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Our Lord Jesus Christ has called each of us to pick up our cross and follow Him. Joe Walker has done just that. He has picked up the cross of his daughter's brutal murder and immediately forgiven the murderer just as Jesus, while nailed to the Cross, forgave all who were responsible for His Crucifixion. Joe asks that we pray for the repose of the soul of his beloved daughter, Sarah Anne, but he also asks that we pray for the murderer and his/her conversion. Joe wants Divine Mercy showered upon both his daughter and her murderer just like the mother of Maria Goretti who had forgiven Alessandro Serenelli, the murderer of her daughter.
I would like to take the opportunity to clear up what seems to be a misunderstanding on blogs, websites and other fora. Fr. Paul Weinberger was quoted saying, "Joe really believes this stuff." Fr. Paul and the sheep he shepherds believe this "stuff" as well. This "stuff" is prayer and the belief in the Mercy of God! Fr. Weinberger was making a point here and trying to get the attention of those who do not believe this "stuff". He has a way of making his sheep and others stop and think! He got the attention of the many!
We at semperficatholic.com offer our prayers for the repose of the soul of Sarah Anne and for the comfort of her dear family, especially her parents, Joseph and Carol Walker.
Lori and Denise
NEW
BOOK
Loved, Lost, Found
17 Divine Mercy
Conversion Stories
By Felix Carroll
Profiles of 17 everyday people who
discover God's extraordinary mercy, which includes Mr. Joseph
Walker and the story of Sarah Anne's grisly murder, found on
page 91 of the book.
The pictures on this page are the property of semperficatholic.com and the Joseph Walker Family. Permission is required for use.
Brighter Days
Sarah Anne and her dad, Joseph Walker
Sarah Anne with her sister Jackie, niece Kendyl and brother Joe Willy
Sarah Anne at the Twin Towers Memorial
Signing the platform at the WTC Memorial
requiescat in pace
With the eyes of our soul we long to look into the eyes of the Merciful Jesus in order to find deep within His gaze the reflection of His inner life as well as the light of grace, which we have already received so often and which He holds out to us anew each day and on the last day...
Pope John Paul II
Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy Mercy.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Rosary for Sarah Anne Walker
Fr. Paul Weinberger explains the prayers of the
Most Holy Rosary
PRAY FOR ME
July 12, 2005
Rosary for Sarah Anne
"So I began to talk about how we need to pray for Sarah Anne because she was attacked; she wasn’t prepared and we needed to pray for her. Well, Joe interrupted and said that we need to pray for the conversion of person who did this to her as well, so they will go to heaven."
" You see, Joe has a great devotion to the Divine Mercy and year after year, hour after hour, Joe has prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet and if mercy is what you want, mercy is what you have to give. Joe could say those words soon after his dear daughter had been murdered and he was saying them in all honesty. He wasn’t saying them through clinched teeth. He didn’t say he hoped God had mercy on the fiend, coward or wretch who did this to his daughter. It is amazing. Everything had prepared Joe for that moment."
From July 16th Homily at St. William the Confessor Catholic Church
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for me
My Jesus, Mercy
July 13, 2006
Funeral Mass
St. Monica's Catholic Church
Dallas, Texas
Preparation of the Gifts & Altar
Rite of Committal
Maccabees 12: 43-46
It is good and holy to think of the dead rising again.
2 Corinthians 4: 14- 5:1
What is seen is transitory; what is unseen is eternal.
John 5: 24-29
Whoever hears my word and believes has passed from death to life.
Jesus, I Trust in You
Joseph and Carol Walker requests continued prayers to the Divine Mercy for the repose of the soul of their beloved daughter Sarah Anne, as well as for the person who took her life. No prayer is ever wasted, especially for the dead.
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
Our Lord taught Blessed Faustina a prayer for mercy that she was to pray unceasingly: The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy.
He told her that, if she prayed in this way, her prayers would have great power for the conversion of sinners, for peace for the dying, and even for controlling nature (Diary, 687, 811, 1731, 1791).
We, too, can pray this chaplet, using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. We begin with the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Apostles Creed.
Then on the large beads we pray:
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the small beads we pray:
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
And at the end, we pray three times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (Diary, 476).
Memorial Mass Card
Sarah
Forever In Our Prayers
This prayer was written by St. Claude de la Colombiere for a young religious at the point of despair.
Lord, I am in this world to show Your mercy to others. Other people will glorify You by making visible the power of Your grace by their fidelity and constancy to You. For my part I will glorify You by making known how good You are to sinners, that Your mercy is boundless and that no sinner no matter how great his offences should have reason to despair of pardon. If I have grievously offended You, My Redeemer, let me not offend You even more by thinking that You are not kind enough to pardon Me.
Amen.
Listen to
Homilies by Fr. Paul Weinberger
“The limit imposed upon evil is ultimately Divine Mercy.”
Last summer a great evil was visited upon the family of Joe and Carol Walker: Their beloved daughter Sarah Anne was the subject of a brutal murder. For years Joe had been most devoted to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy – for years God had prepared him and strengthened him for this hour through the Divine Mercy of Jesus. While this evil wrenched his heart, it did not consume him due to the limit of such a grave evil by God’s Mercy.
Last week, just days after Divine Mercy Sunday and the second anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II, the beautiful tabernacle arrived at St. William Church and was placed on the Altar of Repose. The Godparents of Sarah Anne Walker, Dr. & Mrs. Bill McCormick, MD of Arizona have made the tabernacle their gift to St. William Church.
The familiar refrain of the Divine Mercy Chaplet repeats: “Have Mercy on us and on the whole world.” The gift of Sarah Anne’s Godparents in this beautiful tabernacle is hoped to inspire people near and far to ask the intercession of the Divine Mercy for the repose of the Soul of their dear Sarah Anne’s Soul. May her Soul and all the Souls of the faithful departed, through the Mercy of God rest in Peace. Amen.
In this way, the evil which was visited upon Sarah Anne, her family and even her extended family will lead generous people everywhere to invoke God’s Divine Mercy at all times. In this way, the ultimate limit of God’s Mercy will chain this evil, which was unleashed upon this family dear to so many. As St. Faustina records again and again in her many writings:
“Satan hates Divine Mercy more than anything else.”
In his many writings, Pope Benedict has expressed the same teaching but in a different slant:
“The only response to violence is Love.”
This tabernacle now contains the Real Presence of Our Lord – His True Presence – His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The Sacrament of the Eucharist or Holy Communion “gushed forth” from the wounded side of Christ. May this tabernacle forever serve as a reminder of the Divine Mercy to everyone and not merely be considered as a beautiful container for some “thing.” Rev. Paul L. Weinberger, Pastor
Photos taken April 22, 2007
click on photos to enlarge.
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