This morning, together with some of the priests of the diocese, we attended a "Prayer breakfast" organised by the Bible Society in Swaziland.
As part of the program I was asked to pray for the distribution of Bibles and the projects being run by the Bible Society towards the sick, orphans, deaf and others.
This was my prayer:
* * *
“The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to
bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim
liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go
free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord”. (Luke 4: 18
- 19)
Father of mercy,
we ask the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the Bible Society in
Swaziland and upon each and all of us today and always so that,
guided by your Word we may continue witnessing to Jesus, our Lord and
Saviour, who came to bring us life and life to the full.
Father,
like Simon Peter we say to Jesus: “‘Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we have come
to know that you are the Holy One of God.’ (John
6: 69 - 70)
Help us Father spread the Word of life, the Word of eternal life.
Help us make sure that there is a Bible in each family and even more
than that. Be with us as we encourage each person in each family
(young and old, children and teenagers…) to have his or her own
Bible. May they all feel and believe that we live
not on bread alone but on every word that comes from your mouth
(Mt 4: 4).
Be with us Father as we encourage
all, not only to have a Bible but to understand it deeply, to pray
and live the Word, remembering what James tells us: “anyone
who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and keeps to it—not
listening and forgetting, but putting it into practice—will be
blessed in every undertaking.”
(James 1: 25)
Father,
We pray for all the projects being undertaken by the BS. Help the
Bible Society find the financial and human resources needed.
May, through the Word of life, continue to bring hope to the orphans
and afflicted, the sick and the deaf.
-
May the orphans through the Word experience your fatherly and motherly love.
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May the sick be able to listen to the Word in each one of our hospitals and experience your healing touch.
-
Our churches have no material to cater for the deaf and very few people know sign language. Help us make your Word reach them too.
Help us make sure that all in our community are able to receive your
Word. We want to make sure that no one in our community is left
behind.
In Jesus we see you as the Good Shepherd who has compassion for all,
particularly for those who are like sheep without a shepherd.
May our Hearts and the hearts of each one in our country, like on the
journey to Emmaus, continue to burn
within us as He talks to us on the road and explains the scriptures
to us.
We ask all this Father, in the name of Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
Amen.
