Catholic Tower

2 of 2 PRAYER to ST. JOACHIM Obtain for us from God a firm and unshaken faith in opposition to the impieties and errors which are ever being spread abroad by the sects hostile to holy Church and the Apostolic See; a sincere and constant devotion to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Roman Pontiff; and an unfailing courage in refuting calumnies against those things which are most sacred and venerable in our holy religion. Do thou, who art powerful by reason of that love which thy holy daughter Mary bears toward thee, assist the cause of the Church, gain for her the victory for which she sighs, scatter the powers of darkness, destroy their pride and grant that the light of the true faith may shine resplendent in all minds. Grant us, above all, a tender and filial devotion to thy beloved daughter and our Mother, Mary most holy, so that we, honoring her daily with our devout homage, may be made worthy to be numbered by her amongst her children; and after the miseries of this exile may be brought to praise and bless the mercy of God forever in heaven. Amen. Our Father, Haily Mary, Glory be three times. An indulgence of 300 days, once a day. A plenary indulgence, once a month, on the usual conditions for the daily recitation of this prayer with piety. (Leo XIII, Motu propr., Aug. 16, 1890; S.P. Ap., July 8, 1936). ~ The Raccolta (1943)

PRAYER to ST. JOACHIM O great patriarch, Saint Joachim, deserving by thy singular virtue to be chosen of old by divine Providence to give to the world that Immaculate Queen, in whom all nations were to be blessed, and who, in her virginal bosom, was to bear the Saviour of the human race: we who are thy devout clients rejoice with thee in this thy great privilege, and implore thee to extend thy special protection to ourselves and our families. Do not, dear Saint, suffer the devil and sin to find a place in our hearts, nor the false maxims of the world to lead us astray; permit us not to live unmindful of eternity, for which we have been created. (continued)

2 of 2 ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ Luke 10, 23-37. At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I say to you, many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and they have not seen it; and to hear what you hear, and they have not heard it.” And behold, a certain lawyer got up to test Him, saying, “Master, what must I do to gain eternal life?” But He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How dost thou read?” He answered and said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength, and with thy whole mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” And He said to him, “Thou hast answered rightly; do this and thou shalt live.” But he, wishing to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered and said, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell in with robbers, who after both stripping him and beating him went their way, leaving him half-dead. But, as it happened, a certain priest was going down the same way; and when he saw him, he passed by. And likewise a Levite also, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came upon him, and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And he went up to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And setting him on his own beast, he brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more thou spendist, I, on my way back, will repay thee.’ Which of these three, in thy opinion, proved himself neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?” And he said, “He who took pity on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do thou also in like manner.” S. Praise be to Thee, O Christ. Gospel, Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost ~ St. Joseph Daily Missal, (1950) ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧

The Good Samaritan bound up his wounds. 1 of 2 TWELFTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” Assisting at Mass, we see the re-presentation and continuation of the Sacrifice on Calvary. We see with the eyes of faith, Christ present in the Consecrated Host. Personally and actively to participate in the Mass makes us love God more and more; it increases the spirit of sacrifice and kindness in dealing with others. (continued)

2 of 2 ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ TWELFTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of Whose gift it comes that Thy faithful people do Thee worthy and laudable service, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may run without stumbling to the attainment of Thy promises. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ OMNÍPOTENS et miséricors Deus, de cujus múnere venit, ut tibi a fidélibus tuis digne et laudabíliter servíatur: tríbue, quæsumus, nobis; ut ad promissiónes tuas sine offensióne currámus. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesus Christum fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen. Collect, Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost ~ St. Joseph Daily Missal, 1950 - English ~ The New Roman Missal, 1937 - Latin ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧

1 of 2 Which of these three, in thy opinion, proved himself neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?” And he said, “He who took pity on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do thou also in like manner.” Luke 10, 37

God rewarded St. Joachim for his faith and piety by giving him St. Anne for his spouse, and the Blessed Virgin Mary for his daughter. ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧ August 16th ~ Feast of ST. JOACHIM, Confessor Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary Traditional Feast Day O God, Who of all Thy saints didst will Blessed Joachim to be father to the Mother of Thy Son, grant, we beseech Thee, that we, who venerate his feast, may evermore experience his patronage. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen. Collect, August 16, St. Joachim, Confessor ~ Saint Joseph Daily Missal (1951) ✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 15th 149. Vainglory consists in an inordinate appetite for praise, and a desire that our merit should shine forth with glory, and in three different ways this glory can be called vain and wicked. Firstly, when we seek to be praised for a virtue or any other gift of body or soul which we do not possess, or else to be praised for some frail transitory possession which is not worthy of praise, such as health, beauty and other gifts of the body, riches, pomp and other goods which are called the gifts of fortune. (continued) ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of The Immaculate Heart of Mary~ August 15th MOTHER MOST ADMIRABLE DUTIES OF JESUS TOWARD MARY (continued) It is a great thing indeed that both angels and men should pay homage to Mary, proclaim ing her Queen of heaven and earth. But it passes all comprehension that God Himself should deign to lavish such singular tokens of esteem and veneration upon this marvelous and most excellent creature. ~ Very Rev. Alexis M. Lepicier, O.S.M., The Fairest Flower of Paradise (1922)

Sayings of the Saints “After the love which we owe Jesus Christ, we must give the chief place in our heart to the love of His Mother Mary.” ~ St. Alphonsus Liguori St. Alphonsus, pray for us.

Resolutions 7. It is by this progressive method that you can at length succeed in entirely overcoming your passions, and will be able to acquire the virtues you lack. Always begin with what is easiest. Choose at first external acts over which the will has greater control, and in time you can advance from these, little by little, to the most interior and difficult details of the spiritual life. ~ Light and Peace, R.P. Quadrupani, Barnabite (1904), written in 1795. Sedes Sapientiæ, ora pro nobis. Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.

2 of 2 AUGUST 15th — THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY It should, however, be borne in mind that though the divine maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary may be regarded as the immedIate reason of her Assumption into heaven, yet the first and formal reason of this privilege is to be sought in her Immaculate Conception. It is true, indeed, that the dignity of the Mother of the Incarnate Word was the primary reason for which God preserved the Immaculate Conception of Mary from all stain of original sin—and in this sense the Gregorian Sacramentary rightly attributes the reason of the bodily resurrection of the Blessed Virgin to her prerogative as Mother of the Word—but in order to express this truth with perfect accuracy, it is necessary to say that the formal reason for the preservation of her body from corruption was precisely her immunity from all stain of original sin. The consecrated formulas of the Roman Liturgy have not any difficulty in expressing and in reconciling the fact of the death of the Blessed Virgin with her bodily resurrection, due to her exalted dignity. The end of that transitory state in which the pilgrim soul finds itself on earth is called by us death, but it does not necessarily imply any idea of pain or abasement in the case of the Immaculate Mother of God. The state ot separation of soul and body with all its consequences, such as bodily corruption, long and violent separation of form from matter, etc., had no power over the Mother of God. The authority of the Roman Liturgy concerning the possibility of dogmatic definition of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is paramount, for it refiects the teaching and authority of the supreme Pontiff. Now that Catholic devotion anticipates the day when the infallible Teacher of Truth will place this last gem in the diadem which adorns Our Lady in heaven, theologians will be able to draw largely on that fount of Catholic tradition which is contained in the Liturgy. especially that of Rome.* ~ The New Roman Missal (1937) Holy Mary, pray for us. *N.B. This was published in 1937, thirteen years prior to Munificentissimus Deus - Defining the Dogma of the Assumption, Pope Pius XII, November 1, 1950, wherein this dogma was defined.

1 of 2 August 15th - The ASSUMPTION of the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Among the feasts of the Blessed Virgin that of the dormitio sanctæ Mariæ, or of her bodily assumption into heaven, was from very early times the most solemn and the most widely observed. In the time of Pope Sergius I a solemn procession proceeded to St. Mary Major, where Mass was celebrated. It was customary to carry images of the Savior and of His Blessed Mother in this procession; outside of Rome a similar ceremony was observed. (continued)

2 of 2 ASSUMPTION HYMN (continued from above) Mother of Jesus, hail, our Heavenly Queen, Ten thousand harps swell thro' the azure dome, O Blessed Earth, where one so fair was seen, More blessed Heaven, to which our Queen has gone.—Cho. Hail, Mary, Queen of mercy, grant our Lord May look with pity on thy children here, That, humbly trusting in His Holy Word, Our souls at last may in thy courts appear.—Cho. We walk the vale of sorrow thou hast known, Give us from Him the grace to walk as Thou; The seed along Thy blessed pathway sown Brought lovely flowers, bright garlands for thy brow.—Cho. Obtain for us thy rare humility, That ev'ry act may spring from God’s pure love; Then all thy glory we may hope to see, Where He assumed thee in His home above.—Cho. ~ Catholic School and Sodality Hymnal (1900)

1 of 2 ASSUMPTION HYMN Unfold, unfold, ye golden gates of Heaven, She comes, the Queen of all the shining host— The moon beneath, her twelve stars of even, The sun above in her great glory lost. CHORUS. The cherubim, and seraphim, and Heaven's host, Now swell the glad refrain, That Mary loved, our Mother Mary, Queen of Heaven shall reign. Behold her Son delighted has gone down To meet His Mother, taintless from her birth, She forward glides, while glory from her crown Streams on her exiled children here on.—Cho. (continued)

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2 of 2 AUGUST 15th — Feast of THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Hymn Through thy Virginal womb what graces have come ! What glories encompass thy throne ! Where next to thy Son, thou sittest a Queen, Exalted on high, above Angels and men ! Inferior to Godhead alone! Then hear us, we pray, on this blessed Day ; Remember we also are thine ; And deign for thy children with Jesus to plead, That He may forgive us, and grant us in need His strength and protection divine. All praise to the Father, who chose for his Son A Mother, the daughter of Eve ; All praise to the glorious Child of her womb ; All praise to the infinite Spirit, by Whom Her glory it was to conceive. ~ Lyra Catholica: Containing All the Breviary and Missal Hymns. Rev. Fr. Edward Caswall, M.A., translator. (1849)

1 of 2 AUGUST 15th — Feast of THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Hymn O vos ætherei plaudite cives REJOICE, O ye Spirits and Angels on high ! This day the pure Mother of Love By death was set free ; and ascending the sky, Was welcom’d by Jesus, with triumph and joy, To the Courts of his glory above. O Virgin divine ! what treasures are thine ! What power and splendour untold ! With flesh thou hadst cloth’d the Lord of all might ;— He clothes Thee in turn with his infinite light, And a radiant vesture of gold. He, who on thy breast found nurture and rest, Is now thy ineffable Food; And He, who from Thee in the flesh lay concealed, Now gives Thee, beholding his glory reveal’d, To drink from the fulness of God. (continued)

2 of 2 The Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady Prayers for the Poor Holy Souls MY Jesus, by that copious sweat of blood with which Thou didst bedew the ground in the garden, have mercy on the souls of my nearest relations who are suffering in purgatory. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. MY Jesus, by that cruel scourging which Thou didst suffer, bound to the column, have pity on the souls of my other relations and friends who are suffering in purgatory. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. MY Jesus, by that crown of sharpest thorns which pierced thy sacred temples, have mercy on that soul which is most neglected and least prayed for, and on that soul which is furthest from being released from the pains of purgatory. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. MY Jesus, by those sorrowful steps which Thou didst take with the Cross on thy shoulders, have mercy on that soul which is nearest to its departure from purgatory; and by the pains which Thou didst suffer together with thy most holy Mother Mary, when Thou didst meet her on the road to Calvary, deliver from the pains of purgatory those souls who were devout to this beloved Mother. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. MY Jesus, by thy most holy body stretched on the Cross, by thy most holy hands and feet pierced with hard nails, by thy most cruel death, and by thy most holy side laid open with a lance, have pity and mercy on those poor souls; free them from the awful pains they suffer, call and admit them to thy most sweet embrace in Paradise. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. O HOLY souls, tormented in most cruel pains, as one truly devoted to you, I promise never to forget you, and continually to pray to the Most High for your release. I beseech you to respond to this offering which I make to you, and obtain for me from God, with whom you are so powerful on behalf of the living, that I may be freed from all dangers of soul and body; I beg both for myself and for my relations and benefactors, friends and enemies, pardon for our sins, and the grace of perseverance in good, whereby we may save our souls. Set us free from all misfortunes, miseries, sicknesses, trials and labours. Obtain for us peace of heart; assist us in all our actions; succour us promptly in all our spiritual and temporal needs; console and defend us in our dangers. Pray for the supreme Pontiff, for the exaltation of holy Church, for peace between nations, for Christian princes, and for tranquillity among peoples; and obtain that we may one day all rejoice together in Paradise. Amen. 100 Days, once a day. ~ Leo XIII, December 14, 1889 ~ The Raccolta (1910)

1 of 2 The Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady Pray today especially for the poor Holy Souls in Purgatory. After Christmas, this is the day on which the most souls are released from Purgatory, due to Our Lady’s desire to share her joy with as many as possible. ~ from a sermon given on 8/15/24. (continued)