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Hello everyone,

Today, Sunday 16th Febuary, we have 390 people from all over the world and from many Christian and some non-Christian denominations joining together in prayer. This week we speak about how Silence is Golden. Bob and Debbie Gass' reflection from The Word for Today called: The Need for Solitude from The Word for Today.

The Weekly Intentions are included below and available on a plain page to be able to print off and kept to hand for your own prayer time.

http://www.circleofprayer.com/prayerbook.html
http://www.circleofprayer.com/weekly-intentions.html

"Father, bless all those who have requested prayers in whatever it is that you know they may be needing this day! Father, we ask You to heal the broken bodies, broken hearts, broken spirits and broken relationships and may all their lives be full of your peace, prosperity, and power as they seek to have a close relationship with you. Amen."

"Thank You Jesus for answering our prayers because we know You hear every prayer and never refuse to answer. You are providing answers and healings from the prayers of all these wonderful people. Praise God!"

God Bless you all and thanks a million for being part of the Circle of Prayer - the Prayer Warriors.

Mary Mullins in Galway, Ireland
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Please say the two wee prayers below as often as you can, particularly the first one to the Holy Spirit if you need to see things in
a clearer perspective. There are some further down you might consider saying too.

"O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, tell me what I should do. Give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your will. Amen"
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"Dear Lord, I give you may hands to do Your work; I give You my feet to go Your way; I give You my eyes to see as You see; I give You my tongue to speak Your words; I give You my mind that You may think in me; I give You my spirit that You may pray in me. Above all, I give You my heart that You may love in me - love the Father and love all humankind. I give You my whole self, Lord, that You may grow in me, so that it is You who lives, works and prays in me. Amen."

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Have you ever noticed how noisy the world has become, even in Church? It really struck me during the week. Every year here in Galway there is an annual Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and attending the seven daily sessions over the nine days are approximately 20,000 people per day. Who says the Faith is dead! It’s great to see young and old there and loads of students and young families too.

The last session every day is at 10 to 11pm and on the Wednesday night after Mass they leave the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the Altar for an hour of quiet reflection and prayer. That day was one of those where I was meeting myself around corners and appointments where my meeting partners were arriving late. My whole day seemed in turmoil.

I’m becoming both my Mom and my Dad! I have a bunch of novenas on the go, between praying for all our gang, praying for all you gang and praying for the project we’re at, and have a real love for a daily Rosary, Daddy’s favourite prayer after the Mass. So I’ve taken to popping into the Chapel of Adoration after Mass every day, where I usually go on a Friday morning. As my last appointment was running late I scrambled up there and got the prayers done but faster than I would normally.

So the idea of an hour’s peaceful prayer and meditation after the Wednesday Novena session sounded real good. What happened – the organ was playing, a lassie was singing and the peace and quiet went out the window! Our noisy world is leaving us little time to pray, ‘cept in the quiet of our homes, if there is any quiet there. And unless you leave the phone off the hook and pretend not to be in when the doorbell rings you’re snookered.

Our hearts, minds and souls need little spells of silence – kinda ‘boosts the batteries’. So many of the prayer requests are for anxieties over a whole variety of things. On Christmas Eve night we had a little incident here with our 17 year old, that turned out to be OK but had it not the consequences could have been dire. By 3am my mind was still racing and anxious and sleep just would not come.

I’m a smoker, mea culpa, and after about 4 fags (ciggies for ye Americans!) I decided to drive into the wee Chapel. Oh the peace of it and everything fell into the right perspective, storm in a teacup, crossing bridges that weren’t there! Got home at 4-30am and fell into a really refreshing deep sleep.

Take a little time out in silence with the Lord, maybe even pop into a Church and just sit there. There is a story told of an old man who used to sit for a couple of hours everyday in front of the Blessed Sacrament in Tabernacle on the Altar. The Priest asked him one day what he did there with his time. And his reply was:

“Oh, I just look at Him and He just looks at me”. Now that’s blessed peace.

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The need for solitude

" MY SOUL, WAIT IN SILENCE FOR GOD ONLY, FOR MY HOPE IS FROM HIM. "  PSALM 62 : 5 (NAS)

When gold is refined over extreme heat, the first thing to come to the top is ‘dross’. The last thing to be separated from it is silver, a less precious metal that often blends with the raw gold ore. What a picture! Most of us are unable to separate the ‘good’ from the ‘best’, so Malachi writes, '…He will purify…and refine them like gold…' (Malachi 3:3 NIV). He does it, because we don’t know how!

Personal failure is usually the result of a slow steady build-up, rather than a single act. It happens when we focus on our career and neglect our character. So God calls us to the place of solitude, a place with no distractions, in order to probe our deepest thoughts and open our eyes to certain issues that need our attention. It’s here that He makes us aware of the things that we try to hide from others.

There is no way to have a deeper more intimate relationship with God without the rarest of all disciplines – absolute silence. Think I’m sounding like a mystic? Listen: 'Be still, and know that I am God…' (Psalm 46:10 NIV).

It’s here that the ‘junk’ we’ve collected during the busy hours of our day gets filtered out. With the debris out of the way, we’re able to see things more clearly and feel God’s nudgings more sensitively. Rearrange your schedule. Make time to be alone with Him!

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Please continue to say the following prayers for peace.

Three O'Clock Prayer to the Divine Mercy:

You expired, O Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of
Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty
Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from
the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You. Amen

Prayer to Saint Michael:

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our
safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God
rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly
Host, cast down to hell Satan and all his wicked spirits who wander
through the world for the ruin of souls"

Prayer for Peace:

O God from whom all holy desires, all right counsels, and all just
works do proceed. Give unto Thy servants that peace which the
world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Thy
Commandments, and that unafraid of our enemies, we may spend our
days under Thy protection, in peaceful order, through Christ Our Lord,
Amen. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Pray this prayer with the US, Britain, Iraq and the supporting nations
in mind that their hearts may also be changed.

Pray before the Cross:

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, send now Your Spirit over
the earth. Let the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of all nations, that
they may be preserved from degeneration, disaster and war. May
the Lady of All Nations, who once was Mary, be our Advocate.
Amen."

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Please continue to say the following prayers for peace.

Three O'Clock Prayer to the Divine Mercy

You expired, O Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You. Amen

Prayer to Saint Michael:

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, cast down to hell Satan and all his wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls"

Prayer for Peace:

O God from whom all holy desires, all right counsels, and all just works do proceed. Give unto Thy servants that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Thy Commandments, and that unafraid of our enemies, we may spend our days under Thy protection, in peaceful order, through Christ Our Lord, Amen.  Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Pray this prayer with the US, Britain, Iraq and the supporting nations in mind that their hearts may also be changed.

Pray before the Cross:

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, send now Your Spirit over the earth. Let the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of all nations, that they may be preserved from degeneration, disaster and war. May the Lady of All Nations, who once was Mary, be our Advocate. Amen.”