Deeper Truth

The Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France 1858

Join John Carpenter, Donald Hartley, and the Deeper Truth research team as we examine one of the most famous Marian apparitions in 1858.
Thursday, February 11th 1858 was the day Our Lady revealed herself to Bernadette in the grotto at Massabielle (Old Rock) by the river Gave just outside Lourdes. The grotto itself was not a particularly savoury place, full of river-swept debris and where pigs had been kept.
Between 11 February and 16 July 1858, a young girl called Bernadette Soubirous experienced eighteen apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a cave on the outskirts of Lourdes, now known as the Grotto.
Our Lady of Lourdes is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary recalling her apparitions in 1858 in the grotto at Lourdes, France to Saint Bernadette Soubirous, a fourteen-year-old peasant girl. Our Lady instructed Bernadette to dig in the ground nearby, from which came a spring with healing properties, active to this day.
1858 – February 11: first apparition at the Grotto of Massabielle. 1858 – June 3: Bernadette made her first communion. 1858 – July 16: last of the 18 Apparitions. 1858 – July 17: Bernadette met a bishop (that of Montpellier) for the first time.
The beautiful lady asked Bernadette to come here every day for fifteen days. She said that she wanted Bernadette to tell the priests to build a chapel there. She told her to drink water from the stream. The lady also told Bernadette to pray for the conversion of sinners.
 
 
 

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint John of the Cross

Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint John of the Cross 12/14/2023
(15 August 1654 – 5 March 1739) Carlo Gaetano Calosirto was born on 15 August 1654 on the island of Ischia off the coast of Naples.
At the age of 16yrs, St John-Joseph joined the Franciscans wishing to live a life of poverty, austerity and prayer. At 20yrs and at his Superior’s request, he founded a friary in Piedmont and was later ordained a Priest. He also set up a convent community and became Master of Novices.
“Where there is no love put love … and you will find love”.
Self-denial is never an end in itself but is only a help toward greater charity—as the life of Saint John Joseph shows.
In his novitiate Saint John Joseph of the Cross exercised himself in humility and poverty according to the example of their holy Father St Francis, and strove to nourish the spirit of mortification and prayer in imitation of St Peter of Alcantara.
St. John Joseph exemplified the most sublime virtues, especially humility and religious discipline. He also possessed numerous gifts in the supernatural order, such as those of prophesy and miracles.
John Joseph was very ascetic even as a young man. At 16, he joined the Franciscans in Naples; he was the first Italian to follow the reform movement of Saint Peter Alcantara. John Joseph’s reputation for holiness prompted his superiors to put him in charge of establishing a new friary even before he was ordained.
Saint John Joseph of the Cross attained to so high a degree of perfection that, even before he was ordained a preist, he was commissioned with the building of a new convent. Wherever there was hard work to perform during the construction, he was the first at hand to do it
 

Deepertruth: The Tradition of the Candy Cane

The Tradition of the Candy Cane
About 1670, a choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany created the sugar cane to appear like the shepherd's staff that the bishop as Shepherd of the flock symbolizes. These became popular giving them out at Midnight Mass all over Europe to children.
It wasn't long before candy makers began adding sugar and decorated the candy canes with a rose color appearance. It wasn't until about 1847 that the candy cane tradition made it to America thanks to the German immigrant, August Imgard who first decorated his Christmas tree in Wooster Ohio.
From there, candy canes have become an American tradition. About 1900, candy canes began to appear bearing the familiar red-and-white stripes adding the classic peppermint and wintergreen flavors.
From the Christian tradition, the "J" shape is a constant reminder to Jesus as the colors red and white stripes represent the purity from the white color and the blood represented by the red color. Very much in line with the Divine Mercy message.
The three red stripes originally stood for the Trinity as it symbolized three stripes on one candy cane. The hardness of the candy cane came to represent the Catholic Church's foundation being based on solid rock.

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And St. Lucy

 Stand In The Gap With Us And St. Lucy 12/13/2023
“And I say to you, you are Kepa, and upon this Kepa I will build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it”.
Jesus established His Church with men who would take the gospel to all nations.
For nearly 2,000 years, men and women of all nations, tribes, tongues have witnesses the miracles of His Saints. At times like today, there is great confusion and there is much suffering in the world.
The Catholic Church is like a great visible light that continues to sail through the mix of all hopelessness. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 states, “Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.”
When I was coming home to my Catholic Faith in the late 1970′s, one of the early Catholic Martyrs that had such a great impact on me was St. Lucy.
The college environment was in full transition, the culture was beginning to push the progressive movement.
For the progressive movement to catch a foothold in the United States, much of our innocence had to be compromised.
 

Deepertruth: THE MESSAGE OF LA SALETTE With Dr. Gregory Thompson

THE MESSAGE OF LA SALETTE With Dr. Gregory Thompson
Repent and believe the Good News.  Mary speaks about the Eucharist, and the Religious indifference and our sins as a result.  We are called to conversion, and a greater love for the KIngdom of God is close at hand.  Will you listen to our Lady before it is too late?  As she asks are we submitting to God's Word?  What does your Sunday look like?  Is the Eucharist your source of hope and joy?  Can we do more daily for the lives and souls of others, or are we content in talking a good story.  Are we true "Servant Spiritual Warriors, Glorifying  God, honoring Mary, and defending the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Bride of Christ.  Seek the Truth, JESUS, and He will not leave you an orphan.  Embrace that, and God will give you a peace and joy beyond all understanding.  Lord help me, as I have been, and still remain weak without your Holy Spirit, please give me the courage, fortitude and perseverance to do you will. Love and prayers in Christ to each of you and your families, GregoryMary

Deepertruth: Christmas the Season of the Mistletoe

Christmas the Season of the Mistletoe
Christmas the Season of the Mistletoe
Kissing under the mistletoe probably originated around the 1500s in Europe. One custom was one kiss per berry, and when the berries were plucked, no more kisses. 
One of the more common meanings is that mistletoe is seen as a symbol of fertility and life - and that this could be why we kiss underneath it. In winter, when all the trees are bare and many plants have died away, mistletoe stays green and you can still see it growing around tree branches quite happily.
Every year when Christmas time comes around, people who are on the side of Scrooge come out opposing the spirit of Christmas because they want to say that it began through Pagan foundations, maybe they reject Christ, or maybe they are in some kind of cult group. I have defended Christmas many times showing that Jesus was really, truly born on December 25, 2 B.C.

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Our Lady of Guadalupe

Stand In The Gap With Us And Our Lady of Guadalupe 12/12/2023
“Listen and let it penetrate your heart…do not be troubled or weighed down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?” (Our Lady’s words to her servant Juan Diego.)
“My little son, these varied flowers are the sign which you are to take to the Bishop. Tell him in my name that in them he will recognize my will and that he must fulfill it.”
“All, whether believers or not, find something to love, and to love intensely, in the Virgin of Guadalupe. Against her in this land no man blasphemes. She is the ideal, the light that shines above our strife and our incredulity.”
“that as long as you are recognized as Queen and Mother, Mexico and America will be safe.
 
 

Deepertruth: Christmas The Tradition of the Yule Log and Christmas

Christmas The Tradition of the Yule Log and Christmas
Christmas is one of those times when families come together, when people at work come together highlighting the spirit of good will towards all men.
Fire has relevance in Christian theology, it speaks to the power of the Holy Spirit, fire speaks to the cleansing of the soul, it speaks to a person coming alive through Baptism. Hebrews 12:29 refers to God as a "consuming fire"
The Celebration of the Yule means no work as long as the special log burns. It perfectly speaks to the Hebrew understanding of Shalom or peace. It is festive, it involves the gathering family, friends, neighbors story telling, dancing, celebrating feasts.
Pope Julius I (337-352 A.D.) incorporated the tradition of the yule which came from Scandinavia celebrating the Winter Solstice, to celebrate Christmas. The Yule log traditional fire came to represent the light of the Savior instead of the light of the Sun. On or about Christmas eve, a big log was brought into a home or large hall. Songs were sung and stories told. Children danced. Offerings of food and wine and decorations were placed upon it. Personal faults, mistakes and bad choices were burned in the flame so everyone's new year would start with a clean slate. The log was never allowed to burn completely, a bit was kept in the house to start next years log. The log brought good luck. Any pieces that were kept protected a house from fire, or lightning, or hail. Ashes of the log would be placed in wells to keep the water good. Ashes were also placed at the roots of fruit trees and vines to help them bear a good harvest.
 

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Damasus I

Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Damasus I 12/11/2023
Pope St. Damasus I was born into a Christian family in Rome. He became a deacon and served at the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Rome where his father served as priest. After the death of Pope Liberius,
The son of a Roman priest, possibly of Spanish extraction, Damasus started as a deacon in his father’s church, and served as a priest in what later became the basilica of San Lorenzo in Rome. He served Pope Liberius (352-366) and followed him into exile.
Damasus was a sixty-year-old deacon when he was elected bishop of Rome in 366. His reign was marked by violenc from the start when another group decided to elect a different pope. Both sides tried to enforce their selections through violence. Though the physical fighting stopped, Damasus had to struggle with these opponents throughout his years as pope.
When Liberius died, Damasus was elected bishop of Rome; but a minority elected and consecrated another deacon, Ursinus, as pope. The controversy between Damasus and the antipope resulted in violent battles in two basilicas, scandalizing the bishops of Italy. At the synod that Damasus called on the occasion of his birthday, he asked them to approve his actions. The bishops’ reply was curt: “We assembled for a birthday, not to condemn a man unheard.”
to gain support, Ursinus made the false accusation that St. Damasus had committed adultery. Supporters of the antipope even managed to get Damasus because of this accusation as late as A.D. 378. He had to clear himself before both a civil court and a Church synod.
To his secretary Saint Jerome, Damasus was “an incomparable person, learned in the Scriptures, a virgin doctor of the virgin Church, who loved chastity and heard its praises with pleasure.”
 

The Virgin Mary Appears High in the French Alps

Join John Carpenter, Don Hartley and the Deeper Truth research team as they delve into the rich story of Mary's appearance in La Salette, France.in 1846.
A: La Salette, a French town located in the Alps, was the place at which a Marian apparition occurred in the nineteenth century.
This was when the Blessed Mother appeared to two shepherd children at La Salette, a small hamlet in the French Alps. Through the children she gave her message of "Reconciliation" to the world. She insisted that this message be made known to all her people.
Our Lady of La Salette began her message by speaking about two sins that “weigh down the arm of my Son so much”: sins against the Second and Third Commandments. These two Commandments concern our duty to God Himself as our Creator: “Thou shall not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
A man broke off a piece of rock at the spot of the Virgin's appearance and uncovered a spring. The spring was found to have healing powers which inspired the bishop to begin an official inquiry. Twenty-three cures were attributed to the mountain spring in the first year after the apparition.
Mary's tears at La Salette are a sign of God's tenderness, unappreciated and scoffed at. It is a sign within our understanding: for God has always spoken to humans through humans and by means of signs and languages used by God's people.
Her voice was soft, enchanting, warming to the ears. -During the initial inquiry of the apparition, a man broke off a piece of rock from the apparition site. A spring began to flow, and many healing miracles have been attributed to this spring.