Gracious and loving God, help the young men and boys of our community to hear your call to serve as priests of Jesus Christ. Our needs are great and our people thirst for your presence. Open the hearts of many; raise up faithful servants of the Gospel, dedicated, holy sisters, brothers, deacons and priests, who will give themselves for your people and their needs. Bless those who are serving now with courage and perseverance. Grant that many will be inspired by their example and faith. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Amen.
Novena in Honor of the Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Say once a day for nine days, especially starting on 6 September and ending on 14 September, the eve of the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary
O most holy and afflicted Virgin! Queen of martyrs! Thou who didst stand beneath the Cross, witnessing the agony of thy divine Son — through the unceasing sufferings of thy life of sorrow, and the bliss which now more than amply repays thee for thy past trials, look down with a mother’s tenderness and pity on me, who kneel before thee to venerate thy dolors, and place my requests, with filial confidence, in the sanctuary of thy wounded heart; present them, I beseech thee on my behalf, to Jesus Christ. Through the merits of His most sacred death and passion, and through thy sufferings at the foot of the Cross, I hope to obtain the grant of my present petition. To whom shall I recur in my wants and miseries if not to thee, O Mother of mercy, who, having so deeply drunk of the chalice of thy Son, canst compassionate the woes of those who still sigh in the land of exile? Sancta Maria, Mater Dolorosa, ora pro me!
The Circumcision and Prophecy of SimeonThe Flight into EgyptThe Loss of Jesus in the TempleThe Meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the CrossThe CrucifixionThe Taking Down of the Body of Jesus from the CrossJesus is laid in the Tomb These seven sorrows are often represented in art by a sword — or three or seven swords — piercing Mary’s heart. This relates to the prophecy of the old man Simeon we heard about at Candlemas, when, after Our Lady pesented the Child Jesus at the Temple, he told her, “Behold this Child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”