FAMILY PRAYER for HOLY WEEK

Message of Archbishop Dermot Farrell – 10th Anniversary of the Pontificate of Pope Francis

 (Also available at https://dublindiocese.ie/pope-francis-anniversary/)

Today I offer my prayerful good wishes to Pope Francis as he celebrates the 10th Anniversary of his election as Pope.  I thank God for his ministry which, building on that of his predecessors, brings us face to face with the promise, hope, and challenge of following Christ. His witness—in both word and deed—has brought into sharp focus Christ’s closeness to those on life’s periphery, and calls the Church—all of us who are baptised—to re-discover the mission that lies at the heart of the Christian life.  With a striking directness and simplicity Pope Francis continues to challenge us not to be closed in on ourselves, seeing things only from our own perspective, but to reach out, to welcome to Lord who comes to us, to welcome our sisters and brothers left behind by the unfairness of life, and to proclaim the gospel to a world hungry for that which will endure.  In underlining—again and again—the gift that is our faith, he leads us away from life-sapping negativity, away from ‘indoctrinating’ the gospel, making of it ‘dead stones to be hurled at others’—and towards our true mission of putting flesh on “the healing power of grace and the light of the Good News” (see Amoris Laetitia, n. 49).

By encouraging us to embark on the synodal path he asks whole community to participate in discernment, pastoral decision-making and offering advice on how best to act in this new world which open up before us.  He asks us to move beyond a pyramidal way of looking and being Church, and embrace, and make our own, the way of being Church as discerned by the Second Vatican Council.  His synodal approach will enable a transformation of the Church into a dynamic community of missionary disciples, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of the whole, for the sake over every creature that shares this wonderful Earth—our Common Home.

+Dermot Farrell,

Archbishop of Dublin

 13th March 2023

When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” … When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean” (Mt 2:13-15, 19-23).

Family in movement

If there is a fact that is striking when reading today’s Gospel text, it is all the “motion” verbs: depart, arise, flee, take refuge, stay…. There is even a map that is no less impressive: Bethlehem, Egypt, then Nazareth. Certainly, the key to all this “movement” is found in the citation of the Prophet Hosea: “Out of Egypt I have called my son” – a place of refuge for the persecuted and the place of departure for Israel’s Exodus. The Family of Nazareth thus traces the journey of many persecuted people and refugees down through history. At the same time, it recalls the powerful hand of God who knows how to liberate His people.

The experience of the family of Nazareth cannot but make us think of the many families today who are also “in movement” – certainly of those families forced to leave their homes and their own land in search of peace, serenity and work, but also of those families who live with the apprehension and anxiety of not making ends meet, of unstable marital situations, the fear of illness…

In the family of Nazareth, our families, as well as the human family, can learn to allow ourselves to be guided by God’s powerful hand. If it is true on the one hand that in many situations people feel like “refugees”, “strangers in their own homes”, or in the heart of a dear one, it is also true that every obstacle, every difficulty can be transformed into an opportunity to “depart”, an opportunity for a “journey toward conversion” which alone can lead to serenity, peace, stability.

The Holy Spirit speaks to today’s families

Today, the Holy Spirit still continues to guide “all peoples”, “all couples”, “all parents”. But we need to listen to the Spirit who speaks in us. If the Son of God came to live with us as a child, and only the eyes of faith can perceive His presence, how important it is to remind ourselves that everyday things are never of little importance, that daily occurrences are never useless or purely coincidental. The eyes of faith are necessary to grasp the hidden and the beyond. Everything becomes a “place” to encounter or reject God’s presence. Everything is a sign for those who believe.

The gospel of the family

To live the gospel of the family is not easy today. Those who want to defend life from the moment of conception are criticized or attacked. Yet in the Gospel we find the way to live a beautiful life on the personal and familial level, a way that is certainly challenging, but attractive and all-embracing. It is a way that still deserves to be trusted and undertaken after the example and through the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth itself. There are happy and sad, serene and difficult moments in every family. This is life. To live the “gospel of the family” does not exempt us from experiencing difficulties and tensions, of encountering moments of pleasant fortitude and painful weakness. Families who are wounded and marked by weakness, failure, difficulty…can rise again if they learn how to draw from the font of the Gospel. There, they can rediscover new possibilities of starting over.

Prayer

The hidden life of Nazareth allows every person
to be in communion with Jesus
along the most ordinary paths of everyday life.
Nazareth is the school
in which we begin to understand
the life of Jesus, that is,
the school of the Gospel…
In the first place, may it teach us silence.
Oh! May an appreciation
of this stupendous and indispensable

atmosphere for the spirit return to us…
May it teach us the way to live in the family.
Nazareth reminds us what the family is,
what communion of love is,
its austere and simple beauty,
its sacred and inviolable character…

Finally, let us learn a lesson of work.
Oh! House of Nazareth,
home of the “Carpenter’s Son”!
Here, we especially want to understand
how to praise the severe but redeeming law
of human labor…
We want to greet workers throughout the world
and show them their great model, their Divine Brother.
(Saint Pope Paul VI, discourse of 5 January 1964)

The Magnificat

CARE FOR GOD’S CREATION

NOVEMBER ALTAR LIST OF THE DEAD

All on the November Altar Lists Of The Dead are prayed for on every First Friday throughout the year.

Close to You Prayer
Father of Enduring Faithfulness, as a believer in Christ, to be away from the body is to be with you. I know that my loved one is with you right now in heaven, enjoying your closeness. Lord though it is difficult to accept that they are gone, I know that you love them so much and that is why you took them. Jesus may they bask in your glory as we all wait for you to come back and take us all into your presence where there is no mourning and sorrow. I pray this, trusting and believing. Amen.

Fill the Gap Prayer
Jesus, my Savior, times and seasons are in your able hand. You know when we will be born and when we will leave this earth and come back home. You knew that our loved one would not be with us today. We want to praise you for the time we had with them. As we go through this mourning season, Lord, we pray that you give us a deep sense of peace. We know that no one can ever take the place of our loved one, that is why we are asking you to fill the gap that our loved one has left in our lives with your love. May we find comfort in you alone. In Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

Lord God,

Whose days are without end

And whose mercies beyond counting, keep us mindful

That life is short and the hour of death unknown.

Let your Spirit guide our days on earth

In the ways of holiness and justice,

that we may serve you in union with the whole Church,

sure in faith, strong in hope, perfect in love.

And when our earthly journey is ended

Lead us rejoicing into your kingdom,

Where you live for ever and ever. AMEN    OCF,332

Day of Prayer for Life 

‘God did not make us for death
but for life. When we touch the
mystery of death in prayer,
thought or experience, it leads us
into the greater mystery of the
eternal life of the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Through our Baptism
we have already begun to live this
life. We have entered into the
mystery of death which Christ, by
his resurrection, has changed
forever. In him, death is no longer
our end but our ‘Passover’ into a
truth and a life we cannot even
begin to imagine because it is a
life forever beyond the experience
of death.’
(I Cor 13:12; 15:42-44; 1 Jn 3:2)

PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in this Holy Sacrament of the altar. I love you above all thingsand I passionately desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come spiritually into my soul so that I may unite myself wholly to you now and forever. Amen.

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Our Lady Shrine Prayer Card

Prayers To Say Before The Blessed Sacrament

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