#19 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind [Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament]
by VP
Posted on Thursday December 12, 2024 at 12:00AM in Thursday Reparation
19. We adore Thee, Eternal Priest, whose delight is to offer sacrifice! And to make reparation for the insults and affronts done to Thy priests, religious, and virgins, we offer up to Thee Thy own invincible patience, together with the true and fervent zeal of all good priests and apostolic preachers. Eternal praise and thanksgiving be to the Most Holy and Most Divine Sacrament.
O Queen of heaven and earth, hope of mankind, who adores thy Divine Son incessantly! We entreat thee, that, since we have the honor to be of the number of thy children, thou would interest thyself in our behalf and make satisfaction for us, and in our name, to our Eternal Judge, by rendering to Him the duties which we ourselves are incapable of performing. Amen.
CAPG12. The Forerunner’s Office. (Advent Meditations)
by VP
Posted on Thursday December 12, 2024 at 12:00AM in Advent Sermons
"1. St. John was something more than a herald. He had to prepare the way for the King, to make the crooked ways straight, and the rough places smooth. His office was that which is intrusted to us all in our own sphere : to try and make the way in which the followers of Christ have to tread straight and easy. What a privilege if we can by our charity and our edifying life make the path of life more easy for those whose lot it is to tread the way of the cross and to walk over rough or stormy paths f Is this your endeavor in your daily life, or do you place obstacles in the path of others by your bad example, want of charity and consideration, impatience, etc.?
2. St. John, as the herald or forerunner of Christ, had to proclaim the coming of the King. He himself expresses this by his description of himself as the voice of One Who cries in the desert; that is, Christ spoke through his mouth. So He speaks through the mouths of all His servants just in proportion to their devotion and singleness of purpose. How poor an echo are my words of the whispers of Christ to the faithful soul! How mixed with the discordant notes of self-will and worldliness!
3. St.John’s estimate of himself in comparison with Him Whom he announced was that he was not worthy to stoop down and untie the latchet of His sandal. This was the duty of the lowest slaves. It meant that he was unworthy to serve Christ, even in the capacity of a slave, and by doing the work that many slaves would consider beneath them. Am I willing to undertake the humblest and most menial duties in the service of Christ ? Do I consider it a privilege to do so ? "
Meditations for Advent . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891 Digitized by google
Saint Andrew Christmas 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 the
piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear
my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen. (15 times)
Jesus, Divine Infant, I bless and thank Thy most loving Heart for the institution of the priesthood. Priests are sent by Thee as Thou were sent by the Father. To them Thou entrusted the treasures of Thy doctrine, of Thy Law, of Thy Grace, and souls themselves.
Grant me the grace to love them, to listen to them, and to let myself be guided by them in Thy ways. Jesus, send good laborers into Thy harvest. May priests be the salt that purifies and preserves; may they be the light of the world; may they be the city placed on the mountain. May they all be formed after Thy own Heart. And in heaven may they be surrounded by a joyous throng of those they shepherded on earth. Amen.
Glory Be (three times).
Infant Jesus, make me love Thee more and more
Centennial of the Raleigh Diocese (Dec. 12, 1924 - Dec. 12, 2024)
by VP
Posted on Thursday December 12, 2024 at 12:00AM in From the Past
North Carolina Catholic, 1964, used with permission
"The Raleigh Diocese (...) was formally establised on December 12, 1924 by Pope Pius XI. In the Bull, Omnium Ecclesiarum Sollicitudo, which erected the Diocese, the parish church of the Sacred Heart was elevated to the rank of Cathedral. Although the Diocese was thus established in 1924, the designation of the first Ordinary was not made until April 6, 1925. Prior to that date all the faithful residing in North Carolina were under the jurisdiciton of the Vicar Apostolic, Rt. Rev. Leo Haid, O.S.B.
Bishop William J. Hafey took possession of the See of Raleigh on July 1, 1925. Having previously served as the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Bishop Hafey was the youngest member of the U.S. Hierarchy at the time of his consecration.
He found less than six thousand Catholics in his new diocese. There were only twenty-six priests laboring in the territory; twenty parishes had a resident pastor, and six of the parishes had schools in which eighty-eight sisters taught no more than eight hundred pupils." (North Carolina Catholic, Dec. 13 1964)
Raleigh Diocese statistics:
Pray for Priests: Cure d'Ars Prayer Group
Centennial Prayer for the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh: Lord God, you alone are the source of
every good gift, of the vast array of our universe, and the mystery of
each human life. We praise you and we thank you for your tender,
faithful love. As the Diocese of Raleigh celebrates the 100th
Anniversary of its founding, we stand before you with gratitude and joy
for the many gifts and blessings you have bestowed upon the faithful of
this Diocese.
In imitation of Christ, your Son, you raised up courageous individuals,
such as Servant of God, Father Thomas Frederick Price, and Saint
Katharine Drexel, and through the countless efforts of its bishops,
clergy, and the women and men who tirelessly gave of their wisdom and
generosity, you have shaped a Diocese capable of bearing the fruit of
compassion and charity in service to the needs of others.
Send forth now, we pray, your Spirit upon the faithful of the Diocese of
Raleigh who look forward to another hundred years of the presence of
Christ burning in our hearts. As we recall the great events, which
enabled the flourishing of our Diocese, fill our minds with Christʼs
truth and our hearts with His love.
As we look forward to the future may we be bonded together by the Holy
Spirit and commit ourselves once again to grow as credible witnesses of
the Gospel of Christ so that, as we walk your ways with faith and hope,
we may never tire of bringing Christʼs joy into this world. We ask this
through Christ our Lord. Amen
Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina
- "The congregation listened as Cardinal Gregory noted that when the Diocese of Raleigh turned 50, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, “one of the most eloquent and saintly bishops in American Church history” preached to the congregation." (‘What a glorious century’ Diocese observes centennial at Mass of the Faithful"
Video: Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen preaches at the 50th Anniversary Mass of the Diocese of Raleigh - 1974
December 12th Our Lady of Guadalupe
by VP
Posted on Thursday December 12, 2024 at 12:00AM in Prayers
Wikipedia
"Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mystical Rose, make intercession for the Holy Church, protect the Sovereign Pontiff, help all those who invoke thee in their necessities, and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God, obtain for us from thy most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life, burning charity and the precious gift of final perseverance. Amen."
Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, 1938. prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Pius X August 18, 1908.
Our Lady of Guadalupe.
America does not lack the right to rejoice in a miraculous visit on the part of the Ever Blessed Virgin Mother. The spot sanctified by apparitions of Mary Immaculate is called Guadalupe, a few miles away from the city of Mexico.
At a time when Guadalupe was but a barren mountainous wilderness, on December 9, 1531, a pious Catholic Indian by the name of Juan Diego was making his way through this wilderness for the purpose of attending Mass in the city. Juan Diego was a truly Christian man and extremely devout to Our Blessed Lady. This may in a measure account for the appearance before him - there in the midst of the lonely mountain country - of a beautiful lady, one whose beauty was such that he felt no doubt whatever when she told him that she was the Mother of God, and bade him go to Bishop Zumarraga in the city and advise the Bishop that she wished a church in her honor to be built on the very spot her feet were then touching. Juan Diego obeyed Our Lady's command. But the Bishop, unconvinced, unwilling to act on the word of an Indian unknown to him, instructed him to ask a sign, a proof of her identity, from the lady who had described herself as the Mother of God.
A few days later, on December 12, Juan again went to the city in order to fetch a priest for his uncle who was sick. Unwilling to meet the lady again - because he disliked the idea of asking her for a sign, according to the Bishop's directions, he turned from the path he usually traveled. Nevertheless, Our Lady once more appeared. She assured him that he need not make haste to go for a priest, as-through her intercession-his uncle was even now restored to health. And she repeated her desire that on this spot should be built a church in her honor, where she should be invoked as "Our Lady of Guadalupe." Then she sent him to some neighboring rocks, telling ing him to gather the roses he would find there. It was not the season of the year when roses bloom in that part of Mexico, and Juan had never known roses to grow in these barren mountains, but he did as he was told and found a bush covered with beautiful red roses. These he gathered and placed within the cloak or blanket that he wore. When he had brought them to Most Holy Mary, she arranged them herself, and folding the cloak over them so that it acted as a basket, commanded Juan not to show its contents to anyone, but to carry it to the Bishop, without delay.
The pious Indian's obedience was faultless. He presented himself at the Bishop's house, and when the prelate received him, opened the cloak he carried, whereupon the beautiful roses fell to the floor. To the humble Indian's great astonishment, the Bishop and his attendants were kneeling with every appearance of fervent faith. No sooner, however, had he glanced at the cloak he was holding than he understood why the Bishop knelt down, for, imprinted on the poor blanket-cloak, he beheld a life-size picture of the Mother of God, done in rarely beautiful colors. It was Our Lady's "sign" given the Bishop and all the world.
Of course, there was no further room for doubt. The church was built and is today one of the earth's great sanctuaries. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of Mexico, and at her shrine hundreds and thousands of miracles, testifying to Mary's boundless mercy and tenderness, have been performed.
Over the main altar of that great church is seen today, as it has been seen for several centuries, the miraculous picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The cloak on which a divine agency imprinted this picture, the poor Indian's blanket-cloak, consists of two pieces of rough, common material somewhat like sacking, some seventy inches long by eighteen inches wide. Artists and chemical experts who have examined it, declare the cloak's material utterly unfit for painting, and say that the coloring of the picture is not due to oil colors, nor to water colors, nor to any coloring known to man. Also, the nearly five hundred years which have passed since Our Lady gave back his cloak to Juan Diego have not dimmed the mysterious colors of the miraculous picture in the least.
Patroness of America.
A chapter dealing with the devotion of Our Blessed Lady would be unsatisfactory if it did not remind Catholics of the United States that they are not only simply but doubly under the patronage of God's Ever Blessed Virgin Mother. In the first place, Most Holy Mary is our patroness because her Son, Our Lord, made her the mother of all men truly believing in Him, by saying to St. John from His Cross: "Behold thy Mother"! and to Mary: "Behold Thy Son"! And in the second place, she is again our patroness because Holy Church, in the early part of the last century, placed the United States under the special protection of Mary, Conceived Without Sin. Wherefore it would seem that each one of us American Catholics should be particularly zealous in the service of Mary Immaculate and in the defense and spread of her cult. (...)"
Source: Our Faith and the Facts (Religion's
Story, what Catholics Believe and Practice, Answers to Charges Made
Against the Church , what We Have Done and are Doing, a Busy Person's
Reference Work, a Home Library) P.L. Baine, 1927 -
