newest feature? Each week – we send you back a year, to see how VM was a year ago. It is right at the bottom, below the birthdays.

Do you know Keith and Peggy Doucette? They have e-moved. Do you know their new email address? Ask here and we will re-e-introduce you.

and from St.Patrick’s Bulletin:

Catholic Information Center on the Web allows you to search the Bible and Catechism online, view 37 volumes of the writings of the Fathers of the Church, other works by various saints, and more.
SITE of the WEEK: http://www.catholicfirst.com/

I am entering into serious discussion with a Jehovah witness. Could you please let me know how I can point out their errors and bring him back to our faith.

Thank you,

Bernard. my email is bratneiya@yahoo.com

Editor’s note – A few articles/dialogues here...

http://www.catholic-legate.com/side_menu/other_religions.html

Greetings everyone,

I just wanted to update you all on my latest activities.

1) Humanae Vitae 2006 - A New Beginning Conference: For those of you who don't know, a good friend and I are organizing a pro-life conference to affirm the Catholic Church's teaching on the transmission of human life. Make no mistake: On May 14, Canada will change forever. We are expecting between 1000-2000 participants. Sign up today and be part of Canadian history. For more information on the conference, visit our website: www.therosarium.ca. We will begin our modest media campaign later this week. We will be hitting all quarters hard - faithful (orthodox) Catholics, other Christians, non-Christians, and even liberal Catholics (either to challenge or annoy them).

We need some help translating a couple of letters into French. If anyone can help us out, please let me know. Thanks.

Editor’s note – see the call for help below! If you want to read John’s March 2nd update about the conference click here.

2) Sacred Music Society - In order to showcase sacred music and Maryvale Academy's participation in it, the Sacred Music Society will be performing this Friday March 3, 8pm at Our Lady of Fatima Parish (153 Woodroffe Avenue). I have 10 tickets left to sell. Tickets are $10. You can learn more about them by visiting their website here: http://www.sacredmusicsociety.com. If you want to be inspired by angelic Latin voices, you will not want to miss this extraordinary performance. If you miss the performance, you will be poorer for it. Please help rebuild Canada's culture. Buy a ticket from me.

Editor’s note – events page has been promoting this!

3) Mark Mallet Concert - As fundraiser for Maryvale and to increase its exposure, I am organizing 4 evening concerts of Mark Mallet. Mark is an phenomenal Catholic musician from Alberta. The concerts will take place Fri. Apr. 7 7:30pm, Sat. Apr. 8 7:30pm, Sun. Apr. 9 7:00pm, Mon. Apr. 10 7:00pm at various Catholic Churches around Ottawa. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. To hear some of Mark's amazing music, visit his website: www.markmallett.com

Thanks for all your support.

John Pacheco.

p.s. I am also stepping down as editor and webmaster of The Catholic Legate (www.catholic-legate.com). I am doing this so that the website can get the attention it has lacked over the course of the last couple of years. A friend of mine will be taking over shortly.

After the Humanae Vitae 2006 conference in May, I will be taking a break from Catholic activism until the fall. When autumn rolls in, I will be slowly ramping up with this venture: www.socon.ca

I need some people who are willing to phone and/or visit parishes to spread the Good News about Humanae Vitae 2006 conference.

Please consider helping us out and finding others who are willing to do so as well. We have a plan and a strategy. We just need people willing to make a parish visit. With faith, all things are possible. You just have to get up and move to make things happen.

Regards in the Lord,

John Pacheco

Virtual Ministries would like to announce the next Men’s Breakfast!

It will be Saturday, 8:00 AM March 4 at St. Augustine’s Church Hall. The speaker is Ray Gervais. The cost will be $4.00 at the door but if you call me at 225-4350 you can reserve a ticket for only $3.00.

St. Mary's Eucharistic Adoration Chapel, 100 Young Street, is open from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day, seven days a week. Lent is the perfect opportunity to spend time in adoration and grow in Christ. You may bring your own prayer books, use the books in the chapel, read the bible, pray the rosary, or just sit, relax and enjoy the sweet peace that comes from simply being in the Presence of Jesus.

For further information, please contact Pat Stotts pstotta181@rogers.com

75th ANNIVERSARY OF JESUS APPEARING MARKS EXPLOSION OF DIVINE MERCY AS GOD PREPARES HIS PEOPLE FOR THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS by Robert R. Allard, Director Apostles of Divine Mercy

75th Anniversary of the appearance of Jesus to St. Faustina, February 22nd 2006

Everywhere you turn, people are talking about Divine Mercy! Hurricanes, Floods, Tsunamis, Global Warming, and Fires. Hardly an article can be written about any of these events without the thought of the Second Coming of Jesus and Divine Chastisement.

Today marks a very significant date for all mankind. Seventy-five years ago on February 22nd 1931 Jesus appeared to St. Faustina as The Divine Mercy with a special mission for her. He told her to paint an image as she witnessed Him with two rays of light streaming from His heart, one red and the other pale like water and to sign it “Jesus, I trust in You”.

Jesus spent the next seven years speaking to her about His mercy and asked her to record His words in a diary, which she named “Divine Mercy in My Soul”. He made known to her that it was her job to prepare the world for His final coming. Jesus told her: “Write: before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice…”(Diary 1146)

“I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of sinners. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation. In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. I use punishment when they themselves force me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy”(Diary 1588).

The Blessed Virgin Mary also spoke to Faustina about the Second Coming “I gave the saviour to the world; as for you, you have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Saviour, but as a just Judge. Oh how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still time for granting mercy. If you keep silent now, you will be answering for a great number of souls on that terrible day. Fear nothing. Be faithful to the end. I sympathize with you” (Diary 635).

Pope John Paul the Great, by Divine Providence, was immersed in the message of Divine Mercy at an early age and commented that it was “his job given to him by God to bring this message to the world”. He later said “I give thanks to Divine Providence that I have been enabled to fulfill the will of Christ by instituting the Feast of Divine Mercy”(Visit to Poland).

The diary has more than 14 entries where Jesus had requested that a Feast of Mercy be established in the Church as a “Last hope of Salvation”. Pope John Paul established the feast as Divine Mercy Sunday during the canonization in Rome of Saint Faustina in the Jubilee Year 2000 as the first saint in the new millennium!

Jesus told Faustina that “from [Poland] will come forth a spark that will prepare the world for My final coming” (Diary 1732). No doubt, this was Pope John Paul, who not only established the feast requested by Jesus, but issued an unprecedented special plenary indulgence and specified, as the duties of priests, the proclamation of that plenary indulgence to all humanity.

If this wasn’t proof enough of God’s Providence in the matter, our beloved Pope passed into heaven on the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday after celebrating that feast and participating in the requirements of obtaining the plenary indulgence!

Jesus told Faustina “Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort:”

“All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Saviour were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day” (Diary 83).

The Image of the Divine Mercy is central to the entire message of Divine Mercy and has a special importance by being displayed in Churches, especially on the Feast of Divine Mercy.

Jesus related several times the importance of the Image on the feast. He said “I desire that there be a Feast of Mercy. I want this Image, which you will paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy” (Diary 49).

One day St. Faustina said to Our Lord “They tell me that there is already such a feast and so why should I talk about it?” Jesus answered “And who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about it often do not know about it themselves. That is why I want the Image to be solemnly blessed on the First Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it” (Diary 340).

Pope Benedict XVI also supports the Image of Divine Mercy in his book “The Spirit of the Liturgy”. In it he explains the importance of images in the liturgy and goes on to say that the perfect image must represent the Paschal Mystery and also includes a message of hope in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus!

The Divine Mercy Image perfectly suits the recommendations of a perfect icon for not only Divine Mercy Sunday, but for every liturgy as well. Pope Benedict talked of the shameful stripping of sacred images in Churches during the twentieth century. If you haven’t read the book yet, buy one and read the section on images.

Churches throughout the world that have permanently installed Divine Mercy images are benefiting greatly. Jesus surely knew what He was doing when He gave us this image. It is exactly what mankind will need to maintain its hope in the years ahead through chastisements and natural disasters that are inevitable. If it is true that a picture has a thousand words, then this one has untold millions!

Jesus said, “The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water, which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the cross… Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him” (Diary 299).

Robert R. Allard, Director
Apostles of Divine Mercy
www.DivineMercySunday.com

Lenten Greetings from Luke Films!

Please accept my best wishes and blessings this Ash Wednesday and Lenten season. May it be a time of contemplation and an opportunity to renew your spirit.

I want to thank you for everything you have done for Luke Films, for THÉRÈSE, and for me personally. Without your support, my dream of spreading the message of St. Thérèse of Lisieux through film simply would not have been possible.

This is a very exciting time here at Luke Films. Through your prayers and your will to spread her message of the ‘Little Way’ over these past few years, we have reached so many with the love and wisdom of St. Thérèse. Thanks to you, we were able to release the THERESE motion picture on DVD this Valentine’s Day. The response has been incredible!

We are also excited to announce the arrival of the Witness to Hope DVD to our online store. Based on the best-selling book by George Weigel, Witness to Hope is a complete and intimate portrait of the most beloved pope of the 20th century. This special DVD arrives just in time to commemorate the first anniversary of John Paul II’s death and will be a perfect addition to your home or church DVD library. You can visit our online store by CLICKING HERE.

And don’t forget, all revenue generated from purchases of Luke Films products will go directly toward developing new uplifting spiritual projects. Thank you again for your continued support of our mission. My prayers are with you today and throughout this Lenten season.

In Christ,

Leonardo Defilippis

A charitable non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

Hello Jim, from the very warm South Carolina. Today is our second day in the 90's. I love it. Here is some good news to pass on and to pray about.
The State of South Dakota legislature has passed a bill making the performing of an abortion for any reason other than the immediate health of the mother a felony offence - murder in I believe what they call the second degree. Sentence is 25 to life. The governor signed the bill into law. We need to pray that the inevitable court challenges will not be successful.
Also, the issue of partial birth abortion is coming before the federal Supreme Court in the next few weeks. President Bush wants a ban on this. Just maybe God is responding to our prayers. May it happen!
We hope everything is well with you, and all our brothers and sisters in
Ottawa.
God bless. Bas.

Editor’s note – Tim Novecosky wants to share this with you Bas!
A place to move to? http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/02/catholic.town.ap/index.html

Birthdays coming up this week are:
TODAY - March 3rd – another couple of those them there baby boomers. Anybody out there, want to guess what year, for Paul Atkinson &/or Cliff Dunning?

My good brother Marc Gauthier reaches a milestone on Tuesday March 7. Does that mean we can drink green beer? I heard something like that somewhere.

What was going on in VM – one year ago? Well maybe, if you go visit, you can see two sites that were recommended by Cyril Dowling for kids; or you can drop in to David MacDonald’s site and hear his marriage song "One Man One Woman" http://virtualministry.com/Archives/VMArchive2005/VM280/VM280.htm