Discouragement... a snare of the enemy
June 29, 2015
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
What an incredible weekend! Youth for Life Boot Camp, Project Joseph, Stephanie Gray’s talk on pro-life apologetics, Sidewalk Counselor and Prayer Partner training, and a Patriotic Rosary - and I probably left something out! No wonder Texas is making such tremendous strides in defending life!
I know there was a great deal of disappointment about last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision, but we must continue to trust in God. As the Texas Nuns posted on their blog:
Discouragement is a snare of the enemy. These times call for heroic virtue, for great holiness. It’s not a job for someone else, but for you, for us. Our bishops are speaking out in defense of the sanctity of marriage and the family, and we need to support them in that effort.
And what better day for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, the two pillars of the Church? Two more different men would be hard to find. Peter dropped his nets, giving up everything, to follow Jesus. He lives with and learns from Jesus for three years, yet at the end, he betrays him and is in hiding, instead of being at Christ’s crucifixion. Paul, persecutor of the Church, holds the cloaks of the men who stone Stephen to death, yet he travels the known world preaching the Gospel once he sees the Truth. But both Peter and Paul are given the grace to endure beatings, imprisonment, and martyrdom for their faith.
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St. Augustine of Hippo wrote:
There is one day for the passion of two apostles. But these two also were as one; although they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, Paul followed. We are celebrating a feast day, consecrated for us by the blood of the apostles. Let us love their faith, their lives, their labors, their sufferings, their confession of faith, their preaching.
As hostility toward Christianity increases in our own country, may we be strengthened by the example and intercession of Sts. Peter and Paul and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome, all of whom loved Jesus unto death.
Petitions to St. Peter and St. Paul
O holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, I choose you this day and forever to be my special patrons and advocates; thee, Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles, because thou art the Rock, upon which Almighty God hath built His Church; thee, Saint Paul, because thou wast fore-chosen by God as the Vessel of election and the Preacher of truth in the whole world. Obtain for me, I pray you, lively faith, firm hope, and burning love; complete detachment from myself, contempt of the world, patience in adversity, humility in prosperity, attention in prayer, purity of heart, a right intention in all my works, diligence in fulfilling the duties of my state of life, constancy in my resolutions, resignation to the will of God and perseverance in the grace of God even unto death; that so, by means of your intercession and your glorious merits, I may be able to overcome the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, and may be made worthy to appear before the chief and eternal Shepherd of souls, Jesus Christ, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for endless ages, to enjoy His presence and love Him forever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.
V. Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.
R. They shall be mindful of Thy name, O Lord.
Let us pray:
O God, Whose right hand raised up blessed Peter, when he walked upon the water and began to sink, and thrice delivered his fellow-Apostle Paul from the depths of the sea, when he suffered shipwreck: graciously hear us and grant, by the merits of them both, that we also may attain unto everlasting glory: Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen
By Susan Platt, CPLC Prayer Ministry Director
Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk /creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
Tags: saints