Prayerful Concerns of Our Parish Community – 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
May these Prayers of the Faithful from the weekend of August 20-21, the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, bring something helpful to your own prayerful reflections this week.
God’s desire is to welcome all. Yet the gate of entrance to blessing is described as “narrow.” Help us to be disciples in word and in deed. We pray:
We pray for those who bear burdens of ill health, particularly issues of mental health and those who struggle with suicidal feelings. May they receive the help and support they need, compassion and understanding from all of us. We pray to the Lord.
As students begin to prepare to return to school, we pray for the college and university students in Greater Portland. We ask for the grace and ability to be a parish that reaches out to these students and welcomes them to our parish liturgies and life. We especially welcome our near neighbors at UNE and folks at SMCC, USM and St. Joseph’s College. We pray to the Lord.
For the young children we have baptized this summer, their parents and families. May the grace of the baptism keep them coming to Mass here and let us continue to welcome them into our community. We pray to the Lord.
For those who will be moving this fall to start school or a new job or a new life. May this time of transition be made easier by friends and family and by the prospect of new blessings ahead. We pray to the Lord.
For old friends we perhaps have seen this summer or remembered. For the gift of friends in our lives and the generosity and kindness to be good friends ourselves, and to welcome new people into our lives. We pray to the Lord.
For those with whom we have lived and worked, laughed and cried, and who have now been called home to God. God, tell them that we love them and miss them. Hold them close to you. At this Mass we especially remember:
4:30 PM Mary Litcher
7:30 AM Ida Thibodeau
9:30 AM Frank & Bernice Paul
5:00 PM For the People of the Parish both Living & Deceased
We pray to the Lord
God of love, we offer you these prayers and those which remain in our hearts. Let us and those we have remembered be among those blessed by your love. Amen.