MAY 18 Fifth Sunday of Easter
2 Maccabees, Chapter 8, Verse 12-13
When Judas learned of
Nicanor’s advance and informed his companions about the approach of the army, 13 those who were FEARFUL and those who lacked faith in God’s justice deserted and
got away.
Nicanor
had plans to after the defeat of Judas to enslave the Jews as a tribute to be
paid to the Romans. The slave traders follow Nicanor like vultures in waiting
for a meal. Judas’ troops were outnumbered by 3 to 1 due to some of Judas’ army
deserted in advance of the enemy selling whatever property that is left but the
faithful prepared for battle.[1]
Battle
Ready[2]
Before
our Blessed Lord began his public work, He went into the desert to pray and
fast for 40 days. Before He endured His passion and death on the cross, He was
in the Garden of Gethsemane consumed in prayer. The example of Christ is clear.
Repeatedly the scriptures point out that Jesus prayed constantly. If, He who is
the Son of God took prayer so seriously and made it a necessity, then who are
we to not see the importance of this powerful connection with God. Prayer is
essential to be prepared for the battles we face in this world. It is essential
for us to have the strength to stand up against the forces that seek to destroy
the Catholic Church and/or anything that is ordered, true and holy. One of the
most important forms of prayer for every warrior of Christ is the ROSARY.
Repeatedly we hear from popes, saints and even the Blessed Mother herself (in
Church approved apparitions), to make the ROSARY a disciplined part of our
daily life.
"Get my weapon." - St. Padre
Pio, speaking about the rosary
ON KEEPING
THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[3]
CHAPTER III
DIES ECCLESIAE
The Eucharistic Assembly:
Heart of Sunday
A pilgrim people.
37. As the Church journeys through
time, the reference to Christ's Resurrection and the weekly recurrence of this
solemn memorial help to remind us of the pilgrim and eschatological
character of the People of God. Sunday after Sunday the Church moves
towards the final "Lord's Day", that Sunday which knows no end. The
expectation of Christ's coming is inscribed in the very mystery of the Church
and is evidenced in every Eucharistic celebration. But, with its specific
remembrance of the glory of the Risen Christ, the Lord's Day recalls with
greater intensity the future glory of his "return". This makes Sunday
the day on which the Church, showing forth more clearly her identity as
"Bride", anticipates in some sense the eschatological reality of the
heavenly Jerusalem. Gathering her children into the Eucharistic assembly and
teaching them to wait for the "divine Bridegroom", she engages in a
kind of "exercise of desire", receiving a foretaste of the joy of the
new heavens and new earth, when the holy city, the new Jerusalem, will come
down from God, "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev
21:2).
Fifth Sunday of Easter
The liberty of the New Covenant and its perfection in prayer and the Spirit
The introit of the Mass is again a joyful thanksgiving for our redemption. " Declare the voice of joy, and let it be heard, alleluia; declare it even to the ends of the earth; the Lord hath delivered His people, alleluia, alleluia" (Isaias xlviii. 20). " Shout with joy to God, all the earth, sing ye a psalm to His name, give glory to His praise.
Prayer.
O God, from Whom all good things proceed, grant to Thy suppliants that by Thy inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by Thy direction perform them.
EPISTLE. James i. 23-27.
Dearly Beloved: Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only: deceiving your own selves. But if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer: he shall be compared to a man be holding his own countenance in a glass: for he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man s religion is vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep oneself unspoiled.
GOSPEL. John
xvi. 23-30
At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Amen, amen
I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you.
Hitherto you have not asked anything in My name: ask, and you shall receive,
that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The
hour cometh when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you
plainly of the Father: in that day you shall ask in My name: and I say not to
you, that I will ask the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you,
because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came
forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world and
I go to the Father. His disciples say to Him: Behold now Thou speakest plainly,
and speakest no proverb; now we know that Thou knowest all things, and Thou
needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou comest
forth from God.
The most effective means of acquiring true Christian
spirituality is through participation in the Mass.[4]
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Day 336 2616-2622
Jesus hears our prayer
2616 Prayer to
Jesus is answered by him already during his ministry, through signs that
anticipate the power of his death and Resurrection: Jesus hears the prayer of faith,
expressed in words (the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good
thief) or in silence (the bearers of the paralytic, the woman with a
hemorrhage who touches his clothes, the tears and ointment of the sinful
woman). The urgent request of the blind men, "Have mercy on us, Son
of David" or "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" has-been
renewed in the traditional prayer to Jesus known as the Jesus Prayer:
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" Healing
infirmities or forgiving sins, Jesus always responds to a prayer offered in
faith: "Your faith has made you well; go in peace."
St.
Augustine wonderfully summarizes the three dimensions of Jesus' prayer:
"He prays for us as our priest, prays in us as our Head, and is prayed to
by us as our God. Therefore let us acknowledge our voice in him and his in
us."
The prayer of the Virgin Mary
2617 Mary's
prayer is revealed to us at the dawning of the fullness of time. Before the
incarnation of the Son of God, and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
her prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father's plan of loving
kindness: at the Annunciation, for Christ's conception; at Pentecost, for the
formation of the Church, his Body. In the faith of his humble handmaid,
the Gift of God found the acceptance he had awaited from the beginning of time.
She whom the Almighty made "full of grace" responds by offering her
whole being: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me
according to your word." "Fiat": this is Christian prayer: to be
wholly God's, because he is wholly ours.
2618 The
Gospel reveals to us how Mary prays and intercedes in faith. At Cana, the
mother of Jesus asks her son for the needs of a wedding feast; this is the sign
of another feast - that of the wedding of the Lamb where he gives his body and
blood at the request of the Church, his Bride. It is at the hour of the New
Covenant, at the foot of the cross, that Mary is heard as the Woman, the
new Eve, the true "Mother of all the living."
2619 That is
why the Canticle of Mary, The Magnificat (Latin) or Megalynei (byzantine)
is the song both of the Mother of God and of the Church; the song of the
Daughter of Zion and of the new People of God; the song of thanksgiving for the
fullness of graces poured out in the economy of salvation and the song of the
"poor" whose hope is met by the fulfillment of the promises made to
our ancestors, "to Abraham and to his posterity forever."
IN BRIEF
2620 Jesus' filial prayer is the perfect model of prayer in
the New Testament. Often done in solitude and in secret, the prayer of Jesus
involves a loving adherence to the will of the Father even to the Cross and an
absolute confidence in being heard.
2621 In his teaching, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray
with a purified heart, with lively and persevering faith, with filial boldness.
He calls them to vigilance and invites them to present their petitions to God
in his name. Jesus Christ himself answers prayers addressed to him.
2622 The prayers of the Virgin Mary, in her Fiat and
Magnificat, are characterized by the generous offering of her whole being in
faith.
Claire’s Corner
·
Today in honor of
the Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your
day to God. To honor God REST: no shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday.
Don’t forget the internet.
·
Nationally Military Appreciate Month
On Sundays Pray:
O
Glorious Queen of Heaven and Earth, Virgin Most Powerful, thou who hast the
power to crush the head of the ancient serpent with thy heel, come and exercise
this power flowing from the grace of thine Immaculate Conception. Shield us
under the mantle of thy purity and love, draw us into the sweet abode of thy
heart and annihilate and render impotent the forces bent on destroying us. Come
Most Sovereign Mistress of the Holy Angels and Mistress of the Most Holy
Rosary, thou who from the very beginning hast received from God the power and
the mission to crush the head of Satan. Send forth thy holy legions, we humbly
beseech thee, that under thy command and by thy power they may pursue the evil
spirits, counter them on every side, resist their bold attacks and drive them
far from us, harming no one on the way, binding them to the foot of the
Cross to be judged and sentenced by Jesus Christ Thy Son and to be disposed of
by Him as He wills.
St.
Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, come to our aid in this grave battle
against the forces of darkness, repel the attacks of the devil and free the
members of the Auxilium Christianorum, and those for whom the priests of the
Auxilium Christianorum pray, from the strongholds of the enemy.
St.
Michael, summon the entire heavenly court to engage their forces in this fierce
battle against the powers of hell. Come O Prince of Heaven with thy mighty
sword and thrust into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits. O Guardian
Angels, guide and protect us. Amen.
May 23 - 25, 2025
Feast of the Flowering Moon is held annually on Memorial Day weekend in historic, downtown Chillicothe, Ohio.
The festival offers plenty of family-friendly entertainment for
residents and visitors to Chillicothe, Ohio. Featured activities include Native
American music and dancing, crafters, exhibitors, Mountain Man Encampment with
working craftsmen and demonstrations, entertainment and much more.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Absent
Fathers (physically & spiritually)
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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