Happy Easter Wednesday!
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 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.
Wednesday in Easter Week
"THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH THY WHOLE HEART."
For to this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Rom. xiv. 9). The Saints, contemplating the death of Jesus Christ, thought it little to give their life and all things for the love of so loving a God. How many Martyrs have sacrificed their lives for Him! How many tender Virgins, renouncing the nuptials of the great, have gone with joy to death to make some return for the affection of a God Who died for their sake! And what have you done for Jesus' sake?
I.
But one thing is necessary. (Luke x. 42). What is this one thing necessary? It is not necessary to acquire riches, nor to obtain dignities, nor to gain a great name. The only thing necessary is to love God. Whatever is not done for the love of God is lost. This is the greatest and the First Commandment of the Divine Law. To the Pharisee who asked which was the great Commandment of the Law, Jesus Christ answered: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart... This is the greatest and first commandment. (Matt. xxii. 37, 38). But this, the greatest of the commandments, is the most despised by men: there are few who fulfil it. The greater part of men love relatives, friends, and even brute animals, but do not love God. Of these St. John says that they have not life -- that they are dead. He that loveth not abideth in death (1 Jo. iii. 14). St. Bernard says that the reward of a soul is estimated by the measure of her love for God.
Let us consider, then, how dear to us should be this command to love God with our whole heart. What object more noble, more magnificent, more powerful, more rich, more beautiful, more bountiful, more merciful, more grateful, more amiable, or more loving than Himself could God give us to love?
Who more noble than God? Some boast of a family nobility of five hundred or a thousand years; but the nobility of God our Father is eternal. He is the Lord of all. Before God all the Angels in Heaven, and all the nobles on earth are but as a drop of water or a grain of dust. Behold the Gentiles are but as a drop of a bucket -- behold the islands are as a little dust (Is. xl. 15).
Who more powerful than God? He can do whatsoever He wills. By an act of His will He created this world, and by another act He can destroy it when He pleases.
Who more wealthy? He possesses all the riches of Heaven and earth.
Who more beautiful? Before the beauty of God all the beauties of creatures fade away.
Who more bountiful? St. Augustine says that God has a greater desire to do good to us than we have to receive it.
Who more merciful? If the most impious sinner on earth humble himself before God, and repent of his sins, God instantly pardons and embraces him.
Who more grateful? He does not leave unrewarded the smallest act we perform for His sake.
Who more amiable? God is so amiable that, by barely seeing and loving Him in Heaven, the Saints feel a joy which makes them perfectly happy and content for all eternity. The greatest of the torments of the damned arises from knowing that this God is so amiable, and that they cannot love Him.
O Infinite Goodness! O Infinite Love! My enamoured Jesus, fill my heart with Thy love so that I may forget myself, and think of nothing but of loving and pleasing Thee. I now consecrate to Thee my body, my soul, my will, my liberty. Till now I have sought to gratify myself to Thy great displeasure. I am exceedingly sorry, my crucified Love. I will henceforth seek nothing but Thee, my God and my All.
II.
And who is more loving than God? In the Old Law men might doubt whether God loved them with a tender love; but, after seeing Him die on a Cross for us, how can we doubt the tenderness and the ardent affection with which He loves us? Let us raise our eyes and look at Jesus, the true Son of God, fastened with nails to a gibbet, and let us consider the intensity of the love which He bears us. That Cross, those Wounds, says St. Bernard, cry out, and proclaim to us that He truly loves us. And what more could He do to convince us of His great love than to lead a life of sorrow for thirty-three years, and afterwards die in torments on the infamous tree of the Cross, in order to wash away our sins with His own Blood? Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself up for us. (Ephes. v. 2). Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. (Apoc. i. 5). "How," says St. Philip Neri, "is it possible for him who believes in God to love anything but God?" Contemplating God's love towards men, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi began one day to ring the bell, saying that she wished to invite all nations of the earth to love so loving a God. St. Francis de Sales used to say with tears: "To love our God it would be necessary to have an infinite love; and we throw away our love on vain, contemptible things."
Alas, my Jesus, how many times have I renounced Thy friendship and made myself a slave of Satan, dishonouring Thy Infinite Majesty! I grieve above all things for having so grievously insulted Thee. Ah, my God, bind my will to Thy feet with the sweet cords of Thy holy love, that it may wish for nothing but what pleases Thee. May I take Thy Will as the sole guide of my life. I renounce everything. Thou alone art sufficient for me.2
— St Alphonsus de Ligouri
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
https://www.religiousbookshelf.com/meditations-and-readings/day/2203-Tuesday-in-Easter-Week.html