Prayer to Our Lady of America

http://www.ourladyofamerica.org/explanation.php

Prayer to Our Lady of America, Patroness of our Land

Written at the behest of Our Lady, October 5, 1956 by Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil)


Oh Immaculate Mother, Queen of our country, open our hearts, our homes, and our land to the coming of Jesus, your Divine Son.
With Him, reign over us, O heavenly Lady, so pure and so bright with the radiance of Gods light shining in and about you.
Be our leader against the powers of evil set upon wresting the world of souls, redeemed at such a great cost by the sufferings of your Son and of yourself, in union with Him, from that same Savior, Who loves us with infinite charity.

We gather about you, O chaste and holy Mother, Virgin Immaculate, Patroness of our beloved Land, determined to fight under your banner of holy purity against the wickedness that would make all the world an abyss of evil, without God and without your loving maternal care.

We consecrate our hearts, our homes, our Land to your Most Pure Heart, O great Queen, that the kingdom of your Son, our Redeemer and our God, may be firmly established in us.

We ask no special sign of you, sweet Mother, for we believe in your great love for us, and we place in you our entire confidence.
We promise to honor you by faith, love, and the purity of our lives according to your desire.

Reign over us, then, O Virgin Immaculate, with your Son Jesus Christ. May His Divine Heart and your most chaste Heart be ever enthroned and glorified among us.
Use us, your children of America, as your instruments of peace among men and nations.
Work your miracle of grace in us, so that we may be a glory to the Blessed Trinity, Who created, redeemed, and sanctifies us.

May your valiant spouse, St. Joseph, with the holy Angels and Saints, assist you and us in "renewing the face of the earth."
Then when our work is over, come, Holy Immaculate Mother, and as our Victorious Queen, lead us to the eternal kingdom, where your Son reigns forever as King.

Amen

(200 days)
Nihil Obstat: Daniel Pilarczyk, S.T.D.
Imprimatur: +Paul F. Leibold, V.G.
Cincinnati, Jan. 25, 1963

In Texas, we eat popsicles year round!

(This picture was taken in April...)

A Mother's Prayer...

Lord of all pots and pans and things,
since I've not time to be

A saint by doing lovely things
or watching late with Thee

Or dreaming in the dawn light
or storming Heaven's gates -

Make me a saint by getting out the meals
and washing up the plates.

Although I must have Martha's hands,
I have a Mary mind -

And when I pick up boots and shoes,
Thy sandals, Lord, I find.

I think of how they trod the earth,
whenever I scrub the floor.

Accept this meditation, Lord,
I haven't time for more.

Warm all the kitchen with Thy love,
and light it with Thy peace.

Forgive me all my worrying
and make my grumbling cease.

Thou who loved to give men food,
in room or by the sea -

Accept this service that I do,
I do it unto Thee.

-author unknown

Thanks Cathy H. for this...

Sunrise...Texas Style...

Happy Birthday Blessed Pope John Paul II...

May 18, 1920

Blessed John Paul II,

We love you!!!

A Prayer for Today...

Dear Lord,

Please keep your arm around my shoulder,

and your hand over my mouth!

-unknown

A Reflection for Holy Week

Stepping into Holy Week

by Bill Donaghy

TOB writer and speaker

http://www.tobinstitute.org/

We all know that time flies, and that there are moments we wish we could recapture or really savor, having brushed past them so quickly before. Well, the Week of Weeks is approaching, the week we call HOLY. It is unique and it is extraordinary, for it's the sequence of these days that led to the unthinkable... the death of God in the flesh and the rebirth of all creation. This is the time when we were ransomed, rescued, and redeemed by God Himself. Let's not let this week slip past without some serious reflection.

The events of Palm Sunday leading up to Easter Sunday hold within their precious hours all of the seeds of all of the greatest stories. There is faith and there is doubt, trust and betrayal, courage and cowardice... amazing love and blinding hatred. There is the shocking horror of an innocent man's death and the unexpected brilliance of Him coming back to life. And what is most beautiful about this story and the events of this week is the fact that they are true. Christianity is the hope that's rooted in real history, the fairy tale that is factual. The blossoming of all the sacred art and music and poetry and people and prayers that have stretched up and into the sky over these 2000 years all trace their roots back to these days of Holy Week, and into the turbulent soil of southern Palestine.

So let's sit still for some time this week. Sit back and crack open the Gospel of John. Take the scriptures to a quiet, out of the way place and get into this story; in a chapel before the Blessed Sacrament, on an old farm road as the sun is setting, in the backyard as the spring wind comes whistling through the trees. Let's take and read like Augustine's tolle et lege, as if for the first time, this ancient story. And let's see in it our own story. Let's make His Passion our passion.