This
is Alice’s September newsletter. I explained Alice’s monthly newsletter here.This month focuses on the Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
Before
the newsletter, let us pray: For Pope Leo XIV
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
St.
Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the
wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do
thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell
Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of
souls.
Handmaids of Mary
St. Michael’s Warriors
September 2026 Newsletter
CELEBRATING THE
NATIVITY OF MARY
8th September
Prayer: HOLY CHILD MARY, mystical dawn, gate of heaven, thou
are my trust and hope.
O powerful advocate, from thy cradle stretch out thy hand,
support me on the path of life.
Make me serve God with ardor and constancy until death and
so reach an eternalcrown.
The feast of the Nativity has two aspects.
The first shows us Heaven’s view: it enables us to enter
into God’s plan for the salvation of the world.
The second shows us what happens on earth; it has the
freshness of dawn and of a first morning.
SEEN FROM HEAVEN
It is a Trinitarian Feast:it is the first moment in the preparation of the Alliance which will
unfold between heaven and earth.
-Mary is the privileged daughter of the Father who prepares
Her for Her heavenly destiny.
-She is the future Mother of the word of God who will make
His home in Her.
-it is she who at the Annunciation will pronounced the
decisive “YES” to the coming of the Holy Spirit.
SEEN FROM EARTH
First and foremost Christians who are able should share in
the Eucharist which the church celebrates on the birthday of their heavenly
mother, and bring others along with them.
At a family level, the feast should be prepared and
celebrated in the heart of our Christian family.
So the feast of the Nativity of Mary is a feast of hope for
the renewal of the church. It
inaugurates the plan of the Trinity for the salvation and happiness of
humanity. For that reason, this date in the liturgy should be especially dear
to us.
“Lord may your church renewed in this holy Eucharist be
filled with joy at the birthday of the Virgin Mary, who brought the dawn of
hope and salvation to the world” (L.J. Cardinal Suenens)
Alice Desmond A special letter for the Nativity of Mary
This
is Alice’s August newsletter. I explained Alice’s monthly newsletter here.This month focuses on the Assumption and Queenship
of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Before
the newsletter, let us pray: For Pope Leo XIV
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
St.
Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the
wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do
thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell
Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of
souls.
Handmaids of Mary
St. Michael’s Warriors
August 2026 Newsletter
SALVE REGINA
In the month of August we celebrate two
main feast of the Blessed Mother: the Assumption on August 15th and
the Coronation on August 22nd.
However, Mary did not stay in
heaven.She left the glories of heaven
many times to continue to nurture her children.Once, in the year 1208, she appeared to St. Dominic and said to him,
“Dear Dominic do you know the weapon the Blessed Trinitywants to use too reform the world?It is the rosary.I want you to preach my rosary.”This apparition is considered the birth of
the Rosary.
MOTHER OF MERCY, OUR LIFE, OUR SWEETNESS,
AND OUR HOPE
Mary as our loving Mother is calling us
to heed the messages of her apparitions as they are meant for our times,
especially the messages of Fatima.We
should not be caught off guard as Mary has told us how communism would spread
and wars would escalate.When we turn
the news on, we are hearing the message of Fatima happening today.
She has given us the weapons to combat
the evils of our day, and we need her protection by wearing the Brown Scapular
and saying the rosary.
TO THEE DO WE COME MOURNING AND WEEPING
IN THIS VALLEY OF TEARS
We are praying the St. Michael prayer and
three hail Mary's for the church and the Pope.
TURN THEN MOST GRACIOUS ADVOCATE YOUR
EYES OF MERCY TOWARDS US
Besides the rosary Mary wants us to
remember the seven Sacraments as well.Sacramentals are one of the means the church enables us to participate
in her treasures of grace and to show her love and solicitude for us.
The Sacramentals:
There are seven: the Crucifix, the Sign
of the Cross, Holy Water, Blessed Candles, Blessed Palms, Scapular, and Medals.
Last month we covered the Crucifix, the
sign of the Cross, and Holy Water.
This month we will do two more: Blessed
Candles and Blessed Palms.
And in September, Scapular and Medals.
O CLEMENT O LOVING O SWEET VIRGIN MARY
Blessed Candles: It is the wish of the church that candles used in liturgical functions be made form pure beeswax. The number of candles to be used at various services is regulated by church law. For a solemn Mass; 4 or 6. For a Low Mass 2. For Benediction and Exposition 12 Solemn Exposition such [as 40 hours) 20
Candles are blessed and used throughout
the year on the feast of the Purification of Mary symbolic of the journey
ofMary and Joseph to the Temple to
present Jesus “light of the World.”
No Catholic home should be without
Blessed Candles.They should be used in
times of danger, especially in storms or other calamities and also in times of
sickness in order to invoke the protection of God.
Blessed candles are placed in the hand of
the dying, symbol of divine light that is to guide them through the valley of
death to the realm of everlasting happiness.
Candles that burn near the coffin of the
departed are to remind us that the body was the temple of the Holy Ghost, that
it received the grace of Baptism and will rise again through the merits ofChrist.
Pious Customs have established the
practice of burning candles before the altar to honor the Divine Heart of Jesus
truly present, and to plead for special graces and blessings.
Blessed Palm Every Catholic is familiar with the ceremony of the blessing of the palms on Palm Sunday.
The ceremony recalls the triumphal entry
of our Savior into Jerusalem. The palm is an emblem of Victory won by Christ
over sin, death, and hell.
The church in blessing the palms refers
to the olive branch brought by the dove to Noah after the subsiding of the waters
as a symbol of peace established between heaven and earth and the abundant
overflowing of Divine mercy.The
branches are green and symbolize grace.
Blessed palms should be reverently
preserved in the home as a holy sacramental to ward off the assaults of the
devil and to obtain God’s protection.Old palms should be burned and not allowed to lie around or be cast
aside where it might be disrespectfully treated.
Since August is also the feast of Edith
Stein, Carmelite, it is hard not to mention her connection in this letter.There is so much persecution of the Catholic
faithful today such as in Nigeria, China, and many other places in the
world.Edith Stein is a model for those
who are persecuted simply because of their nationality or religion.She died with her arms around the little
children who were dying with her in Auschwitz, a women’s motherly love
embracing them in their last moments.
Mary’s motherly love is our hope for
today’s world of persecution, with her rosary to defeat Satan and all his wiles
and wickedness.
PRAY FOR US, O HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, THAT
WE MAY BE MADE WORTHY OF THE PROMISES OF CHRIST.
Alice
Handmaid of the Handmaids and the St.
Michael Warriors.…
This
is Alice’s July newsletter. I explained Alice’s monthly newsletter here.This month focuses on the Sacred Heart of
Jesus.
Before
the newsletter, let us pray: For Pope Leo XIV
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
St.
Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the
wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do
thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell
Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of
souls.
Handmaids of Mary St. Michael’s Warriors
July 2026 Newsletter
“The scapular will be for all the sign of our Consecration
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
~Pope
Pius XII
This month on the 16th is the feast of Our Lady of Mt.
Carmel, when Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock and gave him the brown
scapular.
Mt. Carmel is in northern Israel near the city of
Haifa.It is also where Elijah
challenged the pagan prophets and revealed the true God (1 Kings 18:16-45).
It is written on the Scapular, “whoever dies while wearing
this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.”
This, the Sabbatine Privilege, was added to the Brown
Scapular by Pope John XII, making it an official church belief that Mary will
intercede and rescue those who die wearing the Brown Scapular on the first
Saturday after their death.
The Brown Scapular not only spares us the fires of hell, but
we will be quickly delivered from purgatory!!!!
Sursum corda. Can we wonder that the church whose mission is
to soothe the sorrows of our time is always seeking to lift up our hearts by
the treasures we have in the Catholic faith?One of the means by which the Church enables us to participate in her
treasures of grace is with sacramentals.
The Holy Spirit guided me this month to these sacramentals.
1. The Crucifix
One of our most treasured sacramentals is the crucifix.It is the image of Christ on the cross as the
victim for our sins, the price of our redemption.Meditation on the crucifix is one of the most
powerful means of awakening sentiments of sorrow for sin.
The crucifix should be place in a fitting and proper place
in the home, where each may glance at it frequently and think, if only for an
instant, of the love of Him whom it represents and the instrument of our
salvation.
“O Holy Cross, be my victor over all hostile powers, the
remedy for all my ills, my support in my weariness and the guarantee of the
resurrection of my body” Amen.
2. The Sign of the Cross
For Catholics the sign of the cross is a shield and a
safeguard against temptations and dangers that threaten the life of the soul.
St Cyril of Jerusalem said that when we make the sign of the cross the demons
see it, they are reminded of the crucified, and they take flight and hide
themselves and leave us.
All sacraments are administered with the sign of the cross:
in baptism fourteen times, and in the Sacrament of the Sick (Extreme Unction)
twelve times.In the mass no less than
45 times. It occurs with great frequency in the recitation of the Divine
Office.In addition, the Church grants
an indulgence of three years as often as one makes the sign of the cross, and,
as often as the sign of the cross is made with holy watery, an indulgence of
seven years.
3. Holy Water
Water was one of the first objects to be blessed by the
church for use as a sacramental.
It is the common teaching of theologians that holy water
confers actual graces, remits venial sin, and restrains the power of
Satan.It is also an efficacious means
for the relief of the souls in purgatory.As often as we use it devoutly, our good Mother, the church, implores
for us aid, consolation, and strength to do good and avoid evil.
Every Christian home should have a holy water font.These should be placed in convenient places
so that holy water may be taken frequently by the members of the family.May fear of ridicule never deter us from
making use of so a means of grace, both for ourselves and our dear ones, and
for the faithful departed.
Through the sacramentals:
“The lord will grant you love, holy and pure.You will forget the world’s fears.Ah much more, the devil too.Now the demon is manacled today.”
~St.
Therese of Avila
Handmaids of Mary and men of St. Michaels Warriors are
called to greater faith in the Blessed Mother, believing that She will defeat
the devil and bring unity and peace to our beloved Catholic Church.All Mary had to do at Cana was mention to
Jesus “they have no wine,” and Jesus filled all the water jugs with wine.Our part is to trust in Her Power.
“Who is She that comes forth as the Dawn…Terrible as an army
set in battle array…”
This
is Alice’s June newsletter. I explained Alice’s
monthly newsletter here.This month
focuses on the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Before
the newsletter, let us pray: For Pope Leo XIV
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
Hail
Mary, full of grace…
St.
Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the
wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do
thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell
Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of
souls.
Handmaids of Mary
St. Michael’s Warriors
June 2026 Newsletter
Sacred Heart of
Jesus, have mercy on us.
Recently we celebrated the feast of Pentecost ending the
Easter season.Bishop Fulton Sheen, in
an article on the Descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles, said, that if
Christ never left us, Christ would always be outside of us. By sending the Holy
Ghost, He now dwells within us.
Bishop Sheen gave this analogy of how The Holy Ghost is an
encounter with love.“There was a boy
who gave his parents a hard time.He
didn’t like brushing his hair, washing his face, and he had a surly
disposition.Whenever he went out the
door, he slammed it.One day he came to
breakfast, his hair was combed, his faced washed, he was pleasant to everyone
in the family, and, when he left, he closed the door quietly.“He had met Susan…..”
He (the Holy Spirit) will be to us a cloud by day and abrightness of flaming fire in the night, ever
guiding, ever leading us on, unswervingly to our home beyond the grave.
I pray: Love of the Holy Spirit be thou the source of all
the operations of our minds, that they may ever be conformed to God’s good
pleasure.
Some unfinished business from last month: regarding Pope
Pius IX and the HolyFace of Christ, I
neglected to mention the purpose of the devotion to the Holy Face is to make
reparation for sins against the first three commandments:First Commandment, against denial of
God.Second commandment, blasphemy such
as using God’s name in vain.Third
commandment, the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days.Our Lady of La Salette, whose sorrow was in
the breaking of these commandments, gave us these words, “Fight, children of
light; you, the few who can see!For now
is hot time of times, the end of all ends.The Church will eclipse: the world will be in dismay.It is time you filled the earth with
light.I am at your side.”
Recently I discovered there is a Holy Face medal. You can order it for free here.Or send a self-addressed envelope with two
first class stamps to: Holy Face Association, P. O. Box 821, Champlain, NY
12919-0821.
Prayer to the Holy
Face by Mother Maria-Pierina (Carmelite):
O blessed Face of my kind Savior, by the tender love and
piercing sorrow of Our Lady as she beheld you in your cruel Passion,
Grant us to share in this intense sorrow and love, to
fulfill the holy will of God to the upmost of our ability.Amen
The Holy Face is a weapon.In our Blessed Mother’s own words, the medal is a weapon for defense, a
shield for courage, a token of love and mercy, which My Divine Son wished to
give the world in these troubled times.
There have been so many Holy Days this past month:
Pentecost, Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, Sacred the Heart of Jesus. It is feast
after the sorrow of lent.
The feast of Corpus Christi reminds us of the True Presence
of Christ in the Eucharist. Sadly, it was noted by a priest in his sermon, only
39% of Catholics believe in the real presence.As we processed with the Holy Eucharist in the streets of our Parishes,
and as the Pope processed in the streets of Madrid, Spain, Corpus Christi
Sunday reminds us of the True Presence.
“When all the world is comfortless,
And wrapped in
gloom as black as night.
Remind us, Lord, in our distress
One spot on earth is
always bright-
The
Tabernacle.”
In conclusion as a tribute to Bishop Fulton Sheen in
commemoration of his beatification, I offer his favorite poem to our Blessed
Lady, “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue.”
Lovely Lady dressed in blue
-------
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
Tell me what to say!
Did you lift Him up, sometimes,
Gently on your knee?
Did you sing to Him the way
Mother does to me?
Did you hold His hand at night?
Did you ever try
Telling stories of the world?
O! And did He cry?
Do you really think He cares
If I tell Him things -------
Little things that happen? And
Do the Angels' wings
Make a noise? And can He hear
Me if I speak low?
Does He understand me now?
Tell me -------for you know.
Lovely Lady dressed in blue
-------
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
And you know the way.
Handmaid of the Handmaids,
Alice
If I may, I loved Aaron Neville's version of "Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue." He does take a few liberties with the lyrics, but I think the liberties actually improve it as a song.
