Litany of St. Philomena

(Composed by St. John Mary Vianney)

Lord have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Queen of Virgins,
St. Philomena,
St. Philomena, filled with the most abundant graces from your very birth,
St. Philomena, faithful imitator of Mary,
St. Philomena, model of Virgins,
St. Philomena, temple of the most perfect humility,
St. Philomena, inflamed with zeal for the Glory of God,
St. Philomena, victim of the love of Jesus,
St. Philomena, example of strength and perseverance,
St. Philomena, invincible champion of chastity,
St. Philomena, mirror of the most heroic virtues,
St. Philomena, firm and intrepid in the face of torments,
St. Philomena, scourged like your Divine Spouse,
St. Philomena, pierced by a shower of arrows,
St. Philomena, consoled by the Mother of God, when in chains,
St. Philomena, cured miraculously in prison,
St. Philomena, comforted by angels in your torments,
St. Philomena, who preferred torments and death to the splendors of a throne,
St. Philomena, who converted the witnesses of your martyrdom,
St. Philomena, who wore out the fury of your executioners,
St. Philomena, protectress of the innocent,
St. Philomena, patron of youth,
St. Philomena, refuge of the unfortunate,
St. Philomena, health of the sick and the weak,
St. Philomena, new light of the church militant,
St. Philomena, who confounds the impiety of the world,
St. Philomena, who stimulates the faith and courage of the faithful,
St. Philomena, whose name is glorified in Heaven and feared in Hell,
St. Philomena, made illustrious by the most striking miracles,
St. Philomena, all powerful with God,
St. Philomena, who reigns in glory.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

V.) Pray of us, Great St. Philomena,
R.) That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray

We implore Thee, O Lord, by the intercession of Saint Philomena, Virgin and Martyr, who was ever most pleasing to Thy eyes by reason of her eminent purity and the practice of all the virtues, pardon us our sins and grant us all the graces we need (and name any special grace you may require). Amen.

Quote:My dear brethren,

According to an ancient and salutary tradition in the Church, on the occasion of the beginning of Lent, I address these words to you in order to encourage you to enter into this penitential season wholeheartedly, with the dispositions willed by the Church and to accomplish the purpose for which the Church prescribes it.

If I look in books from the early part of this century, I find that they indicate three purposes for which the Church has prescribed this penitential time:

First - in order to curb the concupiscence of the flesh; Then - to facilitate the elevation of our souls toward divine realities; Finally - to make satisfaction for our sins.

Our Lord gave us the example during His life, here on earth: pray and do penance. However, Our Lord, being free from concupiscence and sin, did penance and made satisfaction for our sins, thus showing us that our penance may be beneficial not only for ourselves but also for others.

Pray and do penance. Do penance in order to pray better, in order to draw closer to Almighty God. This is what all the saints have done, and this is that of which all the messages of the Blessed Virgin remind us.

Would we dare to say that this necessity is less important in our day and age than in former times? On the contrary, we can and we must affirm that today, more than ever before, prayer and penance are necessary because everything possible has been done to diminish and denigrate these two fundamental elements of Christian life.

Never before has the world sought to satisfy - without any limit, the disordered instincts of the flesh, even to the point of the murder of millions of innocent, unborn children. One would come to believe that society has no other reason for existence except to give the greatest material standard of living to all men in order that they should not be deprived of material goods.

Thus we can see that such a society would be opposed to what the Church prescribes. In these times, when even Churchmen align themselves with the spirit of this world, we witness the disappearance of prayer and penance - particularly in their character of reparation for sins and obtaining pardon for faults.

Few there are today who love to recite Psalm 50, the Miserere, and who say with the psalmist, Peccatum meum contra me est simper - "My sin is always before me."
How can a Christian remove the thought of sin if the image of the crucifix is always before his eyes?

At the Council the bishops requested such a diminution of fast and abstinence that the prescriptions have practically disappeared. We must recognize the fact that this disappearance is a consequence of the ecumenical and Protestant spirit which denies the necessity of our participation for the application of the merits of Our Lord to each one of us for the remission of our sins and the restoration of our divine affiliation [i.e., our character as adoptive sons of God].

In the past the commandments of the Church provided for:

+ An obligatory fast on all days of Lent with the exception of Sundays, for the three Ember Days and for many Vigils;
+ Abstinence was for all Fridays of the year, the Saturdays of Lent and, in numerous dioceses, all the Saturdays of the year.

What remains of these prescriptions - the fast for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstinence for Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent?

One wonders at the motives for such a drastic diminution. Who are obliged to observe the fast? - adults from age 21 to 60 [In the USA, the minimum age is 18 years old - Ed.]. And who are obliged to observe abstinence? - all the faithful from the age of 7 years.

What does fasting mean? To fast means to take only one (full) meal a day to which one may add two collations
(or small meals), one in the morning, one in the evening which, when combined, do not equal a full meal. [The archbishop is referring to the European order of meals; in the United States though, dinner is usually the evening meal - Ed.]

What is meant by abstinence? By abstinence is meant that one abstains from meat.

The faithful who have a true spirit of faith and who profoundly understand the motives of the Church which have been mentioned above, will wholeheartedly accomplish not only the light prescriptions of today but, entering into the spirit of Our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will endeavor to make reparation for the sins which they have committed and for the sins of their family, their neighbors, friends and fellow citizens.

It is for this reason that they will add to the actual prescriptions. These additional penances might be to fast for all Fridays of Lent, abstinence from all alcoholic beverages, abstinence from television, or other similar sacrifices.

They will make an effort to pray more, to assist more frequently at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to recite the rosary, and not to miss evening prayers with the family.

They will detach themselves from their superfluous material goods in order to aid the seminaries, help establish schools, help their priests adequately furnish the chapels and to help establish novitiates for nuns and brothers.

The prescriptions of the Church do not concern fast and abstinence alone but also of the obligation of the Paschal Communion (Easter Duty).
Here is what the Vicar of the Diocese of Sion, in Switzerland, recommended to the faithful of that diocese on February 20, 1919:

Quote:+ During Lent, the pastors will have the Stations of the Cross twice a week; one day for the children of the schools and another day for the other parishioners. After the Stations of the Cross, they will recite the Litany of the Sacred Heart.

+ During Passion Week, which is to say, the week before Palm Sunday, there will be a Triduum in all parish churches, Instruction, Litany of the Sacred Heart in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction. In these instructions the pastors will simply and clearly remind their parishioners of the principal conditions to receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily.

+ The time during which one may fulfill the Easter Duty has been set for all parishes from Passion Sunday to the first Sunday after Easter.

Why should these directives no longer be useful today? Let us profit from this salutary time during the course of which Our Lord is accustomed to dispense grace abundantly. Let us not imitate the foolish virgins who having no oil in their lamps found the door of the bridegroom's house closed and this terrible response: Nescio vos - "I know you not."

Blessed are they who have the spirit of poverty for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The spirit of poverty means the spirit of detachment from things of this world.

Blessed are they who weep for they shall be consoled. Let us think of Jesus in the Garden of Olives who wept for our sins. It is henceforth for us to weep for our sins and for those of our brethren.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for holiness for they shall be satisfied.  Holiness - sanctity is attained by means of the Cross, penance and sacrifice. If we truly seek perfection then we must follow the Way of the Cross.

May we, during this Lenten Season, hear the call of Jesus and Mary and engage ourselves to follow them in this crusade of prayer and penance.

May our prayers, our supplications, and our sacrifices obtain from heaven the grace that those in places of responsibility in the Church return to her true and holy traditions, which is the only solution to revive and reflourish the institutions of the Church again.

Let us love to recite the conclusion of the Te Deum: In te Doming, speravi; non confundar in aeternum "In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped. I will not be confounded in eternity."

+ Marcel Lefebvre Sexagesima Sunday February 14, 1982 Rickenbach, Switzerland

Quote:EXPLANATION. In this epistle St. Paul speaks of the necessity, the excellence, and the nature of true charity. He says, that all natural and supernatural gifts, all good works, even martyrdom, cannot save us if we have not charity; because love alone can render our works pleasing to God. Without charity, therefore, though ever so many prayers be recited, fasts observed, and good deeds performed, nothing will be acceptable to God, or merit eternal life. Strive then, O Christian soul, to lead a pious life in love, and to remain always in the state of grace.

Can faith alone, as the so-called Reformers assert, render man just, and save him?
Faith alone, however strong, though it could move mountains, without love, that is, without good works performed for love of God and our neighbor, can never justify or save us. For, when St. Paul says, that man is justified by faith without works, (Rom. iii. 28.; xi. 6.; Eph. ii. 8. 9.) he means to refer to those works which were performed by command of the law of Moses, and which, as they were external and without true charity, were of no avail; he did not refer to those works which are performed in a state of grace with a lively, love-inspired faith. Therefore the same Apostle writes to the Galatians: (Gal. v. 6.) Faith only availeth which worketh by charity; to Titus: (Tit. iii. 8.) It is a faithful saying: and these things I will have thee affirm constantly: that they who believe in God, may be careful to excel in good works. These things are good and profitable unto men; and he exhorts the Colossians (Colos. i. 10.) to be fruitful in every good work. St. James confirms the same by saying: (James ii. 17. 24.) So faith if it have not works, is dead in itself; by works man is justified and not by faith only. That this is the true doctrine of Christ, is evident from His own words. when He says: "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire." (Matt. vii. 19.) At the day of judgment Christ will demand good works from all men, (Matt. xxv. 35.) and will not judge them only according to their faith, but by their good works, which true faith must always produce. (Apoc. xx. 12.) Would Christ and His apostles demand good works, if faith alone be sufficient? "The devils also believe and tremble.'' (James ii. 19.) they believe, but they are not saved, and their faith but increases their torments. Therefore, the assertion that faith without good works is sufficient for justification and salvation, is plainly against the doctrine of Christ and His Church, and must of necessity lead man to vice and misery, as shown by the history of the unhappy separation of the sixteenth century.

Are good works available which are performed in the state of mortal sin ?
Good works performed while in a state of mortal sin avail nothing in regard to eternal life, writes St. Lawrence Justinian, but aid in moderating the punishment imposed for disobedience and the transgression of God's commandments. They bring temporal goods, such as honor, long life, health, earthly happiness, etc; they prevent us from falling deeper into sin, and prepare the heart for the reception of grace; so the pious Gerson writes: "Do as much good as you can even though in the state of mortal sin, that God may give light to your heart."

ASPIRATION. God of love, pour the spirit of true charity into my heart that, according to the spirit of St. Paul. I may endeavor to be always in a
state of grace, that all my works may be pleasing to Thee, and meritorious for me.

The Will of God Made and Governs All Things


1. God controls all events, whether good or bad How can God will or allow evil?

Practical examples

2. God does everything with supreme wisdom

Trials and punishments are blessings from God and proof of His mercy

Our trials are never greater than our strength to bear them Treating of the Will of God St. Thomas, following St.
Augustine, teaches that it is the cause of all that exists. 1 The Psalmist tells us that "all that the Lord wills He does in heaven and
on earth, in the seas and in all the deeps." 2 Again in the Book of the Apocalypse it is written: "Worthy art thou, O Lord our God, to
receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and because of thy will they existed and were created. " 3
Hence it is the Will of God which from nothingness drew out  the universe with all its grandeur and all that lives in it, the earth
with all that is on it and beneath it, all creatures visible and invisible, living and inanimate, reasonable and without reason, from the
highest to the lowest.

If God then has produced all these things, as St. Paul says, according to the purpose of His will, 4 is it not supremely right and
reasonable as well as absolutely necessary that they should be preserved and governed by Him according to the counsel of His will?
And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? 5  But the works of God
are perfect it is written in the Canticle of Moses. 6 They are so well done that God Himself, whose judgment is  strict and righteous,
found when He had created them that they were good and very good. 7 It is quite obvious that He who hath founded

1 St. Thomas, Sum. p. 1, q. 19, a. 4; St. Augustine, De Gen.
2 Ps. 134:6
3 Apoc. 4:11
4 Eph. 1:5
5 Wis. 11:25
6 Deut. 32:4
7 Gen. 1:31

the earth by wisdom and hath established the heavens by understanding 8 could not show less perfection in governing His
works than in creating them. So, as He is careful to remind us, if his Providence continues to have care of all things, 9 it is in measure and
number and weight, 10 it is with justice and mercy. 11 Neither can any man say to Him, Why dost thou so? 12 For if He assigns to His
creatures the end that He wills, and chooses the means which seem good to Him to lead them to it, the end He assigns them must be good
and wise, nor can He direct them towards their end other than by good and wise means. Therefore do not become foolish 13 the Apostle
tells us, but understand what the will of the Lord is, so that doing it you may receive the promise, 14 that is to say eternal happiness, for it
is written the world with its lust is passing away, but he who does the will of God abides forever. 15 God Controls All Events, Whether Good or Bad
Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything
with the exception of sin. 'Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives' is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and
Doctors of the Church, 'and God intervenes everywhere.'  I am the Lord, He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet
Isaias, and there is none else. I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. 16 It is I who
bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them, He said to Moses. 17 'The Lord killeth and maketh alive, it is written in
the Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, He bringeth down to the tomb and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh

8 Prov. 3:19
9 Wis. 12:13
10 id. 11:20
11 id. 12:15; 16:1
12 Eccles. 8:4
13 Eph. 5:7
14 Heb. 10:36
15 1 John 2:17
16 1s. 45:6-7
17 Deut. 32:39

rich, he humbleth and he exalteth. 18 Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in a city which the Lord hath not done? 19 asks the prophet
Amos: Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God Solomon proclaims. 20 And so on in numerous other
passages of Scripture. Perhaps you will say that while this is true of certain necessary effects, like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other
accidents due to natural causes which have no liberty of action, the same cannot be said in the case of things that result from the free
will of man. For if, you will object, someone slanders me, robs me, strikes me, persecutes me, how can I attribute his conduct to the will
of God who far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner,  expressly forbids it? So the blame, you will conclude, can only be laid
on the will of man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of
courage and submission.

It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God
Himself has refuted it and we must believe on His word that in events of this kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and
permission. 

Let us see what the Scriptures say. He wishes to punish the murder and adultery committed by David and He expresses Himself
as follows by the mouth of the prophet Nathan: Why therefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in my sight? Thou hast
killed Urias the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of
Ammon. Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and host taken the wife of Urias the
Hittite to be thy wife.

Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and
give them to thy neighbor and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing in the
sight of all all Israel, and in the sight of the sun.

21 18 1 Kings 2:6-7
19 Amos 3:6
20 Ecclus. 11:14
21 2 Kings 12:9-12

Later when the Jews by their iniquities had grievously offended Him and provoked His wrath, He says: The Assyrian is the
rod and the staff of My anger, and My indignation is in his hands. I will send him to the deceitful nation, and I will give him charge
against the people of my wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
22 Could God more openly declare Himself to be responsible for the evils that Absalom caused his father and the King of Assyria the
Jews? It would be easy to find other instances but these are enough. Let us conclude then with St. Augustine: "All that happens to us in
this world against our will (whether due to men or to other causes)  happens to us only by the will of God, by the disposal of Providence,
by His orders and under His guidance; and if from the frailty of our understanding we cannot grasp the reason for some event, let us
attribute it to divine Providence, show Him respect by accepting it from His hand, believe firmly that He does not send it us without
cause."

Replying to the murmurs and complaints of the Jews who attributed their captivity and sufferings to misfortune and causes
other than the will of God, the prophet Jeremias says to them: Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord
commandeth it not? Do not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? Why doth a living man murmur, a man
suffering for his sins? Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to  the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the
heavens, saying, We have done wickedly and provoked thee to wrath; therefore thou art inexorable. 23 Are not these words clear enough?
We should take them to heart for our own good.  Let us be careful to attribute everything to the will of God andbelieve that all is guided by
His paternal hand.

22 Is. 10:5-6
23 Lam. 3:37-42


How Can God Will or Allow Evil?

However, you will perhaps now say, there is sinfulness in all these actions. How then can God will them and take part in them if
He is all-holy and can have nothing in common with sin? God indeed is not and cannot be the author of sin. But it must
be remembered that in every sin there are two parts to be distinguished, one natural and the other moral. Thus, in the action of
the man you think you have a grievance against there is, for example, the movement of the arm that strikes you or the tongue
that offends you, and the movement of the will that turns aside from right reason and the law of God. The physical action of the arm or the
tongue, like all natural things, is quite good in itself and there is nothing to prevent its being produced with and by God's
cooperation. What is evil, what God could not cooperate with, is the sinful intention which the will of man contributes to the act.
When a man walks with a crippled leg the movement he makes comes both from the soul and the leg, but the defect which
causes him to walk badly is only in the leg. In the same way all evil  actions must be attributed to God and to man in so far as they are
natural, physical acts, but they can be attributed only to the will of man in so far as they are sinful and blameworthy.

If then someone strikes you or slanders you, as the movement of the arm or tongue is in no way a sin, God can very well be, and
actually is, the author of it; for existence and movement in man not less than in any other creature proceed not from himself but from
God, who acts in him and by him. For in Him says St. Paul, we live and move and have our being. 24 As for the malice of the intention, it
proceeds entirely from man and in it alone is the sinfulness in which God has no share but which He yet permits in order not to interfere
with our freedom of will.

Moreover, when God cooperates with the person who attacks or robs you, He doubtless intends to deprive you of health or goods
because you are making a wrong use of them and they will be harmful to your soul. But He does not intend that the attacker or
robber should take them from you by a sin. That is the part of human malice, not God's design.

24 Acts 17:28

An example may make the matter clearer. A criminal is condemned to death by fair trial. But the executioner happens to be a
personal enemy of his, and instead of carrying out the judge's sentence as a duty, he does so in a spirit of hate and revenge.
Obviously the judge has no share in the executioner's sin. The will and intention of the judge is not that this sin should he committed,
but that justice should take its course and the criminal be punished. In the same way God has no share at all in the wickedness of
the man who strikes or robs you. That is something particular to the man himself. God, as we have said, wishes to make you see your own
faults, to humble you, deprive you of what you possess, in order to free you from vice and lead you to virtue; but this good and merciful
design, which He could carry out in numerous other ways without any sin being involved, has nothing in common with the sin of the
man who acts as His instrument. And in fact it is not this man's evil intention or sin that causes you to suffer, humiliates or impoverishes
you, but the loss of your well being, your good name or your possessions. The sin harms only the person who is guilty of it. This is
the way we ought to separate the good from the evil in events of this kind, and distinguish what God operates through men from what
men add to the act by their own will.


PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

St. Gregory sets the same truth before us in another light. A doctor, he says orders leeches to be applied. While these small
creatures are drawing blood from the patient their only aim is to gorge themselves and suck up as much of it as they can. The doctor's
only intention is to have the impure blood drawn from the patient and to cure him in this manner. There is therefore no relation
between the insatiable greed of the leeches and the intelligent purpose of the doctor in using them. The patient himself does not
protest at their use. He does not regard the leeches as evildoers.

Rather he tries to overcome the repugnance the sight of their ugliness causes and help them in their action, in the knowledge that
the doctor has judged it useful for his health. God makes use of men as the doctor does of leeches. Neither should we then stop to
consider the evilness of those to whom God gives power to act on us or be grieved at their wicked intentions, and we should keep
ourselves from feelings of aversion towards them. Whatever their particular views may be, in regard to us they are only instruments of
well being, guided by the hand of an all-good, all-wise, all-powerful God who will allow them to act on us only in so far as is of use to us.
It is in our interest to welcome instead of trying to repel their assaults, as in very truth they come from God. And it is the same with
all creatures of whatever kind. Not one of them could act upon us unless the power were given it from above.

This truth has always been familiar to the minds of those truly enlightened by God. We have a celebrated example in Job. He
loses his children and his possessions; he falls from the height of fortune to the depths of poverty. And he says The Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away. As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done. Blessed be the name of the Lord. 25 "Note" observes St. Augustine "Job
does not say 'The Lord gave and the devil hath taken away' but says, wise that he is, 'The Lord gave me my children and my possessions,
and it is He who has taken them away; it has been done as it has pleased the Lord."

The example of Joseph is no less instructive. His brothers had old him into slavery from malice and for a wicked purpose, and
nevertheless the holy patriarch insists on attributing all to God's providence. God sent me, he says, before you into Egypt 26 to save
life. . . . God sent me before you to preserve a remnant for you in the land, and to deliver you in striking way. Not you but God sent me
here, and made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over the land of Egypt. Let us now listen to Our Savior himself who
came down from heaven to teach us by His word and example. In an excess of zeal Peter tries to turn Him aside from His purpose of submitting to His
passion and prevent the soldiers laying their hands on Him. But Jesus said to him: Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? 27
In fact He attributed the suffering and ignominy of His passion not to the Jews who accused him, not to Judas who betrayed Him, nor to
Pilate who condemned Him, nor to the soldiers who ill-treated and

25 Job 1:21
26 Gen. 45:5-8
27 John 18:11

crucified Him, nor to the devil who incited them all, though they were the immediate causes of His sufferings, but to God, and to God
not considered as a strict judge but as a loving and beloved Father. Let us never then attribute our losses, our disappointments,
our afflictions, our humiliations to the devil or to men, but to God as their real source. "To act otherwise" says St. Dorothy, "would be to
do the same as a dog who vents his anger on the stone instead of putting the blame on the hand that threw it at him." So let us be
careful not to say 'So-and-so is the cause of my misfortune.' Your misfortunes are the work not of this or that person but of God. And
what should give you reassurance is that God, the sovereign good, is guided in all His actions by His most profound wisdom for holy and
supernatural purposes.