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The Holy Face of Jesus

by Filed Under: Holy Face of Jesus, Lent, Mardis Gras, Shrove Tuesday Leave a Comment

Devotion to the Holy Face of Christ is of ancient origin, reaching back to the fourth century and before. The feast of the Holy Face of Jesus was established throughout the universal Church in 1958 by Pope Pius XII to be observed on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday.

It is an opportunity to make reparation for the outrages that the Holy Face of Jesus received during His Passion, and which He continues to receive.

May we not get carried away with a carnival mentality on this last day before Lent. But further examine ourselves and go to confession to remove any sins that would hinder us from having a holy and fruitful Lent.

“Devotion to the Holy Face was/is to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of the ‘revolutionaries’ of that (our) time, the blasphemies of atheists, freethinkers and Masons, and for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Catholics. 

Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre (1816-1848) wrote: 

“Then He unfolded His Heart to me, concentrating therein the powers of my soul, and addressed me thus: ‘My Name is everywhere blasphemed; even little children blaspheme it.’  And He made me understand how that dreadful sin pierced and wounded His Heart more than all other crimes. 

“By blasphemy, the sinner outrages Him to His Face, attacks Him openly, and pronounces upon himself his own judgment and condemnation. Blasphemy is a poisoned arrow, wounding His Divine Heart continually. He told me that He would give me a “Golden Arrow” with which to wound Him delightfully and heal the poisonous wounds caused by sin.” 

Our Lord then dictated to Sr. Mary the following Golden Arrow prayer, assuring her that every time she said it, she would lovingly wound His Heart. 

The Golden Arrow Prayer 

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored, and glorified in Heaven, on earth and in Hell, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.”

Our Lord told Sr. Mary on March 16, 1844: “Oh if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, ‘Admirable is the Name of God!’ in the spirit of reparation for blasphemy.” 



Prayer of St. Therese of Lisieux to the Holy Face of Jesus

O Jesus, Who in Thy bitter Passion didst become “the most abject of men, a man of sorrows,” I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men. The tears which well abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value. O Jesus, Whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy Divine Image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.

An Account of Your Time

by Filed Under: Lent, MROL, Rule of Life Leave a Comment

I meditate on the last four things, regularly and most of the time different promptings are placed on my heart.  But there is one that is steadfast, the account that I will have to give for my time.  

Make no mistake about it — I do not have it all together!  I have many responsibilities as a homeschooling mama of 7 with a married daughter, health ailments, bouts of overwhelmedness that lead to a paralyzation of sorts, my battle of the flesh, and more…so much more.

I give thanks for it all because it brings me to my knees and makes me more dependent on God.  Yet, I know that I must do better with the time that continues to be gifted to me.  

Do you meditate regularly on the Last Four Things? Are you able to give an honest & favorable account of your time?

These necessary reflections lead to my final suggestion for #comingtotradition this Lent (always).

The Rule of Life (ROL) is a must!  It’s not something new or something reserved for religious orders.  It’s for all!  

All the saints and many holy laities will speak to their ROL.  I’ll leave you with the following direction from Monsignor P. Lejeune in his Counsels of Perfection for CHRISTIAN MOTHERS.  

“You must have a (written) rule, otherwise your life will be squandered in a thousand follies and futilities…

…unless you are bound by a rule, your lives will drift unceasingly; …float along guided only by caprice, and the sense of duty will be almost entirely lost. In that case it is your own will that you have followed…and not the will of God.

…what a sad life is that which is not regulated. It is a life which, from a worldly standpoint, may have a certain respectability, but which, from the supernatural side is a mere farce. Will you tell me what that day weighs, in the divine balance, during which you follow your own will with never a thought for the will of God?

I have no hesitancy in saying that a life without a rule, is a life wherein the supernatural, that is, the part of God, has little or no importance.

…first determine the hour of your rising and retiring…place in your rule: morning and evening prayers should be said kneeling…there is hardly one among you who cannot spend a quarter of an hour each day in spiritual reading. Those of you who have the time, and who are unwilling to be satisfied with merely earthly piety, ought to make a meditation every morning, and also to attend Holy Mass each day, or at least several times during the week.

Give your attention, above all to the most important duties. I mean those of your interior, and station in life. Then attend to the less important duties; the remainder of your time may be spent on duties of pure decorum–if any more time remains.

Since your rule has been made for God, it is for God that it should be followed out. This rule is the expression of the will of God in your regard, which must of necessity be very dear to you. Bring, then, to the accomplishment of each of these articles, a true spirit of faith, and a truly supernatural motive, and place yourselves a hundred times daily under the eye of God, saying frequently to Him and love: “All for you, My God.”

Let us meditate on the Four Last Things through Lent and tend to our Rule of Life in efforts to properly order our days throughout the year for the time that God gifts us!

You can find more, here or here.

Divine Office

by Filed Under: Divine Office, Roman Breviary Leave a Comment

The Church structured her official prayer around a framework of the psalms prayed eight times a day so that within one week, all 150 psalms are said.

As laity, we are not required to pray all the hours of the Divine Office. But it is highly recommended to do more as we’re able, starting with Prime & Compline.

Prime is the perfect Morning Prayer, Compline the perfect night prayer, and Sext is for the middle of the day.

This is better than private prayer; it’s the prayer of the entire Mystical Body because you pray with one heart with the millions of other clerics, religious and laymen around the world who have prayed and are praying these exact same prayers, AND because you adopt the intentions of the psalmist as you pray.

Below are a few options for praying the Divine Office.


The Roman Breviary (3 volumes)

$350-$380

Reprint of the 1961 Roman Breviary in English and Latin. Traditional Roman Breviary, in the form approved by Pope Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum. Full texts of national feasts for the USA included in the Proper of Saints. National feasts for England & Wales, Scotland and Australasia indicated in the Proper on the dates they occur. Extracts from the Rituale Romanum (including the most commonly used litanies) given in Latin with English rubrics in an Appendix. 

The Monastic Diurnal

$70-90

A republication of the 1963 edition of the Benedictine hours of Prime, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline, in Latin and English for all the feasts and seasons in the traditional Benedictine calendar. The Latin text is the traditional Vulgate psalter

Breviarium Meum App
FREE

This app allows one to pray the traditional (1962) Latin breviary of the Catholic Church from anywhere (via your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad).  

You simply have to select the hour to pray, and begin. 

You can download the texts up to a week in advance, so you can pray even when you don’t have a network connection. 

This is handy even if you have a printed Breviary so you can travel light.  

The app makes praying the Divine Office easy — no flipping requires.  

There are other prayers & blessing and convenient features of this app.  

If you don’t understand the Latin, you can display a parallel English translation.

Those more familiar with the breviary, and especially priests, will be pleased to see we’ve included a selection of prayers and blessings in Latin, such as are normally found in the appendix of a breviary.

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

$20-$30

This is a wonderful devotion.  It is what I prayed in my earliest years of motherhood.  

It is a shorter form of the Divine Office in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

It has been used for centuries as the Church’s daily liturgical prayer to Our Lady, by Priests, religious, and the laity throughout the centuries. 

“Lay people used to flock to the great Cathedrals to publicly recite The Little Office during the Middle Ages, and during the great persecution, when the practice of the Catholic Faith was illegal in Great Britain, Bishop Challoner commended The Little Office to his flock.

Through its psalms, antiphons, readings, responsorials, and prayers the Little Office stresses the role Our Lady played in salvation history, and how through her fiat the divine Word took flesh in her womb and achieved salvation for us all; and how Our Lord granted her the first fruits of the general resurrection in her holy and glorious assumption.

All Catholics are called to a consistent prayer life. For those who do not feel called to recite the Divine Office, but still wish to participate in the liturgical prayer of the Church, or for those who have a particular devotion to the holy Mother of God, there is no finer form of prayer than the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

Modesty

by Filed Under: Modesty 1 Comment

The Good Lord calls us all to modesty and purity.  

The supernatural reason for modest behavior is obedience to the Commandments of God and to preserve the virtue of chastity in/out of marriage. 

It applies to all we have and are…

Heart – do we seek to be most pleasing to our Lord and could we face Him at any moment, unashamed of our dress or speech?

Thoughts – do we offer an ejaculation to call upon Our Lord when a bad thought or image comes into our mind or do we entertain such things? Do we watch bad movies/tv, read indecent books/sites, or listen to inappropriate music? 

Speech – do we curse, use vulgar language, take the Lord’s name in vain directly, by way of modern speech or texting (ie; OM*), or remaining unmoved when it’s done in our presence?

Dress – do you dress to meet the conditions that the Church has always taught —  the needs of hygiene, modesty, and decorum? Do we adhere to the degrees of decency regarding the parts of the body? A traditional priest once broke it down as the honest, less honest, and dishonest parts of the body.  The degree of incentive toward the sensual passions that the parts arouse is the criterion used to establish the above classes.  

We are an image of God and are always in His presence, and that of the angels and saints.  

May we dress & carry ourselves to uphold our greatest dignity, show our love of God and neighbor.

Don’t know where to start but desiring to do so this Lent? Start with the following items which should always be observed in Church but would be most pleasing to Him if it were our constant decorum.

Women: Wear modest dresses or skirts and tops that properly cover the body. Cover yourself in a dignified way to never reveal  “less honest” parts without good reason — by way of lack of clothing, transparent items, short hems, low necklines, tight clothing, clothing which was not originally designed for women, or items intended to be used as undergarments, and never the “dishonest” parts outside of the absolute appropriate times.  Many have been transformed interiorly by making this change. 

Men: follow the suggestions above that apply to men and leave work dress for work, workout clothing for working out, etc… Fathers/husbands guide your daughter/wife in the above.  

All: Pray to have God set watch over your mouth and not speak one word that could offend Him or call upon diabolical influences — no curse words, vulgarities, or gossip.  

All: Inform your conscience – read the writings of Pius XII and other good traditionalist moralists.

May we give glory to God with our clothing, bearing, and way of being, at all times.   May we let nothing cheat us out of our call to holiness, purity, and our eternal salvation.

Tradition.

by Filed Under: Holy Mass, Lent, Pre-Lent Leave a Comment

Let’s talk about returning to TRADITION.  First it’s helpful to define terms.   Here I’m not speaking about fleeting preferences, opinions, or nostalgias. I’m speaking directly to the heart of the faith — the true Mass.  

“The Sacrifice of the Mass is the Sacrifice of the Cross itself; and in it we must see our Lord nailed to the Cross; and offering up his Blood for our sins, to his Eternal Father.” – Dom Prosper Gueranger

Archbishop Lefebvre explained…without sacrifice there is no love; without love, no Christianity nor Catholic society. The reduction or obliteration of the notion of sacrifice breaks up both. For this reason we see the decline in those assisting at Mass, the breakup of marriages and families, the disappearance of Catholic politics. The traditional rite of Mass means submission, obedience, love of God and neighbor. The new rite places humanity and its supposed rights in the center. The old rite means self-denial, giving, and service; the new rite means self-realization.

The following list is not meant to be a list of  “must-dos” but suggestions on how to go deeper into the riches of the traditions of the Faith.  

Start where you can, ideally start with attending the Tridentine Mass (TLM), and work from there as you discern best.  

  • Attend the TLM.  Make all the sacrifices necessary to attend the TLM at a traditonal parish where it is exclusively offered.   Do not be put off by your perception of the people or any other possible barriers. Keep your focus on Christ and but be renewed by the true sacrifice being offered as it has been offered for centuries.  If you already attend, attend the TLM exclusively.  If you already attend the TLM exclusively, work on the following.  
  • Study the Holy Mass
  • Pray the Divine Office — start with Prime & Compline, add other hours as you’re able.  
  • Read from a traditional Catechism such as the Catechism Council of Trent, Baltimore Catechism, and My Catholic Faith.  
  • Read the daily readings from your 1962 (or earlier) Daily Missal and use the Douay–Rheims Bible. Read it from cover to cover.   It is truly all one needs to live the liturgical year, well.  Read the daily readings. 
  • Follow the Traditional Calendar of the Church and read the lives of the saints, daily.  
  • Perform at least 15 minutes of spiritual reading, daily.  Make your selections from the great saints, Fathers, and Doctors of the Church.  

May we work & pray for a full restoration of the Latin Mass. May Christ the King reign! 

Grow in Devotion to Our Blessed Mother

by Filed Under: Brown Scapular, Consecration, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Lent, Pre-Lent, Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary Leave a Comment

This one devotion was a catalyst for so many of our graces and refinements. It transformed us and brought us closer to Our Lord in ways that we never imagined possible. It also brought us to the traditions of the Faith & the Tridentine Mass.

It is why I placed it #1 on my list — devotion to the Blessed Mother. St. Louis de Montfort tells us the following.

“If, then, we establish solid devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only to establish more perfectly devotion to Jesus Christ, and to provide an easy and secure means for finding Jesus Christ. If devotion to Our Lady removed us from Jesus Christ, we should have to reject it as an illusion of the devil; but so far from this being the case, devotion to Our Lady is, on the contrary, necessary for us…as a means of finding Jesus Christ perfectly, of loving Him tenderly, of serving Him faithfully.”

Here are some ways that you can grow to know, love, and honor Our Blessed Mother.

💙Make a Total Consecration as prescribed by St. Louis de Montfort — Do it as a family if possible.

💙Pray the Holy Rosary daily — If you already pray 5 decades, pray the entire 15 decades. Pray as a family.

💙Consecrate you’re Children to the BVM — We consecrate them in utero and renew at their baptism. They make their Total Consecration when they are old enough as we renew as a family.

💙Begin First Saturday Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary – Our Lady of Fatima said, “I shall come to ask… that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.”

💙Learn about & Enroll in the Brown Scapular and/or the Miraculous Medal – Both are sacramentals given you us by Our Lady, a means of disposing one’s soul to receive grace.

💙Meditate on the Seven Sorrows of Mary – The devotion consists in praying seven Hail Mary’s while meditating on the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

The BVM willingly suffered alongside her Divine Son as he gave his life to save the world, and she felt the bitterness of his passion as only a mother can. This devotion is especially remembered during September, the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows and during the season of Lent, with a specific observance on the Friday of Passion Week.

Our Blessed Mother will take us straight to the heart of Jesus!

AD JESUM PER MARIAM

All for Jesus through Mary

Embrace Tradition in Lent (and always)

by Filed Under: Lent, Pre-Lent, Septuagesima Leave a Comment

Some of the most transformative Lents for my family’s spiritual lives have been the times when we made a move towards the traditions of the Church.  

They have not been easy by any means.  Most of the time they have been met with attacks from the enemy.  We do not question that our Heavenly Father allowed them to try us and refine us.

Lent ‘07 was one of those years for us.  My husband and I believe it was a pivotal point in our lives — filled with immense grace, stripping, heavy crosses, true joy, and refinement that led us closer to Our Lord. 

So, when I’m asked, “where is the best place to start” or what I suggest for a family Lenten plan, I most always refer back to that Lent.  It included all that has been traditionally prescribed for Lent – penance, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and a separation form the world.

The following is a list of what I suggest for anyone desiring to make a fervent Lent.  It’s the basis of what we followed then/now.  I invite you to use it and join me and others in #comingtotradition 

Pick one item in each category or just pick one category.  Do do it right-ordered — with prayer & discernment, approval of your husband, and with spiritual direction from a solid traditional priest  (especially if it could be considered outside of the norm or extreme).  

  1. Grow in Devotion to Our Blessed Mother 
  2. Return to the traditions of the Church
  3. Offer mortification as reparation for your offenses against modesty or any other sin
  4. Create, refine, or more vigorously live out your Rule of Life 

This list is general so it can be used for all.  For example, the second category could be to attend the TLM or pray the DO if you already attend the TLM, or observe traditional requirements of fasting. One must take into account their current spiritual lives (personal and familial), physical state, duties, and the like.  

I have expanded on all of the above recently and over the years — on my site, posts, or stories.  I’m happy to answer any questions or expand further.  


You can also check out #comingtotradition on Instragram to see how other mamas have journeyed to the Tridentine Mass.  We invite you to share your own journey towards the traditions of the Church or join us in any way.  ALL FOR!

I’ll  leave you with the words of Dom Prosper Gueranger as you continue to discern your Lenten plan or go further enter into your Lenten plan.  

“The institution of Lent is thus brought before us with everything that can impress the mind with its solemn character and with its power to appease God and purify our souls. Look beyond the little world that surrounds us and see how the entire Christian universe is, at this very time, offering forty days’ penance as a sacrifice of propitiation to the offended Majesty of God. Let us hope that, as in the case of the Ninivites, He will mercifully accept this year’s offering of our atonement and pardon us our sins.”


Prayer to St. Joseph for sanctification of labor

by Filed Under: 03 March Saints, St. Joseph 1 Comment

We offer the following prayer to St. Joseph for sanctification of labor. The prayer was composed by Pope St. Pius X.

➕
Glorious St. Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously by placing love of duty above my inclinations; to gratefully and joyously deem it an honor to employ and to develop by labor the gifts I have received from God, to work methodically, peacefully, and in moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from it through weariness or difficulty; to work above all, with purity of intention and unselfishness, having unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I have to render of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in success, so baneful to the work of God.

All for Jesus, all for Mary, all to imitate thee, O patriarch St. Joseph! This shall be my motto for life and eternity.

Amen.

Season of Septuagesima

by Filed Under: Pre-Lent, Septuagesima Leave a Comment

Dom Guéranger offers the following instruction on Septuagesima.

SATURDAY BEFORE SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

The calendar of the liturgical year will soon bring us to the commemoration of the Passion and Resurrection of our Redeemer; we are but nine weeks from these great solemnities. It is time for the Christian to be preparing his soul for a fresh visit from his Saviour; a visit even more sacred and more important than that He so mercifully paid us at His Birth.

Our holy mother the Church knows how necessary it is for her to rouse our hearts from their lethargy, and give them an active tendency towards the things of God…She takes the song of heaven away from us: she forbids our further uttering that Alleluia, which is so dear to us, as giving us a fellowship with the choirs of angels, who are for ever repeating it. 

How is it that we poor mortals, sinners, and exiles on earth, have dared to become so familiar with this hymn of a better land?

It is true, our Emmanuel, who established peace between God and men, brought it us from heaven on the glad night of His Birth; and we have had the courage to repeat it after the angels, and shall chant it with renewed enthusiasm when we reach our Easter.

But to sing the Alleluia worthily, we must have our hearts set on the country whence it came. It is not a mere word, nor a profane unmeaning melody; it is the song that recalls the land we are banished from, it is the sweet sigh of the soul longing to be at home.

The word Alleluia signifies praise God: but it says much more than this, and says it as no other word or words could. The Church is not going to interrupt her giving praise to God during these nine weeks. She will replace this heaven-lent word by a formula also expressive of praise: 

Laus tibi, Domine, Rex æternæ gloriæ! 

Praise be to Thee, O Lord, King of eternal glory! 

But this is the language of earth; whereas Alleluia was sent us from heaven. ‘…the word Alleluia has not been translated; it has been left in its original Hebrew, as a stranger to tell us that there is a joy in his native land, which could not dwell in ours: he has come among us to signify, rather than to express that joy.’

During this season of Septuagesima, we have to gain a clear knowledge of the miseries of our banishment, under pain of being left for ever in this tyrant Babylon. It was, therefore, necessary that we should be put on our guard against the allurements of our place of exile. It is with this view that the Church, taking pity on our blindness and our dangers, gives us this solemn warning. 

By taking from us our Alleluia, she virtually tells us that our lips must first be cleansed, before they again be permitted to utter this word of angels and saints; and that our hearts, defiled as they are by sin and attachment to earthly things, must be purified by repentance. 

She is going to put before our eyes the sad spectacle of the fall of our first parents, that dire event whence came all our woes, and our need of Redemption. This tender mother weeps over us, and would have us weep with her.

Let us, then, comply with the law she thus imposes upon us. If spiritual joy is thus taken away from us, what are we to think of the frivolous amusements of the world? 

And if vanities and follies are insults to the spirit of Septuagesima, would not sin be an intolerable outrage on that same spirit? We have been too long the slaves of this tyrant. 

Our Saviour is soon to appear, bearing His cross; and His sacrifice is to restore fallen man to all his rights. Surely, we can never allow that precious Blood to fall uselessly on our souls, as the morning dew that rains on the parched sands of a desert! 

Let us with humble hearts confess that we are sinners, and, like the publican of the Gospel, who dared not so much as to raise up his eyes, let us acknowledge that it is only right that we should be forbidden, at least for a few weeks, those divine songs of joy, with which our guilty lips had become too familiar; and that we should interrupt those sentiments of presumptuous confidence which prevented our hearts from having the holy fear of God.

That indifference for the liturgy of the Church, which is the strongest indication of a weak faith, and which now reigns so universally in the world, is the reason why so many, even practical Catholics, can witness this yearly suspension of the Alleluia, without profiting by the lesson it conveys. A passing remark, or a chance thought, is the most they give to it, for they care for no other devotions but such as are private; the spirit of the Church, in her various seasons, is quite beneath their notice. If these lines should meet their eye, we would beg of them to reflect for a moment that the Church is their mother; that her authority is the highest on earth; that her wisdom enables her to know what is best for her children. Why, then, keep aloof from her spirit, as though there were some other to be found, that could better lead them to their God? Why be indifferent in this present instance? Why deem of no interest to piety this suspension of the Alleluia, which she, the Church, considers as one of the principal and most solemn incidents in her liturgical year? Perhaps we shall be doing them a service, by showing them how keenly this interruption of the word of heavenly joy was felt by the Christians of those ages, when faith was the grand ruling principle, not only with society at large, but with each individual.

The farewell to Alleluia, in the Middle Ages, varied in the different Churches. Here, it was an affectionate enthusiasm, speaking the beauty of the celestial word; there, it was a heart-felt regret at the departure of the much-loved companion of all their prayers.

SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

The holy Church calls us together to-day in order that we may hear from her lips the sad history of the fall of our first parents. This awful event implies the Passion and cruel Death of the Son of God made Man, who has mercifully taken upon Himself to expiate this and every subsequent sin committed by Adam and us his children. It is of the utmost importance that we should understand the greatness of the remedy; we must, therefore, consider the grievousness of the wound inflicted. For this purpose, we will spend the present week in meditating on the nature and consequences of the sin of our first parents.

Formerly, the Church used to read in her Matins of to-day that passage of the Book of Genesis, where Moses relates to all future generations, but in words of most impressive and sublime simplicity, how the first sin was brought into the world. In the present form of the liturgy, the reading of this history of the fall is deferred till Wednesday, and the preceding days give us the account of the six days of creation. We will anticipate the great instruction, and begin it at once, inasmuch as it forms the basis of the whole week’s teaching.

Are you a courageous soul?

by Filed Under: Martyr, St. Joseph Leave a Comment

Have you ever lost a child? 

Jan. 2021 – road trip to property to dream and knock on doors to seek His will.

We had a major scare just a few months back.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever share the story publicly. But I will say this, it makes meditating on the Fifth Joyful Mystery (Finding of Jesus in Temple) more intimate for me in a way that that I never imagined.  

I’m drawn deeper into the possibility that I must fully embrace the cross, even if it is to lose one of my children as they seek the will of God.  I can’t ever imagine being fully prepared for that moment (again) but I will pray for that grace and wisdom to know when to fully let go.

I seek the guidance of St. Joseph, Our Blessed Mother, holy men & women who share profound truth, and the saints. 

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet is one of those holy men. He speaks to St. Joseph’s worry when Jesus was lost in the temple:

“Another strange trial. As if it were not enough for men to torment Joseph, Jesus Himself became his persecutor. He cleverly slipped through his fingers and remained lost for three days.

What have you done, faithful Joseph? What has become of the sacred treasure the heavenly Father entrusted to you? If you have not yet understood Joseph’s fatherhood, see his suffering now and understand that he is a father. His regret proves it, and Mary was right to say: “Your father and I have sought You with great sorrow.” O my Son, she said to the Savior, I do not fear to call him Your father here, and I know this does not injure the purity of Your birth. We are speaking of cares and worries; that is why I can say he is Your father: because his worries are truly paternal.

See with what suffering Jesus tries fidelity, and how He wishes to be only with those who suffer. He seeks out the strong and courageous souls who do not refuse to carry His cross, who do not blush to be the companions of His poverty and misery.”

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

Pope Leo XIII  offers us a glorious prayer, To thee, O Blessed Joseph:

To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. Through that charity which bound thee to the immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which thou embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg thee to graciously regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.

O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness; and, as once thou rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holy, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.

From the Raccolta #476 & Enchridion #6

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