St Alphonsus is known as the patron of Arthritics as he suffered from the condition for many years.

St. Alphonsus, you are the special patron of all who suffer from arthritis and the pains of many years. When our fingers twist with pain, keep us focused on the hands of Christ pierced with nails.When our knees throb with endless aches,allow us to see the knees of Jesus smashing to the street under the heavy cross. When our backs stiffen with soreness, let us remember the back of Christ thrown across the cold, rough wood of the cross. When our hips, elbows, knuckles, and other joints hurt so much that tears well up in our eyes, help us to recall the tears, the sweat, and the blood that flowed from our crucified Jesus Who suffered so much more for each of us.

St. Alphonsus,you were afflicted with curvature of the spine and confined to a wheelchair in your final years.Teach us to unite all our pains with the sufferings of Jesus. By your intercession may our pains be eased - but even more, may we be one with Jesus in his death and resurrection for the redemption of the world.

St. Alphonsus helps us, with

Help To Holiness - Desire And Resolution

Holiness means loving God.

To love God, we must first desire to love him.

If we do not want something, we will, certainly go to little trouble to obtain it!

So it is with the love of God.

He that has small wish to advance in divine love will become lukewarm and, continuing this tepidity,

will soon fall totally away from God.

On the other hand whoever aspires after holiness, and makes daily efforts to advance, will, little by little, attain it.

Saint Teresa assures us:

     God leaves no deisre  without its reward.

But let us not trust to our own efforts to advance in holiness, but hope for all from and through God.

He will give us strength which, of course, we do not possess.

    I can do all things in him   who strengthen me.

     Philippians 4:13

Many desire holiness but never take the means to gain it!

They want to do great penance and practice great prayer,

but such desires are mere fancies.

Saint Teresa often said:

     The devil has no dread  of irresolute souls.

RESOLUTIONS

Let us then fix our minds in the ways of God.

Let us resolve to meditate each day on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us resign ourselves in peace to God's plan for us.

Let us endeavour, in the time remaining to us, to give all to God.

Jesus has given himself to us;

may God help us to give ourselves to him.

PRAYER

Jesus, my saviour, help me.

I am resolved truly to love you,

and to leave all to please you.

Help me to free myself from everything

that hinders me from belonging wholly to you

who have loved me so much.

By your prayers, O Mother Mary,

which are so powerful with God,

obtain for me this grace

to belong wholly to God.

We invite you to pray the following Litany of St Alphonsus...

Nobleman
who laid your sword at the feet of Our Lady of Ransom as a sign of your conversion….. 
pray for us!

Lawyer
whose mastery of civil and canon law foreshadowed your advocacy of those condemned by Jansenism…. pray for us!

Hospital Minister
to the incurably ill, who learned compassion in service to others…. pray for us!

Preacher of Missions
who spread God’s tender love through street preaching and through the creation of an association of chapel storefronts….. pray for us!

Practical Organizer
who used your creative energy to spread the gospel, to feed the hungry, to found the Redemptorists, and to shepherd a diocese….. pray for us!

Chaplain
to the condemned on their last journey….. pray for us!

Artist
who used your gifts of imagination and painting to express your tenderest emotions toward Jesus Christ and His mother….. pray for us!

Musician
whose religious lyrics and melodies fill the households of Italy to this day….. pray for us!

Poet
whose affective verse and tender prayer touches the deepest emotions in people’s hearts….. pray for us!

Man of Letters
whose pamphlets and books reveal in simple language the good news of God’s redeeming love….. pray for us!

Mystic
who found God to be father, mother, sister, brother, lover, and dearest friend…. pray for us!

Spiritual Director
who gently encouraged sinners to repentance and prayer, and who deeply challenged good people to become saints…. pray for us!

Founder
of Redemptorist missionaries whose spirit lives in generations of Redemptorists, Redemptoristines, Immaculate Heart of Mary Congregations,and Missionaries of the Most Holy Redeemer….. pray for us!

Friend of the Poor
who shared all you had while living in need yourself…. pray for us!

Moral Theologian
whose principles have ensured freedom of conscience for those unjustly burdened by rigorism….. pray for us!

Superior General
who served your brothers on good days and bad….. pray for us!

Bishop
who saw to the formation and education of priests and who took time to listen to the people of your diocese….. pray for us!

Saint
filled with the Spirit of God in spite of human weaknesses…. pray for us!

Doctor of the Church
who teaches us how to pray, to serve, to forgive, to love…. pray for us!

AMEN.

Sister Margaret M. O’Shea IHM

A prayer in honour of Venerable Maria Celeste Crostarosa

Loving God, by the gifts of your Holy Spirit, Maria Celeste responded to inspirations received in the depths of her contemplative prayer. Help me, through her intercession, to open myself to deep contemplative prayer and communion with your will. Give me a portion of her listening, her love, and her courage, that through union with you in prayer, I may become that “living memory of Jesus, our Redeemer” in my family, in my workplace, and in my ministry, for the same of all your created world. Amen