Sunday, July 31, 2011

Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe

Most gracious Virgin of Guadalupe, in your apparitions to Saint Juan Diego at Tepeyac you promised to show mercy and compassion to all who sought your help and protection. In love and trust I place my petitions before you (here, mention your requests to the Virgin Mother) and ask for your motherly care. I come to you hopeful and confident, that relying on your heavenly intercession, nothing can trouble or harm me.

As you have remained with us through your admirable image, O Blessed Lady, so now obtain for us the graces we need. Amen.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Present Your Deeds to the Lord

Saint Faustina wrote in her diary in winter 1938,

Today toward evening, the Lord said to me,

Entrust yourself completely to Me at the hour of death, and I will present you to My Father as My bride. And now I recommend that you unite, in a special way, even your smallest deeds to My merits, and then My Father will look upon them with love as if they were My own. (Diary entry 1543)

Friday, July 29, 2011

Today's Gospel Reading

John 11:19-27

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Daily Prayer to Saint Ann

Today is the feast of Saints Ann and Joachim, the parents of the Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Jesus. They are powerful intercessors. Go to Saints Ann and Joachim for help.

O glorious Saint Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer. Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.

Our Father ... Hail Mary ... Glory Be to the Father.

O Jesus, Holy Mary,Saint Joachim and Saint Ann, help me now and at the hour of my death.

Good Saint Ann, intercede for me.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

In Adoration of Your Mercy

O Jesus, eternal God, thank You for Your countless graces and blessings. Let every beat of my heart be a new hymn of thanksgiving to You, O God. Let every drop of my blood circulate forYou, Lord. My soul is one hymn in adoration of Your mercy. I love You, God,  for Yourself alone. (Diary entry 1794)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Jesus, Keep Me Near to You

Saint Faustina wrote in her diary in 1933:

Oh my Jesus, keep me near to you! See how weak I am! I cannot go a step forward by myself; so You, Jesus, must stand by me constantly, like a mother by a helpless child -- and even more so. (Diary entry 264)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Today's Responsorial Psalm

136:1 and 23-24, 10-12, 13-15

R. His mercy endures forever. 
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever;
Who remembered us in our abjection,
for his mercy endures forever;
And freed us from our foes,
for his mercy endures forever.

R. His mercy endures forever.
Who smote the Egyptians in their first-born,
for his mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from their midst,
for his mercy endures forever;
With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,
for his mercy endures forever.

R. His mercy endures forever.
Who split the Red Sea in twain,
for his mercy endures forever;
And led Israel through its midst,
for his mercy endures forever;
But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea,
for his mercy endures forever.

R. His mercy endures forever. 

Friday, July 15, 2011

Honor the Sacred Heart:
Act of Reparation for Fridays

Behold this Heart that has loved men so much and that finds only indifference, neglect, and ingratitude among most men -- and often even among those whom it has honored with a special love.

Lord, we have heard Your sorrowful complaints. You revealed to the blessed servant and disciple of Your Heart, Saint Margaret Mary, that You felt greater sorrow over this ingratitude than over all the sufferings You endured in Your passion; that if men would only make some return of love, You would count as nothing all that You have done for them.

Therefore, Lord, we will try to return love for love. Through our grateful, compassionate love, we shall be able to offer You at least some consolation. We want to live a life of perfect immolation, in service, and in love as Your Heart so greatly desired.

Just as Mary Magdalene poured ointment over Your feet and sacred head, we likewise offer You adoration, love, humility, and loyalty. With Veronica, we desire to console You for all the abuse that has been heaped upon You. And finally, with Your blessed Mother, Saint John, and all the loyal and devoted friends standing on Calvary, we will stand by You faithfully to make up for Your many loved ones who have deserted You.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere.

To the Heart of Jesus, most worthy of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and consolation throughout the whole world, now and forever. Amen.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Consecration to Holy Mother Mary

Prayer to Our Lady composed by Saint Louis de Montfort.

In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose thee this day for my Mother ans mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and in eternity. Amen.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Efficacious Novena
To the Sacred Heart of Jesus


I. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to You, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you," behold I knock, I seek and I ask for the grace of ....

Our Father,  Hail Mary, Glory Be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all my trust in Thee.

II. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say  to You, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you," behold in Your name I ask the Father for the grace of ....

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all my trust in Thee.

III. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to You, heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away," behold I am encouraged by Your infallible words, now I ask for the grace of ....

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all my trust in Thee.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom one thing alone is impossible, namely, not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of Thee through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your and Our tender Mother. Amen.

Say the Salve Regina and add St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Welcome Jesus Into Your Heart

One day in 1938, after receiving Holy Communion, Saint Faustina said she had welcomed Jesus into her heart and said to Him:

My Love, reign in the most secret recesses of my heart, there where my most secret thoughts are conceived, where You alone have free access, in this deepest sanctuary where human thought cannot penetrate. May You alone dwell there, and may everything I do exteriorly take its origin in You. (Diary entry 1721)

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Message of Fatima

From the Vatican's website. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Read the introduction.

The twentieth century was one of the most crucial in human history, with its tragic and cruel events culminating in the assassination attempt on the “sweet Christ on earth.” Now a veil is drawn back on a series of events which make history and interpret it in depth, in a spiritual perspective alien to present-day attitudes, often tainted with rationalism.

Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their focus in the core of Christ's proclamation: the Father's love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel. 

Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions. The first and second parts of the “secret”—which are here published in sequence so as to complete the documentation—refer especially to the frightening vision of hell, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Second World War, and finally the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist totalitarianism. Read more.


A lovely prayer:

In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this very consecration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart.

Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future!

From famine and war, deliver us.

From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.

From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.

From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.

From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.

From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.

From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.

From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.

From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies.

Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the ‘sin of the world', sin in all its manifestations. Amen.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

A very beautiful and powerful litany to the Most Sacred Heart.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, united substantially with the word of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, rich to all who invoke Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, crushed for our iniquities, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord,
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V. Jesus, meek and humble of Heart.
R. Make our hearts like unto Thine.

Let us pray:

Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end. Amen.