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I will be LOVE

St. Teresa of Avila compared a contemplative to a standard bearer for an army in battle. His job is to hold the banner of the Cross high so those in combat can see it above the chaos. Even if the standard bearer is cut to pieces, he has to make sure he never drops the guidon. As people of faith you may feel like that standard bearer sometimes. And you are. There is a lot of chaos and cruelty going on right now. As Catholics we believe in the dignity of the human person, in the sanctity of life. Anyone paying attention right now probably does feel cut to pieces. Anyone who believes in treating even the most guilty among us as children of God is bound to feel horrified on a daily basis as violence and hate gain ascendency in our collective conscience and experience. 

One of my favorite bands in the 90’s was called Live. They had this great line from their song Run to the Water on their album The Distance to Here. 

 “Brother let your heart be wounded/and give no mercy to your fear.” I’ve thought of it often as faith leaders begin to tell us to get our affairs in order in case we are called to martyrdom. Do I sound crazy? Do they? 

… Adam and Eve live down the street from me

Babylon is every town

It’s as crazy as it’s ever been

Love’s a stranger all around.” 

St. Therese wrote about being a victim of love for Christ. She offered herself even should her commitment cause her great suffering, for his love and purpose. 

“ In a moment we lost our minds here

And lay our spirit down

Today we lived a thousand years

All we have is now.” 

The Carmelite martyrs of Compiegne lived at a time that perhaps started with good aims but ended up being a terrible persecution and even a blood bath. They were executed one at a time. The nuns sang a Psalm the whole time as their voices grew thinner with each execution. They had known this day could come. They had been preparing for it in prayer, offering themselves up to God as a sacrifice for the Church, for an end to the killing during the French Revolution. 

St. Teresa of Avila wrote that in some ways physical martyrs have it easier than we who live. “One chop and it’s all over.” Life, though, she said, was “a long martyrdom.” She said this because living in Christly love is not easy. It’s hard and not always accepted. 

These days we most likely won’t be martyred because of our faith but for living it. Somebody said to me, “We aren’t supposed to be the Church of Nice.” No, I said, “We are called to be the Church of radical LOVE.” And that’s the” long martyrdom” for me right now, and maybe for you too. 

The Prophet Elijah said, “The Lord  lives. I am standing in his presence.”( 1Kings17:1) We may not be able to physically do much about the hatred and violence we see. However, like Elijah, we are witnesses to the presence of God. And we have to be brave. A lot of people don’t care about love right now. So we have to intensify our witness. How do we do that? 

We have to remember that God loves the ICE agents every bit as much as he loves us. We have to remember that God loves the undocumented every bit as much as he loves us. We have to pray for our enemies and do good to them. If we don’t know how to do good to our enemy we can ask God to show us, to give us an opportunity if he wants us to do that. He will. 

We do what we can nonviolently and legally do to stand up for the vulnerable, to protect our neighbors. 

We have to root ourselves deep in the Lord so that all we do reflects him. Who is God? God is love. We have to reflect that love. 

As St. Therese said, “My vocation! At last I have found it! My vocation is love!” She wrote, “In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be love.” 

We are not alone in love. God is with us, never to leave us; any of us.

“Run to the water
And find me there
Burnt to the core, but not broken
We’ll cut through the madness
Of these streets below the moon
With a nuclear fire of love in our hearts

Yeah, I can see it now Lord
Out beyond all the breakin’ of waves
And the tribulation
It’s a place and the home of ascended souls
Who swam out there in love”

 Run to the Water by LIVE

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The subject tonight is love

My brother, Mark Manning

The subject tonight is Love
And for tomorrow night as well,
As a matter of fact,
I know of no better topic
For us to discuss
Until we all Die!

Hafiz

It’s been my brother Mark’s birthday today. He would have been 56. (1970-2015)
I was thinking about love and letting go. I actually don’t like the phrase “letting go.” To me it sounds like sending someone away, like forgetting them. I hate that.


However somebody pointed out to me this morning that loosening my grip this Christmas on our family traditions, my ability to be more open to doing something new and allowing our Christmas to unfold in the new family we are, was a letting go. The fact that I was OK today on my brother’s birthday though a little sad at times, and that I was OK not doing anything in particular in his honor necessarily, was letting go.

That sounds a little scary for me but it’s alright. I am always afraid if I don’t try hard to remember and keep everything I know about them, I will forget the people I have lost. I really fear that. I don’t want them to be far away from me- like childhood friends whose names I can’t really remember anymore. I don’t want to let them go.

Then I thought about how love is a living thing. Love changes and grows as the people in the relationship do. Love is not static. It isn’t only in the past. Love isn’t diminished by change In fact love deepens as people adjust and sacrifice in the midst of and because of it they grow together and for one another.

The love between my brother and me is a living thing. Death has changed our situation drastically. Love has had to adjust and change and grow with that. But death can’t take away love. And maybe that is what it means to let go; when I don’t need to force anything to feel connected, or struggle to wrest back any little scrap death has left behind when it raided my family and took so many people away. Maybe letting go is to be able to trust that love just is and I can let it be itself.

My dad used to say that my brother probably loved me more than anyone on the planet loved anyone. What if I can trust that he still does? He always loved me just as I was. I loved him like that too.

I love my brother as he is right now, even not quite knowing what that is like to be him right now. When I get there with him I expect to love him even more. Death can’t do anything about that.

.So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 13

*My brother Mark Manning at 7 years old.

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Octave peace

I did try to keep up with St. Martha this Advent. After I spilled things, forgot to turn the oven on and knocked over the broom at exactly the wrong moment she gave me a talk about keeping things simple and achievable. “Maybe you should go for a walk.” Everything turned out fine. It was simple and good and it was family. We even have a new baby this year to celebrate Christmas with. Mass was beautiful. Jesus has come to us. In the special grace of Christmas the morning star has risen in our hearts whatever we have been doing or feeling. Now as these continuing days of the Christmas season stretch before us so does the special grace of this season which lasts until Baptism of the Lord. Now that the dishes are done and St. Martha takes a well deserved nap, we can settle down with Jesus next to Martha’s sister Mary at the feet of Jesus who has been waiting. 
Especially during the Octave (the first eight days after Christmas Day) let’s challenge ourselves to spend time alone with Jesus daily. Even just five minutes with him a day when our loving attention is all for him would do us a good and make him happy. It’s what he wants for his birthday. 

So take a few minutes. Set a timer for five.  Sit comfortably with your back relatively straight (so you don’t fall asleep) and quiet your heart. Maybe Baby Jesus is lying on your chest, warm and peaceful. Kiss his little fuzzy head now and then. If you start thinking of other things or worrying or your your mind whizzes off to other planets, say his Name. Just look at him and love him for these few minutes. Look at his little fingers and toes. Contemplate his sweet face as Our Lady did so often. You don’t have to think about anything. Just be there. Just love.  

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Merry Christmas

Mass was beautiful this morning and I got to read the second reading for “Christmas mass during the day.” I loved this reading.

A Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews

In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; 

in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe,

who is the refulgence of his glory,

the very imprint of his being,

and who sustains all things by his mighty word.

When he had accomplished purification from sins,

he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

as far superior to the angels

as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say:

“You are my Son,

This day I have begotten you.”

Or again:

“I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me”?

And again, when he leads* the first-born into the world, he says:

“Let all the angels of God worship him.”


I love mass at Christmas. Everyone smiles extra, whispering “merry Christmas” to one another. All the incense and poetic antiphons and prayers, the extra beautiful church and Christmas music that catches at the heart, brings us into the moment. The realization that we are all in the manger now – in the physical as well as spiritual presence of Jesus as much as the shepherds and Mary and Joseph that day strikes me. Jesus is fully present in the Eucharist and we can adore and as Mary did, receive.

Outside was an unhoused gray haired man alseep on a bench across the street. And there was Jesus again. Right here. Right now. I had seen him as I looked for s parking spot. I didn’t have any money on me. I didn’t want to disturb his sleep to ask him what else he might need. All I could do was offer my reception of the Eucharist for him and pray for him at mass.

By the grace of Christmas I ask that I will get another chance to help him in some way, and that when he wakes up someone will surprise him by filling a need of his, or giving him a gift he likes or a hug- or invites him over for Christmas dinner. Emanuel ; God is with us in a special way on this Christmas Day.

This evening I am thinking of going over to visit the Holy Family, maybe bring them some of these cookies.

Maybe Mary is still learning to breastfeed Jesus, straw in her hair, blanket over her shoulder. Maybe Joseph is out looking for something for her to eat, or hurrying back. He can’t wait to see them. He is so excited and in awe. He thinks how he will always protect them and how amazing it is that he gets to be with them for the rest of his life and care for them. He can still hardly believe it.

Come and catch him at the door, give him a big hug. Let him lead you to his, to our, greatest Treasure, held in Mary’s arms.

Stay and eat with them.

What do they tell you?

What do you tell them?

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An Advent Habit; a gift to the One who loves you

When she was 15, my eldest daughter, Maire, getting ready for Confirmation, volunteered for the Children’s Liturgy at our parish. Small children would file out of mass with cute music just before the readings. They would be led into a little side room where volunteers read the Gospel to them in a way they could understand. My daughter, Maire loved little kids. She was perfect for this ministry. She loved little kids she met or played with so much she would write their names on her notebooks with hearts and other designs equally sweet.

She came in to teach the kids when it was her turn. It was nearing the end of Advent. The adults looked nervous when this little goth girl came in to work with the kids. The first thing she did is ask them what they wanted for Christmas and let them talk about that. Then she asked them, “What does Jesus want for Christmas? It’s his birthday! What do you think he would like best?” Visible relief on adult faces around the room.

But this is a really good question. What does he want? I think one thing leads to another and covers everything and that’s “making time to be alone with the One who [you] know loves [you.”] (St. Teresa of Avila). I think this because making that time, being with him, leads us to all of the other things he likes, such as transformation in him, generosity, love that leads to service. He wants YOU for Christmas.

As Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote:

The fruit of Silence is Prayer.
The fruit of Prayer is Faith.
The fruit of Faith is Love.
The fruit of Love is Service.
The fruit of Service is Peace.

When we make time to be alone and quiet with the One Who we know loves us, our faith is deepened as we come to know Jesus more intimately. Love expands in us as we cultivate a deeper relationship with him, and this love pours out naturally in service.

So what does Jesus want for Christmas? You, of course. Your time, your love, your attentiveness, your quiet heart (yes you can have a quiet heart), your receptivity to him.

Do we have to pray at Church to carve out this time for Jesus? In the presence of the Blessed Sacrament is always a great place to pray. However, no. Anywhere you can be alone for a while is good.

As someone who was a single parent for many years, I know how hard it can be to find any alone time. You can, though. You just have to be creative and flexible that’s all. He can work withy whatever time you have. You can pray in the car if you arrive early somewhere. I love it when I am ten minutes early. Since I have social anxiety it helps a lot to get someplace early and take that time to sit with Jesus for a while before dealing with people.

I confess I also hid in the tree house sometimes once the kids were older. Just for a while. I could still hear them.

I did all this getting up early so I had time to pray, or staying up late to do so, or praying in silence on my break at work because once you get in the habit of silent prayer, it’s something you want very much to do. I cherished that time with Jesus, even if out of necessity it had to be short.

After a while I came to love prayer because I knew he wanted me there. He really was the One who I knew loved me and it made him happy for me to stop what I was doing and set aside time for him.

St. Teresa of Avila said that if we can get into the habit of the Prayer of recollection we will “attain what we desire in six months.” What do we desire from prayer? What do we long for most from God?

I love this quote from the poet Hafiz

Ask the Friend for love.

Ask him again.

For I have learned that every heart will get

What it prays for

Most.

 

I think we are made for love and we know God is love. Any trouble we could take to give the Lord our time is infinitely worth it. As St. Teresa says, “life is like a night at a bad inn.” But Jesus is forever.

So go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret. The Son and the Holy Spirit will come and live with you.

*I am including a guide to the Prayer of Recollection I wrote some years ago. My new little book about the Prayer of Recollection is out right now, Meeting the One Who loves you; the way of prayer of St. Teresa of Avila, and available from Our Sunday Visitor Bookstore as well as Amazon and Barnes and Noble or whatever you buy books.

One of the best tools I have ever found to form new habits is the book Atomic Habits by James Clear

I am quite neuron-divergent in several ways and forming a new habit is sooooooo difficult for me. My favorite idea from that book was to commit to two minutes daily to this new thing you want to start doing. You won’t be overwhelmed by two minutes at all for anything. It won’t see like such a big deal to you to sit down with Jesus for only two minutes at the same time each day. Stay with the two minutes until you are into the swing of it and then you’re off! Start adding to it little by little.

How long should you pray? My personal goal has always been thirty minutes at a time daily. After years of the practice of interior prayer, it’s not a big deal to pray that long. In fact I add in little snippets of it where I can through the day. I think of them like flowers tucked into a rock wall here and there with a little moss. You have the nice strong wall at the cornerstone of your 30 minutes of interior prayer, and then these pretty little flowers modestly adorning it; your few minutes here and there in the car in a parking lot, between jobs, a few minutes before bed, or after evening prayer or after mass.

The rewards of this little habit are like water to the soul. All your other practices of faith are immeasurably deepened. Your faith will mean more to you than ever and not in a weird way that makes you annoying to other people, but in a way that flows out with honest love to everything and everyone in your life. Most of all it makes the Lord so happy and you will grow so much closer to him.

As St. John of the Cross wrote, “In the evening of your life you will be judged on love; so love, the way God wants, and leave off your own way of acting.” This makes me chuckle a little. We all have our own little ideas about what is the most holy thing to do and sometimes it’s not what we thought. He seems to like the simple things. “Sit down with me, and let yourself be loved.” Or as our St. Teresa said, “I am only asking you to look at him.”

Come, and you will see. Advent is the perfect time for this; to cherish Jesus within you as Mary did, to ponder the Lord in our hearts, to reflect him as she did, love him as she did. Right here. It’s the perfect gift.

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Visiting the major relics of St. Therese the Little Flower (and a bonus story)

I’m still processing the experience I think. But it was a lovely day. We had lunch with a friend, walked along the river, hung out in a coffee shop a bit and went over to the basilica. We joined the silent line of people going around the left side of the Church to pray in front of St. Terese’s relics. People knelt and touched the glass around her reliquary. They touched their rosaries, their crucifixes from home, or laid a hand on the glass. I didn’t know how I would feel. But when I knelt there beside her what I felt was all my love for her. I felt clear and present. I prayed for everyone who asked and everyone I offered to pray for and everyone and everything I could think of. I cried a little bit which surprised me. I almost never cry. My daughter prayed there and touched a rose petal to the reliquary. She has been having a hard time. The day before we left though, a friend who doesn’t know who St. Therese is left her a bouquet of roses on our front porch. I told my girl they had to be from St. Therese. ♥️

We stayed for mass. It was in Spanish but we could understand a little and the mass is the mass. It’s easy to know what’s going on in any language. I thought how beautiful the mass sounds in Spanish.

We went outside to see my friend Fr. Gregory. He was in a great mood. It was so good to see him. I gave him a copy of my new book. They have my other one at their book store and they will get this one too. I also might go do another talk down there in January or maybe during Advent.

They had a booth where people were telling stories about the impact of St. Therese in their lives. So I told our family story about her. * (I will put that at the end as notes. )

Then we found out they had relics of St. Therese’s parents Zellie and Louis Martin so we went down to see them and pray with them a while. They had a special table for prayer requests about child loss and about marriage. They had large prints of some of their letters and pictures of them with their family.

We prayed there with the relics a while then filed upstairs with others to visit Therese again. I remember the lady I saw on our second visit who was holding up her dog to St. Therese, even pressing him against the glass and bowing her head, praying fervently. She was praying for him it looked like. That’s good because I prayed for my dog Joey too and a sick dog (Lucy) of a friend along with everything else. I prayed that all the people there would be touched by St. Therese, that she would hear them all and comfort them, that she would help them. ♥️

My daughter and granddaughter fell asleep on the drive home. I smiled a lot in the dark, continuing to pray, feeling grateful and happy.

*Our best St. Therese story:

My first husband, and the father of my children lost his life in a car accident when my eldest, Maire, was almost five. My youngest, Roise, was a newborn. Maire wanted her first Communion early. I explained that she would do that with her class in second grade. She was upset. She used to cry at mass and after mass. She would say, “But I NEED the Body and Blood of Jesus!” We talked to our priest, Father Dean, about this. He agreed that if I would teach her what she needed at home that summer, he would allow it. We set the date for July 16, the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. She had wanted Immaculate Heart of Mary but we had to be in a wedding that day.

We started our lessons and as the day drew nearer she started worrying that maybe she shouldn’t do it, but go with her class. Maybe God didn’t want her to do this early. After all it was a very big deal. So we started a novena to St. Therese. Every night we prayed at bed time and Maire asked her to send a yellow rose if she should take this step now, and an orange one if the answer was to wait.

Then we went on a trip to visit her dad’s family in Wisconsin. It was a good visit. When we got home she got in the shower while I unpacked. There was a bouquet of yellow roses in our suitcase. I couldn’t believe it. I called them and asked if any of them had done that. Nobody had. So I took the roses and poked them through to the other side of the shower curtain. The sight was received with much rejoicing.

Little Maire received First Holy Communion that July. She had not even known you get a dress and a party. My mom hand made her dress from scraps of my wedding dress. It was a great day. We still talk about the roses St. Therese sent to reassure Maire that even at her young age she was welcome at God’s table.

*St. Therese has been on U. S. tour. She was in San Antonio from October 31-November , 2025

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God Remains God; prayer, courage and hope in the midst of current events

Opening Invocation

How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave

Lamentations 3:5

God of compassion, we bring into your presence all that weighs on our hearts this week, especially the human suffering and the most frightening things we see and hear of in the news daily. We gather these headlines not to dwell in despair or fear, but to bring them into the refuge of your healing presence. 

Deep Focus

To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,

to deny people their rights before the Most High,

to deprive them of justice — would not the Lord see such things?

Lamentations 3:34-36

Beloved Father, you have seen so much worse than what is happening now. You have grieved with and over so many of your children over the millennia, as galaxies slowly spin on their axis, as stars are born and then burn low, you have been all seeing and all pervading. You watch the tiniest births on earth of little mice, the hatching of minuscule spiders from their mother’s wrappings, of every caterpillar spinning its cocoon. As its tiny body is falling asleep in darkness, you are there. You know our human minds and hearts too are so small, and that they are broken for our country and the loss we are going through now of the way it was. Remind us, Lord, show us that we are brave as well as broken hearted, that even our grieving the brilliant experiment of America, that we still believe. We are so little, Lord God, so small. But you make our prayers and our smallest actions BIG. We trust that you will guide us and give us courage and strength through the fight ahead, through the times we need our chrysalis to gather strength from you. This week when we hear about the next awful thing our government has done, we will stop and remind ourselves that those people, too, fall, as they eventually must. You remain You, God of all times and places, of all people and all things, and to you we belong forever in life and in death. Nothing can touch that. Until then may we hope, believe and be courageous in all that we do.

*Take a moment to close your eyes and sit in the midst of the stars with God. What does he show you? Does he say anything to you? What do you want to say to him?

Other Intercessions/headlines of this week

Consider the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of violence

Psalm 74:20

*Another public shooting, more hideous ICE violence, more violent and hateful rhetoric, Lord, more troops sent to American cities and authorized to shoot. It’s hard not to freak out. Help us cultivate courage every day so that if there comes a time we must meet with violent injustice we will be able to access the inner peace we need to act with bravery and love. Prepare our hearts for nonviolent action. Help us find ways we can help our country, the defenseless, the persecuted, ourselves. May we return again and again to you who are all things good, the source of all life and dignity.

*We thank you for all the times this week that freedom and the truth have prevailed over hate and oppression. It’s been beautiful and Lord we needed that. Remind us of the good news we saw in the world and fill us with hope. There are still wonderful people doing great and caring things. There are still comedians who make us laugh. There is still just enough freedom of the press for us to know what is happening if we want to. We still have friends and love and music. May we lift our hearts daily to you to let the sun shine in and fill our thoughts with all that is good.

*We pray for the hungry and those living with war, especially South Sudan on the verge of famine, Gaza far past the breaking point, and Ukraine fighting for its life against the invading army of Russia.

*We pray for immigrants living in fear of ICE, for God’s cherished black children in America, for LGBTQ people, and our president’s political and personal enemies, all who are persecuted by this administration in various ways. Protect them, Lord, defend them, and show us who are not undergoing persecution how we may be called to join you in the fight.

*Let us remember that hate will never win, that our country is not lost because our country has us. And you have us too, Lord. Show us your will, grant us the power to carry it out, and we will have all we need.

Closing Blessing

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

Lamentations 3:22

God, in the moments when the news overwhelms, steady our spirits with the reminder that you hold the world- sun and star, nation and neighbor, beetle and bug, atom and quark, as well as our frightened hearts in your hands and that you remain you even if worlds fall. May your peace shape our hearts, your justice and love shape our actions this week. Lead us in your ways. We ask all these things in your Name, in your honor, and for love of you and our brothers and sisters. Amen

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Freedom: Praying the News 9/21/25

O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear
To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed,
So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.

Psalm 107:17-18

Opening Invocation

God of compassion, we bring into your presence all that weighs on our hearts this week, especially the human suffering and the most frightening things we see and hear of in the news daily. We gather these headlines not to dwell in despair or fear, but to bring them into the refuge of your healing presence. 

Deep Focus

Many seek the ruler’s favor,
But justice for man comes from the LORD.

Proverbs 29:26

Lord, we have had a scare about the possible end of free speech in our country this week. Our media is capitulating to tyranny and even loyalists to the administration are starting to worry. Peaceful protestors are thrown to the ground, comedians who make fun of the president are silenced, newspapers tone down what’s happening and oppression is becoming normalized. We’re kind of freaked out. Real justice comes from you, Lord, as well as the strength to oppose what is wrong. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you, O God. We pray that freedom of speech be protected as part of respecting the dignity of the human person and human rights. Let us never be afraid to speak up when not to do so would disappoint you who love us so much.

*Spend a few quiet moments with Jesus, drawing strength from his presence. Maybe it feels like warmth. Maybe it is like light. Maybe it is like being grounded. Maybe it is living water you drink. However you perceive it, let the Lord share his strength with you.

Other Intercessions/headlines of this week

Thus says the LORD, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the immigrant, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Jeremiah 22:3

Again, Lord, our military blew up a boat full of people on the high seas without provocation, without proof of wrongdoing, without due process or warning. This is hard to understand. We pray for the souls of each of those people, and a clear resolution of what is happening. May there be no more killing by our government, God of righteousness, especially without true cause.

Immigrants continue to be rounded up and some are dying in detention when they are denied medical care or medication their lives depend on. These raids are becoming more and more violent. How do we help, Lord? What do we do? Send us your Spirit and give us the peace of inner conviction. Grant us the knowledge of when and how to act on their behalf. Show us openings in our days to do or say something, a mind that is open, a heart that is good. Bless our efforts and open doors before us. Let us run lightly and with great confidence in your paths. Bend our hearts according to your will so that we may be truly free and help you free others.

Protect, Lord, our politicians and leaders, no matter who they are or what they believe in, from political violence. Stabilize our nation. Help us dialog without compromising our values. Help us be open to all that is right whoever it comes from. Grant us peace in our country so we can understand the problems we face.

We are living with a president who loves vengeance and is obviously on a vendetta. Are we taking his attitude toward opposition? Are we becoming mean or hateful? Do we hope for retribution? Lord do not allow us to become bitter but help us to become better. Help us to stand against evil without taking on its characteristics of violence, lies, distortion and hate. We pray for our president also that he will be healed of all the things that make him so hateful and unhappy. Grant him the peace and joy of love and forgiveness instead, and we ask this for ourselves as well.

We continue to pray for the Palestinian people who are being bombed and starved. We pray for those trapped in Gaza City, or who could find no safety anywhere. Lord, speak to your people. May the violent relent. May there be lasting and just peace in Palestine and Israel, in Ukraine and Russia, everywhere there is the hell on earth of war.

We pray for free and fair election, for peaceful transfers of power.

We pray for the protection of protestors and those who resist, that they will be protected from violence and interference, that their voices will be heard.

We pray for free speech, for the freedom of information and knowledge in our schools and universities, for the freedom to learn the history of marginalized people, for the freedom for scientific inquiry.

We pray for the health of the public, for proper information about health so people can make good decisions for themselves and those in their care.

We pray for our Republic which is under great stress right now. May we see freedom reign. May our country stand for everything it thinks it stands for. Amen amen, let us be a free people in all the ways that are good.

Closing blessing

God, in the moments when the news overwhelms, steady our spirits with the reminder that you hold the world- sun and star, nation and neighbor, beetle and bug, atom and quark, as well as our frightened hearts in your hands and that you remain you even if worlds fall. May your peace shape our hearts, your justice and love shape our actions this week. Lead us in your ways. We ask all these things in your Name, in your honor, and for love of you and our brothers and sisters. Amen

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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Non-violence: Praying the news of the week September 14, 2025

Opening Invocation

For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.

1 Thessalonians 5:5

God of compassion, we bring into your presence all that weighs on our hearts this week, especially the human suffering and the most frightening things we see and hear of in the news daily. We gather these headlines not to dwell in despair or fear, but to bring them into the refuge of your healing presence. 

Deep Focus

 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. … Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God… Rather if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 12:17-21

Jesus you did not use violence. You never hurt anyone. You never struck anyone. You never killed anyone. You did not tolerate injustice, greed, hypocrisy, or untruth. You confronted systemic injustice head on. This is what we are called to do.

This week was a maelstrom of violence; both violent acts and violent speech. It has been hard on nearly everyone, but especially on those who lost loved ones; eleven Venezuelan people at sea struck by an American missile, an influential political figure so divisive the division continues after his death, two children in a Colorado school shot and injured. 

Everyone is wounded. We don’t know what to do anymore. It’s as if a Pandora’s box was opened and a slew of evil spirits of hatred and violence were released, swirling around and between us, causing more and more alienation, anger and confusion. But they have no power over us, because we belong to you. We are not at war with human beings but the powers and principalities of darkness, the spirit of murder, of hate and lies. Sometimes they seem so unstoppable. But it’s not true. There is no truth in them. In your tender compassion, Lord, may the dawn from on high break upon us, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:78-79)

You are the Friend who we know loves us, all of us.

Let us gather our strength for love and nonviolence from you.

*Spend a quiet moment with Jesus. He is working in his mother’s garden. Join him. What is he doing? See that smile? He is glad you are here. He has something small in hand. He presses it to you heart. What is it? Seeds? A tiny star? A healing warmth? What do you feel?

Other Intercessions/headlines of this week

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:18

Lord, you hear the cry of the poor. We often do not. Now they are not only being ignored or disdained, some are being rounded up like criminals or trash. An influential media figure suggested the homeless should be euthanized. He is sorry for what he said. However, it was a a shocking moment, a symptom of something so wrong with us. We pray that you purify our hearts of any part of us that looks down on the poor and unhoused. Help us to truly see them. You said they were you. Every time we see them, we have an opportunity to prove our love to you. Let us be humble in our contact with the people the world pushes aside, remembering we have so much to learn. In public discourse, which they are almost always excluded from, inspire us to speak up for them as you would have us do.

Israel attacked Qatar, continues to starve and bomb Palestinian civilians, and Russia continues to attack Ukraine. What can we do about these horrible things so far away? Bring us with you, Lord, to the foot of the Cross. Allow us to carry your Precious Blood to all who suffer violence and war to bring them healing. We kneel before you, Jesus Crucified, and prostrate ourselves in spirit. We ask you on behalf of for parents who have lost children, for children who have lost their families, for the wounded in hospitals, for the doctors without the medicine and equipment they need to ease pain and save lives, for every frightened child waiting for the next explosion, for peace, for a just and lasting, a true peace. May the bombs stop falling. May there be justice and righteousness. May your mercy pour over all. Never let us accept or normalize genocide or the weaponization of hunger.

We pray for immigrants who are still be rounded up violently and detained without due process in terrible conditions. Lord we pray for their dignity and fair treatment. We pray over our country’s need for a scapegoated group of people, that it will be healed of this so that we can love our brothers and sisters as ourselves; the love you have commanded. Guide us to any actions we must take.

Help us to love those who preach hate, those who accept it, or deny what is happening. Help us to bless and not curse our enemies, to pray for them humbly as you want us to, even as we speak out against what we must. Help us to become better rather than bitter.

We pray for an end to racism; the loud kind, or the unconscious and hidden kind; both in others and in ourselves. Help us who are not people of color to listen to those who are about these issues.

We pray for democracy, for the ideals of our constitution of liberty and justice for all.

We pray for Pope Leo XIV on this, his birthday. Bless him with long life and holiness in his strong and gentle rule over the Catholic Church, in his love for all people.

We pray that all people will grow in mercy and compassion.

“Protect us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day.”

Closing Blessing

Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.    

“With gentle words, tender and kind

Isaiah 40:1a

God, in the moments when the news overwhelms, steady our spirits with the reminder that you hold the world- sun and star, nation and neighbor, beetle and bug, atom and quark, as well as our frightened hearts in your hands and that you remain you even if worlds fall. May your peace shape our hearts, your justice and love shape our actions this week. Lead us in your ways. We ask all these things in your Name, in your honor, and for love of you and our brothers and sisters. Amen

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou,

O Prince of the heavenly hosts,

by the power of God,

thrust into hell Satan,

and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world

seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen

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