As He ascended, Jesus told His followers to return to The Upper Room in Jerusalem,
to devote themselves in prayer.They did this for the next nine days;
and on the tenth day they experienced empowerment to do what Jesus asked of them at the coming of the Holy Spirit.
We are invited to pray in the days leading up to Pentecost.
The name of this time of prayer, “Novena”, is derived from the Latin “Novem” – nine.
We wait in prayer to discover God’s will…..
Fri. 18th May – That we may bring hope to the hopeless.
Our hopes for a world as God intended it to be.
✠ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
WE THANK GOD FOR THE GIFT OF THIS DAY
and offer to the Lord what lies ahead of you today…
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
WE ASK OUR LADY TO PRAY WITH US TODAY
….to pray with you for particular individuals,
especially for those who do not know her Son.
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now,
and at the hour of our death.
A PRAYER FOR PEACE IN OUR WORLD
…and may there be peace within me….
The Universal Prayer for Peace - Satish Kumar
Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe, Peace, Peace, Peace…..
(a time for silent prayer)
READING: “In God alone my soul in silence waits,
From him comes my safety;
With him alone for my rock, my safety,
My fortress, I can never fall.” Psalm 62: 1-2
You, The God of all time,
want us to wait for the right time
in which to discover who we are,
where we must go, who will be with us,
and what we must do…..
Thank you for the waiting time.
You, The God of all space,
want us to look in the right and wrong places
for signs of hope,
for people who are hopeless, for visions of a better world which will appear among the disappointments of the world we know…
So, thank you for the looking time.
You, The God whose name is love,
want us to be like you… To love the loveless
and the unlovely and the unlovable, to love those near us
without jealousy or design or threat, and, most difficult of all,
to love ourselves….
So, thank you for the loving time.
And in all this You keep us. Through hard questions with no easy answers, through failing where we hoped to succeed and making an impact when we felt we were useless. Through the patience and the dreams and the love of others, and through Jesus Christ and His Spirit, You keep us….
So, thank you for the keeping time…..
(Iona Community)
Jesus prayed to his Father for the coming of God’s Kingdom.
With Him we say:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory;
for ever and ever. Amen.
Heavenly Father, you have entrusted to us
the very mission of your Son.
Christ has no body on earth but ours. He has no hands but ours to raise up the fallen, no feet but ours to seek out the lost. He has no eyes but ours
to see the silent tears of the suffering: no ears but ours to listen to the lonely. He has no tongue but ours
to speak a word of comfort to the sad: no heart but ours to love the unloved.
Father, send us the Holy Spirit
to be your presence
in the place of your choosing.
Saint Teresa of Avila
Let us bless the Lord;
and may the souls of the faithful departed,through the mercy of God, ✠ rest in peace and rise in glory.