OUR LADY OF SORROWS

September: Month dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows
Maybe we could all do this Novena and ask for the upcoming Synod to be holy, and NOT to accept any type of marriage, since the Synod is supposed to be for the family. We should also pray that the centuries' old Tradition be upheld as to who should be able to go to Holy Communion. It is NOT for everyone, you know! And, maybe we could ask our Lady for the return of all those who have fallen away from the Faith, or have just given it up, especially those in our own families.




SPECIAL 30 DAY NOVENA
THE PIETA
It has long been a custom in the Church to say this prayer of petition on 30 consecutive days. It is also recommended as a Lenten devotion as well as for all Fridays of the year.
Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of Virgins, Mother of Mercy, through that sword of sorrow which pierced thy tender heart whilst thy only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, suffered death and ignominy on the Cross; through that filial tenderness and pure love He hast for thee, while from His Cross He recommended thee to the care and protection of His beloved disciple, Saint John, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and need; have compassion on my anxieties and cares; assist and comfort me in all my infirmities and miseries. Thou art the Mother of Mercies, the only refuge of the needy and the orphan, of the desolate and afflicted.

Cast therefore an eye of pity on this sorrowful child of Eve, and hear my prayer; for since, in just punishment of my sins, I find myself surrounded by a multitude of evils, and oppressed with much anguish of spirit, where can I fly for more secure shelter, O loving Mother of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, than under the wings of thy maternal protection? Listen, therefore, I beseech thee, with an air of pity and compassion, to my humble and earnest request.

I ask it through the infinite mercy of thy dear Son: through that love and humility with which He embraced our human nature, when through thine own obedience to the Divine Will, thou didst consent to become His Mother, and Whom after nine months, you didst bring forth from thy chaste womb, to visit this world, and bless it with His presence. I ask it, through the anguish of mind of thy beloved Son, our dear Savior, on Mount Olivet, when He besought His Eternal Father, to remove from Him, if possible, the bitter chalice of His future passion. I ask it, through the three-fold repetition of His prayers in the Garden, from whence afterwards in sorrow thou didst accompany Him to the scene of His death and sufferings.

In ask it, through the laceration of His sinless flesh, caused by the cords and whips with which He was bound and scourged, when stripped of His seamless garments, for which His executioners afterwards cast lots. I ask it, through the scoffs and ignominies by which He was insulted; the false accusations and unjust sentence by which He was condemned to death, and which He bore with enduring patience. I ask it, through His bitter tears and bloody sweat; His silence and resignation; His sadness and grief of heart.

I ask it, through the Blood which trickled from His royal and Sacred Head, when struck with the scepter of a reed, and pierced with His Crown of Thorns. I ask it, through the excruciating torments He suffered, when His hands and feet were fastened with nails to the tree of the Cross. I ask it, through His unbearable thirst, and bitter potion of vinegar and gall. I ask it, through His dereliction on the Cross, when He exclaimed: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? I ask it, through His Mercy extended to the good thief, and through His recommending His precious Soul and spirit into the hands of His Eternal Father, before He expired, saying: “It is finished.” I ask it, through the Blood mixed with water, which issued from His Sacred Side when pierced with a lance from whence a flood of grace and mercy has flowed to us.

I ask it, through His immaculate life, bitter passion and ignominious death on the Cross, at which even nature itself was thrown into convulsions by the bursting of rocks, rending of the veil of the temple, the earthquake and darkness, of the sun and the moon. I ask it, through His glorious victory over death, when He arose again to life on the Third day, and through the joy which His appearance for forty days, gaveth thee, His Blessed Mother, His Apostles, and the rest of His disciples; when in thy and their presence, He miraculously ascended into Heaven.

I ask it, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, infused into the hearts of His disciples; when He descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues, and by which they were inspired with zeal for the conversion of the world, when they went to preach the Gospel. I ask it, through the glorious appearance of thy Son, at the last day, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire. I ask it, through the compassion He bore in this life, and the wonderful joy thou didst feel at thine Assumption into Heaven, where thou doth eternally contemplate His Divine perfection.
O glorious and ever Blessed Virgin, comfort the heart of thy suppliant, by obtaining for me . . .(Here mention or reflect on your request.)

And as I believe that my Divine Savior honors thee as His beloved Mother, to whom He refuses nothing contrary to His honor, so let me soon experience thy powerful intercession. Wherefore, O most Blessed Virgin, beside my present petition, and whatever else I may stand in need of, obtain for me also of thy dear Son, our Lord and our God, a lively faith, firm hope, perfect charity, true contrition of heart and genuine tears of compunction, sincere confession, satisfaction and deliverance from sin, love of God and my neighbor, a correct attitude to the world, patience to suffer insults, even death itself, for love of thy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Obtain likewise for me, O Holy Mother of God, perseverance in good works, the carrying out of my good resolutions, mortification of my self-will, a holy life, and, at my last moments, a strong and sincere repentance, with such presence of mind, as will enable me to receive the last Sacrament of the Church worthily, so as to die in God’s friendship and favor.

Lastly, I beseech thee, for the Souls of my parents, brethren, relatives and benefactors, both living and dead, life everlasting, from the only giver of every good and perfect gift, the Lord God Almighty: to Whom be all power, now and forever. Amen.

Source: www.catholictradition.org/Passion/pieta.htm
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For Sunday

MOTHER of my God, look down upon a poor sinner, who has recourse to thee and puts his trust in thee. I am not worthy that thou shouldst even cast thine eyes upon me; but I know that thou, beholding Jesus thy Son dying for sinners, dost yearn exceedingly to save them. O Mother of Mercy, look on my miseries and have pity upon me. Men say thou art the refuge of the sinner, the hope of the desperate, the aid of the lost; thou art, then, my refuge, hope and aid. It is thy prayers which must save me. For the love of Jesus Christ be my help; reach forth thy hand to the poor fallen sinner who recommends himself to thee. I know that it is thy joy to aid the sinner when thou canst; help me now, for thou canst help me. By my sins I have forfeited the grace of God and my own soul. I place myself in thy hands; oh, tell me what to do that I may regain the grace of God, and I will do it. My Saviour bids me to come to thee for help; He wills that I should look to thy pity; that so, not only the merits of thy Son, but thine own prayers, too, may unite to save me. To thee, then, I have recourse: pray to Jesus for me; and make known the great good thou canst do for one who trusts in thee. Be it done unto me according to my hope. Amen.
(3 Hail Marys in reparation for blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

For Monday

MOST holy Mary, Queen of heaven, I who was once the slave of the Evil One now dedicate myself to thy service forever; and I offer myself to honor and to serve thee as long as I live. Accept me for thy servant, and cast me not away from thee, as I deserve. In thee, O my Mother, I place all my hope. All blessing and thanksgiving be to God, who in His mercy gave me this trust in thee. True it is, that in time past I have fallen miserably into sin; but by the merits of Jesus Christ, and by thy prayers, I hope that God has pardoned me. But this is not enough, my Mother. One thought distresses me; it is that I may yet lose the grace of God. Danger is ever near; the devil sleeps not; fresh temptations assail me. Protect me, then, my Queen; help me against the assaults of my spiritual enemy. Never let me sin again, or offend Jesus thy Son. Let me not by sin lose my soul, Heaven, and my God. This one grace, Mary, I ask of thee; this is my desire, this may your prayers obtain for me. Such is my hope. Amen.
(3 Hail Marys in reparation for blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

For Tuesday

MOST holy Mary, Mother of Goodness, Mother of Mercy, when I reflect upon my sins and upon the moment of my death, I tremble and am confounded. O my sweetest Mother, in the blood of Jesus, in thy intercession, are my hopes. Comforter of the sad, abandon me not at that hour; fail not to console me in that affliction. If even now I am so tormented by remorse for the sins I have committed, the uncertainty of my pardon, the danger of a relapse, and the strictness of the Judgment, how will it be with me then? O my Mother, before death overtakes me, obtain for me great sorrow for my sins, a true amendment, and constant fidelity to God for the remainder of my life. And when at length my hour has come, then do thou, Mary, my hope, be my aid in those great troubles wherewith my soul will be encompassed. Strengthen me, that I may not despair when the enemy sets my sins before my face. Obtain for me at that moment grace to invoke thee often, so that with thy sweet name and that of thy most holy Son upon my lips I may breathe forth my spirit. This grace thou hast granted to many of thy servants; this, too, is my hope and my desire. Amen
(3 Hail Marys in reparation for blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

For Wednesday

MOTHER of God, most holy Mary, how often by my sins have I merited hell! Long ago, perhaps, judgment would have gone forth against my first mortal sin, hadst thou not, in thy tender pity, delayed the justice of God, and afterward attracted me by thy sweetness to have confidence in thy prayers. And oh, how very often should I have fallen in the dangers which beset my steps hadst thou not, loving Mother that thou art, preserved me by the grace thou didst obtain for me by thy prayers. But, my Queen, what will thy pity and favors avail me, if after all I perish in the flames of hell? If there was once a time when I loved thee not, now, next to God, I love thee before all. Wherefore, henceforth and forever, let me not turn my back upon thee and upon my God, who through thee hast granted me so many mercies. O Lady, most worthy of all love, let it not be I thy child, should be doomed to hate and to curse thee forever in hell. Thou wilt surely never permit thy servant to be lost who loves thee. O Mary, say not that I ever can be lost! Yet lost I shall assuredly be if I abandon thee. But who could ever have the heart to leave thee? Who can ever forget thy love? No, it is impossible for that man to perish who faithfully recommends himself to thee and has recourse to thee. Only leave me not, my Mother, in my own hands, or I am lost! Let me but cling to thee! Save me, my hope! Save me from hell; or, rather, save me from sin, which alone can condemn me to hell. Amen.
(3 Hail Marys in reparation for blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

For Thursday

QUEEN of Heaven, thou sittest enthroned above all the choirs of the angels nearest to God; from this vale of miseries, I, a poor sinner, say to thee, “Hail Mary,” praying to thee in thy love to turn upon me thy gracious eyes. See, Mary, the dangers among which I dwell, and shall ever have to dwell while I live upon this earth. I may yet lose my soul, heaven and God. In thee, Lady, is my hope. I love thee; and I yearn for the time when I shall see myself safe at thy feet. What shall I kiss that hand, which has dispensed to me so many graces? Alas, it is too true, my Mother, that I have ever been very ungrateful during my whole life; but if I get to heaven, then I will love thee there every moment for all eternity and make there reparation in some part for my ingratitude by ever blessing and praising thee. Thanks be to God that He has granted me this hope through the precious blood of Jesus, and through thy powerful intercession. This has been the hope of all thy true lovers; and not one of them has been defrauded of his hope. No, neither shall I be defrauded of this hope. O Mary, pray to thine own Son Jesus, as I too pray to Him, by the merits of His passion, to strengthen and increase this hope. Amen
(3 Hail Marys in reparation for blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

For Friday

O MARY, thou art the noblest, highest, purest, fairest creature of God, the holiest of all creatures! Oh, that all men knew thee, loved thee, my Queen, as thou deservest! Yet great is my consolation, Mary, in that there are blessed souls in the courts of heaven, and just souls still on earth, whose hearts are enthralled by thy beauty and goodness. But above all I rejoice in this, that our God Himself loves thee alone more than all men and angels together. I too, O loveliest Queen, I, a miserable sinner, dare to love thee, though my love is too little; would that I had a greater love, a more tender love; this thou must gain for me, since to love thee is a great mark of predestination, and a grace which God grants to those who shall be saved. Moreover, O my Mother, when I reflect upon the debt I owe thy Son, I see He deserves of me an immeasurable love. Do thou, then, who hast no other desire but to see Him loved, pray that I may have this grace – a great love for Jesus Christ. Obtain it, thou who dost obtain what thou desirest. I covet not goods of earth, nor honors, nor riches, but I desire that which thine own heart desires most – to love my God alone. Oh, can it be that thou wilt not aid me in a desire so acceptable to thee? No, it is impossible! Even now I feel thy help; even now thou dost pray for me. Pray for me, Mary, pray; nor ever cease to pray, till thou seest me safe in heaven, where I shall be certain of possessing and of loving my God and thee, my dearest Mother, forever and ever. Amen.
(3 Hail Marys in reparation for blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

For Saturday

MOST holy Mary, I know the graces which thou hast obtained for me, and I know the ingratitude which I have shown thee. The ungrateful man is unworthy of favors, and yet for all this I will not distrust in thy mercy. O my great Advocate, have pity on me. Thou, Mary, art the stewardess of every grace which God vouchsafes to give us sinners, and therefore did He make thee so mightily rich and kind, that thou mightest succor us. I will that I may be saved: in thy hands I place my eternal salvation, to thee I consign my soul. I will to be associated with those who are thy special servants; reject me not. Thou art always seeking the wretched to console them. Cast not away, then a wretched sinner who has recourse to thee. Speak for me, Mary; thy Son will grant what thou shalt ask Him. Take me under thy protection, and it is enough for me; for with thee to guard me I fear no ill – no, not even my sins, because thou wilt obtain God’s pardon for them; neither evil spirits, because thou art far mightier than hell; nor my Judge Jesus Christ, for at thy prayer He will lay aside His wrath. Protect me, then, my Mother; obtain for me pardon of my sins, love of Jesus, holy perseverance, a good death, and heaven. It is true, I merit not these graces; yet do thou only ask them of our God and I shall obtain them. Pray, then, to Jesus for me. Mary, my Queen, in thee I trust; in this I trust, I rest, I live; and with this hope I wish to die. Amen

(3 Hail Marys in reparation for blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary.)


Nihil Obstat: John M. Fearns, S.T.D.,
Censor Librorum.
Imrimatur:
+Francis Cardinal Spellman,
Archiepiscopus Neo Eboracensis.
Neo Eboraci February 19, 1947.


Source: www.olrl.org/pray/

Quote from Fulton Sheen:

“If the Father gave His Son a Cross and the Mother a sword, then somehow sorrow does fit into the Divine plan of life. If Divine Innocence and His Mother, who was a sinless creature, both underwent agonies, it cannot be that life is a snare and a mockery, but rather it is made clear that love and sorrow often go together in this life and that only in the next life is sorrow left behind.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen
1895-1979


*More tomorrow on our Blessed Mother's Name

14th Sunday after Pentecost

Today is the 14th Sunday after Pentecost. We hear about all of sins of the flesh, self-pleasure, and how to avoid them in this world, since we are attacked every day by the enemy, Satan and his minions. Now, to the readings for today. I'm going to focus on what St. Paul writes to the Galatians. He talks about mortifying his flesh, in order to appease God, Who has rescued him.

(Gal. V. 16-24.) Brethren, Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh: for the flesh lusteth against ,the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: for these are contrary one to another: so that you do not the things that you would. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are, fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunken­ness, revellings, and such like: of the which I foretell to you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mild­ness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences.

As our Abbot Gueranger says:

'Flesh and blood have had no share in their divine birth; flesh and blood have no hand in their regenerated life. Their first birth being in the flesh, they were flesh, and did the works of death and ignominy mentioned in the Epistle, showing at every turn that they were from slime of earth; but, born of the Spirit, they are spirit, and do the works of the spirit, in spite of the flesh which is always part of their being. For, by giving them of His own life, the Spirit has emancipated them, by the power of love, from the tyranny of sin, which held dominion over their members; and, having been grafted on Christ, they bring forth fruit unto God.'

Man, therefore, who was once a slave to concupiscence, has regained on the on the Cross of Christ that equilibrium of his existence which is true liberty. The supremacy, which the soul had forfeited in punishment for her revolt against God, has been restored to her by the laver of the water of Baptism...He too demands atonement...For this purpose He mercifully takes man, now that he is enfranchised, and confides to him the task of sharing with His divine Majesty in taking revenge on their common enemy and usurper. Then again, this mortifying the flesh and keeping it in subjection is a necessary means for retaining the good position already obtained. It is true that the rebel has been made incapable of damaging those who are in Christ Jesus, and who walk not according to the flesh and its vile suggestions; but it is equally true that the rebel is rebel still, and is ever watching for opportunities to assail the spirit. If one were Antony in the desert, the flesh would be fierce in its assaults even there. If the saint were a Paul, just fresh from the third heaven of his sublime revelations, the flesh would have impudence enough to buffet even him. So that, had we no past sins to atone for, the commonest prudence would urge us to take severe measures of precaution against an enemy who is so fearfully untiring in his hatred of us, and, what is worse, lives always in our own home. St. Paul, of whom we were just speaking, says of himself: "I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest, perhaps...I should become reprobate!"

So, if Paul still had to fight these tendencies even after what he went through, we too need to rein in our urges in order to appease God, Who will judge us according to our lives.


Our Lord Himself pretty much says the same in the Gospel from St. Matthew.

(Matt. VI. 24-33.) At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the body more than the raiment? Behold the birds of the air; for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? And for raiment, why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they labor not, neither do they spin; but I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. Now, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which is to-day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, how much more you, O ye of little faith? Be not solicitous, therefore, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that .you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and his justice; and all these things shall be added unto you."


God and Mammon or riches, whereby also, the other goods and pleasures of the world are understood. These we cannot serve at the same time, because they command things diametrically opposed to each other; for instance, God prohibits usury, theft, deceit, etc.; to which the desire for wealth impels us. God commands that we keep holy Sundays and holy days, and devote them to His service; the desire for riches tempts man to omit religious worship and to seek temporal gain; it disturbs him even in church, so that he is only present with his body, but absent in mind with his temporal goods and business.

How important, therefore, is it that we reflect earnestly upon the words of Christ: "No one can serve two masters." "He who is not with Me is against Me;" "He who gathereth not with Me, scattereth."


In the service of the Lord, and it should encourage us in the divine service. "I myself," says the Lord, "will be thy great reward." "Thou hast made us kings, that we might reign eternally," so rejoice the saints in heaven, as St. John affirms.

PRAYER. O Lord Jesus! give me a firm confidence in Thy Divine Providence, and increase it daily in me, that I may confidently believe in all my concerns, that if I above all seek the kingdom of God and His justice, the rest shall be added unto me.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Please?

DECOLLATION OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

Today is the feast day of the decollation(beheading) of St. John the Baptist. He was the last prophet of the Old Testament. He was purified in his mother's womb at the salutation of our Blessed Mother when she visited St. Elizabeth, who was carrying the Baptist. He was the precursor of Christ; he pointed him out at the river Jordan. He then baptized Him at His request. Anyway, this is the day he was beheaded by Herod at the request of Salome, the daughter of Herodias, his brother's wife. Since it had been told to him by the Baptist that he could NOT have his brother's wife, a plot was schemed to kill the Baptist. Salome danced for Herod and pleased him and filled him with lust. He told her to ask for anything and he would get it for her. She asked for the head of John the Baptist. This dismayed Herod, but he had it done.

John had said concerning Christ: "He must increase and I must decrease." Thus the feast of the Decollation of St. John may be considered as one of the landmarks of the liturgical year. With the Greeks it is a holy day of obligation. (It doesn't even get an honorable mention in the western Church anymore). This Feast's great antiquity in the Latin Church is evidenced by the mention made of it in the martyrology called St. Jerome's, and by the place it occupies in the Gelasian and Gregorian sacramentaries. The precursor's blessed death took place about the feast Pasch; but, that it might be more freely celebrated, this day was chosen, whereon his sacred head was discovered at Emesa.

The vengeance of God fell heavily upon Herod Antipas. Josephus(a Jewish historian, who I believe converted), relates how he was overcome by the Arabian Aretas, whose daughter he had repudiated in order to follow his wicked passions; and the Jews attributed the defeat to the murder of St. John. He was deposed by Rome from his tetrarchate, and banished to Lyons in Gaul(France), where the ambitious Herodias shared his disgrace. As to her dancing daughter Salome, there is a tradition gathered from ancient authors, that, having gone out one winter day to dance upon a frozen river, she fell through into the water; the ice, immediately closing round her neck, cut off her head, which bounded upon the surface, thus continuing for some moments the dance of death.


Talk about Divine Justice! (I hope it's true; it seems so appropriate)!

St. John the Baptist, please pray for unrepentant sinners, especially those in our own families.

St. Augustine

Today is the feast day of St. Augustine, one of the pillars of the early Church and a Doctor of the same Church. This means he knows what he is talking about! We should all read his 'Confessions', which he talks about his conversion back to the Church he had left for 30+ years while he was wandering around searching for the Truth. He had gone through a time where he didn't know where to turn for help. He had questioned the earth, sky, the seas, and all the creatures of the earth trying to find that peace of mind of knowing what was going on around him, and where life and everything came from. They all answered him: "We are not what you seek; seek above us. Seek Him Who made us."

His mother, St. Monica, had prayed for him for 30+ years, to no avail. However, after that time, because of her prayers and enlisting St. Ambrose, another Doctor of the Church. He finally returned to his rightful place, within the fold of the True God. And boy, what a transformation! He became so fervent in his faith that he helped thousands come to that same Truth. He wrote many books and prayers; one of my favorites is the following. It's supposed to be after Holy Communion, but I think it should be before Confession. It was written in the year 430 AD. It pretty much sums up our weaknesses. His life and conversion should tell us NOT to give up on our children, however far they might have strayed from what we tried to instill in them when they were small. They are adults now, so I guess they have to find the Truth in their own time. I just hope they get on board before they die. St. Monica, pray for our kids. Please?


St. Augustine's Prayer:

Before Thy eyes, O Lord, we bring our offenses, and we compare them with the stripes we have received.

If we consider the evil we have wrought, what we suffer is little, what we deserve is great.

What we have committed is very grave, what we have suffered is very slight.

We feel the punishment of sin, yet withdraw not from the obstinacy of sinning.

Under Thy lash our inconstancy is visited, but our sinfulness is not changed. Our suffering soul is tormented, but our neck is not bent. Our life groans under sorrow, yet mends not in deed.

If Thou spare us, we correct not our ways; if Thou punish we cannot endure it.

In time of correction we confess our wrong-doing; after Thy visitation we forget we have wept.

If Thou stretchest forth Thy hand we promise amendment; if Thou withholdest the sword we keep not our promise.

If Thou strikest we cry out for mercy; if Thou sparest we again provoke Thee to strike.

Here we are before Thee, O Lord, confessedly guilty; we know that unless Thou pardon we shall deservedly perish.

Grant then, almighty Father, without our deserving it, the pardon we ask for; Thou who madest out of nothing those who ask Thee.

Through Christ our Lord, Amen.



Following is a synopsis of his life.

SAINT AUGUSTINE
Bishop of Hippo and Doctor of the Church
(354-430)

Saint Augustine was born in 354 at Tagaste in Africa. He was brought up in the Christian faith but did not receive baptism, result of the practice, common in the first centuries, of deferring it until adulthood. An ambitious schoolboy of brilliant talents and violent passions, he early lost both his faith and his innocence. He pursued with ardor the study of philosophy. He taught grammar, rhetoric and literature for nine years in his native town of Tagaste, and in Carthage. He persisted in his irregular life and doctrinal errors until he was thirty-two. Then one day, stung to the heart by the account of some sudden conversions, he cried out, "The unlearned rise and storm heaven, and we, with all our learning, for lack of courage lie inert!" The great heart of this future bishop was already evident.

When as a genial student of rhetoric, he was at Milan, where Saint Ambrose was bishop, Augustine tells us later in his autobiography, the Catholic faith of his childhood regained possession of his intellect, but he could not as yet resolve to break the chains of bad habit. His mother helped him to separate from the mother of his son, Adeodatus, who had died as a young man; and she, after this painful separation, retired for life to a convent, regretting that she had long enchained this soul of predilection. Augustine's mother, Saint Monica, died soon afterwards.

Urged also by a friend who had decided to adopt a celibate life, Saint Augustine took up a book of the Holy Scriptures, and read the Epistles of Saint Paul in a new light. A long and terrible conflict ensued, but with the help of grace the battle was won; he went to consult a priest and received baptism, returned to Africa and gave all he had to the poor. At Hippo, where he settled, he was consecrated bishop in 395. For thirty-five years he was the center of ecclesiastical life in Africa, and the Church's strongest champion against heresy. His writings, which compose many volumes, have been everywhere accepted as a major source of both Christian spirituality and theological speculation. The great Doctor died, deeply regretted by the entire Christian world, in 430.

Reflection: Read the lives of the Saints, and you will find yourself living amid company to whose standards you will be forced to raise, at least in some measure, your own in your daily life.

St. Augustine, pray for us and help us come to the total Truth as you did. Amen!

UNIVERSAL PRAYER OF POPE CLEMENT XI

I thought I'd offer a prayer from a 1959 Missal. It's not in all missals, but somehow it seems appropriate for these days, as well as for all times. There is an Indulgence of 5 years, and a Plenary Indulgence under the usual conditions once a month. This means you go to Confession, as well as Mass.

He was born in 1649, and died in 1721. He was unamimously named Pope in 1700. Of the many things he did as Pope, Clement XI extended the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to the Universal Church in 1716. And, among those whom he Canonized, one name stands out, at least to me, Pope Pius V.


UNIVERSAL PRAYER OF POPE CLEMENT XI

O my God, I believe in You; do You strengthen my Faith. All my hopes are in You; do You secure them. I love You with my whole heart; teach me to love You daily more and more. I am sorry that I have offended You; do You increase my sorrow.

I adore You as my first beginning. I aspire after You as my last end. I give You thanks as my constant benefactor. I call upon You as my sovereign protector. Deign, O my God, to conduct me by Your wisdom, to restrain me by Your justice, to comfort me by Your mercy, and to defend me by Your power.

To You I desire to consecrate all my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings; that henceforward I may think of You, speak of You, willingly refer all my actions to Your greater glory, and suffer willingly whatever You shall appoint.

Lord, I desire that in all things Your will may be done, because it is Your will, and in the manner that You will.

I beg of You to enlighten my understanding, to inflame my will, to purify my body, and to sanctify my soul.

Give me strength, O my God, to expiate my offenses, to overcome my temptations, to subdue my passions, and to acquire the virtues proper for my state.

Fill my heart with tender affection for Your goodness, hatred for my faults, love for my neighbor, and contempt of the world.

Let me always remember to be submissive to my superiors, condescending to my inferiors, faithful to my friends, and charitable to my enemies.

Assist me to overcome sensuality by mortification, avarice by alms-deeds, anger by meekness, and tepidity by devotion.

O my God, make me prudent in my undertakings, courageous in dangers, patient in afflictions, and humble in prosperity.

Grant that I may be ever attentive at my prayers, temperate at my meals, diligent in my employments, and constant in my resolutions.

Let my conscience be ever upright and pure, my exterior modest, my conversation edifying, and my comportment regular.

Assist me, that I may continually labor to overcome nature, to correspond with Your grace, to keep Your commandments, and to work out my salvation.

Discover to me, O my God, the nothingness of this world, the greatness of heaven, the shortness of time, and the length of eternity.

Grant that I may prepare for death, that I may fear Your judgments, that I may escape hell, and in the end, obtain heaven, through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Pope Clement XI--more thoughts

Pope Clement XI also listed some things which are important for us and our salvation.
He is writing about the grace of God Almighty. Keep in mind that he writing after the 'deformation' in the 16th century. Those heretics didn't reform anything!



UNIGENITUS (Section 3)[2]
Condemnation Of The Errors Of Paschasius Quesnel[1]
Pope Clement XI
Dogmatic Constitution issued on Sept. 8, 1713.

(Sec. 3) 1. What else remains for the soul that has lost God and His grace except sin and the consequences of sin, a proud poverty and a slothful indigence, that is, a general impotence for labor, for prayer, and for every good work?

2. The grace of Jesus Christ, which is the efficacious principle of every kind of good, is necessary for every good work; without it, not only is nothing done, but nothing can be done.

3. In vain, O Lord, do You command, if You do not give what you command.

4. Thus, O Lord, all things are possible to him for whom You make all things possible by effecting those same things in him.

5. When God does not soften a heart by the interior unction of His grace, exterior exhortations and graces are of no service except to harden it the more.

6. The difference between the Judaic dispensation and the Christian is this, that in the former God demanded flight from sin and a fulfillment of the Law by the sinner, leaving him in his own weakness; but in the latter. God gives the sinner what He commands, by purifying him with His grace.

7. What advantage was there for a man in the old covenant, in which God left him to his own weakness, by imposing on him His law? But what happiness is it not to be admitted to a covenant in which God gives us what He asks of us?

8. But we do not belong to the new covenant, except in so far as we are participators in that new grace which works in us that which God commands us.

9. The grace of Christ is a supreme grace, without which we can never confess Christ, and with which we never deny Him.

10. Grace is the working of the omnipotent hand of God, which nothing can hinder or retard.

11. Grace is nothing else than the omnipotent Will of God, ordering and doing what He orders.

12. When God wishes to save a soul, at whatever time and at what ever place, the undoubted effect follows the Will of God.

13. When God wishes to save a soul and touches it with the interior hand of His grace, no human will resists Him.

14. Howsoever remote from salvation an obstinate sinner is, when Jesus presents Himself to be seen by him in the salutary light of His grace, the sinner is forced to surrender himself, to have recourse to Him, and to humble himself, and to adore his Savior.

15. When God accompanies His commandment and His eternal exhortation by the unction of His Spirit and by the interior force of His grace, He works that obedience in the heart that He is seeking.

16. There are no attractions which do not yield to the attractions of grace, because nothing resists the Almighty.

17. Grace is that voice of the Father which teaches men interiorly and makes them come to Jesus Christ; whoever does not come to Him, after he has heard the exterior voice of the Son, is in no wise taught by the Father.

18. The seed of the word, which the hand of God nourishes, always brings forth its fruit.

19. The grace of God is nothing else than His omnipotent Will; this is the idea which God Himself gives us in all His Scriptures.

20. The true idea of grace is that God wishes Himself to be obeyed by us and He is obeyed; He commands, and all things are done; He speaks as the Lord, and all things are obedient to Him.

21. The grace of Jesus Christ is a strong, powerful, supreme, invincible grace, that is, the operation of the omnipotent Will, the consequence and imitation of the operation of God causing the incarnation and the resurrection of His Son.

22. The harmony of the all powerful operation of God in the heart of man with the free consent of mans will is demonstrated, therefore, to us in the Incarnation, as in the fount and archetype of all other operations of mercy and grace, all of which are as gratuitous and as dependent on God as the original operation itself.

23. God Himself has taught us the idea of the omnipotent working of His grace, signifying it by that operation which produces creatures from nothing and which restores life to the dead.

24. The right idea which the centurion had about the omnipotence of God and of Jesus Christ in healing bodies by a single act of His will, [Matt. 8:8] is an image of the idea we should have about the omnipotence of His grace in healing souls from cupidity.

25. God illumines the soul, and heals it, as well as the body, by His will only; He gives orders and He is obeyed.

26. No graces are granted except through faith.

27. Faith is the first grace and the source of all others.

28. The first grace which God grants to the sinner is the remission of sin.

29. Outside of the Church, no grace is granted.

30. All whom God wishes to save through Christ. are infallibly saved.

31. The desires of Christ always have their effect; He brings peace to the depth of hearts when He desires it for them.

32. Jesus Christ surrendered Himself to death to free forever from the hand of the exterminating angel, by His blood, the first born, that is, the elect.

33. Ah, how much one ought to renounce earthly goods and himself for this, that he may have the confidence of appropriating, so to speak, Christ Jesus to himself, His love, death, and mysteries, as St. Paul does, when he says: "He who loved me, and delivered Himself for me" [Gal. 2:20].

34. The grace of Adam produced nothing except human merit.

35. The grace of Adam is a consequence of creation and was due to his whole and sound nature.

36. The essential difference between the grace of Adam and of his state of innocence and Christian grace, is that each one would have received the first in his own person, but the second is not received except in the person of the risen Jesus Christ to whom we are united.

37. The grace of Adam by sanctifying him in himself was proportionate to him; Christian grace, by sanctifying us in Jesus Christ, is omnipotent, and worthy of the Son of God.

38. Without the grace of the Liberator, the sinner is not free except to do evil.

39. The will, which grace does not anticipate, has no light except for straying, no eagerness except to put itself in danger, no strength except to wound itself, and is capable of all evil and incapable of all good.

40. Without grace we can love nothing except to our own condemnation.

41. All knowledge of God, even natural knowledge, even in the pagan philosophers, cannot come except from God; and without grace knowledge produces nothing but presumption, vanity, and opposition to God Himself, instead of the affections of adoration, gratitude, and love.

42. The grace of Christ alone renders a man fit for the sacrifice of faith; without this there is nothing but impurity, nothing but unworthiness.

43. The first effect of baptismal grace is to make us die to sin so that our spirit, heart, and senses have no more life for sin than a dead man has for the things of the world.

44. There are but two loves, from which all our volitions and actions arise: love of God, which does all things because of God and which God rewards; and the love with which we love ourselves and the world, which does not refer to God what ought to be referred to Him, and therefore becomes evil.

45 When love of God no longer reigns in the heart of sinners, it needs must be that carnal desire reign in it and corrupt all of its actions.

46. Cupidity or charity makes the use of the senses good or evil.

47. Obedience to the law ought to flow from the source, and this source is charity.
When the love of God is the interior principle of obedience and the glory of God is its end, then that is pure which appears externally; otherwise, it is but hypocrisy and false justice.

48. What else can we be except darkness, except aberration, and except sin, without the light of faith, without Christ, and without charity?

49. As there is no sin without love of ourselves, so there is no good work without love of God.

50. In vain we cry out to God: My Father, if it is not the spirit of charity which cries out.

51. Faith justifies when it operates, but it does not operate except through charity.

52. All other means of salvation are contained in faith as in their own germ and seed; but this faith does not exist apart from love and confidence.

53. Only charity in the Christian way makes (Christian actions) through a relation to God and to Jesus Christ.

54. It is charity alone that speaks to God; it alone that God hears.

55. God crowns nothing except charity; he who runs through any other incentive or any other motive, runs in vain.

56. God rewards nothing but charity; for charity alone honors God.

57. All fails a sinner, when hope fails him; and there is no hope in God, when there is no love of God.

58. Neither God nor religion exists where there is no charity.

59. The prayer of the impious is a new sin; and what God grants to them is a new judgment against them.

60. If fear of punishment alone animates penance, the more intense this is, the more it leads to despair.

61. Fear restrains nothing but the hand, but the heart is addicted to the sin as long as it is not guided by a love of justice.

62. He who does not refrain from evil except through fear of punishment, commits that evil in his heart, and is already guilty before God.

63. A baptized person is still under the law as a Jew, if he does not fulfill the law, or if he fulfills it from fear alone.

64. Good is never done under the condemnation of the law, because one sins either by doing evil or by avoiding it only through fear.

65. Moses, the prophets, priests, and doctors of the Law died without having given any son to God, since they produced only slaves through fear.

66. He who wishes to approach to God, should not come to Him with brutal passions, nor be led to Him by natural instinct, or through fear as animals, but through faith and love, as sons.

67. Servile fear does not represent God to itself except as a stern imperious, unjust, unyielding master.

68. The goodness of God has shortened the road to salvation, by enclosing all in faith and in prayers.

69. Faith, practice of it increase, and reward of faith, all are a gift of the pure liberality of God.

70. Never does God afflict the innocent; and afflictions always serve either to punish the sin or to purify the sinner.

71. For the preservation of himself man can dispense himself from that law which God established for his use.

72. A mark of the Christian Church is that it is catholic, embracing all the angels of heaven, all the elect and the just on earth, and of all times

73. What is the Church except an assembly of the sons of God abiding in His bosom, adopted in Christ, subsisting in His person, redeemed by His blood, living in His spirit, acting through His grace, and awaiting the grace of the future life?

74. The Church or the whole Christ has the Incarnate Word as head but all the saints as members.

75. The Church is one single man composed of many members, of which Christ is the head, the life, the subsistence and the person- it is one single Christ composed of many saints, of whom He is the sanctifier

76. There is nothing more spacious than the Church of God; because all the elect and the just of all ages comprise it.

77. He who does not lead a life worthy of a son of God and a member of Christ, ceases interiorly to have God as a Father and Christ as a head.

78. One is separated from the chosen people, whose figure was the Jewish people, and whose head is Jesus Christ, both by not living according to the Gospel and by not believing in the Gospel.

79. It is useful and necessary at all times, in all places, and for every kind of person, to study and to know the spirit, the piety, and the mysteries of Sacred Scripture.

80. The reading of Sacred Scripture is for all.

81. The sacred obscurity of the Word of God is no reason for the laity to dispense themselves from reading it.

82. The Lord's Day ought to be sanctified by Christians with readings of pious works and above all of the Holy Scriptures. It is harmful for a Christian to wish to withdraw from this reading.

83. It is an illusion to persuade oneself that knowledge of the mysteries of religion should not be communicated to women by the reading of Sacred Scriptures. Not from the simplicity of women, but from the proud knowledge of men has arisen the abuse of the Scriptures and have heresies been born.

84. To snatch away from the hands of Christians the New Testament, or to hold it closed against them by taking away from them the means of understanding it, is to close for them the mouth of Christ.

85. To forbid Christians to read Sacred Scripture, especially the Gospels, is to forbid the use of light to the sons of light, and to cause them to suffer a kind of excommunication.

86. To snatch from the simple people this consolation of joining their voice to the voice of the whole Church is a custom contrary to the apostolic practice and to the intention of God.

87. A method full of wisdom light, and charity is to give souls time for bearing with humility. and for experiencing their state of sin, for seeking the spirit of penance and contrition, and for beginning at least to satisfy the justice of God, before they are reconciled.

88. We are ignorant of what sin is and of what true penance is, when we wish to be restored at once to the possession of the goods of which sin has despoiled us, and when we refuse to endure the confusion of that separation.

89. The fourteenth step in the conversion of a sinner is that, after he has already been reconciled, he has the right of assisting at the Sacrifice of the Church.

90. The Church has the authority to excommunicate, so that it may exercise it through the first pastors with the consent, at least presumed, of the whole body.

91. The fear of an unjust excommunication should never hinder us from fulfilling our duty; never are we separated from the Church, even when by the wickedness of men we seem to be expelled from it, as long as we are attached to God, to Jesus Christ, and to the Church herself by charity.

92. To suffer in peace an excommunication and an unjust anathema rather than betray truth, is to imitate St. Paul; far be it from rebelling against authority or of destroying unity.

93. Jesus sometimes heals the wounds which the precipitous haste of the first pastors inflicted without His command. Jesus restored what they, with inconsidered zeal, cut off.

94. Nothing engenders a worse opinion of the Church among her enemies than to see exercised there an absolute rule over the faith of the faithful, and to see divisions fostered because of matters which do not violate faith or morals.

95. Truths have descended to this, that they are, as it were, a foreign tongue to most Christians, and the manner of preaching them is, as it were, an unknown idiom, so remote is the manner of preaching from the simplicity of the apostles. and so much above the common grasp of the faithful; nor is there sufficient advertence to the fact that this defect is one of the greatest visible signs of the weakening of the Church and of the wrath of God on His sons.

96. God permits that all powers be opposed to the preachers of truth, so that its victory cannot be attributed to anyone except to divine grace.

97. Too often it happens that those members, who are united to the Church more holily and more strictly, are looked down upon, and treated as if they were unworthy of being in the Church, or as if they were separated from Her; but, "the just man liveth by faith" [Rom. 1:17], and not by the opinion of men.

98. The state of persecution and of punishment which anyone endures as a disgraceful and impious heretic, is generally the final trial and is especially meritorious, inasmuch as it makes a man more conformable to Jesus Christ.

99. Stubbornness, investigation, and obstinacy in being unwilling either to examine something or to acknowledge that one has been deceived daily changes into an odor, as it were, of death, for many people, that which God has placed in His Church to be an odor of life within it, for instance, good books, instructions, holy examples, etc.

100. Deplorable is the time in which God is believed to be honored by persecution of the truth and its disciples! This time has come.... To be considered and treated by the ministers of religion as impious and unworthy of all commerce with God, as a putrid member capable of corrupting everything in the society of saints, is to pious men a more terrible death than the death of the body. In vain does anyone flatter himself on the purity of his intentions and on a certain zeal for religion, when he persecutes honest men with fire and sword, if he is blinded by his own passion or carried away by that of another on account of which he does not want to examine anything. We frequently believe that we arc sacrificing an impious man to God, when we are sacrificing a servant of God to the devil.

101. Nothing is more opposed to the spirit of God and to the doctrine of Jesus Christ than to swear common oaths in Church, because this is to multiply occasions of perjury, to lay snares for the weak and inexperienced, and to cause the name and truth of God to serve sometimes the plan of the wicked, as false, captious, evil-sounding, offensive to pious ears, scandalous, pernicious, rash, injurious to the Church and her practice, insulting not only to the Church but also the secular powers seditious, impious, blasphemous, suspected of heresy, and smacking of heresy itself, and, besides, favoring heretics and heresies, and also schisms, erroneous, close to heresy, many times condemned, and finally heretical, clearly renewing many heresies respectively and most especially those which are contained in the infamous propositions of Jansen, and indeed accepted in that sense in which these have been condemned.

INNOCENT XIII 1721-1724, BENEDICT XIII 1724-1730, CLEMENT XII 1730-1740

ENDNOTES

1. DuPl III, II 462 ff.: coll. Viva II I ff.; CIC Rcht II 140 ff.; BR(T) 21, 569 b ff.; MBR 8, 119 a ff. Variant, doubtful, and corrected readings are according to the first Gallic text which DuPl, l.c., presents-Paschasius Quesnel was born on July 14, 1634. After completing his studies in the Sorbonne in 1657, he entered the Congregation of the Oratory; but because of his zeal for the heresy of Jansenism, he was forced to leave the congregation. His book, "Reflections morales," was condemned, to which the Constitution, "Unigenitus," is related. Shortly before his death on Dec. 2, 1719, he made a profession of faith publicly [Hrt, sec. rec. II2 822 ff].

2. This dogmatic constitution was confirmed by the same Clement XI in the Bull "Pastoralis Officii" (Aug. 28, 1718) against the Appellantes, in which he declares that certain Catholics "who did not accept the Bull "Unigenitus" were clearly outside the bosom of the Roman Church; by Innocent XIII in a decree published on Jan. 8, 1722; by Benedict XIII and the Roman Synod in 1725; by Benedict XIV in the encyclical, "Ex omnibus Christiani orbis regionibus" on Oct. 16, 1756; it was accepted by the Gallic clergy in assemblies in 1723, 1726, 1730, by the councils of Avignon 1725 and Ebred, 1727, and by the whole Catholic world.

St. Louis IX

SAINT LOUIS IX
King of France
(1215-1270)

The mother of the incomparable Saint Louis IX of France, Blanche of Castille, told him when he was still a child that she would rather see him dead in a coffin than stained by a single mortal sin. He never forgot her words. Raised to the throne and anointed in the Rheims Cathedral at the age of twelve, while still remaining under his mother's regency for several years, he made the defense of God's honor the aim of his life.
It was his Christian (Catholic) Faith that made Louis IX so great a prince. A fearless protector of the weak and the oppressed, a monarch whose justice was universally recognized, he was chosen to arbitrate in all the great feuds of his age.

Pope Leo XIII, speaking with the precision and power which characterize his infallible teaching: "As there are on earth two great societies: the one civil, whose immediate end is to procure the temporal and earthly well being of the human race; the other religious, whose aim is to lead men to the eternal happiness for which they were created: so, also God has divided the government of the world between two powers. Each of these is supreme in its kind; each is bound by definite limits drawn in conformity with its nature and its peculiar end. Jesus Christ, the Founder of the Church, willed that they should be distinct from one another, and that they both should be free from trammels in the accomplishment of their respective mission; yet with this provision, that in those matters which appertain to the jurisdiction and judgment of both, though on different grounds, the power which is concerned with temporal interests, must depend, as is fitting, on that power which watches over eternal interests. Finally, both being subject to the eternal and to the natural Law, they must in such a manner mutually agree in what concerns the order and government of each, as to form a relationship comparable to the union of soul and body in man."
(Therefore, NO government has the right to adopt ANYTHING which opposes God and His Commandments, which we see these days)

St. Louis fulfilled these duties, running both shows while at the same time giving God all of the credit. Who does this anymore? From Paralip. xxxiv, 31-33, 'He made a covenant before the Lord to walk after Him and keep His commandments; and cause them to be kept by all.' God was his end, Faith was his guide: herein lies the whole secret of his government as well as of his sanctity. As a Christian, he was a servant of Christ, as a prince he was Christ's lieutenant; the aspirations of the Christian and those of the prince did not divide his soul; this unity was his strength, as it is now his glory.

In 1248, to rescue the land where Christ had walked, he gathered round him the chivalry of France, and embarked for the East. He visited the holy places; approaching Nazareth he dismounted, knelt down to pray, then entered on foot. He visited the Holy House of Nazareth and on its wall a fresco was afterwards painted, still visible when the House was translated to Loreto, depicting him offering his manacles to the Mother of God. Wherever he was: at home with his many children, facing the infidel armies, in victory or in defeat, on a bed of sickness or as a captive in chains, King Louis showed himself ever the same - the first, the best, and the bravest of Christian knights.

When he was a captive at Damietta, an Emir rushed into his tent brandishing a dagger red with the blood of the Sultan, and threatened to stab him also unless he would make him a knight. Louis calmly replied that no unbeliever could perform the duties of a Christian knight. In the same captivity he was offered his liberty on terms lawful in themselves, but enforced by an oath which implied a blasphemy, and although the infidels held their swords' points at his throat and threatened a massacre of the Christians, Louis inflexibly refused.

The death of his mother recalled him to France in 1252; but when order was re-established he again set out for a second crusade. In August of 1270 his army landed at Tunis, won a victory over the enemy, then was laid low by a malignant fever. Saint Louis was one of the victims. He received the Viaticum kneeling by his camp bed, and gave up his life with the same joy in which he had given all else for the honor of God.

Before he passed on to eternal glory, he had these words for his son Philip:

"Dear son, the first thing I admonish thee is that thou set thy heart to love God, for without that nothing else is of any worth. Beware of doing what displeases God, that is to say mortal sin; yea rather oughtest thou to suffer all manner of torments. If God send thee adversity, receive it in patience, and give thanks for it to our Lord, and think that thou hast done Him ill service. If He give thee prosperity, thank Him humbly for the same and be not the worse, either by pride or in any other manner, for that very thing that ought to make thee better; for we must not use God's gifts against Himself. Have a kind and pitiful heart towards the poor and the unfortunate, and comfort and assist them as much as thou canst. Keep up the good customs of thy kingdom, and put down all bad ones. Love all that is good and hate all that is evil of any sort/ Suffer no ill word about God and our Lady or the saints to be spoken in thy presence, that thou dost not straightway punish. In the administering of justice be loyal to thy subjects, without turning aside to the right or the left; but help the right, and take the part of the poor until the whole truth be cleared up. Honor and love all ecclesiastical persons, and take care that they be not deprived of the gifts and alms that thy predecessors may have given them. Dear son, I admonish thee that thou be ever devoted to the Church of Rome, and to the sovereign Bishop our father, and honor as thou ought to do to thy spiritual father. Exert thyself that every vile sin be abolished from thy land; especially to the best of thy power put down all wicked oaths and heresy. Fair son, I give thee all the blessings that a good father can give to a son; may the blessed Trinity and all the saints guard thee and protect thee from all evils; may God give thee grace to do His will always, and may He be honored by thee, and may thou and I after this mortal life be together in His company and praise Him without end!"

He truly lived his life as we all should, and showed leaders how they are supposed to live their lives as well. Our beloved Abbot Gueranger adds: 'For God, Who commands us to obey at all times the power actually established, is ever the Master of nations and the unchangeable disposer of their changeable destinies. Then every one of thy descendants, taught by a sad experience, will be bound to remember, O Louis, thy last recommendation: 'Exert thyself that every vile sin be abolished from thy land; especially, to the best of thy power, put down all wicked oaths and heresy.'

St. Louis, pray for us and for all leaders of the earth.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW-APOSTLE

This is a Statue of St. Bartholomew in Milan, Italy

One of the original witnesses of the Son of God; one of the princes who announced His glory to the nations, lights up this day with his Apostolic flame. Saint Bartholomew, Bar-Tolmai or son of Tolmai, was one of the twelve Apostles called to the apostolate by our Blessed Lord Himself. His name is more adequately rendered by his given name, Nathanael. If one wonders why the synoptic Gospels always call him Bartholomew, it would be because the name Nathanael in Hebrew is equivalent to that of Matthew, since both in Hebrew signify gift of God; in this way the Evangelists avoided all confusion between the two Apostles. He was a native of Cana in Galilee, a doctor of the Jewish law, and a friend of Philip.

Philip, advised by Peter and Andrew, hastened to communicate to his friend the good news of his discovery of Christ: "We have found Him whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, wrote! Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, "Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile." (Cf. John 1:45-49) His innocence and simplicity of heart deserved to be celebrated with this high praise in the divine mouth of Our Redeemer. And Nathanael, when Jesus told him He had already seen him in a certain place, confessed his faith at once: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel!" To this Jesus responded: "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these." And he did. But Jesus continued, "Truly, truly, I tell you, you will see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." Bartholomew lived to see the Resurrection.

Being eminently qualified by divine grace to discharge the functions of an Apostle, he carried the Gospel through the most barbarous countries of the East, penetrating into the remoter Indies, baptizing neophytes and casting out demons. A copy of the Gospel of Saint Matthew written in Hebrew was found in India by Saint Pantaenus in the third century, taken there, according to local tradition, by Saint Bartholomew. Saint John Chrysostom said the Apostle also preached in Asia Minor and, with Saint Philip, suffered there, though not mortally, for the faith. Saint Bartholomew's last mission was in Greater Armenia, where, preaching in a place obstinately addicted to the worship of idols, he was crowned with a glorious martyrdom. He was flayed alive and then beheaded. The modern Greek historians say that he was condemned by the governor of Albanopolis to be crucified. Others affirm that he was flayed alive, which treatment might well have accompanied his crucifixion, this double punishment being in use not only in Egypt, but also among the Persians.

The characteristic virtue of the Apostles was zeal for the divine glory, the first property of the love of God. A soldier is always ready to defend the honor of his prince, and a son that of his father; and can a Christian say he loves God who is indifferent to His honor?

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

Taken from Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876


I. Bartholomew, the holy Apostle, threw himself on his knees a hundred times during the day, and as often at night, to pray to the Almighty. An Apostle found leisure for this, though overburdened with work and assured of divine aid in all his undertakings. You have not so much work, neither are you assured of divine aid, and yet you seldom take refuge in prayer to the Almighty. What is the reason of this? You are perhaps, one of those negligent persons, who do not even think of their morning and evening prayers, but like dumb brutes rise and lie down again. Of course, it never comes into your mind to pray during the day. Do you call that, I will not say, a Christian, but even a rational life? Will you go on in this manner? I do not require of you to bend your knees a hundred times during the day and night, but I advise you to pray more frequently and more devoutly than you have done heretofore.

Before all things, do not omit to turn your thoughts to heaven, morning and evening, if only for one short prayer. If ever you omit to do this, let it be on those days when you need no benefits from the Almighty. But when will such a day dawn? Surely, never as long as you live; for there is no day in which neither your soul nor your body may be exposed to such dangers as to require the assistance of the Most High. Hence it is no more than your duty to pray in the morning most fervently for this divine assistance. And as no day passes on which the Almighty bestows no grace on you either in soul or body, it is therefore no less your duty at the close of the day to offer Him your grateful thanks. During the night, you are as little secure from the persecutions of the evil one, and of wicked men, as during the day; hence, you need God's protection at night as well as in the day. But how can you expect this aid, if you do not even ask for it? St. John Chrysostom says: "We rise in the morning and know not what may happen to us through the day; we live surrounded by danger: why then, do we not call on God for help?" Let it at least be done morning and night, and also during the day, while you are at your work.

Hear the words of St. Lawrence Justinian: "Nothing is so powerful to overcome the rage of our enemies as continual prayer. But as other affairs do not permit us to pray continually, we ought to pray during our work. He who is occupied with good works, prays to God with a loud voice, though his tongue is silent. We ought, nevertheless, to endeavor, before we begin our day's labor, to send a prayer on high. For, as a soldier without his weapons dares not enter the field of battle, so a Christian should begin nothing without arming himself with prayer. When going out and returning home, prayer should accompany him. He should not lie down to rest before having recommended himself, soul and body, to the Almighty."

II. St. Bartholomew rather suffered himself to be flayed than offend God by sacrificing to an idol. The martyrdom was inhuman, the pain inexpressibly great. But all this had an end; all was soon over. Had he acted differently, had he offended God, he would have escaped this dreadful torture, but he would now be suffering much greater pains, and such as never end; as the tyrant and those idolatrous priests suffer, who were the cause of his martyrdom. They were tormented during thirty days on earth, and after that, they have suffered in hell until now, and will suffer for all eternity. Hence, tell me, if you had to suffer, either with the holy Apostle, or with the idolatrous priests and the tyrant, with whom would you rather share the pains? I believe that you would certainly prefer to be flayed with St. Bartholomew; for, his sufferings, although so terrible, ended, and, in comparison with the pains of hell, were but very trifling. I ask you further: why then have you so frequently offended God when you had not to fear torments?

Why have you voluntarily placed yourself in danger of being cast forever into the torments of hell? Ah! you cannot have considered the pains, the torments which attend the sinner in hell! Think seriously of it in future, and you will not sin, and will therefore escape hell. To think frequently of hell, is a powerful means to escape it; and to forget it, casts many into the whirlpool of sin, and thence into hell. St. Chrysostom writes of the rich man as follows: "If this man had thought of the fire of hell, he would never have sinned: but never calling it to mind, he sinned, and thus was cast into the flames." Hence I advise you to think often of hell.


Prayer:

Be Thou, O Lord, eternally praised and blessed, for having communicated Thy spirit to the holy prophets and apostles, disclosing to them admirable secrets, redounding to Thy glory and our great good. We firmly believe their word, because it is Thine. Give us, we beseech Thee, the happiness to understand their instructions, and so conform our lives thereto, that at the hour of death we may merit to be received by Thee into the mansions of eternal bliss.

13th Sunday after Pentecost

This Sunday is the 13th after Pentecost. We will hear about all the blessings that we each have received, and how few bother to return to give thanks to God. How many of us, after we have received the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ Himself; the One Who judge us at our passing, hardly bother to give thanks afterwards? This is especially noticeable at 'Novus Ordo' masses. It's really sickening and saddens me to no end! Our beloved Abbot Gueranger explains this phenomenon, as he does such an extraordinary job at it, much better than I ever could.

'...we are blessed with graces in abundance: eternal Wisdom has spared us the trials our forefathers had to contend with, by giving us to live in the period which has been enriched by all the mysteries of salvation. There is a danger, however, and our mother the Church does her utmost to avert us from falling into it; it is the danger of forgetting all those blessings. Ingratitude is the necessary outcome of forgetfulness, and today's Gospel justly condemns it. On this account, the Epistle, and here our Introit, remind us of the time when man had nothing to cheer him but hope: a promise had, indeed, been made to him of a sublime covenant which was, at some distant future, to be realized; but, meanwhile, he was very poor, was a prey to the wiles of satan, his cause was to be tried by divine justice, and yet he prayed for loving mercy.'

'...This day last week we were considering how important are faith and charity to a Christian who is living under the Law of grace. There is another virtue of equal necessity: it is hope; for, although we already have the substantial possession of the good things which will constitute his future happiness, the Christian is prevented by the gloom of this land of exile from seeing them. Moreover, this mortal life being essentially a period of trial, wherein each one is to win his crown, the struggle makes even the very best feel, and that right to the end, the weight of incertitude and anguish. Let us, therefore, pray with the Church, in her Collect, for an increase of the three fundamental virtues of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may deserve to reach the perfection of the good which is promised us in heaven, let us sue for the grace of devotedness to the commandments of God, which lead us to our eternal home.'

GOSPEL (Luke XVII. 11-19). At that time, As Jesus was going to Jerusalem, he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee: and as he entered into a certain town, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, master, have mercy on us. Whom, when, he saw, he said: Go, show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, that as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God, and he fell on his face before his feet, giving thanks: and this was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said: Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return, and give glory to God, but this stranger. And he said to him: Arise go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole.

We hear in the Gospel of St. Luke, about the ten lepers who are cured by Jesus, and how just one from that group bother to come back and say thanks. This is like last week, when those of the Jewish persuasion, go past the man dying along the side of the road. Only the Samitarian bothers to stop and take care of him. This week only a Samitarian bothers to come back and give thanks to Jesus. These 'Samitarians' represent us. The blots of leprosy we have are the sins we have on our souls, and these are taken away by going to the Priest in the Confessional, and they are erased. The Jews missed the boat again, and, therefore, we must give thanks to God for all He has done for us. Especially for us who actually have the Faith which God Himself has established. And that is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, which is based in Rome, the eternal city this side of the heavenly Jerusalem. Too bad most who call themselves Catholic don't believe this. We must live up to our vows by stopping and giving thanks, especially for those who don't bother.

Why did the lepers remain standing afar off?

Because it was thus commanded in the law of Moses, (Lev. XIII. 46.) so that no one would be infected by them. From this we learn that we must carefully avoid scandalous persons and houses; for he who converses with lewd, vain and unchaste persons, will soon become like them. (Ecclus. XIII. 1.)

Christ seems to say: "I have shown mercy to many, why do they not come back to me? Why do they not even take one step towards Me by trying to do right?" The only possible answer is that many never deny themselves at all, and especially never practice any inward mortification, without which no one can draw near to Christ.


After this thought enters our heads, I want to enter a sermon from 1882. I consider it worthwhile reading. Therefore, it's here.


Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1882

"There met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off."--Luke 17.

St. Augustine and the other holy fathers remark, that the words of the Holy Gospel are not only instructive, but that the deeds, of which mention is made, have almost always a spiritual signification.

Christ Himself gave us a manifest illustration, when, after the abundant haul of fishes He told St. Peter: That He would make him a fisher of men; also when He caused the tree to wither, because it did not bear good fruit. The holy fathers behold in the leprosy, of which the Gospel speaks several times, an image of sin. The reason for this comparison is very evident. There is a great deal of similarity between leprosy and sin which we should well consider.

Leprosy is one of those diseases which entirely disfigures the human body. It is at the same time a very contagious disease. This accounts for the precautions which the law of the Jews compelled them to take, in order to keep all those infected with leprosy at a distance from the others; on the other hand, we perceive the care and fear of those in health, not to come in contact with the diseased ones.

In the same manner, and still more frightfully, does sin disfigure the soul, and it is also very contagious. How just, therefore, is this warning: Avoid the company of sinners, especially of those sinners whose lives spread the infection by the bad example they give.

In this sermon, I will direct your attention to the kind of lepers you ought especially to avoid, lest the threat of Holy Scripture should be verified in you: With the wicked thou wilt become wicked.

Mary, protect us in our intercourse with evil men, when it is not in our power to avoid them! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, to the greater honor of God!

Although the company of sinners, in general, is the source of many dangers, as Holy Scripture assures us, yet there is a certain class of sinners whose company is particularly injurious to us, and whom we have to shun as much as possible. The Gospel of to-day speaks of ten lepers. And I will draw your attention to ten kinds of sinners with whom intercourse must be especially avoided.

To the first class of lepers, parents themselves but too often belong. They are those parents who do not carefully instruct their children in matters of religion, who do not urge them to prayer, who do not guide them in the path of virtue, and do not give them good example; but, on the contrary, give scandal to their own family by their bad example. They are those parents who do not care for the practice of their religion, who are themselves not instructed in matters of faith, who do not pray, nor let their children pray; who, on the contrary, by cursing and swearing, teach their children even at an early age to do the same; those who eat meat on fast-days, neglect going to Mass on Sunday, do not receive Holy Communion for a number of years, ridicule the priests and the precepts of the Church in presence of their children; who encourage them by word and example to care only for the increase of their temporal possessions, to enjoy this life to its full extent; who, perhaps, by intemperance, immoral language, immodest dress, offensive demeanor, sow the seed of the vice of impurity into the hearts of their children.

Who can calculate the number of children, especially in America, that catch the leprous infection of sin from their parents, who are covered with it from head to foot! Poor children! And when it does occur that such a child approaches a priest in the Sacrament of Penance, what is more natural than that he should advise the child: Endeavor to leave your home as soon as possible?

Yes, there are actually such monsters of moral depravity, that we are obliged to exact from their adult children the promise to leave their parental roof, under pain of being refused absolution. Terrible!

To the second class of lepers belong children whose company can not be frequented by those of their own age without danger of corruption. Familiar intercourse with brother or sister may become an occasion of sin. And the same is to be said of neighbors children and school-mates. What pest-houses of leprous children the public schools are, in many instances! and what an account will parents have to render, if, without further inquiry into the state of such schools, they send their children to them!

To the third class of lepers belong those with whom,, sooner or later social relations, bring us into contact as so-called friends, comrades, partners, associates in business, who lead a sinful life.

Fourthly, the old proverb is often verified: "Tell me your company, and I will tell you who you are." And in this respect, we ought especially to avoid the following scandal-giving sinners, namely: Willful infidels or heretics, willful contemners of the religion of Christ those who, although baptized and raised as Catholics, do not fulfill the duties of their holy religion, and encourage others, by word or example, to imitate them. To this class belong those who do not hear Mass on Sunday, never attend divine service; but, on the contrary, spend the Lord s day in idleness, in visiting ale-houses, in going out hunting, or in some diversion or other. Avoid all these.

To the fifth class belong those of other denominations, who make it a point to tempt Catholics to attend prayer-meetings or Sunday-schools, or to send their children. Beware of these.

To the sixth class belong those who are addicted to drink, and whose only thought is the gratification of their senses who pass their nights at balls, theaters, picnics, and other places of amusement. Shun these persons, and also avoid the use of intoxicating liquors of every sort.

To the seventh class belong all those who do not make their Easter duties, even if in other respects they act like Catholics, and wish to be regarded as such. They are persons who, as a rule, care only for worldly treasures and enjoyments, and who stifle Catholic life in themselves and others.

To the eighth class belong those who are wont to remain alone with persons of the opposite sex. If you wish to preserve a pure heart, whoever you are, young man or young woman, heed the following admonition, and follow it inviolably as your rule of life:

Granted that your intention is to marry, still you are never allowed to hold clandestine intercourse with persons of the opposite sex; for, as Holy Scripture assures us: "It is putting fire and straw together." Yes, even if both parties are good and innocent, they can not allow themselves secret meetings, since these are always an occasion of sin. And grant that one does not feel any temptation whatever, still the other party may, and you will be held responsible. And when parties are already engaged, there is still more reason to urge them not to remain alone, so as not to give occasion for false suspicions and insinuations.

Finally, to the tenth, and by far the most dangerous class, belong all those who, by their words, dress, forwardness, or in any manner whatsoever are occasions of temptations against holy purity.

If you value your happiness and the salvation of your soul, shun such persons, and never allow your self, under any condition, to remain near them, or to have any intercourse with them.

Flee! Only then will you conquer, and preserve your heart pure and free from the leprosy of sin! Amen!

(I don't know what happened to the ninth class, but this is the way I found it)



Let us finish with the prayer of the Magnificat:

O almighty and eternal God, grant unto us an increase of faith, hope, and charity: and, that we may deserve what thou promisest, make us to love what thou commandest. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns in the Unity of the Father and of the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY-Part 1

August is the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We end this month with devotion to her. Older books don't have much on this. However, at least some kind of devotion has been directed toward her since she presented Jesus in the Temple, when Simeon stated that 'a sword shall pierce thy heart'. Her heart was always thought of, but, since her appearing at Fatima, Portugal, devotion has become more evident. The two Hearts, that of Jesus, and that of Mary, are always connected. If you honor one of them, the other is close by. We honor both.

In the midst of the second world war Pope Pius XII put the whole world under the special protection of our Savior’s Mother by consecrating it to her Immaculate Heart, and in 1944 he decreed that in the future the whole Church should celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is not a new devotion. In the seventeenth century, St. John Eudes (whose feast day was the other day), preached it together with that of the Sacred Heart; in the nineteenth century, Pius VII and Pius IX allowed several churches to celebrate a feast of the Pure Heart of Mary. Pius XII instituted today’s feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the whole Church, so as to obtain by her intercession “peace among nations, freedom for the Church, the conversion of sinners, the love of purity and the practice of virtue” (Decree of May 4, 1944).

The attention of Christians was early attracted by the love and virtues of the Heart of Mary. The Gospel itself invited this attention with exquisite discretion and delicacy. What was first excited was compassion for the Virgin Mother. It was, so to speak, at the foot of the Cross that the Christian heart first made the acquaintance of the Heart of Mary. Simeon’s prophecy paved the way and furnished the devotion with one of its favorite formulas and most popular representations: the heart pierced with a sword. But Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the Cross; “she cooperated through charity”, as St. Augustine says, “in the work of our redemption”.

It is only in the twelfth, or towards the end of the eleventh century, that slight indications of a regular devotion are perceived in a sermon by St. Bernard (De duodecim stellis). (His feast day was also the other day)

Stronger evidences are discernible in the pious meditations on the Ave Maria and the Salve Regina, usually attributed either to St. Anselm of Lucca (d. 1080) or St. Bernard; and also in the large book De laudibus B. Mariae Virginis (Douai, 1625) by Richard de Saint-Laurent.

In St. Mechtilde (d. 1298) and St. Gertrude (d. 1302) the devotion had two earnest adherents. A little earlier it had been included by St. Thomas Becket in the devotion to the joys and sorrows of Mary, by Blessed Hermann (d.1245), one of the first spiritual children of St. Dominic, in his other devotions to Mary, and somewhat later it appeared in St. Bridget’s Book of Revelations.

St. Ambrose perceived in her the model of a virginal soul. St. Bernardine of Siena (d.1444) was more absorbed in the contemplation of the virginal heart, and it is from him that the Church has borrowed the lessons of the Second Nocturn for the feast of the Heart of Mary. St. Francis de Sales speaks of the perfections of this heart, the model of love for God, and dedicated to it his Theotimus.

In the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth, ascetic authors dwelt upon this devotion at greater length. It was, however, reserved to St. Jean Eudes (d. 1681) to propagate the devotion, to make it public, and to have a feast celebrated in honor of the Heart of Mary, first at Autun in 1648 and afterwards in a number of French dioceses.

In 1799 Pius VI, then in captivity at Florence, granted the Bishop of Palermo the feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary for some of the churches in his diocese. In 1805 Pius VII made a new concession, thanks to which the feast was soon widely observed. Such was the existing condition when a twofold movement, started in Paris, gave fresh impetus to the devotion. The two factors of this movement were first of all the revelation of the “miraculous medal” in 1830 and all the prodigies that followed, and then the establishment at Notre-Dame-des-Victoires of the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners, which spread rapidly throughout the world and was the source of numberless graces. On 21 July 1855, the Congregation of Rites finally approved the Office and Mass of the Most Pure Heart of Mary without, however, imposing them upon the Universal Church.

In 1917 the Mother of God appeared six times at Fatima in Portugal. After showing the three children a vision of hell, She informed Lucy of Fatima, the oldest of the visionaries: "You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners will go. To save them, the Lord desires to establish devotion to My Immaculate Heart in the world." The Saviour Himself, when He appeared to Lucy again on December 10, 1925 with His Mother, indicating with His hand the Heart of His Mother, said: "Have pity on this gentle Heart, continually martyred by the ingratitude of men."

Christians have long known that at the very origin of the world God threatened the ancient enemy, disguised under the form of a serpent, that the Woman he had seen in vision with Her Son, the Son of God, would eventually crush his head. "I Myself," God told him, "will place an irreducible enmity between Her race and your race." Thus Satan was informed at that moment, after he had just seduced the first human couple, that in the end, it would be this other Woman and Her Son, who would vanquish him. He had refused to honor the incarnate Son of God in His future human nature, inferior to his own angelic nature; his pride would not permit him to abase himself to serve God in that form. Christian hope has been nourished ever since by the prospect of this victory; nonetheless, the Mother of God wanted the twentieth century from its early years to understand that the time was drawing near when Her Immaculate Heart would triumph, as She explicitly said at Fatima, but that it was only through Her, uniquely by Her maternal aid, that this victory could be attained.

Mary is indispensable to the sanctification of each soul. This is the great truth which in the Latter Times must be better understood. For that purpose, consecration to Her Immaculate Heart was given us at Fatima, as the means She Herself desired, with the daily Rosary. Devotion to Her Heart is not new in the Church; Saint John Eudes, Saint Louis Mary de Montfort, how many others, in truth all the Saints have loved the Heart of their Mother in Heaven. But to know Her well, each one must individually establish the relationship of a child with its loving Mother. For this purpose She asks for our personal and effective consecration to Her Immaculate Heart. The child of Mary turns to Her constantly for counsel, force and courage, gentleness and humility in the affairs of daily life. Many prayers of consecration to Mary exist, in particular that of Montfort; but one may use any simple formula such as the following:

"Blessed and beloved Mother, I am Your child and I wish to belong to You; I give and consecrate myself forever to Your Immaculate Heart, renewing in Your hands my baptismal promises, and I ask You to ratify my filial homage to Your Immaculate Heart - that of my person and my activities, my temporal and spiritual goods, my resolution to have frequent recourse to Your maternal and merciful intercession. And, insofar as it is within my scope to do so, I offer You also my family, my homeland and all of humanity."


Following is just one of the visits (July,1917) Our Lady made to the children at Fatima. We NEED to wake up!

*The Terrifying Vision
of Hell, July 13th, 1917

Our Lady told the Children, "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: `O Jesus, it is for Thy love, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

Lucia Santos then narrates what happened next:

“She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear."

Our Lady then gravely spoke these words:

"You see Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace... But if they do not stop offending God... He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."


We are NOT told the entire truth of what happened at Fatima in 1917. Probably because the messages refer to our times, where the Church will be under attack; even from those within the walls. No matter what you hear, the Consecration of Russia has not been done per her request: with all the Bishops of the world in union with the pope, on the same day, at the same time, consecrating Russia specifically to Her Immaculate Heart for peace in the world. So, if a priest or religious does not love Mary, stay away from them, for the Truth is NOT in them! You can't convert them; God has to do that. (Note: If this has been done per her request, the world would be in an uproar. 'How dare they!', they would probably say.)


Prayer to the Immaculate Heart

O Heart of Mary, Mother of God and our Mother; Heart most worthy of love, in which the adorable Trinity is ever well-pleased, worthy of the veneration and love of all the Angels and of all men; Heart most like to the Heart of Jesus, of which thou art the perfect image; Heart, full of goodness, ever compassionate toward our miseries; deign to melt our icy hearts and grant that they may be wholly changed into the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, our divine Saviour. Pour into them the love of thy virtues, enkindle in them that divine fire with which thou thyself dost ever burn. In thee let holy Church find a safe shelter; protect her and be her dearest refuge, her tower of strength, impregnable against every assault of her enemies.

Be thou the way which leads to Jesus, and the channel, through which we receive all the graces needful for our salvation. Be our refuge in time of trouble, our solace in the midst of trial, our strength against temptation, our haven in persecution, our present help in every danger, and especially at the hour of death, when all hell shall let loose against us its legions to snatch away our souls, at that dread moment, that hour so full of fear, whereon our eternity depends. Ah, then, most tender Virgin, make us to feel the sweetness of thy motherly heart, and the might of thine intercession with Jesus, and open to us a safe refuge in that very fountain of mercy, whence we may come to praise Him with thee in paradise, world without end. Amen.


(1943 Raccolta--An indulgence of 500 days.)