Novena Prayer: Promoting Peace in Our Community
We invite you to join us in a Novena Prayer for “Peace In Our
Communities” from October 19 – 27, 2019.
Each day the Novena Prayer will include silent Prayer and reflection on
a Scripture passage. In this Novena Prayer, we set out to use our prophetic voice as we
participate in the social issues of our day in order to build unity and to
promote God’s mercy.
Day One: October 19 – Memorial of Saints John de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs
Opening Prayer – O God, who chose to manifest the blessed hope of
your eternal Kingdom by the toil of Saints John de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues
and their companions and by the shedding of their blood, graciously
grant that through their intercession the faith of Christians may be
strengthened day by day. Through Christ, your Son, who lives and
reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and
ever. Amen.
Thus says the Lord: In Ramah is heard the sound of sobbing, bitter
weeping! Rachel mourns for her children, she refuses to be
consoled for her children—they are no more! Cease your cries of
weeping, hold back your tears! There is compensation for your
labor—oracle of the Lord—they shall return from the enemy’s
land. There is hope for your future—oracle of the Lord—your
children shall return to their own territory. Jeremiah 31:15-17
Day Two: October 20 – Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer – Good and gracious God, just as Saint John XXIII
believed that peace was possible, grant that through his intercession we
may be instruments of peach at home and in our communities. Through
Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you
gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you
clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.
Then the righteous will answer him and say, “Lord, when did we
see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When
did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe
you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?” And
the king will say to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, whatever
you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you
accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you
gave me do drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked
and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no
welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison,
and you did not care for me.” Then they will answer and say,
“Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?” He will
answer them “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of
these least ones, you did not do for me.” Matthew 25: 35-45
Day Three: October 21 – Monday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer – Almighty and ever-living God, grant that we may
conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart.
Through Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Know this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of a man does not
accomplish the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filth
and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been
planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word
and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a
man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then
goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one
who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does. James 1:19-25
Day Four: October 22 – Saint John Paul II
Opening Prayer – Almighty and ever-living God, grant that we may
conform our will to ours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart.
Through Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Brothers and sisters: You have heard of the stewardship of God’s
grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the
mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written
briefly earlier. When you read this you can understand my insight
into the mystery of Christ, which was not make known to human
beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy
Apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles are coheirs,
members of the same Body, and copartners in the promise in Christ
Jesus through the Gospel.
Of this I became a minister by the gift of God’s grace that was
granted me in accord with the exercise of his power. To me, the
very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given, to preach to
the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ, and to bring to light
for all what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in
God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known through the Church to the principalities
and authorities in the heavens. This was according to the eternal
purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom
we have boldness of speech and confidence of access through faith
in him. Ephesians 3: 2-12
Day Five: October 23 – Saint John of Capistrano, Priest
Opening Prayer – O God who raised up Saint John of Capistrano to
comfort your faithful people in tribulation, place us, we pray, under your
safe protection and keep your Church in everlasting peace. Through Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Brothers and sisters: I kneel before the Father, from whom every
family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in
accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power
through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in
your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the
breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of
Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all
the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to accomplish far
more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21
Day Six: October 24, Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop
Opening Prayer – O God, who for the evangelization of peoples
strengthened the Bishop Saint Anthony Mary Claret with admirable
charity and long-suffering, grant, through this intercession, that, seeking
the things that are yours, we may earnestly devote ourselves to winning
our brothers and sisters for Christ. Who Lives and reigns with you in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Brothers and sisters: I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in
a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility
and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through
love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of
peace; one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one
hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and
Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians
4: 1-6
Day Seven: October 25 – Friday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer – Almighty and ever-living God, increase our faith,
hope and charity, and make us love what you command, so that we may
merit what you promise. Through Christ, your Son, who lives and
reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and
ever. Amen.
Brothers and sisters: Grace was given to each of us according to
the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it says: He ascended on
high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men. What does
“he ascended” mean except that he also descended into the lower
regions of the earth? The one who descended is also the one who
ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as
evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones
for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until
we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God,
to mature manhood to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that
we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by
every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their
cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the
truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the
head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together
by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each
part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.
Ephesians 4: 7-16
Day Eight – October 26 – The Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday – The Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace
Opening Prayer – Lord our God, you sent your only Son to bring peace
to our world. Through the intercession of Blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
hear our earnest prayer; grant that our times may be tranquil, so that we
may live in peace as one family, united in love for one another. Through
our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went
according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to
bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty
to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed
go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Rolling up
the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the
eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to
them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4: 18-21
Day Nine: October 27 – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer – Lord God, grant that those who already glory in your
name may persevere as one heart and one soul and that all nations may
merit to see your salvation. Through Christ, your Son, who lives and
reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and
ever. Amen.
Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our
likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the
birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the
creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his
image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he
created them.