In Search of
The Authentic Life
“Pater Meus Servat Vineam”
These exquisite words came from today’s Morning Devotion in the Benedictus monthly missal. Please see praybenedictus.com to order yours!
Saint Bernadette pray for us!
The World Economic Forum * met once again in Davos, Switzerland, from January 16-20. “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” was the theme. Here’s a video from Redacted with some good info: “Something Big is Happening in Davos as WEF Blocks the Media.” (Note: I do not agree with everything these people say, but they do some good work.)
Howard Walsh, the founder of Keep the Faith media organization and publisher of Latin Mass magazine passed to the Lord on January 19, after a battle with cancer. Here’s a short article from The Remnant.
In this month of the Holy Name, please consider praying this beautiful litany with your family!
*Please use prayer and caution when viewing presentations on this website. Satan is a great deceiver.
From Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary:
An indulgence that can remove all the temporal punishment due to forgiven sin. No one but God knows for certain when a plenary indulgence is actually gained, because only He knows whether a person's dispositions are adequate. One norm for such dispositions is that "all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent." If these dispositions are in any way less than complete, the indulgence will only be partial. The same provision applies to the three external conditions necessary to gain a plenary indulgence: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Pope. If these conditions are not satisfied, an otherwise plenary indulgence becomes only partial. These conditions may be satisfied several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work, though preferably Communion should be received and the prayers offered for the Pope on the same day as the indulgenced work. A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day.
From the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter’s Holy Cross Chaplaincy:
State of grace…when performing the indulgenced act
Complete detachment from sin, even venial sin
Confession (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Communion (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Prayers for the Supreme Pontiff (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Indulgenced Act: a special good work with…conditions of place and time
From November 1 to 8: visit of a cemetery with mental prayer for the poor souls
On November 2: visit of a church or an oratory with one Our Father and one Creed being recited
O Mary, crowned with stars, who hast the moon for thy footstool and who sittest enthroned above all the choirs of angels, incline thine eyes toward this vale of tears, and hear the voice of one who puts all his hope and trust in thee. Amen.
From the Raccolta
At the Foot of the Cross
These tragic words are part of a prayer. Bouguereau’s dramatic painting “Pieta,” from 1876, is the perfect companion to these words. Receiving her son’s body into her arms, was the 6th of Our Lady’s 7 Sorrows, the swords which pierced her Immaculate Heart. We pay respect to these sorrows on the 15th of the month, exactly one month after the feast of the Assumption.
As if this was not enough, her heart continues to be grieved by our many sins and the 5 offenses represented by the 5 First Saturdays Devotion, given by Our Lady of Fatima. This devotion helps secure reparation to her Immaculate Heart.
We are celebrating 3 months in a row dedicated to Our Blessed Mother Mary. August honored the Immaculate Heart, we now honor her Sorrowful Heart and next month, we renew our devotion to her Holy Rosary, given to Saint Dominic. We can meditate on how these 3 months are linked together and in fact, inseparable. Let us take the next week to pray on and contemplate this (feel free to email me with any thoughts).
Here are the traditional Roman Catholic feasts of September: calefactory.org
Image from Cathy Weisbecker at Pinterest, colors have been muted.
10 days after Ascension Thursday, the first Sunday of June, we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost or Whitsunday. Many pray a novena between Ascension and Pentecost. These 9 days actually were the origin of the novena itself. It is wonderful to continue these Catholic traditions and teach them to the younger generation.
The first Marian feast of June is the new feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, which is always the day after Pentecost. Let us commend Holy Church in all our difficulties to Our Lady at this time. 2 days later, we begin the Ember Days of Pentecost (or Summer). These are days of prayer and penance for the coming season. As things are heating up in the world on all fronts, prayer and penance is desperately needed. The Ember Days also present an opportunity to teach children Catholic tradition in a fun way, incorporating crafts, artwork, etc. This month gives us 4 Doctors of the Church: Saint Ephrem of Syria, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Basil the Great and Saint Cyril of Alexandria. One week after Pentecost, we have Trinity Sunday, when we celebrate all 3 Persons of the Most Holy Trinity.
Not only do we honor Our Lord’s Sacred Heart in June, we also honor His Body in the feasts of Corpus Christi (trad) and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (new). On the 24th, we celebrate the Sacred Heart and on the 25th, the Immaculate Heart of Mary. So intimate are these 2 Hearts, that they cannot be separated. (Keep in mind, the feast of the Sacred Heart is a solemnity, so no Friday penance is required.) How may we reciprocate the incomprehensible love which emanates from the Sacred Heart of Jesus this month? We may consider beginning the Nine First Fridays Devotion, given to Saint Margaret Mary by Our Lord Himself. We may also consider making a good confession, contemplating how we have failed to love others adequately…or come up with your own ideas as a family!
In the age of chastisement upon us, let us flee to the Sacred Heart of Our Blessed Lord in all our sufferings and needs…
“Most sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.”
From Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart prayer.
And let us never lose hope, for Our Lady of Fatima has promised an era of peace to come…
“Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church, assurance of freedom and immunity from harm. Give peace and order to all nations and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation. To It be glory and honor forever!”
From Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Pope Pius XI.
But more importantly, Heaven is our true home where we will reside in eternal happiness with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary!
Here is the traditional calendar for the month of June: https://calefactory.org/calendar
Image from https://sahe.hwcdsb.ca
One of our readers, Fr. Stephen, has asked for prayer for his special intentions. Let us keep him in prayer and let us recite the “Salve Regina” for him right now:
Hail Holy Queen
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears
Turn then, most gracious Advocate
Thine eyes of mercy toward us
And after this, our exile
Show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus
O Clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary
Pray for us O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ
Amen
Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve
Ad te clamamus, exsules, filii Hevae
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
In hac lacrimarum valle
Eia ergo, Advocata nostra
Illos tuos misericordes oculos
Ad nos converte
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui
Nobis, post hoc exsilium ostende
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis
Virgo Maria
Amen
Please feel free to contact us (button above) with any prayer intentions.
O Mary, powerful Virgin, thou art the mighty and glorious protector of the Church. Thou art the marvelous help of Christians. Thou art terrible as an army in battle array. Thou alone hast destroyed every heresy in the whole world. In the midst of our anguish, our struggles and our distress, defend us from the power of the enemy, and at the hour of our death, receive our souls in paradise. Amen.
From The Raccolta
In this first week of May, the month dedicated to Our Lady, let us contemplate the extraordinary painting above, which is based on the Miraculous Medal.* She seems to be lovingly gazing down upon the world as she crushes the head of the serpent with her bare foot. Usually, we see this image with Our Lady standing upon the earth (or the firmament). It is her children’s enemy she defeats. She has a look of complete peace and as the rays of grace emanate from her hands, this battle seems effortless for her. Satan, with all his wiles and powerful minions below, is no match for this simple woman from Nazareth. What a humiliating demise as the angels look on. A demise which awaits all those who serve him on earth. We must trust, as we look at the corruption of the world and the ever-growing human rights abuses, that God has got this. As we say at the outset of every Tridentine Mass…
“Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him, the salvation of my countenance and my God.”
Above the Queen of Heaven’s head are the other elements of the Miraculous Medal (the 12 stars on the back of the medal do not seem to be in the painting): the Cross above her initial, the 2 Hearts and a prayer which she has herself said is one of her favorites…
“O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!”
Saint Catherine Laboure was the nun who received the Miraculous Medal from Our Lady. Her incorrupt body lies at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris, where she received 3 visions in the year 1830 (this year is also on the front of the medal). Pope John Paul II visited the chapel in 1980 and spoke this prayer…
"You watch over the Church for you are its Mother. You watch over each of your children. From God, you obtain for us, all graces that are symbolized by the rays of light which radiate from your open hands, and the only condition that you demand of us is that we approach with the confidence…and the simplicity of a child. And it is thus that you bring us before your Divine Son."
What does all of this mean for us? It means our Heavenly Father has given us a great advocate to help us through anything life and this crazy world might throw at us. When we are confused, depressed or anxious, we have only to appeal to her motherly love for us. For if her Son loved us so much that He died for us, how could she reject us? As the words of the “Memorare” say…
“I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins”
In this month of May, there are many ways we can give honor to the Mother of God…because she is our Mediatrix, she participated in our salvation by saying “Yes” to God, and also suffered terribly in witnessing the Passion of her Son. Perhaps we could renew our devotion to the Miraculous Medal, learning more about it and the life of Saint Catherine Laboure. May would also be a most appropriate month to begin the “Communion of Reparation 5 First Saturdays,” associated with Fatima. If your local parish does not provide this devotion, think about meeting with your pastor to establish it!
May also gives us 3 Marian feasts: Our Lady of Fatima on the 13th, The Visitation and Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, both on the 31st. Mother’s Day is the 8th…how about a Rosary for your mother (2 birds with one stone!).
Some other feasts this month: ASCENSION OF THE LORD, Minor Rogation Days…Doctors of the Church: Saints Athanasius (the earliest Doctor), Gregory Nazianzen and Bede the Venerable…Saint Isidore the Farmer!
For the (trad) rest of May, here you go: calefactory.org
* Sorry, I don’t know who the artist is. Can anyone tell me?
Some feasts mentioned are in the new calendar. Image from fineartamerica.com
I recently came across this prayer to Saint Joseph in a church bulletin. I was unfamiliar with it and thought it was so beautiful. It speaks to our times and the challenges we are all faced with. Perhaps it should start with some prayer to Our Lady (during this month of May!), since the first line indicates that we have sought her help…
To you, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our afflictions, and having implored the help of your most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke your patronage also. Through that charity which bound you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg you graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by His Blood, and with your power and strength to aid us in our necessities. O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ. O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence. O our most mighty protector, be kind to us and from Heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness. As once you rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Shield too, each one of us by your constant protection, so that, supported by your example and your aid, we may be able to live piously, to die in holiness, and to obtain eternal happiness in Heaven.
Amen.
Only 2 days after I asked for prayers on the Feast of the Annunciation, my dear brother John passed to the Lord. He had a long and very courageous battle with cancer. He was a writer, like myself, but far more successful. John passed on the joyful Laetare Sunday on the traditional feast of Saint John Damascene, a Doctor of the Church and another writer named John! My brother was 71, a number of years older than me.
I appreciate the prayers of our readers and would ask for continued prayer for the repose of John’s soul and his loved ones who remain in grief…especially for my mother, who is now 90 and was only 18 when he was born. Thank you so much.
Lord, hear my prayer.
And let my cry come unto Thee.
Let us pray:
O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the soul of Thy servant departed, John, the remission of all his sins, that by our devout supplications he may obtain that pardon which he has always desired. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
Based on De Profundis
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