www.awildcanary.com
August/September 2008
Hosted by
Father Patrick A. Martin
 
 God Has Given Us A Dream

God has given us a dream:
a tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.
And into our hands God places the seeds
to give birth to such a tree.
Go forth with that dream inside you.
Go forth with hope burning bright.
Go to be planters of seeds,
nurturers of hopeful things.
And may God bless you with the vision
of that hope come to fruition before your eyes.
                  Roberta Rominger
  Used with permission from "600 Blessings and Prayers from Around the World,"

August 15th
Prayer for the Assumption of Mary
Father in Heaven,
all creation rightly gives You praise,
for all life and all holiness comes from You.
In the plan of your wisdom
she who bore the Christ in Her womb
was raised body and soul in glory to be with Him in Heaven.
May we follow Her example in reflecting Your holiness
and join in Her hymn of endless love and praise.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
                              Amen

 

     O n November 1, 1950, Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of faith: “We pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” The pope proclaimed this dogma only after a broad consultation of bishops, theologians and laity. There were few dissenting voices. What the pope solemnly declared was already a common belief in the Catholic Church.

     We find homilies on the Assumption going back to the sixth century. In following centuries the Eastern Churches held steadily to the doctrine, but some authors in the West were hesitant. However, by the thirteenth century there was universal agreement. The feast was celebrated under various names (Commemoration, Dormition, Passing, Assumption) from at least the fifth or sixth century.

 

Saint Francis' Prayer 
Make me an instrument of Your peace . . .
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

Oh Divine Master . . .
Let me not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Prayer for the Beatification of
the Servant of God, John Paul II
O Blessed Trinity,
we thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of Your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through Him.

Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with You.

Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore . . . hoping that he will soon be numbered among Your saints.     Amen

© Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA 01263, www.marian.org. Used with permission.
Music: Solitude
by Margi Harrell
This page last updated: August 23, 2008