Our Morning Offering – 30 April – Prayer to St Joseph For the Opening of our Churches

Our Morning Offering – 30 April – Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

“Let us Pray together, entrusting ourselves to the intercession of St Joseph, Guardian of the Holy Church, the Holy Family, Guardian of all our families.   Even the carpenter of Nazareth knew precariousness and bitterness.   Though he worried about the future, he knew how to walk the darkness of certain moments, always letting himself be guided by God’s will without reservation.” ... -Pope Francis, 18 March 2020

Prayer to St Joseph
For the Opening of our Churches
Adapted from a Prayer by Pope Francis

Protect, O Holy Guardian, this our Holy Church.
Enlighten our Bishops,
so that they might know — like you do —
how to care for those entrusted to their responsibility.
Bless, O St Joseph, the Church,
beginning with her ministers,
make her the sign and instrument
of your light and your goodness.
Accompany, us O St Joseph,
as we await the re-opening of our Churches.
We are bereft and suffering without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Food for our journey is necessary to grant us strength,
although we call Our Lord to come to our hearts,
we miss His Real Presence.
Preserve the elderly from loneliness,
especially those who are recipients of the Holy Eucharist
in their homes, grant that no-one might be left in desperation
from abandonment and discouragement.
Comfort those who are the most frail,
encourage those who falter in faith,
strengthen all of us,
intercede for the poor.
With the Virgin Mother, beg the Lord to liberate the world
from every form of suffering and want
and to come back to us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Amen