Totus Tuus - To Jesus through Mary.

To impel the beauty of the new evangelization – this is the charism of the Heralds of the Gospel; Its founder, Monsignor João Dias explains."The Heralds of the Gospel is a private association of faithful with a very special charism based essentially on three points: the Eucharist, Mary and the Pope."

The Heralds of the Gospel are an International Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right, the first to be established by the Holy See in the third millennium, during a ceremony which occurred during the feast of the Chair of St. Peter (February 22) in 2001.

The Heralds of the Gospel strive to be instruments of holiness in the Church by encouraging close unity between faith and life, and working to evangelize particularly through art and culture. Their apostolate, which differs depending upon the environments in which they work, gives pride of place to parish animation, evangelizing families, providing catechetical and cultural formation to young people, and disseminating religious Iiterature.



Thursday 19 November 2009

The Cure of Ars on Prayer


On the feast of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 19 June 2009 our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated a “Year for Priests” under the patronage of St. John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests worldwide. Let us pray for our Priests!

The Cure of Ars had the gift of prophecy. On May 14th, 1854, the bishop of Ullathorne called the saint and asked him to pray for England. The bishop of Birmingham narrates that the holy man said with extraordinary conviction: “ Monseigneur, I believe the Church in England will be restored to its full splendor.”

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The Cure of Ars preached constantly about the importance of prayer:


1. “Prayer is the elevation of our heart to God, a sweet conversation between creature and Creator”. (Sermon on prayer)



2. “Through prayer you can do everything, you possess, as it were, the Mountain of God”. (Sermon on perseverance)



3. “Prayer opens the eyes of the soul; it makes us feel the extent of our miseries, the need to have recourse to God, and to be fearful of our own weakness”. (Sermon on prayer)



4. “All the miseries that befall us on earth come from the fact that either we do not pray, or we do not pray properly”. (Sermon on prayer)



5. “All the saints began their conversion through prayer, and with it they persevered; all those who were damned, were damned because they neglected prayer. I affirm therefore, that prayer is absolutely necessary for our perseverance”. (Sermon on perseverance)



6. “How often we come to Church without knowing why we come, or what we want to ask for. But when we go to somebody's house we know exactly why we are going. Some seem to say to God ‘I just came to fulfil an obligation.’ Often, I think that when we come to adore our Lord, we could obtain everything we desire if we would ask for it with a strong faith and a pure heart”.



7. “Our prayers ought to be made with trust, and with the firm hope that God can, and wants to, give us what we ask for if we ask for it properly”. (Sermon on prayer)



8. “We have to pray frequently, but we must double our prayers in time of trial, and in moments when we are assailed by temptation”. (Sermon on prayer)



9. “Great though our sufferings may be, if we pray, we will have the joy of enduring them entirely submitted to God’s Will; however strong our temptations may be, if we turn to prayer we will overcome them”. (Sermon on prayer)



10. “The third condition that a prayer should fulfil, in order to be agreeable to God, is that we persevere in it. Many times God does not give us what we ask. He does this so that we may desire it more intensely, or so that we may appreciate it better. This delay is not a refusal, but a trial which prepares us better to receive what we have asked”. (Sermon on prayer)

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