Daily Life – Holy Family Catechism

Thank you for loving me. I am sorry for my sins which caused Your passion and death. I will not forget your sorrow, Your mother’s sorrow, and Your command to behold my mother. I, as your mother’s child living in her heart, forever love you and consecrate myself and my own to You, washed in Your precious blood, and offered with the Masses, for Your and Your mother’s will.

My Dear Mother,

I, (your full name) , I accept you as my mother, forever consecrate myself to you and welcome you into my home.

I love you, seek you, and place my confidence in you. Thank you for taking such great pains to secure me as your own child, for loving me and placing me under your shadow and protection, in the folds of your mantle and in the crossing of your arms.

Everything I do, I will do with you, as your child living in your heart. Give me, in return, a confident heart that loves God first, loves and endures for others as Christ did for me, enlightens the world, spreads devotion and reparation to your Immaculate Heart, helps you convert sinners, relieve the souls in purgatory, and crush the devil; and a heart that fears no illness, vexation, anxiety or pain.

In my trials please hear my weeping and my sorrows; remedy my sufferings, necessities and misfortunes; and let nothing discourage, dismay or depress me, or alter my heart or my countenance.

Your heart is my refuge and my road to God.

+ Amen +

II: The Brown Scapular

Preparation

Purchase a Brown Scapular.

Contact your local parish office and book a meeting with a priest for Confession and enrollment into the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular.

Read about the enrollment process before the meeting.

Read about confession before the meeting.

Enrollment

The night before your meeting, complete your examination of conscience and devoutly recite the Act of Contrition.

Bring your scapular to the meeting.

Start the meeting with confession.

After confession and absolution, ask the priest to enroll you into the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular.

After your enrollment, ask the priest for permission to say five decades of the Rosary everyday as part of your Brown Scapular Observance.

Once complete, congratulations! As per St. Alphonsus Maria Ligouri, “Those who say the Rosary daily and wear the Brown Scapular and who do a little more, will go straight to Heaven.”¹

III: Confession & Spiritual Direction

At your parish, find the confession schedule and commit to confession at least once a month.

Ask your local Catholic priest if they can be your spiritual director. Your goal is to meet once a month, receive the sacrament of confession, and receive their advice in growing in holiness.

Some priests are very busy and may not say yes, but do not give up. Pray and find another priest to ask.

Do not stop until you find a priest who can be your spiritual director and can offer your confession.

IV: Devotion to the Sacred Heart

Read and execute the Devotion of the Nine First Fridays to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

V: Devotion to the Immaculate Heart

Read and execute the Devotion of the Five First Saturdays to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Recollections

When you feel alone

Lucia (Fatima): “I want you to take us to Heaven.”¹

Dear Mom: “Yes, I will take Francisco and Jacinta soon, but you must remain on earth for some time. Jesus wishes to use you to make me better known and loved. He wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.”

Lucia: “Must I stay here all alone?”

Dear Mom: “No, my child, and would that make you suffer? Do not be disheartened. My Immaculate Heart will never abandon you, but will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”

When you feel worried

Dear Mom (Guadalupe): “Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.”¹

When you feel unsure of what to do

Dear Mom (La Salette): “Come to me, my children. Do not be afraid. I am here to tell you something of the greatest importance. If my people will not obey, I shall be compelled to loose my Son’s arm. It is so heavy, so pressing that I can no longer restrain it.”¹

Dear Mom: “How long I have suffered for you! If my Son is not to cast you off, I am obliged to entreat Him without ceasing. But you take no least notice of that. No matter how well you pray in future, no matter how well you act, you will never be able to make up to me what I have endured for your sake. ‘I have appointed for you six days for working. The seventh I have reserved for myself. And no one will give it to me.’ This is what causes the weight of my Son’s arm to be so crushing. The cart drivers cannot swear without bringing in my Son’s name. These are two things that make my Son’s arm so burdensome.”¹

Dear Mom: “Only a few rather old women go to Mass in the summer. All the rest work every Sunday throughout the summer. And in winter, when they don’t know what to do with themselves, they go to Mass only to poke fun at religion. During Lent they flock to the butcher shops, like dogs…..My children, you will make this known to all people.”¹

Lucia (Fatima): “Yes, she wants people to recite the Rosary. People must recite the Rosary.”²

Dear Mom: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say often, especially when you make some sacrifice, ‘O my Jesus, this is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ “

Dear Mom: “I am the Lady of the Rosary, I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask for pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already too grievously offended by the sins of men. People must say the Rosary. Let them continue saying it everyday.”

Dear Mom: “Look my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me…”