From the category archives:

Holy Spirit

Pentecost Sunday: Prayer Requests and Video

by Margo

Holy Spirit

Pentecost Sunday marks the end of the Easter season. Today at Mass the priest spoke of the power of prayer when two or more people are gathered in Christ’s Name. He also encouraged the parishioners to invoke the aid of the Holy Spirit during all of their joys, sorrows, trials, and sufferings.

The following are recent prayer requests that I received, both in comment form as well as via private emails. Today let’s ask the Holy Spirit to guide these people in their thoughts, words, and actions, and to renew their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Here is additional reading via the EWTN site, and I’ve also included a YouTube video of Father Robert Barron speaking about Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. (For those of you who have already seen Fr. Barron’s video in this previous post, please note that the video in today’s post is a completely different video, and one well worth watching.) Thank you … [Read More...]

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Prayer to the Holy Spirit

by Margo

Holy SpiritVeni Creator

Come, O Creator Spirit blest!
And in our souls take up Thy rest;
Come with Thy grace and heavenly aid,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
 
Great Paraclete! To Thee we cry,
O highest gift of God most high!
O font of life! O fire of love!
And sweet anointing from above.
 
Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts art known,
The finger of God’s hand we own;
The promise of the Father, Thou!
Who dost the tongue with power endow.
 
Kindle our senses from above,
And make our hearts o’erflow with love;
With patience firm and virtue high
The weakness of our flesh supply.
 
Far from us drive the foe we dread,
And grant us Thy true peace instead;
So shall we not, with Thee for guide,
Turn from the path of life aside.
 
Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
The Father and the Son to know,
And Thee, through endless

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The Holy Spirit: A Presentation by Father Robert Barron

by Margo

Please be sure to take a few minutes and watch this YouTube commentary by Father Robert Barron. He offers some interesting insights into how the Holy Spirit moves within our lives, and does so in a twelve minute presentation! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

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The Angelus

by Margo

Tomorrow, March 26th, is the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord.  (The Annunciation is typically celebrated on March 25th, unless that day falls on a Sunday during Lent.)  On this day of the Annunciation, we celebrate the angel Gabriel’s appearance to the Virgin Mary when he announced that the Blessed Virgin was chosen by God to be the Mother of the Lord.  We also celebrate Mary’s fiat, which was her willingness to accept God’s holy plan.

The Angelus (latin for “angel”) is a prayer that may be recited in memory of the Incarnation.  It was traditionally recited in Roman Catholic churches, convents and monasteries three times a day at 6:00 am, 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm.  Some Anglican and Lutheran churches also use this devotion.

The Angelus

V.  The angel spoke God’s message to Mary,

R.  and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail, Mary. . . .

V.  ”I am the lowly servant of the … [Read More...]

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Prayer to Saint Jude

by Margo

I have a Saint Jude statue that I’d purchased a couple of years ago on the EWTN site in their Religious Catalogue section.  I was going to take a picture of it and include it in this post but since it’s been raining all day and really quite dark, I wasn’t confident that the picture would come out okay and so I figured I’d just use another image instead.

There is a small drawer at the foot of the statue which holds a tiny piece of paper with the prayer to Saint Jude written on it.  I keep the statue on my dresser and the other day I noticed that the drawer was open a crack.  It prompted me to keep my promise to Saint Jude from months and months ago that I would dedicate a blog post to him at some point.  Better late than never!  You see, I’d been praying the Saint Jude Novena at that time and … [Read More...]

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True Devotion to Mary – (4)

by Margo

This is the fourth in a series of posts titled True Devotion to Mary which I started in a hopeful effort to promote the prophetic message of Saint Louis De Montfort in his book titled True Devotion to Mary. Please refer back to this post which will link you back to the previous ones.

Also, please note that everything written in burgundy font is quoted directly from Saint Louis De Montfort’s book and my personal remarks and insights are in black font.

ARTICLE TWO: Mary Is Necessary to God in the Sanctification of Souls

29. God the Father wishes to have children by Mary til the consummation of the world; and He speaks to her these words: “Dwell in Jacob” (Ecclus. 24:13); that is to say: Make your dwelling and residence in My predestined children, prefigured by Jacob, and not in the reprobate children of the devil, prefigured by Esau.

30. Just as in the natural and corporal … [Read More...]

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The Feast of the Visitation

by Margo

Yesterday, May 31st, was the Feast of the Visitation.  Pope Benedict XVI closed the Marian month of May in the Vatican Gardens with a strong message of faith and courage.  Please read the following article which I’ve copied and pasted from Catholic News Agency.

Vatican City, Jun 1, 2011 / 06:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI concluded a month of Marian celebrations with a procession and Rosary in the Vatican Gardens on May 31, the Feast of the Visitation. He offered the faithful a message about Mary’s fearless trust in God, for whom “nothing is impossible.”

“The one whom Elizabeth welcomes into her home is the Virgin who ‘has believed’ the Angel’s annunciation, who responded with faith, courageously accepting God’s plan for her life and thus embracing within herself the eternal Word of the Most High,” he said.

The procession traveled from the Church of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians to the grotto dedicated to Our Lady … [Read More...]

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Moral Decay in America

by Margo

I think the first time I heard the words “moral decay in America” was when Father John Corapi used the phrase in one of his talks when he was referring to the spiritual breakdown of our culture.  I had this instant visualization of a person sitting in a dentist’s chair having a cavity filled in order to prevent the whole tooth from rotting and falling out.  I don’t have any cavities so I’m not sure what the process is like, but I’m told that it isn’t a very pleasant experience and also that once a cavity is detected, it is usually dealt with immediately to prevent losing the tooth altogether.  It seems to be high on people’s priority list when they fall prey to tooth decay.

I have a question: Why is it that so many people are more concerned with losing a tooth than they are with losing their soul?  It’s frightening.  The moral decay in America has hit … [Read More...]

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Escape from Bondage – Part Three

by Margo

My last post, Escape from Bondage – Part Two, will make reading this one a bit easier.  And the one before that is called Escape from Bondage which I also recommend that you read, prior to Part Two.  I started out thinking that this topic was going to fit into a single post and that I would wrap it up within 500-700 words or so.  But after I wrote the first one, I realized that there was way too much material and more that needed to be said; so I added Parts Two and Three.

My Own Escape from Bondage Story

Well, I have a few of those stories.  But the latest one occurred a year ago this month and I am still experiencing the repercussions from it.  It involved a change of direction and more importantly, a complete change of mind and heart.  It had been a long time coming, but up until that point, I had no … [Read More...]

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God Has a Plan

by Margo

It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day struggles and challenges of life that we forget that God has a plan for each and every one of us.  Sometimes His plan isn’t so easily detected, as we often find ourselves praying for what we want rather than what His will is in our lives.

I can’t tell you how many times in my life I tried to micromanage various circumstances, events and even people, only to end up frustrated and broken down in spirit because I was simply missing the whole point of it all; that God has a plan and He is in control.  If we would just give ourselves to Him in trust and love and pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance as to how exactly to do that, we would find ourselves in a place of mental and spiritual peace.  I know about such things, because I was on the wrong … [Read More...]

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