Pray for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Like many Marian feasts, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary celebrates the protection of Christians through the intercession of the Mother of God.

Salve Regina by Choeur des moines de saint benoit-du-lac

Salve Regina
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us O holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Almighty, everlasting God, who by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin-Mother Mary to become a dwelling-place meet for thy Son: grant that as we rejoice in her commemoration; so by her fervent intercession we may be delivered from present evils and from everlasting death. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Feast Day of Saint Faustina

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
A Passage from St. Faustina’s Diary:
Suffering is Redemptive when you unite it to Jesus Christ.
Saint M. Faustina Kowalska’s Diary # 303

Faustina Kowalska, simply known as Saint Faustina, born Helena Kowalska (August 25, 1905) in Poland then in the Russian Empire — Died October 5, 1938, Kraków, Poland) was a Polish nun, visionary, and mystic, now venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as a saint.

Prayer of St. Francis by Sarah MacLachlan

Just found this today to celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi. Listen, you will love it:)

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Celebrate Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

Everyone has a guardian angel that protects them spiritually and physically. This protection is a reflection of God’s love for us, not only for our souls but the dignity embedded in our bodies. Say the Guardian Angel prayer today and share with others.

The Guardian Angel Prayer

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His love entrusts me here, ever this day [night] be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

The Greatest Marian Feast

The Feast of Assumption of Mary is an ancient feast that tells us not only about the honor that Christ accorded His mother, but about our ultimate end, in the resurrection of the body.

Also known as the Dormition among Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, Dormition literally means “the falling asleep.” It is the original name for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Eastern Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, continue to use it today.

Mary wasn’t assumed into Heaven because she was somehow more than human; her Assumption is actually a sign of what it means to be truly human–a condition that is possible only through the grace that comes through our faith in Christ.

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Date: August 15.
Readings: Revelation 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; Psalm 45:10, 11, 12, 16; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27;
Luke 1:39-56
Prayers: The Hail Mary
Other Names for the Feast: The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
The Assumption of Mary Into Heaven; The Dormition of the Theotokos;
The Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus goes back at least to the 11th century, but through the 16th century, it remained a private devotion, often tied to devotion to the Five Wounds of Christ. The first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated on August 31, 1670, in Rennes, France, through the efforts of Fr. Jean Eudes (1602-1680). From Rennes, the devotion spread, but it took the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) for the devotion to become universal.

In all of these visions, in which Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus played a central role. The “great apparition,” which took place on June 16, 1675, during the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi, is the source of the modern Feast of the Sacred Heart. In that vision, Christ asked St. Margaret Mary to request that the Feast of the Sacred Heart be celebrated on the Friday after the octave (or eighth day) of the Feast of Corpus Christi, in reparation for the ingratitude of men for the sacrifice that Christ had made for them. The Sacred Heart of Jesus represents not simply His physical heart but His love for all mankind.

The devotion became quite popular after St. Margaret Mary’s death in 1690, but, because the Church initially had doubts about the validity of St. Margaret Mary’s visions, it wasn’t until 1765 that the feast was celebrated officially in France. Almost 100 years later, in 1856, Pope Pius IX, at the request of the French bishops, extended the feast to the universal Church. It is celebrated on the day requested by our Lord—the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, or 19 days after Pentecost Sunday.