Novena honoring Mary Help of Christians - Day 3

 

[During one of his dreams]
Don Bosco: "My Lady, what can I do? How can I keep this great flock of sheep and lambs? I have no pasture for them."
Our Lady: "Don't be afraid, I will watch over you and will help you."

Prayer:
Blessed Mother, we celebrate in you the great works of God,
who never tires of lowering Himself in mercy toward humanity,
afflicted by evil and wounded by sin, to heal us and to save us.
(by Pope Francis)

Image depicts the dream John Bosco had when he was 9 years old.
A video story of that dream can be viewed here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_fGuKjwe8U
Video credit:  Mike Massey

Novena honoring Mary Help of Christians - Day 2

"Mary is the most loved and the most loving of all creatures." (Don Bosco)

Prayer:
Blessed Virgin Mary,
with renewed gratitude for your motherly presence
we unite our voices to the voice of all generations
who call you blessed.

(For the remainder of the novena, the prayer will be excerpts from "Act of Consecration to Mary, Virgin of Fatima" by Pope Francis, St. Peter's Square, October 13, 2013)

Image: Main altar, Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, Turin, Italy, which Don Bosco built in honor of Mary.

Novena honoring Mary Help of Christians - Day 1

 St. John Bosco honored Mary particularly under the title Mary Help of Christians

He said, "Trust in Mary, Help of Christians, and you will know what miracles are."

Present to Mary your intentions during this novena (May 15-23), as we prepare to celebrate Her feast on May 24th. 

Prayer: Mary, our Mother and Help, with trust in your intercession, we pray for the Church, for our Salesian Family, for all young people, especially those in most need, and for all humanity, redeemed by Christ.

Mother's Day - Some Reflections on Vocation of Motherhood

 (Image source:  http://catholicmom.com)

The celebration of our mothers on this Mother’s Day can help us connect or better appreciate three of the sentences that Jesus speaks to us this Fifth Sunday of Easter.   

(The full Gospel passage can be found here)

First, “In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places,”
A mother’s love and presence create a home and a family.  A mother’s care and sacrifices tell their children the that they are loved.  God’s love brings us into God’s family.  We are children of God.  We are loved.

Second, “I am going to prepare a place for you.”
Enduring the pains, and with love and selfless sacrifices, mothers give birth to their children.  Christ, through his death and resurrection, gives us the life of the children of God.

Third, to Philip requests, “Show us the Father,” Jesus responds, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Mothers and fathers share in Jesus’ mission of leading their children to God – the greatest gift of all.

Today, we thank God for our mothers.  Let us also pray for those God calls to share and be witnesses of God's love in the vocation of motherhood. 

Triduum in Preparation for St. Joseph the Worker - Day 3

May 1 - St. Joseph the Worker

The first annual Religious Brothers Day

Religious Brothers - Ministers of Communion

Reading:

From Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in the Church
(Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, 2015)

The Religious Brother (and sister) by participating in the saving mystery of Christ and the Church, are permanent reminders for all Christian people of the importance of the total gift of self to God and a reminder that the mission of the Church, respecting the various vocations and ministries within it, is one and is shared by all. (#1)

Being part of [God’s] people and its mission, the Religious Brother lives the call to be memory of the covenant by his consecration to God in a fraternal life in community for mission.  Thus he makes more visible the communion that all God's people are called to embody. (#5)

The bonds of communion of the Religious Brother extend beyond the boundaries of the Church, because he is driven by the same "universal character that distinguishes the People of God."  The vocation of the Brother is part of the answer that God gives to the absence of brotherhood which is wounding the world today.  At the root of a Brother’s vocation lies a profound experience of solidarity that essentially matches that of Moses before the burning bush: he discovers himself as the eyes, ears and heart of God, the God who sees the oppression of his people, who hears their cry, feels their anguish and comes down to liberate them.  In this intimate experience, the Brother hears the call: "Come, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt." (Exodus 3:7-10).

Therefore, the dimension of communion is closely linked in the Brother to a fine sensitivity for everything that affects the least privileged of people; those oppressed by various forms of injustice, abandoned on the margins of history and progress, those who, ultimately, are less likely to experience the good news of God's love in their lives.  (#6)

Religious consecration itself, which presents life as a witness to the absoluteness of God, and also as a process of openness to God and people in the light of the Gospel, is a call to all the faithful, an invitation to each person to orient his or her own life along a radical path, in different situations and states of life, open to the gifts and invitations of the Spirit. (#7)

Prayer:

Lord, we pray for those young men you are calling to be brothers recognize their call and respond with generosity; and help us to guide and accompany them.   We pray to the Lord.