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Prayers for Prodigal Catholics
THE MANTLE We Join in Prayer Under the Mantle of the Blessed Virgin Mary [Please send your prayer requests to pray@marianmantle.com or maryann@marianmantle.com]
++MESSAGE FROM THE COORDINATOR ++MESSAGE FROM THE COORDINATOR Hi, Everyone, Hope you are all having a prayerful Advent and looking forward to celebrating the coming of the Saviour. A big hello to those who have recently joined us from Hutchinson, Shawnee, and Basheor Kansas parishes. We welcome some new members this week from Troy and Hawk Point, Missouri. I have a feeling their church is much like the one where I grew up in rural Buchanan county Iowa. Ours had a congregation of 70 families. It’s a big change for me to now worship in a 3500 family parish. Sometimes, I miss walking into church and knowing every face by name. No matter the size of our congregation, though, everyone in this group shares the same heartache—someone we dearly love is no longer a practicing Catholic. Let us continue to pray for each other that we may each someday be able to say, “The child I prayed for has come home!” Meanwhile, may God give us all the Grace to pray with the perseverance of St. Monica and the unconditional love of the father of the Prodigal Son. If someone in your prayer group does not have email, please print a copy of this update for them so they may stay informed about what the group is doing, and take the prayer intentions list to your group. Thanks.
May God bless all of us and grant us His Peace.
Peace, MaryAnn Archive Menu Top of Page
[Note from MaryAnn: The novena referred to in these emails, is the St. Andrew Christmas Novena I sent to everyone on Nov 30th. I’m so happy it was well-received by so many.]
+I know I will not be able to join you in your wonderful work, but I do know it is very worth while. Your comment about the St. Andrew prayer hit a soft spot. I have said that since I was a small child. At home we said the rosary and the novena each night. I love that prayer. Thanks for the info. God Bless you ~Rita
+Thank you for sharing this novena. i have never
heard of it. Please tell
+Thanks For This Novena, Believe It Or Not I Recieved It Twice Today, I Didn't Know About This Novena, So i'll Take It as A Hint To Pray It Until Christmas. Thank You Again ~V. Archive Menu Top of Page Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction." ~Isaiah 29:22-24~
I was burned out on Christmas. I even resisted going to midnight mass…I teach at an orthodox Jewish high school…My faith—my wonder—had faltered over time. Not completely, but like a beach being eroded by the tide… .We were reading…about a teenage concentration camp prisoner who had lost his faith. He had even stopped praying and fasting. “He should have prayed and fasted anyway,” said one student. “Wouldn’t that have been hypocritical?” I asked. “No,” said another. “The Torah says you should do what God tells you, even when you don’t know why. You read Scripture and eventually you understand.” Her words stayed with me. Could it be that I’d had things backward? I’d always thought my faith preceded my acts. But maybe sometimes it was the other way around. At home…I sat down and started rereading the Bible…By Christmas Eve, I looked forward to midnight mass. My Jewish students had brought me a Christmas miracle. I had acted, and by acting as if I had faith, I found faith. Excerpt from “As If”, by Jan Vallone, Guideposts, December, 2005
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