Events

A Day of Prayer & Fasting for Peace

Our Lady of the Wayside will offer a Day of Prayer & Fasting for Peace in the Middle East this Tuesday, October 17.

• Our Church will be open from 7:30 am to 7 pm.
• Daily Mass will be celebrated at 8:30 am.
• Waysiders are encouraged to come and pray anytime throughout the day.
• Outdoor Family Rosary 4:30 pm – in the grotto by the Rectory
• Please consider praying the Rosary and asking our Holy Mother, Mary Queen of Peace, to intercede for a solution to the horrific conflict in the Middle East.
• Mass will be celebrated at 6:00 pm
• Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Confession will be available immediately after the 6:00 pm Mass.

Rosary for Peace: (source: Pray the Rosary Daily)

O Immaculate Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, with a loving fervor in our hearts we honor and salute you as the Queen of Peace. Protect us and all people from hatred and discord, and direct our hearts into the ways of peace and justice which Your Son Jesus Christ taught and exemplified. Grant us peace in our hearts, harmony in our families and concord throughout the world.

Amen

Prayer for Peace in the Middle East (source: Jesuitresource.org)

God of mercy and compassion,
of grace and reconciliation,
pour your power upon all your children in the Middle East:
Jews, Muslims and Christians,
Palestinians and Israelis.
Let hatred be turned into love, fear to trust, despair to hope,
oppression to freedom, occupation to liberation,
that violent encounters may be replaced by loving embraces,
and peace and justice could be experienced by all.

– Reverend Said Ailabouni

Pope Francis’ Prayer for Peace: (source: USCCB)

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 who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.

Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. 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 that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!

Amen.