Prayer for a Happy Death

from Franciscan Mission Associates, Mt. Vernon, NY.

Poor Souls Novena Prayers for Every Day - Day Three

Picture source

TUESDAY

O Lord God omnipotent,

I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood of 

Thy divine Son Jesus that

was shed in  His bitter crowning with thorns,

deliver the souls in purgatory, and

among them all,

particularly that soul which is in the 

greatest need of our prayers,

in order that it may not long be delayed in praising Thee in Thy glory

and blessing Thee for ever.

Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary,

Eternal rest, etc.

EVERY DAY FOR THE NOVENA

O Lord, Hear my prayer.

And let my cry come unto Thee.

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful;

grant unto the souls of Thy servants and handmaids

the remission of all their sins:  that through

our devout supplications they may obtain

the pardon they have always desired.

Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Eternal rest, etc.

San Martincito de Porres

"...When [Saint] Martin died at the age of sixty, November 3, 1639, the grief of all in Lima and the surrounding country was terrible to behold.  Only the knowledge that Martin was now in heaven and only the numerous miracles worked at his tomb were able in some measure to assuage their sorrow.  Perhaps, after a while, they began to understand that Martin's mission of kindness, now that he was in Heaven was to assume word-wide extension..."

Prayer to Saint Martin

Most humble Martin of Porres,

whose burning charity embraced not only thy needy brethren.

but also the very animals of the filed, splendid example of Charity, we hail thee and invoke thee!

From that high throne which thou dost occupy,

deign to listen to the supplications

of thy needy brethren that, 

by imitating thy virtues, we may live contented

in that state in which God has placed us and

carrying with strength and courage our cross,

we may follow in the footsteps of Our Blessed Redeemer and His most

afflicted Mother, that at last we may reach

the Kingdom of Heaven through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Invocation Prayer to Saint Martin de Porres

In the name of the Most Holy Trinity,

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

In the name of Mary, Queen of Heaven,

In the name of Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church,

Saint Martin cure (help) me (him, her)

For the honor and glory of God

and the Salvation of souls.

Amen.

Invocation to be said when applying the Blessed de Martin relic, picture or medal to the sick, or when held in the and by those who are in need.

from The Blessed Martin Guild

Poor Souls Novena Prayers for Every Day - Day Two

Picture source

MONDAY

O Lord God omnipotent, 

I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood

which Thy divine Son Jesus

shed in His cruel scourging, 

deliver the souls in purgatory,

and among them all,

especially that soul which is nearest to its

entrance into Thy glory,

that it may soon begin to praise Thee and bless

Thee for ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary,

Eternal rest..., etc.

EVERY DAY FOR THE NOVENA

O Lord, Hear my prayer.

And let my cry come unto Thee.

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful;
grant unto the souls of Thy servants and handmaids
the remission of all their sins:  that through
our devout supplications they may obtain
the pardon they have always desired.
Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Eternal rest, etc.

Poor Souls Novena Prayers for Every Day - FIRST DAY

Source of this beautiful image of a Mass being offered for the souls in Purgatory is from Mystics of the Church.

The following novena is from an old Catholic booklet distributed by Mr. and Ms. Frank M. Foran, 7306 West Archer Avenue, Summit, IL.

(Prayers from the The Raccolta, 594-595)

SUNDAY

O Lord God omnipotent,

I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood,

which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in the Garden,

deliver the souls in purgatory, 

and especially that one which is the most forsaken of all, and bring it

into Thy glory, where it may praise and bless Thee for ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary,

Eternal rest, etc.

EVERY DAY FOR THE NOVENA

O Lord, Hear my prayer.

And let my cry come unto Thee.

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful;
grant unto the souls of Thy servants and handmaids
the remission of all their sins:  that through
our devout supplications they may obtain
the pardon they have always desired.
Who livest and reignest world without end. Amend.

Eternal rest, etc.

All Saints Day

Picture source Text mine.

To the Saints

I salute yo through the Heart of Jesus,

O all ye holy angels and saints of God;

I rejoice in your glory and I give 

thanks to our Lord for all the

benefits which He has showered upon you;

I praise Him, and glorify Him, and offer you for 

an increase of your joy and honor, 

the most gentle heart of Jesus.

Deign therefore, to pray for me that I may become 

according to the heart of God. Amen.

- Saint Gertrude

First Saturday and Local News, the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue is coming to Hawaii

November 1st is First Saturday.  To learn more about Our Lady's request for 5 First Saturday devotion, please visit the World Apostolate of Fatima site.

The Diocese of Honolulu is privileged and honored to have Our Lady's statue visit select parishes in the Diocese of Honolulu from November 1 through 22. What you likely do not know is that the statue began operating under the auspice of The World Apostolate of Fatima, USA on September 1, 2014. The apostolate is an International Association of the Faithful under The Pontifical Council for the Laity - the only Fatima organization which speaks in the name of the Church and with the authority of the Church on Fatima.

It is my understanding that  America Needs Fatima is the organizer of this statue tour which a local Catholic woman has been working on since some time before the transfer of the statue's management. We all owe her a debt of gratitude for the wonderful work she has done.

To see the tour schedule, please click: here

We hope you will find time to visit Our Lady at one or more of the parishes, and that you will bring your family and friends as well.

Please consider becoming a member of the apostolate. You can join here: here

The custodian of the statue will be recruiting new members at all the churches as well. To leran more about Fatima, Our Lady's message, and the work of the apostolate, please click here: here.

How to help the souls in Purgatory

The month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls.  As the photo above reminds us, we can pray for them while visiting a cemetery the first week of November and we can earn plenary indulgence.  This indulgence can be applied to ourselves or to a soul in purgatory.  At other times, it is a partial indulgence.


The following are other ways to help the souls:

1.  When a loved one or a friend dies, arrange and request Gregorian masses.  This would be 30 consecutive Masses, usually 10.00 a mass as a donation.  There are many Religious orders of priests who would be happy to arrange this and can be found online.  e.g.
The friars at Seraphic Mass and The priests Marians of the Immaculate Conception to name two.

2.  Request 3 consecutive masses for the repose of the newly departed loved one or friend.
 Saint Padre Pio's order would do this for the friars that died.  They believed it was the most efficacious way to relieve their sufferings.

3.  Those who cannot afford to have masses said for the holy souls should assist at as many masses as possible for their intention.

4.  Meditate on Jesus' Passion and Death while doing the Stations of the Cross.

5.  Pray and meditate on the Holy Rosary.

5.  Offer up our sufferings for the intentions of the Holy Souls.

7.  Offer up a prayer for the Holy Souls every day.

A Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory

O most gentle Heart of Jesus,

ever present i the Blessed Sacrament,

ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory,

have mercy on the souls of Thy departed servants.  

Be not severe in Thy judgments, but let some drops of Thy Precious Blood fall upon the devouring flames.

And do Thou, 

O Merciful Saviour, send Thy holy angels to 

conduct them to a place of refreshment, light and peace.

Amen.

8.  Offer all good works, prayers and sufferings and indulgences one day a week, (preferably Sunday) for them.  There is no necessity to do anything new or extraordinary but just offer what one is accustomed to do on that day.

Basic conditions to offer good works for the holy souls:

- It must be carried out in a reverential manner and without any ulterior motives.
- It must be carried out in a state of grace.
- It must apply to them in a general or specific way.

9.  By saying as many aspirations as possible throughout the day.

e.g. "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee."  Or, simply: "Jesus!"

10.  Love our lady and pray constantly for the release of the souls from purgatory, (following Saint Padre Pio's example).

11.  Our indulgences can be offered for the intentions of the souls in purgatory, Plenary indulgences can be applied to a holy soul ONCE a day.  Partial indulgences can be applied to the souls several times a day.

The conditions for plenary indulgence to be gained:

- sacramental confession (you must
- Holy Communion
- pray for the Pope's intentions

12.  Continue praying for our beloved dead because even if they are in heaven and no longer need our prayers, they are applied to other souls.

13.  Give alms to the poor (the intentions must be there first).

14.  Fast.

15.  Mortify our bodies.

Lastly, "what you do for the dead, you do in a most excellent manner for yourself.  The reason of this is, that this work of mercy will be returned to you a hundredfold, in the day when you yourself shall be in distress..." - Fr. Paul O'Sullivan

References:
The Holy Souls - Viva Padre Pio by Father Alessio Parente, OFM Cap.
Purgatory by Fr. F. X. Schouppe, S.J.
Read Me or Rue it/How to Avoid Purgatory - Father Paul O'Sullivan, O.P.

Our Lady of Akita's Third Message on October 13, 1973

Our Lady of Fatima at the 8th annual Rosary in the Park, Honolulu

The message of Our Lady of Akita to Sister Agnes Sasagawa is very similar to the Fatima message.

The following is particularly timely as our bishops are gathered together at the Synod to discuss marriage and the family as well as the ongoing worldwide persecution of Christians and threats to religious freedom in the United States.

"As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity.  It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before.  Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful.  The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.  The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son.  Each day, recite the prayers of the Rosary.  With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests.

The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against bishops.  The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres.  The Church and altars will be vandalized.  The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demons will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.  The demon will rage especially against souls consecrated to God.  The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness.  If sins increase in number and gravity there will no longer be pardon for them."

Feast of the Holy Rosary

"St. Dominic Receiving the Rosary from the Virgin Mary" - Artist unknown

Picture source

Today the Church honors the Blessed Mother of God under the title of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

In honor of this day and of the momentous victory of Lepanto, let us offer our prayer of the Holy Rosary for our Christian brothers and sisters being persecuted by Islamic terrorists, especially in Iraq and Syria.

The following is a little history of the rosary written by Msgr. Charles Dollen.  It is taken from his book Listen, Mother of God!: Reflections on the Litany of Loreto.

The Rosary devotion...was introduced by Blessed Alan de la Roche, a Domincan who lived...in the fifteenth century.  He piously referred it to his founder, St. Dominic, and while it is true to the spirit of Dominic and has roots in other, older Marian forms, Blessed Alan deserves the credit.

...it soon earned the name 'The Psalter of the Poor,' or 'The Poor Man's Breviary.'  The monks and nuns gathered together in their chapels to chant or recite the Divine Office, which, at heart, has the 150 Psalms to center its liturgical piety...

The 150 Aves of the Rosary imitated the 150 Psalms, and the divisions by tens into decades make counting them on the fingers quite easy and effortless.

But the great power of the Rosary comes from the fifteen meditations or mysteries [Note: this was written prior to Saint John Paul the Great adding the Luminous mysteries]...

The clients of Our Lady of the Rosary find great joy and comfort in its history.  Among the great events associated with this devotion is the great naval victory of the Christians over the Moslems at Lepanto on October 7, 1571.  Pope St. Pius V urged Christians to fast and pray to save Christendom from the hands of the infidels.  Their record of pillaging and enslaving Christians was notorious.  The prayer that this saintly pontiff, who was a Dominican, decreed was the Rosary.

After the victory was announced, he proclaimed that day the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and he said, 'By the Rosary the darkness of heresy has been dispelled and the light of the Catholic Faith shines out in all its brilliancy..."

At Fatima, the Blessed Mother again approved the Rosary, as she has at most private revelations in recent centuries....

Pope Leo XIII was the great modern devotee of the Rosary and it was he who designated October as the Month of the Rosary.  He published many works on the Rosary and never ceased to urge it on others.

"To appease the might of an outraged God, " he states in Octobri Mense, 'and to bring the health of sul so needed by those who are sorely afflicted, there is nothing better than devout prayer and persevering prayers, provided that it be joined with a love and practice of Christian life.  And both of these, the spirit of prayer and the practice of Christian life, are best attained through the devotion of the Rosary of Mary..."

Among the various supplications with which we successfully appeal to the Virgin Mother of God, the Holy Rosary without doubt occupies a special and distinct place.  - Pope Pius XI

"This prayer is well-suited to the People of God, most pleasing to the Mother of God and most effective in gaining heaven's blessings." - Pope Paul VI

"Before we being reciting the Hours, or the Rosary, we should consider whom we are going to address, and who we are that are addressing Him, so that we may do so in the way we should.  I assure you that if you give all due attention to a consideration of these two points before beginning vocal prayers which you are about to say, you would be engaging in mental prayer for a very long time." - St. Teresa of Avila

"The Rosary is strength, it is power, it is a chain of gold which links us to Mary."  John Cardinal Carberry