Our Lady holding Jesus as He accepts flowers from the shepherd child

Our Lady holding Jesus as He accepts flowers from the shepherd child

Welcome to our intercessory prayer ministry for families, babies, little ones and those who love them.

In our prayers for families, we pray for the sanctity of all life and for vocations to marriage, the priesthood and consecrated life, which are born and nurtured in families.

The
Prayer of Entrustment to Mary was prayed for this ministry at the icon of the Madonna Salus Populi Romani (Salvation of the Roman People, Our Lady of Good Health) in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Basilica of Mary Major) in Rome, Italy, in Nossa Senhora do Rosario da Fatima (Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary) in Fatima, Portugal, in Eglise du Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart Parish Church), the site of St. Bernadette's baptismal font, in Lourdes, France and at The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts at the Shrine of the Holy Innocents before Our Lady of Guadalupe and at Basilica Papale de San Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City) at the Tomb of St. John Paul II in Rome, Italy and at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Basilica of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe) in Mexico City, Mexico.

This ministry is consecrated to Jesus Christ, Wisdom Incarnate, through the hands of Mary and dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. In our prayers to Mary, we honor and worship her Son Jesus. When He was on the Cross, He gave His Mother to John and she became our Mother as well. "Behold, your Mother." John 19:27

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
For the greater glory of God

March 29, 2012

The Angelus

The word Angelus means Angel. It is a prayer coming from the Bible calling to mind the Incarnation of Jesus. Luke 1:26-38 “The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary.” In Latin it is “Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ.” The naming of the prayer and ring of the bell is called Angelus.



In the development of the custom of three rings of the Angelus, the first development was to ring the Angelus at the evening. This ringing was focused on the Incarnation of Jesus which happened in the evening. Later the custom developed to ring the Angelus also in the morning. Here the focus was on Jesus’ resurrection which happened in the morning. As time continued, a third ringing at noon was added. This third ringing was focused on Jesus’ death which happened around noon. During the year the Angelus is said. During Easter time the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) is said.

O Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, pray for us and for all the names we receive through this baby ministry.

March 22, 2012

Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”
Matthew 14:22-33



Jesus sent the disciples away so he could be alone on the mountainside and pray. Spending time with God was a priority for Jesus. The disciples, even though they spent much time with Jesus, did not recognize Him in the storm. Sometimes we do not recognize the Lord when He comes to us in the middle of our "storms." Peter did not begin to sink until he started looking around at the wind and the waves. Taking our eyes off Jesus, and focusing on the difficult circumstances will cause us to get under our problems. But when we cry out to Jesus, He catches us by the hand and raises us above the seemingly impossible surroundings. Peter started out with good intentions, but his faith falters. This does not, however, end up in failure. Peter, even in his fear, cries out to the Lord, the only one who can help him. When Jesus got in the boat, the storm ceased. When we have Jesus "in our boat" the storms of life will be calmed and we can worship Him.

Though we may not walk across water, we will go through difficult, faith-testing circumstances. Let us reach out to Jesus and take His Hand when we are tempted to sink into despair and we will see His miraculous power will help us. Jesus we trust in You.

March 19, 2012

Saint Joseph, spouse of the Virgin Mary


"Saint Joseph was a just man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families."
Blessed John Paul II

Today we celebrate the solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Virgin Mary and patron of the universal Church and the patron saint of fathers, families, those in need, workers, travelers, the persecuted, the poor, the aged and the dying. The discretion with which Joseph carried out the role entrusted to him by God highlights his faith even more, which consisted in always listening to the Lord, seeking to understand His Will and to obey it with his whole heart and strength. This is why the Gospel describes him as a "just" man Matthew 1,19. In fact, the just man is the person who prays, lives by faith, and seeks to do good in every concrete circumstance of life.

Saint Joseph and fathers
Faith nourished by prayer: this is the most precious treasure that Saint Joseph transmits to us. Generations of fathers have followed in his footsteps who, with the example of a simple and laborious life, imprinted on their children's souls the inestimable value of faith. He is a model for fathers to live their mission in the family and society in an exemplary way.

According to ancient tradition, Saint Joseph watches over and protects the Church. He is considered the model of perfect Christian life and the patron of a happy death. His patronage extends over the Mystical Body of Christ, over the Christian family and schools, carpenters, fathers, laborers, and all individuals who appeal to his charity and intercession, especially in the hour of death. Joseph, when dying, received the loving ministry of his foster Son, Jesus, and his spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary, so it is believed that his intercession may well obtain the mercy of God and the grace of a peaceful and holy death.

As the Bible tells us, Saint Joseph was descended from the royal house of David. A village carpenter of Nazareth, he was chosen among all men to be the husband and protector of the Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ. To his loving care was entrusted the childhood and youth of the Redeemer of the world. He reveals to us the perfect model of Christianity through his purity of heart, patience, and fortitude. Poor in worldly possessions, he was rich in grace.

Parent's Prayer to Saint Joseph
O glorious Saint Joseph, to you God committed the care of His only begotten Son amid the many dangers of this world. We come to you and ask you to take under your special protection the children God has given us. Through holy baptism they became children of God and members of His holy Church. We consecrate them to you today, that through this consecration they may become your foster children. Guard them, guide their steps in life, form their hearts after the hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Diary of Saint Faustina 1203
"Saint Joseph urged me to have a constant devotion to him. He himself told me to recite three prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be) and the Memorare once a day. He looked at me with great kindness and gave me to know how much he is supporting this work (of mercy). He has promised me this special help and protection. I recited the requested prayers every day and felt his special protection."

The memorare is a prayer that is said by the whole Congregation of Saint Faustina's religious community.

Memorare to Saint Joseph
Remember, O most pure spouse of Mary, and my dearly beloved guardian, St. Joseph, that never was it known that anyone who invoked your care and requested your help was left without consolation.

Inspired with this confidence, I come to you, and with all the ardor of my spirit I commend myself to you. Do not reject my prayer, O Foster Father of the Savior, but graciously receive and answer it. Amen.

Saint Joseph, intercede for us and for all these babies, little ones and their families.

March 14, 2012

Jesus in the Eucharist The Real Presence

During a Mass celebrated by Father Andrasz, a moment before the Elevation, God's presence pervaded my soul, which was drawn to the altar. Then I saw the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus. The Infant Jesus was holding onto the hand our Our Lady. A moment later, the Infant Jesus ran with joy to the center of the altar, and the Mother of God said to me,

See with what assurance I entrust Jesus into his hands. In the same way, you are to entrust your soul and be like a child to him.

After these words, my soul was filled with unusual trust. The Mother of God was clothed in a white dress, strangely white, transparent; On her shoulders She had a transparent blue; that is, a blue-like mantel; with uncovered head and flowing hair. She was exquisite, and inconceivably beautiful. She was looking at Father with great tenderness, but after a moment, He broke up this beautiful Child, and living blood flowed forth. Father bent forward and received the true and living Jesus into himself. Had he eaten him? I do not know how this took place. Jesus, Jesus, I cannot keep up with You, for an instant, You become incomprehensible to me. August 15, 1936 Notebook II 677



The Blessed Mother, in her beautiful words to Saint Faustina, invites us to come to Jesus like a child, trusting completely in Him. Come and spend time with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration. He is waiting for you to come to Him and rest awhile.

March 10, 2012

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Jesus showed me a robe which he called, the robe of innocence. It was whiter than snow. He put it on me saying, With this, I am taking from you forever all ill will. Then, opening to me his adorable Heart and putting me within it, he said, This will be the place of your present and continual dwelling. Since then I have always seen and found myself in this lovable Heart in a way I do not know how to explain, unless by saying that sometimes it was as though I were in a beautiful garden with flowers growing all around; at other times like a minnow in a vast ocean, or like gold being purified in a crucible. But usually it is like a furnace of pure love. Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque



From the Revelations of Our Lord to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
For all Catholic men and women, families and young people troubled by the many afflictions of modern life.......Discover the greatest source of spiritual and temporal help, graces and blessings for those who truly love the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and practice His requested Devotion with the essential prayers and acts, including the "First Friday"and the "Nine Fridays" promises.

"And He showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin into which Satan hurls such crowds of them, that made Him form the design of manifesting His Heart to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and salvation which it contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure for Him all the honor and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those divine treasures of which this Heart is the source.

He should be honored under the figure of this Heart of flesh, and its image should be exposed...He promised me that wherever this image should be exposed with a view to showing it special honor, He would pour forth His blessings and graces. This devotion was the last effort of His love that He would grant to men in these latter ages, in order to withdraw them from the empire of Satan which He desired to destroy, and thus to introduce them into the sweet liberty of the rule of His love, which He wished to restore in the hearts of all those who should embrace this devotion."..... "The devotion is so pleasing to Him that He can refuse nothing to those who practice it."

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.

March 09, 2012

Whosoever is a little one, let him come to Me.

Excerpt from the Homily of Pope Pius XI at the Canonization of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, May 17th, 1925
Saint Thérèse had learned thoroughly this teaching of the Gospels and had translated it into her daily life. Moreover she taught the way of spiritual childhood by word and example to the novices of her monastery. She set it forth clearly in all her writings, which have gone to the ends of the world, and which assuredly no one has read without being charmed thereby, or without reading them again and again with great pleasure and much profit. For this simple child, this flower that blossomed in the walled garden of Carmel, not content with adding to Thérèse the name of the "Child Jesus," retraced in herself His living image, so that it may be said that whosoever honors Thérèse honors the Divine Model she reproduced.

Therefore we nurse the hope today of seeing springing up in the souls of the faithful of Christ a burning desire of leading a life of spiritual childhood. That spirit consists in thinking and acting, under the influence of virtue, as a child feels and acts in the natural order. Little children are not blinded by sin, or disturbed by the passions, and they enjoy in peace the possession of their innocence. Guiltless of malice or pretense, they speak and act as they think, so that they show themselves as they really are. Thus Thérèse appeared more angelic than human in her practice of truth and justice, endowed as she was with the simplicity of a child. The Maid of Lisieux had ever in memory the invitation and the promises of her Spouse: "Whosoever is a little one, let him come to Me." Proverbs 9:4

Conscious of her weakness she abandoned herself entirely to God. In her catechism lessons she drank in the pure doctrine of Faith, from the golden book of The Imitation of Christ she learned asceticism, in the writings of St. John of the Cross she found her mystical theology. Above all, she nourished heart and soul with the inspired Word of God on which she meditated assiduously, and the Spirit of Truth taught her what He hides as a rule from the wise and prudent and reveals to the humble. Indeed, God enriched her with a quite exceptional wisdom, so that she was enabled to trace out for others a sure way of salvation.

That superabundant share of divine light and grace enkindled in Thérèse so ardent a flame of love, that she lived by it alone, rising above all created things, till in the end it consumer her; so much so that shortly before her death she could candidly avow she had never given God anything but Love.

Evidently it was under the influence of that burning charity that the Maid of Lisieux took the resolution of doing all things for love of Jesus, with the sole object of pleasing Him, of consoling His Divine Heart, and of saving a multitude of souls who would love Him eternally. We have proof that on entering into Paradise she began at once, there also, this work among souls, when we see the mystical shower of roses which God permitted her, and still permits her to let fall upon earth, as she had ingenuously foretold.



We, therefore, adopt as our own the prayer of the new Saint Thérèse with which she ends her invaluable autobiography: "O Jesus, we beseech Thee to cast Thy glance upon the vast number of little souls, and to choose in this world a legion of little victims worthy of Thy love." Amen.

Saint Thérèse, send your shower of roses upon these precious babies and little ones.

March 06, 2012

I love you Jesus!



Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

Becoming like a child has importance for us as we go before God in prayer. Jesus wants us to be more like little children when we pray, to be without pretense. Many times we try to be something that we aren’t. We come before God in an almost mechanical way, we try to be more spiritual and we try to impress God with our words and our lengthy prayers.

Jesus says, come as you are, come before God with all of your problems and worries. Come messy, come with stumbling words. It doesn’t matter if you get prayer right, what matters is that you come before God without any pretense and ask for guidance and help. Trust less in yourself and trust more in God.

On many occasions, Jesus tells his disciples that they need to become like little children. Imagine what these grown men must have thought when Jesus told them that they needed to become like little children. The disciples seemed to have struggled with this teaching of Jesus as we see many instances of Jesus telling them this over and over again throughout the Gospels.

From Mark: 9:33-37 we find the disciples traveling with Jesus to Capernaum. As they arrive at Peter’s house, Jesus asks his disciples what they had been arguing about on the road to Capernaum. Mark tells us that the disciples kept quiet because on the way they had been arguing about who among them was the greatest. In another teachable moment, Jesus sat down and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Jesus then takes a little child and had the child stand among them. Jesus takes the child in his arms and tells the disciples that unless they become like children they will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Children are not shy about telling you what they are thinking. They blurt out their thoughts and are usually very honest in their assessment of life. God wants us to be that way also in our prayer life. Jesus seems to be urging us to come before God in prayer, just as we are.

Matthew 11:28 The Words of Jesus: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” It is good to come before God in prayer as a weary and heavily burdened human being. It is good to come before God as a needy child and ask for guidance and rest. The important thing is that we go before God in prayer on a regular basis.

Heavenly Father, we ask You to bless all the babies and little ones and the families for whom we pray. We thank you for the gifts of Your Son Jesus, for the Holy Spirit and for Our Blessed Mother Mary.

March 03, 2012

Mary, Seat of Wisdom

Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of God, is the Seat of Wisdom. Her role in salvation is powerful because it is through Mary that Jesus, our Saviour, entered the world. Through Mary’s guidance and love, Jesus grew into a loving and caring man, who left His parent’s home to do the work God had given Him to do. Throughout His life, Mary was near, rejoicing with Him in all His good works and supporting and comforting Him in His days of doubt and suffering. Mary was Jesus’ first disciple.

In the Litany of Loreto, Mary is called the “Seat of Wisdom.” She is given this title because she gave flesh to Jesus, the Son of God, whom the Scriptures refer to as the Wisdom of God. During Jesus’ early years, she sat Him on her lap and nurtured Him, thus becoming the “seat” of Wisdom. Art renditions of this image show Mary on a throne with the child Jesus in her lap.



Wisdom is a gift from God that helps us understand what God’s plan and purpose for our lives. Wisdom is a gift that needs to be cultivated so that the soil of our hearts can hear God’s voice, as Mary did. Mary’s parents helped her to use her gift of wisdom so that she was ready to understand God’s plan and purpose for her life when the angel came to announce it. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus, too, “grew in wisdom, age and grace” so that He came to understand what God wanted of Him. Wisdom is our gift.

Sirach 51:12 cd-20
I thank the LORD and I praise him; I bless the name of the LORD. When I was young and innocent, I sought wisdom openly in my prayer. I prayed for her before the temple, and I will seek her until the end, and she flourished as a grape soon ripe. My heart delighted in her, My feet kept to the level path because from earliest youth I was familiar with her. In the short time I paid heed, I met with great instruction. Since in this way I have profited, I will give my teacher grateful praise. I became resolutely devoted to her, the good I persistently strove for. My soul was tormented in seeking her, My hand opened her gate and I came to know her secrets. I directed my soul to her, and in cleanness I attained to her.

O Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us and for all the names we receive through this baby prayer ministry.

March 01, 2012

Our Lady of Mercy


As the Mother of Jesus, our Merciful Redeemer, Our Lady is rightly named Mother of Mercy.

The origin of this feast day dates back to the Middle Ages and the foundation of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy after Our Blessed Mother appeared to a young nobleman in France. Responding to her appeal for compassion and mercy for the men, women and children who were taken as prisoners from Europe to Africa as slaves by the Moors, Saint Peter Nolasco set out to redeem these people. He and his companions dedicated their lives and possessions to gathering alms to free them from their cruel captors. These slaves would otherwise have been forced to deny their faith. Protecting the faith of the captives who were persecuted because of their Christianity was the main objective of the heroic priests of Our Lady of Mercy who even offered and gave their own lives as ransom when there was not enough money.

The Blessed Virgin appeared in 1218 in separate visions to Saint Peter Nolasco, Saint Raymund of Penafort, and James, king of Aragon, asking them to found a religious order dedicated to freeing Christian captives from the barbarous Saracens, who at that time held a great part of Spain. The Mercedarians' pious work spread everywhere and produced heroes of charity who collected alms for the ransom of Christians, and who often gave themselves up in exchange for Christian prisoners.

As their numbers grew, some of the priests extended their works of Mercy to include missionary work. Traveling with Columbus on his expedition, one of their numbers made devotion to Our Lady of Mercy the first Marian devotion in America! Their work now has been expanded to those exposed to the dangers of denying their faith, the social, political and psychological forms of captivity in today’s world. The mission is thus multiple: missions, parishes, education, prison and hospital work.

Mother of Mercy
I walked in darkness, yet felt no fear; for through the void I knew her near. She bound my wounds that lightless day and cooled my fever midst battle's fray. Not only I have seen her there, but many others through painful tear have felt her tender, soothing, healing hand, I looked long and clearly into eyes that understand the pain and anguish of death to come, for man did this to her only Son.

O Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us and for all those for whom we pray through this baby ministry.