Prayer

Liberating God,

Help us embody more and more the freedom for which you set us free. May we close the door forever on those old ways of being, thinking, and doing that could never bring life, joy, or peace. You set us free from enslavement to worry and you call us to walk in your freedom. So then wherever we are today, help us escort one another into the new life you offer: a life filled with joy, simplicity, and gratitude, open to expand liberation far and wide. Amen.

Prayer

God of tomorrow,

Being a leader of any rank comes with unique challenges. We must be bold in our commitment to the mission and constant in its pursuit, while remaining sensitive to the needs and concerns of all those who share this journey with us. We will not always make friends in the course of our work, yet we pray and believe that the blessings will outweigh the burdens, as we exhort one another to serve as you served, and as we watch for your goodness to abound all around us. Above all else, we ask that you would be the one to lead and accompany us, as one people called by your name. Amen.

Prayer

Merciful Love,

On this special occasion we commemorate the image of your most sacred heart. Sensitize us even more to your boundless love for humanity. Give us a share in the ocean of love you are pouring upon us, that we might receive and extend every gift you provide for a world in need. Inspire us to serve you more faithfully by serving all people with joy and compassion, especially those who are poor, dying, and underserved. As your hands and feet in the world, we pray, Amen.

Prayer

God of my neighbor,

We confess there are times when we do not try to understand each other. Perhaps because we do not really know how. When so many issues seem so obvious to us, gun control, vaccines, social spending, and so on, as conversations like these grip us in conscience, lead us not into temptation. Lead us not into the temptation to become selfish in spirit, no longer understanding that we are one with “those people” we otherwise deem so alien. Deliver us from the evil of dehumanizing neighbors as we push forward agendas for fixing the world. Rather, keep us mindful of the love that you show to us. Let us dwell in your love so as to seek understanding, and find our way forward into the new life you have promised. Together. Amen.

Prayer

God of our progress,

Help us to be patient with ourselves, as we learn to find balance in the goals that we set for our lives. The same goes as well for the directions we take in this ministry, which we share with you and each other. Give us patience as we pursue our mission together, committing ourselves to good service that responds to felt needs, while committing our sense of “success” to your hands. And as the years roll on, may we continue to look back and give thanks at all the ways you have blessed us, abundantly more than we could have ever imagined. Amen.

Prayer

Love eternal,

We have all lived enough to have regrets from the past, as we think of the love that we failed to extend when we had the chance. Humbly we ask for you to somehow make up for our missed opportunities. And gladly we thank you for trusting us still, today and each day, with new opportunities to put love into action with all those you place in our way. Like St. Aloysius Gonzaga, make us more holy by perfecting our freedom to love. For the sake of all those we encounter today, just as they are and just as they need, free us to be agents of world-changing love. Amen.

Prayer

Life eternal,

We remember today your many faithful witnesses, who shared your good news and embodied your love in the face of misunderstanding, hostility, and even the threat of death. We especially remember today the Irish Martyrs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who were willing to share in the ultimacy of your sacrifice, upon their own soil within their own homeland. In memory of them and others like them today, we pray for the day when our world is transformed and death will be no more, when no one will pay for their faith, hope, and love with their lives. Until that day comes, may we all consider more thoughtfully that the way we face death is another way we face life. Amen.