Pray for the Synod on the Family with Louis and Zelie Martin - October 5, 2015

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Zelie Martin and Louis Martin.  Photo credit: Sanctuaire d'Alencon

Let us pray for the synod of bishops on the family with Louis and Zelie Martin.

Let us accompany the synod of bishops with our prayers. During this month of October, the month of the Holy Rosary, we can pray the Rosary for this intention in our families, communities, and parishes, or we can pray it alone . . . Let us ask Louis and Zelie Martin to intercede for us with our Heavenly Father.

At the end of the rosary, you can pray this prayer:

Louis and Zelie Martin,
you who, in your life as a couple and as parents,
have given witness of an exemplary Christian life
by fulfilling the duties of your state in life
and practicing the evangelical virtues,
we turn to you today.
We pray especially for the synod fathers:
that they may let themselves be guided by the Holy Spirit
so that the Church can send a clear and encouraging word
to the families of today.
Let the example of your unfailing trust in God
|and ofyour abandonment to his will,
in joys but also through the trials, sorrows,
and suffering with which your life was filled,
encourage us to persevere in our daily difficulties
and to live in joy and Christian hope.
Intercede for us with our Father
that we may obtain the graces
of which we have such need in our everyday life on earth
and that, like you, we may reach eternal happiness.

translated from the Web site of the Shrine at Alencon, with thanks for their kind permission.  The French text is copyright Il est vivant no. 327. 

Read Pope Francis's homily about the family, the Church, and the world, preached at the prayer vigil on the eve of the synod on the family, 10/3/15

Please see "Pope, at Prayer Vigil, Hopes for Recovery of a Church that Can 'Unite Compassion with Justice"  thoughtful article from America Magazine, together with the full English text of the Pope's beautiful homily.  He prayed that the synod would:

• Show how the experience of marriage and family is rich and humanly fulfilling.
• Acknowledge, esteem, and proclaim all that is beautiful, good and holy about that experience.
• Embrace situations of vulnerability and hardship: war, illness, grief, wounded relationships and brokenness, which create distress, resentment and separation.
• Remind these families, and every family, that the Gospel is always “good news” which enables us to start over.
• Draw words of comfort and hope from the treasury of the church’s living tradition for families called in our own day to build the future of the ecclesial community and the city of man.

Six Conferences About the Spirituality of Bl. Louis and Zelie Martin and Saint Therese at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, September 21-24, 2015

Philadelphia 2015

"The Spirituality of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the Parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux:" - a series of conferences by Maureen O'Riordan at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul during the World Meeting of Families, September 21-24, 2015

Please click on "Philadelphia 2015" above for the details of this event.

"Louis and Zelie Martin Model 'a Simple Spirituality Achieved in Daily Life": The National Catholic Register interviews Fr. Antonio Sangalli, Their Vice-Postulator

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"Works of mercy were the very foundation on which Louis and Zelie Martin built their life."  See the National Catholic Register interview with the vice-postulator, Fr. Antonio Sangalli, O.C.D.,, who speaks sensitively about their canonization, the miracle of little Carmen's healing, and the significance of their lives for us.