| November
| December 2008
| January |
| Sunday
| Monday
| Tuesday
| Wednesday
| Thursday
| Friday
| Saturday
| Come, Lord Jesus! The Word was made flesh and dwelled among us. Come, let us adore Him!
| 1 Take care to render (your hearts) more pleasing to our Master day by day.
| 2 See to it that this coming year is more fertile in good works than the one just gone by.
| 3 We must redouble our courage and raise our spirits to God.
| 4 (Serve God) with greater diligence in everything that our vocation or Christian profession obliges us.
| 5 (Serving God with diligence) can free us from the big world that is not of God.
| 6 Let us face the present trials to which divine Providence subjects us but not lose heart or become discouraged.
| 7 Remember the words of the divine Master: ‘Let not your heart be troubled’.
| 8 Jesus promised his real assistance to those who follow him, let us remember Jesus, who is with us.
| 9 Let us have recourse to (Jesus), and we will always obtain relief. By doing this, we will always sing victory before God.
| 10 Live tranquilly, follow the path on which the Lord has placed you and, in a holy manner.
| 11 Beware of scruples and calm yourself.
| 12 Always place yourself in the presence of God.
| 13 Beware of anxiety and restlessness, because there is nothing that more greatly impedes our progress in perfection.
| 14 Place yourself in wounds of our Lord.
| 15 Have great confidence in his mercy and goodness, sure that he will never abandon you.
| 16 After love for our Lord, I recommend to you love of the Church, his Bride and our tender mother.
| 17 Thank God a hundred times a day for being a (child) of the Church.
| 18 Have great compassion on the Church’s pastors and preachers and also on those who care for souls.
| 19 Resolve yourself to correspond generously to grace by making yourself worthy of (God).
| 20 In order to imitate him, we must reflect each day on the life of the One we intend to take as our model.
| 21 From reflection is born esteem for his acts, and from esteem springs the desire & consolation of imitation.
| 22 You must insist principally...on the basis of goodness... humility.
| 23 Consider yourself to be what you are in truth (before God).
| 24 The great mercy of God...shelters the soul from all feelings of vanity and pride, and consolidates humility.
| 25 The knowledge of one’s potential unworthiness ... renders the creature pleasing in the eyes of the most High.
| 26 God can reject everything conceived in sin ... but he absolutely cannot reject the sincere desire to love him.
| 27 God can reject everything conceived in sin ... but he absolutely cannot reject the sincere desire to love him.
| 28 God reserves his children for a future life...for the present he usually grants... the honor of carrying their cross after him.
| 29 Always walk in the ways of love and don’t be upset if it sometimes seems that you move rather slowly.
| 30 As long as you have good and determined intentions, you cannot but make progress.
| 31 May Jesus always be your greatness and the world your contempt!
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Padre Pio writes to his spiritual daughter Antonietta Vona in the daily reflections for December.
They are taken from his correspondence to her during the year 1918:
January 2, 16; February 14; March 20; May 3.
| Have a New Year blessed with God’s love, mercy and providence! | ||||||||
Praying the Month of DecemberBegin with the Angelus (everyday)
The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. Behold the Handmaid of the Lord Be it done to me according to your word. And the Word was made flesh And made his dwelling among us. Pour forth we beg you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ Your Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may, through His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. We ask this through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
PRAYER TO PADRE PIOSaint Pio of Pietrelcina, you came, as the Baptist of old, into the spiritual wilderness of our world. You were a messenger sent to prepare people’s hearts for the Lord to enter them. Pray that I may be a fertile ground in which God’s Word may enter and live. Padre Pio, you want your Spiritual Children to live in God’s Will and graces. Pray that we accept His Way to walk, His Truth to speak, and His Life to live. As we joyfully await and celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus, pray that we may follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, live more fully the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and thus come to the Father, Source of all Life, Whose love for us endures for ever and ever. Amen. |
TO THE BLESSED TRINITYMost Blessed Trinity whom I adore, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Help me to be firmly rooted in Your Will today, as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave You. Stay with me, Lord, and lead me more deeply into your Mystery. Grant me peace and serenity today. In the love You bore our Father, Padre Pio, make our hearts your dwelling place that we may never abandon You. As Spiritual Children of Padre Pio, who bore the marks of Jesus’ saving Sacrifice, make us vigilant in faith, constant in hope, and undying in our love for You and all people. You live and reign forever. Amen.(The following Antiphons are read as brief intercessions every day. The Antiphons are titles given to the long-awaited Messiah. The Church prays them during the week before Christmas in the Liturgy of the Hours and as the alleluia verse at Mass. We use them in prayer this month as our daily invocation for the Savior to bless and protect us.) PREPARATORY PRAYERLord Jesus, you came to save your people. Blessed are we who celebrate Your wonderful Incarnation. Hear us as we pray with the prophetic titles that Israel of old offered in hopeful anticipation of Your coming:ANTIPHONARY INTERCESSIONS(everyday) Wisdom of our God most high,teach us to walk in the paths of knowledge
Leader of Ancient Israel,
Flower of Jesse’s Stem,
Key of David, |
Radiant Dawn: shine on those lost in the darkness of spiritual death.
King of all nations:
Emmanuel, OUR LADY, MOTHER OF THE REDEEMER:Holy Mother Mary, ever-virgin yet fruitful woman, in the name of all humanity, your availability to the Father’s Will offered the Eternal God a dwelling place in time. I thank you for your openness to the Divine challenge to become the Mother of the redeemed, as You trustingly accepted to be the Mother of the Redeemer. With hopeful heart, you awaited the fulfillment of the Father’s Will. You gazed with awe at the Eternal Love you held in your arms and faithfully accompanied Jesus in His life through His ministry even to the Cross. Be with me today and every day, that I may await the Lord in joyful expectation of His coming in glory. May I gaze with awe at His Hidden yet Real Presence in the Mystery of the Eucharist, where He is enfleshed in those who receive him. Mother of the Redeemer and redeemed, the Christ and the Christian, lead me to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Who lives for ever. Amen.****************** Holy Father, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, lover of the Eucharist, pray for us. Holy Father, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, lover of Our Lady, pray for us. Holy Father, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, lover of Christ’s Mystical body, the Church, pray for us.
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