Totus Tuus - To Jesus through Mary.

To impel the beauty of the new evangelization – this is the charism of the Heralds of the Gospel; Its founder, Monsignor João Dias explains."The Heralds of the Gospel is a private association of faithful with a very special charism based essentially on three points: the Eucharist, Mary and the Pope."

The Heralds of the Gospel are an International Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right, the first to be established by the Holy See in the third millennium, during a ceremony which occurred during the feast of the Chair of St. Peter (February 22) in 2001.

The Heralds of the Gospel strive to be instruments of holiness in the Church by encouraging close unity between faith and life, and working to evangelize particularly through art and culture. Their apostolate, which differs depending upon the environments in which they work, gives pride of place to parish animation, evangelizing families, providing catechetical and cultural formation to young people, and disseminating religious Iiterature.



Sunday, 20 June 2010

Children are called to Sainthood too.




Blessed Francisco Marto of Fatima one of the child visionaries from Fatima, is a great role model for children today, particularly in five of his outstanding virtues, according to an expert on his life.

Sister Irma Angela Coelho, a professor and doctor, offered the visionary as a model for children when she was interviewed during a conference in 2009, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Francisco.

Sister Coelho said that the young shepherd offers youth a model of obedience, purity, humility, devotion to the Eucharist, and love for sinners.

She said that Francisco was "an absolutely normal boy," but, that he "experienced something that brought him to develop certain virtues and characteristics that to me, seem fundamental for children today."

Among these, she emphasised his obedience. "[Our Lady] asked him to prayer many prayers to be able to go to heaven and Francisco didn't question this; he didn't grumble or put up resistance. He just prayed." His obedience to Our Lady was mirrored in his obedience to the to his parents, Sister Coelho said.

In speaking about his purity, she pointed out that Francisco "saw things the way that God sees them." This made him avoid certain groups of friends because he did not want to hear or learn bad words, because he said "Jesus gets sad."

Children of today "have a lot to learn from him, for example, in the use of the Internet, which is a marvelous thing, but which also has dangers, concretely in the realm of purity."

Regarding Francisco's humility she said: "During the apparitions, Lucía saw, heard and spoke; Jacinta saw and heard; but Francisco only saw."

Lucía later said in her memoirs that Francisco tried to understand what she explained to him but that "he never complained and bore with his limits."

"In our times, in which every child has to be better than the other, in a world marked by competition, […] in a society that demands being the most intelligent, the most beautiful, the most powerful, Francisco's example of humility teaches much to the children of today," Sister
Coelho stated.

She continued: "the shepherd visionaries were able to intensely and profoundly live the mystery of the Eucharist," and Francisco's "love for sinners was especially notable, [people] with whom he identified, uniting himself to them and making sacrifices for them."

"Because of all this, I think that Francisco, who was an absolutely normal boy, became a special boy who all the normal children of today can perfectly imitate."

To read the full article see Zenit website: 2009-06-18
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-26214?l=english
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