Prayerful Concerns of Our Parish Community – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We hope these Prayers of the Faithful from the weekend of October 22-23, the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, are helpful to you in your prayer life. Together with others in the Jesuits USA East Province, up and down the East Coast, we celebrated Jesuit Alumni and Friends Weekend – and three baptisms this weekend. AMDG.

God, the wisdom of Scripture tells us that you hear the prayers of the sincere of heart. Grant us that honesty before you and before ourselves as we come together today and offer the prayers we speak, those we hold within, and those for which we don’t yet have words.

With Pope Francis we pray that our Church, its leaders and people, be a people and community of humility, offering your mercy and welcome and not speaking as it we know all the answers and all the burdens others carry. We pray to the Lord.

On this Jesuit and Ignatian Family, Friends and Alumni weekend, we celebrate the gift of the vision of St. Ignatius, and ask your blessing on the people and places inspired by that vision. Here in Maine that includes our parish and school, Cheverus high school, the Ignatian Volunteer Corps and the Jesuit Volunteer Community in Portland and all the Former JVs in Maine, those connected to the people and programs of the Ignatian Spirituality Partnership of Maine, all the alumni of Jesuit schools now living in Maine, those who have made an Ignatian retreat, the work of the Sisters of the Presentation and the Sisters of St. Joseph in Maine. We pray to the Lord.

For the sick, the hungry, and the homeless, that God working through us will answer their cries for help – here in Portland and Maine and around the world. We pray to the Lord.

For the gift of forgiveness. That we may be inspired to extend forgiveness to those who need to hear those words from us; that we may be able to seek forgiveness from those we have hurt or neglected; that we may trust the power of God’s forgiveness and in that forgiveness be set free from regrets and shame that can haunt us. We pray to the Lord.

For those whose experience and wounds cause them to boast or brag or think themselves better than others. For those whose hurts and experiences cause them to believe they are “less than” others. For ourselves when we find ourselves in either of these places. We pray to the Lord.

For all who have died, that Christ’s victory over death will free them from all hurts, wounds and regrets. That they may rejoice in the love and embrace of God. At this liturgy we especially remember:

4:30 PM Catherine Goddard 
7:30 AM Ida Thibodeau 
9:30 AM Catherine I. Banks 
5:00 PM For the People of the Parish both Living & Deceased

We pray to the Lord

St. Peter Faber, companion and friend of Ignatius, urges us to “seek grace for the smallest things…attend to the smallest things, examine them, think about putting them into effort” If we do this, he says, the Lord will grant us even greater graces. Please accept our prayers and thoughts today, help us to be attentive to the ”smallest things” this week that we and your world will grow in grace and favor. We make these prayers through Christ our Lord.

Amen.