AKA: The Blessed Trinity, The Most Holy Trinity, 
         God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity.

Feast Date:  The Sunday After the Feast of Pentecost
Readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 234 and following) teaches,

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in Himself. ... The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men “and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin.”

The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons...

The divine persons are really distinct from one another. “God is one but not solitary.” ”Father”, “Son”, “Holy Spirit” are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another...

Theology of the Trinity

Fulton Sheen on the Trinty

Prayers:

The Sign of the Cross

"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

The Sign of the Cross is a profession of faith—faith in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, faith in the Incarnation, and in our Redemption on the Cross. When used while blessing oneself with Holy Water, it recalls our baptism into Christ and the Indwelling of the Trinity within us. It is also a powerful sacramental that protects against the Evil One, and evil in general.

The Glory Be

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now,
and ever shall be,
world without end.

Amen.

Litany to the Most Holy Trinity
 

Feast Day: October 4
Born: 1181 in Italy
Death: 1226
Patron Saint of: of Animals, Merchants & Ecology
Vocation: Deacon
Founder of the Franciscan Order

Received the Stigmata (the wounds of Christ)
Francis trusted in God’s providence and gave away everything he owned to follow Christ.

Francis was given the name Giovanni after John the Baptist by his mother. When his father returned from a trip, he renamed his son Francesco. Francis enjoyed a very rich easy life growing up because of his father's wealth and the permissiveness of the times. From the beginning everyone loved Francis. He was constantly happy, charming, and a born leader.

As he grew up, Francis became the leader of a crowd of young people who spent their nights in wild parties. Francis himself said, "I lived in sin" during that time. Despite his dreaming, Francis was good at business. But Francis wanted more than wealth. But not holiness!

Francis wanted to be a noble, a knight. He got his first chance and was taken prisoner only to be ransomed a year later. After joining the Fourth Crusade, Francis had a dream in which God told him he had it all wrong and told him to return home. After returning and facing ridicule Francis started to spend more time in prayer. But there was a business to run.

One day while riding through the countryside, Francis, the man who loved beauty, who was so picky about food, who hated deformity, came face to face with a leper. Repelled by the appearance and the smell of the leper, Francis nevertheless jumped down from his horse and kissed the hand of the leper. When his kiss of peace was returned, Francis was filled with joy. As he rode off, he turned around for a last wave, and saw that the leper had disappeared. He always looked upon it as a test from God...that he had passed.

His search for conversion led him to the ancient church at San Damiano. While he was praying there, he heard Christ on the crucifix speak to him, "Francis, repair my church." Francis assumed this meant church with a small c -- the crumbling building he was in. Acting again in his impetuous way, he took fabric from his father's shop and sold it to get money to repair the church. His father saw this as an act of theft. Pietro dragged Francis before the bishop and in front of the whole town demanded that Francis return the money and renounce all rights as his heir.

The bishop was very kind to Francis; he told him to return the money and said God would provide. That was all Francis needed to hear. He not only gave back the money but stripped off all his clothes -- the clothes his father had given him -- until he was wearing only a hair shirt. In front of the crowd that had gathered he said, "Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father. From now on I can say with complete freedom, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'" Wearing nothing but castoff rags, he went off into the freezing woods -- singing. And when robbers beat him later and took his clothes, he climbed out of the ditch and went off singing again. From then on Francis had nothing...and everything.

Francis rebuilt the San Damiano church with his own hands, not realizing that it was the Church with a capital C that God wanted repaired. He preached about returning to God and obedience to the Church.

Francis, now with companions, created a rule based on three Gospel passages. Jesus’ command to the rich young man to sell all his good and give to the poor, the order to the apostles to take nothing on their journey, and the demand to take up the cross daily. He thought of what he was doing as expressing God's brotherhood. His companions came from all walks of life, from fields and towns, nobility and common people, universities, the Church, and the merchant class. Francis practiced true equality by showing honor, respect, and love to every person whether they were beggar or pope.

Prayers of St. Francis

Francis' brotherhood included all of God's creation. Much has been written about Francis' love of nature but his relationship was deeper than that. We call someone a lover of nature if they spend their free time in the woods or admire its beauty. But Francis really felt that nature, all God's creations, were part of his brotherhood. The sparrow was as much his brother as the pope.

In one famous story, Francis preached to hundreds of birds about being thankful to God for their wonderful clothes, for their independence, and for God's care. The story tells us the birds stood still as he walked among him, only flying off when he said they could leave.

Another famous story involves a wolf that had been eating human beings. Francis intervened when the town wanted to kill the wolf and talked the wolf into never killing again. The wolf became a pet of the townspeople who made sure that he always had plenty to eat.

Following the Gospel literally, Francis and his companions went out to preach two by two. At first, listeners were understandably hostile to these men in rags trying to talk about God's love. People even ran from them for fear they'd catch this strange madness! And they were right. Because soon these same people noticed that these barefoot beggars wearing sacks seemed filled with constant joy. They celebrated life. And people had to ask themselves: Could one own nothing and be happy? Soon those who had met them with mud and rocks, greeted them with bells and smiles.

Francis was a man of action. His simplicity of life extended to ideas and deeds. If there was a simple way, no matter how impossible it seemed, Francis would take it. So when Francis wanted approval for his brotherhood, he went straight to Rome to see Pope Innocent III. You can imagine what the pope thought when this beggar approached him! As a matter of fact he threw Francis out. But when he had a dream that this tiny man in rags held up the tilting Lateran basilica, he quickly called Francis back and gave him permission to preach.

When Francis returned to Italy, he came back to a brotherhood that had grown to 5000 in ten years. Pressure came from outside to control this great movement, to make them conform to the standards of others.

Francis' final years were filled with suffering as well as humiliation. Praying to share in Christ's passion he had a vision received the stigmata, the marks of the nails and the lance wound that Christ suffered, in his own body.

Francis died on October 4, 1226 at the age of 45. Francis is considered the founder of all Franciscan orders and the patron saint of ecologists and merchants.

Biography of St. Francis

St. Gabriel the Archangel
Feast Day: September 29 (with Sts. Michael and Raphael)
Patron Saint of: messengers, telecommunication workers, postal workers
Appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary to announce that she we conceive and bear a son, Jesus.

What does the Name Gabriel Mean?

St. Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger for God to certain people. He is one of the three archangels mentioned in Holy Scripture (Tradition tells us there are 7 archangels). Gabriel is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible.

First, in the Old Testament, Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his visions. Gabriel is described as, "one who looked like man," as he interprets Daniel's visions. He speaks to Daniel while he is sleeping. After Gabriel's first visit, Daniel becomes tired and sick for days. Gabriel later visits Daniel again providing him with more insight and understanding in an answered prayer.
 
In the New Testament, Gabriel, described as "an angel of the Lord," first appears to Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist. He tells him, "Fear not, Zachariah: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth." Luke 1:13.
 
After Elizabeth conceived and was six months pregnant, Gabriel appears again. The Book of Luke states he was sent from God to Nazareth to visit the virgin married to a man named Joseph. Gabriel told Mary she would conceive from The Holy Spirit and the baby will be the Son of God. After the Annunciation of Mary, Gabriel is not spoken of again.
 
Gabriel's attributes are the Archangel; he is clothed in blue or white; and is seen carrying a lily, a trumpet, a shining lantern, a branch from Paradise, a scroll, or a scepter. In art, Gabriel is often represented in the scene of the Annunciation.

Biography of St. Gabriel

Prayer to St. Gabriel for Others

Feast Day: October 22
Born: 1920 in Poland
Death: 2005
Patron Saint of: World Youth Day
Vocation: Priest, Bishop

Karol J. Wojtyla, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in Wadowice, a small city outside Cracow, on May 18, 1920. He was the second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer died in 1941. He made his First Holy Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from high school, he enrolled in the University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry (1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany. In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Cracow. At the same time, Karol Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the "Rhapsodic Theatre," also clandestine. After the Second World War, he continued his studies in the major seminary of Cracow, once it had re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the University, until his priestly ordination on November 1, 1946.

Soon after ordination, he was sent to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology in 1948 with a thesis on the topic of faith in the works of St. John of the Cross. At that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland. In 1948 he returned to Poland and was vicar of various parishes, chaplain for the university students, continued his studies in philosophy and theology, became professor of moral philosophy and social ethics.

On July 4, 1958, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cracow. In 1964, he became Archbishop of Cracow and late made a cardinal. He took part in Vatican Council II with an important contribution to the elaboration of the Constitution Gaudium et Spes.

Becoming pope in 1978, Pope John Paul II traveled extensively, wrote many volumes, survived an assassination attempt, presided at 138 beatification ceremonies (1,310 Blesseds proclaimed) and 48 canonization ceremonies (469 Saints). The once vibrant, strong Pope became frail, sick and physically weak. He showed us the beauty of a suffering endured in love and offered for others in his last days among us. He was canonized alongside the Blessed John XXIII on April 27, 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday, by Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

More about St. Pope John Paul II

Feastday: October 28
Patron: of Desperate causes, desperate situations, lost causes
Apostle and Cousin of Jesus

St. Jude, also known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, and a relative of Our Savior. He was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. Images of St. Jude often include a flame around his head, which represent his presence at Pentecost, when he accepted the Holy Spirit alongside the other apostles. St. Jude is also often depicted holding an image of Christ.

Saint Jude is not the same person as Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God's mercy.

Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. He is an author of an epistle (letter) to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against various heresies. Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lybia. The Apostles Jude and Bartholomew are believed to have brought Christianity to Armenia, where Jude was rumored to have later been martyred. There is some debate about where Jude died, though most Biblical scholars agree he was martyred. Little else is known of his life.

Following his death, St. Jude's body was brought to Rome and left in a crypt in St. Peter's Basilica. Today his bones can be found in the left transept of St. Peter's Basilica under the main altar of St. Joseph in a tomb he shares with the remains of the apostle Simon the Zealot. Pilgrims came to St. Jude's grave to pray and many reported a powerful intercession, leading to the title, "The Saint for the Hopeless and the Despaired." Two Saints, St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Bernard, had visions from God asking them to accept St. Jude as "The Patron Saint of the Impossible."

Roman Catholics invoke St. Jude when in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances -just as their forefathers had done before them; therefore, he is the patron saint of desperate cases.

When the apostles are listed in Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, Jude's name does not appear but "Thaddeus" does. This occurrence led early Christians to believe Jude was known as both "Jude" and "Thaddeus," the latter of which could have been a sort of nickname. "Thaddeus" may have become a popular nickname for Jude following Judas Iscariot's betrayal.

More about St. Jude

Prayers
 

A popular prayer to Saint Jude:

"O most holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honoureth and invoketh thee universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, and of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, who am so miserable.

"Make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded to thee, to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of. Come to mine assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may praise God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity.

"I promise thee, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favour, to always honour thee as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to thee. Amen."

Another prayer to Saint Jude:

"Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor for all who invoke thee, special patron in time of need; to thee I have recourse from the depth of my heart, and humbly beg thee, to whom God hath given such great power, to come to my assistance; help me now in my urgent need and grant my earnest petition. I will never forget thy graces and the favors thou dost obtain for me and I will do my utmost to spread devotion to thee. Amen."

Feast Day: Last Sunday of the Liturgical Calendar (Sunday before Advent) This year Nov. 26

A title of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity

Readings for The Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

In the new Roman Missal (2011 in the US) the name of this feast was expanded to be called Christ, King of the Universe. Pope Pius XI instituted this as a liturgical feast in 1925 to respond to growing secularism and atheism. This solemnity is to remind us that while governments come and go, Christ reigns as King forever.

Christ the King is one of the most important titles of Jesus. Even though Jesus Christ was not a king in the earthly sense, He is the divine King of the Universe, who unites all of creation with the Father. Christ’s kingship is rooted in the Church’s teaching on the Incarnation. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is both the divine Lord and the man who suffered and died on the Cross. He is the one person of the Trinity who unites himself to human nature and reigns over all creation as the Incarnate Son of God. From this it follows that Christ is to be adored, and to him men are subject and must recognize his empire. Christ has power over all creatures.

Jesus Christ must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, ‘as instruments of justice unto God.’

Even though most nations no longer have kings or queens, most people understand the implications of the term. Human kings and queens wield sovereign authority by birthright, not necessarily personal excellence. Christ has not only authority, divine authority and power, but personal excellence and holiness, surpassing all creatures.

More about Christ the King

Litany to Christ the King

Reflection - Christ the King