Hello Everyone,

If you have been watching the news lately, you have seen that 300,000 acres in Northern Arizona have been devastated by the out-of-control Rodeo wildfire and it is 0% contained as of this writing. Many people have been evacuated from their homes and many of their homes have burnt down. The fire is headed for the town of Show Low and it is expected that the whole town may be burnt down. The conditions here in Arizona have been very dry this year, with no rain expected in the near future. Please pray to the Lord and ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother and all the saints to be with these poor people and that this fire can somehow be stopped. Thank you so much, and God Bless you.

Marcella

-- Marcella (marcellack@yahoo.com), June 24, 2002

Answers

to the top

-- Marcella (marcellack@yahoo.com), June 24, 2002.

up^^^^

-- Marcella (marcellack@yahoo.com), June 24, 2002.

God bless you, Marcella! I have family members in Phoenix and Tucson who have been telling about this fire, in addition to what we see on the news. May showers of blessing fall on Show Low - - literally!!!

Love, Christine :-)

-- Christine L. (christinelehman@hotmail.com), June 24, 2002.

Hi, Marcella.

I will pray for Arizona tonight. In case anyone wanted to know, St. Herbert of Cologne is one of the Patronage Saints for rain, and against a drought. He was Canonized by Pope Gregory VII in the year 1075.

Also one of the Patonage Saints against fires is St. Francis of Assisi in case anyone wanted to know.

Thank you Marcella, and you have a heart of gold! :-) You are always thinking of someone else.

God bless you

David

-- David (David@excite.com), June 24, 2002.

Dear Marcella & David

I just saw the news and couldn't believe it, first Colorado and now Arizona....I wil keep Arizona in my prayers and all its occupants.

David, I am so devoted to St. Francis of Assisi and I never knew that he was also the Patron Saint of Fires. Thank you for sharing that. We do learn something new on this forum every day! :)

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), June 24, 2002.

Marcella,

I'll pray too. It would be a terrible tragedy to have a poor town burn up. I lived out West a little while. Do you live near there?

Lately I've noticed to remember to add to my prayers at the end, "but THY will be done". So no matter what happens remember this idea. It is also illustrated well in the quotes below:

From Conformity To The Will Of God by Doctor of the Church, Alphonsus Maria Liguori "Let us now take up in a practical way the consideration of those matters in which we should unite ourselves to God’s will.

1. In external matters. In times of great heat, cold or rain; in times of famine, epidemics and similar occasions we should refrain from expressions like these: “What unbearable heat!” “What piercing cold!” “What a tragedy!” In these instances we should avoid expressions indicating opposition to God’s will. We should want things to be just as they are, because it is God who thus disposes them. An incident in point would be this one: Late one night St. Francis Borgia arrived unexpectedly at a Jesuit house, in a snowstorm. He knocked and knocked on the door, but all to no purpose because the community being asleep, no one heard him. When morning came all were embarrassed for the discomfort he had experienced by having had to spend the night in the open. The saint, however, said he had enjoyed the greatest consolation during those long hours of the night by imagining that he saw our Lord up in the sky dropping the snowflakes down upon him."

"This story by St. Bonaventure in his “Life of St. Francis” is in point: On a certain occasion when the saint was suffering extraordinary physical pain, one of his religious meaning to sympathize with him, said in his simplicity: “My Father, pray God that he treat you a little more gently, for his hand seems heavy upon you just now.” Hearing this, St. Francis strongly resented the unhappy remark of his well-meaning brother, saying: “My good brother, did I not know that what you have just said was spoken in all simplicity, without realizing the implication of your words, I should never see you again because of your rashness in passing judgment on the dispositions of divine providence.” Whereupon, weak and wasted as he was by his illness, he got out of bed, knelt down, kissed the floor and prayed thus: “Lord, I thank thee for the sufferings thou art sending me. Send me more, if it be thy good pleasure. My pleasure is that you afflict me and spare me not, for the fulfillment of thy holy will is the greatest consolation of my life."

Tough to do but at times it is all there is to do.

-- Mike H (michael.hitzelberger@vscc.cc.tn.us), June 24, 2002.

Mike,

I live in the Phoenix area, out in the desert. I live far from the fires but I can see the smoke out in the distance from my backyard. Thanks for the info!

David,

I didn't know that their were patron saints for fire and rain, so thanks for letting me know so I can ask for their specific intersessions.

Christine and MaryLu,

Thank you for your prayers and please pray for Colorado as well. It is so sad to see these people watch in horror as their homes and towns are burnt to the ground.

Everyone,

Also, thank the Lord that no one has been killed yet.

God Bless You,

Marcella

-- Marcella (marcellack@yahoo.com), June 24, 2002.

Heard on the news, more than three hours ago, that Show Low had been expected to be lost --- but the weather surprisingly changed, slowing the advance of the flames. Now the town will probably be saved, and President Bush will be visiting it tomorrow morning.

Your prayers (and those of the saints) are powerful, folks. JFG

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 24, 2002.

Don't forget the poor people in Iran, too... the earthquake; it hasn't had enough coverage, IMO. Not to lessen your concerns, Marcella.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox..net), June 24, 2002.

I'm a Tucsonan. There's lots of news about it, here, but you see, Tucson and Phoenix both have deals to bring in water from outside. If us metropolitan dwellers didn't read the news, we might be ignorant of the destruction altogether.

Just to give you an idea, this is the fourth drought year in a row, and the 9th drought year within the last 15 years. Whole lakes have disappeared, and the moisture inside of living trees is less than the 2x4's you buy at Home Depot.

Any place outside of major cities and their immediate surrounding areas is devastated by the conditions, in particular Indian reservations, ranches, and farms. Fire is almost the least of our worries. We simply need water.

I do agree with the above--setting ourselves against God's will is not only fruitless but obtuse. Nevertheless, it is because of our faith and hope in God that we pray for the good of his creation and for all people, because we know most certainly that God cannot be opposed to the good of his beloved children and creatures.

-- Jeffrey Zimmerman (jeffreyz@seminarianthoughts.com), June 25, 2002.

You're welcome, Marcella. That must be pretty scary looking out and being able to see the smoke from that fire! The Patronage for Arizona is "Our Lady of the highway". I will say a little prayer to the Blessed Mother and ask her to keep you safe.

God bless you. David

Hi, Marylu.

I am not suprised you like St. Francis of Assisi. I bet you are kind to animals too. I read he is also the Patronage against dying alone, against fire, animal welfare societies, animals, Assisi Italy, birds, Catholic action, Colorodo, archdiocese of Denver Colorodo, ecology, environmentalists, families, fire, Italy, lacemakers, merchants, needle workers, peace, diocese of Salina, Kansas, archdiocese of San Francisco California, Sante Fe New Mexico, tapestry workers, zoos.

Marylu, we found out our dog Kido has brain cancer 2 weeks ago. I had his brain scanned and the tumor is in the middle of his brain so the doctor gave him a few weeks to live. He is on chemo now. I also sprinkled some holy water on some shark cartledge and been giving him 3 pills a day.

My Mom started praying to St. Francis of Assisi two weeks ago for Kido not to die. His head was hanging to one side. Well Kido is doing a lot better than anyone expected now. His head is normal and he has gained five pounds. I don't know what the future holds for my dog, but I think he will be around a lot longer than expected. I would be very grateful to get to have my dog for the rest of the year. He is a eleven year old pit bull. We had him since he was five weeks old. I just wanted to let you know why I am so grateful to St. Francis of Assisi.

We also have a 22 year old dog Marylu. Spike is blind and deaf now, but he still enjoys his food and the sun. He is a minature pincher that somebody was going to put down 11 years ago. My wife saved him and now he is the oldest dog I know.

God bless you. David

-- David (David@excite.com), June 25, 2002.

Dear David,

I do love St. Francis of Assisi and am very devoted to him. He has answered my prayers many times. I must get a book on him to learn more about him. Do you have any suggestions? I am surprised that all the years I am praying to him, I did not know all the things you do. I just associated St. Franicis with peace and animals.

I am sorry to hear about your dog, David. I can relate to what you are going through. I 'understand' completely. We had a beautiful dog, a Golden Retriever for 12 l/2 years. Her name was Maggie. She was my soul-mate. She was beautiful inside and out and I loved her unconditionally as she loved me and my whole family. My son Michael grew up with Maggie and she was his soul-mate too.

In January, she started having breathing problems going up the stairs and I thought she was just overweight and getting old. Turns out she had an aggresive cancer that comes on quickly. She died two weeks to the day she was diagnosed.

The strange thing about the day she died is that she looked so good. She did not look sick, but she was. I sat down and wrote a poem to her, (not knowing she was going to die that night) and I wrote a prayer to St. Francis that when her time came to please let her die at home surronded by those who love her in her home that she loved and protected all those years. The vet said the next time she had a seizure we would have to make a decision to put her down or do surgery which probably would only give her a couple of months.

That night, my husband came home and without knowing about the prayer I wrote to St. Francis, told me that he stopped into St. Francis of Assisi church and he 'said' the same exact prayer that I wrote!

That night Maggie died on her favorite pillow given to her for Christmas by her best pal, my son, Michael. She had a very peaceful death surrounded by those who loved her. It was devastating and I am still not over it. She will always be in my heart.

I believe that our pets come into our life for a reason and we learn so much from them. Maggie taught me how to love. I learned so much from her. She had my heart and soul.

It is so strange, David, that you should write about your dogs today because I am going through a difficult time right now.

I thought I was finished grieving for Maggie and was ready for another pup. We brought her home on Friday and she is a cutie pie, but she is not my Maggie and I have been crying for three days. I can't seem to bond with this pup yet. Michael avoided her for a day, but is now loving her and my husband loved her from day one.

I feel awful about this and am wondering if I made a mistake.

Forgive me David, this is very long. We named her Abbey because I prayed that Maggie and St. Francis would lead me to the 'right' pup and when thinking about a name for her, several were ruled out but everyone liked the name Abbey. When Maggie's ashes arrived, the name of the firm who cremated her was Abbey Glenn. David, I got so many signs from Maggie. It's all so weird.

I feel like this puppy was sent to us for a reason, a reason I don't know yet. Please pray for me, David, that I can open my heart to her and love this little cutie pie. Pray to St. Francis of Assisi for me.

David, if anything does happen to your dog, there is a wonderful site called Petloss.com. It helped me get through my loss. The people are so kind, compassionate, caring, and understanding.

I hope you have your dog for a longer period of time, but we must face the fact that they will not be with us forever. I hope your baby does not suffer - pray for that, David.

I needed desperately to talk about my feelings and your post today left the door open for me to do that.

God Bless. MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), June 25, 2002.

Dear Marcella,

Please forgive me. This thread is about the fire in Arizona and here I was talking about my dog.

I am so sorry for what is happening to the beautiful state of Arizona and I will pray to Our Lady of the Highways. I forgot to ask David how he knows who all these saints are. Daivd, if you are reading this, please let me know how you are so familiar with all the saints and the various titles of Our Lady.

You are in my prayers, Marcella as are all the peoples of Arizona.

God bless and may He keep you safe and protect your beautiful state. MaryLU

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), June 25, 2002.

Marcella: he seguido con interés y dolor a la vez las noticias acerca del incendio en Arizona. Debe ser tremendo para una familia ver que su casa, quizá producto de años de esfuerzo y trabajo, se convierte en cenizas en un momento. Que el Señor les conceda la fortaleza de seguir adelante enmedio de esta desgracia.

Enrique

-- Enrique Ortiz (eaortiz@yahoo.com), June 25, 2002.

Hi Jeffrey,

I agree with you about our water situation. I live near the Salt River and I am amazed about how low it is. I have been praying for rain, and lots of it. The desert didn't even bloom this past spring. I didn't know you were from Tucson. I love that city! My church is in Apache Junction, which is in the Diocese of Tucson.

God Bless You,

-- Marcella (marcellack@yahoo.com), June 25, 2002.

Enrique,

Thank you for your prayers and concern about these people. It is a terrible thing to see what is happening to them. Also, please continue to pray for the people who are trying to cross the border from Mexico, as many have died already, including children.

-- Marcella (marcellack@yahoo.com), June 25, 2002.

Dear Marcella,

According to news reports this morning:

SHOW LOW, Ariz. -- The threat to this Arizona town eased Monday when light winds allowed firefighters to create a critical firebreak ahead of a monstrous wildfire that has burned hundreds of houses and kept thousands of people from their hometowns.

Thanks be to God - who says prayers don't work??

Love, :-)

-- Christine L. (christinelehman@hotmail.com), June 25, 2002.

Marcella,

It appears as if your prayers are working! :-)

Marylu,

Thanks for your kind words to me. I promise I will pray that you bond with your new dog even though I already know you will. If I were a hungry pup, I would like to end up at your door :-) You are being loyal to Maggie, but in time this dog will win your heart over just like it won Michael's over.

I don't know how to put links up yet, even though John has explained it to me, about 10 times now! I have said it many times Marylu, I am not the sharpest knife in drawer. But if you go to yahoo.com or google.com and type in patron Saints. You will come up with many different sites for patron Saints.

Well I better get out of Marcella's thread before she gets mad at me and yells at me. I will keep Praying, Marcella.

God bless you Lady's

David

-- David (David@excite.com), June 26, 2002.

Thank you David, I doubt that Marcella will yell at you :)

I'll keep it brief. Remember that song, "I didn't wanna do it, didn't wanna do it, but you made me love you...." well, thanks to St. Francis of Assisi and Jesus (and my Maggie) I fell in love all over again with Lil Abbey. This is not the thread, David. I'll start another one (ha,ha) and share my story with you.

God Bless MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), June 26, 2002.