Showing results by author "Bob and Penny Lord" in All Categories

The devil uses any means to kill us. For so many years, in the United States, the Polish people have been the brunt of very poor ethnic jokes. It is true, every new group coming into our free society inherits the suffering that the minority group before them endured. It's like being a freshman in college. The only difference is, growing up out of the persecution is swifter, but the freshman is only degraded for a year, not a lifetime.

It is said of St. Francis of Assisi that he didn't trust books and never wanted his friars to get distracted and influenced by the words of authors, whose works he also didn't trust. He trusted the Bible, but not certain people's interpretations of it. He was finally willing to bend in his staunch stand against book learning on the advice of St. Anthony of Padua, who was not only brilliant, but whom St. Francis trusted.

The history and account of the miraculous image of Our Lady that is known as Our Lady of Czestochowa.

This is the story of a precious child of God who was born into royalty, yet never used or abused it. It is the story of a great woman, a daughter, a wife, a widow, a benefactress of the poor, a glowing example of a soul endeavoring to love her Lord more purely, yet faithful to her calling as wife and mother.

The life of Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica, who brought about his conversion.

The lives of the Saints often seem very romantic and idyllic. However, many of our brothers and sisters who have reached the communion of saints have paid dearly for the glory the Lord has bestowed on them. Join us as we share in the lives of just some of our heavenly family who have suffered greatly, sometimes at the hands of their own families or communities.

Our Saint was born in the beautiful countryside of Verdu in Catalonia, Spain in or around 1581. There's not much known about his childhood, other than he was born of a distinguished old family of Catalonia. However, his family instilled in him the love of Jesus and the love of his fellow man. Otherwise, how could he possibly have dedicated his life to helping the poorest of the poor, the lowest of the low. From an early age, it was well known that he was destined to live his life for the Church. So when he was old enough, he was enrolled in the University of Barcelona.

We trace the life of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. Lily of the Mohawks. Kateri lived with the Mohawks and had her ministry.

Down through the ages, men and women have given their lives to carry out the command of Jesus. Bob and Penny Lord have tracked the lives of 12 men who have said "Yes!" to Jesus, and dedicated their lives to that yes, some at the cost of their lives. Their biographies parallel the times of crisis in our church. Bob and Penny have set their sights on the man and the time in which he lived. They have started at the beginning of our infant church, with one of the greatest adventurers our faith has ever known, Paul the Apostle, and continued to our present day.

Founder of the Jesuits. The life story of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Bob and Penny traveled to Spain, France, and Italy for the materials for this minibook.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola discovered a dark cave, virtually unknown because it was so overgrown with brush. There, he would spend hours, sometimes all through the night, praying without interruption, except for the occasional sounds of God's four-legged and winged creatures calling out to one another. The cave at Manresa was a battlefield, a lonely battlefield, with Ignatius battling one temptation, winning that battle only to be put to the test with another temptation and another battle.

As we research the lives of saints and other powerful men and women in the church, we sometimes wonder if they were ever given a job description of what was expected of them in their positions and if they had been given the opportunity to say “aye” or “nay”. Did they and do we really have a choice to say “aye” or “nay” to the Lord when he calls us into ministry?

The Lord has given the church many heroes down through the centuries, and each person he gives us is for a specific reason for a specific time, but not only for that time. The 19th century is a perfect example of that. The church suffered greatly during that century, but the Lord knew we needed him to be at our sides to assure us that he would keep his promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church.

When did we stop singing this love song to our country? It was so subtle; did it just sort of disappear with many of the other patriotic traditions that our country stood for? How many of us still remember this song, reminding us of the price paid by our fathers - the hopes and dreams of our ancestors, as they struggled in filthy disease-ridden holds of ships bringing them to a new land of promise and freedom for all? Writing about Mother Cabrini and the reason she came to our country, we became aware of the struggle, the crosses our families bore to give us a land of promise.

Saint Vincent de Paul could have stayed and basked in the glory that was Rome, but knew he had to go on to Paris. News of his involvement in the conversion of the apostate came to the attention of Pope Paul V, and in 1608, Vincent was commissioned to go to Henry IV on a confidential mission. Vincent departed for Paris, posthaste.

The story of Oscar Romero is one of transformation, from one born of poverty, to one living comfortably within the system, to one determined to change the system. The story of Oscar Romero is one of conversion, of Paul on the road to Damascus, of a man who was blinded, and whose eyes were opened by the Lord, to see his brothers and sisters in agony and misery. The story of Oscar Romero is one of a man who committed his life to right wrongs to his flock, or die trying. The story of Oscar Romero is one of a Martyr for Christ.

During one of Catherine of Siena's ecstasies, she exclaimed, referring to St. Agnes of Montepulciano: "I give you thanks oh my Lord, for showing me the place that will be mine (in Paradise), next to my sister Agnes." Who is this saint (virtually unknown in our country) that a powerful saint and doctor of the Church - Catherine of Siena should say this of her?

There was a large crucifix on the back wall of the church. Many in the parish had a great devotion to Our Crucified Lord and paid homage to him on this crucifix. But on this particular evening, they were coming to the close of the mission, and so the attention was not on the crucifix, but on the priests, who were giving their last teachings.

Bob and Penny Lord travel to Lithuania, to a hill where crosses have miraculously appeared over a period of centuries of enslavement and harsh treatment at the hands of foreign dictators. Witness the apparition of Our Lady at the hill. This is a tribute as well, to a brave people who were undaunted in the face of the enemy. Learn of the miracle of the cross on a hill high above the capital city of Vilnius, which would not go away.

Reformer of the Franciscan Movement. Reformer of the Franciscans Come with us to Assisi and Siena,where St. Bernardine converted the people to adore Jesus in the Eucharist. See the symbol of the Eucharist in Siena and Florence as a result of evangelization by the Saint. Follow the Saint on his last journey which ended in the mountain town of L'Aquila, where he died and is buried.