Our Morning Prayer – 18 May “Mary’s Month” Friday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide
O Mary, Give us a Heart like Yours
By St Mother Teresa (1910-1997)
O Mary, give us a heart as beautiful, pure,
and spotless as yours.
A heart like yours,
so full of love and humility.
May we be able to receive Jesus
as the Bread of Life,
to love Him as you loved Him,
to serve Him
under the mistreated face of the poor.
We ask this through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Holy Trinity Novena
DAY ONE
GOD THE FATHER
“Our Father who art in heaven”
SCRIPTURAL READING
“This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as 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 the evil one. If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”...Matthew 6:9-15
MEDITATION
In the New Testament, Jesus spoke about the Father and to the Father 170 times. From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus would say: “I was sent by the Father,” “Your God and my God,” “the Father and I are one.” “I do only the things told by my Father,” “Father, not my will but Yours be done,” etc.
PRAYER
God Eternal Father, bless me, through the love,
with which, You have begotten Your only Son, from all eternity
and shared with Him, the fullness of Your Divinity.
Bless me, through the love, which has adopted us as children
and made us partakers of the treasures of Your Divinity.
Bless me, through the love, which sent us Your Son
and the Holy Spirit to work the miracles of Your power and mercy in us.
Grant that I may always revere and honour You as my great God
and love You with my whole heart, as the best of fathers.
Eternal Father, grant my petition:
…………………….(mention your petition)
Most Holy Trinity, Godhead indivisible,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
our first beginning and our last end,
You have made us after Your own image and likeness.
Grant that all the thoughts of my mind,
all the words of my mouth,
all the affections of my heart
and all my actions be always conformed to Your holy Will.
After having seen You here below in Your manifestations and by faith,
may I come at last to see You face to face,
in the perfect possession of You forever in heaven.
Amen
Pray 3 Our Fathers, 3 Glory Bes
Pentecost Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts
Day Eight – 18 May 2018
DAY EIGHT
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray!
THE GIFT OF WISDOM
Embodying all the other gifts, as charity embraces all the other virtues, Wisdom is
the most perfect of the gifts. Of Wisdom it is written “all good things come to me
with her, and innumerable riches through her hands.” It is the gift of Wisdom that
strengthens our faith, fortifies hope, perfects charity and promotes the practice of
virtue in the highest degree. Wisdom enlightens the mind to discern and relish things
divine, in the appreciation of which earthly joys lose their savour, whilst the Cross
of Christ yields a divine sweetness according to the words of the Saviour: “Take up
thy cross and follow me, for my yoke is sweet and my burden light.”
Prayer
Come, O Spirit of Wisdom and reveal to my soul the mysteries of heavenly things,
their exceeding greatness, power and beauty. Teach me to love them above and beyond
all the passing joys and satisfactions of earth. Help me to attain them and possess
them for ever. Amen.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be to the Father (seven times)
Act of Consecration
Prayer for the Seven Gifts
Act of Consecration and Prayer for the Seven Gifts: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/pentecost-novena-to-the-holy-spirit-for-the-seven-gifts-day-one-11-may-2018/
On the Anniversary of the Birth of St John Paul, Karol Wojtyla, we send him our love and ask for his intercession.
Oh, St John Paul, from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing!
Bless the church that you loved and served and guided,
courageously leading it along the paths of the world,
in order to bring Jesus to everyone and everyone to Jesus.
Bless the young, who were your great passion.
Help them dream again, help them look up high again,
to find the light that illuminates the paths of life here on earth.
May you bless families, bless each family!
You warned of Satan’s assault against this precious
and indispensable divine spark that God lit on earth.
St John Paul, with your prayer, may you protect the family
and every life that blossoms from the family.
Pray for the whole world, which is still marked by tensions,
wars and injustice.
You tackled war by invoking dialogue and planting the seeds of love:
pray for us so that we may be tireless sowers of peace.
Oh St John Paul, from heaven’s window,
where we see you next to Mary,
send God’s blessing down upon us all.
Amen
Marian Thought for the Day – 18 May “Mary’s Month” Friday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide
WHY is she so called?—she who never had any blow, or wound, or other injury to her consecrated person. How can she be exalted over those whose bodies suffered the most ruthless violences and the keenest torments for our Lord’s sake? She is, indeed, Queen of all Saints, of those who “walk with Christ in white, for they are worthy” but how of those “who were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held?”
To answer this question, it must be recollected that the pains of the soul may be as fierce as those of the body. Bad men who are now in hell and the elect of God who are in purgatory, are suffering only in their souls, for their bodies are still in the dust. Yet how severe is that suffering! And perhaps most people who have lived long, can bear witness in their own persons, to a sharpness of distress, which was like a sword cutting them, to a weight and force of sorrow which seemed to throw them down, though bodily pain there was none.
What an overwhelming horror it must have been, for the Blessed Mary, to witness the Passion and the Crucifixion of her Son! Her anguish was, as Holy Simeon had announced to her, at the time of that Son’s Presentation in the Temple, a sword piercing her soul. If our Lord Himself could not bear the prospect of what was before Him and was covered in the thought of it with a bloody sweat, His soul thus acting upon His body, does not this show how great mental pain can be? and would it have been wonderful though, if Mary’s head and heart, had given way as she stood under His Cross?
Thus is she most truly the Queen of Martyrs.
Thought for the Day – 18 May – Friday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Felix of Cantalice O.F.M. Cap.(1515-1587) “Brother Deo Gratias”
Saint Felix did not have what the world esteems; his education was lacking. But he knew five red letters — the wounds of the divine crucified One, Whom he worshipped daily in the Blessed Sacrament and one white one — the Virgin Mary, from whom he one day miraculously received the divine Child in his arms.
Quote of the Day – 18 May – Friday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Felix of Cantalice O.F.M. Cap.(1515-1587) “Brother Deo Gratias”
“Deo Gratias”
“Thank God”St Felix of Cantalice (1515-1587)
“Brother Deo Gratias”
One Minute Marian Reflection – 18 May “Mary’s Month” Friday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide
“…and you yourself a sword will pierce...” Luke 2:35
REFLECTION – “MARY: THE CO-REDEMPTRIX – “It is with good reason that the popes have called Mary co-redemptrix. ‘So fully, in union with her suffering and dying Son, did she suffer and nearly die; so fully, for the sake of the salvation of all souls, did she abdicate the rights of a mother over her Son and immolate him, insofar as it was in her power, to satisfy the justice of God, that it can rightly be said that she redeemed mankind together with Christ.’ This gives us a deeper understanding of that moment in the Passion of our Lord on which we shall never tire of meditating: Stabat autem iuxta crucem Iesu mater eius, ‘There, standing by the cross of Jesus, was his mother.'”…St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) – “Mother of God and Our Mother,” Friends of God, 287.
Let us offer to our Mother today:
Five small hidden sacrifices in honour of the five major wounds of our Lord.
PRAYER – Lord God, in Your wisdom You gave us Your only begotten Son and His Mother to be ours too! You gave us both Your only Divine Son to save us from our sins and His Mother, to help us become Your perfect children. Penetrate our inmost being with Your holy light, so that our way of life may always be worthy of Your great love and the sacrifice of Your Son and His Mother. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 18 May – St Felix of Cantalice O.F.M. Cap.(1515-1587) Capuchin Friar – (the first Capuchin to be Canonised), Confessor, Apostle of Charity, Preacher, Teacher, Writer. Born on 18 May 1515 at Cantalice, Abruzzi, Italy and died on 18 May 1587 at Rome, Italy of natural causes. Patronages – Cantalice, Italy, Spello, Italy. Attributes – Capuchin habit; holding the Baby Jesus, carrying a sack.
It was in a small village at the foot of Mount Appenine named Cantalice, that Saint Felix was born in 1513 of pious but poor parents, the third of four sons born to Santi and Santa Porri. It was not long before the little boy, when he approached the other children, was hailed by them: ‘Here comes Felix, the Saint!’ He showed a predilection for solitary prayer from his earliest youth and as a little shepherd used to retire to a quiet place to kneel there and meditate on the Passion of Jesus.
When he was a little older, he resolved to take the habit of the Capuchin Friars. The rigour of their rule could not deter him but his obligations could; he was employed as a labourer, to assist his family. When his life was spared in an accident, during which two runaway bulls and a trailing plough should have killed him, the man for whom he was working saw the hand of God in his preservation and permitted him to leave, to enter religion. He was at that time nearly thirty years old but the Superiors, observing his fervour, placed no obstacles.
In 1545 he pronounced his vows and was sent to Rome, where for forty years he begged for the community. His characteristic words to his companion were: “Let us go, my Brother, with rosary in hand, our eyes to the ground and our spirit in heaven.” He was of an exquisite politeness, extreme gentleness and great simplicity. It is said that his begging sack was as bottomless as his heart. 
Brother Felix blessed all benefactors and all those he met with a humble “Deo Gratias!” (thanks be to God!), causing many to refer to him as “Brother Deo Gratias”. Felix was so successful in his work that during the famine of 1580, the political leader of Rome asked the Capuchins if they would ‘lend’ Felix to them so he could collect food and provisions for the entire city. The Capuchins agreed and Felix embraced his new task with great success and love.
The sick persons he visited at night became attached to him and for his part, he sought them out everywhere in Rome, insofar as obedience permitted. He preached in the street, rebuked corrupt politicians and officials and exhorted young men to stop leading dissolute lives. He also composed simple teaching canticles and arranged for children to gather in groups to sing them as a way to teach them the catechism.
One day on the street he met two duelists with sword in hand. He begged them to repeat after him, Deo gratias! which finally they did and after taking him as arbiter of their quarrel, they separated as good friends. Saint Felix met Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595 – Memorial 26 May) in Rome and they became friends who wished one another all possible torments for the love of Jesus Christ. They sometimes remained together without speaking for considerable periods, seemingly transported with joy. He was also a friend of St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584 – Memorial 4 November).
Saint Felix had a great devotion to the most Blessed Virgin, reciting Her rosary with such tenderness that he could not continue at times. He loved the Holy Name of Jesus and invited the children he would meet, to say it with him. He slept only for about two hours, going afterwards to the church to visit the Blessed Sacrament, to be with the Lord and remaining there in prayer until the office of Prime; then he would serve the first Mass and receive Communion every day.
When he was sick and was given the last Sacraments, he saw the Blessed Virgin and a beautiful troop of Angels coming to fortify him in this last journey. He cried out in joy and gave up his soul peacefully to his Creator in 1587. So many attended his funeral that some were injured in the press to get into the church and an extra door had to be knocked through one wall so they could exit.
He was Beatified on 1 October 1625 by Pope Urban VIII and Canonised by Pope Clement XI on 22 May 1712. 
His body is in the Capuchin Church of Rome – the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rome; a plenary indulgence is granted to those who, fulfilling the ordinary conditions, visit a church of his Order on his feast day.
St Pope John I (Optional Memorial)
—
Bl Burchard of Beinwil
St Dioscorus of Kynopolis
St Elgiva of Shaftesbury
St Eric of Sweden
St Felix of Cantalice O.F.M. Cap.(1515-1587)
St Felix of Spoleto
St Feredarius of Iona
Bl Jan Oprzadek
St Merililaun
St Ortasio of Alexandria
St Potamon of Heraclea
St Serapione of Alexandria
Bl Stanislaw Kubski
St Venantius of Camerino
Bl William of Toulouse
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Martyrs of Ancyra – 8 saints: Seven nuns martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian and the innkeeper who was executed for giving them a Christian burial: Alexandria, Claudia, Euphrasia, Julitta, Matrona, Phaina, Thecusa and Theodatus. c.304 in Ancyra, Galatia (in modern Turkey)
AnaStpaul 
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