“Today we observe the great day of prayer for all the faithful
departed, called All Soul’s Day. Indeed, the whole month of
November is set aside for prayer for the souls in Purgatory.The existence of Purgatory, and that the souls there can be helped
with our prayers, is an article of the Catholic Faith, and it is the
common teaching of the Church that most of us will have at least
some time in Purgatory before we enter Heaven. The Bible teaches
us: “It is a holy and pious thought to pray for the dead!” Let us be
faithful in rendering this final act of charity to the faithful
departed, especially those among our family and friends.Indulgenced Acts for the Poor Souls:
A partial indulgence can be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery, and praying for the
departed, even if the prayer is only mental.One can gain a plenary indulgence visiting a cemetery each day between November 1
and November 8. These indulgences are applicable only to the
Souls in Purgatory.A plenary indulgence, again applicable only the Souls in Purgatory,
is also granted when the faithful piously visit a church or a public
chapel on November 2. In visiting the church or oratory, it is
required, that one Our Father and the Creed be recited.
A partial indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, can
be obtained when the Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam) is prayed.
This can be prayed all year, but especially during the month of
November:Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine
upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the
mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”
prayer
All posts tagged prayer
At the moment
You lift Your saintly friends
From the Earth,
And plant them
In the Heaven of Your Being,
At that precious moment,
And by that fateful act,
You endow
The sons and daughters
Of Your Covenant,
Remaining in this world,
With more,
Not less.
When Your friends
Journey forth,
All the Earth
Is, henceforth, blessed,
And not, otherwise,
Disposed or deprived.
As Your Servants,
Enter Your Realms of Light,
Their charisms become infinite,
In their capacity to bless.
When the smallest of the small
Cries out,
In the name of Your forever Friends,
These other Christs
Answer with Your power to succor.
In the Now of Your Essence,
They share Your Glory.
In Heaven,
There is only one glory,
Which cannot increase.
United to You,
Who, are unchanging,
This new rain falls to
the Earth,
And it’s consenting
creatures, here,
Can and do change,
In the shower
Of Your abundant dew fall.
We are, henceforth,
The beneficiaries of new riches,
Streaming from Your Side,
The Door, by which Your saints
Entered Eternity.
Glory upon glory falls,
As golden droplets,
Upon the land
Of sunrise and sunset.
Your gifts do not cease
With the death
Of those who are Yours.
Heaven is united to earth,
And in the celebration
Of their new birth,
Rejoices.
©2012 Joann Nelander
I live because You died,
Not in guilt,
But in the freedom of Love.
Choices are arrayed before me,
Multiplied by the days of my Life.
With the breaking
Of each New Day,
I rise forever
To choose You,
With the breaking
Of the Bread,
With the Lifting Up,
With the Cross before my eyes
I am a witness
Of the Resurrected One.
You Christ upon the altar,
You, Christ, living anew
In me,
Walk the Earth again
Leaving now my footsteps.
©2012 Joann Nelander
Refuge of Sinners
I sit in the sunshine of Your New Day.
Forgiveness has washed over me.
At Your Word,
Mercy has rained upon Your Beloved.
Hear now, You say to me:
You are safe, My little one.
You have chosen to hide yourself
In the Wound of My Sacred Heart.
The world about is cold and unholy,
Yet you are surround by angels of Light.
Warm and welcoming is the Living flesh
That is Your constant refuge.
I surrounds you,
As you have made my Body,
Your Food, your Heart,
Your own.
Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander
via Stepping Up Blog
“In June, 1942, General Douglas MacArthur was named National Father of the Year. The honor came just three months after he moved his family to the Philippines to lead the U.S. Pacific campaign of World War II, a level of honor and responsibility realized by few men. His statement in receiving the award truly revealed his heart and priorities.”
“By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder-infinitely prouder-to be a father.
A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentiality of death; the other embodies creation and life.
And while the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still. It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle but in the home repeating with him our simple daily prayer, ‘Our Father Who Art in Heaven.’”
In the early days of that war and campaign, MacArthur acknowledged his dependence on a Heavenly Father when he composed “A Father’s Prayer”:
“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.
“Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee-and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.
“Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail…”
“Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.
“And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously.
“Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength.
“Then, I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.’”
What is your Father’s Prayer for your children? You’ll probably never achieve the level of accomplishment of General Douglas MacArthur, but when all is said and done, what will make you whisper “I have not lived in vain”?
When I worked NICU, I cared for a preemie that fit in my hand just like this. Though it was tiny, and it’s skin so thin I could see the veins that circulated its blood, there was no doubt that this was a human being, young, out of the womb or in the womb, fully human,fully alive!
Anyone think its not a person?
Prayer for anyone considering abortion, or troubled by their pregnancy:
Lord of Life and Love
O Lord of Love and Life,
Bless me and Your child entrusted to my care and keeping.
Though the forces of Hell conspire against me,
You, O God, are for me,
And for my little one growing beneath my heart.
May the beating of our hearts proclaim You Holy,
And this life sacred to Your glory.
God is for us!
May no power on earth,
No friend, no relative, no worldly voice,
Or power from the Pit,
Persuade me otherwise.
O Lord of Love and Life
Bless us.
I was looking at Your Heart,
Alight with rays,
Gushing from Your parted Breast.
I realized, that heart was just like mine,
Human,
Yours aflame,
Shooting forth on wings of Holy Dove,
And mine,
Still learning how, what
And Who to love.
Love You are, and Love You give,
Bursting upon Time and Space, and Me,
And myriads akin to me,
Merely mortal, and yet more.
Heart rays, sacred emanations
Of Who You Are,
Enflame, to fire fleshly hearts
In Your Eternal Streams
Giving Your Life all
Who dare in hope
To welcome and adore.
Who but God could conceive
So great a good;
Your Heart is mine,
And mine is Thine
And I , at long-last, see.
©2014 Joann Nelander
Poem: “Spiritual Communion”
by Joann Nelander
Spiritual Communion Come, my Lord, to this poor dwelling, You are Lord of all, and – See more
via Catholic Lane | Online Catholic News | Catholic Faith Articles.
My dearest Heart,
If I but had pure vision
Of Your Holiness,
My soul would take wing,
To break the hold
And travesty accursed,
Which chains me here,
Forever, casting off,
The gravity of Sin.
Hold, before my eyes,
The Christ upon the Cross,
That Longinus beheld,
That I, too, might soar to Your Side,
And enter there that Wound,
Which You love best,
That holy invitation,
That bids me “enter here”.
No accident of fate,
That sword that pierced Your Heart
But providential lance of Holy Love,
That freed, fortuitous,
The wellspring of Salvation.
The sight of Love dying,
And undying,
Crosses the divide of Heaven and Hell,
To bathe with healing,
My eyes, as Raphael did Tobit.
And causes me to say with blind Bartimaeus,
In compassionate encounter,
“Lord, that I might see.”
Love bathes me, as Mother,
At the first sign of my distress,
Before my disbelief of Mercy
Could raise objection
To Your eternal Kindness.
In the sunrise of the First Morn
Of New Day,
I see You, my sweetest Heart,
Resplendent, yet still pierced.
O, my Resurrected Lord,
Promise of my victory,
I adore with Seraphic praise,
And taking wing,
I rise with Thee.
All Holy, Almighty, Jesus, Purest Heart,
Look upon the sweet beings, God’s good creations,
Nestled in the sanctity of human wombs.
Encircle the world through these little ones,
With Triune Love.
Bless Mother Eve with the “Fiat” grace of Mother Mary,
To bring forth a generation wed to Your Holy Will,
Peacemakers, pious through obedience,
Loving by Your Spirit,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
May these, as Children of the Light, recognize You,
From their coming forth into a new day,
Giving witness, and preparing Your Way,
As John (blessed in his mother’s womb).
Give dominion to these,
As You did the First Adam,
To reclaim and grace Your Good Earth.
Joann Nelander Studio 