First Saturday

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ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

(with ecclesiastical permission)

O Mary, 

I consecrate myself to you,

Daughter of the Father,

Spouse of the Holy Spirit,

Mother of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.

I will wear your Scapular always as a sign of this consecration,

and I offer my daily Rosary and the 

fulfillment of the obligations of each day

in reparation for sins,

particularly those against your Immaculate Heart,

and against the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.

I desire to be ever more deeply united to His Heart, 

in the intimacy of your own

Immaculate Heart, with each passing 

moment of my life unto the last.  Amen

World Apostolate of Fatima

New Website Added to List - Official Website of St. Padre Pio

Padre Pio statue - Blessed Sacrament Church, Paterson, NJ

The Official Website of Saint Padre Pio

October 6 – Princes and popes coveted the advice of this silent man

St. Bruno at the feet of Pope Urban II. Painting by Eustache Le Sueur

Confessor, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of the Carthusian Order. He was born at Cologne about the year 1030; died 6 October, 1101. He is usually represented with a death’s head in his hands, a book and a cross, or crowned with seven stars; or with a roll bearing the device O Bonitas. His feast is kept on the 6th of October.


Read the article here

First Friday - Sacred Heart of Jesus

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 "From among all the proofs of the infinite goodness of our savior none stands out more prominently than the fact that, as the love of the faithful grew cold, He, Divine Love Itself, gave Himself to us to be honored by a very special devotion and that the rich treasury of the Church was thrown wide open in the interests of that devotion." These words of Pope Pius XI refer to the Sacred Heart Devotion,which in its present form dates from the revelations given to saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673-75.

The devotion consists in the divine worship of the human heart of Christ, which is united to His divinity and which is a symbol of His love for us. The aim of the devotion is to make our Lord king over our hearts by prompting them to return love to Him (especially through an act of consecration by which we offer to the Heart of Jesus both ourselves and all that belongs to us) and to make reparation for our ingratitude to God.

O Heart of love,

I put all my trust in Thee;

for I fear all things from my own weakness,

but I hope for all things from Thy goodness.

- Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Feast of St. Faustina

St. Faustina's First Class Relic, St. Stephen Church, Paterson, NJ

St. Faustina - St. Stephen's Church, Paterson, NJ

Mahalo to Mary Jane for sharing the following prayer.

Divine Mercy Image, St. Stephen's Church, Paterson, NJ

O Jesus, Who filled Your servant, St. Faustina, with profound veneration for Your boundless Mercy, deign, if it be Your holy will, to grant me, through her intercession, the grace for which I fervently pray. (mention your intentions)

My sins render me unworthy of Your Mercy, but be mindful of St. Faustina's spirit of sacrifice and self-denial, and reward her virtue by granting the petition which, with childlike confidence, I present to You through her intercession. Amen.

other prayers to St. Faustina: http://www.2heartsnetwork.org/Faustina.htm

Blessed Francis X. Seelos

Happy Feast Day!

Mahalo to Mary Jane for sharing the following litany.

O My God, I truly believe You are present with me.  I adore Your limitless perfections.  I thank You for the graces and gifts You gave to Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.  If it is Your holy will, please let him be declared a saint of the Church so that others may know and imitate his holy life.  Through his prayers please give me this favor ... (HERE MENTION YOUR SPECIAL INTENTIONS) 

My family's First Class relic of Blessed Seelos

Litany of Blessed Francis Seelos:

Lord, have mercy on us!

Christ, have mercy on us!

Lord, have mercy on us!

Christ, hear us!

Christ, graciously hear us!

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos,  pray for us             

Francis, pattern of cheerfulness, pray for us                             

Francis, lover of labors, pray for us                                        

Francis, model of confessors,  pray for us                             

Francis, gentle refuge of penitents,  pray for us            

Francis, example to seminarians,  pray for us                            

Francis, master of poverty,  pray for us                                      

Francis, pillar of peacefulness, pray for us                           

Francis, comfort of the sick, pray for us                        

Francis, companion to the dying, pray for us                        

Francis, paragon of holiness,  pray for us                    

  

 LET US PRAY

O God, who made your priest, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, outstanding in love, that he might proclaim the mysteries of redemption, and comfort those in affliction, grant, by his intercession, that we may work zealously for your glory and for the salvation of all.   Amen.

 

 For more information go to: http://www.seelos.org/

St. Francis of Assisi

"St. Francis of Assisi Praying" by Joseph Légaré, Quebec  1825

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"It is first to be considered that the glorious St. Francis in all the acts of his life was conformable to Christ the Blessed.  And that even As Christ, at the beginning of his mission chose twelve Apostles who were to despise all worldly things and follow Him in poverty and in the other virtues, so St. Francis in the beginning chose for the foundation of his Order twelve companions who were possessed of naught save direst poverty.  And even as one of the twelve Apostles of Christ, being reproved  by God, went and hanged himself by the neck, so one of the twelve companions of St. Francis  whose name was Friar John della Cappella, became a runagate and at last hanged himself by the neck..  Now these things are a great warning to the elect, and matter for humility and fear when they consider that none is certain of persevering to the end in God's grace..."

Triptych of St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio

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..."The first companion of St. Francis was Friar Bernard of Assisi, that was converted after this manner:  St. Francis, while yet in the secular habit, albeit he had renounced the world, was wont to go about in meanest guise and so mortified by penance that by many the was held to be a fool, and was mocked and hunted as a madman and pelted with stones and filthy mire both by his kinsfolk and by strangers;  but he, even as one deaf and dumb, went his way enduring every insult and injury patiently.  Now Bernard of Assisi, who was one of the noblest and richest and wisest of that city, began to consider wisely concerning St. Francis and his exceeding contempt of this world and his long-suffering under injury; and that, albeit for two years he had been thus hated and despised by all men, yet did he ever seem more steadfast..."

"The Virgin and Child with St. Francis of Assisi" by Francesco Raibolini (Francia)

..."St. Francis, the most devout servant of the Crucified, had grown almost blind by the rigour of his penance and incessant weeping, ..."

Source:  The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi

Feast of the Guardian Angels

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PRAYER TO ONE'S GUARDIAN ANGEL

DAILY PROTECTOR THROUGHOUT LIFE

Dear Angel,

in His goodness

God have you to me

to guide, protect, and enlighten me,

and to bring me back to the right way

when I go astray.

Encourage me when I am disheartened,

and instruct me when I err in my judgment.

Help me to become more Christlike,

and so some day to be accepted

into the company of Angels and Saints in heaven.

Prayer source:  New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book

Month of October Dedicated to the Holy Rosary

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WHAT ABOUT THE ROSARY ?

Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

Origin of the Rosary

    

     The Rosary, the blessed beads that quietly slip between our fingers as we pray over the mysteries of Jesus’ redemptive life, has an ancient origin.  Most likely its pre-Christian ancestor originated in the ancient East, perhaps in India, and not in the medieval West.  It was and still is a popular prayer device among the Muslims, who use the Arabic term masbahat , which means to give praise.  Devout Muslims used the masbahat  in repeating the attributes of God, just as it was used by the early Christian hermits.  Following the Crusades the Rosary found its way to the West, and the prayer form kept that name.  “Rosary” comes from the Latin rosarium, which means a rose garden.  Applied to the prayer beads, the name connotes a crown of roses for the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The missionary who worked hardest to spread this devotion was Abed El-Ahad, Saint Dominic, and his Dominican companions.

     The Rosary became a popular method of prayer and spread quickly in the West during the Middle Ages.  For Christians it has always been “the Gospel strung on beads.”   It is a simple and easy prayer that can be employed for vocal prayer or silent contemplation by individuals, families, and communities.

Papal Encouragement

    

     Since the 16^th century the popes have frequently encouraged the faithful of East and West to pray the Rosary.  The first was a Dominican pope, Saint Pius V, who wrote a papal letter about the Rosary in 1569 shortly after the Council of Trent, and instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

     In the late 19^th century after the First Vatican Council the illustrious Pope Leo XIII wrote more than ten encyclicals and instructions promoting the use of the Rosary.

     To make pastoral applications of the Marian teachings of the Second Vatican Council Pope Paul VI in 1974 authored the apostolic exhortation Devotion to Mary (Marialis Cultus).  Paul VI discussed the Rosary at some length as a summary of the Gospel comprised of prayers based on Gospel texts.  He urged the faithful to pray the Rosary, and especially recommended the family Rosary in these words:

           “We would like now to join our voice to the voices of our      predecessors and strongly recommend the prayer of the Rosary in    the family…because the Christian family is a family church….If the family neglected this communal prayer, it would lose its character as a Christian family.”

          “In addition to the prayer of the Liturgy of the    Hours …the      Rosary of the Virgin Mary would be the most preferable  communal prayer for the Christian family.”

Pope Paul VI concluded his recommendation by saying: “We would like to repeat that the Rosary is an excellent and magnificent prayer….”

      Pope John Paul II, enthusiastic devotee of our Blessed Mother, in 2002 issued a pastoral letter entitled The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, in which he proclaimed October 2002 until October 2003 the Year of the Rosary, and put forth the Luminous Mysteries based on the public life of Jesus. 

     Our present Holy Father, Benedict XVI, values the prayer of the Rosary as a means of contemplating Jesus with Mary’s eyes.  For him pondering the mysteries of the Rosary calms a “restless spirit,” allows the soul to settle into tranquility…and grants a vision of God.”  He associates the Rosary with consolation and healing, an inner refuge which enfolds us “in the rhythm of the prayer of the whole Church.”  “I do it quite simply,” he said, “just as my parents used to pray.”

The Rosary Today

     While some Eastern Christians erroneously consider the Rosary foreign to Eastern spirituality, quite the opposite is the reality.  The Rosary is a prayer for all peoples and for all seasons.

     Early on, the Rosary was a common method of prayer in the East among Christians and non-Christians.  Even though it came to us through Western missionaries, it was and still is an easy and rich method of prayer to help the faithful fathom the mysteries of God along the journey of salvation.  And we do so with a special companion, the Mother of God and our Mother.  Praying the Rosary, particularly in the family, is an excellent method of bringing us together in the faith under the protection of her who always and everywhere intercedes for all people.  Let us spare no effort to remain close to her.

Feast of St. Therese the Little Flower

Statue of St. Therese and the Blessed Mother and Baby Jesus
St. Therese Co-Cathedral, Honolulu

Happy Feast Day!

One of the most popular posts I have on this blog is one where I questioned whether or not my prayers would be answered by St. Therese.  There were many people who shared their own questions or testimony on their prayers being answered. You can read the comments here at the St. Therese's Novena post from January 11, 2009.

Another thing I wanted to share is the post I posted at the Prayers for Our Pets blog. A friend to that blog shared photo links of the Martin Family's dog "Tom". You can see those photos here.

Also, I recently finished listening to A Story of a Soul on audio books. This is one book that should be read over and over again. It gives one such hope for becoming a saint!

PRAYER TO ST. THERESA OF THE CHILD JESUS

(Patroness of Missionaries)

Dear Little Flower of Lisieux,

how wonderful was the short life you led.

Though cloistered, you went far and wide

through fervent prayers and great sufferings.

You obtained from God

untold helps and graces for his evangelists.

Help all missionaries in their work

and teach all of us to spread Christianity

in our own neighborhoods and family circles.

Prayer source:  New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book