Elle

Catholic mom & wife; coffee snob; lover of travel, nature & SA. Passionate about kids, education & the Earth. Pro-life. Tweets are my own

[Elle @EllaBSA]

Fr Jerry Browne: 'Christians ... cannot despise, dehumanise or encourage hostility towards...strangers among us. Such attitudes cannot be reconciled with the Gospel. They contradict Christ's command to love our neighbour & welcome Him in the stranger.'

#June30 #foreignnationals

[Elle @EllaBSA]

#June30 Christians remember,
'...we [cannot] judge according to race, nationality, tribe or usefulness. We belong to Christ before... any nation' - Fr Jerry Browne.

#foreigners #protests #march

[Citywire South Africa @CitywireSA]

A more pragmatic #ESG model is emerging in SA retirement funds, prioritising #risk management, #infrastructure & long-term value creation.

@IRFAfrica's Wayne Hiller van Rensburg & @alexforbes' Premal Ranchod discuss the current focus & future.

https://t.co/P9Gz6CYEeV

[Citywire South Africa @CitywireSA]

#Tax expert Stephan de Wet believes tax-smart sequencing is an overlooked arrow in #advisers’ quivers to boost post-#retirement income.

Read insights from his @FPI_SA masterclass here.

#retirementplanning #annuities #Sars #CGT
https://t.co/o4UYwfxdhI

[Citywire South Africa @CitywireSA]

.@alexforbes' Viresh Maharaj believes advice is the silver bullet for SA’s #retirement problem and calls on other administrators to make financial advice accessible to all members.

#pensionfunds #retirementfunds #employeebenefits #financialadvice

https://t.co/vePbRqPJ9F

[Elle @EllaBSA]

Would the #DA scrap @CityofJoburgZA's unfair R200 prepaid admin fee, if it wins #Joburg in the local elections?

[Elle @EllaBSA]

@Our_DA if @helenzille wins #Joburg, would she scrap the ridiculous R200 admin fee everyone (rich to poor) must pay for prepaid electricity?

That alone may get you elected Ma'am!

[Elle @EllaBSA]

@CityPowerJhb What is going on with Orchards substation? This is unacceptable.

[Catholic News Agency @cnalive]

At least 11 people are feared dead and several others injured following a deadly attack by suspected gunmen in Gari Ya Waye community, Angwan Rukuba, served by Nigeria’s Archdiocese of Jos. The attack occurred on the night of March 29, Palm Sunday. https://t.co/dUMSprt6zm

[Elle @EllaBSA]

The @thechosentv series is one of the best depictions of Jesus and His disciples I've watched.

Season 5 shows the Last Supper and Jesus's Agony in the Mount of Olives - poignant this week!

Wishing Christians a Blessed, meaningful #HolyWeek!
#CatholicX
https://t.co/CLrtAPiT7h

[Saint Adaugoijele ✝️ @JustAdaugoijele]

The Four Saints of the Impossible Causes

When life throws you a challenge that feels completely hopeless, when every door seems slammed shut and prayer feels like shouting into the void:
these four heavenly intercessors are the ones, the faithful have turned to for centuries.

Meet the powerful quartet :
. St. Rita of Cascia,
. St. Jude Thaddeus,
. St. Philomena, and
. St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (the Wonderworker).
They’re known in the Catholic Church, as the patrons of impossible, desperate, and lost causes.

1. St. Rita of Cascia... The Saint of the Impossible

A 15th-century Italian wife, mother, widow, and Augustinian nun, Rita endured an abusive marriage, her husband’s violent murder, and the tragic deaths of her two sons. Yet she chose forgiveness over revenge and miraculously entered the convent against all odds. She’s famous for the thorn from Christ’s crown embedded in her forehead and for making a rose bloom in the dead of winter.
If your situation looks utterly impossible, St. Rita is the one who specializes in “no way out” miracles.

2. St. Jude Thaddeus... Patron of Hopeless Causes

One of Jesus’ twelve apostles (often called “Jude the Obscure” to avoid confusion with Judas Iscariot), he carried the image of Christ and preached the Gospel fearlessly. Because people hesitated to invoke his name, he became the go-to saint for the most desperate cases, the ones everyone else had given up on
In the painting, you see him holding that sacred medallion and his staff, ready to intercede when hope has run dry.

3. St. Philomena.... The Wonder-Working Virgin Martyr
A young girl from the early Church who refused marriage to a Roman emperor and was martyred for her faith, Philomena is depicted here with her flower crown and lily (symbols of purity and innocence).
After her relics were discovered in 1802, an explosion of miracles followed,so many that she earned the title “Wonder Worker.” She’s invoked for impossible healings, protection, and breakthroughs in seemingly incurable situations.
Her story reminds us that even the smallest, forgotten souls can move mountains through God’s grace.

4. St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (Gregory of Neocaesarea).... The Miracle Worker Bishop

A 3rd-century bishop known as “Thaumaturgus” (Wonderworker) for his astonishing miracles, Gregory converted almost his entire pagan city through the power of prayer alone.
He’s the bearded bishop in the miter on the right, crosier in hand, blessing the faithful. When spiritual battles feel unwinnable or entire communities need conversion and healing, St. Gregory steps in as the expert in the “impossible.

”These four don’t just listen, they deliver. Countless people have testified to answered prayers after turning to them in their darkest hours. If you’re carrying a burden that feels too heavy, light a candle, say a simple prayer, and ask for their intercession.

Which of these saints have you turned to in tough times?

[DA Gauteng @DAGauteng]

⛱️🌊 Just another day in the City of Johannesburg.

Let’s get Joburg working. Register to #VoteDA. Visit https://t.co/SzMWMxGkD8.

[Catholic News Agency @cnalive]

For decades, Christians in Lebanon have lived with the reality of Hezbollah’s armed dominance, politically opposing and contesting, with limited impact, the “Axis of Resistance” doctrine led by an Islamist Iranian-backed militia. https://t.co/D8PlyPZ1hO

[Catholic Quotes @CatholicQuote12]

Our Lady of Perpetual Help,Pray for us.

[Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch @FrUgochukwu]

In 2025, more than 10,300 adults were baptized into the Catholic Church in France, the highest number recorded in the past 20 years. This year, about 20,000 people will be baptized into the Catholic Church in France. This unprecedented surge is even more striking because of the demographic of the new converts: mostly Gen Z adults between 18 and 25 who did not grow up in practicing families. 🇫🇷

[Saint Adaugoijele ✝️ @JustAdaugoijele]

While hanging upon a cross, Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution:

I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me, and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all,
and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”

....St. Paul Miki,Ora pro nobis...
[Feast day is today, February 6th]

[Lila Rose @LilaGraceRose]

Derick Hall was born at 23 weeks, weighing just 2 lbs 9 oz. 

No heartbeat. Doctors initially believed he was dead. 

He was given a 1% chance of survival. And yet, his mother refused to take him off life support, saving his life.

The world would say he shouldn’t be here, but now, this Sunday, he’s playing in Super Bowl LX for the Seahawks.

[Elle @EllaBSA]

Many South Africans are turning to #gambling, #betting precious rands on winning big.... in many cases, losing grocery, school fees or grants.

Where do the solutions lie?

See what industry commentators had to say in an @alexforbes webinar here.

https://t.co/mAssFPzsEu

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, I would like to recall that the Church remains faithful to the unwavering position of the Declaration #NostraAetate against every form of antisemitism. The Church rejects any discrimination or harassment based on ethnicity, language, nationality, or religion. https://t.co/e6GS1xDhRf

[☩ 𝕁𝕄𝕋 ☩ @SecretFire79]

The women of Nowogródek came running to the convent that terrible night in July 1943. They were crying. Begging. The Nazis had just arrested their husbands, their fathers, their sons. One hundred and twenty men. All sentenced to die by firing squad.

"Please," they sobbed to the sisters. "Pray for them. They're all we have left."

The eleven nuns gathered in their small convent room. Outside, Nazi-occupied Poland was a nightmare. Half their town was already dead. The Jewish families who had been their neighbors? Gone. The priests who had served alongside them? Shot.

These women had already lost everything else. Now they were about to lose even more.

Sister Maria Stella was 54, the mother figure of their little community. She looked at her sisters' faces in the candlelight. They were teachers. Nurses. Women who had given their lives to serve others.

They had no weapons. No political power. No way to fight the monsters who controlled their world.

But they had one thing.

"We could offer our lives instead," Sister Maria Stella said quietly.

The room went silent.

Think about that moment. Eleven women, sitting in a tiny room, calmly discussing whether to volunteer to die. Not in a moment of passion. Not in a burst of heroic emotion. Just quiet, determined love.

They talked it through. These 120 men had wives who needed them. Children who would starve without them. The sisters were free from family obligations. They could be spared more easily than fathers.

One by one, each sister agreed.

The next morning, Sister Maria Stella walked to the parish priest. "Father," she said, "if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us and spare those who have families. We are even praying for this intention."

They were literally asking God to kill them instead.

What happened next defies explanation.

The execution was suddenly canceled. No reason given. The 120 men were loaded onto trains and sent to labor camps in Germany instead. Some were even released outright.

The sisters' prayer seemed to be working. But God wasn't finished.

Two weeks later, the Gestapo came for the nuns.

No charges. No trial. No explanation. Just an order: "Report to headquarters at 7:30 PM."

Before she left, Sister Maria Stella gave one last instruction. She told Sister Małgorzata to stay behind at the convent. Someone needed to tend the church after they were gone.

Sister Małgorzata watched her eleven sisters walk up the street in their black habits. The townspeople lined the windows, knowing they would never see them again.

The sisters spent their last night in a basement jail cell, praying the rosary together.

At dawn on August 1st, 1943, they were loaded into a covered truck. Five kilometers outside town, in a forest of birch and pine trees, a grave had already been dug.

Eleven women knelt side by side in the dirt.

They said goodbye to each other. Then, one by one, starting with Sister Maria Stella, they were shot.

Their bodies fell into the mass grave together. The youngest was 27. The oldest was 54. Teachers, nurses, servants of God who had asked to die so that strangers might live.

The war dragged on for two more years.

Sister Małgorzata stayed in the empty convent, tending to their secret grave in the woods. The parish priest they had tried to save survived. He joined the underground resistance and kept fighting.

And in 1945, when the war finally ended, something miraculous was revealed.

Every single one of the 120 men survived.

The ones sent to labor camps came home. The ones who had been released lived through the occupation. Not one father. Not one husband. Not one son had died.

One hundred and twenty families were reunited because eleven women had knelt in the dirt and died in their place.

Their prayer had been answered completely.