The Importance of Prayer
"The most important thing is to acquire the habit of prayer. It has to become a habit. Without that, we don't have an interior life; we just have an exterior life. And when all we have is an exterior life, we become anxious, restless, and that leads to greed, the inordinate love of possessing. For we end up trying to secure our own happiness and to reduce our own anxiety, and when things do not go our way in life, we become angry, impatient, irritated, we lose the peace that we long for. And when we are at that point, it means we've taken our life into our own hands. But life is not meant to be lived out of our own hands. We are meant to be carried along by God, like a baby is carried in a car seat. We are meant to be carried along by divine providence. God is in control, not us, and we have to surrender to his control. When we do so, life becomes so much more exhilarating."
Deacon Doug McManaman " The Importance of Prayer"
How to Pray
“Let us strive to be like Jesus in prayer and connection with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.” ~ Fr Stirniman
There are five types of prayer:
Praise (hymns and response)
Adoration (adore His presence)
Intercession (pray for the needs of others)
Petition (pray for our own needs)
Thanksgiving (we show our appreciation)
There are three ways to pray:
Vocal prayer (we pray out loud or use our inner voice)
Meditative prayer (meditate on some aspect of God or something God has done or going to do)
Contemplative prayer (contemplate the existence of God and enjoy his presence)
*All of the types of prayer and ways to pray come together perfectly in the Mass.
NOW AVAILABLE - "Back to Basics" A refresher of some basic catholic prayers.
"Through adoration of the Eucharist, the Christian mysteriously helps to change the world and plant the seed of the Gospel. Anyone who prays to the Savior draws the whole world with him and raises it to God. Those who stand before the Lord are serving others. They are presenting to Christ all those who do not know him or are far from him. They keep watch in God's presence for all of them."
~ St John Paul II
Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
What is the Chaplet of Divine Mercy?
Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in the village of Glogwiec, west of Lodz, Poland, on August 25, 1905.
In the 1930's, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world. The message of Mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; she has been recognized by the Church as a "Saint"; and her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to The Divine Mercy.
How to Recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. At the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts the Chaplet is proceeded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Faustina and followed by a closing prayer.
If you would like to watch/listen to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, click here to view it on our YouTube channel. If you would like to print your own copy and follow along, you can do so here.
Pray for Vocations
Traveling Tapestry & Traveling Crucifix
It is an exciting time in our parishes and our diocese - vocations to the priesthood and religious life are growing! The best way we can support those who are discerning and those God is calling is through our prayers.
We are happy to resume a long-standing devotion in our parishes, the Traveling Tapestry of St Therese at Historic St Patrick and the Traveling Crucifix at Holy Trinity. Please consider praying for vocations regularly in your home by participating in one of our traveling vocations programs. It is a simple process and through your prayers you will contribute to creating a culture that encourages vocations to the priesthood and religious life in our parish and our diocese. The traveling tapestry and sign up book are located under the St Theresa statue. The traveling crucifix box and sign up book are located at the back of Holy Trinity Church.
To help build a culture for vocations in our parish, we ask a parishioner to take the tapestry/crucifix into their home for one week and place it in a prominent location. We ask that you pray a rosary, chaplet of divine mercy, prayer for vocations, or any prayers you wish in front of the tapestry or crucifix. At the end of the week, you will return the tapestry/crucifix to the church before the Saturday vigil Mass .
For questions about the traveling tapestry, please contact the Parish Office at office@holytrinitybloomington.org
For questions about the traveling crucifix, please contact Kathy Wieland at (309)825-2434 or kwieland8@gmail.com.
Prayers for Priests
Yet another way we can Pray for Vocations is by participating in "Prayers for Priests" held monthly at Historic St Patrick courtyard on the second Saturday of each month at 4:00pm. You can print out your own copy of the Prayers for Priests flyer here.
We will say a Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and a collection of specific prayers for priests and vocations. Come and join the voices of those who pray for priests on the second Sunday of the month.
Watch our Parish Events page for more information on upcoming dates!
Pray for our Sick
*For privacy, only first names and last initial will be displayed. If you would like to have a name added to our list, please contact the Parish Center.
Recently Baptized
Jameson G. - son of Corbin & Caitlyn
Recently Married
Jeffrey & Nicole Sipe
Recently Deceased
Steve Sweeney
Helen Brown
Two effective ways to pray for the souls in purgatory are praying the Divine Mercy chaplet for them and remembering them in your Rosary intentions. The Divine Mercy Chaplet and Rosary require a time commitment of approximately 10 and 20 minutes. Even praying these powerful prayers once a week for the Holy Souls isn’t asking that much considering the benefit it brings to your spiritual family members. Finally, one can have a Mass said for the poor souls. Mass stipends are usually $10, the cost of two coffees at Starbucks. This merciful almsgiving is pleasing to God and hardly burdensome to us.