Special Novena

Please join my friend Jen and myself in a very easy, but very important novena ... 9 Memorare's a day/9 Days. It begins this Friday (4/17/15) for the deliverance of the persecuted, and the protection and conversion of our nation. Please tell all you know and let's really get this FLYING! Thank you! 

 http://veilsandvocations.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-novena-and-giveaway-in-7qt.html

http://veilsandvocations.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-flying-novena.html

Blessed Margaret de Castello

FEAST DAY: April 13th

Margaret de Castello was born blind and disfigured. She is the patroness of the 
poor, crippled, and the unwanted.  Her parents Parisio and Emilia imprisoned her so no one would see her, though she could receive the Sacraments when the priest visited her.  Her parents took her to the tomb in Citta di Castello of a holy man named Fra Giacomo, where miracles were reportedly being wrought, to pray for a cure for her birth defects. When no miracle happened, they abandoned her there. She was found by local women who, despite Margaret’s infirmities, adopted her. She eventually became an adopted child of the village. She lived in prayer and charity, helping the poor.

When Margaret grew older, the nun of a local convent offered her a home. At the prospect of living with the religious Margaret rejoiced. However, the village took her joy as a reproach to the community that raised her. She was once again sent out to the streets by persecution and lies.

Fortunately there were a few people left who helped her again and offered her shelter. At fifteen Margaret was given the habit of a tertiary from the Dominican fathers. From thereon, she lived a life entirely devoted to God.

Margaret started performing miraculous cures and acts. In her desire to show gratitude to the people who found and raised her in Citta-di-Castello she established a school for the children whose parents were working. Her school prospered having taught the children their duty to God, devotion to the Child Jesus and the Psalms, which despite her blindness, she learned at the convent. Margaret died at the age of thirty-three. 

 She was born blind, lame, deformed, hunchbacked and a dwarf. When she died at the age of 33, crowds at her funeral demanded she be buried inside the church. After a crippled girl was miraculously cured at the funeral, the priest allowed Margaret’s burial inside.

In 1558, Margaret’s remains were transferred because her coffin was rotten. Her clothes were also rotten, but her body was preserved. She was beatified on October 19, 1609 by Pope Paul V. Her canonization is pending.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

SHORT NOVENA PRAYER

O God, by Whose Will the blessed virgin Margaret was blind from birth, that the eyes of her mind being inwardly enlightened  she might think without ceasing on You alone, be the light of our eyes, that we may be able to flee the shadows of this world, and reach the home of never ending light. We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be ....

Prayer for Canonization

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, glorify your servant blessed Margaret, by granting the favor we so ardently desire. This we ask in humble submission to God's Will, for His honor and glory and the salvation of souls.

HE IS RISEN! ...

... HE IS TRULY RISEN!

What can be said of Easter that hasn't already been said? Let us just strive to never take for granted what we've been raised with; having become so familiar with the site of a Crucifix, an empty tomb or the story of the Passion.

Let us always seek to delve more deeply into this Passion that gave us true freedom and reconciled us to the Father. Pray always for an increase in Faith and to love Him for all those that don't and even more for all those that do .. let us ask to love Him for the WHOLE WORLD! 

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory, Beloved of our souls! 

Blessed Margaret de Castello NOVENA - 4/5-4/12

Novena to Blessed Margaret de Castello
Memorial Day: April 13th

Margaret de Castello was born blind and disfigured. She was abandoned by her parents at the age of about six or seven at the parish church in Citta-di-Castello in Umbria Italy. She was found by local women who, despite Margaret’s infirmities, adopted her. She eventually became an adopted child of the village.

When Margaret grew older, the nun of a local convent offered her a home. At the prospect of living with the religious Margaret rejoiced. However, the village took her joy as a reproach to the community that raised her. She was once again sent out to the streets by persecution and lies.

Fortunately there were a few people left who helped her again and offered her shelter. At fifteen Margaret was given the habit of a tertiary from the Dominican fathers. From thereon, she lived a life entirely devoted to God.

Margaret started performing miraculous cures and acts. In her desire to show gratitude to the people who found and raised her in Citta-di-Castello she established a school for the children whose parents were working. Her school prospered having taught the children their duty to God, devotion to the Child Jesus and the Psalms, which despite her blindness, she learned at the convent. Margaret died at the age of thirty-three.

Novena to the Blessed Margaret of Castello

First Day:
O Blessed Margaret of Castello,
In embracing your life just as it was,
You gave us an example of resignation
To the Will of God.

In so accepting God’s Will,
You knew that you would grow in virtue,
Glorify God, save your own soul,
And help the souls of your neighbors.

Obtain for me the grace,
To recognize the will of God,
In all that may happen to me in my life,
And so resign myself to it.
Obtain for me also the special favor,
Which I now ask,
Through your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Second Day:
O Blessed Margaret of Castello,
In reflecting so deeply
Upon the sufferings and death
Of our Crucified Lord,
You learned courage
And gained the grace
To bear your own afflictions.
Obtain for me
The grace and courage
That I so urgently need
So as to be able to bear
My infirmities and endure my afflictions
In union with our Suffering Savior.
Obtain for me also
The special favor which I now ask
Through your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Third Day:
O Blessed Margaret of Castello,
Your love for Jesus
In the Blessed Sacrament
Was intense and enduring.
It was here
In intimacy with the Divine Presence
That you found spiritual strength
To accept suffering,
To be cheerful, patient and kindly
Towards others.
Obtain for me the grace
That I may draw from this same source,
As from an exhaustible font,
The strength whereby I may be
Kind and understanding
Of everyone despite whatever pain or discomfort
May come my way.
Obtain for your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Fourth Day:
O Blessed Margaret of Castello,
You unceasingly turned to God in prayer
With confidence and trust
In His Fatherly love.
It was only through continual prayer
That you were enabled
To accept your misfortunes,
To be serene, patient, and at peace.
Obtain for me the grace
To persevere in my prayer,
Confident that God will give me
The help to carry whatever cross
Comes into my life.
Obtain for me also the special favor
Which I now ask
Through your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Fifth Day:
O Blessed Margaret of Castello,
In imitation of the Child Jesus,
Who was subject to Mary and Joseph,
You obeyed your father and mother,
Overlooking their unnatural harshness.
Obtain for me
That same attitude of obedience
Toward all those
Who have legitimate authority over me,
Most especially toward
The Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Obtain for me also
The special favor which I now ask
Through your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Sixth Day:
O Blessed Margaret of Castello,
Your miseries taught you
Better than any teacher
The weakness and frailty
Of human nature.
Obtain for me
The grace to recognize
My human limitations
And to acknowledge
My utter dependence upon God.
Acquire for me
That abandonment which leaves me
Completely at the mercy of God
To do with me whatsoever He wills.
Obtain for me also
The special favor which I now ask
Through your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Seventh Day:
O blessed Margaret of Castello,
You could have so easily
Become discouraged and bitter;
But, instead, you fixed your eyes
On the suffering Christ
And there you learned from Him
The redemptive value of suffering -
How to offer your pains and aches,
In reparation for sin
And for the salvation of souls.
Obtain for me the grace
To learn how to endure
My sufferings with patience.
Obtain for me also
The special favor which I now ask
Through your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Eigth Day:
O Blessed Margaret of Castello,
How it must have hurt
When your parents abandoned you!
Yet you learned from this
That all earthly love and affection,
Even for those who are closest,
Must be sanctified.
And so, despite everything,
You continued to love your parents –
But now you loved them in God.
Obtain for me the grace
That I might see
All my human loves and affections
In their proper perspective…
In God and for god. Obtain for me also
The special favor which I now ask
Through your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Ninth Day:
O Blessed Margaret of Castello,
Through your suffering and misfortune,
You became sensitive
To the sufferings of others.
Your heart reached out
To everyone in trouble –
The sick, the hungry, the dying prisoners.
Obtain for me the grace
To recognize Jesus in everyone
With whom I come into contact,
Especially in the poor,
The wretched, the unwanted!
Obtain for me also
The special favor which I now ask
Through your intercession with God.

Let us pray…

O God by whose Will
The blessed virgin, Margaret,
Was blind from birth,
That the eyes of her mind
Being inwardly enlightened
She might think without ceasing
On You alone;
Be the light of our eyes,
That we may be able
To flee the shadows in this world,
And reach the home
Of never-ending light.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
Glorify your servant blessed Margaret,
By granting the favor
We so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
To God’s Will,
For His Honor and Glory
And the salvation of souls.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Prayer
O my God, I thank you
For having given
Blessed Margaret of Castello
To the world as an example
Of the degree of holiness
That can be attained by anyone
Who truly loves you,
Regardless of physical abnormalities.
In today’s perverted culture,
Margaret would have, most likely,
Never been born;
Death through abortion
Being preferable to life,
Especially life
In an ugly distorted twisted body.
But Your ways are not the world’s ways…
And so it was Your Will
That Margaret would be born into the world
With just such a malformed body.
It is Your way that uses our weakness
To give testimony to Your power.
Margaret was born blind,
So as to see You more clearly;
A cripple, so as to lean on You completely;
Dwarfed in physical posture,
So as to become a giant in the spiritual order;
Hunch-backed,
So as to more perfectly resemble
The twisted, crucified body of Your Son.
Margaret’s whole life
Was an enactment of the words
Expressed by Paul:
“So I shall be very happy
To make my weaknesses my special boast
So that the power of Christ may stay over me
And that is why I am content
With my weaknesses,
And with insults, hardships,
Persecutions and the agonies
I go through for Christ’s sake.
For it is when I am weak that I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:10).

I beseech you, O God,
To grant through the intercession
Of Blessed Margaret of Castello,
That all the handicapped …
And who among us is not?…
All rejected, all unwanted of the world
May make their weaknesses
Their own special boast
So that your power may stay over them
Now and forever. Amen.

Blessed Margaret of Castello, pray for us.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…

~~~~~~~~~~~~

SHORT NOVENA PRAYER

O God, by Whose Will the blessed
virgin Margaret was blind from birth,
that the eyes of her mind being
inwardly enlightened she might think
without ceasing on You alone, be
the light of our eyes, that we may
be able to flee the shadows of this
world, and reach the home of never-
ending light. We ask this through
Christ, our Lord.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to
the Father.

Prayer for Canonization

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, glorify your
servant blessed Margaret, by grant-
ing the favor we so ardently desire.
This we ask in humble submission
to God's Will, for His honor and
glory and the salvation of souls.

Divine Mercy Novena begins Good Friday

Jesus asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy, which falls on the Sunday following Easter, be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy. This nine day Novena begins on Good Friday.
Jesus gave St. Faustina an intention to pray for on each day of the Novena. In her diary, St. Faustina wrote: "On each day of the novena you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls."

The different souls to pray for on each day of the novena are as follows:

1. Day 1: Good Friday
   All mankind, especially sinners  "Today bring to Me All Mankind, especially all sinners and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me."
   
   Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins, but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy for ever and ever. Amen.
   
2. Day 2: Holy Saturday
   The souls of priests and religious "Today bring to Me the Souls of Priests and Religious and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave Me strength to endure My bitter Passion. Through them as through channels My mercy flows out upon mankind."
   
   Most Merciful Jesus, from Whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in men and women consecrated to Your service, that they may perform worthy works of mercy, and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy Who is in heaven. 
   Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the company of chosen ones in Your vineyard - upon the souls of priests and religious; and endow them with the strength of Your blessing. For the love of the Heart of Your Son in which they are enfolded, impart to them Your power and light, that they may be able to guide others in the way of salvation, and with one voice sing praise to Your boundless mercy for ages without end. Amen.
3. Day 3: Easter Sunday
   All devout and faithful souls "Today bring to Me All Devout and Faithful Souls and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. These souls brought Me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were that drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness."
   
   Most Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in the great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by that most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely.
   Eternal Father, turn Your Merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of Your Son. For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, grant them Your blessing and surround them with Your constant protection. Thus may they never fail in love or lose the treasure of the holy Faith, but rather, with all the hosts of Angels and Saints, may they glorify Your boundless mercy for endless ages. Amen.
4. Day 4: Easter Monday
   Those who do not believe in Jesus and those who do not yet know Him
   "Today bring to Me Those Who Do Not Believe In God and Those Who Do Not Yet Know Me. I was thinking also of them during My bitter Passion, and their future zeal comforted My heart. Immerse them in the ocean of My mercy."
   
   Most Compassionate Jesus, You are the Light of the whole world. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who do not believe in God and of those who as yet do not know You. Let the rays of Your grace enlighten them that they, too, together with us, may extol Your  wonderful mercy; and do not let them escape from the abode which  is Your Most Compassionate Heart.
   Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who do not believe in You, and of those who as yet do not know You, but who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart  of Jesus. Draw them to the light of the Gospel. These souls do not  know what great happiness it is to love You. Grant that they, too,  may extol the generosity of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.
5. Day 5: Easter Tuesday
   The souls of separated brethren "Today bring to Me the Souls of those who have separated themselves from My Church and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is My Church. As they return to unity with the Church My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion."
   
   Most Merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself, You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Church. Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy. 
   Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Son's Church, who have squandered Your blessings and misused Your graces obstinately persisting in their errors. Do not look upon their errors, but upon the love of Your Own Son and upon His bitter Passion, which He underwent for their sake, since they, too, are enclosed in His Most Compassionate Heart. Bring it about that they also may glorify Your great mercy for endless ages. Amen.
6. Day 6: Easter Wednesday
   The meek and humble souls and the souls of children "Today bring to Me The Meek and Humble Souls and the Souls of  Little Children and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. Only the humble soul is capable of receiving My grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence."
   
   Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said, "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart." Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy, and they are the heavenly Father's favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God Himself takes delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jesus, and they unceasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy. 
   Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon meek souls, upon humble souls and upon little children, who are enfolded in the abode of the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls bear the closest resemblance to Your Son. Their fragrance rises from the earth and reaches Your very throne. Father of mercy and of all goodness, I beg You by the love You bear these souls and by the delight you take in them: Bless the whole world, that all souls together may sing out the praises of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.
7. Day 7: Easter Thursday
   The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' mercy "Today bring to Me The Souls Who Especially Venerate and Glorify My Mercy and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over my Passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death."
   
   Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your Mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward, confident in Your Mercy; and united to You, O Jesus, they carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they depart from this life. 
   Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls who glorify and venerate Your greatest attribute, that of Your fathomless mercy, and who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls are a living Gospel; their hands are full of deeds of mercy and their hearts, overflowing with joy, sing a canticle of mercy to You, O Most High! I beg You O God: Show them Your mercy according to the hope and trust they have placed in You. Let there be accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them that during their life, but especially at the hour of death, the souls who will venerate this fathomless mercy of His, He Himself, will defend as His glory. Amen.
8. Day 8: Easter Friday
   The souls who are detained in purgatory
   "Today bring to Me The Souls Who Are Detained in Purgatory and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only know the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice."
   
   Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated. 
   Eternal Father, turn Your most merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded, manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.
9. Day 9: Easter Saturday
   The souls who have become lukewarm  "Today bring to Me The Souls Who Have Become Lukewarm and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."
   
   Most Compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love let these tepid souls, who, like
   corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love; and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power. 
   Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen
   
   

   

• How to Recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland was born around the year 390. His story
in regards to bringing Christianity to Ireland begins in 432 when he arrived as a missionary Bishop. He spent the rest of his life converting the population and organizing the Church before his death in Armagh in 461. It would take too long to enumerate the many accomplishments of Patrick. He was a tireless defender of the faith and his efforts have had a lasting effect on the Irish Church as well as the Church abroad.

The times St. Patrick lived in were rough and many opposed his "new foreign religion" (Catholic Christianity). One prayer or hymn ascribed to St. Patrick is known as St. Patrick's Breastplate, (also known as the Deer's Cry or Lorica.) It is thought that St. Patrick taught this prayer to his followers and would recite it to ask God's protection for them on their journeys.

I arise to-day Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, 
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Towards the Creator

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ with His Baptism,
Through the strength of His Crucifixion with his Burial,
Through the strength of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the Judgment of Doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of Angels,
In the service of the Archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In innocence of Holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of Sun,
Radiance of Moon,
Splendor of Fire,
Speed of Lightning,
Swiftness of Wind,
Depth of Sea,
Stability of Earth,
Firmness of Rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to guide me,
God's Eye to look before me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to speak for me,
God's Hand to guard me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to protect me,
God's Host to secure me
against snares of devils,
against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of nature,
against everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and a-near,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and these evils,
against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
against incantations of false prophets,
against black laws of heathenry,
against false laws of heretics,
against craft of idolatry,
against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
against every knowledge that endangers man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
against poison, against burning,
against drowning, against wounding,
so that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie down, Christ where I sit down, Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness,
Towards the Creator of Creation.

Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ.
May Thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

A NOVENA TO ST. JOSEPH ~ 3/10-3/19

This novena to St. Joseph requests divine assistance from someone close to our Lord, quite close indeed: His foster-father! Although he was from royal ancestry, a descendant of King David, St. Joseph has inspired the faithful for generations as a model of humility and service as a carpenter caring for his Holy Family. St. Bernard called him “the faithful and prudent servant whom the Lord appointed master over His household—His foster-father [and] the comfort and support of His Mother.”

Glorious St. Joseph, foster-father and protector of Jesus Christ! To you do I raise my heart and hands to implore your powerful intercession. Please obtain for me from the kind Heart of Jesus the help and graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. I ask particularly for the grace of a happy death, and the special favor I now implore (name it).
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel animated with confidence that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. 

V. O glorious St. Joseph, through the love you bear to Jesus Christ, and for the glory of His Name,
R. Hear my prayers and obtain my petitions. Amen.


3/10~Day 1 – St. Joseph Most Just, Pray for us!
3/11~Day 2 – St. Joseph Most Prudent, Pray for us!
3/12~Day 3 – St. Joseph Most Loving Husband, Pray for us!
3/13~Day 4 – St. Joseph Most Strong, Pray for us!
3/14~Day 5 – St. Joseph Most Obedient, Pray for us!
3/15~Day 6 – St. Joseph Most Faithful, Pray for us!
3/16~Day 7 – St. Joseph Pillar of Families, Pray for us!
3/17~Day 8 – St. Joseph Patron of the Dying, Pray for us!
3/18~Day 9 – St. Joseph Terror of Demons, Pray for us!
 
St. Thomas Aquinas, the preeminent 13th century theologian, and St. Teresa of Avila, the celebrated 16th century Carmelite nun, both praised St. Joseph’s ability to assist us in all our needs before God. Is it any wonder then that he is a patron saint of the Church, workers, families, home buyers and sellers, and, as we read in this novena, the grace of a happy death? Don’t be afraid to ask for his aid!

Be of Strong Heart During Lent

A Letter from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Next Wednesday, Feb. 18, we begin the season of Lent, the time when we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Easter Mystery. It is a time of preparation which over the centuries has taken many different forms.

Bishop DiMarzio's Bio

In the Message for Lent that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has issued this year, he has taken the theme: “Make your hearts firm.” (Jas 5:8) The season of Lent is the time when we are asked to firm up our faith, when we are to give special attention to training our will so that we can love God all the more. The phrase “make your hearts firm” has special meaning to me because five-and-a-half years ago I underwent quadruple bypass surgery. One of the wonderful gifts one receives following this surgery is a red heart-shaped pillow which is needed to hold tight to your chest whenever you cough since you do feel that you are coming apart. Quadruple bypass surgery entails breaking the sternum, commonly called the breastbone, for the surgery. It takes many months for that bone to heal and to this day I still feel the wires which were put in place to keep it together.

The pillow has a special meaning, as it is called the “Brave Heart Pillow.” Yes, your heart must be brave to undergo that type of operation. And so it is with Lent, we have that brave heart, for without brave hearts we will have wills that are weak and we will not be allowed to follow the will of God. As Pope Francis says in his Lenten Message, “As a way of overcoming indifference and our pretensions of self-sufficiency, I would invite you all to live this Lent as an opportunity for engaging in what Benedict XVI called a formation of the heart (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 31). A merciful heart does not mean a weak heart. Anyone who wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart, closed to the tempter but open to God. A head which lets itself be pieced by the Spirit so as to bring love along the roads that lead to our brothers and sisters. And, ultimately, a poor heart, one which realizes its own poverty and gives itself freely for others.”

Many times we see Lent as a time of mortification and that is good. To mortify means to kill, killing or deadening our wills through a set of good practices such as fasting, doing good works and trying to rein in our disordered appetites which hinder the full integration of our human person and to freely respond to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes this entails doing the things we do not want to do, which is the greatest kind of mortification. St. Paul tells us, “So then, my brothers, we have no obligation to human nature to be dominated by it. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the habits originating in the body, you will have life.” (Rm 8-13) How important it is that we acquire good habits. It is unfortunate that bad habits are much easier to acquire. To change our bad habits into good habits is something that we all can work on during Lent.

The Lenten tradition of 40-days of preparation has its roots in the Old Testament. In the Book of Deuteronomy, 9-18, we hear that Moses falls prostrate before Yahweh and spent 40 days and 40 nights with nothing to eat or drink on account of all the sins which the people of Israel had committed. They had broken His Covenant and Moses tried to restore the Covenant by his personal fasting.

In the First Book of Kings, we hear of the Prophet Elijah who on his journey to Horeb, where he was to encounter God, ate and drank to be strengthened for his walk of 40 days and 40 nights to reach Horeb. And so we see that fasting can be positive or negative in preparing us for the journey of Lent. We can abstain or we can do good works.

Perhaps our greatest example, however, is the Lord, Himself, who we hear on this First Sunday of Lent being tempted in all of the synoptic Gospels. We see that the temptations that the Lord undergoes all have something to do with our human nature, and all of the temptations come from the devil. We know that He is tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread, as we are to satisfy our basic human needs and natural desire for pleasure. We see how Jesus was tempted to jump into the pinnacle of the Temple with the promise that God would save Him, testing God’s providence in enhancing the human pride that comes from testing God. And finally, Jesus is tempted to bow down and worship the devil, to make a concession so that Jesus can have the whole world as His Kingdom. Through the course of our lifetime, we experience ourselves all of these temptations in some way.

And so, we return to the practices of Lent and the mortification which I mentioned previously. We must deaden the will to the wrong appetites, enabling us to be active in doing certain good works and passive in accepting the contradictions and the difficulties of our daily life.

At times, we need to mortify our interior senses. Sometimes our intelligence, or imagination, leaves us daydreaming and wasting time and not being able to get rid of a thought which leads us nowhere. Exteriorly, this is fasting which sometimes helps us to be more cognizant of our relationship to God and enables us to be more positive by giving up something and seeking God in our lives.

Mortification has been described as the drawbridge that enables us to enter into the castle of prayer, because prayer is the ultimate goal of mortification. We are not masochists as Christians, yet we know that without mortification we will not find the true happiness which is ours on Earth. Only the person who understands mortification, who can live simply and enjoys the good things of life, will understand how to accept the suffering that is part of every human life. Another spiritual author said that a day without mortification is a day lost because we have not united ourselves to God.

Finally, Jesus came to the cross having prepared Himself for 33 years. His disciples who are most intimate with Him, do not understand the mystery of the cross, not until the Resurrection.

And so it is with us, as we put out into the deep of Lent, we will not understand the meaning of our mortification, our suffering, our good works. Only at the time of the Resurrection, this Easter for us, will we understand the deeper meaning of why we have undergone this period of preparation that is so much part of our faith which at the same time enlivens and challenges our faith.

From the Tablet

Seeking God in the Silence

“Where shall the word be found, where will the word

Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence…”

∼ T.S. Eliot, Ash-Wednesday

One of the truly awful torments of modern life, from whose myriad aggressions no one is entirely safe, is noise. More and more, it fills the space that was once marked by that silence whose absence we seem increasingly not to notice. Nor even, it seems, to mind, so accustomed have we grown to ever higher and more intrusive levels of din. Indeed, so often are we in flight from silence, so quickly do we turn up the volume, that one might think the work of suppression part of a larger strategy to deflect the emptiness of our own lives. Thus the ambient noise allows us not to think, to leave unattended the whole inner life, which we might otherwise activate, were there only enough silence to encourage the exercise.


“We are no longer able to hear God,” warns Pope Benedict, “when there are too many different frequencies filling our ears.” Where the decibel levels are so screamingly shrill as to drive all the silence away, it is no surprise that his presence goes undetected. So where does one go to escape the din? And if such places actually exist, will it cost very much to stay? For how long? The writer Pico Iyer, author of a number of studies on the subject, tells us that he regularly disappears into the silence, sequestering himself every three or four months in a small monastic cell about a thousand feet above an ocean. Why does he do it? He goes, he tells us, “to become another self, the self that we all are if only we choose to unpack our overstuffed lives and leave our selves at home.”


It is obviously something very important to him, this entering into the silence. Where, effectively removed from the noise and the clutter of the daily round, he ventures with the utmost daring, “to lay claim to a mystery at the heart of me.” And I know just what he means, having myself spent a number of days in a comparable state of silence; I too found it wonderful and welcoming. Of course, unlike Mr. Pico, who finds himself seasonally ensconced in a monastery whose faith he does not share, I can’t imagine a setting both silent and yet without recourse to God. Except for the fact that Mr. Pico is free to come and go as he pleases, his situation strikes me as not much different from solitary confinement in a prison. The silence is undeniably there, all right, but it leads to a fixation on the self that seems, well, solipsistic.


So on what terms of incarceration do I spend my silent stretches? Well, the last time around, it was the result of an invitation to speak to a community of Cistercian monks, who had asked me to come and give a series of conferences on the spiritual life. Here are men who take the vocation of silence with utter seriousness. Their monastery, located high in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, had been founded in 1947 by a handful of Trappists from Gethsemani, Kentucky, determined on building a contemplative outpost in the heart of Mormon country. It was the aftermath of the Second World War, and among the GIs returning home, many having experienced firsthand the futility and horror of battle, there were some, a heroic few, who sought enlistment in a discipline more demanding even than the Marine Corps. It was holiness they were after. Unending intimacy with God. But it had to be pursued in a setting surrounded by, immersed in, silence. How else could they seek and find that Sounding Silence of which all the great mystics speak? There, amid the stillness, they would, in the words of T.S. Eliot, “be still and still moving / Into another intensity / For a further union, a deeper communion….”


And so it happened that a small contingent of resolute young men belonging to the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance, headed west in search of God. Throwing up a couple of Quonset huts for themselves, they set about in the spirit of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the order’s most celebrated member, to rediscover the joys of twelfth-century religious life.


So what was it like living among medievals in a world rendered blessedly mute save for the movement of the wind outside, the lovely lilt of music and prayer inside? It was as if time itself had stood still. Will heaven be like this? I wondered. In his moving encyclicalOn Christian Hope, Pope Benedict provides a glimpse—a sudden, luminous glint, as it were—of the joys that may await us on the other side of silence.


To imagine ourselves outside the temporality that imprisons us and in some way to sense that eternity is not an unending succession of days in the calendar, but something more like the supreme moment of satisfaction, in which totality embraces us and we embrace totality—this we can only attempt. It would be like plunging into the ocean of infinite love, a moment in which time—the before and after—no longer exists … such a moment is life in the full sense, a plunging ever anew into the vastness of being, in which we are simply overwhelmed with joy.


And while we do not as yet possess this life, we nevertheless feel ourselves drawn to it in the silence that beckons, soliciting us by its benign and gentle grasp to let go, “to put off” (again, the words of Eliot come to mind):


Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.


Can this happen without silence? Is it possible to acquire this repose of the soul, never mind how imperfect, unless there is silence? Certainly we long for it, and even in the midst of its noisy absence we feel ourselves drawn towards it; but without some conscious effort to create a space for it, nothing will happen. “A condition of complete simplicity,” is how Eliot describes it. And the cost, he asks? It can never be less than everything.


And all shall be well and
All manner of things shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.


So, yes, it will take some getting used to, this business of finding time for silence. A lifetime at least. But the effort will be worth it, providing as it must the setting for that necessary and salutary cultivation of the soul on which the life of holiness depends. And what really is silence but a whole world in which the spirit is set free to commune, not simply with its own deepest self, but with God himself. He Who Is.


Which is pretty much what the twenty or so monks living in Utah have been about all these years. Of that original group that began sixty or more years ago, not many have survived, and those who have, along with a handful of others who signed on later, all looked pretty long in the tooth to me. The abbot, for example, a most agreeable young man in his early seventies, told me the average age was just over eighty. I’d have put the figure rather higher than that. (Between conferences, I will confess, I could never be quite sure if anyone would survive.) Still, it was the oldest ones, those closest to the end of their journeys, who impressed me most. I think of dear Brother Felix, for example, who, God willing, must be in his late nineties by now. What a lovely man he was! Bent and gnarled by age and illness, his sight virtually gone, I watched him day by day moving in a sort of rhythmic silence from station to station, in a Via Dolorossa that had become his life.


And what will the fate of the monastery be, if fresh recruits cannot be found? Will God supply the need? He surely did seven centuries ago when the charism of Cistercian life found concrete expression in over five-hundred abbey churches strewn about the countryside of Northern Europe by the year 1300. Another one-hundred-and-fifty arose in the following century. “It’s a matter for prayer,” the Abbot says, his voice bespeaking a confidence borne of his own intense life of prayer.


All things being possible with God, I’d put my money on the monks. After all, isn’t prayer the thing they do best? And inhabiting, as they feel themselves obliged to do, a whole world of silence, the perfect medium for the life of prayer could scarcely be improved upon. Yes, I do believe God will reward such faithfulness to prayer with renewed life and vocations.

by REGIS MARTIN