Fruitful remedy

"God did not tell us to follow Him because He needed our help, but because He knew that loving Him would make us whole."

Irenaeus of Lyons  

    

 

"When the Sisters are exhausted,

up to their eyes in work;

when all seems to go awry,

they spend an hour in prayer

before the Blessed Sacrament.

 

This practice has never failed to bear fruit.

They experience peace and strength."

 

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

 

Perfumes of Strength

  "Protected, covered and defended by the Presence of this dear Lord,

let us stand before Him in the Holy Eucharist

and pray with the humility of the creature

and the confidence and freedom of the child." - St Padre Pio

"We must always have courage,

and if some spiritual languor comes upon us,

let us run to the feet of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,

and let us place ourselves

in the midst of the heavenly perfumes,

and we will undoubtedly regain our strength."

St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

Priest, Stigmatist, Mystic

Italy  ~ 1887-1968

Patron of Eucharistic Adorers

Feast Day - Sept. 23

When I am close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,

I feel as if my heart is bursting out of my chest.” ~ St Padre Pio

 

Click here: St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina - YouTube (2:30 mins)

Click here: St. Padre Pio - YouTube (2 mins)

St Padre Pio, pray for us!

Savoring sweetness...

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

in you I trust, O my God. - Psalm 25:1, 2a

 

"What great sweetness there is,

O Jesus,

in Holy Communion. 

I want to live in Thy embrace 

and die in Thy embrace!"

St Gemma Galgani (+1903)

IMAGE: Woman giving thanks after Communion ~ Alphonse Legros

Redemption: in mystery, in manner of life!

The LORD is near to all who call upon him,

to all who call upon him in truth. - Psalm 145:18

 

 

Prayer after Communion (Today’s Liturgy)

Graciously raise up, O Lord,

those you renew with this Sacrament,

that we may come to possess your redemption

both in mystery and in the manner of our life. 

Through Christ our Lord.

 

Remembering... St Matthew

Nee - Capernaum

"And he got up and followed Him" (Mt 9:9b) ...

"leaving everything behind" (Lk 5:28)

Apostle and Evangelist

"the son of Alphaeus" (Mk 2:14)

FEAST DAY - September 21

 

 

 

Imitate St Matthew - get up and follow Jesus.

Then invite sinners to meet Him.

"What reason can the Teacher have for eating with tax collectors

and those who disregard the law?" —Matthew 9:11

Cause heaven to rejoice (Luke 15:7).

 

 

 

His life is somewhat shrouded, and  ... There are not many facts ... But Matthew was a publican ... Who gathered in the tax ... Until that wondrous moment in ... His native Galilee ... When Jesus came upon him, and ... He told him, "Follow me" ... And Matthew followed Jesus then  ... Wherever Jesus went ... Ignoring Pharisees and all ... The Roman government ... With eloquent sincerity ... This good apostle preached ... In distant lands wherever there ... Were souls that could be reached ... And he composed the gospel that ... Inspires us today ... To follow Jesus Christ and live ... According to His way.

 

From Poem Portraits of the Saints - James J Metcalfe (1956), pg 6

 

 St Matthew, pray for us!

Bound gently to God - les petits moyens

"We begin to pray, believing that it is our own initiative that compels us to do so.  Instead, we learn that it is always God’s initiative within us …"

St John Paul II

The Humble Prayer of Repetition

Dom Mark Kirby, O.S.B. (12/06) - http://vultus.stblogs.org/

"Today a God–seeking soul shared with me that she used to think of the prayer of repetition as second rate. Her ideal was to remain perfectly still, empty, and receptive before God. Unable to attain her ideal, she fell to the humble prayer of repetition, and now has come to recognize its value. She often prays the Chaplet of the Eucharistic Face of Christ (see below). Like others, she has found that this humble prayer of seeking, desire, supplication, and praise anchors her in the presence of Our Lord. The repetition of its invocations (like the prayers of the Rosary) binds her gently, but effectively, to God. This soul's experience corresponds to my own.

The prayer of repetition is pleasing to God because it is intrinsically humble. One accepts one's inability to be perfectly still, entirely receptive, and totally absorbed in adoration, and then one accepts to make use of the poor man's prayer: the same well–loved phrases burnished by repetition.  As the heart is enkindled by the Holy Spirit, each repeated prayer becomes like a grain of incense thrown on an incandescent charcoal. Its fragrance is for God alone.

Folks who see themselves as theologically sophisticated and enlightened often disdain what I call les petits moyens, "the little means." They sniff condescendingly at people who pray rosaries, chaplets, and litanies. Better to pray that way, I say, than to abandon prayer altogether.

The humble prayer of repetition bears sweet fruits. One fine day — or in the middle of the night — one wakes to discover that the heart is praying by itself. Deep within, a spring has begun to flow, irrigating one's secret parts. Thus does the grace of Christ begin to heal what is wounded, to refresh what is weary, to make new what is old."  

Chaplet of the Eucharistic Face of Christ.

Pray it on ordinary rosary beads. Apart from the opening antiphon, which was composed by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Office of Corpus Christi, it is entirely drawn from Sacred Scripture. It incorporates all four steps of lectio divina: lectio (the Word heard); meditatio (the Word repeated); oratio (the Word prayed), and contemplatio (the Word's embrace).

O Sacred Banquet in which Christ is received, the memory of His passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given us, (alleluia).

Before each decade:

My soul is thirsting for God, the strong and living God;
when shall I enter and see the Face of God? (Ps 41:3).

On the Hail Mary beads:

It is Thy Eucharistic Face, O Lord, that I seek;
hide not Thy Face from me (cf. Ps 26:8-9).

After each decade:

Behold, O God our protector,
and look upon the Face of Thy Christ (Ps 83:10).

In conclusion, three times:

Father, glorify the Eucharistic Face of Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee (cf. Jn 17:1).