27 września obchodzimy rocznicę narodzin dla nieba świętego Wincentego a Paulo, patrona dzieł miłosierdzia, założyciela Zgromadzenia Misji (Księży Misjonarzy), współzałożyciela Zgromadzenia Sióstr Miłosierdzia, wzorca inspiracji duchowej dla milionów tych, którzy pragną zobaczyć Chrystusa na twarzach Ubogich. Oto tekst Kolekty, modlitwy przed czytaniami w czasie Mszy św. z formularza maszalnego na uroczystość św. Wincentego a Paulo. Módlmy się:

A PRAYER FOR OUR NATION

Gracious and loving God,
We come to you in humble prayer
for the United States of America.
Bless our President.
Give him wisdom and strength
to serve the American people
And lead our country in ways
that are pleasing to you.
Bless our Congress.
Instill in them knowledge
and understanding to enact laws
that protect the sanctity of life –
from the unborn to the elderly;
and promote the good of all people.
Bless the people of the United States.
Make us aware
of our responsibility as citizens
to uphold the principles of life,
liberty, justice, and equality.
Send your Holy Spirit
upon our beloved country.
Make us people of faith in time of uncertainty.
Make us people of hope in times of trouble.
Make us people of compassion
with those who are less fortunate.
Make us people of peace in our homes,
our communities,
our country, and our world.
We ask this through Jesus Christ,
Our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Dear Mary, Queen of Angels,
send all of your protection to those in Boston today,
to the innocent, and full healing to all involved in this tragedy!

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you!

Share you love, sympathy, thoughts and prayer with those affected by the tragedy of Boston Marathon using comments below.

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

After our first meeting last Wednesday, today I again give my greetings to you all! And I am happy to do it on Sunday, the Lord’s Day! This is beautiful and important for us Christians: to meet on Sunday, to greet one another, to talk as we are doing now, in the square. This square that, thanks to the media, takes on worldly dimensions.

In this Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Gospel presents us with the story of the adulterous woman whom Jesus saves from being condemned to death. It captures Jesus’ attitude: we do not hear words of contempt, we do not hear words of condemnation, but only words of love, of mercy, that invite us to conversion. ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more!’ Well, brothers and sisters! God’s face is that of a merciful father who is always patient. Have you thought about God’s patience, the patience that He has with each of us? That is His mercy. He always has patience, is always patient with us, understanding us, awaiting us, never tiring of forgiving us if we know how to return to him with a contrite heart. ‘Great is the Lord’s mercy’, says the Psalm.

In these days, I have been able to read a book by a cardinal—Cardinal Kasper, a talented theologian, a good theologian—on mercy. And it did me such good, that book, but don’t think that I’m publicizing the books of my cardinals. That is not the case! But it did me such good, so much good… Cardinal Kasper said that hearing the word mercy changes everything. It is the best thing that we can hear: it changes the world. A bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need to understand God’s mercy well, this merciful Father who has such patience… Think of the prophet Isaiah who asserts that even if our sins were scarlet red, God’s love would make them white as snow. That is beautiful, [this aspect of mercy]. I remember when, just after I was made bishop, in 1992, the Madonna of Fatima came to Buenos Aires and a large Mass for the sick was celebrated. I went to hear confessions at that Mass. Near the end of the Mass I got up because I had to administer a confirmation. An over 80-year-old woman came up to me, humbly, very humbly. I asked her: “Nonna,” [grandmother]—because that’s how we address our elderly—“Nonna, you want to confess?” “Yes,” she told me. “But if you haven’t sinned…” And she said to me: “We have all sinned…” “But perhaps the Lord will not forgive you…” “The Lord forgives everyone,” she told me, with certainly. “But how do you know that, ma’am?” “If the Lord didn’t forgive everyone, the world would not exist.” I wanted to ask her: “Tell me, have you studied at the Gregorian [Pontifical University]?”, because that is the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gives: the inner wisdom of God’s mercy. Let us not forget this word: God never tires of forgiving us, never! ‘So, Father, what is the problem?’ Well, the problem is that we get tired, we don’t want to, we get tired of asking forgiveness. Let us never get tired. Let us never get tired. He is the loving Father who always forgives, who has that heart of mercy for all of us. And let us also learn to be merciful with everyone. Let us call upon the intercession of the Madonna who has held in her arms the Mercy of God made human.

After praying the Angelus, the Pope greeted the tens of thousands of faithful who overflowed St. Peter’s Square:

“Thank you for your welcome and your prayers,” he said. I ask that you pray for me. I renew my embrace to the faithful of Rome and extend it to all of you who have come from various parts of Italy and the world just as to those who are joining in with us by means of the media. I have chosen the name of the Patron Saint of Italy, St. Francis of Assisi, and this reinforces my spiritual ties to this land that, as you know, is where my family originated. But Jesus has called us to be part of a new family: his Church. [He has called] this family of God to walk together the paths of the Gospel. May the Lord bless you and the Virgin protect you! And don’t forget this: The Lord never tires of forgiving. We are the ones who tire of asking forgiveness.”

ACT
By which the Congregation of the Mission renews the Consecration of itself
to the Blessed Virgin on the Festival of Her Immaculate Conception

Download as Poster: Act of Consecration, December 8 (1547)

We, most unworthy priests, clerics and lay brothers of the Congregation of the Mission, having placed ourselves in the presence of God and of the whole court of Heaven, and being filled, O most Holy Virgin Mary, with the deepest veneration for that ineffable privilege of thy Immaculate Conception, and impressed with the liveliest gratitude towards thee for signal and innumerable favors which thou has unceasingly showered down upon our little Company. do now come, O Virgin Mary, our tender Mother, to renew to thee the consecration of each of its members, and of all the works which are confided to it.

This Little Congregation already belongs entirely to thee, O most August Mother of Jesus; from its very cradle it was consecrated to thee; if it has grown up in the Church of God, and been the instrument of saving a multitude of souls, and thus sending to the mansions of eternal bliss so many who now bless and praise, and will forever praise, thy Divine Son, it has been under the shadow of thy maternal and powerful protection that such happy fruits have been produced. Thou hast taken care of this grain of mustard seed, which St. Vincent deposited in the earth under thy auspices; watered by the benedictions of Heaven, which have flowed upon it through thy merciful hands, it has grown up and become a great tree, and has spread far and wide its branches, laden with fruits of salvation. Hence, also, every year we lovingly gather around thy throne on the dawn of the Feast of thy Glorious Assumption, and repeat, in the joy of our hearts, the vows which our fathers constantly addressed to thee; we renew with our whole hearts the offering they made before us – an offering, cordial, universal and irrevocable, of our souls and bodies, a solemn consecration of ourselves to thy love and service during life and for all eternity.

But, O incomparable Queen of Angels and of men, new treasures of heavenly gifts have been poured out upon us; and we know that it is to thy tenderness and love that we owe them. Our Little Company had died away, and thou hast caused it to revive; it had disappeared amid the disasters of a most frightful revolution, and thou hast caused it to reappear, bearing impressed upon its brow the august seal of thy protection; its scattered members mourned in exile over its woes, thou hast gathered them together, that they might build up with their aged hands the house of the Father, and catch a glimpse, when dying, of the new glories that were one day to surround the Company. They were filled with joy to hear the mysterious words, “that God would make use of the family of St. Vincent to re-animate the Faith”. Soon the worthless Company spread and could say in her heart of her children: “Who hath begotten these? I was barren and destitute – how have I become, on a sudden, so fruitful?”

Legions of apostolic men, sprung from the bosom of the Company, have spread themselves to the remotest corners of the world; Asia, Africa and America have become, as well as Europe, the scene of their labors; the Arab and the Ethiopian, the Greek and the Barbarian, the heretic and the infidel, draw waters of salvation from the same source as the Levite and the poor inhabitants of our country districts. An additional privilege has just come to increase our joy and happiness; it has been given to the Company, not only to carry all over the universe the flames of Divine Love, but still more, to suffer for God, and to shed its blood in profession of the Faith. O Most Tender Mother, we know well that so many favors are the tokens of thy love; we delight to contemplate thee enthroned amid the splendors of Heaven, and showering down upon us in profusion the treasures of Divine Grace, of which thou art dispenser. Thou dost ever remember that thou art Our Lady and Queen, and that we are consecrated to thee without reserve.

O Queen, conceived without sin, we have chosen this Feast of thy Immaculate Conception as a fit day to recall the memory of so many benefits, and to offer to thee the solemn homage of our gratitude. This ineffable mystery has been, in these latter times, the pledge of thy protection towards us; it was from the family of St. Vincent that thou didst select the instrument which was to propagate over the world devotion to this happy day should be to us forever a monument of thy tenderness and of our gratitude.

O thou, who art our Sovereign Lady. reign over us, reign over the whole Company, regard it always as the object of thy protection; we confide it to thy maternal care; we confide to thee all the works of the Company, that thou mayest ever bless them; we confide to thee its dearest interest, that thou mayest ever guard them. We place it, in fine, in thy Immaculate Heart, as in a sanctuary, that it may be favored with the gifts of Heaven, and that herein, as in the tower of David, it may find a refuge from all the poisoned arrows of the world and the devil. Obtain for us, O Most August Protectress, the grace of loving thy Divine Son more and more, and of devoting ourselves entirely to the extension of His kingdom; obtain for us the grace to fill our hearts with the spirit of our holy Founder, to practice with fervor the virtues of simplicity, humility, meekness, mortification and zeal for the salvation of souls; engrave deeply in our hearts the love of poverty, chastity and obedience, and of our holy rules; obtain for us the grace to live together in holy union and great fervor, that we may all become, in whatever employment we may be engaged, true Apostles of Jesus Christ, and sincere imitators of thy virtues.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.