NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 7, 2024
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS
[Friday following the second Sunday after Pentecost]
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF PRIESTS
Greetings beloved family and Happy Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!
On this special feast day of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we also celebrate the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. With special intention we pray for the Church, the Clergy, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Cardinals, Bishops, all Priests, that they be sanctified in their ministry to God’s people. We pray for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world suffering from political and religious unrest. May God protect us all and keep united in peace, love and faith… Amen 🙏
Watch ” Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube | June 7, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 7, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |June 7, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 7, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteriels VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |
Today’s Bible Readings: Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus | Friday, June 7, 2024
Reading 1, Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9
Responsorial Psalm, Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
Reading 2, Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19
Gospel, John 19:31-37
NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART: Novena dates: May 29 – June 6, 2024. June 7, 2024: Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart | https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-prayer-to-the-sacred-heart-311
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS: Today, we celebrate The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; also the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests is celebrated on the Friday after the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. This suggests to us that the Eucharist (Corpus Christi) is none other than the Heart of Jesus Himself, of the One who “takes care of us” with His “heart”. The liturgical Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, or 19 days after Pentecost Sunday. This devotion is especially concerned with what the Church deems to be the long-suffering, love, and compassion of the HEART of Christ towards humanity.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most popular Catholic devotions. Although it was beloved in previous centuries, this general devotion arose first in Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries of that time, especially in response to the devotion of St. Gertrude the Great. On 20 October 1672, Father Giovanni Eudes, a priest from Normandy, celebrated this feast for the first time. But there had already been several German mystics that had begun cultivating devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Middle Ages: Mechtild of Magdeburg (1212-1283), Mechtilde of Hackeborn (1240-1298) and Gertrude of Helfta (1256-1302) – and the Dominican, Blessed Henry Suso (1295 – 1366). But specific devotions became popularized when St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a Visitation nun of the convent of Paray-le-Monial contributed greatly. She had a personal revelation involving a series of visions of Christ as she prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. St. Margaret Mary had entered the French convent in Saône-et-Loire in 1671. She already had the reputation of being a mystic when on December 27, 1673 she received the first vision of Jesus who invited her to take John’s place, the only apostle who physically rested his head on Jesus’s chest, among those present at the Last Supper. “My Divine Heart is so passionately in love with humanity that it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its ardent love. It must pour them out. I have chosen you for this great plan,” Jesus told her. The following year, St. Margaret had two other visions. In the first, Jesus’s heart was on a throne enveloped in flames brighter than the sun and more transparent than crystal, surrounded by a crown of thorns. In the other, she saw Christ shining in glory. Flames of fire were coming out of every part of his chest to the point that it looked like a furnace. Jesus spoke to her and asked her to receive Communion every first Friday for nine consecutive months and to prostrate herself on the ground for an hour the night between Thursday and Friday. This is how the practice of the nine first Fridays originated and the Holy Hour of Adoration. Then in a fourth vision, Christ asked for the institution of a feast to honour his Heart and to make reparation through prayer for offenses received.
St. Margaret Mary wrote, “He disclosed to me the marvels of his Love and the inexplicable secrets of his Sacred Heart.” Christ emphasized to her His love — and His woundedness caused by Man’s indifference to this love. When Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673, showing her a vision of the now-famous image of His Sacred Heart, surrounded by flames. He said to her: “My Heart is so full of love for men that It can no longer contain the flames of Its burning love. I must discover to men the treasures of My Heart and save them from perdition.” She was given the special mission to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart throughout the Church. Jesus gave St. Margaret Mary many promises associated with this devotion, and requested that a feast day in honor of His Sacred Heart be instituted on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi. In 1856, the Feast of the Sacred Heart was spread to the Universal Church and Pope Pius IX made it an obligatory feast throughout the universal Church and in 1899 Pope Leo XIII solemnly consecrated all mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, calling it “the great act” of his pontificate. In 1995, Saint John Paul II instituted the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests on this same day so that the priesthood might be protected in the hands of Jesus, rather in his heart, so it could be open to everyone.
Our Lord Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary on many occasions, and explained to her the devotion to His Heart. Jesus also made 12 specific promises to those who would honor His Sacred Heart:
- I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
- I will give peace in their families and will unite families that are divided.
- I will console them in all their troubles.
- I will be their refuge during life and above all in death.
- I will bestow the blessings of Heaven on all their enterprises.
- Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
- Tepid souls shall become fervent.
- Fervent souls shall rise quickly to great perfection.
- I will bless those places wherein the image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored and will imprint My love on the hearts of those who would wear this image on their person. I will also destroy in them all disordered movements.
- I will give to priests who are animated by a tender devotion to my Divine Heart the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
- Those who promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart, never to be effaced.
- I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence: they will not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their Sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.
To receive the promises Jesus made to St. Margaret Mary, there are a few requirements: Receiving Communion Frequently; Going to Confession and receiving the Eucharist on the first Friday of each month, for nine consecutive months. (If it isn’t offered at your parish, you can go to Confession & offer your prayers for the Holy Father’s intentions).
Celebrating the Feast of the Sacred Heart has also been established by Saint Pope John Paul II as the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. On this day, let’s especially remember our Priests – and the challenge made to us all in Jesus’ message to St. Margaret Mary: to love everyone, faithfully, with the endless love of Jesus. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. Amen🙏
PRAYER: Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer you through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Mother of the Church, in union with the Eucharistic Sacrifice, my prayers, actions, joys and sufferings of this day in reparation for sins and for the salvation of all people, in the grace of the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Heavenly Father. Amen🙏
SACRED HEART PRAYER: I give myself and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, my person and my life, my actions, pains and sufferings, so that I may be unwilling to make use of any part of my being other than to honor, love and glorify the Sacred Heart. This is my unchanging purpose, namely, to be all His, and to do all things for the love of Him, at the same time renouncing with all my heart whatever is displeasing to Him. I therefore take You, O Sacred heart, to be the only object of my love, the guardian of my life, my assurance of salvation, the remedy of my weakness and inconstancy, the atonement for all the faults of my life and my sure refuge at the hour of death.
Be then, O Heart of goodness, my justification before God the Father, and turn away from me the strokes of his righteous anger. O Heart of love, I put all my confidence in You, for I fear everything from my own wickedness and frailty, but I hope for all things from Your goodness and bounty. Remove from me all that can displease You or resist Your holy will; let your pure love imprint Your image so deeply upon my heart, that I shall never be able to forget You or to be separated from You. May I obtain from all Your loving kindness the grace of having my name written in Your Heart, for in You I desire to place all my happiness and glory, living and dying in bondage to You. Amen🙏
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you ~ Amen🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS
Bible Readings for today, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ John 19:31–37
“One soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out”
“Since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe. For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced.”
In today’s Gospel reading, the pierced heart of Christ proclaimed that ‘greater love’ Jesus speaks about in the Gospel of John. ‘No one can have greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’. The Gospel readt today, in which we heard of the account of the Passion of the Lord, at the very moment when He died after having suffered most greatly and painfully for our sake and salvation. We heard how the Son of God Himself had truly died, emptying Himself of all glory and embracing all of us with His most perfect and selfless love. The soldiers were told to break the legs of those who were crucified with the Lord that they might not continue to hang on the Cross through to the Passover day, but the Lord had already passed away, and one of them was told to prove and check that the Lord had indeed died. The soldier, which tradition stated to be one St. Longinus, pierced the side of the Lord with his spear, just as the Scriptures had predicted, and immediately Blood and water rushed out. This was the moment when the Lord’s love has been fully given to us through His loving sacrifice on the Cross, the moment when all of us were united to His death, to die to our past sins and wickedness, and to open for us all the path to everlasting life and salvation, by the means of His Church. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this was the moment when the Church of God was born, when the Blood and water pouring forth from the Lord’s Body, from His own Most Sacred Heart, came down upon us all in this world. His perfect and most worthy offering had been completed and accepted by the Lord, His heavenly Father, as the most worthy offering for the atonement of all of our sins. Through this act of supreme love and kindness, compassion and forgiveness, God has united us all to Himself, our humanity and human nature to His own human nature and self, truly suffering and truly died on the Cross, the Lamb of God, persecuted and slain for the sake of our salvation.
In our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Hosea, the Lord spoke to His people, the Israelites through the prophet Hosea telling all of them that He truly loved all of them, and even though He had chastised and punished them for their many sins, rebellions and wickedness because of their unfaithfulness, but God continued to love all of His beloved people nonetheless, and He also mentioned to them everything that He had done for them throughout history, how He led them all the way, and brought His salvation upon them, patiently guiding them all so that they might find their way towards Him and follow Him faithfully and worthily. At that time, the prophet Hosea was sent by the Lord to the people of the kingdom of Israel, the northern half of the once united Kingdom of Israel, consisting of the ten northern tribes that broke away from the rule of the House of David. For much if not most of its history and existence, this kingdom and its people had been rebellious against God, refusing to obey His Law and commandments, worshipping pagan idols and gods despite the many messengers, prophets and guides whom the Lord had sent to them in order to help them to find their way back to Him. Instead, they shut their ears and hearts against those servants of God, persecuted and silenced them, killing many of them in refusing to believe in God and in stubbornly refusing to repent from their many sins. Yet, God still loved them and all of us nonetheless. He is patient and full of love, and He still wants us all to come back to Him, repenting from all of our sins. God is always ever generous with His mercy, and His Most Sacred Heart has been manifested to us with the fullness of His love personified and made approachable to us, the love that is truly warm and wonderful, the love that conquered even sin and death.
Our second reading today from St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians summarised all these in emphasising yet again the role which Christ, Our Lord and Saviour had played in the fulfilment of everything which God had planned for our salvation, to liberate each and every one of us from the power and dominion of sin and death. Through His perfect obedience and loving sacrifice, He has undone the disobedience and the corruption of sin and evil, which had separated us all from the fullness of God’s grace and love. Through Christ, we all have received a new hope and a new life, a new reality and existence that is filled with God’s grace and love, as we become part of His one Body, the Church, sanctified and made one by the outpouring of His Blood, which overflowed from His wounded and broken, Most Sacred Heart. Our second reading today, gives us one of the shortest and, yet, most profound statements about God in all of the Bible, ‘God is love’. It goes on to state that ‘God’s love was revealed when God sent into the world His only Son’. Jesus is the supreme revelation of God who is love. All authentic love is life-giving and that is uniquely true of God who is love and of Jesus the revelation of that love. God sent His Son so that we could have life through Him, according to our second reading. In the Gospel reading, Jesus uses the image of ‘rest’ to speak of that love. He invites all who are burdened to come to Him and to find rest, to find life. Even a slight inkling of the tremendous love of God for us can have a transforming effect on us. In the words of the second reading, it can empower us to love one another as God has loved us.
Today’s readings remind us that this love of the Lord is especially sensitive to all those in greatest need of this love, what the first reading calls, the lost, the stray, the wounded, the weak, what Saint Paul in the second reading refers to as ‘sinners’ and the Gospel reading as the ‘lost’. It is to the Sacred Heart we can turn whenever we find ourselves belonging to any of those categories, and, we belong there all the time in one way or another. Today’s feast reminds us that the Lord’s love for us is unconditional. It is not a response to our goodness; it makes us good. It is not a love that waits for us to seek it out; it is a love that is constantly seeking us out. Today’s feast invites us to keep on trusting in God’s loving initiative towards us through his Son and the Holy Spirit, regardless of where we find ourselves in life. It is a feast that prompts us to cry out with Saint Paul, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me’.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, as the Church celebrates the great Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we celebrate the great love of God which has been manifested by the coming of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. And this day, all of us commemorate this love manifested not just in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but also in His Most Sacred Heart, His bleeding and wounded Heart, pierced for our salvation, from which poured out the most wonderful, selfless and perfect love, and He truly wants to share with us this ever patient and enduring love that He had for us from the very beginning, for He had indeed created us all out of His most generous love. Through His Most Sacred Heart, pierced and wounded for us, we are reminded of every single wounds that we ourselves have caused upon the Lord, Who has loved us all so selflessly and tenderly, so patiently and generously from the very beginning of time, from the moment when He first created this world and all of us. We must understand and realise that it is our sins and wickedness, our faults and evils, our disobedience against God that had made Him to bear the consequences and punishments for all those that were meant for us. We should have been destroyed and perished because of our many faults and sins, and yet, God willingly took it up upon Himself to bear the burden of those sufferings and pains, all the wounds we have inflicted on Him, so that by His wounds, and through His Most Sacred Heart, full of ever burning and passionate Love for each one of us, we may have the hope and assurance of everlasting life through reconciliation and reunification with God, our Lord and Master. Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord, by recalling His love for us and remembering everything that He had done for us, all the love that came forth outpouring from His Most Sacred Heart. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace as we continue to put our trust in Him and the love that He has constantly shown us, and do our best so that in our own respective lives in this world, our lives will continue to be full of love, both for the Lord our God and for our fellow brothers and sisters around us, now and always. Amen 🙏
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT ROBERT OF NEWMINSTER, PRIEST AND ABBOT AND BLESSED ANNE OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW, RELIGIOUS ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 7TH On this Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Robert of Newminster, Priest and Abbot and Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew, Religious. 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 who are sick with the coronavirus disease and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for an end to violence and war and for those going through difficulties especially during these incredibly challenging times, we pray for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT ROBERT OF NEWMINSTER, PRIEST AND ABBOT: St. Robert of Newminster ( c. 1100–1159) was born at Gargrave, Yorkshire, England, at the beginning of the 12th century. He studied at the University of Paris, was ordained a priest and served as a parish priest at Gargrave. He spent the early years of his priesthood as rector of his hometown but later joined the Benedictine community at Whitby and then the Cistercians at Fountains. In 1132 he helped to establish Fountains Abbey which embraced the Cistercian rule of St Bernard of Clairvaux. Fountains was to have a daughter abbey at Newminster near Morpeth, Northumberland and St. Robert became the first abbot in 1138/9. The Abbey of Newminster at Morpeth, Northumberland became a place of pilgrimage.
As Abbot, St. Robert founded several new monasteries and also provided a fine example leading his monks to sanctity. He was known for his kindness, austerity and holiness. He was a great man of prayer, a spiritual writer and exorcist. He recited the entire Psalter of 150 psalms daily and he ate sparingly to maintain his self-denial. This holy man was endowed with special power over evil spirits and he cured many possessed persons; he is sometimes pictured as holding the devil in chains and taming him with an upright crucifix. He led a strict way of life and fasted from food and drink, especially during Lent. One Easter Day his stomach, weakened by the fast of Lent, could take no food. Finally he consented to try to eat some bread sweetened with honey. Before it was brought, he changed his mind and sent the food, untouched, to the poor at the gate. The plate was received by a young man who took the bread and disappeared.
St. Robert was a close friend of the simple holy hermit, Saint Godric of Finchale and often visited him in his lonely hermitage at Finchale, where they would discourse about heavenly mysteries. At the moment of St. Robert’s death, on June 7, 1159, his friend, St. Godric saw his soul ascending to heaven like a ball or globe of fire, taken up by the Angels in a pathway of light, while the gates of heaven opened before them. St. Robert took his name from Newminster Abbey, where he and his monks lived until his death on June 7, 1159. He was buried at St Robert of Newminster’s R C Church, Morpeth, United Kingdom.
PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly commited to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection You have given us in St. Robert the Abbot. Amen🙏
BLESSED ANNE OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW, RELIGIOUS: Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew (1549–1626) was a Spanish Roman Catholic professed religious and a professed member from the Discalced Carmelites. She was favoured with innumerable mystical graces from childhood, she imbibed the Teresian spirit at its very source, being the nurse, secretary, and travel companion of the great reformer of Carmel, Saint Teresa of Ávila. Bl. Anne led the establishment of new monasteries of in France and the Lowlands. Bl. Anne was born Ana García Manzanas on October 1, 1549 at Almendral de la Cañada, Old Castile, Crown of Castile in Spain, one of seven children. Her parents died when the plague swept through Spain, leaving her an orphan at the age of ten. She then became a shepherdess tending her brother’s sheep. From a young age she had an extraordinary spiritual life, including being graced with many visions. In one of them the Blessed Virgin Mary told her she would become a nun, which was further encouraged by a vision of Jesus. When she tried to enter the monastery she was turned away for being too young. Years later, when her family tried to arrange her marriage, she finally entered the Carmelite monastery at the age of 21, the same one in which St. Teresa of Avila lived. St. Teresa chose Bl. Anne as her personal secretary and assistant, even though she had to teach Bl. Anne how to write. For five years Bl. Anne was the companion of St. Teresa of Avila, traveling with her and assisting her in the establishment of new foundations. She was a close friend and aide to Saint Teresa of Ávila and it was in Bl. Anne’s arms that St. Teresa died on October 4, 1582. On her deadbed, sensing her last moment approaching, St. Teresa confessed, received the Viaticum and expired with her head resting in the arms of the faithful Anne, who had attended her day and night.
After St. Teresa’s departure for eternity, Bl. Anne became a reference point for those who, both inside and outside the Order of Carmel, wished to come to better know the Teresian soul and her epic feat. And it soon became evident how much that faithful witness had allowed herself to be shaped by her superior and assimilated her spirit. Out of obedience, she received the black veil, which meant she was no longer a simple lay sister, and she was sent to France, together with other religious, to introduce the Order of Discalced Carmelites there. Bl. Anne assisted in the foundation of several other monasteries in France, becoming prioress at three of them. She sometimes struggled with her superiors as she set about setting new convents and holding her position as a prioress. Bl. Anne spent the final years of her life in Belgium in the Netherlands, where she founded the Carmel of Antwerp and remained until her death. At that time, the Belgians were at war with the Dutch. Her reputation for sanctity became so widespread that many soldiers, before leaving for the war front, came to ask her for some object of hers, to use it as a relic and an assurance of God’s protection. God spared one soldier from death who carried in his breast pocket a paper bearing the writing of the holy mother. A bullet passed through the thick cloth of his uniform, but was stopped by the fine sheet of paper! Furthermore, on two occasions, in 1622 and 1624, when the city was about to be seized by enemy troops, the prayers of Mother Anne miraculously saved it, justifying what was said some time before by the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, daughter of Philip II, who was at that time governing the Low Countries: “I fear nothing concerning the Castle of Antwerp or this city, for I am more assured by the prayers of Mother Anne of St. Bartholomew than by any number of armies that I could have there.” On June 7, 1626 this courageous soul, Bl. Anne finished her course in this world to enter into the joys of Heaven, where, certainly at the side of her beloved Mother Teresa of Jesus, she continues to help those who work for the glory of God and His Church. After her death over 150 approved miracles (and more that have not been officially approved) were attributed to her intercession. Bl. Anne died on June 7, 1626 (aged 75) Antwerp, County of Flanders, Spanish Netherlands. She was Beatified on May 6, 1917, Saint Peter’s Basilica, Kingdom of Italy by Pope Benedict XV. She’s the Patron Saint of Antwerp. Her feast day is June 7th.
PRAYER TO BL. ANNE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW: Father, rewarder of the humble, you blessed your servant Anne of Saint Bartholomew with outstanding charity and patience. May her prayers help us, and her example inspire us, to carry our cross and be faithful in loving you, and others for your sake. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen🙏
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JUNE: The month of June is set apart for devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “From among all the proofs of the infinite goodness of our Savior none stands out more prominently than the fact that, as the love of the faithful grew cold, He, Divine Love Itself, gave Himself to us to be honored by a very special devotion and that the rich treasury of the Church was thrown wide open in the interests of that devotion.” These words of Pope Pius XI refer to the Sacred Heart Devotion, which in its present form dates from the revelations given to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673-75.
THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE – FOR MIGRANTS FLEEING THEIR HOMES: We pray that migrants fleeing from war or hunger, forced to undertake journeys full of danger and violence, find welcome and new opportunities in the countries that receive them.
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 beķķen in vain. Now, Lord, come to our ajnid! 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 Ordinary Time, 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 & the Holy Spirit forever & ever. Amen🙏
Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/
PRAYER INTENTIONS: As we begin this season of the Ordinary Time, 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:
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. I thank You, dear Lord, for giving all to me. You held nothing back from me and You continue to pour out Your life for my good and for the good of the whole world. May I receive all You give to me and hold nothing back from You.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, You poured out upon the world the love and mercy of Your transforming grace through the instrument of the blood and water pouring forth from Your wounded side. Help me to gaze upon this font of mercy and to be covered with it through the gift of the Sacraments. May I always be open to all that You wish to bestow upon me by these precious and transforming instruments of Your love. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Most Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Robert of Newminster and Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew ~ Pray for us🙏
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. Amen🙏
Thanking God for the gift of this special feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and we continue to pray for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all. Have a blessed, safe and relaxing weekend🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena 💖