Letters to a Bishop

In February 2010, I attended weekday Mass at a local parish church. While attending Mass, I experienced a problem with the parish priest and communicated with the bishop regarding the problem. However, in my letter, I addressed only part of the problem and the Bishop, in reply, addressed only part of the problem, which involved the practice of kneeling to receive Holy Communion. I noted in my communication that it would be helpful to have kneelers at the altar steps so that communicants could receive the Holy Eucharist while kneeling as Pope Benedict XVI does.

The Bishop wrote: “Kneeling to receive Holy Communion is an option (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 160-161; Redemptionis Sacramentum, 91) but the rule in the United States is that the assembly comes forward in a processional line to receive the Eucharist and that each individual makes a gesture of reverence, i.e., a bow or genuflection before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, distributes the Eucharist with a kneeler before him so that each individual may kneel to receive Holy Communion. Recall that when the Holy Father distributes Holy Communion, the whole world is literally watching and so he emphasizes the great reverence and dignity that everyone should have in his or her heart when they approach to receive the Lord in Holy Communion in this way.”

I responded to the Bishop: Thank you for your letter. Please understand that I attend Mass to love, reverence, worship and adore Our Lord, Jesus Christ. One morning at Mass at a local parish church, while kneeling to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, I suddenly fell to the floor. I don’t know why this happened, but it did. The parish priest, after placing a piece of the Host he had consecrated during Mass in my mouth, grabbed me by my upper arm, lifted me up and told me to “stand when receiving.” I repeat – I kneel in reverence to Our Lord and His Holy Presence in the Holy Eucharist, in His House and in His Church. Thankfully, the Church which Our Lord established is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. We are all creatures of God, Who made each one of us and in Whose world we live. He does not live in our world. He has given us His rules of the Ten Commandments to live by, which His Son, Our Lord, affirmed while He was here on the earth.

How is God the Father Present in Our Lives?, The Gift of The Three Kings, Prayer to St. Michael, Guardian Angels Prayer

How is God the Father Present in Our Lives?

Consider:         Which came first?  God the Father or science?  The chicken or the egg?

Consider:         There is a very dangerous intersection by a church where I live.  The side street intersects with a two–lane main street.  Directly across from the side street is the entrance to the church parking lot.  The tendency of people in the area is to stop at the intersecting street, wait for a clear road and then shoot across the main street into the parking lot.

                        One night, I was about to do the same thing when I suddenly heard, “This is where We [or I, I cannot honestly remember which word was used] take over.”  The next thing I knew, the car was being driven for me up and over the road and the car was then gently set down in the parking lot.  Jesus was the driver of course.  “Thank you, Jesus!”  I cannot remember why I thought it would be safe to cross the road at that point but I do have an impression of a lot of traffic when the car was driven over the road.  “Thank you, Jesus.”  I don’t use that route into the parking lot any more.

                                        

Consider:         The popular expression “Beam me up, Scotty” from the Star Trek television series.  Where did the series’ creator come up with the idea of a human being creating a transporter machine that would take that human being from one point to another?

Answer to all questions:          God the Father.  For it is He Who inspires human beings to try and imitate Him.  The thing is, we must recall St. Michael the Archangel, whose name means “Who would be God?” and realize that we are in God’s world, not He in ours.  And when we try and re-create what God has shown to us as His creation, we are using human being thinking.  And then there are the angels, who are more intelligent than we are.  And then there is Jesus, Who has His own way of thinking.

The Three Kings
It is told that if you display the Three Kings above the front door inside your home, you will always be able to meet your financial obligations.

You will not have an over abundance but will have what is needed to meet your obligations.

It is also told that your spiritual, emotional, and physical needs will be met.
Place the Three Kings over your door and see these things come about over time.

Prayer to St. Michael

St. Michael, the Archangel, walk with us. Be our protector and our guide. Show us our temptations and lead us away from them.

St. Michael, whose name means "Who is like God?", protect us from those who would be like God. Help us to remember Jesus before Pilate when those who would be like God tell us that they have power over us, and remind us to tell these human beings that they have no power over us, only God, our Father, has power over us.

St. Michael, please protect those human beings who would be like God, who believe they have power over others. Guide them to Jesus, and guide them safely back to God's ways of holiness. Amen.

Guardian Angels Prayer

May the Angels guide you and guard you through this His good night, 'til dawn's first light, when you may awake and begin your day anew. Amen.

The Three Hail Mary's -- A Suppliant's Prayer, A Prayer for Abused and Neglected Children, Good Night to Our Blessed Mother, Poem "To Our Lady"

The Three Hail Mary’s
A Suppliant’s Prayer

The Three Hail Mary's were given to St. Melchtilde (13th Century) by Blessed Mother Mary to aid the Saint in her hour of death.  Although Mother Mary was giving such great gifts just for saying three Hail Mary's, it seems better to ask Her for them:

The first Hail Mary will be said in honor of God the Father, Whose omnipotence raised Thy soul so high above every other creature that after God Thou hast the greatest power in heaven and on earth.

In the hour of my death, I humbly beg and beseech Thee, O most gracious Virgin Mary, to use that power of God the Father to keep any hostile power far from me.
Hail Mary, . . .

The second Hail Mary will be said in honor of the Son of God, Who communicated His inscrutable wisdom to Thee.

In the hour of my death, I humbly beg and beseech Thee, O most gracious Virgin Mary, to fill my soul with the light of that wisdom so that all the darkness of ignorance and error will be dispelled.
Hail Mary, . . .

The third Hail Mary will be said in honor of God the Holy Ghost, Who filled Thy soul with the sweetness of His love and tenderness and mercy.

In my last hour, I humbly beg and beseech Thee, O most gracious Virgin Mary, to then change the bitterness of death into divine sweetness and delight.
Hail Mary, . . .

Copyright Bernardette Grant 2010, 2017  All Rights Reserved

Prayer for Abused and Neglected Children

We pray that all of those children who have been abused and/or neglected in any way may come to know Blessed Mother Mary as their Mother and may She guide them and guard them all the days of their lives on earth as she once guided and guarded Her Divine Son, Jesus, even unto death, and so unto eternity and Heaven forever. Amen.

Good Night To Our Blessed Mother

Night is falling dear Mother, the long day is o’er!

And before thy loved image I am kneeling once more
To thank thee for keeping me safe through the day
To ask thee this night to keep evil away.
Many times have I fallen today, Mother Dear,
Many graces neglected, since last I knelt here;
Wilt thou not in pity, my own Mother mild,
Ask Jesus to pardon the sins of thy child?
I am going to rest, for the day’s work is done,
Its hours and its moments have passed one by one;
And the God who will judge me has noted them all,
He has numbered each grace, He has counted each fall.
In His book they are written against the last day,
O Mother, ask Jesus to wash them away;
For one drop of His blood which for sinners was spilt,
Is sufficient to cleanse the whole world of its guilt.
And if ere the dawn I should draw my last breath,
And the sleep that I take be the long sleep of death,
Be near me, dear Mother, for dear Jesus’ sake
When my soul on Eternity’s shore shall awake.

"To Our Lady"

Lovely Lady dressed in blue
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little Boy,
Tell me what to say!

Did you lift Him up sometimes,
Gently, on your knee?
Did you sing to Him the way
Mother does to me?

Did you hold His hand at night?
Did you ever try
Telling stories of the world?
O!  And did He cry?

Do you really think He cares
If I tell Him things --
Little things that happen?  And
Do the Angels' wings

Make a noise?  And can He hear
Me if I speak low?
Does He understand me now?
Tell me -- for you know?

Lovely Lady dressed in blue,
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little Boy,
And you know the way.

Letter to Daily Record Editor, 10/2/2011

(Published in the Daily Record, November 7, 2011.  The parts in brackets were omitted or changed slightly.)

Editor, Daily Record
Dear Sir or Madam:

I read with interest your article of September 28[, 2011,] regarding the financial problems of St. Therese Roman Catholic Church in Roxbury[, New Jersey]. 

Several thoughts come to mind, possibly you’ve heard them before.  One idea is that the church which Jesus Christ founded on this His Father’s good earth is one, holy, catholic and apostolic and run by human beings.  We may recall that Jesus, God the Father’s Son, was a human being. 

The thing is that the church is a functioning legal entity, which must abide by the laws of man, including tax laws, corporate laws, real estate laws, etc.  And so to insure fiscal responsibility, and to comply with human being[s] laws, a budget is prepared and submitted each year to the Diocese. 

Even in your church, you may be experiencing fiscal problems because of economic hardships, major expenses being incurred (new roof, new church building to replace old, outdated, non-repairable building), lack of new parishioners, and sometimes even finding church members − human beings − who are wrongfully taking money from the church collection and using it for themselves. 

The thing is no man answers to any other man, only to God.  And how do human beings answer to God?  All human beings have souls, which give life to the human beings’ body.  When the human being’s body dies, the soul goes home to Jesus in God’s Heaven.  Jesus judges the soul, which has understanding and free will.  But how does Jesus judge the soul?  He uses the Ten Commandments, [which He affirmed,] and tightened up a bit, e.g., adultery, while He was living on the earth.

The pastor of a church, regardless of religious affiliation (and souls are not born with religious affiliations, proclivities or aberrations), is a human being who tries in his or her own way to become a part of the lives of those human beings who make up that parish.  Let us not judge any wrongdoings we may observe as a result of their stewardship, and push those human beings away from us.  We may recall Judas Iscariot, when he realized the enormity of his act of betrayal of Jesus, ran from all human beings, for there was no one who might have shown him compassion.

The Church of St. Therese really needs peaceful closure, for Father Davis is a human being, and was [a] steward of the parish for many years.  [And we may recall, that only]  [Only] Jesus may judge human beings [and only on an individual basis].  Jesus does not broadcast an individual human being’s sins.  What is sin?  Sin is an offense against God.  How do we offend God?  By breaking His Ten Commandments.  And so a sinner is one who has broken God’s Commandments.

What I’m trying to say is that the past is done, and it cannot be changed or undone, so we must leave it to His mercy and ask that He use all for His good; and the future we may not know, so we must leave it to His Divine Providence; which leaves us in the present time, which is where Jesus is, for He is Yahweh, I Am, for He and His Father are as one.

[All Souls Home To Heaven!!!  (See also http://prayerclothes.blogspot.com)]

Sincerely yours,

God Created the Devil, Too

A reminder: God created Lucifer (Satan, the devil, the fallen angels, demons, etc.). God is above all. We ask God to hold the devil in His one Hand and me and all people, including you -- for you too are His precious creation -- in His other hand so that we may all walk with Him in his Holy ways.  Amen

Flowering Prayers for the Unborn, A Mother's Love

Flowering Prayers for the Unborn

            A Prayer to God is a Prayer to God, no matter who says it, when, where, why, or how the prayer is said.

Pray every word of every prayer carefully and thoughtfully so that the prayer becomes a flower – any flower you choose – which every unborn child may take home to God when the child’s soul returns home to the Heavenly Father.  The Heavenly Father will know that the child was cared for and loved no matter how long he or she was on the earth.

            For example, when you pray a Hail Mary, note the way the prayer is composed:

            Hail, Mary!  –  The Angel Gabriel came to ask Mother Mary to become the mother of the Messiah.  Note the very best manners of Heaven.  When the Angel Gabriel spoke to Mary in her room, in her home, he greeted her very politely. 

            Full of grace  –  Grace is prayer.  The following paragraph describing, in part, the Annunciation is taken from the book The life of the Blessed Virgin Mary From the Visions of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich, translated by Sir Michael Palairet, First published by Burns and Oates, Limited, London, England 1954:  “Mary let the veil fall over her face and crossed her hands (but not her fingers) before her breast.  I saw her fervently praying thus for a long time, with her face raised to heaven.  She was imploring God for redemption, for the promised King, and beseeching Him that her prayer might have some share in sending Him.  She knelt long in an ecstasy of prayer; then she bowed her head on to her breast.”

            The Lord is with Thee  –  In the Old Testament of the Bible, God the Father guided and guarded all things on the earth in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, whom He had promised Adam and Eve He would send.  God the Father set the prophecies in place and watched that all were fulfilled and that all was in readiness for the Messiah.  “The Lord” in this prayer is God the Father, Who was present but not visible to Mother Mary at the time of the Annunciation.

            Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb  –  This is Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary when Mary and Joseph visited her at her home in Ain Karim.  This visit happened soon after the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mother Mary and Mother Mary became the Mother of Jesus.  At the time of the visit, Elizabeth was six months’ pregnant with her child, John the Baptist, who subsequently announced the coming of Jesus and baptized Him in the River Jordan.

            Jesus  –  At the name of Jesus, every head should bow and every knee should bend.

            Holy Mary  –  Mary was indeed Holy, having spent approximately ten years (from age four to age fourteen) in religious service in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Mary and Joseph were married in the Temple in Jerusalem and Jesus was presented to God in the Temple in Jerusalem, all in accord with the religious law of their time.  The thing is, if you think of Mary as a saint – instead of elevating her to the heights of Heaven and forgetting her humanity – her actions here on the earth become more understandable and she becomes a human being who was a very holy woman.

            Mother of God  –  Jesus is indeed the Son of God.  The thing is, Mary and Jesus were both human beings when they lived here on the earth and it’s very easy to forget their humanity when you think of their divinity.

            Pray for us, sinners  –  What is sin?  Sin is an offense against God.  And how do we offend God?  By breaking His Ten Commandments.  Therefore, a sinner is one who has broken God’s Ten Commandments.  As we ask the saints in Heaven to pray for us, so we ask Mother Mary to pray for us.

            Now and at the hour of our death  –  We ask Mother Mary to pray for us now while we are here on the earth and during our last hour on the earth, before the soul goes home to His Heaven for the very last time.  Amen

A Mother's Love

A Mother sits in the bright sun of day, sorting through her child's clothes, noting any stains, rips, or mends.  Thinking:  this garment will do for the next child, who will soon fit into it.  I will keep this undershirt, dress, etc. for him or for her.

Prayer for Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe), A Prayer for Barrack Obama, Letter to Congress re Health Care Legislation

A Prayer for Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe)
Born:  September 22, 1947.  Died:  February 18, 2017

We pray that Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, may carry her Cross of 56 million plus human beings murdered by abortion in the United States as Jesus carried His Cross for the sins of all mankind, and that she may share in the glory of His resurrection. Amen.

A Prayer for Barrack Obama

To God, the Father: That He may remove Mr. Obama from the office of President of the United States of America effective immediately and rescind everything that Mr. Obama has done retroactive to the day he took the oath of office for the presidency for the first time.

To God, the Son: That He may effect in Mr. Obama a conversion like unto Saul of Tarsus, and that Mr. Obama may become like unto St. Paul the Apostle.

To God, the Holy Ghost: That He may wrap Mr. Obama so tightly in Prayer Clothes that he will never have another thought or say another word without proclaiming the glory of God and His creation. Amen.

Letter to Congress re Health Care Legislation

Dear Senator (Add Name) or Congressman (Add Name):

Thank you for your letter of Month day, 2010.

We must become aware of the connection between the words abortion and murder. Somewhere along the line, we have slipped the cog.

Abortion is the murder of a little child.

I do not support abortion or the mass murder of children or people of any age. I am dead set against the Senate and House health care reform bills that are currently before the Congress and want the bills to be killed and forgotten, never to raise their ugly provisions again.

Please pray for Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, that she may carry her cross of 54 million plus little children murdered by abortion in the United States just as Jesus carried His cross for the sins of all mankind, and that she may share in the glory of His resurrection. Amen.

Copyright Bernardette Grant, 2010, 2017 All rights reserved

Prayer Before Mass and Prayer Before Receiving Holy Communion

Prayer Before Mass:

Dear Lord, Please send Thine angels to quiet the physical and mental problems of those who are here at this service so that all may love, worship, reverence and adore Thee from their hearts as they so wish.

And Dear Lord, please send Thine angels so that all of the little ones who are here with their parents or caregivers may come to know, love and obey them. And so that all of the parents and caregivers who have brought their little ones to this service may come to know, love and understand the little ones so that all may know, love, worship, reverence and adore Thee from their hearts as they so wish.  Amen.

Prayer Before Receiving Holy Communion:

I kneel in reverence before Thy Holy Presence in This Thy Holy Eucharist. Amen.

Prayers During the Consecration at Mass

At the Three Bells signalling the beginning of the Consecration:
          He cometh!

After the consecration of the Bread by the Priest:
          He cometh!

After the consecration of the wine by the Priest:
          He hath come!

After receiving Holy Communion:
          He hath cometh unto me.

Prayer Clothes

J.M.J.

I would like to share a very special gift I have received from God.  This is my gift:

One day, while praying after Mass, God asked me what I wanted.  I said I wanted a cloak of Hail Mary’s and a garment of Our Father’s, along with a diadem clasp of Glory Be’s for my cloak.  Why?  Because there is no greater protection than prayer.  God granted me my cloak and the clasp but I must wait for the garment of Our Father’s for reasons not important enough to be shared.

Anyone may have their own prayer clothes, the only thing is you must ask God, our Heavenly Father for them.  Or his Son, for He has asked His Father if He may give them. 

These clothes may be any clothes a person feels comfortable with and any prayers can be used for them.  The clothes may have Shinings – ornaments or decorations which are special gifts from God, the Father in Heaven.  The clothes may be a blanket or bed covering, if a person is bed-ridden or in a wheel chair.

No one can take the clothes from a person.  They may be worn when we present ourselves to Our Lord at the end of our mortal life here on earth.  They may be taken to Heaven and given to someone back on the earth. 

You will know you have your prayer clothes.

The prayer clothes will include every prayer you have ever prayed and they must be maintained by praying.

They may be prayed for someone else, for example, a child, a friend, the souls in Purgatory.  Parents or those with difficult children may pray clothes for their children, who will eventually present themselves to Our Lord in their prayer clothes.

They may also be prayed for all the unborn children so that no matter how long they are here on earth, they may go home to the Heavenly Father in their prayer clothes, and the Heavenly Father will know that the child was loved and cared for while he or she was here on earth.

Those children, along with and their parents and caregivers, who have incurable diseases and who are in hospitals should know of these clothes.

Bernardette

Copyright Bernardette Grant 2010, 2013, 2016  All Rights Reserved