Category: JULY – The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR

Our Morning Offering – 17 July – Prayer for the Gift of Prayer By St Alphonsus Liguori

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Our Morning Offering – 17 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Prayer for the Gift of Prayer
By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Doctor of the Church

O Incarnate Word,
You have given Your Blood and Your Life
to confer on our prayers that power by which,
according to Your promise,
they obtain for us all that we ask.
And we, O God,
are so careless of our salvation,
that we will not even ask You for the graces
that we must have, if we should be saved!
In prayer You have given us the key
of all Your Divine treasures
and we, rather than pray,
choose to remain in our misery.
Alas! O Lord, enlighten us,
and make us know the value of prayers,
offered in Your name and by Your merits,
in the eyes of Your Eternal Father.
Amenprayer for the gift of prayer - st alphonsus liguori 17 july 2020

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, GOD is LOVE, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, MARIAN TITLES, ONE Minute REFLECTION, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 16 July – ‘… Following Him!’

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One Minute Reflection – 16 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Thursday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19, Psalm 102:13-21, Matthew 11:28-30 and the Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and of Blessed Ceslaus Odrowaz OP (c 1184– 1242) (Brother of St Hyacinth)

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for yourselves…” … Matthew 11:29

REFLECTION – “Dearest sister in Jesus.   I, Catherine, servant of the servants of Jesus, write to you in His Precious Blood, wishing only that you feed yourself with God’s love and nourish yourself with it, as at a mother’s breast.   Nobody, in fact, can live without this milk!
Who possesses God’s love, finds so much joy that every bitterness transforms itself into sweetness and that every great weight becomes light.   One must not be astonished because living in charity you live in God – “God is love and he who abides in love, abides in God and God abides in him”(1 John 4:16)
Thus, living in God, you can have no bitterness because God is delight, gentleness and never-ending joy!
This is why God’s friends are always happy!   Even if we are sick, poor, grieved, troubled, persecuted, we are always joyful.
… We do not seek joy elsewhere than in Jesus and we avoid any glory which is not that of the Cross.
Embrace, then, Jesus crucified, raising to Him the eyes of your desire! Consider His burning love for you, which made Jesus pour out His blood from every part of His body!
Embrace Jesus crucified, loving and beloved and in Him you will find true life because He is God made man.   Let your heart and your soul burn with the fire of love drawn from Jesus on the Cross!
You must, then, become love, looking at God’s love who loved you so much not because He had any obligation towards you but out of pure gift, urged only by His ineffable love.
You will have no other desire than to follow Jesus!   As if you were drunken with Love, it will no longer matter whether you are alone or in company – do not think about many things but only about finding Jesus and following Him!
Run, Bartolomea, do not stay asleep, because time flies and does not wait one moment!
Dwell in God’s sweet love.
Sweet Jesus, Jesus love.” … St Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380) – Doctor of the Church – From the “Letters” (letter no. 165 to Bartolomea, wife of Salviato of Lucca).matthew 11 29 take my yoke - embrace then jesus crucified - st catherine of siena 16 july 2020

PRAYER – “Holy God, our Father, we turn to You in confidence as children and pray, give us meekness of heart, make us “poor in spirit” that we may recognise that we are not self-sufficient, that we are unable to build our lives on our own but need You, we need to encounter You, to listen to You, to speak to You.   Help us to understand that we need Your gift, Your wisdom, which is Jesus Himself, in order to do the Your will in our lives and thus to find rest in the hardships of our journey.”   Hear the prayers we request of the Mother of our Jesus Crucified and our Mother, Our Lady of Carmel, dear Lord and holy God, which we pray through Christ, our Light, in the Holy Spirit, one God for all eternity, amen. … Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 7 December 2011our-lady-of-mount-carmel-pray-for-us.2 16 july 2019 and 2020 (1)

bl ceslaus odrowaz pray for us 16 july 2020

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, FATHERS of the Church, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 14 July – ‘… The Grace of Repentance …’

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One Minute Reflection – 14 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” = Tuesday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, Readings: Isaiah 7:1-9, Psalm 48:2-8, Matthew 11:20-24 and the Memorial of St Francisco Solanus y Jiménez OFM (1549 – 1610) Priest – “The Wonder Worker of the New World” and St Camillus de Lellis MI (1550-1614) “The Giant of Charity”

“But I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom than for you.”… Matthew 11:24

REFLECTION – “Let us fix our thoughts on the blood of Christ and reflect how precious that blood is in God’s eyes, inasmuch as its outpouring for our salvation, has opened the grace of repentance to all mankind.
For we have only to survey the generations of the past, to see, that in everyone of them, the Lord has offered the chance of repentance to any, who were willing to turn to Him.   When Noah preached repentance, those who gave heed to him were saved.   When, after Jonah had proclaimed destruction to the people of Niniveh, they repented of their sins and made atonement to God with prayers and supplications, they obtained their salvation, notwithstanding, that they were strangers and aliens to Him.

All those, who were ministers of the grace of God, have spoken, through the Holy Spirit, of repentance.
The very Lord of all, Himself has spoken of it and even with an oath – By my life, the Lord declares, it is not the sinner’s death that I desire, so much as his repentance and, he adds, this gracious pronouncement, Repent, O house of Israel and turn from your wickedness. Say to the children of my people, though your sins may stretch from earth to heaven and though they may be redder than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, yet if you turn wholeheartedly to me and say ‘Father’, I will listen to you as I would to a people that was holy.

Thus, by His own almighty will, He has confirmed his desire that repentance should be open to everyone of His beloved.

Let us bow, then, to that sovereign and glorious will.   Let us entreat His mercy and goodness, casting ourselves upon His compassion and wasting no more energy in quarrels and a rivalry which only ends in death.” … St Pope Clement I (c 35-99) – From his Letter to the Corinthians (Chs 7, 4-8, 3; 8, 5-9, 1; 13, 1-4; 19, 2)matthew 11 24 but i tell you that it shall be more tolerable - let us bow then to that sovereign - st pope clement I 14 july 2020

PRAYER – God our Father, we are Your children and You have set us aside to come home to You by the light of the way of Your divine Son. Fill us with knowledge of our need to turn to You in sorrow and repentance, that we may one day attain our final home with You. Grant we pray, that by the intercession of Saints Francisco Solanus and Camillus de Lellis, we may too become lights announcing Your love to all around us. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.ST FRANCISCO SOLANO PRAY FOR US 14 JULY 2020

st camillus de lellis pray for us

 

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS

Our Morning Offering – 14 July – An Old Morning Prayer

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Our Morning Offering – 14 July – “Month of the Precious Blood” – Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

An Old Morning Prayer – Excerpt
From The Blossoms of the Cross — 1894
The Sisters of St Joseph

I rise In God’s strength,
In God’s power,
In the Agony of Christ,
In the Cross of Christ,
In Christ’s Precious Blood,
These will sustain me against my enemies,
visible and invisible.
I rise in the blessing of Christ
which my dearest Jesus left to the whole world.
Protect me, All-Holy Trinity,
God the Father, Who created me,
God, the Son, Who redeemed me in His Precious Blood,
God, the Holy Ghost, Who sanctified me in Holy Baptism.
God, the Father, I give myself to Thee!
God, the Son, I commend myself to Thee!
God, the Holy Ghost, teach me!
Mary, Mother of God, assist me!
All you Saints of God, pray for me!
All you Holy Angels, protect me!
The Cross of Christ preserve me!
Amenan old morning prayer excerpt 1834 14 july 2020

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY COMMUNION, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 12 July – Prayer before Holy Mass By St John Chrysostom

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Our Morning Offering – 12 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – The Fifteenth Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time, Year A

Prayer before Holy Mass
By St John Chrysostom (347-407)
Father and Doctor of the Church

O God, loose, remit and forgive
my sins against You.
Whether in word, or in deed, or in thought,
willingly or unwillingly,
knowingly or unknowingly, committed,
forgive them all,
for You are good and love mankind.
And through the prayers of Your most holy Mother,
of Your heavenly servants and holy powers
and of all the saints
who have found favour in Your sight,
enable me to receive, without condemnation
Your holy and immaculate Body
and Your Precious Blood,
to the healing of my soul and body
and to the driving away of all evil imaginations,
for Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
now and forever
and to ages of ages.
Amenprayer before holy mass by st john chrysostom 12 july 2020

Posted in INDULGENCES, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS

Our Morning Offering – 8 July – By the Merit of the Precious Blood of Jesus – Indulgenced Act of Oblation to Our Father

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Our Morning Offering – 8 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Wednesday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time

By the Merit of the
Precious Blood of Jesus
By Servant of God Pope Pius VII (1742-1823)
Papacy from 1800 to 1823
Indulgenced Act of Oblation to Our Father

Eternal Father!
I offer Thee the merit
of the Precious Blood of Jesus,
Thy well-beloved Son,
my Saviour and my God,
for all my wants,
spiritual and temporal,
in aid of the Holy Souls in Purgatory
and chiefly for those
who most loved this Precious Blood,
the price of our redemption
and who were most devout
to the sorrows and pains
of most Holy Mary,
our dear Mother.

Glory be to the Blood of Jesus,
now and forever
and throughout all ages.
Amen.

Indulgence of 300 days, each time this prayed is offered
22 September 1817 with a Plenary Indulgence, once a month,
under the usual conditions.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI approved and granted it the Nihal Obstat – (nothing stands against), the process towards Canonising Pope Pius VII and he was granted the title Servant of God.
In late 2018, the Bishop of Savona announced that the cause for Pius VII would continue following the completion of initial preparation and investigation.   The Bishop named a new Postulator and a Diocesan tribunal began work into the cause.    The first Postulator for the cause, was Father Giovanni Farris (2007-18) and the current Postulator since 2018, is Father Giovanni Margara.

Note of Interest:  On 15 August 1811 – the Feast of the Assumption – it is recorded that the Pope celebrated Mass and was said to have entered a trance and began to levitate in a manner that drew him to the altar.   This particular episode aroused great wonder and awe among attendants, which included the French soldiers guarding him, who were awestruck at what had occurred and left records of it.

by the merit of the precious blood of jesus indulgenced act of oblation to the father - 8 july 2020

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, POETRY, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS

Our Morning Offering – 7 July – Good Friday By Christina Rossetti

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Our Morning Offering – 7 July – “Month of the Precious Blood” – Tuesday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time

Good Friday
By Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894)
Published in 1866

Am I a stone and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee.
Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly.
Not so the thief was moved.

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock.
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English poet who wrote various romantic, devotional and children’s poems.   “Goblin Market” and “Remember” remain famous.   She wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in the UK: “In the Bleak Midwinter.” later set by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke and “Love Came Down at Christmas,” set by Harold Darke and by other composers.   She was the sister of the well-known ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ Artist and Poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.Good friday by Christina Rossetti 7 july 2020

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS

Our Morning Offering – 6 July – By Your Heart and By Your Blood! by St Francis de Sales

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Our Morning Offering – 6 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

By Your Heart and By Your Blood!
By St Francis De Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of Charity

May Your Heart
dwell always in our hearts!
May Your Blood
ever flow in the veins of our souls!
O Sun of our hearts,
You give life to all things
by the rays of Your goodness!
I will not go,
until Your Heart has strengthened me,
O Lord Jesus!
May the Heart of Jesus
be the King of my heart!
Blessed be God.
Amenby your heart and by your blood - st francis de sales 6 july 2020

Posted in EUCHARISTIC, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, HYMNS, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 5 July – Ave Verum Corpus

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Our Morning Offering – 5 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” -Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ave Verum Corpus
By Pope Innocent VI (c 1282-1362)
Papacy 1352-1362

Hail, true Body, truly born
Of the Virgin Mary mild
Truly offered, wracked and torn,
On the Cross for all defiled,
From Whose love pierced, sacred side
Flowed Thy true Blood’s saving tide.
Be a foretaste sweet to me
In my death’s great agony.
O Jesu dulcis!
O Jesu pie!
O Jesu Fili Mariae.
Amen

Just as St John the Baptist leapt with joy in his mother’s womb when the Saviour drew near in the womb of Mary, so we leap with joy in the presence of Our Eucharistic Lord.ave verum corpus - by pope innocent VI 5 july 2020

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN Saturdays, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Our Morning Offering – 4 July – Mother of the Eternal Word

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Our Morning Offering – 4 July – “Month of the Precious Blood” and a Marian Saturday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time

Mother of the Eternal Word
Raccolta Prayer

Most glorious Virgin,
chosen by the eternal Counsel
to be the Mother of the eternal Word made flesh,
thou who art the treasurer of divine graces
and the advocate of sinners,
I who am thy most unworthy servant
have recourse to thee.
Be thou pleased to be my guide
and counsellor in this vale of tears.
Obtain for me
through the Most Precious Blood
of thy divine Son,
the forgiveness of my sins,
the salvation of my soul
and the means necessary to obtain it.
In like manner obtain for the Holy Church
victory over her enemies
and the spread of the kingdom of Jesus Christ
upon the whole earth.
Amenmother of the eternal word from the raccolta 4 july 2020

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS

Our Morning Offering – 2 July – Constant Prayer to the Precious Blood of Jesus By St Catherine of Siena

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Our Morning Offering – 2 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Thursday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time

Constant Prayer
to the Precious Blood of Jesus
By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church

Precious Blood,
Ocean of Divine Mercy,
Flow upon us!
Precious Blood,
most pure Offering,
Procure us every grace!
Precious Blood,
Hope and Refuge of sinners,
Atone for us!
Precious Blood,
Delight of holy souls,
Draw us!
Amenconstant prayer to the precious blood of jesus by st catherine of siena 2 july 2020

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Uncategorized

July Devotion – The Most Precious Blood of Jesus

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July Devotion – The Most Precious Blood of Jesus

JULY DEVOTION THE MONTH OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD 1 JULY 2020

Catholic doctrine teaches the faithful, that the Blood of Jesus Christ is part of His Sacred Humanity and hypostatically united to the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
And as such, it is worthy of adoration and veneration proper to latreutical worship (cultus latriae) which is rendered only to God.   In other words, we adore the human nature of Christ because of its intimate and eternal union with the Person of the Divine Word.
It is for this same reason, that we honour the Most Sacred Heart or the Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Devotion to the Precious Blood:
This devotion is one of the most ancient of pious Church practices.   It is said that the Blessed Virgin venerated the Most Precious Blood of her infant Son on the day of His circumcision as she collected the first relics of His Precious Blood on a piece of cloth.
On that momentous occasion she united her tears with that of the Word Incarnate on account of, not so much of the sensible pain bu,t of His supernatural sorrow for the hard-heartedness of mortals.
This was the first of seven Blood-Sheddings of Our Divine Saviour, The rest being:

2. The Agony in the Garden

3. The Scourging at the Pillar

4. The Crowning with Thorns

5. The Way of the Cross

6. The Crucifixion

7. The Piercing of His Heart

The old sacrifice took a new form in the New Testament when the Immaculate Lamb of God offered Himself on the altar of the Cross, to redeem mankind from sin and the slavery of Satan.

And during the Last Supper, Our Lord offered Himself in an unbloody, yet real sacrifice when He uttered the following words:
“For this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.” (Matthew 26: 28)

Truly, this “shedding of blood’ or “pouring out of blood” took place and forms one of the glorious mysteries of our Faith.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS

Our Morning Offering – 1 July – Daily Offering to the Father by St Gertrude the Great

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Our Morning Offering – 1 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Tme

Daily Offering to the Father
By St Gertrude the Great (1256-1302)

Eternal Father,
I offer Thee the most precious blood
of Thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family.
Amen

You might see fantastic claims for this prayer, especially printed on Holy Cards, such as the release of 1000 souls from Purgatory, each time it is prayed.
Nowhere in St Gertrude’s writings, is this wild promise made so be careful of treating prayers and devotions as amulets or magical charms.
The Church has summarily condemned prayer cards containing a promise to release one or more souls from Purgatory, or any other ‘miraculous’ claims.
Such an easy way to release 1,000 souls seems inconsistent with the Church’s understanding of Purgatory, given that ordinarily, to release one soul, requires a plenary indulgence which is very difficult to get and, given all the means the Church employs to help the dead, such as special masses or indulgences applicable only to the dead.

daily offering to the father -precious blood - st gertrude 1 july 2020

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 24 March – “…A full and perfect patience”

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Lenten Reflection – 24 March – The Third Sunday of Lent, Year C

Readings:
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15; Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-11; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9 (Different Readings apply for the Scrutinies Mass)

Daily Meditation:
Form a new heart within.

“And he answered him, ‘Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure, And if it bears fruit next year, well and good and if not, you can cut it down.”...Luke 13:8-9The third sunday - year C 24 march 2019.jpg

St Cyprian of Carthage – (c 200- c 258) Bishop and Martyr, Father of the Church

The good of patience, 6, 7-8

“This, beloved brethren, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, did not teach by words only but he also fulfilled by His deeds… In the very hour of His passion and cross… what violent abuses He listened to with patience and what shameful insults He endured!   He was even covered with the spittle of His revilers when but a short time before, He had cured the eyes of the blind man with His own spittle(Jn 9:6)… He who now crowns the martyrs with eternal garlands was Himself crowned with thorns, He who now gives true palms to the victors was beaten in the face with hostile palms; he who clothes all others with the garment of immortality was stripped of His earthly garments, He who has given us the food of heaven was fed with gall, He who has offered us the cup of salvation was given vinegar to drink.   He the innocent, the just man, nay rather, Innocence itself and Justice itself, is counted among criminals and Truth is concealed by false testimonies.  He who is to judge is judged and the Word of God, silent, is led to the cross.   And although the stars are confounded at the crucifixion of the Lord, the elements are disturbed and the earth trembles… yet He does not speak, nor is He moved, nor does He proclaim His majesty, even during the suffering itself.   He endures all things even to the end with constant perseverance so that in Christ, a full and perfect patience may find its realisation.

And even after such sufferings He still receives His murderers if they are converted and come to Him and, with a patience instrumental in saving man, this kind Master closes His Church to no-one.   He not only receives and pardons those adversaries, those blasphemers, those persistent enemies of His name, provided they do penance for their offence and acknowledge the crime committed but He admits them to the reward of the kingdom of heaven.   What can be called more patient, what more kind? Even he who shed the blood of Christ is given life by the blood of Christ.   Such is the wonderful patience of Christ.   And unless it were so wonderful, the Church would not have had Paul, the great Apostle.”

he not only receives and pardons - st cyprian - 24 march 2019 3rdsunlentyearc.jpg

This Sunday brings us closer to the font of renewing our baptismal commitment.
It is also the first of three Scrutinies for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

We are deeply aware that there is a struggle going on in us.
We turn to God, that we might not become discouraged.
We rely on God’s compassion and love for us.
We acknowledge who we are
– sinners who experience the consequences of our selfishness –
but we know we are loved and we desire to be filled with hope.

We go into this week renewed in our desire to continue our
prayer, fasting and generosity toward others.

Bless the Lord, O my soul
and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy…
Psalm 103:1-4

Closing Prayer:
Loving Father,
So many times I turn away from You
and always You welcome me back.
Your mercy and love gives me confidence
Thank You for the invitation to share, fast and pray
so that You can form a new heart within me.
Your powerful compassion for my weaknesses
leads me to ask for mercy
and await with great hope the Easter joy You share with us.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen