Oct/Nov/Dec
2016
Newsletter No. 122
“I,
through the abundance of your mercy, will enter into your house.
I
will bow down toward your holy sanctuary” (Ps 5:8).
to speak filially with Him, to listen to Him
in silence, and to peacefully entrust yourself to Him”
(Pope Francis, Message
for Eucharistic Congress, held September 15 - 18, 2016, in Genoa, Italy).
During these tumultuous and troubled times, the earth is filled
with the darkness of conflict and war, violence and unrest, natural disasters,
scandals, uncertainty, divisions, and chaos. Let us keep our eyes fixed on the
Way, the Truth and the Light—Jesus Eucharistic, Savior, Lord of Lords, King of
Kings, Messiah, Emmanuel, Prince of Peace!
“Jesus Christ is truly Emmanuel, God-with-us from his Incarnation
until the end of time. And he is this in a particular
intense and hidden way in the mystery of his continual presence in the
Eucharist. What vital strength, what consolation, what firm hope is
discovered in contemplating the mystery of the Eucharist! It is
God-with-us that enables us to share his life and impels us to go out to
evangelize the world, to sanctify it!” (St. John Paul II).
Christmas Reflections
“Advent is here. What a marvelous time in
which to renew your desire, your nostalgia, your real longing for Christ to
come—for him to come every day to your soul in the Eucharist. The Church
encourages us: Ecce veniet!—
He is about to arrive!” (St. Josemaria
Escriva)
“Although Mary and Joseph were living more than 100 miles away in
Nazareth, when the time came for Jesus to be born, divine providence arranged
that they had to travel to Bethlehem, a little town whose name means ‘House of
Bread.’ And he was placed in a manger—the trough from which animals eat. (In
fact the very word ‘manger’ means ‘to eat’ in French.) And there, at the very
start of his earthly life, he presents himself in ways that hint at his plan
for his continual real presence on earth through the centuries as the Bread of
Life. Small, helpless, vulnerable then as now, our faith marvels at a God who
is so great that he can make himself so small.
“Christmas is a time to renew our commitment to Eucharistic adoration.
When we adore Jesus in the Eucharist we are uniting ourselves with those
shepherds and magi, when they, too, bowed low before an immense mystery cloaked
in tininess. And just as they were in the presence of the King of Heaven, so
are we.” (milesjesu.com)
“Eucharistic adoration is the greatest of
actions. To adore is to share the life of Mary on earth when she adored the
Word Incarnate in her virginal womb, when she adored Him in the Crib.” (St.
Peter Julian Eymard)
“When we worship you in the form of
bread... we always see you as an adult. But every year at Christmas, you reveal
yourself to us as a child born in a crib. We stand in silent amazement . . . In
silent adoration we stand before the mystery, like Mary when the shepherd came
and told her what they had seen and heard: ‘She kept all these things,
pondering them in her heart.” (Chiara
Lubich, foundress of the Focolare movement)
“A Savior has
been born to us! Come, let us fix our gaze on the crib and adore Him! . . . Let
us be renovated and redeemed by the mercy of the infant who delivers us from
the powers of darkness unto the salvation of his great love. O God
and Infant, save us! Shepherd us safely home!” “They came
with gifts—and adored, and so great was the dignity
of the babe, so powerful was the light of these eyes that shone like celestial
suns, that they could not help but cry out: 'Emmanuel: God is with
us.’” “To each and everyone He comes as if He had never come
before in His own sweet way, He the Child who is born . . . Jesus
the Savior, He Emmanuel, He, Christ as Christ’s Mass on Christmas—Merry Christmas!!” (Archbishop Fulton J.
Sheen)
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun,
Patroness of Missionaries, (1873-1897), France—Oct. 1
St. Thérèse visited Jesus, and spent time before His Real Presence
each day, throughout her life. Of her childhood Thérèse writes “Every afternoon I went for a little walk with
papa. Together we would visit the Blessed Sacrament, each day visiting a
new church.” While the other children spent their afternoons talking with their
teachers, little Thérèse spent
many hours conversing with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus in the
chapel. She knew that is was only His Living and True Heart that could
fulfill her desires. In her words, He was her “only Friend.”
Respect Life
Sunday—Oct. 2
“If people spent an hour a week in Eucharistic Adoration a week, abortion would
be ended.” (St. Mother Teresa)
St. Theodore Guerin, Foundress of the Sisters
of Providence, (1798-1856), France—Oct. 3
“If we truly knew how
to appreciate it [the Holy Eucharist], it alone would fortify and sustain us.”
Mother Theodore founded the Sisters of St. Mary of the Woods, IN, and the first
Catholic women’s liberal arts college in the U.S.
St. Francis of Assisi, Deacon, Franciscan Founder, Stigmatist (c. 1181-1226), Italy—Oct. 4
“Let everyone be struck with fear, the
whole world tremble, and the heavens exult when Christ, the Son of the living
God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest! O wonderful loftiness
and stupendous dignity! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! The Lord of the
universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that He hides Himself for
our salvation under and ordinary piece of bread! See the humility of God,
brothers, and pour out your hearts before Him! Humble yourselves that you may
be exalted by Him! Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, that He Who
gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally!” (St. Francis of Assisi)
Bl. Marie-Rose
Durocher, Founder, Srs. of the Holy
Names of Jesus and Mary, (1811-1849), Canada—Oct. 6
When asked for advice, Bl.
Marie-Rose pointed to Jesus Eucharistic and Our Lady: “Ask Our Lady to help
you. Ask her to entreat her Son to let you know what you should do.” Bl.
Marie Rose spent many hours in adoration.
Our Lady of the
Rosary—Oct. 7
“‘Give me an army
saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world!,’ said Pope St. Pius X! ‘Give
me one million families praying the Rosary and the world is saved,’ said Pope
Pius IX! And if ‘an army’ or ‘one million families’ prayed the Rosary before
the Blessed Sacrament, to Him who said ‘ask and it shall be given to you!’(Lk
11:9). (From The Eucharist & The Rosary: The Power to Change the World, available through us)
Anniversary of Our
Lady’s Apparition at Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun (1917)—Oct. 13
“The patient in the first case was a man in Lisbon, Portugal, who suffered from
Parkinson’s …. His wife pleaded with him repeatedly to go to another Marian
Shrine like Lourdes …. One day, in mockery, because he knew that, like himself,
his attending physician did not believe in miracles, he said to his wife in the
doctor’s presence: ‘I’ll go if he does.’ It occurred to the doctor that a trip
to the church at Fatima might cheer his patient, or at least it would be a
temporary distraction, so he surprised the ill man by saying: ‘All right, let’s
go.’ The day they arrived at the shrine was the 13th of the month so
there was a large crowd of pilgrims. The non-believing doctor and his
non-believing patient were among the first in the rows of invalids. I (the
writer of this book) was just as close to them as possible, carrying the canopy
over the Holy Eucharist as It was raised by the priest to bless the patient.
The man suddenly pushed himself up in his wheel chair. Tremblingly he began to
move and feel his legs. Then, over and over he pleaded to those around him: ‘I
am not dreaming, am I? I am not dreaming?’ The doctor’s mouth fell open in
amazement and he slowly sank to his knees. Tears began to roll down his cheeks.
‘This was not for you,’ he exclaimed through sobs. ‘This was for me’” (The
World’s Greatest Secret).
St. Teresa of Avila, Carmelite Nun, Reformer,
Mystic, (1515-1582), Spain—Oct. 15
“Approaching the Sacrament would at once make me feel so well, both in soul and
in body, that I was astounded. I would feel as if all the darkness in my soul
had suddenly been dispersed and the sun had come out and shown me the stupidity
of the things I had been saying and doing. At other times, if the Lord spoke
only one word to me…‘Be not troubled: have no fear’” (St. Teresa of Avila).…one word completely cured me.”
Sts. Isaac Jogues
(1607-1646), John de Brebeuf, & Companions, Jesuit Martyrs,
France—Oct. 19
“The only external
sign of our holy religion that we have is the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.
To its marvels we must open the eyes of our faith without the aid of any
sensible mark of grandeur, like the Magi of old in the stable. It seems,
moreover, that God supplies what we lack and rewards us with grace for having
transported the Holy Sacrament beyond so many seas and having found an abode
for it in these poor cabins” (St. John de Brebeuf).
Pope St. John Paul
II, Apostle of the Eucharist, (1920-2005), Poland—Oct. 22
“Visit
the Lord in that ‘heart to heart’ contact that is Eucharistic Adoration. Day
after day, you will receive new energy to help you to bring comfort to the
suffering and peace to the world.” “United with the angels and saints of the
heavenly Church, let us adore the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
St. Jude Thaddeus, Apostle, Martyr, Patron of Impossible
Cases, (d. 67), Galilee—Oct. 28
St.
Jude tirelessly prayed and preached that all may have a personal relationship
with Jesus Eucharistic.
All
Saints Day—Nov. 1
“Before the tabernacle great
saints have communed with God upon the heights which we may never reach; there,
too, sinners have come, and touched by the grace that goes out from Him, found
the contrite and humbled heart which He will never despise. Think of the
millions of the faithful who day by day come into the house of God to pray.
Think of the religious to whom this very presence is as the air they breathe,
the very life and sustenance of their souls. No one shall ever know all that
this adorable sacrament is for human souls, raising all our hearts to that one
Heart which is the center and source of grace and love.” (Fr. Francis Aloysius
Spencer)
All Souls Day—Nov. 2
“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, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.” Our Lord told St.
Gertrude the Great that this prayer would release 1000 souls from purgatory
every time it is said. The prayer was extended to include living sinners as
well. (The Chaplet of St. Gertrude
prayer card is available through us.)
St. Martin de Porres, Patron of South
America, Surgeon, Miracle Worker, (1579-1639), Peru—Nov. 3
“St. Martin, lover of the
Holy Eucharist, St. Martin, devoted to our Blessed Mother, St. Martin,
spiritual patron of Americans, pray for us” (From the Litany of St. Martin de Porres).
St. Charles Borromeo,
Bishop, Patron of Catechists, (1538-1584), Italy—Nov. 4
“I was considering the love which the Lord Jesus has shown to us, in willing to
let himself become food for us and in willing to die for love of us….It is a
stupendous thing that a miserable being, a vile creature, should be so
important before God, should be so highly regarded by him, so much so that he
would humble himself for our salvation ” (St. Charles Borromeo).
St.
Martin of Tours, Patron of Soldiers, (316-397) Italy—Nov. 11
Martin
converted when, as a soldier, he saw a beggar and gave him half of his cloak.
The beggar was Christ, who inspired St. Martin to become Catholic and enter the
monastic life. His love for the True Presence was so great that he became a
defender of the faith and worked miracles. Pray for our troops and veterans!
St.
Elizabeth of Hungary, Wife, Mother, 3rd Order Franciscan, (1207-1231)—Nov. 17
As a child,
St. Elizabeth spent hours in Eucharistic Adoration. St. Elizabeth was devoted
to the sick and poor. Empowered by Jesus, her Eucharistic love, she built
a hospital and fed hundreds daily!
St.
Rose Philippine Duchesne, Religious Missionary, (1769-1852) France, Nov. 18
St. Rose spent hours before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. Sometimes she
kept vigil 6 to 8 hours a night before the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. St. Rose
founded the Society of the Sacred Heart.
Feast of Christ the
King—Nov. 20
Lay people must join priests so that
together we point to the Lamb, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as the answer
to all the ills of the Church and human society. From the Lamb flows the
river, crystal clear, which provides the healing and the medicine for all the
nations (Rev 22:1-2). The Lamb on the throne will shepherd us and lead us to
springs of life-giving water (Rev 7:17). The lamp is the Lamb whose light casts
out the darkness (Rev 21:22-24). Those in authority fight against the Lamb, but
the Lamb is victorious because He is “Lord of lords and King of kings” (Rev
17:14). The war against the Lamb is the terrible indifference toward Jesus in
the Blessed Sacrament. (Excerpt from our A-5 pamphlet, available through us)
Presentation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary—Nov. 21
Mary gave her life to God as a child when she was brought to the temple by her
parents, Anne and Joachim.
St.
Catherine Laboure, Religious Mystic, Miraculous Medal Visionary, (1806-1876),
France—Nov. 28
“Whenever I go to the chapel, I put myself in the presence of our good Lord,
and I say to him, ‘Lord, I am here. Tell me what you would have me to do’ . . .
. And then, I tell God everything that is in my heart. I tell him about my
pains and my joys, and then I listen. If you listen, God will also speak to
you” (St. Catherine).
First Sunday of
Advent—Nov. 27:
Advent Prayer: O Jesus, little
child, come into my heart on Christmas morn, to wash away my sins and remain
there in eternally. O Mary, Mother of my Savior, prepare for Jesus a cradle in
my heart. Amen. O Come Let Us Adore Him in The Holy Eucharist!
Feast of St. Andrew
the Apostle—Nov. 30
St. Andrew Novena: Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of
God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in
piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my
desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed
Mother. Amen. (Whoever recites this prayer 15 times a day from St. Andrew’s
feast, Nov.30, until Christmas will obtain what is asked.)
St. Francis Xavier, Jesuit Priest, Patron of
Missionaries, (1506-1552), Spain—Dec. 3
“St. Francis Xavier found refreshment in the midst of his many labors in India;
for he employed his days in toiling for souls, and his nights in the presence
of the Blessed Sacrament” (St. Alphonsus Liguori).
St. Nicholas, Bishop, Patron of Children
and Russia, (4th century), Myra—Dec. 6
St. Nicholas witnessed to Jesus Eucharistic by his great charity, generosity
and love of children, the poor, and sick. Feast of the Immaculate Conception—Dec. 8
God
created Our Lady without sin to be the Mother of Jesus. “Holy Virgin, I beg
you: enable me to receive Jesus from the Spirit, according to the same process
by which you bore Jesus….May I love Jesus in the Spirit in Whom you adored Him as
your Lord and looked after Him as your Son” (St. Ildephonsus of Toledo).
St. Juan Diego, Visionary, (1474-1548),
Mexico—Dec. 9
After the image of Our Lady was enshrined in the Church that she requested be
built for her Son, Juan added on a one room hermitage. He lived a life of
holiness through prayer, frequent Communion and sharing the faith.
Feast of Our Lady
of Loreto, Italy, December 10—Our Lady of Loreto, pray for us!
“You [God] have indeed prepared a tabernacle for
Yourself: the Blessed Virgin. Her Immaculate Womb is Your dwelling place, and
the inconceivable miracle of Your mercy takes place, O Lord. The Word becomes
flesh; God dwells among us, the Word of God, Mercy Incarnate” (St. Faustina, Divine
Mercy in My Soul, 1745).
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of
the Unborn, (Apparition 1531), Mexico—Dec. 12
When Our Lady appeared the worship of gods and human sacrifice were rampant. After
a Church was built for her Eucharistic Son, 9 million were converted! Through
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration it can happen again today.
St. Lucy, Virgin, Martyr
and Patroness of Eye Patients, (d. 304), Italy—Dec. 13
St. Lucy gave her life to God as a youth. Refusing to marry, St. Lucy was tried
for being a Christian. St. Lucy chose death before sin. She lived until she
received Holy Communion, though pierced in the heart with a sword!
St. John of the Cross, Carmelite Priest and Doctor, (c.
1542-1591), Spain—Dec. 14
St. John was so devoted to the Holy Eucharist
that during Mass he was oblivious to everything else going on around him. His
greatest consolation as superior was to have the cell closest to the chapel.
Merry Christmas, O Come Let Us Adore Him, Our
Eucharistic Savior!!!—Dec. 25
“In this midnight Mass . . . I shall see a
crib on the altar, and the sweet Babe with his two eyes filling with tears more
precious than pearls, I will offer him to God his Father with his Mother’s
approval, and will ask him for you, that he may ever be heart of your heart and
the sole Beloved of your soul” (St. Francis de Sales).
St. Stephen, Deacon,
Martyr, Patron of Deacons and Stonemasons, (d. 35)—Dec. 26
St. Stephen is known
as the first martyr of the faith and the “praying martyr.” He died on his
knees, asking God’s forgiveness for those who killed him, beholding God and
declaring the truth of Jesus.
Feast of the Holy
Innocents—Dec. 28
“You, Christ’s first fruits,/a flock of tender sacrificial victims,/now play
with your palms and crowns/right up by the very altar” (Hymn for the Feast of
the Holy Innocents).
Feast of the Holy Family of
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—Dec. 28
“The Eucharist is the link that binds the Christian family together. Take
away the Eucharist and you have no brotherliness left” (St. Peter Julian
Eymard).
“Jesus Christ is truly
Emmanuel, God-with-us from his Incarnation until the end of time. And he is this in a particular
intense and hidden way in the mystery of his continual presence in the
Eucharist. What vital strength, what consolation, what firm hope is
discovered in contemplating the mystery of the Eucharist! It is
God-with-us that enables us to share his life and impels us to go out to
evangelize the world, to sanctify it!” (St. John Paul II).
We wish
everyone a Blessed Christmas Season & a very Happy and Holy New Year!!!
Prayer Intentions: Send us the names and
intentions of those you would like us to pray for before Jesus, Our Eucharistic
King, Our Savior, Our Emmanuel & Prince of Peace!
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