Rosary Promises From Our Blessed Mother

6. Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.

7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.

8. Those who are faithful to recite the rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.

9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary.

10. The faithful children of the rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.

13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.

All 15 Promises of Our Lady for those who faithfully recite the Rosary:

 

Quotes about the Rosary:

~ How to Pray the Rosary ~

Msgr Charles Pope: The Trivializing of God's Judgment Following Death

Too many make light of judgment today. Too many announce the immediate arrival of the deceased into heaven. They usher Jesus away from the Judgment Seat, take the seat themselves, and pronounce that, “Joe is in heaven!” They usually follow this “canonization” with some triviality such as “He’s probably playing poker with Jesus and Noah right now!” (For presumably “Joe” liked poker here, and thus heaven must include poker (of all things)).

The complete ignoring of the judgement that follows death is emblematic of our age which answers to no one. Even among Christians, there is a widespread trivializing of the notion of judgment. Yet Jesus in ways too countless to set forth here, commands a sobriety about judgment and says, But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken (Matt 12:36). If even our words will be judged, how much more so our deeds which many make light of.

Further God is Truth Himself and he will not simply call good in us what is defective or sinful. Judgement is a moment of truth where the divine physician makes a true diagnosis, not a flattering one. And whatever remains unfinished he, by his grace and power will bring it to completion. This too is part of his mercy as well as his justice. Some purgation is surely a likely reality for most adults who die. St. Paul speaks of us as unfinished works when he says, And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6). Do we really think that “Joe” is just going to walk into heaven just as he died, with a pack of cards in his hands, no less? Perhaps some saints have been fully perfected by their death, but it seems more likely most of us will need purgation and to pass through purifying fire as St. Paul describes.

So, we are back to fire. And fire must be respected. Back-slapping at funerals ought to be replaced with a little more knee-bending and confident but sober prayer for our beloved who have died. They would probably appreciate a little more prayer from us, for they have encountered Truth, unlike a lot of us who still like to entertain fanciful notions, contrary to Scripture that judgment is either non-existent or “no big deal.”

~ Msgr. Charles Pope; excerpts from here ~

Jesus Tells Sr. Consolata Betrone How to Console His Suffering Parental Heart

"A true mother will not consider her child ugly, no matter how much it may be so; to her it is always lovely, and so it will always remain in her innermost heart.  That is precisely the way My Heart feels toward souls:  though they be ugly, soiled, filthy, My Love considers them always beautiful.  I suffer when their ugliness is confirmed to Me; on the other hand, I rejoice when, in conformity with my parental sentiments, someone dissuades Me about their ugliness and tells Me that it is not true and that they are still beautiful.  The souls are Mine; for them I have given all My Blood!

"Now do you understand how much My parental Heart is wounded by every severe judgment, reprimand, or condemnation, even though based on truth, and how much comfort, on the other hand is afforded Me by every act of compassion, indulgence and mercy?  You must never judge anyone; never say a harsh word against anyone; instead, console My Heart, distract Me from My sorrow; with eager charity make me see only the good side of a guilty soul.  I will believe you, and then I will hear your prayer in her favor and will grant it.  If you only knew how I suffer when I must dispense justice!  You see, My Heart needs to be comforted; It wishes to dispense mercy, not justice!"

~ Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone;

excerpt from Jesus Appeals to theWorld by Fr. Lorenzo Sales, I.M.C. ~

Reflection by Fr. Francis Martin of the Archdiocese of Washington
and the Mother of God Community.

St. Louis IX: Advice From a Wise and Holy King and Father

3. Therefore, dear son, the first thing I advise is that you fix your whole heart upon God, and love Him with all your strength, for without this no one can be saved or be of any worth.

20. If you have anything belonging to another, either of yourself or through your predecessors, if the matter is certain, give it up without delay, however great it may be, either in land or money or otherwise. If the matter is doubtful, have it inquired into by wise men, promptly and diligently. And if the affair is so obscure that you cannot know the truth, make such a settlement, by the counsel of s of upright men, that your soul, and the soul your predecessors, may be wholly freed from the affair. And even if you hear some one say that your predecessors made restitution, make diligent inquiry to learn if anything remains to be restored; and if you find that such is the case, cause it to be delivered over at once, for the liberation of your soul and the souls of your predecessors.

35. Finally, most sweet son, I conjure and require you that, if it please our Lord that I should die before you, you have my soul succored with masses and orisons, and that you send through the congregations of the kingdom of France, and demand their prayers for my soul, and that you grant me a special and full part in all the good deeds which you perform.

36. In conclusion, dear son, I give you all the blessings which a good and tender father can give to a son, and I pray our Lord Jesus Christ, by His mercy, by the prayers and merits of His blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, and of angels and archangels and of all the saints, to guard and protect you from doing anything contrary to His will, and to give you grace to do it always, so that He may be honored and served by you. And this may He do to me as to you, by His great bounty, so that after this mortal life we may be able to be together with Him in the eternal life, and see Him, love Him, and praise Him without end. Amen. And glory, honor, and praise be to Him who is one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit; without beginning and without end. Amen.

~ St. Louis IX: excerpts from Saint Louis' Advice to His Son ~

Reflection for 8/25/11

Archbishop Charles Chaput: "Our choices shape our eternity."

"None of us lives forever. Or rather, all of us live forever, but only for a very short time in this world. If we lose our money, we can often earn it back. But if we misuse our time, we can never get it back. Where we put our time shows the world what we really value and believe. What we really believe shapes our choices. And our choices shape our eternity.

"...If we took just one hour of the time we waste on television every day and used it to study and pray over the Gospels, we’d be fundamentally different people, and our country and our world would be transformed."

"We were made for better things than silver and gold. We’re more than what we own or think we want. We’re children of God bought back from slavery by the blood of God’s son. Somebody infinitely good, willingly died to make us free. That’s how precious we are in the eyes of God. God loves us infinitely. That’s the source of our faith and hope.

"God’s love is not something anyone can buy. It’s a free gift. But it comes with consequences. If we really believe that God raised his son from the dead in order to raise us along with him, then we need to act like it. We need to submit our time and our actions to what we claim to believe. A meaningful life is a life conformed to imperishable things. And a futile life is a life that puts its time in the wrong places—into things that perish; things that lead us away from conforming our lives to Jesus Christ.

"Those are the two options. We get to choose."

~ Archbishop Charles Chaput; excerpt from here ~

Cardinal Arinze Explains Mortal Sin

Cry of a Lost Soul: Society of the Damned

"We died with willful resolve to be separated from God. Do you now understand why hell lasts forever? It is because our wills were fixed for eternity at the moment of death. We had made our final choice. Our obstinacy will never leave us.

"Under compulsion, I must add that God is merciful even towards us. I affirm many things against my will and must choke the torrent of abuses I should like to vomit out.

“God was merciful to us by not allowing our wicked wills to exhaust themselves on earth as we should have been prepared to do. This would have increased our faults and our pains. He caused us to die before our time, as in my case, or had other mitigating circumstances intervene. Now He shows Himself merciful towards us by not compelling a closer approach than that afforded in this remote inferno. Every step bringing us closer to God would cause us a greater pain than that which a step closer to a burning furnace would cause you." 

"I tell you, the fire of which the Bible speaks does not mean the torment of the conscience. Fire is fire! What He said: ‘Away from Me, you accursed ones, into eternal fire’, is to be understood literally. Literally! How can the spirit be touched by material fire, you will ask? How can your soul suffer on earth when you put your finger on the flame? In fact the soul does not burn; and yet what torture all the individual feels! 

"Our greatest torture consists in the certain knowledge that we shall never see God. How can this torture us so much, since on earth we are so indifferent? As long as the knife lies on the table it leaves you cold. You see how keen it is, but you do not feel it. Plunge the knife into the flesh and you will start screaming in pain. Now we feel the loss of God; before we only thought of it.

"Not all the souls suffer to the same degree. With how greater wickedness and how more systematically one has sinned, the more weighs on him the loss of God and the more the creature he abused is choking him. The lost Catholics suffer more than those of other religions, because they, mostly, received and despised more graces and more light. He who knew more suffers more cruelly than he who knew less. He who sinned out of malice suffers more keenly than he who sinned out of weakness. But nobody suffers more than he deserves. Oh, if that were not true, I should have a motive to hate!"

~ Revelation of a Soul from Hell; excerpt from here ~

Our Lady of Good Success: Prophecies for Our Times

 "Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which in religious houses destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of religious virtues and fraternal charity and that child-like simplicity which makes souls so dear to my Divine Son and to me, their Mother."

"O, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!"

 
~ Our Lady of Good Success to Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres; excerpt from here ~

~ Excellent DVD,  Our Lady of Good Success - History, Miracles & Prophecies; order here ~

~ Our Lady of Good Success, Prophecies for Our Times by Marian Therese Horvat, Ph.D. here ~

~ Much more on Our Lady of Good Success from Tradition in Action ~

If We Were to Die Today...

"On earth you simply do not know what God is. There, each one of you has an idea of what you think God is, according to your very limited knowledge, but when we leave our covering of clay and when nothing impedes the liberty of our souls, we at last begin to know God, His goodness, His mercy, His love. After this clearer view and the thirst for union, our souls yearn for God. This is our very life and we are forever repulsed because we are not sufficiently pure. This, in a word, is our worst suffering, the hardest, the most bitter. Oh, if only we were allowed to come back to earth, after knowing what God really is, what a different life we would lead! But what useless regrets, and yet on earth you do not think of these things and live as if you were blind. Eternity is of no account to you. The earth, which is only a journey and receives only the body which in itself turns to dust, is the sole object to which almost all of your desires tend and you do not even think of Heaven while Jesus and His love are entirely forgotten."

~ Sr. M.G., a  soul from Purgatory; excerpt from An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory ~ 

Reflection for 5/2/11

St. John Bosco: Harmful Conversations

"No matter how good food is,

 if poison is mixed with it, it may cause the death of him who eats it.

So it is with conversation.

A single bad word, an evil action, an unbecoming joke,

is often enough to harm one or more young listeners,

and may later cause them to lose God's grace."

~ St. John Bosco ~

Wise Counsel of Blessed Pope John XXIII: "Only for Today..."

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.

Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.

Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do."

~Blessed John XXIII~

THE DAILY DECALOGUE OF POPE JOHN XXIII

1) Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once.

2) Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my appearance: I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous in my behaviour; I will not criticize anyone; I will not claim to improve or to discipline anyone except myself.

3) Only for today, I will be happy in the certainty that I was created to be happy, not only in the other world but also in this one.

4) Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without requiring all circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes.

5) Only for today, I will devote 10 minutes of my time to some good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul.

6) Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone about it.

7) Only for today, I will do at least one thing I do not like doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure that no one notices.

8) Only for today, I will make a plan for myself: I may not follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will be on guard against two evils: hastiness and indecision.

9) Only for today, I will firmly believe, despite appearances, that the good Providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in this world.

10) Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed, for 12 hours I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to believe I had to do it all my life.

~ Blessed John XXIII, excerpt from Homily of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
at the Eucharistic Concelebration Commemorating Pope John XXIII on his Memorial  ~

(Thanks to Valerie)

~ Related post: Prayer for Today's Needs:  "Just For Today"

Archbishop Fulton Sheen: Building Our Heavenly Home

"Believe me,you will never lose your soul if you use your blessings to spread the faith."

~ Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen ~

Insights from the Bible and Servant of God Fulton Sheen on building our true home in heaven:

Saint Philip Neri: Practical Advice

"The true way to advance in holy virtues, is to persevere in a holy cheerfulness."

~ St. Philip Neri ~

~ Previous post on St. Philip Neri and the Poor Souls in Purgatory ~

St. John Eudes: Renouncing Ourselves so Jesus Can Live and Reign in Us

"Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desire, and his disposition live and reign there."

"Finally, you are one with Jesus as the body is one with the head. You must, then, have one breath with him, one soul, one life, one will, one mind, one heart. And he must be your breath, heart, love, life, your all."

~ Saint John Eudes ~

Saint Faustina: Is Hell Real? Do People Go To Hell?

"I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing. The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God. What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell. When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O my Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend You by the least sin."

~ Saint Faustina; excerpt 741 from The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska ~

St. Teresa of Avila's Prayer to Redeem Lost Time

A Prayer to Redeem Lost Time

(by St. Teresa of Avila)

O my God! Source of all Mercy! 

I acknowledge Your sovereign power.

 
While recalling the wasted years that are past,

I believe that You, Lord, can in an instant turn this loss to gain. 

Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that You can do all things.

Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Your grace, both now and in the future,

 that I may appear before You in “wedding garments.” 

Amen.

Can the Souls in Purgatory Pray for Us?

“Oh! if it were but known how great is the power of the good souls in purgatory with the Heart of God,

and if we knew all the graces we can obtain through their intercession,

they would not be so much forgotten.

We must, therefore, pray much for them, that thev may pray much for us.”

~ St. Jean Vianney ~

Stations of the Cross for the Souls in Purgatory

We find an incident relating to this subject in the Life of Venerable Mary d Antigna.  For a long time she had the pious custom of making the Stations of the Cross each day for the relief of the souls departed; but later, for motives more apparent than solid, she did it but rarely, and finally omitted it altogether. Our Lord, who had great designs in regard to this pious virgin, and who desired to make her a victim of love for the consolation of the poor souls in Purgatory,vouchsafed to give her a lesson which serves as an instruction to us all.

A Religious of the same convent, who had died a short time previously, appeared to her, complaining sorrowfully, " My dear sister," she said, " why do you no longer make the Stations of the Cross for the souls in Purgatory? You were formerly accustomed to relieve us every day by that holy exercise ; why do you deprive us of that assistance ? "

Whilst the soul was still speaking our Lord Himself  appeared to His servant, and reproached her with her negligence. " Know, my daughter," He added, " that the Stations of the Cross are very profitable to the souls in Purgatory, and constitute a suffrage of the greatest value. This is why I have permitted this soul, for her own sake and for the sake of others, to implore this of you. Know also that it was on account of your exactitude in practising this devotion that you have been favoured by frequent communication with the dead. It is for this reason also that those grateful souls never cease to pray for you, and to plead your cause at the tribunal of my Justice. Make known this treasure to your sisters, and tell them to draw from it abundantly for themselves and for the dead."

~ Excerpt from Purgatory: Illustrated by the Lives and Legends of the Saints

by Fr. Francis Xavier Shouppe, S.J. ~

A plenary indulgence can be gained once a day for praying the Way of the Cross

 and the indulgence may be offered for the souls in Purgatory.

~ A related post on Indulgences ~

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki: Entrusting Suicide Victims to Divine Mercy

The church teaches that, “We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of. … Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.”

However, the church also teaches that, “Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide. We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2280-2283.)

From 1917 to 1983, the church’s canon law said that “those who killed themselves of a deliberate purpose” were to be deprived of ecclesiastical burial. This provision was dropped from the revised Code of Canon Law promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1983, which is still the current norm. One of the main reasons for this change is a greater understanding of the “grave psychological disturbances” mentioned above that can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

~ Bishop Thomas John Paprocki; excerpt from here ~

~ From Divine Mercy for Lost Souls:
To join our team to pray for the souls in Purgatory who have committed suicide,
for the salvation of those who are in the midst of committing suicide (for their final repentance),
and/or those who are contemplating suicide
(that they come to know God's love and do not follow through with it) ~

Blessed John Paul II Quotes

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair.

We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song."

~ Blessed John Paul II ~