TWENTY-THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF SORROWS: Traditionally prayed September 7–15th. The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is September 15th | Novena link below
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube” | September 11, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | September 11, 2024 |
Greetings and blessings, beloved family and Happy Wednesday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time!
Today, please let us pray for the safety and well-being of all service men and women, we also pray for peace in our world. We especially pray for the victims of the September 11 attacks (USA). We pray for the gentle repose of the souls of our loved ones who recently passed away, we particularly pray for the repose of the souls of the victims of September 11th attacks (USA) and we continue to pray for the souls in Purgatory; lost souls; the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. For the repose of 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 and souls of all the faithful departed 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🙏
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 🙏🏾
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
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube” | September 11, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | September 11, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes France” | September 11, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| September 11, 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: *Today’s Bible Readings: Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Reading 1, First Corinthians 7:25-31
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 45:11-12, 14-15, 16-17
Gospel, Luke 6:20-26
NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF SORROWS: Traditionally prayed September 7–15th. The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is September 15th | https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/nine-day-prayer-for-life-novena-to-our-lady-of-sorrows-283
SAINTS OF THE DAY: SAINT PROTUS AND HYACINTH, MARTYRS; SAINT PAPHNUTIUS THE GREAT, BISHOP AND SAINT JOHN (JEAN) GABRIEL PERBOYRE, PRIEST AND MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 11TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Protus and Hyacinth, Martyrs and Saint Paphnutius the Great, Bishop and Saint John (Jean) Gabriel Perboyre, Priest and Martyr. 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 mentally and physically ill and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. We 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…. Amen🙏
SAINTS PROTUS AND HYACINTH, MARTYRS: Sts. Protus and Hyacinth were brothers who were servants of Saint Eugenia, a wealthy Roman woman. After their baptism, they devoted themselves to the study of Sacred Scripture and lived as hermits for a time in Egypt, but later returned to Rome. Sometime between 257 and 259, they were arrested—along with Saint Eugenia—because of their Christian faith during a persecution of the Emperor Gallienus. Although they were given the chance to deny Christ, the brothers refused and were beaten and beheaded on September 11. The Acts of these Martyrs are included in those of St. Eugenia and are spurious. They state that Eugenia, a Christian daughter of the prefect of Egypt, fled from her house with Protase and Hyacinth, her slaves. She converted her family and others. The Roman lady Basilla was converted by the Martyrs and all three were beheaded together.
According to Pope St. Damasus, the brothers, Roman Martyrs Protase and Hyacinth were martyred separately (doubtless in 303/304). They were buried in the cemetery of Basilla on the Old Salarian Way. In 1845, the grave of Saints Protus and Hyacinth was discovered in the Catacomb of Saint Hermes on the Via Salaria. The burial place of St. Hyacinth was found intact after 15 centuries. He seemed to have died by fire. And an inscription of St. Protase (but no tomb) was found nearby. Protus means ‘the first’ and Hyacinthus means ‘flower’ hence attractive.
For reflection: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”—Matthew 16:24
PRAYER: May the confession of Thy blessed martyrs, Protus and Hyacinth, fill our hearts with joy and comfort us, O Lord, and their example increase our faith, and their prayers renew our courage. May their kind intercession constantly protect us. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ: Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.🙏
SAINT PAPHNUTIUS THE GREAT, BISHOP: St. Paphnutius the Great was a Hermit, an Egyptian monk who became a Bishop in Egypt, endured torture for the faith, and participated at the Ecumenical Council of Nicea in its confirmation of Christ’s divinity. While there is no record of Paphnutius’ early life, it is known that he – like many other men of his day – became a Spiritual student and disciple of the monk Saint Anthony of the Desert, Abbot whose direction of a community of fellow hermits marked the beginning of traditional Christian monasticism. Having spent several years pursuing spiritual illumination in the austerity of the desert under St. Anthony’s direction, St. Paphnutius was eventually chosen to become a Bishop for the Upper Thebaid region. This placed him in direct conflict with Maximinus Daia, the Roman imperial ruler of Egypt and Syria from 305 to 313, who persecuted the Church in these regions and attempted to undermine it by strengthening the institutions of paganism. During the persecutions of emperor Galerius Maximinus, St. Paphnutius had his right eye torn out, his left knee crippled, in an unsuccessful effort to make him renounce the Catholic faith. Not yielding before torture, he was condemned to manual labor in the mines, all as punishment for his faith. Since he survived the ordeal of persecution, St. Paphnutius was regarded with reverence by the first Christian leader of the Roman Empire. Constantine is said to have met frequently with the bishop from the Upper Thebaid, showing his respect by kissing the wound left by the loss of his eye.
Imperial policy toward Christians shifted between 311 and 313, in the midst of a power struggle between the various co-emperors of the time. The Emperor Constantine began to embrace the faith in 312, and he proclaimed its legality the following year, during which Maximinus Daia also died. Rescued by emperor Constantine the Great in 313, St. Paphnutius resumed his pastoral duties and worked against Arianism heresy. The Egyptian bishop, St. Paphnutius is also reputed to have played a role at the First Ecumenical Council, which condemned Arianism and promulgated the Nicene Creed and afterwards worked to spread the Nicene Creed. While celibate himself, A St. Paphnutius successfully resisted an effort by some council participants to change the Eastern Churches’ traditions regarding married members of the clergy. St. Paphnutius said that it was enough to conform to the ancient tradition of the Church, which forbade the clergy marrying after their ordination. To this day it is the law of the Eastern Churches, whether Catholic or dissident, that married men may receive all Holy Orders below the episcopate, and continue to live freely with their wives. During the years of doctrinal confusion that followed the Council of Nicea, St. Paphnutius stood in defense of Christian orthodoxy alongside Saint Athanasius of Alexandria and other Church leaders who upheld the doctrine of Jesus’ eternal preexistence as God.
In 335 St. Paphnutius joined a large group of Egyptian Bishops in attending the regional Council of Tyre, where they found the majority of Bishops adhering to the Arian heresy and he again had to oppose Arianism. St. Paphnutius was especially distressed to see his fellow Bishop Maximus of Jerusalem mingling with the Arian clergy, since Maximus, like himself, had once suffered torture rather than compromise his faith. St. Paphnutius took his fellow confessor aside, and personally persuaded him to back St. Athanasius in the struggle against Arianism. The year of St. Paphnutius’ death, like that of his birth, is unknown. St. Paphnutius is sometimes called “the Great” to distinguish him from other saints of the same name. He should not be confused with another prominent Egyptian monk of the same name (who appears in the “Conferences” of Saint John Cassian), nor is he the same Paphnutius whose martyrdom the Eastern churches commemorate on April 19. St. Paphnutius’ feast day is September 11.
Saint Paphnutius, Bishop ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT JOHN (JEAN) GABRIEL PERBOYRE, PRIEST AND MARTYR: St. John (Jean) Gabriel Perboyre (1802-1840) was one of eight children born to Pierre Perboyre and Marie Rigal, a pious farming family in France on January 6, 1802. Including Jean Gabriel, five of the Perboyer children became consecrated religious – three priests and two nuns. St. John was a pious child and served as a model of virtue for his childhood companions. He discerned a call to the priesthood and joined the Vincentians along with a younger brother, with the full support of his parents. At age 16 he followed his brother Louis to the seminary, founded by their uncle that formed Vincentians, priests who followed the example of St. Vincent de Paul. His parents wanted John to make sure Louis settled in and acclimated to the new life; John discovered that the new life spoke to him as well, and he joined his brother as a seminarian and joined the Congregation of the Mission of Saint Vincent on Christmas Day 1818. Ordained in Paris on September 23, 1825. He taught dogmatic theology. Seminary rector. Assistant director of novices. He served as a seminary professor for many years, and his sanctity impressed even his superiors. He longed to serve in the missions to China, but his poor health prevented him and his brother was sent instead. He prayed and begged to also be sent to preach in China and to suffer martyrdom there. After his brother died on the voyage to China, St. Jean-Gabriel was allowed to take his place in the mission.
In March 1835 he sailed for China, and began his mission in Macao in June 1836. His labors there were met with great success. A widespread persecution of Christians began in 1839, the same year England had attacked China. St. Jean-Gabriel was one of the first to be arrested. He was denounced to the authorities by one of his catachumens. The events leading to his death bear a striking resemblance to the Passion and Death of Christ. St. Jean Gabriel was betrayed to the authorities by one of his new converts (catachumens) for thirty pieces of silver, he was arrested, tried on 16 September 16, 1839, stripped of his garments and clothed with rags, bound, and dragged from tribunal to tribunal. At each trial, he was brutally treated and tortured by hanging by his thumbs and flogging with bamboo rods, and he was finally condemned to death along with seven other criminals on September 11, 1840. He was martyred by being strangled to death as he hung on a cross. St. John Gabriel was Canonized on June 2, 1996 by Pope John Paul II, St. John Gabriel Perboyre is the first saint of China. As a result of his martyrdom, the British government negotiated a clause in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking that required any apprehended missionary to be handed over to the custody of his nation’s diplomatic representatives. His feast day is September 11th.
Before his death St. Jean Gabriel wrote this prayer: “O my Divine Savior, Transform me into Yourself. Grant that I may live but in You, by You, and for You, So that I may truly say, with Saint Paul, “‘I live – now not I – But Christ lives in me.'”
St. John Gabriel Perboyre, you followed your passion to spread the Gospel and died with faith ~ Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, Priest and Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS
Bible Readings for today, Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Luke 6:20-26
“Blessed are you who are poor. Woe to you who are rich”
“Raising His eyes toward His disciples Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus told His disciples the famous Sermon on the Mount, also known as the Eight Beatitudes. Jesus declares blessed and happy the poor, the hungry and those who weep, whereas He declares unfortunate the rich and those who have their fill of everything. Jesus speaks a word of consolation to the great mass of the poor, the hungry and the weeping, whereas He issues a warning to the rich and complacent elite. The version of the beatitudes we find in St. Luke’s Gospel are very disconcerting in many ways. While Jesus declares blessed those who are poor, hungry and weep. He declares unfortunate those who are rich, who are full and who laugh. Jesus is not saying that poverty is a blessing in itself. Rather He is declaring that the poor are blessed because God will work to transform their situation. It is the situation of being vulnerable that creates a space for God to work. It is often our need that opens us up to God; it is those who are afflicted in any way who are most likely to experience God’s nearness and God’s help. In contrast, those who appear to have everything often have no sense of their need for God and are not open to God’s transforming presence. The Gospel reading assures us that our pain, our suffering, our affliction can be a blessing because it can open us up to experience the generosity of God towards us. Jesus proclaimed a God who wanted to show special favour to the distressed and vulnerable. In Luke’s Gospel, as Jesus hung from the cross one of the criminals alongside Him said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’. To this poor, hungry, weeping man Jesus said, ‘today, you will be with me in paradise’. It is often when we are at our weakest that we are most responsive to the Lord’s transforming and life-giving presence. The Lord wants to continue His mission to the broken in body, mind and spirit, in and through each one of us today. It is the situation of being vulnerable that creates a space for God to work. If the promise Jesus makes in today’s Gospel reading to the poor, the hungry and those who weep is to be fulfilled in this life and not just in eternity, He needs to work through each one of us. He needs us as His labourers.
In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus presented to all of His disciples and followers what it truly means for each and every one of them to become His disciples. They should heed whatever that He had told to them and to all the people, in the series of blessings and graces He had proclaimed and presented to all those who have truly obeyed the Lord and lived their lives worthily of the Lord at all times. The Lord praised and blessed all those who are poor in spirit, those who are hungry and in need, those who are sorrowful, those who have been hated and persecuted, those who acted righteously and sought to make peace, among other things. Jesus assures those who are struggling that God is aware of their plight and that God is working to reverse their abysmal situation, if not in this life, then in the kingdom of heaven. He warns the complacent rich who live in splendid isolation from the struggles of the vast bulk of the population that their situation will also be reversed, only for the worst. According to one of the psalms, ‘the Lord is close to the broken hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit’. This was the God that Jesus revealed by His words and His deeds. He gravitated towards the broken in body, mind and spirit, and they were drawn to Him. The Lord is especially close to us when we are broken or crushed in body, mind or spirit. He comes to bring us joy in our sorrow, strength in our weakness, and hope in our despondency. Whenever we come before the Lord in our poverty and weakness, we will find that He is close to us in love.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus speaks a word of consolation to those who are struggling the most, the poor, the hungry, all who weep, those experiencing rejection because of their loyalty to Him. He declares that God is working to transform their situation for the better. The day will come when they will be satisfied, when they will laugh, when the kingdom of God will be theirs. Jesus is revealing God to be one who is not only present to us in our most vulnerable situations but who is actively working on our behalf to bring a change for the better to our lives. This is the God whom Jesus revealed by His deeds and His words. He invited the poor to His table, He fed the hungry in the wilderness, He brought the joy of God’s kingdom to those who were weeping, such as the widow at Nain. Jesus wants His disciples, all of us, to reveal this same God by our deeds and our words. The risen Lord wants to work through us to bring something of that fullness of life which characterizes the kingdom of God to those who are poor, hungry and weeping today. We are aware of some people who are bringing hunger, poverty and sadness to others by their actions or even complacent indifference. It is this group that Jesus addresses in the second half of the Gospel, declaring that God hold them to account for the suffering they are inflicting on others, very often growing rich in the process. There are forces around that are death dealing and in the face of such forces the Lord needs us all the more to be instruments of his life-giving work in the world. As Saint Paul says in today’s first reading, Christ ‘is your life’. The Lord who comes to us as our life-giver also wants to live in us so that He can be a life-giver for others through us. He wants to continue His mission to the broken in body, mind and spirit, in and through each one of us today. If the promise Jesus makes in today’s Gospel reading to the poor, the hungry and those who weep is to be fulfilled in this life and not just in eternity, He needs to work through each one of us. He needs us as His labourers.
In our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, the Apostle spoke to the people of God, the faithful and beloved people of God in that city and region about the matter of how each and every one of them ought to live their lives with commitment and dedication to God, and not to give themselves to immorality and wickedness, temptations and all the other corruptions of the world. He also exhorted them all to live virtuously and not to be swayed by worldly corruptions and desires, living as worthy and truly holy brothers and sisters in the same Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. St. Paul told the faithful people of God in Corinth not to embrace worldliness, and to reject all sorts of wicked things that may lead them astray from the path towards God and His salvation. However, at the same time, we must also understand the context and situation in which St. Paul made this comment and exhortation upon the faithful in Corinth. We must not understand it literally or else we may misunderstand the intention of those words uttered by St. Paul to the Corinthians as at that time it was commonly understood and thought that the Lord’s Second Coming would be truly imminent, and everything would come to happen within probably one’s lifetime. Therefore that was why St. Paul exhorted that the faithful should refrain from worldly matters and saying that the married should behave as if they were not married to each other, that they might stay focused on the Lord and not on their families. Putting this context aside, we see how the family is truly an important aspect of Christian life, that St. Paul and the other disciples of the Lord often placed a lot of emphasis and focus on the sanctity and purity of the families of those whom the Lord had called and chosen to be His own people, to be truly exemplary and worthy in each and every one of our works, actions and deeds so that we may continue to be holy and worthy to be truly called as disciples and followers of the Lord in all things. As Christians it is important that we must be the beacons of the light and truth of Christ, in each and every one of our words, actions, deeds and interactions with one another, and often it is our families that are the source of all these witnessing to the truth of Christ. If our families are not firmly rooted in Christ, in His teachings and truth, then it may be easy for us to be swayed into the path of rebellion, disobedience and therefore fall into the temptations to sin. That is why we need to make sure that each and every one of us, especially in our families, be it as parents or children, or be it as husbands or wives, and even as relatives to one another, we must continue to strive to live our lives most worthily of the Lord so that we can continue to embody our Christian faith in each and every moments of our lives, and we may proclaim the Lord and glorify Him through even the smallest and seemingly least significant efforts and works that we carry out in each and every moments. Our families and each and every one of us should continue to be filled with the grace of God at all times.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, it is important that each and every one of us understand the context of what we have heard from them, and understand how we can apply them to our own respective lives so that each and every one of us may grow ever more committed in each and every moments of our lives in doing whatever it is that He has taught and commanded us all to do. All of us should heed what the Lord told and taught to us with regards to how we should live our daily living as Christians, that is as those whom He had called and chosen from this world, and how we can be better and more attuned to His will, living in a manner that is truly worthy and blessed by the Lord, our loving God. Essentially, all of those things help to bring one ever closer to God, helping one to resist the temptations of the world, of all the worldly allures of pleasures and other forms of wicked things that may lead one astray and ever further from the path of God. We are all reminded that as Christians, our lives and our existence should always be focused on the Lord and we ought to have Him at the forefront of all and everything that we do in our everyday living. We must always adhere to the path of God’s grace, and do our very best in each and every moments to be inspirational and exemplary to everyone around us, helping one another to remain true to our faith and obedience to God, to do whatever it is that He has entrusted to us to do. May the Lord continue to help us in our journey towards Him, giving us the strength and encouragement to continue living our lives faithfully, dedicating ourselves at each and every moments to proclaim His truth and love, His Good News and truth to all the people of all the nations. May God be with us always and may He empower all of us, that we may be ever stronger in faith and in our conviction to love and serve Him in all of our actions regardless of the hardships and challenges that we may have to face in our path, in our every moments in life. May God in His infinite grace and mercy grant us the grace as we strive to remain faithful, and may He continue to bless our every endeavours and good deeds, all for His greater glory. Let us all Christians glorify the Lord and proclaim His truth and Good News among all the peoples, through our own worthy lives, now and always, forevermore. 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
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 blessed Lord, You were poor, hungry, temperate and humble to the perfect degree. For these reasons, You were filled with perfect virtue and were satisfied to the greatest degree. Please open my eyes to the deceptions of this world so that I can live with You a life of true holiness, experiencing the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven. 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 Mary; Saints Protus and Hyacinth; Saint Paphnutius the Great and Saint John (Jean) Gabriel Perboyre ~ 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, and grace-filled week and fruitful month of September!🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖