Listen, O my son, to the precepts of the master, and incline the ear of your heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of your loving Father, that by the toil of obedience you may return to Him from whom by the sloth of disobedience you have gone away.
To You, therefore, my speech is now directed, who, giving up your own will, take up the strong and most excellent arms of obedience, to do battle for Christ the Lord, the true King. (Holy Rule – Prologue)
Glorious Saint Benedict,
sublime model of virtue, pure vessel of God’s grace!
Behold me humbly kneeling at your feet.
I implore you in your loving kindness to pray for me before the throne of God.
To you, I have recourse in the dangers that daily surround me.
Shield me against my selfishness and my indifference to God and to my neighbor.
Inspire me to imitate you in all things.
May your blessing be with me always, so that I may see and serve Christ in others and work for His kingdom.
Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces which I need so much in the trials, miseries and afflictions of life.
Your heart was always full of love, compassion, and mercy toward those who were afflicted or troubled in any way.
You never dismissed without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to you.
I, therefore, invoke your powerful intercession, confident in the hope that you will hear my prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favor I earnestly implore.
{mention your petition}
Help me, great Saint Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to run in the sweetness of His loving will, and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God;
all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.
He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.
He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
(John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'”)
And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.
“The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1965, 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
The Prologue to St. John’s Gospel – Mp3 audio and text
Msgr. Esseff teaches about the need for healing, protection and deliverance. Msgr. Esseff discusses the importance of the “Our Father”. He then leads the following prayer:
In the name of Jesus, I take authority and I bind all the powers and forces in the air, in the ground, in the water, in the underground, in the netherworld, in nature and in fire. You are the Lord over the entire universe and I give you the glory for your creation. In your name, I bind all demonic forces that have come against us and our families and I seal all of us in the protection of your precious blood that was shed for us on the cross.
Mary Our Mother, we seek your protection and intercession, with the Sacred heart of Jesus, for us and our families and surround us with your mantle of love to discourage the enemy.
St. Michael and our Guardian Angels, come and defend us and our families in battle against all the evil ones that roam the earth.
In the name of Jesus, I bind and command all the powers and forces of evil to depart right now away from us, our families, our homes, and our lands and I cast you at the foot of the cross to remain there forever. And I thank you Lord Jesus for you are a faithful and compassionate God, Amen.
Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed be the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death. Amen.
you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples;
kings stand silent in your presence;
the nations bow down in worship before you.
Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.”
Isaiah had prophesied, “But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” (11:1), and A On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.” (11:10). Remember also that Jesse was the father of King David, and Micah had prophesied that the Messiah would be of the house and lineage of David and be born in David’s city, Bethlehem (Micah 5:1).
you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care.
Come and show your people the way to salvation.
Isaiah had prophesied, “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” (11:2-3), and “Wonderful is His counsel and great is His wisdom.” (28:29).
(thanks to Matt Willkom for sharing his vocal gifts on this prayer)
My God, I believe most firmly that Thou watchest over all who hope in Thee, and that we can want for nothing when we rely upon Thee in all things; therefore I am resolved for the future to have no anxieties, and to cast all my cares upon Thee.
People may deprive me of worldly goods and of honors; sickness may take from me my strength and the means of serving Thee; I may even lose Thy grace by sin; but my trust shall never leave me. I will preserve it to the last moment of my life, and the powers of hell shall seek in vain to wrestle it from me.
Let others seek happiness in their wealth, in their talents; let them trust to the purity of their lives, the severity of their mortifications, to the number of their good works, the fervor of their prayers; as for me, O my God, in my very confidence lies all my hope. “For Thou, O Lord, singularly has settled me in hope.” This confidence can never be in vain. “No one has hoped in the Lord and has been confounded.”
I am assured, therefore, of my eternal happiness, for I firmly hope for it, and all my hope is in Thee. “In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me never be confounded.”
I know, alas! I know but too well that I am frail and changable; I know the power of temptation against the strongest virtue. I have seen stars fall from heaven, and pillars of firmament totter; but these things alarm me not. While I hope in Thee I am sheltered from all misfortune, and I am sure that my trust shall endure, for I rely upon Thee to sustain this unfailing hope.
Finally, I know that my confidence cannot exceed Thy bounty, and that I shall never receive less than I have hoped for from Thee. Therefore I hope that Thou wilt sustain me against my evil inclinations; that Thou wilt protect me against the most furious assults of the evil one, and that Thou wilt cause my weakness to triumph over my most powerful enemies. I hope that Thou wilt never cease to love me, and that I shall love Thee unceasingly. “In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded.”
From the writings of St. Claude on Prayer
“Since by the mercy of God I feel myself somewhat drawn to prayer, I have asked of God, with a large heart, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, that He would give me the grace to love this holy exercise more and more, unto the hour of my death.
It is the one means for our purification, the one way to union with God, the one channel by which God may unite Himself with us, that He may do anything with us for His glory. To obtain the virtues of an apostle we must pray; to make them of use to our neighbour we must pray; to prevent our losing them while we use them in His service we must pray.
The cousel, or rather the commandment: Pray always, seems to me extremely sweet and by no means impossible. It secures the practice of the presence of God; I wish, with the help of Our Lord, to endeavour to follow it. We are always in need of God, then we need to pray always; the more we pray the more we please Him, and the more we receive.
I do not ask for those delights in prayer which God gives to who He will; I am not worthy of them, I have not strength enough to bear them. Extraordinary graces are not good for me; to give them to me would be to build on sand, it would only be pouring precious liquor into a leaking hogshead which can hold nothing. I ask of God only a solid, simple manner of prayer, which may give Him glory and will not puff me up; dryness and desolation, accompanied with His grace, are very good for me, so it seems. Then I make acts of the best kind, and with satisfaction; then I make efforts against my evil disposition, I try to be faithful to God, etc….
Above all things I am resigned to be sanctified by the way that God shall please, by the absence of all sensible delight, if He wishes it so to be, by interior trials, by continual combat with my passions.”
Lord Jesus Christ, You have destroyed the power of death and given the hope of eternal life in body and soul.
You granted your Mother a special place in your glory, and did not allow decay to touch her body.
As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary, give to us a renewed confidence in the victory of
life over death.
You live and reign forever and ever.
Amen
Day 8
Mary, Queen Assumed into Heaven, we rejoice that you are the Queen of Heaven and Earth. You have given your holy fiat to God and became the Mother of our Savior.
Obtain peace and salvation for us through your prayers, for you have given birth to Christ our Lord, the Savior of all mankind.
Intercede for us and bring our petitions before the Throne of God.
(mention your request)
Through your prayers, may our souls be filled with an intense desire to be like you, a humble vessel of the Holy Spirit and a servant of the Almighty God.
Pray for us O Queen Assumed into Heaven, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Lord Jesus Christ, You have destroyed the power of death and given the hope of eternal life in body and soul.
You granted your Mother a special place in your glory, and did not allow decay to touch her body.
As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary, give to us a renewed confidence in the victory of
life over death.
You live and reign forever and ever.
Amen
Day 7
Mary, Queen of every heart, accept all that we are and bind us to Jesus with the bonds of love, that we may be yours forever and may be able to say in all truth:
“I belong to Jesus through Mary”.
Our Mother, Assumed into Heaven and Queen of the Universe, ever-Virgin Mother of God, obtain for us what we ask for if it be for the glory of God and the good of our souls.
(mention your request)
Our Mother, assumed into Heaven, we love you. Give us a greater love for Jesus and for you.
Lord Jesus Christ, You have destroyed the power of death and given the hope of eternal life in body and soul.
You granted your Mother a special place in your glory, and did not allow decay to touch her body.
As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary, give to us a renewed confidence in the victory of life over death.
You live and reign forever and ever.
Amen
Day 6
Mary, our dear Mother and mighty Queen, take and receive our poor hearts with all their freedom and desires, all the love and all the virtues and graces with which they may be adorned.
All we are and all we might be, all we have and hold in the order of nature as well as of grace, we have received from God through your loving intercession.
Help us dear Mother to surrender to God all that we have including our petitions.
(mention your request)
Our Lady and Queen, into your gentle hands, we entrust all, that it may be returned to its noble origin.
Lord Jesus Christ, You have destroyed the power of death and given the hope of eternal life in body and soul.
You granted your Mother a special place in your glory, and did not allow decay to touch her body.
As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary, give to us a renewed confidence in the victory of
life over death.
You live and reign forever and ever.
Amen
Day 5
O merciful and loving Mother, may your glorious beauty fill our hearts with a distaste for earthly things and an ardent longing for the joys of Heaven.
May your merciful eyes glance down upon our struggles and our weakness in this vale of tears.
Hear then loving Mother, our request and plead to Jesus for us.
(mention your request)
Crown us with the pure robe of innocence and grace here, and with immortality and glory in Heaven.
