HAIL MAMA MARY, We Need Help!

Posted on January 31, 2017 by the Bouchers

On May 28, 1792 when there were barely two dozen priests and 35,000  Catholics in this country, John Carroll, first bishop of the United States, entrusted us all to Mary, the Mother of Jesus.  Several generations later, in 1846, the bishops of the United States unanimously chose Mary, to be the Patroness of the United States of America. Closer to our time and during his first Pastoral Visit to the United States in October 1979, Pope St. John Paul II entrusted all of us to the Blessed Virgin at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Now it is time for all of us to approach Mary for help again.

We think one way to do this is to create personalized, spontaneous litanies for the leaders of our country, especially when feeling anxious about a newscast or social media post.  Therese stumbled upon this way to pray when she was very concerned about a grown child. Repetition of this brief prayer form has given Therese great relief.

Step One:  Greet Mary by praying the entire Hail Mary or through a song.

Step Two: Prayerfully repeat just the second half of the Hail Mary for the struggling political leader or government official. No need to write anything down. Just pray for whomever comes to mind.

Holy Mary, mother of God and mother of  __________    (name), pray for us [optional: now and at the hour of our death. Amen.]

Spend as little as five minutes or as long as twenty minutes; either praying for this one person over and over again, or pray for several people, one at a time, repeating step two with another name for as long as necessary. “Pray FOR US” is an important act of compassionate solidarity for the leader in question.

Step Three: End by thanking God for listening and by reading Psalm 23.

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Prayer: Tapping into the Power and Roots of Evangelizing Love

Posted on January 12, 2017 by the Bouchers

St. Thérèse of Lisieux first began to pray for the conversion of others by praying for a hardened criminal who was to be hanged. And at the last possible moment, this man grasped the crucifix in a priest’s hand and kissed Jesus.

The first truth behind intercessory prayer is that we join in God’s work to overcome all obstacles to his love for us and for others. We might use psalms, Mass readings, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, silence, tears, descriptions of another’s needs, or worship music. The possibilities are endless but the decision is the same. We submit ourselves and others to God in prayer.

Second, we pray so that the seeds of God’s love within us will grow, helping us build life-giving relationships that both imitate Christ’s life and connect others to Jesus.  Then our continued, ongoing surrender to the Holy Spirit, actually creates an atmosphere of love in which virtues become tested paths for relationships. Through grace, both we and those we love through prayer are grafted, as small twigs or large branches, onto an ever-expanding vine that courses with the love of the Trinity in daily life.

Third, we can ask for and receive virtues like respect, forgiveness, gratitude, affirming others, patience, honesty, and a healing presence through the power of the Holy Spirit. And finally, we can become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, who is the primary agent of evangelization. We can open ourselves to the Spirit’s power and compassionate wisdom, guiding us in the details of what to say and do as we bring others to Jesus. So take heart about those who seem hopeless.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life…  nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

Excerpted from Mending Broken Relationships

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The Gift that Can be Opened Again and Again

Posted on December 8, 2016 by the Bouchers

Guest Blogger: Deanna Bosco Sass

Living for Jesus Christ matters. In high school I became part of a small group of about eight students who met every morning at the flagpole for a prayer service.  This same group also asked the school board for permission to start a “Bible Club”.  And we were also part of a teen Charismatic prayer group in our parish, as well as teaching religious education there. But still, most of my classmates weren’t particularly interested in religion… until much later.

Others remember a person of faith. At our 40th high school reunion, amidst-the blasting music, the hugs, and the squeals of delight upon recognized one another through the disguise of graying hair and wrinkles, IT began to happen.  My classmates remembered me as a person of faith. And now some wanted to share their own spiritual journeys. One by one, my classmates shared their sacred tales with me:  tales of Cancer, (healing) divorce, (remarriage) death of parents, (becoming grandparents) unemployment, (retirement), loss of homes, rebuilding lives touched by loneliness, infidelity, drug and alcohol abuse. And in the midst of it all, many remarkable classmates found God, and they couldn’t wait to share.

An open door for faith sharing. One story in particular touched me very deeply. One former loud and proud agnostic took me by the hand and said, “I want to tell you what happened to me. Five years ago, I was down to 80 pounds and in the end stages of cancer. Then I was admitted to the hospital because of a bothersome, but threatening, yeast infection in my mouth. In the middle of the night, a nun came in to my room, and wrapped a hand-knitted shawl around my frail shoulders. The person who made it prayed with every stitch, for the person who would receive it. And then she herself prayed with me. Right then and there, I accepted Jesus into my heart. I prayed to Him, as if I had known Him all my life, I cried, and I begged Him to heal me. That next morning I mysteriously ‘turned a corner,’ my labs improved, my appetite came back, and I began to heal. The cancer was gone. That was five years ago. Since then, I go to daily Mass, and I praise Jesus, every day before my feet hit the ground!”

We need each other’s gift of faith. It was a great delight that Jesus could use my witness of forty plus years ago, to prepare me as a ‘receptacle’ of these sacred stories from my classmates. They may not have needed for God at 17, but at 58 they had to a whole new perspective on life. I was so blessed by their stories. I left that reunion, with a heart overflowing with gratitude to the God who never gives up on us. Jesus pursues us with His gratuitous gift of love, until we are ready to receive it.

Deanna Sass is the Director of the Department of Pastoral Care, Diocese of Trenton, a Counselor/Psychotherapist, and a Spiritual Director. To reach her write JourneyWithYou@aol.com

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