Why pray the Rosary every day for a year?


Each time the Blessed Virgin has appeared-- whether it be to Saint Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes; to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco at Fatima; or to Mariette Beco at Banneux-- she has asserted the importance, saving grace, and power of praying the Holy Rosary on a daily basis. Based upon her words, the Rosary is penance and conversion for sinners, a pathway to peace, an end to war, and a powerful act of faith in Jesus Christ. Pope Paul VI presented the Rosary as a powerful means to reach Christ "not merely with Mary but indeed, insofar as this is possible to us, in the same way as Mary, who is certainly the one who thought about Him more than anyone else has ever done."

To show us how this is done, perhaps no one has been more eloquent than the great Cardinal Newman, who wrote: "The great power of the Rosary consists in the fact that it translates the Creed into Prayer. Of course, the Creed is already in a certain sense a prayer and a great act of homage towards God, but the Rosary brings us to meditate again on the great truth of His life and death, and brings this truth close to our hearts. Even Christians, although they know God, usually fear rather than love Him. The strength of the Rosary lies in the particular manner in which it considers these mysteries, since all our thinking about Christ is intertwined with the thought of His Mother, in the relations between Mother and Son; the Holy Family is presented to us, the home in which God lived His infinite love."

As Mary said at Fatima, "Jesus wants to use you to make Me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to My Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God, like flowers put by Me to adorn his throne."



May 11: Blessed Peter the Venerable

Posted by Jacob


Today, May 11, we celebrate the feast day of Blessed Peter the Venerable (also known as Peter of Montboissier, 1092-1156), Abbot of Cluny, and holy man.  Described by his biographer as "A lover of peace he obtained peace in the glory of God on the day of peace."

As described by Pope Benedict XVI in his General Audience (March 2009):

"All who knew him praised his refined meekness, his serene equilibrium, rectitude, loyalty, reasonableness and his special approach to mediation. "It is in my nature" he wrote, "to be particularly inclined to indulgence; I am urged to this by my habit of forgiveness. I am accustomed to toleration and forgiveness." He said further: "With those who hate peace let us always seek to be peacemakers." And he wrote of himself: "I am not the type who is discontented with his lot... whose mind is always tormented by anxiety or doubt and who complains that everyone else is resting while they are the only ones working." With a sensitive and affectionate nature, he could combine love for the Lord with tenderness to his family members, especially his mother, and to his friends. He cultivated friendship, especially with his monks who used to confide in him, certain that they would be heard and understood. According to his biographer's testimony: "he did not look down on anyone and never turned anyone away"; "he appeared friendly to all; in his innate goodness he was open to all." 

Blessed Peter was born into a French noble family, to Blessed Raingarde in Auvergne, France.  At birth, Peter was “Dedicated to the Lord” and given to the monks at the monastery at Sauxillanges to raise.  When he reached the age of consent, at approximatly 17, Peter took his vows and entered the Congregation of Cluny.  Quickly recognized for his holiness and wisdom, Peter was swiftly elevated, assuming a number of important positions, including becoming professor and prior of the monastery of Vézelay at only twenty years of age.  Transferred to the monastery at Domene, he served his congretation and community so well that he was elected general of the order before he reached 30.  As the eighth abbot of Cluny, Peter brought a variety of reforms to the educational system of the order and to its finances.

Representing the order, Peter traveled extensively, going six times to Rome and to England and Spain. When not traveling, Peter spent long periods of time in solitude, praying and studying.  Blessed Peter further sought opportunity to open dialogues between faiths, particularly with Muslims.  He was responsible for the first translation of the Koran into Latin, to allow scholarly discourse on the text with Muslim brethren.  He wrote extensive treatises and letters regarding the scriptures, as well as poems and sermons; his writings reveal a deep knowledge honed by a focus on education, study, and keen insight.

Blessed Peter the Venerable was never formally canonized, but has long been venerated as a holy, beatified church figure. Peter the Venerable died at Cluny on Chrsitmas Day, December 25, 1156, according to his wish.  It is written that he gladly passed from this world "after a sublime sermon to his brethren on the mystery of the day.”

From the Letter of Blessed Peter the Venerable to Heloise:

“To our venerable and dearest sister in Christ, the handmaid of God, Heloise, guide and mistress of the handmaids of God, brother Peter, humble abbot of Cluny: the fullness of God's salvation and of our love in Christ. 

I was happy, very happy, to read the letter from your Sanctity, where I learned that my visit to you was no transitory call, and which made me realize that I have not only been with you, but in spirit have never really left you. My stay, I see, was not one to be remembered as that of a passing guest for a single night, nor was I treated as 'a stranger and a foreigner among you' [Gen.23:4], but as 'a fellow-citizen of God's people and member of God's household' [Ephes.2:19]. Everything I said and did on that fleeting or flying visit of mine has remained so firmly in your holy mind and made such an impression on your gracious spirit that, to say nothing of my carefully-chosen phrases on that occasion, not even a chance, unconsidered word of mine fell to the ground unheeded. You noted all, you committed all to your retentive memory in the warmth of your unbounded sincerity, as if all were the mighty, the heavenly, the sacrosanct words or deeds of Jesus Christ himself. You may have been propmpted to remember them in this way by the injunctions on receiving guests in our common Rule, which belongs to us both: 'Let Christ be worshipped in them, who is received in their persons' [Bened.Rule, 53.7]. Perhaps you were also reminded of the Lord's words concerning those given authority, though I have no authority over you: 'Whoever listens to you listens to me' [Luke 10:16]. 

May I ever be granted this grace from you: that you will think me worthy to be remembered, and will pray for the mercy of the Almighty upon me, along with the holy community of the flock entrusted to your care. I am repaying you now as far as I can, for long before I saw you, and particularly since I have come to know you, I have kept for you in the innermost depths of my heart a special place of real and true affection. I am therefore sending you, now that I have left you, a ratification of the gift of a trental I made you in person, in writing and under seal, as you wished. I am also sending the absolution for Master Peter you asked for, similarly written on parchment and sealed. As soon as I have an opportunity, I will gladly do my best to obtain a prebend in one of the great churches for your Astralabe, who is also ours for your sake. It will not be easy, for the bishops, as I have often found, are apt to show themselves extremely difficult when occasions have arisen for them to give prebends in their churches. But for your sake I will do what I can as soon as I can.”


O God, refuge and surpassing reward
of those who walk blamelessly in Thy presence,
perfect in us, we beseech Thee,
the love of holy religion,
that by the example and intercession of the blessed Abbots of Cluny
we may run with dilated hearts along the way of charity.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

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December 11: Saint Daniel the Stylite

Posted by Jacob

Today, December 11, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Daniel the Stylite (409-490), hermit, preacher, counselor to emperors, and pillar-dwelling saint consecrated to the Lord. Daniel spent his life living atop a narrow pillar, offering spiritual guidance and the Eucharist to those who came to him. His detachment from the world allowed him to read the hearts of man, observe the actions of all, and offer direct and effective sermon and counsel to all who would listen. While pillar-living never appealed to western Christian hermits, it was a popular method of dedication to the Lord in the middle east and eastern Church. There, those who observed this seemingly strange manner of life were deeply moved by its symbolism and it’s warning against worldliness. It was a life of austerity and public scrutiny, and Daniel embraced both as a model of discipline, obedience, and wisdom.


Daniel was born in Maratha, Syria. From an early age he voiced interested in becoming a monk, and demonstrated the piety, sacrifice, and holiness the calling would require. His parents dedicated him to the Lord, and he entered the monastery at Samosata on the Upper Euphrates at the age of 12, and lived in relative peace and discipline, earning the respect of his brothers. When time came to choose a new abbot, they selected Daniel, who, in humility, declined. Rather, he had intentions of living in hermitude. During this time, Daniel learned of Saint Simeon the Stylite, the most famous of the pillar-dwellers. Daniel visited Saint Simeon on two occasions, receiving counsel and a blessing from the great hermit. Saint Simeon also told Daniel that he would suffer greatly for Christ.

At the age of 42, Daniel decided to embrace the life of a stylite, and set off for the Holy Lands to dwell. However, he received a vision of Saint Simeon, and instead traveled to Constantinople—the city he would spend the remainder of his days. Taking his “first steps upward,” Daniel lived on a series of pillars constructed for him by Emperor Leo I for the remaining 33 days of his life. The pillars were open to the elements, and narrow enough that we has generally forced to stand all day, every day, until collapsing. The nights were sometimes well below freezing, but Daniel embraced this as the suffering foretold by Saint Simeon.

Daniel became somewhat of a local celebrity, attracting many to come and sit beneath his pillar. There, he preached, celebrated Mass, offered spiritual direction and counsel, and performed many miraculous cures of the sick and weak who were brought to him. He was ordained atop his pillar by Saint Gennadius, and lived to offer prudent counsel to Emperors Leo and Zeno, and the patriarch of Constantinople. In 465, for example, he warned the emperor that fire would strike the capital city unless the people said public prayers twice a week to avert it. The warning was ignored, and Constantinople was in large part destroyed by fire. The fact that Saint Daniel had predicted this made him still more highly regarded by the people who had earlier paid no attention to his warnings. In 33 years, Daniel came down from his pillar only once, to combat heresy through advising Emperor Baliscus. Following that meeting, he returned to his pillar spirituality.

At that age of 84, Daniel knew his life was drawing to a close. Weak and atrophied from a lifetime of little movement, he celebrated a midnight Mass and died quietly thereafter atop his pillar. Saint Daniel was buried at the foot of the pillar he had dwelt on, dedicating himself through asceticism, prayer, and penance to the Lord. The life of Saint Daniel the Stylite reminds us that there are many ways to live a spiritual life. All of us have our own way to be close to God every day. Our task is to find the way our own personal manner in which to love and serve the Lord.



Thou becamest a pillar of patience and didst emulate the Forefathers, O righteous one: Job in his sufferings, Joseph in temptations, and the life of the bodiless while in the body, O Daniel, our righteous Father, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.


With longing and zeal for things on high, O righteous one, thou leftest behind all things that are found here below, when thou builtest thy pillar as another Heaven whence thou didst flash with the light of wonders and signs. Do thou ever pray Christ that our souls be saved. Amen.



Year 2: Day 345 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Courage to live our faith visibly.
Requested Intentions: Financial security, successful employment (J); Obedience to God’s will (A); Conversion of souls (A); Success of business venture; faith of daughter (S);  Safe return home (J); Recovery of mother and son; repose of the souls of the dearly departed (A); Blessings upon a relationship (M); Sobriety and recovery for a son (M); Employment and successful marriage (A); Employment, healing, freedom from anxiety (T); Financial security (C); Conversion (T); Peace in difficult times at work (E); Financial security and blessings for mother and children (T); Financial security for a mother (M); Health, finances, successful marriage (A); Successful resolution of court case for son (K); Continued sobriety (N); Healing of a chronic health condition (B); Successful employment (A): Peace in a family, recovery of a niece from substance use (L); Blessings on a marriage, healing of a husband (P); For the health and recovery of sisters (B); For a daughter and granddaughter (D); Blessings on overseas employment (M); Healing of mother (L).

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July 2: Saint Monegundis

Posted by Jacob

Today, July 2, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Monegundis (died 650), Hermitess, Holy woman, and foundress of the convent of Saint Pierre-le-Puellier. Saint Monegundis lived a righteous and pious life, and only through tragedy and depression was called to more fully serve the Lord.


Monegundis was born in Chartres (northern France, near Paris), and lived a honorable life in the eyes of both the world and the Lord. She married, and together with her husband, was blessed with two beautiful daughter. Sadly, both daughters passed away before they reached adulthood, and Monegundis was deeply grieved. For many years, she struggled with a deep depression, which impacted her relationships with her husband, her family, and all her friends.

Over time, Monegundis came to understand her depression as a trial, given by the Lord, and with prayer and contemplation, came to find the healing grace of God. Monegundis came to realize that her depression was somewhat selfish, and even insulting to the Lord, as through her sadness and moaning she was doubting the wisdom and love of the gracious Father who had taken her daughters to be with Him in Heaven.

With this knowledge came full repentance, and with her husband’s permission, she took up residence in a small cell near a Church in Chartres, where she lived in total prayer and penance. After a few years, she moved to Tours, where she again lived as a hermitess, this time close to the tomb of Saint Martin of Tours. Her reputation for gentleness, holiness, and piety began attracting followers, and before long she had become the spiritual mother and advisor to a large group of women.

Based upon her followers, Monegundis established a convent, and eventually wrote a monastic rule, establishing the convent dedicated to Saint Pierre-le-Puellier. Following the establishment of the convent, she peacefully died. Numerous miracles were reported at her tomb.

Today, we pray for the wisdom and strength to convert those tragedies that we experience into opportunities for service to the Lord and one another. We pray in a special way for those struggling with depression and mental illness, that in the dark places, they may find the space to embrace the healing light of Christ, and come to love both themselves and the Lord in a newfound and profound manner.

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December 11: Saint Daniel the Stylite

Posted by Jacob

Today, December 11, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Daniel the Stylite (409-490), hermit, preacher, counselor to emperors, and pillar-dwelling saint consecrated to the Lord. Daniel spent his life living atop a narrow pillar, offering spiritual guidance and the Eucharist to those who came to him. His detachment from the world allowed him to read the hearts of man, observe the actions of all, and offer direct and effective sermon and counsel to all who would listen. While pillar-living never appealed to western Christian hermits, it was a popular method of dedication to the Lord in the middle east and eastern Church. There, those who observed this seemingly strange manner of life were deeply moved by its symbolism and it’s warning against worldliness. It was a life of austerity and public scrutiny, and Daniel embraced both as a model of discipline, obedience, and wisdom.


Daniel was born in Maratha, Syria. From an early age he voiced interested in becoming a monk, and demonstrated the piety, sacrifice, and holiness the calling would require. His parents dedicated him to the Lord, and he entered the monastery at Samosata on the Upper Euphrates at the age of 12, and lived in relative peace and discipline, earning the respect of his brothers. When time came to choose a new abbot, they selected Daniel, who, in humility, declined. Rather, he had intentions of living in hermitude. During this time, Daniel learned of Saint Simeon the Stylite, the most famous of the pillar-dwellers. Daniel visited Saint Simeon on two occasions, receiving counsel and a blessing from the great hermit. Saint Simeon also told Daniel that he would suffer greatly for Christ.

At the age of 42, Daniel decided to embrace the life of a stylite, and set off for the Holy Lands to dwell. However, he received a vision of Saint Simeon, and instead traveled to Constantinople—the city he would spend the remainder of his days. Taking his “first steps upward,” Daniel lived on a series of pillars constructed for him by Emperor Leo I for the remaining 33 days of his life. The pillars were open to the elements, and narrow enough that we has generally forced to stand all day, every day, until collapsing. The nights were sometimes well below freezing, but Daniel embraced this as the suffering foretold by Saint Simeon.

Daniel became somewhat of a local celebrity, attracting many to come and sit beneath his pillar. There, he preached, celebrated Mass, offered spiritual direction and counsel, and performed many miraculous cures of the sick and weak who were brought to him. He was ordained atop his pillar by Saint Gennadius, and lived to offer prudent counsel to Emperors Leo and Zeno, and the patriarch of Constantinople. In 465, for example, he warned the emperor that fire would strike the capital city unless the people said public prayers twice a week to avert it. The warning was ignored, and Constantinople was in large part destroyed by fire. The fact that Saint Daniel had predicted this made him still more highly regarded by the people who had earlier paid no attention to his warnings. In 33 years, Daniel came down from his pillar only once, to combat heresy through advising Emperor Baliscus. Following that meeting, he returned to his pillar spirituality.

At that age of 84, Daniel knew his life was drawing to a close. Weak and atrophied from a lifetime of little movement, he celebrated a midnight Mass and died quietly thereafter atop his pillar. Saint Daniel was buried at the foot of the pillar he had dwelt on, dedicating himself through asceticism, prayer, and penance to the Lord. The life of Saint Daniel the Stylite reminds us that there are many ways to live a spiritual life. All of us have our own way to be close to God every day. Our task is to find the way our own personal manner in which to love and serve the Lord.



Thou becamest a pillar of patience and didst emulate the Forefathers, O righteous one: Job in his sufferings, Joseph in temptations, and the life of the bodiless while in the body, O Daniel, our righteous Father, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.


With longing and zeal for things on high, O righteous one, thou leftest behind all things that are found here below, when thou builtest thy pillar as another Heaven whence thou didst flash with the light of wonders and signs. Do thou ever pray Christ that our souls be saved. Amen.



Day 345 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Courage to live our faith visibly.
Requested Intentions: For a return to health for a friend (C); Healing from cancer of a brother-in-law (C); Healthy relationship; Joy in everyday life (J); Successful employment and financial assistance for education (M); For the return home of father and husband suffering from mental illness (C); Successful passing of examination; Employment for Son (J); Healing of a family and son (S); Successful marriage (G); End to husband’s addictions; Son’s employment (M); Freedom from financial burdens (M); Healing after a miscarriage (E); For healing of friend; successful resolution of legal matter (A); For unity between estranged friends (E); For a son, falsely arrested (C); Successful employment (J); Successful employment (L); For a healthy child (L); Recovery from stomach illness of a friend (A); Employment and financial security (E); Conversion of sons (L); Freedom from financial stress, employment (C); Spiritual growth and family peace (A); Freedom to immigrate (D); End to debt (N); Restoration of a marriage (J); Complete recovery of son (P); Recovery of parish priest, health of mother, conversion of son (J); Successful employment, end to depression (J); Successful immigration and employment (S); Conversion of an unloving daughter (M); Recovery of husband, health of mother, economic freedom (R); Freedom from depression, restoration of family relationships (N); Restoration of a relationship (J); Healing of friends from cancer (J); Complete healing of a friend with pancreatic cancer (J); Healing of a father following stroke (S).

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Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: "Seek Wisdom and Prudence, The True Treasures"

Posted by Jacob

We continue our "weekend" of writings by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, whose feast we celebrated on Friday, August 20. For additional writings by Saint Bernard, see here, here, here, here, and here.


On August 20th, we celebrated the feast day of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Mellifluous (“honey-tongued”) Doctor of the Church, Marian devotee, and Last Father of the Church. Saint Bernard has been referred to as the “man of the twelfth century,” responsible for healing the Church schism of that time, preaching the Second Crusade, writing prayers, poems, and hymns, and “re-founding” the Cistercian Order. His writings have laid a foundation of our faith, which still inspires today. Below, an excerpt from a sermon he delivered on the Book of Proverbs.



Seek Wisdom and Prudence, The True Treasures

Let us work for the food which does not perish – our salvation. Let us work in the vineyard of the Lord to earn our daily wage in the wisdom which says: Those who work in me will not sin. Christ tells us: The field is the world. Let us work in it and dig up wisdom, its hidden treasure, a treasure we all look for and want to obtain.


If you are looking for it, really look. Be converted and come. Converted from what? From your own wilfulness. “But”, you may say, “if I do not find wisdom in my own will, where shall I find it? My soul eagerly desires it. And I will not be satisfied when I find it, if it is not a generous amount, a full measure, overflowing into my hands”. You are right, for blessed is the man who finds wisdom and is full of prudence.


Look for wisdom while it can still be found. Call for it while it is near. Do you want to know how near it is? The word is near you, in your heart and on your lips, provided that you seek it honestly. Insofar as you find wisdom in your heart, prudence will flow from your lips, but be careful that it flows from and not away from them, or that you do not vomit it up. If you have found wisdom, you have found honey. But do not eat so much that you become too full and bring it all up. Eat so that you are always hungry. Wisdom says: Those who eat me continue to hunger. Do not think you have too much of it, but do not eat too much or you will throw it up. If you do, what you seem to have will be taken away from you, because you gave up searching too soon. While wisdom is near and while it can be found, look for it and ask for its help. Solomon says: A man who eats too much honey does himself no good; similarly, the man who seeks his own glorification will be crushed by that same renown.


Happy is the man who has found wisdom. Even more happy is the man who lives in wisdom, for he perceives its abundance. There are three ways for wisdom or prudence to abound in you: if you confess your sins, if you give thanks and praise, and if your speech is edifying. Man believes with his heart and so he is justified. He confesses with his lips and so he is saved. In the beginning of his speech the just man is his own accuser, next he gives glory to God, and thirdly, if his wisdom extends that far, he edifies his neighbor.



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