This online rosary companion of the Seven Sorrows as taught by the Blessed Mother in Kibeho, Rwanda is a great tool to help us reflect on the need for repentance in our lives.
You can learn how to pray this Rosary by clicking here: How to Pray the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows.
The Scriptural Rosary is a companion that will help you to fully immerse yourself into the life of Christ as you prayerfully reflect on scriptural passages for each bead of the Rosary.
This companion is divided by the Mysteries:
The Pearl of the Week is a resource, recommended to you – so that you can more deeply understand and hold our Faith, which is great treasure
In Pope John Paul II’s Letter to Women, the Pope addresses the topics of human dignity, motherhood, and the state of the women’s liberation movement. He also speaks to the complementary relationship between men and women and women’s particular capacity to help fashion a society marked by love, a capacity which he calls “the feminine genius.”
Written in 1995 for the occasion of the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women, this papal letter continues today to reaffirm the dignity of all human persons. A heartfelt expression of gratitude goes out to mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, and to working women and consecrated women.
It is the heart of who we are as Catholics: the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. The Holy Father, in his recent encyclical The Church and the Eucharist, is calling for heightened appreciation of this beautiful gift from God through adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. But how many Catholics in the pews participate in Eucharistic adoration, or even really understand what it is?
A new pamphlet from Our Sunday Visitor is the perfect tool with which to teach and inspire your parishioners. Eucharistic Adoration is a how-to guide for prayerful and thoughtful devotion. Concrete suggestions, spiritual meanings, even illustrated explanations of the objects used in adoration are wrapped into an attractive, easy-to-read, and distribute, package.
Use this pamphlet to challenge your parishioners or religious-education students to apply one of the suggestions for Eucharistic adoration during your next exposition. Or send it to the households in your church community with a letter encouraging adoration and listing times to observe this devotion in your parish.
Make pamphlets available at the church entrances during scheduled exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Or supply copies to your youth and young-adult group.
Published by Our Sunday Visitor Press – Click here to order online.
Limited copies are available at Pilgrim Center of Hope; call us in advance to inquire, at 210-521-3377.
St. Louis de Montfort left a wonderful gift to those of us who wish to better serve Jesus and the Holy Trinity. His gift is the Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary because it is giving oneself, fully and completely to God, without conditions, without strings, without reservation. We are giving back to God, freely of our own will, the very gift of our life. It is truly our ultimate possession which we recognize fully as a gift from God, our Father. We in turn return this gift, in total surrender to the will of our Father, to be used daily for His purpose. This also includes the surrendering of all of our sufferings, thoughts, words and deeds to Mary so she may take them, care for them and distribute them in accordance with the will of her Son and for His greater glory.
The devotion, Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, has been practiced for centuries. It involves 33 days of preparation, with the Total Consecration made on the 34th day.
The day of Total Consecration (i.e. the 34th day) should be a Marian feast day. Schedules for the preparation and Total Consecration are included in the resource materials provided free through MyConsecration.org. There are more than 20 34-day schedules that fall throughout the year for those wishing to make the Total Consecration. According to St. Louis de Montfort, the 33 days of preparation include 12 days of “emptying oneself of the spirit of the world” followed by 21 days of “imbuing oneself with the Spirit of Jesus through the Blessed Virgin.” The Total Consecration that follows this preparation is a perfect renewal of one’s baptismal vows.
Days 1-12: The Spirit of the World,
Days 13-19: Knowledge of Self,
Days 20-26: Knowledge of Mary,
Days 27-33: Knowledge of Jesus,
Day 34: Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary.
Obtain from any Catholic bookstore (or online without cost at MyConsecration.org) the guide to Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort. Your local parish or priest may be able to help you in finding resources on Total Consecration, as well.
Take the leap of faith and tell our Lord that you’re ready to live your life for Him!
Purchase this book at your local Catholic bookstore or online. Don’t forget – if you shop on Amazon, make sure to start at Smile.Amazon.com and request that Pilgrim Center of Hope receive a portion of your purchase at no cost to you. Thank you for your much-needed support of this ministry.
This book contains the touching personal stories of 20 Catholic couples who chose sterilization as a solution for family difficulties and then were given the grace to choose healing and wholeness in a radical way. Appendices cover medical aspects of reversing sterilization, and pastoral reflections on sterilization and reversal by a bishop and a moral theologian.
Read it entirely for free! Use the viewer on OneMoreSoul.com (click here). You may also buy it in PDF format on their website.
Book Review by a Doctor and Medical Professor:
When patients ask whether there are any problems with sexual intercourse subsequent to elective sterilization, a common response from physicians is:“ There aren’t significant problems; in fact, many couples find that their sexual relations improve — because the fear of becoming pregnant is gone.” For any physician who might believe this is true (and there are many; I know, I used to be one), Sterilization Reversal: A Generous Act of Love provides a very different perspective. Since some of my colleagues actively encourage sterilization almost as a good in and of itself, this book provides a much-needed counterview.
Read the rest of this medical doctor and professor’s book review by clicking here.
Lectio divina (Latin for “divine reading”) is a simple method of praying with Scripture. It was already known by the Church Fathers in the early days of the Church. Lectio divina was recommended by Saint Cyprian (a third-century bishop and martyr). It has been part of the prayer of Christians throughout the history of the Church. Monasteries kept the practice alive. Saint Benedict (480–547 A.D.) taught his monks to pray in this way 1500 years ago, and it is still a wonderful way to pray today.
Getting ready for Lectio Divina
FIND THE RIGHT TIME AND PLACE. Set aside a few minutes (aim for ten to fifteen minutes a day if you can manage it) in a quiet, comfortable place where you can be relatively free of distractions. Have your Bible available.
PRAY FOR HELP. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. You are about to have a conversation with God Himself; invite Him to take the lead in the conversation!
PICK A SCRIPTURE PASSAGE. Choose a Scripture passage as the subject of your prayer time. It should not be too long, perhaps a short Psalm (or a section of a longer one), a story from one of the Gospels, etc. We STRONGLY RECOMMEND using the Mass Readings of the Day. You can find them listed at http://www.usccb.org/nab/ . There are other ways to choose:
You might choose a book of the Bible that appeals to you, and read and pray with a little bit of it each day. The Psalms are great; they were Jesus’ prayer book, so they should be good enough for us! Or you might choose one of the Gospels or one of Paul’s letters.
QUIET YOUR MIND FOR A FEW MINUTES. Now you’re really ready to get started!
“If we delight in the law of God or the Word and mediate on it day and night, we will be blessed and prosper.” (Psalm 1:1-3)
The four stages of Lectio Divina
Lectio divina has four stages, or parts, each with its Latin name:
• Lectio (reading)
• Meditatio (meditation)
• Oratio (prayer)
• Contemplatio (contemplation)
1) Lectio (reading)
Read the passage.
Reread it again s-l-o-w-l-y, line by line, pausing from time to time. Notice any words or phrases that appeal to you or attract your attention.
You’re not reading just to get the gist of the story; every word or phrase can have meaning.
2) Meditatio (meditation)
Mull over the passage you have just read. Remember, this is God speaking to you. The words or phrases that caught your attention may contain God’s special message for you. (He speaks to each one of us in a unique and individual way. No two people will get the exact same thing out of the passage. And if you were to read it again a year from now, you might hear something different.)
Spend extra time thinking about the meaning of the words that “jumped out” at you. Ask yourself,
• What is God saying to my heart?
• How can I relate this passage to my daily life?
• What is God asking of me at this moment?
3) Oratio (prayer)
Now it’s your turn to speak. Respond to God’s word in silent prayer. What do you want to say back to God? The passage you just read may inspire you to …
• Thank God.
• Praise Him.
• Tell Him you are sorry about something.
• Give yourself to Him in complete trust.
• Ask Him for something you need. Has the passage brought to mind any personal needs you might have? Or the needs of others?
• Make a resolution. Has the passage prompted you to take some action in your life? To overcome a bad or sinful habit? To reach out to someone in need?
If you would like, you can go back to the Scripture passage and repeat the meditatio and oratio stages with another phrase or two. It’s up to you. Let the Holy Spirit lead you.
4) Contemplatio (contemplation)
When you are finished reading, listening, and talking to God, it’s time to just rest in His loving presence for a few minutes.
No words are needed. Be at peace and rest in silence before the Lord.
Just love Him, and let Him love you. (Kind of like a couple falling in love — sometimes it’s enough just to be in the same room together.)
Finish with a prayer of thanksgiving for the gifts and inspirations received during your prayer time. In JOURNALING – you can include your insights, prayer in writing.
COPYRIGHT (c) Pilgrim Center of Hope, Inc.
You may request copies of this guide from us by calling our office: 210-521-3377. For bulk copies, we ask for a donation toward our ministry to help cover costs.
These are the most widely-used meditations on the Way of the Cross that Jesus experienced during his Passion. They were written by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorist religious order.
You may inquire about this prayer at your local Catholic bookstore, or acquire it from Pilgrim Center of Hope for a small donation 210-521-3377.
Our outdoor Stations of the Cross are available for families/groups who want to pray and have a picnic lunch; click here for more information.
“In Joseph, faith is not separated from action,” said Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. For centuries, the model of St. Joseph has quietly resided in the hearts of Christians. Many popes have called his example out of the quiet, so that we would gain from friendship and devotion to him – towards a stronger faith in Christ.
Pope Leo XIII was one of these popes. His encyclical demonstrates why St. Joseph is so special, and why we should look to him for prayerful help, protection and guidance in following the Lord. At the end of the encyclical, he also mentions a special prayer to St. Joseph that we should especially include during our Rosaries for the month of October:
To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. Through that charity which bound thee to the immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which thou embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg thee to graciously regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.
O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness; and, as once thou rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holy, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.
Perhaps your parish office would print a copy for you in exchange for a small donation, as well.
Purchase this book at your local Catholic bookstore or online. Don’t forget – if you shop on Amazon, make sure to start at Smile.Amazon.com and request that Pilgrim Center of Hope receive a portion of your purchase at no cost to you. Thank you for your much-needed support of this ministry.
Suffering is something which we will all experience in our lives. When we suffer in union with Christ, it can be a source of innumerable graces and blessings, a powerful means through which our lives are transformed and made holy. We saw this example of suffering lived deeply and authentically in the life of the author of this apostolic letter, our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II.
From the very beginning of his priestly ministry, Pope John Paul II identified himself with the sick and the suffering. For him, all human suffering had meaning, value, and purpose. It was his great love for us, his desire to share the message of joy and hope in suffering that inspired him to write Salvifici Doloris.
In it, he explores the various ways that we experience suffering in the world, he reflects on the origins of suffering and examines our quest for its meaning, and he shows us how it is only in Christ that we can hope to find any meaning and purpose in our experience of suffering. Reflecting on this document has the potential to change lives. (Description from ENDOW.)
Purchase this book at your local Catholic bookstore or online. Don’t forget – if you shop on Amazon, make sure to start at Smile.Amazon.com and request that Pilgrim Center of Hope receive a portion of your purchase at no cost to you. Thank you for your much-needed support of this ministry.
