A Prayer For Priests

Keep them, I pray Thee, dearest Lord,
Keep them, for they are Thine -
Thy priests whose lives burn out before
They consecrated shrine.
Keep them, for they are in the world,
Though from the world apart;
When earthly pleasures tempt, allure, -
Shelter them in Thy heart.
Keep them, and comfort them in hours
of loneliness and pain,
When all their life of sacrifice,
For souls seems but in vain,
Keep them, and O remember, Lord,
They have no one but Thee,
Yet they have only human hearts,
With human fraility.
Keep them as spotless as the Host,
That daily they caress;
Their every thought and word and deed,
Deign, dearest Lord to bless.

The Priesthoold is a masterpiece of Christ's Divine Love, Wisdom and Power

Never Attack a Priest

From The Pieta Prayer Booklet

Another Little Gift for Catholics - A Catholic Calling Card

Note: After posting the above tag, it occurred to me this didn't sound very humble. So I created another one that I think is what I really meant the tag to reflect.

A Catholic's Believe It or Not - Anne Boleyn

Original Source: A Catholic's Believe it or Not! Raymond James Paul, Dell Publishing Co., Inc.

Henry VIII, King of England, had St. John Fisher beheaded when he refused to pay him homage.

Anne Boleyn asked for his head and slapped it rudely. One of the teeth pierced her hand, and the wound never healed. Later she herself was beheaded.

From Hearts Aflame Issue 4, 2001

Eucharistic Quote by St. Katherine Drexel

Holy Card Courtesy of Franciscan Cards

"My sweetest Joy is to be in the presence of Jesus in the holy Sacrament. I beg that when obliged to withdraw in body, I may leave my heart before the holy Sacrament. How I would miss Our Lord if He were to be away from me by His presence in the Blessed Sacrament!"

- St. Katharine Drexel

Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Truly present in the Holy Eucharist, I place my trust in You.

Eucharistic Quote - Jesus and You

Picture courtesy of University of Dayton

by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta 1920 - 1997

"I worry. Some of you still have not really met Jesus - one-to-one - you and Jesus alone.

You may spend time in chapel - but have you seen with the eyes of your soul how He looks at you with love?

Do you really know the living Jesus - not from books but from being with Him in your heart? Have you heard the loving words He speaks to you? Ask for the grace; He is longing to give it.

Never give up this daily intimate contact with Jesus as the real living person - not just the idea.

How can we last even one day without hearing Jesus say, 'I love you'? Impossible. Our soul needs that as much as the body needs to breathe the air. If not, prayer is dead - meditation, only thinking.

Jesus wants each of you to hear Him speaking in the silence of your heart. Be careful of all that can block that personal contact with the living Jesus.

The devil may try to use the hurts of life, and sometimes your own mistakes, to make you feel it is impossible that Jesus really loves you, is really cleaving to you.

This is a danger for all of us. And so sad, because it is completely the opposite of what Jesus is really wanting and waiting to tell you. Not only that He loves you, but even more - He longs for you.

Jesus misses you when you don't come close. He thirsts for you.

He loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy, when you are not accepted by others, even yourself, sometimes. Jesus is the one who always accepts you.

Only believe. You are precious to Jesus.

Bring all you are suffering to His feet...open your heart to be loved by Jesus as you are. He will do the rest. "

From Hearts Aflame Magazine Isue 4, 2001

August 23rd Feast Day - Santa Rosa de Lima

Picture Courtesy of Familia Galdos Chavez

Growing up my brothers, sisters and I loved to hear stories of Santa Rosa de Lima, one of the patron saints of our homeland Peru. Our other beloved saint was San Martin de Porres. Both were Dominicans.

Santa Rosa de Lima was especially dear to us because our sister Rosa was born on what used to be her feast day, August 30th. As you can see, she was even named for this saint.

Years later her feast day was moved up a week to August 23rd. I'm not sure for the logic of that because as far as I know Peruvians still celebrate her feast on the 30th. Well, now our niece Talia celebrates her birthday on this feast day.

I was searching the internet for Peruvian stories on Sta. Rosa de Lima. I was looking for the one that my mom used to tell us about her tying a very tied belt around her waist as a form of mortification.

Well I did find one site which came close. I hope you take the time to learn more about her.

Saint Rose, born Isabel De Flores Y Del Oliva in Lima, Peru on 20 April, 1586, and after a life of constant struggle, died there 30 August, 1617. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, becoming the first American saint. Represented in numerous images
wearing a crown of roses, her feast day is celebrated 30 August.

Who was this extraordinary woman?

Her father was a Spaniard, and her mother of Indian blood. Isabel was a sickly baby but soon grew healthy and beautiful. Her family was poor, and hoped that Isabel, growing into an extremely attractive young woman, would marry well and assist the rest of her family. Since childhood, when Isabel was nicknamed Rose, or Rosa for her looks and rosy cheeks, the young girl had an affinity for the religious rather than the secular.

She did not wish to marry, and her refusal was something her parents couldn't tolerate. She took a vow of chastity and modeled herself on St. Catherine of Siena, devoting herself to a life of abnegation and self-mortification. Despite her family's objections, the ridicule of friends and family, Rosa continued to practice extreme forms of religious observance.


She disliked her looks and the
attention they brought her. Images made at the time of her life show her piously
lifting her eyes to heaven, but it is this image that is more in keepng with
modern visualizations of her. She fasted, then became a vegetarian, mortifying
her flesh with hard work and going so far as to rub lye or lime into her hands,
rub pepper into her face and skewer her head with a long pin instead of a
circlet of roses fashioned for her by her mother. All this self-cruelty to turn
attention away from her beauty and focus it on God.

Additionally, she flogged herself, wore a hair shirt and slept little. It took her many years of prayer, fasting, hard work and secret penances before her family reluctantly agreed to let her become a Dominican Tertiary, or a member of the Third Order, taking vows of poverty, at twenty. She moved out of her family home into a small grotto built on their property, where she continued to devote herself to the
care of the poor and infirm. She helped her family with her fine workmanship and
was known for her lace.

She continued in her religious practices, denying herself food and mortifying her body, offering up her suffering as a way of atoning for the idolatry of her country, for the conversion of sinners, and for the souls in Purgatory. If she followed these extreme practices today, no doubt she would be examined both physically and psychiatrically, but during her lifetime, she was either lauded or scorned for her piety.

Following her death at thirty-one, her funeral could not take place for days as the people of Lima thronged to see her body. She was buried in the cemetery of the Dominican convent. Later, as a number of miracles were attributed to her, her remains were moved to the church of San Domingo, where was laid to rest in a special chapel.

Canonized as Santa Rosa de Lima, she is the patron saint of Lima, of Peru, indeed, all the Americas, Phillippines, India, florists, gardeners, and people ridiculed for their piety. She is symbolized by her love for the Holy Infant, roses, as a Dominican tertiery holding roses and as a Dominican tertiery accompanied by the Holy Infant.

The celebration of her feast day in Lima is a particularly important one.

Humor Break - Mother Teresa and God

Mother Teresa died and went to heaven. God greeted her at the Pearly Gates. "Be thou hungry, Mother Teresa?" asked God.

"I could eat," Mother Teresa replied.

So God opened a can of tuna and reached for a chunk of rye bread and they began to share it. While eating this humble meal, Mother Teresa looked down into Hell and saw the inhabitants devouring huge steaks, lobsters, pheasants, and pastries. Curious, but deeply trusting, she remained quiet.

The next day God again invited her to join him for a meal. Again, it was tuna and rye bread. Once again, Mother Teresa could see the denizens of Hell enjoying lamb, turkey, venison, and delicious desserts. Still she said nothing.

The following day, mealtime arrived and another can of tuna was opened. She couldn't contain herself any longer. Meekly, she asked, "God, I am grateful to be in heaven with you as a reward for the pious, obedient life I led. But here in heaven all I get to eat is tuna and a piece of rye bread and in the Other Place they eat like emperors and kings! I just don't understand it..."

God sighed. "Let's be honest Teresa,"
He said, ". . . for just two people, it doesn't pay to cook."

Eucharistic Quote by J.R.R. Tolkien

"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament....There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth, and more than that: death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste (or foretaste) of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, that every man's heart desires,"

- J.R.R. Tolkien

The Feast of the Queenship of Mary

Mahalo to Thomas of the St. Michael's Center. For more info on this feast, click the title above.

On August 22 the faithful, under the guidance of an unerring Catholic instinct, commemorates the Queenship of Mary. After she was assumed into Heaven, Jesus took His Mother to a throne next to His own. The Blessed Virgin Mary now shares in the glory of her resurrected Son, because she had a part in His work of saving souls. Mary was the Mother of Christ, she carried Him in her womb, gave Him birth, raised Him through childhood and into adulthood and stayed with Him when He was on the Cross.

Mary shared in the work of the divine Redeemer. From this union with Christ the King she assuredly obtains so eminent a status that she stands high above all created things; and upon this same union with Christ is based that royal privilege enabling her to distribute the treasures of the kingdom of the divine Redeemer. And lastly, this same union with Christ is the fountain of the inexhaustible efficacy of her motherly intercession in the presence of the Son and of the Father.

Without doubt, then, does our holy Virgin possess a dignity that far transcends all other creatures. In the eyes of her Son she takes precedence over everyone else. She obtains all graces for us through her prayers. As our mother and as Jesus's Mother, she will always intercede for us to her Son, and lead us closer to Him. So we should pray to her in all our needs, and everyday. Mary is Queen to all of us.

Eucharistic Quote by St. Maximilian Kolbe

The Institution of the Eucharist by Joos van Wassenhove
Courtesy of Web Gallery of Art

"God dwells in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar"

- St. Maximilan Kolbe

Eucharistic Quote by Blessed John XXIII

Picture Courtesy of Sts. Peter and Paul

"Every time I hear anyone speak of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or of the Blessed Sacrament I feel an indescribable joy. It is as if a wave of precious memories, sweet affections and joyful hopes swept over my poor person, making me tremble with happiness and filling my soul with tenderness. These are loving appeals from Jesus who wants me wholeheartedly there, at the source of all goodness, his Sacred Heart, throbbing mysteriously behind the Eucharistic veils... I love to repeat today 'Sweet Heart of my Jesus, make me love You more and more.'"

- Pope John XXIII, Journal of a Soul