Showing posts with label rosary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rosary. Show all posts

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Rosary Stops Ted Bundy


Spirit Daily today links to InGod'sCompany2 blog with an amazing post - this story is a must read. The power of the rosary never ceases to amaze me. Please pray it today and every day.


The Killer and the Rosary


"... To understand that Our Lady needs us, it helps to begin with the awareness that we also need her and that her help never fails those who pray to her with a sincere heart. This American Monsignor is a good witness of that.

On May 14, 2009, Mgr. William Kerr, a leading human rights figure, died. Mgr. Kerr often spoke of his very first hospital assignment, where he ministered to a young burn victim dying from his injuries. Later, he recalled, he would be called upon to perform even more ghastly duties.

In 1978, the police called Msgr. Kerr in the middle of the night to accompany them to a sorority house in Tallahassee. When he arrived he was told that all but one of the girls in the house were dead or near death, killed by the infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy. After administering last rites to one of the college girls who was dying, the police on the scene asked Fr. Kerr to speak with a girl who had survived the massacre unscathed. They had a very specific question: Why did Bundy stop right inside the door to her room, drop his weapon, and leave without touching her?

The young woman refused to speak to anyone except a priest. When Fr. Kerr approached the near-catatonic girl, she told him that her mother had made her promise, before going off to college for the first time, that she would pray the Rosary every night before bed for protection. Even if she fell asleep praying the Rosary, which she had that night. When Bundy came into her room to murder her as he had the other girls, the beads were still clutched in her hands.

Ironically, Bundy later sought out Msgr. Kerr as a spiritual counselor while he waited on death row. Over the course of their sessions, Bundy explained to Mgr. Kerr that when he entered the girl’s room, he just wasn’t able to continue with his spree, he dropped his weapon, and he fled.

Such is the power of our Mother’s protective mantle. Such also is the wisdom of a mom, who managed to give her daughter the most efficient, powerful weapon - the rosary, which later saved her life. "


Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Nothing is Impossible with God!


I came across a great novena for the stickiest of situations, thought I would share:

NOVENA for IMPOSSIBLE REQUESTS

(This Novena honours the nine months during which Our Lady carried Our Blessed Lord in her womb)

"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,
thine eyes of mercy 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. Amen."

V - Pray for us, most holy mother of God.
R - That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

"Virgin of the Incarnation,
a thousand times we greet thee,
a thousand times we praise thee
for thy joy when God was incarnated in thee.
Because thou art so powerful
a Virgin and Mother of God,
grant what we ask of thee for the love of God."

Here state your first intention.

Repeat all of above and then state your second intention.

Repeat all of above and then state your third intention.

CONCLUSION:
After the above prayers and intentions, say the Memorare.

Remember, O most Gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help
or sought thy intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of Virgins,
my mother.
To thee do I cry,
before thee I stand,
sinful and sorrowful.
Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.

Hail Mary...

Blessed and praised be
the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar,
in Heaven, on earth and everywhere.

AMEN.

And when all seems lost, don't forget we have a nuclear weapon in our prayer arsenals...

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Most Powerful Prayer

Do you have an urgent prayer need?

Feeling hopeless?

Empty?

Lost?

Angry?

The answer is here.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

For God and Country


Temptation to despair abounds at present.
The United States of America is run by a man who is doing everything in his power to violate some of the most sacred principles of the Catholic faith.

He seems capable of only spending massive amounts of money to morally and economically cripple future generations of America.

But a very smart group of people remembered that Jesus promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church.

They know that prayers from YOU could turn this country around overnight.

They know God responds to prayers from the heart by touching the most hardened of hearts.

These smart folks launched America's Prayer Campaign, an inspired initiative harnessing the power of promised prayers everywhere.

Visitors to their site make a prayer 'pledge' - rosaries, chaplets of Divine Mercy, alms giving, fasting, general prayer , etc. - offering prayers "... To Renew, Re-awaken and Restore our Nation"

"The constitution of the United States of America states clearly that we as citizens have the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Yet in this great nation that holds individual rights as supremely sacred, the most basic right, the right to life is systematically denied to its most vulnerable. Faith and God in our nation are under attack and new government policy is moving us even further down the path to atheism, secularism, and from the vision of our founding fathers.

I visited America's Prayer Campaign, and made my humble offering.

Guess what?
It was so much FUN to to offer those prayers!
I love my country. I don't want to see it destroyed with Godless secularism, socialism, immorality, greed and indifference. The United States of America desperately needs prayers. This is an opportunity for anyone, anywhere to serve this great nation of ours.
Please consider visiting America's Prayer Campaign and making a spiritual offering. Forward the link to friends and family, asking prayer warriors to join in the fight to renew the divinely inspired, Christian nation of the United States of America.

God Bless you.

God Bless America.

Monday, March 30, 2009

A Tale of Two Miracles


There was a story that ran in Business Week September 10, 2001. Undoubtedly it was eclipsed by the events of the following day.


It contained a powerful message for anyone despondent over the current financial crisis.


This story is for anyone who is facing a consuming, painful situation. Anyone who feels they don't have a way out. Anyone who thinks things can't possibly get better.


Personally, I have experienced a miracle of a similar ilk. The professional circumstances were not as dire, and the stakes were not as high, but I was tempted to despair on many occasions.


On those occasions I would pick up my rosary.


Through that prayer, I immersed myself in Jesus. His humility, His divinity. His miracles, love, suffering and ocean of mercy. I thought about the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all of her joys and sorrows. Her wisdom, her gentleness, kindness and her absolute surrender to the will of God.


A funny thing happened. The more I thought about them, the less I thought about me.


And then one day, after months of prayer, the call came. Jesus had given me a miracle.


My heart swelled with love for Jesus, the greatness of God and in gratitude for the loving intercession of Our Lady, and Glorious St. Joseph, whose protection I had also sought.


Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that the story in Business Week ran Sept. 10, 2001. For if ever there was a day that this message was needed, it was Sept. 11, 2001.



Please, please pray the rosary. Consider the mysteries carefully and pray with all your heart.



Jesus is waiting for you.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Rosary of the Seven Sorrows - Powerful Prayer for Tough Times



There are a lot of things these days that give my Catholic self cause for outrage and sadness - President Obama lifting the ban on federal funding of fetal stem research is a big one. The whole culture of death that our government is embracing. Socialism, opposed in strong terms by the Church, being touted as the only reasonable answer to whatever ails the USA. The sickening yet fast -approaching milestone of fifty million babies murdered in the wake of Roe v. Wade.

All so wrong.

Fortunately for Happy to Be Catholics, an ancient prayer is making its way back into the mainstream and serious prayer warriors everywhere are adding it prominently to their arsenals.


I had heard this prayer was powerful, it was not until I started praying it myself that I realized just how special it is.

It is called the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows, the Deven Dolors of Mary Chaplet, or the Servite Rosary.



Lots of promises attached to this one. I'll list them following an explanation of the prayer.



You can check around on the Internet for a seven sorrows rosary. It looks a little different from a standard five-decade rosary. There are seven mysteries, followed by seven small beads ( called weeks in stead of decades)

The prayer goes like this:

1) Act of Contrition

2) Announce the First Sorrow. Our Father... then pray


Seven Hail Marys while meditating on the Sorrow

3) Announce each respective Sorrow, pray the Our Father, then pray Seven Hail Marys while meditating on the Sorrow.

4) Finish with three Hail Marys for the Tears of the Blessed Virgin Mary, followed

5) Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for the intentions of the Holy Father

6) Finish by praying ' Virgin Most Sorrowful, Pray for Us' three times.

The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, with thanks to TheGrotto.org

The First Sorrow

The Holy Prophecy of Simeon

The Blessed Virgin, filled with joy, presented her only son in the temple. How her heart must have broken to hear the prophetic words of Simeon as he foretold the suffering of the Savior and His mother.

The Second Sorrow

The Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt

On a moments notice, St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin must take the Infant Jesus on a perilous journey to evade Herod's men who hunted Him. They endured cold, hunger and many hardships as they made their way to a foreign land.

The Third Sorrow

Mary seeks Jesus lost in Jerusalem

It is every parents nightmare to lose their child, and the Virgin Mary understands firsthand this profound sorrow. For three agonizing days St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother searched for twelve-year-old Jesus, before finding Him among the scholars in the temple.

The Fourth Sorrow

Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary

Jesus, battered and condemned to crucifixion, meets His mother, on the road to Calvary. He is beaten and indescribably defiled; her sorrow is absolute as Jesus drags the cross on which He will be crucified.

The Fifth Sorrow

Mary stands at the foot of the cross

Mary stands near her dying Son, unable to minister to him as he cries "I thirst". She hears him promise heaven to a thief and forgive his enemies. His last words, "Behold your mother," a gift for all of mankind, as His Beloved Mother becomes Mother of All Peoples.

The Sixth Sorrow

Mary holds the body of Jesus

The Pieta. The passion and death are complete, but for Our Lady, grief continues. She holds His body in her arms. Meditate on her tears.

The Seventh Sorrow

Mary places the body of Jesus in the tomb

The sun goes down on the most tragic day in history. As she awaits in faith the resurrection of her Son, Mary alone in sorrow, lays the body of her Son in the tomb.

As promised, The Promises. with thanks to MotherofAllPeoples.org and piercedhearts.org


According to the visions of St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373) our Blessed Mother promises to grant seven graces to those who honor her and draw near to her and her Son every day by meditating on her dolors (sorrows) and entering into her grief.

"I will grant peace to their families."

"They will be enlightened about the divine Mysteries."

"I will console them in their pains and will accompany them in their work."

"I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls."

"I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives."

"I will visibly help them at the moment of their death-- they will see the face of their mother."

"I have obtained this grace from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son will be their eternal consolation and joy."

St. Alphonsus Liguori testifies to complementary revelations given by Our Lord to St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) where He further promises four special graces to those dedicated to the sufferings of the co-redeeming Mother:

1. That those who before death invoke the Blessed Mother in the name of her sorrows, should obtain true repentance of all their sins.

2. That He would protect in their tribulations all who remember this devotion, and that He would protect them especially at the hour of death.

3. That He would impress upon their minds the remembrance of His Passion, and that they should have their reward for it in Heaven.

4. That He would commit such devout clients to the hands of Mary, so that she might obtain for these souls all the graces she wanted to lavish upon them.


Hard to describe the peace I feel when I pray this rosary.

Please, Lord, let your peace remain with me always. And please help my country.


Touch President Obama's heart so that he may understand that abortion really and truly is murder. Open the eyes and hearts of the nation. And if there is anything wrong with my prayer, please fix it, because it is too important of a petition to get wrong.