Rachel’s
Corner
When Israel was a child I
loved him, a
out of Egypt I called my
son.(Hosea 11:-1)
o When I was but a child, I suffered a grand-mal seizure
that nearly killed me. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My Dad immediately
called Father Paul Wolff who was General Patton's Belgian Guide and asked for
prays at the shrine of our Lady of Beauraing. A
week later the brain tumor disappeared and there was still a small scar left on
a portion of my brain, and I continued to have seizures, but medicine kept it
under control for many years. Eventually through the work of a doctor I
received a world class surgical procedure that completely healed me of
seizures, from the world-famous Barrow Neurological Institute. Today I work
there.
·
do a personal
eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Mary’s Month-Do
a family Rosary
·
Spirit: Chardonnay Day
·
Bucket
List: Malta
·
Foodie: Chicken
Fricassee
Thursday Feast
Thursday
is the day of the week that our Lord gave himself up for consumption. Thursday
commemorates the last supper. Some theologians believe after Sunday Thursday is
the holiest day of the week. We should then try to make this day special by
making a visit to the blessed sacrament chapel, Mass or even stopping by the
grave of a loved one. Why not plan to count the blessing of the week and thank
our Lord. Plan a special meal. Be at Peace. According to Mary Agreda[1]
in her visions it was on a Thursday at six o'clock in the evening and at the
approach of night that the Angel Gabriel approached and announced her as Mother
of God and she gave her fiat.
Dinner Menu
Best Places to Visit in May-New Orleans, Louisiana[2]
This month, it celebrates
the mild weather with many special events, including the New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival.
While the days get warmer
with relatively less humidity, you can enjoy pleasant weather with average
daily highs of 84 degrees.
I recommend exploring the
city on foot, taking a tour of the French Quarter’s beautiful homes and taking
a memorable Jazz Cruise on the Steamboat Natchez.
- Visitors’ Centre Address: 339 Decatur
St, New Orleans, LA 70130
- Average temperature – 84 degrees
- Location
Map and Directions
My favorite
highlights…
·
Visiting Cinco de Mayo which was a lively and
fun week of music, tacos, and margaritas.
- Hopping
on a sightseeing tour and checking out all the major city attractions in
one go.
- Riding
on an airboat tour and going on a fast, exciting trip across the nearby
swamps.
Today’s Menu
·
Drink:
Cajun
lemonade
· Salad: Cajun Salad
·
Main
dish: Cajun
Shrimp boil in foil
·
Desert:
Creole Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce Recipe
[1] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The
Mystical City of God: Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with
Illustrations (p. 770). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
MAY 22 Thursday of the Fifth Week
of Easter
ST. RITA OF CASSIA
2 Maccabees, Chapter 12, Verse 22
But when Judas’ first cohort
appeared, the enemy was overwhelmed with FEAR
and terror at the manifestation of the all-seeing One. Scattering in every
direction, they rushed away in such headlong flight that in many cases they
wounded one another, pierced by the points of their own swords.
With the death of Antiochus IV, the
gang warfare of sorts ceases for a while, yet the problem with Hellenization
has not ended and the temple needs to be defended by Judas. Small battles ensue
and although Antiochus VI is dead the real power was placed in Lysias who was
in charge of the government and military. Judas defeats him with the power of
God when a mysterious horseman appears to help the armies of the Lord. Peace
with the Syrians is temporary, but the gang warfare continues. Judas marches
into the Transjordan when he comes upon a large force which he engages. Here we
see that despite the enemies of God having an overwhelming force they are put
to route by a mysterious being (all seeing) and flee causing their own
destruction.[1]
ST. RITA
- SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
O Powerful St. Rita rightly called
Saint of the Impossible, I come to you with confidence in my great need. You
know well my trails, for you yourself were many times burdened in this life.
Come to my help, speak for me, pray with me, intercede on my behalf before the
Father. I know that God has a most generous heart and that he is a most loving
Father. Join your praters to min and obtain for me the grace I desire [mention
your request here]. You who were so very pleasing to God on earth and are so
much more now in heaven, I promise to use this favor, when granted to better my
life, to proclaim God's mercy, and to make you more widely known and
loved. AMEN
St. Rita Shrine History
13260 E Colossal Cave Rd, Vale,
Arizona
The Shrine of Santa Rita in the
Desert was built in 1935 in memory of Dr. Jokichi Takamine (1854-1922) by his
widow, Caroline Takamine Beach. It is the only Catholic Church in the United
States built in memory of a Japanese citizen. Caroline and Jokichi spent the
first years of their marriage living in Japan. Caroline had met and married
Charles Beach, a Vail rancher, in 1926. Caroline had been a devout Catholic
since her conversion as a young adult and wanted to provide a way for the
people living in and around the small railroad/ranching community of Vail,
Arizona to be able to worship. A population of about 25 lived at the town site
with several hundred more scattered in a radius around the rural ranching
community. They were predominantly poor Hispanic ranch hands, railroad workers
and homesteaders. Caroline began at least as early as 1927 facilitating Sunday
Mass in the Vail School house. She began to formulate a plan for a church that
would serve the spiritual needs of the Vail area as well as be a memorial to
her first husband. She and her second husband Charles began purchasing land in
the area in addition to the homesteaded land to the south at the base of Mt.
Fagan where their ranch operation was located. One of these purchases was at
the Vail town site and would become the site for the Shrine. The beautiful
stained-glass windows that are the focal point of the Shrine were the center
piece around which the entire building was designed. They were purchased by
Caroline Beach in 1931. They had been salvaged from the 1st United Methodist
Church on 6th Avenue in Tucson, Arizona. That congregation had relocated and
built a new church on Park Avenue in 1929. The 1st United Methodist Church was
built in 1906. The designer and craftsman of the windows is unknown. The
graceful arch of the large tripartite lancet style windows that are set into
the south wall of the Shrine is incorporated throughout the entire design of
the Shrine. The simplicity and gracefulness of Japanese design is felt in the
symmetry and simplicity of the Shrine’s overall Mission Revival style.
The
Feast of St. Rita will take place in the John XXIII at 5:30 p.m., with mass,
procession to the Shrine, followed by a parish picnic.
When:
Thursday, 22 May 2025
St. Rita of Cassia[2]
Rita's childhood was one of happiness
to her parents. To satisfy her desire of a life of union with God by prayer,
her parents fitted up a little room in their home as an oratory, where she
spent all her spare moments. At the age of twelve, however, she desired to
consecrate herself to God in the religious state. Pious though her parents
were, their tearful pleadings to postpone her noble purpose prevailed on Rita,
and they gave her in marriage, at the age of eighteen, to an impulsive,
irascible young man, who was well fitted to try the patience and virtue of the
holy girl.
Two sons were born to them, each
inheriting their father's quarrelsome temperament. Rita continued her
accustomed devotions, and her sanctity and prayers finally won her husband's
heart so that he willingly consented that she continue her acts of devotion.
Eighteen years had elapsed since her marriage, when her husband was murdered by
an old enemy; both of her sons died shortly after. Rita's former desire to
consecrate herself to God again took possession of her.
Three times she sought admittance
among the Augustinian Nuns in Cascia, but her request was refused each time,
and she returned to her home in Rocca Porrena. God Himself, however, supported
her cause. One night as Rita was praying earnestly in her humble home, she
heard herself called by name, while someone knocked at the door. In a
miraculous way she was conducted to the monastic enclosure, no entrance having
been opened. Astonished at the miracle, the Nuns received Rita, and soon
enrolled her among their number.
St. Rita's hidden, simple life in
religion was distinguished by obedience and charity; she performed many extreme
penances. After hearing a sermon on the Passion of Christ she returned to her
cell; kneeling before her crucifix, she implored: "Let me, my Jesus share
in Thy suffering, at least of one of Thy thorns". Her prayer was answered.
Suddenly one of the thorns detached and fastened itself in her forehead so
deeply that she could not remove it. The wound became worse, and gangrene set
in. Because of the foul odor emanating from the wound, she was denied the
companionship of the other Sisters, and this for fifteen years. Miraculous
power was soon recognized in Rita. When Pope Nicholas IV proclaimed a jubilee
at Rome, Rita desired to attend. Permission was granted on condition that her
wound would be healed. This came about only for the duration of the trip. Upon
her return to the monastery the wound from the thorn reappeared and remained
until her death. As St. Rita was dying, she requested a relative to bring her a
rose from her old home at Rocca Porrena. Although it was not the season for
roses, the relative went and found a rose in full bloom. For this reason, roses
are blessed in the Saint's honor.
After St. Rita's death, in 1457, her face became beautifully radiant, while the odor from her wound was as fragrant as that of the roses she loved so much. The sweet odor spread through the convent and into the church, where it has continued ever since. Her body has remained incorrupt to this day; the face is beautiful and well preserved. When St. Rita died the lowly cell was aglow with heavenly light, while the great bell of the monastery rang of itself. A relative with a paralyzed arm, upon touching the sacred remains, was cured. A carpenter, who had known the Saint, offered to make the coffin. Immediately he recovered the use of his long-stiffened hands.
As one of the solemn acts of his
jubilee, Pope Leo XIII canonized St. Rita on the Feast of the Ascension, May
24, 1900.
Patron: Abuse victims; against loneliness; against sterility;
bodily ills; DESPERATE CAUSES; difficult marriages; forgotten causes; IMPOSSIBLE
CAUSES; infertility; lost causes; parenthood; sick people; sickness; sterility;
victims of physical spouse abuse; widows; wounds.
Things to Do:
- From
the Catholic Culture library: St.
Rita of Cascia and A
Life of Heroic Humility and Obedience.
- Visit
the National
Shrine of St. Rita of Cassia and read this life
of St. Rita
- Watch
this videos of St. Rita's life here and here
- Visit
the Shrine of Santa Rita in
the Desert in Vail, Arizona
May 22, St. Rita of Cascia,
Pt. of "impossible" cases[3]
- Italian Beef
- Ice
Cream
International Day for Biological Diversity[4]
The International Day for Biological Diversity aims to raise
awareness and understanding of biological diversity and issues surrounding it.
The day also serves to highlight possible strategies to protect biodiversity,
which refers to the variety of life on the planet. Today, habitats are
degrading and leading to a reduction in biodiversity, a problem that directly
affects human well-being, poverty reduction and global sustainable development.
The International Day for Biological Diversity was proclaimed in December of
2000 by the United
Nations General Assembly. It is celebrated annually on May 22, a day that
commemorates the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992.
International Day
for Biological Diversity Facts & Quotes
·
According
to the UN, more than 3 billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity
for their livelihoods and 1.6 billion people rely on forests and non-timber
forest products for their livelihoods.
·
Habitat
degradation and the loss of biodiversity are currently threatening the
livelihood of over 1 billion people who live in dry and subhumid climates.
·
Over
50% of the world’s plant species and 42% of all terrestrial vertebrate species
are native to a specific country and do not naturally exist elsewhere.
·
We
should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use
it and come to understand what it means to humanity. – E. O. Wilson, American
biologist, researcher, theorist and author.
Day for Biological
Diversity Top Events and Things to Do
·
Watch
a movie or documentary on the importance and irreplaceability of the world’s
biodiversity. Some suggestions are: The Cove, Oceans, Plastic Planet and the
11th hour.
·
Spread
awareness on social media by using the hashtags
#InternationalDayForBiologicalDiversity, #IDBD and #BiologicalDiversity.
·
Join
the international Day for Biological Diversity Google Hangout where you can
video stream yourself and with other people to discuss biological diversity
with like-minded individuals.
·
Organize
or participate in a local cleanup effort. Biodiversity is very negatively
impacted by human trash and pollution.
·
Donate
to the center for biological diversity. All funds are put towards securing a
future for all species hovering on the brink of extinction with a focus on
protecting lands, waters
and climate that species need to survive. Consider funds like WWF, the Animal
Project and Defenders of Wildlife.
·
Visit
Biosphere
2 is an American
Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona.
Why should
Catholics care?[5]
The Church’s social teaching calls
on Catholics to uphold the life and dignity of every human person, to be in
solidarity with our brothers and sisters worldwide, and to care for God’s
creation. Since the extraction of oil, gas, minerals, and timber affects the
poor most acutely, the Church has been addressing issues related to extractive
industries around the world. Catholic agencies and affected people have been
engaged in advocacy with their own governments, international financial
institutions, and extractives companies, urging them to become more
transparent, to reduce the negative impacts of resource extraction on people
and the environment, and to increase benefits for the poor most especially.
In the U.S. bishops’ first
statement on environmental matters, renewing the Earth (1991), they draw
attention to the ethical dimensions of the ecological crisis, exploring the
link between ecology and poverty and the implications for human life and dignity.
Bishops of every part of the world have expressed concern regarding extractive
industries. Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI, expanding on the issue of the
environment in Caritas in Veritate, stated: Let us hope that the international
community and individual governments will succeed in countering harmful ways of
treating the environment. It is likewise incumbent upon the competent
authorities to make every effort to ensure that the economic and social costs
of using up shared environmental resources are recognized with transparency and
fully borne by those who incur them, not by other peoples or future
generations: the protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate
obliges all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work
in good faith, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest
regions of the planet (No. 50).
Apostolic Exhortation[6]
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,
Part II
Hold Nothing Back from Christ
30. In the Sequence “Lauda
Sion Salvatorem” for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Saint Thomas
Aquinas invites us to hold back nothing as the most appropriate response to the
gift of Jesus Himself in the Eucharist: “Quantum potes, tantum aude, quia
maior omni laude nec laudare sufficis. Dare as much as you can: because He is
greater than any praise, nor can you praise him enough.” “Quantum
potes” means “however much you can” and “tantum aude”, which
means “as much as you dare.” This is the most appropriate response to such an
awesome gift, to go all out in our response to Jesus’ most extravagant gift of
Himself.
31. In response to this great
gift, many missionaries throughout history have given up everything, even
having a family of their own and left their homeland to bring the message of
God’s love and the Eucharist to so many parts of the world. In response, many
men and women religious have consecrated their lives to adoring Jesus in the
Blessed Sacrament within the four walls of their convent and monastery. In
response, countless martyrs throughout the centuries, like the ones of early
third-century persecution at Abitina in Tunisia, were willing to submit to
tortures and death rather than deny the Real Presence of Jesus in the
Eucharist. And in response, many believers, even those of today, have made a
commitment to come to daily Mass and even to adoration to be with Jesus in the
Eucharist. The question we must ask ourselves is: What is our response?
32. “Quantum potes,
tantum aude, quia maior omni laude nec laudare sufficis”. Indeed, we are to
hold back nothing, but in turn, give ourselves completely to the Lord who has
given Himself entirely to us in the Eucharist. The only appropriate response to
this great gift is to order our whole life, first, on receiving the gift and then
imitating it, offering our own body and blood, our sweat and tears, our whole
heart, all we have and are to Jesus in the service and love for our brothers
and sisters as Jesus has done for us.
Devotions for Holy Communion[7]
SHORTER ACTS BEFORE COMMUNION.
My beloved Jesus, true Son
of God, Who didst die for me on the cross in a sea of sorrows and ignominy, I
firmly believe that Thou art present in the Most Holy Sacrament; and for this
faith I am ready to give up my life.
My dear Redeemer, I hope by
Thy goodness, and through the merits of Thy blood, that when Thou dost come to
me this morning Thou wilt inflame me with Thy holy love, and wilt give me all
those graces which I need to keep me obedient and faithful to Thee till death.
Ah, my God, true and only
lover of my soul, what couldst Thou do more to oblige me to love Thee? Thou
wast not satisfied, my Love, with dying for me, but Thou wouldst also institute
the Most Holy Sacrament, making Thyself my food, and giving Thyself all to me,
thus uniting Thyself most closely to such a miserable and ungrateful creature.
Thou dost Thyself invite me to receive Thee, and dost greatly desire that I
should receive Thee. O infinite love! A God gives Himself all to me! O my God,
O Infinite Love, worthy of infinite love, I love Thee above all things; I love
Thee with all my heart; I love Thee more than myself, more than my life; I love
Thee because Thou art worthy of being loved; and I love Thee also to please
Thee, since Thou dost desire my love. Depart from my soul, all ye earthly
affections; to Thee alone, my Jesus, my treasure, my all, will I give all my
love. This morning Thou dost give Thyself all to me, and I give myself all to
Thee. Permit me to love Thee; for I desire none but Thee, and nothing but what
is pleasing to Thee. I love Thee, O my Savior, and I unite my poor love to the
love of all the angels and saints, and of Thy Mother Mary, and the love of Thy
Eternal Father. Oh, that I could see Thee loved by all! Oh, that I could make
Thee loved by all men, and loved as much as Thou dost deserve!
Behold, O my Jesus, I am now
about to draw near to feed on Thy most sacred flesh! Ah, my God, who am I? and
"Who art Thou? Thou art a Lord of infinite goodness, and I am a loathsome
worm, defiled by so many sins, and who have driven Thee out of my soul so
often.
Lord, I am not worthy to
remain in Thy presence; I ought to be in hell forever, far away, and abandoned
by Thee. But out of Thy goodness Thou callest me to receive Thee; behold, I
come, I come humbled and in confusion for the great displeasure I have given
Thee, but trusting entirely to Thy mercy and to the love Thou hast for me. I am
exceedingly sorry, O my loving Redeemer, for having so often offended Thee in
time past. Thou didst even give Thy life for me; and I have so often despised
Thy grace and Thy love, and have exchanged Thee for nothing. I repent, and am
sorry with all my heart for every offence which I have offered Thee, whether
grievous or light, because it was an offence against Thee, "Who art
infinite goodness. I hope Thou hast already pardoned me; but if Thou hast not
yet forgiven me, pardon me, my Jesus, before I receive Thee. Ah, receive me
quickly into Thy grace, since it is Thy will soon to come and dwell within me.
Come, then, my Jesus, come
into my soul, which sighs after Thee. My only and infinite good, my life, my
love, my all, I would desire to receive Thee this morning with the same love
with which those souls who love Thee most have received Thee, and with the same
fervor with which Thy most holy Mother received Thee; to her communions I wish
to unite this one of mine. O Blessed Virgin and my Mother Mary, give me thy
Son; I intend to receive Him from thy hands! Tell Him that I am thy servant,
and thus will He press me more lovingly to His heart, now that He is coming to
me.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
Day 340 2650
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION ONE-PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTER TWO-THE TRADITION OF PRAYER
2650 Prayer
cannot be reduced to the spontaneous outpouring of interior impulse: in order
to pray, one must have the will to pray. Nor is it enough to know what the
Scriptures reveal about prayer: one must also learn how to pray. Through a
living transmission (Sacred Tradition) within "the believing and praying
Church," The Holy Spirit teaches the children of God how to pray.
2651 The
tradition of Christian prayer is one of the ways in which the tradition of
faith takes shape and grows, especially through the contemplation and study of
believers who treasure in their hearts the events and words of the economy of
salvation, and through their profound grasp of the spiritual realities they
experience.
Article 1-AT
THE WELLSPRINGS OF PRAYER
2652 The Holy
Spirit is the living water "welling up to eternal life" in the
heart that prays. It is he who teaches us to accept it at its source: Christ.
Indeed in the Christian life there are several wellsprings where Christ awaits
us to enable us to drink of the Holy Spirit.
The Word of God
2653 The
Church "forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian faithful . . .
to learn 'the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ' (⇒ Phil 3:8) by
frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.... Let them remember, however, that
prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue
takes place between God and man. For 'we speak to him when we pray; we listen
to him when we read the divine oracles."'
2654 The
spiritual writers, paraphrasing Matthew 7:7, summarize in this way the
dispositions of the heart nourished by the word of God in prayer "Seek in
reading and you will find in meditating; knock in mental prayer and it will be
opened to you by contemplation."
The Liturgy of the Church
2655 In the sacramental liturgy of the Church, the mission of Christ and of the Holy Spirit proclaims, makes present, and communicates the mystery of salvation, which is continued in the heart that prays. the spiritual writers sometimes compare the heart to an altar. Prayer internalizes and assimilates the liturgy during and after its celebration. Even when it is lived out "in secret," prayer is always prayer of the Church; it is a communion with the Holy Trinity.
Daily Devotions
· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Increase in vocations to the holy priesthood and religious life.
· Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
· Rosary
[1]The Collegeville Bible Commentary,
1986.
[2]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2019-05-22
[5]http://www.usccb.org/about/justice-peace-and-human-development/catholic-social-ministry-gathering/upload/2012-02ExtractivesBackgrounder-final.pdf
[7] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[8] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The
Mystical City of God: Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with
Illustrations (p. 770). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
No comments:
Post a Comment