A chain email prayer from St. Therese?



If you spend any time with email, you've probably received an occasional chain letter, in spite of any spam filter settings meant to protect against that sort of thing. The spam promising a financial windfall from little-known African banks is well known, as are the announcements of lottery winnings for contests in Europe that you don't remember having entered. There are prayer chain letters, too, some of which are started in support of American military personnel.

An acquaintance forwarded a "Prayer of Saint Therese" to me yesterday. Curiously enough, it doesn't sound like anything a pious nineteenth-century French woman would actually have written. But it did spark a few thoughts on chain prayers that you might find instructive or entertaining.

Comments

  • Guest

    I get this same email off and on and it annoys me greatly. I have a return email composed and saved that emphasizes that Ste. Therese was not New Age and including some prayers (theologically, a bit meatier and much more Eucharistic) that I found on a Carmelite site and that really were written by her. She is my patron saint from my confirmation, and it bugs me that people make up spiritual nonsense in her name, instead of asking for her intercession.

  • Guest

    Great post!  This superstitious nonsense is really annoying, time-wasting, dishonoring to God and the saints, and just plain DUMB.

  • Guest

    Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle http://www.donnacooperoboyle.com  http://www.donnamariecooperoboyle.blogspot.com  http://www.donnamarieembracingmotherhood.blogspot.com

    Thanks for mentioning this. I don't like these chain letters either and wish people would realize that they are superstitious chain letters. I especially detest the ones that promise harm to you if you don't follow them to the T.  These are not inspired by God or the saints!

  • Guest

    I've received some accompanied by a picture of Mother Theresa!

    (And, of course, I forwarded it to five people within five minutes so my lawn wouldn't turn brown and I would find a quarter on the floor at work.)

  • Pattygray

    My brother suffered a near drowning accident 10 years ago tomorrow, 2/2/02. At the time he was hospitalized and in a coma, the Lord started giving me scriptures that he would bring him back. I wrote them down over the next two week period and pasted them all up on his hospital wall. It formed a large jig saw puzzle, short of one little 3×5 opening, right in the middle of the wall. The last day I was in Boston, a homeless man came up and gave me a tract that said “You Have God’s Word on It” It fit right in the middle of the wall, in that little opening. Since then, his brain has continued to heal and get better, but now his right heart is failing, causing liver and kidney failure as well. He was evaluabed by both Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale AZ and Mass General in Boston for heart transplant last year, but was deemed as not suitable for transplantation (too high of anitbodies in which he would reject the heart, and due to the multiple organ failure). I cling to the promises of that scripture filled wall and invision my brother completely healed from head to toe, brain, heart, liver and kidneys. He will be 62 next month.    

Newsletter

Subscribe to the Catholic Exchange Ezine and Newsletter.

The Church Today

Today's Mass Readings

Readings for May 21

Liturgy of the Hours

Daily Divine Office

Words of Encouragement

“Teach me to pray, Lord. Teach me to pray in your name, to pray with faith, to pray unceasingly. Teach me to pray for the people you have entrusted to my care. You want to shower your graces down upon…

Pope Benedict's Day

 
May 27th – Pentecost Sunday
Vatican Basilica, at 9:30
PAPAL MASS
Holy Mass
Saint Peter’s Square, at 12:00
Regina Caeli…

Quote of the Day

“There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with him.” ~Pope Benedict XVI…

Saint of the Day

St. Godric of Finchale

Ask a Monk

Spiritual advice from a Benedictine monastery by Brother Sebastian

Online via live chat
M – F: 6:00-6:30 PM EST
Saturday & Sunday: 3:00 – 5:00 PM EST

Offline via Email 24/7/365

Click on the button at any time and Brother Sebastian will respond


Support