A unique New Program to Lead the children to Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration, engaging them in reverent Prayer to aid in preserving their Catholic Family identity.

Theme Song

Jesus, Friend of children
Here we come to You.
In Your Mercy, hear us
Grant Your children's prayer.
In Your Mercy, hear us
Grant Your children's prayer.

Sung by the Renna Family; contributed by Fr. Anthony Adawu, who is a priest from Ghana. A former Spiritual Advisor, he currently serves as Chaplain and Adjunct Faculty at Mount Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA.

"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."  (Matthew 19:14)

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Forming Missionary Disciples!

“I encourage educators to cultivate in little ones the missionary spirit, so that there may arise from among them witnesses of the tenderness of God and announcers of his love.”

(Pope Francis, Solemnity of the Epiphany 2015)



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Holy Trinity Catholic Church -Family Eucharistic Holy Hour Program



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St. Faustina’s Eucharistic Wisdom

In Loving Memory of
Father Angelus M. Shaughnessy, OFM Capuchin

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Acknowledgements
 
Fr. Joseph Mele, Episcopal Vicar
Fr. Kenneth Keene, Pastor
Fr. Kenneth Sparks, Parochial Vicar
Fr. Robert Herrmann,  in residence
Fr. John Takyi, Assisting Presider
 
Deacon Tim Killmeyer
Deacon Lee Miles,  D.R.E.
 
Mrs. Kim Stevenson, Principal
Mrs. Pat Polachek, Coordinator
Mrs. Bernadette Conklin, Coordinator
Mrs. Darci Smith, Coordinator
Mrs. Alice Steigerwald, Coordinator
 
Mrs. Kate Papak  guitar & alto
Mr. Brendan Barker, Director of music
Ms. Cassidy Shipley, Children’s Choir Director
Mrs. Emily Swora  soprano
Mrs. Erin Stuvek, Director of Evangelization
 
Knights of Columbus Color Corps
Fr Denys Baron Assembly #0939
 
Blue Army’s Marian Blue Guard

Photos
Mark Cotter
Aiice Steigerwald
 
The students, faculty, staff, family,
and friends of Holy Trinity Catholic Parish & School.

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Family Eucharistic Holy Hour 

When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter,
“So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?  (Matthew 26:40)
USCCB
 


What Will Save America, Convert Nations, and Stop Wars?

("Signs & Wonders" Spring 2014 magazine)

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Contact us to begin a Holy Hour in your parish.

Foundation of Jesus The Divine Mercy's "Family Eucharistic Holy Hour" program includes placing an emphasis on the vocal aspects of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Holy Rosary in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. We incorporate reverent, universally understood movements thus enhancing the depth of the prayer experience, which promotes unity with God and one another. 

The Virgin Mary of Nazareth
Ark of The New Covenant
Throne of The Divine Mercy Incarnate

Rachamim is the Hebrew word most often translated into English as “mercy.”  It is the plural form of the word racham – “womb.”  It bespeaks a mother’s tenderness for her infant. The Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity-become-man in Jesus of Nazareth is the fruit of two wombs, the one in eternity from the divine Father:  I have begotten you from the womb before the morning (Psalm 109 (110):3), the other in time from a human mother: ...you will conceive in [the] womb and bear a son (Luke 1:31):  In his Person He is The Divine Mercy in the Flesh.  

In a vision, Jesus explained to Sister Faustina that the rays shining forth from the wound to his side and heart represent the Blood and Water that gushed forth from them when they were pierced by a lance after he died.  It is only upon a person’s death that the blood separates into its two component fluids—one red, the other, pale. The pale ray - the Water - symbolizes the Holy Spirit’s purifying action, as that element removes the metabolized toxins from the living body; the red ray – the Blood – symbolizes the Holy Spirit’s nourishing action, as that element supplies the nourishing oxygen to each living cell in the body.  These functions are carried out through the sacraments of the Bride of Christ - Mother Church – taken out from the Bridegroom, the Last Adam asleep on the Cross, as mother Eve was brought forth from the side of the First Adam in deep sleep.

It was the blood of the atonement, taken from the sacrificed animals, that once-a-year the high priest of the Old Covenant sprinkled on the cover of pure gold on the ark of the covenant known as the “propitiatory” and as the seat, or throne, of mercy, "To turn aside God’s wrath, [by] taking away the peoples’ sins" -- (1 John 2:2), symbolized by the tablets of the broken law kept in the ark under the golden cover. 

That atonement cover for the ark had to be hammered into its shape, together with the Guarding Cherubs at each end, from one lump of pure gold — (Exodus 37:7-8). This foreshadowed the Messiah, God’s Anointed, who was to bear mankind’s suffering according to the prophecy of Isaiah 50:6 — “I gave my back to the smiters,” and of Psalm 129:3 – “The plowers plowed upon my back.”  For the true “propitiatory” was the Lord’s body — (Romans 3:25), sprinkled with his own blood of the New Covenant — (Jeremiah 31:31ff). 

It was by this personal sacrifice of Jesus, foreseen by God in the “eternal now,” that the Mother of Jesus was preserved from every stain to become a worthy dwelling for His Son, whom she encompassed in her womb.  This truth of our faith is depicted by the figure of Our Lady penetrated by the Rays of Mercy emanating from Christ’s pierced breast, for the elements of the blood separate only upon one’s death.  Mary’s pure womb and lap were the true Mercy Seat that shared the Suffering Servant's sacrifice foretold at His first offering in the Temple:  "And a sword will pierce your own soul too" (Luke 2:35). 

The symbolism of this icon is expressed more directly in the hymns of the Eastern Byzantine branch of the Church celebrating the liturgical feast instituted by the Church to be observed each year on the First Sunday of Lent in commemoration of the Church’s victory in 842 over the heresy of iconoclasm—the destruction of sacred images, on account of which the Church suffered greatly for over a hundred years.

The hymn that sets the tune for the Odes which follow it in the Morning Prayer poetically sings:  I will sacrifice to You, O Lord, with the voice of thanksgiving, the Church cries out to You:  for she has been cleansed from the defilement of the demons by the Blood which flowed in mercy from your side. 

Then the Ninth Ode of the feast’s ‘Early prayer’ is a hymn of praise to the Theotokos, the Mother-of-God. The Church ordained that the hymn be sung after each verse of Mary’s Magnificat, referring to the immeasurable glory and the station beyond words which she attained by the unity with her of the Word of God—the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.  The ode always follows the hymns addressed to her Son, thus signifying the unity of the Theotokos with Christ through her motherhood, and his unity with her through his sonship. 

Referring to the Book of Exodus (25:22), the Theotokion of the Feast of Holy Icons proclaims: He who of old commanded Moses to set up the ark of the testimony, came to dwell in you, O Virgin, as in a spiritual ark:  He alone is glorified, and He makes your temple glorious with miracles. 

A final hymn for the Feast then attests: The grace of truth has shone forth upon us; the mysteries darkly prefigured in the times of old have now been openly fulfilled.  For behold, the Church is clothed in a beauty that surpasses all things earthly through the icon of the Incarnate Christ that was foreshadowed by the ark of testimony.

 Fr. S. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC
Former Vice Postulator for North America
in the Canonization Cause of St. M. Faustina Kowalska

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Pope Francis celebrates Mass for the Canonization of St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII April 25, 2014. Credit: Stephan Driscoll/CNA

by Elise Harris
 
Vatican City, Aug 16, 2015 / 05:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis said that the Eucharist is no mere symbol, but is in fact the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, which has the ability to transform our hearts and minds to be more like him.

“The Eucharist is Jesus who gives himself entirely to us. To nourish ourselves with him and abide in him through Holy Communion, if we do it with faith, transforms our life into a gift to God and to our brothers,” the Pope said Aug. 16.

Left to right:  Joe Renna, Mary Ann Renna, Jenn Brosas, Amanda Brosas, Amy Flores, Gabriella Gonzalez, Haley Flores, Christina Brosas. Daniel Renna, Theresa Renna, Julia Brosas, Angela Renna, Laura Meehan, Tim Meehan

October 24, 2015

The Renna Family and friends prayed and sang the Theme Song, "Jesus, Friend of Children," "The Divine Mercy Chaplet," "Jesus, I Trust in You" in reverent motions, and read the Act of the Consecration of the Family to The Divine Mercy.

Great thanks to The Renna family for traveling from Birmingham, Alabama,, and friends, Maria and children from Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Glen Burnie, Maryland, to share their gifts and talents with everyone gathered at the IWOPF!
 

Photo Album

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The Renna Family and Friends

On September 20, 2014, the Renna family and friends sang/prayed The Divine Mercy Chaplet in the sanctuary of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C .for the 22nd Annual International Week of Prayer and Fasting www.iwopf.org.

In 2015, JTDMF and The Renna's are invited to hold their Family Eucharistic Holy Hour for the 23rd Annual International Week of Prayer and Fasting.

Photo Album

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