Praying for Our Priests

If we could at least pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy each week with even just one other person for our Priests in our Parish and Priests we know, we would be helping so many.  Remember the promise of Jesus regarding the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

"Oh, what great graces I will grant to souls who say this chaplet..." (Diary, 848)

"Through the chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will" (Diary, 1731).

Saving Souls

Let us remember that the Heart of Jesus has called us not only for our own sanctification, but also for that of other souls. He wants to be helped in the salvation of souls. - 

St. Pio

Life is Precious

Life is very precious.  The Lord said 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart' Jeremiah 1:5.    So from the beginning of our lives at Conception to our natural death, our lives are precious to Him. 

Servant of God John Paul II proclaimed the following on his visit to Washington in October 7th 1979  "I do not hesitate to proclaim before you and before the world that all human life—from the moment of conception and through all subsequent stages—is sacred, because human life is created in the image and likeness of God.

Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person. Human life is not just an idea or an abstraction. Human life is the concrete reality of a being that lives, that acts, that grows and develops. Human life is the concrete reality of a being that is capable of love and of service to humanity."

Family & Life are a charity that supports the work for Life in Ireland and other countries.  Their work projects are many and include going into schools around Ireland to deliver a multi media presentation on the development of the human life in the womb. They give a very excellent and informative presentation which is always warmly appreciated by students and teachers alike. 

Other works include producing a regular update on pro life issues worldwide.   Also through the St. Patricks Fund they help young women in dire circumstances in Thailand who are threatened with lives of prosititution and forced abortions.  More information on these and all the other great work projects to support life can be found at their website.  You can also check out the bookstore on their website for great Catholic books.  http://www.familyandlife.org/

Receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist

When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we really receive Him.  Our Lord, our Redeemer comes personally to us.  After Holy Mass, it is good to stop and stay for a while in thanksgiving to talk to Him, listen to Him and give Him our prayers and petitions at this time.  It is sad that we walk away after Mass too quickly and leave Jesus alone and I have done it myself, often taking Him very much for granted.  Lord help me to be more attentive to your presence, when I receive You in Holy Communion. 

In the Diary of St. Faustina, Jesus lamented the following..

 "When I come to a human heart in Holy Communion," He said, "My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things. ... They treat Me as a dead object"

(Diary of St. Faustina, 1385)

* * * * * *

The following are words from St. Therese of Lisieux

"Receive Communion often, very often...there you have the sole remedy, if you want to be cured. Jesus has not put this attraction in your heart for nothing..."

"The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us - that is all He asks."

The Year of the Priest

The Year of the Priest ends in June this year and will be marked by special ceremonies with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI in Rome  from 9th - 11th June. 

I was priviliged to be able to visit the St. Jean Vianney relics which were brought to Knock Shrine on 27th April last.  Almost one hundred Priests came for the special Mass at 3pm in the Basilica in Our Lady's Shrine.  It was a wonderful sight to see so many Priests all together at this holy shrine to venerate this great Saint.

My friend Rhonda and I continue to pray for Priests in our Divine Mercy prayer meeting for Priests each week and we include especially the Priests we know and meet.  Rather than criticising or giving out about certain Priests we may disagree with or dislike, we need to pray for them even more.  Our prayers can help them a great deal.  Especially I believe the Prayers of the Divine Mercy and also the Rosary. 

We were delighted to hear that a Priest we had been praying for who had left the Priesthood has now gone back.  So we give thanks to God in whom all things are possible. 

For those who would like us to pray for a particular Priest you can email me at my contact details and we will be happy to do so. 

St. Audeons Church, Dublin

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament allows us to encounter the living Christ who is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. One of the Churches I often visit here in Dublin which has daily Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is St. Audeons in High Street in Dublin 8. This Church is now looked after by the Polish Community in Dublin.


It is a very peaceful Church and it also houses the National Shrine to St. Anne. St. Anne has been venerated here on this site since medieval times atracting thousands of pilgrims up to the Reformation. The Feast Day of St. Anne is celebrated on the 26th July.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place there at the following times..

Monday to Friday from 1.40pm to 7pm,

Saturdays from 8pm to 10pm and

Sunday evenings 7pm to 9pm.
First Sunday of the Month from 4pm - 6pm & also 7pm - 9pm.

Also the Chaplet of Divine Mercy is prayed there each evening at 6.40pm in Polish but language is no barrier to God...

The Divine Mercy

The Image of Divine Mercy is an Image of great grace. It is not just a picture. Jesus appeared to the Polish nun, St. Faustina on Feb 22nd 1931 and asked her to have the Image painted as He appeared to her. The Rays of Mercy that flow from His heart signify the Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for making the souls righteous and the red ray stands for the blood which is the life of souls. The following in italics are the words of Jesus to St. Faustina..

Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and throughout the world. (Diary 47)

I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory. (Diary 48)

I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature" :    Jesus, I trust in You." (Diary 327)

Our Lady of Clonfert

 On Ascension Sunday I took my mother over to visit Our Ladys Shrine at Clonfert, which is in Co. Galway not far from the town of Banagher. This small Church contains the statue of Our Lady of Clonfert. It is an unusual statue as you can see where one arm is missing. In the 16th century during times of religious suppression in Ireland, this statue was taken from its Monastic home and was hidden in woodland, inside the trunk of a tree for safekeeping.

It remained there forgotten for almost three hundred years, and then according to local legend, in the late 19th century a woodcutter was out looking for a piece of wood for his work when he came across the tree where the statue had been hidden and as he started chopping through the tree, he severed the trunk and noticed blood flowing out.  He looked through the branches and there found the sacred statue of Our Lady.  He had cut through the arm of the statue.  The statue was carefully removed and placed in Meelick Church. But later she was returned to the Church in Clonfert, where today devotions take place especially in the month of May.

It was encouraging to see so many people of all ages coming and going to pray to Our Lady. So many candles were lit and the little Church is decorated beautifully and reverence is respected always for the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Our Lady's Month

The Month of May is traditionally known as the Month of Our Lady. Since Medieval times (1200's) this month has been associated with The Blessed Virgin Mary. In later times, during the 1700's on each day of this month, special devotions to Mary were organised. The custom originated in Italy and spread widely later during the 19th century, a century well known for its monthly devotions. To honour Mary, usually one pays a visit to one of her Shrines, or you can set up a May altar in your home, or pray the Rosary more frequently or have some extra devotion to Our Lady.
Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with you, Blessed are you among women and Blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus..

Oscar Wilde and Gods Mercy

Oscar Wilde writer and poet was born in Dublin in 1854. He was writer of many great works such as 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and the play 'The Imporance of Being Earnest'. In 1895, he was imprisoned for acts of gross indecency and spent two years in Reading Gaol. After his prison term he sought a six month retreat with the Jesuit community who refused him and he in turn wept bitter tears over this refusal. He left for France and spent his last three years in penniless exile.

At the age of 46, he was baptised on his deathbed by a Passionist Priest from Dublin, Fr. Cuthbert Dunne. An article in the L'Osservatore Romano in July 2009 on Oscar Wilde stated 'The existential path which Oscar Wilde trod can also be seen as a long and difficult path toward that Promised Land, which gives us the reason for existence, a path which led him to his conversion to Catholicism, a religion which, as he once said in one of his more acute and paradoxical aphorisms, was "for saints and sinners alone — for respectable people, the Anglican Church will do".'

Here are just a few verses from Oscar Wilde's Ballad of Reading Gaol. They speak to me of a man who came to know Gods mercy, who knew brokenness within himself and how this can open up the way to Gods merciful love.


And thus we rust Life's iron chain
Degraded and alone:
And some men curse, and some men weep,
And some men make no moan:

But God's eternal Laws are kind
And break the heart of stone.
And every human heart that breaks,
In prison-cell or yard,
Is as that broken box that gave
Its treasure to the Lord,
And filled the unclean leper's house
With the scent of costliest nard.

Ah! happy day they whose hearts can break
And peace of pardon win!
How else may man make straight his plan
And cleanse his soul from Sin?
How else but through a broken heart
May Lord Christ enter in?

Praying for Priests

We can all perform spiritual works of mercy which mostly involves prayer. A friend of mine suffers a debilitating illness which prevents her doing physical work but she loves to pray for others.  So the two of us started a small prayer meeting on the Feast of the Transfiguration in 2008 especially for Priests, the Holy Souls and the dying. This prayer meeting is centred around the Divine Mercy devotion.


We start by praying always the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.  We then pray some of the prayers from the Divine Mercy prayer book 'Will You Help Me'  and pray first the Consecration Prayer to the Divine Mercy, then the Prayer for Priests from St. Faustina, also St. Gertrude's Prayer for the Holy Souls, and the prayer to St. Joseph. 

We then have a reading from the Divine Mercy diary which we reflect upon and talk a little on. Then we see where we can do some additional spiritual or corporal work of mercy for the week. We also have intercessory prayers for Priests that we know, our families and those who are dying. Then we finish with the Chaplet of Mercy which we offer for our Priests especially. We also invoke at the end our patrons, who are Our Lady of Mercy, St. Faustina, Bl. Fr. Michael Sopocko, Servant of God John Paul II and St. Michael the Archangel and for this year we also included St. Jean Vianney as the patron of our Priests.


It just takes one hour and we try to have our meeting every week. So if you and another friend or member of the family would like to do something like this, it doesnt take much of your time and it is important that we always pray and support our Priests as they are so special to God and we need them.

Remember The Holy Souls

Praying for the Holy Souls is important to remember as they cry out for prayer. One prayer that is very powerful is the Prayer of St. Gertrude
'Eternal Father I offer you the most Precious Blood of Your 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 within my own home and my own family. Amen'