[athenacp]

March 8 is the feast day of St. John of God, official Patron of the Sick and Hospitals - also known as "The Heart Saint"

We can lift up in prayer all those sick among our families, friends, relatives, and those who have asked our prayers.

In addition to physical ailments of the heart, we can pray for those suffering with emotional ailments: broken hearts, anger, bitterness, resentment, hurts. Also, we can pray for the conversion of those who are hardened of heart - those away from the Lord.

For a history of St. John of God, please visit:

www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=68

or

www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/STJOHN.htm






PRAYER TO ST. JOHN OF GOD

Saint John of God, I honor you as the Patron of the Sick, especially of those who are afflicted by heart disease. I choose you to be my patron and protector in my present illness. To you I entrust my soul, my body, all my spiritual and temporal interests, as well as those of the sick throughout the world. To you I consecrate my mind, that in all things it may be enlightened by faith above all in accepting my cross as a blessing from God; my heart, that you may keep it pure and fill it with the love for Jesus and Mary that burned in yours; my will, that like yours, it may always be one with the Will of God.

Good Saint John, I honor you as the model of penitents, for you received the grace to give up a sinful life and to atone for your sins by untiring labors in behalf of the poor and sick. Obtain for me the grace from God to be truly sorry for my sins, to make atonement for them and never again offend God. Aid me in mastering my evil inclinations and temptations, and in avoiding all occasions of sin. Through your intercession may I obtain the grace from Jesus and Mary to fulfill faithfully all the duties of my state of life and to practice those virtues which are needful for my salvation. Help me to belong to God and Our Lady in life and in death through perfect love. May my life, like yours, be spent in the untiring service of God and my neighbor.

Since Holy Mother Church also invokes you in her prayers for the dying, I beg you to be with me in my last hour and pray for me. As you died kneeling before a crucifix, may I find strength, consolation and salvation in the cross of my Redeemer, and through His tender mercy and the prayers of Our Lady, and through your intercession, attain to eternal life. Amen.


NOVENA PRAYER FOR A CURE

Saint John of God, heavenly Patron of the Sick, I come to you in prayer to seek your help in my present sickness. Through the love which Jesus had for you in choosing you for the sublime vocation of serving the sick, and through the tender affection with which the Blessed Virgin Mary placed upon your head a crown of thorns as a symbol of the sufferings you would undergo in the service of the sick to attain to your crown of glory, I beg you to intercede for me to Jesus and Mary that They may grant me a cure, if this should be according to the Will of God.

How patiently you bore the sufferings of your own disease! Teach me to carry with cheerful resignation the cross that God has given me. Let me never complain or lose courage. Help me to understand that suffering is a very important means of sanctifying my soul, of atoning for my many sins, and of reaping a plentiful harvest of merit for Heaven. I trust in your great love for the sick and in the power of your intercession to help them. Help me, good St. John, and beg the God whose name you bear to touch me as He touched the sick while on earth, that through His almighty power health may return to my body. And as you derived strength in your own sufferings from the crucifix, so may I be able to say what you did to Jesus Crucified: "Lord, Thy thorns are my roses and Thy sufferings my paradise."

Good Saint John, lover of those who suffer and special Patron of the Sick, I confidently place before you my earnest petition.

(Mention your request.)

I beg you to recommend my request to Mary, the Mother of Sorrows and Health of the Sick, that both Mary and you may present it to Jesus, the Divine Physician.

Saint John of God, patron of the Sick and beloved of Jesus and Mary, pray to Them for me and obtain my request. (Three times.)

In honor of Saint John of God:

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

Saint John of God, Patron of the Sick, pray for us.


LITANY OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD

LORD, have mercy on us,
Christ, have mercy on us,
LORD, have mercy on us,
Christ, hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us,
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us,
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us,
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us,
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us,

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us,
Health of the sick,
Comforter of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
St. John of God,
St. John, converted from a sinful life,
St. John, lover of the poor,
St. John, father of the needy,
St. John, servant of the sick,
St. John, friend of those in distress,
St. John, protector of virgins, widows, and orphans,
St. John, zealous for the conversion of sinners,
St. John, dedicated to atonement,
St. John, heroic in self-sacrifice,
St. John, eager for humiliations,
St. John, model of humility,
St. John, example of penitents,
St. John, filled with divine love,
St. John, victim of love for your neighbor,
St. John, apostle of Christian Charity,
St. John, consoler of the afflicted,
St. John, fervent in prayer,
St. John, ardent lover of Jesus Crucified,
St. John, devoted son of Our Lady,
St. John, favored with a vision of Jesus and Mary,
St. John, visited and helped by the Archangel Raphael,
St. John, miraculously protected from fire,
St. John, afflicted with disease,
St. John, most patient in suffering,
St. John, who died on your knees holding the crucifix,
St. John, helper of the dying,
St. John, founder of the Order of the Hospitaller Brothers,
St. John, Patron of hospitals and the sick,
St. John, wonder-worker for the sick and diseased,
St. John, special Patron of those suffering with heart disease,
St. John, the Heart Saint,

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us,

V. Pray for us, O glorious Saint John of God,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray

O God, you enabled Saint John of God, who was inflamed with love of You, to walk unhurt through flames, and by him You enriched Your Church with a new religious Order. Grant through the help of his merits, that our vices may be healed by the fire of Your love, and that we may receive remedies which will help us reach eternal life. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.


(From The Heart Saint - St. John of God
by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.)