SPRING (March-May) - Catholic Rural Life

SPRING (March-May)

 March

A Prayer to St. Thomas Aquinas for Catholic Schools (March 7)

SAINT Thomas Aquinas, you are called by Holy Mother Church, the Angel of the Schools.

Your wisdom, gathered through long meditation from the source of all wisdom, the most holy Trinity, has long been a shining light in the Catholic Church.

Ignorance of the things of God is a darkness now enveloping the minds of many of our countrymen. In this darkness, we need an angel like you who will protect, foster, and nourish the schools we have, and guide and strengthen us in establishing and building newer and more adequate schools for the instruction of our children in the ways of Christ.

Help and bless the generous sisters, brothers, and priests who labor so unselfishly in the classroom to spread the knowledge of Christ. Inspire our Catholic men and women to be most generous in the support of the schools we have. Grant to parents the wise generosity they need to give their child back to God when that child wishes to follow a priestly or religious vocation.

Help us, Saint Thomas, Angel of the Schools, to understand what you taught, and to follow your example. Amen.

A Prayer to Saint Joseph (Feast, March 19)

GOOD Saint Joseph, you were the head of the Holy Family in the little house at Nazareth. You know the responsibilities, the joys and sorrows, the duties and rights of that position. Please, in your loving kindness, remembering the goods days at Nazareth, bless the head of our family. Help him in his needs. Make him kind and pure and gentle, as you were. Make him understanding and gracious, and obtain for him the kind of trust in God’s loving providence that guided and supported you in Egypt. Obtain for the lady of our house, too, the same graciousness and kindliness, the same devotedness to duty and patient humility that Mary had. Help, please, the children Of this house to form themselves after the model for all children, the Holy Child of your house in Nazareth. And when we all finally come to the last moment of our earthly life, just before the beginning of our life with You and your Holy Family in heaven, stand by us, dear Joseph, and obtain for us the greatest of all graces, that of dying, as you did, a happy and holy death, in the company of Mary and Jesus. Amen.

April

A Prayer for Easter

TODAY, dear Lord, we celebrate Your rising from the dead. We are happy with You that You have been victor over death. We look around us at the green fields, filled with new life, and are everywhere reminded of You.

The seeds we plant seem dry and dead, but with the combined wonders of rain and sun, and the powers of the earth, they rise from their death-like sleep and grow green and beautiful in our fields. The trees, too, that stood so stark and lifeless through the winter are now bright with living green.

With these reminders of a resurrection all about us every day, help us remember that death is not the end of things for us, but the beginning. Help us keep in mind that we shall rise again on the last day, to live with You forever. Then there will be no weeping any more, nor any tears; no suffering, nor any pain, but joy and happiness and love with You forever. With You, then, will we celebrate the eternal Easter. It will be an everlasting spring for us, if we only realize now that there is no glory without suffering, no Easter without a Good Friday. Help us, by Your grace, to live the good lives that will merit this new life in heaven forever with You. Amen.

A Prayer in Planting Time

Dear Lord, You are wonderful in everything you do. In marvelous ways You take the full, rich life of the plant and carefully fold it into tiny seeds. You form the seeds according to many different shapes and sizes and colors, so that man can know what kind of growth will come of them. When they are placed the earth they may look dry and dead, but when they are watered by the life-giving rain and nourished by the warm sun, they lose all their lifeless look and grow in an almost miraculous manner. By the power You gave them, they take the dead minerals of the earth and build up the nourishing, tasty foods that men need to sustain life.

This week, dear Lord, we will plant these seeds of (wheat, corn, or whatever it may be) that You have given us. Bless them, and watch over them, and bring them to the full growth and rich harvest that You wish to bless us with.

But, should You not allow them to come to full harvest, we accept Your will humbly. We trust that You will nevertheless watch over us and make the seeds of grace that You have given us grow to flower and fruit in the full Christian life that You intend for us here and hereafter. Amen.

A Prayer to Christ, King of the Universe

O CHRIST JESUS, I acknowledge You King of the Universe. All that has been created has been made for You. Exercise upon me all Your rights. I renew my baptismal promises renouncing Satan and all his works and pomps. I promise to lead a good Christian life and to do all in my power To procure the triumph of the rights of God and Your Church. Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You my poor actions in order to obtain that all hearts may acknowledge Your sacred royalty and that thus the reign of Your peace may be established throughout the universe. Amen.

May

Prayer for May First

O GOD, on this day, dedicated through long centuries to the honoring of Mary, Mother of Your divine Son, look down upon us Your children gathered here, and upon the millions of others who are also assembling in unnumbered other places throughout America, to pray for the people of Russia and for all those in countries under the influence of Communism. We pray that all these, our brothers and sisters in Christ, now dominated by the opponents of the Savior, may soon enjoy the full freedom to exercise those human rights and personal liberties that come from You and You alone.

We thank You, O heavenly Father, for the guidance given to our Founding Fathers in recognizing that “all men” of all nations “are endowed by their Creator with unalienable right,” and in realizing at the very birth of our nation that the chief purpose of government is to safeguard these divine rights for even the least of us. Enable us, O God, to do all in our power to share with “all men” our heritage, Your precious blessings of true freedom.

We pray especially for those misguided souls who are spreading a hatred of You and of Your children throughout all nations. May we be enlightened and strengthened by the Holy Spirit never to “be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good” (Romans 12:21); that we may comprehend fully the sublime lesson of Your Incarnate Son: “Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

Inspire us, O God, with a love of all men, and especially for those who suffer and are persecuted; teach us to go in Your name, as Christ-bearers, to bring love where there is hate, light of Christian principles where there is darkness of error; help us for Your honor and Glory to renew the face of the earth. Enable us never to flinch where truth and justice are assailed. May we serve You as other Christs by prayer and good works by bringing into every phase of private and public life the only truth that can make me free, the only love that embraces all mankind, the only peace that will last through the eternal ages.

Be so kind as to heed our fervent prayer, almighty God, that we, Your sons and daughters, despite our many weaknesses and failures, may be found worthy instruments of Your peace and messengers of Your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer to Saint Isidore, Patron of Country People

(St. Isidore, patron saint of farmers, was himself a farm born in the city of Madrid, Spain, about the year 1110; His chief appeal is to those who, as he did, work the land. But his good qualities-whole-hearted trust in God, his enthusiasm and vigor in doing his job, his spirit of prayer and devotion to religious practice–these can profitably be admired and imitated by all laboring men, just as his wife Maria, can serve as a model for working men’s wives. His feast day is celebrated throughout the United States on May 15.)

GOOD Saint, we are told that your devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was so great that you would rise before it was light in order to be able to attend Mass before beginning your work in the fields. Obtain for us, we pray you, some of that loving devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There it is that the fruits of our farm labor, bread and wine, are brought and offered to God by the priest. Then, in the consecration, Christ Himself, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, becomes present on our altars under the appearances of this same bread and wine. And in what was the altar bread. He comes to us to be the very food of our souls. If we deeply realize the value and beauty of Holy Mass, we will be very happy to attend as often as we possibly can.

Help us to understand that in the Mass we offer ourselves to God with Christ by the hands of the priest. There we can bring to God all that we do, and offer it to Him in union with His Holy Sacrifice. The oftener we do this now, the happier we shall be hereafter. Good Saint Isidore, bless us and our labors, that we may some day reap the reward of good works with you in heaven. Amen.

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