Wednesday, September 11, 2002
On this Day of Remembrance, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I had the day off. I knew I didn’t want to stay inside all day and watch the news coverage. I knew I needed to get out and do something to help my fellow man. Today, I signed up to become a Red Cross volunteer nurse. I donated a pint of blood. Tonight, I will remember those who lost their lives at Mass. I figure that is the least I could do.
Inspired by my friends, who gave a beautiful concert of “Songs of Courage and Faith,” last night, I post these two prayers. The first is a nondemoninational prayer for life. The second is a Catholic peace prayer to the Virgin Mother.
A PRAYER FOR LIFE
Creator of All,
You adorn all living things
With splendor and beauty
And fashion our lives
In your image and likeness
Awaken in every heart
Reverance for the work of your hands,
And renew among us
A readiness to nurture and sustain
Your precious gift of life.
A PRAYER FOR PEACE TO MARY, THE LIGHT OF HOPE
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Help us to conquer the menace of evil,
Which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today,
And whose immeasurable effects
Already weigh down upon our modern world
And seem to block the paths toward the future.
From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every
Kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against human life, deliver us.
From hated and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God,
Deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international,
Deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the Commandments of God, deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ,
This cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole scenarios.
Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin:
Individual sin and the “sin of the world.”
Sin in all it’s manifestations.
Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world
The infinite saving power of redemption:
The power of merciful love.
May it put a stop to evil.
May it transform consciences.
May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. Amen.
Pope John Paul II
Inspired by my friends, who gave a beautiful concert of “Songs of Courage and Faith,” last night, I post these two prayers. The first is a nondemoninational prayer for life. The second is a Catholic peace prayer to the Virgin Mother.
A PRAYER FOR LIFE
Creator of All,
You adorn all living things
With splendor and beauty
And fashion our lives
In your image and likeness
Awaken in every heart
Reverance for the work of your hands,
And renew among us
A readiness to nurture and sustain
Your precious gift of life.
A PRAYER FOR PEACE TO MARY, THE LIGHT OF HOPE
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Help us to conquer the menace of evil,
Which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today,
And whose immeasurable effects
Already weigh down upon our modern world
And seem to block the paths toward the future.
From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every
Kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against human life, deliver us.
From hated and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God,
Deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international,
Deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the Commandments of God, deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ,
This cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole scenarios.
Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin:
Individual sin and the “sin of the world.”
Sin in all it’s manifestations.
Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world
The infinite saving power of redemption:
The power of merciful love.
May it put a stop to evil.
May it transform consciences.
May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. Amen.
Pope John Paul II
