Novena to the Sacred Heart: Day One

Jun 3, 2015 | 0 comments

Day One: Love that is Total and Unconditional

Opening Prayer: Almighty God and Father, we glory in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, your beloved Son, as we call to mind the great things his love has done for us. Fill us with the grace that flows in abundance from the Heart of Jesus, the source of heaven’s gifts. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 13: 1-13 Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous
Matt. 5:43-48 If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that?

Reflection: St. Paul writes to the Corinthians and describes for them the qualities of love. Paul is really describing the qualities of the love that God revealed to us in the Heart of His Son. Paul is challenging us to love the way Jesus did. “Love is patient, kind, not jealous, not prone to anger, there is no limit to its trust, hope, and power to endure…” God wants to mold our heart so that it resembles the Heart of His Son. Let us generously and unconditionally accept that love, and then try to practice unconditional love in our relationship with our neighbor.

Resolution/Practice:

1. Pray daily the Prayer of St. Ignatius for Generosity:
Dear Lord, teach us to be generous. Teach us to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not ask for reward, save that of knowing that I am doing your will. Amen.

2. At Mass, we see how Jesus gave himself completely for us. Every time you attend Mass, make an unconditional offering of yourself to God the Father, in union with the complete offering of Jesus.

This Novena in Honor of the Sacred Heart was written by Rev. Peter Schineller S.J. for the Apostleship of Prayer/League of the Sacred Heart .

Pentecost

May 24, 2015 | 0 comments

This is the day of Pentecost, alleluia; today the Holy Spirit appeared to the disciples in the form of fire and gave to them His special gifts; He sent them into the world to proclaim that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, alleluia.

Ascension: Raise Us Up

May 17, 2015 | 0 comments

By Cinnamon.

There was a time, a few years back, when I didn’t mind the song You Raise Me Up. Inoffensive lyrics, simple tune, and I have to admit to being a sucker for a well-timed key change. Unfortunately, since then it has taken over from Amazing Grace as the most hideously overused and abused church song of the 21st century (in my experience at least), and I now quietly close my eyes and prepare to get some souls out of Purgatory whenever I hear its tinkling piano intro.

Nonetheless, the song is a reminder of one good point: Jesus came down from the Father that He might raise us up.

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him. (2 Timothy 11-12.)

We hope to follow Him there, to the mansions in His Father’s house that He ascended to Heaven that day to prepare for us. In the meantime, our hearts are restless, waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God, knowing that one day Jesus will return from Heaven for each of us.

Almighty God, fill us with a holy joy; teach us how to thank You with reverence and love on account of the Ascension of Christ Your Son.

You have raised us up with Him; where He, the Head, has proceeded in glory, there we, the Body, are called in hope. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

May 1st: Saint Joseph the Worker

May 1, 2015 | 0 comments

Lord God and Creator of the universe, You imposed on mankind the law of work.

Give us the grace, by Saint Joseph’s example and at his intercession, to finish the works You gave us to do, and to come to the rewards You promise. Amen.

Feast of Saint Gemma Galgani

Apr 11, 2015 | 2 comments

Burdened all her life by chronic illness, Gemma Galgani longed to become a Passionist nun, but was forced to surrender this desire to God when it became clear that her health would not allow it. She died on the 11th of April 1903, at the age of twenty-five. On this, her Feast day, let us ask for her intercession in discerning the will of God in the joys and disappointments of our lives.

The prayer of Saint Gemma Galgani:

O my crucified God, behold me at Your feet; do not cast me out, now that I appear before You as a sinner. I have offended You exceedingly in the past, my Jesus, but it shall be so no longer. Before You, O Lord, I place all my sins; I have now considered Your own sufferings and see how great is the worth of that Precious Blood that flows from Your veins. O my God, at this hour close Your eyes to my want of merit, and since You have been pleased to die for my sins, grant me forgiveness for them all, that I may no longer feel the burden of my sins, for this burden, dear Jesus, oppresses me beyond measure. Assist me, my Jesus, for I desire to become good whatsoever it may cost; take away, destroy, utterly root out all that You find in me contrary to Your holy will. At the same time, I pray to You Lord Jesus, to enlighten me that I may be able to walk in Your holy light. Amen.