Love tends upward...

"Love tends upward;

it will not be held down by anything low." 

Thomas a Kempis in Imitation of Christ

"If we but paused for a moment 

to consider attentively

what takes place in this Sacrament,
I am sure that the thought of Christ's love for us
would transform the coldness of our hearts
into a fire of love and gratitude."
St. Angela of Foligno
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 A most blessed FATHER'S DAY 

to all FATHERS!

St John Paul II, in a March 19, 1981, homily, asked,
“Where, dear father, will you be able to draw the energy
necessary to assume in various circumstances
the right attitude that your children, 
even without knowing it, expect from you?” 

He strongly advised against smothering their spontaneity or
abandoning them to a state of insecurity or loneliness.

“St. Joseph is the answer to this,” he proclaimed.

"St Joseph was an ordinary sort of man

on whom God relied to do great things. 

He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do,

in each and every event that went to make up his life."

- St Josemaria Escriva
___________________________

A stepfather, adoptive father, and biological father, Thomas More is a model for all dads 
In praise of the Father, and our fathers

An interesting question for dads to ponder this Father’s Day

Click here: 16 Father's Day Thoughts You'll Never Find in a Greeting Card

St Joseph and St Thomas More,
pray for all fathers!

Confess to the last breath...

   "It's not enough to know Christ, 

we must bring Him to everyone!" 

 St John Paul II

 

"Amen, amen, amen.

I believe, I believe, I believe

and confess to the last breath

that this is the Life-giving Flesh,

that of the Only-begotten Son,

Our Lord and our God,

our Savior Jesus Christ."

 

Ancient Egyptian Eucharistic Prayer

From Fire of God's Love

120 Reflections on the Eucharist

Mike Aquilina

Holy imprint...

   ...He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

 Hebrews 11:6b

Viaticum - Antique print

On her deathbed, St Juliana...

    "...begged that the Sacred Host might be laid upon her breast, in order that her heart might feel some refreshment from being near to Jesus; and  when the priest, in compliance with her request, spread the corporal (cloth) on her breast and laid Our Lord upon it, she exclaimed with the greatest delight:  'O my sweet Jesus!'

    As she drew her last breath, the Sacred Host disappeared, and as it was not to be found, the bystanders were sure that our Saviour, in the Blessed Sacrament, had united Himself to her heart, to strengthen her in her passage and accompany her to Heaven.

     After her death the form of the Host was found stamped upon her chest in the exact spot over her heart over which the Blessed Sacrament had been placed."

Excerpt from Fr Michael Muller, CSSR

The Blessed Eucharist, Our Greatest Treasure

St Juliana Falconieri

Florence, Italy ~ 1270-1341

Foundress - Sisters of the Third Order of Servites

Patron of Sufferers of chronic illness

Exemplary devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows 

and the Eucharist

"Handmaid of the Holy Eucharist"

Incorrupt

Feast Day (traditional) - June 19

 

 

 

  "Juliana grew up more like an angel 

than a human being."

~Blessed Alexius Falconieri, 

one of the seven founders of the Servite Order

and uncle to St Juliana

 

St Juliana Falconieri, pray for us!

Finding all the love I need...

 "The garden of the Blessed Sacrament is 

the treasure of your heart."

St Luigi Guanella

"Praying before the Blessed Sacrament 

I find strength, courage, light and 

all the love I need

to help those entrusted to me

on the way of salvation."

Bl Victoria Diez Bustos de Molina

Understanding the value...

"It would be easier for the world to survive without 

the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass."

St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"I think that many people do not fully

understand the value of Mass,

because if they recognized the enormous blessing 

we have in a Lord who gives Himself

as our food and drink in the Sacred Host, 

they would go to Mass every day

to participate in the fruits of the sacrifice

and let go of so many superfluous things."

St Carlo Acutis

Renewing strength and grace...

 "At the blessing, we should think that Jesus Christ is 

at that moment giving us His own blessing." 

St Francis de Sales

 

Fr George Welzbacher ~ Final blessing after holy Mass, St John of St Paul Catholic Church (East side - St Paul , MN - USA)

Happy fact:  Fr Welzbacher celebrates 75 years of priesthood this June 2026!!
He celebrated his 98th birthday on 13 June 2026
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"The Cross is where the Church finds her mission.  ... At the beginning of Mass, we make the Sign of the Cross as a way of showing our solidarity with the suffering of Christ, into Whose death we were baptized, taking up our crosses and following Him.  At the end of Mass, we reaffirm that solidarity and once more take up our crosses, with renewed strength and grace because of our devout participation in the Sacrifice of the Mass." 

 Jeffrey Pinyan

Excerpt: Praying the Mass, 2nd Ed (2010)

 

 

"The last blessing over the people represents the sending of the Holy Spirit, whom our Lord sent among the apostles after He had ascended into heaven, according to His promise, You shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you.  It also recalls the last blessing that will be given when Christ says, Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Durandus

Bishop of Mende (France)

c.1230-1296

The secret of my day...

"The Eucharist is the secret of my day.  

It gives strength and meaning 

to all my activities of service 

to the Church and to the world."  

Pope Saint John Paul II 

“The Blessed Sacrament is the invention of love. 

It is life and fortitude for souls, 

a remedy for every fault, and a 

viaticum for the last passage from time and eternity. 

In it sinners recover life for their souls;

tepid souls, true warmth;

 fervent souls, tranquility and satisfaction of every longing…

saintly souls, wings to fly towards perfection…

pure souls, sweet honey and rarest sustenance."

The Way of Divine Love
Words of Our Lord to Sr Josefa Menendez

Reward of listening...

My sheep listen to My voice; I know them,

and they follow Me. - John 10:27

“If I am to answer the question, 

‘How would Christ solve modern problems 

if He were on earth today’, 

I must answer it plainly; and for those of my faith there is only one answer. Christ is on earth today; alive on a thousand altars; and He does solve people’s problems exactly as He did when He was on earth in the more ordinary sense. That is, He solves the problems of the limited number of people who choose of their own free will to listen to Him."

G.K. Chesterton

Anniversary of death: 14 June 1936

Why I Am a Catholic 

Click here: The American Chesterton Society

Click here: Meeting Chesterton After His Death - Crisis Magazine

Mary: guide, not goal...

 Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the

Blessed Virgin Mary

"Be Not Afraid; my Immaculate Heart will be 

your refuge and your safe passage to God."

Our Lady of Fatima

"Everything in Mary leads us toward her Son,

our only Savior, by whose foreseen merits she 

was preserved immaculate and full of grace;

everything in Mary lifts up our hearts

to the praise of the Holy Trinity.

The Church sees Mary, then, not as the goal, 

but as the guide, who always leads souls 

who honor her with true devotion – to her Son,

especially to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament."

Fr Paul Duffner, O.P.

"Mary, give me your Heart: 

so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate:

your Heart so full of love and humility that 

I may be able to receive Jesus in the Bread of Life 

and love Him as you love Him and serve Him 

in the distressing guise of the poor."

St Teresa of Calcutta
_________________________________

Immaculate Heart of Mary,

cause of our joy, lead us and pray for us!

_________________

TODAY also remembering... 

St Anthony of Padua

Feast Day - June 13

"The Bread of Heaven satisfies every taste and hunger."

St Anthony of Padua

"From Lisbon, out of Portugal ... He went to Italy ... And there confounded heretics ... And conquered heresy ... He was God's holy orator ... Who spread the gospel true ... And whose great ardor made him one ... Of His selected few ... The legends now are legion  of ... His miracles on earth ... The patron saint of barren wombs ... And those that promise birth ... He also is the patron of ... The poor and the unfed ... As hungry mouths are opened for ... St Anthony's special bread ... And many are his followers ... Who feel in heart and mind ... That any article they lose ... St Anthony will find."  ~ From Poem Portraits of the Saints - James J Metcalfe (1956) 

Invite someone to Holy Mass 
- where hunger and thirst are satisfied!   

In this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart it is fitting!

 St Anthony will help find the right person to ask!

St Anthony of Padua, pray for us!

God's Heart calls to ours...

 Solemnity of the 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
His love endures forever! (cf. Ps 136)

_________

"The very core of Christianity is expressed in the heart of Jesus ... 

the Love that saves us and even now makes us live in the eternity of God 

(John 3:16).  ... God's heart calls to our hearts, inviting us to come out 

of ourselves, to forsake our human certainties, to trust in Him and by 

following His example, to make ourselves a gift of unbounded love."  

 Pope Benedict XVI

    "Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus infallibly leads souls to the Eucharist. Love for, and devotion to, the Eucharist infallibly leads souls to the mystery of God's infinite love symbolized for us by the Sacred Heart, a symbol necessary because love itself is immaterial and imperceptible: We need the sensible manifestation of the Divine Heart.
    So it is that the Sacred Heart, the Holy Eucharist, and Love itself, are one and the same thing; for in the Eucharist dwells Jesus, in Jesus His Heart, and in His Heart is infinite love. The Eucharist can be explained only by love; the love of Jesus is the love of His Heart, and so the Eucharist is explained only by the Sacred Heart. Drawn close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by cords of love, we receive into our own hearts the Eucharistic Lord in Holy Communion. It is not possible to carry fire in one's bosom and not become inflamed by it. Fire enkindles fire."

 Fr Richard Neilsen

Full text:

Click here: Library : The Sacred Heart and the Eucharist - Catholic Cultur

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"I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have
thrown Me out of their hearts today." 

  Jesus to St Faustina

"Love overcomes, love delights.

Those who love the Sacred Heart rejoice."

 St Bernadette

“O Jesus, a soldier opened Your side with his lance, 

so that, through the gaping wound, we might know 

the charity of Your Heart, which loved us unto death, 

and that we might enter into Your unutterable love 

through the same channel by which it came to us.

Approach, then, O my soul, the Heart of Christ, 

that magnanimous Heart, that hidden Heart, that Heart

 which thinks of all things and knows all things; 

that loving Heart, all on fire with love. 

Make me understand, O Lord, that the door of Your Heart 
was forced open by the vehemence of Your love.

Allow me to enter into the secret of that love 

which was hidden from all eternity, but is 

now revealed by the wound in Your Heart.” 

St. Bernardine of Siena

________________________________

Click here: Sacred Heart of Jesus - YouTube 

(with artwork, quotes, singing)

Click here: Sacred Heart of Jesus - YouTube
How to Enthrone Home to Sacred Heart --Aleteia

In 2002 Pope St John Paul II designated

the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

as a World Day of Prayer 

for the Sanctification of Priests

Click here: Annual Global Rosary Relay - World Priest

O Jesus, eternal Priest, keep your priests
within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart,
where none may touch them.
Keep unstained their anointed hands,
which daily touch Your Sacred Body.
Keep unsullied their lips,
daily purpled with Your Precious Blood.
Keep pure and unearthly their hearts, sealed
with the sublime mark of the priesthood.
Let Your holy love surround them and
shield them from the world's contagion.
Bless their labors with abundant fruit and
may the souls to whom they minister be their
joy and consolation here, and in Heaven their
beautiful and everlasting crown.  Amen.

St Therese of Lisieux

______________________

"May the Heart of Jesus Christ be our school!

Let us make our abode there. Let us study its 

movements and attempt to conform ours to them.  

Yes, O Divine Jesus, I want to live there. "

St Claude de la Colombiere, S.J.

O, Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!