One of the Easy Ways to Become a Saint - Meditation

Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace - Honolulu

I am finishing up a terrific little book by Father Paul Paul O'Sullivan, O.P.  I think everyone in the world would benefit from reading his entire series of books, especially this one An Easy Way to Become a Saint and The Wonders of the Holy Name.

The following is one way Father instructs us on becoming a saint, by meditation:

Why Must We Make Meditation

1. Every Catholic should make daily meditation.
"The person who does not meditate needs no devil to throw him into Hell; he is going there himself." - St. Teresa of Avila

2. Meditation is not hard to make if only we learn how to do it.

3. If we do not meditate, we will never see our faults and therefore we cannot correct them.

4. If we do not meditate we cannot form no idea of the malice of sin. The consequence is that we cannot try to avoid something we don't feel sorry about.

5. "If we do not meditate, we will not see the awful danger we are in of falling into Hell. For this reason, thousands of men and women - men and women like ourselves - are falling into Hell every day."

6. If we do not meditate we cannot prepare ourselves for death. We are afraid to think of death. "That is the reason why so many have bad deaths. Those who know how to meditate on death are no longer afraid of it and moreover, they are sure to have happy deaths. 'Think of your last end and you will never sin'" - God's own words.

7. "God is really and truly our Friend in the truest sense of that world. He is our most loving Father, a most tender Father...We must always think of God as a God of tenderest love. Then we must love Him.

The only reason why we do not love God is that we do not meditate; we do not see how good God is; we do not pray to God to help us to love Him."

An Easy Way to Meditate

1. We must choose for the purpose of meditation a book that we like and that appeals to us personally.

2. We begin by praying to the Holy Spirit for light and guidance. Father recommends meditation of the Third Glorious Mystery.

3. After saying this Mystery fervently, take up your book and read a little - slowly, carefully, attentively, turning over in our minds the meaning of what we have read, applying the lesson to ourselves. Then we pray, asking God to help us understand what we have just read. Then again, read a little and pray.

4. We then make a practical resolution that we must bear in mind all day long.

5. Lastly, we must pray fervently to God to pardon our past faults and give us strength to avoid them in the future.


The Results of Meditation

"Meditation is like a kind and good friend who teaches us, advises, us, encourages us.

This friend is in reality the Holy Ghost, who enlightens our undersanding and strengthens our wills and gives us His graces and gifts, as He gave them to the Apostles.

We see our defects and humbly ask God to pardon us..."

New book focuses on how to pray for souls in the Purgatory

The Stoning of St. Stephen

by Rembrandt van Rijn

Picture source

Blessed Pope John Paul II

We love you.

The following should have been shared on Saturday. Thanks Mary Jane.

Litany to Blessed Pope John Paul II

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.

John Paul, lover of God and man, pray for us.

John Paul, Supreme Pontiff, pray for us.

John Paul, Servant of the Servants of God, pray for us.

John Paul, Vicar of Christ, pray for us.

John Paul, Bishop of Rome, pray for us.

John Paul, son of Mary, pray for us.

John Paul, follower of Christ, pray for us.

John Paul, world wide apostle of the Good News, pray for us.

John Paul, devoted adorer of the Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.

John Paul, lover of the Rosary, pray for us.

John Paul, lover of the sick and poor, pray for us.

John Paul, head of Christ's Church, pray for us.

John Paul, moral beacon, pray for us.

John Paul, bishop of bishops, pray for us.

John Paul, fighter of tyranny, pray for us.

John Paul, Pope of the New Advent, pray for us.

O Lord, in your mercy and love, you granted to the Church a truly remarkable shepherd in Pope John Paul. We now call him "Great" because of his true devotion to you through the Blessed Virgin Mary. May he be our leader on the march to your Eternal Kingdom from his heavenly throne. Amen

Novena Prayer for the Canonization of Pope John Paul II



O Blessed Trinity We thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him. Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints. Amen.

Honoring our Beautiful Mother - More Photos Public Rosary

Venny Villapando is part of a husband and wife team that filmed two documentaries on Saint Damien during the time of Father Damien's canonization. He was also the photographer at the public rosary held in Honolulu on October 13th. He graciously and generously shared the photos and videos he took that day. I had the pleasure of going through all of them today. It would be hard to share all of them in this one blog post. But I will share all the ones that I think you would like. 

Our Beautiful Mother

Bishop Larry greeting his flock

Bishop watching Our Lady's statue

Praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet with our Bishop and Deacon Vince

Bishop Larry reading the program

Bishop Larry blessing a little girl

Real Men Pray the Rosary

Flowers that will be presented to our Lady

Our Beautiful Mother and Jesus' Divine Mercy Image

"Get Holy or Die Trying" - Many men were present that afternoon

Kissing the Bishop's ring

Rosary in the Rain

Bringing Flowers to Our Lady

World Apostolate of Fatima, Honolulu Division

Madonna della Misericordia

by Piero della Francesca

Picture source

Madonna of the Pinks

"Madonna of the Pinks" by Raphael

Picture source

Mother Angelica Live Classics - The First Beatitude and Hel...

October 19 Memorial of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, Martyr

The following was shared by Mary Jane:

Memorial of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, Martyr

Source

God, source of all good, I thank you that in your love you have endowed Blessed Father Jerzy Popiełuszko with the dignity of the priesthood.

You sent him to ardently proclaim Your word, dispense the holy sacraments, courageously act in Your name and be close to every human being, calling for forgiveness, unity and peace. You endowed him with the grace of martyrdom through which he came to resemble Christ along the way of the cross.

We adore and thank you, Lord, for this great gift to the Church, especially because you have made him an intermediary in the dispensing of grace. In Your infinite mercy, deign to include him in the communion of saints and through his intercession grant me the grace of ………………, mention your intentions for which I trusting implore You. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.



(Information on any grace received should be submitted to:

The Postulancy of Blessed Jerzy Popie³uszko

ul, Hozjusza 2

01-565 Warsaw, Poland)



Litany to Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.

God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

Blessed Jerzy, martyr, pray for us.

Courageous follower of Christ, pray for us.

Faithful witness to the Gospel, pray for us.

Worshiper of the Cross of our Redeemer, pray for us.

Venerator of Mary Immaculate, pray for us.

Dedicated to God in childhood, pray for us.

Raised in a pious family, pray for us.

Devoted to the service of the altar, pray for us.

Yearning to follow the example of saints, pray for us.

Faithful to the voice of vocation, pray for us.

Apostle of human dignity, pray for us.

Defender of the unborn, pray for us.

Merciful towards the suffering, pray for us.

Sensitive to the plight of the wronged, pray for us.

Good shepherd of the working people, pray for us.

Teaching that evil must be overcome with good, pray for us.

Appealing for courage and solidarity, pray for us.

Defender of evangelical values, pray for us.

Admonisher against the desire for revenge, pray for us.

Unjustly accused, pray for us.

Brutally tortured, pray for us.

Priest faithful to the very end, pray for us.

Martyr of truth and freedom, pray for us.

Advocate of the causes of the Church and nation, pray for us.

*****

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

*****

V. I announced your deed to a great assembly

R. I did not restrain my lips; you, Lord, are my witness.



Let us pray:

Almighty eternal God, You in Your Providence have made the priest Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko an indomitable witness to the Gospel of love, gaze upon his martyr’s death in defense of the faith and human dignity and through his example let us live in true freedom and overcome evil with good.

Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

The Stylish Blogger Award

My lovely and funny friend Mary, has bestowed a new award on me. It is the Stylish Blogger Award....woo hoo...aren't I special ;-)But alas, this honor doesn't come without strings attached. I need to share 7 things about me with you. The nice thing about this award is that I get to share the honor with five other bloggers.

1. Through my father I learned to love a wide range of music...traditional Peruvian music....classical...Big Band.....Classic Rock....Pop....Sinatra and the other Rat Packers, and now with my son and nieces/nephews I can add some hip hop and rap. I don't believe it either.

2. My favorite composer is Pyotyr Illyich Tychaikovsky; and I'm not talking just the Nutcracker Suite either. As a teen right out of high school I ordered the Time Life Tychaikovsky collection for my listening pleasure.

3. I may have mentioned this already once before. After all, this blog is 5 years old already. But I cannot cook when I am not hungry. If I am full, my family is out of luck. I will also not taste my food while I am cooking because it will ruin my appetite.

4. I am very careful not to mention weight to either thin or heavier people because I know how much it affected me growing up when kids or adults would tell me I was too skinny. I really wish people would be more sensitive about that when talking to pre-teens and teens. It really does affect the way the see themselves their whole lives.

5. I am not much of a talker. I always feel I say the wrong things. I think that is God's way of telling me to shut up and listen more. I am happy when my friends do all the talking then there is a good chance, I won't say something dumb or God forbid offensive to someone.

6. I talk to my mother twice a day. This is not necessarily done out of duty but because I enjoy talking to her. We laugh a lot and she still teaches me a lot about life and family.

7. I hate talking about myself. You have no idea how much I had to think about this one in order to share something with you all.

Now! So now, this lovely award goes to:

1. Therese of Aussie Coffee Shop

2. Jean of Catholic Fire

3. Melissa of Make Sense of this Spence

4. Cathy of A Bit of the Blarney

5. Helen of Catholic Seeking