Encountering Christ...

   ...at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy: 

I will sing and make music to the LORD.
...Your face, LORD, will I seek. - Psalm 27:6b, 8b

 
"Christianity is not a new philosophy or a new form of morality. 
We are only Christians if we encounter Christ... 
We can encounter Christ in reading Holy Scripture, 
in prayer and in the liturgical life of the Church - 
touch Christ's heart and feel that Christ touches ours. 
And it is only in this personal relationship with Christ,
in this meeting with the Risen One, 

that we are truly Christian."

Pope Benedict XVI

Reflections on the conversion of St Paul

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Happily remembering today...

Traditional Feast of St Gabriel the Archangel,
patron of telecommunications and diplomats
March 24

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A day in history:  24 March 2011
Adoration Chapel, 

Cathedral of St Paul (Minnesota)
Inspiration Day
Seven Sisters Apostolate...
committed to praying for priests.

15 years of praying 

for our shepherds!

A Seven Sister: one holy hour/one priest/
each week/one heart of prayer

 

Visit the Apostolate website… leave a comment!  
www.sevensistersapostolate.org

PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER joining

this growing, international Apostolate!

Now in 37 countries!

 

"In strengthening the priest you strengthen the whole Church. ...

Strengthen the priest and

you strengthen the whole foundation,

you strengthen everything in the Church."
Fr Gerald Fitzgerald, s.P.

Bear Christ fully...

   O God, you are my God,

earnestly I seek you...  Psalm 63:1

  

 "Bear Christ 

in heart, mind, and will.

Bear Him in your mind 

by His teaching.

Bear Him in your will 

by your observance of the Law.

Bear Him in your heart 

by the Holy Eucharist."

Ven Pope Pius XII

Central point of our life: Fifth Sunday of Lent...

  Fifth Sunday of Lent*

*Final Lenten Sunday before Palm Sunday

Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause 

against a nation that is faithless.  From the deceitful 

and cunning rescue me, for you, O God, are 

my strength. - Entrance Antiphon (Today's Liturgy)

 "Without the Eucharist, 
the Church would not exist.

The holy Eucharist is the central point of our life. 

I remember once a priest I met. He never talked at great 

length about the sufferings, persecutions and tortures, 

but he mentioned that even in prison, 

all the priests would celebrate the liturgy.

We were amazed; how could this be possible? 
Where did you get a Chalice and a Paten? 

He took off his glasses and said: 
'This is what we used; one lens served as the chalice 
with a drop of wine and on the other a piece of bread 
was placed, which served as the paten.' 

This is how they celebrated the liturgy in the prison 
or around the premises of the concentration camps.”

Major-Archbishop Swiatoslav Schevchuk

Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Same Body broken, same Blood flowing...

   “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, 

and the Eucharist in turn 

confirms our way of thinking.” – St Irenaeus

"The Mass is that which makes the cross visible 

to every eye; it placards the Cross at all the 

crossroads of civilization; it brings Calvary so 

close that even tired feet can make the journey 

to its sweet embrace; every hand may now 

reach out to touch its Sacred Burden, 
every ear may hear its sweet appeal, 
for the Mass and the Cross are the same.

In both there is the same offering of a 

perfectly surrendered will of the beloved Son, 
same Body broken, the same Blood flowed 

forth, the same Divine Forgiveness.

All that has been said and done and acted 

during Holy Mass is to be taken away with us, 
lived, practiced, and woven into all the 
circumstances and conditions of our daily lives."

Venerable Fulton J Sheen

Calvary and the Mass: The Ite, Missa Est

The Sick Child - Edvard Munch

Bringing our hearts to His...

   Though I sit in darkness, the 

LORD will be my light. - Micah 7:8b

“Our lives must be woven around the Eucharist...

fix your eyes on Him Who is the light;

bring your hearts close to His Divine Heart;

ask Him to grant you the grace of knowing Him,

the love of loving Him, the courage to serve Him.

Seek Him fervently.”- St Teresa of Calcutta

(Quote chosen to honor St Photina)

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St Photina

Samaritan Woman at the Well

Convert, Evangelizer of the Faith, Martyr

Name meaning: 

“resplendent” or “shining with light”

Historical Feast Day - March 20

  

By the well of Jacob, O holy one, /
thou didst find the Water /
of eternal and blessed life; /
and having partaken /
thereof, O wise Photina, /
thou wentest forth proclaiming Christ, 

the Anointed One.

(Megalynarion for St. Photina, 

according to the Byzantine usage)

 St Photina, pray for us -

that we may have zeal for the faith!

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A Day in history...

TWENTY-SEVEN years ago today I joyfully 

reconciled with the Catholic Church and 

in so doing was enabled to fully partake of the 

Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Charity and Unity. 
Let us join in the holy endeavors of praying and 

living lives that speak of the strength and love 

of our Eucharistic Lord - to come 

to know, love and serve Him more and more - 

and to draw many to the inexhaustible riches 

of His Most Sacred Heart. 

__________________________________

“I will not rest until I find the whole world 

devoted to the Blessed Sacrament!” 

Bl. Didacus Joseph of Cadiz.   

Amen and Amen. - Janette +JMJ+

Ite ad Joseph! - Go to Joseph!...

     Solemnity of St Joseph

+ Patron of the Universal Church +
+ Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary +

+ Protector of the Divine Infant and Mary +

March 19
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Grant, we pray, almighty God, that by Saint Joseph's 

intercession your Church may constantly watch over 

the unfolding of the mysteries of human salvation, 

whose beginnings you entrusted to his faithful care.

Collect ~Today's Liturgy

 "The same divine hand which fashions each man's heart
gave a father's heart to Joseph and a son's heart to Jesus, so that 

Jesus obeyed Joseph and Joseph did not fear to command Jesus.  

It was because Christ's true Father had chosen Joseph to act 

as father to His Son in this world.  And in so doing God had,
as it were, charged Joseph's breast with some ray 

or spark of His own boundless love for His Son.  

It was that that aroused a father's love in Joseph; so much 

so that, feeling a father's heart burn within him, Joseph also felt 

that God was telling him to use a father's authority." -  Bossuet

"Saint Joseph believed unhesitatingly in the 

mystery of the Incarnation, in the fruitful virginity 

and in the divine maternity of Mary. He believed 

without seeing the miracles that were to fill Judea 

with his glory and renown of his holy name.

We too should recognize Jesus in the frail Host 

that is offered to us at the altar. Here He is even 

smaller than at Bethlehem, more hidden than 

in Saint Joseph's workshop.  Still it is He, 

'I believe all the Son of God has spoken,

than Truth's own word there is no truer token.'"

  Bishop Pierre-Anastase Pichenot

“He [St. Joseph] nourished with the greatest solicitude

Him whom the faithful were one day to receive as the 

Bread of Life on their homeward journey.” - Pope Pius IX  

"Saint Joseph  joined with Mary in adoration and 

united himself to Christ, Whose heart surged with sentiments of 

adoration, love and praise for the Father and of charity for men. 

St. Joseph’s adoration kept pace with every stage of 

our Lord’s life, drawing upon the grace, the spirit, and the 

virtue of each mystery.  In the Incarnation he adored the 

self-annihilation of the Son of God; at Bethlehem, the poverty; 

at Nazareth, the silence, the apparent weakness, 

the obedience, and all the other virtues of Christ.…

Because his faith was so strong, Joseph’s mind and 

heart bowed in perfect adoration. Imitate his faith as you 

kneel before the humble Christ annihilated in the Eucharist. 

Pierce the veil which covers this furnace of love 

and adore the hidden God.” - St Peter Julian Eymard

 "When Egypt was laid waste by the great famine,

Pharaoh told his people,

Ite ad Joseph! - Go to Joseph!... (Genesis 41:55)

So if we are in trouble, let us listen to the word of the Lord
and take Pharaoh's advice;
let us go to Joseph if we wish to be consoled." 
- St Alphonsus de Ligouri
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"To other Saints our Lord has given power to help in one sort

of need, but this glorious saint, as I know by experience,

helps us in every need." - St Teresa of Avila

 

St Joseph, pray for us!

Click here: Prayer to St. Joseph in Any Urgent Need - YouTube

Click here: Why St. Joseph? Patron of the Church and Spiritual Father