Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Thoughts on God

Today was my first day back to a busy schedule of work and it may be very difficult to see God through everyday life. But He is there. He's in the small joys we see, the pleasant conversations, the joy of getting something done right. God isn't just that sensation but Our Lord and God, who watches out for us and loves us with an infinite love.

He died for you, for me, for your neighbor and everyone else. Even when life gets down, always look up and know that God is there. He is always with us through the trials and joys, and we will all ultimately arrive at the gates of the small eternal city. And what will we say: I forgot to pray; I didn't know how. Just say, "Lord I love you. Have mercy on me. Look at what I have done and look at what I have failed at but know I love you."

Trust in God must be a key factor in all of our lives. I hope it will lead us all to Heaven through the Catholic Church, which Christ has promised, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak; and the things that are to come, he shall shew you" (John 16:13)

My apologizes if I am unable to post everyday, but thank you to everyone that will still come back here and hope to read something.
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Monday, August 22, 2005
WYD 2008: Sydney

Well, World Youth Day is over and so is Pope Benedict XVI's first international trip. The next World Youth Day will be in 2008 in Sydney, Australia.

Do you think World Youth Day will bring people to the Church? Greater vocations to the priesthood

Do you think Pope Benedict XVI passed the "test" of being able to connect with the youth?
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Sunday, August 21, 2005
Pro-life Posts

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish" (Mother Teresa).

Catholic and Pro-life Issues
  1. Prayer for the Helpless Unborn
  2. In vitro Fertilization
  3. Catholics and the End of Life issues
  4. Human Cloning
  5. Contraception
  6. The Catechism of the Catholic Church on abortion
  7. What is the Cost of abortion?
  8. Petition against Planned Parenthood
  9. Amnesty International and Abortion
This is a list of all of my pro-life news & legislation updates to date. (More recent at the top)
  1. Partial Birth Abortion Ruled Unconstitutional
  2. American Cancer Society funds Planned Parenthood
  3. Colorado Gov. Signs Bill Mandating Catholic Hospitals Provide Abortion Drug
  4. Portugal Legalizes Abortion
  5. Fr. Frank Pavone's Homily from January 18, 2007
  6. Choose Life Plates for Illinois
  7. 34th Anniversary of Legalized Abortion
  8. 2006 US Election Results
  9. Vote Pro-life on November 7, 2006
  10. FDA Guidelines on Vaccines/Aborted Fetal Cell Lines Open for Public Comment
  11. Nicaragua votes to ban all abortions; UN tried to stop vote
  12. Missourians: Vote NO on Amendment 2
  13. The Pill causes cancer
  14. Help the South Dakota Abortion Ban
  15. Plan B will not stop abortions
  16. FDA approves Morning after pill!
  17. President Bush supports Plan B!
  18. Unborn children murdered for cosmetics!
  19. Ask President Bush to stop Plan B
  20. Contact Ms. Magazine
  21. Child Custody Protection Act passes Senate, stopped
  22. Bush vetos embryonic stem cell research bill YES!
  23. Crucial Stem cell research update!
  24. European Union- embryonic stem cell research
  25. Today's Crazy News
  26. Abortion mill becomes Catholic chapel
  27. Omaha abortion center closes
  28. A living miracle
  29. British abortion rates rise
  30. Independence Day: Pro-life Wisdom
  31. Curves: Pro-life
  32. Alabama Pro-life law goes into effect
  33. Microsoft is a huge abortion supporter
  34. End of trouble at NKU
  35. South Dakota abortion law to be voted on in November
  36. Governor Blanco signs Louisiana abortion ban into law
  37. A Child of an Abortion Practitioner Insists on Life for the Unborn
  38. Annual report on Planned Parenthood
  39. Ohio abortion ban
  40. Philippines abolishes the death penalty
  41. Start the 77 Day Novena to close Tiller's abortion mill
  42. Updates on Abortion in South Dakota
  43. Amnesty International and Abortion
  44. Wisconsin newspaper funds Planned Parenthood
  45. Blythe Danner & Gwyneth Paltrow support abortion
  46. Proposition 73 is back!
  47. Clinton asked to use abortion to kill the poor
  48. Victory for Life in Britain
  49. Andrea Clark has died
  50. Colorado Governor vetos bill that would allow morning after pill without a prescription
  51. Hawaii protects abortion after Roe v. Wade
  52. Arizona vetos pain-awareness act bill
  53. Breast cancer risks drastically increase after an abortion
  54. Updates with South Dakota
  55. Amazon.com gives in to abortion activists
  56. Some Catholic colleges support abortion
  57. Day of Prayer for the Conversion of Abortionists
  58. National polls released on the South Dakota abortion ban
  59. Gov. Rounds signs ban on abortions in South Dakota (Mar 2006)
  60. Walmart begins to sell the morning-after-pill
  61. Abortion bans in Mississippi and Missouri
  62. 55 Catholic Democrats in the House support abortion
  63. Gov. Rounds of South Dakota needs prayers
  64. Supreme court sides with pro-lifers in regard to RICO laws
  65. South Dakota passes abortion ban
  66. Governor Blagojevich funds embryonic stem cell research
  67. RU-486 in Australia
  68. US Family Planning Funds Slashed (Feb. 16th)
  69. IL Paper allows pro-life advertisements
  70. "Abortions have decreased" - President Bush
  71. Florida parential notification law upheld by judge
  72. NARAL's abortion grades
  73. US Supreme Court ruling on N. Hamsphire law
  74. US Supreme Court ruling in Oregon suicide law
  75. Diocese to require contraception classes
  76. Pope Benedict XVI - "God loves every embryo"
  77. Illinois Abortions at a 30 year low
  78. Boycott American Girl
  79. Best Christmas Gift for a mother
  80. Umbilical Cord Blood Bill becomes Law (Dec. 21, 2005)
  81. An abortion survivor's story - Read the amazing story
  82. Prop. 73 will be back!
  83. Phillipines support the Church on birth control
  84. Prop. 73 fails in California (Nov. 13, 2005)
  85. Missouri abortion clinic closed; new law (Oct. 26, 2005)
  86. Don't support "Save lids to Save lives"
  87. Adult Stem cells cure paraplegic
  88. The Truth on Life Checks
  89. UNFPA denied funding from US; Canada increases funding
  90. Missouri pro-life bill signed into law on Sept. 16, 2005
  91. Susan Torres's child dies on Sept. 11, 2005
  92. Pro-life bumper sticker saves a life
  93. Priests for life announce lay association
  94. CBS pro-life statistics as of Aug. 11, 2005
  95. Minnesota signs abortion-fetal pain law on Aug. 2, 2005
  96. New York Contraception Bill is vetoed in Aug. 2005
  97. Susan Torres gives birth
  98. Embyronic Stem Cell Research
  99. Benefits of adult stem cell research
  100. Pro-life survey
  101. Abortion laws in other countries
  102. Tell Senators not to support Embryonic stem cell Research
  103. If Roe v. Wade is overturned
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Why did Jesus Institute the Eucharist?


The institution of the Eucharist was at the Last Supper, on the night before Our Lord's death, where He offered us the greatest gift of all - Himself in the Eucharist.

From the Catechism of St. Pius X:

28 Q: Why did Jesus Christ institute the Most Holy Eucharist?

A: Jesus Christ instituted the Most Holy Eucharist for three principal reasons: (1) To be the Sacrifice of the New Law; (2) To be the food of our souls; (3) To be a perpetual memorial of His passion and death and a precious pledge both of His love for us and of eternal life.
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Conclusion of World Youth Day

As I watch now, Pope Benedict XVI is boarding his plane to leave Cologne, Germany from World Youth Day, and I reflect on the closing Mass today. Over 1 million people from over 200 countries attended the Holy Mass in Marienfeld. The Pope encouraged the pilgrims to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but stated that "books alone are not enough. Form communities based on faith." Read his excellent homily via the Vatican's website.

The next World Youth Day is scheduled for Sydney, Australia in 2008.

Images from the Mass:

AFP/Pier Paolo Cito

AFP
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Saturday, August 20, 2005
The DaVinci Protest

With the release of Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code” coming to the big screen, a 61-year-old nun protested outside of the cathedral where it was filmed in London for 12 hours by praying the Rosary on the concrete in reparation for the lies of the movie against Jesus.

Many view this book offensive because it states lies about Christ and the Church including that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, had a child with her, and she started the papacy. Some claim this is fiction and is no harm, but while I watched the program many people talked about how they believe it as the truth! I’m certainly opposed to a movie like this that distorts the truth, and the Only Truth at that, just to make money.

August 2006 Update: Visit Jesus Decoded and my later post on this.
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Let us adore Him

I'm writing this post after the WYD celebrations have concluded but as I put these posts in the archives of my blog I felt that the WYD section would not be complete without Eucharistic Adoration mentioned.

On August 20, 2005, many, many people remained in an all-night Eucharistic Adoration Vigil to adore Our Lord who is truly present (Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity) in the Eucharist. Eucharistic adoration is indeed a great gift and my favorite form of prayer.

Christ-Haunted posted that beautiful photo above of Pope Benedict XVI during Adoration.

Here is the address of Pope Benedict XVI for the youth vigil:

Dear young friends,

In our pilgrimage with the mysterious Magi from the East, we have arrived at the moment which St Matthew describes in his Gospel with these words: "Going into the house (over which the star had halted), they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him" (Mt 2: 11). Outwardly, their journey was now over. They had reached their goal.

But at this point a new journey began for them, an inner pilgrimage which changed their whole lives. Their mental picture of the infant King they were expecting to find must have been very different. They had stopped at Jerusalem specifically in order to ask the King who lived there for news of the promised King who had been born. They knew that the world was in disorder, and for that reason their hearts were troubled.

They were sure that God existed and that he was a just and gentle God. And perhaps they also knew of the great prophecies of Israel foretelling a King who would be intimately united with God, a King who would restore order to the world, acting for God and in his Name.

It was in order to seek this King that they had set off on their journey: deep within themselves they felt prompted to go in search of the true justice that can only come from God, and they wanted to serve this King, to fall prostrate at his feet and so play their part in the renewal of the world. They were among those "who hunger and thirst for justice" (Mt 5: 6). This hunger and thirst had spurred them on in their pilgrimage - they had become pilgrims in search of the justice that they expected from God, intending to devote themselves to its service.

Even if those who had stayed at home may have considered them Utopian dreamers, they were actually people with their feet on the ground, and they knew that in order to change the world it is necessary to have power. Hence, they were hardly likely to seek the promised child anywhere but in the King's palace. Yet now they were bowing down before the child of poor people, and they soon came to realize that Herod, the King they had consulted, intended to use his power to lay a trap for him, forcing the family to flee into exile.

The new King, to whom they now paid homage, was quite unlike what they were expecting. In this way they had to learn that God is not as we usually imagine him to be. This was where their inner journey began. It started at the very moment when they knelt down before this child and recognized him as the promised King. But they still had to assimilate these joyful gestures internally.

They had to change their ideas about power, about God and about man, and in so doing, they also had to change themselves. Now they were able to see that God's power is not like that of the powerful of this world. God's ways are not as we imagine them or as we might wish them to be.

God does not enter into competition with earthly powers in this world. He does not marshal his divisions alongside other divisions. God did not send 12 legions of angels to assist Jesus in the Garden of Olives (cf. Mt 26: 53). He contrasts the noisy and ostentatious power of this world with the defenceless power of love, which succumbs to death on the Cross and dies ever anew throughout history; yet it is this same love which constitutes the new divine intervention that opposes injustice and ushers in the Kingdom of God.

God is different - this is what they now come to realize. And it means that they themselves must now become different, they must learn God's ways.

They had come to place themselves at the service of this King, to model their own kingship on his. That was the meaning of their act of homage, their adoration. Included in this were their gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh - gifts offered to a King held to be divine. Adoration has a content and it involves giving. Through this act of adoration, these men from the East wished to recognize the child as their King and to place their own power and potential at his disposal, and in this they were certainly on the right path.

By serving and following him, they wanted, together with him, to serve the cause of good and the cause of justice in the world. In this they were right.

Now, though, they have to learn that this cannot be achieved simply through issuing commands from a throne on high. Now they have to learn to give themselves - no lesser gift would be sufficient for this King. Now they have to learn that their lives must be conformed to this divine way of exercising power, to God's own way of being.

They must become men of truth, of justice, of goodness, of forgiveness, of mercy. They will no longer ask: how can this serve me? Instead, they will have to ask: How can I serve God's presence in the world? They must learn to lose their life and in this way to find it. Having left Jerusalem behind, they must not deviate from the path marked out by the true King, as they follow Jesus.

Dear friends, what does all this mean for us?

What we have just been saying about the nature of God being different, and about the way our lives must be shaped accordingly, sounds very fine, but remains rather vague and unfocused. That is why God has given us examples. The Magi from the East are just the first in a long procession of men and women who have constantly tried to gaze upon God's star in their lives, going in search of the God who has drawn close to us and shows us the way.

It is the great multitude of the saints - both known and unknown - in whose lives the Lord has opened up the Gospel before us and turned over the pages; he has done this throughout history and he still does so today. In their lives, as if in a great picture-book, the riches of the Gospel are revealed. They are the shining path which God himself has traced throughout history and is still tracing today.

My venerable Predecessor Pope John Paul II, who is with us at this moment, beatified and canonized a great many people from both the distant and the recent past. Through these individuals he wanted to show us how to be Christian: how to live life as it should be lived - according to God's way. The saints and the blesseds did not doggedly seek their own happiness, but simply wanted to give themselves, because the light of Christ had shone upon them.

They show us the way to attain happiness, they show us how to be truly human. Through all the ups and downs of history, they were the true reformers who constantly rescued it from plunging into the valley of darkness; it was they who constantly shed upon it the light that was needed to make sense - even in the midst of suffering - of God's words spoken at the end of the work of creation: "It is very good".

One need only think of such figures as St Benedict, St Francis of Assisi, St Teresa of Avila, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Charles Borromeo, the founders of 19-century religious orders who inspired and guided the social movement, or the saints of our own day - Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Mother Teresa, Padre Pio. In contemplating these figures we learn what it means "to adore" and what it means to live according to the measure of the Child of Bethlehem, by the measure of Jesus Christ and of God himself.

The saints, as we said, are the true reformers. Now I want to express this in an even more radical way: only from the saints, only from God does true revolution come, the definitive way to change the world.

In the last century we experienced revolutions with a common programme - expecting nothing more from God, they assumed total responsibility for the cause of the world in order to change it. And this, as we saw, meant that a human and partial point of view was always taken as an absolute guiding principle. Absolutizing what is not absolute but relative is called totalitarianism. It does not liberate man, but takes away his dignity and enslaves him.

It is not ideologies that save the world, but only a return to the living God, our Creator, the guarantor of our freedom, the guarantor of what is really good and true. True revolution consists in simply turning to God who is the measure of what is right and who at the same time is everlasting love. And what could ever save us apart from love?

Dear friends! Allow me to add just two brief thoughts.

There are many who speak of God; some even preach hatred and perpetrate violence in God's Name. So it is important to discover the true face of God. The Magi from the East found it when they knelt down before the Child of Bethlehem. "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father", said Jesus to Philip (Jn 14: 9). In Jesus Christ, who allowed his heart to be pierced for us, the true face of God is seen. We will follow him together with the great multitude of those who went before us. Then we will be travelling along the right path.

This means that we are not constructing a private God, we are not constructing a private Jesus, but that we believe and worship the Jesus who is manifested to us by the Sacred Scriptures and who reveals himself to be alive in the great procession of the faithful called the Church, always alongside us and always before us.

There is much that could be criticized in the Church. We know this and the Lord himself told us so: it is a net with good fish and bad fish, a field with wheat and darnel.

Pope John Paul II, as well as revealing the true face of the Church in the many saints that he canonized, also asked pardon for the wrong that was done in the course of history through the words and deeds of members of the Church. In this way he showed us our own true image and urged us to take our place, with all our faults and weaknesses, in the procession of the saints that began with the Magi from the East.

It is actually consoling to realize that there is darnel in the Church. In this way, despite all our defects, we can still hope to be counted among the disciples of Jesus, who came to call sinners.

The Church is like a human family, but at the same time it is also the great family of God, through which he establishes an overarching communion and unity that embraces every continent, culture and nation. So we are glad to belong to this great family that we see here; we are glad to have brothers and friends all over the world.

Here in Cologne we discover the joy of belonging to a family as vast as the world, including Heaven and earth, the past, the present, the future and every part of the earth. In this great band of pilgrims we walk side by side with Christ, we walk with the star that enlightens our history.

"Going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him" (Mt 2: 11). Dear friends, this is not a distant story that took place long ago. It is with us now. Here in the Sacred Host he is present before us and in our midst. As at that time, so now he is mysteriously veiled in a sacred silence; as at that time, it is here that the true face of God is revealed. For us he became a grain of wheat that falls on the ground and dies and bears fruit until the end of the world (cf. Jn 12: 24).

He is present now as he was then in Bethlehem. He invites us to that inner pilgrimage which is called adoration. Let us set off on this pilgrimage of the spirit and let us ask him to be our guide. Amen.

© Copyright 2005 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Other Images:

(AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle)

The purple areas are the youth in attendance:

(AP Photo/WJT, Hacky Hagemeyer)
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The Ladder to Heaven

"Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven" -- St. Rosa de Lima.

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
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St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Memorial (1969 Calendar): August 20
Double (1955 Calendar): August 20

Today the Church remembers St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), abbot and Doctor of the Church, who was canonized, 21 years after his death. He is referred to as the second founder of the Cistercians, the Mellifluous Doctor, the Apostle of the Crusades, the miracle-worker, the reconciler of kings, the leader of peoples, and the counselor of popes. In 1830, he was given the title of Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius VIII.

He was born in 1090, the third son of a noble Burgundian family. At an early age he was sent to college at Chatillon. He studied Holy Scripture and Theology. St. Bernard, at the age of 22, entered the monastery of Citeaux (where the Cistercian order began) following the death of his mother and fearing the ways of the world. He convinced 25 other youths in the noble class as well as four his brothers to follow him. His father and a fifth brother later followed. St. Stephen, the abbot at Citeaux, after seeing the great progress of Bernard in the spiritual life, sent him with twelve monks to found a new monastery. St. Bernard would found the famous Abbey of Clairvaux. St. Bernard became abbot in 1115; he founded numerous other monasteries too. St. Bernard dedicated his work, De Consideratione, to his disciple, Bernard of Pisa, who later became Pope Eugene III. Pope Eugene III later asked St. Bernard to preach the second Crusade, so St. Bernard traveled France and Germany preaching. After the failure of the crusade, some people turned on St. Bernard. St. Bernard countered by saying that the knights failed because of their sinfulness.

St. Bernard's influence on the princes, clergy, and people of his time was remarkable. He was an advisor to King Louis the Fat and King Louis the Young. St. Bernard attended the Second Lateran Council and both fought Albigensianism and helped to end the schism of anti-Pope Anacletus II. He was also endowed with the gift of miracles. He died on August 20, 1153. St. Bernard was the first Cistercian monk placed on the calendar of saints. He was canonized just 21 years after his death by Pope Alexander III. In 1830 Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church.

Traditional Matins Reading:

Bernard was born of a distinguished family at Fontaines in Burgundy. As a youth, on account of his great beauty he was much Bought after by women, but could never be shaken in his resolution of observing chastity. To escape these temptations of the devil, he, at twenty-two years of age, determined to enter the monastery of Citeaux, the first house of the Cistercian Order, then famous for sanctity. When his brothers learnt Bernard’s design, they did their best to deter him from it; but he, more eloquent and more successful, won them and many others to his opinion; so that together with him thirty young men embraced the Cistercian Rule. As a monk he was so given to fasting, that whenever he had to take food he seemed to be undergoing torture. He applied himself in a wonderful manner to prayer and watching, and was a great lover of Christian poverty; thus he led a heavenly life on earth, free from all anxiety or desire of perishable goods.

The virtues of humility, mercy, and kindness shone conspicuously in his character. He devoted himself so earnestly to contemplation, that he seemed hardly to use his senses except to do acts of charity, and in these he was remarkable for his prudence. While thus occupied he refused the bishoprics of Genoa, Milan, and others, which were offered to him, declaring that he was unworthy of so great an office. He afterwards became Abbot of Clairvaux, and built monasteries in many places, wherein the excellent rules and discipline of Bernard long flourished. When the monastery of SS. Vincent and Anastasius of Rome was restored by Pope Innocent II, St. Bernard appointed as Abbot the future Sovereign Pontiff, Eugenius III; to whom he also sent his book 'De Considera tione.'

He wrote many other works which clearly show that his doctrine was more the gift of God than the result of his own labours. On account of his great reputation for virtue, the greatest princes begged him to act as arbiter in their disputes, and he went several times into Italy for this purpose, and for arranging ecclesiastical affairs. He was of great assistance to the Supreme Pontiff Innocent II in putting down the schism of Peter de Leone, both at the courts of the emperor and of King Henry of England, and at a Council held at Pisa. At length, being sixty-three years old, he fell asleep in the Lord. He was famous for miracles, and Pope Alexander III placed him among the saints. Pope Pius VIII, with the advice of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, declared St. Bernard a Doctor of the universal Church, and commanded all to recite the Mass and Office of a Doctor on his feast. He also granted a plenary indulgence yearly for ever, to all who visit churches of the Cistercian Order on this day.

Quotation:

“In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may more surely obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal.”

Doctor Mellifluus:
The "Doctor Mellifluus," "the last of the Fathers, but certainly not inferior to the earlier ones,"[1] was remarkable for such qualities of nature and of mind, and so enriched by God with heavenly gifts, that in the changing and often stormy times in which he lived, he seemed to dominate by his holiness, wisdom, and most prudent counsel. Wherefore, he has been highly praised, not only by the sovereign Pontiffs and writers of the Catholic Church, but also, and not infrequently, by heretics. Thus, when in the midst of universal jubilation, Our predecessor, Alexander III, of happy memory, inscribed him among the canonized saints, he paid reverent tribute when he wrote: "We have passed in review the holy and venerable life of this same blessed man, not only in himself a shining example of holiness and religion, but also shone forth in the whole Church of God because of his faith and of his fruitful influence in the house of God by word and example; since he taught the precepts of our holy religion even to foreign and barbarian nations, and so recalled a countless multitude of sinners . . . to the right path of the spiritual life."[2] "He was," as Cardinal Baronius writes, "a truly apostolic man, nay, a genuine apostle sent by God, mighty in work and word, everywhere and in all things adding luster to his apostolate through the signs that followed, so that he was in nothing inferior to the great apostles, . . . and should be called . . . at one and the same time an adornment and a mainstay of the Catholic Church."[3]
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XII ON ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, THE LAST OF THE FATHERS MAY 24, 1953

Prayer:

O God, Who didst give blessed Bernard to Thy people as a minister of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech Thee, that we, who have had him for our teacher on earth, may deserve to have him for our advocate in heaven. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal
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Favorite Saint

Since I'm going to start a weekly topic on a saint I wanted to ask a question:

Who is your favorite saint and why?
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