CATHOLIC
SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

"Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven."      Saint Pope Pius X

ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.

FEAST DAY:  SEPTEMBER 3RD

GREGORY was a Roman of noble birth, and while still young was Governor of Rome. On his father’s death he gave his great wealth to the poor, turned his house on the Coelian Hill into a monastery, which now bears his name, and for some years lived as a perfect monk. The Pope drew him from his seclusion to make him one of the seven deacons of Rome; and he did great service to the Church for many years as what we now call Nuncio to the imperial court at Constantinople. While still a monk the Saint was struck with some boys who were exposed for sale in Rome, and heard with sorrow that they were Pagana "And of what race are they ?" he asked. "They are Angles." "Worthy indeed to be Angels of God," said he; "and of what province ?" "Of Deira," was the reply. "Truly must we rescue them from the wrath of God. And what is the name of their king ?" "He is called Ella." "It is well," said Gregory; "Alleluia must be sung in their land to God." He at once got leave from the Pope, and had set out to convert the English, when the murmurs of the people led the Pope to recall him. Still the Angles were not forgotten, and one of the Saint’s first cares as Pope was to send from his own monastery St. Augustine and other monks to England. On the death of Pope Pelagius II, Gregory was cornpelled to take government of the Church, and for fourteen years his pontificate was a perfect model of ecclesiastical rule. He healed schisms, revived discipline; saved Italy by converting the wild Arian Lombards who were laying it waste, aided in the conversion of the Spanish and French Goths, who were also Arians; and kindled anew in Britain the light of the Faith which the English had put out in blood. He set in order the Church’s prayers and chant, guided and consoled her pastors with innumerable letters, and preached incessantly, most effectually by his own example. He died A.D. 604, worn out by austerities and toils; and the Church reckons him one of her four great doctors, and reveres him as St. Gregory the Great.

REFLECTION.—The champions of faith prove the truth of their teaching no less by the holiness of their lives than by the force of their arguments. Never forget that to convert others you must first see to your own soul.

 INTERCESSORY PRAYER:  Ask Saint Gregory to pray for your needs today. 

     Saint Gregory please pray for (mention your prayer request.)

[The works of a well known Catholic Spiritual Director will be featured in this space each week.]

SERMONS OF SAINT JOHN VIANNEY

GREAT CONFESSOR OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

(1786-1859)

Life Summary of Saint John Vianney

YOU ARE SURPRISED, BUT NOT I!

Why is it, then, you are going to ask me, that we assist at so many Masses and yet we are always the same?

Alas, my dear brethren, it is because we are there in body but not in spirit and that rather our coming there completes our condemnation because of the bad dispositions with which we assist. Alas! For all those badly heard Masses which, far from insuring our salvation, harden us the more. When our Lord appeared to St. Mechtilde, He said to her: "Know this, my child, that the saints will assist at the death of all those who have heard Mass devoutly, to help them to die well, to defend them against the temptations of the Devil, and to offer their souls to My Father." What wonderful happiness for us, my dear brethren, to be helped at this formidable moment by as many saints as we have heard Masses! ....

No, my dear children, we need never fear that the Mass hinders us in the fulfilment of our temporal affairs; it is altogether the other way around. We may be sure that all will go better and that even our business will succeed better than if we have the misfortune not to assist at Mass. Here is a splendid example of that. It concerns two artisans who belonged to the same trade and who lived in the same little town. One of them, who had a very large family and never missed hearing Mass every day, lived very comfortably by his trade, but the other, on the contrary, who had no family, worked all day and part of the night, and very often on the holy day of Sunday, and still had the greatest difficulty in the world in making ends meet. The latter, when he saw how well things were going for the other man, asked him one day when he met him how he managed to make enough to maintain so comfortably a family as large as his. As for himself, he said, although there were only his wife and himself and he never stopped working, he was often short of everything. The other replied that if he so wished, he would show him the following day where he made his profit. Delighted with this good news, the unsuccessful artisan could hardly wait until the following day so that he might learn how to make his fortune. True to his word, his friend called for him. So there he was, setting off in great heart and, full of confidence, following his friend who brought him to church, where they heard Mass.

When they came out the friend said, quite at his ease, "You can go back to your work now." The same thing took place the following day, but on the third day, when the friend came to bring the unsuccessful artisan along to Mass, the latter objected.

"What is all this about?" he asked." If I want to go to Mass, I know the way without your taking the trouble to come and get me. That is not what I wanted to know, but the place where you find all the money that enables you to live so comfortably. I wanted to see whether, if I did the same as you, I could get something out of it, too."

"My good friend," said the other to him, "I do not know any other place than the church, and no other method than that of hearing Mass every day of the week. I assure you that I have never used any other means to acquire the money which surprises you. But have you yourself not seen where Jesus Christ tells us in the Gospel to seek first the kingdom of God and that all the rest will be added unto us?"

Are you surprised at this story, my dear brethren? I am not. It is only what we see every day of our lives in those homes where there is some religion. Those who come often to holy Mass manage their affairs much better than those whose weak faith makes them think that they have no time for Mass. Alas, if only we put all our trust in God and relied on our own efforts for nothing, how much happier we should be than we are!

Yes, you will tell me, but if we have nothing, no one is going to give us anything.

What do you want God to give you when -- as is shown by the fact that you do not give even the time to saying your morning and night prayers and that you are quite content to come to Mass once a week -- you depend solely on your own efforts and not at all on Him? You have no knowledge of the resources of the providence of God for anyone who confides and trusts in Him. Do you want a more striking proof of this? It is before your eyes. Look at your pastor and examine his case in the light of God's providence.

Oh, you say, that is because people give to you.

But who gives to me, unless it is the providence of God? That is the source of my treasures and nothing else. Alas, that man should be blind enough to worry and fret so much as to damn himself and yet be quite unhappy in this world. If you have the great happiness to think a lot about your salvation and to assist at holy Mass as much as you can, you will soon see the proof of what I am telling you.

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HAITI MISERY CONTINUES…
Despite Less News Coverage, the Agony and
Turmoil Still Exists After the Tragic Quake

SEE SALESIAN MISSIONS

A Very powerful Prayer To Obtain A Favor:

PRAY THE FOLLOWING:

O great passion!  O deep Wounds!  O Blood shed in abundance!  O meekness!  O God of meekness, O cruel death, have mercy on me and grant my request if it be for my salvation.

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Promises Of Our Lord

"I will grant all that shall be asked of Me through the invocation of my Holy Wounds."

"With my Wounds and my Divine Heart you can obtain all."

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PRAY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA AND VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN   

We  must pray for President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.   Scripture says "with God all things are possible."  We must pray for Vice-President , Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.

    Say the  prayer on the left for President Barack Obama's conversion to become prolife; that God would show him that he must vote and legislate to always protect the lives of unborn children.  See :   ABORTION DECISIONS OF PRESIDENT OBAMA: FROM LIFE NEWS: http://www.lifenews.com/obamaabortionrecord.html

ABORTION IS THE WORST FORM OF DISCRIMINATION MAN HAS EVER KNOWN!

 IN ABORTION ALL RACES OF MEN ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST!

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MARIAN PRAYERS

THREE HAIL MARY'S PRAYER TO SAVE THE LIVES OF UNBORN CHILDREN

Christian prolifers who have spent time counseling in front of abortion clinics have often observed the power of prayer to save the lives of unborn children.  God pours out special graces to save the lives of unborn children when His followers petition Heaven to redirect women away from having abortions.  Your prayers today can save a life.  Prayers said to the Virgin Mary can prevent abortion from taking place. 

    According to a recent news story from the Associated Press a record number of babies were born in the United States in 2007.  A total of  4,315,000 children were born in 2007. That's about 15,000 more births than the peak time of the baby boom in 1957. These figures were recorded by the National Center for Health Statistics which compiled the data from provisional birth certificate registrations at state health departments.

But there were 1,287,000 abortions done in the United States in 2007.  This means the people of United States in 2007 aborted approximately 1 out of every 5 babies.

Mother Teresa said that "the fruits of abortion are nuclear war."   When Mother Teresa said this she was indicating that the complete disrespect for life, especially the lives of the unborn, would bring about a nuclear war.

PURPOSE OF WEB SITE: Welcome to this Catholic Spiritual Direction Web Site.   It is the intention of this page to help Catholics develop a closer relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit through the promotion of prayer and Christian teaching which will enable Christians to adhere to the straight and narrow path Jesus speaks of in the Gospels.  Included in these web pages are the Douay-Rheims Bible and the works of Saint John of the Cross, Thomas à Kempis and Saint Louis de Montfort, and the works of other saints of the Catholic faith, f whose teachings on spiritual directveeen llowed by priests, ministers, clergymen, Popes and Saints. These teachings adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Church.   This site is dedicated to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (Biography) (1774-1824) Mystic, Stigmatist,  Prophet, and Great Visionary, a saintly Augustinian nun from Flamske, Germany.  Her highly descriptive visions of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, The Sorrowful Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, are presented here.   In time more works from the Saints of the Catholic Church will be added to these pages.

 INTERCESSORY PRAYER AND PRAYER CHAPLET TO BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH

PRAYER TO PROTECT ALL MILITARY TROOPS  FIGHTING FOR PEACE

Oh, Lord God, we ask in the name of your precious Son, JESUS, for the protection of all military troops fighting against terrorism.  Secondly, in the name of JESUS, we ask for the apprehension of all hostile terrorist leaders and their followers. "Whatever you ask in my name I will do, so that the Fathe glorified in the Son.  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." John 14: 13-14

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

(Ask Saint Michael to protect International troops in harm's way around the world.)

Glorious St. Michael,
Prince of the heavenly hosts,  who standest always ready to give assistance to the people of God;  who didst fight with the dragon, the old serpent, and didst cast him out of heaven,  and now valiantly defendest the Church of God that the gates of hell may never prevail against her, I earnestly entreat thee to assist me also, in the painful and dangerous conflict which I have to sustain against the same formidible foe. Be with me, O mighty Prince! that I may courageously fight and wholly vanquish that proud spirit, whom thou hast by the Divine Power, so gloriously overthrown, and whom our powerful King,  Jesus Christ, has, in our nature, so completely overcome; to the end that having triumphed over the enemy of my salvation, I may with thee and the holy angels, praise the clemency of God who, having refused mercy  to the rebellious angels after their fall,  has granted repentance  and forgiveness to fallen man.

Amen
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U.S. FATALITIES IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

HAVE MASSES SAID FOR SOLDIERS THAT HAVE DIED

EVENING PRAYER:

Jesus gave us the very essence of spiritual direction in the Bible:  "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment." Matthew 22:37-38

Each evening we should reflect on the good things and on the bad things we did during the day and ask God to help us to improve in the future.  It is good if we say an Act of Contrition each evening to help us acknowledge our imperfections and to ask God to give us the graces to improve.

ACT OF CONTRITION

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. 

PRAYER FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALING

THE CONSTANT PRAYER OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA
PRECIOUS BLOOD, ocean of divine mercy:  Flow upon us!
Precious Blood, most pure offering: Procure us every grace!
Precious Blood, hope and refuge of sinners: Atone for us!
Precious Blood, delight of holy souls: Draw us! Amen.

 "At the evening of life, you will be examined in love. Learn to love as God desires to be loved and abandon your own ways of acting."   Saint John of the Cross

The works of Joseph Ratzinger, now
Pope Benedict XVI

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