3rd Week in Ordinary Time
Third week of Ordinary Time
BACKGROUND: Imagine waking up to find that the neighbours you
have known all your life and even sat next to at school, now walk
past you without stopping, now forbid their children from playing
with yours, now spit at you and even attack you. Imagine having
nowhere to turn, that the walls are closing in and that there is no
escape. Imagine that you have done nothing wrong, yet you are to
be punished nonetheless and no one will stand by you. We are
being asked to remember and stand by those who were forced to
live through these experiences. We want you to honour those
communities which were destroyed in the Holocaust, under Nazi
Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda,
Bosnia and Darfur.
We will begin by making the sign
of the Cross
Leader: In the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen
We pause to think of any special intention we
want to pray for today.
We light our Form Candle for all our prayers
today.
Monday 28th January – Holocaust
Memorial Day
Reader: I waited, I waited for the Lord and he stooped down
to me; He heard my cry. He put a new song into my mouth,
Praise of our God. (Psalm 39)
Together we pray:
All: God, you created us all in your own likeness. We thank
you for the wonderful diversity of races and cultures in your
world. Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of fellow
feeling and understanding; show us your presence in those
most different from us, so that in all our relationships, both
by what we have in common and by things in which we
differ, we may come to know you more fully in your
creation; for you are Father, Son and Holy Spirit for ever.
Amen
(Anne Frank Trust)
Tuesday 29th January
Reader: Jesus said; “Anyone who does the will of God,
that person is my brother and sister and mother.”
(Gospel of Mark 3:35)
Together we pray:
All: God who is unchanging and eternal, keep before us
the remembrance of the sufferings of humanity. May
we not seek to forget; may we learn the lessons for the
sake of our society today, and seek to lay the sure
foundations of our future. Amen
Wednesday 30th January
Reader: Last Sunday was also Education Sunday. The theme
offered is ‘Believing and Belonging’ Our prayer is produced
by Churches Together in Britain & Ireland for all in education.
Reader2: The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed
me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to
captives and new sight to the blind, to free the oppressed
and announce the Lord’s year of mercy.”
(Spoken by Jesus as he read from the Prophet Isaiah.)
Together we pray:
All: God of grace and compassion, whose ways are perfect,
whose words give us life, whose love seeks to draw us
together in harmony to build your kingdom; may we walk in
truth and graced day by day in our teaching and learning, in
our living in community, in the building up of one another.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen
Thursday 31st January - St John Bosco
Reader: St John Bosco Patron Saint of young people.
The disciples said to Jesus, who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven?’ So he called a child to him and set the child in
front of them. Then he said, “I tell you solemnly, unless you
change and become like little children you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven… anyone who welcomes a little child
like this in my name welcomes me.” (Gospel of Matthew)
Together we pray:
All: Lord, you called Don Bosco to be a teacher and father of
the young. Fill us with love like his: may we give ourselves
completely to your service and to the salvation of all
people. Amen
We ask Mary, Help of Christians to pray with us... Hail Mary
Friday 1st February – Saint Brigid
Reader: Jesus said to the crowd: ‘This is what the
kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the land.
Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the
seed is sprouting and growing, how he does not know.
Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot,
then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when
the crop is ready, he loses no time; he starts to reap
because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-27)
Together we pray:
All: Lord, keep all young people safe, especially those
who are imprisoned by poverty, abuse and neglect.
May we be grateful for the life we have been given
and try to live it to the best of our abilities. AMEN
School Prayer
Prayer of Saint Benedict
We pray Lord, that everything we do
may be prompted by your inspiration,
so that every prayer and work of ours
may begin from you, and be brought by you
to completion.
Amen
Saint Benedict – Pray for us