ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS DIXIT

 

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

 

SALVATION COMES TO US ONLY FROM THAT CHILD

 

Let us rejoice as we ponder upon this sweet message. Let us repeat to one another this delightful speech: "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Juda." What heart so stony as not to be softened at these words? What soul is not melted at this voice of her Beloved? What announcement could be sweeter? What intelligence more enrapturing? What so desirable to the wretched? What so welcome to the hopeless? Without this gracious promise, whence should we have obtained redemption? Unless some new and unexpected help had arisen for us, how could we have had the faintest hope of salvation, subject as we were and are to a law of sin, living in a body of death, surrounded by the wickedness of this present life, which is only a place of affliction? 

 Saint Bernard

MAY THE CHILD GOD FILL YOU WITH HIS BLESSINGS

The Church offers to the Infant-God, during this holy season, the tribute of her profound adoration, the enthusiasm of her exceeding joy, the return of her unbounded gratitude, and the fondness of her intense love. These four offerings, adoration, joy, gratitude, and love, must be also those of every Christian to his Jesus, his Emmanuel. The prayers of the Liturgy will express all four sentiments in a way that no other Devotions could do. But, the better to appropriate to ourselves these admirable formulas of the Church, let us understand thoroughly the nature of each of these four sentiments. 

ADORATION - The first of our duties at our Savior’s Crib is Adoration. Adoration is Religion’s first act; but there is something in the Mystery of our Lord’s Birth which seems to make this duty doubly necessary. In Heaven the Angels veil their faces, and prostrate themselves before the throne of God; the Four-and-Twenty Elders are forever casting their crowns before the throne of the Lamb; what, then, shall we do — we who are sinners, and unworthy members of the Tribe of the Redeemer — now that this same great God shows Himself to us, humbled for our sakes, and stripped of all His glory? Now that the duties of the creature to his Creator are fulfilled by the Creator Himself? Now that the eternal God bows down, not only before the Sovereign Majesty of the Godhead, but even before sinful man, His creature? 

Let us endeavour to make, by our profound adorations, some return to the God who thus humbles Himself for us; let us thus give Him back some little of that whereof He has deprived Himself out of love for us, and in obedience to the will of His Father. It is incumbent on us to emulate, as far as possible, the sentiments of the Angels in Heaven, and never to approach the Divine Infant without bringing with us the incense of our soul’s adoration, the protestation of our own extreme unworthiness, and lastly, the homage of our whole being. All this is due to the infinite Majesty, Who is the more worthy of every tribute we can pay Him, because He has made Himself thus little for our sakes. Unhappy we, if the apparent weakness of the Divine Child, or the familiarity wherewith He is ready to caress us, should make us negligent in this our first duty, or forget what he is, and what we are! 

The example of his Blessed Mother will teach us to be thus humble. Mary was humble in the presence of her God, even before she became His Mother; but, once His Mother, she carried herself before Him who was her God and her Child with greater humility than ever. We too, poor sinners, sinners so long and so often, we must adore with all the power of our soul Him Who has come down so low: we must study to find out how by our self-humiliation to make Him amends for this Crib, these swathing-bands, this eclipse of His glory. And yet all our humiliations will never bring us so low as that we shall be on a level with His lowliness. No; only God could reach the humiliations of God. 

 JOY - But our Mother, the Church, does not only offer to the Infant God the tribute of her profound adoration. The mystery of Emmanuel, that is, of God with us, is to her a source of singular joy. Look at her sublime Canticles for this holy Season, and you will find the two sentiments admirably blended — her deep reverence for her God, and her glad joy at his Birth. Joy! did not the very Angels come down and urge her to it? She therefore studies to imitate the blithe Shepherds, who ran for joy to Bethlehem, and the glad Magi, who were well-nigh out of themselves with delight when, on quitting Jerusalem, the star again appeared and led them to the Cave where the Child was. Joy at Christmas is a Christian instinct, which originated those many Carols. 

Come, then, faithful Children of the Church, let us take our share in her joy! This is not the season for sighing or for weeping. For unto us a Child is born! He for whom we have been so long waiting is come; and he is come to dwell among us. Great, indeed, and long was our suspense; so much the more let us love our possessing him. The day will too soon come when this Child, now born to us, will be the Man of Sorrows, and then we will compassionate him; but at present we must rejoice and be glad at his coming and sing round his Crib with the Angels. Heaven sends us a present of its own joy: we need joy, and forty days are not too many for us to get it well into our hearts. The Scripture tells us that a secure mind is like a continual feast, and a secure mind can only be where there is peace; now it is Peace which these blessed days bring to the earth; Peace, say the Angels, to men of good will! 

GRATITUDE - Intimately and inseparably united with this exquisite mystic joy is the sentiment of gratitude. Gratitude is indeed due to him who, neither deterred by our unworthiness nor restrained by the infinite respect which becomes his sovereign Majesty, deigned to be born of his own creature, and have a stable for his birth-place. Oh! how vehemently must he not have desired to advance the work of our salvation, to remove everything which could make us afraid of approaching him, and to encourage us, by his own example, to return, by the path of humility, to the Heaven we had strayed from by pride! 

Gratefully, therefore, let us receive the precious gift — this Divine Baby, our Deliverer. He is the Only- Begotten Son of the Father, that Father who hath so loved the world as to give his only Son. He, the Son, unreservedly ratifies his Father’s will, and comes to offer himself because it is his own will. How, as the Apostle expresses it, hath not the Father with him given us all things? O gift inestimable! How shall we be able to repay it by suitable gratitude, we who are so poor as not to know how to appreciate it? God alone, and the Divine Infant in his Crib, know the value of the mystery of Bethlehem, which is given to us. 

 LOVE - Shall our debt, then, never be paid? Not so: we can pay it by love, which, though finite, gives itself without measure, and may grow forever in intensity. For this reason, the Church, after she has offered her adorations and hymns and gratitude, to her Infant Savior, gives him also her tenderest Love. She says to him: “How beautiful art thou, my Beloved One, and how comely! How sweet to me is thy rising, O Divine Sun of Justice! How my heart glows in the warmth of thy beams! Nay, dearest Jesus, the means thou usest for gaining me over to thyself are irresistible — the feebleness and humility of a Child!” Thus do all her words end in love; and her adoration, praise, and thanksgiving, when she expresses them in her Canticles, are transformed into love.

Christians! Let us imitate our Mother, and give our hearts to our Emmanuel. The Shepherds offer Him their simple gifts, the Magi bring Him their rich presents, and no one must appear before the Divine Infant without something worthy His acceptance. Know, then, that nothing will please Him, but that which He came to seek — our love. It was for this that He came down from Heaven. Hard indeed is that heart which can say, “He shall not have my love!” 

These, then, are the duties we owe to our Divine Master in this his first Coming, which, as St Bernard says, is in the flesh and in weakness, and is for the salvation, not for the judgment, of the world. 

 Dom Prosper O.S.B

BLESSED BE YOUR PURITY

Blessed be your purity, May it be blessed for ever, For no less than God takes delight, In such exalted beauty. To you, heavenly Princess, Holy Virgin Mary, I offer on this day My whole heart, life and soul. Look upon me with compassion, do not leave me, my Mother.

THE INTENTIONS OF THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF

In order to obtain indulgences, along with other conditions, the Church usually asks that certain prayers be said (usually an Our Father, a Hail Mary, a Glory and the Creed) for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. 

 There is a common mistake that these intentions are the ones that the reigning Pope has at the time, according to the circumstances. This is not true. In fact, when the Church establishes for us to pray "for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff", she refers to certain intentions that she already has pre-established as intrinsic for all the Roman pontiffs. 

 Below is a list of these intentions: 

 1 - The exaltation of the Catholic Church: because the Lord founded and constituted it as a sign and instrument of salvation for the world.

 2 - The extirpation of heresy: because the Lord asked His disciples and all those who believed in Him to follow the whole truth and not choose parts of it, absolutizing them and making them absurd and erroneous. These "truths" that Protestants claim to have preserved, are already found in the Catholic truth from which they took them. 

 3 - The propagation of the Faith: because the Lord ordered His apostles and their successors to teach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. 

 4 - The conversion of sinners: because the Lord came to save all souls through His divine word and the institution of the sacraments. 

 5 - True concord between the nations: because the Lord brought down with His cross the wall of enmity that stands between them. It is recalled that the Popes considered all peoples, especially the Christianized ones, as their children. 

 6 – The further welfare of the Christian people. 

Image: The second Pope of the Catholic Church: Saint Linus.

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF HEALTH

 

CARRYING OUR CROSS

 

PRAYERS OF SAINT BRIDGET – DEVOTION FOR TWELVE YEARS

 These prayers, as given by the Lord to Saint Bridget, are to be prayed every day for 12 years. Were the person praying these to die before the 12 years are over, the Lord will accept them as having been prayed in their entirety. If a day or a few days are missed due to a valid reason, they can be made up for at a later date. 

 This devotion was pronounced good and recommended by both the "Sacro Collegio de Propaganda Fide", as well as by Pope Clement XII. And Pope Innocent X confirmed this revelation as “being from the Lord.” 

 PROMISES 

 1. The soul who prays them will suffer no Purgatory. 

2. The soul who prays them will be accepted among the Martyrs as though he had spilled his blood for his faith.

 3. The soul who prays them can choose three others whom Jesus will then keep in a state of grace sufficient to become holy. 

4. No one in the four successive generations of the soul who prays them will be lost. 

5. The soul who prays them will be made conscious of his death one month in advance. 

 (*) Write the three names (living people) on a piece of paper and save it. These names cannot be changed. 

 QUESTIONS 

 1. Can I wait until the end of my life to start praying them and thus avoid the twelve years? Answer: No

 2. Can I wait until I am affected by a terminal illness, to start praying them and thus avoid the twelve years? Answer: No 

 3.- What happens if, due to forgetfulness or for another reason, it’s after midnight and I haven’t prayed them? Answer: They can be prayed until next day, before dawn, and they are valid for the previous day. Logically, it is necessary to pray them again during the day for that corresponding day. This extension can be used as many times as necessary. 

Answer No 4.- What are the “valid reasons”? Answer: Simply forgetting to pray them for a day or two, perhaps due to some family or work event. In the event of a serious accident or illness that implies unconsciousness, that period can be recovered at the end. In this last case, a longer period may be justified. When the person is feeling better, they can ask someone to pray them out loud and mentally repeat the sentences. What is not valid is to pray them for two months, then miss one month, pray them for another six months, miss another three. 

 PRAY THE FOLLOWING DAILY 

 O Jesus, now I wish to pray the Lord's Prayer seven times in unity with the love with which You sanctified this prayer in Your Heart. Take it from my lips into Your Divine Heart. Improve and complete it so much that it brings as much honor and joy to the Trinity as You granted it on earth with this prayer. May these pour upon Your Holy Humanity in Glorification to Your Painful Wounds and the Precious Blood that You spilled from them. 

 FIRST PRAYER: THE CIRCUMCISION

 Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria, then: Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the first wounds, the first pains, and the first Bloodshed as atonement for my and all of humanity's sins of youth, as protection against the first mortal sin, especially among my relatives. Amen 

 SECOND PRAYER: THE AGONY ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

 Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria, then: Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the terrifying suffering of Jesus' Heart on the Mount of Olives and every drop of His Bloody Sweat as atonement for my and all of humanity's sins of the heart, as protection against such sins and for the spreading of Divine and brotherly Love. Amen 

 THIRD PRAYER: THE FLOGGING

 Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria, then: Eternal Father, through  unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the many thousands of Wounds, the gruesome Pains, and the Precious Blood of the Flogging as atonement for my and all of humanity's sins of the Flesh, as protection against such sins and the preservation of innocence, especially among my relatives. Amen 

 FOURTH PRAYER: THE CROWNING OF THORNS 

 Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria, then: Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the Wounds, the Pains, and the Precious Blood of Jesus' Holy Head from the Crowning with Thorns as atonement for my and all of humanity's sins of the Spirit, as protection against such sins and the spreading of Christ's kingdom here on earth. Amen 

FIFTH PRAYER: THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS

 Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria, then: Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You the Sufferings on the way of the Cross, especially His Holy Wound on His Shoulder and its Precious Blood as atonement for my and all of humanity's rebellion against the Cross, every grumbling against Your Holy Arrangements and all other sins of the tongue, as protection against such sins and for true love of the Cross. Amen  

SIXTH PRAYER: THE CRUCIFIXION 

 Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria, then: Eternal Father, through Mary's unblemished hands and the Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You Your Son on the Cross, His Nailing and Raising, His Wounds on the Hands and Feet and the three streams of His Precious Blood that poured forth from these for us, His extreme tortures of the Body and Soul, His precious Death and its non bleeding Renewal in all Holy Masses on earth as atonement for all wounds against vows and regulations within the Orders, as reparation for my and all of the world's sins, for the sick and the dying, for all holy priests and laymen, for the Holy Father's intentions toward the restoration of Christian families, for the strengthening of Faith, for our country and unity among all nations in Christ and His Church, as well as for the Diaspora. Amen 

 SEVENTH PRAYER: THE PIERCING OF JESUS’ SIDE 

Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria, then: Eternal Father, accept as worthy, for the needs of the Holy Church and as atonement for the sins of all Mankind, the Precious Blood and Water which poured forth from the Wound of Jesus' Divine Heart. Be gracious and merciful toward us. Blood of Christ, the last precious content of His Holy Heart, wash me of all my and others' guilt of sin! Water from the Side of Christ, wash me clean of all punishments for sin and extinguish the flames of Purgatory for me and for all the Poor Souls. Amen 

DECEMBER 12: FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

 Most Holy Virgin, full of grace, you who have pleased the Lord, deign to incline your eyes full of sweetness towards the children of men, in the midst of whom Divine Wisdom has said that it is His delight to dwell. But look more particularly at all the children who are today, more than ever, exposed to the dangers of the world. The dragon of the Apocalypse does not want to leave in the world anything that bears or can bear the name of God and would like to stain the innocence of children’s souls in order to erase forever in them all impulses towards God. 

 You who have always shown a particular predilection for children, do not allow this torrent of iniquity that pours out on the earth to irreparably corrupt the excellent dispositions of their souls. Remember that they are your most beloved inheritance, and that in union with your divine Son, they have cost you a very high price. May your Immaculate Heart deign to take them under your patronage, confirm them in their innocence and above all, may humanity protect them and shelter them. May your Heart obtain divine graces for them, especially that of fidelity to Divine Truth, and may it prevent the fire that He ignites in their hearts to be extinguished or stained. Amen. 

 Our Lady of Guadalupe, protect the children! 

Sanctify the children!

Save the children! 

 

PRAYER TO THE GUARDIAN ANGEL

 

BLESSED BE GOD

 This is prayed during Eucharistic Adoration 

Blessed be God. 

Blessed be His Holy Name. 

Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. Blessed be the Name of Jesus. 

Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart. 

Blessed be His Most Precious Blood. 

Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. 

Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. 

Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy. 

Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception. Blessed be her Glorious Assumption. 

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother. Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse. Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints. Amen.

HAPLESS THOSE WHO DO NOT LOVE MARY

 

DUMB PASTORS WHO WORK WITH THE FALSE PRUDENCE OF THE WORLD

“The truth generates hatred, and therefore some, in order not to incur the hatred of certain people, cover their mouths with the cloak of silence. If they preached the truth, if they said things as they really are, as the truth itself demands and as Sacred Scripture expressly commands, they would incur – If I am not deceived –by the hatred of those who are living according to the flesh, would even be driven out of their own environment; since they measure themselves by the example of other men, for this reason they fear the scandal from other men, but for sure, it is not right to renounce the truth for fear of scandal”. 

 Saint Anthony of Padua