Twelfth Day of Christmas

Merry Twelfth Day of Christmas
Merry Twelfth Day of Christmas!

The gift today is Twelve Drummers Drumming!
The twelve drummers drumming symbolize the twelve points of belief in The Apostles’ Creed.

The twelve points of the Apostles Creed are as follows:
1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
2. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
3. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
4. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.
5. On the third day he rose again.
6. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
7. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit,
9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
10. the forgiveness of sins,
11. the resurrection of the body,
12. and the life everlasting.

Merry Twelfth Day of Christmas!

via divine office.org

August Queen of Heaven–Powerful Exorcism Prayer

A powerful exorcism prayer

On the thirteenth of January, 1864, the Venerable Father Louis Cestac, founder of  the Congregation of the Servants of Mary, was given a vision of the demons of hell spread all over the earth doing indescribable damage, running riot everywhere. At the same time, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and gave him this prayer, saying that the time had come to spread it all over the world, and that God wished it to be done. What interests me about the history of this prayer is that it predates the St. Michael prayer written as a result of a vision of Pope Leo XIII by approximately 40 years later, and that it clearly derives from Gen. 3:15.

When we are doing our best to live the Faith and to witness to Christ, we will be attacked. Hard. The work of the demons is unceasing and we experience it physically, mentally, and spiritually. Sometimes it seems like many things are conspiring to disturb our peace of mind and wear us out.  This is their invisible work bearing visible consequences.

Our loving Mama Mary, the one given us by Jesus at the foot of the Cross, the one who shared His passion most deeply, the one He desires us to love and venerate, wishes not one soul to be overcome by hell. We invoke our powerful and loving mother under the title of “August Queen of Heaven and Sovereign Mistress of Angels” to use the power given her by God to dispel demons.

Pope St. Pius X approved this prayer for indulgences. The power of the keys. (Barbara A. Schoeneberger)

August Queen of Heaven

August Queen of Heaven, Sovereign Mistress of Angels, you who at the beginning received from God
the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan,
we beseech you humbly, send your holy legions so that,
on your orders and by your power, they will track down demons,
fight them everywhere, curb their audacity and plunge them into the abyss.

Who is like God?

Oh good and tender Mother,
you will always be our love and our hope.
Oh divine Mother, send the Holy Angels and Archangels to defend me
and to keep the cruel enemy far from me.

Holy Angels and Archangels defend us, protect us. Amen.

Beholding Past, Present & Future

christ_of_saint_john_of_the_cross

In Time,

Yet above it,

Beholding Past, Present and Future,

Christ, look upon my fore-bearers,

Still alive by virtue of an immortal soul.

Look upon my world, spinning in Space,

Held in its journey through Time,

By Your Father’s Almighty Word,

Destined for Judgement,

Bequeathed Mercy.

 

Look upon me,

In my time,

In my place,

On my journey.

 

My Jesus, Mercy.

 

© 2016 Joann Nelander

Rebirth Reflection

Rebirth Reflection

I am daughter.

I am heir.

Through the First Born Son,

I inherit a Kingdom,

For I am in Him and of Him.

 

My Baptism, a gift of Grace,

God is alive in my soul,

Me, dead to Sin,

Die in Him,

To live in Him.

 

I rise to Life,

New Life.

 

©2016 Joann Nelander

Ring Out, Wild Bells by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, by George...

Alfred Lord Tennyson/Wikipedia

This poem by Alfred, Lord  Tennyson seems very appropriate for the New Year -the Advent New Year beginning today.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

One Ave Maria

“. . . One Ave Maria [Hail Mary] said without sensible fervor, but with a pure will in a time of aridity, has much more value in my sight than an entire Rosary recited in the midst of consolations.”

——–The Blessed Mother to Sr: Benigna Consolata Ferrero