Month of Mary - 27th Day

The Story:

When the holy martyr, St. Margaret was brought before the tribunal, the enraged prefect called upon her: "How can greater nonsense be thought of, than to consider as God a man, who had been crucified?" The virgin asked: "Whence dost thou know that Christ was crucified?" He replied; "Your own writings teach it." - "Well, then," Margaret answered, "the same books speak not only of the Passion of Christ, but also of His resurrection and glorification; how little you pause to believe the one and to deny the other? Not for the reason, that He suffered, that He died, do we believe; no! But He is risen. He has thus proved to us the power of His Divinity, and therefore we believe Him and praise His name and give our lives for His doctrines." With this profession upon her lips she was put to death.

The Prayer:

How great will be our joy, O Blessed Mother of our Glorious Redeemer, when we also shall see Him, face to face, after this earthly life in His heavenly glory? Obtain thou for us the grace that we may bear temporal sufferings, die a happy death and enter into life everlasting. Amen. 

Pray Your Rosary 

Every Day

              

A prodigious sign in the sky! An immense spectacle, awful and magnificent! A miracle, plain for all the world to see ~ and there were 50,000 pairs of eyes to see in the Cove itself, besides innumerable persons for miles around. A miracle in broad daylight, and plain as daylight. It was the light of day itself to which the wonderful thing was happening. When Lucy cried "Look at the sun!" and the faces of the crowd turned upwards, they saw that the clouds had parted and the sun had appeared. But it was strangely altered in appearance. Its customary brilliance was dimmed to a soft, silver hue which the people could gaze at without being dazzled. Suddenly, a great roar went up. 
A miracle! A miracle! Wonderful! Oh, wonderful!

The silver orb in the sombre sky had begun to spin like a giant top. Another moment it was like a huge Catherine Wheel, with intensely brilliant rays shooting forth into space and revolving round the whole sky. The immense radiation consisted of beams of different hues. Reflecting the gyrating lights, everything visible changed rapidly from one color to another. Clouds, earth, trees, rocks and the ecstatic visages of the crowd turned red blue, green, violet, yellow. The world was a riot of splendid colors, flooding gloriously from the spinning sun, and succeeding one another in quick succession.

After several minutes of this, the sun ceased revolving for some instants; then began again, the play of lights on earth and sky resuming more intensely than the first time. Three times in all, the brilliant rotary movement took place, each time the display of magnificent cosmic fireworks intensifying.

After their first incoherent shouts of wonder, the people had remained entranced, breathless and immobile before the spectacle.

Then came the terrifying climax!
Every individual in the crowd, without exception, found himself gazing in dreadful fascination at the great luminous orb preciptating itself from its position and hurling towards the earth. It bounded towards them in an intently menacing zig-zag course. The motion itself, so bizarre and contrary to the ordinary astronomical movement, was sufficiently ominous in itself to petrify the onlookers.

Now cries began to rend the crowd ~ prayers, ejaculations, pleadings for mercy, acts of contrition. One and all, they believed that the last moment was come. One and all, they fell on their knees in the mud, sobbing. "I believe, I believe! Mercy, mercy! Hail Mary! O Blessed Virgin!"

The moments of terrible anguish ended. the sun arrested in its terrible career, and still pale and silvery, was retreating to its position in the zenith.

The amazing phenomenon had lasted ten minutes. Immense relief was surging through the ranks of the crowd, its terror giving place to joy and thankfulness, and its cries becoming exultant:
~ "A miracle! A miracle! Praised be God! We have seen the sign of God!"

The glorious lady in white with a gesture of farewell had left her customary place on the oak tree, yet remaining in full view of the children in a position in the sky not far from the sun. Upon a further gesture from her, the miraculous phenomenon began. But what absorbed the attention of the children were the visions of Jesus and St. Joseph, which had been promised the month before. Lucy afterwards related these visions: 
~ "I saw Saint Joseph and the Child Jesus beside Our Lady."

The Child Jesus was in the arms of Saint Joseph. He was quite small, about a year old. Both were clad in crimson garments.
"After that, I saw Our Lord blessing the crowd. Then Our Lady showed herself, dressed like Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, but without the sword in her breast. At the last, I saw her dressed another way I do not know how to say, but it seems to me that it was Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She was clothed in white, with a blue veil."

Month of Mary - 26th Day

 

The Story:

St. John, Gaulbert, following the profession of arms at a very troubled period, became involved in a blood-feud with a near relative. On Good Friday he met his enemy at a place, where neither could avoid the other. John would have slain his enemy, who was unarmed; but he falling upon his knees implored John for the sake of our Lord's Passion to pardon Him. Grace triumphed in John who replied: "I cannot refuse what you ask in Christ's name. I grant you your life, and I give you my friendship. Pray that God may forgive me my sin. John retired to a monastery, led a penitential and holy life, and died a Saint.

The Prayer:

O My God, relying on Thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain the pardon of my sins, the assistance of Thy grace, and life everlasting; through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Pray Your Rosary 

Every Day

                                                   

Morning Prayers - From the Manual for the Children of Mary

I opened the window to the gentle rain and said my prayers there.

  MORNING PRAYER

Manual for The Children of Mary

 
As soon as you awake, bless yourself with the sign of the Cross & say:

O my God, I give myself wholly to Thee.

Bless me, O Lord; defend and govern me this day and for ever, and after this short and miserable pilgrimage, bring me to everlasting happiness with thee.

O God, my Creator and Redeemer, look graciously on thy servant, the work of thy hands; and mercifully grant that all my thoughts, words, and actions, may be directed to the praise and honor of thy name, and the salvation of my own soul. Amen.  

Place yourself in the presence of God.

Most holy and august Trinity, one God in three Persons, I believe that thou art here present; I adore thee with sentiments of the most profound humility, and render thee, with all my heart, the homage which is due to thy Sovereign Majesty.

Thank God, and offer yourself to Him.

My God, I thank thee most humbly, for all the favours thou hast bestowed upon me; it is thy goodness which has brought me to the beginning of this day, which I desire to employ only in thy service.

I consecrate to thee all my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings; bless them, O Lord, that they may be animated by thy love, and tend only to promote thy greater glory.

Resolve to avoid sin, and to practice holiness.

Adorable Jesus, Divine Model of that perfection to which we should aspire, I will endeavour this day, after thy example, to be mild, humble, chaste, zealous, patient, charitable, and resigned; and I will strive particularly to avoid those faults to which I am most subject, and which I sincerely desire to correct.  

Beg the necessary grace.

My God, thou knows my weakness; I can do nothing without the assistance of thy holy grace; do not refuse it to me. O my God, but proportion it to my wants; give me sufficient strength to avoid what thou hast forbidden, to practice the good thou expectest of me, and to suffer patiently all the crosses thou mayest be pleased to send me.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Hail Mary.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

The Apostles' Creed

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almightly, Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

Act of Faith

MY God, I most firmly believe in thee, and in all that thou hast revealed to thy holy Catholic Church; because thou art truth itself, who neither canst deceive, nor be deceived. Amen.

Act of Hope

MY God, I most firmly hope in thee, because of all thy promises; and I trust that thou wilt give me eternal life, and all the graces necessary to obtain it, through the merits of my Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Act of Charity

MY God, I love thee with my whole heart and above all things, because thou art the Sovereign Good, and for thy own perfections most worthy of all love; and for thy sake I love my neighbour as myself. Amen.

The "Angelus Domini."

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary;
And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord,

Be it done to me according to thy word.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

And the Word was made flesh,

And dwelt amongst us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

HAIL! Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy; our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thy merciful eyes towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement! O loving! O sweet Virgin Mary!

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Our Lady's Litany

 

Our Lady of Fatima - Chapter 12 - The Sphere of Light

September 13 found 30,000 people whiling away the morning hours in prayers and songs of praise of the Blessed Virgin. A great stir ran through the crowd, mostly on their knees, when the children came. People called out petitions to them to ask the Virgin to cure a son, a husband, a finance. The rosary began, the Our Fathers and Hail Marys rose with fervor from the throats of the multitude in this hallowed spot. Presently, the sky began to turn yellow gold and the brilliance of the sun to dim.

~ "She is coming! She is coming!" cried Lucy.

Excited exclamations were to be heard everywhere through the crowd.

~ "Look! Look! Over there!" Arms everywhere were pointing to the east.

Through the softened glow of the atmosphere, a beautiful globe of light was gliding towards them through the sky. It came to rest just above the green oak tree, and vanished. Then the small white cloud which denoted the Ladys resign surrounded the tree and the children. This was not all. More exclamations of wonder were rising on all sides. White flowers were falling from the sky, as numerous as rain drops, and disappearing before they touch the ground. The eyes of men and women grew misty because of this exquisite courtesy of the heavenly visitor ~ tears of mingled joy and compunction welled up and flowed copiously. What a wonderful mother is the Mother of Christ!

But the children were captivated by a sight infinitely more beautiful. Their eyes and souls were lost in the eyes and soul of the white lady. Without words, they spoke with their hearts and understood hers. Their beings dilated with immense joy as her visage, so sweet and pure, shone with love and goodness upon them.

As usual, she asked for the frequent recitation of the rosary, that the war might soon finish. In October she would come for the last time to the Cova da Iria, and joy of Joys! She would show them Jesus as a child. Saint Joseph too would come.

Lucy asked her if she approved of the wish of the people to build a chapel in this place, dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima. She not only approved but showed delight at the proposal.

Then the crowd heard Lucy say that the Lady was going. The white cloud dissolved, the petals ceased to fall, and the celestial globe reappeared and sailed away majestically towards the east, mounting as it went until it was lost to view.

The interest of all Portugal was now centered on Fatima, and October 13 was a day of great expectation. The positive accounts of the masses of eye witnesses who had flocked to the last three apparitions. the signs and wonders they had seen and which confirmed the stories of the children, even the comments of the malevolent and the virulent criticism of the press aroused intense interest in the whole country. Everyone takes of the great miracle that had been foretold for the 13th of October. As the date approached, ti was evident that a crowd would be there which would dwarf all previous crowds.

The children now became subject to a new trial ~ that of answering the questions of hundreds of strangers. They were continually sought for. Jeu submitted to the ordeal, amiable and meekly, util they were exhausted. Lucy would go into her house sometimes and collapse with fatigue. It was another way of doing penance for sinners. They could no longer look after the sheep.

Whenever they could get away, they would go under the rocky brow of the hill where they were sheltering when the angel appeared, and there they would bow to earth and recite the prayer for sinners: 

O my Jesus, pardon us our sins, preserve us from the fires of hell, and bring all souls to heaven, especially those who have the most need of your mercy.

On day Jainta cried out to Lucy: ~ "Look! Don't you see all the roads, all the paths, and all the fields full of people who are crying with hunger and have nothing to eat? . . . "

A sad prophetic vision, which was to become an only too familiar sight in prostrate Europe!

Another time, Jacinta saw the Holy Father in a "very big house." kneeling, holding his face in his hands, and weeping. Outside there were crowds. Some were throwing stones, and shouting imprecations. Jacinta was sad at the spectacle: To the others she said earnestly: 
~ "We must pray for him all we can."

The crowds began to converge on the Cova da Iria the day before the sixth and last of the apparitions. The weather was cold, but the people cheerfully prepared to spend the night in the open, to have a better place. They were orderly and pious for the most part, groups of them reciting the rosary and singing canticles.

The parents of the children passed the day in great nervousness. Rumors were going around that if the hopes of the crowd were disappointed, there would be violence. Some advised the Martos not to accompany their children that day ~ if things dod not go well, the crowd would not touch the little children, but the older persons might be subject to violence. Maria Rosa, the Mother of Lucy, called her daughter that morning:
~ "My little one, I think we should go to confession today. They say that if the Holy Virgin does not work the miracle as you promise the people will massacre us. Let us go and prepare ourselves." 
Lucy replied with tranquillity:
~ "Go, mother, if you wish. I will come with you, but not by fear of death. What the Lady has promised will happen tomorrow.  Don't worry."

The morning of the 13th was cold and rainy. Asnoon approached, the rain became heavier. Nevertheless the crowds kept moving patiently towards the Cove. The ground became a sea of mud underneath the trampling feet of thousands. By 11:30 there were 50,000 people assembled.

They were hushed and expectant in the pouring rain when the children came with their parents. To Lucy's joy, her mother and father were on either side of her ~ it was the first time that they had come.
~ "If Lucy must die, we will die with her," they had said.

But Lucy had no place in her mind for fear or doubt. Her only anxiety was that the crowd could not see well crouching as they were under their umbrellas. She turned to the people standing about and asked them to close them. The request ran quickly through the multitude and soon they stood stoically in the beating rain. The rosary began . . . Between each decade they sang a hymn. The might voice of the multitude reverberated in the hills and rose to heaven. 

On the store of midday, there was a brilliant flash in the sky, and Lucy cried: 

~ "See! See! She is coming!"

Those who were near enough saw the faces of the children illuminated as by a heavenly light. A thrill ran through the crowd as they saw the little white cloud form about the children. This time, instead of being motionless, the cloud rose in the air, then formed again round the children and rose a second time, and a third, giving the impression of successive clouds of incense ascending.

The first thing Lucy thought of was to ask the Lady to fulfill the promise she had given them in the first apparition: to divulge her name. The answer came, sweet, full and clear:

~ "I AM OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY."She added:~ "I have come to exhort the faithful to change their lives, not to afflict by sin our Lord, who is so much offended; to recite the holy Rosary, to amend their lives and do penance for their sins." 

The lovely Vision spoke again of the chapel to be built, and assured them that if men would repent, the was would finish soon and their prayers would be heard.

Finally, she said goodbye to the children. Then she rose in the air. Simultaneously. the clouds parted to reveal the sun and the rain stopped. The Lady still remained visible to the children in a position beside the sun. She parted her hands now in the exquisitely gracious and maternal gesture which the children had come to know as the prelude to some vision. Then:

~ "Look! Look . . . at the sun!" Lucy's voice shrilled.

Month of Mary - 25th Day

The Story:

St. Helen was born and brought up by heathen parents. She became the wife of the Emperor Constantine, who rejected her after his throne ascension. Having respected the Christians at all time and being now rejected she sought consolation in the religion of the cross. She received holy baptism after her renowned son had gained, by the sign of the cross, a glorious victory. Though advanced in years she possessed a youthful, fiery zeal in the practice of devotion and good works. For a long time she entertained the desire of visiting the holy places; she sought and found the cross, upon which the blessed Saviour had died; she and her pious son had a beautiful church erected over the sepulchre of Christ; she had one built in memory of the Annunciation at Nazareth. For this love to Jesus and Mary and for her veneration of the holy cross and the holy places, she was rewarded by the queen of heaven with the greatest grace - a holy life and a holy death in the year 326.

The Prayer:

Obtain by thy intercession, O afflicted mother Mary, for me the grace of following Jesus by carrying my cross, which God is pleased to send me, to the end of my life in a patient and penitential manner, that following my Saviour now I may dwell with Him hereafter in heaven. Amen.

Pray Your Rosary 

Every Day

                                                      

Our Lady of Fatima - Chapter 11 - To the Rescue of Sinners

Jacinta carried back the branch on which the Lady had placed her feet. Passing by Lucy's house, she called to her mother:
~ "See, Auntie, the Lady has been! She was on this branch."
~ "Little fibbers! Why do you pretend that you see the Holy Virgin?"
~ "But yes! We saw her! See, Aunt, she had one foot here, and the other there."

Maria Rosa snatched the branch from her. The moment it was in her hands, an odor as of the most exquisite perfume came from the leaves and filled the nostrils, not only of Lucy's mother, but of other persons standing about. The perplexed woman had already been shaken in her skepticism by the accounts of numerous witnesses of the events at the Cova six days before, when the children were detained at Orem. She became exceedingly thoughtful, and from then on, she and the rest of the family softened in their attitude towards Lucy.

The children multiplied their voluntary sufferings and acts of denial, spurred on by the latest appeal of the Lady.

Jacinta found a whip, and made her little body smart with it. The other followed suit. Another day, they found a long piece of rope. The idea struck them for each to tie a length about their waists and the roughness was soon chaffing their flesh unmercifully. Jacinta wept ~ but stayed with it ~ somewhere sinners would be turning from their vices.

Their throats were parched with thirst on a day of torrid heat when they were out with the sheepP they refrained from drinking until they reached home. They consoled themselves with the thought of the sinners who would be refreshed.

Once on their way to pasture, they met three poor children begging and in rags. They gave them their lunch. After that the beggar children were always waiting for them in the road. So they spent the day without food. When the pangs of hunger grew keen they nourished themselves with the thought of the consolation they were giving to their Heavenly Mother and of the guilty men abandoning their crimes to come to the Bread of Life.

Month of Mary - 24th Day

The Story:

St. Catherine of Sienna was once very much dejected at a false report spread abroad about her, when the divine Saviour appeared to her, holding in his right hand a golden crown adorned with jewels, and in the left a crown of thorns and said "Beloved daughter! It is necessary that you be crowned at different times with both these crowns. Choose one of the both; but look to it, whether thou wilt be crowned in this present life with the crown of thorns, and in the next life with the golden crown." The holy virgin replied: "Lord, I have denied my will long ago, and therefore will only, what Thou wilt. . . . But yet, if Thou wilt that I answer I confess earnestly that in this life I always choose to be like and conformable to Thy sacred passion." Having said this she took the crown of thorns out of the hands of the Saviour, and pressed it with such force upon her head, that for a long time she felt the pains caused by the thorns.

The Prayer:

How would we dare to complain, O Mother of sorrows, at the thorny path of sufferings in this life, since thy divine Son was so cruelly tortured by the crown of thorns! We have deserved it by our sins of thought and pride. Assist us to bear all patiently and in a penitential spirit. Amen.

Pray Your Rosary 

Every Day

                                                      

Morning Prayers for The Children of Mary

I opened the window to the gentle rain and said my prayers there.

  MORNING PRAYER

Manual for The Children of Mary

 
As soon as you awake, bless yourself with the sign of the Cross & say:

O my God, I give myself wholly to Thee.

Bless me, O Lord; defend and govern me this day and for ever, and after this short and miserable pilgrimage, bring me to everlasting happiness with thee.

O God, my Creator and Redeemer, look graciously on thy servant, the work of thy hands; and mercifully grant that all my thoughts, words, and actions, may be directed to the praise and honor of thy name, and the salvation of my own soul. Amen.  

Place yourself in the presence of God.

Most holy and august Trinity, one God in three Persons, I believe that thou art here present; I adore thee with sentiments of the most profound humility, and render thee, with all my heart, the homage which is due to thy Sovereign Majesty.

Thank God, and offer yourself to Him.

My God, I thank thee most humbly, for all the favours thou hast bestowed upon me; it is thy goodness which has brought me to the beginning of this day, which I desire to employ only in thy service.

I consecrate to thee all my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings; bless them, O Lord, that they may be animated by thy love, and tend only to promote thy greater glory.

Resolve to avoid sin, and to practice holiness.

Adorable Jesus, Divine Model of that perfection to which we should aspire, I will endeavour this day, after thy example, to be mild, humble, chaste, zealous, patient, charitable, and resigned; and I will strive particularly to avoid those faults to which I am most subject, and which I sincerely desire to correct.  

Beg the necessary grace.

My God, thou knows my weakness; I can do nothing without the assistance of thy holy grace; do not refuse it to me. O my God, but proportion it to my wants; give me sufficient strength to avoid what thou hast forbidden, to practice the good thou expectest of me, and to suffer patiently all the crosses thou mayest be pleased to send me.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Hail Mary.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

The Apostles' Creed

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almightly, Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

Act of Faith

MY God, I most firmly believe in thee, and in all that thou hast revealed to thy holy Catholic Church; because thou art truth itself, who neither canst deceive, nor be deceived. Amen.

Act of Hope

MY God, I most firmly hope in thee, because of all thy promises; and I trust that thou wilt give me eternal life, and all the graces necessary to obtain it, through the merits of my Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Act of Charity

MY God, I love thee with my whole heart and above all things, because thou art the Sovereign Good, and for thy own perfections most worthy of all love; and for thy sake I love my neighbour as myself. Amen.

The "Angelus Domini."

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary;
And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord,

Be it done to me according to thy word.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

And the Word was made flesh,

And dwelt amongst us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

HAIL! Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy; our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thy merciful eyes towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement! O loving! O sweet Virgin Mary!

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Our Lady's Litany

 

Our Lady of Fatima - Chapter 10 - The Children Jailed

That unworthy individual had taken the children to his house and was bullying them to reveal the secret which they had said they were not to reveal. Enraged, he declared that they were in a state of arrest, and locked them in a room of his house. Next morning, an old woman entered and tried to extract their secret. Afterwards they were taken to the Council Chamber and submitted to a close examination. First they were tried by subtle questions, then by threats, and even by the offer of gold pieces.

That afternoon, they were shut up in the public prison with the common jail birds. 
This seemed like the beginning of the end. Jacinta broke down and cried: "I wish I could at least see mummy again." Francis bravely consoled his little sister. "Offer that to our Lord. If we do not see mother again, we can offer it for the conversion of sinners."
They all three joined their hands and prayed through their tears:

"O good Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, for the Holy Father, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

Quietly, they began their rosary. The other prisoners, who had received them kindly, felt their hearts melt. One by one, they went on their knees and joined in, though several could hardly remember how to pray. Soon, the whole prison was transformed into a house of prayer, merely because there had entered three small children who loved Our Divine Lord and His Immaculate Mother.

That evening, another searching interrogation in the Council office. So unshakable were they in their innocent candor and their straight-forward replies that their tormentor put on a furious expression and shouted;

~ "If you will not obey willingly, you'll obey by force."

Turning to an assistant, he ordered him to prepare a cauldron of boiling oil.  While waiting, they were locked in an adjoining room.

Jacinta was the first to be sent for. The seven-year old youngster, no longer crying, went resolutely to the ordeal she thought was awaiting her. Then Francis, then Lucy. But instead of a terrible death, each found in their turn that it was another questioning, with alternate coaxing, endearments and menaces, and in the end, being shut up in another room.

The administrator had tried every method he knew to worm out the secret, on the knowledge of which he was convinced the successful handling of the affair depended. He accepted defeat at the hands of his child-captives, and took them back to their parents. "My friends," he told them. "your children are not right in their heads. You had better take care of them.."


Well or not, the children ran to the Cova da Iria to thank the Blessed Virgin for having preserved them from danger.

Four days later, on August 19th, Lucy, Francis, and John, his brother, were watching the sheep in a place called Valinhos when suddenly the atmosphere changed in the way it usually did when the Lady came. John ran to the house to fetch Jacinta, and when she came, there was the Lady, standing on the branch of an oak tree before them. she turned a compassionate look upon the children, which more than compensated for all that they had suffered on her account. as usual, she exhorted them to new efforts:

~ "Pray, pray a lot! And make sacrifices for sinners, for many are the souls on their way to hell for want of someone to make sacrifices and pray for them!"

With a gesture of farewell, she was gone.

Month of Mary - 23rd Day

The Story:

In her tenth year St. Bridget was once moved most intensely, whilst listening to a sermon upon the Passion of Christ. In the following night she believed to see Jesus, His whole body lacerated by the scourges and entirely covered by wounds. At the same time she thought that she heard a voice saying to her: "Daughter! look upon my wounds!" The good child became frightened and asked: "Ah! who has ill-treated Thee in such a manner?" And the voice replied: "Not only the Jews have done this; all those do the same, who despise my love."- The impression left by this mysterious dream in her heart, could never be removed; and from that time forward the Passion had become the subject of her frequent and very earnest meditations, at which she could not refrain from tears. Of her devotion and love to Mary, the Mother of God, no description could be given. Not for a single moment of her life did she leave this devotion. Hence she was favored frequently by the blessed Mother of God with revelations. Thus she lived until her holy death.


The Prayer:

O Holy Mother Mary! pray for me, thy unworthy child, that I may never act contrary to God's Holy Will, that I may practice only virtues and persevere unto my end, so that I may be glorified hereafter and obtain the crown of eternal life. Amen.

Pray Your Rosary 

Every Day

                                                      

Our Lady of Fatima - Chapter 9 - The Crowds Increase

In the meantime, streams of people were converging on the Cova da Iria. The press attacks had had the effect of making Fatima known from one end of the country to the other. Since early morning, long lines of carriages, automobiles, and vehicles of every kind filled the roads leading to the scene of the apparitions. There were masses of people on foot, and many on bicycles. Some rode on donkeys, horses or mules. By noon, according to the general estimate, there were 18,000 in the crowd. They thronged around the little oak, now stripped of its branches by pilgrims. Now and then, someone started a hymn, and the multitude took it up. At intervals, they recited the rosary.

At noon, when the children failed to appear, the crowd grew restless. The reason for their absence was not long going round. There were angry murmers and shouts to march to Orem and call the insolent tyrant to account. Then suddenly a brilliant flash, and a roll of thunder. In a moment, the young oak tree was enveloped in a white cloud, pretty to look at. The crowd was appeased ~ it knelt and prayed and wept tears of gratitude in the sweet presence of the unseen Lady. After ten minutes, the cloud slowly rose and disappeared. Songs and cries of joy broke out as the crowd dispersed peacefully. The Virgin had not failed them, in spite of the wiles of the chief magistrate.

Prayer:
My Mother, preserve me this day from mortal sin. Hail Mary, 3 times.  

The Month of Mary - 22nd Day

The Story:

St. Paul of the Cross received a careful training from his devout mother, so that he afterwards admitted: "If I am saved, I owe it in many ways to my mother." When he grew up to be a young man he resolved to work zealously for the salvation of man. He therefore founded on order, which by preaching the bitter Passion of our Lord and of His afflicted Mother, should lead sinners to penance and conversion. This bitter Passion he made the subject of frequent and particular meditation, so that he wrought then indescribable good by word and by example. He also venerated Mary, the Mother of sorrows, most tenderly. Even in the severest sickness he did not neglect to recite the rosary, always saying: "I wish to say the rosary, as long as I can." The feasts of Mary he celebrated with pleasure; the sorrows of Mary were often the subject of his public speech. Thus he lived as a servant of the suffering Redeemer of His afflicted Mother, and died in the year 1775.

The Prayer:

O Mary, how sorrow-stricken was thy maternal heart, when thou didst leave thy beloved Son upon His way to cruel suffering and death! By this thy affliction and by thy intercession obtain for me the grace of patience of resignation unto the will of my heavenly Father in all my sufferings until the hour of my death. Amen.

Pray Your Rosary 

Every Day

                                                           

Morning Prayers for The Children of Mary

I opened the window to the gentle rain and said my prayers there.

  MORNING PRAYER

Manual for The Children of Mary

 
As soon as you awake, bless yourself with the sign of the Cross & say:

O my God, I give myself wholly to Thee.

Bless me, O Lord; defend and govern me this day and for ever, and after this short and miserable pilgrimage, bring me to everlasting happiness with thee.

O God, my Creator and Redeemer, look graciously on thy servant, the work of thy hands; and mercifully grant that all my thoughts, words, and actions, may be directed to the praise and honor of thy name, and the salvation of my own soul. Amen.  

Place yourself in the presence of God.

Most holy and august Trinity, one God in three Persons, I believe that thou art here present; I adore thee with sentiments of the most profound humility, and render thee, with all my heart, the homage which is due to thy Sovereign Majesty.

Thank God, and offer yourself to Him.

My God, I thank thee most humbly, for all the favours thou hast bestowed upon me; it is thy goodness which has brought me to the beginning of this day, which I desire to employ only in thy service.

I consecrate to thee all my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings; bless them, O Lord, that they may be animated by thy love, and tend only to promote thy greater glory.

Resolve to avoid sin, and to practice holiness.

Adorable Jesus, Divine Model of that perfection to which we should aspire, I will endeavour this day, after thy example, to be mild, humble, chaste, zealous, patient, charitable, and resigned; and I will strive particularly to avoid those faults to which I am most subject, and which I sincerely desire to correct.  

Beg the necessary grace.

My God, thou knows my weakness; I can do nothing without the assistance of thy holy grace; do not refuse it to me. O my God, but proportion it to my wants; give me sufficient strength to avoid what thou hast forbidden, to practice the good thou expectest of me, and to suffer patiently all the crosses thou mayest be pleased to send me.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Hail Mary.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

The Apostles' Creed

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almightly, Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

Act of Faith

MY God, I most firmly believe in thee, and in all that thou hast revealed to thy holy Catholic Church; because thou art truth itself, who neither canst deceive, nor be deceived. Amen.

Act of Hope

MY God, I most firmly hope in thee, because of all thy promises; and I trust that thou wilt give me eternal life, and all the graces necessary to obtain it, through the merits of my Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Act of Charity

MY God, I love thee with my whole heart and above all things, because thou art the Sovereign Good, and for thy own perfections most worthy of all love; and for thy sake I love my neighbour as myself. Amen.

The "Angelus Domini."

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary;
And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord,

Be it done to me according to thy word.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

And the Word was made flesh,

And dwelt amongst us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

HAIL! Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy; our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thy merciful eyes towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement! O loving! O sweet Virgin Mary!

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Our Lady's Litany