Apr 20 2008
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Today is the last day of the Holy Father’s visit to the U.S. At 9:30 AM he will visit and pray at Ground Zero, site of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. He will meet with families and friends who lost loved ones on that tragic day. At 2:30 PM he will celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium and celebrate the 200th anniversary of the designation of Baltimore as an Archdiocese and the creation of the four Dioceses of Boston, New York, Bardstown (Louisville), and Philadelphia. Let us once more pray for his safety and well-being. May he bring comfort to those who lost loved ones in the terrorist attack and speak a message of reconciliation and peace to our nation. May he have a safe journey back to Rome this evening.
Father, we pray for your protection and guidance over our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. Give him strength and wisdom to stand as a prophet for our times. May he be a light in darkness around which we gather in hope. We ask you to bring about reconciliation through his faithful teaching of peace and justice. Grant him compassion and care to live the gospel in love and service to all people. Let him follow in the path of Peter and Paul who, filled with the Holy Spirit, preached that the Lord saves all who call upon his name. May the words he has spoken during his visit to our country and to the United Nations be pondered with receptivity so that all may come to know better your plan for humanity. You want us all to come to know Your love and desire that all people share in the Risen Life of Your Son and enter into His Kingdom. May Your Holy Spirit enlighten the hearts of all people so that they may know the truth of human existence and embrace it. May all people come to know, in the words of St. Augustine, that “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Amen.
Today’s Readings: Acts 6:1-7; Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
