Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Have a Blessed Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Prayer To Our Lady of the Rosary

O Virgin Mary, grant that the recitation of thy Rosary may be for me each day, in the midst of my manifold duties, a bond of unity in my actions, a tribute of filial piety, a sweet refreshment, an encouragement to walk joyfully along the path of duty. Grant, above all, O Virgin Mary, that the study of thy fifteen mysteries may form in my soul, little by little, a luminous atmosphere, pure, strengthening, and fragrant, which may penetrate my understanding, my will, my heart, my memory, my imagination, my whole being. So shall I acquire the habit of praying while I work, without the aid of formal prayers, by interior acts of admiration and of supplication, or by aspirations of love. I ask this of thee, O Queen of the Holy Rosary, through Saint Dominic, thy son of predilection, the renowned preacher of thy mysteries, and the faithful imitator of thy virtues. Amen.

Urgent Prayers for Fr Mike Williams

"Poor Fr. Mike has fallen unconscious with a mysterious lump on his brain. We visited him last night - he has been in critical condition on a life support machine since Thursday. Basically we need a miracle - if he is to survive he has to open his eyes in the next couple of days and then he will still need brain surgery.

He is also the only priest (that I know of) in this Archdiocese who goes to lead the Rosary outside the BPAS. He has brought souls back to God through his work as a full time hospital chaplain and is regarded in the Archdiocese for his maturity and virtue.

We are asking people to pray for a miracle to Blessed Cardinal JH Newman and as Fr Mike has devotion to St. Philomena - Powerful with God, to ask for her help too! A priest last night also suggested Blessed Pope John Paul II."

We recieved this from friends in Liverpool and having met Fr Williams a couple of time would ask your prayers for this very good Priest.

Stuart McCullough

Urgent extra National Day of Prayer and Fasting for Life, Tuesday 6th (or Wednesday 7th) September

On Tuesday 6th September(moved to 7th after we sent this out as an email!) in the House of Commons there will be a debate regarding Health and Social Care Bill. A number of amendments regarding the counselling of pregnant women in relationship to abortion will be debated. With the details that we currently have it is not clear what would be the long term outcome of these amendments. Although there are some serious concerns that pro-lifers have raised. The Good Counsel Network has therefore called for an extra day of prayer and fasting for life with the intention that God’s Will, will be done and that the bill and any amendments to it, will do nothing to hinder the pro-life movement and that it will also not lead to an increase in the number of abortions.



Therefore on Tuesday 6th of September (or on Wednesday 7th)please:



Fast



Fast from all food except bread and water for the day



Or



Fast from a particular food or luxury, e.g. chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes, TV.



Fast from whatever you can, given your state of health etc, but make sure it is something that involves a sacrifice to yourself.



Prayer



We are asking people to say a Rosary (or an extra Rosary if you say it daily already).



You could also offer an extra effort such as going to Mass (or an extra Mass) on the day, or going to Adoration. You can even pray before a closed tabernacle if Adoration is not available near you.

(Photo of Benediction at Good Counsel on the eve of the Fast Day.)

Stuart McCullough

Urgent! National Day of Prayer & Fasting for Life

Once a month the Good Counsel Network has a National Day of Prayer & Fasting for Life. As the unseen mass slaughter of abortion and euthanasia goes on around us day in day out, it is easy to become a bit laid back about the evils of this world. But not so this month, the Fast Day is Thursday 10th February, Vigil of the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. MP Chris Bryant’s private member’s bill to make sex and relationships education (SRE) compulsory in all schools is due for second reading this Friday, 11th February.

We also have the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists launching a consultation on their proposed guidelines for the care of women requesting induced abortion with a deadline of 18th February.

So please join us each month in Prayer and Fasting for Life:
Fasting
Fast from all food except bread and water for the day
Or
Fast from a particular food or luxury, e.g. chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes, TV.
Fast from whatever you can given your state of health etc, but make sure it is something that involves a sacrifice to yourself.
Prayer
We are asking people to say a Rosary (or an extra Rosary if you say it daily already).
You could also offer an extra effort such as going to Mass (or an extra Mass) on the day, or going to Adoration. You can even pray before a closed tabernacle if Adoration is not available near you.

Prayer to Our Lady of Guadelupe Softens the Hardened Heart

One Saturday recently, I went to our Centre to speak with a woman who had come to us looking for abortion. She had come back to us a second time still asking us to help her get an abortion and it was my job to speak to us on her 3rd visit. A fairly unpleasant job I thought.

This lady, let's call her Monica, knew she could go elsewhere and get an abortion, but she had a certain trust in us. We had talked through all the risks of abortion with her. The dangers, possible side effects, the reality of what would happen to her baby in an abortion. We discussed why we thought it was wrong. All these things let her know we really cared about her health and wellbeing.

But they didn't "move" her in her resolve to abort one tiny bit.

If we got an abortion for her, she felt, it would be at least as safe as it could be. So she came to see us for the third time in the hope that, maybe, she could persuade us to arrange her abortion.

Monica had a toddler already and her husband has serious psychological problems. They have not been together for many months. She has separated from him for her child's welfare as much as her own. He has used physical violence against them before. His family think she is crazy for ever being with him. Her own family think so too. They say to her "It's lucky you only have the one child with him!"

On her previous visits she had told us "I never wanted children - I don't want his child - I don't want this child. Get it out of me!"

This is the language women often use about their baby when they are victims of abuse, rape, violence, or other issues where they are left to feel - as Monica did - stupid, guilty, shamed, hurt and used.

The problem is with the father, not with the baby. But the problem of the father gets reflected onto the baby by the poor woman who carries the child of man who has wounded her.

Can I in the short time we have together diffuse all that hurt and anger and suffering? - I asked myself this as she sat before me. She was very hardened into her choice to abort. Had the doctor been standing in the room ready to abort the child she would have said "yes". I whispered a quick prayer and set about trying to crack the hardened heart. I hadn't spoken for long when suddenly something happened. I hadn't said anything striking but I felt the weight of a huge burden lift in the room. Suddenly she began to say "I think I should keep the baby, What do you think?" She watched a video showing the abortion process at her stage and she said "You know, I have seen this before but it made no impact. I have heard about what abortion does when I came here before, but while I heard the words it didn't affect me. But now, something has changed. All of it has just now become clear to me. It is all affecting me now."

We sat together for 2 hours talking about the help she would need making a plan together. It was light and joyful and suddenly - though she still knew raising this second child - alone - would be hard, she embraced the child as hers - a sibling of her beloved toddler and - she could admit it now - the second child she had always wanted!

After she left, I went to the chapel and afterwards I asked the other staff and volunteers "Who was praying here about half an hour after I went in to see Monica?" no-one they thought. I was mystified. I really felt the power of prayer at work.

I pottered round to Westminster Cathedral that afternoon to see the relic replica image of Our Lady of Guadelupe. It struck me when I arrived that the service of prayer before this image had been led by Archbishop Nichols exactly half an hour after my meeting with Monica started and I couldn't help but feel that it was very much connected. Thank you our Blessed Lady. Monica is now awaiting the birth of her child in April.

Clare McCullough

National Day Of Prayer And Fasting

Join us in Prayer and Fasting For Life On Thursday 18th November.
Fasting
Fast from all food except bread and water for the day.
Or
Fast from a particular food or luxury, e.g. chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes, TV.
Fast from whatever you can given your state of health etc, but make sure it is something that involves a sacrifice to yourself.
Prayer
We are asking people to say a Rosary (or an extra Rosary if you say it daily already). You could also offer an extra effort such as going to Mass (or an extra Mass) on the day, or going to Adoration. You can even pray before a closed tabernacle if Adoration is not available near you.

And the people of Ninevah believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least…God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which He had threatened to bring on them, and He did not bring it.
(Jonah 3:5,10)

Stuart McCullough

God Must Increase, Through Our Witness, At The Abortuary

Our Lord asks us to stay awake praying at all times and on another occasion He asks us to remain with Him and that He is the vine and we are the branches. Unless we stay alert at all times praying and remaining in the presence of God in all that we are doing it will prevent us from falling away and sinning. If we become drowsy and distracted with the cares of the world we will slowly be ineffective as Christians. We need to hold on tight to Our Lord through prayer and daily Communion if possible so that it will no longer be our ego that the world sees but the light of Christ that will draw God's people back to Him and this is so necessary when we are outside the Abortuary praying for the conversion of hearts. St John the Baptist said "God must increase, I must decrease". It is through humility that God will change hearts through us.

James Coulborn

Prayer For Conversion Helps to End Abortion

Picture: The Conversion of St Paul

As I have said a number of times there is no possibility of ending abortion in this country or any other without prayer and conversion.

In the past, at Benediction, the prayer for our separated brethren would be recited, and when one looks at the number of people who entered the church in England over the last hundred years it is clear that the recitation of this prayer bore fruit. The effects of the widespread dropping of this prayer are also clear for all to see.

We try to have Benediction every day at The Good Counsel Network’s chapel. I was quite struck while reciting this prayer a few days ago at Benediction in our chapel, as the deacon was from Africa, the server was of Irish decent and I myself am from Wales. But it mattered not. We are all perfectly aware that this country needs conversion. Be it our separated brethren in the Orthodox churches, C of E, or post-reformation secularists if we do not pray for them regularly we cannot hope to end Abortion.

Stuart McCullough

St John Eudes, Patron of Fallen Women

At Mass at Good Counsel Network's chapel on the 19th August the priest spoke about St John Eudes as it was his optional memorial. During Father's homily he made it clear that St John Eudes was a doubly appropriate saint for the day, as he is most well known for two works.

Firstly he was renowned for his support for priests who teach in seminaries (which was appropriate as Father himself currently teaches at Allen Hall).

Secondly he was well known for his work in evangelising/caring for fallen women, mostly prostitutes. As some of the pregnant women that we help have been living such lives it is good to have St John Eudes to intercede for us and for them.

Stuart McCullough

Prayer Can Move Mountains

In a previous job I had, a work colleague came into the room where I was working. Quite out of the blue, she asked me what I thought about abortion. Surprised by the direct question. I replied by saying "It's totally out of the question. It's wrong". Not knowing why she had asked the question, I was careful with my response to her. Not long afterwards, she explained to me that she was pregnant, and that her boyfriend was wanting her to have an abortion. She was worried that when she told her parents, they would pressure her to have an abortion also. She wanted to keep her baby, but was feeling very alone. The pressure of her boyfriend's cold response and the assumption in her mind that her parents would equally be dismissive of her desire for motherhood, was clearly confusing and distressing her greatly.

I spoke with her at some length, feeling rather out of my depth to say the least.
Fortunately, I had met people working for the Good Counsel Network at a Youth 2000 retreat, so I asked them to send me pro-life literature for her, and asked them to pray. I gave her their number, and then asked as many people as possible to pray for her. Quite a few of us prayed a novena of Memorares for her. Mother Theresa was a great advocate of praying for things through Our Lady's intercession by praying a novena of Memorares.

When I came into work the next week, she turned to me in the company of work colleagues and told me she no longer needed the phone number I gave her. Later on, she explained to me that her boyfriend had apologised to her and told her he had been scared. He was now very happy she was pregnant and that they would be parents. She told her parents, who were very happy.

A lot of women we counsel here at the Good Counsel Network, want to keep their babies, but are being pressured by boyfriends, family and financial situations into having an abortion. The slogan " a woman's right to choose" is so incorrect as the majority of women are being pressured into making the "choice of abortion". The right to life of the unborn child is not considered in the equation of pro-abortion activists.

Prayer and fasting are essential if we are to destroy the "Goliath of abortion". Even though David had only a pebble, his faith enabled him to slay the Philistine. Let's take our pebbles of prayer and fasting, and with deep humility and trust in God; through Our Lady's maternal intercession, God will end abortion.

James Coulborn

The Importance of Prayer in Pro-Life Work

I opened my bible with the intention of writing about prayer after praying for inspiration from God and thanks be to God I believe it was the right page to start off with.
First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy Chap 2:1-6; "I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men: For kings, and for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave himself a redemption for all, a testimony in due times."
We know that prayer is vital to our pro-life work and that Jesus in the only mediator who stands in need of no other to recommend His petitions to the Father. But this is not against our seeking the prayer and intercession, as well of the faithful upon earth as of the saints and angels in heaven for obtaining mercy , grace, and salvation through Jesus Christ. And we of course know the importance of praying the Holy Rosary for Our Lady’s intercession for all our needs and the needs of others.
Our Lady has revealed many promises to those who devoutly say the Rosary. Also it has been revealed that the Divine Mercy is a vital prayer to say in the fight against abortion. Monsignor Reilly recommends it for praying outside abortion clinics. We witness the power of prayer when we hear that so many abortion clinics have been closed down in America with ‘The Helpers of God’s Precious Infants’ led by Monsignor Reilly.
We need to pray for those mums who are being tempted by satan to abort, we pray for the graces to resist temptation and for them to be directed to our Centre or some kind of help so that they can keep their babies instead so that they will turn against abortion and to pray also for their conversion and salvation of their souls. We know that God will intervene if we pray fervently and have faith in Him.

Lorraine Coyne

Still Time to Join St Greorge's Crusade

There is still time to prayer for the end of abortion during the World Cup...and beyond! Good Counsel printed 20,000 Prayercards asking people to say this prayer whenever you see the Cross of St George;

Great St George, Patron of England,

slay the dragon of abortion

and give Mary back her dowry.

The back of the prayercard goes on to say;
For more information about how to help end abortion see; mariastopsabortion.blogspot.com

For help in an unplanned pregnancy call 0207 723 1740 or see www.goodcounselnetwork.com

We have had to print another 10,000 copies as we ran out of the first 20,000 quite quickly. We only have 1,000 left at the moment, if you would like copies phone 02077231740 or email your snail-mail address to; info@goodcounselnetwork.freeserve.co.uk
God bless Pat Sammon for the idea, see our earlier post. Priests are welcome to reprint the prayer on their newsletters with or without our contact details. It is to be hoped that other blogs will also use it.