Join Catholic Action and pray Novena for the Protection of Marriage

Join this catholic action and Novena initiated by Catholics for the Common Good
Between the lines we can read : "The only thing left for us to do is to pray. With marriage and the sovereign right of the voters to amend their constitution hanging in the balance, we must mount a massive prayer effort – equivalent to that which took place during the fall campaign. "

This novena is offered for the attorneys and justices involved in the challenges to California Proposition 8. Oral arguments will be held on the last day of the novena, March 5, in San Francisco. You may pray any prayer, offer fasting or any sacrifice for this novena. Suggested daily prayers can be found at the bottom of this sheet. We do ask that you consider saying either or both of the following prayers:
Start with
A Morning Offering

Heavenly Father, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings today, and unite them with those of the whole mystical Body of Christ. Imploring the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I beg You to protect marriage as authored by You at the very time of creation.
Open the minds and hearts of the California Supreme Court Justices to accept Your Divine Plan for marriage.
Inspire the Justices to consider the delight You take in families.
Guide them with wisdom and understanding of the rights of children to know and be cared for by their father and mother.
Fill them with right judgment and courage to decide legal challenges to marriage on their merits, and to uphold the sovereign power of the voters.
Send Your Holy Spirit, we beg You, upon the attorneys to guide them in their presentations and to make their arguments compelling.
We ask these things in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
St. Joseph, earthly father of Jesus and protector of the family, pray for marriage.
Ss. Joachim and Anna, grandparents of Jesus, parents of His mother Mary, pray for marriage.

Prayer at Other Times of the Day
Dear Father in Heaven, You are Lord, not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.
I thank You for Your law, which our Founding Fathers acknowledged and recognized as higher than any human law.
Jesus, in performing Your first public miracle during the wedding feast of Cana, You confirmed the goodness of marriage. Continue to bless marriage in our day by guiding the Justices of the California Supreme Court to uphold Proposition 8 against its attackers.
Holy Spirit, please strengthen me and all supporters of Proposition 8 so that we never despair, not even in the face of ferocious opposition.
Grant us strength, fortitude, and energy to persevere in the work for life, marriage, and family. Amen.
St. Thomas More, father of a family and patron of lawyers, you defended your nation’s law with your life. Please intercede for us in this legal challenge to
marriage.
Blessed Junipero Serra, missionary to California pray for marriage. Amen

Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone
who fled to your protection, implored your help, or
sought your intercession, was left unaided.
Inspired with this confidence, I fly to you,
O virgin of virgins, my mother.
To you I come, before you I stand,
sinful and sorrowful.
O mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my
petitions, but in your mercy hear and answer them.Amen

Daily thoughts and meditation

“Decisions have consequences.” That’s a bit of wisdom we may have heard somewhere along the line. Moses’ address to the people makes the truth of that statement so clear: Staying with the Lord leads to life; turning hearts to “adore and serve other gods” leads to death.
Jesus’ words echo that sentiment: “. . . whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
Although we know these words well enough, we easily forget that faith decisions do have consequences. Although we might not say it directly, we begin to operate on the assumption that we can “be in neutral,” that we can “coast,” or not have to be concerned about whether or not we are moving forward on our journey with the Lord. “I’m doing ok,” we might say. And before we know it, we are actually choosing death, rather than life.
The starkness of the prophetic words on this second day of Lent is meant to awaken us from our slumber, and to save us from the lies that tell us life can be lived “in neutral.” Where am I slumbering today? Where am I living “in neutral”?
Awaken us, O Lord, to the truth that you desire ever more to fill us with life! Help us to respond to you, to decide for you, today!

Daily Act of Contrition together with Hope and Charity

Before any devotion or meditation , I'm praying each day an Act of Contrition , together with an Act of Charity and Hope . Why ? I don't know , just because ..

Seriously talking , I need indulgence and daily Mercy in my life , because I need to confess and to get close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His Immaculate Mother Mary , and the only way is to purify myself through contrition and charity , insomuch as hope .

The Holy Season of Lent

In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, to be generous to those in need and not the last : to repent our sins .
We begin our Lenten journey aware of where we are going. We want to enter into the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus for us more fully.
That is the purpose of our journey. It is why we mark our heads with His Holy Cross. It is why we fast today and abstain from meat , a little self-denial in rememberance of Jesus Passion for our sins .
We have been saved by His sacrifice and sorrowful Passion , our self-denial helps us, in the darkness that surrounds us, to prepare ourselves to receive His Light.
This year's journey begins today.
Let us pray for the grace to keep Lent faithfully and to pray in quiet remembrance of our need for redemption.
Lord,
protect us in the struggle against evil.
As we begin the discipline of Lent,
make this season holy by our self-denial.
Father in Heaven,
the light of Your Truth bestows sight
to the darkness of sinful eyes.
May this season of Repentance
bring us the blessing of Your Forgiveness
and the gift of Your Light.
Grant this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.Amen

First day of Lent 2009

Ash Wednesday Prayer


Blessed are You, O Lord our God, the All-Holy One, who gives us life and all things.
As we go about our lives, the press of our duties and activities often leads us to forget Your presence and Your love.
We fall into sin and fail to live out the responsibilities that You have entrusted to those who were baptized into Your Son.
In this holy season of Lent , help us to turn our minds and hearts back to You.
Lead us into sincere repentance and renew our lives with Your Grace.
Help us to remember that we are sinners, but even more, help us to remember Your loving Divine Mercy.
As we live through this Ash Wednesday, may the crosses of ashes that mark our foreheads be a reminder to us and to those we meet that we belong to Your Son.
May our worship and prayer and penitence this day be sustained throughout these 40 days of Lent.
Bring us refreshed and renewed to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection at Easter.
We ask this through Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Everyday with the Holy Spirit

God created the world around us. God created us. God didn't build a toll booth to collect user fees for life. Instead, Life is free, and being in the created world is Free; it's a Gift.
We humans are the ones who attach fees to what's been freely given to us.
The biggest gift of all, however, isn't other people, and isn't nature, or the Universe.
The biggest gift in all of existence is that we are given the Giver - the same Greatest One who was Job's only satisfaction and Moses' only strength is now given to humankind.
God chooses not only to put up with us, but to Be with us.
That's what all this Jesus talk means - that's why Jesus matters. He is, in Christmas-talk, "God-with-us", Immanuel.
That is the gift of Jesus and through Him the divine Spirit by whom Christ is still in effect right here and now. This Spirit leads, shapes, empowers, and gives us Joy.
The gift a Christian lives in every day, most fundamentally, is the Holy Spirit.

Beside this meditation I'm praying this day Novena prayer :
O Holy Spirit,
You are the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity!
You are the Spirit of Truth,
Love, and Holiness,
proceeding from the Father and the Son,
and equal to Them in all things!
I adore You and love You with all my heart.
Teach me to know and to seek God,
by Whom and for Whom I was created.
Fill my heart with a holy fear
and a great love of Him.
Give me compunction and patience,
and do not let me fall into sin.
Increase Faith, Hope, and Charity in me
and bring forth in me all the Virtues
proper to my state of life.
Help me to grow in the four Cardinal Virtues,
Your seven Gifts,
and Your twelve Fruits.
Make me a faithful follower of Jesus,
an obedient child of the Church,
and a help to my neighbor.
Give me the grace to keep the commandments
and to receive the sacraments worthily.
Raise me to holiness in the state of life
to which You have called me,
and lead me through a happy death to everlasting life.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Grant me also, O Holy Spirit,
Giver of all good gifts,
the special favor for which I ask...
(State your request here...)
if it be for Your honor
and glory and for my well-being.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

He who believes in Me, though he may die, shall live - John 11: 25-26

God reveals himself to us through the scriptures

Friday 20th February, 2009
Day of penance
Genesis 11:1-9
Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own—Ps 32(33):10-15

Mark 8:34-9:1

Those who would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

In today's gospel, Jesus reminds his disciples of the selflessness required to be his follower and so to enter the kingdom of God. To journey with Christ, we are asked to put aside pride, status and possessions and see others as equal in the eyes of God. Equally frail yet powerful, equally alike yet unique. It can seem impossible for us to put our self-interest last, to leave the trappings of our comfortable life and carry our cross on our shoulders. Is this really what it takes to be a follower of Christ? It sounds so difficult!
We cannot take our wealth, credentials or lifestyle with us when our body ultimately fails. Such things have no value to God, who loves us for how we have served him, and how, in spite of rebuke and criticism, we have given of ourselves to others: the poor, the hungry, the excluded.
We have been given a simple but challenging itinerary: to travel light, to carry our cross each day, and to follow Jesus.
So we laugh at the world's pleasures, positions, and power. If we gain it all, we would gain nothing and destroy ourselves in the process (Mk 8:36).
We Christians may look like losers now, but the worst losers are those who lose their immortal souls forever.
Win now and lose everything later.
Lose now and rejoice forever in Heaven.

First Corinthians, Chapter 10, Verses 31-33, Chapter 11, Verse 1

Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

Whether we eat or drink, or whether
we dig ditches, compose songs,
feed the hungry, write books,
count stars in the skies,
or whatever we do,
Holy Spirit, let us
do everything
for the glory
of God.
For
in Him
we live
and move
and have our being.

Amen

St. Michael Prayer Campaign for the Conversion of Abortionists

Sign the Saint Archangel Michael Pledge for salvation of souls of abortionists:

Holy Michael the archangel,
defend us in the day of battle;
be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God thrust down to hell satan and all wicked spirits,
who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.Amen.





http://www.hli.org/st_michael_prayer.html/

To our dear priests and bishops: As a faithful member of the Church Militant, I intend to say the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel at the end of every Mass that I attend. I respectfully ask that you lead the faithful entrusted to your care in doing the same. I do so because our fight against the culture of death is fundamentally a fight against "the principalities and powers of this world of darkness" (Eph 6: 12). That being true, then surely we need to invoke St. Michael's assistance if we are to bring to conversion and to the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, all abortionists who commit crimes against our unborn brothers and sisters. In union with millions of others around the world who labor to restore the sanctity of human life, I promise you my prayers as you consider this request.

( This is a Human Life International petition )

Lourdes is one of the most important places of grace known to the Church. It is like a vast basin of purity where countless souls have removed the clothes of sin and put on the snow white garments of spiritual rebirth!
How can we deny that the Mother is the true One who knows the Will of the Son better than anyone else and that turning to Her we understand better the mysterious plan God has for each one of us? No one better than Mary can convince us to “do whatever he tells you”!

The first to witness Our Lady's presence at Lourdes was little Bernardette Soubirous, who became her intrepid messenger. Although she is buried far away in Nevers in the north of France, her body totally incorrupt, as if she were asleep, you can "meet" Saint Bernadette everywhere in Lourdes.
We can remember her Journal dedicated to the Queen of Heaven, 1866 , where she wrote this humble words she addressed to Our Lady: “Yes, gentle Mother, you lowered yourself, you came down to earth to appear to a helpless little girl… You, the Queen of Heaven and earth, deigned to make use of what was most humble for the world "
Following Saint Bernadette example , let us also pray :
God of Mercy, we celebrate the feast of Mary, our Lady of Lourdes , the sinless Mother of God . May Her prayers help us to rise above our human weakness. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
MARY, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
O BLESSED be the Holy and Immaculate Conception of the most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
HOLY Virgin Mary Immaculate, Mother of God and our Mother, speak thou for us to the Heart of Jesus, Who is thy Son and our Brother.
OUR Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!
HOLY Mother, deliver us from mortal sin!
Pray 3 Hail Mary's
Through the Lourdes Apparitions, the devotion of persons in all parts of the world to the Immaculate Mother of God has been wonderfully spread, and countless miracles have been wrought everywhere through Her intercession. The Virgin Mother of God is truly the chosen Messenger of God to these latter times, which are entrusted to Her, the chosen vessel of the unique privilege of exemption from original sin. Only with Her assistance will the dangers of the present world situation be averted. As She has done since 1858 in many places, at Lourdes, too, She gave us Her peace plan for the world, through Saint Bernadette: Prayer and Penance, to save souls.

This day meditation

Tuesday of the Fifth week in Ordinary Time

Today the Church celebrates : St. Scholastica

Genesis 1:20-2:4

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 7,1-13.

"This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me"

Prayer is a heart to heart with God... Prayer that has been carried out well touches God's heart and prompts him to answer us. When we pray, let it be our whole being that turns towards God: our thoughts, our heart... The Lord will be moved to incline towards us and come to our help...

Pray and hope. Do not get upset; worrying doesn't help. God is merciful and will hear your prayer. Prayer is our best weapon; it is the key that opens God's heart. You need to speak to Jesus less with your lips than with your heart.

Rs: Psalm 8:4-9

White Roses

White roses for Immaculate Heart of Mary !

Mary, conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to You .

Amen

2 February : Presentation of the Lord ( Candlemas )

Today we celebrate the close of the Christmas with a festival of light. Candles are blessed and they are carried in procession to welcome Christ, the Light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of His people. Until the year 1969, the feast, which is of Eastern origin, was known in the West as the feast of the Purification of Our Lady and also as Candlemas. Now we prefer to refer to it as the Presentation of the Lord.
Today’s feast brings to an end a whole period which resonates with a sense of light. Christmas itself, taking place just after the winter solstice, is the celebration of the end of the darkness of winter and the coming of light into the world, especially the Light of the World. Twelve days later there is the feast of the Epiphany when the light of a star guides the Gentile outsiders to pay homage to the Light of the World. Then today, we bring the celebration to a close with this feast of light. It has long been a day for processions as we remember the Lord’s entry into the Temple, the house of his Father, for the first time. These processions originally replaced pagan celebrations. Later, it was identified with the blessing of candles carried in procession in honour of Christ, “the light to enlighten the Gentiles” .
Prayers and Intercessions
Let us worship our Saviour, presented in the temple, and bring our petitions to Him:
- Lord, may our eyes see Your salvation.
Jesus Christ, by Your own will You obeyed the Father’s law and were presented in the temple:
teach us to offer ourselves alongside You in the sacrifice of the Church.
You are the consolation of Israel, recognised by the righteous man Simeon when he saw You in the temple:
make us recognise You in our brethren.
You are the Hope of the nations, preached by the prophetess Anna to all who looked for the redemption of Israel:
teach us to speak properly of you.
You are the Cornerstone of the Kingdom of God, placed as a sign of contradiction:
make men, through faith and love, receive their resurrection from You.

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.
Almighty and eternal God, we bring our petitions before Your throne.
Your only-begotten Son was presented to You in the temple today,
incarnate in our flesh.
Purify our minds
so that we may be presented to You.Amen
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
Amen.