All Souls Day

Help Release Souls from Purgatory

A plenary(full or complete) indulgence can be gained for a soul in purgatory each day from November 1st-8th by visiting a cemetery and praying for the deceased.

As with all plenary indulgences the following things are necessary:
1. You must go to confession once within 8 days (either before or after).
2. You need to receive Holy Communion each day that you wish to gain a plenary indulgence.
3. You must pray for the intentions of the Holy Father (Pope Benedict XVI) each day that you wish to gain a plenary indulgence.
4. You must be detached from all sin including venial sin.
5. You must do the particular action described by the Church (in this case, go to a cemetery and pray for the deceased).
If any of the above conditions are not fulfilled the indulgence is only partial.

Here is an example of what you can do during the days of Nov. 1st through Nov. 8th.
Go to Mass where you will receive communion worthily (in a state of grace), then go to a cemetery and pray for the dead (the deceased person you are offering the indulgence for need not be buried in the cemetery you are visiting). When you arrive simply say “I offer the indulgence gained today for _____________.” (if you don't have a specific soul to pray for you can say “for an unnamed soul in purgatory who is in great need of my prayers”).

Then say a pray for all the souls in purgatory. For instance, the prayer of St. Gertrude:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son,
Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all
the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the
universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.

Then pray for the intentions of Pope Benedict XVI (one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be will suffice). You are finished.
This can be repeated each day; however, Communion must be received each time for the plenary indulgence to be applied. Confession needs to be received once within 8 days.

Ephesians 4:32–5:8

Brothers and sisters:
Be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you,
as is fitting among holy ones,
no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place,
but instead, thanksgiving.
Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person,
that is, an idolater,
has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty arguments,
for because of these things
the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.
So do not be associated with them.
For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light.

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Ayer

Beloved:
I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.

St. Luke the Evangelist

St. Teresa of Avila: Favorite Quotes and Prayers

St. Teresa of Avila: Favorite Quotes and Prayers

"It is love alone that gives worth to all things."

“To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.”

“What a great favor God does to those He places in the company of good people!”

“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”

"God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person."

"To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience."

"We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble."

"There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers."

"The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit."

"Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds. "

"The most potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don't mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects [are] those that are followed up by actions-----when the soul not only desires the honor of God, but really strives for it. "

"I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me."

"Vocal prayer . . . must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of Whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don't call prayer-----however much the lips may move."

"Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us."

"You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him."

'One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer. "

"Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal."

"Pain is never permanent."

"Truth suffers, but never dies."

"I am afraid that if we begin to put our trust in human help, some of our Divine help will fail us."

"Our greatest gain is to lose the wealth that is of such brief duration and, by comparison with eternal things, of such little worth; yet we get upset about it and our gain turns to loss."

"We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us."

"Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one Glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing. "

"Christ has no body now, but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ looks compassion into the world.
Yours are the feet
with which Christ walks to do good.
Yours are the hands
with which Christ blesses the world."

Let nothing trouble you,
let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing;
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who possesses God lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.

Magnanimity

The magnanimous person stretches forth his mind to great things.
This virtue is opposed by four vices.
1. Presumption is to attempt what is beyond ones power.
2. Ambition is to want honor for itself and not for truly being good.
To want to be known as holy or heroic without actually being holy or heroic.
3. Vainglory is wanting praise from the wicked or for something that is not good,

The daughters of vainglory are:
disobedience
boastfulness
hypocrisy
contention
obstinacy
discord
eccentricity

4. Pusillanimity is to fall short of magnanimity, to bury one's talents in the ground.

Read the whole chapter

Here is another example of how reading the whole chapter will help you to understand the meaning of the passage. 1 Tm 6:11-16 was the reading for the 26th Sunday. It stands on its own, but the whole chapter helps a lot.

Read the whole chapter

Frequently the Sunday readings are shortened. If you read the whole chapter you will get a better understanding of the text.

For example, last Sunday we heard about the curing of Namaan from leprosy. It would be very easy to give a sermon about the need to give thanks and then relate that to money. But if you read the whole chapter you will see that Elisha the prophet would not like that at all.

2 Kings 5

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More Leo XIII

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy "Dowry" and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world ; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross. O sorrowful Mother! intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE ROSARY

ADIUTRICEM

SEPTEMBER 5, 1895

To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.

1. The mightiest helper of the Christian people, and the most merciful, is the Virgin Mother of God. How fitting it is to accord her honors ever increasing in splendor, and call upon her aid with a confidence daily growing more ardent. The abundant blessings, infinitely varied and constantly multiplying, which flow from her all over the whole world for the common benefit of mankind, add fresh motives for invoking and honoring her.

From "The Little Flower's of St. Francis"

CHAPTER VIII

HOW ST FRANCIS, WALKING ONE DAY WITH BROTHER LEO, EXPLAINED TO HIM WHAT THINGS ARE PERFECT JOY

One day in winter, as St Francis was going with Brother Leo from Perugia to St Mary of the Angels, and was suffering greatly from the cold, he called to Brother Leo, who was walking on before him, and said to him: "Brother Leo, if it were to please God that the Friars Minor should give, in all lands, a great example of holiness and edification, write down, and note carefully, that this would not be perfect joy." A little further on, St Francis called to him a second time: "O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor were to make the lame to walk, if they should make straight the crooked, chase away demons, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, and, what is even a far greater work, if they should raise the dead after four days, write that this would not be perfect joy." Shortly after, he cried out again: "O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor knew all languages; if they were versed in all science; if they could explain all Scripture; if they had the gift of prophecy, and could reveal, not only all future things, but likewise the secrets of all consciences and all souls, write that this would not be perfect joy." After proceeding a few steps farther, he cried out again with a loud voice: "O Brother Leo, thou little lamb of God! if the Friars Minor could speak with the tongues of angels; if they could explain the course of the stars; if they knew the virtues of all plants; if all the treasures of the earth were revealed to them; if they were acquainted with the various qualities of all birds, of all fish, of all animals, of men, of trees, of stones, of roots, and of waters - write that this would not be perfect joy." Shortly after, he cried out again: "O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor had the gift of preaching so as to convert all infidels to the faith of Christ, write that this would not be perfect joy." Now when this manner of discourse had lasted for the space of two miles, Brother Leo wondered much within himself; and, questioning the saint, he said: "Father, I pray thee teach me wherein is perfect joy." St Francis answered: "If, when we shall arrive at St Mary of the Angels, all drenched with rain and trembling with cold, all covered with mud and exhausted from hunger; if, when we knock at the convent-gate, the porter should come angrily and ask us who we are; if, after we have told him, `We are two of the brethren', he should answer angrily, `What ye say is not the truth; ye are but two impostors going about to deceive the world, and take away the alms of the poor; begone I say'; if then he refuse to open to us, and leave us outside, exposed to the snow and rain, suffering from cold and hunger till nightfall - then, if we accept such injustice, such cruelty and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring, believing with humility and charity that the porter really knows us, and that it is God who maketh him to speak thus against us, write down, O Brother Leo, that this is perfect joy. And if we knock again, and the porter come out in anger to drive us away with oaths and blows, as if we were vile impostors, saying, `Begone, miserable robbers! to to the hospital, for here you shall neither eat nor sleep!' - and if we accept all this with patience, with joy, and with charity, O Brother Leo, write that this indeed is perfect joy. And if, urged by cold and hunger, we knock again, calling to the porter and entreating him with many tears to open to us and give us shelter, for the love of God, and if he come out more angry than before, exclaiming, `These are but importunate rascals, I will deal with them as they deserve'; and taking a knotted stick, he seize us by the hood, throwing us on the ground, rolling us in the snow, and shall beat and wound us with the knots in the stick - if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which we would share out of love for him, write, O Brother Leo, that here, finally, is perfect joy. And now, brother, listen to the conclusion. Above all the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his friends, is the grace of overcoming oneself, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt; for in all other gifts of God we cannot glory, seeing they proceed not from ourselves but from God, according to the words of the Apostle, `What hast thou that thou hast not received from God? and if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?' But in the cross of tribulation and affliction we may glory, because, as the Apostle says again, `I will not glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Amen."

St. Francis of Assisi

Guardian Angels