Saturday 8 August 2015

Dominican Friars - Province of England 8 August 2015


  Saint Dominic.





Dominican Friars - Province of England

 
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Uploaded on 11 Jun 2011
New vocations video made in 2011 for the English Dominican Province.

The Order of Friars Preachers is an international religious order of priests and brothers in the Catholic Church. The Order was founded in 1216 by St Dominic, with a mission for 'preaching and the salvation of souls'. The friars live together in communities called priories, bound together by vow and observing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Members of the Order are known around the world as 'Dominicans' after their founder. In Great Britain, Dominican friars became known in mediƦval times as 'black friars' because of the black cappa or cloak which they wear over their white habits.

The Province of England comprises seven houses in England and Scotland, and two in the Caribbean.
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Thursday 6 August 2015

Transfiguration Gospel (Year B) Mark (9:2-10)


 COMMENT:


6 August
The Transfiguration of the Lord
Feast

          THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD         131
Third Reading

Gospel (Year B)
From the gospel of Mark (9:2-10)
From a homily by Saint John of Damascus (Horn. in transfigurationem Domini, 17- 18: PG 96, 572-573)

A bright cloud overshadowed them, and seeing within it Jesus the Saviour with Moses and Elijah, the disciples were filled with great fear.
Of old when Moses saw God he experienced the divine darkness, indicating the symbolic nature of the law; for as Paul has written, the law contained only a shadow of the things to come, not the reality itself. In the past Israel could not look at the transient glory on the face of Moses; but we, beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, are being transformed from one degree of glory to another by the Lord who is the Spirit. The cloud, therefore, that overshadowed the disciples was not one of threatening darkness but of light; for the mystery hidden from past ages has been revealed to show us perpetual and eternal glory. Moses and

Elijah, representing the law and the prophets, stood by the Saviour because he whom the law and the prophets proclaimed was present in Jesus, the giver of life.
And a voice from the cloud said: This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. The voice of the Father came from the cloud of the Spirit: This is my beloved Son. He who is seen in human form, who became man only yesterday, who lives humbly in the midst of us, and whose face is now shining, is he who is. This is my beloved Son, the eternal, the only begotten of the only God, he who proceeds timelessly and eternally from me, his Father; who did not begin to exist after me, but is from me and with me and in me from all eternity.
It was by the Father's good pleasure that his only begotten Son and Word became incarnate; it was by the Father's good pleasure that the salvation of the world was achieved through his only begotten Son; it was the Father's good pleasure which brought about the union of the whole universe in his only begotten Son. For humanity is a microcosm linking in itself all visible and invisible being, sharing as it does in the nature of both, and so it must surely have pleased the Lord, the creator and ruler of the universe, for divinity and humanity and thus all creation to be united in his only begotten and consubstantial Son, so that God might be all in all.
This is my Son, the radiance of my glory, who bears the stamp of my own nature, through whom I created the angels, through whom the vault of heaven was made firm and the earth established. He upholds the universe by his powerful word, and by the Spirit which proceeds from his mouth, that is the life-giving and guiding Spirit. Listen to him. Whoever receives him, receives me who sent him by the authority not of a stern master but of a father. As a man he is sent, but as God he abides in me and I in him. Whoever refuses to honour my only begotten Son refuses to honor me, his Father who sent him. Listen to him, for he has the words of eternal life.
Responsory

  

St. John of Damascene on Holy Images (Followed by Three ...

www.ccel.org/ccel/damascus/icons.html
St. John of Damascus was an Arab Christian monk and priest who lived from late 600 to late 700 C.E. He was a man of many talents, and did work in the fields of ...   

Transfiguration of Our Lord. Jesus (Mt 16, 28)



Transfiguration of Our Lord
August 6 - iBreviary

The Roman liturgy was reading the Gospel passage refers to the episode of the transfiguration of Ember Saturdays of Lent, putting it in connection with this mystery of the passion. The same Evangelist Matthew begins the story with the words: "And after six days" (that is, after the solemn Peter's confession and the first announcement of the Passion), "Jesus took Peter, James and John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. " In this episode is a sharp contrast to the agony of the garden of Gethsemane. The Transfiguration, which is part of the mystery of salvation, is well worthy of a liturgical celebration that the Church, both in the West as in the East, it has celebrated in various ways and on different dates, until Pope Callistus III elevated grade party, extending it to the universal Church. (Avvenire)
Martyrology: Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, in which Jesus Christ, the only Son, the beloved of the Father, before the holy Apostles Peter, James and John, having as witnesses the law and the prophets, and manifested his glory, to reveal that our humble servants had been taken by him through grace and gloriously redeemed to proclaim to the ends of the earth that God's image, according to which man was created, although corrupted in Adam, He had been recreated in Christ.
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On August 6, the Church remembers the Transfiguration of Our Lord. Jesus chose to take with him the first pope and "the sons of thunder" ("Boanerges", Mk 3, 17) to climb Mount Tabor to pray. Six days before he had said to his disciples: "There are some here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom" (Mt 16, 28) and here Peter, James and John were chosen to attend ineffable: Christ appeared in his glorious body.
In fact, as he prayed, "his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white" (Lk 9, 29) and two men, also appeared in glory, spoke with him the fulfillment of his sacrifice in Jerusalem they were Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets.
St. Augustine says, in the Sermon 78, that his clothes are his Church. "If the clothes are not kept tight by the wearer, they would fall. What's wrong if the dress very white is symbolized by the Church, since they hear to the prophet Isaiah: Though your sins be as scarlet, there'll be white as snow (Isaiah 1: 18)? ". So even if the sins committed by men of the Church were colored scarlet, his spouse would still have a white dress and bright thanks to the Sun, Christ.
In this vision of Peter expresses feelings only human, not supernatural thoughts, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah, "and at this point, the Evangelist Luke explains:" He does not know what to say "; Peter, the rock on which Christ would build his Church, even at the beauty of the majesty of the Savior, using fees character grounds. St. Augustine explains: "It's good for us, O Lord - say - stay here. He was bothered by the crowd, he found the solitude on the mountain; there had Christ as food for the soul.
Why would he go down to return to the labors and pains while there was full of feelings of holy love for God and that therefore a holy gl'ispiravano conduct? He wanted to feel good. " Faced with glorious Christ Peter had found happiness and would not want to move from that place. The answer came while he yet spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and from it came a voice: "This is my Son, my Chosen; Listen to him, "the same voice that was heard when John the Baptist had baptized Jesus at the Jordan:" You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased "(Mk 1,9-11).
And when the voice had spoken Jesus was left alone. The Bishop of Tagaste says Peter tried three tents, but the answer came from Heaven showed instead that "we do have one, while the human mentality wanted to divide it. Christ is the Word of God, the Word of God in the law, the Word of God in the Prophets. Why, Peter, try to divide it? You must rather that you remain united to him.You try three tents have to understand who is one. " Always true, timeless words of this Father of the Church, the Pope is called to not divide Christ: "Come down, Peter; You wanted to rest on the mountain: come down preaching God's word, be urgent in season and out; reprove, exhort, give encouragement using all your patience and your ability to teach.
Work, spend yourself, accept even sufferings and torments that, through the brightness and beauty of good works, you may possess in charity what is symbolized in the white garments of the Lord.Because in praise of charity, read the letter of the Apostle, we heard: Do not look for its own interests (1 Cor 13: 5). Do not look for its own interests because it gives what he has. "
On that mountain the Father manifested itself in the voice, the Son in his flesh transfigured, the Holy Spirit in the luminous cloud. Peter wanted to make a tent for the king that he would not even have a stone on which to lay his head? The Savior did not come to make temporary homes in the logic of the world, but to prepare a beautiful and everlasting dwelling in His Kingdom, where the grain will wave in the Triune God.

Author: 
Cristina Siccardi

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Saturday 1 August 2015

Luisa Piccerreta. The Divine Firmness excerpt Vol. 21, ans FM Rega OFS


Product Details

 COMMENT Book of Heaven:
Text, quotation from Luisa Piccarreta from Vol. 21 before.
Frank M. Regan OFS has 3 books of abridgment from Luisa, and in ways beautifully clear in sense. http://www.frankrega.com/luisaimportant.htm  
Example parallel below.

Life of the Mystic Luisa Piccarreta: Journeys in the Divine Will - The Middle Years - Part-B

2 Oct 2014
by Frank Rega

Divine Will Volume Twenty-one
VOLUME 21
J.M.J.
Fiat!

March 5, 1927
How firmness in good is only of God, for once He has done an act, it never ceases. Effects of firmness. How the Humanity of Our Lord was the bond of times, the remedy and the model. How God wants the rights of the Divine Will to be secured.

I felt myself in a slumber of affliction because of the privation of my sweet Jesus, and in my interior I said to Him: ‘My Love and my life, how is it? You have departed from me without saying good-bye, without teaching me where to direct my steps, or the way I must follow in order to find You. Even more, it seems to me that You Yourself have burned away the paths through which You may be found. And as much as I wander around and call You, You do not listen to me – the paths are closed; and exhausted with tiredness, I am forced to stop, longing for the One whom I wish to find at any cost, but I don’t. Ah! Jesus! Jesus! Come back - come to the one who cannot live without You.’
But while I was pouring out my pain, He just barely moved in my interior; and as I felt Him move, I said to Him: ‘My Jesus, my life, how is it? You make me wait for so long, to the point that I cannot take anymore; and if You make Yourself seen, You just flash by, and You don’t say anything to me. So it becomes darker than before, and I remain fidgety and delirious with pain; I search for You; I call You – but I wait for You in vain.’

   
The Divine Firmness
And Jesus, compassionating me, told me: “My daughter, do not fear, I am here with you. What I want is that you never go out of my Will, and that you continue your acts - always, without ever moving from the boundaries of the Kingdom of the Supreme Fiat. This will give you the firmness which will make you be like your Creator – once He has done an act, that act has the virtue of continuing, without ever ceasing. An act which is always continuous, is only of God, who suffers no interruption in His acts. This is why Our firmness is unshakable, and extending everywhere with Our immensity, it renders Our acts uninterrupted. Wherever We lean, We find Our firmness, which gives Us the greatest honor – it makes Us known as the Supreme Being, Creator of all, and renders Our Being and Our acts inexorable. In fact, whatever place We want to lean on, We find Our firmness, which sustains everything.

My daughter, firmness is of divine nature, and a divine endowment; and so it is right that We give this participation and endowment of divine nature to one who must be daughter of Our Divine Fiat, and who must live in Our Kingdom. So, the fact that you continue your acts in It, without ever interrupting them, reveals that you already are in possession of the endowment of Our firmness. How many things firmness says. It says that the souls moves only for God; it says that she moves with reason and out of pure love – not with passion and out of self-interest. It says that she knows the good she does, and therefore she is firm in it, without ever interrupting it. Firmness says, with indelible characters: “Here, there is the finger of God”. Therefore, be firm in your acts, and you will have Our divine firmness within your works.”

Afterwards, I was continuing my acts in the Supreme Volition, and as I arrived at the point of following the acts of Jesus, from the moment of His conception in the womb of the Immaculate Queen, up to His death on the Cross, my adorable Jesus, making Himself felt again in my interior, told me: “My daughter, my Humanity came upon earth as though in the midst of times, in order to reunite the past, when, in creation, the fullness of my Will reigned in man. Everything belonged to It; everywhere It had Its kingdom – Its operative and divine life. And I enclosed this fullness of my Divine Will in Me, and binding those in the present, first I became the model to form the remedies which were needed, the helps and the teachings which were necessary to heal them; and then I bound the posterity to the fullness of that Divine Will which reigned in the first times of creation.

Therefore, my coming upon earth was a bond of reunion of times; it was the remedy in order to form this bond, so that the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat might return into the midst of creatures; it was the model for all, so that, being molded, they would be tied to the bonds formed by Me. This is why, before speaking to you about my Will, I spoke to you about my coming upon earth, of what I did and suffered, in order to give you the remedies and the model of my own life; and then, I spoke to you about my Will: it was bonds that I formed in you, and in these bonds I formed the Kingdom of my Will. A sign of this is the many knowledges I manifested to you about It; Its sorrow for not reigning with all Its fullness in the midst of creatures, and the goods It promises to the children of Its Kingdom.”

Then I continued to pray, and I was almost asleep, when, all of a sudden, I heard someone speak in a loud voice within me. I paid closer attention, and I saw my beloved Jesus with His arms raised, in the act of embracing me, saying to me with powerful voice: “My daughter, I ask nothing else from you but this: that you be the daughter, the mother, the sister of my Will, and that you place in safety within you, Its rights, Its honour, Its glory.” He said this with a loud and powerful voice. Then, lowering His voice and hugging me, He added: “My daughter, the reason for which I want the rights of my Eternal Fiat to be secured, is that I want to enclose the Most Holy Trinity in the soul. My Divine Will alone can give Us the place and the glory worthy of Us. Through It, We can operate freely and place in you all the good of creation, forming even more beautiful things, because with Our Will in the soul, We can do everything, while, without It, We would lack the place in which to put Ourselves, and in which to lay Our works; so not being free, We remain in Our celestial residences.

It happens as to a king, who, loving one of his subjects with excessive love, wants to lower himself to live in his little hovel. But he wants to be free; he wants to put royal things in the little hovel; he wants to command; he wants that subject to eat of his good and delicate foods together with him. In sum, he wants to live his life of king. But the subject does not want him to put his royal things, or to command; nor does he want to adapt himself to the food of the king. The king does not feel free; so, for love of freedom, he goes back to his royal palace.

Wherever my Will does not reign, I am not free; the human will causes a continuous contrast with Mine; therefore, not having Our rights secured, We cannot reign, so We remain in Our royal palace.”

March 10, 1927
How, in Creation, God gave the rights to possess the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
 .........


Life of the Mystic Luisa Piccarreta
The Middle Years - Part B
Luisa Piccarreta
PrĆ©cis (abridged)  by Frank M. Rega OFS 2014
 
www.lifeofluisa.com  

The Divine Firmness

Luisa was restless and sorrowful because of the absence of the One with Whom she could not live without. But the Lord, compassionating her, said that she should not fear, because He is with her. He told her that He never wants her to go out of His Will. She must continue her acts, without ever moving from the boundaries of the Kingdom of the Supreme Fiat. This  gives her a firmness [fermezza], similar to that of her Creator. Once He has done an act, it has continuous life, and never ceases. This firmness is unshakable, and it extends everywhere in the divine immensity. It gives the Divinity great honour, making God known as the Supreme Being and Creator of everything.

His firmness sustains everything. It is of a divine nature and quality, and it is right that the daughter of the Fiat who lives in the Divine Kingdom should participate in this quality. When Luisa continues her acts in His Will, without ever interrupting them, it reveals that she is in possession of the quality of the divine firmness. Such solidity indicates that the soul moves only for God, that she acts with reason and out of pure love, not from passion or self-interest. She knows the good that she does and remains firm in it, without stopping. Firmness signifies the presence of the finger of God.

After this, while Luisa was continuing to pray, she suddenly heard Jesus speaking within her in a loud and powerful voice. He told her that He wants her to be the daughter, mother, and sister of His Will, and asked that she place its rights, honor and glory in safety within herself. Then, softening His voice and embracing her, He said that the reason He wants the rights of the Eternal Fiat placed in safety is because He wants to enclose the Most Holy Trinity in the soul. Only the Divine Will can give the Divinity the place and glory worthy of It. By means of the Fiat, the Most High can operate freely and lay within her all the good of Creation, forming yet more beautiful things.
With the Fiat reigning in the soul, the Trinity can do everything, but without it, the place in which the Divinity can enclose Itself and operate freely is lacking. Wherever the Divine Will does not reign, God does not feel free, since the human will causes continuous contrast with the Divine Volition. Not being free and without His rights in safety, God remains in the celestial dwellings (03/05/1927).

Luisa is Important - Frank Rega

www.frankrega.com/luisaimportant.htm
12 Feb 2014 - ... that introduces her writings,. Life of the Mystic Luisa Piccarreta Journeys in the Divine Will - the Early Years. please visit www.lifeofluisa.com ...

Friday 31 July 2015

Catholic Culture of Month of August dedicated to The Immaculate Heart of Mary

With Mary Immaculate, let us adore, thank, implore and console the Most Beloved and Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
                                                 Catholic Culture of Month of August.
August, 2015 - Overview for the Month
 
The month of August is dedicated to The Immaculate Heart of Mary. The entire month falls within the liturgical season of Ordinary Time, which is represented by the liturgical color green. This symbol of hope is the color of the sprouting seed and arouses in the faithful the hope of reaping the eternal harvest of heaven, especially the hope of a glorious resurrection. It is used in the offices and Masses of Ordinary Time. The last portion of the liturgical year represents the time of our pilgrimage to heaven during which we hope for reward.
The Holy Father's Intentions for the Month of August 2015
General: That volunteers may give themselves generously to the service of the needy.
Missionary: That setting aside our very selves we may learn to be neighbors to those who find themselves on the margins of human life and society. (See also Apostleshiop of Prayer International Website)
Feasts for August
The feasts on the General Roman Calendar celebrated during the month of August are:
1. Alphonsus LiguoriMemorial
2. Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary TimeSunday
4. John VianneyMemorial
5. Dedication of St. Mary MajorOpt. Mem.
6. TransfigurationFeast
7. Sixtus II and companions; CajetanOpt. Mem.
8. DominicMemorial
9. Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary TimeSunday
10. LawrenceFeast
11. ClareMemorial
13. Pontian and HippolytusOpt. Mem.
14. Maximilian KolbeMemorial
15. AssumptionSolemnity
16. Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary TimeSunday
19. John Eudes; St. Bernard TolomeiOpt. Mem.
20. BernardMemorial
21. Pius XSunday
22. Queenship of MaryMemorial
23. Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary TimeSunday
24. BartholomewFeast
25. Louis of France; Joseph CalasanzOpt. Mem.
27. MonicaMemorial
28. AugustineMemorial
29. Passion of Saint John the Baptist Memorial
30. Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary TimeSunday
Focus of the Liturgy
The Gospel readings for the Sundays in August 2015 are taken from St. John and St. Mark and are from Year B, Cycle 1.
August 2nd - 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Jesus tells the crowd that He is the Bread of Life.
August 9th - 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time 
In this Gospel Jesus says that the bread He will give is His " flesh for the life of the world."
August 16th - 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time
In today's Gospel Jesus states that His Flesh is food and His Blood is drink.
August 23rd - 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this Gospel Peter professes his faith that Christ is the Son of the living God."
August 30th - 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites and says "You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition".
Highlights of the Month
August is often considered the transitional month in our seasonal calendar. It is the time of the year we begin to wind-down from our summer travels and vacations and prepare for Autumn — back to school, fall festivals, harvest time, etc. The Church in her holy wisdom has provided a cycle of events in its liturgical year which allow the faithful to celebrate the major feasts in the life of Christ and Mary. Most notably, during August, we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration (August 6) and the feast of the Assumption (August 15).
The other main feasts of this month are St. Alphonsus Ligouri (August 1), St. John Mary Vianney (August 4), Dedication of St. Mary Major (August 5), Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6), St. Sixtus II and Companions and St. Cajetan (August 7), St. Dominic (August 8), St. Lawrence (August 10), St. Clare (August 11)Jane Frances de Chantal (August 12), Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus (August 13), St. Maximilian Kolbe (August 14), St. John Eudes (August 19)St. Bernard(August 20), St. Pius X (August 21), the Queenship of Mary (August 22), St. Bartholomew (August 24), St. Louis of France (August 25), St. Monica (August 27), St. Augustine (August 28) and the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist (August 29).
The feasts of St. Teresa Benedicta (August 9), St. Stephen of Hungary (August 16) and St. Rose of Lima (August 23) fall on a Sunday so they are superseded by the Sunday Liturgy.
A Time to Persevere
The days of summer have provided a welcome change of pace. However, while vacations afford us the time to relax and refresh, the change of habits and routines can also have a negative impact on our spiritual lives. As if to re-ignite us, the Church offers us in the plethora of August feasts vivid examples of the virtue of perseverance: six martyrs — two who are named in Canon I of the Mass and two who were martyred during World War II; seven founders of religious congregations, as well as three popes and two kings; the apostle, St. Bartholomew; the great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine and St. Monica, his mother; the humble patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney, and the patron of deacons, St. Lawrence, who joked with his executioners while being roasted alive.
It is never too late to begin — as the life of the reformed sinner, St. Augustine teaches us — nor too difficult to begin again, as demonstrated by the conversion of the martyr, St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein). We present-day members of the Mystical Body are certain of the reward to which we are called, for Christ’s Transfigured body (August 6) is a preview of that glory. Moreover, in the Assumption of his Mother (August 15), Our Lord has demonstrated his fidelity to his promise. Her privilege is "the highest fruit of the Redemption" and "our consoling assurance of the coming of our final hope — the glorification which is Christ’s" (Enchiridion on Indulgences).
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the most perfect example of Christian perseverance, but she is also our advocate in heaven where she is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth (August 22). Mary is the "Mother of Perpetual Help", the patroness of the Congregation founded by St. Alphonsus Ligouri (August 1). "No one who has fled to her protection is left unaided" is the claim of the Memorare of St. Bernard (August 20). Heretics have returned to the faith by the prayers of her Rosary, first preached by St. Dominic (August 8) in the twelfth Century, and hearts have been converted by the graces received while wearing her Miraculous Medal, promoted by St. Maximillian Kolbe (August 14) and adopted as the "badge" for the Pious Union he founded. Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope!
My heart hath rejoiced in God my Savior, because He that is mighty hath done great things for me.
Highlights
On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption. He solemnly proclaimed that the belief whereby the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the end of her life on earth, was taken up body and soul, into the glory of heaven, definitively forms part of the deposit of faith, received from the apostles.
Recipe of the Month
Barbecue Pilaf
The Eastern Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration with ceremonies and processions to the Church where sheaves of wheat, baskets of fruit, and clusters of flowers decorate the altar. When the religious celebration is over, a fair is held, and a pilaf made of cracked wheat is the feature of the feasting. This recipe tastes especially good when eaten out-of doors with barbecued chicken.
Celebrate the feast day of the Assumption with a procession and the Blessing of Herbs and Flowers. Here are numerous ideas for this feast day, including an outdoor procession and tea.

Symbols
Armenia and India are believed to have been the areas of his missionary work. He is said to have been flayed alive and crucified.
A native of North Africa, converted by St. Ambrose and educated at Carthage, the Bishop of Hippo was the writer of his "Confessions" and the "City of God." This symbol refers to his intense zeal and devotion to Christ.
The foundress of the Order of the Poor Clares, whose emblem refers to her dispersion of Saracen invaders by facing them, bearing the Blessed Sacrament, in defense of the convent.
The archdeacon of Rome who, when ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church to pagan authorities, produced the poor and sick of the Christian community as the richest treasures of the Church. He was condemned and burned to death over a gridiron, retaining his cheerful attitude to the end.

With Mary Immaculate, let us adore, thank, implore and console the Most Beloved and Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.