Happy Easter Thursday!
Join us in praying the following Novenas...
With the death of Pope Francis and forthcoming conclave, join us in praying these two critical Novenas for the intercession of St Catherine of Siena, Co-Patroness of Rome and Europe whose Feast Day is on April 30th, and St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, in anticipation of his Feast of St Joseph the Worker on May 1st.
Please join us in praying for the following intentions:
The repose of the soul of Jorge Mario Bergoglio
The election of a Holy Pope who neither fears the powerful of this world nor compromises with the spirit of the age
The election of a Holy Pope who preserves, strengthens, and defends the Catholic Faith unto the shedding of their blood
The election of a Holy Pope who observes, protects, and hands on the Traditional Roman Rite of the Holy Catholic Church
Novena to Saint Catherine of Siena
Pray this novena starting on 22 April and ending on 30 April, the eve of the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena on 30 April.
Catherine, fairest and most glorious of the daughters of St. Dominic, by that spirit of prayer, which was your delight from your infancy, obtain for us the love and practice of prayer, and the grace so to converse with God as to become daily more pleasing to Him.
Pray a Gloria
By that especial love which you, O great saint, bore to the virtue of purity, consecrating yourself at eight years of age to the Lord by an irrevocable vow, and afterwards by rejecting the most honorable offers of marriage: obtain for us, we pray you, the grace to be always pure in mind and heart, and to detest and abhor everything which could offend in the smallest degree against a virtue so sublime that it raises men to the rank of angels, and makes them most beloved by God.
Pray a Gloria
By that spirit of retirement which made you, O great saint, desire to behold no one but your Jesus, Who when you were distracted by continual employment in your family, taught you to build a solitude in your heart and keep it at all times filled with thoughts of heaven: obtain for us, we pray, the grace so to love solitude and retirement, however the world may invite us to share its pleasures and its pomps, that our hearts may always turn to God amidst the most dissipating cares which may come upon us in our state of life.
Pray a Gloria
By the spirit of penance which taught you to inflict upon yourself, even in your earliest years, the most painful mortifications: obtain for us the grace to bear with patience whatever afflictions God may be pleased to order for our good, and to mortify voluntarily all the perverse inclinations of our hearts, and all the unruly desires of our senses, that we may become, in some measure, like our crucified model, Jesus.
Pray a Gloria
By that heroic charity which led you, O great saint, to attend and minister with your own hands to the poor sick who had been abandoned by all others in disgust, and for which you were repaid only by insult, rudeness, and persecution: obtain of the Lord for us the grace to be, at all times, equally ready to assist our neighbor in his necessities, and to pardon him generously when he returns only insults for the benefits we confer on him, that we may merit the blessedness promised in this life and the next to meekness and true mercy.
Pray a Gloria
By that supernatural light with which you, O great saint, were miraculously enabled to counsel the Roman Pontiff, who came in person to consult you, when you obtained for him a reconciliation with his adversaries, and his return to Rome: obtain for us of the Lord the grace to know, in all our doubts, that which is most conformable to the will of God, and most conducive to the salvation of souls, that in all our actions we may promote the honor of God and the welfare of our neighbor.
Pray a Gloria
By that especial devotion which you, O great saint, had to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, Who sometimes communicated you with His own hands: obtain for us, we pray you, the grace to feel toward the Blessed Sacrament the most fervent devotion, that we may rejoice to converse with Jesus and receive Him into our bosoms to His honor and glory, and for the salvation of our souls.
Pray a Gloria
St. Catherine, pray for us, that we may obtain what we desire through this novena, if what we ask be pleasing to God and conducive to our eternal salvation. May the will of God be done. Amen.1
Unfailing Novena to St. Joseph
This prayer, it is said, has “has never been known to fail, provided that the request is for one’s spiritual benefit or for those whom we are praying for.” Pray it for nine mornings.
O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interest and desires.
O St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.
O St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him close in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me. Amen.
Thursday in Easter Week
"SHE IS AN INFINITE TREASURE TO MEN."
The earth, the heavens, and all nature with astonishment beheld Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, the Lord of the Universe, die of intense pain and anguish, on a disgraceful Cross -- and why? He hath loved us and hath delivered himself for us (Eph. v. 2). And do men believe this and not love God?
I.
O inestimable value of Divine love which makes us rich before God! It is the treasure by which we gain His friendship. She is an infinite treasure to men, which they that use become the friends of God (Wis. vii. 14). The only thing we ought to fear, says St. Gregory of Nyssa, is the loss of God's friendship; and the only object of our desires should be its attainment. It is love that obtains the friendship of God. Hence, according to St. Laurence Justinian, by love the poor become rich, and without love the rich are poor. "No greater riches than to have charity. With charity the poor man is rich, and without charity the rich man is poor."
How great is the joy a person feels in thinking he is loved by a man of exalted rank! But how much greater must be the consolation a soul derives from the conviction that God loves her! I love them that love me (Prov. viii. 17). In a soul that loves God the Three Persons of the Adorable Trinity dwell. If any one love me he will keep my word; and my Father will love him; and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him (John xiv. 23). St. Bernard writes that, among all the virtues charity is the one that unites us to God. St. Catharine of Bologna used to say that love is the golden chain that binds the soul to God. St. Augustine says that "love is a link connecting the lover with the beloved." Hence were God not immense, where should He be found? Find a soul that loves God, and there God is certainly found. Of this St. John assures us. He that abideth, in charity abideth in God, and God in him (1 Jo. iv. 16). A poor man loves riches, but he does not therefore enjoy them; he may love a throne, but he does not therefore possess a kingdom. But the man that loves God possesses God. He abideth in God and God in him.
How great is the joy a person feels in thinking he is loved by a man of exalted rank! But how much greater must be the consolation a soul derives from the conviction that God loves her! I love them that love me (Prov. viii. 17). In a soul that loves God the Three Persons of the Adorable Trinity dwell. If any one love me he will keep my word; and my Father will love him; and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him (John xiv. 23). St. Bernard writes that, among all the virtues charity is the one that unites us to God. St. Catharine of Bologna used to say that love is the golden chain that binds the soul to God. St. Augustine says that "love is a link connecting the lover with the beloved." Hence were God not immense, where should He be found? Find a soul that loves God, and there God is certainly found. Of this St. John assures us. He that abideth, in charity abideth in God, and God in him (1 Jo. iv. 16). A poor man loves riches, but he does not therefore enjoy them; he may love a throne, but he does not therefore possess a kingdom. But the man that loves God possesses God. He abideth in God and God in him.
It is true, O my Jesus, that I am so wretched as to have often offended Thee after so many special lights and graces. I am no longer worthy to be consumed in those blessed flames with which the Saints are inflamed. I ought rather to burn in hell fire. But Thou dost command me to love Thee, and I will obey Thee. I will love Thee, Jesus, with my whole heart.
II.
St. Thomas says that love draws in its train all other virtues, and directs them all to unite us more closely to God. Hence, because from charity all virtues are born, St. Laurence Justinian called it the mother of all virtues. Hence St. Augustine used to say: "Love, and do what you wish." He that loves God can only do what is good; if he does evil he shows that he has ceased to love God. And when he ceases to love God, all things can profit him nothing. If, said the Apostle, I gave all my possessions to the poor, and my body to the flames, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing (1 Cor. xiii. 3).
Love also prevents us from feeling the pains of this life. St. Bonaventure says that the love of God is like honey; it sweetens the bitterest things. And what more sweet to a soul that loves God than to suffer for Him? She knows that by cheerfully embracing sufferings she pleases God, and that her pains shall be the brightest jewels in her crown in Paradise. And who is there that will not willingly suffer and die in imitation of Jesus Christ, Who has gone before us, carrying His Cross, to offer Himself in sacrifice for the love of us, and inviting us to follow His example. If any man will come after me, let him take up His cross and follow me (Matt. xvi. 24). For this purpose He has condescended to humble Himself to death, and to the opprobrious death of the Cross, for the love of us. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross (Phil. ii. 8).
O Jesus, I have believed all this, and yet not only have I not loved Thee, but I have frequently offended Thee. Pardon me, I beseech Thee, and keep me ever mindful of the death Thou hast suffered for me, that I may never more offend Thee, but may always love Thee. Holy Mary, Mother of God, enable me to love Jesus: this is the only favour I ask of thee.
Finally, please save the aforementioned date for our Annual Celebration of the Feast of St Joseph the Worker on Thursday, May 1st at Epiphany of Our Lord Church in Tampa, FL! This is a tremendous opportunity to celebrate the Easter season and the Patron of Fathers, Families, Workers, and the Universal Church.
Our presenting speaker is Joshua Charles of Eternal Christendom!
https://fisheaters.com/novenas.html#siena