Intercessions ~ Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Lady of Perpetual Help ~ Feastday, Monday, June 27

We pray boldly for God to intervene where we can't stop fighting,/ where destruction is extensive,/ where addictions lead to death,/ where life if most vulnerable,/ where hatred is deepest./ We pray to the Lord.

In the night-time of our anxieties,/ we ask for rest and calm,/ and that we would be able to turn to prayer and better thoughts./ We pray to the Lord.

Grant that in this charged political time,/ we would be sensible,/ balanced people/ and not overwhelmed with dire messages and predictions./ We pray to the Lord.

Bless the rescuers who helped and saved in this week's airport attack in Turkey./ Heal and comfort the injured and their loved ones,/ conversion to terrorists and murderers./ We pray to the Lord.

As we prepare to move to the altar at Mass,/ we pray all the more for the movement of our minds and hearts - awake to God's nearness./ We pray to the Lord. 

For summertime travelers,/ campers and vacationers./ For the sick and those who are forsaken in their troubles and sorrows./ We pray to the Lord. 

And for the dead,/ mindful of those who have died this week in acts of terror,/ war,/ domestic violence,/ accident,/ drug and slave trafficking./ And for mourners to be consoled./ We pray to the Lord. 

Mother of God Czestochowa and Spiritual Invasion

It is said that the icon of the Mother of God ~ Czestochowa was painted by Saint Luke in the home at Nazareth. It is further said that Saint Helena discovered the icon in 326 A.D. and brought it to Constantinople. From there it made its way to Poland in about the year 600.  On the other hand, art historians date the icon to somewhere between 500-800 A.D. and that the first real documentation of its monastery connection at Jasna Gora (Bright Mountain) is 14th century. The long and short of it: it is a very old icon, full of history and great spiritual energy such that people continue to pilgrim to it by the many thousands every year.

The Czestochowa Mother of God is Poland's defender against invaders. Hussites stormed the Pauline Monastery in 1430 at which time her face was slashed by the one who carried her away in the pillage. Again she saved the Pauline Monks in the Swedish invasion of 1655. Poles rallied around after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and then again in the pained Soviet decades which sought to crush Polish Catholicism.

The Czestochowa icon was even "arrested" by Soviet police as she was carried throughout the country on pilgrimage and sent back to the monastery of Jasna Gora under house arrest! The pilgrims completed the long journey, escorting her empty frame from parish to parish as an act of defiance. 

She seems to take invaders and invasion seriously. And so must we. But we must move beyond the accounts of geo-political invasion and understand the word spiritually, lest she be robbed of her real purpose, power and significance. We don't want to be just admirers but participants. And so...

O Lady Czestochowa, defend us,
From the invasion of despair to hope,

From the invasion of bitterness to joy,

From the invasion of prejudice to hospitality,

From the invasion of personal dissatisfaction to surrender.

O Lady ~ Virgin Mary,

That we would be invaded with love ~ even for our enemies,

That we would be invaded with Holy Spirit,
That we would be invaded by a changed consciousness,

That we would be invaded with a personal knowledge of Christ,

That we would be invaded by a desire for peace.

O Czestochowa, Mother of God,

invade our thoughts,

invade our feelings,

invade our politics,

invade our church-life,

invade our families.

O Lady of the Bright Mountain,

stand against our war-making mentality,

stand against the gun-fetish and our atrocities,

stand against our life-denying choices,

stand against our grabbing self-interest,

stand against all the lies,

stand against the power-lust,

stand against the deepening hatred,

stand against our violence and depravity.

Prayer Before Zurbaran's Childhood of Mary

Francisco de Zurbaran painted this picture titled: The Childhood of the Virgin Mary somewhere between 1658 and 1660. Zurbaran completed images of the young Jesus and Mary many times, each a great gift to us, as they depict the sensitivity and beauty of children known well to the painter who was a father and grandfather. 

My own meditation follows. You understand that no one needs a degree in theology to compose a prayer but only some time given to deep-looking in silence. The prayer will come of itself then. We're invited to create our own last stanza(s) here. 

Blessed are you, Child Mary, our sister.
Blessed are you, Child Mary, who danced on the temple steps.
Blessed are you, Child Mary, who entered the Ark of the Lord.
Blessed are you, Child Mary, whose face wakes up my heart.
Blessed are you, Child Mary, full of spiritual nobility.
Blessed are you, Child Mary, living in the World of Peace.


Child Mary, are you sewing a cloth to be placed on the altar?
Child Mary, or to remind me of Jesus' shroud?
Child Mary, seated already as if on a throne.
Child Mary, whose lap will be Jesus' throne on earth.
Child Mary, serene in harmony with God.
Child Mary, bright against the darkness.


Rejoice, young Mary, the shawl of our rebellion falls from you.
Rejoice, young Mary, your heart is enlightened.
Rejoice, young Mary, delighting in God's Beauty.
Rejoice, young Mary, pure-hearted.
Rejoice, young Mary, whose refuge is in God.
Rejoice, young Mary, you see; you know.


Little daughter, I am silent and still with you.
Little daughter, speak on my behalf at the judgment day.
Little daughter, far from the lower world.
Little daughter, your fingers locked in prayer.
Little daughter, conversing with a seraph.
Little daughter, teach me to pray.


Happy are you, young Mary, as God stirs forth from his holy dwelling.
Happy are you, young Mary, the old order is passing away.
Happy are you, young Mary, attentive in solitude.
Happy are you, young Mary, listening in silence.
Happy are you, young Mary, in close union with God.
Happy are you, young Mary, infinitely loved by God.


Dear sister, direct me to heaven's higher things.
Dear sister, give me a fresh awareness of God.
Dear sister, what do you see in the gaze of your prayer?
Dear sister, interiorly formed as Christ's disciple.
Dear sister, God's dwelling is with the human race.
Dear sister, an abundance of love.


Blessed are you, Mary, in your joyful spirit.
Blessed are you, Mary, first to share in God's self-gift.
Blessed are you, Mary, blessed in your believing.
Blessed are you, Mary, the flame of Pentecost in your dress.
Blessed are you, Mary, whose dress is royal red.
Blessed are you, Mary, God will take his humanity from you.


Young Lady, whose purpose is discerned from afar.
Young Lady, awaken knowledge of Christ in us.
Young Lady, Christ to be conceived  in my heart.
Young Lady, you'll be Mother to the Prince of Peace.
Young Lady, may I find joy in children.
Young Lady, with you, I am a Child of God.


Be glad, little girl, whose face is turned towards the Light.
Be glad, little girl, soul-opened to heaven's desire.
Be glad, little girl, in your knowledge of God.
Be glad, little girl, in union with the Source of joy and peace.
Be glad, little girl, God makes all things new.
Be glad, little girl, keeping the Divine Word and pondering it in your heart.


Childhood of Mary, in solidarity with little girls aborted.
Childhood of Mary, in solidarity with girls enslaved.
Childhood of Mary, in solidarity with little girls exploited.
Childhood of Mary, in solidarity with girls terrified in war.
Childhood of Mary, in solidarity with girls left un-educated.
Childhood of Mary, in solidarity with little girls thrown away.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Great is your happiness, O holy Virgin,

you are worthy of the highest praise;

For from you arose the sun of justice,

Christ our God.

Alleluia!

Mass for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary