Catholic Faith Formation Resources

"Help Us To Be There" Holy, life-giving Spirit, infuse in us your ability to remain present to your people. Help us to be there, to be right there, for the people who need us. There for young people, there for the elderly, there for the brokenhearted; fire our hearts with your life-changing presence. Even though we know you to be everywhere and in everything, give us the ability to be fully in one place at a time, open and ready to love. — Author Unknown Source: Jesuitresource.org "EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO GIVE TO HELP OTHERS" “ “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.” — St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta "We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude...

Lord God, You alone are the source of every good gift, of the vast array of our universe, and the mystery of each human life. We praise You and thank You for Your great power and tender, faithful love. Everything we are and everything we have are Your gifts, and after having created us You have given us into the keeping of Your son, Jesus Christ. Fill our minds with His truth and our hearts with His love, that in His spirit we may be bonded together into a community of faith, a parish family, a caring people. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we commit ourselves to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted to us, to share our time, our talent, our material and spiritual gifts as an outward sign of the treasure we hold in Jesus. Amen Leisa Anslinger, The Generous Heart "STEWARDSHIP" “ As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace." (1 Peter 4:10) " Take. Lord, and receive all my lib...

"Our Common Home" A Prayer for Stewardship God of all creation, At the beginning of time You placed a single mandate on humankind To be stewards of creation To replenish and nurture through all generations What you have made We kneel today amid that same creation— A world that is, in many ways, more splendid than ever But, in too many ways, scarred beyond recognition Turn us from our unmindfulness Help our touch be light Help us renew the world that supports us So we may once more know creation As it was in the beginning Amen. Source: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) "CARE FOR GOD'S CREATION" “ What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? ” (Pope Francis, Laudato Sí, no. 160) What kind of world do you want to leave to your children, to your grand-children, and to future generations? Another of the “seven themes” of CST is “Care for God’s Creation.” Pope Fran...

Bread of Tomorrow Community O God, the source of our common life, when we are dry and scattered, when divided and alone, we long for connection, we long for community. Breath of God, breathe on us. With those we live beside, who are often strange to us, whom we may be afraid to approach, yet who have riches of friendship to share, we long for connection, we long for community. Breath of God, breathe on us. With those we have only heard of, who see with different eyes, whose struggles we try to imagine, whose fierce joy we wish we could grasp, we long for connection, we long for community. Breath of God, breathe on us. With those we shall never know, but whose lives are linked with ours, whose shared ground we stand on, and whose common air we breathe, we long for connection, we long for community. Breath of God, breathe on us. When we are dry and scattered, when we are divided and alone, when we are cut off from the source of our life, open our graves...

Prayer for Solidarity Almighty and ever-living God, empower your one human family to join hands on our journey of faith. Send us your spirit of hope, so that we may work to alleviate human suffering and foster charity and justice in our world. Amen Source: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops "SOLIDARITY" "We are all one family in the world. Building a community that empowers everyone to attain their full potential through each of us respecting each other's dignity, rights and responsibilities makes the world a better place to live." Attributed to Saint John Paul II How do you seek to recognize and respond to the needs of another human person? One of the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching is the principle of solidarity: "We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global di...

Prayer of Compassion Lord, open our eyes, that we may see you in our brothers and sisters. Lord, open our ears, that we may hear the cries of the hungry, the cold, the frightened, the oppressed. Lord, open our hearts, that we may love each other as you love us. Renew in us your spirit. Lord, free us and make us one. Amen Source: St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta "SEEING THROUGH EYES OF NONDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS" “Stop judging that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you meas-ure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?.... You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” [Mt. 7:1-3, 5] Who do you see when you look at a stranger? Many of our disputes today are caused by the way we see or don’t see reality. If we are hones...

A Prayer for Nonviolence God, of Mercy and Compassion, open our heart to your grace. We ask You to: Bless us with courage to embrace nonviolence in our everyday . Bless us with vision to seek alternatives when violence appears as the only solution. Encourage us to look deeply at our own complicity that allows violence to continue in our own hearts and in our world. Bless us with insight to see the roots of violence inherent in Mercy’s Critical Concerns. Bless us with the tenacity to stay committed to the struggle to shape a more peaceful, nonviolent world for all your people. O good and gracious God, source of all life, all creation is charged with your Divine Energy. Grant us the strength and courage, we pray, for a radical transformation of own lives and a deeper realization of your Kingdom among us. Amen Source: Sisters of Mercy "PRACTICING AND LIVING THE WAY OF NONVIOLENCE" "An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind....

A Prayer for Life Loving God, Creator of all, We recognize that life is a gift from you. Open our hearts to your Holy Spirit And renew in us a deep respect for all persons: The family, the unborn, the young, the adult, The sick, the disabled, the abused, the imprisoned, The aged, the dying, the homeless, the unemployed, And the oppressed in any way. Bless all of us and instill in us a deep Love for your gift of life. Through the intercession of Mary, Mother and Virgin, may all our words and actions foster Reverence for human life. May we be true witnesses to the truth that all life is precious and has sublime dignity. Lead our nation and our world to this understanding So that we may be a people dedicated to the protection of all your sons and daughters. We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ, the Word Who became flesh and lived among us. Amen. Source: www.ascensioncatholic.net "REJECT THE "THROW-AWAY" CULTURE" "We have cr...

Respect for Life Prayer God of life and love, you created us in your image and sent your Son to bring us life. Instill in us a respect for all life, from conception to natural death. Empower us to work for justice for the poor. Nourish us that we may bring food to the hungry. Inspire us to cherish the fragile life of the unborn. Strengthen us to bring comfort to the chronically ill. Teach us to treat the aging with dignity and respect. Bring us one day into the glory of everlasting life. We ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Source: Author Unknown "A CONSISTENT ETHIC OF LIFE" "The case for a consistent ethic of life -- one which stands for the protection of the right to life and the promotion of the rights which enhance life from womb to tomb ... is both a complex and a demanding tradition.” Joseph Cardinal Bernardin (d. 1996), A Consistent Ethic of Life (1984) Do you live a consistent ethic of life? CST teaches that all human life is sa...

A Prayer for Peace Lord God of peace, hear our prayer! We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain. Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: "Never again war!"; "With war everything is lost". Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens wh...