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Monday, September 24, 2012
Weekday

First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:

Proverbs 3:27-34
Psalm 15:2-5
Luke 8:16-18

I praise and thank You, heavenly Father, for giving to me praise and thank You, heavenly Father, for giving to me and to my dear spouse the grace and privilege of procreating and co-creating with You our precious offspring. After the presence of Your Divine Son in the Blessed Sacrament, our fruitful union just has to be the most tangible expression of Your love in this world. Our children's souls are a direct creation from Your hand, like the creation of the world at the beginning of time.
Teach us to raise our children as You would with loving firmness and tender care. Help me to respect and affirm my devoted wife with great affection, convinced that the greatest gift I can ever give to my children is true love for their mother. Let them know in what love they are bonded. Never let me do or say anything that would show them behavior unworthy of You. Give me the grace ever to show them Your way.
Make me a man of my word who will be loyal to You and the Church and faithful to the teachings of Jesus. May I assume the spiritual leadership of our family, the domestic Church, by encouraging prayer in our home at mealtime as well as in the morning and at night. Guide me in the decisions we make for our children so that it will be clear to them what they must do to reach heaven.
What an awesome responsibility for me! With Your support and inspiration I know I will be up to it, because I ask in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen.

-- Father Angelus Shaughnessy, O.F.M. Cap.

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

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.