Category Archives: Uncategorized

VISIT TO THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT BY ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

Posted on by
Reply


Opening Prayer


My Lord Jesus Christ, out of love for us all, You stay night and day in this Sacrament, full of compassion, waiting for, calling and welcoming all who come to visit you. I believe that you are really here in this Sacrament. I adore you in your greatness. I thank you for all the wonderful graces you have given me. But I thank you especially for having given me yourself in this Sacrament, for having asked your own Mother to mother me, for having called me here to talk to you.

I am here before you today to do three things: to thank you for these precious gifts, to make up for all the disrespect that you receive in this Sacrament from those who offend you, to adore you everywhere in the world where you are present in this living bread but are left abandoned and unloved.

My Jesus, I love you with all my heart. I know I have displeased you often in the past — I am sorry. With your help I promise never to do it again. I have been weak and have sinned, but I consecrate myself to you completely. I give you my will, my love, my desires, everything I own. From now on do what you please with me. All I ask is that you love me, that you keep me faithful to the end of my life. I ask for the grace to do your will exactly as you want it done.

I pray for the souls in purgatory — especially for those who were close to you in this Sacrament and close to your Mother Mary. I pray for every soul hardened in sin. My Savior, I unite my love to the love of your divine heart, and I offer them both together to your Father. I beg him to accept this offering in your name. Amen.






Act of Spiritual Communion


My Jesus, I believe you are really here in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to feed on your flesh. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, feed my soul at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now, as I do when I actually receive you. Never let me drift away from you. Amen.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori – Only One Thing is Necessary

Posted on by
Reply
ONLY ONE THING IS NECESSARY
A Prayer of Saint Alphonsus Liguori

0 my God, help me to remember – That time is short, eternity is long.  What good is all the greatness of this world at the hour of death?  To love You, my God, and save my soul is the one thing necessary.  Without You, there is no peace, no joy.  My God, I need fear nothing but sin.  For to lose You, my God, is to lose all.      


0 my God, help me to remember – That to gain all I must leave all, That in loving You I have all good things: the infinite riches of Christ and His Church, the motherly protection of Mary, peace beyond understanding, joy unspeakable!


Eternal Father, your Son has promised that whatever we ask in His Name will be given to us. In His Name I pray: give me a burning faith, a joyful hope, a holy love for Jesus Christ. Give me the grace of perseverance in doing Your will in all things. Do with me what You will. I repent of having offended You. Grant, O Lord, that I may love You always and never let me be separated from You.  O my God and my All, make me a saint!  AMEN






Resource: http://feastofsaints.com/prayersofsaints.htm



Novena Ap – Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Posted on by
Reply

This is one site that must be shared with all of you, the Redemptorists are offering this beautiful application for your iPod, etc.  I’m not very good about all this I don’t even have an I-phone but I am sure some of you will find this very helpful through your day.  Speaking of Redemptorists priests, they were founded by St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori  who learned to see that all things in our life can be redeemed but we all must seek Christ through Mary.  I haven’t read anything from Saint Alphonsus in a long time but this prayer just rang in my heart. It really makes me think about the previous post that Jen wrote about letting go.  We must all learn to let go of what we think that life is supposed to be. What our plans are, what we thing they should be and how we have everything planned out. Our Lord is always showing us that we are not in charge, not even in charge of the weather.  😀  Since we belong to God our plans must be His plans and vice versa. So, with this said I will leave you with this prayer from St. Alphonsus:


PERPETUAL HELP ONLINE NOVENA

 
“Ponder anew what the Almighty can do” is what we sing as we give “Praise to the Lord.” When you heard the angel’s greetings, you wondered what this could mean for you … and how! One reaction might have been to stress out or another to run away or even to consider an unhealthy distraction, but scripture tells us that you “pondered” in your heart. Help me, Mother, to take time to ponder. I react, kick back, and talk back. Teach me to ponder where God is in my life right now, especially the dark places.  Hail Mary … Glory be …
 

Adoption and Letting Go

Posted on by
10
One of my very favorite quotes from John Paul II is a quote on adoption.


“To adopt a child is a great work of love.  When it is done, much is given, but much is also received.  It is a true exchange of gifts.”
He was absolutely right, much is received.  We are often told that our children are lucky, but we always respond that we are the ones who are blessed through the gift of adoption.  
Why is it then that so many people are hesitant to adopt?  It often seems to be something that’s nice for other people to do.  I have to admit that I often have a hard time reading about couples who are trying all sorts of medical avenues (within the confines of the church) to conceive, while there are so many children in the US and around the world who are in desperate need of a family.  My heart is burdened for these children.  
I know adoption is difficult.  I know there are many earthly obstacles and children don’t simply fall into our laps because we will them to do so.  Finances, paperwork, and preconceived notions, pack a big punch.  What if these earthly obstacles are excuses that we have put up to protect ourselves?  We put so much energy into trying to conceive that it can become our job, our identity.  What if we put that energy into providing a loving home for a child that God has already put on this earth?  
No, I don’t think the earth is over-populated and no I don’t think women should stop seeking medical intervention to help overcome infertility.  I’m only saying that God commands us to look after the orphans and the widows.  Maybe for some of us that involves welcoming a child into our home as an adoptive parent.
This is where the letting go comes into play.  Adoption is letting go.  Letting go of our fears, anxieties, and our desire for control.  Letting go of the “what if’s”.  We need to let go of the thoughts that we have somehow failed, our bodies have failed, or we have done something wrong to miss this blessing of biological children.  Every bit of suffering is meant to draw us closer to Christ.  We need not be so focused on the perceived missed blessing of not conceiving a child, that we neglect the blessing that God is trying to give us.
We have to let go of how we have envisioned our family and embrace the family that God has called us to have.  That means different things to different people.  Maybe for some it means that they will never have children.  For others it means letting go of the dream of having a large family, or maybe it means parenting children of a different race. 
When we are open to God’s plan it doesn’t confine us or box us in, quite the contrary, it frees us to truly be the persons God created us to be.  Maybe in striving so hard for a biological child we are missing the blessing God has in store for us, the blessing of simply being parents.
“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope”  Jeremiah 29:11


Jen blogs about faith, home education, and adoption at Forever, For Always, No Matter What

Stories of Grief, Love and Hope

Posted on by
Reply
By Sue Elvis

Some years ago, I used to say, “I’m ready to do Your Will, Lord but please don’t send me any suffering.” Perhaps this wasn’t much of an offering. I knew suffering would involve much pain and I was afraid.
Often when I try to push fears to the back of my mind, God arranges matters so that I have to face whatever I feel I can’t deal with. And this was the case in 1999 when, for the first time in my life, I was plunged into a sea of suffering like nothing I’d ever experienced before. One day I was in full control of my life, the next, my world was in pieces and I was choked with the feeling that I wouldn’t survive. Finding out that our unborn baby was unlikely to survive after birth was a very frightening, distressing feeling and I was full of panic as I looked ahead to what should have been a happy event in our lives.
The next five months were a mixture of calm as I tried to place my trust in God, and despair as I contemplated holding our dead child in my arms. How could a mother be expected to survive the death of her own child? I prayed so much during those months asking God for a miracle of healing for our child.
Thomas was born and it was soon obvious that God had not healed him. There are not enough words to describe our pain and suffering. We watched Thomas being wheeled away to the intensive care unit, seconds after his birth, and our first look at him came hours later: a tiny body hooked up to a life support machine. Thomas lived 28 hours and that time seemed like months. We arrived back home 48 hours after setting off for the hospital and it was inconceivable that we had been away for such a short time. Our lives had been changed forever and it was difficult to come home and pick up the threads of everyday life…
This is the start to one of my Thomas stories. It comes from my book Grief, Love and Hope.
I started writing my Thomas Stories quite a few years ago. At first I just wanted to record our son’s life. He lived for only a fleeting moment and I wanted to say, “I have a son. His name is Thomas. He didn’t live very long but his life was valuable. And we love him so very much.”

Later a friend suggested I share my stories so that I could connect with other bereaved parents. Grieving is such a lonely existence. Sometimes we feel we are going crazy. Does anyone else feel like we do? And does anyone survive the deep sorrow of losing a child? By sharing we can encourage each other, give hope and lessen that feeling of isolation.
I wrote my first Thomas Stories for a homeschooling newsletter. Then I gathered these stories together, and added some more: my book Grief, Love and Hope came into existence.
After the publication of the book, I was very surprised to find I had still more to say about Thomas. He might have lived only for one day but he has affected our lives forever. I am continually amazed how our son works his way into my writing. So more Thomas Stories were written and I have been posting them on my blog Sue Elvis Writes, as well as here on this blog.
But now I feel my stories need a home of their own, a blog just for Thomas. So I have created Stories of Grief, Love and Hope.
I will be gathering all my Thomas stories together and posting them on this new blog. Some you will find in my book Grief, Love and Hope. And some have been published here and some on my Sue Elvis Writes blog.  I am sure Thomas will keep on inspiring new stories so there will probably be entirely new posts too.
I would also like to write about the experience of miscarriage after losing seven little souls much too early.
Maybe you have experienced the sorrow of losing a child yourself, or you might be supporting the bereaved, or maybe you’d just like to learn more about the experience of grief.
If you would like to share my stories of our precious son, please visit my new blog, Stories of Grief, Love and Hope. I would feel very honoured if you read my posts.
And if you know of anyone who is suffering and might want to connect with another bereaved parent, I would be grateful if you told them about my blog.
Please visit Sue Elvis Writes and Stories of Grief, Love and Hope

Mondays with Elisabeth

Posted on by
Reply
“What most people call “hope” is nothing but pleasant anticipation, which has as its reverse disappointment. It is here that the teaching of Christ again reveals its sublime and consoling features, more plainly perhaps than elsewhere. It is the great source of faith, and “no man cometh to the Father” but by Him, that is, Jesus Christ. Through charity, it gives us all our energy for good, and that peculiarly passionate love which is implied by the very word charity.”  ~ Elisabeth Leseur Servant of God

The Power of the Cross

Posted on by
Reply
Sharing this from an email I received, blessings to you today!                                                                       Hannah’s Tears Ministry


PERHAPS the reason many of us are not growing in holiness is because we misunderstand how the power of God is applied in our lives. Mark explains in this episode how the transforming power of God works in a Christian’s life, and how it’s not too late for anyone to become a saint… To watch The Power of the Cross, go to www.embracinghope.tv

All Mark’s webcasts can be found at:  Embracing Hope TV

All Mark’s writings can be found at:  Spiritual Food For Thought

Listen to Mark’s music on his official website:  www.markmallett.com

—


— 

Hannah’s Tears
www.hannahstears.org

Archbishop Fulton Sheen – The Woman I Love Part 4 http://youtu.be/4lyId61fHIQ



We offer prayer support and comfort to the brokenhearted who suffer the pains of  infertility at any stage of life, difficult pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or the early death of a child.  This ministry intercedes for Catholic/Christian doctors, nurses, and their supportive personnel. We also serve as a vehicle of education in the proper channels of Catholic fertility practices as well as offering information resources to those seeking fertility care and/or adoption.

Sacraments: Suffering can lead to salvation :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Posted on by
Reply

By Brian Pizzalato

St. Paul’s understanding of suffering as a participation in salvation is especially evident when he speaks of how his suffering affects others.
In 2 Timothy Paul says, “Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2:3). Following this Paul speaks of his imprisonment for the preaching of the Gospel, “the gospel for which I am suffering and wearing fetters like a criminal” (v. 9).         continue

Sacraments: St. Paul explains the meaning of suffering :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Posted on by
Reply


Below is an article I found for our continued meditation and study on the value of suffering. 

Sacraments: St. Paul explains the meaning of suffering :: Catholic News Agency (CNA) 

By Brian Pizzalato

There is one person who stands out above all to give an answer to these deepest of questions, namely St. Paul. In St. Paul’s writings we find a greatly developed meaning of suffering. Pope John Paul II explains why St. Paul writes so much on suffering: “The Apostle shares his own discovery and rejoices in it because of all those whom it can help – just as it helped him – to understand the salvific meaning of suffering” (Salvifici Doloris, 1).

Two questions have plagued the minds of Christians and non-Christians alike: why is there suffering? Why does God allow suffering?  continue here

Infertility, Suffering & Anointing

Posted on by
Reply

Some of us have been called to the cross of “infertility or sub-fertility” sufferings.  Have you ever considered what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about anointing of the sick?  Don’t you consider that your situation is a problem of health?  Just as Hannah found herself at the Altar of the Lord (where the sacrificial offering took place in the temple)  and Fr. Eli confirmed that her prayer was heard, isn’t this something we should also consider as we seek to build our family?  Anointing and prayer from our holy priesthood?  If Jesus is seen as the Divine Healer and the priest is considered standing in the place of Christ, maybe we should consider seeking him for this prayer.  Just something to be considered as we are all seeking God’s will and healing hand upon our daily lives.  As we seek healing in the physical realm from our medical doctors so should we seek healing and help from our good holy priests within the Catholic Church.

God Bless!

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church


I. ITS FOUNDATIONS IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION
Illness in human life

1500 Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death.

1501 Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature, helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can turn toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him.