Over the past several weeks , I’ve received prayer requests from unemployed people and people who are about to lose their jobs before the end of this year. We’ve included these requests in our daily prayers , offered masses for their intentions in our parish church and requested the Capuchine Sisters to include these requests in their daily prayers and masses as well. For these people facing anxiety and depression because of employment problems , I would like to offer them a Prayer for Employment at the bottom of this post . To all who requested prayers for their employment problems and to others who are facing the same predicament ,  may the Good Lord guide and bless you in finding a new source of livelihood .

 “Bless, 0 Lord of the centuries and the millennia, the daily work by which men and women provide bread for themselves and their loved ones. We also offer to your fatherly hands the toil and sacrifices associated with work, in union with your Son Jesus Christ, who redeemed human work from the yoke of sin and restored it to its original dignity.

- Pope John Paul II
   

God, our Father, I turn to you seeking your divine help and guidance as I look for suitable employment.
I need your wisdom to guide my footsteps along the right path, and to lead me to find the proper things to say and do in this quest. I wish to use the gifts and talents you have given me, but I need the opportunity to do so with gainful employment.
Do not abandon me, dear Father, in this search, but rather grant me this favor I seek so that I may return to you with praise and thanksgiving for your gracious assistance.
Grant this through Christ, our Lord.  Amen

God

let us see the many ways

you are working in our world ,

in my world.

Let me feel your constant presence

and the warmth of your love.

Amen

- Joan of Arc : God’s Warrior

My God, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the intentions for which He pleads and offers Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in thanksgiving for Your favors, in reparation for my sins, and in humble supplication for my temporal and eternal welfare, for the needs of our holy Mother the Church, for the conversion of sinners, and for the relief of the poor souls in purgatory. Amen

God,
open my eyes
and my heart
to see you and hear you.
May I really listen to all you are telling me today.

From Joan of Arc: God’s Warrior

Dear God,
help us to listen
to all the angels and saints you send us,
especially those disguised as
our fellow companions in faith.
Amen.

-  from Joan of Arc: God’s Warrior

O dear Jesus , I humbly implore You to grant  Your special graces to our family. May our home be the shrine of peace , purity , love , labor and faith. I beg you , dear Jesus , to      protect and bless all of us , absent and present , living and dead.

O Mary, loving Mother of Jesus , and our Mother , pray to Jesus for our family , for all the families of the world , to guard the cradle of the newborn , the schools of the young  and their vocations.

Blessed Saint Joseph , holy guardians of Jesus and Mary , assist us by your prayers in all the necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which he granted to you to watch over our home at the pillow of the sick and dying , so that with Mary and with you, heaven  may find our family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus . Amen

- From the Most Sacred of Jesus and Mary Prayer Book

Find strength and peace to greet the day with morning meditation , based on a beloved Irish prayer.

This Irish prayer is attributed to Saint Patrick and often referred to as the “breastplate” of St. Patrick . . . . . . words that shield.

I arise today, Through the strength of heaven;

Light of the sun ,  Splendor of fire , Swiftness of wind,

Depth of the sea , Stability of earth , Firmness of rock.

I arise today, Through God’s strength to pilot me; God’s might to uphold me ; God’s wisdom to guide me ; God’s hand to guard me.

Afar and anear , Alone or in a multitude.

Christ shield me today ,  Against wounding : Christ with me , Christ before me , Christ behind me ,

Christ on my right , Christ on my left,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me , Christ in me.

I arise today, Through the mighty strength , Of the Lord of Creation.

Next to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Monica is one of the best examples of Christian motherhood. For years, she prayed for the conversion of her only son. Her persistence was answered  with abundant grace . Her son , Augustine , became a saint and a doctor of the Church.

Saint Monica faced a culture in which Christianity has not yet fully taken hold : we live in a culture in which Christianity is increasingly marginalized and children are pulled from the Faith.

The prayer to Saint Monica below is  particularly appropriate today :

Exemplary Mother of the great Augustine, you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with threats , but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day, so that they may learn to draw their children to God. Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters  who have sadly gone astray.

A most beautiful, powerful, yet gentle prayer by Mother Teresa . . . . . .

Deliver me, O Jesus,

From the desire of being loved,

From the desire of being extolled,

From the desire of being honored,

From the desire of being praised,

From the desire of being praised,

From the desire of being preferred,

From the desire of being consulted,

From the desire of being approved,

From the desire of being popular,

From the fear of being humiliated,

From the fear of being despised,

From the fear of suffering rebukes,

From the fear of being calumniated,

From the fear of being forgotten,

From the fear of being wronged,

From the fear of being ridiculed,

From the fear of being suspected.

Amen

- Blessed Mother Teresa

Almighty, ever-living God, You raised  to eternal glory the body and soul of the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Your Son. Grant that our minds may always be directed heavenward and that we may deserve to share in her glory. Amen

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother follows the tradition of recognizing Mary’s death and resurrection.

This holiday has been celebrated for many years by Christians. Some believe the date of August 15 was set to coincide with popular pagan harvest festivals of the time. It wasn’t  for many centuries of popular request , before Pope Pius XII declared Mary’s assumption to be a dogma or a fundamental belief of Catholics. The declaration occurred on November 1, 1950.