"Visit the Lord in that 'heart to heart' contact that is Eucharistic Adoration. Day after day, you will receive new energy to help you to bring comfort to the suffering and peace to the world." "May a constant prayer for peace rise in the Church with the praying of the rosary, both by individuals or by communities, keeping our gaze fixed on Jesus Christ, our peace" (Pope John Paul II).

Pope Leo XIII, on October 13, 1885, had a famous vision which caused him to faint. He saw Satan unleashed in all his fury to attack and to destroy the Church. Pope Leo knew our only recourse was to Our Lady and the Blessed Sacrament. He wrote nine encyclicals on the Holy Rosary telling of its importance for our time and was proclaimed "The Rosary Pope." Of the Blessed Sacrament he said: "The present and future tribulations of the church and of nations is greater than at any other period. The devotion that God gives us for the succor of the Church and of nations is devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Preach it always; preach it everywhere." (From Louis Kaczmareks new book The Eucharist and The Rosary)

On the feast of Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, May 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared at Fatima, in the first of six apparitions. This timely visit was no coincidence, it underscored the paramount importance of The Eucharist and devotion to Our Lady. The Blessed Mother asked the children to pray with her "Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament." Mary then instructed the children to "Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world." Our Lady of Fatimas last apparition, witnessed by 70,000 people, occurred on October l3th,1917, culminating with the Miracle of the Sun! This miracle was a manifestation of the glory of Jesus in the Eucharist, joining the month of October dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary with Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Our Lady said, "I am the the Lady of the Rosary, and I desire a chapel built in my honor in this place." During the course of her apparitions, Our Lady asked that we go to confession, frequently receive and adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, daily pray the Rosary, and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. In her last visit, she was with St. Joseph who held the Christ Child in his arms, as he blessed everyone--stressing the importance of invoking his intercession. Mary was dressed as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, wearing the brown scapular, highlighting its importance as a sacramental. Our Lady of Fatima promised "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." "If people do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace." "My Immaculate Heart will triumph." Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration is the perfect fulfillment of Our Ladys requests. Are we responding to her call so that there may be peace?

In his Journal of a Soul, Bl. Pope John XXIII wrote, "O Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I would like to be filled with love for You; keep me closely united with You, may my heart be near to Yours. I want to be to You like the apostle John. O Mary of the Rosary, keep me recollected when I say these prayers of yours; bind me forever, with your rosary, to Jesus of the Blessed Sacrament. Blessed be Jesus, my love, blessed be the Immaculate Virgin Mary." Bl. Pope John XXIII always prayed the 15 decade Rosary during his daily Holy Hour.

St. Therese, Patroness of Missions & Church Doctor (1873-1897), France--Oct. 1 A Carmelite religious, St. Therese of Lisieux said of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, "There I found my sole comfort" and "I felt it better to speak to God than about Him."

Feast of the Guardian Angels--Oct. 2 "See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father" (Mt 18:10). "In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, my God" (Ps 137:1). "When you pass by the chapel and havent time to stop, tell your Guardian Angel to take your messages to Our Lord in the tabernacle. He will take them and then have time to catch up with you" (St. Bernadette Soubirous).

St. Francis of Assisi, Founder of the Franciscans, (c. 1181-1226), Italy--Oct. 4 Asked what he did during the hours he spent daily before the Blessed Sacrament, St. Francis replied: "My son in return I ask you what does the poor man do at the rich mans door, the sick man in the presence of his physician, the thirsty man at a limpid stream? What they do, I do before the Eucharistic God. I pray. I adore. I love."

Our Lady of the Rosary--Oct. 7 "What the Eucharist is in the order of Sacraments, that the Rosary is in order of sacramentals the mystery and test of faith--the touchstone by which the soul is judged in its humility. The mark of the Christian is the willingness to look for the Divine in the flesh of a babe in a crib, the continuing Christ under the appearance of bread on an altar, and a meditation and a prayer on a string of beads" (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen).

St. Teresa of Avila, Carmelite & Church Doctor (1515-1582), Spain--Oct. 15 One day St. Teresa, a nun and great mystic, heard someone say: "If only I had lived at the time of Jesus . . . If only I had seen Jesus . . . If only I had talked with Jesus . . ." To this she responded: "But do we not have in the Eucharist the living, true and real Jesus present before us? Why look for more?"

St. Margaret Mary, Apostle of the Sacred Heart (d. 1690), France--Oct. 16 A Visitation sister, St. Margaret Mary wrote, "His Sacred Heart is an inexhaustible fountain of mercy . . . . And it is still the same every day in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar."

St. Isaac Jogues and the North American Martyrs (1607-1646) France--Oct. 19 It was with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, whom he loved, that Fr. Jogues daily offered all of his prayers, including the Divine Office, and urged his companions to do the same.

Prayer for Priests: Keep them, I pray Thee, dearest Lord, keep them for they are Thine--Thy priests whose lives burn out before Thy consecrated shrine. Keep them, for they are in the world, though from the world apart; when earthly pleasures tempt, allure--shelter them in Thy heart. Keep them, and comfort them in hours of loneliness and pain, when all their life of sacrifice for souls seems but in vain. Keep them, and O remember, Lord, they have no one but Thee, yet they have only human hearts, with human frailty. Keep them as spotless as the Host, that daily they caress; their every thought and word and deed, deign, dearest Lord, to bless. Amen.

Pray and work for Peace! Help us bring people to Jesus, through Mary, by spreading Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration! Please be generous with your prayers and donations.

M.B.S., P.O. Box 1701, Plattsburgh, NY 12901 (518) 561-8193 www.ACFP2000.com

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