Prayer for the intercession of Frank Parater

A prayer asking for the intercession of Frank Parater can be found below.  I have also pasted a link to the diocesan website about this Servant of God.  

Thanking you in advance for your prayers,
Melissa

Loving Father, Your servant, Frank Parater, sought perfection as a student, scout, and seminarian.  He offered himself to You completely through the Sacred Heart of Your beloved Son, Jesus. Through the intercession of Frank Parater, may young  people answer Your call to follow Jesus as priests and religious.  Grant the favors I seek, so that Your Church may recognize his holiness and proclaim him Blessed.   Grant this through Christ our Lord.  Amen  

http://www.arlingtondiocese.org/vocations/voc_parater.php

Prayer to Our Lady by St Maximillian Kolbe

Click on prayer to "zoom in"

Allow me to praise You, O most holy Virgin, with my personal commitment and sacrifice.

Allow me to live, work, suffer, be consumed and die for You, just for You.

Allow me to bring the whole world to you.

Allow me to contribute to Your ever greater exaltation, to Your greatest possible exaltation.

Allow me to give You such glory that no one else has ever given You up to now.

Allow others to surpass me in zeal for Your exaltation, and me to surpass them, so that by means of such noble rivalry Your glory may increase ever more profoundly, ever more rapidly, ever more intensely as He Who has exalted You so indescribably above all other beings Himself desires.

In You alone has God been adored beyond compare, more than in all His saints.

For You God has created the world. For You God has also called me to existence. For what reason have I merited this fortune?

Oh, allow me to praise You, O most holy Virgin!

Director's Message

I have been thinking of our unique position as children of God and what that union entails for us as His daughters.  We are blessed with sanctifying grace, given access to the Sacraments, and are called to unite ourselves more fully with the sufferings of Christ.   As I mentioned at Easter, I am inclined to think of my day as a love letter to Our Lord.  As I look back on my Lent (and my life), I see so much failure: not keeping my sacrifices, realizing how attached I am to my own will, etc. But I also have great hope.  Christ looks on each one of us with His eyes of love, and literally begs us to accept His forgiveness and peace.  He desires to take all of our failures, disappointments, and hurts, and purify them in the furnace of His love so they may be presented to the Father as a sacrifice that is "acceptable and pleasing".  His love does not fail.  

My "love letter" is a renewal of my promise to seek the "pleasing of Him in all things".  To offer my tattered, yet hope-filled, heart to Him to be loved, and to love Him in return.  I desire each time things do not go my way today (and every day), to place these pricks upon my heart as a sacrifice of love on one of His five wounds, begging the grace in the moment to do as He wills, or as will too often happen, asking Him to perfect my actions where I fall short.  

In each of these moments my heart will be united to yours, knowing that through our united prayers and God's grace, our struggles will indeed be loved and perfected by Christ. 

Director's Message: Our Pope

The announcement from our Holy Father this morning that he will be stepping down at the end of the month saddens my heart, for he has been a good and faithful servant. At the same time it is also a beautiful reminder that the Holy Spirit has always been with the Church, and always will. Our Lord asks us to trust, and pray. 

 As we enter Lent, I urge each of us to direct our prayers and sacrifices to the needs of holy Mother Church. This is a time of great grace, and as Scripture reminds us, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against us" (Mt 16:18). God never loses battles. Trust in His providence. To prepare our hearts, and the hearts of the Cardinals, check out the prayer for the upcoming conclave. 

I remain with you in prayer,
Melissa

Novena Prayer for the Conclave

Heavenly Father,

We, the people of God, gathered in solidarity as did the disciples in the Upper Room, pray for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the cardinals who will be in conclave for the election of the next Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the hearts of our cardinals be open to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, beyond any human judgment, to elect the candidate most pleasing to you, Heavenly Father, and who will guide the Church at this momentous time in history and the beginning of the Third Millenium.

We invoke our Mother Mary, united in prayer with the disciples in the Upper Room, to intercede for our cardinals to select the next Holy Father in docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, her divine Spouse. With Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, we entrust this conclave to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, and offer these prayers for your guidance and protection over the choosing of the next Vicar of your Son.

Our Father...

Hail Mary...

Glory Be...

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!

(credit: Dr. Mark Miravalle)

Availability

This morning, as I spent time with Our Lord, some words from Adrienne von Speyr really struck me. I would like to share this thought with you: When you approach the Father in prayer, do you come with a heart directed to "availability"? This is not the availability of the Father to hear you, but rather of you to hear the Father, to be present to what He desires for you. Ask Our Lady to teach you her prayer of availability. May the Spirit of God fill your heart with His wisdom and peace.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Reading Schedule

The Devotion to The Sacred Heart of Jesus

 How to practice the Sacred Heart Devotion

Fr. John Croiset, S.J.

September 12:

   Chapters 1-3, begin the motives for this devotion

October 10:

     Chapter 4-6, conclude the motives for this devotion

November 7: 

     Part 2: The Means of Acquiring this Devotion, Chapter 1-Chapter 2, end of second obstacle (self-love)

 December 5:

     Part 2: Third obstacle through end of Chapter 3

January 9:

     Part 2: Chapter 4 (particular means)

 

February 6:
     Part 3: The Practice of this Devotion. Chapters 1-3

March 6:

     Chapter 4-Visiting the Blessed Sacrament

 

April 10:
     Chapters 5 and 6-Holy Mass and Holy Communion

 May 1:

     Chapters 7 and 8-Marks of this devotion and select writings

 

June 12:

     Chapter 9-Meditations for the Feast of the Sacred Heart

 

I believe, I Adore, I trust

Offering the Sacred Heart of Jesus

I offer Thee my heart with all the sentiments of which it is capable; I give myself entirely to Thee, and from this hour I protest most sincerely that I desire to forget myself and all that can have reference to myself, in order to remove the obstacles which might prevent me from entering into this Divine Heart which in Thy divine goodness Thou openest to me, and where I desire to enter in order to live and die with Thy most faithful servants.

Amen.

 

Blessed Claude de la Columbière

 

Maurice and Thérèse Reading Schedule

September 19:
    Introduction and Chapter 1

October 17:

     Chapter 2 through the Christmas Miracle

November 14: 

     January 31, 1897-April 25, 1897

December 12:

     The Little Way-June 21, 1897

January 16:

     Merciful Love-July 17, 1897

February 20:

     A Lovely Home in Your Holy Friendship-August 5, 1897

March 13:

     I Found Jesus in You- Death of Thérèse

April 17:

    Chapter 3

May 8:

     Chapters 4 and 5

 

I wish “to make God loved”

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Dear St. Therese,

We implore you to be with our community as we strive to serve the Father’s will.  Perfect in our hearts the desire to “please Him in all things”.  Ask the Father to bless our apostolate of spiritual maternity so the fruits of our labors may be realized in the drawing of souls to Christ, particularly the souls of His little ones, those at risk, and those who have lost hope.  Amen.

 

Women’s Apostolate to Youth