Archive for Faith
Journey of Hope Radio – A New Show Weekly!
Posted by: | CommentsNot to harp on this subject but I want to point out this tremendous resource again and to let you know that this radio show is now taking place on a weekly basis!
Yesterday’s show topic was about dating and intimacy after divorce. This is a HUGE “issue” for us…
- Is dating okay after divorce and without having received a Declaration of Nullity?
- Is dating okay during separation?
- How about intimacy? The world tells us to be intimate with someone as soon as possible as a way of healing your hurt psyche and “get on with life.”
But IS that the best way to go?!
What about our faith?
Do I now have to be alone and celibate for the rest of my life???
But my spouse chose to throw our marriage away and divorce me…why should I be punished for that????
Yep…been there done that…and I didn’t have Lisa Duffy and Vince Frese of Divorced Catholic to help me to answer those tough questions…but YOU do!
Just click on the Blog Talk Radio box in the left column of this page and you can then click on the episode you’d like to listen to. And try to listen to the show live when you can so you can ask Lisa, Vince and their guests questions. Use this tremendous resource that is available to you…it’s truly a blessing.
May God bless and bring you peace.
Manya
A Patron Saint for Divorced Catholic Mothers
Posted by: | CommentsRecently I received a message from a woman who is Catholic but never received the sacrament 
of Confirmation. However, she’ll be receiving it soon. 
She was in the process of deciding what name to choose for herself and was wondering if I knew a saint who is, or could be, the patron saint for a single mother. Amazingly, I didn’t… I mean, that’s kind of a ‘no brainer’ given the subject of this blog. I even wrote a post quite a while ago about a possible patron saint for divorced, Catholic fathers…but never did one for us mothers! So, thanks to her message, here we go.
I did a google search and found one that seems to fit SO well. She’s also a very interesting woman. I’d like to find a good book on her, so if you know of one, please don’t keep it to yourself!
The following is from AmericanCatholic.org….
St. Helen (249-329) found the True Cross in Jerusalem and, for many centuries, devotion to St. Helen has been linked to devotion to the Holy Cross. It would be hard to find a painting, statue or holy card of her that does not depict her embracing the cross.
But there is another, sadder facet of Helen’s life. After 22 years of marriage, Helen’s husband, Constantius, divorced her in order to make a politically advantageous marriage with a young woman who was a member of Rome’s imperial family.
Clearly, St. Helen would be a natural choice as patron of divorced and divorcing people, so why has this devotion to her arisen only recently? For most of the 1,700 years since Helen’s death, divorce was rare, even among non-Catholics. Among Catholics it was almost unthinkable. Today, unfortunately, when divorce has become commonplace, St. Helen is offered to unhappy spouses as a heavenly patron who can truly sympathize with their anguish.
Helen was also the mother of the Roman emperor, Constantine, who was the first Christian Roman emperor. He is also a saint.
Well…who could be a more perfect patron saint for us? Not only did she experience the horrors of divorce… then go on to be declared a saint… but she raised a son who has also been declared a saint!! She sounds to me like she was an amazing woman in many respects.
I found a holy card that can be purchased from The Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, which is in Pennsylvania. The prayer on the card is also just perfect for us:
Holy and blessed Saint Helen,
with the anguish and devotion with which You sought the Cross of Christ,
I plead that You give me God’s grace to suffer in patience the labours of this life,
so that through them and through your intercession and protections,
I will be able to seek and carry the Cross, which God has placed on me,
so that I can serve Him in this life and enjoy His Glory ever after. Amen
If you have any tidbits of information about St. Helen to share with us, please do!!
May God bless and bring you peace.
St. Helen, pray for us.
Manya
P.S. The image of a statue of St. Helen shows an old woman because it’s believed that she was in her 80′s when she found the cross! Can you imagine being in your 80′s back in the late 200′s! Truly an amazing woman…
Praying Through Divorce – Divine Mercy Novena Day 9!
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- Image via Wikipedia
Day 9 Intention: Souls who have become lukewarm.
Today bring to Me the souls who have become lukewarm* and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: ‘Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.’ For them the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy.
“Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love let these tepid souls, who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercie the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.
Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Hear of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His theree-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.”
This is a chaplet, which means there’s a series of prayers to be said and you can use a rosary to help keep track:
Recite the following:
The Our Father
The Hail Mary
The Apostles’ Creed
On the large beads (Our Father beads):
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the small beads (Hail Mary beads):
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Continue those prayers around the entire rosary, always meditating on the intention for today. Then say the following three times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Done! I hope this has been helpful to you.
*By the way, here’s the definition of “lukewarm souls” directly from Jesus to St. Faustina: “There are souls who thwart My efforts…souls without love or devotion, souls full of egoism and selfishness, proud and arrogant souls full of deceit and hypocrisy, lukewarm souls who have hardly enough warmth to keep themselves alive. My Heart cannot bear it. All my graces that I pour down on them daily flow off them as off rock. I cannot bear them because they are neither good nor bad.”
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Praying Through Divorce – Divine Mercy Novena Day 8
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Day 8 Intention: The souls who are detained in Purgatory.
Today bring to Me the souls who are detained in Purgatory and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution fo My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice.
“Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated.
Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded: Manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.”
This is a chaplet, which means there’s a series of prayers to be said and you can use a rosary to help keep track:
Recite the following:
The Our Father
The Hail Mary
The Apostles’ Creed
On the large beads (Our Father beads):
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the small beads (Hail Mary beads):
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Continue those prayers around the entire rosary, always meditating on the intention for today. Then say the following three times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Done…til tomorrow.
Praying Through Divorce – Divine Mercy Novena Day 7
Posted by: | CommentsWow, day #7 already. Only 2 days to go!
- Image via Wikipedia
Day 7 Intention: The souls who especially venerate and glorify My mercy.
Today bring to Me the souls who especially venerate and glorify My mercy and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over My passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death.
“Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. in the midst of all afflictions and adverstities they go forward, confident of Your mercy; and united to You, O Jesus, they carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judges severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they depart from this life.
Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls who glorify and venerate Your greatest attribute, that of Your fathomless mercy, and who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls are a living Gospel; their hands are full of deeds of mercy, and their hearts, overflowing with joy, sing a canticle of mercy to You, O Most High! I beg You O God: Show them Your mercy according to the hope and trust they have placed in You. Let there be accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them that during their life, but especially at the hour of death, the souls who will venerate this fathomless mercy of His, He, Himself, will defend as His glory. Amen.”
This is a chaplet, which means there’s a series of prayers to be said and you can use a rosary to help keep track:
Recite the following:
The Our Father
The Hail Mary
The Apostles’ Creed
On the large beads (Our Father beads):
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the small beads (Hail Mary beads):
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Continue those prayers around the entire rosary, always meditating on the intention for today. Then say the following three times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Done…til tomorrow.
Praying Through Divorce – Divine Mercy Novena Day 6
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- Image by amrufm via Flickr
Today is the 6th day of the Divine Mercy Novena. Many amazing promises are attached to this novena. I encourage you to go to a Catholic bookstore to pick up a Divine Mercy pamphlet that tells you the story behind it, too, so you can keep the prayers with you and not be tied to the computer while reciting them.
Day 6 Intention: The meek and humble souls and the souls of little children
Today bring to Me the meek and humble souls and the souls of little children and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. Only the humble soul is capable of receiving My grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence.
“Most Merciful Jesus, You yourself have said, ‘Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.’ Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy and they are the heavenly Father’s favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God himself take delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jesus, and they undeasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy.
Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon meek souls, upon humble souls, and upon little children who are enfolded in the abode which is the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls bear the closest resemblance to Your Son. Their fragrance rises from the eathe and raches Your very throne. Father of mercy and of all goodness, I beg You by the love You bear these souls and by the delight You take in them: Bless the whole world, that all souls together may sing out the praises of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.”
This is a chaplet, which means there’s a series of prayers to be said and you can use a rosary to help keep track:
Recite the following:
The Our Father
The Hail Mary
The Apostles’ Creed
On the large beads (Our Father beads):
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the small beads (Hail Mary beads):
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Continue those prayers around the entire rosary, always meditating on the intention for today. Then say the following three times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Done…til tomorrow.
