Spiritual Communion - St Mariam Baouardy, St. Mary of Jesus Crucified
Tuesday 25 August 2020
Mariam Baouardy (Arabic: مريم بواردي, or Mary of Jesus Crucified, 5 January 1846 – 26 August 1878),
Was born in 1846 at Abellin in Galileen to a poor family of the Greek Melkite Catholic rite. In 1867 Mariam Baouardy arrived at the Carmelite Convent of Pau in France but made her profession in Mangalore, India, where in 1870 she helped found the Carmelites. She was called back to France in 1872 and went to the Holy Land in 1875 to build a convent in Bethlehem and plan another in Nazareth. Well known for her supernatural experiences, and especially for her humility, her extraordinary devotion to the Holy Spirit and her great love for the Church and the Pope, she died in Bethlehem on the 26th August 1878.
Opening Prayer

God, Father of mercy and all consolation, you raised Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified, the humble daughter of the Holy Land, to contemplation of the mysteries of your Son and made her a witness to the love and joy of the Holy Spirit. Grant us, through her intercession, so to share in the sufferings of Christ that we may rejoice in the revelation of your glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans
8:26-30
The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God. We know that by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called according to his purpose. They are the ones he chose especially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, vso that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for this; those he called he justified, and with those he justified he shared his glory.
The Word of the Lord
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have revealed the mysteries of your kingdom to little ones.
Alleluia!
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
11:25-30
Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Come to me, all you who labour and are over burdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.'
The Gospel of the Lord
My Jesus,
I believe that you are present in this Holy Sacrament of the altar.
I love you above all things
and I passionately desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally,
come spiritually into my soul
so that I may unite myself wholly to you now and forever. Amen.
based on a prayer of St Alphonsus Liguori
At the Saviour’s command
and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Prayer after Communion
God of mercy, we rejoice that on this feast of Blessed Mary you give us the bread of heaven. May it bring us pardon for our sins, health of body, your grace in this life, and glory in heaven. Grant this through Christ our Lord.