Saturday, October 31, 2009

Reminder: First Sunday Mass for Vocations from Our Own Families



We would like to encourage all women who are praying for priests through the Spiritual Motherhood for Priests devotion to offer their Holy Communion and Mass on the First Sunday’s of the Month in honour of vocations to the priesthood from our own families.

Today’s technology offers us a unique opportunity to unite our prayers together in a tangible way for vocations. Through the convenience of the internet we can take action through prayer asking Our Lord to listen to this straightforward and simple prayer. One that he heard over one hundred years ago from the faithful mother’s who lived in the remote Italian village of Lu.


Prayer of the Mothers of Lu:

"O God, grant that one of my sons may become a priest! I myself want to live as a good Christian and want to guide my children always to do what is right, so that I may receive the grace, o God, to be allowed to give you a holy priest! Amen."

These women were a particular inspiration to us to start this blog, they offered:
*One visit a month to the Blessed Sacrament

*They united this prayer intention for vocations at Mass on the first Sunday of the month for vocations from their own families.

Their humble simplicity and fidelity to this prayer paid off in a very substantial and fruitful way. Their prayers rose up 323 priests and religious, including one blessed of the Church and an Archbishop.

* For those ladies who do not have any children, praying specifically for young relatives or for vocations from your parish or diocese would be very fitting.

Through the trusting prayer of these mothers and the openness of the other parents, "an atmosphere of deep joy and Christian piety developed in the families, making it much easier for the children to recognize their vocations."
They were not just physical mothers to there children, they were spiritual mothers to there children. They took their stewardship one step further by offering their children back to God not once but over and over, with confidence that He would do something beautiful with them for Himself.

The most generous act we can offer Our Lord is to offer our children back to Him. To be His and His alone. They are the most precious things to us and also the most precious things to Him as

Blessed Philip Rinaldi a son from the village of Lu says, "A faith that made our fathers and our mothers say; The Lord gave us our children, and so if He calls them, we can’t say no."

Here we can be a virtual village of Lu and pick up where these holy woman left off, praying that we may do great things as they did from this small village not so long ago.

"We look forward to praying with you all."

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Our new Priests in Focus for the week


Every Thursday we change the three priests names for the Weekly Priests in Focus. (We have now changed to add three priests per week.)

We are encouraging ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned when visiting our site (You will see the above widget in the top righthand sidebar under our header) and also may wish to off an Ave for these priests any other time in the week that you may remember.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests, whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

This week's priests are:

Fr Frank Kurtz, Fr Linus Clovis and Fr Michael Rego

A list of the priests we have prayed for individually here are in the right hand sidebar down the bottom.

If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus please email us and we would more than happy to add that priest to our list.

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Priesthood Sunday in the USA

Just a reminder to the ladies in the US that the last Sunday in October is Priesthood Sunday.

So what is Priesthood Sunday?

"Priesthood Sunday, the thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, is a special day set aside to honor the priesthood in the United States. It is a day to reflect upon and affirm the role of the priesthood in the life of the Church as a central one.

In the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal, there has been concern that the image of all priests has been tainted by the actions of a few. Priesthood Sunday sends a message to all that the sins of a few do not reflect the innocent majority, and that the parish priest, as the instrument of Christ's ministry on earth, is loved and respected by those in the parish community.

This nationwide event is coordinated by the USA Council of Serra International. It is sponsored by the USA Council of Serra International and the Serra International Foundation. "

HT: Priest Sunday

What happens on Priesthood Sunday?

"The lay faithful of all parishes in the country develop their own special way of marking the day and honoring their parish priests both at Mass and other parish events, such as social celebrations and school activities.

Priesthood Sunday was designed to be an event led by the laity, but your parish priest can participate by talking about how he experienced and answered his own calling, the need for vocations to keep the priesthood vital, and about priests who have inspired him.

Priesthood Sunday will also offer an opportunity for priests and their parishioners to build a stronger working relationship for the future. Together, they can dialogue to take an honest look at the challenges of the future and how they can collaborate to meet those challenges as a united force. "

HT: Priest Sunday

This is a beautiful Church initiative. Think about it, we have Mothers Day, we have Fathers Day, to show our appreciation to those gave us life and love. Priests are our fathers also, our fathers in faith and they give us life and love through the sacraments of the Church, there is no deeper reality.

Here is what one Bishop had to say:


"Please join me on this special day, Priesthood Sunday, in praying for our priests, in praising God for their courage and their generosity. As your bishop I urge you to make your appreciation for your parish priest known. A simple note, a smile or a phone call to assure him of your loving care and gratitude for his presence in the life of your local church will go a long way to serve the greater good of our wonderful and growing Catholic Church."

-Bishop Joseph Gossman, Diocese of Raleigh

Here are some tips on how to celebrate this day and show your appreciation for your parish priest or local priests over at the Houston Vocations website.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Our new Priests in Focus for the week

Every Thursday we change the three priests names for the Weekly Priests in Focus. (We have now changed to add three priests per week.)

We are encouraging ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned when visiting our site (You will see the above widget in the top righthand sidebar under our header) and also may wish to off an Ave for these priests any other time in the week that you may remember.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests, whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

This week's priests are:

Fr Michael Smyth, Fr Charlie Zabler and Fr Don Hying

A list of the priests we have prayed for individually here are in the right hand sidebar down the bottom.

If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus please email us and we would more than happy to add that priest to our list.

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

St Teresa of Avila and the Carmel commitment to Priests

St Teresa of Avila

Today is the feast of St Teresa of Avila, a great Carmelite reformer and doctor of the Church.

Often when I think of priests, I remember that they are 'Alter Christi' ~ another Christ. So when I reflect upon the words of St Teresa below, I think of the work of holy priests in particular:

"Christ has no body now, but yours.

No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which

Christ looks compassion into the world.

Yours are the feet

with which Christ walks to do good.

Yours are the hands

with which Christ blesses the world."

~ St Teresa of Avila

The Carmelite Nuns of Haifa

The Carmelite community of Haifa is renewing its commitment to priests:

"to offer our humble supplication that you may be holy."

The cloistered religious have made this renewal in a letter marking the Year for Priests, under way through next June.The letter is directed to priests around the world. HT: Zenit

Icon of 'St Teresa de Jesus'

Here is the letter to priests that the Carmelite nuns of Haifa have written and published on their website, The Carmelites of the Holy Land:

"It is with immense joy and gratitude that we address all our brother priests. In you, dear brothers, we recognize the "other Christ", and we greet you with affection in our Lord. Peace be with you!

In our vocation as Carmelite Nuns, daughters of our Mother Saint Teresa of Avila , our essential mission is prayer; especially prayer for the holiness of priests. Therefore, the invitation of our Holy Father to place your ministry, during this year, at the centre of our concern, challenges us deeply.

For four centuries Teresa's voice never ceases to invite us to: " ... be occupied in prayer for those who are defenders of the Church and for preachers and learned men who protect her from attack ... " (Way of Perfection 1:2)

We are aware of the challenges you have in fully living out your vocation in today's society; being in the world but not of the world, as Saint John states. Ecclesial circumstances have changed much due to the accelerated pace of time but your call remains unchanged: " You are a priest … and forever... " (Heb 5.6) Today, we renew our commitment to offer our humble supplication that you may be holy.

Dear priests, you accompany a person throughout his life from his birth till he enters the warm embrace of our Father. You are there everyday, offering us the Eucharist and explaining to us the Scriptures. You are Ministers of God's Mercy. You are fathers and brothers to us. You show us the blank page in which God writes our history. You are the sentry who watches over us while we await dawn after the dark of the night, while we search for the spring of fresh water in the desert...

You are present when we make our Consecration in the Church, offering our lives to the One and Triune God...

Dear brothers, we find no words that can truly express our gratitude to each one of you.

Any one of us can give countless testimonies of the invaluable gift of yourselves: to serve the people of God, to care for the sheep trusted to you, with the wise guidance of a father and the tenderness of a mother. You are the "Good Shepherd" who is not afraid to leave the ninety-nine sheep to go in search of the one that was lost...

Only in heaven shall we know the wonder of ecclesial communion; where now we have only a glimpse of its amazing reality.

To you dear brothers, who are the living memorial of Christ and totally identified with Him, how can we not express our gratitude when every morning, in the Eucharist, you give us a foretaste of the joy of heaven, a foretaste of our homeland that does not belong to this world.

To each one of you: elder priests rich in years and experience, young priests beginning your ministry, those who are in the prime of your life, or enduring sickness. Priests afflicted by trials and persecutions, priest workers, and all of you who share the lives of the poor, the favored ones of the Lord.

Priests who are educators and those who promote and discern vocations; priests whose deeds are visible only to the eyes of God who sees in secret; priests who are monks sharing with us the same contemplative vocation.To each and every one of you, we say with simplicity of heart:you can count on the silent prayer and the hidden offering of your sisters!"

Carmelite Nuns of the Holy Land .

NB: There are four Carmelite monasteries in the Holy Land: Jerusalem , Bethlehem , Nazareth and Mount Carmel . The sisters come from 24 nations and four continents: Europe, Asia, Africa and America .

Our new Priests in Focus for the week

Every Thursday we change the three priests names for the Weekly Priests in Focus. (We have now changed to add three priests per week.)

We are encouraging ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned when visiting our site (You will see the above widget in the top righthand sidebar under our header) and also may wish to off an Ave for these priests any other time in the week that you may remember.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests, whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

This week's priests are:

Fr Brady, Fr M Withoos and Fr Andrew

A list of the priests we have prayed for individually here are in the right hand sidebar down the bottom.

If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus please email us and we would more than happy to add that priest to our list.

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!

Monday, October 12, 2009

The Litany for All Priests

Image HT


Today I received in the mail the newsletter of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama. Inspired as always upon reading, I found this particular gem, a litany for priests:


Let us pray for the Holy Father,

Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops,

Diocesan priests,

Priests in seminary work,

Priests in hospital work,

Priests who are ill,

Priests in danger,

Priests who are weak,

Priests who are poor,

Priests who are zealous,

Priests who want to love you,

Priests who are sad,

Priests who are worried,

Priests who are old,

Priests who are young,

Priests who are alone,

Missionary priests,

Priest who are preachers,

Priests who direct souls,

Parish priests,

Religious priests,

Priests and religious who have died,

Of all the Church, militant and suffering,

For all priests,

Give them respect for their dignity.

Give them a great love for Mary.

Give them rectitude and justice.

Give them the gift of counsel.

Fill him with your graces, Lord

Give them Your gifts, Lord

Never leave them, Lord

Give them Your wisdom, Lord

Give them constancy, Lord

Heal them, Lord

Deliver them, Lord

Strengthen them, Lord

Relieve them, Lord

Help them, Lord

Enkindle their hearts, Lord

Console them, Lord

Give them peace, Lord

Sustain them, Lord

Impel them for Your glory, Lord

Accompany them, Lord

Protect them, Lord

Enlighten them, Lord

Instruct them, Lord

Give them prudence, Lord

Make them perfect, Lord

Bring them to glory, Lord

Lord, have mercy

For all Priests,

Give them peace in their sufferings.

Give them humility and generosity.

Let them be the light of souls.

Let them be the salt of the earth.

Let them practice sacrifice and self-denial.

Let them enkindle hearts with love of Mary.

Let them be other Christs.

Let them be holy in body and soul.

May they be men of prayer.

May faith shine forth in them.

May they be concerned only for the salvation of souls.

May they be faithful to their priestly vocation.

May their hands know only how to bless.

May they burn with love for you and for Mary.

May all their steps be for the glory of God.

May the Holy Spirit possess them, and give them His gifts and fruits in abundance.

Let us pray:

O God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You are the soul and life of the Church. Hear the prayers we offer for priests. We ask this through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, their protector and guide. Amen.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Praying for Priests in Adoration Chapels

(click on the card to enlarge image)

In the Archdiocese of Brisbane, Australia the Perpetual Adoration Association has started a beautiful initiative to support the priests in the archdiocese in the Year of the Priest.

The Perpetual Adoration Association started this year in late May, with it's first Perpetual Adoration Chapel, this will reap many graces and blessings for the archdiocese. At the back of the Adoration Chapel there is an open box of envelopes and this notice:

"Please join us in praying for our Priests in the Brisbane Archdiocese.

On the trolly at the back of the Chapel there are envelopes marked "Prayer for Priests". Each envelope contains a prayer card with a preist's name on each.

There is one for every priest in our Archdiocese.

The prayer is from the Year of the Priest, Vatican website.

You may like to offer your adoration hour each week, and pray the prayer daily for the priest on your prayer card."

This is a wonderful idea for adoration chapels because praying for priests in the presence of The Lord is crucial ~ let us pray that similar holy endeavours of spiritual motherhood will spring up in many other adoration chapels around the world. It is also is an active response to a letter written by Cardinal Claudio Hummes from the Congregation of the Clergy on the 8th of December 2007. I will quote selectively from this letter with my emphasis in bold:

"In today’s world a great many things are necessary for the good of the Clergy and the fruitfulness of pastoral ministry. With a firm determination to face such challenges without disregarding their difficulties and struggles, and with an awareness that action follows being and that the soul of every apostolate is Divine intimacy, it is our intention for the departure point to be a spiritual endeavor.

In order to continually maintain a greater awareness of the ontological link between the Eucharist and the Priesthood, and in order to recognize the special maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary for each Priest, it is our intention to bring about a connection between perpetual Eucharistic adoration for the reparation of faults and sanctification of priests and the initiation of a commitment on the part of consecrated feminine souls - following the typology of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Eternal High Priest, and Helper in his work of Redemption - who might wish to spiritually adopt priests in order to help them with their self-offering, prayer, and penance.
 
Thereby – and precisely because of the place occupied and the role served by the Most Blessed Virgin in salvation history – we intend in a very particular way to entrust all Priests to Mary, the Mother of the High and Eternal Priest, bringing about in the Church a movement of prayer, placing 24 hour continuous Eucharistic adoration at the center, so that a prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, praise, petition, and reparation, will be raised to God, incessantly and from every corner of the earth, with the primary intention of awakening a sufficient number of holy vocations to the priestly state and, at the same time, spiritually uniting with a certain spiritual maternity – at the level of the Mystical Body – all those who have already been called to the ministerial priesthood and are ontologically conformed to the one High and Eternal priest.

This movement will offer better service to Christ and his brothers - those who are at once "inside" the Church and also "at the forefront" of the Church, standing in Christ’s stead and representing Him, as head, shepherd and spouse of the Church (cfr. Pastores Dabo Vobis 16).We are asking, therefore, all diocesan Ordinaries who apprehend in a particular way the specificity and irreplaceability of the ordained ministry in the life of the Church, together with the urgency of a common action in support of the ministerial priesthood, to take an active role and promote – in the different portions of the People of God entrusted to them - true and proper cenacles in which clerics, religious and lay people - united among themselves in the spirit of true communion – may devote themselves to prayer, in the form of continuous Eucharistic adoration in a spirit of genuine and authentic reparation and purification. "

Here is the letter in full. HT: Roman Catholic Vocations

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Our new Priests in Focus for the week

Every Thursday we change the three priests names for the Weekly Priests in Focus. (We have now changed to add three priests per week.)

We are encouraging ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned when visiting our site (You will see the above widget in the top righthand sidebar under our header) and also may wish to off an Ave for these priests any other time in the week that you may remember.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests, whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

This week's priests are:

Fr Michael Heintz, Fr Germanus Rayen and Fr Derek

A list of the priests we have prayed for individually here are in the right hand sidebar down the bottom.

If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus please email us and we would more than happy to add that priest to our list.

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

You are a Priest Forever - Song and Clip.

I just came across this clip. Whether the music is to your taste or not, the imagery honours the priesthood beautifully. When you consider the lack of respect our priests experience from the secular culture, this clip undeniably serves and respects their dignity very well.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

First Sunday Mass for Vocations from Our Own Families.


We would like to encourage all women who are praying for priests through the Spiritual Motherhood for Priests devotion to offer their Holy Communion and Mass on the First Sunday’s of the Month in honour of vocations to the priesthood from our own families.

Today’s technology offers us a unique opportunity to unite our prayers together in a tangible way for vocations. Through the convenience of the internet we can take action through prayer asking Our Lord to listen to this straightforward and simple prayer. One that he heard over one hundred years ago from the faithful mother’s who lived in the remote Italian village of Lu.

Prayer of the Mothers of Lu:

"O God, grant that one of my sons may become a priest! I myself want to live as a good Christian and want to guide my children always to do what is right, so that I may receive the grace, o God, to be allowed to give you a holy priest! Amen."

These women were a particular inspiration to us to start this blog, they offered:

*one visit a month to the Blessed Sacrament

*they united this prayer intention for vocations at Mass on the first Sunday of the month for vocations from their own families.

Their humble simplicity and fidelity to this prayer paid off in a very substantial and fruitful way. Their prayers rose up 323 priests and religious, including one blessed of the Church and an Archbishop.

* For those ladies who do not have any children, praying specifically for young relatives or for vocations from your parish or diocese would be very fitting.

Through the trusting prayer of these mothers and the openness of the other parents, "an atmosphere of deep joy and Christian piety developed in the families, making it much easier for the children to recognize their vocations."

They were not just physical mothers to there children, they were spiritual mothers to there children. They took their stewardship one step further by offering their children back to God not once but over and over, with confidence that He would do something beautiful with them for Himself.

The most generous act we can offer Our Lord is to offer our children back to Him. To be His and His alone. They are the most precious things to us and also the most precious things to Him as
Blessed Philip Rinaldi a son from the village of Lu says, "a faith that made our fathers and our mothers say; The Lord gave us our children, and so if He calls them, we can’t say no.’"

Here we can be a virtual village of Lu and pick up where these holy woman left off, praying that we may do great things as they did from this small village not so long ago.

We look forward to praying with you all."

Thursday, October 1, 2009

The Story of a Love - A Beautiful Spiritual Friendship between St Therese and a young struggling Seminarian Maurice Belliere.

St Therese of Liseuix, beautiful flower of Carmel

To celebrate the feast day of St Therese one of our patrons on Spiritual Motherhood for Priests we thought we would share a beautiful relationship of Spiritual Motherhood between St Therese and a seminarian Maurice Belliere. This post is a reflection of the book The Inspiring Letters Between Therese of Lisieux And A Struggling Young Priest. Maurice & Therese – The Story of a Love by Patrick Ahern.

"Maurice & Therese: The Story of a Love"
Their spiritual relationship started about one year prior to Therese entering into eternity. Maurice a second year seminarian from Sommervieu of the dioceses of Bayeux took a leap of faith and wrote to the Carmel asking for someone to pray for him. He was inspired to do this after reading of a man who’d been brought back to God by his mother prayers.

He hoped if a devoted nun could pray and devote herself particularly to the salvation of his soul and help him to be faithful to the vocation God had given him as priest and hopefully a missionary, he would be able to overcome his weaknesses and struggles toward the world.

Fr Maurice Belliere

He had heard of the four sisters at Carmel but had no idea that the first person to receive his letter would be the eldest sister Mother Agnes (Pauline) who chose Therese to become a spiritual sister. She was overjoyed and saw this as fulfilments of her family’s desire to one day have a missionary priest as a son; Maurice filled this void for Therese.


Although she calls herself his spiritual sister, the wisdom in which she advised Maurice was clearly motherly advice with a motherly sense of responsibility for Maurice’s spiritual failures. Some of the struggles he suffered were his lack of suitability to be a missionary, expensive habits of easy living and his attachment to comforts and friends.

Among the failures that Maurice recalls, there was one spiritual blunder he called his biggest blunder of all which was never really exposed. It may have been a personal issue during his one year stint in the military. He thought he would save souls but as he was a weak soul it is speculated that he may have been lead astray or possibly he was afraid of losing his vocation.

St Therese, spiritual mother for priests

Her response was beautiful indeed “I am doing the very best I can to get you the graces you need. These graces will certainly be given you because Our Lord never asks us for sacrifices that are beyond our strength…your lot is truly beautiful since Our Lord chose it for Himself and first put His own lips to the cup which He now holds up to yours. The greatest honour that God can pay to anyone is not to give him much but to ask much from him!”

“Let us work together for the salvation of souls. We have only the one day of this life to save them and thus to give Our Lord some proof of our love. The tomorrow of this day will be eternity, when Jesus will reward you with the hundredfold of those sweet and lawful joys which you are giving up for him”.

He was certain that he was called to be a missionary with the Missionary Society of Paris which was a fast growing band of secular priests who went to mission in third world countries. Here Maurice and Therese shared a desired spiritual direction and apostolate. He eventually joined the White Fathers and went to Africa.

Maurice although corresponding with Therese also communicated with Mother Agnes and Mother Gonzague yet it was Mother Gonzague that really nurtured the relationship between Maurice and Therese.

Mother Agnes ~ Therese's sister, Pauline

Therese understood that her prayers and sufferings she offered were much more useful to him than her letters. Her conviction as a Carmelite was to devote her life to the salvation of souls, through prayer and sacrifice, but especially for priests.

Maurice revived by her reply became “better each time a bit of the holiness lived at Carmel came his way”. Mother Gonzague sent him Therese’s poem “Vivre d’Amour - To Live by Love” his response was ‘One breathes in from it a divine inspiration which makes one pure and strong”. He said he was going to learn it by heart and placed it in his New Testament, a book that never left his side, and this canticle would “accompany him to the end of the world”. He admired her ability to write poetry and tell Jesus her inspired feelings.

Therese didn’t hesitate to take the initiative in their friendship, and her correspondence with Maurice accounted for sixty percent of all the letters she wrote during the last four months of her life.

Through her counsels, sacrifice, prayers and love Maurice developed from an insecure seminarian to a confident young man who had become “joyful like Paul in the midst of trails because he was convinced he was doing God’s will”. A very different Maurice was immerging now than from his first letter. Therese was confident that “there souls were made to understand each other”. As her correspondence to Maurice continued Therese’s darkness of faith increased but her words and soul soared to lofty heights.


Maurice desired still to missionary work and longed for martyrdom. This was a shared desire and attraction for them both and one they shared many a discourse over. Therese realized that “The Lord seems to want to give me only the martyrdom of love, I hope He will allow me through you to gain the other palm which we both desire”

She was able under Mother Gonzague’s direction to send Maurice some of her sixty-two poems - almost all of written were written on request or to celebrate the feast day of one of the sisters in the convent. She writes to Maurice that she was “happy if the good God makes use of my poor verses to do you a little good.” It was clear that her prayers were not only doing Maurice good but deepening in him the same confidence and Love that Therese had.

Maurice and Therese became very close, like sister and brother. Under permission of Mother Gonzague, she started to call him “My dear little brother”. She compared their love to St Margaret Mary and her confessor Father Claude de la Colombiere who staunchly defended Margaret Mary when Church authorities regarded her visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with suspicion.

St Margaret Mary

St Therese was always concerned that Maurice not look at her as a great soul but a very little and very imperfect soul; “a poor flower without distinction”. She wanted Maurice to understand this. She didn’t want him to idealise her as he did in the beginning. Her being a Carmelite made a great impression on him. He needed to understand this, as it was at the heart of the spiritual discovery she had made – her Little Way.

In her childhood she dreamt of fighting on battlefields as the exploits of St Joan of Arc delighted her. She understood that her mission was not to crown a mortal king but to make the King of Heaven loved, to conquer for Him the kingdom of hearts. She desired to proclaim the Gospel in all four corners of the earth. She wanted to be a missionary, a priest, a Doctor of the Church and a martyr but she was called to other exploits and more glorious conquests in the solitude of Carmel.

St Therese dressed as St Joan of Arc

Therese was imparting her Little Way on Maurice. She hastened to do this as by June 1897 her health was rapidly declining and she wanted to finish Maurice’s education. As death was calling her she wrote, “I hope that someday Jesus will make you walk in the same way as me”.

Her most profound intuition was that the very nature of God’s Love is to be merciful. "He does not love us because we deserve to be loved but because we need to be loved." It became the foundation of her Little Way. Through this Little Way she was boosting Maurice’s morale and trying to encourage all the good in him. She agreed with his spiritual director that “God was calling him to be a saint and that he could not be one by halves”.

Fr Maurice as a White Father

Maurice responded with such openness in his next letter, “Do you realize that you open up new horizons to me? Especially in your last letter I find insights on the mercy of Jesus, on the familiarity which He encourages, and on that simplicity in the soul’s relationships with the great God, which until now had hardly occurred to me – doubtless because I was never introduced to them with the same simplicity and persuasion of which your heart is full”.

Maurice discovered that Therese is dying and was devastated. h
He knew she was sick but not so close to heaven as this and had no hope for a cure, “Oh my poor little sister, what a blow for my poor heart! It was so unprepared. Don’t ask of it that joy which you feel at the approach of bliss. It remains attached to its heavy cross…You are about to go away and my heart will be alone once more. Teach me to Love him the way you do”

She responded, “When I shall come into port I shall teach you …of my soul, how you must sail the stormy sea of the world, with abandon and love of a child who knows that his Father cherishes him, and would never think of leaving him alone in the hour of danger.”

Close to her death she reveals to Maurice that Mother Agnes is her sister “twice over” she asks him to take on the attitude of her sister regarding her impending death “that instead of losing me you will find me and that I will never leave you again.” How beautiful and strengthening for him and for us, when we think of the saints in this way, that we have them closer to us from heaven than whilst they were here on earth.

St Therese on her deathbed

Maurice received a picture of St Therese, “I saw you for the first time it was as if I were recognizing you”. He had reconciled himself to her “lightening up the corners of heaven” and that her features (that he now knew from this photograph) lit up and would be “smiling at his very soul and brimming with life.” Maurice had come to terms with the fact that his Spiritual Mother was departing, he took solace in the fact that she would never leave him and that this was only temporary.

He was concerned that when Therese arrived in heaven that Jesus would reveal all his wretchedness to Therese. He said; "if this should happen as soon as he started to speak of it put your hand over his mouth and come to my defence, for without you I don’t have a leg to stand on".

St Therese had particular devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus

By this stage they had become friends deep and true. He was reassured “that she was his angel appointed by God to watch over him, and she had been commanded to stand by him”.


Maurice had developed from a young man desperate for prayer to one offering her his matured and confident prayers. He had grown more solid in his faith, mindful of himself and could reach out to others with maturity and sincere charity – all this due to his openness to the spiritual formation of Therese.

Maurice’s last letter arrived two days after Therese died. He had accomplished his dream of becoming a missionary. It is believed that he set off around the time Therese died. He writes, “I owe you this immense honour of being a missionary of Jesus. You have succeeded completely for it is you who have done this all.” Therese died as he was crossing from Marseilles to Algiers.

White Fathers today

Maurice arrived in Africa an optimistic seminarian and left a broken priest 8 years later. He had joined the White Fathers and even though he travelled much, tried to start new missions and endured the hard conditions, his sensitive nature returned. He was led by some other priests who were much more resilient to the environment of Africa and had no sensitivity to Maurice’s lack of stamina.

He had a close call with Black Water Fever which he thought he would die from but survived after being treated rapidly with medication and rest. He tried his best but left Africa and the White Fathers overwhelmed and discouraged. Maurice was broken by the missions. He slipped badly both physically and psychologically. Slowly he was going out of his mind.

He was found lost and wandering and was brought to a institution at Caen for the insane run by the Bon Sauveur Sisters where he was cared for with dignity until his death on the 14 July 1907, five weeks before his thirty-third birthday. This was the last similarity between him and St Therese as her father also died with a degree of humiliation.


This book by the end had me in tears. It is a profoundly touching book and I would recommend it to all lovers and devotees of St Therese - actually to everyone.
There is a link to where to buy this book in the left side bar.


TO LIVE OF LOVE

Poem of St. Therese of Lisieux

The eve His life of love drew near its end,
Thus Jesus spoke: "Whoever loveth Me,
And keeps My word as Mine own faithful friend,
My Father, then and I his guests will be;
Within his heart will make Our dwelling above.
Our palace home, true type of heaven above.
There, filled with peace, We will that he shall rest,
With us, in love.


Incarnate Word! Thou Word of God alone!
To live of love, 'tis to abide with Thee.
Thou knowest I love Thee, Jesus Christ, my Own!
Thy Spirit's fire of love enkindleth me.
By loving Thee, I draw the Father here
Down to my heart, to stay with me always.
Blest Trinity! Thou art my prisoner dear,
Of love, to-day.


To live of love, 'tis by Thy life to live,
O glorious King, my chosen, sole Delight!
Hid in the Host, how often Thou dost give
Thyself to those who seek Thy radiant light.
Then hid shall be my life, unmarked, unknown,
That I may have Thee heart to heart with me;
For loving souls desire to be alone,
With love, and Thee!


To live of love, 'tis not to fix one's tent
On Tabor's height and there with Thee remain.
'Tis to climb Calvary with strength nigh spent,
And count Thy heavy cross our truest gain.
In heaven, my life a life of joy shall be,
The heavy cross shall then be gone for aye.
Here upon earth, in suffering with Thee,
Love! let me stay.


To live of love, 'tis without stint to give,
An never count the cost, nor ask reward;
So, counting not the cost, I long to live
And show my dauntless love for Thee, dear Lord!
O Heart Divine, o'erflowing with tenderness,
How swift I run, who all to Thee has given!
Naught but Thy love I need, my life to bless.
That love is heaven!


To live of love, it is to know no fear;
No memory of past faults can I recall;
No imprint of my sins remaineth here;
The fire of Love divine effaces all.
O sacred flames! O furnace of delight!
I sing my safe sweet happiness to prove.
In these mild fires I dwell by day, by night.
I live of love!


To live of love, 'tis in my heart to guard
A mighty treasure in a fragile vase.
Weak, weak, am I, O well beloved Lord!
Nor have I yet an angel's perfect grace.
But, if I fall each hour that hurries by,
Thou com'st to me from Thy bright home above,
And, raising me, dost give me strength to cry:
I live of love!


To live of love it is to sail afar
And bring both peace and joy where'er I be.
0 Pilot blest! love is my guiding star;
In every soul I meet, Thyself I see.
Safe sail I on, through wind or rain or ice;
Love urges me, love conquers every gale.
High on my mast behold is my device:
"By love I sail!"


To live of love, it is when Jesus sleeps
To sleep near Him, though stormy waves beat nigh.
Deem not I shall awake Him! On these deeps
Peace reigns, like that the Blessed know on high.
To Hope, the voyage seems one little day;
Faith's hand shall soon the veil between remove;
'Tis Charity that swells my sail always.
I live of love!


To live of love, 0 Master dearest, best!
It is to beg Thee light Thy holiest fires
Within the soul of each anointed priest,
Till he shall feel the Seraphim's desires;
It is to beg Thee guard Thy Church, 0 Christ!
For this I plead with Thee by night, by day;
And give myself, in sacrifice unpriced,
With love always!


To live of love, it is to dry Thy tears,
To seek for pardon for each sinful soul,
To strive to save all men from doubts and fears,
And bring them home to Thy benign control.
Comes to my ear sin's wild and blasphemous roar;
So, to efface each day, that burning shame,
I cry: " 0 Jesus Christ! I Thee adore.
I love Thy Name!"


To live of love, 'tis Mary's part to share,
To bathe with tears and odorous perfume
Thy holy feet, to wipe them with my hair,
To kiss them; then still loftier lot assume,
To rise, and by Thy side to take my place,
And pour my ointments on Thy holy head.
But with no balsams I embalm Thy Face!
'Tis love, instead!


"To live of love, what foolishness she sings!"
So cries the world. "Renounce such idle joy!
Waste not thy perfumes on such trivial things.
In useful arts thy talents now employ!"
To love Thee, Jesus! Ah, this loss is gain;
For all my perfumes no reward seek I.
Quitting the world, I sing in death's sweet pain:
Of love I die!


To die of love, O martyrdom most blest!
For this I long, this is my heart's desire;
My exile ends; I soon will be at rest.
Ye Cherubim, lend, lend to me your lyre!
O dart of Seraphim, O flame of love,
Consume me wholly; hear my ardent cry!
Jesu, make real my dream! Come Holy Dove!
Of love I die!


To die of love, behold my life's long hope!
God is my one exceeding great reward.
He of my wishes forms the end and scope;
Him only do I seek; my dearest Lord.
With passionate love for Him my heart is riven.
O may He quickly come! He draweth nigh!
Behold my destiny, behold my heaven,
OF LOVE TO DIE.

Indulgenced First Thursday

Before each First Thursday in the Year of the Priest, we remind others that the day is nearly upon us.

Here is the requirements for the lay person to obtain a Plenary and Partial indulgence for this day. These indulgences can be for ourselves or we can offer them for a holy soul in purgatory, to offer our indulgences for a departed priest is another way to show our deep gratitude for these special ministers of the Lord.

Steps for the lay faithful to receive a Plenary Indulgence for the First Thursday

Attend Holy Mass

Receive the Sacrament of Penance

(can be transferred to either weekend if confessional times are set then)

Pray for priests

(Check out our lefthand sidebar for many lovely prayers for priests.)

Pray for the intentions of the Holy Father

(Offering an Our Father and a Hail Mary for his intentions)

For the mind to be detached from any sin


Steps for the sick and elderly and those who cannot leave the home, to receive Plenary Indulgence


For the mind to be detached from any sin

With the intention of fulfilling as soon as possible the three usual conditions

(confession, Holy Mass, Pray for the intentions of the Holy Father)

Confidently offer the illnesses and hardships of their lives to God through Mary Queen of Apostles.

Recite duly approved prayers for the sanctification of priests


Obtaining a Partial Indulgence

The Partial Indulgence is granted to all the faithful every time they devoutly recite five Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glorias, or another expressly approved prayer, in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to obtain that priests be preserved in purity and holiness of life.

Here is a prayer to the Sacred Heart for Priests written by St Therese of Lisieux:

(click open to enlarge)

Our new Priests in Focus for the Week

Every Thursday we change the three priests names for the Weekly Priests in Focus. (We have now changed to add three priests per week.)

We are encouraging ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned when visiting our site (You will see the above widget in the top righthand sidebar under our header) and also may wish to off an Ave for these priests any other time in the week that you may remember.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests, whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

This week's priests are:

Fr Gregory Jordan, Fr Terrence Mary Naughtin & Fr Columba Macbeth-Green

A list of the priests we have prayed for individually here are in the right hand sidebar down the bottom.

If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus please email us and we would more than happy to add that priest to our list.

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!