Thoughts from Padre Pio on the Rosary

November 30- December 1 2019
First Sunday of Advent

Be gone Satan
Satan wants to destroy this prayer, but in this he will never succeed. The Rosary is the prayer of those who triumph over everything and everyone. It was Our Lady who taught us this prayer, just as it was Jesus who taught us the Our Father.
 

Holding Mama’s hand
In times of darkness, holding the Rosary is like holding your Blessed Mother’s hand. Pray the Rosary every day. Abandon yourself in the hands of Mary. She will take care of you.  
 
Right beside her

The attention must be on the "Hail Mary" and to the greet-ings which you give to the Virgin and on the mysteries which you contemplate. She is present in all the mysteries and she participated in everything with love and pain.



Always and often
Love our Lady and make her loved; always recite the rosary and recite it as often as possible.
 

A prayer to Our Lady from Padre Pio:

Have pity on me! May one compassionate look of yours revive me, purify me and lift me up to God; raising me from the filth of this world that I may go to Him Who created me, Who regenerated me in Holy Baptism, giving me back my white stole of innocence that original sin had so defiled. Dear Mother, make me love Him!

 

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Miracle attributed to Carlo Acutis given the OK from doctors

November 23-24 2019:
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Theologians must weigh in, but beatification of young "computer geek" now expected

The Medical Council of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes has expressed a positive opinion on an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of young Carlo Acutis, who died of leukemia at age 15 in 2006. He was declared venerable in 2018.
 
The miracle regards the healing of a gravely ill boy in Brazil.

Now the opinion of the Theological Commission is awaited.


"We continue to pray that the Lord will soon glorify his servant, to encourage the journey of holiness of the whole Church, especially the young," commented Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi. Assisi is where an eventual beatification will likely take place.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Carlo’s body was found incorrupt.

The youth is known for his interest in technology. One of Carlo’s most significant computer ventures was cataloguing all the Eucharistic miracles of the world. He started the project when he was 11 years old and wrote at the time, "The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of Heaven."

Kathleen N. Hattrup, Aleteia, Nov 16, 2019

This is the daily schedule John Paul II had as a teenager

November 16-17   2019: 33rd  Sunday in Ordinary Time.

John Paul II called the schedule set by his father his "first seminary" that inspired him to become a priest.

John Paul II’s road to the papacy and to the heights of sanctity began while he was in high school. At this point he had experienced the deep pain of loss. Both his mother and his only sibling died during his child-hood, leaving him alone with his father.


This could have led to a sorrowful life for young John Paul II, but instead he clung tightly to his father (Karol Sr.) and they both turned to God. Drawing from his own time in the military, Karol Sr. developed a rigor-ous schedule that they both kept each day.

Rising early in the morning, father and son would say their morning prayers, attend morning Mass at 7:00, and eat breakfast before school started. John Paul II was an altar boy and served the daily Mass he attended with his father.

At the end of the school day, there was time for play, homework, and walks together after supper. They would read the Bible, pray the Rosary, and have deep discussions about faith.
Looking back at his childhood, John Paul II was eternally grateful for the example of his father, who provided for him his "first seminary" and gave him the foundation needed to continue in his quest for holiness. It would also provide the first seeds of a vocation to the priesthood, although at the beginning, he was reluctant to accept the call of the Lord.
It is said that sons need good fathers in order to become a fully formed man, capable of fulfilling their vocation to fatherhood, whether as a priest or in a family. John Paul II had one of the best fathers a son could ever have, and so it is no surprise that he devel-oped into a confident man, ready to change the world.

As John Paul II would repeatedly say during his pon-tificate, "The family is the ‘first and vital cell of society’ … The future of the world and of the Church, therefore, passes through the family."

Philip Kosloski , Aleteia, Oct 19, 2019

Pope: Before making a major decision, imagine yourself on the Last Day

November 9-10 2019: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Month of Prayer for the Holy Souls
 


Pope: Before making a major decision, imagine yourself on the Last Day
During his annual Mass for the deceased cardinals and bishops of the past year, Pope Francis points to the end of time.

Each November the Pope offers a special Mass for the repose of the souls of all the cardinals and bishops who have died in the past year. This year Pope Francis focused on the Last Day in his homily, referring to a passage from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.


THIRTY - SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME



He said, "Saint Ignatius suggests that before making any important decision, we should imagine ourselves standing before God at the end of time. That is the final and inevitable moment, one that all of us will have to face. Every life decision, viewed from that perspective, will be well directed, since it is closer to the resurrection, which is the meaning and purpose of life."

Pope Francis then quoted St. Ignatius to reinforce the image, "Saint Ignatius writes: ‘Let me consider myself as standing in the presence of my judge on the last day, and reflect what decision on the present matter I would then wish to have made; I will choose now the rule of life that I would then wish to have observed’ (Spiritual Exercises, 187). It can be a helpful exercise to view reality through the eyes of the Lord and not only through our own; to look to the future, the resurrection, and not only to this passing day; to make choices that have the flavor of eter-nity, the taste of love."

To conclude his homily, Pope Francis presented a series of questions that he urged all Christians to consider in their daily life.


Do I go forth from myself each day in order to come to the Lord? Do I feel and practice compassion for those in need? Do I make important decisions in the sight of God? Let us allow ourselves to be challenged at least by one of these three thoughts. We will be more attuned to the desire that Jesus expresses in today’s Gospel: that he lose nothing of what the Father has given him.

 Philip Kosloski, Aleteia, Nov 05, 2019

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Pray this prayer to St Joseph for a ‘happy death.’

O Blessed Joseph, who yielded up thy last breath in the arms of Jesus and Mary, obtain for me this grace, O holy Joseph, that I may breathe forth my soul in praise, saying in spirit, if I am unable to do so in words: "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give Thee my heart and my soul."

Amen

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"Guard your laws as you would guard your walls."

Heraclitus, c. 535 BC – 475 BC

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