A Collection of Prayers, Stories, Articles, Excerpts, Quotes, Biography of Saints, Devotions and other things... to enrich and strengthen one's Faith...
Excerpt from the Book "The Way of the Divine Love"
by Servant of God Sister Josefa Menendez
"My soul is tortured by frightful things suggested to my imagination by Satan. . . . I went up to the oratory of Our Lady in the Noviceship to implore her not to let me fall. She came, at once, very motherly and said:
" 'My daughter, I will give you a lesson of very great importance: the devil is like a mad dog, but he is chained, that is to say, his liberty is curtailed. He can, therefore, only seize and devour his prey if you venture too near him, and that is why his usual tactics are to make himself appear as a lamb. The soul does not realize this, and draws nearer and nearer, only to discover his malice when in his clutches. When he seems far away, do not relax your vigilance, child; his footsteps are padded and silent, that he may take you unawares.'
"She gave me her blessing and went away."
--- Words of Our Blessed Mother to Sister Josefa Menendez
Source: from the Book "The Way of the Divine Love"
If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins "you shall receive a never fading crown of glory." Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practise black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if----and mark well what I say----if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins.
Source: from the Book "Secret of the Rosary", A Red Rose: For Sinners
If you have already attained, by the grace of God, a high degree of prayer, keep up the practise of saying the holy Rosary if you wish to remain in that state and by it to grow in humility. For never will anyone who says his Rosary every day become a formal heretic or be led astray by the devil. This is a statement which I would sign with my blood.
Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossiper, Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody, Moses stuttered, Zaccheus was short, Abraham was old, and Lazarus was dead. Now, what's YOUR excuse? Can God use you or not? God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
"I will take Jacinta and Francisco shortly; but you will stay here for some time to come. Jesus wants to use you to make Me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to My Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God, like flowers put by Me to adorn his throne." - The Blessed Virgin's words to Sister Lucia
"Oh, how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it. Oh, if only all could understand how precious time is, undoubtedly everyone would do his best to spend it in a praiseworthy manner!"- St. Padre Pio
The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Holy Rosary. She has given this efficacy to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.
Principalities, Archangels and Angels (Isa. 6:2; Gen. 3:24; Col.
1:6; Eph. 1:21; Rom. 8:38). There may be more groupings but these
are the only ones that have been revealed to us. The Seraphim is
believed to be the highest Choir, the most intimately united to God,
while the Angelic Choir is the lowest.
The history of this Chaplet goes back to a devout Servant of God,
Antonia d'Astonac, who had a vision of St. Michael. He told Antonia
to honor him by nine salutations to the nine Choirs of Angels. St.
Michael promised that whoever would practice this devotion in his
honor would have, when approaching Holy Communion, an escort of nine
angels chosen from each of the nine Choirs. In addition, for those
who would recite the Chaplet daily, he promised his continual
assistance and that of all the holy angels during life.
The Chaplet of St. Michael
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be
to the Father, etc.
[Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys after each of the following
nine salutations in honor of the nine Choirs of Angels]
1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of
perfect charity. Amen.
2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin
and run in the paths of Christian perfection. Amen.
3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere
spirit of humility. Amen.
4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Dominions may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and
overcome any unruly passions. Amen.
5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and
temptations of the devil. Amen.
6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into
temptation. Amen.
7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of
obedience. Amen.
8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all
good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven. Amen.
9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of
Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal
life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven. Amen.
Say one Our Father in honor of each of the following leading Angels:
St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael and our Guardian Angel.
Concluding prayers:
O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the
heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits,
servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor,
you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from
all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your
gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.
Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus
Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who, by a prodigy of goodness and a
merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most
glorious Archangel St. Michael Prince of Your Church, make us
worthy, we ask You, to be delivered from all our enemies, that none
of them may harass us at the hour of death, but that we may be
conducted by him into Your Presence. This we ask through the merits
of Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
"St. Dominic knew well that, while on the one hand Mary is all powerful with Her divine Son, who grants all graces to mankind through Her, on the other hand, She is by nature so good and so merciful that, inclined to aid spontaneously those who suffer, She is absolutely incapable of refusing Her help to those who invoke Her. The Church is in the habit of greeting the Virgin as 'Mother of Grace' and 'Mother of Mercy,' and so She has always shown Herself, especially when we have recourse to Her by means of the Holy Rosary."
Q. Why must we go to confession if God's love is unconditional?
A. We go to confession not to resume God's love for us. His love is indeed unconditional, never-ending, even while we are sinning. Our sins interfere with our love for God -- sin is turning away from God by doing something unGodly, unloving -- but our sins cannot stop God from loving us. Nothing can stop God from loving us.
The reason we should go to confession is to restore our side of the relationship. We are the ones who need healing, and thus it is called a healing sacrament. Going to confession is an act of humility because we are sorry that we have been unloving. It's also a humble acknowledgement that we need God's help in becoming more able to avoid the same sins in the future, and thus the Sacrament of Confession gives us supernatural grace and power to grow in holiness -- because it is a Sacrament, it is more helpful than simply praying alone by ourselves for forgiveness.
This is true whether it's a mortal (soul-killing) sin or a venial (minor) sin. For mortal sins, however, the effect is much more healing, because more conversion is required from us in order to return to God.
You said, "...so that our sin can be forgiven by the priest." Rest assured that the priest is not the one who forgives our sins in the confessional. It is Jesus Himself working and speaking through the priest. The priest as a faulty human being, if he is a poor minister of the Gospel and sinfully chooses to hold our sins against us, no matter, we have been forgiven by God. The Sacrament of Confession was successful.
