Catholic Faith

29/05/2026

June is the Month of the Sacred Heart

In this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let’s often repeat some simple little prayer each waking hour of each day for all our loved ones, living and deceased. And let us include all those who have no one who prays for them, especially priests, religious, and victims of neglect or abandonment.

June is the Month of the Sacred Heart, in recognition of Jesus’ apparitions starting in 1673 to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a member of the Visitation Sisters, through whom He asked for devotion to His Sacred Heart.

On June 7, a First Friday, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Mystical experience
In that first apparition, Jesus enveloped St. Margaret Mary in a mystical experience of His love. She reported that Jesus allowed her “to recline for a long time on His divine breast, where He disclosed to me the marvels of His love and the unutterable secrets of His Sacred Heart.”

In His second apparition to her, a First Friday in 1674, Jesus showed St. Margaret His Heart, “more dazzling than the sun and transparent as crystal.” The Cross stood above it, and a crown of thorns encircled it, signifying the wounds it had endured as a result of our sins.

Christ told St. Margaret that He wanted to reveal His wounded Heart because He could not abide watching as countless people turned away from Him. He wanted all to experience His love, mercy, and grace, and to attain salvation.

Jesus’ request came at a time when many people had embraced the heretical teaching of Jansenism, which instilled a radical pessimism that implied that most people would be damned and only a few would be saved (by means of their rigorous observance of rules). It has been said that Jansenism — which puts too much emphasis on God’s Divine Justice, teaching that one has to be perfect to come to Jesus — breaks the Lord’s Heart.

Vastness of God's concern
In contrast, devotion to the Sacred Heart emphasizes the vastness of God’s concern and love for struggling humanity. It serves as a reminder to the sinful and hurting people to trust in His Heart, which so tenderly loves each of us. In the Image of the Sacred Heart, Jesus shows His burning love for us and His desire that we return that love.

This calls to mind the Gospel of St. Matthew, when the Lord remarks on the mercy He wishes to bestow. He says, “[H]ow often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing (23:37).

Leap forward to 1931, and we come to another simple and humble woman whom our Lord charged with spreading the message of His merciful love: St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), the so-called Secretary of Divine Mercy. Through the message of Divine Mercy, Christ intends to gather His children — saints and sinners alike — stressing how no soul should be frightened to approach Him. As Jesus tells us through St. Faustina:

Come to Me, all of you. ... Be not afraid of your Savior, O sinful soul. I make the first move to come to you, for I know that by yourself you are unable to lift yourself to me. ...

My mercy is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can measure the extent of my goodness? For you I descended from heaven to earth; for you I allowed myself to be nailed to the cross; for you I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come, then, with trust to draw graces from this fountain. (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1485 )

In St Faustina’s Diary we read many prayers to the merciful Heart of Jesus. My favorite Diary entry, and one I often pray many times a day is: “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You” (Diary, 84). I have often encouraged even non-believers to pray this.

Urgency of Divine Mercy message
In St. Faustina’s Mass of Canonization in 2000, Pope St. John Paul II noted the urgency of the Divine Mercy message. “In fact,” he said, “it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted His message of mercy to her. Those who remember, who were witnesses and participants in the events of those years and the horrible sufferings they caused for millions of people, know well how necessary was the message of mercy.”

The Holy Father continued, “[B]y this act [of Faustina’s canonization] I intend today to pass this message on to the new millennium. I pass it on to all people, so that they will learn to know ever better the true face of God and the true face of their brethren.”

Today, we may not struggle with Jansenism, but in the midst of a pandemic, the modern mindset has been marked by pessimism, exclusionism, and rigorism in many different ways.

At the foot of the Cross
Knowing well the intertwining private revelations regarding Christ’s merciful Heart and how He desires to fully pour out His graces upon aching mankind, the Most Rev. José H. Gomez, archbishop of Los Angeles and the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said on Good Friday, 2020:

Brothers and sisters, as we stand today at the foot of His Cross, in the midst of this pandemic, Jesus is calling us to trust in His Sacred Heart. Let’s pray often to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Jesus, I trust in You! ¡Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, en ti confío! … Jesus has opened His Heart for us. He has given His life out of love for us. Now He calls us to entrust our lives to Him — our whole heart, our whole mind, all our feelings and thoughts, our words and actions.

In this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let’s often repeat some simple little prayer each waking hour of each day for all our loved ones, living and deceased. And let us include all those who have no one who prays for them, especially priests, religious, and victims of neglect or abandonment.

On June 7, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Sacred Heart emphasizes the vastness of God’s concern and love for struggling humanity. It serves as a reminder to the sinful and hurting people to trust in His Heart, which so tenderly loves each of us.

28/05/2026

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mark 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, Son of David, I, like Bartimaeus, humbly cry for Your mercy. I believe You are the Messiah, my Savior. Open my spiritually blind eyes and grant me Your grace, for You alone are its source.

Jesus, I trust in You.

27/05/2026

💞Prayer to Trust in Divine Mercy

Most merciful Jesus,
I turn to You in my need.
You are worthy of my complete trust.
You are faithful in all things.
When my life is filled with confusion, give me clarity and faith. When I am tempted to despair, fill my soul with hope.

Most merciful Jesus,
I trust You in all things.
I trust in Your perfect plan for my life.
I trust You when I cannot comprehend Your divine Will.
I trust You when all feels lost.
Jesus, I trust You more than I trust myself.

Most merciful Jesus,
You are all-knowing.
Nothing is beyond Your sight.
You are all-loving.
Nothing in my life is beyond Your concern. You are all-powerful.
Nothing is beyond Your grace.

Most merciful Jesus,
I trust in You,
I trust in You,
I trust in You.
May I trust You always and in all things.
May I daily surrender to Your Divine Mercy.

Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, Pray for us as we turn to you in our need."

27/05/2026

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Son of Man came to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mark 10:32-45
The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem,
and Jesus went ahead of them.
They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.
Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them
what was going to happen to him.
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man
will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death
and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him,
spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death,
but after three days he will rise."

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
came to Jesus and said to him,
"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?"
They answered him,
"Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
They said to him, "We can."
Jesus said to them, "The chalice that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared."
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them,
"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many."

PRAYER
Patient Lord, I often miss Your presence and suffering in others. Grant me grace to see You and fill my heart with empathy, especially for those I love. Help me learn from the Apostles' failings and Mary's perfect, unwavering love.

Jesus, I trust in You.

26/05/2026

"Come, O Divine Spirit, fill my heart with Thy heavenly fruits: charity, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, modesty, self-control and chastity, that I may never weary in the service of God, but by continued faithful submission to Thy inspiration, may merit to be united eternally with Thee in the love of the Father and the Son. Amen

26/05/2026

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mark 10:28-31
Peter began to say to Jesus,
"We have given up everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first."

25/05/2026

25/05/2026

. Jude HK

25/05/2026

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O joyful Virgin, who gave birth to the Lord;
O blessed Mother of the Church,
who nurture in us the Spirit
of your Son Jesus Christ!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
John 19:25-34
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, “I thirst.”
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
“It is finished.”
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side and immediately Blood and water flowed out.

PRAYER
Holy Mother, filled with grace by the Spirit, you humbly embodied virtue. You stood strong at the Cross, promising to always care for me and mediate Jesus' grace. Be my Mother, help me follow Him, anchored in His Cross, lifted by His grace. Pray for me. Jesus,I trust in You.

24/05/2026

PENTECOST PRAYER

Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, come and make your dwelling within
me.
Come, Holy Spirit, be my guide through life in good times
and the not so good times.
Come, Holy Spirit, dispel the darkness felt by so many in
war torn countries today.
Come, Holy Spirit, give courage and comfort to those who
are displaced by war, having to travel to another country.
Come, Holy Spirit, comfort those who are ill or suffering
at this time. Give them your peace.
Come, Holy Spirit, comfort those close to death and lead
them safely to their eternal home.
Come, Holy Spirit, be a guide to those who are
experiencing homelessness.
Give them courage and hope as they await a new home.
Come, Holy Spirit, give courage to young people
preparing for exams at this time of year.
Come, Holy Spirit, guide Christians to follow Christ in
their various vocations in life.
Come, Holy Spirit, inspire those discerning vocation to
religious life, diaconate, and especially vocation to
diocesan priesthood.
Come, Holy Spirit, be with me always.
Come, Holy Spirit, come.