Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Every Wednesday is Dedicated to St. Joseph
The Italian culture has
always had a close association with St. Joseph perhaps you could make Wednesdays
centered around Jesus’s Papa. Plan an Italian dinner of pizza or spaghetti
after attending Mass as most parishes have a Wednesday evening Mass. You could
even do carry out to help restaurants. If you are adventurous, you could do the
Universal Man Plan: St. Joseph style. Make the evening a family night perhaps
it could be a game night. Whatever you do make the day special.
· Devotion to the 7 Joys and Sorrows of St.
Joseph
·
Do the St.
Joseph Universal Man Plan.
Wednesday of the Seventh Week of
Easter
MARY, MARY HELP OF
CHRISTIANS
Deuteronomy, Chapter 20, Verse 1
When you go out to war against your
enemies and you see horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, you
shall not be AFRAID of them, for the LORD, your God, who brought you up
from the land of Egypt, will be with you.
God imagines the world
without war; this is why He sent His son to bring peace to the world. Yet, we
are still at war for our enemy is not just evil men but the devil and his
cohort. Therefore, when our enemy brings forth horse and chariot and all manner
of evils; do not be afraid for the victory has already been won! Trust in Jesus
who will send St. Michael the Archangel to defend us and cover us with his
strong shield and lead us safely through the midst of our enemy. Our prayer
then is having fought the good fight and having a lifetime of devotion to the
Blood of Jesus that when the last hour of our earthly life draws near, and we
await the awful moment when our soul must leave our bodies it will be St.
Michael that will defend us in our most vulnerable moments protecting us from
the satanic hosts when they make their final assault upon our souls.
Australia
and Our Lady Help of Christians[1]
When Cardinal Patrick Moran of
Sydney wrote his History of the Catholic Church in Australia, he recalled the
laying of the foundation stone of what was to become the first cathedral in
this land. His eminence declared: "Who was the patron selected by the
people and their newly arrived pastor, Father Therry, for the Mother Church?
Mary, the Immaculate Mother of God, under the special invocation of Help of
Christians, was chosen patroness. In choosing Mary, the young Church was
following a sure Catholic instinct. But why the particular title of Help of
Christians?
Events had happened in
Europe only several years earlier, and this no doubt was still fresh in
people's minds. Napoleon Bonaparte had jailed Pope Pius VI who died in goal,
after which Pope Pius VII was elected. Just a short time later, he too was
jailed by Napoleon, who kept him prisoner at Fontainebleau, 35 miles from
Paris. The Holy Father vowed to God that, if he were restored, he would
institute a special feast in honor of Mary. Military reverses forced Napoleon
to release the Pope, and on May 24th, 1814, Pius VII returned in triumph to
Rome. Twelve months later, the Pope decreed that the feast of Mary Help of
Christians, be kept on the 24th of May.
Australia became the first
nation in the world to have, Mary, Help of Christians as Patroness: the first
church to celebrate May 24th on a national scale (elsewhere the feast was
restricted to Rome and specified places); and the first country to have a
mother-cathedral under the same title.
Mary
Help of Christian’s patroness of Australia
and of the Military Ordinariate (Feast: 24th May)
Almighty
God deepen in our hearts our love of Mary Help of Christians. Through her
prayers and under her protection, may the light of Christ shine over our land.
May Australia be granted harmony, justice and peace. Grant wisdom to our
leaders and integrity to our citizens. Bless especially the men and women of
the Australian Defense Force and their families. We ask this through Christ Our
Lord. Amen.
Mary
Help of Christians, pray for us.
Things
to Do:
·
Make
a virtual visit to the chapel of Our Lady, Help of Christians at the Basilica of the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
·
Read
more about Our Lady, Help of Christians.
·
Travel
via the Internet to the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians built by St. John Bosco as a
monument to the Virgin Mary, with the title Help of Christians, as the mother
church and spiritual center of the Salesian Congregation.
Apostolic Exhortation[2]
Veneremur
Cernui – Down in Adoration Falling
of The Most
Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix
on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
My beloved Brothers and
Sisters in Christ,
I. The Graces of Holy Communion
i. Holy Communion changes and
transforms us into “Alter Christus”
36. This Eucharistic Christ
gives life to those that receive Him, assimilates them and transforms them into
Himself. Jesus called Himself the “Bread of Life” precisely to make us
understand that He does not nourish us as ordinary food does; rather, as He
possesses life, He gives it to us. Being assimilated by Jesus in Holy Communion
makes us like Him in our sentiments, desires, and our way of thinking. In Holy
Communion, His heart nourishes our hearts; His pure, wise and loving desires
purify our selfish ones, so that we not only know what He wants, but also start
wanting the same more and more. Saint Paul aptly wrote, “I live, no longer
I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Through the Eucharist, we really
become not only an Alter Christus – Another Christ – but indeed Ipse
Christus, Christ Himself. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in a homily on Corpus
Domini speaks of this divine assimilation:
“The
purpose of this communion, of this partaking, is the assimilation of my life
with His, my transformation and conformation into He who is living Love.
Therefore, this communion implies adoration; it implies the will to follow
Christ, to follow the One who goes ahead of us” (Homily, Corpus Domini,
2005).
37. Have you ever wondered why
Jesus chose to leave us His presence under the appearance of bread and wine? He
reveals the reason in His discourse on the Bread of Life:
“Just
as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the
one who feeds on me will have life because of me” (Jn 6:57).
He wants to be nourishment of higher
order of life within us, a capacity to love and act like Him, even to “be
perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
38. Bread and wine are also
powerful symbols that convey eloquently Jesus’ invitation to walk the same path
of sacrificial love. The grains of wheat that are used for making bread had to
go through a grueling process. They are plucked, thrashed, crushed, and ground
up, kneaded and shaped, and finally, they are thrown to be baked in an oven. In
a similar way, the grapes are plucked and smashed. Their juice is purified and
bottled. Then they are left until maturity. If we look up at the Crucified
Jesus on the Cross, we can see a similar grueling process He went through in
His Passion and Death; this is what true love really means. Every time we come
to the Eucharist; we are invited to imitate this sacrificial love of Christ.
To be continued…
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART ONE:
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION ONE
"I BELIEVE" - "WE
BELIEVE"
CHAPTER TWO GOD COMES TO
MEET MAN
50 By natural reason man can know God with
certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge,
which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine
Revelation. Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and
given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving
goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God
has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
>>>Today is Day 7 of the Pentecost Novena to the Holy Spirit.<<<
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Protection
of Life from Conception until natural death.
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Rosary
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