Heart to Heart

JMJDFC

Program 8

Welcome to our broadcast of Heart to Heart. It's so wonderful to be sharing the faith with you once again, especially on this beautiful feast of our Lady of Guadalupe. With us today is Father Michael Novacki, OP, and Father George Cadwallader. Father George is assigned to St. Martin of Tours Parish in Philadelphia. He and I graduated from Cardinal Dougherty High School in the same year. Of course back in those days, the boys were on one side of the building and the girls were on the other. We are in the studio today and will be available to take your phone calls. You may dial 962-8178 if you live in the south Jersey area or 1-609-962-8178 from any other area. Also, you may write to us at: Heart to Heart, P. O. Box 11431, Philadelphia, PA 19111-0431.

Father Michael, will you please read the passage for us from today's Gospel according to St. Luke [Lk. 1: 39-47]

"Mary set out, proceeding in haste into the hill country to a town of Judah, where she entered Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby stirred in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out in a loud voice: 'Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. But who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby stirred in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who trusted that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled.'

"Then Mary said: 'My being proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit finds joy in God my savior.'"

Thank you, Father. There is a Dominican tradition of offering the greeting of, "happy feast day" to everyone on the occasion of a special feast. This week we are blessed to have celebrated two wonderful feasts of our dear mother. As you know, Sunday was December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Since the Church deems Sunday to be of great importance, she does not permit the remembrance of anything other than God Himself that day. The church decided to transfer the celebration of Mary's feast to the following day. So on Monday, this week, we officially celebrated the Immaculate Conception and today we celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe. Happy Feast Day!!

Our Blessed Lady is very special in the life of all Dominicans. There is the pious belief that the Blessed Mother of God gave the devotion of the Rosary, in the form we know it today, to St. Dominic. Another belief is that one of our friars, who was sick to the point of death, was given the scapular by Mary. This brought about his healing and from that point on, the scapular became a part of every Dominican habit. You may not realize that the Pope, the Holy Father in Rome, wears the Dominican habit. This is due to St. Pius V, a Dominican who was Pope from 1566 to 1572. He just happens to have been the 225th Pope. When he was succeeded by Pope Gregory XIII, the newly elected Pope decided to wear the same habit his predecessor had worn. Every Pope since that time have chosen the same. It is also thanks to the great Dominican Saint Pius V, that we have the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7 each year. This will be the topic of another program.

The Dominican Order is a Marian Order. Dominic lead the way in his devotion to the Mother of God. He gave us, his spiritual children, a legacy of love for Mary that transcends the centuries. Our love for the Blessed Mother, Mary, is not an adoration of her. It is a deep love which any child should have for their mother. Jesus gave Mary to us as our mother, at the foot of the cross, so for us to ignore her would be a serious fault. Mary is not God and we do not treat her as a god. We simply express the depth of love we have for her. So often, we hear people of other faiths tell us that our devotion to Mary is idolatry. We should ask them if the love they have for their mother is idolatry. Of course not!

Mary, as our mother, intercedes for us with her Son, the Son of God. God uses normal everyday things to give us an example of the spiritual life. How often have we heard a child ask one parent for a favor instead of the other. The child knows one will respond in the affirmative, while the other, well, they are not so sure of the response. When we go to Mary to ask a favor or gain graces or for forgiveness, we do the very same thing. We feel our loving mother will give us a favorable response. Father George told us today in his homily that Jesus cannot refuse His mother anything. Our brother, Jesus however, who is God might not be so lenient. After all, we are taught that beside being a loving God, He is also a just God. The Justice of God is not something we want to face. If we can take the easy way out, we usually do; it is our human nature. When Jesus made the offering of His mother to us, He understood exactly what He was doing. Thank God.

How wonderful it is to realize that with Mary as our mother, Jesus as our brother, and God Himself as our Father, we are heirs to eternal life. Grant it, we are frail, yet our Master gives us every help He can to bring about our salvation. Look at some of the sacraments He gave for our use: Baptism to clean our souls of original sin; Holy Eucharist to nourish and strengthen our weak souls; Reconciliation to wipe away the stain of our personal sins. All the graces that we need to find true happiness, maybe not in this life, but definitely in the next one, are within our reach.

Father George, even though he is not a Dominican, has a special love for the Blessed Mother. He has purchased vestments designed to show the world his love of our mother. This is the reason I invited him to be with us today. Father George, can you tell us about this feast of Our Lady of Guadalope:

Apparitions of Mary to Juan Diego, 9-12 December 1531, a native convert, at Tepayac.

Juan Diego's sick uncle - avoiding the apparitions. Human also!

Will you share a little bit about your devotion to our Lady?

Can you tell us about your upcoming Marian pilgrimage?

We are planning the reception of the members of St. Martin de Porres Young Dominican's Chapter into the Dominican Family. This special event will include Mass, the ceremony of reception for about sixteen youngsters, ages nine to seventeen: and a banquet for them and you. This banquet will be a fund raiser to provide bibles for the teens, and continued air time for the "Heart to Heart" Radio Ministry. Live music will be provided at the banquet by, "Turning Point." The teens are working on a chastity play to perform for you. Your presence at this banquet would mean a lot to Father Novacki and myself.

Joining Father Novacki, OP, and us for this special occasion, will be Father Joseph Allen, OP, the Provincial Promoter for St. Joseph Province. Father Joseph Griffin, O.S.F.S, from the De Sales Spirituality Center is hoping to be with us. For now however, I have been asked to announce that he has had a heart attack and is hospitalized in the cardiac intensive care unit. According to Fr. Davis, Fr. Griffins' superior, he will be unavailable for some time, as he recovers. Joe Veltri from "My Jesus Mercy Ministries," a Dominican, will be on hand at the banquet to greet you. Cardinal Bevilacqua has extended his regrets. Due to prior commitments he will not be able to join us for this special day. He has assured us of his prayers for this ministry.

Our banquet will be held at Holy Name of Jesus Church, in Philadelphia, on January 26, 1997, at 1:00pm. The cost for this banquet will be $20.00. If you can join us for this very special occasion: Mass, reception ceremony, and dinner, write to us. If you need a ride, we may be able to arrange one for you. We ask that you make your reservations as soon as possible. The deadline will be January 15, 1997, that's just a month away.

We will be preparing a booklet to commemorate our first banquet and we will be able to accept ads. The requested donation for these ads is: $25.00 for a quarter page; $50.00 for half a page; and $100.00 for a full page. The ad can include a message and/or picture or memorial to your loved ones. Our mission at "Heart to Heart" is: "All for the glory and honor of God: and the salvation of souls." This includes souls in this life and the next. Your purchase of an ad will enable this ministry to continue. The deadline for ads will be January 2, 1997. The letter we received from the Cardinals office will be included.

In addition to marking your calendar for January 26, 1997, you may want to mark February 8, 1997. This date will provide you with a safe family night out. Our Lady of Calvary, on Knights Road in Philadelphia, is the location for a chastity dinner and dance. Refreshments, hot dogs, soda, coffee, etc. will be provided. You may want to make a donation that night before you leave. Music for the evening will be provided by, "Turning Point." This is a great opportunity for your family to spend some quality time together in a safe environment. It will also allow pre-teens and young adults to meet others who believe that chastity before marriage is important. That's February 8, 1997, a chastity dinner and dance at Our Lady of Calvary, Knights Road in Philadelphia. Call us at (215) 743-8332 for further information.

Just a reminder about the other fund raising effort that we shared with you. We have a beautiful picture of the Blessed Mother and Pope John Paul II in a loving embrace. This picture is beautifully framed and glass covered. Everyone who sends in a donation, either for the ministry, bibles or pins, will have their name entered into a drawing for this picture. Extra chances may be purchased. The drawing will take place at the banquet following the January 26th ceremony. The winner will be announced on the air January 30, 1997.

Another endeavor we would like to undertake is to visit shut-ins within the Delaware valley area. If you would like us to visit you, please let us know. Also, we could use some volunteers for various projects we would like to begin. If you have some time on your hands and would like to put that time at our Lord's disposal, drop us a line or give us a call. God rewards everything we do for Him and for the least of our brothers and sisters in Him.

The financial donations you make to this program may be tax deductible; the IRS has given us eighteen months to file our application. I have been assured that we are tax exempt by the IRS agent due to the works we have undertaken of evangelizing and assisting those in need. Please make your tax deductible donation to "Heart to Heart." May God reward you, my brothers and sisters, for the assistance you give to keep this program on the air. To make a donation, ask a question or bring up a subject that you would like discussed on this program, write to us at: Heart to Heart, P. O. Box 11431, Philadelphia, PA 19111-0431. You may call us at (215) 743-8332. The ministry phone line is back in operation. Please assist us by your prayers and donations. The cost of this program for January will be more than double what it was when we started in October. We would like to thank Angela, Diane, Dolores, Dot, Julie, and Rose for their contributions that have funded this program so far.

God Willing, we'll be with you again next week at 2:15pm. Remember: God's power is in your hands when you pray the Rosary. May God bless you and protect you.

Fathers, will you please grant our listeners a blessing?

May the blessing of Almighty God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit fill your hearts with peace, joy and happiness now and forever. In the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.