Lord Jesus Christ,
in union with that divine intention
where on earth You offered to God
Your praises through Your Most Sacred Heart,
and now offers them in the Sacrament of the Eucharist
everywhere on earth even to the end of time,
I most gladly offer You throughout this entire day,
all my thoughts and intentions,
all my affections and desires,
O Mary, loving Mother of Jesus and our Mother,
by Your gracious intercession
make this humble dedication acceptable to Jesus
and obtain for us His graces and blessings.
O Jesus, our most loving Redeemer,
Who came into the world
to enlighten it by Your teaching and by Your example,
and Who will to pass the greater part of Your mortal life
in the poor cottage at Nazareth,
in humble subjection to Mary and Joseph,
thus sanctifying that Family
which was to be the model of all Christian families;
Let holy Luke, Your Evangelist,
we beseech You, O Lord,
intercede for us,
who for the glory of Your name
ever bore in his body the mortification of the Cross.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen.
In 1986, when I was in the process of learning Cantonese, a Hong Kong friend took me to Mong Kok on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong where, for the first time, I saw sex workers waiting on the streets for clients. It was clear that the residents in this area preferred not to acknowledge the existence of this group of women in their midst.
I am the wheat of God,
and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts,
that I may be found the pure bread of God.
I long after the Lord,
the Son of the true God and Father, Jesus Christ.
Him I seek, who died for us and rose again.
I am eager to die for the sake of Christ.
My love has been crucified,
and there is no fire in me that loves anything.
O God, Who taught blessed Hedwig
to renounce the vanity of this world,
that, with her whole heart,
she might follow the humble way of Your cross:
grant that, through her merits and example,
we may learn to trample underfoot
the perishable delights of this world
and by clinging to Your cross
overcome whatsoever may be opposed to us.
Graciously hear us, O God, our Savior,
that we rejoice in the festival of blessed Teresa, Your Virgin,
so we may be fed with the food of her Heavenly teaching,
and grow in loving devotion towards You.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
world without end.
Amen.
The work of the Columbans over the last 65 years has been blessed by the presence of diocesan priests (associates) who contract with the Missionary Society of St. Columban for a period of six or more years. During my first years in Chile, they came from Ireland, England, Australia, New Zealand, and Scotland. My first parish priest was Fr.
O Lord, may this mystical oblation benefit us:
may it both release us from our guilt
and confirm us in eternal salvation.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who lives and reigns with God the Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
world without end.
Amen.