We come before You in prayer, lifting up Your servant, Pope Francis, in his time of need. You are the Source of all healing, and we ask You to surround him with Your loving presence, granting him strength and recovery. May Your divine grace rest upon him, restoring his health and filling him with renewed vigor to continue leading Your Church with compassion and wisdom.
“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 30:17)
We place Pope Francis into Your hands, trusting in Your eternal care. May he be comforted by the love of the Church and the prayers of all the faithful. We ask, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that his recovery be swift, and his spirit be strengthened in Your peace. May Your will be done in his life, O Lord, and may Your healing power be with him always.
We offer this prayer in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
they are yours, filed with your presence and your tender love.
Son of God, Jesus,
through you all things were made.
You were formed in the womb of Mary our Mother,
you became part of this earth,
and you gazed upon this world with human eyes.
Today you are alive in every creature
in your risen glory.
Praise be to you!
Holy Spirit, by your light
you guide this world towards the Father's love
and accompany creation as it groans in travail.
You also dwell in our hearts
and you inspire us to do what is good.
Praise be to you!
Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love,
teach us to contemplate you
in the beauty of the universe,
for all things speak of you.
Awaken our praise and thankfulness
for every being that you have made.
Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined to everything that is.
God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love
for all the creatures of this earth,
for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.
Enlighten those who possess power and money
that they may avoid the sin of indifference,
that they may love the common good, advance the weak,
and care for this world in which we live.
The poor and the earth are crying out.
O Lord, seize us with your power and light,
help us to protect all life,
to prepare for a better future,
for the coming of your Kingdom
of justice, peace, love and beauty.
Praise be to you!
Amen.
Prayer for peace*
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.
Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instil in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Have you made any New Year’s resolutions? If not, there's still time, and Pope Francis has some ideas for you.
These are the ten things that he called upon Vatican employees to do:
1. “Take care of your spiritual life, your relationship with God, because this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.”
2. “Take care of your family life, giving your children and loved ones not just money, but most of all your time, attention and love.”
3. “Take care of your relationships with others, transforming your faith into life and your words into good works, especially on behalf of the needy.”
4. “Be careful how you speak, purify your tongue of offensive words, vulgarity and worldly decadence.”
5. “Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others.”
6. “Look after your work, doing it with enthusiasm, humility, competence, passion and with a spirit that knows how to thank the Lord.”
7. “Be careful of envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings that devour our interior peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.”
8. “Watch out for anger that can lead to vengeance; for laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; for pointing the finger at others, which leads to pride; and for complaining continually, which leads to desperation.”
9. “Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker … the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.”
10. “Making sure your Christmas is about Jesus and not about shopping.”
Pope Francis may be back in Rome, but the loving and powerful words spoken throughout his time in the United States aren’t something we’ll soon forget. Here’s a list of some of our favorite quotes from his visit:
1. “Joy springs from a grateful heart.” — Vespers, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City
2. “Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.” — Address to Congress, Washington D.C.
3. “When a country is determined to remain true to its founding principles, based on respect for human dignity, it is strengthened and renewed.” –Address at Independence Mall, Philadelphia
4. “Like happiness, holiness is always tied to little gestures.” — Mass of Canonization of Junipero Serra, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington D.C.
5. “Once we come to realize how much God has given us, a life of self-sacrifice, of working for him and for others, becomes a privileged way of responding to his great love.” — Vespers, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City
6. “We don’t want apathy to guide our lives” — Mass of Canonization of Junipero Serra, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington D.C.
7. “We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners.” — Address to Congress, Washington D.C.
8. “Love is something we learn; love is something we live; love grows as it is “forged” by the concrete situations which each particular family experiences. Love is born and constantly develops amid lights and shadows.” — Festival of Families, Philadelphia
9. “A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people.” — Address to Congress, Washington D.C.
10. “For all our differences and disagreements, we can live in a world of peace.” — Multi-religious service at 9/11 Memorial and Museum, New York City
11. “We know in faith that Jesus seeks us out. He wants to heal our wounds, to soothe our feet which hurt from traveling alone, to wash each of us clean of the dust from our journey. He doesn’t ask us where we have been, he doesn’t question us what about we have done.” — Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, Philadelphia
12. “It’s beautiful to have dreams; it is also beautiful to fight for those dreams. Today, we have to keep dreaming.” — Our Lady Queen of Angels School, East Harlem
13. “Knowing that Jesus still walks our streets, that he is part of the lives of his people, that he is involved with us in one vast history of salvation, fills us with hope. A hope which liberates us from the forces pushing us to isolation and lack of concern for the lives of others, for the life of our city.” — Mass at Madison Square Garden, New York City
14. “Together we are called to say “no” to every attempt to impose uniformity and “yes” to a diversity accepted and reconciled. This can only happen if we uproot from our hearts all feelings of hatred, vengeance and resentment.” –Multi-religious service at 9/11 Memorial and Museum, New York City
15. “In a world where various forms of modern tyranny seek to suppress religious freedom, or try to reduce it to a subculture without right to a voice in the public square, or to use religion as a pretext for hatred and brutality, it is imperative that the followers of the various religions join their voices in calling for peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others.” — Address at Independence Mall, Philadelphia
