Be Thou My Vision: St. Patrick – March 17


Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Flying Novena – Devotions To Divine Mercy

The devotions to the Divine Mercy, given to the Church by Jesus through St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), the Secretary and Apostle of Divine Mercy.

This one-day novena — also called a flying novena is the emergency novena.

Pray 9 Divine Mercy Chaplets starting at 3 p.m. everyday.

Jesus, Divine Mercy Incarnate, I trust in You! I trust in the promises You made to me and to all the world through St. Faustina Kowalska. I trust that You love us all and only want the best for us.

Jesus, I ask you now: bring a swift end to this pandemic.

Protect and help the most vulnerable in our society, especially those already suffering from this terrible disease and all those who are helping them. Protect and help our healthcare professionals, our emergency first responders, and everyone else risking daily exposure to this pandemic disease in order to help the sick and maintain our society.

Establish in our families, our homes, our countries, and our world a culture of life and a civilization of love.

Jesus, help us all in this hour of need. Amen.

So next time the 3 o’clock hour comes around, remember to be with Christ in spirit, if only for a moment. Don’t forget that during this hour, the Lord wants you to ask for your heart’s desire, for everything you need. When you do, trust that He has your best interests at heart.

On the Octave Day of Christmas: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary


When you know your mission, be astonished by what God has done, and never stop treasuring it.

This week I was asked twice what Buco means in the dish, Osso Buco. Buco is the bone marrow that offers the flavor to the meal, the richness.

On this feast of Mary the mother of God, I would like to emphasize specially the word today’s Gospel associates with her: treasured. “Mary treasured these things and reflected on them in her heart.” She pondered them, turned them over, sought out their causes, saw their implications, allowed them to work their way into the marrow of her bones.

May the Mother Mary, God’s finest human creation, guard and keep this year, and bring the peace of her Son Jesus to our hearts and to our world.

Saint Joseph Feast Day: March 19

Brooklyn_Museum_-_Saint_Joseph_with_the_Flowering_Rod_-_Jusepe_de_Ribera_-_overall
Jusepe de Ribera, Saint Joseph with the Flowering Rod. early 1630s. Ribera conveys the unexpected wonder of the moment with the lighting from above and the aged Joseph’s questioning hand gesture (from en.wikipedia.org)

Ever wonder why statues and paintings of Joseph depict his staff topped with flowers? The flowered staff is a reminder of how Mary’s spouse was chosen.

According to legend, when the time came for Mary to be betrothed, the Temple priests gathered the walking sticks of all prospective suitors. Miraculously, Joseph’s burst into flower. This was a sign that God had chosen Joseph as the earthly spouse and guardian of Our Lady.

Pope Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph the patron of the Universal Church in 1870. Having died in the “arms of Jesus and Mary” according to Catholic tradition, he is considered the model of the pious believer who receives grace at the moment of death, in other words, the patron of a happy death.

Saint Joseph is the patron saint of a number of cities, regions and countries, among them the Americas, Canada, China, Croatia, Mexico, Korea, Austria, Belgium, Peru, the Philippines and Vietnam, as well as of families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.

35 minute prayer to Saint Joseph for challenges in personal or work life.

Struggling to find the right job breakthrough? Go to St Joseph!

Called to be a Lamb of God

1_21_agnes4Today is the Feast Day of St. Agnes, a fourth-century martyr who is one of the most beloved of all female saints, because of her heroic commitment to purity.  It is within the Church on January 21st, the day of Agnes’ execution, that two lambs are presented to the Pope, who blesses the lambs. The lambs suggest the name of Saint Agnes, a play on the word “agnus”, which in Latin means lamb-life. But more than this, the lambs represent the sacrifice of Saint Agnes, who offered her life as a sacrifice to Christ the Lord.

The wool from these lambs prepared on Holy Thursday and used to weave the palliums that the Pope bestows on archbishops. The pallium is a circlet of woolen cloth decorated with crosses that is worn by an archbishop as a sign of the dignity of his office, an office he exercises in communion with the Pope.

We must all be willing to give up our lives in service to Christ the Lord. We may not be asked to accept as our mission torture and death like Saint Agnes but we will be asked to make a sacrifice.

What that specific sacrifice will be will be specific to our vocation and differs from person to person, but whatever our sacrifice will be it will be an act of love, a manifestation of fidelity to Christ, and a witness of our hope that Christ the Lord offers us more than anything than the world can give.

 

Courage and Saint Thomas

Saint Thomas said, “Let us also go to die with him” (John 11:16b).

Poor Thomas! He made one remark and has been branded as “Doubting Thomas” ever since. But if he doubted, he also believed. He made what is certainly the most explicit statement of faith in the New Testament: “My Lord and My God!” (see John 20:24-28) and, in so expressing his faith, gave Christians a prayer that will be said till the end of time. He also occasioned a compliment from Jesus to all later Christians: “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (John 20:29). 1077453_child_in_sunset

Thomas should be known for his courage. Perhaps what he said was impetuous—since he ran, like the rest, at the showdown—but he can scarcely have been insincere when he expressed his willingness to die with Jesus. The occasion was when Jesus proposed to go to Bethany after Lazarus had died. Since Bethany was near Jerusalem, this meant walking into the very midst of his enemies and to almost certain death. Realizing this, Thomas said to the other apostles, “Let us also go to die with him” (John 11:16b).

Thomas shares the lot of Peter the impetuous, James and John, the “sons of thunder,” Philip and his foolish request to see the Father—indeed all the apostles in their weakness and lack of understanding. We must not exaggerate these facts, however, for Christ did not pick worthless men. But their human weakness again points up the fact that holiness is a gift of God, not a human creation; it is given to ordinary men and women with weaknesses; it is God who gradually transforms the weaknesses into the image of Christ, the courageous, trusting and loving one.

Solemnity of St. Joseph

Authentic true power is service. Look at Saint Joseph.

“He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying: ‘Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord’”
-St. Bernardine of Siena