CATHOLIC SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

CATHOLIC

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

"Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven." --Saint Pope Pius X

GOSPEL FOR SUNDAY

February 5th

Mark 1: 29-39

On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you." He told them, "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come." So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.

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MASS READINGS FOR SUNDAY

Above Picture from: Standard Bible Story Readers, Book Two -- Peter's mother-in-law was healed,http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/Pictures/Standard%20Bible%20Story%20Readers,%20Book%20Two/target31.html

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION FOR TODAY

[The works of a well known Catholic Spiritual Director will be featured in this space each week.]

THE LITTLE FLOWERS OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

by: Ugolino of Montegiorgio

PART ONE

CHAPTER XXXI (Part I)

HOW ST FRANCIS WAS ACQUAINTED WITH THE SECRETS OF THE CONSCIENCES OF ALL HIS BRETHREN

As our Lord Jesus Christ says in his Gospel, I know my sheep and mine know me, so the holy St Francis, like a good shepherd, knew, through divine revelation, all the merits and virtues of his companions, and also their defects and faults, and was enabled to deal with them according to their needs - humbling the proud and exalting the humble, rebuking vice and praising virtue - as we read in the wonderful revelations which were made to him by God with regard to his first children. Amongst others, we are told that once St Francis was with his companions in a convent talking of God, when Brother Ruffino was absent, being in contemplation in the forest; and, as the saint was conversing with them, Brother Ruffino passed by at some distance, whereon St Francis asked them whom they believed to be the holiest soul in the world. They answered immediately, that they believed it to be St Francis. The saint reproved them, saying: "Beloved brothers, I am the most unworthy and the vilest of all men in the world; but see there Brother Ruffino, who is now coming out of the forest; the Lord has revealed to me that his soul is one of the three most holy on earth; and I tell you candidly, I should not hesitate to call him St Ruffino even during his lifetime, his soul being full of grace, and sanctified and canonised in heaven by our Lord Jesus Christ." This opinion St Francis never expressed in the presence of Brother Ruffino. That he was equally acquainted with the defects of his brethren, we learn in the case of Brother Elias, whom he often reproved for his pride; and of Brother John della Cappella, to whom he foretold that he would hang himself; and of that brother who was seized by the devil as a punishment for his disobedience; and of many others whose defects and virtues were clearly revealed to him by Christ.

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THE ENTIRE WORK: THE LITTLE FLOWERS OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

PRAYER TO
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

O Beloved Saint Francis, gentle and poor, your obedience to God, and your simple, deep love for all God's creatures led you to the heights of heavenly perfection and turned many hearts to follow God's will. Now in our day, in our ministry to the many who come here searching for peace and intercede for us we come before the Lord with our special requests... (Mention your special intentions here...) O Blessed Saint of God, from your throne among the hosts of heaven, present our petitions before our faithful Lord. May your prayers on our behalf be heard and may God grant us the grace to lead good and faithrful lives. Amen Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

PRAYERS FOR THE DAY

MORNING PRAYER
AFTERNOON PRAYER
EVENING PRAYER

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PRAYER TO BLESSED JOHN PAUL II FOR HIS INTERCESSION:

Blessed Pope John Paul II, you spent your life deeply immersed in the truths of the Catholic Faith. You led us by your great example of love and self-sacrifice and you successively led millions to love Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Church.

We now ask for your intercession for those who are troubled and in need:

Pope John Paul II, please pray for the Holy Catholic Church and for the following prayer request: [state your prayer request.]

SEE: EWTN Biography on Pope John Paul II

PRAY FOR THE END OF ABORTION

END THE ABORTION HOLOCAUST

OVER 50 MILLION CHILDREN HAVE BEEN MURDERED SINCE 1973 BY ABORTION

PRAY THAT THE NEXT U.S. PRESIDENT WOULD BE PROLIFE AND WOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO OUTLAW ABORTION

PRAY THE ROSARY TODAY FOR ABORTION TO BE MADE ILLEGAL
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

REPUBILICAN CANDIDATES STAND ON ABORTION IN 2012

MORE ON ABORTION

SAVE BABIES EVERYDAY AT YOUR LOCAL ABORTION CLINIC THROUGH SIDEWALK COUNSELING

MARIAN PRAYERS

Saint Louis De Montfort stresses that people should give there hearts and wills to Jesus through Mary and that by doing this a soul will be able to soar toward God. See Saint Louis's book True Devotion To Mary. Saint Louis warns of the devil's great ability to deceive souls, including souls of saints:

"Because the devils, who are skillful thieves, wish to surprise us unawares, and to strip us. They watch day and night for the favorable moment. For that end they go round about us incessantly to devour us and to snatch from us in one momsin, all the graces and merits we have gained for many years. Their malice, their experience, their stratagems and their number ought to make us fear this misfortune immensely, especially when we see how many persons fuller of grace than we are, richer in virtues, better founded in experience and far higher exalted in sanctity, have been surprised, robbed and unhappily pillaged. Ah! How many cedars of Lebanon, how many stars of the firmament, have we not seen fall miserably, and in the twinkling of an eye lose all their height and their brightness! Whence comes that sad and curious change? It was not for want of grace, which is wanting to no man; but it was for want of humility. They thought themselves capable of guarding their own treasures. They trusted in themselves, relied upon themselves. They thought their house secure enough, and their coffers strong enough, to keep the precious treasure of grace. It is because of that scarcely perceptible reliance upon themselves, though all the while it seemed to them that they were relying only on the grace of God, that the most just Lord permitted them to be robbed by leaving them to themselves. Alas! If they had but known the admirable devotion which I will unfold presently, they would have confided their treasure to a Virgin powerful and faithful, who would have kept it for them as if it had been her own possession; nay, who would have even taken it as an obligation of justice on herself to preserve it for them. " (Part One, Chapter 2, #88.)

See Saint Louis's book: True Devotion To Mary.

PRAYER TO
THE VIRGIN MARY

Holy Mary, my Queen and sovereign Lady, I give you myself, trusting in your fidelity and your protection. I surrender myself entirely to your motherly tenderness, my body, my soul, all that I am, all that I possess, for the whole of this day, for every moment of my life, and especially at the hour of my death. I entrust to you once more all my hopes, all my consolations, all my anxieties, all my troubles, my life, my dying breath, so that by your prayers and merits, I may have, in all I do, one only goal, your good pleasure and the holy will of your Son. Amen!

PURPOSE OF THIS WEB SITE

Welcome to this Catholic Spiritual Direction Web Site. It is the intention of this site to lead people to a closer relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit through the promotion of prayer and Christian teaching which will enable Christians to adhere to the straight and narrow path Jesus speaks of in the Gospels. Included in these web pages are the Douay-Rheims Bible and the works of Saint John of the Cross, Thomas à Kempis and Saint Louis de Montfort, and the works of other saints of the Catholic faith, all of whose teachings on spiritual direction have been followed by priests, ministers, clergymen, Popes and Saints. These teachings adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Church. This site is dedicated to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (Biography) (1774-1824) Mystic, Stigmatist, Prophet, and Great Visionary, a saintly Augustinian nun from Flamske, Germany. Her highly descriptive visions of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, The Sorrowful Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, are presented here. In time more works from the Saints of the Catholic Church will be added to these pages.

EVENING PRAYER:

Jesus gave us the very essence of spiritual direction in the Bible: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." Matthew 22:37-38

Each evening we should reflect on the good things and on the bad things we did during the day and ask God to help us to improve in the future. It is good if we say an Act of Contrition each evening to help us acknowledge our imperfections and to ask God to give us the graces to improve.

ACT OF CONTRITION

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.

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Prayer of Saint Catherine of Siena for Physical and Spiritual Healing

PRECIOUS BLOOD, ocean of divine mercy:
Flow upon us!
Precious Blood, most pure offering:
Procure us every grace!
Precious Blood, hope and refuge of sinners:
Atone for us!
Precious Blood, delight of holy souls:
Draw us! Amen.

PRAYER TO SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

MARIAN PRAYERS

PRAYER TO
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI