Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (World Mission Sunday), October 22, 2023
We join together in prayer at this difficult time asking for God’s mercy that we might live in ways that give to God what belongs to him.
- That the Holy Spirit will inspire those participating in the current Synod so that divisions will be healed, faith will be strengthened, and the world will embrace the message of the Gospel that it so desperately needs. We pray to the Lord.
- That the participants in the Synod will heed Pope Francis’ call for political charity through a spirit of openness to everyone and a readiness to listen to other points of view to make room for everyone.[1] We pray to the Lord.
- That those who seek or have political power will employ truth, humility, generosity, determination to serve, and promotion of the common good above their own well-being. We pray to the Lord.
- That we will show gratitude for God’s first gift, God’s first gesture of grace: the Earth and all that dwells with it by not scarring the landscape with bombs and chemicals, damaging the seas by misuse and waste, or assaulting the many manifestations of his gift of life.[2] We pray to the Lord.
- That the violence in the Middle East, Ukraine, and in nations plagued by war will cease through understanding that conflict “solves no problems [but] only sows death and destruction, increases hatred, and multiples revenge.”[3] We pray to the Lord.
- That money paid in taxes will be used not to enhance governmental power or to increase storehouses of weapons but in ways that reflect Jesus’ love for all people and that build up society. We pray to the Lord.
- That the Holy Land may indeed be a place of holiness where the desperation of victims of terror and of those driven from their homes will be eased through insistence on peace for innocent children, manifestations of love of neighbor, and insights into the wisdom of God. We pray to the Lord.
- That we will pray for each other, unceasingly calling to mind works of faith, labors of love, and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ knowing that we have been called to live our faith inspired by the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. We pray to the Lord.
- That World Mission Sunday will remind us “always [to] be willing to let ourselves be accompanied by the Risen Lord as he explains to us the meaning of the Scriptures, makes our hearts burn within us, and enlightens and transforms us so that we can proclaim his mystery of salvation to the world with the power and wisdom that come from his Spirit.”[4] We pray to the Lord.
- That we will “set out to make other hearts burn with the word of God, to open the eyes of others to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to invite everyone to walk together on the path of peace and salvation that God, in Christ, has bestowed upon all humanity.”[5] We pray to the Lord.
- That those who are ill from lack of water, food, or shelter may find relief and be restored to lives of health and hope. We pray to the Lord.
- That missionaries who have died while living their vocations of service bringing the Gospel to the world may rest in peace in the eternal life of heaven. We pray to the Lord.
Merciful Lord, in answering our prayers, strengthen us to know the light of your will and to be emissaries of that will for a world struggling in darkness. We make our prayers through Christ our Lord. Amen.
[1] Based on Fratelli Tutti, Paragraph 190.
[2] The phrase, “God’s first gift … with it,” is taken from the ad for Monastic Ecological Wisdom by Samuel Torvend, Liturgical Press (2023).
[3] Pope Francis speaking at this weekly general audience, October 18, 2023.
[4] Approximate quote from end of item 1 in Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for World Mission Day 2023 given on January 6, 2023.
[5]From item 2 in Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for World Mission Day 2023 given on January 6, 2023.
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