Novena to St. Teresa of Avila October7-15

Novena to St. Teresa of Avila

by St. Alphonsus of Liguori.

( Pray especially beginning on October 7 and ending on October 15 , the Feast of St. Teresa.)

While in the seminary, Alphonsus grew attached to St. Teresa, prayed to her as to an older sister or a mother; and tried to imitate her to the point of pledging himself, as she had done, to do nothing unless it were for the glory of God.  She became his Maestra, his teacher of prayer; in life she became his “seconda mamma” (second mother) after the Blessed Mother.  From then on all of his letters carried the motto:  “Long live Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Teresa”  - excerpt from Theodule Rey’Mermet’s St. Alphonsus Ligouri: Tireless Worker for the Most Abandoned.
From the spiritual diary St. Alphonsus always carried with him, we have this beautiful novena:
( Pray especially beginning on October 7 and ending on October 15 , the Feast of St. Teresa.)
Day 1:
O most amiable Lord Jesus Christ! We thank Thee for the great gift of faith and of devotion to the Holy Sacrament, which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits and by those of Thy faithful spouse, to grant us the gift of a lively faith, and of a fervent devotion toward the most Holy Sacrament of the altar; where Thou, O infinite Majesty! hast obliged Thyself to abide with us even to the end of the world, and wherein Thou didst so lovingly give Thy whole Self to us.
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Day 2
O most merciful Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the great gift of hope which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy holy spouse, to give us a great confidence in Thy goodness, by reason of Thy Precious Blood, which Thou hast shed to its last drop for our salvation.

Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.


Day 3
O most loving Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the great gift of love which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most loving spouse, to give us the great, the crowning gift of Thy perfect love.
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.


Day 4
O most sweet Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the gift of great desire and resolution which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa, that she might love Thee perfectly; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most generous spouse, to give us a true desire, and a true resolution of pleasing Thee the utmost of our power. Amen.
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.


Day 5
O most kind Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the great gift of humility which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most humble spouse, to grant us the grace of a true humility, which may make us ever find our joy in humiliation, and prefer contempt before every honor.
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.


Day6
O most bountiful Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the gift of devotion towards Thy sweet mother, Mary and her holy spouse, Joseph, which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most dear spouse, to give us the grace of a special and tender devotion towards Thy most holy mother, Mary, and towards Thy beloved foster-father, Joseph. Amen.

Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.


Day 7
O most loving Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the wonderful gift of the wound in the heart which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy seraphic spouse, to grant us also a like wound of love, that, henceforth, we may love Thee and give our mind to the love of nothing but Thee. Amen.
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.


Day 8
O most beloved Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the eminent gift of the desire for death which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most constant spouse, to grant us the grace of desiring death, in order to go and possess Thee eternally in the country of the blessed. Amen.
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Day 9
Lastly, O dearest Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the gift of the precious death which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa, making her sweetly to die of love; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most affectionate spouse, to grant us a good death; and if we do not die of love, yet, that we may at least die burning of love for Thee, that so dying, we may be able to go and love Thee for evermore with a more perfect love in heaven.  Amen.
Say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.
V. St. Teresa, pray for us:
R. That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Homily of October 1, 2018 at English Mass in Medjugorje

(c)Anthony Zubac October 2, 2018 Dear Family of Mary! Let me share with you the homily of October 1, 2018 at English Mass in Medjugorje.  It is awesome!!! English Mass Homily - October 1, 2018- Medjugorje: https://marytv.tv/english-mass-in-medjugorje/ For the past sixty years or more the Catholic Church has been suffering from a massive inferiority complex.  We have looked at the modern secular liberal world, and it looks so bright and shiny, so in touch and so cool, and then we look at the Catholic Church and it looks so old and shabby and out of touch. And as a result of that we have lost confidence in  the Church.  We have lost confidence in the Gospel that we preach.  We ave lost confidence in the salvation we proclaim we have lost confidence in the hope we offering to the world.  How this massive inferiority complex, this loss of confidence has come about is a story for another day.   For today I just want to look at a few symptoms of this dreadful loss of confidence. And the first thing we always look at is the teaching of the Church.   There has been a huge neglect and even a perversion of the teaching of the Church.  The Church is founded on the teaching of Christ, on the Revelation of Christ, and if we pervert that then we pervert the whole Church and its mission.  And yet that has happened over and over again.  We have diverted the teaching of the Church, we have watered it down.  And if we have watered down the teaching of the Church then it is no longer the Teaching of the Church.  It is a fake gospel. There are various ways of watering down the Church's teaching.  We can focus on the nice pieces.  And neglect the difficult parts, the tough parts.  The parts that say we must keep the Ten Commandments.  The parts that say "Pick up your cross and follow me."  The parts that say that every one of us faces judgment when we die.  The parts that say we are called to eternal salvation but we can also reject that call.  We want to make people feel good.  And so we focus on the nice parts.   But there are some who go even farther.  There are some who even twist the teaching of the Church.  Who proclaim their own opinions rather than the teaching of the Church.  Bishops and priests who do that are not just bad shepherds, they are wolves in sheep's clothing.  It is the Gospel as it is given to us by Christ and as it is handed on in the teaching of the Church that will save us.  Nothing else.  But because we want to be like the world and liked by the world then we turn away from that teaching.   We look at vast numbers of people who have given up the practice of the Catholic faith.  Many of them in our own families.  How could people who really believe in the Gospel, who really believe that the Gospel is good news, how could they give up the practice of the faith?  How could they fail to hand it on to their children?    I hear people say, "Oh the young people today, they don't go to Mass and they don't practice the faith, but they are really good people."  If they are not going to Mass, if they are not worshiping God, if they are not handing down the faith to their children, then they are not good people.  How can people not hand down the faith to their own little children?   So this is a massive loss of faith.  And what has the response of the Church been?  A shrug.  This is the age of the shrug.  What can we do about it?  Where is the strategy for going after the lost sheep?  And even if they don't want to be found, we still have to go after them.  And each one of us is called to be a shepherd.   Another symptom of our loss of confidence is the neglect of the mission of the Church. There are billions of people in this world who have never even heard of Christ.  So why isn't the Church on fire to bring the Gospel to them?  Why are we saying that it doesn't matter?  It does matter.  Salvation matters.  We have to become a missionary church once again. So many of our missionaries ended up talking about development, about justice and peace, about the environment, about the creation, whatever, and those things are good.  But ultimately it is salvation that matters.  It is getting to heaven that matters. It is proclaiming Jesus Christ, risen from the dead that matters.     We talk about a great shortage of priests in the Church at the present time.  Is it any wonder there is a shortage of priests.  Why would any young fellow want to join an outfit that doesn't even believe in itself.  Or doesn't believe in it's own mission.  If we want to have vocations then we need to regain confidence in what we are about, and then the issue of vocations will take care of itself. So many of our Catholic institutions are no longer Catholic. They are Catholic in name only.  So Many of our Catholic schools are Catholic in name only.  So many of the Catholic Schools are not handing down the faith to the children.  They are betraying the parents who send their children for a Catholic education.  So many of our Catholic organizations have become "do good" organizations.  They have lost the sense of their mission.  So many of our Catholic hospitals are no longer Catholic.  In Ireland a number of Catholic Hospitals have said that they will kill unborn babies.  What kind of a Catholic Hospital is that?? That would cave in so easily to such a dreadful evil. Each one of us is called to be a missionary.  We are called to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world.  Beginning in our own families.  In recent times we have used the word "evangelization" a lot.  We talk about "new evangelization" , "re-evangelization", and so on.  Well that's fine.  But I think we need to get back to the word "mission." The mission of the Church.  That the whole church has a mission.  That the Catholic family has a mission.  The Catholic schools have a mission.  They don't just have an ethos, they have a mission.  The Catholic hospitals and Catholic voluntary organizations all have a mission.  We are called to be missionaries.   We celebrate today the memorial of Saint Therese of Lisieux.  This wee, sick nun who was enclosed her whole life - the Church makes her the patron saint of the missions.  What She is doing there is telling all of us that each and every one of us is called to be a missionary.  None of us is excused from that.   There are many other symptoms of this loss of faith. The question is where do we go from here.  The first thing is that it is holiness that renews the Church.  Changing structures, setting up pastoral councils, changing the curia, all of that is useless in the long run if we have not got saints.  It is holiness, it is the life of the risen Christ that reforms and renews the Church.  So each one of us is called to be a saint.   Each one of us is called to think like a Catholic.  We can't live in this poisonous environment without being affected by it, and so we need to decontaminate our own mind.  To get back to thinking like a Catholic in everything.  To living like a Catholic in everything.  We don't need to be impressed by the modern, secular world.  It is a poisonous ideology.  Secularism.  It is an ideology of destruction.  It is an anti-life ideology.  It is an ideology of hopelessness.  And ultimately it is a mad ideology.  An irrational ideology.  Why would we be impressed by that?  We have been given the Gospel to proclaim to the whole world.   Each one of us need to realize we have been called to be missionaries.  We need to get back to being faithful to the teaching of the Church, to proclaiming the teaching of the Faith, the Teaching of the Gospel.   There is a philosopher, one of the greatest philosophers of the last three or four hundred years.  A guy named Alystair McIntyre.  He is an elderly man now.  McIntyre was born in Scotland.  He grew up as a Presbyterian.  And then throughout his life he went through all kinds of changes.  He was a Marxist for a while.  And eventually he became a Catholic.  And someone asked him on one occasion, "Are you a Catholic in the traditional, orthodox sense?"  And he said, "That is the only sense."  In other words, we are either traditional, orthodox Catholics or we are not Catholics, whatever else we may be.  We have to get our own hearts and minds centered on Christ.   We come to Medjugorje and we meet each other.  And we say, "Oh, is this your first time here?"  "Oh no, how many times have you been here, five, fifteen, twenty five, whatever."  And that's grand.  no problem at all with that.  But then we have to go beyond that, and ask people, "Has Medjugorje made you a missionary?"  "Have the messages of Our Lady made you a missionary?"  "Have the homilies at Mass here made you a missionary?" "Have the visits to apparition Hill, the Blue Cross, and Cross Mountain made you a missionary?"  And if they have, then praise God.  But if they have not, then we have still not gotten the message of Medjugorje.

Medjugorje’s October 2, 2018, message

"Dear children, I am calling you to be courageous and to not grow weary, because even the smallest good—the smallest sign of love—conquers evil which is all the more visible. My children, listen to me so that good may overcome, so that you may come to know the love of my Son. This is the greatest happiness—the hands of my Son that embrace, of Him who loves the soul, of Him who has given Himself for you and is always giving Himself anew in the Eucharist, of Him who has the words of eternal life. To come to know His love, to follow in His footsteps, means to have a wealth of spirituality. This is the wealth which gives good feelings and sees love and goodness everywhere. Apostles of my love, my children, be like the rays of the sun which with the warmth of my Son’s love warm everyone around them. My children, the world needs apostles of love; the world needs much prayer, but prayer spoken with the heart and the soul and not only pronounced with the lips. My children, long for holiness but in humility, in the humility which permits my Son to do that which He desires through you. My children, your prayers, your words, thoughts and actions—all of this either opens or closes the doors to the Kingdom of Heaven for you. My Son showed you the way and gave you hope, and I am consoling and encouraging you because, my children, I had come to know pain, but I had faith and hope. Now I have the reward of life in the Kingdom of my Son. Therefore, listen to me, have courage and do not grow weary. Thank you.”

Direction for Our Times

We continue our cycle of monthly messages for 2018 with the message from October 1, 2010 for our prayer groups and personal reflection. 

October 1, 2010 

Jesus

My dear apostles, you are proceeding through your time on earth amidst many changes. Exteriorly, there is a great deal of motion and upset, which affects God’s children. Some are affected negatively and some are affected positively. Who is affected positively when there is suffering? I ask you this because I want you to view suffering from the perspective of one who trusts in God and trusts in God’s plan for all of His children. If you trust God, then suffering is viewed more simply, whether it is your suffering or the suffering of those around you. If you are suffering, then you are called to endure, but not without God and not without God’s grace. If someone near you is suffering, then you are called to offer compassion, and even assistance, if possible. You have the grace to understand your role and to understand your response, whether in your own suffering or in the suffering of those around you. In every experience in life, temptation is possible. If all is going well for you, then you may be tempted to become complacent about your response to the many graces I give you. I would prefer that during times of relative ease, you praise me and be alert to helping others. If all is not going well, there may be a temptation to believe that your prayers are not heard by God. I would ask you to use these times to practice trusting me. Offer your suffering to me with a heart that shares my experience willingly, not resentfully. Dear apostles, we are together, you and I. The unity we share was always intended by the Father. All is well. Do not be tempted against me if you are suffering. I will never leave you and I will use your suffering in ways you do not understand yet. You will understand later and you will be so grateful to me because I offered you these learning experiences. Rejoice. I am always with you.