Novenas

Prayers for the intersession of the Saints and our Lady are abundant, and when said as a novena they are very powerful. Here are three that have been of great help to me. 

Saint Jude

Saint Joseph

Infant Baby Jesus of Prague

Saint Jude - The patron saint of lost causes. Say this novena for nine consecutive days. Publication must be promised. 

The Holy Saint Jude, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke your special patronage in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depths of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given such great power to come to my assistance. Help me in my present and urgent petition, in return I promise to make your name known and cause you to be invoked. (Say 3 Our Fathers, 3 Hail Marys and 3 Glory Be to the Father) Saint Jude, pray for us and all who invoke your aid. Amen . 

Saint Joseph - Terror of Demons , Patron of departing souls, head of the Holy Family. Say this prayer for Nine consecutive mornings. After the ninth day publish your thanks and share the prayers. 

Oh, St. Joseph,
whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt,
before the throne of God,
I place in you all my interests and desires.
Oh, St. Joseph,
do assist me by your powerful intercession,
and obtain for me from your Divine Son
all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power,
I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to thee most Loving of Fathers.
Oh, St. Joseph,
I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms;
I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.
Press Him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me and
Ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.
St. Joseph, Patron of departed souls - pray for me.
Amen. ( we always add at the end of this one. "Please pray for our priests and religious and obtain for us many more worthy ones.") 

Novena to the Infant Baby Jesus of Prague - This novena is for urgent assistance and can be used for any urgent need. This novena can be said for the traditional 9 days, or it can be said as a Storm Novena. Where urgent assistance is needed it can be said at the top of every hour for 9 consecutive hours. As with the others public thanks in the form of publication and sharing the novena is necessary. 

Jesus, You said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you." Through the intercession of Mary, Your holy Mother, I knock, I seek. I ask that my prayer be granted. (state your specific request or intention here!)
Jesus, You said, "All that you ask of the Father in My name, He will grant you." Through the intercession of Mary, Your holy Mother, I humbly and urgently ask Your Father in Your name that my prayer be granted. (state your specific request or intention here!)
Jesus, You said. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass." Through the intercession of Mary, Your holy Mother, I feel confident that my prayer will be granted. (state your specific request or intention here!)
I prostrate myself before Thy Holy Image, O most gracious Infant Jesus, to offer thee my most fervant thanks for the blessings Thou hast bestowed upon me. I shall incessantly praise Thine ineffable mercy and confess that Thou alone art my God, my Helper and my Protector. Henceforth, my entire confidence shall be placed in Thee! Everywhere, I shall proclaim aloud Thy mercy and generosity, so that Thy great Love and the great deeds which Thou dost perform through this miraculous image may be acknowledged by all. May devotion to Thy Holy Infancy increase more and more in the hearts of all Christians, and may all who experience Thine assistance persevere with me in showing unceasing gratitude to Thy Most Holy Infancy, to which be praise and glory forever. Amen
Thank you, Infant Baby Jesus of Prague and the Sacred Heart of Jesus for granting my request. I will always be dedicated to You Dear Jesus and have faith that You will always be by my side. Your faithful servant (state your name).

The Missing Ingredient in Today’s Catholic Evangelization

This from One Peter Five today.

http://www.onepeterfive.com/the-missing-ingredient-in-todays-catholic-evangelization/

admitting defeat

Is allowing divorced and civilly remarried people to the reception of Holy Communion essentially just admitting defeat? The message it sends to us lay Catholics is, "The teaching of the Church is essentially not important, it is what you feel that really matters."

It essentially strips our Catholic faith to nothing and leaves us nothing to stand on. If we remove the letter of the law, and disregard the teachings of Christ it will not matter if we bring one person or a million into the reception of Holy Communion because we will have led people to falsely accept a human vision of Christ and not Christ himself. It cannot be called mercy to feed someone sand and tell them it is a steak. Even if you can trick the person to believe the sand is actually a steak, because they desperately want it to be a steak, it still will not nourish them. You will have given them good feelings, made them confident in their eating, but still ultimately led them to certain death.

Mercy is not about making people comfortable in their sin, it is welcoming them as sinner so that they may be lead to Christ. What about the serial killer that works 6 days a week in the soup kitchen, helping feed countless hungry? The 7th day he murders one of them, but helps hundreds more. He does not see anything wrong with his sin, he picks the worst of the lot, he helps hundreds and eliminates one evil person a week. Should he be told that is ok? That he is doing more good than evil? God will not mind if you are unrepentant of that one evil.We could tell him that. He could feel good and come and receive Christ, but in so doing we would be defiling Christ by making an empty promise that cannot possibly be fulfilled.

The serial killer might be an extreme example, but giving people, or a priest the freedom to make the call as to whether an action they commit is sin or not does not to me seem like a good idea. How do you draw people to the confessional, when at the same time you are telling them, no need to repent?

Telling people that their sin is ok, is not a pastoral approach. It is a lazy way out. It encourages people to turn their intellect inward to themselves rather than upward to God. The way of Christ is not meant to be easy. It wasn't easy for the Apostles it wasn't easy for Christ himself. The times cannot change Christ, or the will of God. If this were true, God would have had no need to purge the world with the flood. Couldn't he have just said, "hey I need to get with the times, the people want this. so its all good." Moses wouldn't have needed the 10 commandments at all, the times and the people had already decided to worship the golden calf. Christ died for our sins to be forgiven not to tell us they are ok. He called us to "go forth and sin no more". The Church does need to change with the times, but the times are tough right now for faith. The times, in my opinion, are calling the Church back to tradition, so as to lead people to Christ vs leaving them to their own devices.

Hard views of Pope Francis from Spectators

Hard views of Pope Francis from Spectators

Fr. Chad Ripperger - Spiritual Warfare - Rochester, NH 10-5-2015