Praying with the Saints: Prayers for the Sick and Dying is a collection of twenty days' meditations and prayers.
The prospect of one's mortality can be intimidating-the experience of loss, when those whom we love die, can cause immense pain and sorrow. For Christians, however, we have an answer to these problems that allows us to persist through sickness and death in hope.
This booklet may be used for those who are sick or nearing death. It may also encourage those struck with fear over a loved one's illness or impending passing. All of the saints, whose meditations we reflect upon, have died even as we will. Let us take comfort, then, from these meditations. More than that, might these testimonies of faith grant us confidence, courage, and endurance to face sickness and death with hope.
Christian writer, C.S. Lewis once made the point that people tend to either obsess over demons or deny their existence entirely - and the devil is equally pleased either way. The Bible is clear. Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual forces (Eph. 6:12). At the same time, however, the Bible makes it clear that the evil forces, devils and demons, are powerless in comparison to God. If God is for us, who can be against us? Even the demons shudder in the presence of God (James 2:19).
The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy is rooted in traditional themes of God’s mercy, particularly for those burdened in their consciences by sin. St. Faustina Kowalska, who, after a vision from Christ, created the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, recommended the Chaplet especially to those who are particularly vexed by a sinful past or the ongoing struggle against habitual or persistent sin in the present. This guide provides an introduction to St. Faustina and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and three methods to pray.
As much as any of the saints, Saint Francis of Assisi—born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone—is known for his profound piety. He is especially remembered for how he renounced worldly possessions in order to focus on spiritual things. At great personal risk, he attempted to convert the Sultan in Egypt to end the Crusades. His Franciscan Order grew quickly in his time and has since birthed several other orders that persist to this day. He is known particularly for his love of the Eucharist. According to tradition, he received the stigmata while in prayer in 1224, making him the first recorded saint to receive this blessing.
Take a 180 day journey with St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Therese of Lisieux, and St. John of the Cross. Each day includes a meditation, a prayer, and further Biblical references for study.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was a Burgundian abbot who was credited with the revitalization of the Benedictine order through the nascent Order of the Cistercians. He lived during the time of schism, when the head of the church was in contention. Benedict was chosen to help decide between the claims on the papacy-ultimately siding with Pope Innocent II rather than the Antipope Anacletus II. Benedict played a significant role in unifying the church and protecting its unity against the threat that this dispute signified.
Few Christians in history are more revered when it comes to prayer and contemplation than St. Teresa of Ávila. Known for her piety and rapturous mystical experiences, many have sought to pursue her path or a path like it. While some have done this formally in the Carmelite orders she established, countless others have grown in their faith and experiences of intimacy with God through her writings and prayers. This is a humble collection of some of St. Teresa’s writings and meditations that form a great foundation for building stronger foundations of prayer with the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)—also known as Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face—lived a short life. She died at the age of twenty-four from consumption—what we now call tuberculosis. However, in her short life, she inspired many nuns in the Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and wrote much regarding the path of humility and holiness befitting a Christian. She was acquainted with temptation and tribulation and learned to find joy in many sufferings. She was one of the most honored saints throughout the twentieth century, and her words still ring true today, inspiring Christians, young and old, who might hope to follow her path of piety.
Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591) was a major reformer of the Carmelite Order. He was canonized as a saint by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. What he accomplished in the monasteries paralleled what Saint Theresa of Avila did in the convents. Together, these two saints are considered the founders of the Discalced Carmelites. In fact, the two saints were friends and corresponded regularly.
St. Catherine of Siena was born during an outbreak of the Plague in Siena in 1347. She was brought up in the faith and especially after her own sister died at the age of sixteen found herself committed to pursuits of piety. She joined the Dominican order and, at the age of twenty-one, had what she described as her 'mystical marriage' to Christ. Today, we know St. Catherine mostly through the many letters she wrote to her fellow brothers and sisters in the faith and also through a collection of visions recorded largely by her fellow nuns as she grew close to death. These meditations combine her letters with several of these revelations wherein she speaks in the first person as though speaking from God himself. In her letters and meditations she speaks at great length about obedience, the centrality of Christ crucified to the faith, and how virtue should be pursued in our quest to grow in intimacy toward God.
Born Helena Kowalska on a clear August day in 1905, to a poor Polish family, she was the third of ten children. When Helena turned nineteen, she felt called by Jesus to go to Warsaw and enter a convent. After arriving, she was turned down by convent after convent, until finally, one accepted her. She took the name Faustina and stayed in the convent until her death in 1938. Little would have been known about her if it had not been for her extraordinary revelations. Sister Faustina’s most extraordinary revelation—the one she is famous for—was of Jesus appearing to her with white and red rays protruding from his heart. Jesus told her that he wanted her to have a painting made of the vision and have as its banner, “Jesus, I trust in you.”
'Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who has God finds he lacks nothing; God alone suffices.' (Saint Teresa of Ávila)
St. Teresa stands among the greatest of the mystics. It was her pursuit of Christ, not her pursuit of visions, that set her apart as one of the most notable saints in the history of Christendom. It is her dedication to her Lord, her bridegroom, not her experiences, that render her worthy of imitation.
