Saturday, June 06, 2009

A Gift for the Blessed Mother

BVM Statue

When we pray the Holy Rosary and meditate on the mysteries of the life of Jesus, we are essentially giving the Blessed Mother the gift of Heavenly roses.

There is another little gift we can offer our dear Lady and that is a little something one of my sisters was taught when we was a Franciscan Sister of St. Elizabeth.

The sisters grow beautiful flowers on their property located in Parsippany, New Jersey. These flowers were regularly brought into the Mother House as an offering for Our Lady's statues which were everywhere to be found in the convent. The sisters were taught that they should not smell the flowers, usually roses, that were brought in for Our lady; that the fragrant scent was all for our Lady.

It was a small sacrifice on the part of the sisters. But just imagine how pleased Our dear Lady was at that gift!




RosesThe top photo is from my parent's Mary's Garden and the bottom photo is one of the pink roses growing on their property. I believe we planted those roses over 20 years ago.

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Reminder - First Saturday and Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

IHM

First Saturday Devotion

A Solemn Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world.

Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.

O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.

We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home.

Amen.

--Venerable Pope Pius XII

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Friday, June 05, 2009

YEAR FOR PRIESTS - Intercession for Priests

Our Lady and St. John Vianney

I found this site while watching Fr. Mitch Pacwa's show last week on EWTN. Fr. Mitch's guests were Sister Briege McKenna and Fr. Kevin Scallon.

Intercession for Priests There is much information there for praying for priests, ordering books, etc.
History
The Intercession for Priests was started by Father Kevin Scallon, C.M. at All Hallows College in 1976 in response to the great upheaval in the priesthood in the years following Vatican II.

How it all began...
"The years following Vatican II were a critical time for priests and many were deciding to leave the priesthood. Those who persevere were trying to come to terms with the nature and demands of priestly ministry. Even then, it seemed to me that the crises in the priesthood were not of the kind that would be resolved by human means. When I heard of a programme in the United States called the Intercession for Priests it struck me that something like this was just what was needed. It turned out there were twelve of us with some lay people and Sr. Briege McKenna, O.S.C. We began on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16th, 1976. Over the years, thousands of priests have taken part in it from all over Ireland and from places very far away.

Its impact on my own life has been incomparable, as I know it has been on the lives of many, many priests. Only the Lord knows how effective the prayers and intercessions, of so many, have been for the spiritual renewal of the priesthood.

Why Has It Lasted...

It has lasted because it has provided for many priests, a rock, a place of security where they can come and feel at home in their priesthood. It is a familiar place where psalms are sung and heard in a new way; where the divine therapist is encountered in the forgiveness of sin and the binding up of wounds; where there is no "correctness"; where you can pray with and for each other. It is this that draws so many of us to come here year after year.

We thank the Father of all. We thank Jesus, our Eternal High Priest. We thank the Holy Spirit who never fails to teach us. We thank the Mother of God who is always present with us. We thank you, priests, for coming so faithfully. I thank my Vincentian Community for their gentle approval and support. I thank the core group whose fidelity is beyond compare. We thank the countless brothers and sisters who have joined us each weekend and each year at Knock to pray for their priests.

I thank Sr. Briege McKenna, O.S.C. Providentially, Sr. Briege came to see me for the first time on that fateful 16th of July. Her love for the Church and for the priesthood was then, and now, unconditional. Her gift of ministering to priests is quite unique.

I pray that the future of the Intercession for Priests will be as blessed as its past and that it will continue to be a source of strength and grace for many priests in the years to come."

Fr. Kevin Scallon, C.M.


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YEAR FOR PRIESTS - Congregation for the Clergy

Our Lady and St. John Vianney

This site was very helpful when Easter and I started the Spiritual Moms Apostolate for the Diocese of Honolulu.

Congregation for the Clergy

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Prayer to the Blessed Mother for Protection of Ourselves and Our Home

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thanks to my mom for sharing the following prayer with us.

O Holy Virgin Mary, conceived without sin,
we choose thee this day,
to be the Lady and Mistress of our home
and we pray thee,
in the name of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus,
thy Divine Son,
and of thy Immaculate Conception,
to preserve it from fire and lightning,
from tempests and thieves,
from cholera, influenza, diphtheria, malaria and
all other contagious and pestilential diseases.

Bless and protect every member of our family,
preserve us from sin,
from sudden and unprovided death,
and from all other evils and accidents,
in the Name of through the merits
of the most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

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First Friday - Sacred Heart of Jesus Holy Hour Reflection

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Just a reminder that today is First Friday. The promises of the Sacred Heart can be found here
Jesus: So long have been with you do not yet know Me!... Well-beloved souls, My Heart is the prey of infinite sadness on account of the ingratitude, and the lack of generosity of My friends...My real friends, where are they?

I look around Me in the hour of combat and darkness...How few there are, so few who are able to watch with Me during one hour of agony...

My friends always find Me to help them climb the steep slopes of their own Calvaries; but they leave Me alone, forsaken in My sorrow...

My Heart watches, this Heart they have so wounded...

They sleep , while traitors urged on by hatred, hurry to accomplish their crime...

The hatred of my enemies is stronger, more zealous, than the love of My friends...While My friends take their rest, the torturers fiendishly make ready the scourges, the nails, the crown of thorns, the Cross!...

They work until they are weary, increasing the army of My enemies; they scatter money about lavishly to pay for cowardly betrayals, and to buy the cries of blasphemy, of legal insult...

Oh, yes, legions of Angels could come. My Father would send them if I asked Him, but when I weep, I wish to have with Me only friends who can shed tears...You, My brothers, you are those friends---you, the elect of My Heart - the Heart which has been ground to bits for your well being...

Oh, do not abandon Me in the hour of Gethsemane; come close around Me. Uphold with your faithful hearts the Heart of your Jesus...My soul is sorrowful...sorrowful unto death...I die because I am not loved by My own!...

Souls: We are absolutely resolved, Lord Jesus, to atone for our faults...But adorable Savior, make known to us Thy complaints...Do not fear to humiliate us...Enumerate these faults these failing of Thy friends...What is the bitterness with which the chalice of Thine adorable Heart has been filled?...Speak, Oh, speak to us again, dear Jesus!

Jesus: Listen, "filioli," My little ones, yes I wish to lay before you the entire cause of my sorrow...

On hearing the recital of your weaknesses, instead of turning aside from Me in fear and trembling, come rather to seek in a greater intimacy with the Friend of the Tabernacle a remedy, the only efficacious one for your wretchedness...

Here, I am your savior and Friend; on the threshold of your eternity, I will, in truth, be your Judge!...

Your faults, My friends?...Above all, your lack of generous love! I hunger! Is there nothing to eat, My children?...

You do not have to buy bread as did My Apostles in Samaria...It is you My friends, that I want, you without reserve or measure...

Oh! I hunger, not for a glance from your eyes, not for a word from your mouth or your heart, no...

I hunger for your whole souls...

In exchange for My Heart, I claim your heart for Myself alone! I have given you so much. I have given you everything...

And you? Oh! Why do you always measure out the love you give Me?

...And the proof, My children, of the lack of generosity on the part of My friends is their lack of gratitude toward Me...Through natural, noble sentiments, you thank effusively those you consider your benefactors...

Alas, I am often excluded from their number...

I have loaded you with My favors; I have freely given you tenderness, enlightenment, pardon, consolations, but when the hour of thanksgiving comes, you forget me...

Where are all those fine promises of gratitude you poured out so lavishly when you implored graces...even miracles?

Ah! those I reserve for my generous friends, for the very generous friends for grateful souls.

But this is the hour of repentance, of reparation, of mercy...

Assure Me that you will love Me from now on with an immense gratitude and an unfailing generosity...

Do you fear the eternal and patient One Who calls and awaits...awaiting only to enrich those whom His Heart pardons...I hunger for your love, for the bread of your hears...

Come to the God of Love Who delights in calling Himself your Brother, your Friend, your Jesus!...
From Holy Hour by The Rev. Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC., Book Four


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Thursday, June 04, 2009

YEAR FOR PRIESTS - Opus Dei

Mary and St. John Vianney

Padre Jorge a twitter pal and Opus Dei priest from Spain shared the following link today:

Opus Dei - Year of the Priesthood

BTW, does anyone the official name for the June 19th event? As Evann commented, there are many variations. I was using Year of Priests because that is what Zenit is calling it. Evann pointed out that the Vatican site refers to it as Year of the Priest.

I don't think it matters but it would be nice to use the official name.

Mahalo!

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ACN News - Eucharistic adoration leading to booming vocations in Uganda

Holy Eucharist

ACN-USA News

6/4/2009

Eucharistic adoration leading to booming vocations in Uganda


Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in Uganda is attracting more and more lay people to prayer and encouraging vocations to the religious life.

Speaking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), nuns from two separate contemplative orders described how prayer before the Eucharist was proving increasingly popular. Sister Consolate Shirima, of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, in Arua, on Uganda’s north-west border, described how over the last five years increasing numbers of lay people have been joining the Sisters for adoration.

Sister Shirima said that the number of visitors to the chapel throughout the day has led the order to appoint a Sister to look after the laity coming to adoration. She went on to say that another 300-400 join the monastery for prayers on Sundays. The nun said, “They come for adoration on their own at any time they want to. There are some hours where you find two or sometimes three people – or even groups of 10.”

Holy Trinity Monastery, where the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration are based, has now become too small to house the increasing number of nuns. Sr. Shirima said, “Still the number is growing, but because of the lack of rooms we have to turn people away, so we are looking to extend the monastery.”

Aid to the Church in Need will be helping with a grant of just over $7,000, enabling the Sisters to extend their small monastery and allow new-comers to join the community including 12 professed nuns and one novice. The modest size of the community is considered enormous in Africa where contemplative orders are generally very small – most are joining active apostolates instead.

According to the nun, one reason people come is they are seeking solace in prayer because of the difficulties and poverty in the local area. She said, “When you have problems you are easily drawn to God – through adoration, some of them get consolations, even though these may be small.”

Sr. Shirima also described how the impact of AIDS in Uganda had contributed to much of the suffering. The nun said, “Poverty comes because people have died from AIDS leaving children living with their grandparents….Usually in Africa we have large families with up to 10 children, now because of deaths from AIDS you find one person bringing up over 20 children.”

Alcohol and drug-taking are also among the problems facing local people. “They have completed school, but there is a lack of employment, so they get frustrated,” said Sr. Shirima, “And out of frustration they turn to drink and drugs.”

Sr. Marie Claire who comes from another congregation, the Benedictine Nuns of the Blessed Sacrament, described the calming effect of prayer on worshipers. She said, “After adoration they feel peace, and when they have been having wrangles they would like to be reunited.”

The Sister continued, saying, “So after an hour of adoration they feel that they want to make peace with that person. They feel the Eucharist makes them reunited with others and the whole Church – that is what they say they feel when they come before the Blessed Sacrament….Some come afterwards and say, ‘Yes, I am now alright with my brother/husband/wife who has not been talking to me for two or three days’ – they continue with real life in peace.”

Not only in Uganda but across the African continent adoration is growing in popularity, and in Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, new adoration chapels have been built.

In addition to the $7,000 for the extension of Holy Trinity Monastery, ACN has, since 2000, supported 359 projects in Uganda totaling over $4.2 million – including Church-run AIDS awareness programs. Last year, ACN supported 69 projects across the country totaling $919,357.



Editor’s Notes:



Directly under the Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity,” the organization is now at work in over 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 43 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information contact Michael Varenne at michael@churchinneed.org or call 718-609-0939 or fax718-609-0938. Aid to the Church in Need, 725 Leonard Street, PO Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384. Aid to the Church in Need

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Murdered Iraqi bishop to receive posthumous Path to Peace award

AB Rahho

The Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul Paulos Faraj Rahho will posthumously receive the 2009 Path to Peace Award, the Path to Peace Foundation has announced. The award will recognize Christians who have remained in Iraq to witness to their faith.
CNA Article

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Catching Wild Pigs

From an email from John L.
A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told h im he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?'

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in The last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America . The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms -- just a little at a time.

One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America , you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut!

Keep your eyes on the newly elected politicians who are about to slam the gate on America .

" A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have "
Thomas Jefferson

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YEAR FOR PRIESTS - The Curé d'Ars Prayer Group

Mary and St. John VianneyPicture source here

A big mahalo to Val who hails from the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, for sharing the following link and invitation:

Join us in 40 days of prayers and fasting on June 19th, up to August 6th for starting the year of the priests.

Plenty of prayers to choose here:

The Curé d'Ars Prayer Group

It would be a real blessing for our priests if one such prayer group could be started in many other dioceses.

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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

YEAR FOR PRIESTS - Two More Links Being Added

Eucharistic Jesus

The following links are being added to the Year of Priest links on the side bar. They are both from my good friends:

1. Evann's Links for the Year of Priests

2. Easter's A Tribute to Our Priests. As you know, Easter is co-coordinator with me for the Diocese of Honolulu's Spiritual Moms Apostolate.


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Tuesday, June 02, 2009

YEAR FOR PRIESTS - Prayers for Priests

Adoration

Apparently, I have bookmarked many sites appropriate for the Year of Priests. The following is one chock full of prayers for our priests. You can also sign up to become a prayer warrior for priests.

Prayers for Priests

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YEAR FOR PRIESTS - The World Needs Heroes

The World Needs Heroes
In commemorating the Year of Priests, I will be adding links to the side bar under the Prayer for priests.

The first site I am adding is this beautiful and inspiring site from the Archdiocese of New York's Vocations Office NY Priest.

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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Feast of Pentecost

Pentecost

As the telescope reveals not itself, but the stars beyond, so the Holy Spirit reveals not himself, but Christ.

Just think how we are able in this age of ours to communicate with distant parts of the earth thanks to electric or light waves. Why, therefore, cannot our Lord, who dwells in heaven, be within whispering distance of us, through his Holy Spirit?

Our Lord said to his apostles, 'It is only for a short time that I am with you, my children. I will not leave you orphans.' Then he promised his Spirit that would abide with them forever.

That Spirit he sent was to be another Comforter. He was their Comforter on earth.

And now his Spirit would be their comfort, their Paraclete, their Advocate.

Listen to the words of our Lord, " I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter, one who will dwell with you forever."

- Excerpt of Through the Year with Fulton Sheen, compiled by Henry Dieterich.

Veni, Creator Spiritus

Creator Spirit all Divine,
come visit every soul of Thine.
And fill with Thy Celestial Flame
the hearts which Thou Thyself did frame.

O Gift of God, Thine is the Sweet
consoling name of Paraclete.
And spring of life and fire of love,
and unction flowing from above.

The mystic seven-fold gifts are Thine,
finger of God's Right Hand Divine.
The Father's Promise sent to teach,
the tongue a rich and heavenly speech.

Kindle with fire brought from above
each sense, and fill our hearts with love,
And grant our flesh so weak and frail,
the strength of Thine which cannot fail.

Drive far away our deadly foe,
and grant us Thy true peace to know,
So we, led by Thy Guidance still,
may safely pass through every ill.

To us, through Thee, the grace be shown,
To know the father and the Son,
And Spirit of Them Both, may we
forever rest our Faith in Thee.

To Sire and Son be praises meet,
and to the Holy Paraclete.
And may Christ send us from above,
that Holy Spirit's gift of love.

AMEN.

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