Weekly Reflections
Current Reflection
Archived Reflections

Hello everyone,

This one is a short 'n sweet plea for prayers tomorrow - Friday 11th June. In these days 450 million European citizens have the option to vote in the European Parliamentary elections. Although the main power positions within the EU are those on the European Commission, we still need good, Godly and dedicated Parliamentarians to keep the checks and balances in order. We need loud voices of those with family values, who support life in its fullest, its weakest and its most vulnerable. We need Members of the European Parliament who will work for the vulnerable, the weak, the disenfranchised, the poor, the family, the unborn, the elderly, the handicapped and the frail. We do not need MEPs who have no regard for life and no respect for the family, the cornerstone of civilisation. By family I mean the tradtitional family unit of husband, wife and children if they are so blessed.

Two of our Prayer Warriors from the US - Norma and Hugh - have an office in Belgium purely to encourage prayer over every activity of the EU. I get their emails regularly and each one always starts with the following piece of Scripture:

The Word [1 Timothy 2:1-2] 
"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." 

[Your prayers implement God’s Word - John 15: 5] 
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who ABIDES in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If you ABIDE in Me, and My Words ABIDE in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you”

[2Chronicles 7:14]
” if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Here are the prayer requests for this time of great importance to us here in Europe. Please join together on Friday 11th and over the weekend that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the hearts and minds of all the candidates and all those who go out to vote. In His Holy Name, all things are possible, thanks be to God.

1. Belgium Prayer Leader Urges Prayer for European Parliament

Dear Church leaders,

Prayerplatform Flanders (workgroup prayer of the EAV) is organizing a prayer action for the election of 13 June. I hope I do not need to convince you of the importance of prayer for the government, certainly not in such a time as this.

In the attachment you will find a list of prayer subjects. The action goes from 6 to 12 June. Could you therefore copy the list of prayer subjects and give them out to your family, friends and your prayer groups and church members.

2. PRAY that the right persons for this time in European history are elected to the European Parliament and those are persons of God who will hear His voice and do His will

3. PRAY that those reforms which facilitate God’s plan for the EU are amplified and implemented

4. PRAY for those working on the new European Union constitution that God’s plan will be there before it is approved.

5. PRAY for upcoming IGC which will act on the Constitution and that they allow God’s guidance and God will get his result.

6. PRAY that the right political group win the larger influence in the Parliament

7. PRAY for each voter and the Christians to understand the impact of their vote and know the issues

Let's pray that the Lord will have His way with the European Union. 

1. Pray for a wake-up call and true spiritual unity in the Body of Christ in Europe. 

2. Pray for opportunities, creativity and boldness to preach the Gospel, plant new churches, raise up new leaders, and have a transformational impact in politics and society.

3. Pray for justice and integrity in politics, and the election of capable politicians that will honor God. Pray for God's hand on the Christians who seek to lift Jesus up in the European Parliament. 

4. Pray for protection for Christian and whistle blower Paul van Buitenen who is still taking a strong stand on corruption in the European Commission and who is under pressure from many sides.

We live on a continent that has a history of Christianity since the first century yet the constitution would deny over 1900 years of history. Just as in the US where God has been 'dumped' from all civic functions and places of work, schools, colleges etc. so too are we here in Europe to fall to the same fate - those working on the Constitution refuse to include the word God anywhere in the text!

Please, please, please keep us all in your prayers over the next days and weeks. For our Catholic Prayer Warriors I would beg you to offer up your Holy Mass intentions for Europe, dedicate your Hours of Adoration and your Rosaries. In just a few months our American Prayer Warriors will need the very same prayer support as the US votes for their own President.

God Bless you all for your patience with me these last few months - it's been a busy time, thanks be to God. I'm just in the door from the last night's canvas and heading out the door again for Eucharistic Adoration - no guesses what the intentions will be! You're such a great bunch of folk - my brothers and sisters in the Lord - thanks be to God, again and again. Things will be back to some form of normality soon, with God's good help.

May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless and guide you and yours and may Mary keep you in Her heavenly mother's care.

Mary in Galway

**************************************************

Two little reminders again for this week - Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations, let's try and make it 1,000,000 hours of Adoration in 2004! You can log in your hours online at their own website below or do as we did here in our Perpetual Adoration Chapel, print off the poster and the forms and leave them in your own Chapel of Adoration, sending in the numbers every week via the website below.

http://www.circleofprayer.com/vocations-poster.html
http://www.circleofprayer.com/vocations-form.html

Here's the Vocations website:

And don't forget those prayers for the Holy Souls, there are some below. Please keep your deceased relatives, friends, neighbours and especially those who have no one to pray for them, in your prayers and at Masses you attend.

Here's the Holy Souls Crusade website.

And below is a great little morning prayer to start the day off and help us to keep focused on the Lord.

May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you and yours and may Mary keep you in Her heavenly mother's care.

Mary Mullins in Galway, Ireland

**************************************************

Morning Offerings

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. Amen

Lord Jesus, I give You my hands to do Your work
I give You my feet to go Your way.
I give You my eyes to see as You do.
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, Your Father, and all mankind.
I give You my whole self that You may grow in me, so that it is You, Lord Jesus, who live and work and pray in me. Amen.

"Breathe in me O Holy Spirit that my thoughts may all be holy;
Act in me O Holy Spirit that my work, too, may be holy;
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit to defend all that is holy;
Guard me then O Holy Spirit that I may always be holy."

"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"

Chaplet of the Holy Souls

This Chaplet can be prayed on a set of Rosary Beads.

Begin with: The Creed, then 1 Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be for the Pope's intentions.

On Large Beads Pray: 

O holy souls draw the fire of God's Love into my soul to reveal Jesus crucified in me, here on earth, rather than hereafter in Purgatory.

On Small Beads Pray:

Crucified Lord Jesus have mercy on the souls in Purgatory

End with: Glory Be three times

Cardinal Newman's Prayer for the Holy Souls

O most gentle heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on the souls of Your servants. Bring them from the shadows of exile to Your bright home in Heaven, where we trust You and Your Blessed Mother have woven for them a crown of unfolding bliss. Amen.

Prayer of St. Gertrude for the Holy Souls

Eternal Father, I offer you the Most Precious Blood of your Divine Son, Jesus, in union with all the masses said throughout the world today for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."

Prayer for Your Family

"O Dear Jesus, I humbly implore You to grant Your special graces to our family this day. In Your Divine Mercy make our home a shrine of peace, love and faith. I beg You, Dear Jesus, to protect and bless all of us and our families absent and present, living and dead. O Mary loving Mother of Jesus and our Mother, pray to Jesus the Divine Mercy for our family, and for all the families of the world. Ask Him to guard the tiny infant in the womb, the cradle of the newborn, the young in the schools and those about to start their vocations in life. Amen"

Prayer for Your Adult Children

"Heavenly Mother, keep us always in mind of Your Son's great mercy and understanding as we pray for our children. They are grown up now and have left us and are living their own lives according to their own ideals. We feel anxious and worried because they do not seem to feel the need for Christ, to understand the wisdom of His ways, or to be fully at ease with us or themselves. Intervene, dearest Mother, in their lives at the moment You know to be right and help them to understand the things that lead to their peace. Help them to see the need of Christ and to experience the greatness of His love, so that we may all proclaim as You did, that His mercy truly is from generation to generation. Amen"

Prayer to Saint Joseph, Patron Saint of Families

"Good Saint Joseph, Your life and love protected and nourished the Mother of God and Jesus Christ, her son. Your fatherly care led to maturity He through whom all creation began. Through your intercession, may God guide and protect all human life from conception to natural death, and lead our nation in the ways of truth and love. Pray for us, good Saint Joseph, that joined with Christ Jesus, we might give praise to God forever.  Amen"

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS & THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I consecrate myself and my whole family to You. We consecrate to You our very being and all our life, all that we are, all that we have and all that we love. To you we give our bodies, our hearts and our souls. To You we dedicate our home and our country.

Mindful of this consecration we now promise you to live the Christian way by the practice of Christian virtues without regard for human respect. O most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary accept our humble confidence and this act of consecration by which we entrust ourselves and our family to you. In you we put all our hope, we shall never be confounded. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on us. Immaculate Heart of Mary pray for us.

Prayer for the World

"JESUS of NAZARETH has triumphed over Death. His Reign is Eternal. He is coming to conquer the world and the time.

"Mercy, my God on those who blaspheme You,
Forgive them, they know not what they do.

"Mercy, my God, for the scandal in the world,
Deliver them from the spirit of Satan.

"Mercy, my God, on those who run away from You
Give them an appreciation for the Holy Eucharist.

"Mercy, my God, on those who come to repent at the foot of the Glorious Cross. May they find Peace and Joy in God our Saviour.

"Mercy, my God, so that Your Kingdom may come, but save souls, there is still time; for the time is near, behold, I am coming. 
Amen

Come, Lord Jesus."

Recite one decade of the Rosary

"Lord, pour out on the whole world the treasures of Your Infinite Mercy."

"Through the Mystery of Your Holy Incarnation,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Nativity,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Baptism and Holy Fasting,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Cross and Passion,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Death and Burial,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Holy Resurrection,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Admirable Ascension,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Him whose Name reigns eternal,
deliver us from all evil, Lord."

Prayer of Protection

Blessed Michael the Archangel, protect us in the hour of conflict. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God restrain him, we humbly pray, and do thou, Oh Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, by the Power of God, thrust satan down to hell and with him all the wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen

**************************************************

The Current Reflection and all of the Reflections to date are available to read in the Archives on the website for anyone who's interested.

The Prayer Intentions are available in the prayer book on the website but please say the two wee prayers below. The Loving Father knows the heart of each person requesting prayer.

"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 minds, broken spirits, broken hearts and broken marriages 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!"

May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless and guide you and yours and may Mary keep you in Her heavenly mother's care.

Mary in Galway

'The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace.' (Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta)