For an article about devotion to the sacred heart, why not take a look at www.faith.org.uk/Homepage/Ideas/sachrtfindlay.htm
Grace before meals
Bless us, O Lord and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty.
Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.
Vocation Prayer
Lord make me a better person, more considerate towards others; more honest with myself, more faithful to you.
Make me generous enough to want sincerely to do your will whatever it may be.
Help me find my true vocation in life, and grant that through it
I may find happiness myself and bring happiness to others.
Grant, Lord, that those whom You call to enter the priesthood or the religious life may have the generosity to answer your call, so that those who need your help may always find it.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayers for Peace
Prayer of St Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.
Peace Prayer for Our Time
Most loving God of our universe; (Creator of all life, Saviour of all nations, spirit of unity and reconciliation.)
We recall, in Your Divine presence, the words of our shepherd in faith Pope John Paul II;
“Hear my voice! It is the voice of all children who suffer and who will suffer when people put their faith in weapons and war!”
Our faith, dear God, rests only in you.
We turn to you and to you alone as our defence.
We believe in you and you alone as our security
We proclaim you and you alone as our strength.
Strengthen our faith! Help us to love our enemies and enable them to love us.
Give us the grace to understand that to live by the sword is to die by the sword.
May we, your chosen ones, live by every word that comes from you and may we be nourished in the ways of peace and unity at the table of our Eucharist.
God of peace, grant us peace in Jesus’ name, now and forever. Amen.
Rev. Brian McCullough, S.C.J
Hail Holy Queen
Hail holy Queen, mother of mercy, hail our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then most gracious advocate thine eyes of mercy towards us, that after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus.
O clement, loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
