Third Sunday of Advent: Rejoice! ...

Third Sunday of ADVENT 

Gaudete Sunday

There is a shift from adoring “The Lord Who is to come”,
to worshiping with joy "The Lord Who is now nigh and close at hand ”.

The name GAUDETE derives from the first word of this Sunday’s

Introit of the Mass from Phil 4:4-5 ... At the heart, it is a command...
Gaudete in Domino semper ~ Rejoice in the Lord always

"Draw near to Christ, present among us

in His Word and in the Eucharist, and...

rejoice

in the knowledge that He remains with us

at every moment of our lives 
and throughout history."

Pope Benedict XVI
12/09/09, General Audience

Click here: Gaudete Sunday - YouTube (2 mins)

Our dearest Holy Father...

81 years old today!

You have the pledge of our prayers!

Barefoot thru fire... with JOY...

"Who we love shapes what we become." - St Clare of Assisi

 

When St Margaret Mary Alacoque left the world and consecrated herself

to God in the cloister, she made a private vow and wrote in her blood,

"All for the Eucharist,

nothing for me."

It is useless to attempt to describe the Saint's burning love for the Eucharist.

When she was not able to receive Holy Communion, she broke out

in ardent expressions of love like these:

"I have such a desire for Holy Communion that if

I had to walk barefoot along a path of fire to obtain It,

I would do so with unspeakable joy."

Excerpt from Jesus, Our Eucharistic Love (Fr Stefano Manelli)

"Jesus, what made You so small?"...

"Jesus, what made You so small?

LOVE!"

St Bernard of Clairvaux

Encountering Jesus...

...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

“Dear brothers and sisters,
Now let us remember the two phrases: 
every encounter with Jesus changes our life and 
every encounter with Jesus fills us with joy. 
Should we say them together?
Every encounter with Jesus changes our life;
 every encounter with Jesus fills us with   joy. 
This is true.”
 

Pope Francis

Excerpt: 03/23/14, Angelus 

St Peter’s Square, Roma 

Remembering ...



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

A day in history:  March 24, 2011
Adoration Chapel, Cathedral of St Paul (Minnesota)
Inspiration Day
Seven Sisters Apostolate...
committed to praying for priests.

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

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

Please like our Facebook page! www.facebook.com/sevensistersapostolate

A Saint for Those who are Prisoners of their Past....

 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere... Psalm 84:10a

 

St. Josephine spent hours in Eucharistic Adoration and,

when one Sister asked if it tired her, she said,

"Not at all!  I have been having a

wonderful time with Him. 
He has waited so long for me."

...
"Our Lord has always been so good to me ...
If I were to stay on my knees for my entire life,
I still would not be able to 
express my gratitude sufficiently."

 

St Josephine Bakhita

Sudan/Italy ~ 1869-1947

Religious (Canossian Daughters of Charity)

Click here: Canossian Daughters of Charity - Who We Are

Pope Benedict XVI, on 30 November 2007, in the beginning of his 

second encyclical letter Spe Salvi (In Hope We Were Saved), 

relates her entire life story as an outstanding example of the Christian hope.

Feast Day - Feb 8

Toward the end of her life, Mother Bakhita used to smile and say: "I travel slowly, one step at a time, because I am carrying two big suitcases. One of them contains my sins, and in the other, which is much heavier, are the infinite merits of Jesus. When I reach heaven I will open the suitcases and say to God: 'Eternal Father, now you can judge.' And to St. Peter: 'Close the door, because I'm staying.'"

Click here: St. Josephine Bakhita - YouTube
Click here: “A Saint for Those who are Prisoners of their Past” | Vultus Christi

Saint Josephine Bakhita - Bing video

St Josephine Bakhita, pray for us!

Just as you are...

I love you, O LORD, my strength.  - Psalm 18:1

 

"Go to our Lord just as you are.

Be natural in your meditation.

He wants the thought and prayer of that heart

as the genuine expression of its love for Him."

Saint Peter Julian Eymard

How do I end a Holy Hour?

You turned my wailing into dancing;

You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

that my heart may sing to You and not be silent. 

O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever. - Psalm 30:11-12

"A good way to end a Holy Hour

is to thank the Lord. 

Thank Him for His presence, for His Love, 

for all that He has done and will do in your life.  

You can call to mind and thank Him for the specific graces 

or resolutions you received during the hour.  

Then, again, express your adoration 

with your whole body and soul, 

and renew your commitment to try to live

 each moment of your life in such a way 

that you will be a living sign of His presence, 

of His mercy to the world."

Fr. George W Kosicki, CSB

"In loving one another through our works, 

we bring an increase of grace and a growth in divine love."

 - Bl Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 

In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories and Prayers

Death by JOY!

"When you have received Him, stir up your heart to do Him homage;
speak to Him about your spiritual life, gazing upon Him in your soul
where He is present for your happiness; welcome Him as warmly
as possible, and behave outwardly in such a way that your
actions may give proof to all of His Presence."- St. Francis de Sales

 

"When we receive Holy Communion,

we experience something
extraordinary -

 a joy, a fragrance, a well being 
that thrills the whole body 
and causes it to exalt. ...

If we really understood the Mass,

we would die of joy."

St John Vianney

Opening the door...

 "The Lord is knocking at the door of our hearts.

Have we put a sign on the door saying:

'Do not disturb'?"- Pope Francis

 

 

"The Eucharist is essential for us: 

it is Christ who wishes to enter our lives

and fill us with His grace."

 

Pope Francis

 

Image: Light of the World, William Holman Hunt

Live the Eucharist...

(Jesus said ...) "By this all men will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another." - John 13:35

 

"Set the Eucharist at the center

of your personal life and community life:

love the Eucharist,

adore the Eucharist and

celebrate it ...

live the Eucharist

by testifying to God's
love for every person."

Pope Saint John Paul II
World Youth Day 2000

His look rests upon you...

"What happiness do we not feel in the presence of God, when we find ourselves alone at His feet, before the holy tabernacle! …

‘Come, my soul, redouble your ardor!
You are here alone to adore your God!

His look rests on you alone!’

Ah! if we only had the angels' eyes!  Seeing our Lord Jesus Christ here, on that altar, and looking at us, how we should love Him! We should want to stay always at His feet; it would be a foretaste of heaven; everything else would become insipid to us."

St John Vianney

Third Sunday of Advent: Rejoice!

Third Sunday of ADVENT 

Gaudete Sunday

There is a shift from adoring “The Lord Who is to come”,

to worshipping with joy “The Lord Who is now nigh and close at hand”.

The name GAUDETE derives from the first word of this Sunday’s 

Introit of the Mass from Phil 4:4-5 ... At the heart, it is a command...

Gaudete in Domino semper ~ Rejoice in the Lord always

Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, rejoice.  Indeed the Lord is near.

"We cannot be messengers of God's consolation

if we do not experience first the joy

of being consoled and loved by Him....

When we remain in prayerful silence in His presence,

when we meet Him in the Eucharist

or in the sacrament of Reconciliation.

All this consoles us!"

Pope Francis

December 7, 2014, Angelus address

Click here: Gaudete Sunday - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: Sweet, Beautiful, Soul-Saving Joy – A Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent «

Thanksgiving Day blessings to ALL!

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more - a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse

may be Thy praise.  ~ George Herbert

 

  Sing and make music to the Lord in your hearts, 
always thanking God the Father for all things in the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Eph 5:19-20 (Today's Entrance Antiphon)

"We give You thanks, O Lord our God,

for the Communion of Your

holy, pure, and heavenly Mysteries,

which You have given

for the good, the hallowing

and the healing of souls and bodies."

St. Basil the Great

 

Gratitude ... goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy. ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen

  Consider a gift of gratitude to our Lord through a

daily HOLY HOUR and/or HOLY MASS

during the upcoming season of ADVENT!

"God has two dwelling places:

One in heaven and the other

in a grateful heart."  ~ Izaak Walton

Returning His visit...

...everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. - Isaiah 35: 10

 

Getty Images - Credit: John Moore

 

"Jesus comes to visit me

each morning in Holy Communion. 

I return His visit to Him

in the poor."

 

 

 

Bl Pier-Giorgio Frassati

 Italy ~ 1901-1925

"Man of the Eight Beatitudes"

Patron of World Youth Days

Incorrupt*

Motto:  Verso l'alto - "To the heights!"

FEAST DAY - July 4

 

 

“To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend,

without a steady struggle for truth, that is not living, but merely existing;

we must never just "exist". - Bl Pier-Giorgio

 

 *To this day, Frassati´s body remains incorrupt: "When they opened

Pier Giorgio´s tomb in 1981, his body was perfectly preserved,"

recalled one witness. "He had a smile on his face and a rosary in his hands.

It was like meeting him for the first time."

 

Click here: OFFICIAL USA WEBSITE  BL PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI

Click here: Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: Pier Giorgio Frassati: A commentary by Fr. Barron - YouTube

 

 Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us!

 

4th of July: Blessed Independence Day:

Let freedom ring !

 

 

 

Today we make again our own

The hope which Christ, our life, has sown:

In fertile fields and streets of stone,

Let freedom ring!

 

Where Justice works amid the weed

Of rampart want and choking greed,

To loose the voice of human need,

Let freedom ring!

 

Where Mercy's fingers, slashed and torn,

Untangle love from twisted thorn

Of anger, disbelief and scorn,

Let freedom ring!

 

Where hearts imprisoned toil and weep,

Our founders' dreams still trouble sleep

With harvests we have yet to reap:

Let freedom ring!

 

In Christ, we tend what God has planned,

With justice, mercy, truth in hand

Till joy sings out through all the land:

Let freedom ring!