Tag: Catholic Devotions

Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel

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Origin of the Chaplet of St. Michael

One day, Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to Antonia d’Astonac, a most devout Servant of God and told her that he wished to be honored by nine salutations corresponding to the nine Choirs of Angels, which should consist of one Our Father and three Hail Marys in honor of each of the Angelic Choirs.

Promises of St. Michael

“Whoever would practice this devotion in his honour would have, when approaching the Holy Table, an escort of nine angels chosen from each of the nine Choirs. In addition, for the daily recital of these nine salutations, he promised his continual assistance and that all the holy angels during life, and after death deliverance from Purgatory for themselves and all their relations.”

CAUTION: The book entitled An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory gives us these words revealed by a soul in Purgatory: “The promises of St. Michael are real, but you need not think that people who recite it out of routine and without any pains to become holy are taken out of Purgatory at once. That would be false. St. Michael does more than he promises, but he is not anxious to relieve those who are condemned to a long Purgatory. Certainly, as a reward for their devotion to the Archangel their sufferings are shortened, but as to delivering them at once, not so. I, who used to say it, can serve as an example of this. Immediate deliverance takes place only in the case of those who have worked with courage at their perfection and who have little to expiate in Purgatory… Those who promote the recitation of the chaplet deserve praise. It is this prayer that is the most efficacious in the present time of need.” (My note: After the Rosary, which is the most necessary in these times…)

How to pray the Chaplet

The Chaplet is begun by saying the following invocation on the center medal:

V. Incline unto my aid, O God.
R. O Lord, make haste to help me!

Glory be to the Father, etc.

Then recite the following, beginning on the first set of beads:

  1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly Choir of Seraphim, may it please God to make us worthy to receive into our hearts the fire of his perfect charity. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys
  2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly Choir of Cherubim, may God in his good pleasure, grant us grace to abandon the ways of sin, and follow the path of Christian perfection. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys
  3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the sacred Choir of Thrones, may it please God to infuse into our hearts the spirit of true and sincere humility. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys
  4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly Choir of the Dominations, may it please God to grant us grace to have dominion over our senses, and to correct our depraved passions. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys
  5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly Choir of the Powers, may God vouchsafe to keep our souls from the wiles and temptations of the devil. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys
  6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the admirable heavenly Choir of the Virtues, may it please God to keep us from falling into temptation, and may He deliver us from evil. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys
  7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly Choir of Principalities, may it please God to fill our souls with the spirit of true and sincere obedience. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys
  8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly Choir of Archangels, may it please God to grant us the gift of perseverance in the faith, and in all good works, that we may be thereby enabled to attain the glory of paradise. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys
  9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly Choir of all the Angels, may God vouchsafe to grant us their guardianship through this mortal life, and after death a happy entrance into the everlasting glory of heaven. Amen.
    – One Our Father. Three Hail Marys

At the end, say One Our Father on each of the four beads in honor of each of the following leading Angels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, our Guardian Angel.

The Chaplet is concluded with the following prayers:

Anthem
“O glorious Prince, St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of the souls of men, vanquisher of the rebel angels, steward of the palace of God, our worthy leader, endowed with holiness and power, vouchsafe to deliver us from every evil. With full confidence we have recourse to you, that by your gracious protection we may be enabled to make progress every day in the faithful service of God. Amen.”

V. Pray for us, O Glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ.
R. That we may be made worthy of His Promises.

Prayer
“Almighty and everlasting God, Who by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most glorious Archangel St. Michael, Prince of Thy Church, make us worthy, we beseech Thee, to be delivered by his powerful protection from all our enemies, that none of them may harass us at the hour of our death, but that we may be conducted by St. Michael into the august presence of Thy Divine Majesty. This we beg through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Final note: If you do not have a St. Michael chaplet, you can use the beginning part of the Rosary (the part from the Crucifix to the centerpiece) nine times to help keep count.

Love is not loved! Love is not loved! Because It is not known…

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November is the month dedicated to the Holy Souls, and the virtue for the month traditionally is Charity. In consideration of this, I want to share November 1st reflection/meditation from “A Year With the Saints.” May it be a source of inspiration and motivation for us to cultivate Love for God above all.

My God and my Lord! what need was there of commanding us to love Thee? Art Thou not most lovely in Thy infinite perfections? And for the infinite love Thou bearest to us, dost Thou not deserve our love? How, then, is it possible that anyone should not love Thee? If there is such a person, it must be because he has not deserved to know Thee. For, a soul that knows God, cannot help loving Him, and loving Him in proportion to his knowledge of Him; so that if he loves Him but little, it is a sign that he knows Him but little; and the more his knowledge increases, the more his love will go on growing. ~St. Teresa of Avila

A very elevated soul once gave her director the following account of her interior: “A great flame of love springs up in my heart, Father, when I clearly perceive, in the time of meditation, how the most holy Humanity of the Lord shows how much He deserves our love, by that which He bears to us, while He loves us even as He loves Himself. He manifests this to us: 1.) By the great things He has done, and is doing, for us. 2.) By the great desire He has to be loved by us, which He proves by so many extraordinary devices of love, and by remaining, as it were, in a state of violence, because He wishes to communicate Himself and make Himself known to us, that He may be loved by us; but as He finds no access, by reason of our want of proper dispositions, He cannot do it. 3.) By the patience with which He bears the coolness He meets with from creatures He has loved so much, and which has no effect upon His unalterable constancy of love. “Under these beams of light, the soul sends forth various affections—-sometimes of wonder that the Divine Majesty should be willing that the creature be loved with an infinite love, and the Creator and Lord with a finite and limited love; sometimes of love, but an excessive love, which devours and consumes it, and it would desire the heart of a Seraph to blaze and burn with the love of its God; nay rather would desire to love Him with that same love with which it sees itself loved by Him; and again of insufferable affliction at seeing itself destitute of the knowledge and love of God, which are the height of its perfection, and which would raise it to the Divine Majesty whom it so earnestly desires. This pain is increased by the new perception with which the Lord makes it understood that not loving Him is a positive slight to His power, wisdom, love, goodness, and so many admirable things which He has done and suffered for it. Oh, where can it rest and how not sink into nothingness beneath this light! I assure you, Father, that when God placed before my eyes the great contempt I had shown to my Love, when I did not love Him, I do not know how I remained alive. Surely, if He had not suspended my consciousness, I should have died on the spot.

“Finally, the soul is enkindled with ardent longings and desires that its Beloved may be known, and sends up aspirations and ejaculations to that Infinite Goodness, that it may make itself known in order to be loved. It professes its readiness to cooperate in the aid and advancement of souls, in whatever way may be pleasing to the Divine Majesty. It was thus that the loving Lord revealed Himself to me, His most vile and unworthy servant. And when He mercifully imparted to me any of these graces outside of the time of prayer, as when I was conversing with others, or at work, I fell into a trance and was so far unconscious that when the Sisters spoke to me I did not know what they said, though I always understood the Superioress if she required anything as matter of obedience.”

The blessed Jacopone was so much affected at seeing so many lose their souls by offenses against God in the Carnival time that he went about crying, “Amor non amatul; amor non amatul; quia non cognitur—-Love is not loved, Love is not loved, because it is not known.”

St. Philip Neri, too, often exclaimed: “O Lord, I do not love Thee, because I do not know Thee.”

Here is where you can easily access this great work online for free: A Year With the Saints – November (wikisource)

Attachments — Catholic Meditation

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I love this article. It is a great one to meditate on. In this world where we are so “connected” to everybody else, it is easy to let ourselves get carried away by emotions and societal pressures instead of focusing our hearts and minds on using what God has given us for its proper end: the Glorification of GOD.

Please take a moment to read this short meditation and ponder it’s message:

Chapter 98: ATTACHMENTS – From “My Daily Bread” by Rev. Anthony Paone

CHRIST:
MY CHILD, as you go through life, your heart tends to attach itself to many things. If these attachments become too strong, they will make you their slave. You will eventually sin because of them. True, your natural likes and dislikes are not decided by an act of the will. You can, however, control them with the help of prayer, mortification, and My Sacraments.

2. Purify your love for all earthly things, by using them wisely according to My law. Only
with a pure love such as this can you escape the slavery of earthly attachments. You will
never again be too troubled at the possibility of losing something, be it a friend or a
cherished possession. Nor is this a form of misguided selfishness. You are simply choosing first things first-God before creatures.

3. Refuse to be a slave of anything on earth. Love Me and My Will more than all else. You
are still disturbed and displeased when matters go against your wishes and desires. You
still fail to understand the passing nature of earthly things.

4. Let no human being nor earthly satisfaction mean so much to you that you would sin for them. If you love anything that much, your love is misguided and foolish. You are
preferring a reflection of God to God Himself.

5. If you want true joy and real greatness, be attached to Me above every person and thing
in your earthly life. Let your desires and love be guided by My wisdom, and they will
never lead you into folly.

THINK:
My true welfare lies not in possessing or enjoying many things on earth, but rather in using what I have wisely and sinlessly, with the intention of pleasing God. Riches, honor, praise, admiration, power and superiority over others, or whatever else may attract me on earth, all of these things must one day pass away. Why be too interested in what I am sure to lose? Unless I use them as God desires, I will use them the wrong way, and they will draw me away from Him. The more I come to know God, the more will I desire to lessen my attachments on earth. I will try to be more aware of Him throughout the day. My real needs are few. True, human nature objects to being deprived of what it likes. Still, I ought to get rid of whatever does not really improve my life.

PRAY:
My God, You are the perfect Good. Whatever attracts me in any human person or in
anything, is but a tiny reflection of Your infinite perfection. How can I be so foolish as to
prefer a reflection to the reality? Yet, that is what I do when I displease You by sin. Help
me to face this truth. From now on I desire to live for You by a proper use of things in my
daily life. Whatever leads me into sin must go. Let me love and choose only what will help
me please You. You know what is best. Show me Your Will and give me strength to follow
it. Amen.

Holy Passion

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Passion Sunday is coming soon. All of Lent we have been meditating on Christ and His most holy Passion, but this Sunday we commemorate how the upcoming Passion of Our Lord filled His Sacred Mind. Out of His great Love, He longed to sacrifice Himself for sinners, but in His Humanity, He feared the grievous and horrendous tortures which awaited Him in His Passion.

Is it any coincidence that the word, “passion” has the meaning today of drive, or devotion for some particular activity, or even the beloved activity itself? Consider that… Christ suffering and dying for us, shedding His blood, being insulted and blasphemed, loaded with contempt, was HIS Passion. He loved the Cross, longed for it and embraced it, because it would lead to our unification with Him in Heaven; that is, if only we respond to the graces He has obtained for us through His Most Holy Life, Sufferings, and Resurrection. All we have to do is follow Him, carrying our daily crosses, obeying all His Commandments, and following His inspirations out of love and gratitude for Him.

So as we continue on this journey of the Cross with Him, let us remember the love, devotion, and drive with which Our Lord embraced His sufferings on our behalf. Let us count ourselves blessed that He accepts every effort we make to sacrifice ourselves for Him, even though we can’t help but realize our puny efforts cannot in any way compare to His, or appear as an adequate repayment of the debt of love and gratitude which we owe Our Lord. Let us be courageous and continue to fight sin and imperfections in our lives. But let us remember that we must pray all the time for His Strength, without which we shall surely fall. Ejaculations such as, “All for Thee, O my Jesus, All for Thee!” and “Jesus, Son of David, Have mercy on me!” are great ways of praying throughout the day. I would be remiss if I failed to mention the importance of the Holy Rosary in honoring God, fighting our evil passions, and obtaining all manor of graces in our lives and for the lives of our loved ones as well. Pray the 15 decades everyday and Our Lady will not fail to take you under her special protection.

May God bless you and grant you a holy and blessed Lent.

First Saturday Devotions in Honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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The observance of the First Saturdays in honor of the Immaculate Virgin Mary had been approved by the Church a number of years before the apparitions at Fatima. The Holy See had granted on the 13th of June, 1912, a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, to all who on the first Saturday of any month perform special exercises of devotion in honor of the Immaculate Virgin Mary in reparation for the blasphemies against her name and her prerogatives. (Preces et Pia, Opera No. 835– Ed. 1938)

Act of Reparation: To be recited on the First Saturdays


Most Holy Virgin and our beloved Mother, we listen with grief to the complaints of thy Immaculate Heart surrounded with thorns which ungrateful men place therein at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Moved by the ardent desire of loving thee as our Mother and of promoting a true devotion to thy Immaculate Heart, we prostrate ourselves at thy feet to prove the sorrow we feel for the grievances that men cause thee and to atone, by means of our prayers and sacrifices, for the offenses with which men return thy tender love.

Obtain for them and for us the pardon of so many sins. A word from thee will obtain grace and amendment for us all.

Hasten, O Lady, the conversion of sinners, that they may love Jesus and cease to offend the Lord.

Turn thine eyes of mercy towards us, that henceforth we may love God with all our heart while on earth and enjoy Him forever in heaven. Amen.

Act of Consecration and Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of MARY

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, and tender Mother of men, in accordance with thy ardent wish made known at Fatima, I consecrate to thee, myself, my brethren, my country, and the whole human race.

Reign over us and teach us how to make the Heart of Jesus reign and triumph in us and around us, as It has reigned and triumphed in thee.

We want to atone for the many crimes committed against Jesus and thee. We want to call down upon our country, and the whole world, the peace of God in justice and charity.
We promise to imitate thy virtues by the practice of a Christian life without regard to human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, and to offer thee five decades of the Rosary on this day, together with our sacrifices in the spirit of reparation and penance. Amen.

 

The Observance of the First Saturdays consists of:

1. Communion of Reparation.
2. Prayer of Reparation for grievous offenses against the Immaculate Heart.
3. Rosary.
4. A sacrifice made to console the Immaculate Heart.
Note: By this practice a Plenary Indulgence may be gained.
 

In the third apparition at Fatima Our Lady declared:

“. . . I shall ask for the consecration of the world to my Immaculate Heart, as well as Communion of reparation on the first Saturday of the month. If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be Peace . . . otherwise . . . wars and persecutions and great sufferings . . . My Immaculate Heart will finally triumph.”

The Five First Saturdays

Eight years after the apparitions at Fatima, when Lucy was a Lay-Sister in a secluded convent in Spain, Our Lady appeared to her, holding the Divine Child, on the 10th of December, 1925. The Infant Jesus, pointing to the Immaculate Heart of Mary surrounded with thorns, said:

“Have compassion on this most sweet Heart continually martyred by the ingratitude of men.”

And only eight years before, at Fatima, the Blessed Virgin revealed her promise:

“My child, behold my Heart all pierced with thorns which the blasphemies and ingratitude of men drive deeper at every moment . . . make known to men that:

“I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, the first Saturdays of five consecutive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say the Rosary, and spend a quarter of an hour with me in meditation on the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary, with the object of making reparation to me.”

 

Before disappearing, she addressed the three children:

“Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say this prayer very often:
“O Jesus, I offer this for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for all the wrongs done to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”  
 

The observance of the Five First Saturdays is the same as on the First Saturdays with additions:

1. Confession with special fervor to console the Immaculate Heart.
2. Meditation for fifteen minutes on one or more mysteries of the Rosary.


Mary’s magnificent promise at Fatima, approved by Church authorities, should induce pious souls to make the Five First Saturdays. The confession asked by the Blessed Mother may be made a week before, or after the Communion. The Rosary may be recited at any convenient time of the day, and the fifteen-minute meditation may be made at any time of the day, either on all the mysteries as a whole or on one mystery each month. It is permissible to combine the Rosary and meditation by thinking on each mystery a few minutes before reciting the decade. A sermon for the occasion may be substituted for the meditation.


Devotion to the Holy Face – Novena starts today

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The first medal of the Holy Face was offered to Pope Pius XII who approved the devotion and the medal. On April 17th, 1958, he declared the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Shrove Tuesday) as the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus.

As revealed to Mother Pierina, Tuesday is a day of reparation to the Holy Face, particularly before the Blessed Sacrament. All are encouraged make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.
Shrove Tuesday this year is February 28.
NOVENA TO THE HOLY FACE
Start the novena on Sexagesima Sunday (Feb. 19 this year) — two Sundays before Ash Wednesday.
(The novena can also be said anytime — say once a day for 9 days)
O Lord Jesus Christ, in presenting ourselves before Thine adorable Face, to ask of Thee the graces of which we stand in most need, we beseech Thee above all, to grant us that interior disposition of never refusing at any time to what Thou requirest of us by Thy holy commandments and divine inspirations. Amen.
O Good Jesus, who hadst said, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you,” grant us O Lord, that faith which obtains all, or supply in us what may be deficient; grant us, by the pure effect of Thy charity, and for Thine eternal glory, the graces which we need and which we look from Thine infinite mercy. Amen.
Be merciful to us, O my God, and reject not our prayers, when amid our afflictions, we call upon Thy Holy Name and seek with love and confidence Thine adorable Face. Amen.
O Almighty and Eternal God, look upon the Face of Thy Son Jesus. We present It to Thee with confidence to implore Thy pardon. The All-Merciful Advocate opens His mouth to plead our cause; hearken to His cries, behold His tears, O God, and through His infinite merits, hearken to Him when He intercedes for us poor miserable sinners. Amen.
Adorable Face of Jesus, my only love, my light, and my life, grant that I may know Thee, love Thee and serve Thee alone, that I may live with Thee, of Thee, by Thee and for Thee. Amen.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the adorable Face of Thy Beloved Son for the honor and glory of Thy Name, for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of the dying. O Divine Jesus, through Thy Face and Name, save us.
Our Hope is in the virtue of Thy Holy Name! Amen.
——————————————————-
Prayer of St. Therese of the Child Jesus to the Holy Face
O Jesus, who in Thy bitter Passion didst become “the most abject of men, a man of sorrows”, I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men. The tears which well up abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value. O Jesus, whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy divine image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.

The feast of St. John Bosco, patron of youth.

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Collect for the feast of St. John Bosco:
“O God, Who hath raised up Saint John Bosco, Thy Confessor to be a father and teacher of youth, and didst will that through him, with the help of the Virgin Mary, new families should flourish in Thy Church, grant, we beseech Thee, labor to seek souls and serve Thee alone. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.”
St. John Bosco, pray for us!