Simple, short, indulgenced prayers

By Allison Girone

Evening Bells by Kinzel (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

These short "mini-prayers," also called "ejaculations," "aspirations" or "invocations," are to be said throughout the day to keep our minds focused on Heavenly things and to consecrate our efforts. It is good to adopt one of these as your own so that in times of stress, words that can focus your attention back to the holy come easily. These are all indulgenced prayers.

Domine Iesu Christe, Filius Dei, miserere me peccatorem! (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!) Variations: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"; "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"; "O God, be merciful to me a sinner!". This prayer is known as the "Jesus Prayer." It is the cry of the publican of Luke 18:13.

Sit nomen Dómini benedíctum! (Blessed be the Name of the Lord!) This prayer is a reparation for blasphemy. If one hears someone take the Name of the Lord in vain, it is good to say this prayer. The response to this prayer is "ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum!" ("from this time forth for evermore!") or "per ómnia saecula saeculórum" ("unto ages of ages").

We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee; because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world. (Roman Breviary)

May the Holy Trinity be blessed. (Roman Missal)

Christ conquers! Christ reigns! Christ commands!

O Heart of Jesus, burning with love for us, inflame our hearts with love for Thee.

O Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.

O Heart of Jesus, all for Thee.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

My God and my all. 

 

 

Continue reading at Allison's blog, Totus Tuus Family and Homeschool.

Don't commit spiritual suicide

by Allison Girone

The Bride by Anders Zorn (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

How many leave the faith because they hold it to the standard of their fellow worshipers holiness? Yet, people will always disappoint you...at some point. We all fall short. We fail because we're sinful, all of us. Singularly, we're not worthy to worship. But the Church,Christ's Church, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. No matter what we do to tarnish it, Holy Mother Church is, as Mother Angelica once wrote:

"[T]he Bride of Christ, the Mother from whose womb of grace each of us was born to a new life, a life of Sonship... When we hate her we only hate ourselves, for we are part of her Body and Jesus is our Head. To alienate ourselves from Him and His Bride is to cut ourselves off from the Vine."

My wise and caring Pastor had words today, for such a situation:

"When such disappointments strike the household of faith, they remind us of our ongoing need for God and his mercy. Too many people use sin and human failure in the Church as an excuse to commit spiritual suicide, to write off the importance of faith. Our reaction should be the opposite, for we all stand together in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. Our thanksgiving is first and foremost for the gift of God’s mercy."

When you are brought down, look up.

Allison originally posted this at her blog  Totus Tuus Family and Homeschool

The Rosary: just 2% of your day

by Allison Girone

The Virgin of the Rosary  by Murillo (photo in Public Domain).

 



"Returning continually in her memory to everything that was important in her Son's life and in her own, it was as though Mary prayed her Rosary, but without moving from one bead to another"(The Gift of Faith, pg. 202).

While I have always had a love for the Rosary, I am not always successful at praying it everyday. Considering that I am awake for 16 hours a day, I have 960 minutes in my "day." The Rosary may take 17 minutes to pray, meditating on the life of Christ. If I work that out mathematically, 17 minutes would be less than 2% of my day!

If I were to tithe to God and give Him just 10% of my day, the minimum in gratitude, I should spend 96 minutes or at least an hour and a half in prayer each day ... sobering.

I do offer up my day in my morning offering prayer...

I do pray throughout the day in many ways...but I could do more.

He deserves more.

And Our Lady is waiting, with graces...

Besides the Indulgences attached to the Rosary, Our Lady revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche additional benefits for those who devoutly pray the Rosary. Our Lady's promise is shown in darker blue text. Additional explanation on and doctrinal connections to each promise are shown following in the smaller normal text font and color. Note that the Rosary is the prayer (non-Liturgical) with the most published Magisterial / Papal documents expounding on its excellence. Vatican II's summary on Our Lady is contained in Lumen Gentium chapter VIII.


1. Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
Signal graces are those special and unique graces to help sanctify us in our state in life. See the remaining promises for an explanation of which these will consist. St. Louis de Montfort states emphatically that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is via Our Lady [True Devotion to Mary, chapter four].


2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. Our Lady is our Advocate and the channel of all God's grace to us. Our Lady is simply highlighting that she will watch especially over us who pray the Rosary. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62) [a great more detail is available on this topic in True Devotion to Mary, chapter four, by St. Louis de Montfort]


3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.This promise, along with the next, is simply the reminder on how fervent prayer will help us all grow in holiness by avoiding sin, especially a prayer with the excellence of the Rosary. An increase in holiness necessarily requires a reduction in sin, vice, and doctrinal errors (heresies). If only the Modernists could be convinced to pray the Rosary! (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42) St. Louis de Montfort states "Since Mary alone crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)..." [True Devotion to Mary #167]


4. It will cause good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for Eternal Things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.This promise, along with the previous, is the positive part, that being to live in virtue. Becoming holy is not only avoiding sin, but also growing in virtue. (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42)


5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.Since Our Lady is our Mother and Advocate, she always assists those who call on her implicitly by praying the Rosary. The Church reminds us of this in the Memorare prayer, "... never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided ..."


Read 10 more reasons to pray the Rosary at Allison's blog  Totus Tuus Family and Homeschool.

What I didn't know as a June bride

 by Allison Girone

Off for the Honeymoon by Frederick Morgan (Wikimedia Commons)

In 1991, I married my boyfriend of 6 years.  On June 8th, it will be our 22nd anniversary. That girl, in some ways, is so different from me today. The Sacramental events of that day played a large part in my transformation.

What I didn't know, very well, was my faith. And yet, we were married in a Cathedral Basilica...and today that means so much to us! We are strengthened by the graces of the Sacrament of Marriage.Our faith...the beauty of such Churches that elevate one's heart and mind to God are now of monumental importance to us, the architecture that upholds and supports us. Today, it's a passion of mine to photograph the Mass, Sacraments and Churches.

"A basilica is an architectural term for a certain style of building, and, as is often the case in Catholicism, the basilica comes to us from the Romans. When the ancient Romans spoke of a basilica they were referring to a large, high-ceilinged hall with three long aisles."

The Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul is majestic and traditional looking. In its name there's St. Peter and its Baldachin reminds me of St. Peter's in Rome.  What I didn't know is how much I would grow to embrace traditional Catholicism, how Rome would take a place in my heart and define a path for me here. How, like St. Peter and St. Paul, I would turn my life over to Him. Certainly the degree does not compare... O, to be as filled with faith and purpose as those two saints!

"The canopy, or baldachin, over the altar is of Antique Italian marble. It stands thirty-eight feet high and is surmounted by a semi-circular bronze dome. The underside of the dome is a marble mosaic. Its central figure is a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The mosaic carries in Latin an inscription which translates: “In every place there is offered and sacrificed in My Name a clean oblation.” At the corners of the baldachin stand ten foot high white Italian marble Angels. Its decorative rosettes are of Botticino marble." 

Coming back to my faith, I always felt it was the Holy Spirit that began that process. Reading the above description, of the dome we were married under, I see how He was truly above us on our wedding day, with us... Three to Get Married.  But, I also attribute so much of my transformation to earnest prayers I made to His "spouse," the Blessed Mother, as I knelt before a statue of Our Lady on our wedding day.  What I didn't know is how we would grow to love and honor her, how she would bring us closer to her Son. Totus Tuus.


Read more of Allison's reflection at her blog  Totus Tuus.

Indulgenced Marian prayers for your children - and yourself

by Allison Girone

The Annunciation by Philippe de Champaigne (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

In sharing my tradition of Something About Mary posts for Mary's month of May, someone shared with me the idea of memorizing Marian prayers with our children this month.

Great idea

A devotion to Our Lady is an essential element of the faith I, too, want to pass on to my children. (A reflection from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI  says being Catholic means being Marian.) And so, I go to a favorite and oft-mentioned book, The Handbook of Indulgences. Why not memorize a prayer that is efficacious and provides graces!

For the very young, there is  

Maria, Mater gratiae, A Child's Prayer to Mary

Mary, mother whom we bless,
full of grace and tenderness,
defend me from the devil's power
and greet me in my dying hour.

And,  

The Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection,
implored your help or sought your intercession,
was left unaided.

Inspired with this confidence,
I fly to you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother;
to you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in your mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

Find more Marian prayers (which adults can memorize too!) at Allison Girone's blog, Totus Tuus Family & Homeschool.