ALL SOULS SUFFRAGE

If you visit a cemetery and pray there for the departed (between November 1 and November 8), a plenary indulgence can be gained for the souls in Purgatory (under the usual conditions).

 

THE CHURCH IS COMMONLY ALLUDED TO AS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

HOMILIES OF ST GREGORY, POPE

Homily 38 on the Gospel

Remember that I have said on many occasions that in the holy Gospel the Church as it now exists is commonly alluded to as the kingdom of heaven. It is called the kingdom of heaven inasmuch as it is a congregation of the just.

The Lord declared through the words of his prophet: “Heaven is my throne.” Solomon said, “The soul of the righteous is the throne of wisdom,” while Paul calls Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” This we may conclude with certainty.

If the wisdom is God, and the throne of the righteous the throne of wisdom, and the throne of God heaven, the soul of the righteous is therefore, heaven. Therefore, too, can the Psalmist say, “The heavens show forth the glory of God.”

(From: An Approved English Translation of the Breviarium Romanum, Burns & Oates, London, 1964)

 

THIS NOVENA MAY BE STARTED TODAY…

O Holy Souls in Purgatory, you are the certain heirs of Heaven. You are most dear to Jesus as the trophies of His Precious Blood and to Mary, Mother of Mercy. Obtain for me through your intercession the grace to lead a holy life, to die a happy death and to attain the blessedness of eternity in Heaven.

Dear suffering souls, who long to be delivered in order to praise and glorify God in Heaven, by your unfailing pity help me in the needs which distress me at this time, particularly (mention your request), so that I may obtain relief and assistance from God.

In gratitude for your intercession I offer to God on your behalf the satisfactory merits of my prayer and work, my joys and sufferings of this day (week, month, or whatever space of time you wish to designate).

(Assist at Mass and have a Mass offered for them, if possible. Offerings of the Precious Blood and the Way of the Cross are also powerful means of helping them and obtaining their help.)

 

THE UNMISTAKABLE SIGN THAT A PERSON TRULY POSSESSES GOD

Discontent and murmuring arise in souls, in families, and in communities, in proportion as the Spirit of God disappears from them.

So do we see the face contract, the lips painfully pressed, and sighs escaping from the breast, when the air necessary to life leaves the lungs…

God is that peaceful joy which outwardly manifests itself by resignation.

When God is within us we are satisfied with everything.

Certainly everything does not go according to our liking, but we accept all with a good grace.

Thus some change in the house where we reside, or in the rule which we have accepted, disarranged the habits to which we have been accustomed, and we are often tempted to complain. If God is within us, He will say to us: “Change your habits quietly, in a month you will think no more of the past.”

Such an order, such a task imposed on us, wounds our self-love, and we are tempted to protest, and perhaps to refuse submission. If God is within us, He will say to us: “Accept with simplicity; I shall remain with you in order to aid you.”

Certain surroundings displease us, some companions which are forced upon us cause in us a feeling of repulsion, and we are tempted to appear cold and make ourselves disagreeable. If God is with us, He will say to us: “Continue to be smiling and pleasant; I myself will reward you for the weariness you have to endure…”

If you would know whether a person possess God, see if she complain not when exposed to annoyances and trials.”

(From: Golden Grains, Eighth Edition, H.M. Gill and Son, Dublin, 1889)

 

A PRAYER AGAINST TOOTHACHE

St Apollonia, Virgin and Martyr, +249, invoked against toothache & patron of dentists

Lord our God, Who endowed your martyr St Apollonia – whose teeth were knocked out by her tormentors – with extraordinary fortitude, grant, we beseech you, that we who always honour her and her holy martyrdom, may be free from pains of body and of soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Recite this prayer earnestly. Pray one Our Father every day for nine days afterwards in thanksgiving to the Lord our God and to thank St Apollonia for her speedy intercession on your behalf.)

 

THE CHAPLET OF THE HOLY WOUNDS

THE ROSARY OF THE HOLY WOUNDS

On the crucifix and the first three beads (of ordinary Rosary beads) we say:

O Jesus, Divine Redeemer, be merciful to us and to the whole world. Amen.

Strong God, holy God, immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen.

Grace and mercy, O my Jesus, during present dangers; cover us with Your Precious Blood. Amen.

Eternal Father, grant us mercy through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Your only Son; grant us mercy, we beseech You. Amen, Amen, Amen.

On the large beads we say:

V. Eternal Father, I offer You the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ.
R. To heal the wounds of our souls.

On the small beads we say:

V. My Jesus, pardon and mercy.
R. Through the merits of Your Holy Wounds.

 

TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (LUKE 12:39-48)

TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (LUKE 12:39-48)

Jesus said to his disciples: “You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what hour the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Peter said, “Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?” The Lord replied, “What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you truly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the servant who says to himself, ‘My master is taking his time coming’, and sets about beating the menservants and the maids, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.

“The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer strokes. When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him.”

V. The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

LET NOT REGARD FOR PRIVATE SECURITY STOP YOU FROM PROCLAIMING THE TRUTH

The figure of John [the Baptist] demonstrates two laws about authentic people and shatters two dangers to which man’s authenticity generally succumbs. He shatters two situations in which an authentic man so very often suffocates and drowns. The first law and the first danger: the prophet stands before the king. And the first point:

• do not permit regard for private security or personal existence to make you into an inauthentic person.

So very often throughout history, whenever prophet and king have encountered one another, the king is always in the superior position. What is easier, what is simpler, than to muzzle a prophet! Yet, indeed, hasn’t it been – not the voices of those who went into the palaces and were welcome there – but rather the voices calling in the wilderness who filled the cosmos, who prepared the way, who directed people toward Advent, and who arranged for the proper meeting with the end and the Ultimate? Prophet and king! The prophet must have known that the king’s power and force and majesty would fall upon him and crush him if he said, “‘Non licit’: That is wrong because it is inauthentic and is not in accordance with the divine order.” And John said it, and he was crushed, and he was brutalised, and – for all time and eternity – he stands as the witness within history, as the witness before the face of the Lord, as authenticity itself. And he was right! Along with that are the second law and the second danger.

• Futility or ineffectiveness do not dispense one from speaking the truth, declaring what is wrong, and standing up for what is right and just.

How could this prophet think he could interfere in the family history and family scandals of the king, and be successful? Whoever considers success, or makes his decisions or attitudes dependent upon whether something is futile or certain of success, is already corrupt. Then authenticity no longer means his personal encounter with what is real; it is rather his personal dependence upon success, upon being heard, on popularity and applause, and on the roar of the great throngs. He is already corrupt. And woe if the prophets are mute out of fear that their word might not be heeded.
– Fr Alfred Delp, 20th century

 

LAST RITES – DEFINITION

What are the Last Rites of the Catholic Church?

The Last Rites (also called Extreme Unction) are better known by the term Anointing of the Sick.

303. What are the effects of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick?

The effects of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick are to comfort and strengthen the soul, to remit sin, and even to restore health, when God sees it to be expedient. (Penny Catechism)

 

PREDICTING THE FUTURE

The problems which we make for ourselves by an anxious forecasting of the future are not crosses which come from God. Let us not tempt Him by our false wisdom, trying to forestall His arrangements and to substitute our own providence for His. The fruit of our wisdom is always bitter; God permits this to confound us, when we break from His paternal guidance.

The future is not yet ours; perhaps it never shall be. If it does come, perhaps it will be quite different from what we have forecast. Let us close our eyes, then, to what God conceals from us, and holds in reserve for us in the treasure-house of His wisdom. Let us adore without seeing, let us be silent and rest tranquil.

THE REASON WHY ALL PREDICTED EVENTS TURN POUT FULL OF PROBLEMS AND WORRIES IF THEY DO HAPPEN

The crosses of the present moment always bring with them their own special grace, and consequently their consolation. We are conscious that it is the Hand of God which makes itself felt in them.

But the crosses which spring from anxious forecasting of the future are seen to be out of God’s order. We see them without having the grace to bear them; nay, we see them through a failing which turns aside grace.

Hence they appear harsh and unbearable; all is dark; we feel ourselves without resource; and the soul that wished, through curiosity, to taste the forbidden fruit, finds only death and revolt, with no consolation within itself.

This is the result of mistrusting God, and daring to violate His secret, which He guards jealously. ‘Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof,’ says Jesus Christ; and the evil of each day becomes a blessing when we submit to God’s good pleasure. Let us, then, cast all our cares into the heart of so good a Father.
(Fr Fenelon)