Prayer For Miracle:

Holy Saint Anthony, gentle and powerful in your help, your love for God and charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which you were always ready to request for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me (state request here). The answer to my prayer may require a miracle. Even so, you are the Saint of miracles. Gentle and loving Saint Anthony, whose heart is ever full of human sympathy, take my petition to the Infant Savior for whom you have such a great love, and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.

Prayer To Find Lost Things:

St. Anthony, perfect imitator of Jesus, who received from God the special power of restoring lost things, grant that I may find (name your lost item) which has been lost. At least restore to me peace and tranquility of mind, the loss of which has afflicted me even more than my material loss. To this favor, I ask another of you: that I may always remain in possession of the true good that is God. Let me rather lose all things than lose God, my supreme good. Let me never suffer the loss of my greatest treasure, eternal life with God. Amen.

Read all about St. Anthony of Padua

Yesterday May 1st, 2011 was the beatification of John Paul II. Beatification is the last step to sainthood and the slogan of ‘Santo Subito’ (Sainthood Now) which was heard on the day of his burial is going to be realized soon enough. Take a look at the 16 John Paul II beatification pictures given above. Click on any to view it in full size.

John Paul II beatification pictures described:

1. Pilgrims hold candles during a prayer vigil at the ancient Circus Maximus arena on the eve of the ceremony

2. A priest reads a newspaper at dawn as he waits for the beatification ceremony

3. A pilgrim holds a banner of John Paul II

4. Polish pilgrims gather in St Peter’s Square

5. Volunteers hold back the crowds before opening the gates along Via della Conciliazione

6. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand (fourth from left) poses with other nuns and Swiss Guards. Normand’s recovery from Parkinson’s disease has been attributed to be a miracle perfromed by John Paul II

7. Bishops attend the beatification ceremony

8. A nun holds a statue of the Virgin Mary in front of St Peter’s basilica

9. Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to celebrate a mass

10. Priests attend the beatification mass in Saint Peter’s Square

11. Sister Normand (r) and Sister Tobiana hold the glass reliquary containing the blood of the late Pope John Paul II

12. Pilgrims celebrate as the banner signifying John Paul II’s beatification is uncovered

13. Bishops pay their respects near the coffin of the late Pope John Paul II

14. Pope Benedict XVI kisses the relic containing blood of Pope John Paul II

15. Cardinals kiss the casket containing the late Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Basilica

16. A tapestry of John Paul II is displayed on the facade of St Peter’s Basilica

This has brought a lot of joy to all the Christians around the globe who loved John Paul II a lot. He was truly a great leader chosen by God.

To know more about his life, please read Pope John Paul II : A Prophetic Journey and Pope John Paul II Slideshow

For more pictures of John Paul II, check Picture Set 01, Picture Set 02 and Picture Set 03

Let us all wait anxiously for the next big day, the day when the pope of the youth, John Paul II will be declared a saint. Amen.

“I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.”

These are the words of Theresa of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun called the “Little Flower,” who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. In French-speaking areas, she is known as Thérèse of Lisieux. And her preference for hidden sacrifice did indeed convert souls. Few saints of God are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is read and loved throughout the world.

Therese Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24. Life in a Carmelite convent is indeed uneventful and consists mainly of prayer and hard domestic work. But Thérèse possessed that holy insight that redeems the time, however dull that time may be. She saw in quiet suffering redemptive suffering, suffering that was indeed her apostolate.

Thérèse said she came to the Carmel convent “to save souls and pray for priests.” And shortly before she died, she wrote: “I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth.” On October 19, 1997, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church, the third woman to be so recognized in light of her holiness and the influence of her teaching on spirituality in the Church.

All her life St. Thérèse suffered from illness. As a young girl she underwent a three-month malady characterized by violent crises, extended delirium and prolonged fainting spells. Afterwards she was ever frail and yet she worked hard in the laundry and refectory of the convent. Psychologically, she endured prolonged periods of darkness when the light of faith seemed all but extinguished. The last year of her life she slowly wasted away from tuberculosis.

And yet shortly before her death on September 30 she murmured, “I would not suffer less.”