Prayer before a Crucifix

Prayer before a Crucifix
 

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus,

while before Thy face I humbly kneel and,

with burning soul,

pray and beseech Thee

to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments

of faith, hope and charity;

true contrition for my sins,

and a firm purpose of amendment.

While I contemplate,

with great love and tender pity,

Thy five most precious wounds,

pondering over them within me

and calling to mind the words which David,

Thy prophet, said of Thee, my Jesus:

They have pierced My hands and My feet,

they have numbered all My bones.

Amen

A Prayer for the Start of the Workday

In peace we pray to you, Lord God …

For the children, women and men who come to us seeking healing:

For all who are in need of wellness.

For those who have great needs, but who do not enter our doors:

For the indigent, the infirm, the isolated.

For all people in their daily life and work:

For our families, friends and neighbors, and for those who are alone.

For our communities, our nation and our world:

For all who work for justice, freedom, health and peace.

For the just and proper use of your creation:

For the victims of hunger, fear, injustice and oppression.

For all who are in danger, sorrow or any kind of trouble:

For those who minister to the sick, the friendless and the needy.

We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life:

We glorify you forever and ever.

Lord, our God, we pray in thanksgiving for your great mercy and for your enduring compassion towards us and all of your creatures. Assure us, guide us and grant us confidence and clarity
to do your will, especially in our roles in health care. Help us to understand and respect the vulnerability and fragility of the persons we serve in our ministry as well as the associates with whom we serve. We pray, trusting in your loving kindness. Amen.

Prayers before Mass

Prayer of Saint Ambrose

I draw near, loving Lord Jesus Christ,
to the table of your most delightful banquet
in fear and trembling,
a sinner, presuming not upon my own merits,
but trusting rather in your goodness and mercy.

I have a heart and body defiled by my many offenses,
a mind and tongue
over which I have kept no good watch.

Therefore, O loving God, O awesome Majesty,
I turn in my misery, caught in snares,
to you the fountain of mercy,
hastening to you for healing,
flying to you for protection;
and while I do not look forward to having you as Judge,
I long to have you as Savior.

To you, O Lord, I display my wounds,
to you I uncover my shame.
I am aware of my many and great sins,
for which I fear,
but I hope in your mercies,
which are without number.

Look upon me, then, with eyes of mercy,
Lord Jesus Christ, eternal King,
God and Man, crucified for mankind.

Listen to me, as I place my hope in you,
have pity on me, full of miseries and sins,
you, who will never cease
to let the fountain of compassion flow.

Hail, O Saving Victim,
offered for me and for the whole human race
on the wood of the Cross.

Hail, O noble and precious Blood,
flowing from the wounds
of Jesus Christ, my crucified Lord,
and washing away the sins of all the world.

Remember, Lord, your creature,
whom you redeemed by your Blood.
I am repentant of my sins,
I desire to put right what I have done.

Take from me, therefore, most merciful Father,
all my iniquities and sins,
so that, purified in mind and body,
I may worthily taste the Holy of Holies.

And grant that this sacred foretaste
of your Body and Blood
which I, though unworthy, intend to receive,
may be the remission of my sins,
the perfect cleansing of my faults,
the banishment of shameful thoughts,
and the rebirth of right sentiments;
and may it encourage
a wholesome and effective performance
of deeds pleasing to you
and be a most firm defense of body and soul
against the snares of my enemies.
Amen.

Prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Almighty eternal God,
behold, I come to the Sacrament
of your Only Begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
as one sick to the physician of life,
as one unclean to the fountain of mercy,
as one blind to the light of eternal brightness,
as one poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth.

I ask, therefore, for the abundance of your immense
generosity,
that you may graciously cure my sickness,
wash away my defilement,
give light to my blindness,
enrich my poverty,
clothe my nakedness,
so that I may receive the bread of Angels,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
with such reverence and humility,
such contrition and devotion,
such purity and faith,
such purpose and intention
as are conducive to the salvation of my soul.

Grant, I pray, that I may receive
not only the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood,
but also the reality and power of that Sacrament.
O most gentle God,
grant that I may so receive
the Body of your Only Begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ,
which he took from the Virgin Mary,
that I may be made worthy
to be incorporated into his Mystical Body
and to be counted among its members.

O most loving Father,
grant that I may at last gaze for ever
upon the unveiled face of your beloved Son,
whom I, a wayfarer,
propose to receive now veiled under these species:
Who lives and reigns with you for ever and ever.
Amen.

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary

O most blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of tenderness and mercy,
I, a miserable and unworthy sinner,
fly to you with all the affection of my heart
and I beseech your motherly love,
that, as you stood by your most dear Son,
while he hung on the Cross,
so, in your kindness,
you may be pleased to stand by me, a poor sinner,
and all Priests who today are offering the Sacrifice
here and throughout the entire holy Church,
so that with your gracious help
we may offer a worthy and acceptable oblation
in the sight of the most high and undivided Trinity.
Amen.

The Franciscan Creed

Inspired by the vision of St. Francis, we commit ourselves to the Gospel way of life. We see Jesus Christ as the beginning, the way and the Goal of all creation. We are in pilgrimage trying to reach our Creator and trying to live a life of love. This world vision reveals to us a God who is Creator and a life, which is love. 

This demands of us a life as sisters and brothers of all people and of all creatures. As weak human beings, we must undergo a continuing conversion, returning always to God as prodigal children.

Christ was poor and Christ was crucified, we seek to share in his poorness and in his suffering. We further commit ourselves to the service of the poor and less privileged. In making our way through life, we are guided more by simplicity, humility, and littleness than by power, prestige and status. Like Christ, like Francis, we seek to be peacemakers, instruments of peace.

Acknowledging the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit, we declare our loyalty to the Church in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation with her ministers. We are conscious of our obligation to share in the life and mission of the church. We are apostles called by Christ to continue God’s work on earth. Our life and our spirituality, however is characteristically secular, in the world and for the world.

Joy sustains our lives, joy fulfills our lives, and we seek the same for others. To achieve all this is difficult, hence we declare our need for personal, communal, and liturgical prayer, especially in the Eucharist of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen

Prayer for Vocatiions to the Priesthood

O God, who willed to provide shepherds for your people, pour out in your church a spirit of piety and fortitude. to raise up worthy ministers for your altar and to make them arden but gentle healds of your Gospel, Through Our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

Prayer before connecting to the Internet

Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thine image and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor, during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through Christ our Lord.   Amen

Prayer To Put On The Armor Of God

I “…put on God’s armor so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics.” 

I stand my ground “with truth buckled around my waist and integrity for a breastplate…” 

I carry the “shield of faith” to “put out the burning arrows of the evil one …” 

I accept “salvation from God to be my helmet 

and receive the word of God from the Spirit to use as a sword” (Eph. 6:10, 11, 14, 16, 17 NAS)

Election Prayer for Life (Published on Sep 1, 2016)

O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord, Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments. We thank you for the privilege Of being able to organize ourselves politically And of knowing that political loyalty Does not have to mean disloyalty to you. We thank you for your law, Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged And recognized as higher than any human law. We thank you for the opportunity that this election year puts before us, To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote, But to influence countless others to vote, And to vote correctly. Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened. Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation, Their response to you requires that they be politically active. Awaken your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world But rather a community of faith renewing the world. Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth; That the same eyes that read your Word Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot, And that they do not cease to be Christians When they enter the voting booth. Awaken your people to a commitment to justice To the sanctity of marriage and the family, To the dignity of each individual human life, And to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin, And not one moment later. Lord, we rejoice today That we are citizens of your kingdom. May that make us all the more committed To being faithful citizens on earth. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for our Daily Neglects

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with all its love, all its sufferings and all its merits.

First — To expiate all the sins I have committed this day and during all my life.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Second — To purify the good I have done badly this day and during all my life.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Third — To supply for the good I ought to have done, and that I have neglected, this day and during all my life.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.