Little Office of BVM=Saturday

SATURDAY

Morning

God, come to my assistanceLord, Make haste to help me. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

To the souls of Your servants, O Christ, grant rest among the saints, where there is no pain, no sorrow, no mourning, but only life without end.

O Lord, Maker of nature, the world offers You the godly martyrs as the first-fruits of nature. By their supplications, through the Mother of God, preserve Your Chruch and Your people in profound peace, O most Merciful One.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me. To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art judged. For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me. For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me. Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice. Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels. Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit. I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee. Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice. O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise. For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted. A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up. Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us. Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us. Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us.

Glory to Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us.

It is truly right to bless you, O God-bearing One, as the ever-blessed and immaculate Mother of our God. More honorable than the cherubim and by far more glorious than the seraphim; ever a virgin, you gave birth to God the Word, O true Mother of God, we magnify you.

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.

I have sinned without number, forgive me, O Lord.

Hail, holy Queen of the Heavens. Hail, holy Queen of the Angels. Hail, Root of Jesse. Hail, Gate of Heaven. By you the Light has entered the world. Rejoice, glorious Virgin, Beautiful among all women. Hail, radiant Splendor, Intercede with Christ for us.

Holy Mary, my Queen and sovereign Lady, I give you myself, trusting in your fidelity and your protection. I surrender myself entirely to your motherly tenderness, my body, my soul, all that I am, all that I possess, for the whole of this day, for every moment of my life, and especially at the hour of my death. I entrust to you once more all my hopes, all my consolations, all my anxieties, all my troubles, my life, my dying breath, so that by your prayers and merits, I may have, in all I do, one only goal, your good pleasure and the holy will of your Son.

Blessed are you, O Mary, for the world's salvation come forth through you; now in glory, you rejoice for ever with the Lord.

It is good to give praise to the Lord: and sing to thy name, O most High. To shew forth thy mercy in the morning, and thy truth in the night: Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp. For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings: and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice. O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts are exceeding deep. The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things. When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear: That they may perish for ever and ever: but thou, O Lord, art most high for evermore. For behold thy enemies, O Lord, for behold thy enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my old age in plentiful mercy. My eye also hath looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me. The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus. They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God. They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be well treated, that they may shew, That the Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him.

The Virgin Mary is exalted above the choirs of angels; let all believers rejoice and bless the Lord.

For I will take you from among the Gentiles, and will gather you together out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them. And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

The Lord has made you so glorious that your praise will never cease to resound among men.

O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens. Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger. For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded. What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour: and hast set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover the beasts also of the fields. The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea. O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in all the earth!

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels.

And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

And they all adored the Lord, and said to her: The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought. And Ozias the prince of the people of Israel, said to her: Blessed art thou, O Daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. Because he hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever, for that thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God. And all the people said: So be it, so be it.

Today the glorious, ever- virgin Mary ascends to heaven. I urge you to rejoice, for, if I may so put it, she has been raised up in an ineffable way to be with Christ who reigns for ever. The Queen of the world is today taken from the earth and from this present evil time. I say again: rejoice, because she who is sure of her imperishable glory has reached the palace of heaven. Exalt, I say, and rejoice, and let the whole world rejoice, because this day Salvation has drawn nearer for as all... ";Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women."; It was fitting that the Virgin should be given such gifts and be full of grace, since she has bestowed glory on heaven and has brought God and peace to the earth, faith to pagans, an end to vice, order to life, and discipline to morals. And it was right that an angel be sent to the Virgin, because virginity always means kingship with the angels... ";Rejoice,"; the angel says, ";for you are full of grace."; Yes, full! for while a share of grace was given to others, the undiminished fullness of grace was poured into Mary.

The Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven. For all eternity she shares the victory of Christ. The Virgin Mary was taken up to heavenGlory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. The Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven.

This daughter of Jerusalem is lovely and beautiful as she ascends to heaven like the rising sun at daybreak.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened and bud forth a Savior. Lord, Thou hast blessed Thy land: Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people: And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant: As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning: Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us: To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament, The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us, That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear, in holiness and justice before him, all our days. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways: To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins: through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us: To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

All-powerful and ever-living God, you raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

Evening

God, come to my assistanceLord, make haste to help me. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The Lord is reigning, He is clothed with beauty. The Lord is clothed with power, and has girded Himself. For He has so firmly established the earth that it will not be overthrown. Holiness becomes Thy house, O Lord, forever.

My Lady, my refuge, life and help, my armor and my boast, my hope and my strength, grant that I may enjoy the ineffable, inconceivable gifts of your Son, your God and our God, in the heavenly kingdom. For I know surely that you have power to do as you will, since you are Mother of the Most High. Therefore, Lady Most Pure, I beg you that I may not be disappointed in my expectations but may obtain them, O spouse of God, who bore him who is the expectation of all: Our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and Master of all things, visible and invisible, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and respect, now and always and through endless ages. Amen.

Mary has been taken up to heaven; the angels rejoice. They bless the Lord and sing his praises.

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together. For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord. Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David. Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for them that love thee. Let peace be in thy strength: and abundance in thy towers. For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbors, I spoke peace of thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for thee.

Through Eve the gates of heaven were closed to all mankind: through the Virgin Mother they were opened wide again.

Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it. For with thee is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord. From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

The Virgin Mary has been exalted above all the heavens; come, let all men glorify Christ the King, whose kingdom will endure for ever.

For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in the habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned. For until the law sin was in the world; but sin was not imputed, when the law was not. But death reigned from Adam unto Moses, even over them also who have not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam, who is a figure of him who was to come. But not as the offence, so also the gift. For if by the offence of one, many died; much more the grace of God, and the gift, by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one sin, so also is the gift. For judgment indeed was by one unto condemnation; but grace is of many offenses, unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned through one; much more they who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift, and of justice, shall reign in life through one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offence of one, unto all men to condemnation; so also by the justice of one, unto all men to justification of life. For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners; so also by the obedience of one, many shall be just. Now the law entered in, that sin might abound. And where sin abounded, grace did more abound. That as sin hath reigned to death; so also grace might reign by justice unto life everlasting, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Truly, yes truly, and again I shall say in thanksgiving: even though you have left us, you have not deserted the Christian race. You who are like incorruptible life have not abandoned our mortal world, but on the contrary you draw near to those who call upon your name. You are found by those who faithfully seek you. And these visions indicate a living and continually active spirit and an everlasting body. For how could dissolution of the body return you to dust and ashes, you who delivered the human race from the destruction of death through the incarnation of your Son?

Indeed you left our earth to prove that the mystery of the awe- inspiring incarnation was really fulfilled. The fact that you waited for the natural end of human life would convince the world that the God who was born of you came into being also as perfect man, the Son of a true Mother, who was subject to the laws and constraints of nature, by divine decree and the requirement of an earthly lifetime. As one who possessed a human body you could not escape death, the common fate of humanity.

Thus even your Son, though God of all things, even he, through sharing, so to speak, the mortality of all our race, TASTED a similar bodily DEATH. It was clearly in the same way as he made his own life- giving tomb that he made your sepulcher wonderful also, as the tomb of your falling asleep, a tomb which received life; therefore both tombs really received your bodies, but could in no way affect them with corruption. For nor could you, as the vessel which contained God, waste away to dust in the destruction of death.

For since he who humbled himself in you was God from beginning and eternal life, so the Mother of Life was to share the dwelling of Life, to accept her death like a sleep and consent to her translation like a waking, as the Mother of Life. For just as a child seeks and longs for its own mother, and the mother loves to spend her time with her child, so it was right that you, with your maternal love for your Son and God, should return to him. And it was right too that God, preserving a Son's love for you, should make his companionship with you into a perpetual association.

In this way, then, you suffered the death of finite beings and the translation to the immortal way of life of eternal beings where God dwells; and because you are his companion, Mother of God, you do not abandon your life with him.

The august Mother of God was mysteriously united from all eternity with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a virgin inviolate in her divine motherhood, the whole hearted companion of the divine Redeemer who won complete victory over sin and its consequences.

Thus, she gained at last the supreme crown of her privileges--to be preserved immune from the corruption of the tomb, and like her Son, when death had been conquered, to be carried up body and soul to the exalted glory of heaven, there to sit in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the ages.

The Virgin Mary is exalted above the choirs of angelsBlessed is the Lord who has raised her up. Above the choirs of the angels. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. The Virgin Mary is exalted above the choirs of angels.

As Mary is taken up to heaven, the angels of God rejoiceThey worship the Lord and sing his praises. The angels of God rejoice. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. As Mary is taken up to heaven, the angels of God rejoice.

Today the Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven; rejoice, for she reigns with Christ for ever.

O my most holy Mother. I see the graces which thou hast obtained for me; and I see the ingratitude of which I have been guilty towards thee. An ungreatful soul is no longer worthy of favors; but I will not on this account distrust thy mercy, which is greater than my ingratitude. O my great advocate, pity me. Thou dispensest all the graces which God grants to us miserable creatures, and for this purpose he has made thee so powerful, so rich, and so benign. He hath done so, that thou mightest succor us in our miseries. Ah, Mother of mercy, leave me not in my poverty. Thou art the advocate of the most miserable and guilty criminals who have recourse to thee; defend me also, who recommend myself to thee. Say not that my cause is too difficult to be gained; for all causes, however desperate, when defended by thee are gained. In thy hands, then, do I place my eternal salvation; to thee do I intrust my soul: it was lost; thou, then, by thy intercession hast to save it. I wish to be inscribed amongst thy most devoted servants; reject me not. Thou seekest the miserable to relieve them; abandon me not, who am a wretched sinner, and who have recourse to thee. Speak for me; thy Son does all that thou askest him. Take me under thy protection; that is all that I ask. Yes; for if thou protectest me, I fear nothing. I do not fear my sins; for thou wilt obtain me a remedy for the evil they have done me. I do not fear the devils; for thou art more powerful than all hell. I do not even fear Jesus my Judge himself; for by a single prayer of thine he is appeased. I only fear that by my negligence I may cease to recommend myself to thee, and thus be lost. It is true that these graces are too great for me, who have not deserved them; but they are not too great for thee, who art so much loved by God. Hence he grants thee all that thou askest. Thou hast only to speak, and he denies thee nothing. Pray, then, to Jesus for me; tell him that thou protectest me; and then he is sure to pity me. My Mother, in thee too I do trust; in this hope I shall live in peace, and in it I wish to die.

Live Jesus our love, and Mary our hope!

My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him. He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy: As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Mary, full of grace, intercede for us.

Eternal and incarnate Wisdom, most lovable and adorable Jesus, true God and true man, only Son of the eternal Father and of Mary always Virgin, I adore you profoundly, dwelling in the splendor of our Father from all eternity and in the virginal womb of Mary, your most worthy Mother, at the time of your Incarnation.

I thank you for having emptied yourself in assuming the condition of a slave to set me free from the cruel slavery of the evil one.

I praise and glorify you for having willingly chosen to obey Mary, your holy Mother, in all things, so that through her I may be your faithful slave of love.

But I must confess that I have not kept the vows and promises which I made to you so solemnly at my baptism. I have not fulfilled my obligations, and I do not deserve to be called or child or even your slave.

Since I cannot lay claim to anything except what merits your rejection and displeasure, I dare no longer approach the holiness of your majesty on my own. That is why I turn to the intercession and the mercy of your holy Mother, whom you yourself have given me to mediate with you. Through her I hope to obtain from you contrition and pardon for my sins, and that Wisdom whom I desire to dwell in me always.

I turn to you, then, Mary immaculate, living tabernacle of God, in whom Eternal Wisdom willed to receive the adoration of both men and angels.

I greet you as Queen of heaven and earth, for all that is under God has been made subject to your sovereignty.

I call upon you, the unfailing refuge of sinners, confident in your mercy that has never forsaken anyone.

Grant my desire for divine Wisdom and, in support of my petition, accept the promises and the offering of myself which I now make, conscious of my unworthiness.

I, an unfaithful sinner, renew and ratify today through you my baptismal promises. I renounce forever Satan, his empty promises, and his evil designs, and I give myself completely to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after him for the rest of my life, and to be more faithful to him than I have been till now.

This day, with the whole court of heaven as witness, I choose you, Mary, as my Mother and Queen. I surrender and consecrate myself to you, body and soul, as your slave, with all that I possess, both spiritual and material, even including the value of all my good actions, past, present and to come. I give you the full right to dispose of me and all that belongs to me, without any reservations, in whatever way you please, for the greater glory of God in time and throughout eternity.

Accept, gracious Virgin, this little offering of my slavery to honor and imitate the obedience which Eternal Wisdom willing chose to have towards you, his Mother. I wish to acknowledge the authority which both of you have over this little worm and pitiful sinner. By it I wish also to thank God for the privileges bestowed on you by the Blessed Trinity. I declare that for the future I will try to honor and obey you in all things as your true slave of love.

O admirable Mother, present me to your dear Son as his slave now and for always, so that he who redeemed me thorough you, will now receive me through you.

Mother of mercy, grant me the favor of obtaining the true Wisdom of God, and so make me one of those whom you love, teach and guide, whom you nourish and protect as your children and slaves.

Virgin most faithful, make me in everything so committed a disciple, imitator, and slave of Jesus, your Son, incarnate Wisdom, that I may become, through your intercession and example, fully mature with the fullness which Jesus possessed on earth, and with the fullness of his glory in heaven.

May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

The Catechism of the Immaculate Heart--

";And what are we to say of the THREE CHILDREN FROM FATIMA who suddenly, on the eve of the outbreak of the October Revolution, heard: 'Russia will convert' and 'In the end, my Heart will triumph'...? They could not have invented those predictions[...]Perhaps this is also why the Pope was called from 'a faraway country'[...]it would be simplistic to say that Divine Providence caused the fall of communism[...]JASNA GORA BECAME PART OF THE HISTORY OF MY HOMELAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, AS A SORT OF ";BE NOT AFRAID!"; SPOKEN BY CHRIST THROUGH THE LIPS OF HIS MOTHER[...]I could see....that there was a certain continuity among La Salette, Lourdes, and Fatima--and, in the distant past, our Polish Jasna Gora[...]At first, I did not pay attention to the fact that the assassination attempt had occurred on the exact anniversary of the day Mary appeared to the three children at Fatima in Portugal and spoke to them the words that now, at the end of this century, seem to be close to their fulfillment."; --Pope John Paul II, CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE

398: St. John Chrysostom was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople. He revised the Byzantine Liturgy which today bears his name. He is called by both East and West a ";Father"; or ";Doctor"; of the Church, which means his writings are considered to have value for all time.

590: St. Gregory the Great--Doctor of the Church--was unanimously elected Pope. He revised the Liturgy of Rome, making tremendous contributions which persist to this day. It was his Liturgy which was codified 1000 years later under Pope St. Pius V--commonly referred to today as the ";Tridentine"; Liturgy.

662: St. Maximos the Confessor--currently celebrated in the East as one the greatest spiritual writers of all time--had his tongue plucked out for defending the teaching that Christ had a human will as well as a Divine one. This teaching was formally upheld shortly later by the third council of Constantinople.

885: St. Cyril and St. Methodius, themselves from the East, evangelized the Slavic nations, in full harmony with the Christian traditions of both the East and West--promoting a spirit of unity amid cultural diversity.

988: Prince St. Volodymyr upon his conversion inspired a multitude of conversions among his people, Baptizing the Ukraine, adopting the liturgy of the East. Wife of St. Volodymyr brought from Byzantium images of the Blessed Virgin, among them, what is today known as ";Our Lady of Czestochowa,"; in which Mary is depicted as holding the Divine Child in her left, and pointing to her heart with her right.

1037: Son and successor of St. Volodymyr, Yaroslav the wise, consecrated the Ukraine to the Blessed Virgin, the first nation to be so consecrated.

1054: A split occurred between the Churches of the East and of the West, essentially between Rome and Constantinople.

1382: Through and amid political turmoil, the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa made its way to Poland--where, after receiving a scar during an invasion of Prince St. Ladislaus' castle, the image was placed by the Prince in the Church of the Assumption in Jasna Gora for protection.

1517: Protestant reformers started a process resulting in further splinterings and divisions in Christianity. Going against this current was the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which expressly affirmed its union with Rome in the same century, shortly after the Council of Trent (1596).

1623: Ukrainian Archbishop St. Josaphat--appointed 1617--was martyred for the unity of Eastern and Western Churches.

1656: Through a series of miracles associated with the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Jan Casimir, King of Poland, was inspired to consecrate the nation (which had adopted the liturgy of Rome) to the Blessed Virgin--just as Yaroslav had consecrated the Ukraine. The Pope was to ratify this consecration by officially acknowledging the title of Mary as, ";Queen of Poland,"; allowing it to be included in her litany.

1675: There was a ";private revelation"; of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary of France, asking for special devotion to his Sacred Humanity and his sufferings, symbolized by His pierced Heart. In suit with this universal call to devotion to the Sacred Heart, St. Margaret also relayed a personal message to the King of France to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart (1689)--a request neither he nor his successors heeded.

1789: Monarchy in France was usurped and the King was beheaded--marking a new political trend. About the same time and through kindred forces, the splinters of the reformation began to synthesize with atheism, working to undermine and even infiltrate the Catholic Church, albeit in new forms.

1910: These syntheses were battled by Pontiffs over the next century--heroically and most successfully by Pope St. Pius X. Pope St. Pius X instituted an oath for clerics against these errors ";being daily spread among the faithful."; At about the same time, he also provided a new crown for the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, replacing the one given her by the Pope in 1717 and stolen in 1909.

1917: There was a ";private revelation"; of the Blessed Virgin at Fatima to three children, requesting that the Pope collegially consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart with all the Bishops of the world, and promoting devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart along side of devotion to Jesus' Sacred Heart. In the wake of this revelation and in the absence of said consecration, Christianity was intensely persecuted by the Soviet regime. Eastern Catholicism in the Ukraine, however, remained faithful to Rome, despite its actually being declared by Moscow ";non- existent"; and essentially outlawed in 1946.

1962: Pope John XXIII called a second Vatican council to renew the Church and seek full unity with the East. He made an agreement with Moscow to remain silent about evils of communism, in order to secure the presence of Russian Orthodox Church at the council. John XXIII did not, however, survive to complete the council he convoked or collegially consecrate Russia.

1965: Paul VI completed the council which was continued with the extended aim of unity among all Christians. He lifted the oath of Pope St. Pius X. He mutually lifted, with the Patriarch of Constantinople, the mutual sentences of excommunications made in 1054 between the Patriarch of Constantinople and delegates of Rome. However, he also promoted the non-Orthodox devotions of the rosary and the scapular (devotions promoted as well by the Fatima revelation). He also revised the calendar of feast days and promulgated a new liturgy. Paul VI considered Vatican II the ";great catechism of modern times.";

1979: Pope John Paul II, Pole and first Slavic Pope in history, consecrated the entire Church to Our Lady of Czestochowa--shortly after his election in 1978. He was to be the first Pope since the Council to formally affirm that Moscow's ";abolition"; of the Ukrainian Catholic Church was invalid (1980). He was shot on the anniversary of the revelation at Fatima (in '81), and attributes his survival to the Blessed Virgin. Breaking John XXIII's agreement, he was also the first voice from the Vatican since the Council to condemn communism itself---which he did forcefully and systematically (1984).

1985: An extraordinary synod of Bishops called for a new universal catechism, following the lead of an American Cardinal. In the same year John Paul II, in an encyclical celebrating the 11th centenary of the evangelization of the Slavs, called St. Cyril and St. Methodius the precursors to ecumenism and Vatican II.

1987: In an encyclical explaining devotion to Mary, John Paul II promoted personal consecration to the Blessed Virgin as taught by the French ";missionary"; of France--St. Louis Marie de Montfort--and announced a ";Marian year";: 1987-88 (coinciding with the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of the Ukraine).

1992: The Catechism was collegially completed and approved by committee on Feb 14 (the new Latin feast day of St. Cyril and St. Methodius--chosen to commemorate the death of the younger brother, St. Cyril, the first to be ";born to heaven";). By the necessity to circulate its many drafts in a common language, the first edition was in French. John Paul II waited to promulgate the new Catechism until Oct 11--the 30th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II--on what would have been the feast of the Motherhood of Mary--what was such at the opening of the Council. The second Vatican Council was closed on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

1994: After much difficulty and corrections of mistranslation in the first draft produced in America, an English translation is approved by the Vatican. The editor of the Catechism, Christoph Shonborn, calls it the ";secret catechism of the Sacred Heart"; by virtue of its internal organization and pivotal thematic reference to the human heart. Although it does not refer to Pope St. Pius X, the new Catechism affirms the content of his oath. The new Catechism also explicitly refers to the Sacred Heart--and associates the sufferings of Christ with the heart of Mary.

";The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God."; (27) ";'God, who through the Word creates all things and keeps them in existence, gives men an enduring witness to Himself in created realities. Planning to make known the way of heavenly salvation, He went further and from the start manifested Himself to our first parents.' [Vat II]"; (54) ";This revelation was not broken off by our first parents sin."; (55) ";The covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the principle of divine economy towards the 'nations.'"; (56) ";This state of division into many nations...is intended to limit the pride of fallen humanity. [cf. Acts 17:26-27]"; (57)

";In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred, and his father's house, and makes him Abraham, that is, 'the father of a multitude of nations.' [Gen 17:5]"; (59) ";He established with [Israel] the covenant of Mount Sinai and, through Moses, gave them his law so that they would recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God."; [Vat II] (62) ";Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. [cf. Isa 2:2-4; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 10:16]"; (64) ";Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one, perfect, and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one. [cf. Heb 1:1-2]"; (65) ";'Christ the Lord, in whom the full revelation of the supreme God is brought to completion, commissioned the apostles to preach to all men that gospel which is the source of all saving truth and moral teaching, and thus to impart to them divine gifts. This gospel had been promised in former times through the prophets, and Christ Himself fulfilled it and promulgated it with his own lips.' [Vat II; cf. Mt 28:19- 20; Mk 16:15]"; (75)

";Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely."; (102) ";'[The] Old and the New Testament in their entirety, with all their parts [were] written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit [and] have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.' [Vat II; cf. Jn 20:31; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:19-21; 3:15-16]"; (105) ";'In composing the sacred books, God [employed authors so that they] consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted.' [Vat II]"; (106) ";'[Since] everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation.' [Vat II]"; (107) ";'The phrase ";heart of Christ"; can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart.' [Aquinas]"; (112) ";'But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.' [St. Augustine]"; (119) ";The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked."; (121) ";'But above all it's the Gospels that occupy my mind when I'm at prayer.' [St. Therese of Lisieux]"; (127) ";God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors."; (136)

";It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature. [cf. Jer 17:5-6; Ps 40:5; 146:3-4]"; (150) ";'If...faith is to be shown, the grace of God and the interior help of the Holy Spirit must precede and assist, moving the heart and turning it to God.' [Vat II]"; (153) ";[In believing we] 'yield by faith the full submission of...intellect and will to God who reveals.' [Vat I]"; (154) ";'Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace.' [Aquinas]"; (155) ";[God] 'can neither deceive nor be deceived.' So 'that the submission of our faith might...be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit.' Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church's growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability 'are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all'; they are 'motives of credibility'...which show that the assent of faith is 'by no means a blind impulse of the mind.' [Vat I]"; (156) ";'Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.' [Vat I]"; (159)

";Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. 'Since ";without faith it is impossible to please [God]"; and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ";but he who endures to the end.";' [Vat I; cf. Mt 10:22; 24:13; Mk 16:16; Jn 3:36; 6:40; Heb 11:6; Council of Trent]"; (161) ";'Indeed, the Church, though scattered throughout the whole world...having received the faith from the apostles...believes as if having but one soul and a single heart.' [St. Irenaeus]"; (173) ";'For though languages differ throughout the world, the content of the Tradition is one and the same.' [St. Irenaeus]"; (174) ";Whoever says 'I believe' says 'I pledge myself to what we believe.'"; (185) ";From the beginning, the apostolic Church expressed and handed on her faith in brief formulae for all. [cf. 1 Cor 15:3- 5]"; (186) ";THE APOSTLE'S CREED is so called because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the apostle's faith. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome. Its great authority arises from this fact: it is 'the Creed of the Roman Church, the See of Peter, the first of the apostles, to which he brought the common faith.' [St. Ambrose]"; (194) ";Jesus himself affirms that God is 'the one Lord' whom you must love 'with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.' [Mk 12:29-30]"; (202) ";God revealed himself progressively and under different names to his people, but the revelation that proved to be the fundamental one for both the Old and the New Covenants was the revelation of the divine name to Moses in the theophany of the burning bush, on the threshold of the Exodus and of the covenant on Sinai."; (204) ";'When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that ";I Am.";' [Jn 8:28]"; (211) ";The revelation of the ineffable name 'I Am who Am' contains...the truth that God alone IS...All creatures receive all that they are and have from him."; (213) ";God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge of every created thing in relation to himself. [cf. Ps 115:15; Wis 7:17- 21]"; (216)

";Human intelligence is surely already capable of finding a response to the question of origins. The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason, even if this knowledge is often obscured and disfigured by error. [cf. Rom 1:19-20; Vat I] This is why faith comes to confirm and enlighten reason in the correct understanding of this truth: 'By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.' [Heb 11:3]"; (286) ";Beyond the natural knowledge that every man can have of the Creator, God progressively revealed to Israel the mystery of creation."; (287) ";Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his people....And so, the truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigor in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and the liturgy, and in the wisdom sayings of the Chosen People. [cf. Gen 15:5; Jer 33:19-26...Isa 44:24; Ps 104; Prov 8:22-31]"; (288) ";[God] 'made all things by himself, that is by his Word and by his Wisdom,' 'by the Son and the Spirit' who, so to speak, are 'his hands.' Creation is the common work of the Holy Trinity. [St. Irenaeus]"; (292) ";Since God could create everything out of nothing, he can also, through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them. [cf. Ps 51:12]"; (298)

";The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls 'angels' is a truth of faith."; (328) ";With their whole beings the angels are SERVANTS and messengers of God. Because they 'always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven...' [Mt 18:10] Christ is at the center of the angelic world. [cf. Mt 25:31]"; (331) Angels have been present since creation and throughout the history of salvation, announcing this salvation from afar or near and serving the accomplishment of the divine plan. [cf. Gen 3:24; 19; 21:17; 22:11; Ex 23:20-23; Judg 13; 6:11-24; 1 Kings 19:5; Job 38:7; Isa 6:6; Acts 7:53]"; (332) ";In her liturgy, the Church joins with the angels to adore the thrice-holy God...in the 'Cherubic Hymn' of the Byzantine Liturgy, she celebrates the memory of certain angels more particularly (St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and the guardian angels)."; (335) ";'May you be praised, O Lord, in all your creatures...' [St. Francis of Assisi]"; (344) ";Creation was fashioned with a view to the sabbath and therefore for the worship and adoration of God..."; (347) ";The sabbath is at the heart of Israel's law."; (348) ";But for us a new day has dawned: the day of Christ's Resurrection...The eighth day begins the new creation...the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation. [cf. Roman Missal]"; (349)

";'The first Adam was made by the last Adam.' [St. Chrysologous]"; (359) ";The human body shares in the dignity of 'the image of God.' [1 Cor 6:19-20; 15:44-45]"; (364) ";[Spirit] and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature. [cf. Council of Vienne]"; (365) ";The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the HEART, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God."; (368) ";Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice...'The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing...' [Lateran Council IV] (391) ";radically and irrevocably [rejecting] God and his reign. [cf. 2 Pet 2:4; St. John Damascene]"; (392) ";'The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.' [1 Jn 3:8]"; (394) ";The HAIL MARY reaches its high point in the words, 'blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.' The Eastern prayer of the heart, the JESUS PRAYER, says: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'"; (435) ";'The human nature of God's Son, NOT BY ITSELF BUT BY ITS UNION WITH THE WORD, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God.' [St. Maximos]"; (473) ";By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal. [cf. Mk 13:32; Acts 1:7]"; (474) ";Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony, and his Passion and gave himself up for each one of us [Gal 2:20]...He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation [cf. Jn 19:34], 'is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that...love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings.' [Pius XII]"; (478) ";Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will, perfectly attuned and subject to his divine intellect and divine will, which he has in common with he Father and the Holy Spirit. [cf. Council of Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Constantinople II & III]"; (482) ";The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God 'the All- Holy' (Panagia)."; (493) ";'Being obedient [Mary] became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race...The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.' [St. Irenaeus]"; (494) ";The spousal character of the human vocation in relation to God is fulfilled perfectly in Mary's virginal motherhood [cf. 2 Cor 11:2]"; (505) ";...THE SIGN OF HER FAITH 'unadulterated by any doubt,' and of her undivided gift of herself to God's will. [Vat II; cf. 1 Cor 7:34-35] It is her faith that enables her to become the mother of the Savior: 'Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ.' [St. Augustine]"; (506) ";No one, whether shepherd or wise man, can approach God here below except by kneeling before the manger at Bethlehem and adoring him hidden in the weakness of a new-born child."; (563)

";'Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.' [St. Rose of Lima; cf. Mt 16:24; 1 Pet 2:21; Col 1:24]"; (618) ";Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an historical fact. [cf. Lk 22:31-32]"; (643) ";The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatalogical judgment. [cf. Denzinger-Schonmetzer; Pius XI]"; (676) ";Mary, the all-holy ever- virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the DWELLING PLACE where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men."; (721) ";It was fitting that the mother of him in whom 'the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily' [Col 2:9] should herself be 'full of grace.' She was, by sheer grace, conceived without sin. [cf. Pius IX]"; (722) ";Mary became...the new Eve...the mother of the 'whole Christ.' [cf. Jn 19:25-27; Ephesus] As such, she was present with the Twelve, who 'with one accord devoted themselves to prayers.' [Acts 1:14]"; (726) ";As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross. [cf. St. Ambrose]"; (766) ";Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church's mystery as 'the bride without spot or wrinkle.' [Eph 5:27] This is why the 'Marian' dimension of the Church precedes the 'Petrine.' [JP II]"; (773)

";One becomes a MEMBER of [the Church] not by a physical birth, but by...faith in Christ and Baptism. [Vat II; Jn 3:3-5]"; (782) ";[What] 'is as priestly as to dedicate a pure conscience to the Lord and to offer the spotless offerings of devotion on the altar of the heart?' [St. Leo the Great]"; (786) ";'Our redeemer has shown himself to be one person with the holy Church whom he has taken to himself.' [Pope St. Gregory the Great]"; (795) ";The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. [Jn 3:29; cf. Rev 22:17]"; (796) ";[The] 'Church herself, with her marvelous propagation, eminent holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in everything good, her catholic unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable witness of her divine mission.' [Vat I]"; (812) ";[The] unity of the pilgrim Church is also assured by visible bonds of communion: profession of one faith received from the Apostles; common celebration of divine worship, especially of the sacraments; apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders, maintaining the fraternal concord of God's family. [Vat II]"; (815) ";[The] sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior...entrusted to Peter's personal care....[and] which is governed by the successor of Peter. [Vat II]"; (816) ";However...[all] who have been justified by faith and in Baptism are incorporated into Christ;"; (818) ";Christ's Spirit uses...Churches [in the faith of Christ but separated from full communion with the Catholic Church]...as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to 'Catholic unity.' [Vat II]"; (819)

";[It is] the unfaithfulness of the members to Christ's gift which causes divisions."; (821) ";[In the Catholic Church] 'the fullness of the means of salvation' [Vat II] has been deposited."; (824) ";'If the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all; IT MUST HAVE A HEART, AND A HEART BURNING WITH LOVE.' [St. Therese of Lisieux]"; (826) ";[If Christians] move away from [the Church's life], they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity.' [Paul VI]"; (827) ";[The faithful] 'turn their eyes to Mary': in her, the Church is already the 'all-holy.'"; [Vat II; cf. Eph 5:26-27]"; (829) ";Particular Churches are fully catholic through their communion with one of them, the Church of Rome 'which presides in charity.' [St. Ignatius of Antioch]...Indeed 'from the incarnate Word's descent to us, all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation since, according to the Savior's promise, the gates of hell have never prevailed against her.' [St. Maximos]"; (834) ";The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is 'the world reconciled.' She is that bark which 'in the full sail of the Lord's cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.' According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah's ark, which alone saves from the flood. [cf. St. Augustine; St. Ambrose]"; (845)

";'The sole Church of Christ which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic...subsists in the Catholic Church.' [Vat II]"; (870) ";Entirely dependent on Christ who gives mission and authority, ministers are truly 'slaves of Christ,' in the image of him who freely took 'the form of a slave' for us. [cf. Rom 1:1; Phil 2:7]"; (876) ";When Christ instituted the Twelve, 'he constituted [them] in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them.' [Vat II; cf. Lk 6:13; Jn 21:15-17]"; (880) ";The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the 'rock' of his Church. He have him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. [cf. Mt 16:18-19]"; (881) ";The Pope enjoys, by divine institution, 'supreme, full, immediate, and universal authority over the care of souls.' [Vat II]"; (937) ";'If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.' [1 Cor 12:26-27]"; (953) ";'Thus the Blessed Virgin...loyally persevered...suffering grievously with her only- begotten Son. There she united herself with a maternal heart to His sacrifice, and lovingly consented to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth.' [Vat II]"; (964) ";Finally the Immaculate Virgin...was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son.' [Pius XII; cf. Vat II; Byzantine Liturgy]"; (966) ";'The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship...' [Paul VI] The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an 'epitome of the whole Gospel,' express this devotion to the Virgin Mary. [Vat II]"; (971)

";'We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess.' [Council of Lyons II]"; (1017) ";Scripture speaks of [heaven] in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father's house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: 'no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.' [1 Cor 2:9]"; (1027) ";At the end of time...'the human race as well as the entire world, which is intimately related to man and achieves its purpose through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ.' [Vat II; cf. Acts 3:21; Eph 1:10; Col 1:20; 2 Pet 3:10-13]"; (1042) ";The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, 'so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just,' [St. Irenaeus] sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ."; (1047) ";'God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where justice will abide, and whose blessedness will answer and surpass the longings for peace which spring up in the human heart.' [Vat II]"; (1048) ";Then the just will reign with Christ for ever, glorified in body and soul, and the material universe will itself be transformed. God will then be 'all in all' (1 Cor 15:28), in eternal life."; (1060)

";[The] contemplation of sacred icons, united with meditation on the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the harmony of the signs of celebration so that the mystery celebrated is imprinted in the heart's memory and then expressed in the new life of the faithful."; (1162) ";The day of Christ's Resurrection is both the first day of the week, the memorial of the first day of creation, and the 'eighth day'...the 'day that knows no evening.' [Byzantine liturgy]"; (1166) ";[In a] church, a 'house of prayer [in which] the most Holy Eucharist is celebrated and preserved' [Vat II]...the truth and the harmony of the signs that make it up should show Christ to be present and active in this place."; (1181) ";The tabernacle is to be situated 'in churches in a most worthy place with the greatest honor.' [Paul VI] The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. [Vat II]"; (1183) ";The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are ONE SINGLE SACRIFICE. [Trent]"; (1367) ";The Church which is the body of Christ participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and entire."; (1368) ";Since he has the ministry of Peter in the Church, the POPE is associated with every celebration of the Eucharist, wherein he is named as the sign and servant of the unity of the universal Church."; (1369) ";'It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered.' [St. John Chrysostom]"; (1375) ";'Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God...that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood.' [Trent; cf. Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22; Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24]"; (1376)

";The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ."; [cf. Trent] (1377) ";[The] tabernacle should be located in an especially worthy place in the church and should be constructed in such a way that it emphasizes and manifests the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament."; (1379) ";'The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship...Let our adoration never cease.' [JP II]"; (1380) ";The Eastern Churches that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church...yet 'possess true sacraments, above all--by apostolic succession--the priesthood and the Eucharist.' [Vat II]"; (1399) ";Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, 'especially because of the lack of the sacrament of orders...have not preserved the genuine and total reality of the Eucharistic mystery.' [Vat II] It is for this reason that Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible for the Catholic Church."; (1400) ";As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead."; (1414) ";Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace."; (1415) ";Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart. [cf. Roman Catechism]"; (1431) ";God must give man a new heart. [cf. Ezek 36:26-27]"; (1432) ";'Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession...' [ORDO PAENITENTIAE] [Christ] personally addresses every sinner: 'My son, your sins are forgiven.' [Mk 2:5]"; (1484) ";";Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church 'a kingdom, priests for his God and Father.' [Rev 1:6; cf. Rev 5:9- 10; 1 Pet 2:5,9]"; (1546) ";[The] ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood."; (1547) ";'The Lord said clearly that concern for his flock was proof of love for him.' [St. John Chrysostom]"; (1551) ";The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible."; (1577) ";Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of 'the wedding-feast of the Lamb.' [cf. Gen 1:26-27; Rev 19:7,9]"; (1602) ";On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign--at his mother's request--during a wedding feast. [cf. Jn 2:1-11]"; (1613) ";The entire Christian life bears the mark of...spousal love."; (1617) ";Esteem of virginity for the sake of the kingdom and the Christian understanding of marriage are inseparable, and they reinforce each other: 'Whoever denigrates marriage also diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it makes virginity more admirable and resplendent.' [St. John Chrysostom]"; (1620) ";'My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.' [Ps 84:2]"; (1770) ";By faith 'man entrusts his whole self freely to God...' [Vat II] [and living] faith 'work[s] through charity.' [Rom 1:17; Gal 5:6]"; (1814) ";'Love is the fulfillment of all our works.' [St. Augustine]"; (1829)

";Human society must primarily be considered something pertaining to the spiritual.' [John XXIII]"; (1886) ";The 'choice of the political regime and the appointment of rulers are left to the free decision of the citizens' [Vat II]"; (1901); ";there 'is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.' [Rom 13:1]"; (1918) ";The dignity of the human person requires the pursuit of the common good."; (1926) ";'I have willed that one should need another and that all should be my ministers in distributing the graces and gifts they have received from me.' [St. Catherine of Siena] (1937) ";'[We] ought always to pray and not lose heart.' [Lk 18:1]"; (2098) ";'Every action done so as to cling to God in communion and holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice.' [St. Augustine]"; (2099) ";The right to religious liberty can of itself be neither unlimited nor limited only by a 'public order' conceived in a positivist or naturalist manner. [cf. Pius VI]"; (2109) ";Before Pilate, Christ proclaims that he 'has come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.' [Jn 18:37]"; (2471) ";MARTYRDOM is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith."; (2473) ";The Church has painstakingly collected the records of those who persevered to the end in witnessing to their faith. [cf. Martyrium Polycarpi]"; (2474) ";The 'pure in heart' are promised that they will see God face to face and be like him. [cf. 1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2]"; (2519) ";[In] naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times)."; (2562) ";Prayer is bound up with human history, for it is the relationship with God in human events."; (2568) ";Prayer is lived in the first place beginning with the realities of creation [cf. Gen 4:4,26; 5:24]...Noah's offering is pleasing to God, who blesses him and though him all creation [Gen 6:9; 8:20-9:17][...]In his indefectible covenant with every living creature [Gen 9:8-16], God has always called people to prayer. But it is above all beginning with our father Abraham that prayer is revealed in the Old Testament."; (2569)

";[God] calls Moses to be his messenger, an associate in his compassion..."; (2575) "; 'entrusted with all my house.' [Num 12:7]"; (2576) ";[After their apostasy] Moses 'stands in the breach' before God in order to save the people. [Ex 32-34] (2577) ";In their 'one to one' encounters with God, the prophets draw light and strength for their mission. Their prayer is not flight from this unfaithful world, but rather attentiveness to The Word of God. At times their prayer is an argument or a complaint, but it is always an intercession that awaits and prepares for the intervention of the Savior God, the Lord of history. [cf. Am 7:2,5; Isa 6:5,8,11; Jer 1:6; 15:15-18; 20:7-18]"; (2584) ";From the time of David to the coming of the Messiah texts appearing in [the] sacred books show a deepening in prayer for oneself in prayer for others. [Erza 9:6-15; Neh 1:4-11; Jon 2:3-10; Tob 3:11-16; Jdt 9:2-14]"; (2585) ";The words of the Psalmist, sung for God, both express and acclaim Lord's saving works; the same Spirit inspires both God's work and man's response. Christ will unite the two."; (2587) ";The Psalter's many forms of prayer take shape both in the liturgy of the temple and in the human heart."; (2588) ";Prayed and fulfilled in Christ, the Psalms are an essential and permanent element in the prayer of the Church."; (2597)

";The Son of God who became Son of the Virgin learned to pray in his human heart. He learns to pray from his mother, who kept all the great things the Almighty had done and treasured them in her heart. [cf. Lk 1:49; 2:19; 2:51] He learns to pray in the words and rhythms of the prayer of his people...But his prayer springs from an otherwise secret source, as he intimates at the age of twelve: 'I must be in my Father's house.' [Lk 2:49]"; (2599) ";Once committed to conversion, the heart learns to pray in FAITH."; (2609) ";It is at the hour of the New Covenant, at the foot of the cross, that Mary is heard as the Woman...the true 'Mother of all the living.'"; (2618) ";The prayers of the Virgin Mary, in her Fiat and Magnificat, are characterized by the generous offering of her whole being in faith."; (2622) ";Because God blesses the human heart, it can return and bless him who is the source of every blessing."; (2645) ";'O that TODAY you would hearken to his voice! Harden not your hearts.' [Ps 95:7-8]"; (2659) ";Prayer in the events of each day and each moment is one of the secrets of the kingdom revealed to 'little children.'"; (2660) ";The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the HEART OF JESUS just as it invokes his holy name."; (2669) ";Mary...'shows the way'...and is herself 'the Sign' of the way, according to the traditional iconography of East and West."; (2674) ";The most appropriate places for prayer are personal or family oratories, monasteries, places of pilgrimage, and above all the church, which is the proper place for liturgical prayer for the parish community and the privileged place for Eucharistic adoration."; (2696) ";Prayer is the life of the new heart..."; (2697) [and] ";is internalized to the extent that we become aware of him 'to whom we speak.' [St. Teresa of Avila]"; (2704) ";Contemplative prayer is a COVENANT relationship established by God within our hearts."; (2713)

";Since the heart of the Son seeks only what pleases the Father, how could the prayer of the children of adoption be centered on the gifts rather than the Giver?"; (2740) ";Praying to our Father should develop in us two fundamental dispositions...THE DESIRE TO BECOME LIKE HIM...[St. John Chrysostom] (2784) [and] A HUMBLE AND TRUSTING HEART that enables us 'to turn and become like children' [Mt 18:3]: for it is to 'little children' that the Father is revealed. [Mt 11:25]"; (2785) ";It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession. [cf. Mt 18:23-35]"; (2843) ";'For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' [Mt 6:21]"; (2848) ";By asking 'hallowed be thy name' we enter into God's plan, the sanctification of his name--revealed first to Moses and then in Jesus--by us and in us, in every nation and in each man."; (2858)

LITANY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN Lord, have mercy on usChrist have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on usChrist, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us. God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us. Holy Mary; Pray for us, etc Holy Mother of God; Holy Virgin of virgins; Mother of Christ; Mother of divine grace; Mother most pure; Mother most chaste; Mother inviolate; Mother undefiled; Mother most amiable; Mother most admirable; Mother of good counsel; Mother of our Creator; Mother of our Saviour; Virgin most prudent; Virgin most venerable; Virgin most renowned; Virgin most powerful; Virgin most merciful; Virgin most faithful; Mirror of justice; Seat of wisdom; Cause of our joy; Spiritual vessel; Vessel of honor; Singular vessel of devotion; Mystical rose; Tower of David; Tower of ivory; House of gold; Ark of the covenant; Gate of heaven; Morning star; Health of the sick; Refuge of sinners; Comforter of the afflicted; Help of Christians; Queen of angels; Queen of patriarchs; Queen of prophets; Queen of apostles; Queen of martyrs; Queen of confessors; Queen of virgins; Queen of all saints; Queen conceived without original sin; Queen assumed into heaven; Queen of the most holy Rosary; Queen of peace; Queen of Poland Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us O Lord. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us O Lord. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us. Pray for us O holy Mother of GodThat we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His passion and cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection; through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen. May the divine assistance remain always with us. Amen. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

LITANY OF THE SACRED HEART Lord, have mercy on usChrist, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on usChrist, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us. God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us. Heart of Jesus, Son the the Eternal Father have mercy on us; Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mother; Heart of Jesus, hypostatically united to the Word of God; Heart of Jesus, infinite in Majesty; Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God; Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most high; Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven; Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity; Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love; Heart of Jesus, full of kindness and love; Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues; Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise; Heart of Jesus, King and centre of all hearts; Heart of Jesus, wherein are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; Heart of Jesus, wherein abides the fulness of the Godhead; Heart of Jesus, in which the Father is well pleased; Heart of Jesus, of whose fulness we have all received; Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills; Heart of Jesus, patient and abounding in mercy; Heart of Jesus, rich unto all who call upon Thee; Heart of Jesus, source of life and holiness; Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins; Heart of Jesus, overwhelmed with insults; Heart of Jesus, bruised for our sins; Heart of Jesus, made obedient even unto death; Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance; Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation; Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection; Heart of Jesus, our peace and our reconciliation; Heart of Jesus, Victim for sinners; Heart of Jesus, salvation of all who trust in Thee; Heart of Jesus, hope of all who die in Thee; Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us O Lord. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Make our hearts like unto Thine. O almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Thy dearly beloved Son, and upon the praise and satisfaction He offers Thee on behalf of sinners, and being appeased, grant pardon to those who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.