March 2023: Prayers and Reflections

The Pope’s Monthly Intention

For victims of abuse: We pray for those who have suffered harm from members of the Church; may they find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering.

 

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Lent – a time to rediscover the direction of life

‘Because in life’s journey, as in every journey, what really matters is not to lose sight of the goal. If what interests us as we travel, however, is looking at the scenery or stopping to eat, we will not get far. We should ask ourselves: On the journey of life, do I seek the way forward? Or am I satisfied with living in the moment and thinking only of feeling good, solving some problems and having fun? What is the path? Is it the search for health, which many today say comes first but which eventually passes? Could it be possessions and wellbeing? But we are not in the world for this. Return to me, says the Lord. To me. The Lord is the goal of our journey in this world. The direction must lead to him.’

 Pope Francis

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What can we learn from St Patrick today?
Feast day 17 March

To entrust ourselves, our Church, our country to God’s protective care

To have full confidence in the Lord’s healing presence and power. ‘The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness, the world and all its peoples’ Ps 23

To give thanks for God’s special care and call to each of us, knowing that God took the initiative in our vocation and will sustain us day by day

To be devoted to reading the Gospels so that we take on the mind and heart of Christ Jesus and make decisions according to the mind of Christ

To be receptive to God’s will in all our trials, to trust him unreservedly, God uses these trials to shape our hearts and conform us to Christ Jesus

To be alert to all the opportunities we are given each day to proclaim the Gospel, and to know that whatever good we do is through God’s boundless grace

To believe in the importance of intercession for our people and all people at this time.

 Mother Marie Fahy,
Abbess of St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn

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The Blessing of St Joseph
Feast day 20 March

May the poverty of my sweet and suffering little Child be your riches. His sighs and His tears the consolation of your days. The love of His adorable Heart your earthly treasure, your all. And the clear vision of His adorable and glorified humanity be your eternal joy and recompense. Amen.

 

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Reflection for the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord
25 March

If Mary had been asked, at the beginning of that momentous day, how important or special she felt, she would probably have laughed at the absurdity of the question. But, by the end of her encounter with that divine messenger, her destiny had changed.

Every day God is knocking at our doors and asking us to become important and special on his behalf. Every day we are being invited to carry the Good News of his Son into the world. It does not matter how ordinary we may consider ourselves to be, because that is not how God sees us. To God we all have the calling and the potential to rise above the ordinary and to take the light of Christ into the dark corners of this world. We just have to join Mary in saying: Let it be with me according to your word – and mean it!!

 corbyglenchurches.uk

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A Prayer for Pope Francis on the 10th Anniversary of his Petrine Ministry • 19 March 2013

O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all Your faithful people, mercifully look upon Your servant Pope Francis, whom You have chosen as the chief Shepherd to preside over Your Church. We beg You to help him edify, both by word and example, those over whom he has charge, that he may reach everlasting life together with the flock entrusted to him.

 

Lord Jesus, shelter our Holy Father the Pope under the protection of Your Sacred Heart. Be his light, his strength and his consolation.

 

Our Lady of Divine Love, pray for him.
St Patrick, pray for him.
St Francis, pray for him.
St Peter and all the saints in heaven, pray for him.

Amen.

aleteia.org