St. Monica's Prayer Group

There is a prayer group at the Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Ottawa devoted to St. Monica. Many Catholics pray daily for family members who are away from the Church. This is why this group was started a couple of years ago – for people to pray for their loved ones.

St. Monica prayed for 17 years for the conversion of her son St. Augustine. Her prayers were answered and St. Augustine is now one of the Church's most influential Christian theologians and is also a Doctor of the church.

If St. Monica can do this with prayers for her son, so can we.

Every day after Mass the group prays the St. Monica prayer before a picture of St. Monica, which the group places underneath a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is a beautiful and fruitful devotion that any congregation can incorporate into their own parish life. And it only takes a few minutes to say the suggested prayers.

The prayers begin with the St. Michael prayer, Our Lady of Guadalupe pray for us, then the St. Monica prayer, then the Memorare to our Blessed Mother. Finally the group says a prayer for priests, with a different prayer every day from different saints (all the prayers are shown here at this link):

1... Monday - Thérèse of the Child Jesus, of the Holy Face

2…Tuesday - Pope Benedict XVI

3... Wednesday - St. Teresa of Calcutta

4… Thursday - St. Faustina (from her Diary)

5… Friday - St. John Vianney

6… Saturday - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

7… Sunday - Cardinal Justin Rigali

St. Monica pray for us! St. Augustine pray for us!

Members of the group made the following two pilgrimages recently:

Pilgrimage from Our Lady of Grace Grotto of the Parish to Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Vanier.

Pilgrimage to St. Joseph's oratory the St. Monica's prayer group did a couple of weeks ago. 

Thanks to Maureen for the pictures and videos of the two pilgrimages.

Prayers for the St. Monica's Prayer Group

 Saint Monica Prayer Group

Annunciation of the Lord Parish – Ottawa, ON, Canada

In the Name of the Father…

I…Prayer to Saint Michael, the Archangel

Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

II… Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pray for us

III…Prayer to Saint Monica

I cried unto the Lord in my distress, and He heard me

Dear Saint Monica,

You were once the mournful mother of a prodigal son. Your faithfulness to prayer brought you and your son so close to God that you are now with him in eternity. By your intercession and God’s grace, your son St. Augustine became a great and venerable Saint of the Church. Please take my request to God with the same fervour and persistence with which you prayed for your own son.

(Mention your intentions here)

With your needs, worries, and anxieties, you threw yourself on the mercy and providence of God. Through sorrow and pain, you constantly devoted yourself to God. Pray for me, that I might join you in such a deep faith in God’s goodness and mercy.

Above all, dear Saint Monica, pray for me, that I may, like your son, turn from my sin and become a great saint for the glory of God. Amen

IV… A Daily Prayer for Priests, Seminarians and Vocations to the Priesthood. We pray especially for the Companions of the Cross, the priests at our parish & Pope Leo XIV

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 come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

1. Monday... Thérèse of the Child Jesus, of the Holy Face

O Jesus, I pray for your faithful and fervent priests; for your unfaithful and tepid priests; For your priests labouring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for your tempted priests; For your lonely and desolate priests; For your young priests; for your dying priests; for the souls of your priests in purgatory.

But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me: the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me your Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way especially I pray for…………………………

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen

2…Tuesday … Pope Benedict XVI

Lord Jesus Christ, eternal High Priest, you offered yourself to the Father on the altar of the cross and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave your priestly people a share in your redeeming sacrifice.

Hear our prayer for the sanctification of our priests. Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood may be ever more conformed to you, the Divine Master. May they preach the Gospel with a pure heart and clear conscience. Let them be shepherds according to your own heart, single-minded in service to You and to the Church, and shining examples of a holy, simple, and joyful life.

Through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your Mother, and ours, draw all priests and the flocks entrusted to their care to the fullness of eternal life where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

3.. Wednesday - St. Teresa of Calcutta

Mary, Mother of Jesus, throw your mantle of purity over our priests. Protect them, guide them, and keep them in your heart. Be a Mother to them, especially in times of discouragement and loneliness. Love them and keep them belonging completely to Jesus

Like Jesus, they, too, are your sons, so keep their hearts pure and virginal. Keep their minds filled with Jesus, and put Jesus always on their lips, so that He is the one they offer to the sinner and to all they meet.

Mary, Mother of Jesus, be their Mother, loving them and bringing them joy. Take special care of sick and dying priests, and the ones most tempted. Remember how they spent their youth and old age, their entire lives serving and giving all to Jesus.

Mary, bless them and keep a special place for them in your heart. Give them a piece of your heart, so beautiful and pure and immaculate, so full of love and humility, so that they, too, can grow in the likeness of Christ. Dear Mary, make them humble like you, and holy like Jesus. Amen.

4… Thursday - St. Faustina (from her Diary)

O my Jesus, I beg you on behalf of the whole Church: Grant it love and the light of your Spirit, and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to you, O Lord.

Lord, give us holy priests; You, Yourself maintain them in holiness.

O Divine and Great High Priest, may the power of your mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil’s traps and snares which are continually being set for the souls of priests.

May the power of your mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for you can do all things. Amen

5… Friday - St. John Vianney

God, please give to your Church today many more priests after your own heart. May they be worthy representatives of Christ the Good Shepherd.

May they wholeheartedly devote themselves to prayer and penance; be examples of humility and poverty; shining models of holiness; tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God; zealous dispensers of your grace in the sacraments.

May their loving devotion to your Son, Jesus, in the Eucharist and to Mary his Mother be the twin fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry. Amen

6… Saturday - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Gracious and loving God, we thank you for the gift of our priests. Through them, we experience Your presence in the sacraments. Help our priests to be strong in their vocation. Set their souls on fire with love for your people.

Grant them the wisdom, understanding, and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Inspire them with the vision of your Kingdom.

Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel. Allow them to experience joy in their ministry.

Help them become instruments of your divine grace. We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our Eternal Priest. Amen.

7… Sunday - Cardinal Justin Rigali

A Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament for the Increase of Priestly and Religious Vocations

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal Father, Son of the Virgin Mary, we thank you for offering your life in sacrifice on the Cross, and for renewing this sacrifice in every Mass celebrated throughout the world.

In the Power of the Holy Spirit we adore you and proclaim your living presence in the Eucharist. We desire to imitate the love you show us in your death and resurrection by loving and serving one another.

We ask you to call many young people to religious life and to provide the holy and generous priests that are so needed in your Church today. Lord Jesus, hear our prayer. Amen.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Today was the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Fr. Michael explained to us in his homily that today is a good day to ask Jesus for what we need or want. Not that we will get it, but a very good day to ask.

Two important considerations of this beautiful Feast day.

1) People often do not believe in Jesus's profound love for us. We can ask Him to give us the graces and Love that other people refuse from Jesus. 

Jesus's heart is the source of all consolation; all people in heaven are dying for the heart of Jesus. His love is raging for us. He wants us to believe in his love for us.

2) Jesus calls us for reparation for our lack of Love. We often reproach Jesus for taking things away from us (ie. you took my daughter away from me, etc). His heart is bruised from our reproaches; from our refusal of His love for us. 

Some people look down upon the Eucharist, and or receive Communion unworthily.

St. Therese Lisieux said I will take all the Love that others reject. Jesus, give me the love that is rejected by others. 

Fr. Michael suggested that we say the Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus every day. What a beautiful way to pray to the Sacred Heart.

St Michael the Archangel pray for us

I had a dream. I was in a building with multiple floors in it and I was in a room like a classroom. There was a man there who came up very close to me within my space and I didn't like it. He made my skin crawl. The next thing I knew I was leaving the room and he reached his hand inside my purse and took my wallet and moved away from me. I remember next that there were four of these men and I was trying to escape them and I was running through doorways, and down multiple staircases, through the building trying to escape them. I ended up in a room with a lot of people in it. All of a sudden the men appeared in the room with me. I couldn't figure out how they were able to track me into the room since I had taken a circuitous route to get there. But there they were, with me again. And then I began to recite the Saint Michael prayer and as I recited it they moved away from me. I continued to recite the prayer, and as I recited it, and when I started saying it very loudly, they would disappear through the walls away from me. When I took a break from reciting the prayer they would return. I continued to recite it very loudly and in fact my voice became hoarse. At one point one of them jumped over a railing from a balcony and disappeared. He didn't return. I don't know what happened to him. Then I woke up.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen 

Seeing a Eucharistic Miracle in Santarem Portugal

On my recent pilgrimage to Fatima, Lourdes, Santiago de Compostela, etc., one stop was at Santarem, Portugal. A Eucharistic Miracle took place here in the 13th century. We were able to see this miracle first hand. This short video explains what happened in this miracle.

To say I was moved by seeing this miracle is an understatement. I wept. In fact I couldn't stop weeping.

I had heard about Eucharistic Miracles before seeing the one at Santarem, and to this day, they still occur. More recent Eucharistic miracles have been tested by scientists. These miracles reveal some astonishing similarities. 

I include the conclusions on the scientific testing done on these most recent miracles. I also include the Miracle in Lanciano from 750 AD, which was also tested scientifically in 1971.

The Eucharistic Miracle in Tixla, Mexico in 2006

• Bishop Alejo Zavala Castro formed a theological commission to investigate the phenomenon, and to determine whether the host was supernatural or simply a hoax of some kind. Dr. Ricardo Castañón Gomez, who had also investigated the Buenos Aires miracle of 1996, led a team of scientists in an intensive study of the host between 2009 and 2012. The study reported the following findings:
• The reddish substance “corresponds to blood in which there are hemoglobin and DNA of human origin.
• The blood type was found to be AB, which corresponds to the miracles at Buenos Aires and Lanciano, as well as traces found on the Shroud of Turin.
• Forensic experts found that the substance originates from the interior of the host, which would seem to discount the theory that it was somehow planted from outside.
• Part of the blood was found to have been coagulated since 2006, but further examination shows the presence of flesh blood from 2010.
• The blood contains intact white blood cells, red blood cells, and active macrophages that engulf lipids, indicating an active metabolism.
• The tissue seems to correspond to the muscle of the heart, the myocardium, as found in other Eucharistic miracles. Further, this was found to be living cardiac muscle. Normally after 48 hours, the tissue dies, but this case, 3 months had passed before the results could actually be obtained.
• The study concluded that “the event has no natural explanation.”

Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1996

• Taken only a few weeks after the host was first discovered, the photographs showed that the host had grown in size, and now had the appearance of bloody flesh. After three years of observation, the host had not shown signs of decomposing, so Bishop Bergoglio asked that it be scientifically analyzed.
• In 1999, Dr. Frederick Zugibe, a cardiologist and forensic pathologist, began performing tests on the miraculous host. What he discovered about the composition of the host is truly stunning:
• The analyzed material appeared to be a fragment of heart muscle typically found in the wall of the left ventricle of the heart, close to the valves.
• This type of muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart, and the left ventricle connects nearly all the organ systems by pumping oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
• The blood found on the sample was indeed human, and type AB, which also matches the blood found on the host of Lanciano and from samples extracted from the Shroud of Turin, believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus.
• The tissue appeared to be in an inflamed state, and contained a large number of white blood cells, indicating that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken, since these white blood cells die outside of a living organism.
• Furthermore, the white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, further indicating that the heart was under severe stress, as if the person themselves had been beaten severely near the chest area.
• In an effort to keep the studies as objective as possible, Dr. Zugibe was not informed about the origin of the samples he had analyzed. But after completing the studies, he remarked, “You have to explain one thing to me: If this sample came from a dead person, how could it be that while I was examining it, the cells of the sample were moving and pulsating? If the heart came from someone who died in 1996, how could it still be alive?” When he was informed that the samples had been taken from the miraculous host, he stated, “This will remain an inexplicable mystery to science—a mystery totally beyond her competence.”

Sokolka Poland in 2008

• On October 29, the container with the host was transferred to the Divine Mercy Chapel in the rectory and placed in the tabernacle. The next day, by decision of the archbishop, the stained host was taken out of the water and placed on a small corporal, which was then put back in the tabernacle. The host was kept this way for three years, until it was solemnly brought to the church on Oct. 2, 2011. A piece of the altered host was taken and analyzed independently by two experts in order to ensure the credibility of the results.
• When the samples were taken for analysis, the undissolved part of the consecrated host had become embedded in the cloth. However, the red blood clot was as clear as ever. This transformed part of the host was dry and fragile, inextricably interwoven with the rest of the fragment, which had kept the form of bread.
• The results of both independent studies were in perfect agreement. They concluded that the structure of the transformed fragment of the host is identical to the myocardial (heart) tissue of a living person who is nearing death. The structure of the heart muscle fibers is deeply intertwined with that of the bread, in a way impossible to achieve with human means. The studies proved that no foreign substance was added to the consecrated host; rather, part of the host took the form of heart muscle of a person near death. This kind of phenomenon is inexplicable by the natural sciences.

The Miracle of Lanciano, 750 AD 

• The fame of this miracle spread throughout the world over the centuries, but in the 20th century, a time when perhaps we needed it most, even more was revealed. In 1970, Pope Paul VI commissioned a series of studies of the miraculous host of Lanciano. Drs. Ruggero Bertelli and Odoardo Linoli, both doctors of human anatomy and histology, performed separate investigations, which corroborated each other’s findings. Further studies were taken up by the World Health Organization in 1973 and again by Dr. Bertelli in 1981, both of which confirmed the findings and discovered even more information.
• So what did these studies find? The results are truly stunning:
• The flesh has the same structure as heart tissue (myocardium) and the membrane of tissue lining cardiac cavities (endocardium). The flesh was also discovered as being fresh, as opposed to 1,200 years old, with no trace of preservatives.
• The globules of blood were also of human origin and determined to be of type AB. Further, while blood taken from a cadaver would deteriorate quickly, these samples continued to maintain the same properties of fresh blood.

The Most Remarkable Miracle of the Middle Ages

• The Miracles in the Age of Science
• Until the 1990s, Lanciano was the only proven case of the Eucharist turning into human flesh. Other cases have not been tested with modern scientific equipment, nor have the many dozens of bloodstains on corporals and chalices that have been preserved and are venerated as having come from bleeding hosts. But in 1992, the miracles started happening again.
• 1992 and 1996, Buenos Aires, Argentina: In 1992, consecrated particles left on the corporal were put into water to dissolve and locked in the tabernacle, as the Church prescribes for disposing of consecrated hosts. One week later, they had changed into a red substance. Then again in 1996 after a consecrated host fell to the ground and was also put in water to dissolve, it was found a few days later to have turned into a bloody substance. Both cases were sent to be tested by the archbishop of Buenos Aires, who was none other than our future Pope Francis.
• 2006, Tixtla, Mexico: During a retreat, a religious sister who was distributing Communion looked down and noticed that one of the Hosts had begun to bleed and transform.
• 2008, Sokolka, Poland: A consecrated Host fell to the ground during Communion and was put in water and locked in a tabernacle to dissolve. A week later, most of the Host was dissolved except for a red “clot” that remained.
• 2013, Legnica, Poland: A consecrated Host fell and was put in water and locked in a tabernacle. Two weeks later a red spot covered one-fifth of the undissolved Host.
• Startling Scientific Results
• Each of these occurrences received intensive study with highly advanced technology. In several cases, doctors did not know the source of the material. And yet, in all the cases, the same results were found, and are consistent with the results of Lanciano, providing even more details due to more advanced science:
• The blood is human, AB blood type; human DNA was found; white blood cells, red blood cells, hemoglobin, and mycrophages were present, indicating fresh blood; in the Tixtla miracle, the blood clearly emanated from within, because the blood on the surface had begun to coagulate but the interior blood was still fresh, as with a bleeding wound
• The flesh is human myocardium tissue of the left ventricle of an inflamed heart; in the miracles from Argentina and Poland, there was evidence of trauma from the presence of thrombi, indicating repeated lack of oxygen; lesions present showed rapid cardiac spasms typical in the final phases of death
• In the Sokolka miracle, the remaining host is tightly interconnected with the fibers of human tissue, penetrating each other inseparably – as if the bread were transforming into flesh. “Even NASA scientists, who have at their disposal the most modern analytical techniques, would not be able to artificially recreate such a thing,” affirmed Dr. Sobaniec-Lotowska, one of the examining experts.
• Dr. Frederick Zugibe, a forensic doctor at Columbia University who examined the Argentinian miracle, did not know the source of the sample and told the doctor who brought it to him, “If white blood cells were present (in the heart tissue), it is because at the moment you brought me the sample, it was pulsating.” When he learned the source of the sample, he was shocked and deeply moved.

St. Zelie Martin an amazing mother and saint

Most of what I write about (abortion) is depressing. My protection against this evil is to turn to Jesus, Mary, and the saints. One of the best places I can do this (apart from Mass, the Rosary and the Sacraments) is to turn to the Discerning Hearts podcast. Kris McGregor is the host. She has literally a ton of good spiritual content from interviews with book authors, to conferences on saints, to audio books, to novenas, to...you name it.

The content is a healing salve for the soul. I download the episodes to my phone, and can listen to them off-line when I am walking or driving, or doing housework, etc.

Two of my favourite conferences are with Fr. Timothy Gallagher on St. Therese's sister Leonie Martin and Therese's parents St. Louis and St. Zelie Martin (which I am listening to now). Their life was not easy: Leonie's life was very difficult, the deaths of four of Zelie's and Louis' young children, breast cancer, war, etc. So much suffering but also so much joy.

I have read the Story of a Soul by St. Therese. But I find Therese hard to relate to--a great saint to be sure but honestly I just don't really get her. So listening to the letters from her mother (which there are many) about her family (and the commentary) I have found to be absolutely breathtakingly beautiful and hopeful.

If you need a break from the woke world we now live in, check our Discerning Hearts and pick a gem from their basket of precious jewels, of which there are many.

St. Zelie and St. Louis

Servant of God Leonie Martin

There is no problem that cannot be solved by the Rosary

One of the most beautiful spiritual books I have ever come across is this one IN SINU JESU. The book is written by an anonymous Benedictine monk.

From the description of the book:

"In 2007, Our Lord and Our Lady began to speak to the heart of a monk in the silence of adoration. He was prompted to write down what he received, and thus was born In Sinu Jesu, whose pages shine with an intense luminosity and heart-warming fervor that speak directly to the inner and outer needs of our time with a unique power to console and challenge."

Here is the entry from Tuesday, December 2, 2014 on the Rosary. This is a private revelation where Jesus is speaking to the monk:

"There is no problem or difficulty that cannot be solved or resolved by faithful persevering recourse to My Mother's most holy Rosary. The Rosary is My Mother's gift to the poor and to the simple, to the little ones who alone are capable of hearing the Gospel in all its purity and of responding to it with a generous heart. It is to such as these - the childlike and the weak, the poor and the trusting - that the Rosary is given. It is to such as these that the Rosary belongs.

There are no sufferings that cannot be borne peacefully, so long as a soul is praying the Rosary. Through the Rosary, all the grace and power of My mysteries passes through My Mother's Immaculate Heart into the hearts of the little ones who invoke her, repeating the angel's "Ave" over and over again. There are illnesses that can be cured through the Rosary. There are clouds of darkness and confusion that only the Rosary can disperse, and this because it is My Mother's favourite prayer, a prayer that originated in the heights of heaven and was carried to earth by My Archangel, a prayer echoed and amplified in the Church through the ages, a prayer loved by all My saints, a prayer of disarming power and of immense depth.

There are those who find the Rosary difficult. The difficulty lies not in the Rosary but in the complexity of those who struggle to enter into its simplicity. Invite souls to the prayer of the Rosary; through it I will heal the sick of mind and body, through it I will give peace where there is conflict, through it I will make great saints out of great sinners, through it I will sanctify My priests, give joy to My consecrated ones, and raise up new vocations in abundance.

Listen, then, to My Mother's plea in so many places. Listen to her, take her plea to heart, pray her Rosary and, for you, as for her, My Father will do wondrous things."

This is the hopeful message Canada and the world needs right now. We need to say so many Rosaries.