Prayer for Our Bishop Larry and All Bishops

The following is a prayer for Bishop Silva and all the other bishops around the world.

PRAYER FOR THE BISHOP

Lord Jesus Christ,
You sent Your apostles to proclaim the Good News
with Peter at their head
and you strengthened them with the Holy Spirit.

Remind us that our bishops are appointed by the same spirit
and are the succesors of the Apostles
as pastors of souls.

Together with the Pope and under his authority
they have been sent throughout the world
to continue your work.

Help our bishop to teach all members of his diocese,
to sactify them in the truth,
and to give them your nourishment.

Make us obey his teachings and love him
as the Church obeys and loves You.

May we remain united with him,
grow in faith and love,
and attain eternal life with you.

Amen.

From New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book., Catholic Book Publishing Co. New York.

Priesthood Sunday

From the Sacred Heart Church's bulletin today:

On the last Sunday of October each year we honor our priests, who have dedicated their lives to Jesus and His bride, the Church, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. We cannot receive the Blessed sacrament, Jesus Himself, without our priests. They sanctify us. Through the celebration of the Mass and through the sacraments they form us in faith, and they serve the parishes and larger community in varied ways. Their desire is to help draw us closer to our Lord and to lead us to eternal salvation.

We are asked to support our priests in prayer, to thank God for the gifts of their priesthood, and to encourage future vocations to the priesthood among our families and in our faith community. For their faithful and loving service, we say THANK YOU to our pastors Reverend Gordy Carvalho, our parochial vicar Reverend Edmund Barut, our sacramental priests Father Paul Smith and Father Joe Grimaldi.

To this we the Spiritual Moms would add...all the priests in the Diocese of Honolulu and all the priests in the entire world.

Prayer

Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for our faithful priests and bishops,
whose spiritual fatherhood and example of fidelity, self-sacrifice, and devotion
is so vital to the faith of your people.

May our spiritual fathers be guided by the examples of saints Peter and Paul,
all the Apostles, and their saintly successors.
Give them valiant faith in the face of confusion and conflict, hope in time of trouble and sorrow, and steadfast love for you, for their families, and for all
your people throughout the world.
May the light of your Truth shine through their lives and their good works.

Assist all spiritual fathers, that through your Grace they may steadily grow in holiness and in knowledge and understanding of your Truth.
May they generously impart this knowledge to those who rely on them.

Source:

Msgr. Daniel J. Dever

Funeral services for Msgr. Daniel J. Dever

Nov. 2: 5 p.m. visitation; 6 p.m. funeral Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace; reception to follow

Nov. 4: 10:30 a.m. committal service at St. Stephen Diocesan Center chapel; inurnment to follow at Hawaiian Memorial Park, Kaneohe

Mahalo to the Hawaii Catholic Herald for the photo, the funeral announcement and a good article on Msgr. Dever. You can read it here.

Vatican Official: Priests Are 'Foreigners' in a World Far From God

ROME, OCT. 26, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy is urging priests to keep their eyes fixed on Peter, even though they are as foreigners in a world estranged from God.

You can read the entire Zenit article here.

The prayer of a Priest....on a Sunday night

Tonight, Lord, I am alone.
Little by little the sounds died down in the church,
The people went away,
And I came home,
Alone.

I passed people who were returning from a walk.
I went by the cinema that was disgorging its crowd.
I skirted cafe terraces where tired strollers were trying to prolong
the pleasures of a Sunday holiday.
I bumped into youngsters playing on the footpath,
Youngsters, Lord.
Other people's youngsters who will never be my own.

Here I am Lord,
Alone.
The silence troubles me,
The solitude oppresses me.

Lord, I'm 35 years old,
A body made like others,
ready for work,
A heart meant for love,
But I've given you all.
It's true, of course, that you needed it.
I've given you all, but it's hard Lord.
It's hard to give one's body; it would like to give itself to others.
It's hard to love everyone and claim no one.
It's hard to shake a hand and not want to retain it.
It's hard to inspire affection, to give it to you.
It's hard to be nothing to oneself in order to be
everything to others.
It's hard to be like others, among others, and to be of them.
It's hard to always give without trying to receive.
It's hard to seek out others and to be unsought oneself.
It's hard to suffer from the sins of others, and yet
be obliged to hear and bear them.
It's hard to be told secrets, and be unable to share them.
It's hard to carry others and never, even for a moment, be carried.
It's hard to sustain the feeble and never be able to lean on
one who is strong.
It's hard to be alone.
Alone before the world.
Alone before suffering,
death,
sin.

Son, you are not alone,
I am with you,
I am you.
For I needed another vehicle to continue
my Incarnation and my Redemption.
Out of all eternity, I chose you.
I need you.


I need your hands to continue to bless,
I need your lips to continue to speak,
I need your body to continue to suffer,
I need your heart to continue to love,
I need you to continue to save,
Stay with me, son.

Here I am, Lord;
Here is my body,
Here is my heart,
Here is my soul.
Grant that I may be big enough to reach the world,
Strong enough to carry it,
Pure enough to embrace it without wanting to keep it.
Grant that I may be a meeting-place,
but a temporary one,
A road that does not end in itself,
because everything to be gathered there,
everything human, leads towards you.

Lord, tonight, while all is still and I feel sharply
the sting of solitude,
While men devour my soul And I feel incapable
of satisfying their hunger,
While the whole world presses on my shoulders with
all its weight of misery and sin,
I repeat to you my "yes" - not in a burst of laughter,
but slowly, clearly, humbly,
Alone, Lord, before you,
In the peace of the evening.

Fr Michel Quoist RIP

Michel Quoist, priest: born Le Havre 18 June 1921; ordained priest 1947; died Le Havre 18 December 1997.

Thank you to Richard of Linen on the Hedgerow for sharing.

Pastor Appreciation Month Coming to an End

Someone tweeted that October was pastor appreciation month. This was news to me and I'm sorry to say that it almost at the end of October that I found out about it. However, as spiritual moms or as parishioners, we can show our appreciation to our pastor/spiritual son at any given day of the year like on his birthday or anniversary of his ordination.

ehow has some useful suggestions.

If it's a gift you're looking for Autom is offering 10% off their already reasonable prices.

Let's hope next year we will be able to remind you of Pastor Appreciation Month way in advance.

A PRAYER FOR PRIESTS
John Cardinal O'Connor



Lord Jesus, we your people pray to You for our priests. You have given them to us for OUR needs. We pray for them in THEIR needs.

We know that You have made them priests in the likeness of your own priesthood. You have consecrated them, set them aside, anointed them, filled them with the Holy Spirit, appointed them to teach, to preach, to minister, to console, to forgive, and to feed us with Your Body and Blood.

Yet we know, too, that they are one with us and share our human weaknesses. We know too that they are tempted to sin and discouragement as are we, needing to be ministered to, as do we, to be consoled and forgiven, as do we. Indeed, we thank You for choosing them from among us, so that they understand us as we understand them, suffer with us and rejoice with us, worry with us and trust with us, share our beings, our lives, our faith.

We ask that You give them this day the gift You gave Your chosen ones on the way to Emmaus: Your presence in their hearts, Your holiness in their souls, Your joy in their spirits. And let them see You face to face in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.

We pray to You, O Lord, through Mary the mother of all priests, for Your priests and for ours. Amen.

March, 1995

Electronic Copyright © 1999 EWTN
All Rights Reserved

For the Children's Sake, These Stereotypes About Priests Must Stop

“I heard that one of those Catholic popes was molesting children again!” said my mother-in-law’s friend the other day, presumably referring to the news in Kansas City. One isn’t sure where to begin addressing a statement like that. As it turned out, I didn’t have to. She was so busy making comments about how awful “those Catholic popes” are that she didn’t hear any of my attempts to respond.

The conversation was an unfortunate reminder of just how powerful the unbalanced media coverage of scandals involving Catholic clergy has been. I have no objection to even-handed, fact-based news stories about abuse within the Church; the problem is that these stories are reported far more than stories of abuse within other institutions.

Read more: Catholic Register - Jennifer Fulwiler's For the Children's Sake, These Stereotypes About Priests Must Stop

"Why Priests are Happy and Sometimes Not"

"...Most priests are in fact happy BEING priests. A few, in fact a very small minority, are unhappy and regret making promises of celibacy and obedience..." Read Father Trigilio's complete article over at his blog Black Biretta.

H/T The Curt Jester

EWTN Family Prayer - For Our Pastor

EWTN Family Prayer - For Our Bishop

Honoring Our Beautiful Mother - More Photos of the Public Rosary

Venny Villapando is part of a husband and wife team that filmed two documentaries on Saint Damien during the time of Father Damien's canonization. He was also the photographer at the public rosary held in Honolulu on October 13th. He graciously and generously shared the photos and videos he took that day. I had the pleasure of going through all of them today. It would be hard to share all of them in this one blog post. But I will share all the ones that I think you would like. 

Our Beautiful Mother

Bishop Larry greeting his flock

Bishop watching Our Lady's statue

Praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet with our Bishop and Deacon Vince

Bishop Larry reading the program

Bishop Larry blessing a little girl

Real Men Pray the Rosary

Flowers that will be presented to our Lady

Our Beautiful Mother and Jesus' Divine Mercy Image

"Get Holy or Die Trying" - Many men were present that afternoon

Kissing the Bishop's ring

Rosary in the Rain

Bringing Flowers to Our Lady

World Apostolate of Fatima, Honolulu Division

Life on the Rock - 10-20-2011 - Vocations - Fr Mark and Doug with Fr Kyl...

Rest in Peace: Father Efren Tomas, father Hermogenes Tomas, Sr.

From The Diocese of Honolulu:

Please pray for the happy repose of the soul of Mr. Hermogenes Tomas, Sr., who died in the Philippines at the age of 88. He is the father of Father Efren Tomas, MS, Pastor of Christ the King, Kahului, Maui.

For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so the, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
(Romans 14: 8)

Please pray for the repose of Mr. Tomas' soul and also for his grieving family.

Father Daniel Devers, Rest in Peace

From @Catholic Hawaii's tweet:

Please pray for the happy repose of the soul of Msgr. Daniel Dever, who died today, October 19, 2011. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Please pray for the repose of Father Devers.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may your perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

Vocations

Our Lady of Divine Vocations

Picture Source: Diocese of Paterson Office of Vocations

Irish iPhone 'app' promotes priestly vocations

and the following was shared by my sister: Catholic Religious Vocation Network (VISION).

A Good Priest...

"...A good priest knows the love of Christ. He has received the priesthood for the sake of his salvation. His vocation requires that he be in the presence of the Lord and be his instrument. He is required to be charitable, when he is, like the apostles, a weak man who may be as ambitious for worldly honor and security as the next man. As he matures as a priest, he comes to realize that his priesthood is his only path to heaven. He also comes to know that, if he selfishly hoards the gifts of grace lavished upon him, he will fail his sublime vocation. A priest above all should know the justice and mercy of God...."

Reverend Jerry Porkorsky is a priest of the Diocese of Arlington, VA., on loan to the Diocese of Lincoln, NE,. as the Finance Officer. He was ordained in 1990 with a Masters of Divinity from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, MD., and holds a Master of Arts in moral theology,
Pontifical College Josephinum, Ohio. He is a c0-founder of Adoremus, a society for the renewal of the Sacred Liturgy.

Annual Rosary in the Park with a Very Special Guest

Thanks to a lovely and dedicated woman, Josephine and of course, her many assistants, we were blessed to have another wonderful afternoon of Rosary in the Park.  This is a local annual event to commemorate Our Lady of Fatima's last apparition on October 13, 1917.  This year was extra special as our dear Bishop Larry joined the faithful in honoring our beautiful blessed mother!  It was also the first time a shower of blessing (rain) fell while the sun was still shining.  It reminded me of what the people must have experienced the day the sun danced.

The gathering started with our bishop leading us in prayer.  Then that was followed by the procession around the park.  Our Lady's statue was crowned with a beautiful Haku lei and roses.  We then chanted the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3:00 p.m. or a little past that time.  We prayed the Luminous Mysteries...mostly in the rain and then we renewed our total Consecration (St. Louis de Montfort).  The bishop gave his final blessing and we all left...very happy participants in a very joyful event. 

The following are some photos from the Rosary gathering.   

Bishop Larry's arrival

Deacon Vince W. and Bishop Larry

The Gathering and a Prayer

Crucifix leads the Procession Honoring Our Lady

Followed by Bishop Larry and Josephine

A large group of the faithful came

The World Apostolate of Fatima, Honolulu Division Banner in the Procession

The Crowning of Our Lady

Bishop brings flowers to the Fairest

The Fairest

The Divine Mercy image

The Divine Mercy Chaplet...chanted

The Five Luminous Mysteries led by Bishop Larry

Rosary in the Rain

Faithful Father and Son Praying the Rosary

Bishop's Final Blessing

Filmmaker and photographer yesterday...Venny V.

The World Apostolate of Fatima - Honolulu Diocese Division

Prayers for Priests

Source: 2 Hearts Network

Remember, O most loving Heart of Jesus, that they for whom I pray are those for whom You prayed so earnestly the night before Your death. These are they to whom You look to continue with You in Your sorrows when others forsake You, who share Your griefs and have inherited your persecutions, according to Your word: That the servant is not greater than his Lord.

Remember, O Heart of Jesus, that they are the objects of the world's hatred and Satan's deadliest snares. Keep them then, O Jesus, in the safe citadel of Your Sacred Heart and there let them be sanctified in truth. May they be one with you and one among themselves, and grant that multitudes may be brought through their word to believe in You and love You. Amen.

On Criticism of Priests

The following is taken from the prayer book Pieta This is Our Lord's revelations to Mutter Vogel.

"One should NEVER attack a priest, even when he's in error, rather one should pray and do penance that I'll grant him My grace again. He alone fully represents Me, even when he doesn't live after My example!"

"When a Priest falls we should extend him a helping hand through prayer and not through attacks! I Myself will be his judge, no one but I!"

"Whoever voices judgment over a priest has voiced it over me; Child, never let a priest be attacked, take up his defense."
(Feast of Christ the King 1937)

"Child, Never judge your confessor, rather pray much for him and offer every THURSDAY, through the hands of My blessed Mother, Holy Communion [for him]. (18.6. 1939)

"Never again accept an out-of-the-way word about a Priest, and speak no unkind word (about them) EVEN IF IT WERE TRUE! Every Priest is My Vicar and My heart will be sickened and insulted because of it! If you hear a judgment [against a Priest] pray a HAIL MARY."
(28. 6. 1939)

"If you see a Priest who celebrates the Holy Mass unworthily then say nothing about him, rather tell it to Me alone! I stand beside Him on the alter!"

"Oh pray much for my priests, that they'll love purity above all, that they'll celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with pure hands and heart. Certainly the Holy Sacrifice is one and the same even when it's celebrated by an unworthy priest, but the graces called down upon the people is not the same!" (28. 2. 1938)


The Cure' D' Ars said:

"One ought to pray earnestly, especially at the Ember Seasons, that God will give us good priests. If they are saints, what good they are able to do! But, whatever they are, never speak against them."

Beatitudes for Nuturing Church Vocations in the Family

Picture Courtesy of The Catholic Sun

While visiting a sick friend, I found a little pamphlet near the Chapel that contained the following beatitudes courtesy of Blessed Marianne Cope Sisters of St. Francis email: yesGodislove@juno.com

CLICK HERE FOR WEBSITE

Blessed are the children of parents who...

1. Witness love for their spouse, their children, their neighbor, and the world.

2. Talk freely about the presence of God in the joys and sorrows of their lives.

3. Remind their children that they are loved by God and have been given gifts to serve others.

4. Lead their family in prayer.

5. Speak positively about priests, sisters, brothers, and deacons.

6. Participate in the lay ministries and activities of their parish and community.

7. Invite a deacon, brother, sister or priest to their home.

8. Encourage their children to consider priesthood and religious life, as well as marriage.

2nd Anniversary of Canonization of St. Damien of Moloka'i

Today, the 11th of October 2011, marks the 2nd anniversary of the canonization of St. Damien of Moloka'i.

A Mass in his honor was presided by Bishop Larry Silva, Bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.

A group of pilgrims from Poland is seen in one of the photos. The accompanying priests in the pilgrimage are those at the altar with the bishop. They are Fr. Janusz and Fr. Stanislaw Wojtpwicz.

Deacon John Coughlin is seen reading the gospel and assisting Bishop Larry Silva.

In the last photo is Esther G. receiving Holy Communion.

Two songs composed by Patrick Downes were sang at this Mass. They are The Heart of Damien and Saint Damien.

Music was provided by Calvin Liu, Music Director of the Cathedral.

Study: Most Priests Are Happy, Appreciate Celibacy

One of the Diocese of Honolulu's Happy Priests

Priests in general are among the happiest members of society, says Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, and contrary to secular opinion, most embrace celibacy as a positive aspect of their vocation.

These were some of the conclusions outlined by Monsignor Rossetti in his book, “Why Priests Are Happy” (Ave Maria Press), which will be released Wednesday.

You can read the entire Zenit article here.