Key to Success: Love
The key to the success of the care offered at Loreto, is that we all operate in a respect for what God is doing in the heart of each person. It is our goal to love them and care for them with the heart of Jesus every day and to allow the Holy Spirit to touch their lives and the lives of their family as we pray for healing and peace. We welcome those who are not of the Catholic faith and encourage their pastor, friends and fellow church members to come to minister to them, as well. We all share the love of Jesus and this is what forms the common ministry of love that we share.
Spiritual Care begins with those who are serving at Loreto. Each day as we begin to serve, we enter the chapel to give our day to the Lord as we pray the following prayer by John Henry Cardinal Neuman and used each day by Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity
"Dear Lord, help me to spread your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly, that my life may only be a radiance of you. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my spirit. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus! Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine, as to be a light for others: the light of Jesus will be all from you; it will be you shining on others through me. Let me thus praise you in the way you love best, by shining on others around me. Let me not preach by words, but by my example, by the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to you. Amen."
Divine Mercy at The Holy Family Ministry Center
The Holy Family Ministry Center has a large Image of Divine Mercy and Loreto on the Plains Personal Care Home is located near this beautiful Image. The Mass, Rosary, Scripture, and Prayer with the patients/residents is the rock of the spirituality of The Center and Loreto.
In 1995, the Shrine of Divine Mercy was dedicated and blessed by Fr. Francis Bagan, OMI. Fr. Bagan is often called the Divine Mercy Priest by those who know and love him. He is one of a team of priests that translated the Diary from a very poor English translation to the one we have today.
At the core of our Franciscan walk is the devotion to Jesus, The Divine Mercy and the belief that Jesus stands in the gap for us and as we turn to Him for Mercy he washes us in His Ocean of Mercy.
There is a private Chapel in Loreto available at all times. The Mercy Bell in the Tower is rung every day at the three o'clock hour. (The hour at which Jesus died for us on the Cross). The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is prayed at that time. (The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is prayed on the regular Rosary with the prayers given to St. Faustina by Jesus to be prayed every day at 3 o'clock, "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, Have Mercy on us and on the Whole World").
Praying the Chaplet at the bedside of a dying person is another element of the Spiritual Care offered to the loved one and their family. To find the promises of Jesus to St. Faustina when praying the Chaplet for the sick and dying, read #'s 810, 811, 1035, 1565, 1798 out of St. Faustina's Diary entitled "Divine Mercy in My Soul".
The Diary and other materials and prayers of the Divine Mercy can be found by contacting the Eucharistic Apostles of Divine Mercy at the information listed below. In order to understand more about the message of Divine Mercy and living it, Bryan S. Thatcher founder, of the Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy has written the booklet "Living the Message of Divine Mercy". which may be purchased from the EADM as DW12. Email them at [email protected] or call 1-877-380-0727. To see the website www.thedivinemercy.org then click on Eucharistic Apostles to receive more information.
Spiritual Council is available from the Chaplain, Spiritual Directors, local Pastors and prayer teams upon request.
Prayer at the Bedside of One Who is Dying
O Compassionate Father, pour forth your healing mercy to (N) as I pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at his/her bed-side. Flood this room with your Mercy and help me to accept your will knowing that every moment (N) remains here, you are preparing his/her soul to be with you in Heaven. May your loving presence and mercy embrace, comfort, heal and restore him/her. I ask all of this in the name of Jesus, the Divine Mercy. Amen
Jesus, I Trust in You.
From the diary of St. Faustina Kowalska “Divine Mercy in My Soul”
On October 5, 1938, a young religious by the name Sister Faustina (Helen Kowalska) died in a convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Cracow, Poland. She came from a very poor family that had strug- gled hard on their little farm during the terrible years of WWI. Sister had had only three years of very simple education. Hers were the humblest of tasks in the convent, usually in the kitchen or the vegetable garden, or as a porter.
On February 22, 1931, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared to this simple nun, bringing with Him a wonderful message of Mercy for all man- kind.
In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.” (Diary 47)* Some time later, Our Lord again spoke to her:
"The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous; the red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls...These two rays issued forth from the depths of My most tender Mercy at that time when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross....” (Diary 299)
