A MOTHER'S PRAYER TO THE GUARDIAN ANGELS OF HER CHILDREN

The world is a dangerous place. When you leave the comforts of your home there is no telling what may happen to you or your children. This has been the case since Adam and Eve and will continue to be so until Jesus comes again.

The good news is that we are not alone.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares, “From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by [angels and] their watchful care and intercession” (CCC 336). God appoints to each one of us a guardian angel whose mission is to guide, guard and protect. We don’t always see them or sense their presence, but the truth is that they are there, ready and willing to come to our aid.

We just have to ask.

For parents, it is easy to forget that our children have guardian angels and that we can pray to them (through the mediation of our own guardian angel) and invoke their powerful protection over our children. When we can’t physically be there with our children to protect them, it is most appropriate to pray to their guardian angel.

Here is a short prayer that is usually entitled, “A Mother’s Prayer to the Guardian Angels of Her Children,” and is one way that we can quiet our heart and be at peace knowing who is protecting our little ones.

SAY PRAYER

I humbly salute you, O you faithful, heavenly friends of my children! I give you heartfelt thanks for all the love and goodness you show them. At some future day I shall, with thanks more worthy than I can now give, repay your care for them, and before the whole heavenly court acknowledge their indebtedness to your guidance and protection. Continue to watch over them. Provide for all their needs of body and soul. Pray, likewise, for me, for my husband, and my whole family, that we may all one day rejoice in your blessed company. Amen.

THE GREAT SAINT WHO HAD THE GIFTS OF VISIONS, MIRACLES AND PROPHECY

Saint Gertrude The Great

Saint Gertrude was born January 6, 1256 in Germany. By 1261 as a student at the Benedictine abbey at Helfta in Saxony she had been placed in the care of the Abbey, Gertrude. The nuns of Helfta described Gertrude as a loveable and quick-witted. At the age of 15 or 16 she entered the Benedictine community as a novice, where she eventually became a teacher at the school. Gertrude was not very pious as a nun. She began to find the routine of the Benedictine community tiresome. By 1280 she had become depressed and withdrawn.

Shortly after her 25 birthday Jesus spoke to Gertrude. She tells us that she heard Christ say to her, "Do not fear. I will save you and set you free." This was the first in a series of visions that transformed her life. From then on, she spent many hours reading the bible and writing essays on the word of God. When she was asked to write about her experiences, she claimed that it would serve no purpose. When she was told that her words would encourage others, Gertrude agreed to write spiritual autobiography. Only the first 24 chapters of this book, THE HERALD OF GOD'S LOVING-KINDNESS, is her writing. The remainder has been added by members of the community to which she belonged. Gertrude also wrote her SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, a book of prayers, hymns and reflections. St. Gertrude is one of the leading women religious writers of the late 13th century. Outwardly, she appeared to be a the simple Benedictine nun. She had a great devotion to the Holy Souls in purgatory. Her raptures were frequent and so absorbing that she was insensible to what passed around her. She had the gift of miracles well as that of prophecy.

During one of her visions Jesus told ST. Gertrude that the following prayer would release

1000 souls from purgatory each time it is said:

'Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most precious blood of thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family’

RELEASE SOULS FROM PURGATORY THROUGH THIS POWERFUL PRAYER

CHAPLET OF SAINT GERTRUDE

If one prays the entire St. Gertrude Chaplet (see below), which is said on an ordinary rosary, Our Lord releases 50,000 souls from purgatory each time it is said!

How easy it would be to empty out purgatory if we each prayed this form of the rosary just once a day!

 How to pray the Chaplet of Saint Gertrude

The Chaplet of Saint Gertrude is prayed on an ordinary Rosary.

Beginning at the Cross, pray the "Apostle's Creed".

This is followed by 1 "Our Father", 3 "Hail Mary" and 1 "Glory be".

Starting on the Medal and then on the 4 large beads between each decade (sets of 10 beads), pray the "Our Father."

On each of the small beads (in the sets of 10 beads), say the following prayer:

"Eternal Father,

I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus,

in union with the Masses said throughout the world today,

for all the holy souls in Purgatory,

for sinners in the universal Church,

those in my own home,

and within my family.

Amen."

At the end of each set of 10 beads, say the following prayers:

"Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,

open the hearts and minds of sinners

to the truth and light of God, the Father."

"Immaculate Heart of Mary,

pray for the conversion of sinners and the world."

and 1 "Glory be."

Then on the next large bead start again with the "Our Father".

Repeat above to the end of the Rosary.

THE DIVINE MERCY CHAPLET THROUGH THE ROSARY

The Divine Mercy Chaplet is a relatively recent but very popular devotion revealed by Our Lord to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun. On Good Friday 1937, Christ appeared to Saint Faustina and asked her to recite this chaplet for nine days, starting on Good Friday and ending on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), now known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

The chaplet is most often recited during those nine days, but it can be prayed at any time of the year, and Saint Maria Faustina recited it almost unceasingly.

A standard rosary can be used to recite the chaplet, and the entire devotion takes just 20 minutes—about the time it takes to pray the rosary.

Step 1

Make the Sign of the Cross

Step 2

Pray the opening prayers. There are two opening prayers; the second is repeated three times:

First Prayer
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

Second Prayer
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! (repeat three times)

Step 3

Pray the Our Father

Step 4

Pray the Hail Mary

Step 5

Say the Apostles' Creed

Step 6

Pray the prayer "Eternal Father." On the Our Father bead before each decade, pray the following prayer:

Eternal Father
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. Amen.

Step 7

Pray the prayer "For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion" 10 times. On each of the Hail Mary beads in each decade, pray the following prayer:

For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Step 8

Repeat steps 6 and 7: On each of the next four decades of the Chaplet, repeat steps 6 and 7 (pray the "Eternal Father," followed by 10 "For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion")

Step 9

After you have prayed all five decades of the Chaplet, pray "Concluding Doxology," which is repeated three times:

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world." (repeat three times)

Step 10 

After the doxology, pray the Closing Prayer:

Eternal God, in Whom mercy is endless, and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments, we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy Itself. Amen.

Step 11

End With the Sign of the Cross

EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE OF CHIRATTAKONAM

Eucharistic Miracle of Chirattakonam
This Eucharistic Miracle took place recently, on May 5, 2001 at Trivandrum, India. In the consecrated Host, the face of a man resembling Christ crowned with thorns appeared. Father Johnson Karoor, pastor of the church where the Miracle occurred, recounts in his report: “On April 28, 2001, in the parish church of St. Mary at Chirattakonam, we began, as we do each year, our Novena to St. Jude Thaddeus. At 8:49 in the
morning, I exposed the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance and began
a time for public adoration.

After a few minutes, I saw three marks on the Holy Eucharist. At that point, I stopped praying and began to look at the monstrance, inviting the faithful also to wonder at the three marks. I then asked the faithful to remain praying and then put the monstrance back inside the tabernacle. On April 30, I celebrated Holy Mass and the day after I departed for Trivandrum. After returning, on May 5, 2001, I opened the church for the regular Masses, I prepared myself and I went to open the tabernacle to see what had happened to the Eucharistic host of the monstrance, and I at once noticed in it a figure resembling a human face. I was very moved and asked the faithful to kneel down and begin to pray. I thought that it was only I who had seen the face, and
then I asked the altar boy what he observed in the monstrance. He
answered, ‘I see the figure of a man.’ I noticed that the rest of the faithful also gazed intently at the monstrance.
We began the Adoration and as the minutes passed by, the figure of the manbecame more clearly defined. I did not have the courage to say anything, and I began to cry.
During the time of adoration, we had the custom of reading a passage from Sacred Scripture.The passage which fell upon me that day was the one from Chapter 20 of St. John’s Gospel,which recounts the episode when the Risen Jesus appeared to St. Thomasand asked him to look upon His wounds. I managed to say only a few words in my homily, and as I had to celebrate

Holy Mass at the neighboring parish of Kokkodu, I arranged for a photographer to come at once to take a picture of the Holy Eucharist with the human face inside it. The photographs were developed in two hours, and in every photo, the face appeared ever more clear.”
His Blessedness Cyril Mar Baselice, Archbishop of Trivandrum, wrote regarding this Miracle:
“[…] For us believers, what we saw is something we have always believed […] If Our Lord is speaking to us by giving us this sign, this most surely requires a response on our part.” The monstrance containing the Miraculous Host is still preserved in the church.