I try, ok.
Granted Grace From Holy Mary
1806, Burgogne. Under the sky of Fain-les-Moutiers, where her father had a farm, Catherine Labouré was born. Nine years later, her respectful and dedicated mother died. Shocked by her loss, Catherine hugs the image of Virgin Mary and says: “From now, You shall be My Mother!”
Years later, she entered the convent Chântillon-sur-Seine. Three months after had been accepted in the novitiate of Charity Daughters, placed on Rue de Bac, Paris.
Since Catherine entered in the convent she had lot of visions: Saint Vincent’s Heart, Blessed Sacrament, Christ The King and Holy Mary.
Her first view of Holy Mary was in July 1830. Catherine woke up hearing a voice calling her to a mission. This was Holy Mary’s voice telling her that she must be prepared to a mission, tell her superiors about and what would happen in France.
A week later, Paris revolution begun in the streets, such as Saint Catherine had known. Social desorder everywhere brought down the King Charles X and people started to be against the Church destroying its imagens, chapels, lands, chasing priests and nuns. However Our Lady’s prophecy was finally done.
Fourty years later, such as it was predicted by Our Lady, more blood would be shed in France. In the end of 1870, France and Germany faced a bloody battle which Germany (Prussian Empire yet) won the war. More social tensions occured in France. In the middle of all this nightmare of persecution, Saint Catherine was even more convinced about her mission sent by Holy Mary.
And even being expelled from their convent, Saint Catherine got Mary’s crown in the garden and said: “I will be back to crown you on May, 31.” Said and done. One more time.
Four months passed. On Saturday, November 27, 5:30 PM, Daughters of Charity were reunited into their chapel on rue du Bac for meditation in silence till Catherine started listening from the other side of the gallery a sound like a seda dress. It was a beautiful woman wearing a white seda dress like Holy Mary above a globe. She was looking to the sky. Her fingers had rings which precious stones lauched rays everywhere. Catherine couldn’t see her feet. Our Lady said:”This globe you see under my feet are the whole world and France… And every person. These rays are the symbol of my graces for those who ask for them. The rings with no rays are for those who don’t ask me anything.”
This time appeared a kind of circle frame around Holy Mary with the sentence: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”. So, Holy Mary gave to Catherine a medal with this picture. In the verse had a big M with a cross above, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Catherine also related seeing twelve stars around it.
The third and last one apparition of Holy Mary was on December. After this, Catherine had been seen as mad or dreamer, but all she wanted was the wishes of Holy Mary given. Holy Mary asked Catherine to make those medals and give to people everywhere. Two years later, cholerae arrived in Paris from Russia and Poland. Many people died. When the deaths seemed to stop, medals started being made. The Daughters of Charity gave them to people and miracles happened.
Catherine spent all her life into the convent till the day of her death on December 31, 1876 being buried in the chapel of Rue du Bac. She became a Saint in 1947.
Other interesting fact involving France and Our Lady of Graces happened last century. In 1955 Europe made a competition to choose the flag of European Community. The chosen one was created by the catholic french artist Arsène Heitz: twelve golden stars framing a circle. When people discovered it had relations with Holy Mary was too late.
Maybe it was a sign of the times. Or Maybe Holy Mary is still praying for Europe.
A difficult thing to understand
Born and raised as a girl in a big city in a third world country, I’m sure I’ll never understand those foreigners who come to my country trying to experiment a life in favela. I really find pitiful those “favela tours” which tour guides create trips into communities, making fun with others’ difficulties and pain. I’d never give my money on that, even knowing that God Market allows that, once foreigners usually weren’t so needy in their homelands and think it is a real fun.
Favela people suffer too much. Sometimes we shouldn’t agree on this because militias and drugdealers take those places and really take care of the inhabitants. But even in this case, when the security forces of the state come to make operations into a community against the super armed drugdealers, shootings and stray bullets reach lot of innocents around the battle, increasing the statistics of the homicides in Brazil. In Brazil, die around 60,000 people per year, much more than Syria war. We face a civil war with no prognostics to come to an end.
Accordind to this map from last year, we have the statistic number of the homicides tax in Brasil for each state. The dark blue states have the high number of homicides per inhabitant.
Alagoas, one of the smallest states, has the highest number of homicides due to the number of its inhabitants.
Rio de Janeiro, known by its high number of favelas in the capital, has more people died by homicides, but not so much per inhabitants, than Alagoas.
So, according to these numbers you still don’t understand why brazilians use to have the fame of friendly and lovely people. I should say brazilians really are, but all this incongruity comes from the state. I presented the numbers of homicides because it is a good point to understand why so many people still die in Brazil, once since last decade the disarmament statute came to release a false alarm of peace, however it didn’t decrease the violence (I’m gonna make another article just talking about it). And thanks to the state, this war increased into communities, much more after the pacifying program done in Rio de Janeiro. The carioca program brought the state into some communities creating the UPPs – Pacifying Police Unit, where the security forces take out the drug dealer’s boss regaining the area to the state (apparently).
Luckily when the state is out of citizens’ life, people don’t pay taxes to sustain it. Who doesn’t know, Brazil has one of the highest taxes charge in the world gathering a corruption from those who take care of it. It difficults not only those who live in favelas, but citizens at all. Life is hard for everyone in Brazil. I can be sure if the state didn’t put its hand in our lives, we would be better. The main example is for entrepreneurship. Try to open a company then comes the bureaucracy to impose you what you never imagined before. It’s all so tiring. Then those who live in the favelas, when don’t die in the misery, die after entering in the traffic. There are few opportunities for those who want to change.
So when these foreigners come to have fun with brazilian’s difficulty, I really would like to understand the world I am living in or are just these people so unhumans to be inconvenients with others’ pain?
Brazilian Map Of Homicides (2014)
http://especiais.g1.globo.com/politica/2015/taxa-de-homicidios-e-latrocinios-no-brasil-em-2014/
Don't Trade On Erika 