Vigil of All Saints Feast

May All Saints Help us .

Did you ever wish you had friends in high places? Someone to help you out in a bind? Perhaps a buddy to give you a boost? A special guide?

Stop wishing and know that you do! You have friends in the highest of positions, and these are people who will not turn their backs on you when the going gets tough. In fact, they are especially pleased to smile on you and lift you up when you are down. They are the saints, and they’re planning a place among themselves for you.

Every day in the Church calendar is a Saint day, but the Solemnity of All Saints is when the Church honors all saints, known and unknown. On All Saints Day, we celebrate these saints of the Lord, and ask for their prayers and intercessions. The whole concept of All Saints Day is tied in with the concept of the Communion of Saints. This is the belief that all of God's people, on heaven, earth, and in the state of purification ( in Purgatory ).

Christians have been honoring their saints and martyrs since at least the second century AD.
Let us pray an Eve of All Saints Prayer

God Eternal Father,
All-Powerful and Ever-Living God,
Today we rejoice
in the holy men and women
of every time and place
May their prayers
bring us your forgiveness and love
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
( from the Liturgy of the Hours )

Novena for the Feast of Saint Jude Thaddeus ~~ 28th October ~~

~~ Day 1 ~~

The word Apostle means a messenger. The Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ were the messengers He sent throughout the world to tell all mankind the glad tidings, the good news of the Gospel.
Ordinary men from the fishing crafts of small inland seas, from the tax-collectors' benches, from the homes of the less than middle class, they were normally destined for obscure lives and unhonored graves.
But they met the Saviour of the world. He spoke the compelling words, "Come, follow me." They could have ignored His invitation and returned to their nets, to their coins, to their mediocrity. Wisely they accepted His invitation. They lived for three years with the Master, received from Him incredible power and authority, and went out to be His spokesmen.
Among this historic Twelve the least known was the Apostle Jude. Today however he is loved and honored by millions, who call him the Saint of the impossible.

In his honor we pray:

The Prayer of Saint Jude
[To be recited at the end of each day's meditation.]

God, Who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy Name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

This prayer is from the  Collect, the Traditional Mass, said on the Feast of Saint Jude and carries a partial indulgence for that day.
Blessed Apostle, with confidence we invoke thee!
St. Jude, help of the hopeless, aid us in our distress!
Pray for us, / that before death / we may expiate all our sins / by sincere repentance / and the worthy reception fo the Holy Sacraments!
Pray for us, / that we may appease the Divine Justice / and obtain a favorable judgement!
Pray for us, / that we may be admitted / into the company of the blessed / to rejoice in the pressence of our God forever. Amen
St. Jude, Pray for Us! And for those who invoke thy aid!
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

St. Francis Borgia, Confessor

St. Francis Borgia, a bright example of virtue, both for ecclesiastics and laymen, was born in 1510, at Gandia, in Spain. His father was John Borgia, the third Duke of Gandia; and his mother, Joanna of Aragon, grand-daughter to Ferdinand the Catholic. Francis, when only a child, was already remarkable for his virtue and piety. When scarcely seventeen years, old he came to the Court of the Emperor Charles V., where, notwith standing the many and great dangers to which he was exposed, he preserved his innocence by frequently partaking of the Blessed Sacrament, by great devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and the practice of mortification. His talents and his edifying life gained him the esteem of the Emperor; hence the Empress gave him in marriage a very virtuous lady, who was a great favorite of hers. Francis was then made chief equerry to the Emperor, and created Marquis of Lombay. The court which Francis kept after he was married might have served as a model to all Christian princes. He distributed the hours of the day, so that certain times were devoted to prayer, to business, and to recreation. He, at the same time, began the praiseworthy practice of selecting every month a Saint for especial veneration.

He was much opposed to gaming, and did not allow his servants to indulge in it. He used to say: "Gaming is accompanied by great losses; loss of money, loss of time, loss of devotion, and loss of conscience." The same aversion he had for the reading of frivolous books, even if they were not immoral. He found his greatest delight in reading devout books, and said: "The reading of devout books is the first step towards a better life." At the period in which he lived the principal enjoyments of the higher classes were music and hawking; and, as he could not abstain from them entirely, he took care, at such times, to raise his thoughts to the Almighty, and to mortify himself. Thus, when he went hawking, he closed his eyes at the very moment when the hawk swooped; the sight of which, they say, was the chief pleasure of this kind of hunting.

The Almighty, to draw His servant entirely away from the world, sent him several severe maladies, which made him recognize the instability of all that is earthly. He became more fully aware of this after the death of the Empress, whose wondrous beauty was everywhere extolled. By the order of the Emperor, it became the duty of Francis to escort the remains to the royal vault at Granada. There the coffin was opened before the burial took place, and the sight that greeted the beholders was most awful. Nothing was left of the beautiful Empress but a corpse, so disfigured, that all averted their eyes, whilst the odor it exhaled was so offensive that most of the spectators were driven away.