Blessed Alexandrina da Costa: Loving Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament

"Keep Me company in the Blessed Sacrament. I remain in the tabernacle night and day, waiting to give my love and grace to all who would visit Me. But so few come. I am so abandoned, so lonely, so offended...Many men do not believe that I live in the tabernacle. They curse Me. Others believe, but do not love Me and do not visit Me; they live as if I were not there."

"Like Mary Magdalene, you have chosen the better part. You have chosen to love Me in the tabernacles where you can contemplate Me, not with the eyes of the body, but with those of the soul. I am truly present there as in Heaven--Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity...I do not stay in this world only for love of those who love Me, but for everyone..."

~ Jesus to Blessed Alexandrina da Costa; excerpt from here ~

Our Lord pleads for Eucharistic Reparation. An excerpt from the full-length documentary on Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004 and has been proposed by the universal church as a patron for the youth. Blessed Alexandrina's great love of Our Lord's Real Presence in the Eucharist is very relevant for today.

~ Related post on Blessed Alexandrina and the Power of Sacrifice for a Priest ~

~ Related post from Venite Adoremus Dominum ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests.  Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI Calls for Renewal: Truth, Reparation, Penance, Preparation

“We should accept this humiliation as an exhortation to the truth and a call towards renewal. Only the truth saves. We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustice that was committed. We must ask what was wrong with our message, our way of being a Christian, so that such a thing could have happened. We must face this with a new resolution of faith and goodness. We must be able to do penance. We should strive as much as possible in preparation for the priesthood so that something like this can not happen again.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI, speaking in reference to the sexual  abuse scandal in the Church ~



Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of his Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests.  Amen. 

Fr. Mark Kirby: Reparation Needed for Offenses Against Jesus in the Eucharist

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM FATHER MARK KIRBY--

Today I received this message from a friend in the state of New York :

"Four ciboria were sold/given to a local antiques dealer. All of them contained particles of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and one ciborium was from a church that closed in 1996. Imagine, Our Lord was in there for that long."

How and why does this sort of thing happen? It causes me a piercing sorrow because it is emblematic of the widespread loss of faith in the adorable mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist that is a cancer at the heart of the Church.

Adoration in a spirit of reparation is more than ever necessary. Where are the adorers and reparators who will console the Heart of Jesus, wounded by the irreverence, coldness, indifference, and sacrilege that He receives "in the house of them that loved Him," and in the Sacrament of His Love?

~ Excerpts from Fr. Kirby's heartbreaking blog post at Vultus Christi ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests.  Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI: Time for Penance, Humility, Renewed Sincerity

"In the first place, I have to say that these revelations were a shock to me, a source of great sadness. It is difficult to understand how this perversion of the priestly ministry was possible. The priest at the moment of ordination, having prepared for years for that moment, says yes to Christ, becoming His voice, His mouth, His hand, and serving Him with all his life so that the Good Shepherd Who loves, helps and leads us to truth may be present in the world. It is difficult to understand how a man who has done and said these things can fall into this perversion. It is very sad. It is also sad that the Church authorities were not sufficiently vigilant, not quick and decisive enough in taking the necessary measures. For all these reasons we are now in a time of penance, humility and renewed sincerity. ...

"As concerns the victims, I would like to make three important points. ... How can we make reparation, what can we do to help these people overcome their trauma, rediscover life and faith in the message of Christ? Concern and commitment to the victims is the first priority, with material psychological and spiritual assistance.

"The second question is the problem of the guilty, ensuring they receive just punishment, that they have no possibility of approaching young people, because we know that this is a disease and free will cannot function where the disease exists. Thus we must protect these people from themselves, find ways to help them and protect them from themselves, excluding them from all access to young people.

"The third point concerns prevention through education and the selection of candidates to the priesthood; vigilance so that as far as humanly possible future cases are avoided." (From Vatican Information Service)

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Jesus Seeks Souls To Sacrifice Themselves on Behalf of the Church

"The Lord told me many a time: 'Sacrifice yourself for the Church. My Church is what I love most and she it is who caused Me to suffer most. In truth, I live crucified in her.' (I realized He was alluding to evil priests and to ministers who do not seek the interests of Jesus Christ, but their own interests, coupled with numerous laxities and culpable behavior). 'I want you to be a victim on behalf of the Church. You do not know the value of that. Do not resist. It is a gift I want to give you. Souls sacrificing themselves as victims for the Church, receive a special recompense'" (Diary, May 28, 1898).

"Souls who are victims for the Church must unite themselves to My Heart, the supreme Victim, to offer themselves to the eternal Father on behalf of this so beloved Church, in order to expiate sins. I love My Church so much that in union with My Heart I seek victims who immolate themselves in order that the just wrath which menaces her be assuaged and changed into a shower of graces "I want, more than external martyrdom, interior martyrdom of the heart. That is why I want them to unite themselves to My Heart which is broken more than any other. I want to obtain this glory for My Father, and the Holy Spirit will ever bless the victim souls who united themselves to Me" (Diary, June 14, 1898).

~ Jesus to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida,

excerpts from Conchita, A Mother's Spiritual Diary ~

The Dark Night of Sexual Abuse in the Church: Litany of Deliverance and Healing

A meditation on the power of the light of Christ to deliver us from the dark night following the sorrow and scandal of sexual abuse in the Church:

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Is God Calling You to Offer Thursdays of Adoration and Reparation for Priests?

THURSDAYS OF ADORATION AND REPARATION FOR PRIESTS

O my beloved Jesus,
I give and consecrate to Thee this Thursday
and all the Thursdays of my life,
in praise of the adorable Mystery of Thy Body and Blood,
and in thanksgiving for that of the Priesthood.

Moved by Thy Holy Spirit,
and full of confidence in the help of Thy Most Holy Mother,
the Virgin Mary, Mother of Priests,
I resolve to live each Thursday for the rest of my days here below
in adoration and in reparation for priests
and, especially, for those who do not adore Thee,
for those who are most wounded in their souls,
and for those who are exposed to the attacks of the powers of darkness.

I want to remain before Thy Eucharistic Face for them and in their place;
I want to draw near, in their name, to Thy open Heart,
ever-flowing with the Blood and Water
that purify, heal, and sanctify all souls,
but, first of all, those of Thy priests.

Let each Thursday find me close to
the Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood,
in adoration and reparation for the sake of all Thy priests.

Make me an entirely Eucharistic soul,
according to the desires of Thy Sacred Heart
and the designs of Thy merciful goodness upon my life.
I desire nothing else.

I want to love Thee more each day;
I want to be the faithful adorer of Thy Eucharistic Face
and the consoling friend of Thy Sacred Heart
hidden in the tabernacles of the world,
where it beats, wounded by love, forgotten, forsaken,
and waiting for the adoration and love of even one priest.

Amen.

~ A Reminder and an Invitation from Fr. Mark Kirby

who was inspired to compose this beautiful prayer ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offewr up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI: Church Needs Penance, Purification, Forgiveness and Justice

"...attacks against the Pope and the Church do not only come from outside;
rather, the sufferings of the Church come from inside the Church,

from the sin that exists in the Church.

This was always common knowledge,

but today we see it in a truly terrifying form:

the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from external enemies,

but is born of sin within the Church.

Thus the Church has a profound need to relearn penance,

to accept purification,

to learn forgiveness but also the need for justice.

Forgiveness does not replace justice.

~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

St. Jean Vianney: Spirit of Sacrifice

Fr. Bing Arellano, spiritual director of the Alliance of the Holy Family Intl., tells the story of St. John Vianney, a humble secular priest, who converted his parishioners and exorcised the demons of Ars, France with his deep prayer, holiness, and ascetical life.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Spiritual Value of Penance

" Penance is the rampart protecting chastity.

Penitence appeases God's justice and transforms it into graces.

It purifies souls,

extinguishes the fires of purgatory

and receives in heaven a most sublime recompense.

Penance pays for personal faults and those of others.

Penance is the sister of mortification. Both work together hand in hand.

Penance helps the soul rise above things of the earth.

Penance cooperates with the Redemption of the world.

Penance humbles man,

it penetrates him with an inner feeling of his baseness and his wretchedness.

Penance brings light to the soul.

It consumes and causes to disappear all in it that is purely material.

It raises him higher and higher above the earth,

making him taste of delights hitherto unknown and pure.

But this penance should be the daughter of reverence

and exist in the soul, hidden from all humans" (Diary, Sept. 24, 1895).

~ Our Lord to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida,

from Conchita A Mother's Spiritual Diary ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Fr. Mark Kirby: Prayer of Forgiveness and Reparation

Lord Jesus Christ,
Who revealed the infinite mercy of Your Sacred Heart in saying:

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Mt 5:44)
and again, "Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" (Lk 6:28),
give me, I beseech You, grace to obey these commandments of yours,
and to persevere in praying daily

for those who, in any way, have abused, cursed, hurt, or rejected me.

I pray for those who hate me,
for those who resent me
and for those who have spoken ill of me.
I beg you to bless them abundantly
and to pour into their hearts
such a profusion of healing mercies
that in them and around them
love will triumph over hatred,
friendship over resentment,
sweetness over bitterness,
meekness over anger,
and peace over enmity.
I further ask you to extend these graces
to their families and to all whom they hold dear.

In particular, I pray today for N. (and N.).
I present him/her/them to Your Eucharistic Face,
asking You to envelop him/her/them in Its healing radiance,
dispelling whatever shadows of sin
may have darkened his/her/their mind(s)
or hardened his/her their heart(s)
in anger, hatred, or the refusal to forgive.

For my part,
with deep sorrow I confess
that I have sinned grievously against others,
causing them pain and even endangering their souls.
I pray you, O Merciful Jesus, to repair the evil I have done to others
and to heal the hurt I have inflicted on them.
In particular, I acknowledge my sins against N. (and N.)
imploring You to heal and repair the harm I have done him/her/them.

I ask you so to penetrate my heart with the charity of Your Pierced Heart
that I will be able to forgive those who have offended me, to love them sincerely,
and to desire for them all that will contribute to their true happiness

in this life and in the next.

By means of a permanent intention,
I desire to renew this prayer in every offering of Your Holy Sacrifice.
Let the light of Your Eucharistic Face shine in the hearts of all

who harbour hatred or resentment toward me,

to bring them healing and peace.

Let Your Precious Blood triumph over evil
in those against whom I have sinned and in those who have sinned against me,
so that, delivered from the shadows of this valley of tears,
we may one day praise Your Mercy together in the sweetness of a boundless charity.
Amen.

~ A prayer Fr. Mark Kirby was inspired to write. ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Mary and the Priesthood of Christ

"In her heart reverberated all that Jesus suffered in body and soul,
emphasizing her willingness to share in her Son's redeeming sacrifice...
and to join her own maternal suffering to His priestly offering."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Lenten Advice From Good Shepherds

"I have decided not to let this Lent go by

like rain on stones,

leaving no trace.

I will let it soak into me, changing me.

I will be converted,

I will turn again to the Lord

and love him as he wants to be loved."

~ St. Josemaria Escriva ~

This quote and his homily on preparing for Lent shared by Fr. S on Clerical Reform

From Fr. Thomas Euteneuer-- excerpt from Don't Waste Lent:

"... go for high spiritual impact. That is, identify and practice faithfully just one really magnificent goal for your personal conversion this Lent. I say conversion and not "personal improvement" lest anyone interpret the call to spiritual discipline as a chance to lose weight or quit smoking! What Lent demands of us is to look into our vicious, slothful and petty nature and challenge it with the full prophetic force of the Gospel. A well-intentioned person who stacks up a dozen goals for personal change but accomplishes few or none of them is not a better person at the end of Lent. He is more scattered, less disciplined and under a the illusion of false piety thinking that he is doing something holy by multiplying activities without transforming his heart. In contrast, the one who targets his habit of petty backbiting with a shock-and-awe campaign of generosity toward those he finds disagreeable is the one who receives a blessing from the Lord because he acts like John the Baptist who Jesus said "took the Kingdom by storm." Any mature person will know that a single, firm and effective intention to convert one's heart is worth more than a thousand acts of superficial piety."

Read Fr. Euteneuer's complete message, Don't Waste Lent,--here.

From Fr. James Farfaglia--excerpts from Getting Ready for Lent:
"...each person should commit themselves to giving up something or a number of things. This sacrifice should be serious and demanding. The self-control that we exercise in giving up a legitimate pleasure strengthens our will and curbs the inclinations of our passions.

"...each one should also do some kind of act that we would not normally do on a regular basis. Attending daily Mass, visiting the sick, volunteering time at the parish or praying a Sunday evening Rosary with the entire family are positive acts of virtue that have helped many people progress in their relationship with God.

"Lenten practices of penance have great benefits for our spiritual lives. A serious Lent will be like a spring cleaning which will purify the clutter that has accumulated in our souls. A serious commitment to penance will also help us to conquer addictions, obsessions and compulsive behavior. A serious Lent will purify our soul and allow us to experience a deeper interior freedom.

"As we approach the beginning of another Lent, we should carefully examine our lives. Usually we focus on carefully examining our sins, but do we ever consider the sins of omission? Do we honestly consider what we are not doing? "

Read Fr. Farfaglia's complete blog post, Getting Ready for Lent, here.

Fr. John Bartunek, LC --here.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Jesus Asks for One Hour of Prayer

"Make Reparation for the ingratitude of men.

Spend an hour in prayer to appease divine justice,

to implore mercy for sinners,

to honor Me,

to console Me for My bitter suffering when abandoned by My Apostles,

when they did not WATCH ONE HOUR WITH ME."

~ Jesus to St. Margaret Mary ~

AN APPEAL FOR ONE HOUR OF EUCHARISTIC ADORATION FOR PRIESTS

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

St. Josemaria Escriva's Fervent Love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

Bishop Javier Echevarría, now the Prelate of Opus Dei, recalls in the book Memoria del Beato Josemaría different ways in which Saint Josemaría showed his love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament:

He never went into any Church without greeting our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament first thing. He would spend a few moments recollected in prayer and renew his burning desire to keep Jesus company in every tabernacle in the world...in a large city when we went into the Cathedral...he started to look for our Lord all over the Cathedral, and finally found Him, after catching sight of a half-hidden sanctum lamp. He knelt down there and prayed. He told us afterwards that he had said: “Lord, I’m no better than anyone else, but I need to tell you that I love you with all my strength; and I beg you to hear me. I love you for all the people who come here and don’t tell you so. I love you for all the people who will ever come here and not tell you so.”

He never failed to tell people: “As often as you can, escape to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to keep him company, even for just a few seconds. And tell him with all your soul that you love him, that you want to love him more, and that you love him for all the people on earth, including those who say they don’t love him.”

Saint Josemaría often insisted to Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo and myself that we should “never pass the tabernacle without telling our Lord that you love him with all your soul, that you want to cherish him in your hearts, that you thank him for his Real Presence in the tabernacle, where he consoles us and helps us with his strength.” And after making these recommendations, he added, “That’s what I do.”

With his passionate, all-consuming love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, he asked us, on 26 February 1970, “Unite yourselves to my constant prayer. I pray all day and at night as well. Unite yourselves to the Holy Mass I celebrate. Make many acts of faith and love in our Lord’s Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. And make many acts of atonement. Tell our Lord that you love him with all your soul, that you don’t want to make him suffer, that you want to make reparation constantly.”

He recommended priests to keep the Blessed Sacrament company as much as they could. He wanted all of them to increase their devotion to the Eucharist, and he pointed out to them: “Don’t do it for your parishioners to see, but don’t worry if they do see you. If you are centered on our Lord, and people notice how you love him, they’ll ask you why, and then you can tell them about this love that should fill your whole life.”

...in 1958 he urged us: “We have to stress, to other people and to ourselves, that we should never leave him alone in his voluntary imprisonment in the tabernacle, the prison of love, where he has chosen to stay, hidden in the Host, defenceless, for you and for me.” And in 1962 he said: “For a long time now, every time I genuflect in front of the tabernacle, after adoring our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, I also thank the Angels, because they are continuously paying court to God."

... his devotion to the Eucharist also led him, during his last years, to increase his spirit of atonement. He was hungry to come into the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to adore him, to keep him company, to make atonement, as he said in his humility, ‘for my own wretchedness and for the wretchedness of all mankind, so that he’s not left alone, now that in so many places our Lord finds himself unaccompanied, although all of us, everyone in the world, should be keeping him company.”

In 1960 Saint Josemaría spoke to us again about “the mystery of the Eucharist, where Jesus is the ‘Great Solitary One’ because people have left him alone. They know nothing about love, understanding or self-giving. How could they, if they refuse to go to the source! I am praying to our Lord that everyone, my daughters, my sons, and I myself, may learn how to treat Christ in the Eucharist. Go to him with faith, constantly, attentively. Our personal wretchedness doesn’t matter if we have the grace of God. The more we are aware of our weaknesses, the more we will feel the need for God in our lives."

~ Excerpts from here. ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Pope John Paul II: A Penitential Soul

Pope John Paul II always took penitence seriously, spending entire nights lying with his arms outstretched on the bare floor, fasting before ordaining priests or bishops and flagellating himself, said the promoter of his sainthood cause.

Msgr. Slawomir Oder, postulator of the late pope's cause, said Pope John Paul used self-mortification "both to affirm the primacy of God and as an instrument for perfecting himself."

"Not infrequently he passed the night lying on the bare floor,"...

~ From Catholic News Service ~

O Blessed Trinity, we thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of Your fatherly care, the glory of the Cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit , to shine through him.

Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you.

Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among Your saints. Amen.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Sad Revelations of Jesus to St. Padre Pio About Some Priests

Letter to Friar Augustine, on April 7, 1913, “My dear Father, I was still in bed on Friday morning, when Jesus appeared to me. He was battered and disfigured. He showed me a great crowd of priests, among whom were different ecclesiastical dignitaries. Some were celebrating or were donning or removing their vestments. To see Jesus in this condition caused me much pain. I wanted to ask him why he suffered so much. He did not answer me, but showed me that priest being punished. But shortly after, he looked sadly at these priests and I noticed, to my great horror, two tears running down his face. Jesus went away from that crowd of priests and with a great expression of disgust on his face, cried’: “Butchers!” Then He told me: “My Child, do not believe that my agony has been only three hours, no; actually I will be in agony till the end of the world because of the souls I love. During the time of the agony, my child, nobody can sleep. My soul goes looking for some drop of human pity, but they leave me alone under the weight of their indifference. The ingratitude and the sleep of my ministers increase the agony for me. They badly respond to my love! The greater torment for me is that these people add their contempt to their indifference and disbelief. How many times my wrath was to strike them like lightning, but I was stopped by the angels and the souls who love me..... Write to your confessor and describe to him what you saw and heard from me this morning. Tell him to show your letter to the Provincial... “Jesus continued to talk but I may never reveal what he said...”

Letter to Father Agostino, of (March 12, 1913), “... my father, listen to our sweet Jesus’ complaints: “My love for men is repaid with so much ingratitude! Those people would have offended me less if I had loved them less. My father doesn’t want to tolerate them anymore. I would like to stop loving them, but... (And here Jesus kept silent and, afterward taken aback) but my heart is made for loving! The tired men don’t try to overcome the temptations. Rather these men enjoy their iniquities. The souls I love more than the other’s when they suffer a temptation, when they don’t succeed in withstanding. The weak souls are dismayed and desperate. The strong souls trust Jesus. They leave me alone at night and in the morning in Church. They don’t take care of the sacrament of the altar; they don’t speak of this sacrament of love anymore; also, the people who do speak of the sacrament do it with so much indifference and coldness. My Heart has been forgotten; nobody cares for my love; I am always saddened. My house has become a theatre of plays for a lot of people; even my priests that I have always protected carefully, that I have loved as the apple of my eye; they should comfort my sorrowful heart; they should help me in the redemption of the souls, instead.... Who would believe it? I receive ingratitude from them. I see, my Son, a lot of them that... (Here he stopped, sobs tightened his throat, he wept) that under false semblance they betray me with sacrilegious communions, stamping on the light and the strength that I continually give them... “.

Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG

~ St. Padre Pio quotes from here. ~

Please pray daily for priests and, if possible, spend time in Eucharistic adoration --praying for their sanctification and offering reparation for their sins to console the Heart of Jesus.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Fr. William Doyle: Victim of Reparation for Sins of Priests

Thanks to Fr. Mark Kirby for sharing more information on Fr. Willie Doyle, S.J.! It is no wonder that Fr. Doyle is one of the special patrons and heroes of the Cenacle of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus located in the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Fr. Kirby and the present and future members of the Cenacle also have a special mission of "adoration before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus, offering thanksgiving, intercession and reparation for all... brothers in Holy Orders."

Some inspiring quotes of Fr. Doyle from Fr. Kirby's blog post:

"At Exposition Jesus spoke clearly in my soul, 'Do the hard thing for My sake because it is hard.' I also felt urged to perform all my priestly duties with great fervour to obtain grace for other priests to do the same, e.g. the Office, that priests may say theirs well." On the Feast of St. Teresa, October, 1914, there is this simple but eloquent record: "Last night I rose at one a.m. and walked two miles barefooted in reparation for the sins of priests to the chapel at Murrough (Co. Clare), where I made the Holy Hour. God made me realise the merit of each step, and I understood better how much I gain by not reading the paper; each picture, each sentence sacrificed means additional merit. I felt a greater longing for self-inflicted suffering and a determination to do more little things.'"

"God has chosen me, in His great love and through compassion for my weakness and misery, to be a victim of reparation for the sins of priests especially; that hence my life must be different in the matter of penance, self-denial and prayer, from the lives of others not given this special grace they may meritoriously do what I cannot; that unless I constantly live up to the life of a willing victim, I shall not please our Lord nor ever become a saint - it is the price of my sanctification; that Jesus asks this from me always and in every lawful thing, so that I can sum up my life 'sacrifice always in all things.'"

"During a visit our Lord seemed to urge me not to wait till the end of the war, but to begin my life of reparation at once, in some things at least. I have begun to keep a book of acts done with this intention. He asked me for these sacrifices, (1) To rise at night in reparation for priests who lie in bed instead of saying Mass. (2) At all costs to make the 50,000 aspirations. (3) To give up illustrated papers. (4) To kiss floor of churches. (5) Breviary always kneeling. (6) Mass with intense devotion. The Blessed Curé d'Ars used to kneel without support while saying the Office. Could not I?"

"This is my vocation," he notes on 8th February, 1917, "reparation and penance for the sins of priests; hence the constant urging of our Lord to generosity."

"The reading of La vie réparatrice (Canon Leroux de Bretagne, Desclée 1909) has made me long more to take up this life in earnest. I have again offered myself to Jesus as His Victim to do with me absolutely as He pleases. I will try to take all that happens, no matter from whom it comes, as sent to me by Jesus and will bear suffering, heat, cold, etc., with joy as part of my immolation, in reparation for the sins of priests. From this day I shall try bravely to bear all 'little pains' in this spirit. A strong urging to this."

From an earlier post, Fr. Kirby shared Fr. Doyle's beautiful Prayer for Priests.

Please take the time to read Fr. Kirby's post in its entirety (from which the above quotes were taken). If you are not acquainted with Father Kirby's blog, it would be well worth your time to get to know him and to benefit from all the excellent information and inspiration he has to offer.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Andrea Tornielli: Best Kept Secrets of Pope John Paul II

Italian Vaticanist Andrea Tornielli has published unedited material in his latest book on John Paul II, titled Santo Subito or Immediate Saint. In the book, he discloses never before heard testimonies, from those who knew John Paul II best. Tornielli hopes to shed some light on what made John Paul II a powerful figure.

Andrea Tornielli:
"He spoke with God. You would take one look at him and you knew that he was a person who talked frequently with God.

Aside from praying with his lips, the book reveals that John Paul II would pray using his whole body since he would often go on fasts and perform penance.

Andrea Tornielli :
"He would do it to suffer and therefore have more suffering to offer Jesus Christ for the Church, for the pontificate, for humanity. John Paul II led humanity for 27 years and he's shown he's suffered like Christ in the name of mankind."

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Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Fr. James Farfaglia: Penitential Season of Advent

"Advent is a penitential season because Christmas is about our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, not about external celebrations. The external celebrations should be seen as a visible manifestation of our joy of being disciples of Jesus Christ."

"Advent, as a penitential season, prepares us to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's first coming as the incarnate God of love. As a penitential time, Advent helps us examine the condition of our soul."

"As disciples of the Lord we have so many ways to sleep. We can sleep by putting off the sacrament of Confession. We can sleep by not committing ourselves to a life of prayer. We can sleep by giving in to the temptations of secularism. We can sleep by "not being too hard on ourselves". We can sleep by being satisfied with being "good people" rather than striving for holiness. We can sleep by rationalizing our own sloth and laziness. We can sleep by dulling our conscience. Tepidity is a very dangerous obstacle to our eternal salvation. Advent is a time to wake up. "

"As we begin Advent, we must also remember that the celebration of Christmas does not begin until Christmas Eve and it does not end until the Epiphany. Christmas season does not begin on Thanksgiving Day and end on December 26th. It is the Church that directs that our celebration of Christmas, not the stores. We must not be caught up in the materialism around us.

"The manger should be set up in the home as of the first Sunday of Advent and according to our Catholic traditions, it should not be removed until February 2, which is the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Christmas trees can be erected in the home according to the customs of each family. It is a good practice to keep the Christmas tree up until the Epiphany.

"Every nationality will have their own particular customs and traditions. However, we must keep in mind that Advent is Advent and that the Christmas Season does not liturgically begin until the Vigil Mass of Christmas on December 24 and it does not liturgically end until the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord."

For Father Farfaglia's excellent Advent homily in its entirety click here.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.