Life and Health

Your words to me are life and health
Pour strength into my soul
Enable, guide and teach my heart
To reach its perfect goal

Your words to me are light and truth
From day to day they show
Their wisdom, passing earthly lore
As in their truth I grow

Your words are perfected in one
Yourself, the Living Word
Within my heart Your image print
In clearest lines, O Lord

(Hymn from a Magnificat morning prayer this week)

My Favorite Morning Offering

Eternal Father,

I offer You everything I do this day:

my work, my prayers, my apostolic efforts;

my time with family and friends;

my hours of relaxation;

my difficultities, problems, distress,

which I shall try to bear with patience.

Join these, my gifts,

to the unique offering which Jesus Christ, Your Son,

renews today in the Eucharist.

Grant, I pray,

that, vivified by the Holy Spirit

and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,

and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

my life this day may be of service to You and Your children

and help consecrate the world to You.

Amen!

~from the Apostleship of Prayer

Prayer for Priests — Novena Day 4

"O Jesus, eternal Priest, keep your priests within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart, where none may touch them."

Pray the Prayer to the Mother of God shared on Day 1.

If you're on Facebook, look up this wonderful group started by some friends of mine: Humble Prayers for Holy Priests.

Prayer for Priests

I've seen trial and difficulty come lately to too many priests I know. We can always use a reminder to pray for our priests!

Jesus, Good Shepherd, Great High Priest, today I lift to You in prayer all of our priests. You left us Yourself in the person of the priest. Mold them into what You want them to be. Let them be You to each person they meet. May they fill all the needs of those who turn to them today. Send someone to lift their spirit and to be Jesus to them when others knock them down, to encourage them when their hope is gone. Give them all the strength and courage they need to persevere in holiness when under trial or just worn out from saving souls. Please bless us with many more holy priests. Teach us to love and appreciate all of our priests and to see You in them.

I consecrate all priests to the Immaculate Hands and Heart of Mary, Our Mother of Divine Love Patroness of Priests. I thank You for their priesthood. Keep them close to You. Please enfold and protect them in Your Mantle of Divine Love. My Lord Jesus I trust in You! Amen.

St. Patrick's Breastplate

Today is not just a day to celebrate being Irish. It’s about celebrating the great saint and bishop, Patrick, who brought the light of the Christian Catholic Faith into the great nation of Ireland 1600 years ago!

From the Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent:

The beautiful prayer of St. Patrick, popularly known as "St. Patrick's Breast-Plate", is supposed to have been composed by him in preparation for this victory over Paganism. The following is a literal translation from the old Irish text:

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.

I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the ship,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

~~~

What a glimpse into the powerful spirituality of Patrick... too often we hear only a part of something like this, instead of the richness of the whole thing!

So, bind yourself today to Christ, in the true spirit of Patrick!

Advent Day 7

God of joy and cheer,
we thank you for your servant,
the good bishop Nicholas.
In loving the poor,
he showed us your kindness;
in caring for your children,
he revealed your love.
Make us thoughtful
without need of reward
so that we, too, may be
good followers of Jesus.

Happy St. Nicholas Day! If you haven't been to StNicholasCenter.org yet, there's no better time! Both the beautiful picture and prayer are from there.

May the generous spirit of this saint inspire us today and the whole year through.

God bless!

The (Entire) Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference;

living one day at a time,

accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

Let me take, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting He will make all things right

if I surrender to His will.

May I be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen.

HT: Homeschooling with Joy

Do we ever need to hear this right now

"Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.

Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,

even if your whole world seems upset."

~Saint Francis de Sales

Lord, our whole world does indeed seem upset right now...in more ways than one. By Your grace, may we not lose our inner peace, despite the chaos and confusion all around us.

Amen.

Election Countdown/40 Days for Life: Day 10

An Election Prayer to Mary

from EWTN.com

O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, at this most critical time, we entrust the United States of America to your loving care. Most Holy Mother, we beg you to reclaim this land for the glory of your Son. Overwhelmed with the burden of the sins of our nation, we cry to you from the depths of our hearts and seek refuge in your motherly protection. Look down with mercy upon us and touch the hearts of our people. Open our minds to the great worth of human life and to the responsibilities that accompany human freedom.

Free us from the falsehoods that lead to the evil of abortion and threaten the sanctity of family life. Grant our country the wisdom to proclaim that God’s law is the foundation on which this nation was founded, and that He alone is the True Source of our cherished rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

O Merciful Mother, give us the courage to reject the culture of death and the strength to build a new Culture of Life. Amen.

- Check out: "Being Bold", A heartwarming and challenging post at Faith and Family Live. Are we boldly proclaiming the Gospel of Life?

- Today's Life Devotional here.

Thank You

Thank you all so much for the prayers. I am doing much better, and I know they have helped significantly. You are all a blessing!

I hope to be fully "back" here soon. Pax Christi.

An Election Prayer to Mary

I really like this prayer from EWTN's website:

An Election Prayer to Mary

O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, at this most critical time, we entrust the United States of America to your loving care. Most Holy Mother, we beg you to reclaim this land for the glory of your Son. Overwhelmed with the burden of the sins of our nation, we cry to you from the depths of our hearts and seek refuge in your motherly protection. Look down with mercy upon us and touch the hearts of our people. Open our minds to the great worth of human life and to the responsibilities that accompany human freedom.

Free us from the falsehoods that lead to the evil of abortion and threaten the sanctity of family life. Grant our country the wisdom to proclaim that God’s law is the foundation on which this nation was founded, and that He alone is the True Source of our cherished rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

O Merciful Mother, give us the courage to reject the culture of death and the strength to build a new Culture of Life.

Amen.