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Hello everyone,

Today October 17th we have 2,943 Prayer Warriors (up to the end of July and more to be added)

I feel almost ashamed to offer you all an apology for my absence since last May but this summer has been one of the busiest I have ever experienced. Much has happened since I last wrote a reflection, all of it good, thanks be to God. For the past 6 months life has been full to the gills with family stuff, work stuff, exams and study stuff, Holy Souls Crusade stuff, doctors and hospital stuff - stuff….stuff….stuff! Some of the really interesting stuff I hope to share with you over the coming weeks. 

Speaking of Holy Souls stuff, I have a huge favour to ask. I need translators of a special Rosary and prayers that my friend up in Derry uses for their monthly Rosary for the Holy Souls. He wants to be able leave it in places like the various apparition sites and shrines all over the world so would appreciate as many languages as possible. If anyone can help please email me back. You can find the prayers at:

http://www.holysoulscrusade.org/Holy-Souls-Rosary.html

I usually include a short reflection from The Word for Today at the end of my own reflection but I was doing an email tidy-up and came across a story written by Catherine de Hueck Doherty and sent to me last year. It is very relevant to the thoughts I share with you today. Isn't it strange that when communist or fascist regimes take over a country the very first thing they do is to kill all the Priests not the government or the army generals! Think about it - no Priests no Mass! Here in Ireland we experienced the same thing during Penal Times. Our story is called 'Christmas Without Christ'.

With only weeks to go until the American Presidential election there is much need to cover this event with prayer, both in the USA and all over the world. We pay, Lord, that the successful candidate will be a man of integrity, trust, honesty, and a God-fearing man willing to follow God's Holy will. As one of the world's super-powers the US bears much responsibility and has a huge influence on many global issues. We need to pray most sincerely that the election goes according to God's plan for the nation, that the Holy Spirit will touch the hearts of the candidates and those who exercise their vote. We need to pray that respect for human life, the family, solidarity, and the promotion of peace and justice will be the issues uppermost in the mind and heart of the successful candidate so that God can guide and direct him as he leads the nation. In His Holy Name, we pray - hear us O Lord.

I hope you will bear with me for this reflection as this one has a particularly Catholic flavour. Today, October 17th. marks a very special time for us Catholics all over the world - we see the start of the Year of the Eucharist. 

The Catholic Church is a Sacramental Church, the most important of which is the Eucharist - the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Catholics have been baptised into the family of Christ and participate in the highest prayer of worship, praise and thanksgiving we can offer the Father, that of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, given to us by Christ Himself. 

He instituted the Sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist on the Feast of the Jewish Passover, celebrating His last meal of fellowship with the Apostles before His own Sacrifice on Calvary the following day. Holy Thursday, as the Church now calls that day, was a day of such importance as He led us into redemption through His Passion and Death. The Gospels recall in great detail all that He said and did on that evening of Passover. We also see the same teachings from the various Epistles especially the Letters of Saint Paul. Let's start with the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.' " (Mt. 26: 26-28)

"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many', he said to them. (Mk 14: 22-24)

"When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God.' Taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, 'Take this and divide it among you. I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'  The same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.' " (Luke 22:14-20)

Strangely enough Saint John's Gospel doesn't relate the celebration of Passover before the arrest of Jesus, yet he tells us in the most straightforward way of Christ's intention for the daily Sacrifice of the Mass and the reception of the Most Blessed Eucharist in an earlier section of his Gospel.

" 'Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.' Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?' Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.' So they asked him, 'What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?' 'Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' 'Sir,' they said, 'from now on give us this bread.' Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.'

At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, 'I am the bread that came down from heaven.' They said, 'Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?' 'Stop grumbling among yourselves', Jesus answered. 'No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No-one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live for ever.' He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum." (Jn. 6:27-59)

Many of His disciples left Him at this stage because they could not understand the teaching or His words. The dietary laws for the Jews were very strict and this statement was one they just couldn't accept. Jesus gave no explanation for His words and never once said that the meaning of them was symbolic. When He turned to the Apostles and asked them if they too would leave, Peter replied:

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." (Jn. 6:68) 

Throughout the rest of the New Testament we see constant references to the Eucharist, the breaking of bread, and it is notable that the first of the disciples to see Jesus after His Resurrection only recognised Him when He broke bread with them. 

Saint Paul in his letter to the Corinthians says it most clearly:

"For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognising the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself." (1 Cor:11;23-29)

And so the Church carries on the Sacred Tradition given to us by Christ Himself on that last night before He became the Sacrificial Lamb, the final fulfilment of the Old Testament blood sacrifice to God. From that time hence He left us the instruction to 'Do this in remembrance of me', and throughout the whole world there is hardly an hour passes but the 'remembrance of Him' is carried out through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Many of those who aren't Catholics don't fully understand or have set aside this teaching and doctrine of the faith since the very beginning of Christ's Church, some denying the very words of Jesus Himself. Many see the celebration of the Eucharist as merely symbolic, most do not believe in the Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in that tiny piece of unleavened bread changed into the True Presence of Christ Himself by the Priest in persona Christi at the Consecration in the Mass. Indeed many Catholics nowadays don't believe anymore and sad to say neither do some Priests. 

In April last year our Holy Father, the Pope, successor of Peter, issued an Encyclical on the Eucharist - Ecclesia de Eucharistia (http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0821/_INDEX.HTM ) and earlier this year the Holy Father, declared October 17th as the start of the Year of the Eucharist. Just a week ago he issued an Apostolic Letter - Mane nobiscum Domine - For the Year of the Eucharist. 

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20041008_mane-nobiscum-domine_en.html

The very first paragraph of this beautiful letter to us all said:

"Stay with us, Lord, for it is almost evening" (cf. Lk 24:29). This was the insistent invitation that the two disciples journeying to Emmaus on the evening of the day of the resurrection addressed to the Wayfarer who had accompanied them on their journey. Weighed down with sadness, they never imagined that this stranger was none other than their Master, risen from the dead. Yet they felt their hearts burning within them (cf. v. 32) as he spoke to them and "explained" the Scriptures. The light of the Word unlocked the hardness of their hearts and "opened their eyes" (cf. v. 31). Amid the shadows of the passing day and the darkness that clouded their spirit, the Wayfarer brought a ray of light which rekindled their hope and led their hearts to yearn for the fullness of light. "Stay with us", they pleaded. And he agreed. Soon afterwards, Jesus' face would disappear, yet the Master would "stay" with them, hidden in the "breaking of the bread" which had opened their eyes to recognize him."

He closes this beautiful teaching on the Eucharist by saying:

"If the only result of this Year were the revival in all Christian communities of the celebration of Sunday Mass and an increase in Eucharistic worship outside Mass, this Year of grace would be abundantly successful……May all of you, the Christian faithful, rediscover the gift of the Eucharist as light and strength for your daily lives in the world, in the exercise of your respective professions amid so many different situations. Rediscover this above all in order to experience fully the beauty and the mission of the family."

To Priests he said: "Dear priests, who repeat the words of consecration each day, and are witnesses and heralds of the great miracle of love which takes place at your hands: be challenged by the grace of this special Year; celebrate Holy Mass each day with the same joy and fervour with which you celebrated your first Mass, and willingly spend time in prayer before the tabernacle."

To Deacons and others in service to the Church he said: "May this be a Year of grace also for you, deacons, who are so closely engaged in the ministry of the word and the service of the altar. I ask you, lectors, acolytes and extraordinary ministers of holy communion, to become ever more aware of the gift you have received in the service entrusted to you for a more worthy celebration of the Eucharist."

To seminarians he said: "In particular I appeal to you, the priests of the future. During your time in the seminary make every effort to experience the beauty not only of taking part daily in Holy Mass, but also of spending a certain amount of time in dialogue with the Eucharistic Lord."

To those who have consecrated their lives to Christ he said: "Consecrated men and women, called by that very consecration to more prolonged contemplation: never forget that Jesus in the tabernacle wants you to be at his side, so that he can fill your hearts with the experience of his friendship, which alone gives meaning and fulfilment to your lives."

And to the youth he said: "Bring to your encounter with Jesus, hidden in the Eucharist, all the enthusiasm of your age, all your hopes, all your desire to love."

I started this reflection with an 'apology' for its Catholic 'flavour' but this is my plea to all our Christian Prayer Warriors - read the words of Christ in the Scriptures in prayer to, and through the grace of, the Holy Spirit. Two years ago, when the Pope instituted the Year of the Rosary I wrote to you all encouraging this most beautiful and powerful of prayers. I said that none of you would be hit by lightening if you were to try praying it. This year I make a similar suggestion.

In every Catholic Church in the world there is a Tabernacle. Remember the Old Testament and its typology for our modern-day tabernacle? To the Jews this was the Holiest of the Holies - the very presence of The Word of God. It's interesting to read that in the very first Old Testament Tabernacle designed completely by God Himself, He instructed Moses to collect some of the Manna, place it in a container within the Tabernacle for all time! 

"Moses said, 'This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.' So Moses said to Aaron, 'Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come.' As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept." (Ex. 16:32-34) In Exodus 25:30, following the instructions for the design of the Tabernacle the Lord said to Moses: "Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times." And so, in the words of Saint Augustine, "The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New."

In every Catholic Church throughout the whole world there is the Holiest of Holies, housing the Word of God - His Divine Son. Within every Tabernacle is the True Presence of Our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace, Giver of Life. Regardless of your religious denomination I invite you to spend a little time in His Presence. Does He not ask us, as He did the Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me….Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

Slip in quietly and relax in the peaceful presence of your Lord, or find a church that has Eucharistic Adoration where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for adoration and worship and where we can 'rest with Him'. I can guarantee you this - lightening won't strike and you will receive a blessed peace. 
 
Earlier this year my sister and myself decided to go on a short pilgrimage to Garabandal in Northern Spain. As we mentioned it to others they decided they'd like to join us too. So next weekend 12 of us take off for a few days of prayer and reflection, up and down mountains. I've often wondered why the Blessed Mother appears up mountains or in out-of-the-way places? Garabandal has not been officially recognised by the Church as a place of Marian Apparition but neither has it been condemned. So off we go to the little place the world has forgotten. I'll be carrying you all in my heart up every step of that mountain and you will all be in the prayers and your intentions placed on the altar at each Consecration and offered up at each Holy Communion of our Holy Masses out there.

God Bless 'till my return.

Mary in Galway

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Christmas without Christ
By Catherine Doherty
     
I was barely 21 when I found out the change. Mother had sent me to see if I could buy some food somewhere. It was early evening. I walked the familiar streets without fear. I loved them, even then when they were dark (the electrical power was off in the city, due to the revolution).

Then I stumbled over something. And when I bent down to see what it was, it was a dead woman with a knife in her back, and blood all over the pavement. That was the beginning of the change on my streets.

Then the edict went out that anyone found worshipping God in any church could be arrested or shot on sight. And my streets became jungles to be crossed carefully, slowly, hiddenly, hugging the walls of buildings so as to melt with their shadows in the early morning when going to Mass.

As soon as the edict went out, church services became the centre of all life. How long would it be before there would be no Mass? People asked themselves that question, and the thought froze all Christian hearts. For what is life without Mass, without the sacraments?  Men, women, and youth arose and went to Mass daily.  So did I.

We all went. But we first blessed ourselves in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, because we all knew that maybe this was the last time we might walk the familiar yet now unfamiliar streets.      
We walked as native people in America must have walked when stalking their prey - soft-footed, alert, listening for any loud footsteps. Only communists walked loudly through the fearsome streets.  

We walked in human fear, in trembling, but we had to go where we were going. To church!  To Mass! Because without it, we would not be able to face another day of wondering, fearing that it would be our last day.

This is another fact about revolutions: they bring eternity into every hour of every day. You peel potatoes in your kitchen and-hark! There are heavy footsteps on the stairs. Are they for you? Or for those you love?  

No-they passed your door. With a trembling hand, you go on peeling potatoes, listening, listening, and wondering about life and death. God is very near then. In fact, God alone matters, and so does the Mass.  

So we went at dawn, like the Christians of old, softly, hugging walls, watching, now melting with the shadows, now moving, inch by inch, into a dark church.  

One day, it happened! It happened in church. It was an old church with a cold stone floor-without lights, except for the tabernacle light and two slender candles.  

It happened right after the Consecration, while the priest's hands were still raised high to allow us all, who were living under a "sentence of death" as it were, to behold Him Who died for love of us, and to give us courage if the need arose, to try to die as gallantly for the love of Him.

White were the hands of the priest. White was the Host, shining white were the candles-dark and dim the church-when suddenly the side door opened with a bang, and rough voices shouted, "Stand still!" The priest froze with the Host still lifted high. We became statues of immobility lost in the dimness of the church. Soldiers!-for that is who they were. Red Army soldiers.

One of them slowly lifted his rifle and slowly took aim. One shot rang out. Only one. The priest quivered, swayed, and fell sideways. The consecrated Host rolled down, down the steps, onto the floor, coming to rest, still and white, on the dark floor by the altar railing-in two pieces.  

Silence took over, only to be broken and shattered by the rhythmic steps of the hobnailed boots of the soldiers walking toward the tabernacle, then vaulting over the railing.  Triumphantly their voices suddenly rang out while one of them crushed the consecrated Host under his heel: "There is no God!  We have crushed him."

Silence wrapped up his voice and killed it.  Silence. The silence of Golgotha entered the church. It hung-even like Christ on the cross-only to be broken again by the thin, reedy voice of an old, old man who spoke from the intense shadows of the church.  "Father, forgive them, even if they know what they do."

The silence came back once more-a new silence of mercy and pardon. The Red Army shivered a little and slowly slunk away through the sacristy.  Their hobnailed boots made dragging sounds that were like a dirge. A door slammed in the back.  A moan went through the church-our moan of pain and horror.

Slowly, the old man arose. He was a patriarchal figure, with a long white beard and flowing hair. Reverently he gathered the crushed pieces of the consecrated Host. Slowly he bade us to come forward and to receive them in our last Communion. Maybe our viaticum. We did.

Then we got holy water and scrubbed the floor. And we stayed on, to pray in reparation. We buried the priest secretly. He was the last priest in town; there would be no more Mass, no sacraments.

The familiar streets were still filled with danger and death for us. We didn't mind them anymore, because we ourselves were filled with such desolation, a desolation that no one knows in countries where there are so many churches and so many priests.  

All this happened just before Christmas. And so it was a Christmas without Christ in the tabernacle-without Mass-without confession-without communion.

Just the same, it was my most memorable Christmas. Since they had closed all the doors against his coming, he chose the humble stables of our pain-filled hearts in which to be born anew that strange, lonely, cold Christmas of the first year of the communist Russian Revolution in 1917.

Sometimes it seems to me to have been the most blessed Christmas of all because, from that day on, I knew that, when all the rest had been taken away from me, nothing mattered but his inner presence in my heart.

I wish-oh, how I wish-that I really could tell all this to the youth in North America. To so many of them, going to Mass on Sundays seems, at times, too dull and hard.  Mass on Sunday? Oh, my friends, go to Mass every day-while you can!

Yes, we would have crawled on our knees that Christmas-through the strange and fearsome streets, filled with dangers and death-if only we could have participated in just one more Mass. 

Thank God each day that, as yet, your most memorable Christmas is not without Christ in all the tabernacles of your many churches.

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Two little reminders again for this week - Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations, let's try and make it 1,000,000 hours of Adoration in 2004! You can log in your hours online at their own website below or do as we did here in our Perpetual Adoration Chapel, print off the poster and the forms and leave them in your own Chapel of Adoration, sending in the numbers every week via the website below.

http://www.circleofprayer.com/vocations-poster.html
http://www.circleofprayer.com/vocations-form.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

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Morning Offerings

Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen

Lord Jesus, I give You my hands to do Your work
I give You my feet to go Your way.
I give You my eyes to see as You do.
I give You my tongue to speak Your words.
I give You my mind that You may think in me.
I give You my spirit that You may pray in me.
Above all, I give You my heart that You may love in me, Your Father, and all mankind.
I give You my whole self that You may grow in me, so that it is You, Lord Jesus, who live and work and pray in me. Amen.

"Breathe in me O Holy Spirit that my thoughts may all be holy;
Act in me O Holy Spirit that my work, too, may be holy;
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit to defend all that is holy;
Guard me then O Holy Spirit that I may always 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"

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, Jesus, in union with all 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."

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 intercession, may God guide and protect all human life from conception to natural death, and lead our nation in the ways of truth and love. Pray for us, good Saint Joseph, that joined with Christ Jesus, we might give praise to God forever.  Amen"

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 world and the time.

"Mercy, my God on those who blaspheme You,
Forgive them, they know not what they do.

"Mercy, my God, for the scandal in the world,
Deliver them from the spirit of Satan.

"Mercy, my God, on those who run away from You
Give them an appreciation for the Holy Eucharist.

"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,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Nativity,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Baptism and Holy Fasting,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Cross and Passion,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Death and Burial,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Holy Resurrection,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Admirable Ascension,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Him whose Name reigns eternal,
deliver us from all evil, Lord."

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

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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
two wee prayers below. The Loving Father knows the heart of each person requesting prayer.

"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!"

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.' (Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta)