Novena for Priest

Please pray for your Parish Priests, the Priests whom have been most influential in you life, and the one most on Our lady's heart and especially Pope Francis in this beautiful Novena.

Novena For Priests

First Day    Second Day    Third Day    Fourth Day    Fifth Day

Sixth Day    Seventh Day    Eighth Day    Ninth Day   

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First Day (July 27)

St. John Vianney, Who Accepted the Cross, O holy priest of Ars, as a young seminarian you encountered many obstacles on the road to the Priesthood, but you realized that to suffer was to suffer with Christ on Calvary, and so, if following our Lord meant taking up His cross, you lovingly embraced it. Your motto in life became loving while suffering and suffering in order to love. You did not get discouraged, but your strong faith united you closer to Jesus every day of your life. Oh great St. John Vianney, you know what is needed for Father_______'s salvation ---a strong faith able to accept the will of God in all things. To serve Christ, he too must take up his cross and follow Him. By your prayers, obtain for him a heart full of courage and strength. Obtain for Father_________that same courage and strength to follow Jesus wholeheartedly even if it means following Him to Calvary. Intercede for him before the Lord that he may do the will of God, obey the commandments, and loyally love the Church, the Bride of Christ. Novena Prayer: O holy Priest of Ars, St. John Marie Vianney, you loved God and served Him faithfully as His Priest. Now you see God face to face in heaven. You never despaired but persevered in your faith until you died. Remember now the dangers, fears and anxieties that surround Father _______ and intercede for him in all his needs and troubles especially console him in his most difficult moments, grant him serenity in the midst of crisis, and protect him from evil. O St. John Vianney, I have confidence in your intercession. Pray for Father _______ in a special way during this novena. Back to top

Priorities

          The other day I was chatting with a friend from New York and they were telling me of the latest craze in NY...cronuts.  Yes I know, what is that right?  Cronuts is a croissant-doughnut.  People are standing in lines all over NY by the hundreds just to get one of these delightful little pastries. ( I can say that because I have since made them.)  Some places have a limit on the number you can buy so you may stand in line a long time and then not even get one

         I thought about how the craze would soon hit where I live and be like the Krispy Cream craze.  When we first heard of them one of our christian schools here would drive to another city once a week where they were made and then drive back to Fort Smith and sell them by the truck loads.  People would line up in their cars early morning and sit in line waiting to get these pastries. The school made enough money to do many renovations.  So this stirred my imagination of possibly opening a place and getting ahead of the game, being the first to offer these cronuts.  In NY some of the cheaper places sell them for five dollars each. I figured it would be good for about six months or so.  I had laughed when the name "The Cronut Hut" came to mind as a name for the place.  Okay, while the thoughts swirled around in my head, I was not really serious.  So hey, if anyone wants to use the cool name and do it, go ahead.  LOL!

This Independence Day

Rev. Walter L. Nolte

The readings for this past 13^th Sunday in Ordinary time matched perfectly with our nation’s upcoming celebration of freedom from tyranny and oppression. Our founders fought long and hard to break the chains that held them bound to an unjust and unfair leader. They made countless untold sacrifices to ensure liberty and justice for the generations of descendants that would follow them. They passed on the mantle of vigilance to us hoping we would continue the fight for freedom against anyone who might impinge on its existence.

            As important as their fight for freedom was for us as a nation it pales in comparison to the war waged by Jesus against the oppression of the Devil. Jesus’ victory on the Cross broke the chains of bondage that had enslaved the entire human race since the sin of Adam and Eve. He claimed independence for all generations when he beseeched the Father to forgive us of our sins. His act of forgiveness from the Cross clothed us once and for all in the mantle of his obedience, thus setting us free from the constraints of sin and death and thereby making it possible for us to discover how to know and follow God’s will for our lives.

            This Independence Day, as we celebrate the freedom our nation hold dear, let us also celebrate the eternal freedom that being a faithful disciple of Christ offers us. We are truly free because Christ has made us so. It’s now up to us to live in that freedom. It’s now up to us to fight for freedom for both the born and yet to be born. We are soldiers in the army of God. The weapons we will hold in our hands will be the Cross of Christ and the Rosary of Our Lady. Our prayers will be the bullets God uses to penetrate the hearts and minds of his children. Our efforts today will win freedom for generations to come.

God bless and have a safe holiday.

Father Nolte