Prayerful Concerns of Our Parish Community – 4th Sunday of Lent

We share these Prayers of the Faithful from the 4th Sunday in Lent ( March 18-19,2023) with the fervent hope that they are helpful to you in your reflections this week.

Our world is a world of light and darkness, clarity of vision and blindness. Help us to know our blindness and turn toward the light. We pray:

This week our Islamic brothers and sisters celebrate the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. May this be a time of blessing for them. May Christians and Muslims grow closer in mutual knowledge and respect as we all worship the One God. We pray to the Lord.

As we celebrate St. Joseph on Monday, we pray for an end to hunger, locally and around the world. Prompt us to find a more equitable distribution of food resources. Inspire in us a stronger commitment not to waste food. We pray to the Lord.

Last week was Pope Francis’ tenth anniversary as our Pope. Bless and protect him as he seeks to lead the church under the guidance of your Holy Spirit and the vision of Vatican II. We pray that those church members and leaders who oppose him, especially here in the United States, may come to a different understanding. We pray to the Lord.

For those who have been hurt, physically, spiritually, psychologically by church officials and employees. For those who are confused and discouraged by the official Church’s response to their pain. We pray to the Lord.

For those among us who are preparing for Baptism this Easter: Tyler, Matthew, Michael; for Owen who will be confirmed and for our young people who will be confirmed and receive First Eucharist at Pentecost, for their families, sponsors and teachers, we pray to the Lord.

For all our deceased loved ones and those who have no one to remember them. At this liturgy we especially ask God’s blessing for:

4:30 PM Barbara Goodwin by Paulette Tidd

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

9:30 AM Richard M. Colucci by John & Rita Griffin

5:00 PM John Joyce by Kathleen Joyce

We pray to the Lord

We entrust these prayers and those we carry in our hearts to you, God of love and life. We also ask that like the man in today’s Gospel, our relationship with Jesus may grow. We ask these things in his name. Amen.