Prayer to the Immaculate

Virgin most holy and immaculate, to you, the honour of our people, and the loving protector of our city, do we turn with loving trust.

You are all-beautiful, O Mary! In you there is no sin.

Awaken in all of us a renewed desire for holiness: May the splendour of truth shine forth in our words, the song of charity resound in our works,purity and chastity abide in our hearts and bodies, and the full beauty of the Gospel be evident in our lives.

You are all-beautiful, O Mary! In you the Word of God became flesh.

Help us always to heed the Lord’s voice: May we never be indifferent to the cry of the poor, or untouched by the sufferings of the sick and those in need; may we be sensitive to the loneliness of the elderly and the vulnerability of children,and always love and cherish the life of every human being.

You are all-beautiful, O Mary! In you is the fullness of joy born of life with God.

Help us never to forget the meaning of our earthly journey: May the kindly light of faith illumine our days, the comforting power of hope direct our steps, the contagious warmth of love stir our hearts; and may our gaze be fixed on God, in whom true joy is found.

You are all-beautiful, O Mary!

Hear our prayer, graciously hear our plea: May the beauty of God’s merciful love in Jesus abide in our hearts, and may this divine beauty save us, our city and the entire world. Amen.

Tweets by His Holiness Pope Francis via Twitter

• The #Covid19 pandemic has shown that our societies are not organized well enough to make room for the elderly, with proper respect for their dignity and frailty. When the elderly are not cared for, there is no future for the young.

• While we are combating #coronavirus, we must continue the effort to prevent and cure #malaria which threatens millions of persons in many countries. I am near to all who are sick, to those who care for them.

• In many nations #Covid19 continues to claim many victims. I wish to express my closeness to those populations, to the sick and their families, and to all those who care for them.

• In light of the tragic events that have marked 2020, I dedicate my Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees – on internally displaced persons – to all those experiencing situations of precariousness and marginalization as a result of Covid-19.

• We are one human family. Let us bring all hostilities to a halt. May our joint fight against the #COVID-19 pandemic bring everyone to recognize the great need to reinforce brotherly and sisterly bonds.

• We remember the difficult task entrusted to healthcare providers, nurses and doctors, in caring for persons with disabilities who have come down with Covid-19. Let us #PrayTogether for persons with disabilities and those who assist them.

• I would like to remind you that on 14 May, believers of every religion are invited to unite themselves spiritually in a day of prayer, fasting and works of charity, to implore God to help humanity overcome the coronavirus.

• May God have mercy on us and put an end to this tragedy, this pandemic, as well as the pandemics of hunger, war, and children without an education. This we ask as brothers and sisters, everyone together.

• God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. Praise be to you!

• At this time, as indications emerge for a way out of quarantine, we pray that the Lord will grant us the grace of prudence and obedience to these indications, so that the pandemic does not return.

• Today is International Nurses Day. Nursing is more than a profession – it's a vocation, a dedication. During this pandemic, they have given an example of heroism. Some have even given their lives. Let us #PrayTogether for nurses.

• Let us invoke the Holy Spirit. May He might give light and strength to the Church and society in the #Amazon region, sorely tried by the pandemic. I pray for the poorest of that precious Region and the world. And I plead that they may not lack health care.

• The Lord waits for us to offer him our failings so that he can help us experience his mercy.

• We want to respond to the virus pandemic with the universality of prayer, compassion and tenderness. Let us stay united. I invite all Christians to direct their voices together toward Heaven, reciting the Our Father on Wednesday, 25 March, at noon.

• Today we ask for the grace to allow ourselves to be amazed by God's surprises, to not hinder His creativity, but to encourage hearts to encounter the Lord.

• How do we root out hypocrisy? There's a good medicine that can help us not be hypocrites: point the finger at ourselves and say to the Lord "Look at the way I am, Lord!", and say it with humility.

• The Lord gives each of us a vocation, a challenge to discover the talents and abilities we possess and to put them at the service of others.

• The #GospelOfToday shows us that the ultimate goal is the encounter with Jesus. He alone frees us from evil and heals our hearts. Only an encounter with him can save, can make life full and beautiful.

• Today we give thanks to the Lord for our new #Saints. They walked by faith and now we invoke their intercession.

• Let us pray for our communities, that by giving witness to the joy of Christian life, they may see a flowering of the call to holiness.

• The Lord always reminds us how precious we are in His eyes, and He entrusts us with a mission.

• May the Holy Spirit, the builder of fraternity, give us the grace to walk beside one another. May He make us courageous as we experience unprecedented ways of sharing and of mission.

• Jonah is stubborn in his faith convictions, and the Lord is stubborn in His mercy. Because the Lord always wants to heal and to save, not to condemn.

• I ask you to accompany this important ecclesial event with prayers, so that it may be experienced in fraternal communion and docility to the Holy Spirit, who always shows the ways for bearing witness to the Gospel.

• In the #GospelOfToday, Jesus shows us that the measure of faith is service. "We are useless servants" is an expression of humility and availability that does so much good for the Church.

• The willingness of a Cardinal to shed his own blood, symbolized by the red colour of his clothing, is guaranteed when it is rooted in compassion, received from God, and given to his brothers and sisters.

• As we close the #SeasonOfCreation today, we entrust the #AmazonSynod to St. Francis of Assisi.

• The Word of God fills us with joy and this joy is our strength. We are joyful Christians because we have welcomed the Word of God in our hearts. This is the message for today, for all of us.

• May the memorial of our #HolyGuardianAngels strengthen in us the certainty that we are not alone. May it sustain us in proclaiming and living Christ's Gospel for a world renewed in God's love.

• May the Sunday of the Word of God help his people to grow in religious and intimate familiarity with the sacred Scriptures.

• The sweetness of God’s word leads us to share it with all those whom we encounter in this life and to proclaim the sure hope that it contains.

• The elderly and the young, together. This is the sign that a people cherishes life, that there is a culture of hope: the care of the young and the elderly.

• It's not just about migrants, it's about all of us, about the human family, called to build together a world more in accord with God's plan.

• We need others in order to live and to share the love and trust that the Lord gives us.

• The true face of love is mercy. Practicing it, we become a disciple of Jesus and the heart of the Father shows itself.

• Let us ask the Lord that, by contemplating the martyrs of yesterday and today, we may learn to live the Gospel faithfully every day.

• Let us learn to call people by their name, as the Lord does with us, and to give up using adjectives.

• We are called to be witnesses and messengers of God's mercy, to offer the world light where there is darkness, hope where despair reigns, salvation where sin abounds.

• The Apostle Paul exhorts ministers to closeness: closeness to God, prayer, closeness of the bishop to his priests; closeness of priests to each other; closeness to the people of God.

• Every human project can first be approved and then end up shipwrecked. But everything that comes from above and bears the “signature” of God is destined to last.

• "The Lord was moved with compassion" (Luke 7:13). Our God is a God of compassion. Compassion is the weakness of God, but also His strength.

• St Paul asks us to pray "for all in authority" (1 Tim 2:2). We must learn to do this, even for politicians with whom we disagree. Christians must pray for all people in government, that they may work for the common good.

• God waits for us: He doesn't get tired, He doesn't lose heart. Because it is each one of us who is that child embraced again, that coin found again, that sheep caressed and put back on His shoulders (Luke 15:1-32).

• Today the Church asks us to contemplate the glorious Cross of Our Lord. Though He was God, Christ humbled Himself by becoming a servant. This is the glory of the Cross of Jesus!

• If they want to grow in His friendship, Jesus’ disciples, must not complain and look inward. They must act and commit themselves, certain that the Lord will support and accompany them.

• Christ is the hope of the world: His Gospel is the most powerful leaven of brotherhood, freedom, justice and peace for all peoples.

• What must one do to be a good Christian? The answer is simple: we have to do, each in our own way, what Jesus says in the Beatitudes.

• Let us turn in prayer to the Holy Virgin on this day when we remember her birth, the dawn of salvation for humanity.

• Our life and our talents are the result of a gift woven between God and the many silent hands of persons whose names we will only know in Heaven.

• The Lord is the first to trust in you, and He also invites you to trust in yourselves; He invites you to encourage one another, and join Him in writing the most beautiful page of your lives.

• A sower of peace and hope knows how to wait, he trusts; he realizes the limitations of his sowing, but he never stops loving the field entrusted to his care.

• Jesus proposes a first golden rule for everyone: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Lk 6:31); and he helps us to discover what is most important: to love us and help us.

• Try to keep quiet a moment and let God love you. Try to silence all the inner voices, and rest for a second in His loving embrace.

• The pursuit of lasting peace is a mission that involves everyone. It calls for strenuous, constant and unceasing effort, because peace is like a delicate flower trying to blossom on the stony ground of violence.

• The Holy Spirit, when we invite Him into our wounds, anoints our painful memories with the balm of hope, because the Spirit restores hope.

• May God, the lover of life, grant us the courage to do good without waiting for someone else to begin, or until it is too late.

• Creation, a place of encounter with the Lord and one another, is “God’s own social network”, which inspires us to raise a song of cosmic praise to the Creator.

• We are beloved creatures of God, who in His goodness calls us to love life and to live it in communion with the rest of creation.

• This is the season to reflect on our lifestyles and to undertake prophetic actions.

• This is the season for letting our prayer be inspired anew by closeness to nature, which spontaneously leads us to give thanks to God the Creator.

• Now is the time to rediscover our vocation as children of God, brothers and sisters, and stewards of creation. In this #SeasonOfCreation, I invite everyone to dedicate themselves to prayer.

• In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to selfless generosity, to open the path towards a much greater joy: that of participating in God’s own love.

• In our daily relationship with Jesus, and in the strength of His forgiveness, we rediscover our roots.

• We ask for the grace not to be lukewarm Christians, living on half measures, letting love grow cold.

• The light of God enlightens those who welcome it.

• Whoever draws near to God will not stumble, but strives ahead: beginning anew, trying again, rebuilding.

• May God who remembers us, God who heals our wounded memories by anointing them with hope, God who is near to lift us up from within, help us to build up the good and to console hearts.

• All of us have been created in the image and likeness of God and have the same dignity. Let us stop slavery!

• May the Lord open our hearts to the needs of the poor, the defenseless, those who knock on our door to be recognized as a person.

• It takes more strength to repair than to build, to start anew than to begin, to be reconciled than to get along. This is the strength that God gives us.

• In the uncertainty that we feel both inside and out, the Lord gives us a certainty: He remembers us.

• Today we remember all the brave women who go out to meet their brothers and sisters in difficulty. Each of them is a sign of God's closeness and compassion.

• In today's Gospel, Jesus reveals to us His most ardent desire: to bring to the earth the fire of the Father's love: the fire that saves, that changes the world, starting from the change of each one's heart.

• With God, the burdens of life rest not upon our shoulders alone: the Holy Spirit comes to give us strength, to encourage us, to bear our burdens.

• Let us ask Our Lady to protect and sustain us; that we may have a strong, joyful and merciful faith; that she may help us to be saints, to meet her one day in Paradise.

• Only when we experience God's forgiveness are we truly reborn. We start again from there, from forgiveness. It is there that we rediscover ourselves: in confessing our sins.

• Today's Gospel invites us to abandon ourselves with simplicity and trust to God's will, and to keep "the lamps alight", so we can brighten the darkness of the night.

• Basically, the Christian witness announces this alone: that Jesus is alive and that He is the secret of life.

• In the midst of all those passing things in which we are so caught up, help us, Father, to seek what truly lasts: your presence and that of our brother or sister.

• The way of Jesus, which leads to peace, passes through forgiveness, for one evil never corrects another evil and no resentment is ever good for the heart.

• The Lord invites all of us to conquer resentment with love and forgiveness, and to live the Christian faith with consistency and courage.

• Holy Spirit, give us the joy of the resurrection, the perennial youth of the heart!

• The Lord does not perform wonders with those who believe themselves to be just, but with those who know they are in need and are willing to open their hearts to Him.

• Let us pray that the Lord will free the victims of human trafficking and help us to respond actively to the cry for help of so many of our brothers and sisters who are deprived of their dignity and freedom.

• The Lord gives each of us a vocation, a challenge to discover the talents and abilities we possess and to put them at the service of others.

• Jesus looks for witnesses who say to Him every day: "Lord, you are my life".

• Faith is a gift that keeps alive a profound and beautiful certainty: that we are God’s beloved children.

• In today's Gospel Jesus tells us of the real joy of his disciples: "Rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Lk 10, 20), that is, in the heart of God the Father.

• We need people and institutions that defend the dignity of workers, the dignity of work and the good of the earth, our common home.

• In difficult times, even more than in times of peace, the priority for believers is to be united to Jesus, our hope.

• Through your attention to the little ones and to the poor, you can kindle stars in the night for those who suffer.

• The Bible is not just a beautiful book to keep on a shelf. It is the Word of life be sown, a gift that the Risen Jesus asks us to accept in order to have life in His name.

• We all go through difficult days at times, but we must always remember that life is a grace. It is the miracle that God drew forth from nothing.

• Pray for all Priests and for my Petrine Ministry, that every pastoral action may be sealed with the love that Christ has for every person.

• Jesus looks at us, loves us and awaits us. He is all heart and all mercy. Let us go with confidence to Jesus. He always forgives us.

• Blessed are those who believe and who have the courage to foster encounter and communion.

• Saying “yes” to the Lord means having the courage to embrace life with love as it comes, with all its fragility and smallness, with all its contradictions.

• The example of Saint John the Baptist invites us to be a Church that is always at the service of the Word of God; a Church that does not want to draw attention to itself, but to Jesus Christ.

• Blessing is not about saying nice words or trite phrases; it is about speaking goodness, speaking with love. The Eucharist is itself a school of blessing.

• The Beatitudes are not for supermen, but for those who confront the challenges and trials of every day.

• Without communion and without compassion that is constantly nourished by prayer, theology not only loses its soul, but loses the intelligence and the ability to intepret reality in a Christian way.

• Dear young people, I would like to tell each one of you: God loves you; never doubt it, whatever happens to you in life; under any circumstances, you are infinitely loved.

• Jesus became bread broken for us, and He asks us to give ourselves to others, no longer to live for ourselves, but for one another.

• May the Holy Spirit lead us to live more fully as children of God and as brothers and sisters.

• Faith is a relationship, an encounter, and under the impetus of God's love we can communicate, welcome, and understand the gifts of others and respond to them.

• Holy Spirit, harmony of God, You who transform fear into trust and hard-heartedness into gift, come into us!

• Each one of us has infinite value for God: we may be small under heaven and powerless when the earth trembles, but for God we are more precious than anything.

• The Holy Spirit calls all of us and helps us discover the beauty of being together and of journeying together, each in his or her own language and tradition but happy to be amongst brothers and sisters.

• I am close to many elderly people who live hidden away, forgotten, neglected. And I thank those who are committed to a more inclusive society, which does not need to throw away those who are weak in body and mind.

• Holy Spirit, our harmony, You who make us one body, infuse your peace in the Church and in the world!

• The #poor save us because they enable us to encounter the face of Jesus Christ.

• Holy Spirit, make us artisans of harmony, sowers of good, apostles of hope!

• As adults we must not rob children of their capacity to dream. Let us seek to promote an environment of hope, where their dreams may grow and be shared: A shared dream opens the path towards a new way of life.

• Give freely that which you have received freely, so that God's graces may reach the hearts of all.

• Holy #MaryMotherOfTheChurch, help us to entrust ourselves fully to Jesus and to believe in His love, especially in times of trial, beneath the shadow of the Cross, when our faith is called to mature.

• To men and women missionaries, and to all those who, by virtue of their baptism, share in any way in the mission of the Church, I send my heartfelt blessing.

• Holy Spirit, breathe into our hearts and let us inhale the tenderness of the Father. Breathe upon the Church, so that she may spread the Gospel with joy. Breathe upon the world the fresh restoration of hope.

• Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be "brother", and our way of life will always be: Peace.

• How do I know the Lord listens to me? We have a certainty: Jesus. He is the great intercessor. He ascended into Heaven, and He stands before the Father to intercede for us. His prayer of intercession is never-ending.

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Without wonder, faith, like life, becomes grey and routine.

• The Ascension of our Lord into Heaven inaugurates a new form of the presence of Jesus amongst us, and asks us to have the eyes and the heart to encounter Him, serve Him, and be His witness to others.

• Let us choose the way of Jesus. It is a way that demands effort, but the way that brings peace.

• May you be witnesses of freedom and mercy, allowing fraternity and dialogue to prevail over divisions.

• The feast of the Ascension urges us to raise our eyes to Heaven, to fulfil, with the grace of our risen Lord, the mission He has entrusted to us: to announce the Gospel to everyone.

• God loves with a Father’s love. Every life, and every one of us, belongs to him.

• Let us journey together, allowing the Gospel to be the leaven that permeates everything and fills our peoples with the joy of salvation!

• Dear parents, help your children discover the love of Jesus! This will make them strong and courageous.

• The Holy Spirit loves to shape unity from the most beautiful and harmonious diversity.

• With His ascension the risen Lord draws our gaze to Heaven, to show us that the goal of our journey is the Father.

• If you trust in the goodness of the Lord, you will understand the meaning of events and the purpose of your life.

• In our lives there are crosses, there are difficult moments. But in these difficult moments we feel that the Holy Spirit helps us to go forward and to overcome the difficulties.

• It is the Spirit who makes us arise from our limitations, from our deaths, because we have so many necroses in our life, in our soul. The message of the Resurrection is this: we must be reborn.

• Mercy shown to those who can only receive, without giving anything in return, is precious in the eyes of God.

• Mary is a woman who walks with the grace and the tenderness of a mother; she unties all the knots of the many problems we manage to create, and she teaches us to stand upright in the midst of storms.

• Every creature has a function, none is superfluous. The whole universe speaks the language of God's love, of His boundless affection for us: soil, water, mountains, everything is God's caress.

• We pray for those who live with severe illness. Let us always safeguard life, God's gift, from its beginning until its natural end. Let us not give in to a throwaway culture.

• Let us remain united to the Lord Jesus through listening to the Word, through the sacraments, a life of fraternity and service to others.

• It is the Spirit who is the protagonist of Christian life, the Holy Spirit, who is with us, accompanies us, transforms us, is victorious with us.

• Let yourself be transformed and renewed by the Holy Spirit, in order to bring Christ into every environment and to give witness to the joy and youthfulness of the Gospel!

• “The word of God is alive” (Hebrews 4:12); it does not die or get old, but remains forever.

• God proposes Himself, He never imposes Himself; He enlightens us, but never blinds us.

• Mary, Virgin of #Fatima, we are certain that each one of us is precious in your eyes and that nothing in our hearts has estranged you. Guard our life with your embrace, guide us all on the path to holiness.

• God has placed this plan in our hearts and in all creation: to love Him, our brothers and sisters, and the whole world, and to find true happiness in this love.

• This is the time of mercy; this is the time of the Lord’s compassion. Let us open our hearts so that He may come to us.

• Today we ask for the grace to be docile to the voice of the Lord and for a heart open to the Lord; for the grace not to be afraid to do great things and the sensitivity to pay attention to the small things.

• If we live like children of God and we let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit, we do good to all creation as well.

• Faith must lead us believers to see other persons as our brothers and sisters that we need to support and love.

• Mother Teresa, we ask you to intercede with Jesus, that we too may obtain the grace to be attentive to the cry of the poor, the sick, the outcast and the least of our brothers and sisters.

• May each of us, wherever we may be, in all that we do, be able to say: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace”.

As Pope John XXIII said: “I never met a pessimist who managed to do something good”. The Lord is the first not to be pessimistic. He constantly tries to open up paths of resurrection for all of us.

• Every morning, God comes to find us where we are. He summons us to rise at his word, to look up and to realize that we were made for heaven.

• As Saint Cyril said: “With joy I set out for the Christian faith; however weary and physically weak, I will go with joy”.

• I ask you to accompany with your prayers my journey to Bulgaria and North Macedonia, which I begin tomorrow as a pilgrim of peace and fraternity.

• May St Joseph, the humble workman of Nazareth, direct us toward Christ, support the sacrifice of those who do good, and intercede for those who have lost their job or who are not successful in finding a job.

• Let us ask the Lord to grant us the awareness that we cannot truly be Christians unless we walk with the Holy Spirit, unless we let the Holy Spirit be the protagonist of our life.

• God searches for you, even if you don’t search for Him. God loves you, even if you have forgotten Him. God looks for beauty in you, even if you think you have uselessly squandered all your talents.

• If we open our hearts to mercy and we seal forgiveness with a fraternal embrace, we proclaim before the world that it is possible to overcome evil with good.

• The Lord seeks everyone, He wants everyone to feel the warmth of His mercy and His love.

• Christ is risen, and with Him our creative hope arises to face the problems of our day, because we know we are not alone.

• The martyrs of all times, with their fidelity to Christ, tell us that injustice does not have the last word: we can continue to hope in the risen Lord.

• May the proclamation of the Lord's Resurrection sustain our hope and transform it into concrete acts of charity.

• Let us welcome Christ’s victory over sin and death into our lives. In this way, we will draw His transforming power upon all creation as well.

• The resurrection of Christ is the true hope of the world.

• Look at the open arms of Christ crucified, and let Him save you. Contemplate His blood shed out of love and let yourself be purified by it. In this way you can be reborn.

• In the Eucharist you really meet Jesus, share His life, feel His love; there you experience that His death and resurrection are for you.

• Christ died because He loves each one of us: young and old, saints and sinners, people of His time and people of our time.

• Christ, out of love, sacrificed himself completely in order to save you. His outstretched arms on the cross are the most telling sign that he is a friend who is willing to stop at nothing.

• By his self-abasement, Jesus wanted to open up to us the path of faith and to precede us on that path.

• If we return to the Lord with our frailties, if we take the way of love, we will embrace the life that never fades. And we will experience joy.

• Fasting also means changing our attitude towards other people and towards all creatures: from the temptation to “devour” everything to satisfy our greed, to the ability to suffer for love.

• From the Cross, Jesus teaches us the powerful courage of renunciation. Because we will never go forward if we are weighed down by heavy loads.

• Almsgiving helps us emerge from the foolishness of living to accumulate everything for ourselves, under the illusion of securing a future that is not ours.

• May the Lord always give us hope for the future and the strength to keep going.

• Lenten fasting frees us from our attachment to things, from the worldliness that anaesthetizes the heart.

• Lent invites us to look upward with prayer, which frees us from a horizontal, flat life, where we find time only for our ego, but forget God.

• Lent is the time to rediscover our way back to life. The Lord is the destination of our journey in the world: the course must be set on Him.

• Fasting from sin gives hope to creation too, which will be “set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:21).

• When we pray, let us recall that we do so with Jesus. Jesus is our courage. Jesus is our security, who in this moment intercedes for us.

• Through prayer we learn to renounce the idolatry and self-sufficiency of our ego, and to admit we need the Lord and His mercy.

• If you are young in years, but feel weak, weary or disillusioned, ask Jesus to renew you. With him, hope never fails.

• Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world.

• Let us not pass this favourable time of #Lent in vain! Let us ask God to assist us on a journey of true conversion.

• I thank all the Moroccan people for your warm welcome. May the Almighty, Gracious and Merciful, protect you and bless Morocco!

• Jesus invites us to contemplate the heart of our Father. Only from that perspective can we acknowledge once more that we are brothers and sisters.

• Charity, especially towards the vulnerable, is the best opportunity we have to keep working to build up a culture of encounter.

• Every human being has the right to life, to dream and to find his or her rightful place in our “common home”! Every person has a right to the future.

• The courage to encounter one another and extend a hand of friendship is a pathway of peace and harmony for humanity.

• Brothers and sisters, God calls us once again to conversion: let us pray to obtain the grace of a new life in Christ the Lord.

• If we do not listen to the voice of the Lord, our hearts become like soil without water. That is why the Lord says: "Harden not your hearts".

• The culture of appearance, which leads us to live for passing things, is a great deception. Because it is like a flaring blaze: once it is over, only ashes remain.

• It is worthwhile to welcome every life because every man and woman is worth the blood of Christ himself. We cannot have contempt for what God has loved so much!

• Today we remember in prayer the victims of modern forms of #slavery. Their suffering impels us to fight against these inhuman scourges.

• Outward appearance, money, career, hobbies: these are sirens that enchant us and then set us adrift. #Lent is a time of grace to free our hearts from vanities.

• Let us thank God for "sister water", such a simple and precious element, and let us strive to make it accessible to all.

• Today we think of people with #DownSyndrome. May they be welcomed, appreciated, and never discarded, right from their mother's womb.

• If we abandon the law of love, the law of the strongest over the weakest will be asserted.

• I express my sorrow and closeness to the dear people of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, affected by Cyclone Idai. I entrust the many victims and their families to the mercy of God.

• Lent is rediscovering that we are made for the flame that always burns: for God, for the eternity of Heaven, and not for the world.

• Saint Joseph, spouse of the Virgin Mary, watch over the whole Church always, and protect Her in every moment.

• Prayer reconnects us to God, charity to our neighbor, fasting to ourselves. God, my brothers and sisters, my life: these are the realities that do not end in nothing, and in which we must invest.

• Lent is a journey of returning to the essential, during which the Lord asks us to follow three steps: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.

• Lent is a reminder to stop, to return to the essential, to fast from all that is superfluous and distracting. It is a wake-up call for the spirit.

• I ask everyone to remember in prayer both myself and my collaborators in the Roman Curia, who this evening will be beginning the week of Spiritual Exercises.

• Only those who leave behind their earthly attachments in order to set out will find the mystery of God.

• At the beginning of Lent, it would do us good to ask for the grace to preserve the memory of all that the Lord has done in our lives, of how He has loved us.

• The Lenten journey begins today, Ash Wednesday. I invite each of you to live this time in an authentic spirit of penance and conversion, like a return to the Father, who awaits us all with open arms.

• Prayer gives consistency and vitality to everything we do.

• Let us hear the cry of the earth, wounded in a thousand ways by human greed. Let us allow her to remain a welcoming home, in which no one feels excluded.

• Sometimes we may feel we are alone in facing difficulties. But, even if He doesn’t intervene immediately, the Lord walks by our side and, if we keep going forward, He will open up a new path.

• In order to pray well, we need to have the heart of a child.

• If you believe in God you must try to live justly with everyone, according to the golden rule: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” (Mt 7,12).

• Religious life consists in loving God with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself.

• God’s love is the only power capable of making all things new.

• Every abuse is an atrocity. In people's justified anger, the Church sees the reflection of the wrath of God. It is our duty to listen attentively to this silent cry.

• Lord, focus our gaze on what is essential, make us strip ourselves of everything that does not help to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ transparent.

• Lord, you know how we resist placing the sufferings of others in our heart. Open our hearts and shape them in your image.

• Let us ask the Holy Spirit to sustain us during these days and to help us transform this evil into an opportunity for awareness and purification.

• As of tomorrow, we will live several days of dialogue and communion, of listening and discernment. May it be a time of conversion. We don't proclaim ourselves, but He who died for us.

• In the darkest moments of our history, the Lord draws near, opens paths, lifts up discouraged faith, anoints wounded hope, and awakens sleeping charity.

• Let us enter into the mystery of the sorrowful heart of God who is Father, and let us speak with Him as we witness the many calamities of our time.

• Christians promote peace, starting with the community in which they live.

• Jesus asks us to produce just one work of art, which is possible for everyone: that of our own life.

• Truth is the wonderful revelation of God, of His Fatherly face. It is His boundless love.

• Detachment from worldly appearances is essential to prepare ourselves for heaven.

• Thousands of children, forced to fight in armed conflicts, are robbed of their childhood. Let us stop this abominable crime.

• A generous attitude towards the sick is salt of the earth and light of the world. May Our Lady of Lourdes help us to practice it, and obtain peace and comfort for all those who suffer.

• If we practice seeing with the eyes of Jesus, we will always be able to recognize those who need our help.

• Love of God and love of neighbour are inseparable. They are two sides of the same coin: lived together they are the true strength of believers!

• Life has value when we give it, when we give it in love, in truth; when we give it to others, in everyday life, in the family

• Human trafficking is a terrible violation of human dignity. Let us open our eyes to this shameful scourge and commit ourselves to fighting it.

• We all need to be healed, and we can all heal others if we are humble and meek: with a good word, with patience, with a glance.

• This Visit to the United Arab Emirates belongs to the "surprises" of God. So let us praise Him and His providence, and pray that the seeds sown may bring forth fruits of peace.

• The Beatitudes are a roadmap for our life: they invite us to keep our hearts pure, to practice meekness and justice, to be merciful to all, to live affliction in union with God.

• Saint Francis reminds us that Christians set out armed only with their humble faith and concrete love. If we live in the world according to the ways of God, we will become channels of His presence.

• Prayer purifies the heart from turning in on itself. Prayer of the heart restores fraternity.

• God is with those who seek peace. From heaven He blesses every step which, on this path, is accomplished on earth.

• May the Lord give us the grace of memory and of hope, in order to go forward with perseverance on the journey of our life.

• Don Bosco had the courage to look at reality with human eyes and with the eyes of God. May every priest imitate him by seeing reality with human eyes and with the eyes of God.

• The secret to navigating life well is to invite Jesus on board. The helm of life should be given to Him, so that He can direct the route.

• Meekness and tenderness: these human virtues seem small, but they can overcome the most difficult conflicts.

• Let us not forget the victims of the Holocaust. Their unspeakable suffering continues to cry out to humanity: We are all brothers and sisters!

• Only what is loved can be saved. Only what is embraced can be transformed.

• With her “yes”, Mary became the most influential woman in history. Without social networks, she became the first “influencer”: the “influencer” of God.

• Let us not quench our thirst with just any water but with the “spring of water welling up to eternal life”

• Friends, Jesus teaches us to believe. Seek out and listen to the voices that encourage you to look ahead, not those that pull you down

• This is the network we want, a network created not to entrap, but to liberate, to protect a communion of people who are free.

• Saying “yes” to God’s love is the first step to being happy, and to making many other people happy.

• The Christian way is that of the Beatitudes: meekness, humility, patience in suffering, love for justice, ability to endure persecution, not judging others...

• What will remain on the threshold of eternity is not how much we earned, but how much we gave away.

• Today marks the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: all of us are asked to implore from God this great gift.

• The Spirit of God speaks freely to each person through feelings and thoughts. The Spirit cannot be confined with simple reasoning, but must be welcomed with the heart!

• Don’t let the sufferings you see frighten you. Place them before the Crucifix and the Eucharist from which we draw patient and compassionate love.

• Let us look at our hands, often so empty of love, and today let us try to think of some gift we can offer freely.

• Baptism is the best gift we have received. Through it, we belong to God and we possess the joy of salvation.

• Smallness is freedom. One who is small, in the Gospel sense, is unencumbered and free from any urge to show off, and from any claim to success.

• The first step in prayer is to be humble, go to the Father and say: “Look at me, I am a sinner.” And the Lord listens.

• The spirit of the world is conquered with the spirit of faith: believing that God is really in the brother and sister who are close to me.

• Do not be afraid to weep when you encounter difficult situations: tears are drops that irrigate life. Tears of compassion purify hearts and feelings.

• Love does not tolerate indifference; love is compassionate. Love means putting your heart on the line for others.

• God became man in Jesus in order to share our lives. Let us keep this relationship alive with Him and with one another. Happy Christmas to our Christian brothers and sisters from the East.

• The Magi offered their precious gifts to the Christ Child. Today, let us ask God: Lord, help me rediscover the joy of giving.

• The Church grows in silence, in prayer, and with the good works that give witness.

• Jesus is the gift of God for us. If we welcome Him, we too can be a gift of God to others.

• If we live as Jesus taught us, and in harmony with what we proclaim, our witness will bear fruit.

• To make peace is to imitate God, who wants to make peace with us: He sent us his Son, and He has forgiven us.

• Today more than ever, our societies need “artisans of peace”, messengers and witnesses of God the Father, who wills the good and the happiness of the human family.

• May Mary, Mother of God, protect and accompany us during this new year and bring the peace of her Son into our hearts and the world.

• Let us give thanks to God for the year drawing to an end, recognizing that all the good is His gift.

• May Jesus, Mary and Joseph bless and protect all families around the world, so that love, joy and peace may reign within them.

• Bring God’s tenderness and mercy to all those who are discarded by society.

• Let us welcome God’s love in the Christ Child, and let us commit ourselves to making the world more humane and worthy for the children of today and tomorrow.

• Looking at Jesus we see the face of the God who is Love, and we learn to recognize Him in the faces of our brothers and sisters.

• The Church grows with the blood of the martyrs, men and women who give their lives for Jesus. Today there are many, even if they do not make the headlines.

• Christ is born for us! Come, all of you who are seeking the face of God. Here He is, the Child lying in the manger.

• By contemplating God, who became a child, radiating light from the humility of the crib, we can also become witnesses to

humility, tenderness and goodness.

• The lights of the Christmas tree remind us that Jesus is the light of the world, the light of our souls that drives away the darkness of hatred and makes room for forgiveness.

• Let us entrust ourselves to Our Lady so that she may help us prepare our hearts to welcome Baby Jesus at his birth.

• May the symbols of the nativity scene and the Christmas tree allow a reflection of God's light and tenderness to enter into family life.

• God enters history and does so in His original style: surprise. The God of surprises always surprises us.

• Advent is a time for us to prepare for the coming of Jesus, Prince of Peace. It's a time to make peace with ourselves and our neighbours

• Be like Saint Joseph: a man of dreams, not a dreamer; a man of silence, because he respects God's plan.

• Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed. May our hearts not be closed as were the houses in Bethlehem.

"O Wisdom from the mouth of the Most High, you fill the whole world. With strength and gentleness you order all things: come to teach us the way of prudence."

• Joy, prayer and gratitude are three ways that prepare us to experience Christmas in an authentic way.

• Our life spreads light when it is given in service. The secret of joy is living to serve.

• This is the first step in order to grow on our journey of faith: listening. Before speaking, listen.

• Even when we pray alone, we pray together with all the people of God.

• Let us beg the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, to continue accompanying and protecting the peoples of the American continent.

• "Comfort, comfort my people" (Is 40,1). How does the Lord give comfort? With tenderness.

• Keep the faith. In this second week of Advent, we ask for the grace to prepare ourselves with faith to celebrate Christmas.

• Every human person, created in God’s image and likeness, is a value unto themselves and is subject to inalienable rights.

• Advent is a time to recognize that emptiness needs to be filled in our lives, a time to smooth the rough edges of pride, and to make room for Jesus who comes.

• What is the secret of Mary’s beauty, “tota pulchra”? Not appearances, or that which passes, but a heart totally centred on God.

• Loving God means serving our neighbour without reserve, and trying to forgive without limits.

• The beginning of faith is feeling the need for salvation: this is the way that prepares us to meet Jesus.

• This Advent, make yourself small, make yourself humble, make yourself a servant of others, and the Lord will give you the ability to understand how to make peace.

• Let us lift the veil of indifference that weighs on the destiny of those who suffer. Nobody can wash their hands when faced with the tragic reality of modern slavery.

• Advent is the time to welcome the Lord who comes to meet us, the time to look ahead, and to prepare ourselves for Christ’s return.

• There is no such thing as the perfect family. Only by the daily exercise of forgiveness can a family grow.

• Let us ask the Lord for the grace to leave everything in order to go forward in proclamation and witness, just as Peter and Andrew did.

• Faced with the tragedies of life, we are called to look to the horizon, because we have been redeemed and the Lord will come to save us.

• This week the Church invites us to ask ourselves: what state do I want the Lord to find me in when He calls?

• Let us ask the Lord for the grace of being generous, so that our hearts may be opened and we may become kinder.

• While the great ones of the Earth build themselves ‘thrones’ for their own power, God chooses an uncomfortable throne, the cross, from which to reign by giving his life.

• None of us can survive without mercy. We all have need for forgiveness.

• Men and women bear God’s image within and are the object of His infinite love, in whatever condition they were called into existence.

• In the eyes of God human life is precious, sacred and inviolable. No one can despise the lives of others or one’s own life.

• May the Virgin Mary help us joyfully follow Jesus on the way of service, the royal road that leads to Heaven.

• Since today is World Fisheries Day, let us pray for all seafarers and advocate for a global commitment to stop human trafficking and forced labor in the fishing industry.

• Faithfulness is the characteristic of free, mature and responsible human relationships.

• You cannot love only as long as it is “advantageous”. Love manifests itself when it goes beyond one’s own self-interest, and when it is given without reservation.

• Let us ask for the grace to open our eyes and hearts to the poor in order to hear their cry and recognize their needs.

• Do not follow Jesus only when you feel like it, rather, seek Him every day. Find in Him the God who loves you always, the meaning of your life and the strength to give of yourself.

• "The Kingdom of God is in your midst." It is not spectacular. It grows in silence, in hiding, through witness, prayer, and the attraction of the Spirit.

• Jesus is not pleased with a “percentage of love”: we cannot love him at twenty, fifty or sixty percent. It’s all or nothing.

• The first step to knowing Jesus Christ is to recognize our own poverty and our need to be saved.

• Let us pray today for bishops so that they may always be what Saint Paul calls them to be: humble, gentle, servants.

• Sunday is a holy day for us, sanctified by the celebration of the Eucharist, which is the living presence of the Lord among us and for us.

• Where there is sin there is also the merciful Lord God who forgives if you go to Him.

• May the Lord help us understand the logic of the Gospel, that of mercy with bearing witness.

• Praying means knocking at the door of a friend. God is our friend.

• Jesus invites us to celebrate with Him, to be close to Him, to change our lives.

• Let us commit ourselves with prayer and action to distance our hearts, our words and our deeds from all violence in order to take care of our common home.

• Jesus loved us freely. Christian life is imitating Jesus' free love.

• Sunday Mass is at the heart of the Church’s life. There we encounter the Risen Lord, we listen to His Word, we are nourished at His table, and thus we become Church.

• Jesus made it so death does not have the last word: those who believe in Him will be transfigured by the Father's merciful love for an eternal and blessed life.

• Today we celebrate the feast of holiness. Let us strengthen the bonds of love and communion with all the Saints who are already in God's presence.

• We need smiling Christians, not because they take things lightly, but because they are filled with the joy of God, because they believe in love and live to serve.

• If you want to listen to the Lord’s voice, set out on the journey, live out your search. The Lord speaks to those who search.

• We are called to listen to what the Spirit tells us. The Holy Spirit is always something new.

• Faith is life: it is living in the love of God who has changed our lives. Faith has to do with encounter, not theory.

• I would like to say to the young people: forgive us if often we have not listened to you, if, instead of opening our hearts, we have filled your ears.

• You will build the future, with your hands, with your heart, with your love, with your passions, with your dreams. Together with others.

• Saint Paul gives us very practical advice about preserving unity: "Bear with one another in love".

• It would be wonderful if, every day, at some moment, we could say: "Lord, let me know you and let me know myself".

• Health is not a consumer good, but a universal right: let us unite our efforts so that health services are available to all.

• This Synod is intended to be a sign of the Church that truly listens and that doesn’t always have a ready-made answer.

• Hope is not an idea, it is an encounter; like the woman waiting to meet the child who will be born from her womb.

• The company of the saints helps us to recognize that God never abandons us, so that we can live and bear witness to hope on this earth.

• Join Caritas and walk 1 million kilometres together with migrants & refugees. We are all on the Road to Emmaus being called to see the face of Christ.

• The transmission of the faith, heart of the Church's mission, comes about by the "infectiousness" of love.

• God can act in any circumstance, even in the midst of apparent defeat.

• The leaven of Christians is the Holy Spirit that allows us to grow amidst the difficulties of the journey, but always with hope.

• The road of the disciple is one of poverty. Disciples are poor because their richness is Jesus.

• When we listen to the Word of God, we obtain the courage and perseverance to offer the best of ourselves to others.

• Open your heart and let the Lord's grace enter in. Salvation is a gift, not a way of presenting yourself outwardly.

• The world needs saints, and all of us, without exception, are called to holiness. We are not afraid!

• Let us defend ourselves from the risk of being actors rather than witnesses. We are called to be living memory of the Lord.

• Praying is not like using a magic wand. Prayer requires commitment, constancy and determination.

• The newness of the Gospel transfigures us inside and out: spirit, soul, body, and everyday life.

• Spend time before the Lord in contemplation, and do everything possible for the Lord at the service of others. Contemplation and service: this is our path of life.

• Each of us is the wounded man, and the Good Samaritan is Jesus, who approached us and took care of us.

• We ask the Lord for the gifts of dialogue and patience, of the closeness and welcome that loves, pardons and doesn't condemn.

• Let us ask the Holy Spirit to throw open the doors of our hearts so that Jesus can enter and bring us His message of salvation.

Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our faith

Mother, help our faith!

Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call.

Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.

Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.

Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.

Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.

Remind us that those who believe are never alone.

Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord! Amen.

Prayer to Mary, woman of listening

Mary, woman of listening, open our ears; grant us to know how to listen to the word of your Son Jesus among the thousands of words of this world; grant that we may listen to the reality in which we live, to every person we encounter, especially those who are poor, in need, in hardship.

Mary, woman of decision, illuminate our mind and our heart, so that we may obey, unhesitating, the word of your Son Jesus; give us the courage to decide, not to let ourselves be dragged along, letting others direct our life.

Mary, woman of action, obtain that our hands and feet move “with haste” toward others, to bring them the charity and love of your Son Jesus, to bring the light of the Gospel to the world, as you did. Amen.

Prayer to Mary, Mother of silence

Mother of silence, who watches over the mystery of God, Save us from the idolatry of the present time, to which those who forget are condemned.

Purify the eyes of Pastors with the eye-wash of memory:

Take us back to the freshness of the origins, for a prayerful, penitent Church.

Mother of the beauty that blossoms from faithfulness to daily work, Lift us from the torpor of laziness, pettiness, and defeatism.

Clothe Pastors in the compassion that unifies, that makes whole; let us discover the joy of a humble, brotherly, serving Church.

Mother of tenderness who envelops us in patience and mercy, Help us burn away the sadness, impatience and rigidity of those who do not know what it means to belong.

Intercede with your Son to obtain that our hands, our feet, our hearts be agile: let us build the Church with the Truth of love.

Mother, we shall be the People of God, pilgrims bound for the Kingdom. Amen.

Prayer proposed by Pope Francis for the Extraordinary Missionary Month

October 2019

Heavenly Father, when your only begotten Son Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he commissioned his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations” and you remind us that through our Baptism we are made sharers in the mission of the Church.

Empower us by the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be courageous and zealous in bearing witness to the Gospel, so that the mission entrusted to the Church, which is still very far from completion, may find new and efficacious expressions that bring life and light to the world.

Help us make it possible for all peoples to experience the saving love and mercy of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Friday of Mercy: Pope blesses ‘Palace’ for the Poor

Pope Francis inaugurated the new Night and Day Care Center for homeless people near St. Peter’s Square, as part of his Friday of Mercy initiative.

A Palace for the Poor: That’s what Pope Francis blessed on Friday afternoon, just ahead of the World Day of the Poor.

The 4-storey Vatican property sits in a prestigious location right off the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. It still carries the name of the Roman family that built it in the 1800s: Palazzo Migliori – “Palace of the Best”.

Acquired by the Vatican in the 1930s, the building was recently vacated by a congregation of religious sisters.

Pope Francis personally directed his Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, to turn it into a place where the homeless and poor of Rome can sleep, eat, and learn. The charitable operation is staffed and run by the Sant’Egidio Community.

The Order Of Holy Mass According To The Chaldean Rite

Entrance Hymn

The celebrant enters, dressed in liturgical vestments, carrying the Gospel, in case there is no deacon, following altar boys with candles and incense. Once the celebrant reaches the bema, he stops facing the altar and the mass begins.

Standing

Cel.: Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good hope to mankind, now and forever.

People: Amen.

Cel.: Strengthen, O Lord our God, our weakness by your mercy that we may celebrate the holy Mysteries which have been given for the renewal and redemption of our weak nature, through the mercy of your beloved Son, Lord of all, now and forever.

People: Amen 391

Marmytha

Psalm 35 (18, 28) or the psalm of the Sunday or any other psalm from the appendix

Cel.: Then I will thank you in the great assembly.

People: I will praise you before the mighty throng.

Cel.: Then my tongue shall recount your justice.

People: Declare your praise, all the day long.

Cel.: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

People: From age to age, amen, amen.

Cel.: Halleluiah. Halleluiah. E-Halleluiah.

People: Let us pray. Peace be with us.

The Marmeetha won’t be prayed on Sundays and Feasts where morning or evening prayer are done.

Prayer before the Antiphon of the Sanctuary

Cel.: It is right at all times to thank, adore and glorify the great, awesome, and holy Name of your glorious Trinity, and your grace to us, Lord of all, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.

People: Amen.

They chant the Antiphon of the Sanctuary that is proper for the day.

Prayer Before Lakhu Mara

Cel.: O Lord our God, when the sweet fragrance of your compassion embraces us and our souls are enlightened by the knowledge of your truth, make us worthy to receive the revelation of your beloved Son from heaven, where we will thank and praise you unceasingly in your crowned Church, full of all graces and blessings, O Lord and Creator of all, now and forever.

Prayer over Incense in silence

Cel.: In the Name of your glorious Trinity, let the incense that we offer be blessed for your honor. Let it be pleasing to your will and for the forgiveness of the offenses of your people: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, forever.

The deacon then incenses the altar three times, the bishop three times and the priest once. He then also incenses the people.

People: Amen. Lakhu Mara d khulla maw-denan. W lakh Esho Msheehha mshab-hheenan. D attu mnahh-mana d paghrayn, w attu Paroqa d nawshathan.

We give you thanks, O Lord of all, we glorify you, Jesus Christ; you raise our bodies into life, you are the Savior of our souls.

Cel.: Ttawil mawdayul Marya, Wal-mizmar lashmakh mrayma.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord and praise his holy name (Psalm 92: 2).

People: Lakhu Mara d khulla maw-denan. W lakh Esho

Msheehha mshab-hheenan. D attu mnahh-mana d paghrayn, w attu Paroqa d nawshathan.

Cel.: Shuhha l awa wal awra wal-ruhha d Qudhsha, min ’alam wa’dhammal ’alam. Amen wa men.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, forever and ever, amen and amen.

People: Lakhu Mara d khulla maw-denan. W lakh Esho Msheehha mshab-hheenan. D attu mnahh-mana d paghrayn, w attu Paroqa d nawshathan.

Deacon: Nsalle shlama amman.

Prayer befor Qaddysha Alaha

Cel.: Lord, you are truly the Giver of life to our bodies, the good Savior of our souls, and the faithful protector of our lives. So it is our duty to thank, adore, and glorify you, now and forever.

People: Amen.

Deacon: Arim qalkhun w shabbah kully amma la Alaha hayya.

People: Qaddeesha Alaha, Qaddeesha, Hhayil-thana, Qaddeesha la mayotha Ithra-hhama’layn.

Cel.: Shuhha l awa wal awra wal-ruhha d Qudhsha, 394

People: Qaddeesha Alaha, Qaddeesha, Hhayil-thana, Qaddeesha la mayotha Ithra-hhama’layn.

Cel.: Min ’alam wa’dhammal’alam Amen wa-men.

People: Qaddeesha Alaha, Qaddeesha, Hhayil-thana, Qaddeesha la mayotha Ithra-hhama’layn. (He, he, he, he. Ehe-heyye).

Deacon: N-ssalle shlama ’amman.

Prayer After Qaddysha Alaha

Sitting

Cel.: O holy, glorious, mighty, and immortal One, who dwells and delights in his saints, we implore you: pardon and have mercy on us, as always, Lord of all: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.

People sit

Deacon: Amen.

Liturgy of the Word (Three Readings)

Cel.: Enlighten our minds, O Lord our God that we may understand and enjoy the sweet sound of your life-giving and divine commands. Grant, in your grace and mercy, that we may gain benefits of love, hope and the salvation that befits both body and soul. So we sing a perpetual praise to you, at all times, Lord of all, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever.

People: Amen.

Reader: Be attentive to the book of N… Barikhmar.

When the reader proclaims the reading of the day, the priest responds:

Cel.: May Christ enlighten you with his holy teaching [and make you a good messenger to your listeners].

Or: May almighty God bless you.

At the end of the 1st reading, the deacon intones the responsorial Psalm (Shuraya) that is proper for the day

People: Your word is a lamp for my steps and the light for my path.

Second reading, the Epistle

Reader: A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the ... barikhmar.

When the reader proclaims the 2nd reading of the day, the celebrant responds:

Cel.: May Christ enlighten you with his holy teaching [and make you a good messenger to your listeners].

Or: May almighty God bless you.

At the end of the Epistle, the deacon proclaims:

Deacon: Arise in preparation to hear the Holy Gospel.

People stand and sing:

People: Halleluiah. Halleluiah. E-halleluiah.

Deacon: Zomara of the Sunday

Or

Deacon: Have mercy on me God according your kindness, and in the greatness of your compassion blot out my sins (psalm 51:1) Halleluiah

Procession of the Gospel

Deacon brings the Gospel to the celebrant, who reverences the Gospel while praying silently:

Cel.: O Radiance of the Glory of his Father, and Image of the Person of his Begetter, who was revealed in the flesh of our humanity and enlightened the darkness of our mind by the light of his Gospel: we confess, adore and glorify you at all times, Lord of all forever, amen.

Celebrant carries the Holy Book in procession with incense and candle-bearers to read the Good News of the Lord (at the right side of the bema), starting by blessing the assembly with the Gospel and saying:

Cel.: Shlama ‘amkhon.

People: ’Ammakh, w’am Ruhhakh.

Cel.: Ewangalyyun Qaddeesha d- Maran Esho Mshihha

Karuzutha…d

People: Shuhha lam-sheehha Maran. Amen, Shlaw heyya.

At its conclusion celebrant blesses the people saying:

Cel.: Shuhha L-Alaha ammeena-eet

People: Shuhha lam-sheehha Maran

People sit.

Homily

Petitions – universal prayer

People stand for the petitions of the day, followed by a pause of silence

People sit.

Deacon: Let us entrust our souls to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Cel.: Lord God almighty, we beg and plead to you: perfect your grace in us, make your Gift abound in our hands. May your Divine mercy and compassion be for the forgiveness of sins of your people, whom you have chosen by your grace, Lord of all, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Is the time for offering Bread and Wine and ascending of the celebrant to the Altar, while the altar veil/curtain is opened (if exists). Faithful should be seated while praying the ‘Onytha D-Raze (Hymn of the Mysteries) that is proper for the day, while the celebrant prays silently:

Cel.: When our hearts are washed and purified of wicked intentions, please Lord make us worthy to enter the high and exalted Holy of Holies, so as to offer you a spiritual and pure sacrifice in true faith.

At the altar, celebrant takes the chalice with his right hand and the paten with his left hand and crosses them; he then prays out loud

Prayer on the oblates

Cel.: Christ, who was sacrificed for our salvation and commanded us to make a Memorial of his death, burial and resurrection, may God the Father accept this Sacrifice from our hands in His grace and mercy, amen.

Celebrant strikes the paten with the chalice thrice, saying with each strike:

Cel.: By your command, (three times) O Lord our God these Mysteries are placed upon the altar of forgiveness until the second coming of our Lord from heaven, to whom be glory now and forever, amen.

Celebrant places the oblates on the altar with the chalice on the left and the paten on the right and covers them with the veil.

People: May this Sacrifice be accepted with unveiled faces and sanctified by the word of God and the Holy Spirit, that it may be for our help, salvation, and everlasting life in the kingdom of heaven, through the grace of Christ.

Cel.: Shuhha L-awa W-lawra Wal-Ruhhad qudhsha, ’al madhbahh ... yimmed Alaha.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Let us remember the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, upon this holy altar.

People: Min ’alam w a’dham-mal ’alam amen wa-men. Shleehaw dawra, wrahhmaw deehheedha, ssal-law d-nihwe, shayna baw-reetha.

From the beginning and unto all ages, amen. Apostles of the Son and friends of the Only-Begotten: pray for peace on earth.

Cel.: Nemar kulle ’amma… amen w-amen, Let all people say, amen. May the remembrance of Mar Toma (or patron) be upon the holy altar, with the just who triumphed and the martyrs who were crowned.

People: Ha sh-khiw ’al-ssawrakh, kul-hon ’anneedhe d waqyam-takh shwihhta, b shuhha tqeem innon. All the deceased are resting in a hope that you may raise them by your glorious resurrection.

The Creed

The people stand; the priest then descends before the altar and facing the people, he stretches out his hands and says 400

Cel.: We believe.

People: in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of all that is visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God and First-Born of all creatures, who was begotten from his Father before all the ages and was not made: true God from true God, one in substance with his Father, through whom the world was ordered and everything was created, who, for us men and for our salvation, descended from heaven, took flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit, was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary and became man, who suffered and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, who died, was buried and rose on the third day, in fulfillment of the Scriptures, who ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of his Father, and who will come again to judge the living and the dead; and in one Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father and the Son: the Life-Giving Spirit; and in one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.