TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

Greetings and blessings, beloved family and Happy Wednesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time!

On this feast day, 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 the Clergy, persecuted Christians, for peace, love, justice and unity in our families and our world. May God keep us all safe and 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 pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We particularly 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 from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | September 4, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |September 4, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| September 4, 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: Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Reading 1, First Corinthians 3:1-9
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21
Gospel, Luke 4:38-44

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT ROSALIA, VIRGIN; SAINT ROSE OF VITERBO, RELIGIOUS; BLESSED DINA BELANGER, RELIGIOUS AND BLESSED MARY STELLA AND HER TEN COMPANIONS, MARTYRS (MARTYRS OF NOWOGRÓDEK) ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 4TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Rosalia, Virgin; Saint Rose of Viterbo, Religious; Blessed Dina Bélanger, Religious and Blessed Mary Stella and Her Ten Companions (Martyrs of Nowogródek). 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 cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed, for all widows and widowers and all those who mourn. We pray for all musicians, florist and those rejected. We also pray for the poor and needy and for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. 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.🙏

SAINT ROSALIA, VIRGIN: St. Rosalia (1130–1166 A.D.) was born in 1130 at Palermo in Sicily to a wealthy and noble Norman family, descendants of Charlemagne who had migrated to Sicily. St. Rosalia was in the world but not of the world. While still very young she despised worldly vanities. From a young age Rosalia was strongly drawn to Christ, which caused her to leave her life of wealth and comfort to follow Him in complete solitude as a hermitess. According to tradition, when her remarkable beauty caused her to be sought in marriage by several lords of Sicily, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and advised her to leave the world. She obeyed, taking with her only a crucifix and her instruments of penance; and guided by two Angels, she made her first dwelling in a nearby grotto, which the snows of winter concealed. Then, when she began to be the object of searches instigated all over Sicily by her desolate family, she was advised and led by the Angels to move to a low cave on Mount Pellegrino, three miles from Palermo where she spent the rest of her life in prayer, complete solitude, and works of penance. St. Rosalia practiced great mortifications and lived in constant communion with God at her abode in Mount Pellegrino, triumphing entirely over the instincts of flesh and blood, in sight of her paternal home. There, during sixteen years’ time, she completed the sacrifice of her heart to God by austere penance and manual labor, sanctified by assiduous prayer and the constant union of her soul with God. On the cave wall, St. Rosalia scrawled her story, she wrote: “I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ.” She remained there entirely hidden from the world.

St. Rosalia died in 1160, ending her strange and wonderful life unknown to the world. She is said to have appeared after death and to have revealed that she spent several years in a little excavation near the grotto. Her body was discovered several centuries later, in 1625, during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII when a plague was ravaging Palermo. Her relics were discovered in the cave by a hunter to whom she had appeared in order to direct him to their location. St. Rosalia instructed the hunter to have her relics carried in procession three times around the city. When townspeople walked with her remains through the city, three days later, the plague disappeared from Palermo. St. Rosalia was credited with saving the city, and a sanctuary was erected in her cave which remains a pilgrimage site to this day. St. Rosalia is the Patron Saint of Palermo; Sicily, Italy; Revolutionary studies; El Hatillo; Zuata Anzoátegui; and El Alto de Escuque Trujillo; Italian fishermen of Monterey, California. Her feast day is September 4th.

PRAYER: Lord God, You showered heavenly gifts on St. Rosalia, Your virgin. Help us to imitate her virtues during our earthly life and enjoy eternal happiness with her in heaven. Amen. Saint Rosalia, Virgin ~ Pray for us 🙏

SAINT ROSE OF VITERBO. RELIGIOUS: St. Rose (1233-1251) was born on July 9, 1233 at Viterbo, Italy, capital of the patrimony of Saint Peter, in the domains of the Papal States. Viterbo, then a contested commune of the Papal States. She spent her brief life as a recluse, who was outspoken in her support of the papacy. St. Rose was gifted with a profound spirituality even as a young child, see had visions of Jesus and Mary. Endowed by God with the gift of miracles, at the age of three she raised her deceased maternal aunt to life after laying hands on her. Her great love for the poor compelled her to assist them in every possible way. From her earliest years she gave herself over to prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners and at seven she retired to a little cell within her parents’ home. St. Rose’s health succumbed under the severe penances she imposed upon herself and the following year she fell gravely ill. During her illness Our Lady appeared to her in a dream and cured her. She was instructed by the Mother of God to be clothed in the habit of St. Francis as a tertiary, but to remain at home and be an example to her neighbors. St. Rose became a 3rd Order Franciscan by 9 years old and shortly after had a vision of Christ’s suffering because of man’s sin. This inspired her, at age 10, to preach Christ’s passion and repentance for sin, in the streets of Viterbo. At this particular time, the city of Viterbo was occupied by the twice-excommunicated Emperor Frederick II. Frederick was at war with the Papacy and had sworn to conquer all of the Papal States. Inspired by Divine Providence, Rose would issue forth from her seclusion and preach in the streets and public squares of her city. With a crucifix in her hand, the young missionary would describe for the growing crowds the sufferings of Our Lord during His Passion, thereby showing them the heinousness of sin. With deep concern she exhorted them to repent of their sins and to convert. Urging them to be faithful to the authority of the Pope, St. Rose likewise admonished those who yielded to the Emperor. Before long, crowds began to gather in the vicinity of her home, hoping for a glimpse of her. When her father, frightened by all the attention his daughter attracted, forbade her to even leave the house to preach under pain of physical punishment, the local parish priest intervened and convinced him to withdraw his prohibition.

For two years the child Franciscan preached conversion to her fellow citizens. Her ardent words were often accompanied by prodigies that stunned the crowds. The stone on which she stood to speak, for example, was seen to rise up off the ground and sustain her in midair during her preaching. While the general population was moved to conversion and penance by her words and example, the partisans of the Emperor were incensed against the young preacher and actively clamored for her death. The civil authorities, however, while they were alarmed by her public exhortations, they would not go so far as to condemn a mere child to death and instead exiled her and her parents from Viterbo. In January, 1250 they took refuge first in Soriano, where, on December 5 of the same year St. Rose prophesied the imminent death of the emperor. Her prediction came to pass on December 13 and soon after, Pope Innocent IV regained control of the Papal States through a stipulation in the emperor’s own will which directed that all lands he had taken from the Church be returned. Soon afterwards, Rose and her parents went to Vitorchiano. A sorceress there had greatly influenced the citizens of this hillside town and the young apostle set about her public preaching once more. Her exhortations moved the people but failed with the sorceress herself. Undaunted, St. Rose had an immense wooden pyre built in the public square and climbing to the top, she had it set on fire. For three hours she stood unscathed in the midst of the devouring flames singing the praises of God. Sincerely moved by the miracle, the repentant sorceress fell to her knees.

With the restoration of the papal authority in Viterbo in 1251, Rose and her parents returned to their native city. She sought admittance to the Poor Clares at the Monastery of St. Mary of the Roses at the age of 15 but was turned away for lack of a dowry, rejected because of her poverty. Humbly submitting to this decision, she foretold her admission to the convent after her death. A mere fifteen years of age, her subsequent attempts to establish a religious community near the monastery with the help of her parish priest proved equally disappointing. She therefore retired once more to a cell in her family home where she died a few years later on March 6, 1251,  Viterbo, Italy. St. Rose died at the young age of 18 of what was believed to be a heart defect. She was first buried in the Church of Santa Maria in Podio and later was laid to rest in the church of the Monastery at the convent that once refused her admission. Her last prophesy was fulfilled on September 4, 1258 but the many miracles attributed to her intercession continue to this day. Not least among the numerous favors granted to St. Rose of Viterbo by Almighty God is the ongoing incorrupt preservation of her body. As recently as 2010, scientific research on her incorrupt body revealed that she had died of a rare heart condition known as Cantrell’s Syndrome and not of tuberculosis as had been previously thought. St. Rose of Viterbo was Canonized in1457 by Pope Callistus III. Her body is incorrupt to this day. St. Rose of Viterbo is the Patron Saint of florists, flower growers, people in exile, people rejected by religious orders, Viterbo, Italy.

“Prayer reveals to souls the vanity of earthly goods and pleasures. It fills them with light, strength and consolation; and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home.” ~ St. Rose of Viterbo. Saint Rose of Viterbo, Religious ~ Pray for us 🙏

BLESSED DINA BELANGER, RELIGIOUS: Bl. Dina Bélanger (1897 – 1929), also known by her religious name Marie of Saint Cecilia of Rome, was born on April 30, 1897, Saint-Roch, Québec City, Canada. She was a Canadian professed religious and a member of the Religieuses de Jésus-Marie. Bl. Dina Bélanger was a noted musician and learnt the piano from her late childhood while teaching this later in her life. Successive bouts of poor health never hindered her spiritual or musical aspirations though weakened her due to contracting tuberculosis. Her biographical account – spanning from 1924 until just a couple of months prior to her death – details her spiritual encounters with Jesus Christ in a series of visions. Bl. Dina Bélanger died on September 4, 1929, Sillery, Québec City, Canada. She was Beatified on March 20, 1993 at Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II. She’s the Patron Saint of Musicians. 

Blessed Dina Bélanger, Religious ~ Pray for us 🙏

BLESSED MARY STELLA AND HER TEN COMPANIONS, MARTYRS (MARTYRS OF NOWOGRÓDEK): These Martyrs are also knownn as the Martyrs of Nowogródek; the Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek or the Eleven Nuns of Nowogródek were a group of members of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, a Polish Roman Catholicism religious congregation, executed by the Gestapo in August 1943 in occupied Poland (present day Navahrudak, Belarus). Religious Sisters have vowed their lives to God for centuries. The vast majority of these women have no thoughts about actually giving their lives to God in martyrdom. The same was true of Sister Stella and her Ten Companions, Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth who lived in Nowogródek, Poland. They lived simple, faith-filled, dedicated lives, serving the people of Nowogródek as God had sent them to do. Never did they think that they would be asked one day to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the families of the town.

The story begins on September 4, 1929, when the first two Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth arrived in the small town of Nowogródek. A few people helped them to find a place to live and in time more Sisters joined them. The townspeople were not terribly welcoming to these women of God. In the face of opposition to their presence, there was some talk of withdrawing the Sisters. Bishop Zygmunt Lozinski, who had recruited the Sisters pleaded, “Do not leave Nowogródek; remain at your post. That is God’s will and mine!” Superior General, Mother Lauretta Lubowidzka was just as forceful in her response. “You must definitely remain at your post. You are not permitted to withdraw from the home of Christ the King. He is to be victorious. We must do battle for the sake of the Kingdom. Fearlessly withstand all the difficulties because great things will take place there.” Perhaps they were prophets. In obedience, the Sisters stayed and were joined by others. Patiently and with love, these women reached out to the people of Nowogródek, at first they started with a class to teach needlework to girls. Then, they began teaching religion and tutoring in French. Gradually, the townspeople came to accept and love the Sisters. The Sisters also cared for the local parish church, lovingly referred to as the Fara. At Mass and devotions, the Sisters were always seen kneeling on their prie-dieux. For many years life in Nowogródek was peaceful. People of different faiths lived side by side with no problems. The Fara became the place where the townspeople gathered in fervent faith and activities. The Sisters’ lives centered on their prayer, care of the church, teaching religion, starting schools for the local children and enjoying their community life. The Second World War changed all of this for everyone. Nowogródek was occupied first by the Russians and later by the Germans. With the Russian occupation, the school was taken from the Sisters. Their religious habits disappeared. They were forced to leave their convent and live in the homes of parishioners. They were together only for Mass and devotions in the Fara. Within two years the town came under German occupation. The Sisters were encouraged to return to their convent and to go back to wearing their distinctive garb. The Sisters continued doing all kinds of work to provide for their needs. It was a trying time for everyone, but it would get worse.

Twelve Sisters resided in the convent in the summer of 1943. The Germans had become more forceful in their treatment of the citizens. Jews were rounded up and killed right in the town. Priests in the area were killed. 120 people, including fathers and other members of Polish families were arrested from July 17 – 19, 1943. The women of the town came to the Sisters and begged them to pray for their release. When the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth learned that the Germans planned to execute dozens of Poles they offered themselves as sacrifices, saying “My God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us and spare those who have families. We are even praying for this intention.” The Sisters prayed that if a sacrifice was needed, that they be sacrificed and the men be returned to Nowogródek. The Germans decided then to enslave the Polish prisoners but still kill the nuns. On Sunday, August 1, 1943, after spending the night in the basement of the commissariat, Sisters Stella Mardosewicz, Imelda Zak, Kanizja Mackiewicz, Rajmunda Kukolowicz, Daniela Jozwik, Kanuta Chrobot, Sergia Rapiej, Gwidona Cierpka, Felicyta Borowik, Heliodora Matuszewska, and Boromea Narmontowicz were driven into the woods a few miles from the town to an isolated spot in the woods. There, the eleven Sisters were shot and their bodies thrown into a mass shallow grave. God accepted their sacrifice and the men were spared. By the power of His grace, these seemingly weak women witnessed to the strength of true love to the point of martyrdom. We take inspiration and courage from their lives. Sr. Stella and her 10 companions were beatified and declared blessed by Pope John Paul II on March 5, 2000.

Blessed Mary Stella and Her Ten Companions (Martyrs of Nowogródek) ~ Pray for us 🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS

Bible Readings for today, Wednesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ Luke 4:38-44

“To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent”

“‘After Jesus left the synagogue, He entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus brings healing to many people in Capernaum. After a busy period one evening in Capernaum, healing the sick, including Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, Jesus got up early the following morning and made His way to a lonely place to pray. Jesus was constantly with people, especially the broken in body, mind and spirit, but He also needed to be alone with God His Father in prayer. It seems that people were more appreciative of His healing ministry than of His prayer, because when he was praying alone they went out looking for him and when they found him they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. Yet, Jesus knew how important His time of prayer was. It was in prayerful communion with His Father that He could discern what path He had to take. After His prayer, he was very clear that He had to leave Capernaum and go to the other towns, in spite of the pressure on Him to stay. His prayer helped Him to see what He had to do, ‘I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too’. Prayer in our own lives can help us to see what we need to do as well. In prayer we open ourselves up to God’s purpose for our lives. Sometimes, as in the case of Jesus, what people want of us is not always what God wants for us. Prayer can give us the strength to take the path the Lord is asking us to take, even when others are putting pressure on us to take another path. Our communion with the Lord in prayer gives the Lord space to guide and direct us in His way.

Today’s Gospel reading highlights the pattern of work and prayer in Jesus’ life. Understandably, the people of Capernaum wanted to hold on to Jesus and tried to prevent Him leaving them. However, Jesus was very clear that He had to move on to do His Father’s work, proclaiming the Kingdom of God to others. The people of Capernaum had to let Him go; Jesus was at the disposal of God’s purpose and that took priority over what the people of Capernaum wanted. In the Gospels, Jesus is consistently portrayed as someone who was totally at the service of God’s purpose. That often brought Him into conflict with human purposes that were opposed to God’s purpose. We are all called to live our lives in accordance with God’s purpose. We try to do what we think God wants of us. That will often bring us into conflict with what other people want of us and want from us. In our struggle to do what God wants, however, we have the risen Lord to help us to walk that way. He can empower us to take the path He took, through His presence to us in His word, in the Eucharist.

In our first reading today from the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Corinth, he spoke to them about certain occurrences and events that happened in that region which showed that they were still not yet mature and strong in their faith, and how they were still afflicted by the temptations of the flesh and the world, as they bickered over who they wanted to follow, whether they followed St. Paul the Apostle or Apollos, or St. Apollos, a charismatic Hellenised Jew preacher from Alexandria who had become very popular in many parts of the Eastern Mediterranean region where he courageously and enthusiastically proclaimed the Word of God to many among the people. Some of those people claimed that one of them was better than the other, and bickered with the other group on how they ought to be faithful to the Lord. They therefore had forgotten on what it truly means for them to be disciples and followers of Christ, as they placed their own prejudices, biases and also preferences, differences in thinking and ways of observing and practicing the Law on top of their part and membership of the Church of God, and their pride and ego instead of their part and responsibility towards their fellow brothers and sisters, fellow Christians and believers, all believing in and following the same Lord and God. Therefore, St. Paul was telling the faithful in Corinth not to give in to these temptations and not to allow factionalism and differences to divide them and break the unity in the Church of God.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded that each and every one of us as Christians are the ones whom the Lord had been calling to follow His path, to do what He has entrusted and shown us to do so that by our lives and actions, by our every commitments and contributions, we may truly embody what we believe in and proclaim the Lord and His truth to everyone who interacts with us and encounters us in our daily moments in life. Each and every one of us must always be committed to do the various missions which our Lord has given us. All of us must continue to walk this path of righteousness that the Lord has shown us, to be the ones proclaiming the Good News of God to all the people of all the nations. Let us all continue to remind ourselves that as Christians, our lives are truly meant to be lived in obedience to God and His commandments, and we should always strive to put the Lord at the very centre of our lives and existence so that we may be good and worthy role models for our fellow brothers and sisters around us. Let us all continue to embrace God’s Law, His commandments and teachings, striving to do what He has shown and taught us to do, and not to be swayed easily by our many desires, wants and temptations, which may lead us astray and into the path of evil and damnation. We must resist those who seek to divide us and remain firmly ever more faithful at all times to the Lord in all things, doing whatever we can so that we may be the beacons of God’s light to everyone around us, guiding one another to the right path. May the Lord continue to bless and guide us in our journey so that by His Presence and blessings, He may continue to encourage and empower us to remain firm in our commitments to Him, and to be His good and worthy servants in all things. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to continue to strive to remain ever more faithful in God and allow the Lord to continue to guide our path and may He bless us always in all things, our every good efforts and endeavours, all the things which we do for His greater glory, now and always. Amen 🙏🏾

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER:

MONTH OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS:
September is the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows, also known as our Mother of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa)! Since the 16th century, Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The Church dedicates the month of September to Our Lady of Sorrows, whose memorial the Church celebrates on September 15th.  Devotion to the sorrows of the Virgin Mary dates from the twelfth century, when it made its appearance in monastic circles under the influence of St. Anselm and St. Bernard.

This devotion recalls the Blessed Virgin Mary’s spiritual martyrdom in virtue of her perfect union with the Passion of Christ. This was her role in salvation history and what merited her place as the spiritual Mother of all Christians. This is symbolized by a single sword, or seven swords, piercing Mary’s suffering heart, as foretold in Simeon’s prophecy. Traditionally the Church meditates on the “Seven Sorrows” of our Blessed Mother: the prophecy of Simeon; the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt; the loss of the Child Jesus for three days; the meeting of Mary and Jesus as He carried His cross; Jesus’ crucifixion and death; Jesus’ sacred body taken down from the cross; and Jesus’ burial. All the sorrows of Mary (the prophecy of Simeon, the three days’ loss, etc.) are merged in the supreme suffering at the Passion. In the Passion, Mary suffered a martyrdom of the heart because of Our Lord’s torments and the greatness of her love for Him. “She it was,” says Pope Pius XII, “who immune from all sin, personal or inherited, and ever more closely united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father together with the holocaust of her maternal rights and motherly love. As a new Eve, she made this offering for all the children of Adam contaminated through his unhappy fall. Thus, she, who was the mother of our Head according to the flesh, became by a new title of sorrow and glory the spiritual mother of all His members.” The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa) is September 15th.

INVOCATIONS: Mary most sorrowful, Mother of Christians, pray for us. Virgin most sorrowful, pray for us 🙏🏾

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=762

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER – FOR THE CRY OF THE EARTH: We pray that each one of us will hear and take to heart the cry of the Earth and of victims of natural disasters and climactic change, and that all will undertake to personally care for the world in which we live.

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, and 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:

My miraculous Lord, I know that You desire my complete attention in life. And I know that I am often distracted by many things that compete with You. Give me the grace I need to become so amazed by You and by Your action in my life that I fervently seek You out so as to be continually nourished by Your holy Word and divine presence in my life. 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 Rosalia, Virgin; Saint Rose of Viterbo; Blessed Dina Bélanger and Blessed Mary Stella and Her Ten Companions ~ 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 month of September 🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖