Category: PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS

Posted in LENT 2020, LENTEN THOUGHTS, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 30 March – ‘The Holy and sublime ladder …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 30 March – Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Readings: Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62, Psalm 23, John 8:1-11

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

“Neither do I condemn you; go and do not sin again.” … John 8:11

Daily Meditation:
Help us to pass from our old life of sin
to our new life of grace.

“The Lord Jesus, the Saviour of all, “made himself all things to all men” (1 Cor 9:22) in such a way that He revealed Himself as being smaller than the small, He who was greater than the great.   To save a soul who was surprised in adultery and accused by the demons, He lowered Himself to the point of writing on the ground with His finger…. He, Himself, is the holy and sublime ladder that the traveller Jacob saw in his sleep (Gen 28:12),… the ladder that was set up from the earth to God and that God held out to the earth.   When He wants, He goes up to God. Sometimes He is accompanied by a few people … and sometimes no-one can follow Him.   And when He wants, He joins the crowd… He heals lepers, eats with publicans and sinners… touches the sick to heal them.he himself is the holy and sublime ladder - isaac of stella 30 march 2020

Blessed is the soul that can follow the Lord Jesus wherever He goes, going up to the rest of contemplation… and on the other hand, coming down by the practice of charity, following Him to the point of lowering itself in service, of loving poverty, of bearing with (…) fatigue, work, tears, prayer and finally compassion and the passion.   For He came in order to obey even to death, to serve and not to be served, not to give gold or silver but His teaching and His help to the many, His life for the many (Mk 10:45)…

So, brethren, may this be the model for your life: (…) to follow Christ by going up to the Father… to follow Christ by going down to your neighbour, refusing no practice of charity, making yourselves all things to all persons.” … Isaac of Stella (c 1100-c 1171) Cistercian Monk, theologian, philosopher – Sermon 12

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters,
he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1-3monday of the fifth week 30 march 2020

Intercessions:
Praise to Jesus, our Saviour.
By His death He has opened for us the way of salvation.
Let us ask Him:
Lord, guide Your people to walk in Your ways.

God of mercy, You gave us new life through Baptism,
– make us grow day by day in Your likeness.
May our generosity today bring joy to those in need,
– in helping them may we find You.
Help us to do what is good, right and true in Your sight,
– and to seek You always with undivided hearts.
Forgive our sins against the unity of Your family,
– make us one in heart and spirit.

Closing Prayer:

I Unite My Sacrifice
Prayer for Submission to Divine Providence
By St Joseph Maria Pignatelli SJ (1737 – 1811)

My God, I do not know
what must come to me today.
But I am certain
that nothing can happen to me
that You have not foreseen, decreed
and ordained from all eternity.
That is sufficient for me.
I adore Your impenetrable
and eternal designs,
to which I submit with all my heart.
I desire, I accept them all
and I unite my sacrifice to that of
Jesus Christ, my Divine Saviour.
I ask in His name
and through His infinite merits,
patience in my trials
and perfect and entire submission,
to all that comes to me
by Your good pleasure.
Ameni unite my sacrifice by st joseph pignatelli sj 30 march 2020

Posted in GOD the FATHER, LENTEN THOUGHTS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS on FAITH, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on FREEDOM, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 27 March – Death

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 27 March – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

“So everyone who acknowledges me before men,
I also will acknowledge before my Father,
who is in heaven…”

Matthew 10:32

matthew-10-32-so-everyone-who-acknowledges-me-13-july-2019-and-27-nov-2019 and 5 feb 2020

“O my God and my Father,
may I know You
and make You known,
love You
and make You loved,
serve You
and make You served,
praise You
and make all creatures praise You.”

St Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870)
Founder of the Claretians

may i know you - st anthony mary claret 27 march 2020

It is certain, however, that of the two thieves
dying beside the Cross of our Redeemer, only one heard Him say:
“This day, you will be with me in Paradise!”
The other, remained obdurate in his sin.
It is the height of stupidity, to wait to be converted,
at the hour of death!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

it is the height of stupidity - bacci - 11 jan 2020

“The greatest freedom,
is the freedom from the fear of death,
when we know Who sent us
and to Whom we must return.”

Msgr Alex Rebello CMF
Claretian Priest
Diocese of Wrexham, Wales

the greatest freedom is the freedom from the fear of death - msgr alex rebello bible diary 27 march 2020

Posted in ACT of CONTRITION, DIVINE MERCY, LENT 2020, LENTEN THOUGHTS, PAPAL ENCYLICALS, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, St Pope JOHN PAUL, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION

Lenten Reflection – 27 March – ‘Here is the Son of God …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 27 March – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Readings: Wisdom 2:1, 12-22, Psalm 34:17-21, 23, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

“You know me and you know where I come from?
But I have not come of my own accord;
he who sent me is true and him you do not know.”…John 7:28

Daily Meditation:
May we reach out with joy to grasp Your hand.

“In His Resurrection Christ has revealed the God of merciful love, precisely because He accepted the Cross as the way to the Resurrection.   And, it is for this reason, that, when we recall the Cross of Christ, His passion and death, our faith and hope are centred on the Risen One – on that Christ who “on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, . . .stood among them” in the upper Room, “where the disciples were, …breathed on them and said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.   If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’ ” (Jn 20:19).
Here is the Son of God, who in His Resurrection, experienced in a radical way, mercy shown to Himself, that is to say the love of the Father which is more powerful than death.   And it is also the same Christ, the Son of God, who… reveals Himself as the inexhaustible source of mercy, of the same love… more powerful than sin.” … St Pope John Paul (1920-2005) – Encyclical « Dives in Misericordia » # 8

and-it-is-also-the-same-christ-st-john-paul-encyclical-frifourtheweeklent-5-april-2019 AND 27 MARCH 2020

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:17-18

friday of the fourth week 27 march 2020

Intercessions:
Let us pray to Christ our Saviour,
who redeemed us by His Death and Resurrection:
Lord, have mercy on us.

You went up to Jerusalem to suffer and so enter into Your glory,
– bring Your Church to the Passover feast of heaven.
You were lifted high on the cross and pierced by the soldier’s lance,
– heal our wounds.
You made the Cross the Tree of Life,
– give its fruit to those reborn in baptism.
On the Cross You forgave the repentant thief,
– forgive us our sins.

Closing Prayer:

Act of Contrition
By St Alphonsus Mary Liguori (1696-1787)
Doctor of the Church

My Lord Jesus Christ,
You have made this journey
to die for me, with love unutterable
and I have so many times unworthily abandoned You
but now I love You with my whole heart
and because I love You,
I repent sincerely for having ever offended You.
Pardon me, my God
and permit me to accompany You on this journey.
You go to die for love of me,
I wish also, my beloved Redeemer,
to die for love of Thee.
My Jesus, I will live
and die always united to You.
Amenact-of-contrition-st-alphonsus-13-april-2019 and 27 march 2020

Posted in HYMNS, I BELIEVE!, LENT 2020, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, POETRY, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS on FAITH, St JOHN HENRY Cardinal NEWMAN!, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 27 March – The Two Worlds by St John Henry Newman

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 27 March – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Readings: Wisdom 2:1, 12-22, Psalm 34:17-21, 23, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

“You know me and you know where I come from?
But I have not come of my own accord, he who sent me is true and him you do not know.
I know him, for I come from him and he sent me.” … John 7:28-29

REFLECTION – The Two Worlds by St John Henry Newman (1801-1890) – The Oratory, 1862.
“UNVEIL, O Lord and on us shine
In glory and in grace.
This gaudy world grows pale before
The beauty of Thy face.

Till Thou art seen, it seems to be
A sort of fairy ground,
Where suns unsetting light the sky,
And flowers and fruits abound.

But when Thy keener, purer beam
Is pour’d upon our sight,
It loses all its power to charm,
And what was day is night.

Its noblest toils are then the scourge
Which made Thy blood to flow.
Its joys are but the treacherous thorns
Which circled round Thy brow.

And thus, when we renounce for Thee
Its restless aims and fears,
The tender memories of the past,
The hopes of coming years,

Poor is our sacrifice, whose eyes
Are lighted from above.
We offer what we cannot keep,
What we have ceased to love.”the two worlds - unveil o lord and shine on us - st john henry newman 27 march 2020

PRAYER – Loving God and Father, open our eyes and ears and our hearts. Help us to recognise the Light of Christ in the world around us. Too often we are hard of heart and closed up in our ‘rites’ – He is there but He is not only there and we are blind. May the prayers of the saints and angels help us to be open to Him. Mary, the Mother He gave us, pray for us. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God for all eternity, amen.mother-mary-pray-for-us-5-oct-2018 and 27 march 2020

Posted in ACT of CONTRITION, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2020, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 27 March – O Lord the House of My Soul is Narrow

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 27 March – Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

O Lord, the House of My Soul is Narrow
By St Augustine ((354-430)
Father & Doctor of the Church

O God, the Light of the heart that sees You,
The Life of the soul that loves You,
The Strength of the mind that seeks You,
May I ever continue to be steadfast in Your love.
Be the joy of my heart;
Take all of me to Yourself and abide therein.
The house of my soul is, I confess, too narrow for You.
Enlarge it that You may enter.
It is ruinous but do repair it.
It has within it what must offend Your eyes,
I confess and know it,
But whose help shall I seek in cleansing it but Yours alone?
To You, O God, I cry urgently.
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep me from false pride and sensuality
That they not get dominion over me.
Amen

o-lord-the-house-of-my-soul-is-narrow-full-prayer-new-25-oct-2018-st-augustine and 27 march 2020

Posted in ACT of CONTRITION, DIVINE MERCY, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2020, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The PASSION, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 24 March – By your blood, forgive my sins.

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 24 March – Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Readings: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9, John 5:1-16 and the Memorial of Blessed Didacus Joseph of Cadiz OFM Cap (1743–1801)

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethzatha, which has five porticoes.   In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. … John 5:2-5
“It was because Jesus did things such as this on the Sabbath
that they began to persecute him.” …John 5:16
For me!

lent-tues-of-the-fourth-week-john-5-16-it-was-because-2-april-2019 and 24 march 2020

Daily Meditation:
We begin to feel the power of the Fourth Gospel.
The “forces” that are opposed in the gospel
have everything to do with the forces at work in my heart.

“Go down, my brothers and put on the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism;
be united with those spiritual beings who serve our God.
Blessed be He who instituted baptism for the forgiveness of Adam’s sons!
This water is the secret fire that marks His flock with a sign,
with the three spiritual names that confound the Evil one (cf. Rev 3:12). (…)
John bore witness concerning our Saviour:
“He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11).
Here, my brethren, in the true baptism, is that fire and that Spirit.
For baptism is more powerful than Jordan, that little stream,
its waves of water and oil wash away all human sin.
Elisha, by initiating it seven times, purified Naaman of his leprosy (2 Kgs 5:10);
whereas baptism purifies us of sins hidden in our souls.
Moses baptised the people in the sea (1 Cor 10:2)
yet could not cleanse their hearts from within,
Stained, as they were, by sin.
And now here is a Priest, like Moses, who cleanses the soul from its stains
and with oil He marks with a sign, lambs newborn for the Kingdom. (…)
With the water that flowed from the rock, the people’s thirst was quelled (Ex 17:1f.),
See how, through Christ and His spring, is quenched the thirst of nations. (…)
See how, from Christ’s side, there flows a life-giving stream (Jn 19:34),
peoples who thirst have drunk from it and there forgot their affliction.
Pour your dew on my weakness, Lord.
By your blood, forgive my sins.” … St Ephrem (306-373) Father & Doctor of the Church

pur your dew on my weakness lord by your blood forgive my sins - st ephrem 24 march 2020

Intercessions:
God the Father has given us His only Son, the Word made human,
to be our food and our life. Let us thank Him and pray:
May the word of Christ dwell among us in all its richness.

Help us this Lenten season to listen more frequently to Your word,
– that we may celebrate the solemnity of Easter
with greater love for Christ, our Paschal Sacrifice.
May Your Holy Spirit be our teacher,
– that we may encourage those in doubt and error to follow what is true and good.
Enable us to enter more deeply into the mystery of Your Anointed One,
– that our lives may reveal Him more effectively.
Purify and renew Your Church in this time of salvation,
– that it may give an ever greater witness to You.

Closing Prayer:

ACT OF CONTRITION

Forgive my sins, O my God, forgive my sins:
the sins of youth,
the sins of age,
the sins of my soul
and the sins of my body,
the sins which, through frailty, I have committed,
my deliberate and grievous sins,
the sins I know and the sins I do not know,
the sins I have laboured so long to hide from others,
that now they are hidden from my own memory,
let me be absolved from all these iniquities
and delivered from the bond of all these evils,
by the Life, Passion and Death
of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amenact-of-contrition-7-march-thurs-after-ash-wed-2019 and 24 march 2020

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, I BELIEVE!, LENT 2020, Papa FRANCIS, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS on FAITH, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FAITH, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 23 March – I believe in You, increase my faith.

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 23 March – Monday of the Fourth week of Lent, Readings: Isaiah 65:17-21, Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13, John 4:43-54

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

Jesus said to him, “Go, your son will live.”
The man believed the word
that Jesus spoke to him
and went his way. … John 4:50john-4-50-go-your-son-will-live-mon-fourthweek-lent-1-april-2019 and 23 march 2020

Daily Meditation:
You give us new life.
We now begin the second part of Lent.

“When the Lord passes into our life and performs a miracle in each of us and each of us knows what the Lord has done in our life, it does not end there. this is the invitation to go forward, to continue on the journey, ‘seeking the face of God,’ the Psalm says, seeking this joy.” … Pope Francis – Santa Marta, 12 March 2018

Lo, I am about to create
new heavens and a new earth.
Isaiah 65:17 The First Reading

Intercessions:
Blessed be God the Father for His gift of this sacrifice of praise.
In the spirit of this Lenten season, let us pray:
Instruct us, Lord, in the ways of Your kingdom.

God of power and mercy, give us the spirit of prayer and repentance,
– with burning love for You and for all mankind.
Help us to work with You in making all things new in Christ,
– and in spreading justice and peace throughout the world.
Grant us the gift of simple faith,
– so that we may always and forever, sing Your praise.
Forgive us for failing to see Christ in the poor,
the distressed and the troublesome.
– and for our failure to grant honour to Your Son in their persons.

Closing Prayer:
“[Lord God] I believe in You, increase my faith.
All my hopes are in You, secure my trust.
I love You, teach me to love You more each day…
I adore You as my first beginning, I long for You as my final end.
I praise You as my constant helper
and call on You as my loving protector.
Guide me by Your Wisdom, correct me with Your Justice,
comfort me with Your Mercy, protect me by Your Power…
Lord, enlighten my understanding, enflame my will,
purify my heart, sanctify my soul.
Help me to repent of my past sins
and to rise above my human weaknesses
and to grow stronger as a Christian…”

(from the Universal Prayer by Pope Clement XI (1649-1721))

lord god I believe help my unbelief excerpt universal prayer pope clement - 17 may 2019

“I am of the same family as Christ – what more could I want?”

St John XXIII (1881-1963)

i-am-of-the-same-family-as-christ-what-more-could-i-want-st-john-xxiii-9-feb-2020 and 23 march 2020