Mary Of The Angelus Association

Introduction:

The vision for Mary of the Angelus is for to-days world.

Without prayer many people cannot find their way out of the darkness and Jesus is recruiting prayer soldiers who desire to grow in the prayer gifts of His Holy Spirit for the conversion of hearts and the salvation of souls.

The two founders of Mary of the Angelus Association share their diary entries about the way the Holy Spirit has led them to provide teaching resources and a spiritual support network for those called to this prayer association.

Both founders come from very different backgrounds.  One of them is a priest who developed a love for God's poor and recognised how few resources there were for the spiritually oppressed.

The other was an abuse victim trying to escape the fears and memories of the past and trying to find God's love in the midst of her pain.

The following diary entries have been taken from both founders' writings and are presently been compiled to record the history of the foundational aims of this Association.  The Holy Spirit is anointing many people throughout the world to become a prayer soldier for Mary's army.

If you feel you have been called to a prayer ministry of Intercession we invite you to read these diary entries. 

Introduction:

When Valerie began these diary entries she was a mother of three children under the age of four and married to a divorced Catholic.  Due to her secular marriage situation she was unable to share in the Sacramental life of the Church.  Fr. Doyle had visited her home the previous week and had invited her to a prayer meeting he was holding in his Church. 

Mary of the Angelus Order

A Mission of Prayer

Extracts taken from Valerie's Diary:

19^th July 1979:

Jesus  replied:

In all truth I tell you,

no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born

through water and the Spirit;

what is born of human nature is human;

what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

                                                               John 3:5-6

I have been born in the spirit; the heavens have opened up for me!  I have just experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church in Bellingen.  Father Vince Doyle and the prayer group prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon me.  As I fell to the ground under the anointing of the Holy Spirit I was aware of how wretched a person I was.  From the very depths of my being I cried out to God if He was really present in this place to anoint me with all His spiritual gifts so I could be healed and become a whole person again.  Fr. Doyle asked me what I prayed for.  I told him, I prayed for all of God's gifts because I felt I needed them all.

It was an amazing night!  I received the gift of tongues and an overwhelming presence of God's love.  I know God really does exist as I have now experienced His love.

For me it was a deep movement within my spirit that makes me feel secure, safe and no longer alone, just like a Father's love protecting and caring for you.

20^th July 1979:

I woke up still elated about the previous night's events and started to pray in tongues.  What a wonderful experience to hear myself praying in a variety of languages, I was conscious that some of the vowels sounded like the French and Latin Languages.  Can't understand what I am saying but the overwhelming presence of God's love envelops me when I pray this way.  I am going to call the gift of tongues, God's language of love.

August 1979:

I am receiving lots of visits from Father Doyle.  He is helping me to grow spiritually.  I can't put the Bible down and am drawn to reading about the lives of the Saints.  I have started to attend a weekly prayer group in Coffs Harbour.

September 1979:

Started going to daily Mass and spending an hour each day in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  Father Doyle has suggested I might like some prayers for Inner Healing.  He has showed me how to invite Jesus into all the hurt and wounded areas of my life.

October 1979:

Father Doyle had a dream about me and that I needed to be set free from past bondages.  At long last God appears to be hearing my cry for help.  I am still tormented by the fear and memories of childhood abuse and the pain of rejection from my family.

He was hesitant and not very confident in this prayer style.  I really did experience being set free.  I felt this darkness of heaviness leave me and experienced an inner joy, a bubbly joy of childhood innocence.  Then he prayed for me to be able to forgive and to surrender my memories and fears to Jesus.

I am now a new person and that scripture where it says, "behold I make all things new" has come alive for me.

I am still thanking God that He had sent this priest into my life.  I too would like God to give me this depth of faith and for the Holy Spirit's prayer gifts to pray for others to be set free like myself.  Can you imagine how many hundreds of thousands of women and men out there who are still carrying the effects and scars from abuse like me?

November 1979:

About 7 or 8 from the prayer group began to attend all night vigils at the convent or St. Augustine's Church on Friday nights.  I love going but feel the Holy Spirit is prompting me to return to the Anglican Church to worship until my husband's annulment is finalised so I can become a Catholic and marry in the Catholic Church.

I spoke to Father Doyle and he was not enthusiastic and very guarded in   his reply to me.  A few days later he said he had prayed about it, didn't  understand how God was moving in my life but God told him to encourage me to go back to the Anglican Church and he gave me his blessing.

The Anglican priest Fr. Richard Hurford (now the Anglican Bishop of Bathurst) used to teach at a Catholic School and was very supportive and was eager for me to be part of the Healing Team Ministry in his parish.  He felt God had answered his prayer because now he had someone in his     congregation that desired a daily communion service.  He allowed me to introduce all night prayer vigils, form a rosary group, develop a healing ministry team and introduce devotional prayers like the Way of the Cross.

He sent me to Canon Glennon (St. Andrews Anglican Cathedral Sydney) to be discerned.  Canon Glennon ran the very large Healing Services there and offered me a position on his healing team at the Cathedral and also encouraged Father Richard to place me in leadership in parish renewal.

December 1979:

A day of wonder, awe and doubts that maybe I am going overboard in my religious zeal.  While I was cleaning the bathroom to-day a prompting came to stay up all night for a prayer vigil.  So I began this vigil in the office next to our bedroom.  At about 3 am a beautiful figure dressed in white radiating golden light like energy beams appeared on the wall.  She didn't say anything, I seemed to be mesmerised by the light and absorbed into the light.

After the figure disappeared I felt compelled to go to the study desk and write down these words in my mind about the spiritual benefits of wearing the brown scapular.  I then decided to go to bed.

As I walked into my bedroom a radiating image of the immaculate heart of Mary appeared on the wall.   Myriads of angels began to flow out towards me from this heart.  A beautiful woman's voice spoke clearly to me interiorly, "I have called you to give birth to an Order.  It is to be called Mary of the Angelus and I will teach you how to pray for people from all faiths, cultures and nations.  I remember answering, "I am not a Catholic and married outside of the Church."  She replied, "This is why I have chosen you because you are like so many of my children.  The annulment will be granted and you will be able to be married in the Church.

 In the following days I wrote down these words:

"I am calling you to build the foundations of an Order to be named "Mary of the Angelus."  This Order is to be based on the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church and will be ecumenical.  It will receive official recognition in the Church and a papal blessing. Its prayer mission is to evangelise and intercede for the conversion of hearts."

Mary of the Angelus is a title of Hope.  When this title is evoked in faith similar graces which overshadowed Mary at the Annunciation can flow into hearts and the every day events of people's lives. 

Members will consist of all those led by the Holy Spirit, lay, religious and priests, who wish to commit their time for prayer evangelisation and spiritual warfare prayer for the salvation of souls.

The prayer ministry of intercession can release the power of God's Holy Spirit through many Church ministries and religious orders for renewal.

Three Stages of Angelus

First Stage:

Will consist of members, lay person's male and female, single and married, religious and priests who have experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  They will be aware of their own human frailties and vulnerabilities and desire the healing of their wounded spirits from their life experiences.

In their brokenness they will be seeking to unite with others to pray for spiritual healing and for wholeness.

The majority of Angelus membership will choose to be in this stage of the Order (Association).

Second Stage:

The Holy Spirit will bless many members from the first stage and anoint them for a teaching and outreach ministry.  This stage will require a deeper commitment to prayer and discipleship.

This stage is for the preparation of members to be actively involved in the ministry of healing, initiating prayer cells for intercession and Anawim Ministry.  They become messengers of grace bringing the Good News to others like angels of service for God's poor (His Anawim). 

Matthew 13:36-43 in the parable of the Darnell describes this prayer ministry and outreach.  My role is to undertake missionary activity to visit other countries and share the vision for the Holy Spirit to anoint those who are called to Mary's Army.  The Holy Spirit would be anointing many to join this order.

Third Stage:

Is a Contemplative House that will become a haven for members to come to and be refreshed with God's living waters of grace.  Mary's House at Nazareth offered such a place as a refuge for the Apostles as they returned from their pastoral ministry of healing, teaching and proclaiming God's Word. 

This mother house will be the power house of grace that empowers all   members in the first and second stages to spiritually grow in their interior life.  Spiritual exercises are to be offered for the development and growth in all ministries.

1.       The aims of the Order are to promote the prayer devotions of the Holy Catholic Church.

• To teach God's people about the mysteries and truths behind these devotions.
• To bring them into a fuller depth and understanding of their own spiritual growth and that of others that they pray for.
• To teach about God's graces that flow out to the body of Christ and the world through these devotions.

Devotions of the Holy Catholic Church developed in the lives of holy     people through them proclaiming the Living Word of God and the responses to the Word by His people.  These prayers help to supply spiritual food for those who are unable to partake in the sacramental life of the Church.

2.      To initiate, form and nurture Angelus prayer cells for spiritual growth:

Each Angelus cell member is called by God and anointed to rest under the mystical apple tree for the absorption of His graces.

The mystical terminology of sitting under an apple tree describes how we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit through the way of Contemplative Prayer.

As an apple tree among the trees of the wood

so is my love among young men

In his delightful shade I sit,

and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

He has taken me to his cellar,

and his banner over me is love.

Feed me with raisin cakes

restore me with apples.

for I am sick with love.

                                                Song of Songs 2:3-5

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary for the building up of the body of Christ (the Church).  Most have been wounded in some way through the actions of others. (the Prayer Ministry of  Inner Healing )

Members will begin to spiritually mature and then pray for others with  similar issues when they begin to contemplate God's word and pray for the healing of their own wounds.  (The Prayer Ministry of Intercession )

As members grow in God's love the Holy Spirit will lead them to be present with His love and pray with the broken body Christ; the afflicted and the spiritually distressed. (Anawim Prayer Ministry)

The Core Foundations for an Angelus Prayer Cell:

Is to rest in God's heart and be filled with His grace and love and to grow in the virtue of Spiritual Poverty.

This virtue heightens an intercessor's awareness that they can do nothing without God's grace.  Even one's desire to live a holy and wholesome life rests on God's and not on our own abilities. 

When a Intercessor acknowledges their own human frailties and prays for forgiveness and healing, their humble prayer from a contrite heart will open the treasure house of God's blessings for themselves and those they pray for. 

(Blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of God will be theirs Matthew 5:1)

Our lives are a micros of a broken and hurting world.  Jesus' healing touch is waiting for those who pray for those who receive it but so few believe in the power of prayer. 

I came to understand how the virtue of Spiritual Poverty was an intercessory prayer jewel for the renewal of the heart of the Church. 

In truth I tell you once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all it will be granted to you by my father in heaven.  For where two or three meet in my name I am there among them.                        Matthew 18:19-20

Consecration:

All Angelus members were to be consecrated to Mary of the Angelus and desire to be a handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:38), and to proclaim her to be their spiritual mother and the Queen of Intercessors.  Through her powerful intercession the Holy Spirit would continuously overshadow and bless them with many prayer charisms. 

Each Angelus member is to be encouraged to wear the Miraculous Medal, the Brown Scapular and have a love and devotion for the Rosary.

Mary of the Angelus Governance

Each Angelus prayer cell is to be self-governing but until in unity of spirit as one body to the Mother House. (Task force governance committee)

The Leadership team is to consist of representatives leaders from the cell groups with the founders.  The team will be chosen after contemplative prayer with the attending members and the sharing of any Holy Spirit insights before putting it to the vote.

This group of leaders is to meet once a month or more frequently if moved by the Spirit.  They are to share, discuss, discern, guide and communicate with the other groups.

All spiritual teachings and revelations are to be placed under the authority and discernment of any appointed spiritual director or chaplain (under the appointment of the Bishop) to determine if they are in agreement with the Church's teaching.

 Paris Sacre Coeur - 24^th July 2006:

These notes were written in the Cathedral.

In 1979, after an experience with Mary of the Angelus, I was told that I would visit Lourdes and after that to go to the Sacre Coeur Church in Paris.  There I would receive further Angelus revelations.

In 1979 I was to believe in prayer and give birth to the vision but someone else would be the mother of this child.  I was to believe in faith for this spirit child to be born.  Today as I reflect over my previous days at Lourdes I realise how the teachings about the Immaculate Conception empowers Angelus ways of prayer for evangelisation.  The renewal grace of our    Baptism releases us from the stain and the effects of original sin.  The effects of sin are carved through our generational lines and the grace of the Immaculate Conception when prayed in faith, releases us through Christ's promises of the new covenant that through His death the curse of sin had been broken.

Mary of the Angelus Association is a Prayer Association for the 21^st Century.  It raises up prayer evangelisers who commit to pray for the salvation of others through the trials and tribulations of their daily faith experiences.  They are all encouraged to offer up their weaknesses and their strengths as a humble prayer for healing and wholeness.

Their prayer of recognising their own weakness and failings before God and others becomes a virtue for spiritual poverty for bringing out Christ's first   Beatitude.  "Blessed are the poor in spirit for the Kingdom of God shall be theirs."

This promise of the first Beatitude prepares the heart of Mary's Prayer Army to grow in the gift of Divine Love. 

Without the gift of Divine Love we cannot be a spouse of the Holy Spirit.  The gift of Divine Love can only make its home in us after we have surrendered and let go our ability to love God and others.

The daily process of following the steps on the Angelus prayer card helps us to co-operate with the grace of the Holy Spirit to convict us of our unhealed hurts and wounds of life, to let them go and be filled with the divine love of the Holy Spirit.  Our transformation into vessels of divine love flow from our commitment to respond like Mary did to the angel, "Be it done unto me according to thy Word."

Each day as we rest in God's love (contemplative prayer) the Word (God's Divine Love) is made flesh within us and we grow in desire and action to pray and give birth to the love of Jesus in others.

The following revelations were about the Charisms. 

A Charism according to the teachings of Vatican II is:

"A grace given capacity and willingness for some kind of service that contributes to the renewal and building up of the Church."

God gives these gifts or charisms to all Christians.

• The charism to witness to God's work as  Father, Son and Holy Spirit in us and in the world;
• The charism to witness to Jesus and His mission as Lord and Saviour of mankind;
• The charism Jesus the Son of God and Saviour, gives His Church and all of His brothers and sisters to witness our oneness with Him in His mission. 

These Charisms are Mary's gift to us.

1^st Charism - The Gift of Divine Love:

Divine Love is to love in God's power of His Holy Spirit.  This union of love grows through our co-operation with God's grace that He offers to us through the healing of our spirits.  The healing prayer ministry of inner healing guides us on how to surrender our wounds; and how to experience God's Divine Love.  When we choose to undertake these prayer exercises on a regular basis we are preparing our hearts and spirits to respond to Mary's call for an Angelus Prayer Army.

Divine Love is the promise of God's love which He offers to all of His children.  Without this form of love our prayers and actions of good will, will fail to change the hearts of those we pray for.  The temptations of sin are always with us and when we pray for others from our own woundedness, God hears the cry of a contrite and heartfelt spirit and His Holy Spirit anoints and heals us and those we pray for who have similar wounded spirits.

This Charism of Divine Love is a pathway of spiritual renewal for the whole Church.

Mary of the Angelus Prayer Army is part of God's plan in preparing the way for God's gift of Divine Love to be born in the hearts of God's children. 

2^nd Charism - The Gift of Contemplative Prayer:

This gift is symbolised by Mary's prayer Shawl of Humility that everything we have and do is gift and we are to wait upon God's grace.

3^rd Charism - The Gift of Discernment:

This prayer gift of discernment is the Feet of Mary used to crush the serpents head and release her children from the wiles of the world, the flesh and the devil.

4^th Charism - The Gift of Healing:

This gift uses the Angelic Choirs of Heaven to defeat the Kingdom of darkness.  These angels restore God's glory and grace to those who have been oppressed and afflicted.

 5^th Charism - The Gift of Piety:

In this gift of Piety, we pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit with the gifts of the Spirit and to discipline our desires and prayer offerings, to reflect Christ's prayer of intercession to the Father.

^6th Charism - The Gift of Divine Hope:

This Gift of Divine Hope allows us to believe in the promises of Christ with the expectant hope of knowing they will be released and fulfilled in God's time.  The prayer ministry of intercession flows through this gift to prepare the way for the healing of hearts and spirits to be converted and transformed through grace.

7^th Charism - The Gift of Divine Faith:

In this gift of Divine Faith, we are to be still and know God's will for ourselves and others.  This virtue empowers us to believe in Christ's plan that He has for each person.  He needs us to co-operate with His grace so we can fulfil the promises of Christ for our own lives and those the Holy Spirit inspires us to pray for.

Holy Spirit's Parting words.

The Sacré Coeur is one of the oldest and most famous Church's in Paris.  It was here on the 24th June 2006 at mid-day, just after the Angelus bells had rung that the Holy Spirit spoke to me as follows.

"This city of love is dedicated to my Divine gift of Love.  It is here that I have brought you to write your Statutes for Mary of the Angelus Order.  Many masses have been dedicated to my Heart down through the centuries and I have anointed you with these blessings for your prayer mission.

The charism of this Cathedral is yours to claim at any time as you walk along the pathway of Divine Love.  Remember to call upon these blessings for your faith journey of grace.  I love you my daughter.  Go in peace, you have been obedient to my inspirations."