TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ OCTOBER 9, 2024

MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, CARDINAL; SAINT DENIS, BISHOP AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS; SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, PRIEST; SAINT LOUIS BERTRAND, PRIEST AND SAINT DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE, BISHOP AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

Greetings beloved family. Happy Wednesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time!

Today, on this Feast day, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary with all the Angels and Saints of God in Heaven, may we be comforted as we continue to pray for the gentle repose of the souls of our loved ones who recently passed away. We pray for the repose of the souls of all those who will die today, asking God to have mercy on their souls and to lead them into Eternal Life. And we continue to pray 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 and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen🙏

On this feast day, we continue to pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are mentally, physically and critically ill and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for our children and children all over the world, for students, for those seeking for the fruit of the womb, for the poor and needy, we pray for difficult marriages, for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. Amen 🙏

Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube” | October 9, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | October 9, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary for Peace with Pope Francis” | LIVE Basilica of St. Mary Major | October 6, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes France” | October 9, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| October 9, 2024 |

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

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) | https://youtu.be/vVc782kcDds

Today’s Bible Reading: Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Reading 1, Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 117:1, 2
Gospel, Luke 11:1-4

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, CARDINAL; SAINT DENIS, BISHOP AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS; SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, PRIEST; SAINT LOUIS BERTRAND, PRIEST AND SAINT DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE, BISHOP AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS – FEAST DAY – OCTOBER 9TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint John Henry Newman, Cardinal; Saint Denis, Bishop and Companions, Martyrs and Saint John Leonardi, Priest; Saint Louis Bertrand, Priest and Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop and his companions, Martyrs. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for God’s Divine Grace and Mercy upon us all. We pray for the poor, the needy and the most vulnerable. We 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 all widows and widowers. We pray 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🙏

SAINT JOHN  HENRY NEWMAN, CARDINAL: Saint John Henry Newman (1801 – 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, a convert to Catholicism. First an Anglican priest and later a Catholic priest and made a Cardinal. He was one of the great Christian intellectuals, who was an important and controversial figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century. St. John Henry Newman was born in London, United Kingdom in February 21, 1801. He was the eldest of six children born to Jemina Fourdrinier, John Newman, a nominal Protestant family in London, England. As a child he loved reading the Scriptures and experienced a conversion to Christianity at the age of fifteen. His spiritual quest having begun in adolescence, he later went on to study theology at Oxford University. He became a brilliant academic, an extremely influential Oxford scholar, and subsequently an Anglican priest. He was a fellow of Oriel College and leader in what was called the “Oxford Movement,” which studied the Catholic roots of the faith in England and argued for a revival of traditional religious practice in the Church of England. Once anti-Catholic in his religious sentiments, sentiments that were common in England, St. Newman was increasingly impacted by the Church Fathers and other Catholic writers. In 1842, while writing his “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine”, he began to mature his conversion to Catholicism. His theological views gradually aligned with the Catholic Church in opposition to Anglican doctrine. Through his continued study of Church history he became unable to remain a Protestant in good faith. He made the decision to convert to Catholicism and was admitted into the Catholic Church in 1845, which exposed him to much ridicule in his academic and religious circles. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome on June 1, 1847. Following his ordination, and with the encouragement of Pope Pius IX, he founded the first Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England.

In 1852, St. Newman was appointed rector of the Catholic University of Dublin, Ireland, a post he held until 1854. Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal in 1879 and he died on August 11, 1890, at the Oratory of Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. The process for his beatification began in 1958. St. Newman’s miraculous intercession in the cure of Dean Jack Sullivan, who suffered a serious complaint of the spinal column, was officially recognized and approved by Benedict XVI in July 2009 and beatified on September 19, 2010. Pope Francis canonized John Henry Newman on October 13, 2019. St. John Henry Newman is remembered for his influential writings on theology and philosophy as well as his founding of the famous London Oratory. Newman wrote forty books and 21,000 letters, some of which had profound influence on the Second Vatican Council, making him one of the most important theologians of his day. His most famous work is his Apologia in which he defends his conversion to the truths of the Catholic Church. His feast day is October 9th.

Saint John Henry Newman, Cardinal ~ Pray for us 🙏

SAINT DENIS, BISHOP AND COMPANIONS,  MARTYRS: St. Denis was born in Italy. About the middle of the 3rd century, in 250, St. Denis was sent to France with six other missionary Bishops by Pope Fabian to preach the faith in Gaul. St. Denis who brought the faith to Lutetia Parisiorum (the present Paris) and organized a church. St. Denis became the first bishop of Paris. In carrying out his duties as the first Bishop of Paris, he was aided by a priest named Rusticus and a deacon called Eleutherius. So effective were these holy men in converting the people to Christ that the pagan priests became alarmed over their loss of followers. At their instigation, the Roman governor arrested the missionaries, and after a long imprisonment the three servants of God suffered martyrdom together by beheading at a place called Vicus Catulliacus, the present St. Denis, during the persecution of Decius (250) of Valerian (258).

The site of their death provided the foundation for the Abbey of St. Denis which went on to become the burial place for the King of France. One of the many legends about St. Denis torture and death was that his body carried his severed head some distance from his execution site. St. Denis is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers who was invoked particularly in the Middle Ages against the Black Plague, emergencies or afflictions. He’s Patron Saint against frenzy; against strife; headaches; against diabolical possession; France; Paris, France.

PRAYER: God, You sent St. Denis and his Companions to proclaim Your glory to the nations and strengthened them with the virtue of constancy in their passion. Help us, after their example, to despite worldly prosperity and adversity. Amen 🙏

SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, PRIEST: St. John Leonardi (1541-1609), an Italian who studied to be a pharmacist, but became a priest is a model for today’s clergy. He was born in Tuscany, Italy in 1541, during the time of upheaval in the Church due to Martin Luther. From childhood he manifested a desire to seed solitude and give himself to prayer and meditation. He studied to be a pharmacist, then became a priest at the age of thirty-two and guided many youths in the way of perfection. As a young priest, he devoted himself to teaching catechism to youths. In 1574, he founded the Order of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca, a congregation of diocesan priests. The order was founded to convert sinners and restore Church discipline in Italy. He worked in hospitals and prisons caring for the sick, physically and spiritually. He suffered many tribulations for this work, including exile. A contemporary of St. Philip Neri and St. Joseph Calasanz, St. John labored zealously for the defense of the faith. St. Philip Neri, was a great friend and spiritual guide, and helped him particularly in his time of exile. Gradually his influence as a champion of the Catholic faith against Protestantism became known throughout Italy.

In 1603, St. John together with Cardinal Vives, he founded a Vatican department, the College of the Propaganda in Rome, what became the Institute De Propaganda Fide (Society for the Propagation of the Faith) and the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the promotion of the Catholic Faith and the formation of missionaries. St. John Leonardi died at Rome on October 9, 1609, while caring for the victims of the great plague and was canonized in 1938 by Pope Pius XI. He is the Patron Saint of Pharmacists, Clerics Regular of the Mother of God, Lucca.

PRAYER: God, the Giver of all good things, You had the Gospel preached to the people through St. John, Your Priest. Grant, through his intercession, that the true faith may spread always and everywhere. Amen 🙏

SAINT LOUIS BERTRAND, PRIEST: St. Louis Bertrand (1526 – 1581), priest, missionary, confessor was a Spanish Dominican friar who preached in South America during the 16th century, and is known as the “Apostle to the Americas”. He was born at Valencia, in Spain, on January 1, 1526, of the same family as St. Vincent Ferrer. In 1545, after severe trials, he was professed in the Dominican Order, and at the age of twenty-five was made master of novices, and trained up many great servants of God. When the plague broke out in Valencia he devoted himself to the sick and dying, and with his own hands buried the dead. In 1562 he obtained leave to embark for the American mission, and there converted vast multitudes to the Faith. He was favored with the gift of miracles, and while preaching in his native Spanish was understood in various languages. After seven years he returned to Spain, to plead the cause of the oppressed Indians, but he was not permitted to return and labor among them. He spent his remaining days toiling in his own country, till at length, in 1580, he was carried from the pulpit in the Cathedral at Valencia to the bed from whence he never rose. He died on the day he had foretold-October 9, 1581.

Saint Louis Bertrand, Priest ~ Pray for us 🙏

SAINT DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE, BISHOP AND HIS COMPANIONS,  MARTYRS: Saint Dionysius the Areopagite was the first Bishop of Athens and of Paris. Born during the first century AD, Dionysius grew up in a wealthy Athenian family. Before his conversion to Christianity, he was known to have studied both in Greece and abroad. When Dionysius heard Paul preach on Christ on the Areopagus Hill in Athens, he recalled this experience which reinforced his conviction that Paul was speaking the truth on Christ as the Savior of the World. Saint Dionysius or Denys the Areopagite was converted by Saint Paul in Athens, he  carried the Faith farthest into the west, fixing his see at Paris. France claims him as one of her greatest glories. He was baptized, with his family in 52 AD. His acceptance of Christ is referred to in Acts 17:34.

Historical accounts wrote that when St. Dionysius learned that the Mother of Christ, Mary, lived in Jerusalem, he travelled to Jerusalem to meet her. When Dionysius learned the news that Saint Paul had been executed by beheading outside Rome, he wholeheartedly desired to sacrifice his own life to honor Jesus. Along with his friends Eleutherius and Rusticus, Dionysius made the courageous decision to go and preach Jesus’ Gospel openly in public. After managing to convert many pagans to Christianity, St. Dionysius, the former judge, along with Eleutherius and Rusticus, were finally beheaded during the reign of Emperor Domitian, in 96 AD. Saint Dionysius the Areopagite is the patron saint of the city of Athens, and is also known as the protector of judges and the judiciary.

Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop and His Companions, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏

Let us pray:

Lord, I do thank You for the countless blessings that You have bestowed upon me throughout my life. I thank You for the ways in which You have graced me, led me and healed me.  Help me to see clearly all that You have done and continue to do for me.  As I see these blessings, help me to daily express my gratitude in faith.  Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:

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

Gospel Reading ~ Luke 11:1-4

“Lord, teach us to pray”

“Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”

In today’s Gospel reading, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. The disciples’ request is, in itself, a valuable prayer, ‘Lord teach us to pray’ or to express that prayer in different words, ‘Lord, help me to pray; Lord, pray within me’. The ‘Our Father’ has been rightly called the ‘Lord’s prayer’ because it is a prayer that the Lord Himself has given us. The prayer begins with a focus on God and on God’s purposes for our lives and the world, and it then shifts to a focus on our primary needs as human beings and the Lord’s disciples. There is a pattern there that is valid for all of our prayer. We attend first to God and to whatever God desires and then to our needs before God. The Gospels suggest that Jesus often went away to a lonely place to pray. His own prayerfulness inspired His disciples with a desire to become people of prayer, like Himself, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’. The disciples seemed to recognize that if they were to pray they would need the Lord’s help. Prayer is not just a human activity; it is the Lord’s activity in us, through the Spirit. Prayer can take many different forms for all of us. Sometimes our prayer is quite informal. We talk to the Lord as if to a friend expressing spontaneously to him what is in our heart. Such prayer can be deeply personal. In this kind of spontaneous prayer we lift up all that is in our mind and heart to God. We reveal ourselves as we are, with great freedom, trusting that God wants us to be ourselves before him. There are other times, however, when we are glad to be given a prayer to pray. We look for guidance in how to pray. That is what we find the disciples doing in today’s Gospel reading, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as St. John taught his disciples’. Their question revealed a great openness of heart to what Jesus might have to teach them about prayer. In response to their request, Jesus gave them a prayer to say, which is itself a teaching on how to pray. Jesus’ prayer is addressed to God as Father. The Father of Jesus is also our Father, because we have come to share in Jesus’ own relationship with God. In this prayer, Jesus teaches us to begin our prayer by surrendering to God’s purpose for our lives and the life of the world. We pray not to promote our own kingdom but to open ourselves to the coming of God’s kingdom. This was the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane, ‘not my will but yours be done’. In this prayer, Jesus teaches us to also ask on behalf of ourselves. However, we are to ask for what we need and not just for want we want. What do we need according to Jesus? We need the daily sustenance for body and soul; we need forgiveness for our sins and a willingness to pass on the forgiveness we receive to others; we need the Lord’s strengthening presence when our faith and the values that flow from it are being put to the test. Here indeed is both a prayer to be prayed and a rich teaching on how to pray.

In our Gospel reading today, the Lord told His disciples about how people will help another or a friend when this friend or someone has a need, and if the person seeks for help. Using that same analogy, the Lord therefore highlighted just how much more God will also help all those who seek His help, confide in His Presence and love, and entrust themselves to His care. God Who is our loving Father and Creator, our Lord and Master will not abandon us to the darkness, or ignore our cries and pleas for help. As long as we come to Him and open our hearts and minds to listen to Him, calling upon Him as our loving Father, He will respond to us and answer our pleas. While what we receive may not be what we desired and wanted, but God will respond to us in the manner according to His will. This is why we must heed the message of today’s Gospel, which was meant to remind us all not to easily lose faith and trust in the Lord, something which had happened to so many people all around the world. Many people no longer have truly genuine faith and trust in the Lord, and they did not live their lives with the Lord at the centre of their lives and existence anymore. Many of them even no longer regularly participate in the proper and genuine living and practice of their Christian faith, as we can easily count how many people still actually attend the weekly Sunday Masses and other practices and devotions of our faith, while so many others have simply stopped practicing their faith, and instead they put their efforts, commitment and trust in various other worldly means and methods, thinking that those things are better than God or what God can give them. As Christians, each and every one of us are reminded to continue to have true and genuine faith in the Lord, and to be obedient and humble before Him, making ourselves to be truly attuned to God’s will, to what He wants us to do in each and every moments of our lives. All of us are invited to reorientate and refocus our lives once again upon the Lord if we have allowed ourselves to be swayed away from His path and grace. We should always keep in mind that how we live our lives is truly important because ultimately each and every one of us as disciples and children of God are seen by everyone around us and we may either lead others closer or further away from the Lord through our lives, our actions, words, deeds and interactions with one another.

As Christians, we all need to allow our own outlook and vision to expand so that it corresponds more to God’s outlook and vision. Perhaps that is why the opening petition of the prayer Jesus taught His disciples was, ‘Father, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come’. Jonah was working out of his own little kingdom, which corresponded to Israel, and out of his own limited perspective. This can be true of all of us. Each day we are to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom, so that the world may be as God wants it to be. This is a world where everyone, including our traditional enemies, are assured of daily sustenance. It is a world where we are to forgive one another, including our enemies, otherwise we set up a block within ourselves for receiving God’s forgiveness. In this world, shaped by God’s values, we will need to pray that, when our faith in the priority of God’s kingdom is put to the test, God will give us the strength to stand firm rather than settling for the promotion of our own kingdom.

Our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Galatia in what is now part of Turkey is the continuation of the story which the Apostle had told to the people of Galatia regarding his past experiences and journeys, on how he was sent to proclaim the Word of God to the people of various places together with other Apostles and disciples like that of St. Barnabas, and how he had various encounters and experiences with all those people whom he had met. He also recounted his experiences in meeting the other Apostles of the Lord in Jerusalem and Judea where many of them were based in, and how there were tensions within the early Church and Christian community because of the disagreements among those who sided with the view of St. Paul and the majority of the disciples and those who came from the strict Jewish background on the matter of whether the Jews and non-Jewish people among the faithful should mingle together or not. Those who came from the strict Jewish background such as from among the members of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law held very exclusivist view of the faith, and demanded that the Jewish customs and practices ought to be followed. On the other hand, St. Paul the Apostle championed the view that in order to reach out to the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people, the Church could not demand such unreasonable things from the non-Jewish people and in fact the faithful as a whole because the extent in which the Law of God was observed and practiced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were very excessive, superfluous and extremely demanding, especially for the non-Jewish people to adapt, and hence St. Paul lightly rebuked St. Peter who was afraid of offending those converts from the Jewish people and hence appeared to follow their ways.

According to our first reading, it had been the custom of St. Peter ‘to eat with the pagans’. The reference to ‘pagans’ there is to members of the church whose background was pagan and who would have had no familiarity with Jewish food laws. It seems that St. Peter was initially prepared to forgo Jewish food laws so that he could share table fully with these believers in the Lord who came from a pagan background. However, according to St. Paul, under pressure from St. James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, St. Peter stopped doing this, for fear of offending those Jewish Christians who held that all believers should submit to the Jewish Law. St. Paul clearly felt that St.
Peter should have stood up to St. James, resisting his pressure, and, so, St. Paul tells us that he opposed St. Peter to his face. We only have St. Paul’s side of the story here. Perhaps St. Peter would have told the story a little differently. There is no doubt that both Sts. Peter and Paul, and James, were absolutely committed to doing the Lord’s will and working for the coming of God’s kingdom. They could easily have prayed together, in the words of the prayer Jesus gave to His disciples in the Gospel reading, ‘Father, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come’. Although both Sts. Paul and Peter wanted to create spaces for the coming of God’s kingdom, they seemed to have different views on what that meant in practice. They had at least one strong disagreement. Perhaps, subsequent to this heated exchange, another petition of the Lord’s Prayer would have become very relevant, ‘Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us’. We can have strong disagreements about what the Lord is asking of us as a community of believers and still remain in communion with one another. Discerning what the Lord is asking of us in complex situations is not always easy. Tensions and disagreements among committed believers are inevitable. Yet, we all need to be able to pray the prayer that Jesus gave us, recognize that we are all brothers and sisters under God our Father, who stand in need of forgiveness as we work for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth.

As we reflect on the words of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded that as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, each and every one of us are parts of the one Church of God and we all share together the mission of the Lord in reaching out to more and more people all throughout the whole world. All of us should continue to follow the Lord’s calling and embrace whatever missions that He had entrusted to us. Each one of us have the shared responsibility to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of God to more and more people so that they may come to know of the Lord and that they may be inspired to follow Him and be saved together with all of us. All of us are called to continue remembering what the Lord has taught us and to follow Him in all of that. As we reflect on the Sacred Scriptures, we are called to emulate the Saints and learn from the life and examples of God’s Holy Mem and Women and all the Saints, particularly, the Saints who we celebrate today, St. Denis and his companions in martyrdom; St. John Leonardi; Saint John Henry Newman; Saint Louis Bertrand as well as Saint Dionysius the Areopagite and his companions. All of us are reminded that we have been called to share in the journey and faith of our holy predecessors, those who had also encountered lots of difficulties, challenges and obstacles in their own lives. Yet, we must remain strong in faith and we must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by the temptations and pressures all around us, that we may continue to embody our faith in the Lord ever more worthily by our dedication and commitment to Him. We must be missionary and evangelising in each and every moments of our lives, and even in the smallest and seemingly least significant actions that we do. May the Lord our ever loving and compassionate God continue to guide us in our respective journey in life, so that we may always continue to be faithful and committed to Him. May He continue to bless us in our every good efforts and endeavours to follow Him and to obey His Law and commandments, and to do what is right and just in accordance with His will. May God bless us all in our every efforts and endeavours, and continue to encourage and strengthen us in all the struggles and in persevering through the hardships and difficulties in our journey towards Him. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace as we all continue to strengthen and deepen our faith in each and every opportunities provided for us, and draw ever closer to the Lord, now and always. Amen 🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF OCTOBER:

MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY: The Catholic Church designates and dedicate October as the Month of the Holy Rosary. During this month the faithful venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary especially under her title of Our Lady of the Rosary, and make special effort to honor the Holy Rosary with group recitations and rosary processions. The Lady of the Rosary honors a large battle between the Catholic Church and the Muslim caliphate of the Ottoman Empire. This battle, in the Gulf of Patras, near Greece, took place in the 16th century, on October 7, 1571. St. Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Order of Preachers, is the Saint to whom Our Lady famously appeared and gave the prayers of the Holy Rosary to assist him as a spiritual weapon in combating heresy and leading souls back to the one, true Catholic faith. Our Blessed Mother Mary ~ Pray for us 🙏

THE MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY: Until about the 15th century hundreds of mysteries were part of the Rosary devotion then the 15 mysteries that we know today were definitively fixed as “the Mysteries of the Rosary.” Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, in 2002 added the five Luminous Mysteries.

Through the meditations of the complete Rosary one recalls and has impressed on his mind, the Popes tell us, “the chief mysteries of the Christian religion,” “the mysteries of our Redemption,” “the great mysteries of Jesus and His Mother united in joys, sorrows, and triumphs.” The twenty mysteries are divided into four equal groups, known as “The Joyful,” “The Sorrowful,” “The Glorious,” and “The Luminous Mysteries.”

PRAYER OF ST. LOUISE DE MONTFORT: O Jesus living in Mary, come and live in Your servants, in the spirit of Your holiness, in the fullness of Your might, in the perfection of Your ways, in the truth of Your virtues, in the communion of Your mysteries. Subdue every hostile power, the devil, the world and the flesh, in the strength of Your Spirit, for the glory of Your Father, Amen 🙏🏽

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/months/10_1.cfm

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER – FOR A SHARED MISSION: We pray that the Church continue to sustain in all ways a Synodal lifestyle, as a sign of co-responsibility, promoting the participation, the communion and the mission shared among priests, religious and lay people.

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 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:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  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; Mother of Mercy; Saint John Henry Newman; Saint Denis, and Companions; Saint John Leonardi; Saint Louis Bertrand and Saint Dionysius the Areopagite and his 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 and week and month of October 🙏🏽

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖

Daily Reflections | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com

Foundation | https://gliopiepehe.org

Sir G.L.I Opiepe’s Health and Education Foundation |