Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Day 3

It is not alone but in our relationships, our bonds of love, that we come to heaven.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Day 2

Miraculous Icon
of Christian Unity

Our Lady of Soufeniah
(Damascus, Syria)
weeps for sorrow because
of division within the Church.

Octave of Christian Unity: January 18 - 25

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

"If I can unite in myself the thought and devotion of Eastern and Western Christendom, the Greek and the Latin Fathers, the Russian and the Spanish mystics, I can prepare in myself the reunion of divided Christians. From that secret and unspoken unity in myself can eventually come a visible and manifest unity of all Christians. If we want to bring together what is divided, we cannot do so by imposing one division upon the other. If we do this, the union is not Christian. It is political and doomed to further conflict. We must contain all the divided worlds in ourselves and transcend them in Christ."~ Fr. Thomas Merton 1915-1968

Small Album ~ Let Christian's Be United by the prayers offered during the internatioanl Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25


Happy Birthday, Davy!

Vesper of the Octave of Christian Unity

 Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Gerasimos are pictured at Orthodox Church of the Holy Cross in this 2014 photo. They will again pray as brothers in Christ on Jan.18 at Catholic Immaculate Heart of Mary. (Let us rejoice!)

Archbishop, Orthodox prelate to pray vespers for peace, unity
By Valerie Schmalz
"Orthodox Metropolitan Gerasimos and San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone will celebrate solemn vespers on Jan. 18 to pray for those suffering persecution for their faith and to begin together the international Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Archbishop Cordileone will preside and Metropolitan Gerasimos will deliver the homily at the vespers service at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Belmont. In April, the archbishop and metropolitan celebrated the Service of Salutations to the Holy Cross at the Orthodox Church of the Holy Cross.
At the April 8 service, Archbishop Cordileone preached and Metropolitan  Gerasimos presided.
The Belmont Orthodox church possesses a relic of the true cross and for nine years has invited Immaculate Heart of Mary for the Lenten service, IHM pastor Father Steve Howell said. Last year was the first time Archbishop Cordileone and Metropolitan Gerasimos were involved, partly to pray for an upcoming May 2014 meeting between the heads of both churches in Jerusalem.
“We are continuing a long-standing tradition of praying together,” Father Howell said, part of a history of cooperation and friendship between the two parishes. “This is an opportunity to pray together and share together.”
The Greek Orthodox and the Catholic Church recognize each other’s sacraments and at the April 8 service those present prayed the Greek Orthodox version of the Nicene Creed.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an international and ecumenical faith practice sponsored by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches. It was first promoted by a one-time Episcopal priest, Father Paul Wattson who joined the Catholic Church more than a century ago along with the members of the Society of the Atonement, which he co-founded. The U.S. bishops voted Nov. 11 at their annual fall general assembly in Baltimore to approve forwarding his cause for sainthood.
Father Wattson, whose father was himself an Episcopal priest, was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1886, according to Auxiliary Bishop John J. O’Hara of New York, in remarks to the bishops prior to the vote. The Society of the Atonement, made up of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement and the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement, has its headquarters in Graymoor, New York, which is in the New York archdiocese. Father Wattson saw the need for both a Franciscan spirituality in the Episcopal Church and a way to serve the poor, Bishop O’Hara said.
A third need arose before the end of the 19th century: “Repair the breach in a divided church,” Bishop O’Hara said. In 1903, Father Wattson started the Church Unity Octave. Now more commonly known as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it “continues to this day,” Bishop O’Hara said. The week is observed each January."

Catholic News Service contributed to this story.
From January 16, 2015 issue of Catholic San Francisco.

Jesus Loves the Innocent

 

ONE OF MY DOVES

Happy the soul who loves me.

Bouasse Lebel 999

Behold the Savior of the World

first day in Ordinary Time 2015

Although today sees the beginning of Ordinary Time, and Christmas trees came down after Epiphany, the close of the Christmas season is actually not until Candlemas (Feast of the Presentation) on February 2nd. I find this a lovely excuse to continue posting images of the Christ Child throughout January:-)

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIFT  OF MARY 
Jesus, my sweet Lamb,         
that my heart might be your cradle. 

I hold Him and will not let Him go.

                                                                                         

HE OPENED THE SHACKLES

Hide me in Thy bosom. I want to lose myself in Thee.

Mary, Mother of the Savior, pray for us.

Mary Mother of God, pray for us.

Langume

Mother of the Savior

Dopter

Holy Name of Jesus, Feast Day January 3

He is come who his mother calls Jesus,
that name so sweet and yet so powerful.   ~ Fr. Faber

Bouasse Lebel 

The Perfect Gifts of the Heart of Jesus

Faith that illumines, Hope that consoles, Love that vivifies.

Bouasse Lebel 3005

The Redeemer of the World

First Friday

COME TO ME ALL.

For New Year's gifts, Lord,
make our love bear fruit worthy of You.

 

Come let us adore Him!

 VIRGIN MOST SWEET

Oh when his eyes are fixed on you,
speak, Mother, for me...
It is not possible to be rejected 

the flower presented by You! 

FLOWER OF THE FIELDLove Child, no spines for You
in the stem of my flower!

O BLESSED NIGHT 

Light of light, Flower of flowers... shone in the cold night 

Your divine resplendence.

Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, December 27

SAINT JOHN

Sweet Jesus, 

protect the little children. 

 Bouasse Lebel 1089

PRAYER

IS THE REPOSE

OF THE SOUL

FAITHFUL GUARDIAN  

I will attract all to myself by my the watchful care of my kindness.

Bouasse Lebel 1099

I became a child to attract you to Me.

I AM THE LIGHT

What is hard about the burden?
The night?  The road?
If you carry the Light  to souls,
sublime destiny!

LET US LOVE JESUS THE ETERNAL WISDOM

All our good comes from Him. 

One finds nothing but joy and sweetness in His friendship.

Boussse Lebel

All for Jesus 

Hearts for the cherishing, 

flowers to adorn His sancutary.

 Bouasse Lebel