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August 6, 2024 - The Transfiguration
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August 7th Holy Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
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Consecration Prayer for Peace
I consecrate Russia and the Ukraine to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I further consecrate the priests, the Church and the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I do this in the name of Jesus in as far as I am able, united to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, praying to the Father, in the Holy Spirit, with all the angels and saints and the souls in purgatory through the powerful intercession of Mary, Queen of Peace. Amen.
I further consecrate myself, all members of my family and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us. I spread the Blood of Jesus on all above, I cast the devil into hell away from all of us and consecrate all persons, in as far as I am able, to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart.
Prayer for Grace for Election and our Country
Dear Father united to Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally made present, celebrated around the world, in the Holy Spirit. We offer up all we do united to the Mass. We unite in one mind and one heart as members of the mystical body of Christ, with Christ our head in the pure and holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, through the powerful intercession of Mary with all the angels and saints and souls in purgatory, and we beg for the saving grace, for our country, the United States. Please help us. We further pray for unity to always do the will of God in love. We spread the Blood of Jesus on the leaders and people of the United States and cast the devil into hell. We consecrate our country to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart and all our dioceses, and beg for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God help us. We pray for our families, the priests, the Church and the world. In the Name of Jesus please hear us, we pray. We pray for our president and leaders. We pray that we are united as one nation under God to work together in love as God wants. We pray for the upcoming election.
Morning Offering
Dear Father,
I offer up all I do all day united to Jesus
in the Mass, in the Holy Spirit, through
the powerful intercession of Mary, our
spiritual Mother, with all the angels and
saints, and the souls in purgatory, for
the priest, the Church, and the world.
We love You God so much.
We thank You and adore You and
petition You for our needs. Amen.
Shepherds of Christ
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August 6, 2024
R. Dear Mary,
I love you.
Thank you for being my mother.
Thank you for being Jesus’ Mother.
Sing softly: In My Heart!!
Sing: A Song from Jesus, softly
Sing: See the Eyes That Look at Mary (softly)
R. Jesus is the tenderest of Hearts.
Jesus is love.
We were created in the image and likeness of
Jesus.
To grow in that image and likeness of Jesus,
we have to try to love like Jesus.
Life is very short -
Here today, gone on this earth tomorrow.
We must enjoy the day God gives us.
Enjoy the people God brings in our life.
What the world needs now is love.We need to put God first.
Sometimes people try to figure out everything
themselves, then there is no room for God.
Song: Jesus I Love You
R. Being alone gets lonely when
you're old and sick and alone.
God opens a door and can solve our problem.
But we must have room for God.
Come to me Lord and possess my soul.God has a plan, God wants us to follow Jesus
and open our heart and mind to do His will.
A banquet is prepared and our cup is running
over with God.
Dear God,
You have given me this day to love and serve
You, I love You God and I want to do Your
will, in love!
Help me to live this day as You want me to.
Help me to grow in serving you.
August 5, 2024
R. Jesus comes to me Body, Blood, Soul and
Divinity in the Eucharist.
Jesus is truly present.
Jesus is the Sacred Heart.
It is the Heart of Divine love.
God wants us to love Him.
God loves us, He wants our love in return.
God is love.
We were created to know, love and serve God
and thereby to attain our eternal salvation.
The Transfiguration
1. Mark 9: 2-8Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain on their own by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became brilliantly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus, ‘Rabbi,’ he said, ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus.
2. Jesus took Peter, James and John up Mt. Tabor
and He was transfigured before them.
3. The voice of the Father was heard: “This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,
listen to Him."
4. Can you imagine this?
Can you envision Jesus transfigured in such
light? So awesome.
5. The light was so bright, like white light.
6. If we saw our own graced, baptized soul
Fr. Carter said, we could not believe the beauty.
7. Song: I Love You Jesus
8. Jesus is the Light of the world.
9. Prayer for Union (excerpt)
Come to me, Lord, and possess my soul. Come into my heart and permeate my soul. Help me to sit in silence with You and let You work in my heart.
10. Jesus is the Light of the world.
Transfiguration
August 6, 2006
INTRODUCTION – Our first reading is from the
book of Daniel (Dn. 7, 7-10.13-14). The author
of this book lived during the time the Greeks
dominated most of the known world. The Greeks
were trying to get everyone to follow their
religion (paganism) and any Jew who remained
faithful to his or her Jewish faith was put to
death. This was the first time in the history of
the world that people were persecuted for their
beliefs. The book of Daniel tried to offer the
Jewish people hope: hope of a savior. This
salvation comes from one like a “son of man”
whom God endows with kingship and power. Our
reading is one of Daniel’s visions and it first
describes God who is called the Ancient One -
indicating God’s eternity. The term “son of man”
means simply a human being, but this “son of
man” would be unique and would be the savior of
God’s people. This was the favorite title Jesus
used in referring to himself. The glory of God
is described in today’s first reading. It is
shown through Christ in his Transfiguration,
which is described in today’s gospel (Mk. 9,
2-10), and in today’s second reading from the
Second Letter of St. Peter (1, 16-19).
HOMILY – Last Sunday I said that for the next four weeks we
would be hearing from the sixth chapter of St.
John on the Eucharist. I hadn’t looked ahead to
see that this Sunday fell on August 6th which is
the feast of the Transfiguration. Although we
hear about the Transfiguration every year on the
second Sunday of Lent, the actual feast of the
Transfiguration is on August 6. It is an
important enough feast that it replaces the
normal Sunday liturgy.
Tradition identifies Mt. Tabor as the mountain of the
Transfiguration. It’s quite a climb to get to
the top.
There is a chapel on top of the mountain
commemorating the occasion of the
Transfiguration. I said Mass there sixteen years
ago when I went with a study group to the Holy
Land. They had cars and buses to take us up the
mountain. I’m not surprised that Peter, James
and John fell asleep, as St. Luke tells us in
his gospel, when they went there with Jesus.
They didn’t have cars and buses and they would
have been very tired when they got to the top.
But when they woke up their efforts to make it
up to the top of that mountain with Jesus were
well rewarded. “It is good that we are here,”
Peter said. “Let us make three tents here: one
for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” It
sounds to me as if they were ready to stay there
for several weeks, it was such an awesome
experience. As wonderful as it was, Jesus’ work
wasn’t finished and neither was theirs. They had
to come back down to earth.
Most of us, I’m sure, have had moments when
we’ve felt God’s presence and closeness and
special love, or when we knew God was helping us
with some problem. But I’m sure there are few,
if any of us, who have experienced anything like
the Transfiguration. We may be a mystic and have
ecstatic experiences in prayer or we may be a
saint who receives visions of Jesus or Mary.
Other than that, we’ve probably not experienced
anything like the Transfiguration and may find
it difficult to relate to. But we can learn from
it.
(1) We can learn that God has great glory reserved for us until, as the second reading tells us, “day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”
(2) We can learn from what God spoke on the holy mountain about Jesus: “this is my beloved Son, listen to him.” This is not something new, of course, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded once again that we must listen to him.
(3) We can learn that we cannot expect mountaintop experiences every day when we pray, when we receive the sacraments, when we keep the Commandments. There are those moments when we get a lot of consolation and good feelings from our faith and our prayers. Then there are those moments when prayer is dry, when our faith is exactly what that word means, believing only on the word of another and not feeling anything except that we’re in a desert. The apostles were with Jesus three years and there was only one experience like the Transfiguration, and only three of them experienced it. Our religion can’t be based on feelings. It’s based on faith in God and love for God and for one another. Sometimes we feel it and sometimes we don’t. It’s not how we feel it that counts, but how we live it.
(4) Another thing we can learn from the Transfiguration is that we can’t always trust appearances. In appearance Jesus looked pretty much like the rest of us. Artists have pictured him with a halo, but I’m sure there was no halo when people saw him every day. The gospels would have remarked about it if there were. For a brief moment on Mt. Tabor, the apostles saw and heard things that indicated there was a lot more to Jesus than they ever imagined.
Today, as we come to Mass, our faith calls us to
look beyond appearances. When we receive
Communion, we
receive what appears to be a wafer of bread and
a sip of wine, but faith in the power and the
words of Jesus tells
us this host and cup offers us so much more. It
is food for eternal life. We pray as always that
the Lord will help us
to know his presence with us today, and if we do
not experience that presence, we pray for the
faith to be
able to see beyond appearances and still be able
to say as Peter did on the mountain: “it is good
that we are here.”
May 14, 2024
R. Dear Holy Spirit come to me, possess
my soul, I love You, Holy Spirit.
When I am weak, I am strong in You.
Outpour Your precious love to me. Amen.
I love You, God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Dear Holy Spirit infuse in my intellect
wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
Counsel me Holy Spirit from the mind of
God.
Help me, dear Holy Spirit to know the loving
embrace of God all the days of my life.
I turn to You. Amen.
When I find doing God's desire for my life
difficult give me the gift of fortitude, dear
Holy Spirit.
Sanctify my heart to act purely for the
honor and glory of God.
I may be willing, but I need Your gift to
give me courage to act as You desire.
Help me to know and love the heavenly
Father's will for me and to do it in love
for the honor and glory of God.
Help me to always put God first in my life,
in love for God in my heart.
Help me to walk realizing, I am the creature,
God is the Creator.
Help me to be patient and strong and
persevere in my life until I rest with Thee
forever in heaven.
Please Holy Spirit give me the gift of fear
of God that I do not offend you in sins
of unloving ways against God.
You are so good and deserving of all my
love.
I worship You and love You -
Help my interior disposition at Mass to be
that of purity in pleasing the Heavenly
Father, in my offering united to Jesus in
the Mass.
Dear Holy Spirit please help me in the gift
of piety to do that which pleases my Heavenly
Father with the tenderness as His little child.
Thank you God for all You give to me.
I pray this "All for the honor and Glory of
God". Amen.
Matthew 22: 36-40
'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?' Jesus said to him, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.'
Dear Holy Spirit, strengthen our will and
move like a Divine breath in our soul, to
be docile sons and daughters of our
Heavenly Father. Amen.
Alleluia.
March 10, 2024
Novena to St. Joseph, Patron and Father (2024)
Begins March 11, 2024 - March 19, 2024
Dear Saint Joseph,
I turn to you, you who cared and
protected the child Jesus and the
Virgin Mary.
You taught men and women, the
love of God by your example in life,
and by your faithfulness of living
your calling in greatest commitment
and love.
You loved Mary and Jesus with the
most gentle, bonds of love.
You showed us how you
lived in loving conformity to the
Heavenly Father's will.
You guided Jesus and Mary's precious
lives with the Holy Spirit, Spouse of
the Virgin Mother of God.
Protect us and our family this day and
every day of our lives, like
you did the Holy Family of Nazareth.
We seek your powerful intercession.
How intimately you knew and loved
Jesus and Mary. You were so close to
them. You showed us love.
Your heart was pure and gentle and
yet you were strong in being their
manly protector on earth, intercede
for us to depend more and more on
God for all our needs, for when we
are weak we are strong in God.
St. Joseph please intercede for a
peaceful and holy death for us and
our sick loved ones.
Amen.
St. Joseph help us now in this nine
day novena to you.
Amen.
March 23, 2024
Prayer for Sick and Caregivers at Home
R. Dear God,
I pray Heavenly Father with all my heart,
in the Name of Jesus, united to the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Holy Spirit,
with all the angels and saints and souls
in purgatory, through the powerful
intercession of Our Lady of Clearwater
to come to my aid now.
My loved one is very sick and he (she)
needs your help, God.
Outpour Your grace for me in this time
of need to have patience and wisdom to
deal with this now.
I give this sickness up to You, my God.
Please help me in dealing with this and
helping them in doing the right thing
and dealing with this.
I surrender this problem to You, my
Divine God.
Please send Your angels to help me.
Spread us all with the Precious Blood of
Jesus, cast the devil into the fires of hell,
dear Holy Spirit come to my aid.
I consecrate my home, ourselves to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, Thank You.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus I place my
trust in Thee.
Child Jesus of Good Health, help us.
St. Joseph, Patron of a Holy Death
come to our aid.
Amen.
August 1, 2024
Sorrowful Mysteries
The Agony in the Garden
1. Luke 22: 39-46The Mount of Olives
He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following. When he reached the place he said to them, ‘Pray not to be put to the test.’
Then he withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw away, and knelt down and prayed. ‘Father,’ he said, ‘if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.’ Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength. In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. When he rose from prayer he went to the disciples and found them sleeping for sheer grief. And he said to them, ‘Why are you asleep? Get up and pray not to be put to the test.’
2. Envision the Garden in Gethsemane.
3. Jesus was full of anguish. In His Divine knowing
He knew what would happen.
4. Jesus knows the sins of all men for all time.
5. Think of the pain Jesus endured for our sins.
6. Picture ourselves with the disciples in the Garden.
7. So much was happening, the Last Supper, the trip
to the Garden, seeing Jesus in such suffering!!!
8. Envision your self there, sleepy from supper,
confused, watching Jesus suffer so, so much
anguish, Jesus sweat blood.
9. We can see after the Garden, Judas betraying
Jesus with a kiss, the abduction of Jesus, the
servant of the high priest's ear was cut off, the
arrest of Jesus.
10. Now you become afraid, these men are mean,
cruel, liars, and you are afraid and sick
watching what is happening to Jesus.
Oh Jesus, I am sorry, I love You so much,
thank You, Jesus.
The Scourging at the Pillar
1. Luke 23: 15-19, 22...As you can see, the man has done nothing that deserves death, so I shall have him flogged and then let him go.' But as one man they howled, 'Away with him! Give us Barabbas!' (This man had been thrown into prison because of a riot in the city and murder.)
And for the third time he spoke to them, 'But what harm has this man done? I have found no case against him that deserves death, so I shall have him flogged and then let him go.'
2. Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.
3. John 12:24-25
In all truth I tell you,
unless a wheat grain falls into the earth
and dies,
it remains only a single grain;
but if it dies
it yields a rich harvest.
Anyone who loves his life loses it;
anyone who hates his life in this
world will keep it for eternal life.4. Colossians 1:24
It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church,
5. We have crosses in life, we suffer persecution,
struggles, Jesus was whipped at the pillar for our
sins and the sins of the human race.
6. Jesus' skin was torn and He was beaten for our sins.
7. Jesus stood in a puddle of His own Blood.
8. Blood is life in our body.
Jesus gives us Himself in the Eucharist.
9. Jesus comes to us body, blood, soul and Divinity
in the Eucharist.
10. We receive the Bread of Life, the Word and the
Eucharist.
The Crowning with Thorns
1. Matthew 27: 27-31Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus with them into the Praetorium and collected the whole cohort round him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet cloak round him, and having twisted some thorns into a crown they put this on his head and placed a reed in his right hand. To make fun of him they knelt to him saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head with it. And when they had finished making fun of him, they took off the cloak and dressed him in his own clothes and led him away to crucifixion.
2. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
3. They mocked Jesus as the King.
4. They gave Jesus a dirty purple robe and a
scepter to hold.
5. They spit on Jesus.
6. Jesus is our Savior.
7. Jesus, the innocent Lamb, led to the slaughter.
8. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
9. Sing: Crown Him with Many Crowns
10. The Kingdom of God is for love of souls.
We give ourselves in service of the King.
Love gives for the good of the other.
The Carrying of the Cross
1. Matthew 27: 32-34On their way out, they came across a man from Cyrene, called Simon, and enlisted him to carry his cross. When they had reached a place called Golgotha, that is, the place of the skull, they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall, which he tasted but refused to drink.
2. 1 Peter 2:21
This, in fact, is what you were called to do, because Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow in his steps.
3. Luke 23:28-31
But Jesus turned to them and said, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children. For look, the days are surely coming when people will say, "Blessed are those who are barren, the wombs that have never borne children, the breasts that have never suckled!" Then they will begin to say to the mountains, "Fall on us!"; to the hills, "Cover us!" For if this is what is done to green wood, what will be done when the wood is dry?'
4. Dear Jesus, I am sorry for my sins, thank
You for carrying the heavy cross.
5. Hebrews 13:12-13and so Jesus too suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people with his own blood. Let us go to him, then, outside the camp, and bear his humiliation.
6. Jesus is King!!
7. Jesus of Nazareth.
8. Jesus endured the cross, He fell under the
cross, 3 times.
9. Jesus went to the hill of Calvary with love
of the Father's will.
10. Sing: A Song from Jesus
The Crucifixion
1. Mark 15: 24-38Then they crucified him, and shared out his clothing, casting lots to decide what each should get. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription giving the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews’. And they crucified two bandits with him, one on his right and one on his left.
The passers–by jeered at him; they shook their heads and said, ‘Aha! So you would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! Then save yourself; come down from the cross!’ The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves in the same way with the words, ‘He saved others, he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, for us to see it and believe.’ Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.
When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of those who stood by heard this, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling on Elijah.’ Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink saying, ‘Wait! And see if Elijah will come to take him down.’ But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the veil of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
