Prayers & Mass Readings
A New Year Prayer
Holy Father,
God of our yesterdays, our today, and our tomorrows.
We praise You for Your unequaled greatness.
Thank You for the year behind us and for the year ahead.
Help us in Your new year, Father, to fret less and laugh more.
To teach our children to laugh by laughing with them.
To teach others to love by loving them.
Knowing, when Love came to the stable in Bethlehem, He came for us.
So that Love could be with us, and we could know You.
That we could share Love with others.
Help us, Father, to hear Your love song in every sunrise,
in the chriping of sparrows in our backyards,
in the stories of our old folks, and the fantasies of our children.
Help us to stop and listen to Your love songs,
so that we may know You better and better.
We rejoice in the world You loved into being.
Thank You for another new year and for new chances every day.
We pray for peace, for light, and for hope, that we might
spread them to others.
Forgive us for falling short this past year.
We leave the irreparable past in your hands,
and step out into the unknown new year knowing You will go with us.
We accept Your gift of a new year and we rejoice in what’s ahead,
depending on You to help us do exactly what You want..
I say it again, we rejoice!
In Jesus name,
Amen.
Wishing you every happiness and many blessings in the New Year.
Thank you for being a part of the St. Michael Parish Family.
On Sunday April 24th 1994, Pope John Paul II recommended this prayer, of our patron saint to be used by all Catholics as a prayer for the Church when he said:
‘”May prayer strengthen us for the spiritual battle we are told about in the Letter to the Ephesians: ‘Draw strength from the Lord and from His mighty power’ (Ephesians 6:10). The Book of Revelation refers to this same battle, recalling before our eyes the image of St. Michael the Archangel (Revelation 12:7). Pope Leo XIII certainly had a very vivid recollection of this scene when, at the end of the last century, he introduced a special prayer to St. Michael throughout the Church. Although this prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask everyone not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world.“‘
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen
BEATIFICATION OF
POPE JOHN PAUL II
On May 1, 2011, Pope John Paul II will be beatified at a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The USCCB has set up a Web page with information about the beatification and about Pope John Paul II http://www.usccb.org/popejohnpaulii/. On the occasion of the beatification of Pope John Paul II, Benedict XVI reflected that John Paul II “interpreted for us the paschal mystery as a mystery of divine mercy. In his last book, he wrote: The limit imposed upon evil is ultimately Divine Mercy (Memory and Identity, pp.60-61). And reflecting on the assassination attempt, he said: ‘In sacrificing himself for us all, Christ gave a new meaning to suffering, opening up a new dimension, a new order: the order of love….It is this suffering which burns and consumes evil with the flame of love and draws forth even from sin a great flowering of good (pp. 189-190).”
Pope Benedict’s 60th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination
Catholics worldwide are asked to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s ordination to the priesthood with sixty hours of Eucharistic prayer for vocations.
The pope will celebrate his anniversary June 29, the Solemnity of St. Peter and Paul. In honor of his anniversary, the Vatican Congregation for Clergy suggested Catholic clergy and faithful be invited to participate in Eucharistic Adoration with the intention of praying for the sanctification of the clergy and for the gift of new and holy priestly vocations.
Dioceses nationwide are planning special prayers before the Blessed Sacrament in June, offered continuously or across various days in the month. Celebrations might conclude July 1, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the World Day of Prayer for Priests.
For this occasion, the USCCB Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations has designed a prayer card that can be downloaded here. USCCB Priest Prayer Card
Click the link for the Liturgical Calendar and Mass Readings for Liturgical Year 2012 provided by the USCCB. You can also hear daily readings and view daily reflections by clicking the links below.