LEAVES Website for July-August 2026 Issue
Excerpted from “Leaflets” column:
Dear friends of Leaves,
We are currently in the Church’s season of Ordinary Time. The summer days are warm and soon we will begin harvesting fruits and vegetables while listening to the birds blessing us with their sweet songs!
Fall and Winter are always a good time to do a little more reading and to discover a few new things along the way. I thought this last Winter would be a wonderful opportunity to start a new spiritual journal.
Sometimes, we lose touch with the present, and miss out on the shapes and colors of the landscape around us. Our journal helps us to focus on the here and now of our life. It enables us to observe everyday reality in a wiser way. I wonder at times of the mystery of God’s work in my life. I begin to sense where the Spirit is leading me through the passages I see and write about. I observe the mystery that harmonizes all sides of my life experience and sense a feeling of wholesomeness as I come together with myself, with others, and with God. Perhaps this is the best reward of a journal keeping.
Among the things I observe, the Lord speaks of peace to His people. I realize more clearly all He has done for me. It brings me to see that I have so much to be thankful for. I can make peace now with His help and that of the saints around.
I prayed for the reconciliation I would be involved in during a particular week. And the help I would have to give to those I would meet. I was worried about some of them, but I must admit the Lord was there with me and He guided me along the way.
As I read my journal, I realized that journal keeping isn’t made of cool calculation. I must put myself in God’s presence before and after I write. Contemplation has to be the ground action that permeates all I do.
Journal keeping helps me to focus on the here and now. As I write, I see that I become filled with wonder at the mystery of God working in my life. I realize in me a sense of wholeness, of coming together with myself, with others, and with God. I believe this is how God will bless the children of Israel. That is what we are told: “The Lord bless you and keep you; / The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; / The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Nm 6:24-26).
I was reading a Sunday Parish Bulletin one weekend, and I saw a short text with the title: “PRAYER.” It went like this:
One afternoon, the pastor noticed a woman sitting in the empty church with her head in her hands. An hour passed; then two. She was still there. Judging that it was a soul in distress, and eager to be of assistance, Father went to her and said: “Is there any way I can be of help?” “No, thank you, Father,” she said. “I’ve been getting all the help I need from Him.”
No holiness is greater than to learn perfect acceptance of life. In this (game of cards called) life, a person plays the hand dealt to us to the best of our ability.
People are not asked if you will play. Our only choice is “how” because God comes to us disguised as the circumstances of our life.
Thank you for being a member of the LEAVES readers. Have a great summer filled with the Lord’s gracious blessings – Fr. Michael Sheehy, c.m.m.
Excerpted from “Our Family Album”:
Phone Found!
My donation is in thanksgiving to Ss. Anthony, Padre Pio, Jude, Rita, Theresa, and to my deceased husband of 45 years. He was such a good man.
My daughter’s cellphone was stolen. She was devastated. Her important documents and precious photos of family were gone.
After a few weeks of frustrating searches and dead-end clues, she was able to pinpoint the location of the phone. With the help of the local police, the phone was retrieved intact!
So very grateful – Mrs. Rebeca G.
Help with Medical
Issues Needed
As the new year began, I found myself so grateful for all the blessings God has bestowed upon me in eight decades of life. But now I am really desperate. I need surgery and I am having problems with getting to the doctor’s office and the surgery center won’t answer my calls. They want to use texting or email, neither of which I can use and don’t have access to.
Fortunately, I can see well enough to read and write and use a landline, but it is as if I don’t exist if I don’t have all the electronics. I don’t have any family or friends left who can help me and no money to pay a younger person, if I could even find one.
Meanwhile, my condition is worsening and I feel depressed. Please pray that God will straighten this out for me soon. I always pray for the LEAVES readers.
Thank you – Ethel C.
Holy Spirit Novena
Helped Health Concerns
This donation is in thanksgiving for a favor received after saying the Novena to the Holy Spirit. I think I found it in a LEAVES magazine published years ago. It is a three-day novena.
My prayer request was that the eye doctor would agree to provide a treatment for the glaucoma in my eyes that would not interfere with my other unusual health issues (because many traditional doctors do not understand MCS (which stands for Multiple Chemical Sensitivities). The other part of my request was that I not fall down or stumble due to problems with mobility and the fact that it was winter where I live and I had to go out of my retirement home.
I am sharing the novena:
Holy Spirit, you who make me see everything and show me the way to reach my ideals, give me the divine gift to forgive and forget them all who have done wrong to me. I, in short dialogue, want to thank you for everything and confirm once more that I never want to be separated from you no matter how great the material desires may be. I want to be with you and my beloved ones in our perpetual glory. Thanks for the favors granted.
Thank you – C.A.S.
Blessed Engelmar
Testimonies
A Life of
Blessed Engelmar
There is available a booklet of the life of Bl. Engelmar Unzeitig, C.M.M. You may receive a free copy of it by sending a stamped (postage for one ounce), self-addressed envelope to us at: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121-0087.
Thanks to God, Jesus, Mary, Ss. Joseph, Jude, Teresa, Anthony, Raphael and Gabriel, and Fr. Engelmar. I pray for all the LEAVES members and for St. Ann. Please pray for our guardian angels, priests, missionaries and nuns of LEAVES. Pray for Israel, our politicians, our cardinals, bishops all over the world. Pray for Cole, Madison, Rodney, Kayla, Lorie, and Carol and our friends and family and for Fr. Todd. Pray for America. Pray for peace – Carol W.
+ + +
My donation was promised in thanksgiving to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mary, St. Lucy and Bl. Engelmar for a prayer intention that was granted. Thank you for the LEAVES apostolate. Praying for God’s blessing on each member of Mariannhill and the LEAVES families – Cindy.
Novena in Honor of
Abbot Francis Pfanner
Abbot Francis Pfanner founded Mariannhill Monastery, and 100 years ago its monks became the Congregation of Missionaries of Mariannhill. He was not only a great missionary, but also a holy man. The cause for his beatification has begun. We have available a novena in his honor and will send you a free copy of it when you send a stamped (postage for one ounce), self-addressed envelope to us at: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121-0087.
Prayer of
St. Francis de Sales
Be at peace
Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life; rather look to them with full hope as they arise.
God, whose very own you are, will deliver you from out of them.
He has kept you hitherto, and He will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand it, God will bury you in His arms.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you then and every day.
He will either shield you from suffering, or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.
Amen.
Motorist’s Prayer
Lord, grant me a steady hand and a watchful eye that no one may be hurt when I pass by.
You gave life, I pray no act of mind may take away or mar that act of yours.
Shelter those, dear Lord, who keep me company, from evil or fire or any calamity.
Teach me to use my car for others’ needs nor miss through love of speed, the beauty of this world, that thus I may with joy and courtesy go happily through life and reach without mishap, eternal life. Amen.
+ + +
Prayer for Our Country
Almighty God, we humbly thank you for this good land which you have given us for our inheritance. We pray that we may always prove to be a people mindful of your love and kindness. Bless this land with honest labor. Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Preserve and increase our liberties, and fashion into one united nation this people of many races and tongues. Fill with the spirit of wisdom those to whom we entrust the authority of government so that they may seek justice and peace. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in time of trouble do not allow our trust and hope in you to fail. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer for the Canonization of
Bl. Solanus Casey
O God, I adore you. I give myself to you. May I be the person you want me to be, and may your will be done in my life today.
I thank you for the gifts you gave Fr. Solanus. If it is your will, bless us with the canonization of Fr. Solanus so that others may imitate and carry on his love for all the poor and suffering of our world.
As he joyfully accepted your divine plans, I ask you, according to your will, to hear my prayer for (mention your intention) through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[The feast day of Bl. Solanus Casey is July 30.]
This is a poem I wrote. The Holy Spirit inspires me. I pray for all my LEAVES family! – Sandra Hodonos.
Everything fleeting,
Everything passing.
Memories blown away like the wind.
My life goes by
Happiness, joy
Sorrow and tears.
I know God is with me
And guides all my ways
Till I’m home in heaven
For endless of days.
When to Quit
By Margaret Peterson
When the cold winds of life
Blow steep in the soul
And bitterness reigns within,
It isn’t time to give up on God,
But for deeper prayers to begin.
+ + +
Wings of Faith
By Gen Gallagher
\An angel with a broken wing –
Whoever heard of such a thing?
Wings once perfect, partly flawed,
Nonetheless to serve the Lord.
Beyond the shadow of a doubt
His mission meant to carry out,
The focus on what he must do,
No obstacle to cloud his view.
The little child keep safe from harm,
The sick supply his healing balm,
Assisting on the battlefield,
His presence a protective shield.
A pilgrim’s journey safely guide,
A shelter from the storm provide,
The stranger rescue in distress,
Remaining in the emptiness.
The angel given a new wing
Attentively is listening …
A need to pray, perhaps to kneel,
Recognizing what is real.
God who created everything
Can certainly replace a wing
Close to the brokenhearted; still
The wing was broken, not the will.
Excerpted from “Leaflets” column:
Dear friends of Leaves,
We are currently in the Church’s season of Ordinary Time. The summer days are warm and soon we will begin harvesting fruits and vegetables while listening to the birds blessing us with their sweet songs!
Fall and Winter are always a good time to do a little more reading and to discover a few new things along the way. I thought this last Winter would be a wonderful opportunity to start a new spiritual journal.
Sometimes, we lose touch with the present, and miss out on the shapes and colors of the landscape around us. Our journal helps us to focus on the here and now of our life. It enables us to observe everyday reality in a wiser way. I wonder at times of the mystery of God’s work in my life. I begin to sense where the Spirit is leading me through the passages I see and write about. I observe the mystery that harmonizes all sides of my life experience and sense a feeling of wholesomeness as I come together with myself, with others, and with God. Perhaps this is the best reward of a journal keeping.
Among the things I observe, the Lord speaks of peace to His people. I realize more clearly all He has done for me. It brings me to see that I have so much to be thankful for. I can make peace now with His help and that of the saints around.
I prayed for the reconciliation I would be involved in during a particular week. And the help I would have to give to those I would meet. I was worried about some of them, but I must admit the Lord was there with me and He guided me along the way.
As I read my journal, I realized that journal keeping isn’t made of cool calculation. I must put myself in God’s presence before and after I write. Contemplation has to be the ground action that permeates all I do.
Journal keeping helps me to focus on the here and now. As I write, I see that I become filled with wonder at the mystery of God working in my life. I realize in me a sense of wholeness, of coming together with myself, with others, and with God. I believe this is how God will bless the children of Israel. That is what we are told: “The Lord bless you and keep you; / The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; / The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Nm 6:24-26).
I was reading a Sunday Parish Bulletin one weekend, and I saw a short text with the title: “PRAYER.” It went like this:
One afternoon, the pastor noticed a woman sitting in the empty church with her head in her hands. An hour passed; then two. She was still there. Judging that it was a soul in distress, and eager to be of assistance, Father went to her and said: “Is there any way I can be of help?” “No, thank you, Father,” she said. “I’ve been getting all the help I need from Him.”
No holiness is greater than to learn perfect acceptance of life. In this (game of cards called) life, a person plays the hand dealt to us to the best of our ability.
People are not asked if you will play. Our only choice is “how” because God comes to us disguised as the circumstances of our life.
Thank you for being a member of the LEAVES readers. Have a great summer filled with the Lord’s gracious blessings – Fr. Michael Sheehy, c.m.m.
Excerpted from “Our Family Album”:
Phone Found!
My donation is in thanksgiving to Ss. Anthony, Padre Pio, Jude, Rita, Theresa, and to my deceased husband of 45 years. He was such a good man.
My daughter’s cellphone was stolen. She was devastated. Her important documents and precious photos of family were gone.
After a few weeks of frustrating searches and dead-end clues, she was able to pinpoint the location of the phone. With the help of the local police, the phone was retrieved intact!
So very grateful – Mrs. Rebeca G.
Help with Medical
Issues Needed
As the new year began, I found myself so grateful for all the blessings God has bestowed upon me in eight decades of life. But now I am really desperate. I need surgery and I am having problems with getting to the doctor’s office and the surgery center won’t answer my calls. They want to use texting or email, neither of which I can use and don’t have access to.
Fortunately, I can see well enough to read and write and use a landline, but it is as if I don’t exist if I don’t have all the electronics. I don’t have any family or friends left who can help me and no money to pay a younger person, if I could even find one.
Meanwhile, my condition is worsening and I feel depressed. Please pray that God will straighten this out for me soon. I always pray for the LEAVES readers.
Thank you – Ethel C.
Holy Spirit Novena
Helped Health Concerns
This donation is in thanksgiving for a favor received after saying the Novena to the Holy Spirit. I think I found it in a LEAVES magazine published years ago. It is a three-day novena.
My prayer request was that the eye doctor would agree to provide a treatment for the glaucoma in my eyes that would not interfere with my other unusual health issues (because many traditional doctors do not understand MCS (which stands for Multiple Chemical Sensitivities). The other part of my request was that I not fall down or stumble due to problems with mobility and the fact that it was winter where I live and I had to go out of my retirement home.
I am sharing the novena:
Holy Spirit, you who make me see everything and show me the way to reach my ideals, give me the divine gift to forgive and forget them all who have done wrong to me. I, in short dialogue, want to thank you for everything and confirm once more that I never want to be separated from you no matter how great the material desires may be. I want to be with you and my beloved ones in our perpetual glory. Thanks for the favors granted.
Thank you – C.A.S.
Blessed Engelmar
Testimonies
A Life of
Blessed Engelmar
There is available a booklet of the life of Bl. Engelmar Unzeitig, C.M.M. You may receive a free copy of it by sending a stamped (postage for one ounce), self-addressed envelope to us at: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121-0087.
Thanks to God, Jesus, Mary, Ss. Joseph, Jude, Teresa, Anthony, Raphael and Gabriel, and Fr. Engelmar. I pray for all the LEAVES members and for St. Ann. Please pray for our guardian angels, priests, missionaries and nuns of LEAVES. Pray for Israel, our politicians, our cardinals, bishops all over the world. Pray for Cole, Madison, Rodney, Kayla, Lorie, and Carol and our friends and family and for Fr. Todd. Pray for America. Pray for peace – Carol W.
+ + +
My donation was promised in thanksgiving to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mary, St. Lucy and Bl. Engelmar for a prayer intention that was granted. Thank you for the LEAVES apostolate. Praying for God’s blessing on each member of Mariannhill and the LEAVES families – Cindy.
Novena in Honor of
Abbot Francis Pfanner
Abbot Francis Pfanner founded Mariannhill Monastery, and 100 years ago its monks became the Congregation of Missionaries of Mariannhill. He was not only a great missionary, but also a holy man. The cause for his beatification has begun. We have available a novena in his honor and will send you a free copy of it when you send a stamped (postage for one ounce), self-addressed envelope to us at: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121-0087.
Prayer of
St. Francis de Sales
Be at peace
Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life; rather look to them with full hope as they arise.
God, whose very own you are, will deliver you from out of them.
He has kept you hitherto, and He will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand it, God will bury you in His arms.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you then and every day.
He will either shield you from suffering, or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.
Amen.
Motorist’s Prayer
Lord, grant me a steady hand and a watchful eye that no one may be hurt when I pass by.
You gave life, I pray no act of mind may take away or mar that act of yours.
Shelter those, dear Lord, who keep me company, from evil or fire or any calamity.
Teach me to use my car for others’ needs nor miss through love of speed, the beauty of this world, that thus I may with joy and courtesy go happily through life and reach without mishap, eternal life. Amen.
+ + +
Prayer for Our Country
Almighty God, we humbly thank you for this good land which you have given us for our inheritance. We pray that we may always prove to be a people mindful of your love and kindness. Bless this land with honest labor. Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Preserve and increase our liberties, and fashion into one united nation this people of many races and tongues. Fill with the spirit of wisdom those to whom we entrust the authority of government so that they may seek justice and peace. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in time of trouble do not allow our trust and hope in you to fail. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer for the Canonization of
Bl. Solanus Casey
O God, I adore you. I give myself to you. May I be the person you want me to be, and may your will be done in my life today.
I thank you for the gifts you gave Fr. Solanus. If it is your will, bless us with the canonization of Fr. Solanus so that others may imitate and carry on his love for all the poor and suffering of our world.
As he joyfully accepted your divine plans, I ask you, according to your will, to hear my prayer for (mention your intention) through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[The feast day of Bl. Solanus Casey is July 30.]
This is a poem I wrote. The Holy Spirit inspires me. I pray for all my LEAVES family! – Sandra Hodonos.
Everything fleeting,
Everything passing.
Memories blown away like the wind.
My life goes by
Happiness, joy
Sorrow and tears.
I know God is with me
And guides all my ways
Till I’m home in heaven
For endless of days.
When to Quit
By Margaret Peterson
When the cold winds of life
Blow steep in the soul
And bitterness reigns within,
It isn’t time to give up on God,
But for deeper prayers to begin.
+ + +
Wings of Faith
By Gen Gallagher
\An angel with a broken wing –
Whoever heard of such a thing?
Wings once perfect, partly flawed,
Nonetheless to serve the Lord.
Beyond the shadow of a doubt
His mission meant to carry out,
The focus on what he must do,
No obstacle to cloud his view.
The little child keep safe from harm,
The sick supply his healing balm,
Assisting on the battlefield,
His presence a protective shield.
A pilgrim’s journey safely guide,
A shelter from the storm provide,
The stranger rescue in distress,
Remaining in the emptiness.
The angel given a new wing
Attentively is listening …
A need to pray, perhaps to kneel,
Recognizing what is real.
God who created everything
Can certainly replace a wing
Close to the brokenhearted; still
The wing was broken, not the will.