“The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” St. Padre Pio

I don’t know about you but I find myself feeling helpless and overwhelmed these days. With everyone forced to be distant from each other and everything getting “shut down,” I am left feeling helpless and frustrated. There are also so many people suffering, and there are a lot of people who have asked me personally to pray for them or pray for someone they know. All of these direct and indirect “prayer requests” leave me feeling overwhelmed.

For me the best way to alleviate those feelings has been the rosary. I have always enjoyed the rosary, but these times have made me fall in love with it. It eases the helplessness as we invoke our Blessed Mother to take our petitions to her Son. He does have the power to transform things for the better. Just like he did through the Mysteries of the Rosary,  which reflect on the Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ. Furthermore, saying a Hail Mary for someone who has asked you, or that you think might need prayers, carries a powerful spiritual grace. The benefits for your own soul and those you are praying for cannot be overstated.

Therefore, I encourage you to pray the rosary everyday, whenever possible. Also to help our community grow in the devotion we will offer a Communal Rosary over Zoom every Wednesday at 1pm. We will pray for an end to the pandemic, we will pray for the safety of our staff and students, we will pray that we will be back together again, we will pray for those who are sick, we will pray for those who have died, we will pray for peace in our streets, we will pray for jusice to reign in our land, we will pray for an end to abortion, we will pray for the election season and we will pray for the petitions you bring to the devotion. October is the month of the rosary, so it is a good time to pick up this practice for the good of your soul, for the good of the souls of those you care about and for the good of the world. 

If you want to join us, click on this link every Wednesday at 1 p.m. and we will invite you to share your petitions either verbally or by adding them to the comments:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84911935663

There will be images of the mysteries as we pray and even if you come on late please add petitions to the chat. You may find as you start praying other petitions come up; please feel free to add them to the chat as well. You will also be invited to lead a decade (usually not forced but as the students have found out Mr. Kriegl may “summon” you :).

“There is no surer means of calling down God’s blessings upon the family… than the daily recitation of the Rosary.” Pope Pius XII

“On the Cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls – no one have I excluded!” (Diary, 1182).

It is my hope to bring the hour of Mercy to our NDA Community. I have been extremely blessed to have travelled to Krakow, Poland, which is the resting place for St. Faustina. In this beautiful city you will find the Divine Mercy image all over the place. It truly is a beautiful visual reminder of Christ’s Mercy and Love. I also made it to Vilnius, Lithuania, which calls itself the “City of Divine Mercy.” It was in Vilnius where St. Faustina had the visions of Christ coming down and giving her the devotion known as the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I was in the room where she wrote her diaries that later revealed what Christ spoke to her about this beautiful devotion. I felt the holiness of these places and became acutely aware of Christ’s Mercy and Love which He wants to share with us. The way Jesus conveyed His desire for Mercy in St. Faustina’s diary is moving. I would like to share with you a few excerpts from that diary that pertain to the hour of Mercy.

“At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enter into My mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion…” (Diary, 1320).

“…as often as you hear the clock strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring and glorifying it; invoking its omnipotence for the whole world (…). In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for others simply by asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world – mercy triumphed over justice. (Diary, 1572)

For these reasons we invite all the NDA Community to join us in praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every weekday at 3 p.m. Simply click on the link below to join the Zoom Chaplet during the hour of Mercy. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84405086895

On Wednesdays we will invite the students by class to take part in this beautiful devotion. We tried to choose a time that each class would remember therefore:

9 a.m. – Freshman

10 a.m. – Sophomores

11 a.m. – Juniors

12 p.m. – Seniors

Please encourage your son or daughter to check it out! 

Finally here is a link to a little video about Vilnius, the “City of Divine Mercy.”

https://cityofmercy.lt/en_GB/objektai/dievo-gailestingumo-sventove/