Pastor’s Column June 3 – 4, 2023
“I set neither limit nor measure to My gifts of grace for those who seek them in My Heart!”
Our blessed Lord commanded that all who wish to take up the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus go to Confession and receive Holy Communion often, especially on the First Friday of each Month. Friday is significant because it recalls Good Friday when Christ took on the passion and laid down His life for the many. If unable to make it on Friday, He called us to make a point of receiving the Holy Eucharist on Sunday, or any other day, with the intention of making reparation and render
atonement and to rejoice in the Heart of our Savior. He also asked that we keep the devotion by venerating an image of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and makin prayers and sacrifices offered out of love for Him and for the conversion of sinners. Our blessed Lord then gave to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque promises for those who take up this sacred and special devotion.
So, what are the twelve promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and how do we obtain them? It is first important to note that the twelve promises which we find in prayer books, manuals and the list below, of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, do not contain all the promises made by our Divine Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. They are not even a summary of them, but are rather a selection of those promises best calculated to arouse sentiments of love for Our Lord in the hearts of the faithful and to
induce them to practice the devotion.
Jesus Made Twelve Promises to Those Who Hold a True Devotion to
His Sacred Heart:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families and will unite families that are divided.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge during life and above all in death.
5. I will bestow the blessings of Heaven on all their enterprises.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise quickly to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored and will imprint My love on the
hearts of those who would wear this image on their person. I will also destroy in them all disordered movements.
10. I will give to priests who are animated by a tender devotion to my Divine Heart the gift of touching the most hardened
hearts.
11. Those who promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart, never to be effaced.
12. THE GREATEST PROMISE – I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will
grant to all those who communicate (Receive Holy Communion) on the First Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of
final penitence: they will not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their Sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their safe
refuge in this last moment.
Fr. Dominick
Pastor’s Column May 13 – 14, 2023
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept…”
In our Gospel reading this weekend, Jesus prepares his followers for his Ascension back to the Father. He tells his disciples, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.” I have always found it interesting to think about the Holy Spirit as our Advocate, our Lawyer, if you will. Do you know that in Italian, the word for Lawyer is Avvocato? Saint Thomas Aquinas once said, “The Holy Spirit is called an advocate because he makes us ask. He is with us always; in this life he enlightens and teaches us, bringing things to our mind; and in the next life he brings us see the very reality….It is a characteristic of the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth because it is love which impels one to reveal his secrets.”
Those of us who live here in the New York metropolitan area certainly know the importance of having a goodlawyer on our side. Our television and radio airwaves are filled with commercials for lawyers like Celino and Barnes (who used to be a partnership but who have split and now represent competing firms), or Burns and Harris who tell us to dial 1 800 PAIN LAW, over and over again. A lawyer is someone who speaks on our behalf, who stands up for us and protects and defends us when we find ourselves in trouble.
What an awesome and important gift we have in the Holy Spirit which we first receive by virtue of our Baptism, and in which we are sealed when we complete our initiation into the Catholic faith with the Sacrament of Confirmation, as will some of our young men and women when they are confirmed by Bishop Neil Tiedemann here at Saint Mark Church in less than a weeks’ time. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate who pleads our cause and brings our prayer to the Father. The Holy Spirit gives us his gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord to enable us to discern God’s will so that we can make the right decisions in our life.
Now, no analogy is perfect, and comparing the Holy Spirit to those lawyers we have come to know and love (or hate as the case may be) in our society fails in one very important aspect. Whereas our civil lawyers are not always known for their adherence to, and pursuit of, the truth, our Advocate, the Holy Spirit, is also called the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, protects and defends us from the wickedness, the snares, and temptations of Satan who is the Father of Lies. In this fallen and broken world in which we live, a secularized world that has often abandoned God and embraced the error of relativism, we are bombarded with misinformation and lies every day; lies that speak about abortion as reproductive health and euthanasia as compassionate care. We are told that money and wealth is the measure of our success, that material things will make us happy, and that religion only enslaves us and fills us with guilt. But the truth of the matter is, that it is only by living in God’s love will we be truly happy, and only following his plan for our life will bring us true peace and contentment.
Jesus says, “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” To help us do that, we need the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and our Advocate, and we need to give the Spirit free reign over our thoughts and actions. Come Holy Spirit! – Fr. Bob
May 7, 2023
Praised be Jesus Christ, both now and forever, amen! Today’s Gospel reveals a secret, a very, very important secret. One that haunts the mind, the heart, and the lives of men and women. And that is: What happens to me and my loved ones when we die? The world would tell us there’s only one life, the life you’re living. So live it, and live it as you would like, with no conscience, no consequences. Do whatever you want to do, no matter what it is, as long as it makes you happy, and it’s good for you and you alone.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us one of the mighty graces of his life and death and Resurrection. And that is: What happens when we die? Jesus tells us today that he goes to the house of the Father, and there he prepares a place for us, and then someday he will come back and take us there, take us to the house of the Father where he has prepared a place for us. This place is prepared from the beginning of time. We are on a journey to the house of the Father. The journey is called life. It has its ups and its downs. Eventually it will lead us to the house of the Father. We are told that it will be a new life, a new world, and a new existence. The old life and the old world passes away. And in this new world, all those who went before us, family and friends, we gather in the house of the Father to enjoy each other and the presence of the Father.
But the choice to go to the house of the Father is our choice each and every day. Christ tells us I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to the Father. He tells us the truth. He cannot tell us anything but the truth, and the truth is that there is life after this life. And by his death and Resurrection, he allows us to have life eternal.
My dear friends, many of us believe in Washington, Lincoln, and other Presidents. We have not seen them, but yet we read their writings, and we believe they existed, and we believe in their words. Now I tell you to believe in the words of Jesus Christ who tells us very clearly that there is life after death. There’s a place in the house of the Father that he prepares for us. If you could believe in man, now I ask you to believe in the words of God.
And what are those who are in the house of the Father doing? If they knew you and loved you here on earth, they continue to know you and love you before God. There they pray and watch over us, and they await our coming. We, our families, and friends will be united one day. So, my dear friends, the question may arise in your mind. People may tell you what happens when we die. Do we simply die and never exist again, buried in the ground, or turn to ash and dust? The body does turn to ash and dust, but the one thing that was created in the likeness of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the soul, cannot and will not die nor turn to dust. It has a place which is prepared for us from the beginning of time in the house of the Father. The choice of whether to be there and live there is ours, or to be and to live in a place which is the absence of the Father which is hell and the devil. Remember my dear friends, if you deny there’s a heaven, then you deny there’s a hell. In denying there’s a heaven or a hell, some people are going to be very, very surprised when they close their eyes in this world and open them in the next.
So this weekend’s Gospel reveals the mystery. The secret, in the very beginning of the Gospel, Jesus tells us clearly and unequivocally where our future is, and what the resurrection has accomplished for us, a place in the house of the Father, before the Father’s image, the beatific vision. So, take faith, take hope, and trust in his words, where we shall be someday, where our loved ones are at this time. In the house of the Father, there are many dwelling places. I go and prepare a place for you. Where I am you will be. These are the words of Jesus, not priest, or Pope, or Bishop, but the words of God. In Jesus, Mary, and Saint Joseph.
Father Dominic
Pastor’s Column – April 29 – 30, 2023
“I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Our gospel reading this weekend for this Fourth Sunday of Easter, which is known as Good Shepherd Sunday and the 60th Anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, contains one of my all-time favorite Scripture verses. “I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). That citation, John 10:10, means that it comes from the Gospel of John, Chapter 10, Verse 10. It is easy for me to remember, because it reminds me of the radio station I always listen to while I am driving, 1010 WINS (although these days I usually listen to it at 92.3 FM, but it will always be 1010 WINS to me).
The purpose of World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly fulfill the Lord’s instruction to, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” As a climax to a prayer that is continually offered throughout the Church, it affirms the primacy of faith and grace in all that concerns vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life.
The abundant life that Jesus offers us flows most especially from the Most Holy Eucharist, his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, which is called the source and summit of our Christian life. When we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion, he becomes a part of us, and we are transformed to become more like him. At every Mass we witness a miracle, as by the power of the Holy Spirit called down by the words spoken by a validly ordained priest, ordinary bread and wine really and truly become the Body and Blood of Our Lord. How awesome it is to be a priest!
Unfortunately, many in this fallen world of ours do not see it this way. How often I have heard people lament the shortage of Priests and Religious Brothers and Sisters these days, but when I ask them if they would encourage their children or grandchildren to discern a call to the Priesthood or Consecrated Life I am met with a look of horror and a reply something to the effect of, “Sorry Father, but I am so looking forward to having grandchildren or even greatgrandchildren someday,” or else I will hear, “I don’t want my child or grandchild to be lonely.” I understand. It is a very natural response. As human beings we are programmed to desire a partner for life and to want to bring new life into the world. And we only want what is best for our kids and grandkids.
But a vocation to the Priesthood or Consecrated Life is not natural. It is supernatural. Pope St. John Paul II called this type of vocation a gift and mystery; it is a gift which infinitely transcends the individual and a mystery of divine election. As one of my former Spiritual Directors used to say, every once in a while, in his act of creation, for reasons known only to Himself God will say, “This one is mine; this one is for me alone.” It is something very humbling. Pope St. John Paul II, speaking of his own call to the priesthood said: “God has called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave to us. At the same time, we realize that human words are insufficient to do justice to the mystery which the priesthood involves.”
And believe me, the Priesthood is also life giving. Whether it is bringing new life into the Church through Baptism, or nourishing that life by making Jesus present in the Eucharist, or healing that life physically and spiritually in the Sacrament of the Sick and Confession, the priestly vocation is right in the midst of this abundant life that Jesus our Good Shepherd brings. Earlier in our Gospel reading in speaking about himself as shepherd, Jesus says, “The sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.” May the youth of our parish recognize the voice of Jesus calling their names and follow where he leads them.
– Fr. Bob
April 23, 2023
Praised be Jesus Christ both now and forever. First and foremost, Happy Easter, Happy Easter, Happy Easter to everyone. I would like to thank everyone for your kind wishes, gifts, and prayers for this Easter season and my birthday, such overwhelming kindness and generosity. May the Lord bless you a million times over.
Today my dear friends, we read the story of two disciples who are walking on the road to Emmaus. This story is very familiar which even occurs today. They were speaking about the events of Good Friday that was burned in their hearts and minds, and they were skeptical about the Resurrection. They were overwhelmed by sorrow and grief. They were very much distracted by all that was going on around them and all that was going on in their minds, their hearts, and in their own lives. And out of the clear, our blessed Lord, the resurrected Christ, begins to walk with them, and yet they do not recognize him. They are very much confused because of the questions he asked them. And they in turn said, “How can you ask us that question? Don’t you know what happened here the last few days?” But our Lord, gently and so calmly, with the grace and the light of his presence, his words begin to settle in their minds, and in their hearts, and in their souls. They become still. They become eager to hear more, to stay close to him, to stay near him. Their fear is slowly but surely passing away. The anxiety and all the confusion in their hearts and minds are being quieted by his holy words.
My dear friends, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has two parts to it. The first is the breaking of the word or the proclaiming of the word, and the other is the offering of the precious Body and Blood of the Lord. And how many people like these two men refuse to come to church because they’re so overwhelmed by the things of their life, past and present. They can’t see or hear Jesus they are so steeped in themselves. They don’t give Jesus the opportunity to speak to them in a very unique and direct way in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If they would only come and sit and listen and quiet their hearts and minds, leave everything at the door and allow the Lord to speak. How many people come to Mass after the Gospel and leave just before Holy Communion, and those people would say I get nothing from Mass. How often they say Mass is boring, there’s nothing there for me, it’s a waste of time and energy. It’s not that God is wasting his time or energy, God is working overtime to touch their hearts and minds. It is we the people who are working overtime to ignore him and reject him. If we would only work as hard to accept him and listen, what a difference our life and the world and the church would be.
We see that the disciples, when they finally get to the house want our Lord to stay with them. And so what does he do after he nourishes them and prepares them by his word? He now nourishes them with his precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. At that moment in the breaking of the bread their hearts were exploding on fire because of his Word and his sacred presence in the Eucharist. How many people as I said come to church late, do not prepare to meet Jesus in Word and Eucharist, and then maybe even receive him and never say thank you or even sit for a moment to listen to what he has to say. We’re just too busy. We’re like the apostles on the road to Emmaus, all wound up, just too busy to overcome everything and everyone in this world. Our Lord speaks quietly and gently. We need to quiet our minds, our hearts, and our souls in his presence. And so my dear friends, every time you are in his presence and his Word is being spoken, and every time you’re in his presence where his precious Body and Blood is residing, please be assured that our Lord has a message for you and for me. We must stop and listen, we must stop and prepare our hearts and minds for the words and the presence of Jesus in our life. The two disciples at the end of the journey were two different men than at the beginning, who were doubting and sad and troubled and distressed and all the negativity that life deals us. At the end they were on fire, renewed, a new person with new faith, new hope, new trust and understanding. No matter how difficult things were, his word and presence overcame the world. Tell your family and friends to give Jesus a chance. They won’t be sorry. In Jesus, Mary, and Saint Joseph, God bless you. Father Dominick
Pastor’s Column April 15 – 16, 2023
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to
a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is
imperishable, undefiled …”
This weekend we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, and the theme of God’s mercy runs throughout each of our readings. Believe it or not, the quote above is roughly half of the first sentence of our Second Reading which is taken from the beautiful first letter of Saint Peter. After speaking about how we may have to suffer through various trials so that the genuineness of our faith may be tested and strengthened, the final sentence of that reading concludes: “Although you have not seen him you love him, even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” That a simple, uneducated fisherman from Galilee could write something so inciteful and prosaic is ample proof of our faith, most notably
the transformative power of the Resurrection.
Divine Mercy Sunday is a feast which Jesus himself revealed and requested through a simple Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, when he said to her: “Tell the whole world about my inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially poor sinners. On that day the very depths of my tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon the souls who approach the Fount of my Mercy. On that day, all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to me, even though its sins be as scarlet…Mankind will never have peace until it turns to the Fount of my Mercy.” This devotion was actively promoted by another Polish mystic, St. Pope John Paul II, who officially designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday on April 30th, 2000 when he canonized Sister Faustina. During his first celebration of the feast the following year, our Holy Father of happy memory called Divine Mercy Sunday “the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity.” It was on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in the year 2005 that Blessed Pope
John Paul II died and went home to his Father in heaven. And it was on this great feast in the year 2011 that I had the great thrill of witnessing the beatification of John Paul the Great by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome along with more than a million pilgrims including what seemed to be the entire Polish nation.
Our Gospel for Divine Mercy Sunday is the classic story of the second chance that Jesus affords to his Apostle Thomas. Thomas was absent when Jesus first appeared to his disciples who were behind locked doors in the Upper Room due to fear. Thomas was honest enough to give voice to his doubts by uttering his famous remark, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Jesus repeats his post-Resurrection appearance to his disciples one week later for the benefit of Thomas. Jesus accommodates him by telling Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hand, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Jesus gives Thomas what he needs to overcome his doubts, and us as well, as Thomas becomes our eyes and ears and fingers to sense our risen Lord. And Thomas responds by making an act of faith that goes well beyond simply acknowledging that Jesus is indeed risen from the dead but also confesses that Jesus is God. Thomas’s exclamation has become a prayer uttered by countless generations of believers throughout the centuries,
“My Lord and my God.” May that prayer, along with the Divine Mercy prayer, “Jesus, I trust in you,” always be on our lips and in our hearts. – Fr. Bob
April 8-9, 2023
EASTER SUNDAY
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Jesus is truly risen from the dead, alleluia, alleluia! First and foremost, Happy Easter to everyone, and to your families and friends. It looked like it was all ended on Good Friday afternoon, when all his friends had run away, and all that remained beneath the cross were the youngest of his friends, John, his dear Mother, Mary, and a repentant sinner, Mary Magdalene. For all intents and purposes, if this had been a corporation simply made by hands and with human invention, the corporation would have totally collapsed on Good Friday. The president of the corporation was killed. The shareholders were dispersed in fear. It looked like the corporation was totally dissolved. With the eyes of a human being, it seemed like the world of the evil one that moment had triumphed.
And as everything laid still and quiet, and as the world and the earth groaned in mourning, on that third day something spectacular happened that never happened before. Jesus the Nazarene, the second person of the Most Holy Trinity, God, rose from the dead! The tomb was empty. The earthly life was over and the spiritual life had just begun, not just for Jesus, but for each one of us who believe in Him.
The empty tomb, which represents the resurrection of Jesus Christ, gives us the hope that there’s more to life than simply the everyday living. There is more to this journey of life than simply everyday living. There is the journey of the soul, for which the path was opened, and the way was made clear, and the gates were swung open in the house of the Father, and a place is being prepared for each and every one of us.
And when this journey of life is over, we too will be taken by the Risen Christ into the house of the Father. We will not be made to be prisoners of the grave. We were made to live forever in his presence of Christ! He tells us, “I am the way the truth and the life. I am the resurrection, and I am life itself.” So today, my dear friends, realize that all our loved ones are very much alive in the resurrection. They rejoice in heaven on this Easter day, as someday we here on earth shall rejoice with them in heaven. Death no longer has its power over us. Neither death nor the grave can hold us back. Christ has broken those chains and now gives us once and for all the freedom to live forever with him in heaven by the power of the Cross and the resurrection. Amen! Amen! Amen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Happy Easter! Much love and
blessings, Father Dominick
Pastor’s Column April 1 – 2, 2023
“So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?
Watch and pray, that you may not undergo the test.”
Each year on Palm Sunday we listen to one of the Synoptic Gospels’ account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem followed by His crucifixion and death. We go from the shouts of, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” to the cries of, “Let him be crucified!” To paraphrase the introduction to a TV show that I watched growing up called Wide World of Sports, we seemingly go from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat. This year it is St. Matthew’s version of Christ’s Passion that we hear. Written for a predominantly Jewish audience, Matthew’s Passion narrative follows that of his main source, St. Mark, in basic outline and content. But Matthew’s narrative more carefully binds the passion and death of Jesus the Messiah, to his role as teacher and Son of Man, who comes at the end of the age.
Our liturgy begins with the crowds waving their Palm branches and shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” They referred to Jesus as “the prophet from Nazareth.” But less than a week later one of his closest disciples, Judas, asks the chief priests, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” And for thirty pieces of silver he betrays him. Another close friend, Peter, the rock on which Jesus says he will build his church will three times deny him. And when Jesus asks his inner circle of Peter, James and John to keep watch with him and pray, they fall asleep. And by the end of our reading, the crowds which had cheered him a few days before are yelling, “Let him be crucified!”
All too often, aren’t we like those flawed disciples and that fickle crowd? How often do we all profess our belief in and our loyalty to Christ one minute and then betray him by our lack of obedience, our sinfulness and our selfishness the next? How many people will fill our pews this weekend and next but not return to church again for the rest of the year, or at least until Christmas? “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Does that not ring true?
But flawed as we all are, there is always great hope. Contemplating the Lord’s Passion in one of his sermons, Pope Saint Leo the Great once said: “True reverence for the Lord’s Passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity. […] No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitudes that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance?”
My brothers and sisters, even if your Lent has not been everything you planned it would be, even if your life has not been everything you hoped it would be, do not despair. Come back home to your Church and your parish. Join us in prayer and repentance this Holy Week. Monday, April 3rd is Reconciliation Monday throughout the New York metropolitan area. Churches will be open for Confession from 2:00 – 4:00 in the afternoon and from 6:00 – 9:00 in the evening. Participate in the Sacred Triduum at St. Mark Church which begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening and continues with the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday afternoon and culminates in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. Join us also at St. Mark for Morning Prayer at 9:00 AM on Holy
Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Journey with us on our Good Friday Walk for Peace at 10:00 AM from St. Mark Church to St. Margaret Mary Church and back, where we will end with a soup and bread lunch in the St. Mark Catholic Academy cafeteria. Come back home for Easter! We miss you and need you! And bring a friend. – Fr. Bob
Our Lady once confided her sorrows to St. Bridget, asking that her suffering be remembered:
“I gaze upon the children of men to see whether anyone feels compassion for me,
and alas, I see but few! …Do not forget me. Consider how much I have suffered.”
Our Lady to St. Bridget
We can honor the Blessed Mother—and learn compassion for her heart and the pain that filled it during her life on earth— through devotion to her title “Our Lady of Sorrows.”
Indeed, Mary has given us seven specific sorrows to contemplate and meditate upon, for which she grants many graces in return.
The Seven Sorrows or “dolors” are particular events in the life of Mary that caused excessive sorrow in her Immaculate Heart, sorrows in which she was especially united to Jesus. We are encouraged to contemplate these events daily.
As we are under great obligations to Jesus for His Passion endured for our love, so also are we under great obligations to Mary for the martyrdom which she voluntarily suffered for our salvation in the death of her Son. St. Albert the Great
The Seven Promises of the Seven Sorrows Devotion
1) “I will grant peace to their families.”
2) “They will be enlightened about the divine Mysteries.”
3) “I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.”
4) “I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.”
5) “I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.”
6) “I will visibly help them at the moment of their death—they will see the face of their mother.”
7) “I have obtained this grace from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son will be their eternal consolation and joy.”
Prayers for the Seven Sorrow
1) The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34-35)
2) The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-21)
3) The Loss of Jesus for Three Days (Luke 2:41-50)
4) The Carrying of the Cross (John 19:17)
5) The Crucifixion of Jesus (John 19:18-30)
6) Jesus Taken Down from the Cross (John 19:39-40)
7) Jesus Laid in the Tomb (John 19:39-42)