Praying for the victims of Nepal’s earthquake. So horrifying, and so moving to see the world responding with compassion when disasters like this happen. I’m so grateful for those who are willing and able to rush in and give aid.
“A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.”
Abraham J. Heschel
Please keep Nepal in your prayers, and if you can, donate to a relief organization. One I support is United Hatzalah.
At morning mass recently, Pope Francis honored the many Christians who are persecuted and killed for their faith around the world, and requested we remember them:
The true history of the Church is that of the saints and the martyrs. In these days how many Stephens there are in the world! Let us think of our brothers whose throats were slit on the beach in Libya; let’s think of the young boy who was burnt alive by his companions because he was a Christian; let us think of those migrants thrown from their boat into the open sea by other migrants because they were Christians; let us think – just the day before yesterday – of those Ethiopians assassinated because they were Christians… and of many others. Many others of whom we do not even know and who are suffering in jails because they are Christians. The Church today is a Church of martyrs: they suffer, they give their lives and we receive the blessing of God for their witness.
God’s Word is always rejected by some. God’s Word is inconvenient when you have a stone heart, when you have a pagan heart, because God’s Word asks you to go ahead trying to satisfy your hunger with the bread which Jesus spoke of. In the history of the Revelation many martyrs have been killed for their faith and loyalty towards God’s Word, God’s Truth.
He also expressed solidarity with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, after the recent murder by ISIS of 28 Ethiopian Christians, sending a message of condolence to the Patriarch Matthias:
With great distress and sadness I learn of the further shocking violence perpetrated against innocent Christians in Libya. I reach out to you in heartfelt spiritual solidarity to assure you of my closeness in prayer at the continuing martyrdom being so cruelly inflicted on Christians in Africa, the Middle East and some parts of Asia. It makes no difference whether the victims are Catholic, Copt, Orthodox or Protestant, their blood is one and the same in their confession of Christ!
“The blood of Christians is a testimony that cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ.”
Pope Francis
Father Robert Barron requests:
“The news of 21 Coptic Christians mercilessly slaughtered this past weekend reminds us that age of the martyrs is not a time long ago, but right now. Let us pray today for all those suffering religious persecution, and particularly for the persecuted Christians of the Middle East.
“Pope Francis eloquently said that ‘the blood of Christians is a testimony that cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ.’
“Let us join in prayer with our Holy Father and in communion with all Christians who are persecuted, especially those who live and profess their faith under the threat of violence and death.”
A prayer traditionally recited or sung on New Years day. Blessings to all in 2015! _()_
“A plenary indulgence may be gained by reciting or singing the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus on the first day of the year. This hymn is traditionally sung for beginnings of things, calling on the Holy Spirit before endeavoring something new.” (From Catholic Culture website.)
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
and in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
O comforter, to Thee we cry,
O heavenly gift of God Most High,
O fount of life and fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.
Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts are known;
Thou, finger of God’s hand we own;
Thou, promise of the Father, Thou
Who dost the tongue with power imbue.
Kindle our sense from above,
and make our hearts o’erflow with love;
with patience firm and virtue high
the weakness of our flesh supply.
Far from us drive the foe we dread,
and grant us Thy peace instead;
so shall we not, with Thee for guide,
turn from the path of life aside.
Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
the Father and the Son to know;
and Thee, through endless times confessed,
of both the eternal Spirit blest.
Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven.
Amen.
A beautiful rendition of the song:
Veni, Creator Spiritus, mentes tuorum visita, imple superna gratia quae tu creasti pectora.
Qui diceris Paraclitus, altissimi donum Dei, fons vivus, ignis, caritas, et spiritalis unctio.
Tu, septiformis munere, digitus paternae dexterae, Tu rite promissum Patris, sermone ditans guttura.
Pope Francis recently requested prayers for Jerusalem: “I invite you to pray that the Holy City, dear to Jews, Christians and Muslims, which in recent days has witnessed diverse tensions, always be a sign and foretaste of the peace which God desires for the whole human family.”
Rabbi Yehuda Glick, an advocate for the equal right of all religions to pray in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount, was recently a victim of an assassination attempt. I pray that his efforts to bring a peaceful resolution to the conflicts between religions in that region may come to fruition.
Rabbi Yehuda Glick prays with Muslims at the Temple Mount:
The Holy Father’s prayer intentions for the month of September were for those with mental disabilities, “that they may receive the love and help they need for a dignified life”, and for service for the poor, “that Christians, inspired by the Word of God, may serve the poor and suffering.”
I’m particularly grateful for September’s prayer intentions. I believe Pope Francis’ call for change in the world’s treatment of the poor, and change in our political and economic systems that glorify wealth and create deep divisions between the rich and poor, is one of the most moving of his messages to the world. And especially since he practices what he preaches!
I’m also very moved by his prayers for those with mental disabilities, since my family has been particularly plagued with mental problems. Both my husband and I suffer from depression, and have to take medication to help fight it off. Both of my parents, and Jim’s father, all suffered from depression as well, and my father suffered from alcoholism for many years.
When I was in high school, my older sister became anorexic, and lost so much weight that she was around 60 pounds before she was hospitalized to receive treatment. (This was before Karen Carpenter died from anorexia, so nobody knew what on earth was going on with my sister or could figure out what to do for her.)
My mother had a mild form of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) where she compulsively made lists with little grids and boxes and checked things off all the time, but at least it was fairly harmless. My younger two children also have OCD, and have to take medication for it.
Jim and I like to joke, “Mental illness doesn’t run in our family, it gallops!” 🙂
My oldest son has a most severe and scary mental problem, though: paranoid schizophrenia. For a few years after high school, we noticed he seemed to have problems, but hadn’t realized what it was till a friend, who also has a child with this disorder, listened to a description of his actions and gave us her opinion of what was troubling our son. Anyway, after a couple of stints in a prison/hospital (after threatening suicide), he’s now on medication, doing better, and hopefully will continue the upward trend.
Those with mental disability are always in my prayers, but I’m grateful that the Holy Father has been praying about this, because I believe that the prayers of the righteous are particularly efficacious. (That’s why we ask the saints for their prayers, right?)
Next month’s prayer intentions of His Holiness are for Peace (“That the Lord may grant peace to those parts of the world most battered by war and violence”) and for World Mission Day (“That World Mission Day may rekindle in every believer zeal for carrying the Gospel into all the world.”)
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
One of my favorite blogs, The Catholic Gentleman, has yet another great post, today on Saint Michael, Archangel (this being the Feast Day of the Archangels). Check it out!
Saint Michael, Archangel
We’re in a spiritual war, and in this war there is no neutrality. The combatants are God, the Immaculate Virgin, the saints, the devil, demon hordes, angelic hosts of immense power, and you. The weapons are humble prayer, frequent fasting, and unwavering faith.
“For we are not contending against flesh and blood,” says St. Paul, “but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness…”
Cariña de María 