Thursday in the Octave of Easter or Easter Thursday
HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
Deuteronomy, Chapter 31, Verse 12-13
12 Assemble
the people—men, women and children, as well as the resident aliens who live in
your communities—that they may hear and so learn to FEAR the Lord, your God, and to observe carefully all the words of
this law. 13 Their children also, who do not
know it yet shall hear and learn to FEAR
the Lord, your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to
cross the Jordan to possess.
With
the coming of the secular age, we have forgotten Who made us great and have not
taught our children and immigrants fear
of the Lord and as a result our world languishes.
Fear not, my people! Remember,
Israel, you were sold to the nations not for your destruction; It was because
you angered God that you were handed over to your foes. For you provoked your
Maker with sacrifices to demons, to no-gods; You forsook the Eternal God who
nourished you and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you. She indeed saw coming
upon you the anger of God; and she said: “Hear, you neighbors of Zion! (Baruch
4: 5-9)
Fear not, my children; call out to
God! He who brought this upon you will remember you. As your hearts have been
disposed to stray from God, turn now ten times the more to seek him; For he who
has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring
joy.” (Baruch 4: 27-29)
What
Can We Do? We must promote faith by having devotion to the Divine Mercy and
prayer in our families. Christ started His ministry via Mary’s request at the
wedding at Cana with a new family: a couple; a new Eve and a new Adam. Christ
ended his ministry by making a new family. Woman this is your son…what is needed
today to restore, protect and sanctify our world is devotion through families
to the Divine Mercy. The Divine Mercy devotion is meant for the end times,
therefore, the consecration prayer which enriches the devotion, fits perfectly
into the “real time” of families everywhere.
Lord Jesus, if you want to pour
your mercy out on souls, how much more must you desire to pour it out on whole
families, especially in our time when so many families reject you. Therefore,
we the ______________ Family offer ourselves to your merciful love and ask for
the graces and mercy that other families refuse. We ask this in order to
console your Heart and because we need your mercy. Fill us with your mercy,
Lord. Please forgive us our sins, and give us the grace to be merciful to one
another in our deeds, words, and prayers. May the rays of mercy that go forth
from your Heart reign in our home and in our hearts. Please make our home a
place where your mercy can rest and where we, too, can find rest in your mercy.
Bless us with your mercy when we leave our home and bless us again when we
return. Bless everyone we meet with the mercy you pour into our hearts. Especially
bless those who visit our home — may they experience your mercy here.
Mary, Mother of Mercy, help us to
faithfully live our Offering to God's Merciful Love. We give ourselves to you
and ask you to share with us your Immaculate Heart. Help us to accept your
Son's mercy with your own openness of heart at the Annunciation. Help us to be
grateful for God's mercy with your own joyful heart at the Visitation. Help us
to trust in God's mercy, especially during times of darkness, with your own
steadfast faith at Calvary. Finally, Mary, protect and preserve our family in
love, so that one day we may rejoice together with you and all the saints in
the communion of the eternal Family of Love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
St. Joseph, pray for us. St. Faustina,
pray for us. St. Thérèse, pray for us.[1]
Thursday in the Octave of Easter or
Easter Thursday[2] is a day for Commemoration of the
departed which is a Slavic tradition. Thursday of the Dead is described as a
universal day for visiting tombs, engaged in most diligently by townspeople,
followed by fellaheen ("peasants"), and then Bedouins. Women
would go to the cemetery before sunrise to pray for the departed and distribute
bread cakes known as kaʿak
al-asfar
("the yellow roll") and dried fruit to the poor, to children, and to
relatives. Children would also receive painted eggs, generally yellow in color.
The sharing of this tradition between Christians and Muslims is thought to date
back to at least the 12th century when Saladin urged Muslims to adopt Christian
customs in order to promote religious tolerance in the region.
Novena for the Poor
Souls[3]
ON EVERY DAY OF
THE NOVENA V. O Lord, hear my prayer, R. And let my cry come unto Thee. O God,
the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant unto the souls of Thy
servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins, that through our devout
supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired, Who livest
and reignest world without end. Amen.
THURSDAY O Lord
God Almighty, I beseech Thee by the Precious Body and Blood of Thy divine Son
Jesus, which He Himself, on the night before His Passion, gave as meat and
drink to His beloved Apostles and bequeathed to His holy Church to be the
perpetual Sacrifice and life-giving nourishment of His faithful people, deliver
the souls in Purgatory, but most of all, that soul which was most devoted to
this Mystery of infinite love, in order that it may praise Thee therefore,
together with Thy divine Son and the Holy Spirit in Thy glory forever. Amen.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
PRAYER OF ST.
GERTRUDE THE GREAT O Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of
Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world
today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory and for sinners everywhere— for
sinners in the Universal Church, for those in my own home and for those within
my family. Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE
DYING O Most Merciful Jesus, lover of souls, I pray Thee, by the agony of Thy
most Sacred Heart, and by the sorrows of Thine Immaculate Mother, to wash in
Thy Most Precious Blood the sinners of the whole world who are now in their
agony and who will die today. Heart of Jesus, once in agony, have mercy on the
dying! Amen.
Faith
and Healing[4]
Shallow minds are easily scandalized
at the thought that, despite Christ Jesus' divine mission and His heroic
earnestness in fulfilling it, despite the limitless possibilities of the
Sacrifice of Calvary glorified in the power of the Resurrection, even now so
many human souls are still sick and diseased, even dead in sin and seemingly lost
in impenitence. But think for a moment of some definite astounding force in
nature, as for instance lightning, or even better, of so simple a force as the
stroke of a hammer or the approach of a lighted match; notice the vast
difference in the effects produced on a block of granite, on a cake of ice, and
on a keg of powder. Even so, the definite effect of the same graces upon
different individual souls depends on the receptivity of each. Yet never doubt,
the doors of the treasury of the merits and fruits of Calvary are wide open;
the fountains of the Savior are pouring out heavenly waters to purify and cure
and refresh souls; the invitation goes out to all:
"Come, eat My bread, and drink the wine which
I have mingled for you. All you that thirst come to the waters, and you that
have no money, make haste, buy, and eat come ye, buy wine and milk without
money! Come! to experience the virtue of the waters, and of the food, and of
the medicine, and of the fire. Come and drink lest you die of thirst! Come and
eat lest your soul hunger and starve! Come, approach the fire of My charity, to
be stirred out of your spiritual coldness and numbness!"
Anointing
of the Sick[5]
The Apostles must have been astonished at their
power to heal the bodies of the faithful while on the road when Christ sent
them out before His death.
Yet, the greatest power was to come after His death
and resurrection. Jesus made it perfectly clear that the power to forgive sins
is far greater than the power to heal. (Mk. 2:9) Jesus healed people of every
disease as a sign of the greater work of forgiveness of sins. For in the gospel
he states, “That you may know that the
Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sin.” (Mk 2:10) The physical
signs were there for the sake of a spiritual reality. “Is
anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of
the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name
of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick
person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will
be forgiven.”
(Jas. 5:14-15)
This
is the sacrament we know as the Anointing of the Sick. It must be noted that grave physical
suffering is often accompanied by a great spiritual trial. Sacramental
anointing gives us the grace we need to face our trials. Oils have been used
for millennia to convey the grace and health of God. Anointing helps us
transform physical suffering into something more deeply curative, something
truly releasing. Don’t wait! At the first sign of serious ailment seek the aid
of Christ through this sacrament.
Preparation
for Death[6]
All
Christian life is a preparation for death. We cannot predict the moment of our passing,
but we should be prepared for it both remotely and near term when our death is
imminent. It is best to prepare far in advance by making a lifetime habit of
confession and reception of the Holy Eucharist. However, if seriously ill do
not wait to take action. Confession must be made while we are still thinking
clearly and have the energy for the task, and we should make arrangements to
receive sacramental anointing. Do not rely on others to do this for you. It is
important for you, if you are able, to contact the hospital chaplain or priest.
Remember there is more after our death for the church teaches us that after our
death there is judgment, heaven and hell.
·
Do
not be a nilly willy and avoid thinking about death and we should remind
ourselves that death is a normal part of life and we should have a sense of
humor and it is not a license to make others miserable.
·
We
should try to get our affairs in order so to make it easier on others.
·
We
should choose a Catholic cemetery for the burial of our mortal remains, as a
sign of our belief in the resurrection of the body. Our flesh has been
divinized in baptism, made one the flesh of Jesus in Holy Communion, and so its
repose is a matter of some consequence.
·
We
should keep in mind that at our death as said by Cardinal Newman, “Life is
changed, not ended” and “All who ever lived still live.”
Yom
HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)[7]
The Holocaust Remembrance
Day, (Yom Hashoah, Hebrew: יום
השואה),
seeks to commemorate the Holocaust, a systematic and state-planned program to
murder millions of Jews and other minority groups in Europe. This program of
mass killing was run by the German Nazis in the 1930s and 40s during the Second
World War, where Jews and minorities were brought into concentration camps and
murdered at the hands of Nazi officials. This observance seeks to remember and
honor the victims of the Holocaust, including six million Jews and thousands of
Russians gypsies, homosexuals, disabled persons and other minorities.
Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance
Day) Facts
·
Yom Hashoah is an Israeli Festival, as opposed
to an ancient Jewish festival. Yom Hashoah was inaugurated in 1953. It was
instituted by the Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and the President
Isaac (Yitzchak) Ben Zvi. The Ancient fast of the Tenth of Tevet
(December) is the day on which the siege of Jerusalem commenced, prior to the
destruction of the Holy Temple. Many Jews commemorate the Holocaust on
this day.
·
In Israel, on the Eve of Yom Hashoah, a siren is
sounded, followed by an official memorial service headed by the Prime Minister,
President, Army Officials and Holocaust survivors. The service includes
speeches, Kaddish and El Maleh Rahamim (memorial prayers) and the Hatikvah
(Israel National Anthem). Another siren is heard in the morning, followed by
various memorial services.
Yom HaShoah Top Events and Things
to Do
·
Many communities read a list of those who
perished in the camps and Ghettos. One way to commemorate the Holocaust
is to browse the names in the Yad Vashem
(Israel's Memorial to the Holocaust) names Database.
·
Watch the mini-series Holocaust
starring Meryl Streep. It depicts the story of a Jewish family's struggle
to survive the Nazis.
· Attend a local memorial service. Tip: find one in your community by doing an internet search for Yom Hashoah.
·
Donate to a charity
that serves holocaust survivors or promotes education about the holocaust.
·
Watch a movie about the Holocaust. Some popular
picks: Schindler's List (1993), Auschwitz (2011), The
Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008), Life is Beautiful (1997)
and The Pianist (2002).
Divine Mercy Novena[8]
Seventh Day - Today Bring Me the Souls Who
Especially Venerate and Glorify My Mercy.
Most
Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most
Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the
greatness of Your Mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God
Himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward,
confident in Your Mercy. These souls are united to Jesus and carry all mankind
on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but Your mercy
will embrace them as they depart from this life.
Eternal
Father turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls who glorify and venerate Your
greatest attribute, that of Your fathomless mercy, and who are enclosed in the
Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls are a living Gospel; their hands
are full of deeds of mercy and their spirit, overflowing with joy, sings a
canticle of mercy to You, O Most High! I beg You O God: Show them Your mercy
according to the hope and trust they have placed in You. Let there be
accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them, "I Myself
will defend as My own glory, during their lifetime, and especially at the hour
of their death, those souls who will venerate My fathomless mercy."
Daily Devotions
·
do
a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Total Consecration
to St. Joseph Day 10
· Manhood of the Master-week 8 day 2
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[3]Schouppe S.J., Rev. Fr. F. X..
Purgatory Explained
[4]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2018-04-05
[5] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40
Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 22. Anointing of the Sick.
[6] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40
Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 39. Preparation for Death.
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