"Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us. What we really are consists in what God knows us to be." St. John Berchmans
Today's Meditation
“It seems to me that kneeling this moment before my Lord, concealed in the Holy Eucharist, as if next to my Mother beneath the cross, I surrender myself together with her for the accomplishment of God’s most holy will in all things. I desire to love her with the heart of St. John the beloved disciple and to always abide with her. Together with St. John Berchmans I can say, ‘I love Mary; therefore, I also expect to persevere in good, until the end.'”
—Mother Raohael Lubowidzka of the sweetest Heart of Jesus, CSFN, p.
Recommended Reads
Liturgy of the Hours
Divine Office
Office of Readings- Lauds (Morning) ≻
- Terce (Mid-Morning) ≻
- Sext (Mid-Day) ≻
- None (Afternoon) ≻
- Vespers (Evening) ≻
- Compline (Night) ≻
- Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary ≻
Recommended Reads
Daily Verse
"But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful." Luke 6:35-36
St. John Berchmans
Saint of the Day
St. John Berchmans (1599-1621) was born in Flanders, Belgium, the eldest of five children of a shoemaker. He was a virtuous and well-liked child who would often rise early to serve at two or three Masses a day before he reached the age of seven. On Friday evenings he had a custom of making the Stations of the Cross outdoors while barefoot. When he was nine years old his mother suffered from a long and terrible illness, and John faithfully attended her bedside until she died. As a pious young person devoted to the things of God, he enrolled in a Jesuit college where he was known for being an energetic and outgoing student with great academic potential and leadership qualities. He also joined the Society of the Blessed Virgin and prayed her Office daily. He discerned a vocation to the religious life and began priestly formation as a Jesuit. His way of holiness was to perform his ordinary duties with extraordinary fidelity and perfection even in the smallest details, believing that, "If I do not become a saint when I am young, I shall never become one." He died tragically of a fever at the age of twenty-two while studying for the seminary in Rome. Many miracles were attributed to him after his death. St. John Berchmans is the patron saint of altar servers and young people. His feast day is November 26th.
Find a Devotional for this SaintRecommended Reads
Solemnity of Christ the King
Feast Day
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe is the last Sunday of the liturgical year before a new liturgical year begins with the first Sunday of Advent. Pope Pius XI instituted this feast for the universal Church during the Jubilee Year of 1925 in his encyclical Quas Primas in order to combat a global rise in the evils of atheism, secularism, and communism due to the majority of mankind having rejected Christ and his law. He declared that without honoring the authority of Christ as King, the world would have no hope of lasting peace. His goal was that all world leaders, governments, and nations would honor Christ the King in their civil and political affairs, as well as uphold the rights of His Church, and that the faithful would be reminded that Jesus must reign as King in each individual heart, mind, will, and body.
Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary
Day 22
PART TWO: Week Two
Theme: Knowledge of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Daily Prayers: Litany of the Holy Spirit, Litany of Loreto, Ave Maris Stella, St. Louis de Montfort’s Prayer to Mary
Readings: True Devotion to Mary
Readings and prayers for Day 22 of 33
Month of the Holy Souls
Devotion of the Month
The Catholic Church dedicates the entire month of November to praying in a special way for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. The Holy Souls (also called the Faithful Departed) are members of the Church who await the purification of their souls before joining the saints in heaven for all eternity. Specifically, they are referred to as the Church Suffering (the saints in heaven are the Church Triumphant, and the faithful on earth are the Church Militant).The poor souls in purgatory cannot pray for themselves or do anything to hasten their entrance into heaven, but we can and ought to pray for them as an act of charity. The feast of the Holy Souls is November 2nd.
Find a Devotional or Sacramental
Daily Prayers
Prayer for the Dead
In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters.
In this life you embraced them with your tender love;
deliver them now from every evil and bid them eternal rest.
The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise,
where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain,
but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy
Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Prayer for the Holy Father
Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon Thy servant, Pope Francis, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation; that, of Thy gift, he may ever desire that which is pleasing unto Thee and may accomplish it with all his might. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary.