SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER
MEMORIAL OF SAINT BRENDAN, ABBOT; SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCENE, PRIEST AND MARTYR; SAINT SIMON STOCK, AND SAINT UBALDUS, BISHOP OF GUBBIO
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT ~ DAY SEVEN: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost. Beginning, Friday, May 10-18, 2024 (link below)
Greetings beloved family and Happy Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter!
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary | EWTN | May 16, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 16, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | May 16, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 16, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 16, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteriels VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) | https://youtu.be/vVc782kcDds
Today’s Bible Readings: Thursday May 16, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
Gospel, John 17:20-26
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost. DAY SEVEN – Beginning, Friday, May 10, 2024 (link below): Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts | EWTN | The novena – May 10-18, 2024 | https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-to-the-holy-spirit-for-the-seven-gifts-309
[This Novena begins on the day after the Solemnity of the Ascension, Friday of the 6th Week of Easter, even if the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred to the 7th Sunday of Easter]
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
Prayed in preparation for Pentecost
DAY SEVEN: May 16, 2024, Thursday, 7th Week of Easter
Heal our wounds–our strength renews; On our dryness pour Thy dew, Wash the stains of guilt away.
THE GIFT OF COUNSEL: The gift of Counsel endows the soul with supernatural prudence, enabling it to judge promptly and rightly what must done, especially in difficult circumstances. Counsel applies the principles furnished by Knowledge and Understanding to the innumerable concrete cases that confront us in the course of our daily duty as parents, teachers, public servants, and Christian citizens. Counsel is supernatural common sense, a priceless treasure in the quest of salvation. ‘Above all these things, pray to the Most High, that He may direct thy way in truth.’
PRAYER: Come, O Spirit of Counsel, help and guide me in all my ways, that I may always do Thy holy will. Incline my heart to that which is good; turn it away from all that is evil, and direct me by the straight path of Thy commandments to that goal of eternal life for which I long.🙏
Our Father and Hail Mary ONCE; Glory be to the Father SEVEN TIMES
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself, soul and body to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, ‘Speak Lord for Your servant heareth.’ Amen🙏
PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven, did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul, the work of Your grace and Your love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth, the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Your true disciples and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen🙏
PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Let us pray: O God, Who did instruct the hearts of Thy faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation, through Christ, our Lord. Amen🙏
Novena to the Holy Spirit: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost (link below)
Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts | EWTN: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-to-the-holy-spirit-for-the-seven-gifts-309
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT BRENDAN, ABBOT; SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCENE, PRIEST AND MARTYR; SAINT SIMON STOCK, AND SAINT UBALDUS, BISHOP OF GUBBIO ~ MAY 16TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Brendan, Abbot; Saint John Nepomucene, Priest and Martyr, Saint Simon Stock and Saint Ubaldus, Bishop of Gubbio. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from terminal diseases. We also pray for the safety and well-being of all travelers, the poor and the needy all over the world. We continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world🙏
SAINT BRENDAN, ABBOT: Brendan of Clonfert (c. AD 484 – c. 577) (Brendan also spelled Brandon or Brandan, Gaelic Brénaind, also called Brendan of Clonfert, Brendan the Voyager, or Brendan the Navigator). He is one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is primarily renowned for his legendary journey to the “Isle of the Blessed”, also denominated “Saint Brendan’s Island” as described in the ninth century Voyage of St. Brendan the Navigator. St. Brendan, one of the most popular Irish Saint, was a missionary voyager who is sometimes credited with the discovery of America. He is thought to have been born in County Kerry, Ireland, about 484 and given to the care of St. Ita as an infant for five years. St. Brendan was then cared for by Bishop Erc, who eventually ordained him to the priesthood. St. Jarlath also rendered edification and counsel to the young Brendan, who went on to live as a monk in an established community.
St. Brendan made a sea voyage to the Scottish Isles and even to Wales. He is thought to have visited St. Gildas in Britain and performed some miracles there. St. Brendan founded numerous monastic communities, including the one at Clonfert in 559, which grew to hold some 3000 monks. He also produced a Rule that was said to have been dictated by an Angel. Worn out by a life of accomplishments for God, Brendan died about 577/583 while visiting his sister Brig, who was the Abbess of a community of nuns at Enach Duin. In legend, this Saint is known as Brendan the Navigator, who once made a seven-year voyage in search of fabled paradise (“The Land of Promise”), which is recounted in an epic saga known as The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot. In this journey, Brendan is said to have started off with sixty companions in a kind of floating monastery and made his way to the Canary Islands and then to the coast of Greenland. He’s the Patron Saint ofboatmen; divers; mariners; sailors; watermen; travellers; whales; portaging canoes; Diocese of Clonfert; Diocese of Kerry.
PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection You have given us in St. Brendan the Abbot. Amen🙏
SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCENE, PRIEST AND MARTYR: St. John Nepomucene (1345-1393) also known as St. John of Nepomuk was a Saint of Bohemia born John Wölflein or Welflin, in Nepomuk, Bohemia, in 1345, Saint John used the name of his native town for his surname instead of his family name. In his early childhood, John Nepomucene was cured of a disease through the prayers of his good parents. In thanksgiving, they consecrated him to the service of God. He studied theology and law at the University of Prague and was eventually ordained a priest. After John was ordained, he was sent to a parish in the city of Prague. He became a great preacher, and thousands of those listened to him changed their way of life. In time, he became vicar general of Archbishop John of Genzenstein at Prague.
In 1393, King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, wishing to found a new bishopric for one of his favorites, ordered that at the death of the present abbot of Kladrau Abbey, no new abbot should be elected and that the abbey church should be turned into a cathedral. The archbishop and John thwarted the king’s plan by approving the election of a new abbot immediately on the death of the old one. Upon hearing this, Wenceslaus fell into a violent rage and had the vicar-general and several cathedral officials thrown into prison. John was tortured by having his sides burnt with torches, but even this could not move him. An additional reason for John’s violent death may be because of the tale that is traditionally told about him: Father John was invited to the court of Wenceslaus IV. He settled arguments and did many kind deeds for the needy people of the city. He also became the Queen’s confessor. When the King was cruel to the Queen, Father John taught her to bear her cross patiently. One day, the King asked the Saint to tell what the Queen had said in confession. When he refused, he was thrown into prison. A second time, Father John was asked to reveal the Queen’s confession. “If you do not tell me,” said the King, “you shall die. But if you obey my command, riches and honors will be yours.” Again Father John vehemently refused to break the seal of the confessional. He was tortured. Finally, on March 20, 1393, the king ordered him to be put in chains and led through the city with a block of wood in his mouth. His martyrdom was complete when he was then thrown from a bridge into the Moldau River at Prague. A strange brightness is said to have appeared above the spot where he drowned; because of this St. John of Nepomucene is often portrayed in art with seven stars above his head. For this reason, St. John is also called the “Martyr of the Confessional” and is sometimes pictured with his finger to his lips. He was canonized in 1729 by Pope Benedict XIII and is honored as a Patron Saint of Bohemia and of confessors, Czechoslovakia, Bohemia, confessors, bridges, floods, against slander, silence. (Refer to March 20th Saint post, the date of his death)
PRAYER: God, we praise You for the grace You granted to St. John to offer his life in defense of the seal of confession. Grant that, through his prayers, we may use the Sacrament of Penance often and with profit. Amen. Almighty and merciful God, who brought your Martyr blessed John Nepomucene to overcome the torments of his passion, grant that we, who celebrate the day of his triumph, may remain invincible under your protection against the snares of the enemy. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen🙏
SAINT SIMON STOCK, PRIEST: St. Simon Stock (1165-1265) was hermit who became a member of the Carmelite order. He received a vision of the Blessed Mother promising salvation to all those who wore the brown scapular which she showed him — a vision that led to the widespread devotion to Mary over the next centuries of wearing this scapular in her honor. St. Simon Stock born in Kent, England in 1165. He was strongly drawn to God as a child, and at the age of twelve he began to live as a hermit in the hollow of an oak tree. After two decades of this solitary and penitential life, he entered the world again to study theology and become a priest. His studies complete, he then returned to his hermitage. At this time the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him, instructing him to join the Carmelite Order that was just entering England. St. Simon became a Carmelite in 1212. By 1215 he became the order’s leader and worked to establish it across Europe, especially at the great universities. He also traveled to Rome and Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land, and revised the Carmelite Rule to make them mendicant friars instead of hermits.
Tradition holds that the Virgin Mary appeared to him again and presented him with a brown scapular, the habit of his order, promising that those who wore it would not be eternally lost in hell. This apparition is known as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and her “scapular promise” is that she will intercede with her Son to ensure that the wearer of the scapular obtains the grace of final perseverance, that is, of dying in a state of grace. This is the origin of the Brown Scapular devotion which soon spread to the laity to obtain the graces promised by Our Lady, a devotion later encouraged by many popes. St. Simon Stock’s feast day is May 16th.
Saint Simon Stock, Priest ~ Pray for us🙏
SAINT UBALDUS, BISHOP OF GUBBIO: St. Ubaldus, Bishop of Gubbio was born in Gubbio, Italy to Rivaldo Baldassini. When he was only a child, this son of a noble Italian family became an orphan. His uncle, a bishop, took charge of him and gave him a good education. When he finished his schooling, Ubaldus had the chance to marry any one of a number of lovely noblewomen, but he wanted to dedicate his life to God. He became a priest, and made a canon. Since his virtue was outstanding against his own wishes but upon the request of Pope Honorius II, he became the bishop of his native city in 1128. In this capacity he was a model of apostolic simplicity, pastoral zeal, and personal holiness. He is remembered in central Italy as a Bishop who was entirely devoted to the duties of his office. He led a life of exceptional austerity. He belonged to the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine. His aid is popularly invoked against evil spirits. To this day his body remains incorrupt. St. Ubaldus was so mild and patient that he did not seem to mind any insult. Once a workman repairing the city wall damaged his vineyard very much. The Saint gently pointed it out to him. The workman, who probably did not recognize the bishop, shoved him so hard that he fell into a pile of wet cement and got up all covered with it. Yet he said not one word of complaint and went into his house. The city officials were going to punish the man, but Ubald wanted him to be set free and he himself gave him the kiss of peace. The holy Bishop did indeed love peace, and he had the courage it takes to keep it. Once, when the people of Gubbio were fighting in the streets, he threw himself between the two angry crowds. He seemed unafraid of the swords clashing and the rocks flying. Suddenly he fell to the ground. The people stopped fighting at once, for they thought the Saint had been killed. But he got up and showed them that he was not even hurt. Then all together, the people thanked God for having stopped them from doing each other more harm. Another time, when the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was going to attack the city, St. Ubald went out on the road to talk to him, and he convinced this bold emperor to leave Gubbio alone.
The Saint also had much to suffer from sicknesses. Yet he never spoke about his pains, and if someone tried to show sorrow over them, he would change the subject at once. Even in his last sickness, he managed to get up to say Mass and give the people his blessing. The power St. Ubaldus possessed against evil spirits was evident. The Church moves in a spirit world–good angels are all about, while constant vigilance is exercised against Satan and his devils. The liturgy contains a considerable number of exorcisms and adjurations. Then there are a series of sacramentals directed against the power of evil spirits; for example, holy water, palms, candles. Hold these sacramentals in highest esteem. He died on May 16, 1160 at Gubbio, Italy. Canonized 4 March 1192 by Pope Celestine III. He’s the Patron Saint of Gubbio, Migraine, Neuralgia, Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
Let us learn from St. Ubald never to give in to anger, and to forgive those who may hurt us in any way. Saint Ubaldus, Bishop of Gubbio ~ Pray for us🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings for today, Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter | USCCB| https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051624.cfm
Gospel Reading ~ John 17: 20 – 26
“May they all be one”
“Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus prays for His disciples, and for all those who will believe in Him through their words, which includes all of us. Today’s Gospel reading is the last section of the prayer of Jesus for His disciples on the night before He was crucified. At the conclusion of that reading Jesus expresses His hope that the love with which God the Father loves Him would be in His disciples, in us, and that He, Jesus, would be in His disciples. The love with which the Father loves the Son is to be in all of us, and if that love is in us then Jesus Himself will be in us. It is clear that Jesus wants to have a very close relationship with us; He wants to live out His life of love in us; He wants to express His love in and through us. If that were to happen, then the prayer of Jesus towards the beginning of our Gospel reading would come to pass, His prayers looks ahead to our ultimate destiny beyond this earthly life. He prays that we may be with Him where He is in heaven, so that we may see His glory. The goal of our earthly pilgrimage is to see the Lord face to face and to be caught up in His glory. He said, ‘May they all be one’. We will all be one to the extent that Jesus lives out His life of love in and through us. Jesus wants to live in us in this life as a preparation for our living with Him in the next life. The second prayer of Jesus for His disciples in the Gospel reading relates to that eternal destiny and our present, earthly, life. He prays that the love with which God has loved Him may be in us. He wants us to remain in His love as He remains in God His Father’s love, and then to share that love with others, to love one another as He has loved us. He prays that we would be where He now is, so as to see the glory God has given Him. His communion with us in this life, and our communion with each other arising from that, is an anticipation of the deeper communion with Him and with each other that is our ultimate destiny. When that happens, He Himself will be truly alive in us, ‘so that I may be in them’. If we remain in the Lord’s love for us and share that love with one another, then another of Jesus’ prayers for us in that reading will come to pass, ‘May they all be one, as we are one’. When the Lord’s love comes alive in all of us, then we will all be one in love, as Jesus and God, His Father, are one in love. How we pray can often reveal a great deal about ourselves. Jesus’ prayer reveals His vision for our present life in the here and now, and our future life in the kingdom of heaven. In response to Jesus’ prayer for us, perhaps the best prayer we can pray is, ‘Lord, may your prayer for our present life and our ultimate destiny come to pass. Help us to be open to your wonderful vision for our lives’.
Our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles reminds us that in the time of Jesus and the early church, there were strong differences of opinion among leading Jews regarding matters of faith. St. Paul reached Jerusalem and caused a great uproar there as the members of the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish High Council and their supporters, both from the party of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, had gathered to persecute St. Paul and to condemn him. However, they could not agree on how they were to handle him. St. Paul knew that they would do whatever they could to persecute him and even condemn him to death, but that was not what the Holy Spirit had guided him to do. He still had one last mission to do, to evangelise to the people in the city of Rome, the capital and centre of the Roman Empire. Hence, it was not yet time for St. Paul to be persecuted to his death. And that was why he incited the two opposing groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees to a near riot simply because he said that he was a Pharisee, and it was his belief in what the Pharisees believed that led him to be put on trial there. St. Paul as Saul was indeed a Pharisee and a zealous one at that, before he was called by God and was redeemed, turning over a new leaf and embracing a new path in life as God’s servant. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were often at loggerheads as they were diametrically opposite in their beliefs, with the Pharisees believing firmly in the spiritual and immaterial world, the resurrection of the dead, the presence of spirits and Angels, while the Sadducees represent the secular party, those who firmly reject all those, and particularly oppose the notion of life after death and the resurrection. That declaration by St. Paul was enough to drive the assembly into a frenzy, each group defending their own viewpoints and attacking the other, to the point that some of those same Pharisees even defended St. Paul and said before the assembly how he was innocent and not to be punished, totally contradicting their own stance earlier on. It was also proof that whatever false charges and accusations they wanted to impose on St. Paul was not valid and right in the first place. Nonetheless, St. Paul allowed the Holy Spirit to guide his path, and he was rescued by the guards who led him to the Roman governor, before whom the Apostle would claim trial and appeal before the Emperor himself, paving for his final missionary journey to Rome.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are reminded to remain steadfast and not to give in to the pressure and temptations of the world, to conform to the path of sin and abandoning our faith. May the Lord continue to guide each and every one of us that we may be always ever faithful to Him and strong in our convictions to walk in His path, despite the persecutions and oppositions, rejections and hardships that we may have to endure. And may all of us remain resolute in living our lives with faith to the fullest, respecting one another while at the same time, standing up courageously for our faith in God, so that each and every one of us may inspire each other in faith, that in all the things we say and do, we will help our fellow brothers and sisters to remain firm in their own faith and life. Let us all be good role models and sources of inspiration for each other, in how we lead our lives and carry out our every actions, even in the smallest and seemingly least significant of actions and interactions with others around us. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and may the Lord continue to guide us in all things and help us to remain ever firmly faithful in Him, now and always, forevermore. Amen🙏
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF MAY: MONTH OF OUR LADY: In addition to the myriad feast days honoring Our Lady under her many titles and virtues, the entire month of May is especially given to her praise. In the words of Pope Paul VI, May is “a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God … For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God’s merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother’s throne.”
THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF MAY – FOR THE FORMATION OF RELIGIOUS AND SEMINARIANS: We pray that religious women and men, and seminarians, grow in their own vocations through their human, pastoral, spiritual and community formation, leading them to be credible witnesses to the Gospel.🙏
https://www.usccb.org/prayers/popes-monthly-intentions-2024
PRAYER FOR PEACE ~ POPE FRANCIS:
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain. Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness. Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen🙏
During this Easter season, please let us all continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, for an end to the current war in Israel-Palestine, and the Ukraine-Russia conflicts and for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Amen 🙏
On this special feast day, as we continue to celebrate our risen Lord, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we pray for the Clergy and religious as they serve in the Lord’s Vineyard. We also pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to remember our beloved, we pray for the repose of their gentle souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May their gentle souls through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life, you embraced them with your tender love; deliver them now from every evil, and bid them eternal rest. The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen🙏
Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/
PRAYER INTENTIONS: During this season of Easter, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for our children and children all over the world, we pray for their health, safety and well-being, we particularly pray for those who have no one to care for them and those who are terminally ill, we pray for God’s Divine healing upon them. Every life is a gift. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the gentle soul of our beloved family members who recently passed away and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. For all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy and all those who preach the Gospel. We pray for Vocation to the Priesthood and Religious life. We particularly pray for all Youths and all Seminarians, with special intention for those Seminarians who will be ordained into Priesthood. For the Church, for persecuted christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners and Christians all over the world. Amen🙏
Let us pray:
My most holy Father in Heaven, I do join Your Son, Jesus, in lifting my eyes, my heart and my whole life to You in honor, love and respect. May I always be attentive to You and always show You the devotion due Your greatness. My dear Jesus, thank You for Your love of the Father in Heaven. Give me the grace I need to imitate You and Your perfect love in my life. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Brendan, Saint John Nepomucene, Saint Simon Stock and Saint Ubaldus ~ Pray for us🙏
Thanking God for the gift of this day and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all and for vocations to priesthood and consecrated life. Have a blessed, safe, grace-filled and fruitful Seventh Week of Easter!🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖