PRAYER TO SAINT MONICA

Saint Monica, through prayerful cries to Heaven
you were successful in bringing your son, Saint Augustine back to the truth of our Catholic Faith.
Intercede for all parents so that they may learn to draw their children to God through prayer, and through their words and actions.
Teach them to remain close to their children, even those who have gone astray.
May your example of persistence in prayer
teach them to be faithful in the worship
of the One, True God.

Through your intercession make our family holy,
help us to grow in faith and in Love for the Lord
and for one another.
May the Love of God touch the hearts of those who have wandered
that they may return to a sincere and devout
practice of our Catholic Faith.
Pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

(Saint Monica, Mother of Saint Augustine, Patron Saint of Mothers
and those who pray for the conversion, holiness, and return to the Catholic Faith of their spouse, children and family members.)
(Feast Day - August 27th)

MOTHER OF LIFE

O God, my Father, I praise you as the giver of my life,
I thank you for all life, but especially human life.
You have created me after your own image and likeness.
For this I thank you.

I thank you for so dignifying humanity by your son, Jesus, becoming human like me in all but sin.
I thank you for teaching me how precious is every human life through the way Jesus lived, died, and restored life.

Let Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, model for me
how to endure fractured expectations, unfilled hopes, and just being unable to ease so much of the suffering that surrounds me in this deeply troubled world.

I pray for the conceived who are not allowed to experience life.
I pray for the living who have full life denied them
by physical or mental limitations.
I pray for those who have freedom taken from them by oppression, terrorism, war, poverty, or force.

Truly give me a deep appreciation for my life
and the lives of those who are around me,
the people I like and those I dislike.
Bring me to happy old age
knowing how gifted I have been by the life you have shared with me and let me use here on earth.
Bring me finally to the life where there is no more pain,
no more suffering,
but just the peace and joy you intended for me
from the beginning of your creation.
I ask this through Jesus, born of Mary. Amen.

A PARENTS PRAYER

Oh Heavenly Father, make me a better parent.
Teach me to understand my children.
To listen patiently to what they have to say and to answer their questions kindly.
Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them.
Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.
Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me.
May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my own power.
Let me not tempt my child to lie or steal.
Guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all I say and do that honesty produces happiness.
Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me and when I am out of sorts, help me, Oh Lord to hold my tongue.
May I be ever mindful that my children are children and I should not expect of them the judgement of adults.
Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and make decisions.
Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm.
Make me fair, just and kind. And fit me Oh Lord to be loved, respected and imitated by my children.
Children have more need of role models than critics.

A PRAYER FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE

Blessed are You, Lord God,
King of all creation.
Through your goodness, we live in this land
that you have so richly blessed.
Help us always to remember
that our blessings come from you
and remind us to share them with others,
especially those who come to us today
from other lands.

Dear Lord inspire us to respond
justly and generously to your teaching:
"I was a stranger and you welcomed me".

POPE BENEDICT XVI
And only where God is seen does life truly begin. 
Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is.  We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. 
Each of us is willed,
each of us is loved,
each of us is necessary. 
There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. 
There is nothing more beautiful
than to know Him
and to speak to others of our friendship with him.

Homily of His Holiness, Sunday April 24th 2005

GOD'S PLAN FOR ME

God has created me to do Him some definite service.
He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.
I am a link in the chain, a bond of connections between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good, I shall do His work.
I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending, if I do but keep His commandments.
Therefore, I will trust Him.
Whatever, wherever I can, I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness shall serve Him;
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
He does nothing in vain.
He may prolong my life,
He may shorten it,
He knows what He is about.
He may take away my friends,
He may throw me among strangers,
He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -
still He knows what He is about.
(Cardinal Newman)