Blessed All Souls' Day, Pray for the Dead +++

Requiem aeternam…

During the Octave of All Saints, one may gain a plenary indulgence applicable to the Poor Souls in Purgatory by on any and each day from November 1 to 8, devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying, if only mentally, for the departed.

Traditionally, The Angelus Prayer is said at 6AM, Noon, and 6PM.

Here’s a suggestion: try adding the prayer just once to your daily routine at noon. It is a great way to relieve stress and return focus to that which is important. It takes only two (2) minutes; you can do it alone, with a friend, or a group.

The Angelus Prayer (English)
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with Thee; Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary. . .
V. And the Word was made flesh. R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary. . .
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

On this Martinmas, remember that Jesus Christ, Our Lord, died on the cross to make every single one of us Sons of God and Heirs to Heaven. Be grateful for what we have, even in the face of adversity.

St Martin of Tours, pray for us.

“In place of the liturgy, fruit of a continual development, they have placed a fabricated liturgy. They have deserted a vital process of growth and becoming in order to substitute a fabrication. They did not want to continue the development, the organic maturing of something living through the centuries, and they replaced it, in the manner of technical production, by a fabrication, a banal product of the moment.”

-Pope Benedict XVI

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin didst prepare a worthy dwelling-place for Thy Son: we beseech Thee, that as by the foreseen death of the same Thy Son, Thou didst preserve her from all stain, so Thou wouldst grant unto us also, through her intercession, to come unto Thee with clean hearts. Through the same our Lord.

If your church offers Vespers with the O Antiphons today through the 24th, it is very much worth your time to go and meditate on the coming of Our Lord.

Today marks the beginning of the "O Antiphons," which are sung before the Magnificat at Vespers from now until Christmas Eve. Each Antiphon addresses Our Lord using distinct titles derived from the prophecies of Isaias and Micheas. These titles, when their initial letters are read in reverse, form an acrostic for the Latin phrase "Ero Cras," which translates to "Tomorrow I come."

St. Gianna Molla, pray for us

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257315/jessica-hanna-devout-catholic-mother-who-chose-life-amid-cancer-battle-dies

The transformation which the Apostles had undergone is shown also in their sanctifying influence, in the transport of intense fervor which they communicated to the first Christians. As the Acts show, the life of the infant Church was a life of marvelous sanctity; “the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul”; they had all things in common, they sold their goods and brought the price of them to the Apostles that they might distribute to each according to his needs. They met together every day to pray, to hear the preaching of the Apostles, and to celebrate the Eucharist. They were often seen assembled together in prayer, and men wondered to see the charity that reigned among them. “By this,” our Lord had said, “shall all men know that you are my disciples.”

Bossuet has given an admirable description of the fervor of the first Christians, in his third sermon for the feast of Pentecost: “They are strong in the face of peril, but they are tender in the love of their brethren; the almighty Spirit who guides them well knows the secret of reconciling the most opposite tensions.... He gives them a heart of flesh... made tender by charity... and He makes them hard as iron or steel in the face of peril.... He strengthens and He softens, but in a manner all His own. For these are the same hearts of the disciples, which seem as diamonds in their invincible firmness, and which yet become human hearts and hearts of flesh by brotherly love. This is the effect of the heavenly fire that rests upon them this day. It has softened the hearts of the faithful, it has, so to speak, melted them into one…”

-The Three Conversions in the Spiritual Life, by Rev. Reginald Garrigou-LaGrange