We Fly To Your Patronage...

Notre Dame de Paris

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God,

despise not our petitions in our necessities, 

but deliver us always from all dangers,

O glorious and Blessed Virgin.

3rd century prayer to the Mother of God

Praying for Children

Flower-Toy Memorial ~ St. Petersburg, Russia

The recent crash of the Metro jet in the Sinai Desert took the lives of 224 people. among them 25 children. Strong indications are that a bomb was planted in the cargo or luggage bays. But as depraved as someone must be to make and place a bomb that will take down a plane of people heading home after a seaside vacation, to know that your evil plan will kill children is a window into our human devolution. For all the advances: new medicine, cutting edge technology, space exploration and new forms of energy - we still kill and exploit children. We don't love them rightly.

No philosopher or spiritual leader in history ever placed children so squarely at the heart of his/her teaching as did Jesus. And so if the disciple wants to follow or be obedient to Jesus, then somehow, love for and attention to children must play a part.

Then some people came to him bringing little children for him to touch. The disciples tried to discourage them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant and told them, "You must let little children come to me - never stop them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Indeed, I assure you that the man who does not accept the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Then he took the children in his arms and laid his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

Some scholars have suggested that religious orders of monks and nuns came into existence when it became clear that the ordinary folk were no longer living the Gospel way narrowly: we mixed with power too much, we found too little time for the works of mercy, we didn't pray as well, we loved money and possessions as much as anyone else.

But then it got to the point where we started to think that the real pray-ers were the monks and nuns, calling a monastery or convent, a powerhouse of prayer. That's regrettable, because every Christian home, every parish, indeed, every Christian, ought to be a powerhouse of prayer. And maybe  praying for the world's children could be at the top of our prayer priorities.

Often when human beings do terrible things to children we ask, "How could a merciful God allow that?" or "Where was God?" That might be the wrong question. I think the real question, the honest question, would be to ask, "How could WE allow that to happen?" "Where were WE...?" 

But will my prayer for children actually help them? I will trust it does. And even if it doesn't, then my prayer reflects there is at least one heart that cares for them in their pain and need. That's not for nothing in a hard world.


I pray for human life in the womb,
hungry children,
thirsty children,
naked children,
homeless children,
street children,

that we would
protect them,
guide them,
comfort them,
warm them,
delight them.

I pray for 

prostituted children,
disappeared children,
kidnapped children,
nameless children,
emaciated children,
unwanted children,

that we would
rescue them,
name them,
satisfy them,
discover them,
befriend them.

I pray for 
addicted children,
lonely children,
unsupported children,
uneducated children,
orphaned children,
sensualized children,

that we would
watch out for them,
embrace them,
console them,
play with them,
teach them.

I pray for 
the children of war,
children sold by their parents,
children trapped in slavery,
sex-trafficked children,
children caught in the turbulence of divorce,
friendless children,

that we would
clothe them,
house them,
defend them,
reassure them,
heal them.

I pray for 
children left behind,
refugee and displaced children,
special needs children,
failing children,
invisible children,
forgotten children,

that we would
educate them,
catch them,
clean them,
dignify them,
notice them.

I pray for
angry, violent children,
the child sufferers of terrorist violence,
verbally abused children,
physically abused children,
thrown away children,
murdered children,

that we would
search for them,
identify them,
surround them,
feed them,
love them all.

Amen.

Intercessions ~ Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

We pray for the people of Paris today,/ and all of France,/ and all of Europe,/ and of all the world./ We pray for those who died in Friday night's terror,/ and for the wounded,/ their families/ and the helpers and rescuers./  We pray to the Lord.

Something is very wrong in our relationship with guns that every month dozens of the nation's children die by gun violence and accident./ We boldly ask for heaven's help to set us right./ We pray to the Lord.

In the past sixty-five years our Church has spent over four billion dollars in the sex abuse scandal./ We ask God to forgive the sins which have brought about this waste/ and to correct the Church where it has taken a wrong path./ We pray to the Lord.

Jesus has told us he wants our joy to be complete./  We pray for those who have no experience of joy,/ those who live with chronic pain,/ those over-whelmed with weakness and need./ We pray to the Lord.

We call to mind loved-ones who are sick physically/ or sick with fears,/ anger,/ despair or hate./ We pray for their healing and restored energies./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray to know the wonder of  life in this moment of prayer,/ to be truly alive/ without negativity and anxiety,/ without demands,/ judgments and greed./ We pray to the Lord.

And we entrust all of the dead to Jesus/ who shows us the Father's love,/ remembering those who have died in the Sinai Desert,/ and in Beirut and in violent places around the world./  We pray to the Lord.