Deeper Truth

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Blessed Solanus Casey

 “Almighty Father, I place the Precious Blood of Jesus before my lips before I pray, that my prayers may be purified before they ascend to Your divine altar.”
Stand In The Gap With Us And Blessed Solanus Casey 7/30/2024.  (November 25, 1870 – July 31, 1957), born Bernard Francis Casey
“We must be faithful to the present moment, or we will frustrate the plan of God for our lives.”
The path starts with being declared Venerable, which means that the Church has found that your life was characterized by “heroic virtue.” Solanus Casey was declared Venerable in 1995. After beatification comes canonization, at which point you are officially a saint.
During his time at St. Bonaventure's, Casey was involved in the formation of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. The soup kitchen was founded in 1929 to provide food for Detroit's poor during the Great Depression. Casey is considered one of the founders of the soup kitchen, which is still in operation today.
Barney Casey became one of Detroit’s best-known priests even though he was not allowed to preach formally or to hear confessions!
Barney came from a large family in Oak Grove, Wisconsin. At the age of 21, and after he had worked as a logger, a hospital orderly, a streetcar operator, and a prison guard, he entered St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee—where he found the studies difficult. He left there, and in 1896, joined the Capuchins in Detroit, taking the name Solanus. His studies for the priesthood were again arduous.
On July 24, 1904, Solanus was ordained, but because his knowledge of theology was judged to be weak, he was not given permission to hear confessions or to preach. A Franciscan Capuchin who knew him well said this annoying restriction “brought forth in him a greatness and a holiness that might never have been realized in any other way.”

Deepertruth: Novena to Blessed Michael Mcgivney, Day 9 – Heavenly Intercessor

“Almighty Father, I place the Precious Blood of Jesus before my lips before I pray, that my prayers may be purified before they ascend to Your divine altar.”
Novena to Blessed Michael Mcgivney, Day 9 – Heavenly Intercessor
Smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints om the hand of the angel before God. (Rev 8:4).. Intention: For those who seek a miracle.
Virtue: Devotion and dedication in prayer.
From the witness of his life on earth, we are convinced of Father McGivney’s holiness and heroic virtue.
With an approved miracle worked by God through his intercession, we are now assured of the ecacy of his heavenly intercession. Known as an Apostle of Christian Family Life, Father McGivney continues to care for families, marriages and children.
He also works through his Knights of Columbus, who bring the principles of charity, unity and fraternity into the everyday lives of people around the world.
The miracle that was aributed to his intercession is a perfect example of the life-affirming vision and mission of Father McGivney.
It involved the healing from a fatal condition of a child in the womb who was born with Down syndrome into a large, loving family.
The parents prayed fervently to Father McGivney for their child to live and asked all their family members and close friends to do the same.
Their prayer was answered in a miraculous fashion, and today the boy is an active, thriving 5-year-old.
As an American-born Blessed, Father McGivney has been lifted up by the Church as an example for us to follow, as an intercessor for our most heartfelt prayers, as a friend in times of trouble who has gone before us into heaven.

Deepertruth: Prayer for our Government by Archbishop John Carroll 1791

“Almighty Father, I place the Precious Blood of Jesus before my lips before I pray, that my prayers may be purified before they ascend to Your divine altar.”
Prayer for our Government by Archbishop John Carroll 1791  We pray, O almighty and eternal God, who through Jesus Christ has revealed thy glory to all nations, to preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church, being spread through the whole world, may continue with unchanging faith in the confession of your name.
We pray Thee, who alone are good and holy, to endow with heavenly knowledge, sincere zeal and sanctity of life, our chief bishop, the pope, the vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the government of his Church; our own bishop, all other bishops, prelates and pastors of the Church; and especially those who are appointed to exercise among us the functions of the holy ministry, and conduct your people into the ways of salvation.
We pray O God of might, wisdom and justice, through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with your Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the president of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness and be eminently useful to your people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality.
Let the light of your divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

“Almighty Father, I place the Precious Blood of Jesus before my lips before I pray, that my prayers may be purified before they ascend to Your divine altar.”
Stand In The Gap With Us And Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus 7/29/2024.  On January 26, 2021, Pope Francis ordered the inscription of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus into the General Roman Calendar, to replace the existing celebration of Saint Martha alone.
Henceforth, July 29 will be celebrated as the feast day of Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus, the family at Bethany who were close friends of the Lord Jesus.
This recent decision by Pope Francis illustrates how the liturgical calendar helps us to understand the sacred scriptures.
There are thousands upon thousands of canonized saints. The Roman Martyrology is the liturgical book that records these canonized saints according to their feast days. Certain days may well have a dozen or more saints, for every saint (and blessed) has a feast day. Only a miniscule fraction of priests — let alone the lay faithful — even have a copy of the Martyrology (it’s only in Latin), so while it is a book of great importance, it is generally unknown.
Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus were evidently close friends of Jesus. He came to their home simply as a welcomed guest, rather than as one celebrating the conversion of a sinner like Zacchaeus or one unceremoniously received by a suspicious Pharisee. The sisters felt free to call on Jesus at their brother’s death, even though a return to Judea at that time seemed to spell almost certain death.

Deepertruth: Novena to Blessed Michael Mcgivney, Day 8 – A Legacy of Love

“Almighty Father, I place the Precious Blood of Jesus before my lips before I pray, that my prayers may be purified before they ascend to Your divine altar.”
Novena to Blessed Michael Mcgivney, Day 8 – A Legacy of Love.  Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has ful- lled the law. (Rom 13:8)
Intention: For the mission of the Knights of Columbus.
Virtue: Love of God and neighbor
Father McGivney had a genius for turning neighbors into friends and friends into brothers.
He set the example by serving as a Good Samaritan, stopping to assist, binding up wounds, and caring for the temporal and spiritual welfare of those who had fallen along the wayside of society.
In this, he lived out the true meaning of charity — of love: to will the true good of another. Love is a dying to self so that the other may more fully live. Jesus Christ, who is love himself, has told us, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” ( Jn 15:13).
And he showed us the authentic face of love on the cross. By forming the Knights of Columbus, Father McGivney was leading men not only to do something but to be someone — a better person ready to live according to the challenges of love.

Deepertruth: The Catholic Defender: The Virgin saint Queen of the Universe

The Catholic Defender:  The Virgin saint Queen of the Universe.  The Catholic Defender:  On Thursday, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith made public the negative and definitive 1974 judgment of its Cardinal Members, who unanimously agreed to declare the non-supernaturality of the alleged apparitions of "Our Lady of All Nations" of Amsterdam. The decision was approved by Pope Paul VI.
Bishop Johannes Huibers, who was bishop of Haarlem while the apparitions were taking place, gave his approval (nihil obstat) to the title and the prayer associated with the apparition.
On 7 May 1956, Bishop Huibers, following on a careful examination of the case concerning the supposed apparitions and revelations of 'Our Lady of All Nations', declared that he 'found no evidence of the supernatural nature of the apparitions'"
On 31 May 1996, Bishop Hendrik Bomers, with permission of the CDF,[18] permitted public veneration using the title, prayer, and image, while maintaining that the question of the supernatural character of the apparitions themselves was unresolved and left to the judgment of one's own conscience.
On 31 May 2002, Bishop Jozef Marianus Punt, Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam, declared the apparitions themselves to be of supernatural origin.

Deepertuth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Blessed Stanley Rother

“Almighty Father, I place the Precious Blood of Jesus before my lips before I pray, that my prayers may be purified before they ascend to Your divine altar.”
Stand In The Gap With Us And Blessed Stanley Rother 7/28/2024.  Rother was serving as a missionary priest with the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City when he was killed by unknown assailants on July 28, 1981, in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. He had volunteered to serve the diocesan mission in Guatemala at a time when the Central American country was in the midst of a civil war.
On May 25, 1963, Stanley Francis Rother, a farmer’s son from Okarche, Oklahoma, was ordained for his home diocese of Oklahoma City-Tulsa. Having flunked out of the area seminary due to his difficulty with Latin, Fr. Rother finally accepted an invitation to attend Mount St. Mary Seminary in Maryland, where he finished his studies and was approved for ordination.
After serving in his local diocese for five years, Fr. Rother joined five priests, three religious' sisters, and three laypersons to staff a Guatemalan mission in Santiago Atitlán serving the Tz’utujil people. The Oklahoma City diocese heard the call of Pope John XXIII to send missionaries to foreign lands, especially Central America. These twelve individuals felt the call, and with their bishop’s approval, left the comforts of the United States to live and work in Guatemala.
By 1975, Fr. Rother was alone at his parish in Santiago Atitlán, the others having returned home for various reasons. He served the Tz’utujil people for 13 years and won their hearts and souls. Ever the farmer, and always unpretentious and mild mannered, Fr. Rother experimented with various crops as well as fulfilling his heavy pastoral duties which included as many as five Masses in four different locations on a given Sunday and as many as 1,000 baptisms a year.

Deepertruth: Novena to Blessed Michael Mcgivney, Day 7 – A Holy Death

“Almighty Father, I place the Precious Blood of Jesus before my lips before I pray, that my prayers may be purified before they ascend to Your divine altar.”
Novena to Blessed Michael Mcgivney, Day 7 – A Holy Death.  For I consider that the suerings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18)
Intention: For the dying and those suering from serious illness.
Virtue: Hope for eternal life.
Falling ill amid the influenza pandemic of 1889-90, Father McGivney traveled far to find effective treatments but always returned to his parish to tend to his duties while his health lasted.
In his final days, priests visited to comfort him, learn from him, and administer the last rites.
For his own part, he prayed fervently for his parishioners and his Knights, offering his sufferings for their spiritual and temporal welfare.
A man of practical action till the end, he updated his will, providing for the seminary education of his youngest brother and dividing his goods among his siblings.
The flu, known as the “grippe,” that consumed the world’s attention also grabbed hold of his body.
He was confined to bed in his rectory for much of the summer before succumbing to the virus, with an underlying condition of tuberculosis, on Aug. 14, 1890, two days past his 38th birthday, on the vigil of the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He was a model of goodness and patience and — in his last priestly act on earth — offered himself to God in a holy death. As one of his Knights remembered, “He was a man of the people. He was zealous of his people’s welfare, and all the kindness of his priestly soul asserted itself more strongly in his unceasing efforts for the betterment of their condition.”

Deepertruth: Litany of the most Precious Blood of Jesus

Litany of the most Precious Blood of Jesus 
 
Christ hear us. Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, save us.
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God, save us.
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament, save us.
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony, save us.
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging, save us.
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, save us.
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, save us.
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation, save us.
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.
Blood of Christ, victor over demons, save us.
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs, save us.
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors, save us.
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins, save us.
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril, save us.
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened, save us.
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow, save us.
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent, save us.
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying, save us.
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts, save us.
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life, save us.
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, save us.
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor, save us.
 
 
 

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Titus Brandsma

 “Almighty Father, I place the Precious Blood of Jesus before my lips before I pray, that my prayers may be purified before they ascend to Your divine altar.”
Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Titus Brandsma. 7/27/2024.  Given the birth name Anno, Brandsma and his siblings grew up on their parents’ dairy farm in rural Frisia. As devout Catholics, the family was in the minority among their Calvinist neighbors. From age 11 Anno was educated at a preparatory school for boys who were studying for the priesthood. He joined the Carmelite novitiate in 1898, taking the name Titus in honor of his father.
In the years following his 1905 ordination, Brandsma received a doctorate in philosophy and initiated a project to translate the works of Saint Teresa of Avila into Dutch. One of the founders of the Catholic University of Nijmegen, he served as a professor of philosophy and the history of mysticism at the school. While there Brandsma was known more for his availability to faculty and students than for his academic achievements.
As a journalist, Brandsma was fearless. He spoke out when it seemed everyone else was quietly looking the other way. He was willing to stand alone against a government that resisted the will of the people. When he lived and worked in the Netherlands during the 1930s and ’40s, social media had not yet developed. What Pope John Paul II called the “digital continent” — that new way of communicating across borders — was the stuff of imagination. Still, Titus Brandsma, a priest of the Carmelite order and a journalist, managed to communicate widely with the Dutch faithful. He served as editor of his local newspaper and as ecclesiastical adviser to Catholic journalists at some 30 Dutch newspapers.