[Two brief daily sermons.] (1) St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues gave their lives to help convert the Native Americans around the eastern Great Lakes. (2) The brothers, Sts. Cosmas and Damian, were physician-martyrs who are commemorated daily in the Roman Canon.
[Two brief sermons from the September Ember Days.] (1) The prayer, penance and fasting of the Ember Days is meant to give us a purer knowledge of God and of self. In thus seeking the Lord ever more we are strengthened in all trials and tribulations. (2) The Ember Days are saturated with the truth of who God is. There is a great concentration on the majesty of God, reminding us that our reference point is always God. The great temptation which faces man is to make himself (man) the reference point for all things.
[Three brief daily sermons.] (1) On the Feast of Michaelmass, we consider four ancient apparitions of St. Michael the Archangel. (2) Most importantly for our times, we should also consider a fifth apparition of St. Michael: at Fatima in 1916. St. Michael is not only the special protector of the Church, but also the angelic guardian of the Blessed Sacrament. (3) A third sermon helps us meditate upon the path to holiness.
The popes and saints strongly encourage us to pray the Holy Rosary every day and with ever greater fervor. Consider the following: [1] The importance and power of the Rosary in general (and specifically, the even greater power given to the rosary by God in our times); [2] That the holy Rosary leads us into the Mysteries of God and of our redemption (for example, one of these mysteries is Mary as Coredemptrix and Mediatrix); and [3] How to pray the rosary well (according to ten points provided by St. Louis de Montfort in the Secret of the Rosary).
[1] St. Louis de Montfort tells us the Rosary is the union of vocal prayer and mental contemplation. We can also consider the Rosary as the story of our Lord’s life arranged for us by His mother. [2] Let us draw three spiritual lessons on the Rosary from Pope Leo’s first encyclical (of twelve) on the Rosary. [3] In the 13th century, Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic and gave him the Rosary as a powerful means to dissipate heresy, extinguish vice, spread virtue, implore Divine mercy and to obtain her protection.
Three brief daily sermons on the Rosary [1] St. Louis de Montfort tells us the Rosary is the union of vocal prayer and mental contemplation. We can also consider the Rosary as the story of our Lord’s life arranged for us by His mother. [2] Let us draw three spiritual lessons on the Rosary from Pope Leo’s first encyclical (of twelve) on the Rosary. [3] In the 13th century, Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic and gave him the Rosary as a powerful means to dissipate heresy, extinguish vice, spread virtue, implore Divine mercy and to obtain her protection.
Our Lady’s Message from Heaven, uttered nearly 100 years ago at Fatima, explains the WHY behind the terrible crisis which we are living through to this day. Have we listened? Have we obeyed? The “Fatima Plan” has four great pillars: [1] Reparation and Sacrifice; [2] Prayer and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; [3] The Sacrament of Confession, and [4] The Holy Rosary. Let us consider the relation between the Immaculate Heart and the Cross, so that we may grow in our love and devotion for the Immaculate Heart.
At Tuy in 1929, Sr. Lucia received a mystical vision, and we do well to keep it in our mind’s eye. Above all, the vision (and the entire Fatima Message) points us to the one True God, the Blessed Trinity. It also shows us the two great means that lead us to God: [1] Jesus and His Sacrifice on the Cross, and [2] the Blessed Virgin Mary holding her Immaculate Heart and the Rosary. Our Lady’s prophecies at Fatima bring no “new” doctrine, but rather emphasize what is unchanging, truly Catholic, and what we most need at this present time to [...]
In 19151, Pope Pius XII was urging all Catholics to faithfully pray the Rosary, so that through this prayer to our Lady, better times might quickly return to the Church and society. These better times have not returned, in part because man has not heeded this urgent call. Let us mediate on twelve brief points that summarize Pius XII’s encyclical, Ingruentium Malorum, on the Rosary.
St. Charles Borromeo is one of the four great reformers of the Catholic Church in the 16th century. He was Cardinal Archbishop of Milan and a Council Father at Trent. He was rigorous in discipline and had great solicitude for the poor and the sick. He was extremely devoted to the saints and supremely concerned for the salvation of the soul of one who was dying.
