Prayerful Concerns of Our Parish Community – 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

These Prayers of the Faithful from the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Aug 19-20, 2023) are posted here for further reflection and prayer. May they be fruitful.

God, your Word today seems to say that there is no “us” and “them” but just all of us, brothers and sisters, members of one family. It is a great hope, hard to believe, and not always realized. We come to seek your help.

We pray for all those who have worked on committees and in organizations whose aim is to find common understanding and connection between the Christian Churches and among all the world’s great religions. May our lives be changed by their work and trust. We pray to the Lord.

We pray for women, men, and children, who show us the way to reconciliation and mutual acceptance among people of varying races, ethnic backgrounds, religious and social conditions in our community and world, we pray to the Lord.

We pray that we might be like Jesus and through conversation with those who are different from us, not harden our opinions and draw boundaries more tightly, but are able to change our mind and come to see the other in a new and welcoming light. We pray to the Lord.

God, come close to us now, and take from our hearts and minds the strain and stress we may have brought here this day. Remove our guilt, lessen our regret, help us to deal sensibly with our brokenness. Fill us with hope and dreams of the future. We pray to the Lord.

As Jesus kept listening to the Canaanite woman, listen to our prayers. Calm our fears of illness or change in our lives, our fears for our church, country, and world. We pray to the Lord.

Jesus has shown us that even death cannot divide or separate us. We earnestly pray for the power of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives: for forgiveness, hope, love, that is stronger than any darkness. Into that light we entrust our loved ones who have gone before us. At this liturgy we especially ask your blessing and love for:

4:30 PM Cecile Jennings by Virginia Jennings

7:30 AM The People of the Parish both Living & Deceased

9:30 AM  Peter Kelly by Anne, Josh & Ainsley Gray

5:00 PM  Mary McLean & Margaret Conley by Margaret DeSarno

We pray to the Lord.

God, take our fear away. Let us know the strength of your love. Enable us to trust you and sense you; let us experience that you are always close and that we are all “us”: wanted, forgiven, blessed and loved. We make all these prayers through Christ our Lord. Amen.