This past weekend, the four of us were together for a variety of joyous reasons. Our time spend in community, prayer, discernment, and fellowship was truly blessed.
Last Saturday we had a day of recollection. At that time our little community of aspirants were praying a novena to Sts. Simon and Jude, to end on their feast. When Brother unlocked the Church there was a huge statue and relic of the saint. We were so happy to pray the novena for our very special intention there. Throughout the course of the novena, St. Jude was everywhere, in little icons or statues in the various Churches and prayer books we were using.
What I love about the saints is that they, as fellow members of the Body of Christ, intercede for us in amazing ways. Why, because each and every saint at one time was in our exact position seeking the will of God in their life in complete abandonment and striving for holiness. On that path to holiness, each and every one of them, like us, sought the intercession of the saints who passed before them. It's a beautiful exchange!
In my life there are a few saints who I feel a special relationship with. This relationship is so special because it's these saints I run to when I have a special intention and it's these saints who seem to pop up in the little everyday areas of my life, and also in the big areas of my life. Sometimes it's hard to tell if I chose them or they chose me because of the amazing ways they, through the work of God of course, are present to me in my greatest need or day to day littleness.
One such saint in my life is Blessed Pope John Paul II; which is interesting because his impact on my life extends back to his pontificate when I was a little girl and his canonization hasn't happened yet. I remember seeing him on TV when I was very young, 5 or 6 maybe, and seeing his great love and thinking to myself, "I want to be like him when I grow up." I was so interested in his life and works and saw so much love and goodness in everything he did. I was on a retreat in Adoration when the announcement came that he passed away. My heart hurt as if I had lose my own father, who was and still is perfectly healthy. Every part of the discernment of my vocation comes from JPII. I could go on and on but that would take several pages so I will skip to this past Monday. We had a very blessed meeting at that time. Before the meeting I asked his intercession, and during the meeting I looked over and hanging on the wall was a document that he signed. All of a sudden I felt as if he was sitting at the table with us.
The saints don't always pop into lives like that and provide such spiritual consolations. Yet they are present to us to assist us on our journey to Heaven. Sometimes they can inspire within us something about the faith we never thought of before. Also on Saturday during our day of reflection there was a statue of St. Peregrine who is the patron saint of those suffering from cancer. At the feet of the statue was a relic of the saint. As I was praying I was attempting to recall anyone I know with cancer to pray for, and in addition, my heart was overwhelmed with the desire to pray for our culture. I prayed that our culture be healed from the cancers of secularization, relativism, consumerism, atheism, and selfishness that are running rampant in our world, attacking the souls of man. I was struck anew by the great role this saint has in the work of the New Evangelization. The New Evangelization calls us to be evnagelized to go forth to evangelize. In order to do that many individuals, or even communities, need to be healed of these cancers in order to be truly open to the Gospel message. Now I have added to my prayers the intercession of St. Peregrine.
Today is the Feast of All Saints. Today we, as a Church, celebrate every single saint. I always find it a great joy to, on this day, pray the Litany of Saints because when we get to the part where we ask "All you holy men and women prayer for us," they do. The saints are wonderful examples to us of conversion, perseverance, virtuous living, holy vocation, and love of the faith even unto death. Let us look to the saints not only as examples, but let us seek their intercession on our behalf that we may grow in virtue, holiness, and ready our hearts for the white or red martyrdom to come.
Litany of Saints
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven,
have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,
have mercy on us.
Holy Mary,
pray for us.
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of virgins,
St. Michael,
St. Gabriel,
St. Raphael,
All you Holy Angels and Archangels,
St. John the Baptist,
St. Joseph,
All you Holy Patriarchs and Prophets,
St. Peter,
St. Paul,
St. Andrew,
St. James,
St. John,
St. Thomas,
St. James,
St. Philip,
St. Bartholomew,
St. Matthew,
St. Simon,
St. Jude,
St. Matthias,
St. Barnabas,
St. Luke,
St. Mark,
All you holy Apostles and Evangelists,
All you holy Disciples of the Lord,
All you holy Innocents,
St. Stephen,
St. Lawrence,
St. Vincent,
Sts. Fabian and Sebastian,
Sts. John and Paul,
Sts. Cosmas and Damian,
St. Edith Stein,
St. Maria Goretti,
St. Isaac Jogues,
St. Maximillian Kolbe,
All you holy Martyrs,
St. Sylvester,
St. Gregory,
St. Ambrose,
St. Augustine,
St. Jerome,
St. Martin,
St. Nicholas,
All you holy Bishops and Confessors,
St. Therese of Lisieux,
All you holy Doctors,
St. Anthony,
St. Benedict,
St. Bernard,
St. Dominic,
St. Francis,
St. Padre Pio,
St. John Vianney,
St. John of the Cross,
St. Francis Xavier,
St. Francis de Sales,
St. Thomas Aquinas,
Blessed Pope John Paul II,
All you holy Priests and Levites,
All you holy Monks and Hermits,
St. Mary Magdalene,
St. Agatha,
St. Lucy,
St. Agnes,
St. Cecilia,
St. Anastasia,
St. Catherine
St. Clare,
St. Maria Faustina,
St. Kateri Tekakwitha,
St. Marianne Cope,
St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton,
St. Katharine Drexel,
St. Elizabeth of Hungary,
Blessed Mother Teresa,
All you holy Virgins and Widows,
All you holy men and women,
pray for us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord Jesus, hear our prayer.
Lord Jesus, hear our prayer.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Written by Nicolette
