For love of priests and of holy Mass...

 "We are born to love, we live to love,  and we will die to love still more." - St. Joseph Cafasso  

"March 26th is one of two days the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church honors a Pearl of Our Lady's Dowry. The Church chose this day, as it was the first available. In reality, she was put to death on quite a momentous day. Not only was it March 25th - the date that the Feast of the Annunication is normally celebrated, but in the year that she died, 1586, this date was also Good Friday. She followed in  her dear Saviour's footsteps so closely that she died in a cruciform position, her hands and arms outstretched and bound to the floor on which she would be crushed. After having been secured in the cruciform position mentioned before, in imitation of Christ, the martyr was crushed to death by several hundred pounds of weights that were laid on top of her. She was not the only victim of the execution. She had been four months pregnant.

This "Pearl" is St. Margaret Clitherow. She died in defense of the Catholic faith. More specifically, she died in defense of the priesthood, the Mass, and the Blessed Sacrament. 

St. Margaret opened her home to the most reviled class of people in Elizabethan England - Catholic priests. "This is a war and a trial in God's Church," she wrote of the persecution in her country. "Therefore, if I cannot do my duty without peril and dangers, yet by God's grace I will not be a slacker for them. If God's priests dare venture themselves to my house, I will never refuse them." 

One biographer wrote, "The heart and center of [St. Margaret's] life was the Mass." One priest that she harbored, Father John Mush, wrote, "Her most delight was to kneel where she might continually behold the Blessed Sacrament."

Source: Click here: An Imitation of Christ - St. Margaret Clitherow
Click here: PEOPLE Margaret Clitherow - YouTube

St Margaret Clitherow

England ~ 1556-1586

Convert, Wife, Mother, Martyr

aka "Pearl of York"
Co-Patroness: Seven Sisters Apostolate

FEAST DAY - March 26

"I die for the love of my Lord Jesu."- St Margaret Clitherow  Moved by her saintly life, all her children entered the religious life.
Anne became a nun. Henry and William both became priests.

St Margaret Clitherow, pray for us!

Nerve center of the Church...

 I look into the paten's gold
My consecrated fingers hold,
And mirrored in its circle see
The other Christ I'm called to be.

Adrienne Gascoigne

Translation: Accept, holy Father... (addressed to God the Father)

Holy card image: www.thewindowshowsitall.blogspot.com/

"When the Holy Father (St JPII) described the priesthood 

as "the nerve-centre of the Church's whole life and mission" 

(Holy Thursday Exhortation, 4 April 1996), he was affirming the key role 

played by priests in the drama of salvation.  Priests, it could also be said, 

are God's key-men in the further sense that to them have been given 

the keys of the kingdom - the kingdom of privileged sacramental treasures, 

notably the Eucharist and the forgiveness of sins (cf. Mt 16:19).  ...

... a priest's whole meaning and purpose is focused 
on the Eucharist in general, the Mass in particular.

 For he is consecrator and sacrifice-offerer of the Blessed Sacrament, besides being 

distributor, custodian and privileged adorer.  How accurate and apt, therefore, is the 

Holy Father's (St JPII) observation:  "A priest is worth what his Eucharistic life is worth."

St Claude de la Colombiere treasured the personal 

graces gained through holy Mass like rubies....

"Each day in my Mass He will give me new counsels, new strength.   

He will teach me, encourage me.  He will grant me or obtain for me, 

through His sacrifice, all the graces I shall ask of Him."

      

Fr Richard Foley, SJ
  Excerpts from Mary and the Eucharist (Must read!)

During this grace-filled season of Lent priests offer many extra Masses

and spend many long hours celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation

for the holy benefit of those they serve.  Let us PRAY DAILY for priests -

in thanksgiving for their vocation, for their stamina and piety and to implore 

deeper, richer Eucharistic lives for them - and ultimately for the Church!


"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., Founder
Handmaids of the Precious Blood

"The devil tempts one priest more than 100 seculars... 
Because to take away the Shepherd,
scatters the flock."- St Alphonsus Liguori

Check out a vibrant and growing Apostolate committed
to pray for priests in the form of Holy Hours:
Seven Sisters Apostolate
Seven Sisters Apostolate
www.sevensistersapostolate.org

The invisible, visible...

"The eyes of the world see no further than this life, 
but the eyes of the Christian 
see deep into eternity." - St John Vianney

“When we come to a knowledge of truth 

it calls forth a response.    

I am reminded of a story I heard about a man who became a priest in his early fifties because he came in contact with something that changed his life.  While at this writing I can’t verify the story, I learned he was a research scientist at NASA, working with a camera that could gauge and measure on the screen the aura of light around a human body.  I believe it is Kirlian photography.  NASA’s interest was in being able to identify and monitor the aura of the astronauts in orbit, to determine what is happening to them internally.  What they found was that dying people have a very thin aura, like blue light, which gets weaker and weaker until the people die. 

The scientist and an associate were in a hospital apparently behind a two way mirror monitoring the aura of a dying man.  As they watched, another man came into the room and filled the room with light, which emanated from his pocket.  The man reached into his pocket and did something that caused the camera to be so filled with light that they were unable to see what was happening.  They ran into the room only to discover the man giving Communion to the dying man. 

They raced back to the camera and observed that as the dying man received Communion his aura began to grow stronger. The scientist knew, at that point, that there was a higher power; there was someone to be reckoned with, someone for whom he had to live his life.  He left his job and became a Catholic priest.

Once we acknowledge something, once we see something deeply, it carries with it a responsibility and accountability.  'When much has been given a man, much will be required of him…'  Luke 12:48."

Fr Robert de Grandis, SSJ
Excerpt from Healing Through the Mass (pgs 84-85)

He went away, yet He remained... (HOLY THURSDAY)

The Paschal Triduum begins with the Evening Mass In Cena Domini on Holy Thursday, continues through the Friday of the Lord's Passion, reaches its summit in the Solemn Paschal Vigil, and comes to a close with Sunday Vespers of the Lord's Resurrection - a full three days - evening Thursday through evening Sunday (According to the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar).

HOLY THURSDAY

Institution of the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Holy Orders

“Consider, on your knees, the mystery 

of God’s love for us, that He didn't want to leave us orphans.
 … For Christ knew our hunger for Himself.  

He knew that we would be walking around in the darkness 

of a thousand wars and miseries throughout this life. …

This is Holy Thursday.  This is when the Christ we are talking 
about took an ordinary piece of bread and a little wine and changed it into 

His Body and His Blood. … Remember this day always, year after year:  

the day of Christ’s infinite love, when He went away 

and yet He remained, in Bread and Wine, and in the priest. …

In His immense love, Christ chose men 

who would have His hands and His feet, in whom He could walk, 

in whom He could forgive sins, who could lift Him up, who could give us 

the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist – the Bread and Wine, 

which He said makes for everlasting life!  

The incredible love of God is visible to us! ..."

Catherine de Hueck Doherty

Painting above: The Last Supper - Nesterenko, Vasily Igorevich 

 

"Without the priest, the passion and death 
of our Lord would be of no avail.  
It is the priest who continues the work of redemption here on earth... 

Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest 
and they will end by worshipping the beasts there...

The priest is not a priest  for himself,

he is a priest for you."

"O, how great is the priest!...

If he realized what he is, he would die."

St John Vianney
Patron of all priests

Pray, pray , pray for our priests!
They rely on our prayers - and we rely on our priests!

As Father John Hardon, S.J., once said, “praying and offering God sacrifices for the priesthood are indispensably important,” because “there is no Catholic Church without the priesthood.”

Prayer for Priests to pray today...
and tomorrow and everyday... 
 (St Charles Borremeo)

O holy Mother of God, pray for the priests your Son has chosen to serve the Church. Help them, by your intercession, to be holy, zealous, and chaste. Make them models of virtue in the service of God’s people.

Help them be pious in meditation, efficacious in preaching, and zealous in the daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Help them administer the sacraments with joy. Amen

Learn more about praying for priests... 

Seven Sisters Apostolate

Nerve center of the Church...

 I look into the paten's gold
My consecrated fingers hold,
And mirrored in its circle see
The other Christ I'm called to be.

Adrienne Gascoigne

Translation: Accept, holy Father... (addressed to God the Father)

Holy card image: www.thewindowshowsitall.blogspot.com/

"When the Holy Father (St JPII) described the priesthood 

as "the nerve-centre of the Church's whole life and mission" 

(Holy Thursday Exhortation, 4 April 1996), he was affirming the key role 

played by priests in the drama of salvation.  Priests, it could also be said, 

are God's key-men in the further sense that to them have been given 

the keys of the kingdom - the kingdom of privileged sacramental treasures, 

notably the Eucharist and the forgiveness of sins (cf. Mt 16:19).  ...

... a priest's whole meaning and purpose is focused 
on the Eucharist in general, the Mass in particular.

 For he is consecrator and sacrifice-offerer of the Blessed Sacrament, besides being 

distributor, custodian and privileged adorer.  How accurate and apt, therefore, is the 

Holy Father's (St JPII) observation:  "A priest is worth what his Eucharistic life is worth."

St Claude de la Colombiere treasured the personal 

graces gained through holy Mass like rubies....

"Each day in my Mass He will give me new counsels, new strength.   

He will teach me, encourage me.  He will grant me or obtain for me, 

through His sacrifice, all the graces I shall ask of Him."

      

Fr Richard Foley, SJ
  Excerpts from Mary and the Eucharist

THESE HANDS BRING ME JESUS 

CLICK BELOW  to see this outstanding slide show video

by Stephen Golder (Turn on sound) * 7 mins

 http://www.thesehandsbmj.com/video.htm

During this grace-filled season of Lent priests offer many extra Masses

and spend many long hours celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation

for the holy benefit of those they serve.  Let us PRAY DAILY for priests -

in thanksgiving for their vocation, for their stamina and piety and to implore 

deeper, richer Eucharistic lives for them - and ultimately for the Church!


"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., Founder
Handmaids of the Precious Blood


Check out a vibrant and growing Apostolate committed
to pray for priests in the form of Holy Hours:
Seven Sisters Apostolate
Seven Sisters Apostolate
www.sevensistersapostolate.org

O Jesus, keep them close to Your Heart...

 "By nature, the priest is like all other men; 
through his office, he surpasses everything on earth;
through his conduct, he must be comparable to the angels."

- St Bernard of Clairvoux

O Jesus,

I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;

for your unfaithful and tepid priests;

for your priests laboring at home

or abroad in distant mission fields;

for your tempted priests;

for your lonely and desolate priests;

for your young priests;

for your dying priests;

for the souls of your priests in Purgatory.

But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me:

the priest who baptized me;

the priests who absolved me from my sins;

the priest at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me

Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;

the priests who taught and instructed me;

all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way (especially...N...).

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,

and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.  Amen.

Daily Prayer of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Image:   Ordination ~ Neilson Carlin

Holy ministers for the altar...

"O, Father, give us holy ministers for Your altar, who shall be attentive

and fervent guardians of the Eucharist, the Sacrament of the supreme gift of 

Christ for the redemption of the world.  Amen." - Pope Benedict XVI

These words were written 110 years ago on July 28, 1907, on the morning of

Fr Willie Doyle’s ordination to the priesthood in Miltown Park, County Dublin.

"My loving Jesus, on this the morning of my Ordination

to the priesthood, I wish to place in Your Sacred Heart,

in gratitude for all that You have done for me, the resolution from

this day forward to go straight to holiness. My earnest wish and

firm resolve is to strive with might and main to become a saint."

And on 28 July 1914, the 7th anniversary of his ordination, he wrote:

"At Exposition Jesus spoke clearly in my soul, ‘Do the hard thing for

my sake BECAUSE it is hard’. I also felt urged to perform all my

priestly duties with great fervour to obtain grace for other priests

to do the same, e.g. the Office, that priests may say theirs well."

Fr Doyle’s last entry in his diary was made on the 10th anniversary

of his ordination (and 3 weeks prior to his death) on 28 July 1917: 

"I have again offered myself to Jesus as His Victim to do with

me absolutely as He pleases. I will try to take all that happens,

no matter from whom it comes, as sent to me by Jesus and will bear

suffering, heat, cold, etc., with joy as part of my immolation,

in reparation for the sins of priests. From this day I shall try bravely

to bear all little pains in this spirit. A strong urging to this."

For more on Fr Willie Doyle: 
Click here: Remembering Fr Willie Doyle SJ

Prayer for Priests composed by Fr Willie Doyle

O my God, pour out in abundance Thy spirit of sacrifice upon

Thy priests. It is both their glory and their duty to become victims,

to be burnt up for souls, to live without ordinary joys, to be often

the objects of distrust, injustice, and persecution.

The words they say every day at the altar, “This is my Body,

this is my Blood,” grant them to apply to themselves: “I am no longer

myself, I am Jesus, Jesus crucified. I am, like the bread and wine,

 a substance no longer itself, but by consecration another.”

O my God, I burn with desire for the sanctification of Thy priests.

I wish all the priestly hands which touch Thee were hands whose touch

 is gentle and pleasing to Thee, that all the mouths uttering such

sublime words at the altar should never descend to speaking trivialities.

Let priests in all their person stay at the level of their lofty functions,

let every man find them simple and great, like the Holy Eucharist,

accessible to all yet above the rest of men. O my God, grant them to carry

with them from the Mass of today, a thirst for the Mass of tomorrow,

and grant them, ladened themselves with gifts,

to share these abundantly with their fellow men.   Amen.

Top painting: Priest at the Altar ~ Francois Marius Garnet 
Bottom painting: Holy Eucharist and Fruit ~ Jan de Heem