Falls Prevention Class
Blessings and Miracles Through St. Gerard Majella's Intercession
We would love to hear your story about the St. Gerard Majella Handkerchief and St. Gerard's intercession for you or a loved one...Please fill out the form below:
Monthly Holy Hour
Deacon Frank's Link to Published Articles
The Holy Rosary
The Holy Rosary
The Holy Rosary is prayed at St. Gerard Majella R.C. Church Monday through Friday, at 8:30 am, immediately preceding each weekday Mass at 9:00 am.
The Rosary is an extraordinarily rich spiritual practice for many Catholics. It is a devotion to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God through the incarnation of Jesus and as our Spiritual Mother. As Catholics, we believe that worship and adoration are due and fitting solely to God. We pray to and ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother, as we can do with any of our many venerated Saints. Everything we believe about the Virgin Mary, and the Holy Rosary itself, always points to Jesus. In praying and meditating on each of the Mysteries of the Rosary, we learn more about the life of Jesus, and on a deeper level.
The history of praying the Holy Rosary is not clearly defined. In fact, the use of prayer beads with repetitive prayers existed in other faith traditions long before the earliest days of our first Church. In the third and fourth centuries, the Christian Desert Fathers (hermits and monks) are said to have prayed the 150 Psalms, the Our Father and other prayers with stones, and later knotted prayer ropes. The version of the Hail Mary that we pray in the Rosary today was given official approval in 1568, as part of the Catechism ratified by the Council of Trent.
It is generally believed that the origin of our current set of specific prayers evolved between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. Although some scholars disagree, Catholic Tradition has held that St. Dominic created the precursor of our current Rosary after the Blessed Mother appeared to him in 1214, when she instructed St. Dominic as to the specific prayers to be prayed for this devotion. As part of the Fifteen Promises that she made to us, the Blessed Mother also told St. Dominic that praying the Rosary is one of the principal sources of deliverance of souls in Purgatory.
The Rosary remained largely unchanged for over four centuries, although the practice of praying the Rosary and other Marian devotions fell somewhat after Vatican II. Then, in October 2002, Pope Saint John Paul II proposed something new – adding the Luminous (Light) Mysteries to the Rosary – which Mysteries reflect upon the life of Jesus before his Crucifixion. This additional Mystery acted as a bridge between the Annunciation and Birth of Jesus (Joyful Mysteries) and His Passion and Death (Sorrowful Mysteries), as well as His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven (Glorious Mysteries).
At that time, Pope Saint John Paul II also proclaimed 2002 as the Year of the Rosary, inviting Catholics to renew their devotion to this powerful prayer. This devotion has grown considerably since then – so much so that many Protestants now pray it, too, recognizing the prayers within it are taken directly from the sacred Scriptures.
Related Resources:
How to Pray the Rosary:
https://www.usccb.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary
https://www.marian.org/mary/rosary/howto.php
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg6k5UmSDlcigRZ52ETLRRoolBLuBJa20
(with Bishop Barron narrating a meditation before the prayers)
https://rosarycenter.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary (in different methods, e.g., with Scripture)
https://www.catholicity.com/prayer/rosary.html
The Rosary | Teachings of the Church:
Apostolic Letter of Pope Saint John Paul II: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae.html
https://www.marian.org/mary/rosary/
https://www.catholic.com/tract/the-rosary
A Guide to Praying the Rosary | Knights of Columbus Catholic Information Service
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/news-room/4772-praying-the-rosary.pdf
Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is prayed at St. Gerard Majella R.C. Church Monday through Friday, at 9:30 am, immediately following each weekday Mass. Many faithful also pray the Chaplet privately at 3:00 pm, the hour of the death of our Lord on the cross.
In addition to the Mass and the Rosary, The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is one of the most beautiful and powerful prayers that we have. In praying The Chaplet, we unite our intentions with the sacrifice of the Mass by offering the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus, to obtain forgiveness and to intercede for the salvation of souls. Some have referred to this devotion as a form of Spiritual Communion.
Divine Mercy is the gift of mercy and love given through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. As Pope Saint John Paul II stated, “Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified” and that “Mercy is love’s second name.” It is a special type of love that meets us and helps us during our suffering, poverty, brokenness, and sin. This love is a steadfast, covenant love, which is tender and compassionate
The core of its message is a reminder of what the Scriptures have always taught us about the heart of the Gospel: God is infinite love and mercy itself, and we, in turn, must be merciful and forgiving to others. Another essential part of this prayer is complete trust in God, through Jesus – not merely by our beliefs, but in how we live our lives: we consecrate ourselves to the Will of God. The Chaplet promises that we will then be filled with such extraordinary and abundant graces that we cannot contain them and will radiate them to others.
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy devotion is based upon the 1930’s diary of a Polish nun, Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska, in which she faithfully and meticulously memorialized the exact teachings of the Lord as He revealed them to her. He asked her to teach the world again about the primary reason that he died on the Cross – to give sinners another chance of obtaining God's Divine Mercy and pardon their sins – if they returned to living by God’s commandments.
Our Lord’s wishes included a painted image of Him (a beautiful copy of which hangs to the left of our altar), with white and red rays emanating from Him, representing Blood and Water that flowed when His heart was lanced on the Cross, immediately before his death. Jesus also instructed that the painting bear the signature Jesus, I Trust in You, and that the image be venerated publicly.
Sr. Faustina was canonized as a saint in 2000 by Pope Saint John Paul II, who also announced that the Second Sunday of Easter would be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. The Divine Mercy Novena is prayed for nine days, from Good Friday through Easter Saturday.
Related Resources:
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy Prayer: https://www.usccb.org/prayers/divine-mercy-chaplet
The Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul (PDF version): https://www.saint-faustina.org/diary-full-text/
The Divine Mercy Novena:
https://divinemercy.life/the-divine-mercy-novena/
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-13366
Daily Reflections: https://divinemercy.life/
15 Minutes with Fr. Greg on Divine Mercy Sunday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWm3GLYbQ4Q&list=PLAEw2zWs7No2pCmqt10S4AVr3DrFWHnDb&index=46
Handmaiden Music | Original Recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehnqlTEhQPg
From the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZaAqxdmFhQ
EWTN: Flynn Family performing from the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy (with Divine Mercy Intercessory Prayer) (also live daily at 3 pm):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGD-3V2xzhI
Divine Mercy Devotional Organizations:
https://www.thedivinemercy.org/
Catholic Health Parishioner Support Website
Our Lending Library
Please stop by our Prayer Corner near Reception to borrow books on Popes and Saints, Prayers and Meditations, Catholicism and Apologetics, Healing and Forgiveness, the Blessed Mother & Marian Devotions, and Lighthouse Catholic Media CDs. If you would like to donate a book, please drop it off at Reception. Thank you!
