Day 25-Let Freedom Ring: Freedom from Wrath
We have allowed the temptation of the devil to move our hearts to wrath and vengeance against those who have harmed us.
We have engaged in active revenge or in the passive-aggressiveness of gossip.
We have been too self-involved to notice the damage our sins have wreaked on our neighbor and broken faith with You.
We have expected You to turn a blind eye to our wrath and forgive us without condition.
We have, at times, been a source of scandal for those searching through our sinfulness and rebellion to You.
In our fear, we have allowed the ancient foe to advance.
We turn to You Lord, in our sorrow and guilt, and beg Your forgiveness for our wrath and lack of mercy and forgiveness.
We beg for the grace of Your goodness to build up within us what You sought to build up in Your apostles in that tempest tossed boat.
We know, Lord, if You will it, it will be done.
Trusting in You, we offer our prayer to You who live and reign forever.
Amen.
In Your power and goodness, You created all things.
You set a path for us to walk on and a way to an eternal relationship.
By the strength of Your arm and Word of Your mouth
Cast from Your Holy Church every fearful deceit of the Devil
Drive from us manifestations of the demonic that oppress us and beckon us to wrath.
Still the lying tongue of the devil and his forces so that we may act freely and faithfully to Your will.
Send Your holy angels to cast out all influence that the demonic entities in charge of wrath have planted in Your church.
Free us, our families, our parish, our diocese, and our country from all trickery and deceit perpetrated by the Devil and his hellish legions.
Trusting in Your goodness Lord,
We know if You will it, it will be done in unity with Your Son and the Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever.
Amen.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ graciously hear us
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, etc.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father,
Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost,
Heart of Jesus, united substantially with the word of God,
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy,
Heart of Jesus, rich to all who invoke Thee,
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings,
Heart of Jesus, crushed for our iniquities,
Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, .
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints,
Spare us, oh Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Christ graciously spare us.
Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Make our hearts like unto Thine.
Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end. Amen.
ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were
Let us go up to Jerusalem daily with Him by striving to attend a Mass.
Why were the apostles amazed?[1]
Christ's going on with his undertaking for the salvation of mankind, was, is, and will be, the wonder of all his disciples. Worldly honor is a glittering thing, with which the eyes of Christ's own disciples have many times been dazzled. Our care must be, that we may have wisdom and grace to know how to suffer with him; and we may trust him to provide what the degrees of our glory shall be. Christ shows them that dominion was generally abused in the world. If Jesus would gratify all our desires, it would soon appear that we desire fame or authority, and are unwilling to taste of his cup, or to have his baptism; and should often be ruined by having our prayers answered. But he loves us and will only give his people what is good for them. After His death and resurrection, Christ gave His apostles the power to dispel fear via the influence of the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands on the elect.
Feast of St. Ignatius[2]
Ignatius, by nation a Spaniard, was born of a noble family at Loyola, in Cantabria. At first, he attended the court of the Catholic king, and later on embraced a military career. Having been wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, he chanced in his illness to read some pious books, which kindled in his soul a wonderful eagerness to follow in the footsteps of Christ and the saints. He went to Montserrat and hung up his arms before the altar of the Blessed Virgin; he then watched the whole night in prayer, and thus entered upon his knighthood in the army of Christ. St. Ignatius strongly recommends making a daily examination of conscience.
Examination of Conscience
Prayer before Examination:
I am perfectly sensible, O my God, that I have in many ways offended Thy divine majesty and provoked Thy wrath by my sins; and that if I obtain not pardon, I shall be cast out of thy sight forever. I desire, therefore, at present to call myself to an account, and look into all the sins whereby I have displeased Thee; but O my God, how miserably shall I deceive myself if Thou assist me not in this work by Thy heavenly light. Grant me, therefore, at present, thy grace, whereby I may discover all my imperfections, see all my failings, and duly call to mind all my sins: for I know that nothing is hidden from Thy sight. But I confess myself in the dark as to my own failings: my passions blind me, self-love flatters me, presumption deludes me, and though I have many sins which stare me in the face, and cannot be hidden, yet how many, too, are there quite concealed from me! But discover even those to me, O Lord! enlighten my darkness, cure my blindness, and remove every veil that hides my sins from me, that I may be no longer a secret to myself, nor a stranger to my own failings, not ever flatter myself with the thoughts of having repented, an at the same time nourish folly and vice within my breast. Come, Holy Ghost, and by a beam of Thy divine light illumine my understanding, that I may have a perfect view of all my sins and iniquities, and that, sincerely repenting of them, I may know Thee, and be again received into Thy favor.
A Method of Examination of Conscience, according to the threefold Duty we owe: (I) To God (II) To our Neighbor (III) To ourselves.
I-In Relation to God:
· Have you omitted morning or evening prayer, or neglected to make your daily examination of conscience?
· Have you prayed negligently, and with willful distraction?
· Have you spent your time, especially on Sundays and holidays, not in sluggishly lying abed, or in any sort of idle entertainment, but in reading, praying, or other pious exercises; and taken care that those under your charge have done the like, and not wanted the instructions necessary for their condition, nor time for prayer, or to prepare for the sacraments?
· Have you spoken irreverently of God and holy things?
· Have you taken his name in vain, or told untruths?
· Have you omitted your duty through human respect, interest, compliance, etc.?
· Have you been zealous for God's honor, for justice, virtue and truth, and reproved such as act otherwise?
· Have you resigned your will to God in troubles necessities, sickness, etc.?
· Have you faithfully resisted thoughts of infidelity, distrust, presumption, impurity, etc.?
II-In Relation to Your Neighbor
· Have you disobeyed your superiors, murmured against their commands, or spoken of them contemptuously?
· Have you been troubled, peevish, or impatient, when told of your faults, and not corrected them?
· Have you scorned the good advice of others, or censured their proceedings?
· Have you offended any one by injurious threatening words or actions? Or lessened their reputation by any sort of detractions, or in any matter of importance?
· Or spread any report, true or false, that exposed your neighbor to contempt, or made him undervalued?
· Have you been carrying stories backward and forward, created discord and misunderstanding between neighbors?
· Have you been forward or peevish towards any one in your carriage, speech, or conversation?
· Or taken pleasure to vex, mortify, or provoke them to swear, curse, or any ways offend God?.
· Have you mocked or reproached them for their corporal or spiritual imperfections?
· Have you been excessive in reprehending those under your care, or been wanting in giving them just reproof?
· Have you borne with their oversights and imperfections, and given them good counsel?
· Have you been solicitous for such as are under your charge, and provided for their souls and bodies?
III-In Relation to Yourself
· Have you been obstinate in following your own will, or in defending your own opinion, in things either indifferent, dangerous or scandalous?
· Have you taken pleasure in hearing yourself praised, or yielded to thoughts of vanity?
· Have you indulged yourself in overmuch ease, or any ways yielded to sensuality?
· Has your conversation been edifying and moderate; or have you been forward, proud, or troublesome to others?
· Have you spent too much time in play, or useless employments, and thereby omitted, or put off your devotions to unseasonable times? If such as confess often fall into any of the more grievous sins not here mentioned, their own memory will easily suggest them, since it is impossible for a tender soul to forget any mortal offense, which must of necessity afflict her; and therefore, it may not be necessary for them to turn over the following table of sins, which is chiefly intended for general confessions.
An Examination for Confession
The First Commandment is Broken
First, by Sins against Faith
· To be ignorant of the principal mysteries of Christianity; of the Creed, of the Commandments of God and his Church, or of the Sacraments.
· To give God's honor to any created being or thing whatsoever; to pay divine worship, or to ascribe God's exclusive powers or attributes, to any being except God himself.
· Willfully to doubt, or obstinately to err, in any point of faith, or of human respect, interest, fear etc.
· To favor heretics or wicked men, in supporting or approving their opinions or actions.
· To endanger our faith by reading their books with pleasure.
· To examine divine mysteries with curiosity, and secrets of Providence by pure human reason.
· To disrespect or deride holy things.
· To abuse the words of the Holy Scripture, by perverting them to a wicked or profane sense, making them subservient to jests, or other ill purposes.
· To desire to know things to come, which belong to God alone, or things past or present, which are hid from us, and for this end to employ unlawful means, as fortune tellers, or other superstitious inventions.
· To give credit to dreams, or make superstitious observations; to employ prayers or sacred names to ill uses; to use charms etc.
Secondly, by Sins against Hope
· By distrusting the mercies of God and despairing of the pardon of our sins.
· By presuming on God's goodness, without the least concern of amendment.
· By deferring our conversion or repentance till the end of life.
· By exposing ourselves to the danger of offending God either by company, reading, or otherwise, which is called tempting God.
· By exposing ourselves, without necessity, to some corporal danger; as sickness, wounds or death.
· By neglecting the remedies which God has appointed in these dangers, as physic for the body, or prayer and the sacraments for the soul.
Thirdly, by Sins against Charity
· By not loving God above all things, but rather choosing willfully to offend him, than suffer any loss of honor, riches, etc.
· By preferring the love of man before the love of God; or offending him through fear of being jeered or slighted.
· By omitting our duty through shame, or human respect.
· By thinking seldom of God or being ashamed to speak of him; or by not hearkening to his inspirations, by forgetting his benefits, or neglecting to give him thanks.
Fourthly, by Sin against Religion
· By not adoring God or praying to him but seldom.
· By praying without attention, and with willful distractions.
· By a want of respect to God in time of prayer; or by talking or being present in holy places without a becoming modesty and gravity in our looks, words and actions.
Fifthly, by Sins against the Care we ought to have of our Salvation.
· By a love of idleness.
· By being too solicitous in temporal concerns and neglecting the means of salvation.
· By deferring amendment of life, or immediately desisting, after having begun it.
· By neglecting the means of salvation; as the sacraments, prayer, good works, or performing them without devotion.
The Second Commandment is Broken
· By taking the name of God in vain.
· By swearing to what one knows or doubts to be false.
· By swearing to what is unjust, or prejudicial to others.
· By swearing without necessity, though the thing itself be true and just.
· By blaspheming God or holy things.
· By cursing one's self or others or taking pleasure in hearing others swear or curse; or by provoking them to it.
· By not reprehending them when one could and ought.
· By making a vow to do what is impossible to fulfill; or to do what is evil and displeasing to God; or to do what one never intends to perform.
· By breaking lawful vows or deferring to fulfill them without just cause.
The Third Commandment is Broken.
· By doing servile works on Sunday or causing others to do the like without necessity.
· By employing a considerable part of Sundays or holidays in temporal affairs, as is often the case with merchants, advocates, solicitors, etc.
· By omitting to hear Mass, or not hearing it with due attention and reverence.
· By spending Sundays and holidays in idleness, gaming, dancing, feasting, and other recreations.
· By not dedicating a considerable part of those days to reading and praying, and by not taking care that those under your charge to the like.
The Fourth Commandment is Broken
I. By children:
· Not paying due respect to their parents, or by despising them either in their hearts or actions.
· By not loving them, but wishing their death, or some misfortune; or by forsaking them in their necessities.
· By not cheerfully obeying them; or by obeying them in things unlawful.
· By slighting their representations and resisting their corrections.
· By putting them into a passion, and not taking care to pacify them.
· By not executing their last will and testament, or by delaying doing so.
II. By parents not discharging their duty towards their children.
· In not loving them and supplying their corporal necessities.
· In not being careful of their salvation.
· In not correcting them when it is necessary; in flattering their passions or indulging their evil inclinations.
· In treating them with too much severity.
· In not setting them good example.
· In forcing them in the choice of their state in life.
The Fifth Commandment is Broken
· By anger, quarreling, or threatening, or by injurious or reproachful words, or actions against our neighbors.
· By revenge, or deliberate thoughts or desires of revenge.
· By provoking, striking, challenging, wounding, or being the cause of another's death.
· By bearing malice, refusing to salute or speak to any neighbor out of hatred or aversion, or refusing to be reconciled to him.
The Sixth Commandment is Broken
I. By the hearing.
· In willingly giving ear to immodest words, discourses, songs, etc.
II. By the sight.
· In looking on immodest objects,
· In reading or keeping immodest books; lending them to others; or neglecting to suppress them when we may.
III. By the tongue.
· In speaking immodest words.
· In relating improper stories or wicked actions of ourselves or others.
IV. By the touch.
· In using indecent actions.
V. By thoughts.
· By entertaining impure thoughts willfully and with delight.
VI. By immodest actions.
· In committing the sin of impurity, and whether effected by soliciting, seducing with promises, or forcing, whether it be fornication, adultery, or incest.
· In sins against nature.
The Seventh Commandment is Broken.
· By taking another's goods, and to what value.
· By retaining what we know belongs to another.
· By denying our debts, or willfully delaying payment, to the prejudice of our neighbors.
· By making unjust bargains or contracts, into which every trade or profession ought to make a strict inquiry.
· By causing any damage to our neighbors.
· By putting off false and counterfeit money.
· By desiring another's property.
· By not giving alms when necessity requires.
· By not paying dues to our pastors, or by not contributing to the decent support of religious worship.
· By simony.
The Eighth Commandment is Broken
· By witnessing what is false, or defending a false accusation, as in lawyers and solicitors; or condemning the innocent, or discharging the guilty, as judges and arbitrators.
· By detraction, either in laying something false to another's charge, or reporting for truth what is merely doubtful; or in revealing something as yet secret and unknown, though true, to the prejudice of some third person; with a declaration, whether it be done out of levity and indiscretion, or out of malice or ill-will; whether in the presence of many, or in a matter of importance.
· By lying or speaking what we judge to be otherwise than we say, whether out of custom, or to the considerable prejudice of others.
· By hypocrisy, which is a lie in action.
The Ninth and Tenth are Broken
· By all unlawful and willful desires of impurity and theft, which have been already mentioned in the sixth and seventh commandment.
The Precepts of the Church
I. To keep certain appointed days holy, with the obligation of hearing Mass, and resting from servile works.
The Seven Deadly Sins
(The sins of covetousness, luxury, and sloth have been already examined in the first, sixth, and seventh commandments.)
The Sin of Pride consists:
· In entertaining too great and opinion of ourselves, or in valuing others less than ourselves and maintaining a just and noble self-love.
· In publishing what we think good in ourselves, that we may be esteemed by others.
· In arrogance, by attributing to ourselves the good we have not.
· In presumption and ambition, by confiding too much in our own strength, conceiving ourselves capable of accomplishing things above our abilities, and in rashly attempting them.
· In contempt of others, on account of the good opinions we have of ourselves, and when this contempt is manifested by words or actions or by being severe and exacting on inferiors.
· In want of submission to our superiors, by disobeying them, blaming their conduct, or murmuring against them.
· In not acknowledging our faults, or when, in confessing the facts, we maintain we have done well, or at least allege false excuses.
· In contempt of admonitions and corrections.
· In discord.
· In hypocrisy.
· In curiosity, which inclines us to know things prejudicial to our salvation.
· By ingratitude for God's benefits.
· In eating or drinking to excess, as far as they are prejudicial, either to our health or our reason, or any ways scandalous, or of ill example to others.
· Trouble at the good success of our neighbor, or when we endeavor to do him an unkindness, or speak often against him, or create an ill opinion of him in the mind of another.
· When we rejoice at our neighbor's harm.
The Sin of Anger
· Not to endure anything contrary to our inclinations.
· To suffer ourselves to be hurried away by the emotions of wrath against those that give us any trouble.
· To proceed to quarrels, injurious language, oaths, curses, threats; to take revenge, or to desire and wish to be in a capacity of exercising it.
· To refuse to pardon injuries, or to be reconciled to our enemies, or to such of our neighbors with whom we have had some misunderstanding or falling out.
A Prayer for Obtaining Contrition
I have now here before me, O Lord, a sad prospect of the manifold offenses whereby I have displeased thy divine Majesty, and which I am assured will appear in judgment against me if, by repentance and a hearty sorrow, my soul be not prepared to receive thy pardon. But this sorrow and this repentance, O Lord, must be the free gift of thy mercy, without which all my endeavors will be in vain, and I shall be forever miserable. Have pity, therefore, on me, O merciful Father, and pour forth into my heart thy grace, whereby I may sincerely repent of all my sins; grant me true contrition, that I may bewail my base ingratitude, and grieve from my heart for having offended so good a God. Permit me not to be deluded by a false sorrow, as I fear I have been too often, through my own weakness and neglect; but let it now be thy gift, descending from thee, the Father of Lights, that so my repentance may be accompanied by an amendment and a change of life, that being thus acquitted from the guilt of my sins, I may once more be received into the number of thy servants. Amen.
Novena in Honor of Saint John Marie Vianney
Confessor of Souls
O Holy Priest of Ars, you knew how important was a good confession for the Christian life. It was to procure the happy fruits of millions of souls that you agreed to be in an uncomfortable confessional, which was like a prison, up to 15 to 16 hours on certain days. I will try to develop the habit of frequent confession, to prepare properly each time and to have always regret for my sins, so that the grace of final perseverance but also the sanctification of my soul will be assured. Ask this grace for me. Holy Priest of Ars, I have confidence in your intercession. Pray for me during this novena especially for ... (mention silently your special intentions).
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Total Consecration to St. Joseph-Day 12
On Day 12 Father Calloway points out that chastity is an especially important virtue. To be chaste is to have self-mastery and preserves the human heart and body for authentic self-giving. You cannot give what you do not have. Chastity is the virtue that prevents us from being slaves to our passions and acting like irrational animals. Saint Joseph was both chase and celibate. Both Mary and Joseph were consecrated virgins to God.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, Pray for Us.
Noble offspring of David, Pray for Us.
Light of Patriarchs, Pray for Us.
Spouse of the Mother of God, Pray for Us.
Chaste Guardian of the Virgin, Pray for Us.
Father Calloway stresses
· St. Joseph is pure of heart.
· Your spiritual father is a gentleman.
Saint
Joseph was married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and he treated her
with respect, dignity, and reverence. Joseph must have had the most chaste and
pure eyes of any husband who ever lived. In fact, both he and Mary lived in
what is often called a “Josephite marriage”. Their hearts were so pure toward
God that they never engaged in sexual relations and yet they were the most
perfect example of a true marriage loving each as other seeking the good of the
other.
The Feast of the Holy Spouses
The Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Marriage of the Virgin Mary is a feast that is celebrated in certain parts of the Roman Catholic Church among certain congregations such as the Oblates of St. Joseph. It was removed from many local calendars by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. It was formerly generally observed on January 23.
Marriage is a basic human and social institution. Though it is regulated by civil laws and church laws, it did not originate from either the church or state, but from God. Therefore, neither church nor state can alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage. Marriage, whose nature and purposes are established by God, can only be the union of a man and a woman and must remain such in law. In a manner unlike any other relationship, marriage makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the common good of society, especially through the procreation and education of children. The union of husband and wife becomes, over a lifetime, a great good for themselves, their family, communities, and society. Marriage is a gift to be cherished and protected.
· 1244 First Holy Communion. Having become a child of God clothed with the wedding garment, the neophyte is admitted "to the marriage supper of the Lamb" and receives the food of the new life, the body and blood of Christ. The Eastern Churches maintain a lively awareness of the unity of Christian initiation by giving Holy Communion to all the newly baptized and confirmed, even little children, recalling the Lord's words: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them." The Latin Church, which reserves admission to Holy Communion to those who have attained the age of reason, expresses the orientation of Baptism to the Eucharist by having the newly baptized child brought to the altar for the praying of the Our Father.
·
1621 In the Latin Rite the celebration of
marriage between two Catholic faithful normally takes place during Holy Mass,
because of the connection of all the sacraments with the Paschal mystery of
Christ. In the Eucharist the memorial of the New Covenant is realized, the New
Covenant in which Christ has united himself for ever to the Church, his beloved
bride for whom he gave himself up. It is therefore fitting that the spouses
should seal their consent to give themselves to each other through the offering
of their own lives by uniting it to the offering of Christ for his Church made
present in the Eucharistic sacrifice, and by receiving the Eucharist so that,
communicating in the same Body and the same Blood of Christ, they may form but
"one body" in Christ.
·
2685 The Christian family is the first
place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is
the "domestic church" where God's children learn to pray "as the
Church" and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular,
daily family prayer is the first witness of the Church's living memory as
awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit.
· Pray the Litany of St. Joseph.
Daily Devotions
·
Cultivate intelligent foresight
in yourself
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Rosary
AUGUST
August--We may come to appreciate
more deeply the various landforms (mountains, deserts, rock formations, valleys,
and plains) during vacation time. They give us bearing, direction, and the
geological history of our lives. This is the beginning of awareness of the
"here" in our lives. The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
shows us the "hereness" of the risen Lord, and the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mary speaks of God's power to the blessed. While we can choose
to extend the Savior's redeeming power to our wounded earth, we also can choose
to withdraw from this awesome challenge.
Overview of August[6]
The month of August is dedicated to
August is often considered the transitional month in our seasonal calendar. It is the time of the year we begin to wind-down from our summer travels and vacations and prepare for Autumn — back to school, fall festivals, harvest time, etc. The Church in her holy wisdom has provided a cycle of events in its liturgical year which allow the faithful to celebrate the major feasts in the life of Christ and Mary. Most notably, during August, we celebrate the feast of the
The days of summer have provided a welcome change of pace. However, while vacations afford us the time to relax and refresh, the change of habits and routines can also have a negative impact on our spiritual lives. As if to re-ignite us, the Church offers us in the plethora of August feasts vivid examples of the virtue of perseverance: six martyrs — two who are named in Canon I of the Mass and two who were martyred during World War II; seven founders of religious congregations, as well as three popes and two kings; the apostle, St. Bartholomew; the great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine and St. Monica, his mother; the humble patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney, and the patron of deacons, St. Lawrence, who joked with his executioners while being roasted alive.
It is never too late to begin — as the life of the reformed sinner, St. Augustine teaches us — nor too difficult to begin again, as demonstrated by the conversion of the martyr, St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein). We present-day members of the Mystical Body are certain of the reward to which we are called, for Christ's Transfigured body (August 6) is a preview of that glory. Moreover, in the Assumption of his Mother (August 15), Our Lord has demonstrated his fidelity to his promise. Her privilege is "the highest fruit of the Redemption" and "our consoling assurance of the coming of our final hope — the glorification which is Christ's" (Enchiridion on Indulgences).
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the most perfect example of Christian perseverance, but she is also our advocate in heaven where she is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth (August 22). Mary is the "Mother of Perpetual Help", the patroness of the Congregation founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori (August 1). "No one who has fled to her protection is left unaided" is the claim of the Memorare of St. Bernard (August 20). Heretics have returned to the faith by the prayers of her Rosary, first preached by St. Dominic (August 8) in the twelfth Century, and hearts have been converted by the graces received while wearing her Miraculous Medal, promoted by St. Maximillian Kolbe (August 14) and adopted as the "badge" for the Pious Union he founded. Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope!
[3]https://catholicexchange.com/now-is-the-time-to-consecrate-yourself-to-saint-joseph
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