Verified bone fragments of the Apostle Paul

Reports indicate that it was an emotional Pope Benedict XVI who, while announcing the closing of the Year of St. Paul, made an amazing announcement. He disclosed the results of a scientific probe into the sarcophagus inside the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. It is at this holy site that the faithful have for centuries venerated the bones of St. Paul.

In his homily, broadcast live on Italian television, the Pope told the faithful that the tomb had been “…subject to a scientific investigation. A small hole was drilled in the sarcophagus, unopened for centuries, and a probe was introduced. It found traces of a valuable purple fabric, in linen and gold layer-laminated, and a blue fabric with linen threads. Red incense grains and substances containing proteins and limestone were also discovered. Small fragments of bone were found and radiocarbon dated by experts who did not know their place of origin. Results indicate that they belong to someone who lived between the 1st and 2nd century A.D. This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition according to which these are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul. All this fills our soul with deep emotion.” http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=33944

Oldest known image of Paul found

Happy Feast of St Paul !
(Paulines celebrate on June 30th).

Oldest known image of Paul displayed here was recenlty found in the Catacombs of St Thecla.

New Pauline Cooperators in Abijan

From 30 May to 1 June 2009, 5 Pauline cooperators made an intense spiritual retreat in a climate of silence and prayer in the community of the Daughters of St. Paul in Abidjan in preparation for 28 June, the day on which they will make their promises as Pauline Cooperators and thus become members of our Family.
Here are what these cooperators had to say about their retreat:

Christine Kamagaté: “This retreat in preparation for the Promise I will make as a Pauline Cooperator comforted me in my choice to live and communicate Jesus Master Way, Truth and Life.”
K. Justin Amani: “I praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for this retreat among the Daughters of St. Paul. The climate of silence helped me to encounter God and gave me a taste of what it means to belong to the Pauline Family.”
Franck Zirihi: “This retreat enabled me to get to know the silence that questions us spiritually. The environment, the spiritual climate and the retreat conferences all helped my most hidden feelings to emerge and helped me get to know myself more profoundly.”
Remi Boni: “For a long time now, I have wanted to live a deeper spiritual life and now I am going to be an official member of the Pauline Family. This large, joyous, welcoming, generous and open family has brought me many new friends and models, namely: Jesus Master Way, Truth and Life; Mary, Queen of Apostles, St. Paul the Apostle, Thecla, etc.”
Laurent Daté: “I discovered the depth of this Family and of the commitment I am making as a Cooperator to the mission of evangelization initiated by St. Paul. I hope that through the grace of God many other people will be called to this mission.”

At the end of the retreat, the five candidates were reluctant to leave the community where they had been so lovingly welcomed. Like the disciples on Mt. Tabor, they wanted to say: “Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three tents…” (Mt. 17:4).

Sung Novena for Feast of St Paul

http://paulinecharismlive.magnify.net/video/St-Paul-Sung-Novena This is the novena to St Paul prayed and sung by Paulines world-over. Sr Julia and Sr Anne. Sr Anne created the visuals.

The Feast of St Paul is June 30th in the Pauline Family (by the old calendar). The Church celebrates on June 29th.

Pro Life in Selma, Alabama

After a visit with Louise and Jim Hunt near Birmingham, Alabama my mom and I joined the pro-life walk over the famous Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL. (Sr Margaret)

Alveda King, with all the fire of her late uncle Martin Luther King Jr., has rallied thousands to defend children in the womb and called for their full legal protection. The great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. responded to this injustice by saying the following: "We will match your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. We will not hate you. "Do to us what you will. Threaten our children and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and our churches and we will still love you. We will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. "In winning the victory, we will not only win our freedom. We will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process." As Pope Benedict XVI put it: "The fundamental right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right - it is the very opposite."

ATLANTA, June 12 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Alveda King, Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will join Alabama religious and political leaders, including elected officials, at a pro-life march at historic Edmund Pettus Bridge outside Selma tomorrow, June 13, at 10:00 AM, and speak at a rally at the State Capitol in Montgomery at 1:30 PM.
"Forty-four years ago, those who sought equal protection under the law for all Americans were beaten and turned away on 'Bloody Sunday' at Pettus Bridge," said Dr. King. "Today, Pettus Bridge will be crossed again for Americans who are denied equal protection, the unborn."
"In his 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said he sought 'a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience,'" added Dr. King. "The pro-life movement still seeks such a society."
Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit http://www.priestsforlife.org/.

Making a Eucharistic Visit to Jesus, Master

Today 2009 Corpus Christi Feast Day, I invite you to approach the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. Blessed James Alberione, founder of the Pauline Family, showed us the way, as follows:

The Eucharistic Visit

The Visit is a meeting of our soul and of our whole being with Jesus.
It is the creature meeting the Creator;
the disciple before the Divine Master;
the patient with the Doctor of souls;
the poor one appealing to the Rich One;
the thirsty one drinking at he Font;
the weak before the Almighty;
the tempted seeking a sure Refuge;
the blind person searching for the Light;
the friend who goes to the True Friend;
the lost sheep sought by the Divine Shepherd;
the wayward heart who finds the Way;
the unenlightened one who finds Wisdom;
the bride who finds the Spouse of the soul;
the "nothing" who finds the All;
the afflicted who finds the Consoler;
the seeker who finds life's meaning.

Cooperator Congress in Philippines

Pasay City - National Congress for FSP Collaborators
(2009-05-18)

Evangelizing Together To Spread the Word of God: this was the theme of the National Congress for Pauline Lay Collaborators held in Pasay City from 1-4 May 2009. About a hundred collaborators of various types (employees, professionals, young people, etc.) participated in the encounter, together with their FSP coordinators. Aware of the need to give new impetus to evangelization, the group reflected on the situation of society today and on how necessary it is that all the Pauline collaborators work in synergy with one another.
Bishop Rolando Tirona reminded everyone that all the faithful have the duty to help the Church carry out its mission, while Bishop Teodoro Bacani underscored the need to return to our Source, the Word of God, so as to bring about a truly dynamic change in society. Fr. Mario Sobreuanite, ssp, then challenged the participants to use the powerful instruments of communication to help the Word “race ahead.” The Congress generated a high level of enthusiasm that our sisters hope will now lead to a true “explosion” of apostolic activity!

Pauline Cooperator Promises in Los Angeles

Pauline Cooperator makes promises in L.A.

For photos of the Mass and celebration for Carol Anne Wright’s making promises as a Pauline Cooperator on May 30, 2009, visit http://paulinessocal.wordpress.com/.

Congratulations, Carol Anne!