Pray for Children

February 2012

2012-02-01T06:41:00.021Z

Join us each week and pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, for children. They need you to bring them to the Lord in prayer.

Our special intention for the month of February is for abandoned and unloved children and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

"See the Divine Infant in the little ones:

Love them very much for His sake".

These are words of the foundress of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth, Mother St. Basil. Among the works of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth is the caring for children affected by the plight of AIDS in Africa.

"Litany of Remembrance" by Sr Joyce Rupp, OSM.

I remember all the children of the world. As Jesus called to the little children to come to Him, so I gather in prayer the children of our world who are hurting. I embrace them with loving kindness and with a desire to mend the systems that bring such pain to their young lives. I remember all the children:

...who will go hungry today,
...whose parents are on drugs,
...who have no one to teach them to read,
...who are handicapped and unattended,
...who do not know love,
...who live in filth and degradation,
,,,who have no friends,
...who are not listened to,
...who have never been sung to or read to or taken by the hand or experienced earth's mystery and beauty,
...who do not have anyone to tuck them into bed at night,
...who are shunned or mistreated because of their color, their religion, or the place where they live,
...who have no awareness of their inner goodness,
...who have stopped believing in love,
...who are filled with anger and hate,
...who are receiving a poor education,
...who are ill or in pain,
...who are grieving the death of a loved one
...who are suffering from AIDS or drug-related diseases
...who feel lonely, desolate, and unloved,
...who are filled with fear for their lives,
...who hear only harsh words and hostile language,
...who have been bruised, beaten, and mutilated,
...who are victims of incest, rape, and pornography,
...who hide in fear from the sounds of war,
...who are ill and have no medical attention.

I pray for the children of our world today and I pray for each man and woman of this world, including myself, that we will do our part to create better living conditions for these children. Show us the way dear Jesus and prod us into action. O Holy Mother Mary wrap these little ones in the mantle of your love and protect them. God of justice and compassion have mercy on us and the little ones. Amen

A street is no place for a child to call 'home'.
But it is estimated that there are over 100 million street children in the world.

Why do children end up on the streets?

Children end up on the streets for a mixture of reasons, though poverty is usually at the heart of the problem. In many cases a child's family can no longer afford to care for them properly or may need their help to supplement the family income and help put food on the table.

Or it could be that a child's parents have been killed by conflict or HIV/AIDS, or they may have become separated when they were forced to flee their homes. In parts of Congo and Uganda, families and communities sometimes accuse children of being witches and for bringing bad luck upon them. In Afghanistan girls may end up on the streets after they have been forced to leave home for commiting 'honour crimes' like adultery (i.e. being raped or sexually abused) or refusing an arranged marriage. Boys may end up on the street to help support their parent's opium addiction.

Some children spend the daytime on the streets (to beg or to work) but return to their families at night. For others, the streets are their home and they have nowhere else to go.

What do they do on the streets?

Life on the streets is a dangerous, harsh existence and most street children become extraordinarily resilient and inventive in order to simply survive. On the streets they may earn money in a number of ways including:

Begging.
Shoe shining, collecting rubbish for recycling, other menial tasks.
Many girls are forced into prostitution or sex work in order to survive and are extremely vulnerable to abuse and violence.

Drug abuse is a problem for many street children - it's often the only way of escaping a horrific existence - if only for a few hours. Many street kids are the victims of violence.

What can we do ?

By getting involved with organizations, either by making a donation of money, time or perhaps both, you can play an active part in fighting poverty.
Put the teachings of Charity into practice - teachings that tell us of the importance of loving your neighbour and the value of care, compassion and support for those who are struggling.
By sharing your blessings with others, you can help ease the burden of poverty for those around you.
Remember them in your prayers every day - it can and does make a difference.

"The poor do not need our sympathy and our pity. The poor need our love and compassion" Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

St. Jerome Emiliani: patron saint of abandoned children and orphans.

On the 8th February we celebrate the feast day of St. Jerome Emiliani who is the patron saint of abandoned and unloved children. St Jerome was born in Venice, Italy in 1481 and as a young man served in the Venetian army where he was captured and imprisoned. During this imprisonment in a dungeon in Treviso he repented of his earlier life, turned to prayer and vowed himself to our Lady. Having escaped prison he devoted himself to caring for abandoned orphans at a time when plague and famine were widespread. He rented a house for them to live in, providing clothing and food for them out of his own resources and instructed them in the doctrine and practice of the Faith. St Jerome himself caught an infectious disease from the children he cared for and died on February 8th 1571. St Jerome was canonised on the 12th October 1767 and in 1928 Pope Pius XI declared him patron saint of abandoned and unloved children.

Prayer

Saint Jerome Emiliani, watch over all children who are abandoned or unloved. Give us the courage to show them God's love through our care. Help us to lose the chains that keep us from living the life God intended for us. Amen.

January 2012

2012-01-04T06:13:00.003Z

Our special intention for the month of January is for the newborn baby and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

The birth of a child must always be an event that brings joy; the embrace of a newborn baby usually inspires feelings of kindness and care, of love and tenderness. We have just celebrated Christmas and fresh in our minds is the encounter with a newborn baby lying in a humble manger. In contemplating Him in the manger, how can we fail to think of all those children who continue to be born today in great poverty in many regions of the world? How can we fail to think of those newborn infants who are not welcomed, who are rejected, who do not manage to survive because of the lack of care and attention? How can we fail to think also of the families who long for the joy of a child and do not see their hope fulfilled? These are the intentions we invite you to include in your weekly holy hour this month.

Consider naming your newborn baby after a saint ?

For Catholics, naming our children after saints isn't an arbitrary rule but an acknowledgment that we truly believe in the communion of saints. When we choose a Christian name for our child, we should have a particular saint in mind. Is Catherine named after Saint Catherine of Siena or Saint Catherine of Alexandria? Is Francis named after Saint Francis of Assisi or St. Francis Xavier?

As our children grow, we should cultivate their devotion to their patron saint, by teaching them about the life of that saint and helping them to learn prayers to that saint.

As Christians, we never walk through this life alone, but in communion with all the saints and that reality should be reflected in the names we give to our children. The patron saint provides a model of charity and assurance of prayers for their namesake.

Prayer for the consecration of our family to the

Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I come to you to consecrate myself and my entire family to Your Two Hearts. I desire to renew the vows of my baptism and place each member of my family through an act of faith, hope and love into loving union with the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I dedicate myself and each member of my family to the Guardian Angels God has given each one of us. O Holy Guardian Angels, enlighten, guide and protect each one so as to lead us safely home to heaven.

At Fatima, dear Mother of God, you appeared with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus blessing the world. O Holy Family, bestow blessings upon me and my entire family so that we may live the Christ-life. I desire that each member of my family adore always the Most Blessed Trinity and love our God in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Grant peace to each member of my family. Keep each one in the grace of Jesus Christ. Never permit any of my family to stray from the true faith. For any member who has strayed, I beseech you to bind up the wounds, lift up the fallen, and keep each of our loved ones in grace. Bid them come back to their Father’s true home. Amen.

BENEDICT XVI in his GENERAL AUDIENCE address

(Wednesday 28th December, 2011.)

"Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our continuing catechesis on prayer leads us, during this Christmas season, to reflect on the place of prayer in the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth. In the home of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we learn to contemplate the mystery of God’s presence and to grow as faithful disciples of Christ. The Gospels present Mary as the supreme model of prayerful medition on the mysteries of Christ’s life; in praying the Rosary, in fact, we unite ourselves to her contemplation of those mysteries in faith and hope. Saint Joseph fulfilled his vocation as the father of the Holy Family by teaching Jesus the importance of quiet fidelity to work, prayer and observance of the precepts of the Law. Jesus’ unique relationship with his heavenly Father was reflected in the prayer life of the Holy Family and stands at the heart of all Christian prayer. May the example of the Holy Family inspire all Christian families to be schools of prayer, where parents and children alike come to know that closeness to God which we joyfully celebrate in these days of Christmas." (http://www.vatican.va/)

Prayer for the mothers of newborn babies

O Heavenly Father, we thank You for our mothers to whom You have entrusted the care of every precious human life from its very beginning in the womb.

You have given to woman the capacity of participating with You in the creation of new life. Grant that every woman may come to understand the full meaning of that blessing, which gives her an unlimited capacity for selfless love for every child she may be privileged to bear, and for all Your children.

Watch over every mother who is with child, strengthen her faith in Your fatherly care and love for her and for her unborn baby. Give her courage in times of fear or pain, understanding in times of uncertainty and doubt, and hope in times of trouble. Grant her joy in the birth of her child.

To mothers You have given the great privilege and responsibility of being a child's first teacher and spiritual guide. Grant that all mothers may worthily foster the faith of their children, following the example of Mary, Elizabeth, Monica and other holy women who follow Christ. Help mothers to grow daily in knowledge and understanding of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and grant them the wisdom to impart this knowledge faithfully to their children, and to all who depend upon them. St Monica intercede for all mothers that they may learn to draw their children to God.

Assist all "spiritual mothers", those who, though they may have no children of their own, nevertheless selflessly care for the children of others -- of every age and state in life. Grant that they may know the joy of fulfilling this motherly calling of women, whether in teaching, nursing, religious life, or in other work which recognizes and fosters the true dignity of every human being created in Your image and likeness.

We beseech You to send Your Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to all mothers who sorrow for children that have died, are ill or estranged from their families, or who are in trouble or danger of any kind. Help grieving mothers to rely on Your tender mercy and fatherly love for all your children.

We ask your blessing on all those to whom You have entrusted motherhood. May Your Holy Spirit constantly inspire and strengthen them. May they ever follow the example of Mary, mother of Our Lord, and imitate her fidelity, her humility, and her self-giving love. May all mothers receive Your Grace abundantly in this earthly life, and may they look forward to eternal joy in Your presence in the life to come.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. AMEN.

Passing on our faith to our children

(Father John Bartunek, LC)

By far, the most important factor in teaching your children to pray is your own example. By far. By far. Let me say it again: by far. This is common sense, but it is also supported by an abundant and still-accumulating amount of psychological research. The most influential factor in children’s development, even through and out of adolescence, is parental example. This is how we are made: to learn behavior from our parents. If you pray regularly, and your children know this and see this, they will find it much easier to weave prayer into their own lives, and, what is even more important in the long run, to consider prayer an essential part of being human. This doesn’t mean that you should pray in order to be seen by your children. That can smack of Pharisaical hypocrisy. But it does mean that if you don’t have a regular, heartfelt, maturing life of prayer, it will be extremely difficult for you to teach your children to pray.

Along the same lines, your children need to see that your relationship with God affects positively your daily life. This doesn’t mean that they expect you to be perfect – even saints lose their tempers, fall into bad moods, and sometimes say the wrong thing. Certainly, as we grow spiritually and come closer to Christ, that will happen less frequently and less violently. But in the meantime, the way we show that our religion matters, that our prayer life is relevant, is by recovering quickly and humbly from our temper tantrums and self-pity parties. Apologize, make reparation if necessary, brush yourself off (spiritually speaking), and get back in the saddle. This example of humility and confidence in God is powerful, and it will build trust with your children.

The mere fact that you pray, and that your prayer impacts your life (helping you gradually grow in virtue and wisdom), is the first and most essential way to teach your children to pray. But it doesn’t stop there. This example has to teach them not only the importance of prayer, but the method of prayer. Prayer is more than saying prayers. Prayer is a way of living out a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Your children need to see in you a living friendship with Jesus Christ. One effective way for you to model this for your children is by praying for them, out loud, in your own words. If your children are young, you can do this while you put them to bed. After you tuck them in, you can sit on the bedside with your hand on them, and ask God to bless them, guide them, and protect them. This teaches your children that God is not an abstract force but that he is a real, caring and present, with whom we can speak about what matters to us. Another way to teach them that prayer is a living relationship with God is by going off to pray at moments of tension or conflict. Cut off the heated argument (if it’s getting heated it’s not going to do any good anyway) and let your children know that you feel a need to go and pray about this. The message? God is relevant, present, active in your life.

Finally, don’t be afraid to establish family traditions with regards to prayer. Pray together as a family on a regular basis. Even if your children are older, and you have never had these kinds of traditions, start them and invite your children to join in them. They don’t have to be complicated, but if you pray together, you are teaching your children to pray. Grace before meals, a short prayer when you start a trip or go out the door, prayers before bed or morning prayers – why not do these together, as a family, involving everyone? Every Catholic family is called to be a domestic church, an outpost of Christ’s Kingdom. By praying together as a family, you raise this awareness. Some families create a prayer room or prayer corner where they pray together, replete with candles, holy images, and even a small altar. Special prayer intentions for family members, relatives, or upcoming events can even be writing down and placed on the family altar… These kinds of traditions may strike us as exaggerated, but think about it for a minute: are they? The point isn’t to turn every Catholic household into a monastery. Rather, the point is to make prayer as normal a family activity as eating – after all, it is as necessary for our soul’s health as food is for our body’s.

It may not be immediately clear how you can apply these ideas to your particular family situation. But don’t worry. God wants your son or daughter to learn how to pray even more than you do. He is already at work in your child’s heart. Whatever effort you make, however clumsy or small it may appear to you, will be turned to eternally good use by the Lord.

December 2011

2011-11-30T21:45:00.008Z

The Word became flesh

He lived among us

Cf. (Jn. 1:14).

The word became flesh

For us

To save us

So we would know God’s love

To be our model of holiness

To make us partakers of Divine nature

Cf. CCC 457, 458, 459, 460.

Our special intention for the month of December is for the unborn child and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

"I am sure that all people know deep down inside that the little child in the mother's womb is a human being from the moment of conception, created in the image of God to love and be loved.

Let us pray that nobody will be afraid to protect that little child, to help that little child to be born. Jesus said: 'If you receive a little child in my name, you receive me.' "

Prayer for the Spiritual Adoption of an Unborn Child

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen recommended saying the following daily prayer for a period of one year to help babies in danger in the womb. During this life this spiritually adopted child of yours will be known only to God, but in Heaven you will meet the child whose life was spared by your prayers and enjoy eternal happiness in his or her company.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of the unborn baby that I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion."

See also Pope Benedict's prayer for the unborn on our 'Prayers' page

Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me."
Mark 9:36–37

December is a wonderful month to pray for the unborn as we journey together towards holy Christmas. This great and fascinating mystery of God with us, moreover of God who becomes one of us, is what we celebrate in the coming weeks. During the season of Advent we feel the Church takes us by the hand and - in the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary - expresses her motherhood allowing us to experience the joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord, who embraces us all in his love that saves and consoles.

To the Virgin Mary, who welcomed the Son of God made man with faith, with her maternal womb, with loving care, with nurturing support and vibrant with love, we entrust our commitment and prayer in favour of unborn life. We do this in the liturgy - which is the place where we live the truth and where truth lives with us - worshiping the divine Eucharist, we contemplate Christ's body, that body who took flesh from Mary by the Holy Spirit, and from her was born in Bethlehem for our salvation.

Starting on St. Andrew's Feast day, November 30, the following beautiful prayer is traditionally recited fifteen times a day until Christmas. This is a very meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the real meaning of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming. Perhaps we could offer this prayer for all expectant mothers and their unborn children.

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, o my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His most blessed Mother. Amen.

Prayer for the unborn child in their mother's womb

O God of all creation, nurture and protect tiny children and keep them safe in the sanctuary of their mother’s womb.

As You so wondrously form their hearts and minds and lungs and souls, so strengthen our will to lovingly nurture and protect them.

Give us the eyes to see them as our brothers and sisters,the minds to welcome them as our own, and the faith to defend them as Your children.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Blessed Mother, and the mother of all the little ones, through Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

On December 12, 1531, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to an Indian named Juan Diego and requested that a shrine be built and dedicated to her on the Hill of Tepeyac. There she could console and dispense her motherly affection to those who invoked her intercession. Juan Diego, upon reporting this event to the bishop, was disappointed because the bishop didn't seem to believe him. Juan returned to the place of the apparition where Our Lady again appeared. She told him to return the next morning when she would give him a sign that would convince the bishop of the truth of her appearance and her request.

The following morning Our Lady told Juan to go to the top of the hill and gather Castilian roses which he would find there. Although he knew that only cactus grew there, he obeyed, and his simple faith was rewarded by the sight of beautiful roses growing where she had told him they would be. He gathered them and showed them to Our Lady who rearranged them for him. Juan returned to the bishop. As he opened his tilma (a type of pancho), the roses fell to the floor. All who were present were startled to see an image of Our Lady on the unfolded tilma.

Today this image is still preserved on Juan Diego's tilma, which hangs over the main altar in the basilica at the foot of Tepeyac Hill just outside of Mexico City. Some anthropologists have said that this image of Our Lady has elements of both an Aztec princess and a young Palestinian woman in the time of Christ.

When asked who the lady was, Juan replied in Nauatl (an Aztec dialect), Te Coatlaxopeuh, which means "she who crush the stone serpent." His answer recalls Gen. 3:15 and the depictions of Mary as the Immaculate Conception, her heel on the serpent's head. It is as the Immaculate Conception that Mary is addressed as patroness of the United States and Mother of the Americas. Most recently, the Virgin of Guadalupe has been given the title, "Patroness of the Unborn." The times in which she appeared in Mexico demanded the sacrifice of thousands of human lives. In the image of Guadalupe, Mary wears a black belt around her waist - for the Indians, an indication of pregnancy. Our Lady of Guadalupe thus appeared as a pregnant mother offering her child to the New World. The Indians viewed the roses that fell from Juan Diego's tilma as a sign of new life.

The rose as a symbol of respect for human life because the rose is so much like ourselves -beautiful but fragile. Our Lady addressed Juan Diego as "Juanito" (signifying in Nauatl the weakest or smallest member of the family), and as "Son", and spoke of herself as both his "Mother" and the "Mother of the One, True living God" - still another reason why Our Lady of Guadalupe should be entrusted with the unborn.

Today she addresses to us the same words she addressed to Juan Diego, when he returned to her after his first visit to the bishop - anxious, discouraged, and heartbroken for not having properly carried out the task she had given him: "Hear and let it penetrate your hearts, my dear little ones. Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you; let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Do not fear vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here, your Mother? Are you not in the folds of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?"

And to us too our Mother speaks: to the anxious - the expectant mother worried about a child born out of wedlock or of another child in a family already larger than the budget; to the discouraged -the prolife workers frustrated by the judicial system, the media, the organizations and even their own neighbors, all of whom seem to be aligned against them; to the heartbroken - the doctors, nurses, aides, the would-be mothers who have felt the sign of life, heard the whimpers and now know it was Life they took. She speaks to all of us. She is our fountain of Life. To whom else should we turn for the protection of those who are being denied not only life itself, but also the taste of the fountain of the life-giving waters of Baptism? Let us beg Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect the children of tomorrow and keep them safe.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the unborn, pray for us.

Abortion and the urgent need for prayer for the protection of an unborn child

The Catholic Church opposes abortion because it believes that life is sacred and inviolable. In 1995, Pope John Paul II wrote an encyclical letter called Evangelium Vitae (the Gospel of Life) in which he spoke of "the sacred value of human life from its very beginning" and of the struggle between the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death.

Blessed Mother Teresa's speech on abortion in Washington DC February 1994.

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. "

On the last day, Jesus will say to those on His right hand,

"Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me." Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, "Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, I was sick and you did not visit me." These will ask Him, "When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?"

And Jesus will answer them, "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of the least of these, you neglected to do unto me!""But what does God say to us? He says: "Even if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved you in the palm of my hand." We are carved in the palm of His hand; that unborn child has been carved in the hand of God from conception and is called by God to love and to be loved, not only now in this life, but forever. God can never forget us."

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

Our Lady of Guadalupe: Patroness of the Unborn

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Cf. Jn.3:16

In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God

Cf. (Jn1:1, 1 Jn. 1-2)

November 2011

2011-11-01T05:05:00.025Z

Our special intention for the month of November is for children who have died and for parents who have lost their children. We invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

Prayer after the death of a dear child

O most sorrowful mother, Your only Son was called the fairest of all the sons of men. You lost him in death on Calvary. Mary, my child is gone now too; in this earthly life I shall never see my dear one again. And still I would not have it otherwise, because I know that you and your Divine Son wished to take my child away young and pure and innocent before this world had cast the shadow of sin upon them, I thank you, Mary, for the assurance that my child is safe with you.

Yet, dear Mother, I must carry on here below. I ask that strength and comfort which you alone can give. May I be worthy, like you, to be faithful to the end. Amen.

At the cross your station keeping,
mournful Mother you stood weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.

Mother of love, of sorrow and of mercy, pray for us.

"The Holy Souls are eager for the prayers of the faithful which can gain indulgences for them. Their intercession is powerful. Pray unceasingly. We must empty Purgatory!" -Saint Pio

Prayer of Blessed John Henry Newman

O most gentle Heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on the souls of Your servants. Bring them from the shadows of exile to Your bright home in Heaven, where we trust that You and Your Blessed Mother have woven for them a crown of unfolding bliss. Amen.

Always remember that anything we do to help the Holy Souls is an act of charity and it is one done to those who are the most in need of our assistance since they can no longer help themselves, and are utterly dependent on us to help them.

To help the Holy Souls in Purgatory:

1. Have Masses offered for them.
2. Pray the Rosary and and the Chaplet for the Holy Souls.
3. Pray the Stations of the Cross.
4. Offer up little sacrifices and fast.
5. Spread devotion to them.
6. Attend Eucharistic Adoration and pray for them.
7. Gain all the indulgences you can, and apply them to the Holy Souls.

Visit to a Cemetery

An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. The indulgence is plenary each day from the 1st to the 8th of November; on other days of the year it is partial.

Visit to a Church or Oratory on All Souls Day, November 2nd

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who on the day dedicated to the Commemoration of all the faithful departed piously visit a church or a public oratory and recite one Our Father and the Creed.

Recite the Rosary

When praying the Rosary, reserve, if possible, one decade to pray for these Poor Souls. If you are able, say an entire Rosary exclusively for their release, at least in November. Our Lady is the Queen of Heaven and earth, and of the Holy Souls in Purgtaory.

Saint Nicholas (Carruti) of Tolentine (1245-1305) - Patron Saint of the Holy Souls

Nicholas was a simple priest and Augustinian friar who touched the lives of many. His spirit of prayer, penance and devotion to the Holy Souls was notable. He often fasted and performed other works of penance, spending long hours in prayer. He received visions, including images of Purgatory, which friends ascribed to his lengthy fasts. He had a great devotion to the recently dead, praying for the souls in Purgatory as he travelled around his parish, and often late into the night. The story is told that Nicholas, while asleep in bed, heard the voice of a deceased friar he had known. This friar told Nicholas that he was in Purgatory, and urged him to celebrate the Eucharist for him and other souls there, so that they would be set free by the power of Christ. Nicholas did so for seven days. The friar again spoke to Nicholas, thanking him and assuring him that a large number of souls were now with God. In 1884 Saint Nicholas of Tolentine was proclaimed Patron Saint of the Holy Souls in Purgatory by Pope Leo XIII.
Feast Day: 10th September

Prayer to St Nicholas for the Deceased

Saint Nicholas, you were attentive to the pleas of many needy souls and through your prayer and penance you hastened their enjoyment of the vision of God. Look with compassion on our beloved deceased, and obtain for them by your prayers the full forgiveness of their sins so that they may experience the happiness and peace of the Father’s presence. Amen.

Jesus and Mary, I love you, save souls! (x 3)
Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, pray for us.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

A plenary indulgence is granted, if the Rosary is recited in a church or public oratory or in "a family group, a religious Community or pious Association; (a partial indulgence is granted in other circumstances).

October 2011

2011-10-01T21:22:00.007+01:00

Our special intention for the month of October is for children who are starving, for those who are deprived of food, love, faith or hope. We invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” from Matthew 25: 35-36.

The facts :

Every year 15 million children die of hunger
Throughout the 1990's more than 100 million children died from illness and starvation. Those 100 million deaths could have be prevented for the price of what the world spends on its military in two days!
One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5 (Report in United Nations Food and Agriculture)
One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.
Malnutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide.
About 183 million children weigh less than they should for their age
Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger
It is estimated that some 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition, about 100 times as many as those who actually die from it each year.

The Saint :

Some words of love from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta :

"When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed."

"It's the greatest poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you.”

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat . . . We must find each other.”

“There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.”

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."

Hunger for Jesus Christ :

“The most profound deprivation for anyone but especially a child is to be deprived of the gift of faith, of a knowledge and love of Christ. The greatest gift you can offer anyone is the gift of our Catholic faith. There is absolutely nothing more precious than our Catholic faith. This conviction must be the first and permanent motivation behind all teaching of Christian doctrine. Its value to a child is not only temporal but eternal.” (Fr Bede MCGregor OP).

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us how “Jesus identifies himself with those in need, with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison. ‘as you did it to one of these my brethren, you did it to me'” (Mt 25:40). This Gospel passage demonstrates how “Love of God and love of neighbour have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God.” (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est , God is Love, no. 15)

The Holy Father also writes that it is only through serving our neighbours that our eyes can be opened to what God does for us and how much he loves us: “The saints—consider the example of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta—constantly renewed their capacity for love of neighbour from their encounter with the Eucharistic Lord, and conversely this encounter acquired its realism and depth in their service to others” (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est , God is Love, no. 18)

Prayer :

"Dear Jesus you promised to bring the little children unto you. As your children struggle with hunger, abuse, lack of faith, hope and love, hold them close to your most Sacred Heart. Remind them that they are Your beloved children, with whom You are well pleased. Feed them if they are hungry, protect them if they are abused, and strengthen them in Your love to see beauty rather than despair in their lives. We ask this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

September 2011

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Join us each week and pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, for your children. They need you to bring them to the Lord in prayer.

This Saturday 1st October, Join us in Eucharistic Adoration after the 10.30 a.m. mass in St. Mary's Church James St., Drogheda. All are welcome to come and pray to the Lord our God.

September

Our special intention for the month of September is for parents and young people starting out in life and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

A new school year, a new beginning. Whether our children are just starting in play school, entering national school or leaving home to go to college, our hearts and hopes go with them. We invite you to pray for children as they go out to face the world. We pray for the safety of our children, we pray that Our Lady will bless and protect them and keep them close to her most loving Son, Jesus Christ.

Dear God bless all children this day. Instruct them; give them inquiring minds and discerning hearts. Strenghthen them; give them courage to persevere in all they undertake. Delight them; give them the gift of joy and wonder in all things. Befriend them; give them laughter and love to share with all. Guard them; give them protection and safety as they move out of our embrace. Love them; give them sure and certain knowledge of your unfailing love.

Father capture the hearts and minds of our children. We offer them to You with open hands. Through the example of Jesus, teach them to surrender their lives fully to You. Bless them with the knowledge that they are Your beloved ones and that they truly belong to a commmunity of love and mercy. Break open their hearts so that the seed of the Word and the power of the Eucharist can be planted in fertile ground, take root and transform their lives. Give our children to the world with the power of the Holy Spirit to witness to the love of Jesus and serve Him in each person they meet. Amen.

"The child of those tears will never perish"

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Mothers, Fathers, Granparents, Aunts, Uncles and Friends, today is a day that will fill you with great hope. Yesterday we celebrated the feast of St. Monica and today is the feast of her once wayward son Augustine who is now Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. Augustine was a difficult child to rear and indeed a difficult young adult.

St. Monica shed many a tear over her son's unsettled life. As we know St. Monica persisted constantly with her prayers. She pleaded with the Lord to help her son. Can you imagine her joy when her prayers were finally answered.

Saint Augustine as a young man led an unsettled life both in the philosophy he professed and in his moral behaviour, but later, in the year 387, he converted and received baptism at Milan from the bishop Saint Ambrose. He came back to his own country and led the life of an ascetic. Elected Bishop of Hippo, for thirty four years he was an exemlary bishop to his flock, teaching his people by his sermons and writings, striving to combat the errors of the time and to make the faith understood. He died in the year 430.

Saint Monica's prayers obtained the grace of a conversion for her son. So live in hope and learn from her wonderful example. When the problem is too big for us to handle give it to God in prayer as St. Monica did.

"Nothing is impossible to God".

Novena to St Monica 19th to 27th August 2011

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Ninth Day

O glorious St. Monica, on this last day of our novena, we bring to you the concerns of many young mothers, teenage mothers who are not yet prepared for the motherhood. Unwanted pregnancies are a big problem in our time. Many young people have to stop their schooling and assume responsibilities that they could not tackle because of this problem. Enlighten our young people and give them teachers that will make them understand that sex outside of marriage is dangerous and sinful. Inspire them to enjoy their youth without sinning and lead them to the joy of spiritual things. Amen.

Daily Prayers

Exemplary mother of the Great Augustine, you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God. Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray.

Dear St. Monica, troubled wife and mother, many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime. Yet, you never despaired or lost faith. With confidence, persistence, and profound faith, you prayed daily for the conversion of your beloved husband, Patricius and your beloved son, Augustine.

Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord. Intercede for me, dear St. Monica, that God may favourably hear my plea for (mention your petitions here) and grant me the grace to accept his will in all things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.

(3) Hail Mary and (3) Glory Be

St. Monica, pray for us.

Eighth Day

O glorious St. Monica, you accompanied Augustine when he was beginning a monastic life with some friends. You delighted in a life dedicated to prayer, and you were happy because you knew that your son made a good decision. You, too, wanted to spend the rest of your life praying, in close contact with Jesus. Guide us so that we may also be led to a deeper life of prayer and make prayer our life. The path to this type of life begins when we start to simplify our needs. When our hearts are calm because desires for material riches have died, then we open ourselves to a deeper life of prayer which you and your son started. Lead us to this path. Amen.

Daily Prayers

Seventh Day

O glorious St. Monica, your son Augustine on recalling his steps towards his conversion could not forget your tears and prayers. He saw you awake during nights as you prayed to God to touch his heart and repent of his sins. He described his conversion as your work because even God could not withstand your fidelity and patience in praying for his sake. Now in heaven, we know that Jesus listens to you and would not be able to resist your prayers. Intercede for us and listen to our petitions. May we also be converted and change our bad habits into good. Amen.

Daily Prayers

Sixth Day

O glorious St. Monica, you worked hard for the conversion of your husband and son because you wanted them to enter eternal life. Heaven was your obsession and you travelled big distances in search of your son and prayed long hours because you desired that your family may have a grand reunion in heaven. Earthly success did not at all attract you as Augustine your son became famous for his eloquence and intelligence. You wanted him to spend the rest of his life preparing for heaven, and that was precisely what you and your son did. Hearken then to our petition that the thought of heaven may pervade our life. Let not earthly success blind us. Guide us to Jesus and prepare us to our grand reunion with him. Amen.

Daily Prayers

Fifth Day

O glorious St. Monica, we present to you the stories of many mothers who are working abroad in search for a better life for their families. They sleep daily remembering their husbands and children, wishing to be near their loved ones. But they have to sacrifice in order that their children may go to school and have a better future. We ask you to protect these mothers and inspire their children to study hard. We ask your intercession that the husbands and children of these women may learn to communicate with each other and bridge the distance among them. May the physical distance that they suffer need not become a hindrance for a happy family life. Amen.

Daily Prayers

Fourth Day

O glorious St. Monica, you see in our world today mothers and wives who are suffering a lot for their husbands and children. You know how they feel because you yourself underwent this same torture but you managed to breeze through all this because you believed that your problematic husband and child were challenges that God gave you. You suffered, and you prayed for them without ceasing. God touched the hearts of your husband and child, Augustine. Grant us the same perseverance and faith so that we, too, may be able to convince God. Amen.

Daily Prayers

Third Day

O glorious St. Monica, after a lifetime of tearful prayers, fasting, and sacrifice, you were at last granted the happiness of witnessing both your husband's and son's conversion. After your son Augustine returned to the faith, you said: "God has granted this to me in more than abundance. What am I still doing here?" A few days later, you died happily at peace with God and his world. Grant us that same peace, faith, and acceptance of God's will that we may live all our years in serenity and go joyfully to our heavenly home, secure in the knowledge of eternal salvation. Amen.

Daily Prayers

Second Day

Great St. Monica, patroness of fathers and mothers, please take our children, especially those who have turned from the ways of God and his Church, under your protection. Let them always remain faithful to their baptismal vows. Give them strength to walk always in the ways of the Lord, despite the temptations and false values they find in the world today. Grant that they may share with you in the joys of eternal life in God. Amen.

Daily Prayers

First Day

Remember dear St. Monica, the joy that flooded your heart when Augustine, the son of your prayers and tears, turned his life over to the Lord. Please present our novena petitions before God in whose presence you stand. Obtain for us, if it be his holy will, the graces we request through your intercessory power, that we may experience the happiness of answered prayer. Amen.

Daily Prayers

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Prayer to St Monica for all mothers

O Heavenly Father, we thank You for our mothers to whom You have entrusted the care of every precious human life from its very beginning in the womb.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. AMEN.

St Monica’s Vocation of Tears

St Monica had a “vocation of tears” as Fr Gerald Vann (OP) wrote, what did he mean by this? To be a disciple of Christ is to carry the Cross, as Jesus told His disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."(Mt 16:24) We cannot lift our cross without the expectation of sacrifice and suffering and perhaps real tears. When those sacrifices and tears are offered for the eternal salvation of an immortal soul, as Monica offered them for Augustine, they become redemptive tears. We discover in this mystery of redemptive suffering one of the most beautiful privileges that Jesus grants to His followers: the chance to continue the work given by God the Father to God the Son, work achieved through the mystery of the Cross. It is at once inspiring and humbling to realize that the salvation of others may depend in part on our own prayers and penances.

The life of St Monica gives hope to those parents whose children are not practicing Catholics. Furthermore, we should note that Monica did not counter Augustine's impiety and disbelief with weighty arguments and brilliant logic. "God harkened to the tears of Monica," as Fr. Vann (OP) wrote. For parents who find themselves in the same position as St Monica, they need only follow the example of her tears, her prayers and her penances and leave the rest to the mercy of God.

Prayer to St Monica

O Lord who taught Monica to persevere for the good for her family,
help me to be a better parent to my children.
Help me to have patience with them when they misbehave

and give me the strength to guide them gently to the right path.

Permit me always to forgive their misdeeds
and keep me from speaking harshly or punishing unwisely.
Please help me to be a beacon of goodness for them
as they grow to adulthood and to be a good example to them
in all that I say and do. I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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The life of Saint Monica

"The child of those tears shall never perish."

Saint Monica
Benozzo Gozzoli (fresco - 1464-65)
Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano

Monica, a saint especially revered by mothers because of her tireless prayers for the conversion of her wayward son, Augustine, was born of Christian parents in Tagaste, North Africa in 333, and died in Ostia, near Rome, in 387. She was married young to a government official, Patricius, who was not a Christian, and had a bad temper, though she bore her burdens patiently, and their life together was relatively peaceful. They had three children; Augustine, Navigius, and a daughter, Perpetua.

Augustine, the eldest son, though brilliant, was, according to his own account, a lazy and dissolute youth whose bad behaviour caused his mother much grief especially so after he went away to school at Madaura and to Carthage. Although her husband Patricius became a Christian not long before he died, Augustine persisted in his pursuit of pleasure, and, as a nineteen-year-old student, joined the heretical Manichaean sect. When he began to spout heresies, Monica became alarmed, and intensified her prayers to bring him to Christ. In his writings ‘the Confessions’, Augustine recounts Monica's dream which consoled and encouraged her:

"In her dream she saw herself standing on a sort of wooden rule, and saw a bright youth approaching her, joyous and smiling at her, while she was grieving and bowed down with sorrow. But when he inquired of her the cause of her sorrow and daily weeping (not to learn from her, but to teach her, as is customary in visions), and when she answered that it was my soul's doom she was lamenting, he bade her rest content and told her to look and see that where she was there I was also. And when she looked she saw me standing near her on the same rule." (Confessions, Book III, 9.14).

During this anguished period of prayer for her son, Monica consulted a bishop who had himself been a Manichaean before he became a Christian. He declined to intervene with Augustine, whom, the bishop correctly observed, was not open to hearing the truth. She persisted tearfully, but he refused to intervene. Nevertheless, the bishop consoled Monica that "the child of those tears shall never perish", which she took as a sign from God. Though he continued in his heresies for nine years, Monica followed Augustine to Rome and then to Milan in an effort to rescue her son from his errors. In Milan she met Ambrose, who helped lead Augustine into the true faith.

Monica did not live long after Augustine's baptism. They had already decided to return to Africa. After a time in Ostia, near Rome, while waiting for passage to Africa, Augustine tells of the moving spiritual experience they shared as they sat at the window overlooking the garden. It was here that Monica expressed the profound peace she enjoyed and her conviction that her life's task had been completed. Very shortly afterward, she fell ill with a fever. She died two days later and was buried at Ostia. Friends told Augustine that she would not grieve over dying and being buried in a foreign land, and she had added, with a touch of humour, that she was sure God would remember where she was buried and raise her up. She had previously told Augustine and his brother Navigius: "Lay this body anywhere, and take no trouble over it. One thing only do I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be." Augustine was so deeply moved by his mother's death that he was inspired to write his Confessions, "So be fulfilled what my mother desired of me - more richly in the prayers of so many gained for her through these confessions of mine than by my prayers alone" (Confessions, Book IX, 13.37)

Centuries later, Monica's body was reburied in Rome, and eventually her relics were interred in a chapel left of the high altar of the Church of St. Augustine in Rome.

Prayer to St Monica

Saint Monica, patron of Christian parents, we entrust to your protection, the children whose names you can read in our hearts. Pray for them, that they may be granted strength to combat weakness, victory over temptation, guidance to resolve their doubts, and success in all their undertakings.

May they enjoy good health of mind and body, see beauty and worth in all created things, and serve the Lord with firm faith, joyful hope and enduring love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

July 2011

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Join us each week and pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, for your children. They need you to bring them to the Lord in prayer.

Our special intention for the month of July is for the protection of children on holidays and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

Our children are on their holidays now from school and it is a great time to spend some precious moments with them in prayer, teaching and encouraging them to pray and thank God every day for the many gifts they have received from Him. Even the youngest child understands that prayer means “talking to God.” As a child shares their concerns, parents can help them to create specific prayers for their needs, such as prayers for their friends, for the poor, for their grandparents etc. Praying out loud in the family home is important - God spoke His Word out loud. There is power in prayer, especially within the family as our Lord said “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20). Pray that our children have the courage to follow Jesus, that they have a teachable spirit, and wisdom to use the talents God gives them for His glory.

Prayer to our children’s Guardian Angel for protection

O Angels of God, from heaven so bright,
watching beside my children to lead them aright;
Fold your wings round them, and guard them with love;
Softly sing songs to them of heaven above.
Amen

June 2011

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Join us each week and pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, for your children. They need you to bring them to the Lord in prayer.

Our special intention for the month of June is for all children sitting exams at this time of the year and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

At this time of the year we keep in our prayers all children and young adults sitting exams. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide them, encourage them and fill them with His love and hope.

For those taking exams; do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God and His holy Mother Mary. Bring them into your daily routine, take a moment from your studies to pray to them and to thank them for your many gifts and talents. Be encouraged by the prayers we will offer for you during this month.

In the words of St Therese “We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so powerful and so merciful. We obtain from Him as much as we hope for.”

Prayer for students

Loving God be with me now,
as I prepare for my exams.

Thank you for the many talents and gifts you have
given me and for the opportunity of education.

Calm my nerves and anxiety, help me
to remember all that I have studied,
to express it clearly and to answer the questions
the very best that I can.

Holy Spirit, sit with me in my exam
- and always.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

May 2011

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Join us each week and pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, for your children. They need you to bring them to the Lord in prayer.

Our special intention for the month of May is for all children receiving the Sacraments of the Catholic Church at this time of year and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324)

Prayer for all children making their first Holy Communion

O Jesus, who hast loved us with such exceeding great love as to give us the ineffable gift of the Holy Eucharist, inflame us with a burning zeal to promote Thy glory by preparing worthily the little children who are to approach Thy holy table for the first time.

Protect, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, these young souls from the assaults of evil, strengthen their faith,
increase their love and endow them with all the virtues that will make them worthy to receive Thee.
Amen.

The Sacrament of Confirmation

The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1285 explains “Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptised] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed."

The bishop invokes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those to be Confirmed in these words of prayer:

All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life. Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

We rejoice in the Beatification of Pope John Paul II

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John Paul II had a special relationship with Catholic youth and is known by some as The Pope for Youth. Before he was pontiff, he used to camp and mountain hike with young people. He established World Youth Day in 1984 with the intention of bringing young Catholics from all parts of the world together to celebrate the faith. These weeklong meetings of youth occur every two or three years, attracting hundreds of thousands of young people, who go there to sing, party, have a good time and deepen their faith. The 19 World Youth Days celebrated during his pontificate brought together millions of young people from all over the world. During this time, his care for the family was expressed in the World Meetings of Families, which he initiated in 1994.

“ Young people are threatened... by the evil use of advertising techniques that stimulate the natural inclination to avoid hard work by promising the immediate satisfaction of every desire.

"Dear young people, Christ is our hope; Christ is our joy. In the days to come, open your hearts and minds to Christ. You are part of the Church, which wishes to open up to you the way of salvation and the path to happiness. I invite you to let yourselves be guided by the Lord and to make this journey together with him. In the course of this week, may each day be filled with grace and peace." Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day 1997

April 2011

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Our special intention for the month of April is for children affected by abuse and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

Saint Maria Goretti is the patron saint both for those who have been abused and for those who are guilty of abuse.

St Maria Goretti was born in Corinaldo, Ancona, Italy, on October 16 1890; her farm worker father moved his family to Ferrier di Conca, near Anzio. Her father died of malaria and her mother had to struggle to feed her children. In 1902 an eighteen-year-old neighbour, Alexander, grabbed her from her steps and tried to rape her. When Maria said that she would rather died than submit, Alexander began stabbing her with a knife. As she lay in the hospital, she forgave Alexander before she died. Her death didn't end her forgiveness, however. Alexander was captured and sentenced to thirty years. He was unrepentant until he had a dream that he was in a garden. Maria was there and gave him flowers. When he woke, he was a changed man, repenting of his crime and living a reformed life. When he was released after 27 years he went directly to Maria's mother to beg her forgiveness, which she gave. "If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withhold forgiveness," she said. When Maria was declared a saint in 1950, Alexander was there in the St. Peter's crowd to celebrate her canonization. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950 for her purity as model for youth. Her feast day is July 6th.

Prayer to St. Maria Goretti for Those Suffering from Abuse

Dear God, we ask you to help all those who suffer from abuse. Help them find healing and peace in their life. May Maria Goretti, who was strengthened by Your Grace, join with us in prayer for healing of all victims of abuse, particularly those abused as children or young adults. Grant us your love that we might reach out to them in Your Name with hope in times of trial. As Maria prayed for her attacker, grant us the grace to pray for the true conversion of all involved with the abuse: that they might seek Your Mercy through prayer and penance. Loving God, pour into our hearts and lives your healing Spirit, that the sacredness of every human person might be respected and protected as the precious image of God. Help us to live in the peace which Maria Goretti had found in Christ and in the love of his mother Mary. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

March 2011

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Our children (the unborn, children, teenagers, young adults, and not so young adults!) are are in need of prayer. They need God's grace in their life. Instead of just complaining, worrying and shedding tears, pray! Join us here at Prayforchildren as we try to reestablish the age old tradition of praying for our young. Commit to just one Holy Hour each week, you know they dererve it!

Our special intention for the month of March is for peace and reconciliation in families and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

Pope John Paul II explains the role of the family; “In God's plan the family has been established as an intimate community of life and love, the family has the mission to become more and more what it is, that is to say, a community of life and love in an effort that will find fulfilment, as will everything created and redeemed, in the kingdom of God. Looking at it in such a way as to reach its very roots, we must say that the essence and role of the family are in the final analysis specified by love. Hence the family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection of and a real sharing in God's love for humanity and the love of Christ the Lord for the church, his bride.” (Familiaris Consortio 1981, par 17).

Holy Family by Juan Simon Gutierrez

Pope John Paul II prayer to the Holy Family St. Joseph was a just man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families.

May the Virgin Mary, who is the mother of the church, also be the mother of "the church of the home." Thanks to her motherly aid, may each Christian family really become a "little church" in which the mystery of the church of Christ is mirrored and given new life. May she, the handmaid of the Lord, be an example of humble and generous acceptance of the will of God. May she, the sorrowful mother at the foot of the cross, comfort the sufferings and dry the tears of those in distress because of the difficulties of their families.

May Christ the Lord, the universal king, the king of families, be present in every Christian home as he was at Cana, bestowing light, joy, serenity and strength. I beg of him that every family may generously make its own contribution to the coming of his kingdom in the world--"a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace," toward which history is journeying.

I entrust each family to him, to Mary and to Joseph. To their hands and their hearts I offer this exhortation: May it be they who present it to you my beloved sons and daughters, and may it be they who open your hearts to the light that the Gospel sheds on every family. Amen

February 2011

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Our special intention for the month of February is for all abandoned and unloved children and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

Prayer
Saint Jerome Emiliani, watch over all children who are abandoned or unloved. Give us the courage to show them God's love through our care. Help us to lose the chains that keep us from living the life God intended for us. Amen.

“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs". (Mark 10: 14)

"Anyone who welcomes one little child like this in my name welcomes me”. (Matthew 18, 5:6)

January 2011

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For all mothers, fathers, grandparents and those wishing to pray for children; you are invited to pray a holy Hour each week, in front of the Blessed Sacrament or in a Church for children.

Our special intention for this month is the infant child, the new born and the unborn, and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.

The joy a new born gives to us is priceless. In his homily on Sunday 9th January 2011, the feast of the Baptism of our Lord, the Pope has asked us to pass on to to our new born children the gift of faith, "that which is most precious in life, and that is the truest and most beautiful reason to live", he explained.

Prayer to Our lady for the Protection of the Unborn

O Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of us all, we turn to you today as the one who said "Yes" to Life. "You will conceive and bear a Son," the angel told you. Despite the surprise and uncertainty about how this could be, you said yes. "Be it done unto me according to your word."

Mary, we pray today for all mothers who are afraid to be mothers. We pray for those who feel threatened and overwhelmed by their pregnancy. Intercede for them, that God may give them the grace to say yes and the courage to go on. May they have the grace to reject the false solution of abortion. May they say with you, "Be it done unto me according to your word". May they experience the help of christian people, and know that peace comes from doing God's will. Amen