Blessed Feast of Corpus Christi

Blessed and praised every moment be the most holy and divine Sacrament.

(Indulgence 100 days)

I adore Thee at every moment, O living bread of heaven, great Sacrament!
Jesus, heart of Mary, I pray you, bless my soul.
Holiest Jesus, my Savior, I give Thee my heart.

(Indulgence of Two Hundred Days; Pius VII, 1915)

Prayer to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

O My Lord and King, hidden in this Sacrament! Since Thou dost invite me to converse with Thee, I will open my heart with confidence, and speak. O my Jesus, ardent lover of souls-! I know too well the injustice and ingratitude of men towards Thee: Thou lovest them, and they do not love Thee: Thou dost confer benefits on them, and they return Thee insults: Thou wouldst have them hear Thy voice, and they will not listen: Thou dost offer them graces, and they refuse them. Ah, my Jesus, I too have been once among the number of these ungrateful souls. O my God, it is only too true. But I desire to amend, and I wish to compensate for the insults I have done Thee, by doing all I can to please Thee for the remainder of my life. Tell me, O Lord, what Thou dost require of me. I will do it without the least reserve. Make known to me Thy will by the way of holy obedience, and I hope to accomplish it.

My God, I firmly promise never to leave undone any act which I know to be agreeable to Thee, although the performance of it should cost me the loss of all things, of relations, friends, character, health, and even life itself. Let me lose all, if only I may do Thy will. Happy loss, when all is sacrificed to content Thy Heart, O God of my soul! I love Thee, O sovereign Good, above all goods worthy of my love, and in loving Thee I unite my feeble heart with the hearts of all the Seraphim. I unite it with the heart of Mary, and with the Heart of Jesus. I love Thee with my whole soul; I wish to love Thee alone, now and for ever. Amen

Novena in preparation for the Feast of Corpus Christi ~ Day 1 ~

I thank Thee, Jesus, my Divine Redeemer, for coming upon this earth for our salvation, and for instituting the august Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist in order to remain with us until the end of the world.

I thank Thee for hiding beneath the Eucharistic species Thy infinite majesty and beauty, which Thy Angels delight to behold, so that I might have courage to approach the throne of Thy Mercy.

I thank Thee, most loving Jesus, for having made Thyself my food, and for uniting me to Thyself with so much love in this wonderful Sacrament that I may live in Thee.

I thank Thee, my Jesus, for giving Thyself to me in this Most Blessed Sacrament, and so enriching it with the treasures of Thy love that Thou hast no greater gift to give me.

I thank Thee not only for becoming my food but also for offering Thyself as a continual sacrifice to Thy Eternal Father for my salvation.

I thank Thee, Divine Priest, for offering Thyself as a Sacrifice daily upon our altars in adoration and homage to the Most Blessed Trinity, and for making amends for our poor and miserable adorations.

I thank Thee for renewing in this daily Sacrifice the actual propitiatory Sacrifice of the Cross offered on Calvary, in which Thou satisfiest Divine justice for us poor sinners.

I thank Thee, dear Jesus, for having become the priceless Victim to merit for me the fullness of Heavenly favors. Awaken in me such confidence in Thee that their fullness may descend ever more fruitfully upon my soul and let me always be worthy of Thee.

I thank Thee for offering Thyself in thanksgiving to God for all His benefits, spiritual and temporal, which He hath bestowed upon me. In union with Thine offering of Thyself to Thy Father in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I ask for this special intention :

( here our humble prayer petition )

If it be Thy holy Will, grant my request. Through Thee I also hope to receive the grace of perseverance in Thy love and faithful service, a holy death, and a happy eternity with Thee in Heaven. Amen.

O Lord, Thou hast given us this Sacred Banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us who are worthy of Thee. Thou hast given them bread from Heaven. Having all sweetness within.

Let us pray.

God our Father, for Thy glory and our salvation Thou appointed Jesus Christ eternal High Priest. May the souls He gained for Thee by His Blood come to share in the power of His Cross and Resurrection by celebrating His Memorial in this Most Blessed Sacrament, for He liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, forever. Amen.

O Jesus, since Thou hast left us a remembrance of Thy Passion beneath the veils of this Sacrament, grant us, we pray, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood that we may always enjoy the fruits of Thy Redemption through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rosary Novena, Joyful Mysteries - In Petition

Daily 15 Prayers of Saint Bridget

Daily 15 Prayers of Saint Bridget

Daily 15 Prayers of Saint Bridget

Tuesday in Whitsun Week ( by Fr. Prosper Gueranger 1870)

Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within them the fire of thy love.

Yesterday, we were admiring the work of the Holy Ghost, whereby He drew mankind to the faith and name of Jesus, to Whom all power was given in heaven and in earth (St. Matt. xxviii. 18). The instruments used for this conquest were the Apostles and their immediate successors. The Tongue of Fire was victorious, and the Prince of this world was defeated. Let us continue our reflections, and see the further workings of the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Son of God, Who had sent him into the world. 

Our Emmanuel came down from heaven, that He might effect the union He had desired from all eternity. He began it by uniting our human nature to His own divine Person; but this personal union did not satisfy His love. He mercifully deigned to invite the whole human race to a spiritual union with Himself, by giving her to become His Church, His own dearest One , as He calls her;--His glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, but holy and without blemish (Eph. v. 27). But how could mankind, deformed as it was by sin, be worthy of such an honor? His love would make it worthy. He tells us that this Church is His Spouse ; and thus chosen, He beautified her in the laver of His own precious Blood, and gave her, in dowry, the infinite merits He had acquired. 

Thus prepared, her union with Him was to be of the closest. Jesus and his Church are one body; He is the Head, she is the aggregate of the Members united together under this one Head. Such is the teaching of the Apostle: Christ is the Head of the Church: we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Eph. v. 23, 30). This Body is to be formed of all who shall, in each successive age, be faithful to the call of divine grace, and enroll themselves as children of the Church. The world we inhabit is to be preserved, till the last elect, required to complete the mystic body of Jesus, be added to the Church Triumphant: then, all will be consummated; the divine Mystery of the Incarnation will have achieved its whole work. 

But, as in the Incarnate Word there was the invisible Soul and the visible Body, so also the Church was to have a Soul and a Body: a Soul, whose hidden beauty no eye but God's can fully see, at least during her earthly sojourn; and a Body, which is to be visible to men, an ever-living proof of God's power, and of His love for the human race. Up to the Day of Pentecost, the just, who had been united under Jesus, their Head, had belonged only to the soul of the Church, for the body was not then in existence. The heavenly Father had adopted them as His children; the Son of God had accepted them as His members; and the Holy Ghost (Who is now about to work exteriors,) had interiors wrought their election and sanctification. 
The new order of things is to begin in Mary's person. As we have already explained, the Church in its entirety, that is both soul and body, resided first in Her. It was but fitting that she who was as truly the Mother of the Son of God, according to His Human Nature, as the heavenly Father was His Father according to the Divine Nature, should be superior to all other members of the Church, and this not only in the high degree of grace, but also in the precedence of time. 

When our Saviour gave his Church an existence outside the loved sanctuary of his Mother's Heart, He, with His own hands, set the Foundation Stone, (Peter, the Rock); He raised up the Pillars, and we have seen how He spent the forty days before His Ascension, in organizing this Church, which was then so small, but which was afterwards to cover the whole earth. He told His Apostles, that He would be with them all days even to the consummation of the world (St. Matth. xxviii. 20); it was the same as telling them, that, even after His Ascension into heaven, His Church was to continue on earth, even to the end of time. 

He left the plan, thus begun by Himself, to be perfected by the Holy Ghost. It was necessary that this Holy Spirit should come down from heaven, in order to strengthen those whom Jesus had chosen as His Apostles. He was to be their Paraclete; their Comforter, in the absence of their Master; He was to be the Power from on high, Who was to serve them as armour in their future combats; He was to remind them of all the words spoken to them by Christ; He was to give fruitfulness, by His own action, to the Sacraments, which Jesus had instituted, and over which the Apostles had power, because of the character impressed upon them by this Holy Spirit. It is on this account that Jesus said to His Apostles: It is expedient to you that I go; for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you (St. John, xvi. 7). We have seen this Divine Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost, producing His effects on the Apostles and Disciples; let us now see His action in the creation, maintenance, and perfecting of this Church, which Jesus has promised to assist, by His mysterious presence, even to the consummation of the world. 

The first operation of the Holy Ghost in the Church is the election of its members. This right of election is so especially His prerogative, that, as we learn from the Scriptures, it was by the Holy Ghost (Acts, i. 2) that Jesus chose the Apostles, who were to be the pillars of His Church. We have seen how this Holy Spirit began His Mission on the Day of Pentecost, by the election of three thousand Jews. A few days after, five thousand were added to the number, being converted by the preaching of Peter and John (Ibid. iii. and iv. 4). The Gentiles, also, were called to the Church; and the Holy Ghost, having led Peter to Cornelius the Centurion, descends upon this Roman and his household, thus declaring them to be elected as candidates for holy Baptism. The Liturgy put this history before us, in the Mass of yesterday. 

We seem able to keep pace with these first workings of the Holy Spirit; but the sequel is all impetuosity, divine rapidity of action, irresistible conquest. He sends forth His Messengers; their sound goeth forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world (Ps. xviii. 5). He goes before them; He goes with them; He works the victory, whilst they speak. We come to the commencement of the 3rd Century, and we find a Christian writer addressing the Magistrates of the Roman Empire in these words: "We are but of yesterday, and we abound everywhere, in your cities, in your towns, in your camps; in the palace, the senate, the forum (Tertullilan, Apologet. xxxvii)." Nothing can withstand the Spirit of God: and in less than three hundred years from the Day of His first manifestation, He calls the very Emperors of Rome to be members of the Church. 

Thus does the Spouse of Jesus advance in her beauty and strength; He looks upon her from His throne in heaven, and tenderly loves her. In the early part of the 4th Century, the Church, the work of the Holy Ghost, exceeds the limits of the Roman Empire. Here and there, within this vast Empire, there are places where paganism is still rife; but they all know what the Church is, and the very hatred they bear her is a proof that they are aware of her progress. 
But let us not suppose, that the Mission of the Holy Ghost is limited to the founding the Church on the ruins of the great Pagan Empire. No: the Spouse of Jesus is to be immortal; she is to exist in every place and age; she is to be superior, both by the extent of her dominions and the number of her subjects, to every other human power. 

The Divine Ghost could not, therefore, suspend his Mission. The Roman Empire has merited, by her crimes, to be swept away by the inundation of barbarous nations: it is the preparation of a new triumph for the Spirit. He comes and works, invisibly and silently, amidst this huge mass: He has his elect there, and by millions. He has renewed the face of the pagan world; He renews the face of the world, now that the Barbarians rule it. He chooses His co-operators, and right faithful are they. He creates new Apostles, and He selects them from all classes, for He is Master to do as He wills. Queens such as Clotilda, Bertha, Theodelind, or Hedwiges, are ready to do His bidding's; they deck the Spouse of Jesus with their royal hands, and she comes forth to the world once more, younger and lovelier than ever.

There are, indeed, immense tracts of country in Europe not yet in the Church; it was necessary first to give stability to the work in those that had previously been Christian, and had been well-nigh submerged beneath the deluge of the invasion. But, at the close of the 6th Century, the Holy Spirit visits Britain, Germany, Scandinavia and Sclavonia; He sends them Apostles, such as Augustine, Boniface, Anscharius, Adalbert, Cyril, Methodius, Otho. By the labors of Missioners like these, the Spouse is compensated for the losses she has sustained in the East, where schism and heresy have encroached upon her primitive inheritance. That Holy Spirit, Who is God together with the Father and the Son, and has been sent by Them to defend the honor of the Spouse, is ever faithful to His trust.

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Daily 15 Prayers of Saint Bridget

Daily 15 Prayers of Saint Bridget

Daily 15 Prayers of Saint Bridget

A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who devoutly recite the hymn Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest.
But a plenary indulgence is granted, if the Hymn is recited publicly on the 1st of January and on the feast of Pentecost.

Come  O Creator Spirit blest,
And in our souls take up Thy rest,
Come with Thy grace and Heavenly aid,
And fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
Great Paraclete! To Thee we cry,
O highest gift of God most high!
O fount of life! O fire of love!
And sweet anointing from above.
Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts art known,
The finger of God's hand we own;
The promise of the Father, Thou!
Who dost the tongue with power endow.
Kindle our senses from above,
And make our hearts o'erflow with love;
With patience firm and virtue high,
The weakness of our flesh supply.
Far from us drive the foe we dread,
And grant us Thy true peace instead;
So shall we not, with Thee for guide,
Turn from the path of life aside.
Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
The Father and the Son to know,
And Thee through endless times confessed
Of both the Eternal Spirit blest.
All glory while the ages run
Be to the Father and the Son
Who rose from death; the same to Thee,
O Holy Ghost, eternally. Amen.

Today : the Solemnity of Pentecost - Whit Sunday

"There are Three who give testimony in Heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these Three are one."-----1 JOHN 5, 7
Whitsunday or the Solemnity of Pentecost is a Double of the First Class Feast with a Privileged Octave of the First Order and the Station at St. Peter. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being seated on the right hand of the Father, sent, as He had promised, the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, who, after His Ascension, continued in prayer at Jerusalem, in company with the Blessed Virgin, awaiting the performance of His promise. Let us pray in like manner with the Church: "Come,O Holy Ghost , fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

On this day our Lord Jesus Christ, Risen from the grave and seated at the right hand of the Father, communicates His own divine Life to the members of His Mystical Body through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. So the Church having attained its full development, now first appears before the world.

 "I believe in the Holy Ghost," thus sounds for every Christian who wishes to be saved the eighth article of the Apostles' Creed. In fact, as faith in God the Father and the Son fills the whole world, so, too, faith in the Holy Ghost. And as the world is full of the omnipotence of the Father and full of the Redemption through the Son, and consequently gives testimony of the Father and the Son, so also it is filled with the Providence of the Holy Ghost, and gives glory to the Holy Ghost by a like testimony.

The omnipotence of the Father as Creator of Heaven and earth called the world into existence out of nothing; but the world was still void and empty. It was the work of the Holy Ghost to adjust it and communicate to it wonderful beauty, motion, life, fertility and the multiplicity of its creatures. Hence Holy Scripture says: "The Spirit of God moved over the waters," which still covered the whole earth.

In like manner, Our Divine Savior accomplished the work of Redemption, announced truths, and gained again grace for the world; but it was the work of the Holy Ghost to adjust as it were this Redemption, to apply it to men by forming the kingdom of grace and truth, the Holy Church, and to communicate to her marvelous beauty, fruitfulness, and perpetuity, in order that in her and through her the Redemption might become the common property of all men until the end of time. For this reason, the Holy Ghost came down on Pentecost at Jerusalem, in order to begin His Divine activity for the salvation of the world. This was in accordance with the promise of Our Divine Savior to His Apostles: "I will ask the Father and He will give you another Paraclete, in order that He may remain with you forever, the Spirit of truth." I will, therefore, speak to you today of the Holy Ghost, of His name, of His activity, and of His government of His Church.

The Holy Ghost is the Third Divine Person, as every Christian believes and knows. And every one who is Baptized or receives any of the other Sacraments, receives them in the name and with the invocation of the Holy Ghost. As we have been taught by Our Divine Savior to call the First Person Father, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, Who has adopted us as His Children; and as we for this reason call the Second Person the Son, as Jesus called Himself, so, too, do we call the Third Person, according to the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost.

True the Holy Triune God is the purest, most perfect Spirit; the Angels are also pure spirits and have no bodies; and our own souls are immortal spirits; nevertheless we call the Third Person by the particular name, Holy Spirit, because He gives to us and to the whole world that supernatural, that higher spiritual life of grace. The Apostle St. John writes: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" . This birth to a higher spiritual and supernatural life, as the fundamental condition of eternal happiness, takes place through the Holy Spirit in Baptism, as Our Divine Savior Himself teaches: "Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of God"

Oremus / Let us pray
O God, Who on this day didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful by the light of the Holy Ghost: grant unto us, by the same Spirit, to be wise in what is right, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God , forever and ever. Amen.