Our Morning Offering – 27 April – St Peter Canisius (1521-1597) – Confessor, Doctor of the Church, Dutch Priest of the Society of Jesus, Reformer, Teacher, Writer, Apostle of Charity.
The Universal Prayer
By St Peter Canisius (1521-1597)
Doctor of the Church
Almighty, Eternal God, Lord, heavenly Father,
look with Thine eyes of undeserved compassion
on our sorrow, misery and need.
Have mercy on all the Christian faithful,
for whom Thine Only-begotten Son,
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
was content to give Himself into the hand of sinners
and shed His Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross.
For the sake of the Lord Jesus, most gracious Father,
avert our well-deserved punishments,
present danger and future threats, harm and outrage,
arms and warfare, dearth and misfortune,
sickness and sorrowful, miserable times.
Enlighten and strengthen, in all goodness,
our spiritual leaders and earthly rulers
that they may do everything to further Thine honour as God,
our salvation, the common peace,
and the welfare of all Thy people.
Grant us, O God of peace, a true unity in faith,
free of all division and separation.
Convert our hearts to true repentance
and amendment of life.
Kindle in us the fire of Thy love;
give us hunger and zeal for justice in all things,
so that we, as obedient children through life unto death,
may be pleasing to Thee and find favour in Thy sight.
We pray too, O God, as Thou willed that we should pray,
for our friends and enemies, for the healthy and the sick,
for all Christians in sadness and distress,
for the living and the dead.
To Thee, O Lord, be entrusted, whatever we do,
whatever our path, our work and our dealings,
our living and dying.
Let us delight in Thy grace, here in this world
and attain the next, with all Thy chosen ones,
to praise, honour and extol Thee,
in unending joy and blessedness.
Grant us this, O Lord, heavenly Father,
through Jesus Christ, Thy Beloved Son,
Who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Ghost,
One God, forever and ever.
Amen
The abrove prayer, with spaces for responses after each petition,
was a sixteenth Century form of the Prayer of the Faithful within the classic Latin Roman rite, (with Priestly orations and litanies in Latin), popular for 450 years in the French, English, Irish and German-speaking Church.
AnaStpaul 