Give me the grace today to know You deeply as the God who allows suffering, spiritual and physical, in order to bring me back to You. Oh, faithful and forgiving God, today’s scripture readings at Mass remind me of your faithful and everlasting love. I ask this of You in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Help me to know You as a good shepherd who guards his flock and leads them to springs of living water and green pastures of refreshment. May I never doubt Your support and grace in times of uncertainty and temptation. Give me the grace to never doubt Your love for me deepen my faith today to live a faithful life of devotion to You. You show me this in the faith-filled Canaanite woman asking Jesus to cure her daughter.
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O faithful and all-loving God, You assure me in today’s scripture in Jeremiah and in Matthew’s Gospel, of Your age-old love. I ask this in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If You wish, you can allow me to grow in grace to see things as You do, to see things in a much wider and broader view. Because I am human I always seem to struggle to think as You do. Give me a mind and heart that thinks and sees as You do. A heart that is always pleasing to You, not a divided heart. Give me the grace today to have a pure, clean, undivided heart. Throughout the week You have reassured me in the scripture from the prophet Jeremiah of Your everlasting love. Thursday, August 4Īlmighty and all merciful God, create me a new heart. God, as the high temperatures return to the Northwest this weekend, we thank you for giving us the means to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the dangers of the heat. We ask that you protect those who lack water and a cool and safe place to reside. Encourage us, God, to be bold enough to stop, to reach out, and to provide for those we see who are in need, and not to simply drive by. Safeguard, too, God, all your creatures, the animals in the forests and those under the care and control of people, who so often suffer needlessly at the hands of their owners. Help us all remember that you gave us dominion over your creatures, and entrusted us with their care. Finally, we thank you for bringing us safely to the end of another busy week. Amen. “God is not unjust he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10 As we come to you seeking help for those who are sick, particularly those suffering from cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, we humbly ask that you hear the prayers we offer you in honor of St. Peregrine received your healing touch after he placed his life unreservedly in your hands. Your beloved Son showed his love for the sick by touching, healing, and forgiving them. May it be a light of faith and a symbol of the universality of your Church. May the example of his life and death lead us to live lives of faithful service. Gracious God, you call us to love, you call us to help one another. We thank you for this Dambana at The Grotto. Jesus came into the world as a helpless child may this image of the Santo Niño remind us that God became fully human to share his love and bring us salvation. Lord God, we honor your faithful servant San Lorenzo Ruiz and his companion martyrs. As the first canonized Filipino Saint, San Lorenzo inspires us with his unwavering faith and tremendous courage, even to his death. Loving Creator, you sent your only son to be savior of all.
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May we see Mary as a model of faith that we are called to imitate, and may the Mother of Jesus be a source of comfort to each one of us. Loving God, bless this image of Mary, represented as Our Lady of Dambana. Lord God, bless this Filipino Shrine at The Grotto, and bless all who come here in search of peace, prayer, and the beauty of nature. Give us insight as we walk the garden paths and as we pray and reflect at this Dambana. May your loving presence inspire our minds and hearts, so that we may go forth from here renewed and refreshed in mind, body, and soul.