Pray the Rosary with Bishop Strickland in Baltimore on Wednesday
Editor’s Note: One of the best ways for us as lay people to combat the evil that surrounds us today is to implore they help of our Blessed Mother in this battle. You can make a difference by praying the rosary with Bishop Strickland, either in person or remotely, beginning at noon Eastern time on Wednesday. We are working on getting a live stream of the event – check back here on Wednesday. If you plan to appear in person, feel free to also bring a sign saying “I stand with Strickland.”
- WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 15 at Noon Eastern Time
- WHERE: Marriott Waterfront Hotel, 700 Aliceanna Street, Baltimore, MD
Bishop Joseph Strickland, whom Pope Francis removed from his diocese over the weekend, will lead a Rosary rally this week in Baltimore as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) conducts its meetings for its biannual plenary session.
At noon on Wednesday, November 15, Bishop Strickland will recite the Rosary publicly at the plaza on the waterfront side of the Marriott Waterfront Hotel Inner Harbor East, where the bishops are gathered for their meetings.
Bishop Joseph Coffey, Auxiliary Bishop for the Military Services, will also recite the Rosary at the plaza on Tuesday, November 14. The faithful are asked to join and to invite their own bishop to join Bishops Strickland and Coffey. For more information, Catholics may contact Jack Ames at (410) 961-2008 or JackAmesPE@Aol.com.
Bishop Strickland has regularly led the Rosary outside the bishops’ conference meetings in Baltimore in the past over such issues as protesting the giving of Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians, a subject that the bishops have wavered on for decades. In 2021, he was the only bishop to join Catholics outside the bishops’ assembly. At the time, he stated, “When it comes to the Eucharist and the sanctity of life, I must speak. The most important thing I must speak about is the presence of the Lord and fighting the atrocity of abortion.”
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Wisdom, Chapter 6, Verse 7-8
7 For the Ruler of all
shows no partiality, nor does he FEAR
greatness, because he himself made the great as well as the small, and provides
for all alike; 8 but for
those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.
No matter how big or important you
are God is greater. If you are in a position of power exercise your power as if
you are working for God; for the power, you have had been given to you from
him. Whether you are great or small complete your duties as if it is for the
Lord. In all things do your best. If you are in power take care of and listen
to your people, do not lord it over them. Your authority has been given to you
by the Lord.
Scrutiny
of the Powerful[1]
St.
Elizabeth, Duchess of Thuringia, it is said that the servant of God lost her mother,
Gertrude, Queen of Hungary, about the year 1220. In the spirit of a holy
Christian daughter, she gave abundant alms, redoubled her prayers and
mortifications, exhausted the resources of her charity for the relief of that
dear soul. God revealed to her that she had not done too much. One night the
deceased appeared to her with a sad and emaciated countenance; she placed
herself on her knees next to the bed, and said to her, weeping, “My daughter,
you see at your feet your mother overwhelmed with suffering. I come to implore
you to multiply your suffrages, that Divine Mercy may deliver me from the
frightful torments I endure. Oh! how much are those to be pitied who exercise
authority over others? Now I expiate the faults that I committed upon the throne.
Oh! my daughter, I pray you by the pangs I endured when bringing you into the
world, by the cares and anxieties which your education cost me, I conjure you
to deliver me from my torments.” Elizabeth, deeply touched, arose immediately,
took the discipline to blood, and implored God, with tears, to have mercy on
her mother, Gertrude, declaring that she would not cease to pray until she had
obtained her deliverance. Her prayers were heard.
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN
MYSTERY
SECTION TWO-THE SEVEN
SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER THREE-THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF
COMMUNION
ARTICLE 6-THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS
VII. The Effects of the Sacrament of Holy
Orders
The indelible character
1581 This sacrament configures
the recipient to Christ by a special grace of the Holy Spirit, so that he may
serve as Christ's instrument for his Church. By ordination one is enabled to
act as a representative of Christ, Head of the Church, in his triple office of
priest, prophet, and king.
1582 As in the case of Baptism
and Confirmation this share in Christ's office is granted once for all. The
sacrament of Holy Orders, like the other two, confers an indelible spiritual
character and cannot be repeated or conferred temporarily.
1583 It is true that someone
validly ordained can, for a just reason, be discharged from the obligations and
functions linked to ordination or can be forbidden to exercise them; but he
cannot become a layman again in the strict sense, because the character
imprinted by ordination is forever. The vocation and mission received on the
day of his ordination mark him permanently.
1584 Since it is ultimately
Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the
unworthiness of the latter does not prevent Christ from acting. St.
Augustine states this forcefully:
As for the proud minister, he
is to be ranked with the devil. Christ's gift is not thereby profaned: what
flows through him keeps its purity, and what passes through him remains dear
and reaches the fertile earth.... The spiritual power of the sacrament is
indeed comparable to light: those to be enlightened receive it in its purity,
and if it should pass through defiled beings, it is not itself defiled.
The grace of the Holy Spirit
1585 The grace of the Holy
Spirit proper to this sacrament is configuration to Christ as Priest, Teacher,
and Pastor, of whom the ordained is made a minister.
1586 For the bishop, this is
first of all a grace of strength (“the governing spirit": Prayer of
Episcopal Consecration in the Latin rite): The grace to guide and defend
his Church with strength and prudence as a father and pastor, with gratuitous
love for all and a preferential love for the poor, the sick, and the needy.
This grace impels him to proclaim the Gospel to all, to be the model for his
flock, to go before it on the way of sanctification by identifying himself in
the Eucharist with Christ the priest and victim, not fearing to give his life
for his sheep:
Father, you
know all hearts.
You have
chosen your servant for the office of bishop.
May he be a
shepherd to your holy flock,
and a high
priest blameless in your sight,
ministering
to you night and day;
may he
always gain the blessing of your favor
and offer
the gifts of your holy Church.
Through the
Spirit who gives the grace of high priesthood grant him the power
to forgive
sins as you have commanded
to assign
ministries as you have decreed
and to loose
from every bond by the authority which you
gave to your
apostles. May he be pleasing to you by his gentleness and purity of heart,
presenting a
fragrant offering to you,
through
Jesus Christ, your Son....
1587 The spiritual gift
conferred by presbyteral ordination is expressed by this prayer of the
Byzantine Rite. the bishop, while laying on his hand, says among other things:
Lord, fill
with the gift of the Holy Spirit
him whom you
have deigned to raise to the rank of the priesthood,
that he may
be worthy to stand without reproach before your altar
to proclaim
the Gospel of your kingdom,
to fulfill
the ministry of your word of truth,
to offer you
spiritual gifts and sacrifices,
to renew
your people by the bath of rebirth;
so that he
may go out to meet our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, your only Son,
on the day
of his second coming,
and may
receive from your vast goodness
the
recompense for a faithful administration of his order.
1588 With regard to deacons,
"strengthened by sacramental grace they are dedicated to the People of
God, in conjunction with the bishop and his body of priests, in the service
(diakonia) of the liturgy, of the Gospel, and of works of charity."
1589 Before the grandeur of the
priestly grace and office, the holy doctors felt an urgent call to conversion
in order to conform their whole lives to him whose sacrament had made them
ministers. Thus St. Gregory of Nazianzus, as a very young priest, exclaimed:
We must
begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to
be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring him
close to others, be sanctified to sanctify, lead by the hand and counsel
prudently. I know whose ministers we are, where we find ourselves and to where
we strive. I know God's greatness and man's weakness, but also his potential.
[Who then is the priest? He is] the defender of truth, who stands with angels,
gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to the altar on high,
shares Christ's priesthood, refashions creation, restores it in God's image,
recreates it for the world on high and, even greater, is divinized and
divinizes.
and the holy Cure of Ars: "The priest continues the work of redemption on
earth.... If we really understood the priest on earth, we would die not of
fright but of love.... the Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus."
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.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Families of St. Joseph’s Porters
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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