Sunday, October 18, 2020

Adoration for Our Nation

A Nationwide Day of Prayer

3 November 2020

Let's unite our country in prayer on election day

Across the nation people are anxious, neighbors against neighbors, with polarizing statements all over social media and the airwaves. We hear the cry, "what can we do?" As a people of faith, we turned to God, and were inspired to ask Catholic Churches to open wide their doors to Christ by offering adoration on election day.

There is no better way to ask for God's grace

Catholics throughout the U.S. can offer prayers, beg for mercy and be in the calming, loving presence of Jesus. Our suggestion is to have adoration begin immediately after morning Mass, and conclude with Benediction when the polls close in your area. However, any length of adoration on November 3 will be of inestimable value.

We are asking for your help

We need people to organize this day of adoration in every parish throughout the country-and, with election day coming fast, we need you to ask your Pastor now. You can assure him that you will be in charge of organizing this, including communicating it to your parish and soliciting the adorers. Don't worry, we have all the resources you need HERE, including a planning guide, suggested prayers, sign up sheets, promotional flyers and bulletin announcements.

What if your parish already has Eucharistic Adoration on that day?

We still ask you to talk to your pastor to participate. The flyers will encourage even more parishioners to come to adoration on election day, and bring more blessings to your community and our country.

Don't wait! Contact your Pastor today! Our country needs Jesus.

Register Here:

Twentieth Sunday aft Pentecost (29th S. Ord. Time)

FEAST OF ST. LUKE

Revelation, Chapter 11, Verse 10-11

¹⁰ The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. ¹¹ But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great FEAR fell on those who saw them.

The two great witnesses as mentioned here are the spirits of righteousness and truth. The world delights in destruction and will pay almost any price to avoid the truth. Yet, if a man aligns himself with the one who had risen on the third day, the breath of life from God will enter him. A man resurrected in the risen Lord is a fearful thing for he cannot be brought, and he is clothed in the power of God: All the world fears a man that will stand on his feet.

I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD –for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.

ON KEEPING THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[1]

Introduction

1. The Lord's Day — as Sunday was called from Apostolic times (1) — has always been accorded special attention in the history of the Church because of its close connection with the very core of the Christian mystery. In fact, in the weekly reckoning of time Sunday recalls the day of Christ's Resurrection. It is Easter which returns week by week, celebrating Christ's victory over sin and death, the fulfilment in him of the first creation and the dawn of "the new creation" (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). It is the day which recalls in grateful adoration the world's first day and looks forward in active hope to "the last day", when Christ will come in glory (cf. Acts 1:11; 1 Th 4:13-17) and all things will be made new (cf. Rev 21:5).

Rightly, then, the Psalmist's cry is applied to Sunday: "This is the day which the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps 118:24). This invitation to joy, which the Easter liturgy makes its own, reflects the astonishment which came over the women who, having seen the crucifixion of Christ, found the tomb empty when they went there "very early on the first day after the Sabbath" (Mk 16:2). It is an invitation to relive in some way the experience of the two disciples of Emmaus, who felt their hearts "burn within them" as the Risen One walked with them on the road, explaining the Scriptures and revealing himself in "the breaking of the bread" (cf. Lk 24:32,35). And it echoes the joy — at first uncertain and then overwhelming — which the Apostles experienced on the evening of that same day, when they were visited by the Risen Jesus and received the gift of his peace and of his Spirit (cf. Jn 20:19-23).

20th Sunday after Pentecost[2]

Under the traditional calendar the Church focuses on making our hearts ready through faith as we "redeem the times".

THE Introit of the Mass is a humble prayer by which we confess that we are punished for our disobedience. “All that Thou hast done to us, O Lord, Thou hast done in true judgment, because we have sinned against Thee, and we have not obeyed Thy commandments ; but give glory to Thy name, and deal with us according to the multitude of Thy mercy (Dan. iii.). “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.”

Prayer.

Be appeased, O Lord, we beseech Thee, and grant to Thy faithful pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their offences, and serve Thee with secure mind.

EPISTLE. Eph. v. 15-21.

See, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise, but as wise: redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury, but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord: giving thanks always for all things in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father: being subject one to another in the fear of Christ.

GOSPEL. John vi. 46-53

At that time there was a certain ruler whose son was sick at Capharnaum. He having heard that Jesus was - come from Judea into Galilee, went to Him, and prayed Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him: Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not. The ruler saith to him: Lord, come down before that my son dies. Jesus saith to him: Go thy way, thy son liveth. The man believed the word which Jesus said to him and went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him: and they brought word, saying that his son lived. He asked therefore of them the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him: Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. The father therefore knew that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him, thy son liveth; and himself believed, and his whole house.

Consolation in Sickness

To console ourselves in sickness, let us bethink ourselves that God has sent us sickness for the good of our souls; that we may thereby attain a knowledge of our sins, and make satisfaction for them; or, if we suffer innocently, we may exercise ourselves in patience, charity, humility, and such like virtues, and so increase our merits. When ill let us employ a competent physician and use the remedies he may prescribe. But before all else, let us betake ourselves to God, give ourselves up unreservedly to His will, pray Him to enlighten the physician, and bless the means employed for our recovery, and subdue our inclinations if the prescription of the physician does violence to our former habits. For how otherwise should medicine have its proper effect?

O Lord, here burn, here wound, only spare me in eternity!

St. Augustine

ON THE CARE OF THE SICK

All who have charge of the sick should before all think of the soul, and to that end call upon Jesus to come in the Blessed Sacrament, before the sick person is past the point of receiving Him with devotion. Therefore, parents, children, relatives, and friends, if they truly love the sick, should seek to induce him to receive the Blessed Sacrament in time. At the beginning, and during the progress of the sickness, we should endeavor to encourage the patient to resignation and childlike confidence in God; should place before him the Savior, suffering and glorified, as a pattern and consolation, should pray with him, to strengthen him against desponding thoughts and the temptations of the devil; should sign him with the sign of the cross, sprinkle him with holy water, and, before all, pray for a happy death. But in caring for the soul the body is not to be neglected. We must call in time a skillful physician, give the sick person his medicines at the appointed times, keep everything clean, observe particularly the prescribed limit as to eating and drinking, and not permit the patient to have his own will, for he might often desire what would be hurtful to him. In general, we should do what, in like case, we would wish to have done for ourselves, for there is no greater work of charity than to attend a sick person, and particularly to assist him to a happy death.

Feast of Saint Luke[3]

This day celebrates the life of St. Luke, one of Jesus' 12 disciples. Luke was thought to be an educated Gentile, or non-Jew, and may have even been a physician. Some biblical historians believe he may have even been a slave. Luke wrote two books in the New Testament -- the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel of Luke focuses on converting non-Jews to Christianity.

St Luke Facts

· Luke worked with the apostle Paul, and traveled with him throughout Asia Minor, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

· The Gospel of Luke describes a popular passage referred to as the 'The Parable of the Good Samaritan'. In it a traveling man is attacked by robbers who strip and beat him. A priest and a Levite pass by without helping him. A Samaritan stops and cares for him, taking him to an inn where the Samaritan pays for his care. (Luke 10:25-37)

· What became of Luke is unclear. Some accounts say he was martyred, while others say that he lived to an old age and died in Greece.

· The feast Day for St. Luke is held on October 18 in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Church and some Protestant churches. The Orthodox Church refers to this day as the Feast of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke.

St Luke Top Events and Things to Do

· Read the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. This is the story that is most often read at Christmas time about the birth of Jesus Christ.

· Read the popular 'Parable of the Good Samaritan'. Use this to inspire you to go out of your comfort zone to help someone in need.

· Some traditions believe that St. Luke, in addition to being a writer and physician, was a painter. Do a little artwork today to honor the saint.

· Go get a checkup. Luke was a physician. Take care of your body in honor of St. Luke.

· Pray for doctors and those who care for the sick through the intercession of St. Luke, patron of physicians.

· Foods this day to honor St. Luke would include some beef dish, as he is known as the "ox" and is the patron of butchers. For dessert, bake some raisin Banbury Tarts to evoke the festivals of England on this day, or a cake in the shape of a book with decorations of a calf or ox for this evangelist.

· Today is also known as "Sour Cakes Day" in Scotland, because baked cakes were eaten with sour cream in Rutherglen.

St. Luke’s Little Summer

Lovely, summerlike days that occur around October 18 are called Saint Luke’s Little Summer in honor of the saint’s feast day. Around this time, Saint Luke’s feast day, there is a period brief period of calm, dry weather. Of course, it’s difficult to generalize today across the vast continent of North America, but the temperature is usually mild, and the leaf colors are turning a gorgeous color. It’s a good time for a brief vacation or visit to a park. In Venice, Italy, they say: “San Luca, El ton va te la zuca” (Pumpkins go stale on St Luke’s Day), but here in North America, pumpkins are enjoying their finest hour. Saint Luke is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons, so it seems only fitting that the good doctor give us these calm days. In olden days, St. Luke’s Day did not receive as much attention in the secular world as St. John’s Day (June 24) and Michaelmas (September 29), so it was to keep from being forgotten that St. Luke presented us with some golden days to cherish before the coming of winter, or so the story goes. Some folks call this Indian Summer, but that officially occurs between November 11 and November 20.

Cyprus’s Painted Churches[4]

Above seaside Lemosos and on the eastern flank of 6,500-foot Mt. Olympus, you’ll also find ten magnificent medieval churches and monasteries, whose modest exteriors stand in contrast to their rich interiors, embellished with some of the finest Byzantine frescoes and icons in the Mediterranean. At the ornate 11th-century Kykkos Monastery, even the cloisters are richly frescoed, and a golden icon of the Virgin ascribed to St. Luke is said to work miracles. Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis (St. Nicholas of the Roof) is covered entirely in wall paintings. The monks who lived here were not only gifted artists but also master vintners, following a 5,500-year-old wine-making tradition in Cyprus. Stop at Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery for a visit to the region’s oldest wine-making site. The dark amber– colored Commandaria, a sweet wine that was a favorite elixir of medieval crusaders, is thought to be the world’s oldest appellation and is made from centuries-old vines in the Troodos foothills. For something with a little more kick, stop in any village bar for a glass of zivania, a centuries-old Cypriot beverage produced from the residue of grapes. With a 45 percent (and up) alcohol content, it is also used to treat wounds and sore throats.

Daily Devotions

· Today in honor of the Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day to God. To honor God REST: no shopping after 3pm till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.

· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

· Make reparations to the Holy Face

· Drops of Christ’s Blood

· Rosary