Wednesday, November 15, 2023

- November 10, 2023

Pray the Rosary with Bishop Strickland in Baltimore on Wednesday

November 13, 2023 from LifeSite News by Louis Knuffke

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; ⁸but 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.