St. John Bosco ... Jan 31st

On January 31, the Church honors the Memorial of St. John Bosco - Friend of the Youth. He was called, Apostle of Youth, because, he dedicated his life to the young people by organizing youth clubs, hostels, and boarding schools where he taught them. He founded the Salesian Society for the boys in 1854, which was named St. Francis de Sales. In 1872, he also founded the Salesian Sisters called Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians to work for girls.

St. John Bosco had no formal system or theory of education. His methods centered on persuasion, authentic religiosity, and love for young people. He was an enlightened educator and innovator. The educational philosophy of John Bosco can be condensed in three words: Reason, Religion, and Loving Kindness. The basic principle of his system was a deep understanding and love for young people and their problems.

Prayer to

St. John Bosco

Lord, you called John Bosco to be a teacher and father to the young. Fill us with love like his. May we give ourselves completely to your service and to the salvation of humankind. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

About St. John Bosco
Vision of St. John Bosco
St. John Bosco Biography
St. John Bosco Oratory Project
St. John Bosco Dreams
St. John Bosco on Resurrection
Novena in Honor of St. John Bosco
Novena to St. John Bosco

The Big Lie Continues

The Big Lie Continues
By George J. Marlin

We hear a little about Muslim persecution of Christians these days, though not much. But is anyone aware of the much larger and continuing evil presence that violates the rights and very lives of Catholics and other believers in our world? It’s called Communism, and in China, Vietnam, Cuba, and a gaggle of wannabe Marxist dictatorships, this murderous ideology continues to generate high body counts and gulags for the Christians of the world while the mainstream media and prominent intellectuals hardly seem to notice.

There is ample precedent for this lack of interest going back even before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of Communism in Eastern Europe. Throughout the twentieth century, the progressive intelligentsia was sympathetic to the idea that Marxist-controlled states would eventually give birth to an international utopian community. To maintain this view, they defended, denied, or overlooked the crimes against humanity committed by Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot, and their henchmen.

Even as the very foundations of the Iron Curtain were crumbling in the late 1980s, many leftist thinkers continued to promote Communist “truth.” For instance, one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, America’s oldest left-wing journal, The Nation, refusing to face the harsh facts about the Soviet totalitarian menace, toed the party line by condemning the Center for Democracy, created by U.S. citizens, to aid the only independent publication in the U.S.S.R., Glasnost.

One European who had the courage to expose the lies was the late French philosopher-journalist Jean-Francois Revel (1924-2006). This World War II resistance fighter and Social Democrat fearlessly fought the ideological bullies of his time. For him, they functioned “as a machine to destroy information even at the price of making assertions in clear contradiction of the evidence.” And they still do. As Paul Valery, a French poet, once observed, “everything changes but the avant-garde.”

Revel swam against the French intellectual tide by arguing that evil is inherent in Communism’s DNA. History, he believed, proved that as a governing system, it was never economically viable and retarded social justice: “Incarceration camps and prisons, show trials, murderous purges and deliberately induced famines have accompanied each and every Communist regime from beginning to end, without exception.”

The global left, of course, despised Revel. In a series of trenchant works, The Totalitarian Temptation (1976), How Democracies Perish (1983), The Flight From Truth (1991), and Anti-Americanism (2003), Revel assaulted those “who openly and on principle allow the annihilation of whole masses of humanity. . .to secure the realization of the Communist ideal.” He denounced leftists who, in the name of progress, yielded to the totalitarian temptation and became accomplices to political crimes.

In Last Exit to Utopia, a book of his just translated and published posthumously, Revel gives socialist apologists his last dig. Revel makes the case that many leftist intellectuals have been in a state of denial since the death of the Soviet leviathan. They cannot admit they were intellectually wrong or morally compromised. Communism, they still insist, was an engine of social justice that and had good intentions. Genuine Communists tried to create a good society that would save the masses from “enslavement to consumerism.” Revel calls this behavior “voluntary blindness;” ideologues ignoring or deforming truth to rationalize their apriori schemes.

To maintain the fiction and to take the spotlight off their short-comings these leftists have aggressively pursued a “take no prisoners” offensive strategy. The root of all evil they insist is “savage capitalism” and the devils who promote this depraved system are Americans. Critics of Communist regimes are “simplistic” and “obsessive” mean-spirited right-wing reactionaries or just plain old fascists.

Scholarly works that document Communist oppression are dismissed as “nostalgia for the Cold War.” “Why drag out that old stuff” is the typical reaction from the leftist chorus. “Haven’t we heard it all before? Let’s move on.” American leftist elites employed this approach in their failed attempt to stop the acclaimed Yale University Press Annals of Communism series which publishes previously inaccessible documents from Soviet state and party archives.

The most vicious outcry was against the 800-page compendium detailing the crimes of Communist regimes worldwide, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Furious leftists used every vicious tactic to discredit the findings of the five French authors that over 100-million people were murdered for belonging to political parties, churches, or some hated social class. Critics pressured and intimidated the contributors—even threatening to get them fired from their academic posts—if they did not recant.

One delusional protester, the Marxist Jacques Rossi, who actually served time in the Gulag, defended the prison system claiming these Soviet camps were fine institutions that “served as a laboratory for the Soviet regime in order to create an ideal society: to compel obedience and indoctrinate.”

Revel boldly rejected these cover-ups. Western ideologues, he declared, “may have no blood on their hands; but their pens are dripping with it.” Contrary to their claims, totalitarian states, unlike capitalist democracies, must commit crimes to survive. Recent actions by remaining Marxist regimes confirm his thesis: North Korea’s Communist masters have systematically starved over 3 million of their people. In Tibet 1.2 million people—20 percent of the total population—have been eliminated under China’s occupation of that nation. And in China itself, the regime has set up a subservient Patriotic Catholic Church to keep Catholics from following the real Church with its head in the Vatican.

Communism writes Revel “promises abundance and engenders misery; promises liberty and imposes servitude. . .promises respect for human life and then perpetuates mass executions; promises the creation of a ‘new man,’ but instead fossilizes him.” Yet, by using “evil in the name of good” Revel observes, this failed experiment tragically continues to attract “angelic accomplices, in the name of ideals they have shamelessly trampled underfoot.”


George J. Marlin is an editor of The Quotable Fulton Sheen

The USA Chaplet -FINISHED!

The USA Chaplet

I have prayed and deliberated much regarding this chaplet. I have spoken to my confessor who found no immediate fault with this effort and suggested I pass it on to some others for opinions/suggestion, etc.. It has been in the works for some months now and just today (1/15/10), after fervent prayer, it all just seemed to fall in place. My heart has been heavy with the "CHANGE" in the USA and the many "Catholics" that have fallen away. This is the product of my daily prayers for these things. The prayers in quotes below are original and the first one came a few months ago. It seemed to just flow from my lips as if I was saying the Our Father or Hail Mary. As each came to me, I wrote them down and prayed about how to formulate this if it was God's Will to be disbursed. The colors, number of prayers, both original and familiar just all came together this morning, along with the Concluding prayer which was a surprise to me.
I have made this page for it to better explain the meaning and how to pray it being it's the first one in the world.
It has been sent around to various persons, organizations and my local Diocese ... may God's Will be done as I await the outcome.
May it please Our Glorious Triune God and Our Blessed Mother.

http://battlebeads.com/usa2.html

New Chaplet

I am creating a brand new chaplet. In light of recent political 'changes' and many questionable decisions on what's best for OUR country, these words kept coming to me over and over. The first time it was as if I'd said it all my life like the Hail Mary or Our Father. I feel strongly that I am supposed to share this with folks and perhaps if many can start praying daily, we may beg God's Mercy on our land. When my confessor came last, he saw no problems with it and suggested that I forward it to EWTN for any comments. I'm putting the final touches on it now and thought it would be nice to actually make one up so a picture might be sent with it, so that's what I'll do today. Please pray that there will be no pride in this and that it only give honor and glory to God ... thank you.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

St. Gregory of Nyssa ( 330-395)

His family must have been a great inspiration for this Saint was born the son of two Saints, Saints Basil and Emmilia. He was also raised by his brother, St. Basil the Great. He was a smart boy and excelled at his studies. He became a professor of rhetoric but would pursue theology. He became a priest and was elected Bishop of Nyssa. He was a defender of the faith against the Arianism and other heresies that were spreading through the early church. His work gained him a seat on the Council of Constantinople. He was a universalist and was one of the first theologians to argue for and defend the infinity of God. He taught that spiritual growth had three stages. It began with darkness or ignorance, which was overcome by illumination which lead to a final contemplation of God, who in essence (ousia) cannot be comprehended. St. Gregory of Nyssa, his brother St Basil the Great (Bishop of Caesarea) and Gregory of Nazianzus (Patriarch of Constantinople) are known as the Cappadocian Fathers. Their theological goal was to establish a Christian philosophy superior to ancient Greek philosophy.

This week pray a Rosary in his honor, his feast day is January 10th.

Daily Pilgrimage to Purgatory

Preparation Prayer

O St. Margaret Mary, whom the Lord has chosen to reveal to the whole world all the treasures hidden in His merciful Heart of Love! O thou, who hast heard how the Poor Souls in Purgatory begged for this new remedy, the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which relieves them so effectively of their torments! O thou, who hast set free so many of these poor prisoners by practicing this devotion: obtain for us the grace to make this Pilgrimage worthily in the company of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Amen.

I unite all my intentions with all the faithful, who make this pilgrimage daily.

Consecration of the Day

Divine Heart of Jesus, in making this pilgrimage with Thee as my Companion, I consecrate to Thee all my thoughts, words and actions of the entire day. I pray Thee to unite my small merits with Thine and to apply them to the Poor Souls, especially the soul of Thy servant (s), N. N.

Likewise do I entreat you, holy souls, to help me obtain the grace to persevere in love and loyalty toward the Sacred Heart, by submitting readily and without complaint to whatever designs He may have in my regard.

Offering

Eternal Father, we offer Thee the Blood, Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, and the sorrows of the most holy Mary and St. Joseph, in payment for our sins, in suffrage for the holy souls in Purgatory, for the wants of our Holy Mother the Church, and for the conversion of sinners. Amen.

Ejaculations

"May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere."

"Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, pray for us."

"St. Joseph, model and patron of those who love the Sacred Heart, pray for us."

Preparatory Meditation

Let us for a moment, in company with the Sacred Heart, descend in spirit into the consuming flames of Purgatory.

How many of these souls are beginning their painful imprisonment this very moment! How many of them have been there for a long time and shall be there for a longer time to come! And what a holy legion, almost entirely purified and cleansed at the present moment, shall rise to heaven this very day!

How happy the Poor Souls are! They have escaped hell forever. They are certain to obtain eternal happiness. They are friends of God; they are saved.

And yet, how miserable they are at the same time. They must still suffer temporal punishment for the sins which have been already forgiven them. The gates of the heavenly fatherland are still closed to them; they are sentenced to expiating fire.

Behold them in their present plight! Listen to their lamentations! Speak to them a word of friendship and sympathy, and hasten to their assistance!

De Profundis

Psalm 129

Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord, Lord hear my voice.

Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.

If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark our iniquities, O Lord, who can abide it?

For with Thee there is mercy; and by reason of Thy law I have waited on Thee, O Lord.

My soul hath waited on His word; my soul hath hoped in the Lord.

From the morning watch even unto the night, let Israel hope in the Lord.

For with the Lord there is mercy; and with Him is plenteous redemption.

And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.

R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.


Sunday

Regret: Wasted time.

Pious Exercises

Resolution: To assist the souls of priest, religious, and all those in Purgatory who have been faithful to this devotion all their lives. I also recommend myself to those who are entering heaven at this moment.

Thought for the Day: The sufferings of the souls in Purgatory are so great that a single day appears to them like a thousand years.

Exercise: Ejaculations in honor of the divine Heart for the comfort and consolation of the poor souls.

Special Intention: Implore the divine Heart of Jesus to grant relief to the most forsaken soul in Purgatory.

Motive: The greater the abandonment of a soul, the greater will be its gratitude towards you, It will obtain for you the privilege never to be forsaken by God through the withdrawal of His grace, and never to abandon Him by committing sin.

Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the souls in Purgatory and especially that soul which is most destitute of spiritual aid; and vouchsafe to bring it to Thy glory, there to praise and bless Thee forever. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary

Ejaculation

Sweet Heart of Jesus, make me love Thee ever more and more.

Monday

Regret: Extravagance in the use of earthly possessions.

Pious Exercises

Resolution: To assist the souls of the faithful departed from all parts of Europe. I also recommend myself to those who are entering heaven at this moment.

Thought for the Day: "The gates of heaven are opened by alms." (St. John Chrys. hom. 32 in Ep. ad Heb.)

Exercise: Give an alms for the propagation of the devotion to the divine Heart of Jesus.

Special Intention: Pray for the soul nearest to heaven.

Motive: The closer the soul is to the end of its sufferings, the more ardently will it long for union with the Sacred Heart. Remove, therefore, the obstacles still in its way. In return, it will obtain for you the grace to sever the ties which now prevent you from giving yourself entirely to God.

Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in His cruel scourging, deliver the souls in Purgatory and that soul especially which is nearest to its entrance into Thy glory; that so it may forthwith begin to praise and bless Thee forever. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary

Ejaculation

Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation!

Tuesday

Regret: Neglect of so many splendid graces.

Pious Exercises

Resolution: To assist the souls of the faithful departed from all parts of Asia, particularly from Palestine and from countries infested with idolatry, schism and heresy. I also recommend myself to those who are entering heaven at this moment.

Thought for the Day: "The benefit of a single grace is greater than all the material value of the whole world." (St. Thomas 1, 2, P, 113a IX ad.2)

Exercise: Offer the Poor Souls, by way of suffrage, the benefit of some indulgence gained by prayers or some devotional exercise in honor of the divine Heart of Jesus.

Special Intention: Pray for the soul in Purgatory which is farthest from eternal rest.

Motive: Let yourself be moved by the abandonment, resignation and humility with which that soul bears its long suffering; it will be grateful to you. Happy will you be, if it obtains for you the virtue of humility in this world, so that you may be exalted in the next.

Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in the bitter crowning with thorns, deliver the souls in Purgatory and in particular that soul which would be the last to depart out of this place of suffering, that it might not tarry so long before it comes to praise and bless Thee forever. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary

Ejaculation

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in satisfaction for my sins and in supplication for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and for the needs of the Holy Church.

Wednesday

Regret: The evil which I have done.

Pious Exercises

Resolution: To assist the souls of the faithful departed from Africa, particularly from those countries in Africa which were formerly Catholic, and are now returning to our holy Faith. I also recommend myself to those who are entering heaven at this moment.

Thought for the Day: "What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (Math. 16,25)

Exercise: Make an act of contrition in union with the souls in Purgatory, before a picture of the Sacred Heart.

Special Intention: Pray for the soul richest in merits.

Motive: The more exalted a soul is in heaven, the more effective will be its request for true love of God for you, without which there is no real merit.

Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in the streets of Jerusalem, when He carried the Cross upon His sacred shoulders, deliver the souls in Purgatory and especially that soul which is richest in merits before Thee, that so, in that throne of glory which awaits it, it may magnify Thee and bless Thee forever. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary

Ejaculation

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, assist me in my last agony.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.

Thursday

Regret: The scandal which I have given.

Pious Exercises

Resolution: To assist the souls of the faithful departed from North and South America, especially those of my native town. I also recommend myself to those who are entering heaven at this moment.

Thought for the Day: "The Son of man will render to everyone according to his works." (Math. 16,27 )

Exercise: Give someone a picture or book treating of the Sacred Heart.

Special Intention: Pray for the soul which had the greatest devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Motive: That soul will obtain for you the grace to receive Holy Communion worthily at the hour of death as a pledge of your eternal salvation.

Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood of Thy divine Son Jesus, which He gave with His own hands upon the eve of His Passion to His beloved Apostles to be their food and drink, and which He left to His whole Church to be a perpetual sacrifice and life-giving food of His own faithful people, deliver the souls in Purgatory and especially that one which was most devoted to this mystery of infinite love, that it may with Thy same divine Son, and with Thy Holy Spirit, ever praise Thee for Thy love therein in eternal glory. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary

Ejaculation

My Jesus! Mercy!

Friday

Regret: My neglect of acts of mortification.

Pious Exercises

Resolution:To assist the souls of the faithful departed from the far distant countries of Oceania, particularly from the most difficult, severely tried Catholic mission districts. I also recommend myself to those who are entering heaven at this moment.

Thought for the Day: "Bring forth therefore worthy fruits of penance." (Luke 3, 8)

Exercise: Offer to the Sacred Heart a little act of mortification for the relief of the suffering souls in Purgatory.

Special Intention: Pray for the souls for which you are most bound to pray.

Motive: If you are indebted to these souls by an obligation of justice, do not postpone it, because this may call down the wrath of God upon yourself.

Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed on this day upon the wood of the Cross, especially from His most sacred hands and feet, deliver the souls in Purgatory and in particular that soul for which I am most bound to pray; that no neglect of mine may hinder it from praising and blessing Thee forever. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary

Ejaculation

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

Saturday

Regret: The little amount of charity I have shown the Poor Souls in my life on earth.

Pious Exercises

Resolution: To assist the souls of the faithful departed from the mission fields of Melanesia and Mikronesia. (New Ireland, New Britain, the Solomon, Gilbert and Marshall Islands and New Guinea) I also recommend myself to those who are entering heaven at this moment.

Thought for the Day: Thus spoke the guilt-burdened brothers of innocent Joseph one to another: " We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother, seeing the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore, is this affliction come upon us. " (Gen. 42, 21)

Exercise: Spread, as much as possible, the devotion "Daily Pilgrimage to Purgatory".

Special Intention: Pray for the soul which had the greatest devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Motive: In doing so you cause the Mother of God great delight; she will obtain for you, through the intercession of this soul, the grace of a true devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, I beseech Thee, by the Precious Blood which gushed forth from the side of The Divine Son Jesus, in the sight of, and to the extreme pain of His most holy Mother, deliver the souls in Purgatory and especially that soul which was the most devout to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Queen of Heaven; that it may soon attain unto Thy glory, there to praise Thee in her, and her in Thee, world without end. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary

Ejaculation

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

The Heroic Act of Charity

In Favor of the Poor Souls in Purgatory

O my God, in union with the merits of Jesus and Mary, I offer Thee for the souls in Purgatory, all my satisfactory works, as well as those which may be applied to me by others during my life, and after my death. And, so as to be more agreeable to the divine Heart of Jesus and more helpful to the departed, I place them all in the hands of the merciful Virgin Mary.

Invocations

We beseech Thee, O Lord, help the souls detained in the fire of Purgatory, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious Blood.

Dear Lord, grant them (him/her) eternal rest.