MISSION STATEMENT OF THE ST

Dear (Name of Priest),

It was so nice speaking with you on the phone recently. Thank you for agreeing to celebrate our First Friday Mass on Friday, (Date). Below is a detailed explanation of our Apostolate, mission, and purpose. This will help you as you prepare your homily.

Should you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at (Phone #). I look forward to seeing you around 9:30-9:45pm at (Name of Parish) in (City) on (Date). I will send you a reminder email as the date gets closer.

In the Service of Jesus & Mary,

(Name of Director)

MISSION STATEMENT OF THE ST. THERESE MARIAN VIGIL SOCIETY (www.vigilsociety.org)

The St. Therese Marian Vigil Society is an emerging Catholic apostolate aimed at starting and promoting First Friday all-night Eucharistic Vigils and nationwide in order to bring America back to God. In specific, it is oriented towards gathering groups of people to pray once a month on late Friday evening to Saturday morning in order to renew the Church and society through the restoration of the four root pillars—life, marriage, family and priests/religious and vocations. These elements are essential in the cultivating a culture of life and the restoration of Church and society on various levels.

These are Vigils of Love and for Love.

The greatest commandment is that "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mathew 22:37-39). St. Therese exemplified and honored this commandment to such a high degree as she did everything as an act of Merciful Love for God. She says, “The justice of God is satisfied with very little when Love is the motive of our reparation; even then He mitigates, to an excessive degree, the temporal punishment due to sin, for He is gentleness itself.” With Love as our motive, these Vigils become Vigils of Love for Love, that one Perfect Love, which is Jesus.

THE RESTORATION OF THE FOUR ROOT PILLARS, THAT BEING, LIFE, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND PRIESTS/RELIGIOUS, ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE PROMOTION OF A CULTURE OF LIFE AND THE RENEWAL OF CHURCH AND SOCIETY.

Respect for LIFE from conception until natural death. Life is sacred at all ages and stages. We pray for an end to all actions against life: abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, embryonic stem cell research and even in Vitro Fertilization procedures. That is, any attack on the very essence of life from the instant of its conception, whereby the soul is immediately imbedded into the 1-cell zygote, until natural death. This includes the manipulation of embryos in laboratories regardless if the means of doing so seems noble.
The sanctity of MARRIAGE as a permanent covenant between one man and one woman committed to each other for life, that is chaste, open to life and lived according to God's plans.
To promote the building up of strong, loving and holy FAMILIES and to preserve the family unit as the basic cell of Church and society from being redefined in ways contrary to the divine law. This in turn will create the wholesome environment needed for the development of fruitful vocations of life and service to both Church and society and the establishment of other loving and holy families.
To pray for the renewal of vocations of PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS, so that they may be faithful to their vows and the teachings of the Catholic Church, and for the increase of holy vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

This vigil is rooted in the observable fact supported by Church teaching that an increase in holiness of our shepherds -- bishops, priests and religious -- leads directly to an increase of holiness among the laity they guide; just as growth in holiness of parents leads to an increase in holiness of children. In addition, to the degree that life and the Church are placed in danger, so is American society at large in danger.

OBJECTIVES OF THE VIGIL

To pray for LIFE, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, and PRIESTS/RELIGIOUS.
To pray for reparation against sins committed against LIFE, MARRIAGE, FAMILY and the CHURCH, with Love as our motive.
To give Jesus truly and really present in the Holy Eucharist praise and honor because He wants us to be devoted to Him, and because Eucharistic prayer, both in Mass and adoration, become the means par excellence for obtaining grace. With Love as our motive, these Vigils become Vigils of Love for Love, that one Perfect Love, which is Jesus.
To seek personal and communal holiness, a goal to which not just a few but all are called.

An increase in holiness of our shepherds -- bishops, priests and religious -- leads directly to an increase of holiness among the laity they guide; just as growth in holiness of parents leads to an increase in holiness of children. In addition, to the degree that life and the Church are placed in danger, so is American society at large in danger.

What exactly is a Powerhouse Eucharistic all-night Vigil?

It is a vigil whereby we avail ourselves of all the spiritual weapons available to us to combat the forces of evil that assail us in our day, especially, those attacks against LIFE, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, and Priests/Religious – these four pillars. LOVE is our greatest weapon of all. So even though we pray for these four key pillars, it’s really that we are praying to be LOVE to others. LOVE is our motive for participating in these Vigils. It’s not about Life, Marriage, Family, Priests per se; it’s actually about LOVE for it is in Loving others that lives will be preserved, marriages saved, families and priests will be holy.

At these Vigils of Love, we also incorporate other powerful weapons such as the sacraments of Holy Mass and Reconciliation, the power of the four mysteries of the Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and 3am, the Stations of the Cross, and other prayers all while we adore Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament with enough quiet time to Listen to the Holy Spirit, all at the sacrificial time of the wee hours of the morning. These Vigils are very powerful.