Saturday, June 11, 2011

Feast of Pentecost - Wear Red to Mass


Picture source

Just a reminder that it would be nice to wear the color red to Mass in honor of Pentecost.

Come, Holy Spirit

English

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.



Latin

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium: et tui amoris in eis ignem accende.

V. Emitte Spiritum tuum, et creabuntur.
R. Et renovabis faciem terrae.

Oremus. Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti: da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere; et de eius semper consolatione gaudere. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.

Amen.

Source: EWTN

Feast of Pentecost - How Are We to Honor the Holy Ghost in our Souls?


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If the Holy Ghost is...really in our souls, loving us with an unspeakably great love and craving for our love in return, we must above all realize and remember His Divine Presence. We must not, as many do, pass the whole day, pass many days and weeks in complete forgetfulness of Him.

True, we cannot be praying constantly to Him all day long, but we can honor and adore Him in many different ways:

First: by offering to Him our daily prayers, Masses, Communions and good works.

We increase the Gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost by prayer and the reception of the Sacraments.

Second: by offering in His honor all the actions of the day.

We can offer Him our daily work, our sleep, our eating, all we do, as St. Paul tells us: "Whatever you do in word or work, do all in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ." The Apostle continues: "Whether you eat or drink or whatever else you do, do all int he name of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

We thus honor the Holy Ghost day and night by offering for love of Him all we do. It is He who commands us to eat, to sleep, to work, to rest. Surely there is no difficulty in doing all this for the love of Him.

Third:  by saying special prayers to the Holy Ghost.

We daily say these prayers to the Holy Ghost, but we do not always give them sufficient attention.

Every time we make the Sign of the Cross, we say: "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy ghost." In the future, when repeating these words, let us say with special emphasis the words, "Holy ghost," not that we wish to give more honor to the Holy Ghost than to the Father and the Son, but only that we may make reparation to Him for our past neglect.

The same applies to another prayer we repeat so often, viz: "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost." We say this beautiful prayer very frequently, but many say it without due attention. Let us try for the future to emphasize a little the words "to the Holy Ghost." This prayer said once with devotion is worth more than the same prayer said a thousand times hastily and irreverently.

A third special prayer in honor of the Holy Ghost is the Third Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, viz, "The Descent of the Holy Ghost on Our Lady and the Apostles."

It should be clearly our intention when saying this mystery to ask God's sweet Mother and the Apostles to obtain for us all the Gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, as they received them on the Feast of Pentecost.

Remark that these three prayers are not additional burden, for we are already accustomed to say them frequently. Only, for the future, let us say them more devoutly.

Fourth:  by ejaculatory prayers to the Holy Ghost.

"Holy Ghost, God of Love, I adore Thee really and truly in my soul. Oh, give me Thy holy love."

"Holy Ghost, God of Peace, really and truly in my soul, give me Thy blessed peace, which surpasses all understanding."

"Holy Ghost, God of light, really and truly in my soul, give me Thy blessed light that I may see all things clearly."

"Holy Ghost, God of Joy and Consolation, really and truly in my soul, fill me with Thy joy and consolations."

"Holy Ghost, God of Strength, really and truly in my soul, give me Thy divine strength, that I may do all things well."

"Holy Ghost, God of infinite Sweetness and Goodness, really and truly in my soul, give me Thy seven Gifts, Thy beatitudes and Fruits."

We can say these ejaculations, some or all of the, at night when we are awake or during the day when working or at any time. They will keep us ever in the blessed presence of the Holy Ghost and will bring us joy and consolation.

Fifth:  by the practice of virtues.

All virtues please the Holy Ghost, but two attract Him most especially, viz. humility and purity. We should therefore use diligent care in cultivating these virtues and avoiding faults of pride, vanity and impurity.

- The Holy Ghost Our Greatest Friend: He Who Loves us Best by Fr. Paul O' Sullivan, O.P.

Novena for the Intercession of Venerable Matt Talbot - For Those Suffering From Addiction

From Mary Jane D.

Here are prayers for those addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography, food or any other type of addiction. Feastday of Ven. Matt Talbot is Sunday, June 19th.Ask him to intercede, to God, our heavenly Father.

Click here: Venerable Matt Talbot Intercedes for Addicts read about his life Short prayer to say for nine days:

May Matt Talbot's triumph over addiction, brings hope to our community and strength to our hearts, may he intercede for ...name... who struggles with his/her addiction, through Christ Our Lord. Amen

Longer novena - say for nine days - PRAYER FOR THE ADDICTED

God of mercy, we bless You in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who ministered to all who come to Him. Give Your strength to Name the person or people who have addictions Your servant(s), bound by the chains of addiction. Enfold him/her in Your love and restore him/her to the freedom of God's children. Lord, look with compassion on all those who have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of Your unfailing mercy, and strengthen them in the work of recovery. To those who care for them, grant patient understanding and a love that perseveres. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen for his beatification: "Lord, in your servant, Matt Talbot you have given us a wonderful example of triumph over addiction, of devotion to duty, and of lifelong reverence of the Holy Sacrament. May his life of prayer and penance give us courage to take up our crosses and follow in the footsteps of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Father, if it be your will that your beloved servant should be glorified by your Church, make known by your heavenly favours the power he enjoys in your sight. We ask this through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen read more on his life:

http://www.sobercatholic.com/category/matt-talbot/

http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/

Friday, June 10, 2011

Indian "Picasso" dies in exile. He loved Mother Teresa


Picture source

Maqbool Fida Husain, perhaps the greatest Indian painter, 95 years, died yesterday in London. He painted a famous series on the Blessed of Calcutta. The Hindu radicals forced him to leave the country for having painted the pantheon of Indian gods nude. Now they oppose his return
Read the article here.

Regarding News and Stories of Interest

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Mahalo!

The Catholic Priest


I saw this on Richard's blog and wanted to share it here.

A 15th century piece of prose - 'His High Office'

(For all of our priests)

For priesthood exceedeth all other thing;
To us Holy Scripture do they teach,
And converteth man from sin heaven to reach;
God hath to them more power given,
Than to any angel that is in Heaven;
With five words he may consecrate
God's Body in flesh and blood to make.
He handleth his Maker between his hands;
The priest bindeth and unbindeth all bands,
Both in earth and heaven;
Thou ministers all the sacraments seven;
Though we kissed thy feet thou were worthy;
Thou art surgeon that cureth sin deadly;
No remedy we find under God
But only priesthood.
Everyman, God gave priests that dignity,
And setteth them in His stead among us to be;
Thus be they above angels in degree.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

June 7 St. Joseph apparition in France -prayer - Prayer For those in Need of Employment


From Mary Jane D.

On June 7, 1660, at about one o’clock in the afternoon, a young shepherd from Cotignac, 22 year-old Gaspard Ricard, was watching his flock of sheep on the eastern slopes of Mount Bessillon. The heat was oppressive and Gaspard was thirsty. Suddenly, he saw “a man at his side” who pointed to a rock, saying: “I am Joseph; lift this rock and you can drink.” Gaspard had his doubts because the rock looked heavy. The apparition repeated his instructions. The shepherd obeyed, moving the rock without difficulty, and found a source.

to read more about the apparition and the shrine in France:

click here

Short Novena prayer (translated from French)



Hail Joseph, you know that divine grace

has filled the Savior

who rested in your arms

and grew up under your eyes.

You are blessed among all people

and Jesus, the Divine Child

of your virginal bride is blessed.

Saint Joseph, foster father to the Son of God,

pray for us in our family concerns,

health and work,

until our last days and

deign to help us in the hour of our death. AMEN

(mention your intentions)

please remember the unemployed

and those who are seeking employment

Monday, June 06, 2011

VATICAN II: 50 YEARS AND STILL CHALLENGING


Picture source

Reprinted with permission.

Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

When we observed the Pauline Year in 2009 we also marked the half-century anniversary of the convocation of Vatican II. Fifty years earlier on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25, 1959, Pope John Paul XXIII had announced the convocation of a general council for the universal Church. And the Second Vatican Council was born. Blessed John XXIII had been pope for fewer than 100 days. Trembling with emotion, he issued the call for an ecumenical council in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in the presence of 17 cardinals of the Curia and other Church servants.

The immediate reaction was – silence. Later Pope John mentioned that he expected the cardinals to be elated and overjoyed with enthusiasm. But this was not the case. Quickly and from various parts of the world several cardinals expressed skepticism, saying this was “a rash and impulsive decision,” “a hornet’s nest,” and “premature, senseless, and doomed in advance to failure.” But history quickly exposed their poor judgment, and John XXIII’s dauntless confidence in the working of the Holy Spirit bore rich fruit.

Now in 2012 we observe the 50th anniversary of the opening session of Vatican II.

A significant anniversary

Three years of preparation led to the four sessions of Vatican II, which began in 1962 and concluded in 1965. Blessed John XXII passed to his eternal reward after the first session, and Pope Paul VI presided over the remaining three sessions.

Three decades earlier Pope Pius XI had considered a general council, and in the early 1950s the same thought occupied Pope Pius XII. But conditions were not right. The 1959 announcement by John XXIII was welcomed by the majority of leading theologians, who wondered if this new council would be a continuation of Vatican I held almost a century earlier. But the intrepid Dominican Yves Congar expressed the confidence that this would be a new council and not a continuation of Vatican I: “I saw in the council an opportunity for the recovery of the true meaning of the episcopacy and of ecclesiology. This would be a pastoral council.”
Many consider Vatican II a Pauline council. The 16 instructional and directional documents reveal theological insights imbued with many themes found in St. Paul’s letters enlightening Biblical theology and spirituality, the theology of the church, the universal call to holiness, liturgical renewal, engaging contemporary society. And the revised liturgical year cycles of Scripture readings for Mass draw heavily from the letters of Paul. And what authority is quoted most frequently in the documents of Vatican II? None other than St. Paul the Apostle.

In the nascent Church, Paul played a prominent role in the epochal event we now call the Council of Jerusalem (Gal 2:1-10 and Acts 15:1-22). Like Vatican II, the Council of Jerusalem dealt with challenging pastoral questions. Paul, Titus, Barnabas, and others came to Jerusalem to meet with Peter, James, and other leaders of the apostolic Church to meld different but complementary charisms and gifts for the good and growth of the Church. The Jerusalem Council is an early example of the very real interrelationship between the human and the divine in Christ’s Church. A similar interplay was experienced at the Second Vatican Council.

The Proper Perspective

The past is prologue, so with wisdom we recall the past as well as point to the future. Today it is important to recall the insight of Blessed John Henry Newman at the time of the First Vatican Council (1870), that there is always a lack of historical perspective after an ecumenical council. “It is rare,” Newman wrote, “for a council not to be followed by great confusion…. The century following each council has ever been a time of great trial…and this seems likely to be no exception.”

This perceived lack of historical perspective after Vatican II caused some observers to suggest erroneously that the Council rejected the historical consciousness of the Church in order to meet the needs of our contemporary world, overlooking history and tradition. Pope Benedict XVI aptly described this as a
“hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture” by which Vatican II is seen as an end of tradition, a new start from scratch, a history and a theology based on a false distinction between a “pre-conciliar Church” and a “post-conciliar Church.”

Our faith reminds us that the Holy Spirit guided the Church through all the centuries before John XXIII’s inspiration to convoke a council. The Holy Spirit was with the Fathers of the Council during the Vatican II. The Holy Spirit has been with the church during the past fifty years as we gradually incorporated the Council’s teachings. And the Holy Spirit will be with the Church in all the years to come. St. Paul made this crystal clear in his writings. If we lose sight of this fundamental truth, we risk the confused thinking that the Holy Spirit would abandon Christ’s Church. But we know that the Holy Spirit, like Christ Himself, is with us always.

An important lesson of Vatican II

Benedict XVI prudently teaches us that the false “hermaneutic of discontinuity and rupture” needs to be replaced by an authentic “hermeneutic of continuity and reform.” History shows us that the Church is not always the same, but is reformed and always reforming. Continuity and reform provide the correct map for the study and implementation of Vatican II.

Blessed John XXIII told us: “This Council wishes to transmit doctrine pure and whole without attenuating it or falsifying it, but not watching over this precious treasure as if we were concerned only with antiquity. We wish to present the sure and immutable doctrine in a way that answers the needs of our time. The deposit
of faith and our venerated doctrines are one thing; the way they are announced is another thing.” Pope John called for the Second Vatican Council to be a synthesis of faithfulness and dynamism in the spirit of Saints Peter and Paul and the Council of Jerusalem.

Cardinal Newman shrewdly projected that it takes a century to integrate fully the wisdom of an ecumenical council. At the outset of Vatican II Pope John XXIII noted that “It is now only dawn….” We are still digesting the work of Vatican II: 16 important decrees approved by more than 2,500 Council Fathers, who cast over 1,200,000 ballots after more than 1,000 speeches and over 6,000 written interventions.

As we enter the 50th anniversary celebration of the Second Vatican Council, let us consider this an invitation and opportunity to refresh and renew ourselves by rereading (or reading for the first time) the dynamic teachings of the Council. These documents reveal a Church ever faithful, a divine gift, a Church ever dynamic, and a grace that continues from that very first council at Jerusalem.

Both continuity and reform are the call of Vatican II, the great Council that will always have the power to draw us closer to Jesus Christ and to each other.

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that “The Church both before and after the Council is the same one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church journeying through time.”

Send Your Angel to Mass


Picture source

Shared by my friend Ed. BTW, he has many good posts about the Holy Spirit. Be sure to visit his blog.

*This very special prayer was written by a devout woman named Ruth Merz from Cincinnati, Ohio. Ruth was the mother of eight children who was diagnosed with cancer, which eventually and sadly claimed her life. Unable to attend mass because of her illness, she wrote this wonderful prayer. We hope that her words will convey special meaning to those who are ill and to their friends and families who care for them. Please feel free to share it with anyone that you feel might benefit from it.

SEND YOUR ANGEL TO MASS:

O’ Holy angel at my side Go to church for me Kneel in my place at Holy Mass Where I desire to be. At offertory in my stead Take all I am and own And place it as a sacrifice Upon the Altar throne. At Holy Consecration bell, Adore with Seraph’s love My Jesus hidden in the Host Come down from Heaven above. There pray for those I dearly love And those that cause me grief That Jesus’ blood may cleanse all hearts Give suffering souls relief. That when the priest Communion takes Then bring my Lord to me That His sweet heart may rest in mine And I His temple be. Pray that the sacrifice divine May all man’s sin efface Then bring me Jesus’ blessing home The pledge of every grace. Amen

Prayer Request for Father Prabhakar

Our Lady of Good Health - Our Lady of Vailankanni

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Please keep my good friend Father Prabhakar in your prayers as he returns to India today. May our Lady of Velankanni protect him during his flight home.

Anniversary of Father Gordon MacRae's First Mass Celebration and Prayers for His Release


The other day I forwarded to Father Gordon the email I received regarding the first anniversary of the Beatification of Father Jerzy Popieluszko. I sent it to him because part of the litany reads: "...Unjustly accused, pray for us..."

Father Gordon wrote via Charlene: ...thank you for the Novena information. June 6 is also the anniversary of my first Mass...

I told Father that I would be praying for him through the intercession of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko. If possible, I would ask that you join me in praying for Father's release from prison with the following prayer.

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 the grace of Father Gordon MacRae's release from prison where he has been unjustly and wrongly imprisoned for so long, 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)

Bl. Jerzy Popieluszko Anniversary June 6th