TWENTY- FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: AUGUST 27, 2024

Greetings and blessings beloved family and Happy Tuesday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time!

On this special feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We continue to pray for our children and children all over the world. With special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we pray for their safety and well-being, especially those beginning the new school year. May God grant them the courage to face new challenges and wisdom to make good choices. We pray for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding and for God’s guidance and protection upon them during this school year and always. We pray for safe travels, to and from school. We also pray for all teachers, staff and parents, and guardians. May the good Lord provide for those in need. And we continue to pray for peace, love, and unity in our families and our world. May God keep us all safe andh well. Amen 🙏

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” ~ Proverbs 3:5-6 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” ~ James 1:5

On this day, we especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and 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🙏

Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube | August 27, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | August 27, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |August 27, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| August 27, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

Today’s Bible Readings: Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Reading 1, Second Thessalonians 2:1-3, 14-16
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 96:10, 11-12, 13
Gospel, Matthew 23:23-26

SAINT MONICA: The Novena to Saint Monica is traditionally prayed every day from August 18–26 (Or any time of the year). Novena to Saint Monica is eqspecially prayed for wayward children. [Novena link – https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/novena-to-saint-monica/]

Memorial of Saint Monica is August 27
Memorial of Saint Augustine is August 28

REFLECTION: “The circumstances of St. Monica’s life could have made her a nagging wife, a bitter daughter-in-law and a despairing parent, yet she didn’t give way to any of these temptations”. St. Monica cried to our God for help, her tears and persistent intercessory prayer for her son St. Augustine, whom we celebrate tomorrow was delivered from his evil ways. Through the intercession of St. Monica, may God in His infinite mercy hear our cry and grant our children His divine grace and favor and bless our marriages with love, peace, understanding, endurance and patience…Amen!🙏

SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST OF THE SEVEN JOYS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY; SAINT MONICA, WIDOW AND SAINT CEASARIUS OF ARLES, BISHOP ~ FEAST DAY – AUGUST 27TH: Today, we celebrate the  Feast of the Seven Joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Saint Monica, Widow and Saint Ceasarius of Arles, Bishop. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and we pray for those who mourn. We pray for all mothers, all wives, those going through difficulties marriages, troubled children, alcoholics and abuse victims. We pray for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world and also pray for the poor and needy. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏

FEAST OF THE SEVEN JOYS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: The feast of The Seven Joys of Our Lady (also known as The Franciscan Crown Rosary) is a very special feast of the Franciscan Order. The Franciscan Crown Rosary, properly known as “The Franciscan Crown of Our Lady’s Joys” dates back to approximately the year 1422. According to tradition, as related by the famous Franciscan historian Father Luke Wadding, a very pious young man who had been admitted to the Franciscan Order in that year was saddened and had decided to return to the world and quit the cloister. Before his entry into the Order, it was his custom to adorn a statue of the Blessed Virgin with a wreath of fresh and beautiful flowers. Now, he was unable to continue his act of piety and devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Our Lady appeared to him and prevented him from taking such a step as he had planned. “Do not be sad and cast down, my son,” she said, “because you are no longer permitted to place wreaths of flowers on my statue. I shall teach you to change this pious practice into one that will be far more pleasing to me and more meritorious to your soul. In place of the flowers that soon wither and cannot always be found, you can weave for me a crown from the flowers of your prayers that will always remain fresh and can always be had.” When Our Lady had disappeared, the overjoyed Novice at once began to recite the prayers in honor of her Seven Joys, as she had directed. While he was deeply engrossed in this devotion, the Novice Master happened to pass by and saw an angel weaving a marvelous wreath of roses. After every tenth rose, he inserted a golden lily. When the wreath was finished, the angel placed it on the head of the praying Novice. The Novice Master demanded the Novice tell him the meaning of this vision. The joyful Novice complied. The good priest was so impressed that he immediately made it known to his brethren. Thus, the practice of reciting the Franciscan Crown of Our Lady’s Joys soon spread as a favorite devotion of the Friars. Pope St. Pius X authorized them to celebrate this feast in 1906. Our Lady’s joys are seven and are celebrated within the octave of the feast of her Immaculate Heart. The original day was the Sunday after the octave of the Assumption, but in 1914 it was transferred to the octave day itself; and in 1942, when the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was assigned to that day, that of the Seven Joys was moved to August 26 or 27. The Franciscans celebrate this feast August 27 and the Conventuals on August 26.

The Seven Joys of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary: (1) The Annunciation of the Angel to Mary; (2)The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth; (3)The Nativity of Our Lord; (4)The Adoration of the Magi; (5)The Finding of Jesus in the Temple; (6)The Resurrection of Our Lord and (7)The Crowning of Our Lady, Mary, in Heaven as Queen. At each decade it is well to reflect on the sweet joy Our Lady experienced on the occasions indicated. Said in this way, the rosary will be very pleasing to Mary, and you will learn to love it more and more.

How to Pray This Devotion: The Franciscan Rosary of the Seven Joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary is recited in its honor the Franciscan Crown which is composed of seven decades of one Our Father and ten Hail Marys each. At the end two Hail Marys are added. It is concluded with the Our Father and Hail Mary. The last Our Father and Hail Mary are prayed for the Holy Father’s intentions in order to gain the indulgence. The seventy-two Hail Marys correspond to the seventy-two years the Blessed Virgin is supposed to have lived and when she died and was assumed into Heaven. The seven decades need not be recited at once, but the single decades may be separated provided that the whole Rosary is said on the same day. One need not meditate on the mysteries of this Rosary. It suffices to pray the single decades in honor of the respective mystery. Devotion to the seven joys of Mary is a beautiful counterpart to the seven sorrows and helps balance a person’s spiritual life, recognizing that existence is not just filled with sorrows, but also contains many joys in this life and the life to come. Our Lady’s Sorrows are also seven and are celebrated twice during the year — on the Friday before Good Friday and on September 15.

THE MEMORARE: Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen🙏

PRAYER: O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, didst prepare a worthy dwelling place for Thy Son; we beseech Thee, that, as by the foreseen death of the same Thy Son, Thou didst preserve Her from every stain, so mayest Thou grant us also, through Her intercession, to come to Thee with pure hearts. Through the same Christ Our Lord.  Amen 🙏

SAINT MONICA, WIDOW: St. Monica (331-387 A.D.), is the mother of St. Augustine (whose feast we celebrate tomorrow,  August 28th). St. Monica’s holy example and fervent intercession led to one of the most dramatic conversions in Church history. St. Monica was born into a Catholic family in 331, in the North African city of Tagaste located in present-day Algeria. She was raised by a maidservant who taught her the virtues of obedience and temperance. Early in life she struggled with alcoholism, sneaking draughts of wine from the family cellar, before being caught and overcoming the habit. She was later given in marriage to an ill-tempered and adulterous pagan Roman official, Patricius, who had disdain for his wife’s religion. She suffered greatly on account of her husband, and that of her unkind mother-in-law with whom she lived.  St. Monica dealt patiently with his distressing behavior, which included infidelity to their marriage vows and she fervently prayed for their conversion over the course of many years. Her patience and kindness became a source of encouragement to other unhappy housewives with whom she came in contact.

St. Monica experienced a greater grief when her husband, Patricius would not allow their three children – Augustine, Nagivius, and Perpetua – to receive Baptism. When Augustine, the oldest, became sick and was in danger of death, Patricius gave consent for his Baptism, but withdrew it when he recovered. St. Monica’s long-suffering patience and prayers eventually helped Patricius to see the error of his ways, and he was baptized into the Church one year before his death in 371. Her oldest son, however, soon embraced a way of life that brought her further grief, as he fathered a child out of wedlock in 372. One year later, he began to practice the occult religion of Manichaeism. In her distress and grief, Monica initially shunned her oldest son. However, she experienced a mysterious dream that strengthened her hope for Augustine’s soul, in which a messenger assured her: “Your son is with you.” After this experience, which took place around 377, she allowed him back into her home, and continued to beg God for his conversion. But this would not take place for another nine years. In the meantime, St. Monica sought the advice of local clergy, wondering what they might do to persuade her son away from the Manichean heresy. One bishop, who had once belonged to that sect himself, assured St. Monica that it was “impossible that the son of such tears should perish.” These tears and prayers intensified when Augustine, at age 29, abandoned St. Monica without warning as she passed the night praying in a chapel. Without saying goodbye to his mother, Augustine boarded a ship bound for Rome. Yet even this painful event would serve God’s greater purpose, as Augustine left to become a teacher in the place where he was destined to become a Catholic. Under the influence of the bishop St. Ambrose of Milan, Augustine renounced the teaching of the Manichees around 384. St. Monica followed her son to Milan, and drew encouragement from her son’s growing interest in the saintly bishop’s preaching. After three years of struggle against his own desires and perplexities, Augustine succumbed to God’s grace and was baptized in 387.

Shortly before her death, St. Monica shared a profound mystical experience of God with Augustine, who chronicled the event in his “Confessions.” Finally, she told him: “Son, for myself I have no longer any pleasure in anything in this life. Now that my hopes in this world are satisfied, I do not know what more I want here or why I am here.” The only thing I ask of you both,” she told Augustine and his brother Nagivius, “is that you make remembrance of me at the altar of the Lord wherever you are.” St. Monica died at age 56, on August 27, 387 AD, Ostia Antica, Italy as she and her son gazed at the sea and discoursed about the joys of the blessed. She is remembered and honored for her outstanding Christian virtues, particularly the suffering caused by her husband’s adultery, and her prayerful life dedicated to the reformation of her son, who wrote extensively of her pious acts and life with her in his Confessions. Popular Christian legends recall Saint Monica weeping every night for her son Augustine. In modern times, she has become the inspiration for the St. Monica Sodality, which encourages prayer and penance among Catholics whose children have left the faith. She is the patron saint of wives, mothers, married women, difficult marriages, conversions, alcoholics and abuse victims,  disappointing children, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness, victims of (verbal) abuse, and conversion of relatives.

PRAYER: God, Comforter of the afflicted, You accepted St. Monica’s tears to bring about the conversion of her son St. Augustine. Through their intercession, grant that we may have contrition for our sins and experience the grace of Your pardon. Amen 🙏

SAINT CAESARIUS OF ARLES, BISHOP: St. Caesarius of Arles (470-542) was born at Chalon-sur-Saone in 470 of a good Gallo-Roman family. He entered the monastery of Lerins at the age of twenty and in 503 he was chosen Bishop of Arles. He led an austere life as a monk which he retained as a devout Bishop. This devout Bishop played a prominent role in the ecclesiastical administration of southern Gaul and established the claim of Arles to be the primatial See in Gaul. The most important problem for St. Caesarius was the efficiency of the bishop’s fulfillment of his pastoral duties. By that time, preaching had already become part of the standard church service in Gaul; many bishops recognized the importance of such a means of educating morality and encouraged it. However, Caesarius’ enthusiasm was outstanding in its own way, and he urged his clergy to preach as often as possible, in the church and outside it, to the willing and the opposing. St. Caesarius’ sermon topics generally dealt with moral issues.

St. Caesarius formed the clergy and organized his diocese and zealously defended the church against heresy.  He fought strenuously against Arianism and was largely instrumental in securing the condemnation of Semi-Pelagianism at the Council of Orange in 529 (one of several over which he presided by order of the Pope). He stressed brevity and clarity of language in his sermons that have come down to us and he, himself was a celebrated preacher. He founded a nunnery where his sister was and wrote a Rule for it. The modernity of his Rule can be seen in its provisions. In this Rule, it provided that every nun learn to read and write, and it also established that the nuns should be allowed to choose their Abbess. It has for a long time remained the frame of life for a great number of religious.

St. Caesarius is considered to be of the last generation of church leaders of Gaul that worked to promote large-scale ascetic elements into the Western Christian tradition. St. Caesarius is depicted as having the reputation of a “popular preacher of great fervour and enduring influence”. Among those who exercised the greatest influence on Caesarius were Sts. Augustine of Hippo, Julianus Pomerius, and John Cassian. St. Caesarius died on August 27, 542 AD

PRAYER: God, Light and Shepherd of souls, You established St. Caesarius as Bishop in Your Church to feed Your flock by his word and form it by his example. Help us through his intercession to keep the faith he taught by his word and follow the way he showed by his example. Amen 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS

Bible Readings for today, Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time |Memorial of Saint Monica | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 23:23-26

“But these you should have done, without neglecting the others”

“Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus criticizes those who give too much attention to the less important laws and regulations and too little attention to what was really important, what Jesus calls the weightier matter of the Law. Jesus criticized the Pharisees for being so preoccupied with unimportant details relating to the tithing of herbs while neglecting the core values and the more important aspects that the Jewish Law sought to uphold, such as justice, mercy and faith. The background to what Jesus says here may be the prophet Micah’s understanding of what God desires of us, ‘to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God’. The context of Micah’s statement was the people’s concern about what kind of animal sacrifice should be offered to God. Micah was saying to the people that their preoccupation is wide of the mark; it does not correspond to what God really wants. Jesus stands in the line of the prophets who sought to bring people back to what was really important, what really mattered to God. When it comes to our relationship with God, Jesus wants us to put our energy into getting the basics right. It would be difficult to come up anything more basic than the ‘justice, mercy and faith’ that Jesus refers to in the Gospel reading. Justice and mercy have to do with how we relate to others. We are to be just and merciful in our dealings with each other. Faith has to do with how we relate to God. We are to be faithful to God, which means being faithful to Jesus and to all he stands for, even though that may cost us a great deal at times. There is clearly a close link between faith, on the one hand, and justice and mercy, on the other. Faithfulness to Jesus entails showing justice and mercy to others, as He did. When we find ourselves getting very worked up about something in the religious sphere, it can be good to step back and ask ourselves just how basic, how fundamental, the issue in question really is. As disciples of Jesus, we have to keep on returning to the essentials, to what is at the heart of the message of Jesus, what is at the heart of God. It would be hard to find a better statement of those essentials than that trinity of values given to us by Micah and by Jesus, the exercise of justice and mercy towards others and a humble, trusting faith in God. These were the values which Jesus embodied in His life and in His death. To live by them is, in the language of Paul, to put on Christ, which is the core of our baptismal calling.

Our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Thessalonica, in what is now part of Greece, is the continuation from our reading from yesterday, the Apostle reminded the people of God not to be easily swayed and tempted by various false messages and misleading details which might tempt them to give up their faith in God. That is why the people of God must have strong and enduring faith to persevere amidst the various challenges, trials and temptations surrounding them. There were a lot of misleading teachings and messages going around even since the very earliest days of the Church as evidenced in that Epistle that St. Paul wrote and sent to the Thessalonians. There were quite a few of those who tried to appropriate Church and Christian teachings to suit their own agenda. That was why they mixed parts of the Christian teachings and truth with their own misinformation and ideas, which resulted in not few among the Christians to be swayed into their erroneous and heretical paths. St. Paul was working hard against all those heretics and all the false prophets and messengers, all those irresponsible and wicked people who sought to lead the people of God into the wrong paths for their own selfish agenda and benefits. He persevered through the challenges to slowly and patiently guide the people of God to return back once again to Him, and to return to the path of virtue and righteousness, abandoning whatever wrong and misguided ideas that they had been exposed to through those false leaders and heretics.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today which details the continuation of the discourse on the woes of the Pharisees in our Gospel reading today as the Lord continued on His criticism and rebuke on the Pharisees, the religious elite of the Jewish community who often opposed the Lord in His ministry and works, as well as the exhortation by St. Paul to the faithful people of God in Thessalonica on how they ought to stand firm to their faith in God, not allowing themselves to be easily swayed by falsehoods and temptations around them, to prevent them from falling into sin. Through all these, we are all reminded that we should continue to be faithful as Christians in all of our lives and actions, to be truly faithful to God and not merely be outwardly pious but having no love for God in us. As we reflect on the lives of the Holy men and women, particularly, St. Monica who went through it all patiently, always there to pray and support her son, praying for his conversion and change of heart. Slowly but surely, this impacted the members of her family, beginning from her husband, who converted to be a Christian before he passed away, and then St. Augustine of Hippo himself, who was called by God and then, under the tutelage of St. Ambrose of Milan, finally embraced the Christian faith and the Lord fully, abandoning his past wicked way of life. St. Monica was by her son’s side throughout the whole entire journey, and has always shown her love to him, reminding us all what it means for us to be a Christian and a disciple of Christ, in how we ought to love one another and to help one another in our path towards the Lord’s salvation. Let us all therefore continue to do our best to proclaim the Lord ever more faithfully in our whole lives, and do our part as Christians to be good role models and inspirations for everyone around us. May God in His infinite grace and mercy grant us the grace and may the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to bless and guide us in our journey, strengthening us all to walk ever more faithfully in His path, now and always. Amen 🙏🏾

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF AUGUST:

MONTH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY: August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary! The Church dedicates the month of August to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is a dogma of the Catholic faith that Mary is the Immaculate Conception; that is, in preparation for the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity in her womb, she was conceived without the corruption of sin through the foreseen and infinite merits of her Son, Jesus Christ. Over the centuries, as saints and theologians reflected on how Mary pondered and treasured the sacred events from the life of Christ in her holy heart, as attested in Scripture, her pure heart was recognized as something to be imitated. Devotion to Our Lady’s purity of heart began to flower—so much so that in the 17th century, St. John Eudes promoted it alongside the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The devotion rose to a new level after the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, when Mary revealed an image of her Immaculate Heart to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco.

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST – FOR POLITICAL LEADERS: We pray that political leaders be at the service of their own people, working for integral human development and for the common good, especially caring for the poor and those who have lost their jobs.

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 Ordinary Time, please let us all continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in Africa, Nigeria, 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 🙏🏾

Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/

PRAYER INTENTIONS: During 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. We pray for all mothers, wives, those going through challenges in their marriages, Victims of verbal and spousal abuse, we pray for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. 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:

Lord of true holiness, You desire to cleanse my soul, and You invite me to meet You there within. Please give me the grace I need to care more about my holiness within than the external perceptions and judgments of others. May I become holy, dear Lord, and learn to become an instrument of that holiness for others. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏

Save Us, Savior of the World. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Most Precious Blood of Jesus, have mercy on us. Our Blessed Mother Virgin Mary; Saint Monica, Widow and Saint Ceasarius of Arles, Bishop ~  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. Have a blessed, safe, grace-filled and fruitful week🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖