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Hello everyone, Today, Thursday 8th April we have over 2350 people from all over the world and from many Christian and some non-Christian denominations joining together in prayer. My
sincere apologies for the long delay in getting this reflection to you.
It's been a strange time here, to say the least. Since January 23rd I've
had 5 unrelated illnesses, been in hospital 3 times, am now on my 4th antiobiotic,
had three post-op complications to remove a wee bit of cancer and I thought
I had pain until a prayer request arrived this evening just before leaving
for the Mass of the Last Supper. My intended journey of the Passion through
Lent went belly-up but the last one was to focus
I've
been telling my friends that I've felt a bit like Job in his pile of ashes
and then realised I'd never actually read the Book of Job. So Tuesday night
I did and I was as wise as when I'd started. I just couldn't get a full
handle on it so off I went in search of a scholarly theological interpretation
From
what I can make out Job's 3 buddies were blaming his misfortunes on his
sins, despite Job protesting innocence. He was a Godly man, very wealthy
but extremely generous to those in need, with a big family. He lost all
his wealth and his 7 sons and 3 daughters and was put to the test
Isn't that the eternal question! Back to that email. One of our new Prayer Warriors sent in a request from a heart not being able to understand the very things Job, or the rest of couldn't understand. She lost her brother to suicide 2 months ago, her son to suicide 5 months ago, her husband to war 9 months ago and her mother to suicide 27 years ago. Yet she still had the faith to seek prayers for their eternal peace, despite her terrible anguish and suffering. How deep are the mysteries of God! If I've learnt anything personally about my own trivial few weeks it's not to waste a precious moment of suffering. I thought deep and hard on suffering and realised that pain comes in all 'shapes and sizes' - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Of them all, physical pain is probably the easiest to deal with because there can be peace despite the gnawing pain. Mental pain leaves no room for peace, emotional pain disturbs peace and spiritual pain cries out for peace. This week in the Christian Church calendar we focus on pain to its very extreme and we see all of the types of pain mentioned. Jesus suffered them all from the Garden of Gethsemane right up to death on the cross. Why did He endure so much - why did God allow Him to endure so much? He endured because of His love for each and every person who ever was and is to be. God allowed it because of that self-same unconditional love for all of His people, whether black, white or brown, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, none or whatever, man, woman or child, saint or sinner. It makes not a whit of difference to God - we all all loved the very same way with a love that we mere humans can never fully grasp or understand. It's impossible for us to even begin to imagine the love He has for us all. He endured so that we might be free - free from sin through forgiveness, free from fear through love. God loves us - God is always there for us, God is the only constant we can depend on. But that same mysterious question still arises - why does He allow us to suffer? Because, with the graces we get by turning our broken hearts or broken minds and bodies to Him, we will endure too. We share in the Passion of His beloved Son day in and day out, if we are but willing to share - like the reluctant Simon of Cyrene who shouldered the cross. Back
to not wasting a precious moment of suffering. We should try to join that
suffering to the suffering Christ. For non-Christians, perhaps that's a
hard one to take on board. But for anyone who believes in God it is not
hard to understand that He suffers. Man is His glorious creation, yet look
For Christians, the moment of God's greatest mercy is the moment of His Beloved Son's death. Satan was defeated at that very moment and he knows it. But that won't stop him trying to wrench as many souls away from God as he possibly can. Our focus is on that Mercy, on God's love for us, our need of Him. Our choice is to turn to Him, even in our pain and suffering, for if we can do that, we will endure too and, like Job, will gain way more than we lose. There is a wonderful set of prayers prayed over the nine days from Good Friday (tomorrow, or today if you are in the southern hemisphere) until the Sunday after Easter (April 18th). It's called the Novena of Divine Mercy. Each day we are asked to bring a certain group of people to God praying for them and seeking His Mercy on them. He will not refuse - this is the time of His Greatest Mercy! You can read more about this wonderful set of prayers at: http;//www.circleofprayer.com/divine-mercy-history.html God Bless, have a very happy and holy Easter to all our Christian Prayer Warriors and for those who are not Christians, we think of you all and pray for you at this time. Mary in Galway **************************************************
"IT IS FINISHED." JOHN 19:30 George MacLeod said: ‘Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on a town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew, the language of the religious, Latin, the language of the barbarian, and Greek, the language of the cultured. It was the kind of place where cynics talked smut, thieves cursed and soldiers gambled. But it’s where He died, and it’s what He died about.’ Are any words more victorious? Jesus draws a deep breath, pushes His feet down on those Roman nails and cries: ‘It is finished!’ What was finished? The history-long plan of redeeming you and I was finished. The work done by Jesus as a man on earth was finished. The task of selecting and training ambassadors was finished. The song had been sung. The blood had been shed. The sacrifice made. The curse of sin broken. The sting of death removed. It was over. The words, ‘It is finished’ were the same words they wrote across a receipt when a debt had been paid in full. Was any less acceptable? No! Would any more be required? No! ‘It is finished! The cross is a trading post. At the point of believing faith, God takes all your sin and lays it on the shoulders of Jesus, while at the same time taking all of Christ’s righteousness and wrapping you up in it. What a transfer! And how do you get it? By working for it? No! You receive it by trusting in Christ alone! ************************************************** The 'But God' Factor! "BUT GOD...HATH RAISED US UP" EPHESIANS 2:4 Ultimately, there's nothing that can fill the emptiness of the human heart - but God. There's no solution to war, prejudice, and injustice - but God. There's no satisfaction for the cravings of the flesh - but God. There's no healing for the brokenhearted, lonely and desperate - but God. There's no turning point for human depravity - but God. There's no deliverance from addiction and heartache - but God. The 'But God' factor breaks every generational curse that reaches you through Adam's sin. One Greek translation of the word 'spirit', is 'air'. When you were 'dead in trespasses and sins' (Ephesians 2:1), God breathed divine air into you. Paul says, 'And you [He made alive], when you were dead [slain] by [your] trespasses and sins' (Ephesians 2:1 Amp). The truth is, you never really lived until you met the Lord! The 'But God' factor turns tragedy into triumph. It's the turning point in your story. Hell would be partying today, 'but God' chose to lavish His mercy and grace on you. Listen: '...though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich' (2 Corinthians 8:9). Rich in wisdom. Rich in achievements. Rich in relationships. Rich in 'all things'. Despite satan's efforts to destroy, diminish, defame and discourage you, God never once took His hand off your life. He brought you to an understanding of Jesus as your Saviour and Lord; now He's raising you up to fulfil His purposes. No matter how bad things may look today, rise up and declare 'But God!' **************************************************
http://www.circleofprayer.com/vocations-poster.html
Here's the Vocations website: And don't forget those prayers for the Holy Souls, there are some below. Please keep your deceased relatives, friends, neighbours and especially those who have no one to pray for them, in your prayers and at Masses you attend. Here's the Holy Souls Crusade website: And below is a great little morning prayer to start the day off and help us to keep focused on the Lord. May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you and yours and may Mary keep you in Her heavenly mother's care. Mary Mullins in Galway, Ireland **************************************************
Lord Jesus, I give You my
hands to do Your work
Chaplet of the Holy Souls This Chaplet can be prayed on a set of Rosary Beads. Begin with: The Creed, then 1 Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be for the Pope’s intentions. On Large Beads Pray: O holy souls draw the fire of God’s Love into my soul to reveal Jesus crucified in me, here on earth, rather than hereafter in Purgatory. On Small Beads Pray: Crucified Lord Jesus have mercy on the souls in Purgatory End with: Glory Be three times Cardinal Newman’s Prayer for the Holy Souls O most gentle heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on the souls of Your servants. Bring them from the shadows of exile to Your bright home in Heaven, where we trust You and Your Blessed Mother have woven for them a crown of unfolding bliss. Amen. Prayer of St. Gertrude for the Holy Souls Eternal Father, I offer you
the Most Precious Blood of your Divine Son,
Prayer for Your Family "O Dear Jesus, I humbly implore You to grant Your special graces to our family this day. In Your Divine Mercy make our home a shrine of peace, love and faith. I beg You, Dear Jesus, to protect and bless all of us and our families absent and present, living and dead. O Mary loving Mother of Jesus and our Mother, pray to Jesus the Divine Mercy for our family, and for all the families of the world. Ask Him to guard the tiny infant in the womb, the cradle of the newborn, the young in the schools and those about to start their vocations in life. Amen" Prayer for Your Adult Children "Heavenly Mother, keep us always in mind of Your Son's great mercy and understanding as we pray for our children. They are grown up now and have left us and are living their own lives according to their own ideals. We feel anxious and worried because they do not seem to feel the need for Christ. to understand the wisdom of His ways, or to be fully at ease with us or themselves. Intervene, dearest Mother, in their lives at the moment You know to be right and help them to understand the things that lead to their peace. Help them to see the need of Christ and to experience the greatness of His love, so that we may all proclaim as You did, that His mercy truly is from generation to generation. Amen" Prayer to Saint Joseph, Patron Saint of Families "Good Saint Joseph, Your
life and love protected and nourished the Mother of God and Jesus Christ,
her son. Your fatherly care led to maturity He through whom all creation
began. Through your
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS & THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I consecrate myself and my whole family to You. We consecrate to You our very being and all our life, all that we are, all that we have and all that we love. To you we give our bodies, our hearts and our souls. To You we dedicate our home and our country. Mindful of this consecration we now promise you to live the Christian way by the practice of Christian virtues without regard for human respect. O most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary accept our humble confidence and this act of consecration by which we entrust ourselves and our family to you. In you we put all our hope, we shall never be confounded. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on us. Immaculate Heart of Mary pray for us. Prayer for the World "JESUS of NAZARETH has triumphed
over Death. His Reign is Eternal. He is coming to conquer the
"Mercy, my God on those who
blaspheme You,
"Mercy, my God, for the scandal
in the world,
"Mercy, my God, on those
who run away from You
"Mercy, my God, on those who come to repent at the foot of the Glorious Cross. May they find Peace and Joy in God our Saviour. "Mercy, my God, so that Your Kingdom may come, but save souls, there is still time; for the time is near, behold, I am coming. Amen Come, Lord Jesus." Recite one decade of the Rosary "Lord, pour out on the whole world the treasures of Your Infinite Mercy." "Through the Mystery of Your
Holy Incarnation,
Through Your Nativity,
Through Your Baptism and
Holy Fasting,
Through Your Cross and Passion,
Through Your Death and Burial,
Through Your Holy Resurrection,
Through Your Admirable Ascension,
Through the coming of the
Holy Spirit, the Paraclete,
Through Him whose Name reigns
eternal,
Prayer of Protection Blessed Michael the Archangel, protect us in the hour of conflict. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God restrain him, we humbly pray, and do thou, Oh Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, by the Power of God, thrust satan down to hell and with him all the wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen ************************************************** All of the Reflections to date are available to read in the Archives on the website for anyone who's interested. The Weekly
Intentions are available on a plain page to be able to print off and
kept to hand for your own prayer time. The list has become too long now
to include each week but please say the
"Father, bless all those who have requested prayers in whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! Father, we ask You to heal the broken bodies, broken minds, broken spirits, broken hearts and broken marriages and may all their lives be full of Your peace, prosperity, and power as they seek to have a close relationship with You. Amen." "Thank You Jesus for answering our prayers because we know You hear every prayer and never refuse to answer. You are providing answers and healings from the prayers of all these wonderful people. Praise God!" "Breathe in me O Holy Spirit
that my thoughts may all be holy;
"O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, tell me what I should do. Give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your will. Amen" May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless and guide you and yours and may Mary keep you in Her heavenly mother's care. Mary in Galway 'The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace.' |
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