My Family Prayer Book

  October 1: Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux       October 1st is the feast day of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, or Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, the patron saint of missionaries, priests and florists.       Thérèse died when she was only 24, after having lived but 10 years as a cloistered Carmelite nun. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, nor performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was a brief edited version of her journal called " Story of a Soul ." Yet, generations of Catholics have admired this young saint, calling her the "Little Flower" and the Church honoured her with the prestigious title of 'Doctor of the Church".       Like a soldier kitted for war, she was ready for battle: humility was her armour and love was her only weapon. She had a faith of truly mustard seed proportions (Matt. 17:20) enabling her to perf...

  Aug-15: Feast of The Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary to Heaven In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined  Mary's Assumption into Heaven  as a dogma of Roman Catholicism, in the encyclical:  Munificentissimus Deus . I quote: " The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven. " Unquote. The word  Assumption  comes from the Latin verb  assumere , meaning "to take to oneself." Our Lord, Jesus Christ took Mary home to himself where he is when she died, just as Enoch and Elijah had been taken up body and soul to Heaven at the end of their lives (Genesis 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11). The Assumption of Mary (“ Dormition of Mary ” in the Eastern Churches) to Heaven is unlike the Ascension of Jesus to Heaven. Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven by His own power. In contrast, Mary is believed to have been taken up into Heaven by God. Furthermore, Pope Pius XII declared, "The Most Bl...

 Jun-21: Feast of St Aloysius Gonzaga Today is the feast day of  St. Aloysius de Gonzaga  (Luigi Gonzaga in Italian), an Italian Jesuit known for his courage in serving the sick and his dedication to the education of young students. Born into a noble family in Castiglione delle Stiviere, Lombardy, Italy, St. Aloysius’ father Ferrante, the Marquis of Castiglione, groomed him for a military career. As the first-born son, he was in line to inherit his father's title and status of Marquis and at the age of eight, he went to serve in the court of the Grand Duke Francesco I de ’Medici and was then sent to Florence for his formal education. Shortly thereafter, Aloysius began suffering from kidney disease, which he saw as a blessing as it allowed him time to reflect on the lives of saints and pray. He received his First Communion from St. Charles Borromeo in July 1580.  The family was called to Spain in 1581 to assist the Holy Roman Empress Maria of Austria. They arrived in ...

  May 13: Feast of Our Lady of Fatima Exactly 105 years ago today, our Lady appeared to three poor shepherd children : Lúcia dos Santos and her friends Francisco and Jacinta Marto, in Fatima, Portugal   They reported witnessing, between 13 May and 13 October 1917, six apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom they described as " a Lady more brilliant than the Sun ".  She asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray "the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war" Lúcia also said that she heard Mary ask for the following words to be added to the Rosary after the Gloria Patri prayer: " O my Jesus, pardon us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need ." After newspapers reported that the Virgin Mary had promised a miracle for the last of her apparitions on 13 October, a huge crowd, between 30,000 and 100,000, including reporters and photographers, gathered at Cova da...

 May-10 Saint Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i When Jozef de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few people had any firsthand knowledge of the flesh-eating Hansen’s disease then called leprosy. By the time he died at the age of 49, thanks to his ministry among lepers people all over the world knew about this dreaded disease. Forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm,  Jozef  entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary six years later, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr Damien.  In 1864 when his older brother fell ill, Damien volunteered to take his place and travel to the missions in  Hawai`i . Damien was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace on May 21, 1864 and stated his ministry in Hawaii.  In 1873 as part of a team of rotational member of volunteer chaplains he was assigned for 3 months to minister to the 700 lepers isolated on a settlement colony of Kalawao on the east...

 Mar-20: Feast of St Photina - the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob You will probably recognise the story of Photina (name means ' the enlightened one ') in the Gospel of St John 4:1-42, she is the Samaritan woman who Jesus meets and converts at the Well of Jacob in the Samaritan city of Sychar (also Sichar or Sichem)  Gospel of John 4:4–26 But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to ...

 Mar-19: Feast of St Joseph We celebrate two feast days for St. Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mother Mary, and May 1 for Joseph the Worker . March 19 has been the most commonly celebrated feast day for Joseph, and it wasn't until 1955 that Pope Pius XII established the Feast of "St. Joseph the Worker" to be celebrated on May (also known as May Day or International Workers' Day) St Joseph is the epitome of a silent Gospel figure since not a single word uttered by him is recorded in Scripture. What must have been the thoughts of the holy man at the birth of the Savior far from home in a humble stable, the coming of the shepherds talking about angels foretelling of a Messiah; and of the Magi from the East bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh; and at the prophesies which occurred at the time of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, we can merely guess.  From Scripture we can tell Joseph, the husband of Mother Mary and foster father of Jesus, was...