Prayers

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. 

Flood my soul with Your spirit and life. 

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Yours. 

Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. 

Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus! 

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine, so as to shine as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be mine: it will be You shining on others through me. 

Let me thus praise You in the way You love best: by shining on those around me. 

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words, but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You. 

Amen.

by Cardinal John Henry Newman

Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow men

throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them through our hands, this day their daily bread,

and by our understanding, love; give peace and joy. 

Amen. 

by Pope Paul VI

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,

that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection,

implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided.

Inspired with this confidence, we fly to you,

O Virgin of virgins, our Mother;

to you we come, before you we stand, sinful and sorrowful;

O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions,

but in your clemency hear and answer us. 

Amen. 

by St Bernard

Lord, make me a channel of your peace, 

that where there is hatred, I may bring love;

where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;

where there is discord, I may bring harmony;

where there is error, I may bring truth;

where there is doubt, I may bring faith;

where there is despair, I may bring hope;

where there are shadows, I may bring light;

where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather

to comfort than to be comforted;

to understand than to be understood;

to love than to be loved;

for it is by forgetting self that one finds;

it is by forgiving that one is forgiven;

it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life. 

Amen.

Most High, all-powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honor, and all blessings.

To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no man is worthy to mention Your name.

Praised be You, my Lord, with all your creatures;
especially Brother Sun, who is the day, and through whom You give us light.

And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,
and bears a likeness to You, Most High One.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in heaven You formed them clear and precious and beautiful.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which You give sustenance to Your creatures.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night;
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and governs us and who produces
varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Praised be You, my Lord,
through those who give pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks,
and serve Him with great humility.
Amen.

by St Francis of Assisi

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

Amen.

by Pope Francis

God, Almighty Father,

we are your pilgrim Church

journeying towards the Kingdom of heaven.

We live in our homeland,

but as if we were foreigners.

Every foreign place is our home,

yet every native land is foreign to us.

Though we live on earth,

our true citizenship is in heaven.

Do not let us become possessive

of the portion of the world

you have given us as a temporary home.

Help us to keep walking,

together with our migrant brothers and sisters,

toward the eternal dwelling you have prepared for us.

Open our eyes and our hearts

so that every encounter with those in need

becomes an encounter with Jesus, your Son and our Lord.

Amen.

by Pope Francis