“By devoting more time to prayer, we enable our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception, and then to find the consolation God offers. He is our Father and he wants us to live life well.”
As Ash Wednesday approaches, consider using some of these resources related to peace and justice for reflection during the season of Lent.
As Ash Wednesday approaches, consider using some of these resources related to peace and justice for reflection during the season of Lent.
Today is the International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking and feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave. Catholic Relief Services provides more information and ideas on how to raise awareness to the issue.
A Prayer for an End to Human Trafficking (from Catholic Relief Services)
Oh God, we didn’t see them.
But you did—
The hundreds and thousands of human beings
Trafficked each year to join the millions who are trapped in
modern-day slavery
Under terrible conditions, they work in factories, plough fields,
harvest crops, work quarries, fill brothels, clean homes, and
haul water.
Many are children with tiny fingers for weaving rugs
and small shoulders for bearing rifles.
Their labor is forced, their bodies beaten, their faces hidden
from those who don’t really want to see them.
But you see them all, God of the poor.
You hear their cry and you answer by
Opening our eyes, and breaking our hearts
And loosening our tongues to insist:
No mas. No more.
Amen.
The Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) is organizing a day of prayer on January 19, 2017 as a way “to illuminate the dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters, and the value of each individual’s contribution to the country.” They offer resources and ideas for organizing prayer on that day on their website.
ISN offers ideas of how to become involved:
More resources and prayers are available on their website.
ACCU wishes you and your family a happy Thanksgiving! We would like to share this special Thanksgiving prayer from Catholic Relief Services. You can find this prayer, a printable prayer card, and several other prayers in honor of Thanksgiving in their online prayer resource.
Litany of Thanksgiving
God Most High,
Before your son fed the multitudes, he first gave thanks.
Before he raised his friend Lazarus, he first gave thanks,
That all might know your glory.
And so, as we are blessed to do your works in the world,
That all, indeed, might know your glory
We thank you and praise you, O Lord.
For the grace to feed the poor, we thank you and praise you, O Lord.
For the grace to heal the sick, we thank you and praise you, O Lord.
For the grace to lift up the broken, we thank you and praise you, O Lord.
For the grace to harbor the refugee, we thank you and praise you, O Lord.
For the grace to aid the endangered, we thank you and praise you, O Lord.
For the grace to speak on behalf of the marginalized and vulnerable, we thank you and praise you, O Lord.
For the grace to be for the prisoner, the addict, the lost, the outcast, the dying
What your son has been for us
A comfort, a beacon, a shepherd, a rabbi, a healer, a hope
The salt of the earth, the light of the world, we thank you and praise you, O Lord.
Amen.
In light of recent incidents of racial violence and tension, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for a Day of Prayer for Peace in Our Communities on September 9, 2016, the feast day of St. Peter Claver. Catholics across the country are encourage to join together in prayer, reflection, and discernment of action steps to promote peace and racial justice. USCCB president Archbishop Joseph Kurtz has also announced that the USCCB will form a special task force in order to promote peace and heal racial tensions, led by Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta.
Many resources for the Day of Prayer for Peace in Our Communities are available on the USCCB racism page, including a video, bishops’ statements, prayer and liturgy resources, teaching materials, articles and more. The WeAreSaltAndLight.org diversity and racial justice page also includes additional resources. Additionally, campuses are invited to participate in a WeAreSaltAndLight.org Google Hangout on racial justice on September 14 at 2 p.m. ET, or to watch the event on YouTube.
Pope Francis has called for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation to take place on September 1, 2016. This day, established last year, gives us a opportunity to reflect on the world that God created for us. Pope Francis wrote: “The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation will offer individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”
Resources for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, such as special prayers, ideas for action, and discussion guides, are available on the USCCB environmental justice webpage and the We are Salt & Light Laudato Si’ webpage.
Lampedusa, a small island off the coast of Italy, has become known as thousands of migrants arrive there on their way to Europe. Tragically, many do not make it to the island’s shores alive.
As a way of expressing his solidarity with and concern for migrants traveling to Europe, Pope Francis visited Lampedusa on July 8, 2013. It was during this visit that he coined the phrase ‘globalization of indifference,’ referring to the phenomenon that leads to and compounds migrant crises such as the one the world is currently experiencing.
Lampedusa USA is a Catholic organization created in response to Pope Francis’s call for all to welcome refugees and migrants to the best of their abilities. On July 8, 2016, the organization will be hosting a Facebook prayer vigil to commemorate the Holy Father’s visit to the island and to continue praying for the world’s migrants and refugees.
All are welcome to participate in the vigil, including individuals, congregations, organizations, and colleges or universities. We hope you will join us in prayer for the world’s migrants.
The upcoming one-year anniversary of the release of Laudato Si’ has inspired reflection on the impacts it has had on Catholics around the world, especially institutions of Catholic higher education. In the April 2016 issue of Connections, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities’ (AJCU) monthly newsletter, several institutions were featured as having responded to the encyclical with fervor:
These institutions of Jesuit higher education are just a few examples of the Catholic response to Laudato Si’. How has your college or university responded to Laudato Si’? Let us know!
ACCU Peace and Justice 