My ROAD-JOURNAL - Week 1 Switzerland

Switzerland has been amazing. I have traveled alot, but never seen mountains like these in my LIFE! WOWW...mamma-mia! Holy Moses! (I just heard that one tonight and had to share it with you all). If anyone ever needs an idea for a awesome travel destination (retreat, vacation, honeymoon)... ENGELBERG just his the top of the list in my book. (Of course I also think Greece is great and hear that Lebanon rocks too. But seeing is believing (when is God gonna send me to Lebanon to see it??? who knows).

OK..back to the Angel Mountain (aka EngelBerg) Here is a photo of Engelberg on the left. This shot is taken on the way to a Benedictine Monastery where I was

speaking.

Mountain views, good food, great faith communities like The Beatitudes as well as been to the Benedictine Monastery in Engleberg. The Benedictines also have a house in Idaho, USA and a website for the USA HOUSE. I have also gone to the tomb of the Patron Saint of Switzerland St. "Bruder Klaus" and who is very significant in European history. LEARN more at: http://www.bruderklaus.com. I have also had the fun of some radio interviews (Radio Gloria as well as Life Radio. I have also given talks at schools and great prayer groups like "Cellules Mariales D'Evangelisation" and also a great weekly prayer nights called ADORAY.

See MORE PHOTOS of the Switzerland Trip and others, check out my FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE and see the album Mission Switzerland

World Youth Day 2009 Weltjugendtag - Grenchen

WILLKOMMEN BEIM WETLJUGENDTAG This year Switzerland is having their annual World Youth Day in the town of Grenchen, Switzerland. March 27-29. Pope John Paul II started World Youth Days (WYD) as an international encounter for youth. This has taken place every three years at different appointed locations around the world. Sometimes it has been only 2 years since the last one, other times 3 years. BUT....but... (pay attention!) the Pope ALSO asked each individual country/Archdiocese to host their own local/national "Youth Day" in the same spirit as the international sensation that his World Youth Day (WYD) has become. Some years there has been 1 million youth at the international WYD where Other cities have drawn 8 million people. ALL TO SEE THE POPE! He would meet and speak and celebrate Mass with the pilgrim youth as well as having other events full of faith, fun and inspiration. United in life, faith, and a desire for hope... people continue to gather to WORLD YOUTH DAYs and they come from all walks of life, culture, faith and languages. Switzerland is flexing their muscles and doing just what the Holy Father ordered. (I wish other places would do this! Hello... USA.... come on !) It is my honor and privilege to be invited this year at Switzerland's national Youth Day. COME ONE...COME ALL! This March 27-29 in the city of Grenchen, This year Switzerland is having their annual World Youth Day in the town of Grenchen, Switzerland. March 27-29.

Pope John Paul II started World Youth Days (WYD) as an international encounter for youth. This has taken place every three years at different appointed locations around the world. Sometimes it has been only 2 years since the last one, other times 3 years. BUT....but... (pay attention!) the Pope ALSO asked each individual country/Archdiocese to host their own local/national "Youth Day" in the same spirit as the international sensation that his World Youth Day (WYD) has become. Some years there has been 1 million youth at the international WYD where Other cities have drawn 8 million people. ALL TO SEE THE POPE! He would meet and speak and celebrate Mass with the pilgrim youth as well as having other events full of faith, fun and inspiration. United in life, faith, and a desire for hope... people continue to gather to WORLD YOUTH DAYs and they come from all walks of life, culture, faith and languages.

Switzerland is flexing their muscles and doing just what the Holy Father ordered. (I wish other places would do this! Hello... USA.... come on !) It is my honor and privilege to be invited this year at Switzerland's national Youth Day. COME ONE...COME ALL! This March 27-29 in the city of Grenchen,

Weltjugendtag - Grenchen - 27. bis 29. März 2009 Check out their website for more info. It is going to be a great event of Faith, Fun and Friends! I will be speaking at this event at a workshop about my faith and "conversion" from model to "TECHNO" Missionary Speaker . (techy - techno - technological... meaning using modern technology...you get it...c'mon!). Der ehemalige Mario St. Francis spricht in Grenchen im Rahmen eines Workshops zu den Jugendlichen und erzählt aus seinem Leben... (more at 2009 WELTJUGENTAG WEBSITE http://wjt.ch )

St. Patrick... modern pagans...pray for us.!

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, MAY GOD HOLD YOU IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND.

With the PAGAN WAYS of many people and cultures today; even those who consider themselves "good-Christians" (like myself before I chose for God more than myself and "my ways") we need to pray to St. Patrick. That God hear his and our prayers for a renewed belief in God, Our Father. On this blessed day which is often marked (internationally) by beer and pagan-like attitude... I have a sincere and heartfelt wish for you. I heard this said by a priest only weeks after my life changed in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania USA around March of 2002. May the road rise to meet you...the wind be always at your back... the sun shine warm upon your face.... the rains fall soft upon your fields.... and

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, MAY GOD HOLD YOU IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND.

May God be with you and bless you....May you see your children's children... May you be poor in misfortune and Rich in blessings.... May you know nothing but Happiness and Holiness from this day forward. May green be the grass you walk on...Blue be the skies above you...Pure be the joys that surround you...and May True be the hearts that Love you.

A LITTLE HISTORY of SAINT PATRICK - ST. PATRICK was born in Wales about AD 385. His given name was Maewyn. Far from being a saint, until he was 16, he considered himself a pagan. At that age, he was sold into slavery. During his captivity, he became closer to God. He escaped from slavery after six years and went to Gaul where he studied in the monastery for twelve years. During his training he became aware that his calling was to convert the pagans to Christianity. His wishes were to return to Ireland, to convert the native pagans to Christianity. Patrick was quite successful at winning converts. And this fact upset the Celtic Druids. Patrick was arrested several times, but escaped each time. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches which would aid him in his conversion of the Irish country to Christianity. His mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. He died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since. FOLKLORE: Much Irish folklore surrounds St. Patrick's Day. Not much of it is actually substantiated. Some of this lore includes the belief that Patrick raised people from the dead. He also is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland. Of course, no snakes were ever native to Ireland, and some people think this is a metaphor for the conversion of the pagans. Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday. One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.

(the picture on the RIGHT, I took when I was in Ireland, and placed my face on the tomb of St. Patrick, praying for all the intentions of my heart... those I meet, those I will never see again, and those that one day I encounter. I prayed for the intentions that many have asked me to pray for as well as for the needs of the world-wide Church... and those in most need of God's loving mercy.)