Prayers for the Month of Setember

Father of mercy, give your people help and strength.  The birth of Mary’s son was the dawn of our new life.  May this celebration of her birthday bring us closer to lasting peace.
Grant this prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Hail Mary

full of grace,

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, mother of God,

pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

God of all courage, bless all grandparents.  Grant them good health.  Surround them with your love.  Bless the families they have raised.  May their families be a blessing to them as they come to rely on the goodness and charity of others. 

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Our Father, 

who art in heaven, 

hallowed be thy name; 

thy kingdom come, 

thy will be done 

on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread, 

and forgive us our trespasses, 

as we forgive those 

who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.  Amen.

Loving God, we pray that all people, young and old, will realize the immense value they have in your eyes and the eyes of their family and friends.  We pray for all adults to become more aware of what is going on in the lives of those around them, especially the young and all those who suffer the pain of loneliness or depression.  Help us trust in the promises of Christ, in his offering of a peace that no one can take from us. 

We make this prayer in Jesus’ name.  Amen. 

Redeeming saviour, you know our weakness and hurts.  We offer you our failings in exchange for your mercy and healing.  May the gift of this day be an acceptable offering to you as we pray for greater courage in dealing with the challenges of tomorrow.  Bless our friendships and grant us forgiveness so that we may begin anew.

Grant this and hear all our prayers through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

God of all kindness, we find it difficult to love as you love and to forgive as you forgive.  Send us your Holy Spirit so that we can be transformed into the image and likeness of your son who reminds us that the kingdom of God is near.

We ask this prayer through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Blessed Mary, 

we ask you to pray for us.  The power of the rosary makes known the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Thank you for your motherly attention.  May we make your Son known by our lives of goodness.

This we ask through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

My soul magnifies the Lord.

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior;

because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid;

henceforth all generations shall call me blessed;

The almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name;

his mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him.

He has shown might with his arm,

and scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  Amen.

Loving God, 

grant us the courage we need

to go the way you shepherd us,

that when you call us

we may go without fear.

If you bid us come to you 

on the waters, may we not be frightened.  And if you bid us climb the hill, may we not focus on the struggle, but on the happiness of your company.  

We make this, and all our prayers, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Heavenly Father, you gifted both Cornelius and Cyprian with a sincere love for Christ and the church.  Strengthen each one of us so that we can grow through all our struggles in our love for God and one another.

This we ask through Christ our Lord.   Amen.

Dear Lord,

help us follow you by what we say  and do.  Unite us as sisters and brothers in Christ.  Grant us the courage we need to respect, defend and protect the rights of all in unity. 

We make this and all our prayers through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

God our Father, 

you gave Robert Bellarmine wisdom and goodness to defend the faith of your church.  By his prayers may we always rejoice in what we believe.  Grant us the courage to follow through any difficulties.  

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Loving God, 

your love is always with us, constantly reaching out to all of us, especially those who are in need of much kindness.  We pray that we may learn to imitate St. Robert Bellarmine by bringing hope to those who need it most.  

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Lord Jesus, 

teach us to see with your eyes the beauty inherent in every soul.  May our response to your love be one of gratitude and increasing service.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Creator God, 

we praise you for the wonders of your wisdom and love.  You gave your son Jesus to show us how to live in love.  You gather sisters and brothers, younger and older, into this community of faith and learning and you fill us with your spirit of hope.  May we have the freedom to dream dreams for the future, the honesty to discover the truth in those dreams and the courage to bring them to life. 

We make this prayer in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Loving God, 

you generously blessed your servant St. Padre Pio with the gifts of the Spirit.  You marked his body with the wounds of Christ-crucified as a powerful witness to the saving passion and death of your son. Endowed with the gift of discernment, St. Pio labored tirelessly in the confessional, offering words of forgiveness.  He invites us all to a greater union with Jesus in the Eucharist.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Loving God, 

you granted Emilie Tavernier-Gamelin the courage to overcome great suffering and the grace to help all those in need.  May we be inspired by Blessed Emilie in this present age as we make known your love for the most vulnerable know. 

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Loving God, 

bestower of all gifts, you blessed both Cosmas and Damian with skills that they willingly used to alleviate suffering.  Grant us the courage to identify and put into practice our gifts that would make our school community stronger.  

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Loving God, 

help us to be bold in our desire to be good to others.  Let your spirit of courage come upon us to set us free to do great works in your name.  In all that we say and do make us mindful of the genuine needs of everyone. 

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Good and gracious God, 

in a wonderful way you guide the work of angels and that of the human family.  May those who serve you constantly in heaven keep our lives safe from all harm on earth.

We ask this prayer through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Heavenly Father, 

you gave St. Jerome delight in his study of holy scripture.  He desired to make your word known.  Give us the courage to live your word each day.

We make this and all our prayers through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Gracious God,

we pray for the courage to be happy with all we are given.  Let the good work you have begun in your saints inspire us to see that hope is the only solution to despair, that love triumphs over death and that all things are possible for the one who believes in you.  Amen.

Amazing Quotes from Pope Francis

-- "Brothers and sisters, good evening. You all know that the duty of the conclave was to give a bishop to Rome. It seems that my brother cardinals have gone almost to the ends of the earth to get him... but here we are." (First words as pope: March 13, 2013)

-- "The Lord never tires of forgiving. It is we who tire of asking for forgiveness." (First Angelus as pope, March 17, 2013)

-- "This is precisely the reason for the dissatisfaction of some, who end up sad -- sad priests -- in some sense becoming collectors of antiques or novelties, instead of being shepherds living with 'the odor of the sheep.' This I ask you: Be shepherds, with the 'odor of the sheep,' make it real, as shepherds among your flock, fishers of men." (Chrism Mass, March 28, 2013).

-- "Ask yourselves this question: How often is Jesus inside and knocking at the door to be let out, to come out? And we do not let him out because of our own need for security, because so often we are locked into ephemeral structures that serve solely to make us slaves and not free children of God." (Pentecost vigil, May 18, 2013).

-- "Men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the 'culture of waste.' If a computer breaks it is a tragedy, but poverty, the needs and dramas of so many people end up being considered normal. ... When the stock market drops 10 points in some cities, it constitutes a tragedy. Someone who dies is not news, but lowering income by 10 points is a tragedy! In this way people are thrown aside as if they were trash." (General audience, June 5, 2013).

-- "Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey. To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light." ("Lumen Fidei," June 29, 2013).

-- "If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him? ... The problem is not having this tendency, no, we must be brothers and sisters to one another. The problem is in making a lobby of this tendency: a lobby of misers, a lobby of politicians, a lobby of masons, so many lobbies." (News conference during flight from Brazil to Rome, July 28, 2013).

-- "An evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral." ("Evangelii Gaudium," Nov. 24, 2013).

-- "Gossip can also kill, because it kills the reputation of the person! It is so terrible to gossip! At first it may seem like a nice thing, even amusing, like enjoying a candy. But in the end, it fills the heart with bitterness, and even poisons us." (Angelus, Feb. 16, 2014).

-- "The perfect family doesn't exist, nor is there a perfect husband or a perfect wife, and let's not talk about the perfect mother-in-law! It's just us sinners." A healthy family life requires frequent use of three phrases: "May I? Thank you, and I'm sorry" and "never, never, never end the day without making peace." (Meeting with engaged couples, Feb. 14, 2014)

-- “I am always wary of decisions made hastily. I am always wary of the first decision, that is, the first thing that comes to my mind if I have to make a decision. This is usually the wrong thing. I have to wait and assess, looking deep into myself, taking the necessary time.”


-- “I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. And you have to start from the ground up.”

-- “Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent.”

-- “If one has the answers to all the questions—that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt.”

-- “Men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the “culture of waste.” If you break a computer it is a tragedy, but poverty, the needs, the dramas of so many people end up becoming the norm.”

-- “There is no worse material poverty, I am keen to stress, than the poverty which prevents people from earning their bread and deprives them of the dignity of work.”

-- “There is another important point: encountering the poor. If we step outside ourselves we find poverty. Today—it sickens the heart to say so—the discovery of a tramp who has died of the cold is not news. Today what counts as news is, maybe, a scandal. A scandal: ah, that is news! Today, the thought that a great many children do not have food to eat is not news. This is serious, this is serious! We cannot put up with this! Yet that is how things are. We cannot become starched Christians, those over-educated Christians who speak of theological matters as they calmly sip their tea.”

-- “It is a well-known fact that current levels of production are sufficient, yet millions of people are still suffering and dying of starvation. This, dear friends is truly scandalous. A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being.”

-- “I am thinking of what St Ignatius told us…He pointed out two criteria on love. The first: love is expressed more clearly in actions than in words. The second: there is greater love in giving than in receiving.”