Saturday, February 10, 2018
Feast of St. Scholastica/NOVENA
TO THE HOLY FACE (Day 7)
Therefore
thus says the Lord, the GOD of hosts: My people, who dwell in Zion, do not fear
the Assyrian, though he strikes you with a rod, and raises his staff against
you as did the Egyptians.
Who
is it you fear; who are the
Assyrians in your life? God asks us to trust in Him. Even in the worst of
situations God is with you.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me, delivered me from all
my fears. (Ps. 34:5)
Sometimes
the Lord asks us to go out into the desert to face our fears for it is in this barren place we can grow in faith like
Abraham and Moses and have an encounter with the living God. Deserts are fearful
places and are full of rocks, pointy things, snakes, spiders and the
indescribable beauty of God’s creation. By encountering God in the desert we
learn that the very same stones that somehow get in our shoes and make progress
impossible are the very same stones that lay foundations, bridges and roads. In
the desert we can search for God; avoid of our distractions and find Him. In
the desert we can write out our sins and confess them to God. In the desert we
can shed our old lives like the snake sheds its skin and find a new perspective
for life. It is during this time alone with; He that IS; we make a spiritual
change of clothes. In the desert we can make an all-night vigil and with the
coming of the new day we can proclaim as in the Negro spiritual: When I fall on
my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me. For it is in
the desert that we can quit deluding ourselves and be doers of the word and not
hearers only. For it is in the desert we can find the strength to keep
ourselves unstained by the world and find that pure and undefiled religion is to
care for others in their afflictions.
Feast of St. Scholastica[1]
St. Scholastica
was the twin sister of St. Benedict, the Patriarch of Western monasticism. She
was born in Umbria, Italy, about 480. Under Benedict's direction, Scholastica
founded a community of nuns near the great Benedictine monastery Monte Cassino.
Inspired by Benedict's teaching, his sister devoted her whole life to seeking
and serving God. She died in 547 and tradition holds that at her death her soul
ascended to heaven in the form of a dove.
Things to Do
·
Tell your children about the "holy
twins": St. Scholastica and the tender love she had for her brother St.
Benedict. Ask them how they can help one another to become saints.
·
Make an altar hanging or window transparency in
the shape of a dove to honor St. Scholastica.
National
Marriage Week-Woman in Marriage[2]
Woman's
nature is admirably adapted to her functions as wife and mother. The
responsibilities of the family develop her powers and mature her spiritually,
mentally, and physically.
Spiritually, a woman becomes mature through surrender, through finding
the particular role in which she can accomplish her total dedication to God.
The young woman who has found her vocation in life in marriage and is wholly
given to her task of bringing her family to God is a mature person whatever her
age. She will have that air of serenity and peace which are the sign of the
basic fulfillment of her being. The woman who has never surrendered
wholeheartedly to any purpose outside herself remains immature all her life,
like a bud which never unfolds itself. In marriage, woman can develop a spirit
of selflessness which makes her dedication deeper and richer with the years.
Her service to her family both expresses her love of God and increases her
power of loving. The woman who has no outlet for her love, no one for whom she
can spend herself, is apt to become hard, bitter, selfish, because she has no
one but herself to consider. The woman who is constantly concerned with the
needs of her family can unfold the qualities of love, tenderness, and unselfish
devotion which make her truly great and truly happy.
Mentally, a woman's mind matures under the stimulus of the varied
practical activities she performs for those she loves. In the concrete, living
experience of the family, she can develop sound judgment and a keen insight
into human nature. Lombroso's observation can readily be verified. "The
mother of a large family who has had no time to study, having been occupied
with her children and her household, has more life, more breadth of ideas, than
the old maid of the same age who has done nothing else than to potter about at
universities and libraries." The responsibilities of her family life
exercise all woman's mental powers. Her intuition and powers of observation are
called into play constantly to discover the unexpressed desires of her family,
particularly the needs of the helpless child. She has need of her intuition,
too, as well as her tact, to help her solve the hundred problems of human
relations and practical affairs that arise in the course of her day. Providing
for the family helps to develop woman's natural ingenuity and inventiveness. It
is to the ingenuity of women intent on meeting the needs of their families that
we owe the discovery of many of the most important arts: horticulture, for
example; the creative arts of weaving, pottery, basketry; the domestic arts of
food preparation and preservation; the uses of medicinal herbs in healing.
Physically, too, marriage and child bearing represent a development
and completion for the normal woman, giving her new beauty and vitality. The
mother of a large family experiences a physical fulfillment with the birth of
each child which gives her fresh vigor and health. Dr. Alexis Carrell observes
that women attain their full development as a rule only after the birth of
several children. He writes in Man The Unknown: "Women who have no
children are not so well balanced and become more nervous than the others. The
importance to woman of the generative function has not been sufficiently
recognized. Such function is indispensable to her optimum development. It is
therefore absurd to turn women against maternity."
NOVENA TO THE HOLY FACE
DAILY PREPARATORY PRAYER
We now implore all the Angels and Saints to intercede for us as we pray this Holy Novena to the Most Holy Face of Jesus and for the glory of the most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Seventh Day
Give me again the joy of your help, with a spirit of fervor sustain me, that I may teach transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you.
Lord Jesus! After contemplating Thy features, disfigured by grief, after meditating upon Thy passion with compunction and love, how can our hearts fail to be inflamed with a holy hatred of sin, which even now outrages Thy Adorable Face! Lord, suffer us not to be content with mere compassion, but give us grace so closely to follow Thee in this Calvary, so that the approbrium destined for Thee may fall on us, O Jesus, that thus we may have a share, small though it may be, in expiation of sin. Amen. Mary, our Mother, intercede for us, Saint Joseph pray for us.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition, Pardon and Mercy.
Prayer in Honor of Mary
Hail Mary, Daughter of God the Father! Hail Mary, Mother of God the Son! Hail Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit! Hail Mary, Temple of the Most Holy Trinity! Hail Mary, our mistress, our wealth, our mystic rose, Queen of our hearts, our Mother, our life, our sweetness and our dearest hope! We are all Thine, and all we have is Thine. O Virgin blessed above all things, may Thy soul be in us to magnify the Lord; may Thy spirit be in us to rejoice in God. Place Thyself, O faithful Virgin, as a seal upon our hearts, that in Thee and through Thee we may be found faithful to God. Grant, most gracious Virgin, that we may be numbered among those whom Thou art pleased to love, to teach and to guide, to favor and to protect as Thy children. Grant that with the help of Thy love, we may despise all earthly consolation and cling to heavenly things, until through the Holy Spirit, Thy faithful spouse, and through Thee, His faithful spouse, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, be formed within us for the glory of the Father. Amen. (St. Grignon de Montfort)
Pray one (1) Our Father, (3) Hail Mary’s, (1) Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine. (Three times)
Daily
Devotions
·
Please pray for me and this ministry
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