Pledge to Pray, Fast, & Adore

Pledge to Pray, Fast, & Adore

Why Pledge to Pray, Fast & Adore?

We encourage everyone to make a specific Pledge and not just to plan on saying some prayers. Why? Have a look…

  • The more specific and methodical a plan is the more likely it will be completed and fruitful. All of us have good intentions, but the difference between intentions and actions is the decision of a specific course of action and choice of following it out. The Pledge is designed to make it simple for you to have a clear plan.

  • Another great benefit of the Pledge is that it will help you remember to perform the prayer or work that you have committed to do. This is very important! Many of us have had good intentions but have not followed through on them, and not because we chose not to, but because just plain forgot. The Pledge form commitment will help you to keep your plan in your mind because you know that you have made a promise.

  • Making a Pledge also helps to keep you strong in the midst of difficulty. If no one knows what I have committed to and I don’t feel like doing it anymore it’s much easier to just abandon it than if I have expressed my commitment to someone else.

  • Finally, if you fill out the Pledge form prayerfully (as we hope you will) you will actually obtain God’s grace to help you to fulfill the commitment you’ve made. This is the most important aspect of preparing for any good work we want to do. We should always ask our Lord to give us the light and the strength to perform the work according to His good will and for His greater glory.

May God bless you and your loved ones for your prayers and sacrifices.

Why Register to Pray, Fast & Adore?

We encourage everyone to make a specific Pledge and not just to plan on saying some prayers. Why? Have a look…

  • The more specific and methodical a plan is the more likely it will be completed and fruitful. All of us have good intentions but the difference between intentions and actions is the decision of a specific course of action and choice of following it out. Intentions left general and ambiguous, make us feel as though we will do something but in reality, it is not likely unless at some point we then make a specific plan and choose to follow it. The Pledge is designed to make it simple for you to have a clear plan.

  • Another great benefit of the Pledge is that it will help you remember to perform the prayer or work that you have committed to do. This is very important! Many of us have had good intentions but have not followed through on them, and not because we chose not to, but because just plain forgot. The Pledge form commitment will help you to keep your plan in your mind because you know that you have made a promise.

  • Making a Pledge also helps to keep you strong in the midst of difficulty. If no one knows what I have committed to and I don’t feel like doing it anymore it’s much easier to just abandon it than if I have expressed my commitment to someone else.

  • Finally, if you fill out the Pledge form prayerfully (as we hope you will) you will actually obtain God’s grace to help you to fulfill the commitment you’ve made. This is the most important aspect of preparing for any good work we want to do. We should always ask our Lord to give us the light and the strength to perform the work according to His good will and for His greater glory.

May God bless you and your loved ones for your prayers and sacrifices.

The Spiritual Battle Today!

“Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from His mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. 

Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all (the) flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” 

~ Ephesians 6:10-17

Sword

In the past several years, we have been able to see the signs of the times all around us. We seem to be in a period of outbreaks of disease, disasters, global economic collapse, and rapid moral decline. The course of human events can only be changed by the power of prayer and fasting.

  • Wars are spreading throughout the world. The Mideast region continues to have civil unrest, causing the greatest threat of war since World War II.
  • Outbreaks of epidemics, strange diseases and plagues continue to occur.
  • Legalized murder in this country (the killing of the innocent) continues to destroy more people annually than deaths from all of the U. S. wars combined, since the Revolutionary War.
  • Earthquakes and volcanic activity are increasing greatly throughout the world- breaking records.
  • Devastation is increasing from tsunamis, fires, floods, mudslides and other natural disasters.
  • The unusual weather changes continue to break all records – and future weather seasons are expected to be more unpredictable.
  • The souls of our families continue to be at great risk as many people are being corrupted by today’s media, TV, movies and music.
  • Sins of impurity and moral perversion have become ever more widespread and immorality has spread like an epidemic.
  • Our country’s economic and financial demise is being hastened by each man-made and natural disaster.

How You Can Be The Change The World Needs

A few helpful ideas
  • Fast on bread and water; eat only one meal a day; fast from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., etc. 
  • Fast from all technology one day a week.
  • Deny yourself dessert on set days. 
  • Skip salt on your food.
  • Fast from TV for a few days or a week.
  • Don’t eat between meals. 
  • Pray the Rosary daily – all four mysteries if you can. 
  • Attend Holy Hour Prayer Vigils. 
  • Recite the Divine Mercy Chaplet daily. 
  • Consecrate yourself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary & Sacred Heart of Jesus. 
  • Attend Holy Mass daily. 
  • Perform Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. 
  • Talk to your pastor and priest requesting that they hold Eucharistic Adoration, Holy Hours, Rosary Vigils, novenas and/or other devotions during the International Week of Prayer and Fasting. Tell them you will help with this!
  • Make copies of our flyer advertising the campaign and ask your pastor’s permission to distribute the flyers in your church’s weekly bulletin. Give copies to family, friends, and members of your prayer group. 
  • Ask your parish’s prayer groups, the Knights of Columbus and other groups to organize prayer and Rosary vigils.
  • Contact your local pro-life groups and ask them to promote the nine-day period by including the flyer in their publications.
  • Contact your local Catholic bookstore. Ask them to display the flyers in their stores to help spread the word to their customers.
  • Contact your diocese and the religious editors of your local newspapers. Ask them to include the flyer and publicity about the prayer campaign in their publications.
  • Sponsor a school pro-life Mass; invite pro-life and/or chastity speakers. 
  • Have Catholic school students be involved in the nine-day period of prayer for our country.

We are enabled to make our lives (and each moment of our lives) a prayerful sacrifice by understanding that God reveals Himself through the daily events, possibilities, restrictions, cares and sufferings of our ordinary life, and striving more and more to fully recognize and accept His merciful will in every situation.

This fundamental truth of the Catholic Faith is present in both the foundation and the soaring heights of sanctity. As God is both the source and the final purpose of our lives, so in this practical spirituality, we are assisted in making each choice an offering that draws its strength from Him (it’s source) and offers Him back a loving sacrifice (it’s final purpose). 

All prayer is implicitly a petition for the light to know God’s will and the strength to put it into action. This hidden and beautiful practice is a living out of that prayer in each moment.

An Aspiration prayer is a secret and sudden lifting up of the soul’s desires to God, upon any emergency that may occur in Providence. One may engage in this prayer by a simple thought darted up to heaven or by words uttered in the mind. It helps us to maintain fellowship with God, without any interruption of our daily tasks. It is also a means to repel sudden temptations, and to dispose our hearts to a more solemn performance of our duties.

Aspirations of Love to Jesus Christ:

Spiritual Practice: Cultivate the habit of often using the name “Jesus,” in silent prayer. When you get up in the morning and retire at night, invoke His Holy Name. During the day, learn to associate whatever you are doing with a moment’s prayerful aspiration, pronouncing the word “Jesus.” 

If you do this, you will not only grow in your belief that Jesus is indeed God who became man, you will experience the spiritual power that is available to those who call upon Him in faith. 

Saint Alphonsus De Liguori, Doctor of the Church

My Jesus, Thou alone art sufficient for me.  My love, do not permit me to separate myself from Thee.  When shall I be able to say, “My God, I cannot lose thee any more?”

“All for Thee, dear Lord.”

‘My Jesus, have mercy!’

‘The Word was made flesh.’

‘My Jesus, my Love! Let Your will be done in me.’

‘Jesus, help me.’

‘Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have confidence in Thee, boundless confidence for everything.’ 

General Aspirations:

‘Jesus, Mary, Joseph, be my Salvation.’

‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (known as The Jesus Prayer)

‘My God & my all!’

‘Jesus, Mary, I love You. Save souls.’

‘God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to help me.’

‘May the Holy Cross be my light.’ (Jubilee Medal of St. Benedict)

‘Be gone, Satan! Suggest not to me thy vain things. The cup thou profferest me is evil; drink thou thy poison.’ (Jubilee Medal of St. Benedict)

‘Comfort me, Mother of God !’

‘May each created object, O Lord, be to my eyes a glass, wherein I may behold Thy countenance, and be admonished of Thy presence.’

‘Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners!’

‘Jesus, I trust in thee.’

‘Make me all Thine before I die.’

‘Stay with us, O Lord.’

‘May, O Lord, the light of Thy countenance shine upon us.’

‘My God, I offer you all my work.’

‘My God, I love you.’

‘My God, I wish for Thee alone, and nothing more.’

‘May my only happiness be to please Thee, O Infinite Goodness.’

‘I give You my will, my liberty; dispose of me as You please.’

‘Thou art omnipotent; make me a Saint.’

‘May I die rather than ever offend Thee again.’

‘O God of love, give me love.’

‘Lord, who am I, that Thou shouldst desire so much to be loved by me?’

‘Thou didst give Thyself all to me; I give myself all to Thee.’

The Pilgrim Queen of the Family is a network of Catholic families united by the desire to live and share the Gospel and to promote the devotion of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The importance of praying together, especially the Holy Rosary, is paramount in our lives now. Our world and our individual lives need Our Lady’s intercession, always united in praying for the Church and Pope’s intentions, vocations, families and friends.

Learn More

Sacrifice in the context of Catholic spirituality can be understood as the voluntary offering of something precious to God. The Most precious thing that we possess is our own self-will. Understanding this can have a profound effect on spiritual progress in our day to day lives.

We all make countless choices every day. Most of them are influenced by our own preferences and dispositions and they become choices of self-will. This is not necessarily bad (so long as those choices aren’t immoral), but we can offer these little choices to God as a sacrifice.

What does this look like? It starts with considering the little choices we make. We can ask ourselves questions throughout the day like, “What will I drink at this meal?” or, “What will I wear today?” We can then choose that which both God and I know I do not enjoy or prefer. Again we could ask, “What will I do after work?” Perhaps I can choose that little task I have been avoiding because I find it disagreeable.

All of this done with a heart of devotion to God leads one to live a more prayerful and charitable life. During these nine days prayerfully offer the little choices of self-denial you make for the conversion of America and of our world. These little offerings to God are humble and pleasing to Him and will draw down His mercy upon our country and upon the world.

God has made us to know and to love. Because of this, we have been given a deep desire for knowledge and the communion of shared understanding. We speak that we may be known, that our ideas and thoughts might be understood. This desire is powerful and constant, but this capacity can be deeply misused.

Words can destroy by cruelty and can darken by deceit. Much evil in the world has been the result of words that should have been left unspoken, and God is offended by sins of the unrestrained tongue. 

Because the impulse to speak is so powerful in most people, we are enabled to make a special sacrifice of self-denial in restraining our speech. This does not mean that we are always silent, but rather that we offer all useless speech.

This means asking oneself throughout the day, “Am I helping this person by saying what I am about to say?” If the answer is no, remain silent. In this way, we are enabled to edify our neighbor, grow in virtue by self-denial, and please our Lord by offering him something very dear to us.

 

The Catholic Gentleman offers a helpful guide to help men start fasting.

Spiritual Weapons: Fasting

A Prayer to Our Lady, Queen of the Angels

August Queen of the Heavens, Heavenly Sovereign of the Angels, Thou who from the beginning hast received from God the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan, we humbly beseech Thee to send thy holy legions, so that under Thy command and through Thy power, they may pursue the demons and combat them everywhere, suppress their boldness, and drive them back into the abyss.

O good and tender Mother, Thou wilt always be our love and hope! O Divine Mother, send Thy Holy Angels to defend us and to drive far away from us the cruel enemy. Holy Angels and Archangels, defend us, guard us. Amen.