Many Thanks to Paul, an avid Notre Dame fan, for his undying help with convent maintenance! Many blessings from our Lady!
 The Humility of the Angels
The fall of the Lucifer and the angels was due to pride: “I will not serve.” St. Michael responds, “Who is like God?” Gabriel announces to a virgin that she will bear God and Raphael accompanies man along the way as a healer. The holy angels respond to the Divine Plan even to exalt humble man, made of earth and say “I will serve.”  Even the camels were shocked when Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery! (picture shown) Joseph had a lot to forgive, but when his brothers came to him in the midst of a famine and he was a ruler in Egypt he said: “I am your brother Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt. But now do not be distressed, and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here. IT WAS REALLY FOR THE SAKE OF SAVING LIVES THAT GOD SENT ME HERE AHEAD OF YOU… in an extraordinary deliverance… I will provide for you here … Joseph then kissed all his brothers, crying over each of them; and only then were his brothers able to talk with him.” Gen 45: 4-13 In this story we find the Love and Mercy of our God, who submitted himself to being sold and even betrayed in order to bring us salvation. In showing our enemies love and mercy we bring them on a path of Christian enlightenment and here we hope for their repentance.
 Only God can truly give us the power to forgive our enemies. It is undeniable the Spirit and power of God present in St. John Paul II when he visited the man who shot him in St. Peter’s Square to offer him forgiveness. The man told John Paul II, “ I know I was aiming right. I know that the bullet was a killer. So why aren’t you dead?” John Paul II carried these words with him, pondering them in thanksgiving to Our Lady for saving his life. He said “one hand shot, and another guided the bullet.” In his visit to his shooter, John Paul II showed the Spiritual works of mercy: Forgiving offenses and visiting the imprisoned. Let us ask St. John Paul II to give us the grace to forgive those who have offended us and to heal the wounds through works of mercy.
 Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have you present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness. Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will. Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You. Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company. Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You. Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of love. Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes; death, judgment, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile! Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers. I need You. Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart. Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by communion, at least by grace and love. Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it, but the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You! Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more. With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen.  The reception of the Stigmata by the saints is an intensified calling to accomplish what is common to all Christians: to offer our sufferings in union with Christ and thereby participate in the redemption of humanity won for us on the Cross. It is a living out of the Passion of Christ in the particular circumstances of a person's life, offered for the conversion of sinners and a participation in Christ's act of reparation on the Cross. This is among the reasons why St. Francis is a patron saint of reparation.
"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church." (Col 1:24)  I. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you." Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of...... (here name your request)
Our Father....Hail Mary....Glory Be to the Father....Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. II. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you." Behold, in your name, I ask the Father for the grace of.......(here name your request) Our Father...Hail Mary....Glory Be To the Father....Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. III. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away." Encouraged by your infallible words I now ask for the grace of.....(here name your request) Our Father....Hail Mary....Glory Be to the Father...Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your tender Mother and ours. Say the Hail, Holy Queen and add: St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.  Today we remember the Sorrows of our Blessed Mother, deriving strength from her to bear our own sorrows with faith and trust. To pray the chaplet of Our Lady of Sorrows pray 1 Our Father and 7 Hail Mary for each Sorrow. May Our Lady of Sorrows increase in our hearts love and gratitude to Christ for all he suffered for love of us.
1. The Prophecy of Simeon 2. The flight into Egypt 3. The Child Jesus Lost in the Temple 4. Mary meets Jesus carrying the Cross 5. Mary at the foot of the Cross Here is a quote from Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez in the Way of Divine Love: “Come a little further with Me…There you will see My blessed Mother, who heart is pierced with grief. ...Consider the martyrdom of these two hearts. What does this Mother love more than her Son?...And far from being able to help Him, she knows that the sight of her anguish increases His... See those eyes fixed on Mine, as Mine, dulled and blinded with blood are fixed on hers! No word is spoken, but what a world of intercourse our two hearts exchange in one heartrending glance…” Closing Prayer: V. Pray for us, O most sorrowful Virgin. R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we now implore, both for the present and for the hour of our death, the intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, whose holy soul was pierced at the time of Thy passion by a sword of grief. Grant us this favor, O Savior of the world, Who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Ghost, forever and ever. Amen.  In His Glorified Life as in His public life, the Cross and glory went together. It was not just his teachings that were recalled; it was His sufferings and how expedient they were for his exaltation. Our Lord used many pulpits during His public life …but all faded into insignificance compared to the pulpit which He mounted now – the pulpit of the Cross. – Fulton Sheen  Today we recall the Holy Name of Mary, our help and protection! Here is a reflection by St. Bernard of Clairvaux:
"All of you, who see yourselves amid the tides of the world, tossed by storms and tempests rather than walking on the land, do not turn your eyes away from this shining star, unless you want to be overwhelmed by the hurricane. If temptation storms, or you fall upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star: Call upon Mary! If you are tossed by the waves of pride or ambition, detraction or envy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of your soul, turn your eyes to Mary. If troubled by the enormity of your crimes, ashamed of your guilty conscience, terrified by dread of the judgment, you begin to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her name be even on your lips, ever in your heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her life: "Following her, thou strayest not; invoking her, thou despairest not; thinking of her, thou wanderest not; upheld by her, thou fallest not; shielded by her, thou fearest not; guided by her, thou growest not weary; favored by her, thou reachest the goal. And thus dost thou experience in thyself how good is that saying: 'And the Virgin's name was Mary.'"  Today we celebrate the life of St. Peter Claver, a Jesuit Saint. He was encouraged by St. Alphonsus Rodriguez to serve in the New World. Peter was met by the most horrific conditions among the black slaves whom he nursed with solicitude. He considered himself the “slave of the black slaves for all time,” and he took to heart the words of St. Alphonsus who encouraged him, “Look for God in all men and serve them as images of Him.” Peter baptized over 300,000 people in Cartagena.
  Attending the Symposium for the Synod on the Family with Keynote Speaker Cardinal Raymond Burke
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