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Have you lost your zeal for Christ? Pray this prayer to the Holy Spirit

tonia

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October 4, 2020

Have you lost your zeal for Christ? Pray this prayer to the Holy Spirit

Call upon the Holy Spirit to increase your love of God.

For many of us, we catch on fire with God’s love after a grace-filled conversion, but then after years of living in the world, our heart grows cold.What should we do?

The Holy Spirit is the one who can fill our heart with zeal, and the following prayer is one that has been used time and time again over the centuries. It was developed from the liturgy at Pentecost and is a favorite prayer of many people.

If you need a good holy “jolt,” pray this prayer and entrust your heart to the Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.

And kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

And you will renew the face of the earth.

Lord,

by the light of the Holy Spirit

you have taught the hearts of your faithful.

In the same Spirit

help us to relish what is right

and always rejoice in your consolation.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer to invite God into your soul at communion

raphael

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October 4, 2020

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Prayer to invite God into your soul at communion

When you receive Jesus in Holy Communion, invite him not only into your body, but also into your soul.

When we receive Jesus at Holy Communion, he physically enters our body, but does he also enter our soul?God does not force his way in, but knocks patiently at the door of our heart. He is ready to come in, but it is up to us to open the door.

Here is a prayer adapted from The Catholic prayer book and manual of meditations that actively invites God into our soul when receiving Holy Communion, allowing us to accept his presence of love in the depths of our heart.

Penetrate my heart with a due sense of your immense bounty and goodness. If I put no obstacle in the way, you, my heavenly spouse, will teach me to think and judge of things as you judge and think of them. I will henceforth leave myself entirely to your divine guidance. Let my soul be as a canvas on which you may trace your own portrait. Grant that I may endeavor to please you alone, not according to my ideas, but to yours; not in preventing your inspirations by my own efforts, but in a faithful correspondence with them.

AND TODAY WE CELEBRATE… Saint of the Day: St. Francis of Assisi (SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4)

raphael

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October 4, 2020

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AND TODAY WE CELEBRATE… Saint of the Day: St. Francis of Assisi (SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4)

“The Man of Poverty”. Founder of the Lesser Brothers (1181-1226)

His life

+ Francis Bernardone was born in Assisi, Italy. The son of a prosperous cloth merchant, Francis discovered his unique vocation following a year of imprisonment (after a failed military campaign) and a long period of illness.

+ Inspired by Christ’s instruction that his followers should sell all and make disciples of all nations, and in response to a mystical experience while praying in the chapel of San Damiano, Francis abandoned the luxury of his youth and adopted a life of radical poverty and penance.

+ Disinherited by his father, Francis chose to wed “Lady Poverty” and began to work as an itinerant preacher, caring for the poor and lepers. He soon attracted many followers and his band of “lesser brothers” (formally known as “Friars Minor”) traveled throughout Italy preaching the gospel in simplicity and charity.

+ The Rule of the Friars was approved in 1210 and, in 1212, Francis established a second Order with Saint Clare: the “Poor Ladies of San Damiano.” By 1219 the time of the Franciscans’ first General Chapter, there were more than five thousand friars.

+ Francis dedicated his life to prayer, simplicity, and to being poor with the poor and died on October 3, 1226. He was canonized in 1228 and is honored as one of the most beloved saints in the Church’s history.

+ In 1224, as Francis was praying at a hermitage on Monte La Verna, he received the gift of the stigmata. Each year, Franciscan friars and sisters, as well as the Poor Clares, celebrate the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis on September 17.

For prayer and reflection

“For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation… He is the man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man… How I would like a Church which is poor for the poor!”—Pope Francis

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember Saint Damaris of Athens. According to ancient tradition, she was converted by Saint Paul the Apostle during his time in Athens (see Acts 17). No other details of her life have come down to us.

Prayer

O God, by whose gift Saint Francis

was conformed to Christ in poverty and humility,

grant that, by walking in Francis’ footsteps,

we may follow your Son,

and, through joyful charity,

come to be united with you.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.

PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4)

raphael

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October 4, 2020

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PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4)

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prayer for the Morning

Let Christ be in our minds and on our lips!

Let us sing songs of praise!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!

HYMN

Jerusalem, my happy home,

When shall I come to thee?

When shall my sorrows have an end?

Thy joys when shall I see?

Thy walls are made of precious stones,

Thy bulwarks diamonds square;

Thy gates are of right orient pearl;

Exceeding rich and rare;

Thy vineyards and thine orchards are

Most beautiful and fair,

Full furnishèd with trees and fruits,

Most wonderful and rare.

Thy gardens and thy gallant walks

Continually are green:

There grow such sweet and pleasant flow’rs

As nowhere else are seen.

There’s nectar and ambrosia made,

There’s musk and civet sweet;

There many a fair and dainty plant

Is trodden under feet.

There cinnamon, there sugar grows,

Here nard and balm abound.

What tongue can tell or heart conceive

The joys that there are found?

PSALM 101

The Lord searches all hearts and understands all the mind’s thoughts. (1 Chr 28:9)

To cultivate the vineyard of our hearts in a healthy way, we must build suitable protective walls around it, like the vineyard owner. One strong wall is the habit of choosing to dwell on what is good, as Saint Paul recommends in the second reading. In this psalm, the faithful and the wicked who inhabit the inner house of the mind may be understood as the conflicting habits of thought that produce either nourishing fruit or only wild grapes.

My song is of mercy and justice;

I sing to you, O Lord.

I will walk in the way of perfection.

O when, Lord, will you come?

I will walk with blameless heart

within my house;

I will not set before my eyes

whatever is base.

I will hate the ways of the crooked;

they shall not be my friends.

The false-hearted must keep far away;

the wicked I disown.

The man who slanders his neighbor in secret

I will bring to silence.

The man of proud looks and haughty heart

I will never endure.

I look to the faithful in the land

that they may dwell with me.

He who walks in the way of perfection

shall be my friend.

No man who practices deceit

shall live within my house.

No man who utters lies shall stand

before my eyes.

Morning by morning I will silence

all the wicked in the land,

uprooting from the city of the Lord

all who do evil.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Romans 2:15-16)

They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus.

Behold, I know your thoughts. (Jb 21:27)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit. (Jn 15:5)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;

he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior,

born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old

that he would save us from our enemies,

from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

free to worship him without fear,

holy and righteous in his sight

all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet

of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

to give his people knowledge of salvation

by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

to shine on those who dwell in darkness

and the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father…

INTERCESSIONS

With Christ, let us pray:

R/Our song is of mercy and justice.

Purify our hearts,

– that we may think thoughts of peace. R/

Purify our minds,

– that we may think thoughts of truth. R/

Purify our tongues,

– that we may speak words of love. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

O Lord, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep Gospel thoughts in the hearts and minds of your people for ever, and direct their hearts toward you, through your Word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (cf. 1 Chr 29:18)

PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3)

raphael

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October 3, 2020

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PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3)

Prayer for the Evening

Vigil of the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

God is with us always: let us give thanks and praise!

Glory to the Father…. Alleluia!

HYMN

The keeper of a vineyard dreamed

Of vines alive with fruit

And tended vine and dream alike

Down years of sharp dispute,

As others came to claim the land,

To drink its fruit as spoil,

Without a grower’s love of growth

Or farmer’s love of soil.

The keeper had a child, firstborn,

Who came to work the land.

The malcontents desired his life

But did not understand—

This life, once it was given up,

This blood, once spilled like wine,

Would soak down deep into the ground

And rise up in the vine.

And then the plant, fresh charged, would be

Itself a vein of grace,

A way the keeper might extend

A hopeful, green embrace,

Connecting child and foe and friend,

Co-mingled and entwined,

To be and bear the fruit of God

In one life-giving vine.

PSALM 119:41-48

You shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ez 36:28)

Not every aspect of a parable is meant to apply to us. To imagine ourselves tenants of an absentee landlord rather than responsible heirs laboring in our Father’s vineyard is the fundamental mistake we are invited to make by a short-sighted notion of freedom not rooted in our communion with Christ.

Lord, let your love come upon me,

the saving help of your promise.

And I shall answer those who taunt me

for I trust in your word.

Do not take the word of truth from my mouth

for I trust in your decrees.

I shall always keep your law

for ever and ever.

I shall walk in the path of freedom

for I seek your precepts.

I will speak of your will before kings

and not be abashed.

Your commands have been my delight;

these I have loved.

I will worship your commands and love them

and ponder your will.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Leviticus 26:9-12)

I will look with favor upon you, and make you fruitful and numerous, as I carry out my covenant with you. So much of the old crops will you have stored up for food that you will have to discard them to make room for the new. I will set my Dwelling among you, and will not disdain you. Ever present in your midst, I will be your God, and you will be my people.

I will never leave you until I have done

what I promised you. (Gn 28:15)

CANTICLE OF MARY

You are God in Israel and I am your servant and have done all these things by your command. (cf. 1 Kgs 18:36)

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father…

INTERCESSIONS

As laborers in God’s vineyard, we pray:

R/Lord, make us know your ways.

You have called us to labor for the harvest:

– make us faithful and loving servants of the Gospel. R/

You have made us heirs of your Kingdom in Jesus Christ:

– let us treasure our heritage always. R/

You have promised us eternal life:

– let us work zealously to bring your life to all people. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

May we walk the paths of life in God’s service! Amen.

MARIAN ANTIPHON

Antiphon for the Memorial of

Our Lady of the Rosary,

October 7

The daughters of Zion saw her flourishing

in blossoms of roses,

and pronounced her most blessed.

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;

vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae.

Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes

in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia ergo, advocata nostra,

illos tuos misericordes oculos

ad nos converte.

Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,

nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy,

our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To you do we cry,

poor banished children of Eve.

To you do we send up our sighs,

mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, O most gracious advocate,

your eyes of mercy toward us,

and after this our exile

show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V/ Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

R/ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Prayer that I may never stray from Our Lady’s care

Prayers

tonia

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October 3, 2020

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Prayer that I may never stray from Our Lady’s care

Ask with the confidence of a child with his mother.

A prayer for those times when we yearn for a Mother’s care:

O most wonderful Mother,

don’t forget me

when I forget you;

don’t abandon me

when I abandon you;

Follow me with your heavenly gaze

and call me when I go away from you;

search for me when I hide;

pursue me when I flee;

compel me when I defy you;

convert me when I stand against you;

lift me up when I fall,

and lead me back along your path

when I go astray.

Amen!

Feeling alone and depressed? Pray this prayer to St. Jude for hope

tonia

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October 3, 2020

0

Feeling alone and depressed? Pray this prayer to St. Jude for hope

When the world turns to shades of black and gray, pray to St. Jude.

Depression affects everyone at some point during their lives. Whether it is severe depression or something more mild, we all know that feeling of being alone and forgotten. It can take us down a dark path, one where there is little light at the end of the tunnel.The good news is that God wants to lift you out of that rut and bring you into the glorious light of day. Prayer, matched with proper medical attention, can be a powerful aid in bringing a person out of the depths of depression into a new life of Christian joy. Below is a powerful prayer to St. Jude, a saint who was often forgotten throughout history because of his name (in Latin his name is “Judas,” but he is not the same person as Judas Iscariot). Jude is a constant intercessor for all hopeless causes and wants to help you in your need.

St. Jude, friend to those in need, I am weary from grief, without joy, without hope,

struggling to find the light I know is in my soul. I turn to you, my most trusted intercessor.

Take away this emptiness and the pain of my broken heart. In your compassion, help my

tears to lead me to a place of peace in my heart. Too long have I forgotten the goodness

of God’s world. Heal me. I yearn to feel light, to feel joy. Envelop me in brightness, and do

not hold back. And I promise, if I receive these gifts, I will share them always in your

name.

Amen.

A Prayer to My Lord

tonia

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October 3, 2020

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My Lord,

I offer you my thoughts:

to be fixed on you;

My words:

to have you for their theme;

My actions:

to reflect my love for you;

My sufferings:

to be endured for your greater glory.

I want to do what you ask of me:

In the way you ask,

For as long as you ask,

Because you ask it.

Lord, enlighten my understanding,

Strengthen my will,

Purify my heart,

and make me holy.

Help me to repent of my past sins

And to resist temptation in the future.

Help me to rise above my human weaknesses

And to grow stronger as a Christian.

Amen.

Pray to your Guardian Angel as Padre Pio did

raphael

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October 3, 2020

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Pray to your Guardian Angel as Padre Pio did

Angel of God, my guardian,

to whom the goodness

of the Heavenly Father entrusts me.

Enlighten, protect and guide me now and for ever.

Amen

What is reparation? And why is it my best response to evil?

tonia

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October 3, 2020

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What is reparation? And why is it my best response to evil?

The word traces back to the Latin for “make ready again” … it’s the way we get ourselves and our world ready for healing.

When faced with terrible evils, we often feel powerless. “What can I do? How can we help?” Perhaps the most powerful thing we can do is easy to forget, because we can’t detect the results with our five senses: that is, making spiritual acts of reparation for these sins. Holy hours, an extra Rosary, fasting—all of these are ways we can help to heal the wounds caused to the Body of Christ by terrible crimes.Reparation comes from the Latin reparare, meaning to make ready again. So, when we make reparation to God, we are making our souls, indeed, the world, ready again, disposed again, to receive His grace, like tilling the soil.
But how exactly does this work? How can I do something to make up for someone else’s wrong? And in addressing the wrongs of the world, what could we do that Christ didn’t?

The answers to both questions are found in that phrase you probably glossed over in the first paragraph: the Body of Christ.

By our baptism, Christians are reborn as new creatures in Christ, and become a part of Him—He lives in us, and we live in Him. He is our head, and we are His body, as St. Paul explores beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians.

So, since we are all joined in the mysticus corpus, our actions affect each other spiritually, both for good and ill. My sins wound not only myself, but the whole body. The priest, acting in the person of Christ and representative of the whole Church, thus reconciles me both to God and to the Church.
Jesus has won our salvation for us, and we take to ourselves the effect of that atonement by Baptism and Reconciliation, where the grace merited by the Cross is available to us. Our baptism also allows us to cooperate in our sanctification, our being built up in holiness—and not just for ourselves, but for the whole Church, indeed, the whole world—by uniting our actions with the sacrifice of Christ.

We can make our own sacrifices, our own acts to repair the wounds made by sin in the world, and by virtue of being Christians, and uniting our actions to those of Christ, our acts become truly efficacious. By ourselves, we can do nothing, but we can do all things in Christ, for its by his strength that we act. (Philippians 4:13)

This helps us to understand one of the most confusing passages in the New Testament. In Colossians 1:24, St. Paul writes, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church.” What could possibly be lacking in the work of Jesus? Our participation in it! St. Paul unites his own suffering to Christ’s and offers it for the Church.

St. Thomas Aquinas has a beautiful commentary on this:

I complete, that is, I add my own amount; and I do this in my flesh, that is, it is I myself who am suffering. Or, we could say that Paul was completing the sufferings that were lacking in his own flesh. for what was lacking was that, just as Christ had suffered in his own body, so he should also suffer in Paul, his member, and in similar ways in others. And Paul does this for the sake of his body, which is the Church that was to be redeemed by Christ.

In his homily on this passage, St. John Chrysostom notes that St. Paul offering his suffering “demonstrates how deeply in love he is,” born with Christ, the head, and the Church, His Body. It is acting with the love of God, agape, to take on suffering for another’s sake. Just as Christ, out of love, offered his sufferings for our sake, so we, out of love and united with Christ, can offer our suffering for the sake of others.

So, when we see our Church suffering, our love for Christ and His Bride moves us to suffer on its behalf, to offer our trials and tribulations for its sake. There are so many things we can do, from going to adoration or saying a Rosary to fasting through breakfast or asking for Mass intentions for that purpose. When we join our acts with the saving action of Christ, they become not only ours, but His, making them efficacious.

When we feel helpless in the face of evil, we must not fail to do what we can, and to remember how truly effective it is.

sharing the faith received

sharing the faith received

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Saints and More

Recent Comments

Articles

Prayers

Exhortations

Saints and More

Call upon the Holy Spirit to increase your love of God.

When you receive Jesus in Holy Communion, invite him not only into your body, but also into your soul.

“The Man of Poverty”. Founder of the Lesser Brothers (1181-1226)

His life

For prayer and reflection

Spiritual bonus

Prayer

Prayer for the Morning

HYMN

PSALM 101

Word of God (Romans 2:15-16)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

INTERCESSIONS

Prayer for the Evening

HYMN

PSALM 119:41-48

Word of God (Leviticus 26:9-12)

CANTICLE OF MARY

INTERCESSIONS

MARIAN ANTIPHON

Ask with the confidence of a child with his mother.

When the world turns to shades of black and gray, pray to St. Jude.

The word traces back to the Latin for “make ready again” … it’s the way we get ourselves and our world ready for healing.

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