Prince of Peace Youth Ministry

https://www.sunjournal.com/2022/12/11/photos-blessing-of-the-bambinelli-in-lewiston/

Photos: Blessing of the Bambinelli in Lewiston Worshippers bring their likenesses of the Baby Jesus to the Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul in Lewiston.

August 4: Saint John Vianney

God of power and of love, you made the humble Curé of Ars powerful in holiness, in prayer, and in self—forgetful service of your people. Through his intercession and example, fill all your people with that love which wins devoted followers for your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen

Prayer taken from Magnificat—Morning Prayer, Wednesday, August 4, 2022.

After a raging fire destroyed two-thirds of Rome in 64, Emperor Nero blamed Rome’s Christians to divert suspicion from himself. Those acknowledging their Christianity were arrested and executed. Some were covered in wax and set afire as torches; some were sewn into animal skins and cast into the arena with wild animals; others were crucified. Sts. Peter and Paul died in the same persecution. The feast of these earliest martyrs of the Roman church is celebrated a day after the joint feast of Peter and Paul. The Roman historian Tacitus said the protomartyrs were to be pitied “for it was felt that they were being sacrificed to one man’s brutality.”

In the Gospels, John the Baptist, a kinsman of Jesus through their mothers, preached repentance and baptized to prepare for the Messiah’s coming. This feast marks his exceptional birth to the aged priest Zechariah and the equally aged and barren Elizabeth. The angel Gabriel announces his birth in a vision to Zechariah, who hesitates in believing and is struck mute until eight days after John’s birth. Then, Zechariah, in a beautiful canticle that ends the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, proclaims that John “will be called prophet of the Most High.” John’s eventual beheading is commemorated with an Aug. 29 feast. A patron saint of Canada and Jordan, John is also the patron of Florence and the Knights Hospitaller of St. John.

Religious Freedom Week begins June 22!

On World Refugee Day we pause and remember the 25 million people who have had to flee their countries in search of safety for their families.

Saint Juliana was the only child of a wealthy couple in Florence, Italy, who had built the church of the Annunciation there. She refused to marry and was enrolled as a tertiary with the Servite order; her uncle, St. Alexis Falconieri, was one of the seven founders of the Servites. For nearly 20 years, Juliana lived a devout and useful life at home. In 1304 she formed a community of tertiary sisters who devoted themselves to prayer and good works in Florence. She is considered the foundress of the Servite community of nuns, and was canonized in 1737.

Tomorrow is Father's Day! We invite you to join us in offering a spiritual bouquet to St. Joseph for Father’s Day. We invite you to comment with prayer intentions you’d like to be entrusted to St. Joseph’s intercession. We also encourage you to participate from home with these simple suggestions:https://www.usccb.org/resources/fathers-day-action-guide-home-activity.pdf

As we celebrate the gift of fathers and honor St. Joseph, we also recognize that Father’s Day can be a difficult holiday for many. We hope this spiritual bouquet provides an opportunity to pray for the intentions brought to your heart by the occasion.

Saint Emily de Vialar was the only daughter of a French baron. At 15 she left school in Paris to become her widowed father’s companion in Gaillac. Despite his wishes, Emily would not marry, and for 15 years tended neglected children and the poor. In 1832, when her maternal grandfather left her a fortune, she bought a large house in Gaillac, which became the first home of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition. In 1835, the order won approval and Emily and 17 other sisters professed vows. Their charisms were care of the needy and education. Emily oversaw the formation of 40 houses, before dying from complications of a hernia she’d gotten in her youth while doing a good deed.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Join us in praying the Anima Christi: https://catholiccurrent.org/prayers/anima-christi/

The daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary and granddaughter of the emperor of Constantinople, this medieval princess was raised by her elder sister, St. Kunigunde, queen of Poland. Their family tree included other saints: Hedwig, Elizabeth of Hungary and Margaret of Hungary. Jolenta married a Polish duke whose charitable works earned him the popular name “Boleslaus the Pious.” After his death in 1279 and the marriage of two daughters, Jolenta, Kunigunde, also now widowed, and Jolenta’s youngest daughter entered a Poor Clares convent. Jolenta later became abbess of a convent she had founded with her husband. Also known as Helen of Poland and Yolanda of Poland, Jolenta was beatified in 1827.

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Let us not forget how the trinity works in our lives!

St. Ephrem is a Deacon and Doctor of the Church. In 363 he moved to a cave overlooking Edessa. He preached frequently in the city and wrote many poems, hymns and biblical commentaries. He even organized a choir of women to sing his hymns during liturgies!

Today we pray for all of the couples in the parish who will get married this year!

“O happy Virgin, you gave birth to the Lord;
O blessed mother of the Church,
you warm our hearts with the Spirit of your Son Jesus Christ.”

Today is the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church!

The Marian title of “Mother of the Church,” was given to the Blessed Mother by Bl. Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council and today’s memorial was decreed by Pope Francis in 2018.

Holy Spirit, Come.

Today we celebrate Pentecost! The Solemnity of Pentecost marks the end of the Easter season.

The Holy Spirit gave the disciples the strength to fulfill their commission to spread the Good News of Jesus.

Saint Clotilde
The Catholic Clotilda persuaded her pagan husband, King Clovis of the Franks, to allow their children to be baptized and eventually witnessed his baptism in 496 in Reims, France. But her 34-year widowhood was marked by family fights over power. Clotilda took charge of the three sons of Clodomir, her son killed in 524 by a cousin bent on revenge. Another son, the ambitious Childebert, killed the two older grandsons in her care. The third grandson, called Cloud or Clodoald, gave up his claim to the Frankish throne and became a monk. Clotilda left Paris, devoting her final years to charitable works in Tours.

Saints Marcellinus and Peter
Marcellinus was a priest and Peter an exorcist in Rome’s Christian community. They were arrested and imprisoned during a persecution by Emperor Diocletian. In prison, they converted many people, including their jailer and his family. They were condemned to death and beheaded, supposedly in secret, in a nearby wood. But their executioner disclosed the deaths after his conversion. Pope St. Damasus I wrote an epitaph for their tomb, over which Emperor Constantine later built a church in which he buried his mother. This pope also reported that he learned the details of their martyrdom from the executioner himself. Marcellinus and Peter are among the saints named in the Roman Canon of the Mass.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation of Mary! This feast commemorates the three-month visit of Mary with her elderly cousin Elizabeth during Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus and Elizabeth’s with John the Baptist.

Today, on Memorial Day, we remember the brave men and women who died serving our country and fighting for the freedoms we enjoy. We pray for them and their families.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity!

“The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity leads us to contemplate the mystery of God who unceasingly creates, redeems and sanctifies, always with love and through love.”–Pope Francis, May 27, 2018

Today, we celebrate The Ascension of the Lord!

On the Feast of the Ascension, the church celebrates the return of Christ to the Father, his physical body leaving the earth behind.

Saint Bede the Venerable
Born in Northumbria, in northern England, Bede was schooled at the Benedictine monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, where he spent the rest of his life as a monk and priest. “Study, teaching and writing have always been my delight,” he wrote. He penned extensive biblical and theological writings, but his fame came as a historian. His most valuable work was “Ecclesiastical History of the English People.” In 836, a church council at Aachen, Germany, called him the Venerable Bede and Pope Leo XIII declared him a doctor of the church in 1899.

In 1800, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat and three companions began the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

St. Madeleine, Pray for us!

Our Lady, patroness of the Americas, pray for us!

Saint Rita of Cascia
Born near Spoleto, Italy, Rita wanted to be a nun but married in deference to her parents. For nearly 20 years, she endured her profligate husband’s mistreatment. Following his violent death, she was admitted after three refusals to an Augustinian convent at Cascia, where she spent the next 40 years. She is remembered for her devoted care of sick nuns and for a deep forehead wound that lasted 15 years, caused she said by a thorn from Christ’s crown of thorns. She has a large popular following, and is invoked in Italy for difficult situations.

Praying as a family is important. How do you pray together? What tips do you have for other families? Share with us in the comments!

Saint Paschal Baylon
Born to a Spanish shepherd family, Paschal was said to have taught himself to read while tending sheep. At age 21 he joined an austere group of Franciscans, devoting himself to prayer and charity. He was sent on a dangerous mission to French Franciscans, and a shoulder wound he received caused him pain for the rest of his life. Long hours of prayer on his knees before the Eucharist earned this lay brother the honor of being patron of Catholic Eucharistic congresses. His emblem in art is a monstrance.