For migrants
We are all required to welcome, promote, accompany and integrate those who knock on our doors. I pray that States will strive to ensure humane conditions for refugees and to facilitate integration processes.
Pope Francis
Let us pray for peace
Let us not forget the tormented Ukraine, let us not forget Palestine, Israel. Let us not forget Myanmar and so many countries that are at war. Let us pray for peace, today we need peace. War always, from the first day, is a defeat. Let us pray for peace. May the Lord give us strength to always fight for peace.
Pope Francis
Sacred Heart of Jesus
We are passing through this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (…) I am pleased to prepare a document that brings together the precious reflections of previous Magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the Sacred Scriptures, in order to re-propose today, to the whole Church, this devotion imbued with spiritual beauty(…) I ask you to accompany me in prayer, during this time of preparation.
Pope Francis
Sudan
I invite you to pray for Sudan, where the war that has been going on for over a year still has not found a peaceful solution. May the weapons be silenced and, with the commitment of the local authorities and the international community, help be brought to the population and the many displaced people; may the Sudanese refugees find welcome and protection in neighbouring countries.
Pope Francis
Year of Prayer
The coming months will lead us to the opening of the Holy Door, with which we will begin the Jubilee. I ask you to intensify your prayer to prepare us to live well this event of grace, and to experience the strength of God’s hope. Therefore, today we begin the Year of Prayer; that is, a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world.
Pope Francis
Monthly Prayer for For migrants fleeing their homes
Loving Father, who welcomes all your sons and daughters: We pray to you today for the migrants who flee from war or hunger.
May they find welcome and new opportunities in the countries that receive them. For hospitality is an expression of love, of that dynamism of openness that inspires us to pay attention to others, to seek the best for their lives.
But we know that immigrants are often seen as usurpers who have nothing to offer, and so this leads to the simplistic belief that the poor are dangerous and useless while the powerful are generous benefactors.
Teach us to be a Church as a “field hospital”. to live an ever better way of welcoming, to promote a culture of welcome, that protects and integrates; to think and develop an open world, to not judge the usefulness of the person, but to see the value in itself that the person represents.
And that the different countries of the world be able to think not only as a country, but also as a human family, because only a social and political culture that incorporates gratuitous acceptance can have a future. Amen
Monthly Prayer For the formation of religious and seminarians
Holy Spirit, who motivates the Church so that, in her mission, She may bear witness and always proclaim with renewed enthusiasm, the joy that springs from the encounter with Jesus:
We pray to you today for religious sisters, religious men and seminarians. The response to their vocation requires throughout life a process of formation towards Christian maturity, which embraces all the dimensions of the person.
May the human aspect of their formation provide them with self-discovery, self-acceptance and self-mastery to reach a sufficient level of psycho-affective maturity, to be an authentic gift of themselves to others. May their pastoral formation open them to be available to service and collaboration with others, cultivating, after the example of Jesus, a special love and closeness to the poor and marginal people.
May their spiritual formation through prayer and accompaniment, open them up to God to know him more intimately, to love him more deeply and to follow him more closely, thus developing a deep and personal friendship with Jesus, and discerning God’s will in their lives. And that in their community life – school of holiness – may grow in their relationship with others in deeply listening to the problems, wounds and needs of today men and women. Amen.
In the Midst of Fatima: An Expression of Church Universal
As I head off to my Pilgrimage and Journeying ‘experiment’ starting in Ponte de Barca, I reflect on the whirlwind of activities that has happened that past couple of days. In particular, I reflect on my experiences of my pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima. Fatima is a place … Read moreIn the Midst of Fatima: An Expression of Church Universal