Testimony"The Call to Write"By Leo Fasciocco I have been a writer my entire adult life - and I never wanted to be one. By nature, I enjoy numbers and probability. In school, I use to get excellent grades in math. But through Divine Providence the doors were opened and a career in writing began for me when I got a position with the big Philadelphia newspaper - The Evening Bulletin. It was there as a young college student I was involved in the coverage of the assassination of President John Kennedy. They were exciting times. My career went on and I eventually took a position with the big international news service, Reuters, based in London. I worked for them in cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Eventually, I started my own publishing business. I had spent a good part of my life serving Jesus in various ministries. In May of 2003, I was at a business meeting at the Bally's hotel in Las Vegas. I was working on a publishing deal with a firm that produces investment seminars. The deal fell through. The head of the firm turned to me and said, "I am sorry. We got someone else." My reply - to my surprise too - was: "That's all right. The Holy Spirit has something else for me to do." To this day, I don't know why I said that in a boardroom with six people and talking finance. Did I know what the Holy Spirit wanted me to do? No. The words just came out. But, I did not forget that incident. About a month later, I had a dream and woke up. The dream put me back at the start of my writing career in Philadelphia some 30 years ago. I could see the office and all the people. Then the words came to my mind: "Now, Write for Me." Then I knew exactly what Jesus was calling me to do - write for Him. Write what specifically, I did not know. But I did know that to me the most important thing in the world is to make Jesus the Lord of your life and be obedient to the Holy Spirit. I have also received in prayer many times the words: "You are to do what I want, not what you think I want. " So, this website - jesuschrististhelord.com - is the start of that call. Many years ago when I was a young writer I surrendered my life to the Master. I wanted to enter religious life. But I was not sure and so I prayed for guidance. Within the next few days, I bought for the first time in years a Catholic newspaper and paging through it I saw a whole page about St. Francis de Sales, the 16th century saint, who was a great spiritual writer. It struck me as the answer to my prayer because he was - unknown to me at the time - the patron saint of Journalist. To top it off, I spent 8 years of school at a place called St. Francis de Sales School in Philadelphia. It seemed the Lord had me tagged from the start. As someone said there are no coincidences - just God incidences. So, I hope this sharing might let you know where I am coming from and be an inspiration to you. "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." (Psalm 95) |
Leo Fasciocco has been involved in christian spiritual ministry for about 30 years and is a director of "The Apostolate of Prayer in the Holy Spirit."
He has traveled from coast to coast in his service for the Lord Jesus having lived in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
He currently resides in Gilbert, Arizona, with his wife Beverly and two children Michael Leo and Gloriann. Leo is a speaker and writer on spiritual topics with his specialty being prayer, the interior life and the charisms and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Besides overseeing the Jesus Christ is the Lord website, he also gives spiritual teachings and workshops to both Catholic and other Christian denominations. Leo is Catholic and was most involved in Parish work and the Charismatic Renewal. He was the leader of the Charismatic renewal prayer group at St. Monica's Church in Santa Monica, Ca.,. from 1978 to 1994. He is a lector and eucharistic minister.
While at St. Monica's Leo gave teachings on the works of the Holy Spirit in a person's life and how to grow in holiness. He was also a leader on the prayer group's healing team which prayed for individuals and their needs.
One case in particular was quite profound and involved a cancer healing for a lady, Felecia Bradly, who lived with her family in Santa Monica. The team prayed with her weekly with the laying on of hands. After a few months, she reported back to the prayer group with a complete healing and had a doctor's certificate as proof. Praise the Lord. (see Leo's published article on Felicia)
Interestingly, Leo worked on the healing team at St. Monica's with Rev. John O'Flaherty SJ. He was one of the priests who was involved in the actual exorcism rite in St. Louis on a boy, whose situation was the basis of the movie "The Exorcist." The movie portrayed the possessed person as a girl.
| Leo Dominic
Fasciocco Apostolate of Prayer in the Holy Spirit PO Box 2044 Chandler, Az. 95244-2044 Tele: 480-926-1680 leo@jesuschrististhelord.com |
The true story was about a boy. It is a fascinating story that Leo often relates during some of his talks linked to spiritual warfare. The child was delivered and there were several conversions as a result. The true story is way better than the movie.
Leo is available to give talks or workshops at churches. Just contact him at Leo@jesuschrististhelord.com for details.
His topics are on prayer, interior life, growing in holiness, and charisms of the Holy Spirit. It is all centered on Jesus Christ as the Lord. The goal is to help people to pray and listen to the Holy Spirit and also to exercise the gifts of the spirit for the upbuilding of the church.
During his service to Jesus through the church, Leo has been a Lector in the Catholic Church and had the opportunity to read at a Christimas mass with the late Cardinal Manning of Los Angeles. Leo has also been a Eucharistic Minister, and has visited the sick in nursing homes and hospitals. During his work, he had the wonderful opportunity to be tutored by Rev. Mark Finan, SJ, who lived in California, and taught at several universities such as Loyola in Chicago.
Leo was also a close friend of the late Msgr. Raymond O'Flaherty, who was the pastor at St. Monica's in Santa Monica for some 35 years. Father O'Flaherty along with two other priest friends did the wedding for Leo and his bride Beverly back in 1986. Beverly is very active in the Catholic program to educate young children about Jesus and the Church. She served at St. Anne's Church in Gilbert, Az. for several years. She is now at Queen of Peace Church in Mesa, Az.
Leo is also active in the business of investment management. He publishes the internet stock market report called Ticker Tape Digest. (www.tickertapedigest.com). He also manages money for clients with his speciality being equities. In his business career, he has worked on Wall Street in New York and at the Board of Trade in Chicago. He has been on television and has been interviewed many times on radio about investing. He was also a frequent speaker and host at the Money Show conferences (www.moneyshow.com) which drew some 10,000 people
Leo's investment articles were used in the books - "High Performance Investing," - "Focus On Equities" - and "The Encyclopedia of Stock Investing." These books can be purchased through Investor's Business Daily, where Leo was the lead columnist for the paper for several years.. Leo's current investment articles appear at Esignal (www.esignal.com) under the Exchange Report which goes out monthly to some 20,000 readers. The articles cover a variety of investment strategies.
The guiding principle in Leo's life is to be "Obedient to the Holy Spirit." It is that basic theme that he brings to his talks. He believes strongly that every person must pray to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and then listen, surrender and then act.
"If today you hear His voice, do not harden your heart!"
Don Baur, who lives in Scottsdale, Az., has been involved in active ministry for 29 years. He has faithfully served the Lord and His people in a variety of capacities.
Don is a lifetime professed member of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity ( a Public Association of the Faithful ).
He was involved for several years as a Formation Assistant which involved helping other members in their spiritual life within the community.
He also was a Chaplain's Aide at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles for almost 5 years. He was involved in ministering to the patients at the hospital and also trained Eucharistic Ministers who also participated in the hospital ministry.
For 15 years Don has been also ministering to retired, elderly and ill priests. Don has been blessed beyond words by this ministry and he has stated several times that he receives much more than he gives.
"It is such an honor to pray with a priest who has been ordained 50 or 60 years. To be able to thank them for all their years of service and let them know they are still loved is so needed. These are very special men and we need to honor them. I pray they are never forgotten."
Don was employed in Emergency Medical Services for 24 years. He worked up the corporate ladder starting out as an EMT running 911 and also non emergency calls. He then moved into management and operations and also assisted in marketing and public relations.
The Lord has now moved Don in a different direction and he is working as Director of Publicity for several Catholic/Christan recording artists. He was also blessed to work with popular Christian singer John Michael Talbot for 3 years and got to know the Christian music scene close up.
Don has been married to his wife Rosalyn for 20 years. They have an adopted son, Sebastian, who is 4 years old. Rosalyn also is a professed member of The Brothers and Sisters of Charity and both her and Don do their best to live out the rule and constitutions of their community as a married couple. Their prayer is that the Lord use each of them to bring His love to a hurting world. We believe their prayer has been answered.
Don was on the Pastoral team at St. Monica's prayer meeting in Santa Monica, Ca., from 1980 to 1982 and from 1987 to 1990. It was there that he met Leo. They both worked together in ministering in the prayer group for the Lord Jesus. Don was instrumental in getting many guest speakers for the St. Monica's prayer group. They were some of the outstanding preachers on the West Coast.
Don was a coordinator for the SCRC (Southern California Renewal Communities) Los Angeles Area renewal Mass during his activity while living in Los Angeles. He enjoys very much studying the ways of praying of the Desert Fathers and Mothers of the Eastern Church. Don sometimes spends time in the Arizona desert for his personal prayer time.
You can contact Don by emailing him at donbauer@jesuschrististhelord.com
Jesus Christ is the Lord