In God We Trust

September 15, 2001

In God WE trust... Jesus, I trust in YOU.  Make that your prayer as you face life day by day.  It will remove fear and sorrow from your heart. Where there is light, there can be no darkness.

Let us remember Psalm 25:1-5

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.
Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Do not fear- God is near.

God answers our prayer and His name protects us. We trust in the name of the Lord, our God. Let us pray Psalm 20:1

In this time of uncertainty, let us lift our souls to God. He will not let our enemies triumph over us. Prayer is the answer. Pray incessantly for God’s protection, mercy and healing.

We have a crisis in America today. To see the World Trade Center Towers demolished by two passenger airplanes seems like a nightmare but it was a horrible reality on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. We pray for the eternal rest of the victims and healing and consolation for the survivors.

We can fully understand how sin affects a community when we see how the mortal sin of the persons who executed and planned the destruction of these buildings caused the death of thousands and the suffering of millions. God gave us free will and in exercising our free will we can bring blessings upon ourselves and our fellow men or bring destruction. The people who committed these hideous crimes used their free will and caused destruction. The flight that crashed near Pittsburg, may have done so because of people in the plane using their free will to stop the murderers. They are martyrs- their death prevented the death and destruction that seemed to be headed to the US Capitol. Our emotional pain and confusion is real. How did God allow this? God did not allow this. The free will of a human being making the decision caused it.

There are more questions than answers in this world. Why did this happen? We will know the exact answer in eternity.

We know that prayer is our strongest weapon. Prayer can change the course of history, we cannot change the past but we can pray for the future. We need to pray individually and in family, we need to attend daily Mass, and spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament in order to pray for the victims of these violent acts, for their families, for our families, our communities and our nation. For our president and all of our leaders, for world peace, for God’s grace to shower upon us and for His wisdom to dwell in our hearts so we may respond to the aggressions with the love and heart of Christ.

Pray the Rosary

Pray the Rosary

Let us remember how powerful the prayer of the rosary is and commit to pray one rosary each day. We saw in the fifties the effect of praying the rosary in Vienna, Austria, and in 1591 its impact in the defeat of the Turks in the battle of Lepanto. Father Roy J. Oggero, C.S.B., wrote the story years ago:

I want to suggest praying the Rosary daily. It is the Prayer of Peace. You can pray out anger, envy, bitterness, unforgiveness, fear, anxiety; and the opposite of these begin to come into your life. There is a story Father Albert Shaman, a priest of the Rochester, New York Diocese, tells. It is the story of Austria’s great Rosary Crusade that liberated the country from Soviet control. At the end of WW2, the victorious allies pulled out of Austria and left it in Soviet hands. After three years of tyranny the Austrian people could no longer bear the Communist control. Father Peurus remembered the story of how the Ottoman Turks were defeated at Lepanto in 1591, though the Christians were outnumbered three to one. - The Rosary was prayed by all the men and the Turks were defeated, so Father Peurus called for a Rosary Crusade against the occupying Soviets. He asked for ten percent of the population to pray the Rosary everyday. That would be 700,000 Austrians. He got the 700,000 and for seven years the Rosary was prayed every day. On May 13, 1955, the anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, the Russians withdrew from Austria. Their evacuation made no sense since Austria was a real war prize. To this day many historians are baffled by the pullout. I mention this event to simply remind us that prayer is very powerful, and especially the Rosary. The choice to experience this power is yours and mine. I pray all of us will say “YES” to the Holy Spirit more often and pray the Rosary. Message given to the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus in Bishop John L. Morkovsky Assembly - August 1995.

If 700,000 men (one tenth of the population of Austria at the time) praying the rosary every day for seven years helped deliver Austria from the Russians, then can we not believe that prayer still works miracles today?

Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska was given a vision of an angel who was the executor of the divine wrath about to strike the earth - in her own wrote we quote from #474-475 of her diary:

“I found myself pleading with God for the world with words hear interiorly. As I was praying in this manner, I saw the Angel’s helplessness: he could not carry out the just punishment with was rightly due for sins. Never before had I prayed with such inner power as I did then. The words with which I entreated God are these:

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins and those of the whole world; for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us.”

Let us ask God to have mercy on us. Our prayers may be the ones needed to have God’s mercy be poured upon situations and people who we think need help. God’s mercy is never ending.

Pray the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

Prayer of Protection

The angels are messengers of God to us. To pray to St. Michael the Archangel for protection is very effective. Let us make that prayer part of our daily prayer.

Material above written and edited by LEAP OF FAITH www.faithleap.org
September 15, 2001

Message of  Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza

A Message of Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza to all the parishes of the Galveston-Houston Diocese
on the weekend of September 16, 2001

Message of Pope John Paul II
 
The general audience of Pope John Paul II Wednesday 12 September 2001

Food for Thought

After the terrible tragedy on September 11, 2001
it is understandable that we may be experiencing feelings of fear and anger.
We must be very careful to align our wills to God’s will,
feelings are neither right nor wrong
it is what we do with them that makes them right or wrong.
Pray.

How Can We Help?

Pray - Give blood - Give Economical Support

The Disaster Response Office of Catholic Charities USA is coordinating
with agencies in New York City to offer needed assistance.
They can be reached at 800-919-9338 or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.

The source of strength is the Lord Almighty and in this, our time of need, we need to pray.

Only in God is my soul at rest: from Him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold;
I shall not be disturbed at all.
Psalm 62:2-3

What About Suffering?

What about Grief?
 

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