NOVENA TO THE HOLY FACE
DAILY PREPARATORY PRAYER
O Most Holy and Blessed
Trinity, through the intercession of Holy Mary, whose soul was pierced through
by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of her Divine Son, we ask your
help in making a perfect Novena of reparation with Jesus, united with all His
sorrows, love and total abandonment.
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.
Second Day
Psalm 51, 5-6a.
My offenses truly I know them; My sin is
always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your
sight I have done.
Most Holy Face of Jesus, we
are truly sorry that we have hurt you so much by constantly doing what is
wrong; and for all the good works we have failed to do. Immaculate Heart of
Mary, Saint Joseph, intercede for us, help us to console the Most Holy Face of
Jesus. Pray that we may share in the tremendous love Thou hast for one another
and for the most Holy and Blessed Trinity. Amen.
Through the merits of your
precious blood and your Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition, Pardon and
Mercy.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit,
Sanctifier, all powerful God of love, Thou who didst fill the Virgin Mary with
grace, Thou who didst wonderfully transform the hearts of the apostles, Thou
who didst endow all Thy martyrs with a miraculous heroism, come and sanctify
us, illumine our minds, strengthen our wills, purify our consciences, rectify
our judgments, set our hearts on fire and preserve us from the misfortune of
resisting Thine inspirations. We consecrate to Thee our understanding, our
heart and our will, our whole being for time and for eternity. May our
understanding be always submissive to Thy heavenly inspirations and to the
teachings of Thy Holy Catholic Church, of which Thou art the infallible guide;
may our heart be ever inflamed with love of God and neighbor; may our will be
ever conformed to the divine will, and may our whole life be a faithful
imitation of the life and virtues of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to whom
with the Father and Thee be honor and glory forever. Amen
Pray one (1) Our Father, (3) Hail Mary’s,
(1) Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine. (Three times)
Saint Bakhita-Marriage week
13The
next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So, he asked the
culprit, “Why are you striking your companion?” 14But he replied, “Who
has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as
you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became AFRAID
and thought, “The affair must certainly be known.”
Moses
was a prince of Egypt and also a Hebrew. Moses as a man sought justice for his
Hebrew brothers and in a fit of anger killed an Egyptian that was brutalizing a
Hebrew slave and secretly buried him in the sand. Secrecy is an important
element in sinfulness. When we find ourselves wanting to keep something secret,
we should ask ourselves are we going down a road that we want to go; is this
secrecy that we desire really an attempt to hide our sinfulness from God; who
sees all things. Think twice the next time you seek secrecy.
Saint Bakhita-Slave to Saint-Quotes[1]
·
"If
I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured
me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not
be a Christian and Religious today... The Lord has loved me so much: we must
love everyone... we must be compassionate!" ~ Josephine Bakhita
·
"Seeing
the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself, 'Who could be the Master of
these beautiful things?' I felt a great desire to see him, to know him and to
pay him homage." ~ Josephine Bakhita
·
"The
Lord has loved me so much: we must love everyone...we must be
compassionate!" ~ Josephine Bakhita
·
"O
Lord, if I could fly to my people and tell them of your goodness at the top of
my voice, oh how many souls would be won!" ~ Josephine Bakhita
More Alive, More Human[2]
Do not be afraid of holiness. It will take away none
of your energy, vitality or joy. On the contrary, you will become what the
Father had in mind when he created you, and you will be faithful to your
deepest self. To depend on God, sets us free from every form of enslavement and
leads us to recognize our great dignity. We see this in Saint Josephine
Bakhita: “Abducted and sold into slavery at the tender age of seven, she
suffered much at the hands of cruel masters. But she came to understand the
profound truth that God, and not man, is the true Master of every human being,
of every human life. This experience became a source of great wisdom for this
humble daughter of Africa”. To the extent that each Christian grows in
holiness, he or she will bear greater fruit for our world. The bishops of West
Africa have observed that “we are being called in the spirit of the New
Evangelization to be evangelized and to evangelize through the empowering of
all you, the baptized, to take up your roles as salt of the earth and light of
the world wherever you find yourselves”. Do not be afraid to set your sights
higher, to allow yourself to be loved and liberated by God. Do not be afraid to
let yourself be guided by the Holy Spirit. Holiness does not make you less
human, since it is an encounter between your weakness and the power of God’s
grace. For in the words of León Bloy, when all is said and done, “the only
great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint”.
Marriage Week[3]
Simon Peter and the other fishermen are astonished at
the catch that reveals Jesus as Lord. Jesus’ response to Simon Peter is
reassuring: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men”. Once again,
the fisherman of Galilee places his trust in the words of Jesus and leaves
everything to follow Him. James and John also do the same; from now on, they
will be ‘fishers of men’. Jesus invites them to share in His mission, the
mission of the Church. As baptized, we all partake in the mission of Jesus
Christ, priest, prophet, and king. As married men and women, the calling is
lived out in a concrete home and family. How does your life as a couple, as parents,
as godparents, or in another way, touch the lives of your family? How are you witnesses
and bearers of the Gospel?
What Is Marriage?[4]
Marriage
is a lifelong partnership of the whole of life, of mutual and exclusive
fidelity, established by mutual consent between a man and a woman, and ordered
towards the good of the spouses and the procreation of offspring. As the Second
Vatican Council reminds us, marriage is not a purely human institution: the
intimate partnership of life and the love which constitutes the married state
has been established by the creator and endowed by him with its own proper
laws. . .. For God himself is the author of marriage. Moreover, God has endowed
marriage with certain essential attributes, without which marriage cannot exist
as he intends.
The
Church has taught through the ages that marriage is an exclusive relationship
between one man and one woman. This union, once validly entered and
consummated, gives rise to a bond that cannot be dissolved by the will of the
spouses. Marriage thus created is a faithful, privileged sphere of intimacy
between the spouses that lasts until death.
Marriage
is not merely a private institution, however. It is the foundation for the
family, where children learn the values and virtues that will make good
Christians as well as good citizens. The importance of marriage for children
and for the upbringing of the next generation highlights the importance of marriage
for all society.
Conjugal love, the love proper to marriage, is present in the commitment to the complete and total gift of self between husband and wife. Conjugal love establishes a unique communion of persons through the relationship of mutual self-giving and receiving between husband and wife, a relationship by which ―a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body [flesh]‖(Gn 2:24).The Second Vatican Council speaks about conjugal love in words of great beauty: The Lord, wishing to bestow special gifts of grace and divine love on married love, has restored, perfected, and elevated it. A love like that, bringing together the human and the divine, leads the partners to a free and mutual self-giving, experienced in tenderness and action, and permeating their entire lives; this love is actually developed and increased by its generous exercise in conjugal love one can see something of how Christ loves his Church (Eph 5:25).
Resources
·
On marriages in crisis –For Your Marriage list
of ministries that help married couples in difficulty or crisis
·
On healthy sexuality within marriage –Paul VI,
Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae,1968.
·
On divorce –USCCB, Divorce and the Church’s
Healing Ministry, 2010.
·
On lust and pornography –USCCB: Create in Me a
Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography, 2015 and Clean Heart series of
pamphlets, 2016.
·
Pope Francis’s Catechesis on the Family, January
7, 2015 –November 18, 2015.
·
USCCB, Pastoral Letter Marriage: Love and Life
in the Divine Plan, 2009.
·
USCCB, For Your Marriage website:
foryourmarriage.org.
·
USCCB, Por Tu Matrimonio website:
portumatrimonio.org.
Daily
Devotions/Activities
·
30 Days (day 22) with St. Joseph (End on Feast of St. Joseph)
·
Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels
·
Monday: Litany of
Humility
·
Rosary
No comments:
Post a Comment