1st Week of Lent 2022 - Wednesday - Stop fighting God

 

In his Lenten reflection this morning, Bishop Malesic called the story of Jonah, “the story of a man who did all he could to go in the opposite direction that God had determined for him.” And then the Bishop asks, “Isn’t that the case for many of us?  We know where God wants us to be. We know what God wants us to do?  But we run away in the opposite direction. [But] the story of Jonah reminds us that God will not give up on us.”

Sometimes, it takes a storm to wake us from our spiritual sleep. Perhaps we might even need to be swallowed by a whale in order to be brought to the place where God wants us to be.

Sometimes, what we might describe as terrible forces or sets of circumstances, is God, trying to alert us to the state of our souls, that we’ve been fighting against God, and what God wants for us. We might even have a brush with death in order to reawaken us to the fact that we will stand judgment for our lives and the need to repent. God uses every event of our lives to draw us deeper into relationship with Him, if we are paying attention.

In the first reading, having finally awakened to his prophetic calling through all of these strange and unfortunate events and repented, Jonah is led by God to Nineveh to help them repent. The one who has been awakened by God and repented and granted vision and the words to speak is always sent to help others do the same. 

And, what happens when Jonah, finally surrenders and accepts his prophetic mission? The entire city of 120,000 pagans—nobles and peasants alike—repent, and open their hearts to the God of Israel. God works in mysterious ways to wake us up, that we may become an instrument of purification and enlightenment in the world.

During this Lenten season, we like Jonah are called to repent and surrender to God, recognizing that God has not given up on us, nor has he given up on any of the people of the world, to whom he wants to send us.

May our repentance be sincere. May we stop fighting God, who desires what’s best for us. May our we turn to God with all our hearts and become instruments in the world of faith, hope, and love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

During these 40 days for Life, we pray for the unborn and for a change in laws, policies, and attitudes which devalue the sanctity of life.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  .

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, imprisoned, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all the poor souls in purgatory, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ Our Lord.

1st Week of Lent 2022 - Tuesday - The Devil hates the Lord's Prayer

 Pope Benedict wrote, “In the trials of life and in every temptation, the secret of victory lies in listening to the word of truth and rejecting with determination falsehood and evil.”

When tempted by the Devil in the desert, as we heard this last Sunday, the Lord himself drew upon the scriptures to overcome the lies and falsehoods of evil. He even quotes God’s Word about the importance of God’s word: “Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

In the Gospel today, from the mouth of God, Jesus gives his disciples a prayer, a very powerful prayer, the Lord’s own prayer—a prayer which encapsulates and is drawn from so many powerful, holy, and inspired sentiments throughout the Scriptures. It is a prayer that exposes and unravels so many of the devil’s falsehoods, making it a powerful remedy to our many temptations.

Let’s break it down. Calling upon “Our Father Who Art in Heaven” is hateful to the devil who is covetous of our worship and furious of being casting out of heaven. The humility of the words “Thy Will Be Done” is utterly insufferable to the enemy who refused to bend his will to God’s. 

“Give us this day our daily bread”, recognizes that we are not self-sufficient and independent of God as the enemy would like us to be, but trusts in God to provide for us, which the devil refused to do. The petition for forgiveness for our trespasses counters both the despair and the unrepentance the devil would like to sew in us—he wants us neither to ask for forgiveness or believe that we are capable of receiving it. And he hates that we would pray for the grace to extend forgiveness to others, for the devil is completely unmerciful, and wants to refashion us in his own cruel and merciless image. 

The last two petitions are when the battle for truth and goodness really get going. “Lead us not into temptation” humbly recognizes that we are capable of temptation. And this the devil also hates, for he wants to remain hidden, not wanting to be exposed for his corrupting influence. For if an unholy thought can be traced back to him, his defeat is near at hand. 

Nor does he want us to think of the consequences of following his temptations which lead to perdition.

Finally, “deliver us from evil” unravels the devil’s great lie that we are beyond salvation, that God is absent or unwilling to help us in times of trouble. The devil does not want us to cry to God for rescue and help, he wants us enslaved and puffed up with pride and independent from God as he is. His misery loves company. But this petition is the slap in the devil’s face and provides the path of freedom for God’s people. It is always heard and answered for those who pray it fervently.

The Devil hates the Lord’s prayer, for it unravels his designs, it exposes his hatred for God and mankind; it is painful to him, for it shines light upon the darkness of his lies. 

May it be found on the lips and hearts of God’s people today and all days, for by it we reject with determination the falsehood and evil of the devil, and we turn to the Word of Truth of our good and loving God and provident Father, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

For mercy for the most vulnerable of our human family, the unborn; that their mothers may choose life and be supported by a culture of life. 

For the young people of our Church. May they be strengthened to be witnesses to the Gospel of mercy and work for a future that embodies a genuine culture of mercy.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  .

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, imprisoned, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all the poor souls in purgatory, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ Our Lord.

1st Week of Lent 2022 - Monday - Be Holy as the Lord is Holy

 For the celebration of Mass during the season of Lent, I like to make use of the first Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation due to its inclusion of many themes and petitions relevant to Lent.

Just the very name, “Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation” calls to mind our need to “return to God with your whole heart” which echoes throughout this season. 

The prayer speaks of Christ stretching out his arms and being nailed to the cross, being for us the sacrificial victim who reconciles the human race to God, and offers petitions for the healing the wounds of sin and division within the human race. 

I bring up this Eucharist Prayer because it begins with the call to holiness: “You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and from the world’s beginning are ceaselessly at work, so that the human race may become holy, just as you yourself are holy.” These words echo the sentiment found in the first reading today from the book of Leviticus, God speaking through Moses to the whole house of Israel, telling them, “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.”

Here is another important principal for the season of Lent: through the practices of Lent, God is seeking to make us holy, as He is holy. 

And our scriptures today highlight two dimensions of the call to holiness—two sides of the same coin. On one hand, in the first reading, we have a number of what are sometimes called the “negative commandments”—the “thou-shalt-nots”—thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not profane the name of God, thou shalt not act dishonestly or bare hatred toward your neighbor. The call to holiness involves eliminating those behaviors and attitudes which God prohibits—those attitudes which are selfish, impure, prideful—those which constitute a lack of love.

Our Gospel today highlights the other side of the coin, some “positive commandments”. Our Blessed Lord tells us that we must not only avoid impurity, selfishness, and pride, but holiness consists of engaging in active charity: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting the imprisoned.

Holiness, the holiness to which God calls us to cultivate during this season of Lent, involves both: purification from the selfish & prideful AND engagement in charity.

And we ought to take this call to holiness quite seriously, for the Lord explains what’s at stake in the Gospel as well: eternal punishment and eternal life. We are to be ridding ourselves of all that might lead us to punishment and practice all that contributes to the pursuit of eternal life, that we might be reconciled ever more deeply to God in this life, that we may enjoy his beatitudes forever in heaven, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

For mercy for the most vulnerable of our human family, the unborn; that their mothers may choose life and be supported by a culture of life. 

For the young people of our Church. May they be strengthened to be witnesses to the Gospel of mercy and work for a future that embodies a genuine culture of mercy.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  .

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, imprisoned, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all the poor souls in purgatory, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ Our Lord.

1st Sunday of Lent 2022 - Desert Temptations and the Road to the Cross

 Each year on the 1st Sunday of Lent, we hear the powerful Gospel passage of Our Blessed Lord facing temptation in the Judaean desert. The mere fact that we even know about this story is significant. For remember, the four Gospels were based on eye witness accounts. Matthew and John were two of Lord’s twelve apostles: they heard him preach and teach, so we know where they got their material. Mark likely received most of his details from St. Peter, and Luke, as he tells us at the beginning of his Gospel, thoroughly investigated the events of the life of Jesus as accurately as possible. 

But, none of the four evangelists were with Jesus in the desert, so the details of this story must have come from the lips of Jesus himself. He wanted us to know about this profound experience. “Yes, even I was tempted, just like you.” 

The Letter to the Hebrews explains the Lord’s solidarity with us poor sinners, saying: “because he Himself suffered and had been tempted, he is able to help all those who are tempted.” “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.”

We hear this Gospel each year, at the beginning of Lent, firstly, because during Lent, we are to be confronting our demons, our temptations. Lent is a time of honesty, acknowledging sin and temptation, going to confession, seeking conversion, and learning to trust in the Lord in times of trial. 

We hear this account of our Lord remaining faithful to God in the midst of temptations, to help us finally come to the conviction that He is with us even in our temptations. The faithful high priest lives in the hearts of all of the baptized. His faithfulness can conquer the devil in our lives, so much so that we can say, “I do have the power to say no to temptation because He lives in me. I can remain faithful to God in my trials because Christ lives in me.”

But this reading plays such a central role each Lent because something else is going. While there are many important events in the life of Jesus prior to his desert temptations, this reading is pivotal for his mission. The events of his infancy and childhood, his activity in the Temple at the age of 12, even his Baptism in the Jordan, serve as a sort of prelude to this event. Those early stories point to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, God incarnate. But it’s this event, which in a sense, is the beginning of his way to the Cross. For his spiritual battle with the devil shows him rejecting the way of earthly power and glory and accepting the way of suffering and the cross. Let’s examine how.

Firstly, the Lord rejects the temptation to turn stones into bread. Why? After 40 days of fasting, “he was hungry” as St. Luke tells us. And since Jesus is God, he could surely transform the limestone rocks of the Judaean wilderness into food for himself. But, the deeper temptation: His divine power could be used to feed others. He could feed the starving of the world. That would benefit the Gospel mission. In a sense, the Devil here is tempting Jesus, not just to feed Himself, but to win people over with material things. “If you want people to follow you, use your wonderful powers to fill their bellies. They’ll follow you if you feed them.

But Jesus rightly says, I’ve not come just to feed their bodies, but to feed their souls with the truth, with the Word of God. And so the task of the Church is not to create some utopia on earth. The task of Christianity is to bring people to faith, that they may live in such a way as to live forever—to be reconciled with God through Christ, that they may live forever.

In the second temptation, the devil tempts Jesus: “I will give you everything you want, if you worship me.” Now again, Jesus knew his mission was the salvation of our souls. And the devil was saying, I can do that for you. I can release souls from hell without all that suffering, without the cross. I can do anything you want, just give me the praise, honor and glory due to your Father. I’ll give you everything you want, all you have to do is compromise the first and greatest of the commandments. And Jesus was tempted by this. 

This temptation isn’t unlike the first temptation of Adam and Eve…I’ll give you everything you want, you’ll be like gods; only don’t listen to God, listen to me. The devil is always offering us this empty promise, tempting us to compromise our faith to obtain some apparent good without paying the price, the cross. But it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world and lose his soul. So too, in our lives, in order to achieve some good, we must never compromise the commandments. 

The third temptation Jesus faced was to use his divine powers in such a way that no one could deny who he was: to jump off the roof of the temple like Superman and survive, that would prove to everyone once and for all that he was who he said he was. And the Lord could have done this if he wished; this and more. He could have continued his earthly life for two thousand years and healed everyone who ever entered a hospital without medicine or surgery. He could have performed a miracle a day, inviting the skeptical scientists to investigate them. He could have performed undeniable miracles, just as God could appear to everyone right now—everyone on earth at the same time—and give us undeniable proof of His existence. 

But the Lord resists this temptation. For, it is part of the mysterious plan of God, that God wants us to cultivate faith. He doesn’t want to force us to believe in Him by making his existence as undeniably as the sun undeniably shines in the sky. Rather, God desires that we have Faith, for Faith can move mountains. 

Rejecting these temptations, St. Luke tells us that the tempter departed from Jesus for a time. The Lord would be tempted again before facing the cross, just as each of us is tempted to turn away from our own crosses. 

During the desert of Lent, the devil will no doubt appear to each of us. Likely, he already has. Maybe you’ve already been tempted to reject the call to do penance, to skip out on prayer, to eat meat on Ash Wednesday and Friday, to just go ahead and do what you’ve always done. And what shame if you’ve given in. But, Lent is just beginning. And it’s not too late to recognize the game the devil is playing: trying to keep us complacent and satisfied with mediocrity, trying to get us to harden our hearts toward God little by little. 

But it’s not too late to recognize that we do not live by bread alone, that we owe God worship from the depths of hearts, that God invites us to trust in Him in times of trouble, to repent and believe in the Gospel, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Friday after Ash Wednesday 2022 - The days are coming when my disciples will fast

 

“The days are coming when my disciples will fast”, well, here they are. Before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the entire season of Lent was a time of rigorous fasting for all adult Catholics: no eating between meals, and two smaller meals not adding up to the main meal of the day.   And throughout the whole year, Catholics were to abstain from eating meat on Fridays.  

After Vatican II, these disciplines changed.  The abstaining from meat on Fridays throughout the year may now be substituted with some other penitential practice, though Fridays during Lent are still days of abstinence from meat.  And we have only two mandated fast days to observe: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

The practice of fasting goes far back into our biblical roots.  The Old Testament shows people fasting as a sign of repentance and desire for conversion. The Jews even had days of fasting: “Blow the trumpet in Zion! proclaim a fast” we heard from the prophet Joel on Ash Wednesday.

The New Testament also recommends the practice. “Some demons are driven out only by prayer and fasting” the Lord tells his disciples. And on Ash Wednesday, we heard the Lord say, “when you fast” you shouldn’t do so for outward appearances, but for interior renewal. When St. Paul was strike blind, he fasted for three days. The Lord Himself, as we’ll hear this Sunday, fasted for forty days.

Fasting for Christians isn’t just a sort of religious weight loss program.  We don’t fast simply for the purpose of reducing our waist size, though that is always a pleasant result of this spiritual practice.

Fasting is a spiritual self-discipline that makes us conscious of our dependence on God.  We voluntarily experience physical hunger in order to become aware of our true spiritual hunger.  That the deepest hunger of the human soul comes for the peace and joy and life that can only be satisfied by communion with God.

Another reason we fast is to subdue our passions and self-will; to discipline our unruly appetites. If we cannot control our stomach, how can we control our urges for pleasure, money, and power?  

Fasting opens our heart to charity.  Listen again to the Prophet Isaiah this morning: “This, rather, is the fasting, that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the throngs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”

May we take seriously the call to fasting this Lent, that our minds and hearts may be conformed ever more deeply to Christ, and be made ready for the feast of Eternal Easter, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the whole Christian people, that in this sacred Lenten season, they may be more abundantly nourished by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

For the whole world, that in lasting tranquility and peace our days may truly become the acceptable time of grace and salvation.

For sinners and those who neglect right religion, that in this time of reconciliation they may return wholeheartedly to Christ.

For ourselves, that God may at last stir up in our hearts aversion for our sins and conviction for the Gospel.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

Ash Wednesday 2022 - Remember that you are dust

 “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. These words, spoken for the first time by God to Adam after he had committed sin, are repeated today by the Church to each of us, as ashes are imposed on our foreheads.

“Remember you are dust”, here is a truth that is difficult for us to grasp. Our inflated egos, our pride, our arrogance hate these words. For we spend an awful lot of time and energy trying to prove to others we are anything but dust. We want people to see how creative we are, how smart we are, how strong we are, how popular we are, how rich we are, how powerful we are. And today, the Church says, forget about all of that, “remember you are dust.”

Dust, the ashes which are placed on our foreheads, they are anything but powerful and significant. They can be dispersed with the lightest breath, brushed off absentmindedly. It’s the most invaluable of earthly substances. Less valuable than air. We need air to breath, we don’t need dust for anything.

“Remember you are dust” is a humbling reality and reminder of our past, present, and future.

It’s a reminder of our past, our creation. For Genesis tells us, that God made Adam from the dust of the earth. We wouldn’t even have life if God had not given it to us. Here is a reminder to not take our life for granted. Lots of people walking around as if their life belongs to them. No. You exist because God made you. And we have the utmost responsibility to make sure that we use that life according to God’s plans, and not just our own. And to be grateful for the life that we’ve been given.

Remember you are dust, is a reminder of our future. Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. Here is a reminder of our mortality. We will die. Our earthly bodies will return to the earth. And immortal souls we will face God as our judge. We get into a lot of trouble, we fall into a lot of sins, perhaps all of them, because we forget this fact, the fact that our actions have consequences, and that we will be judged for our sins.

And remember you are dust, is a reminder, that in the present we are to not allow ourselves to become inflated with sin. Ashes today are a pinprick to burst the balloons for our inflated egos. We were made from nothing, our finite lives and intellects are as nothing compared to the omniscience and omnipotence of God, the number of likes we received on social media are nothing.

But are nothingness is a good and holy thing to contemplate King David contemplated his nothingness before God in Psalm 38, when he wrote, “O Lord, my substance is as nothing before Thee.”  

Remember, too St. John the Baptist says, I must decrease, so that Christ may increase.

This imposition of ashes, in the end, is about Christ. The humility of Ashes helps us to become more like Christ, which is the aim of Lent, the purpose of Lent. We seek repentance and purification of our sins, so that we can become like Christ. We engage in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving so that we can become like Christ. We turn away from earthly vanity so that we can become like Christ. So that we can decrease in order for the life of Christ to increase in us. “God despises nothing that He has Made” and desires our salvation.

So, “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That this season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

That God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin.  We pray to the Lord.

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  

That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ. 

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in the divine mystery may never be left without your assistance. Through Christ our Lord.

8th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Tuesday - "We have left everything to follow you"

 In yesterday’s Gospel passage from St. Mark, we heard of the rich man who goes away sad after his encounter with Jesus. He had asked the Lord what it takes to inherit eternal life, and the Lord instructed the rich man to go and sell his possessions and follow him.

Due to his unwillingness to detach from his possessions, the rich man departs from Jesus, not with the joy of discipleship, but with sadness. There is always sadness when we are unwilling to follow where Jesus beckons. 

In reaction to the rich man woefully departing from the presence of Jesus, Peter chimes in: “well, we have left everything to follow you.”

Have you Peter? Have you really? The more I read the Gospel of Mark, the more I’m convinced that we should be a little suspicious whenever Peter speaks. For with that question, it seems Peter is all too enthused to attempt to draw a contrast between him and the rich man, a little like the Pharisee, who says, thank goodness I’m not like that tax collector of there, “I’m holy, I’m enlightened.” Meanwhile, it was the tax collector who was not far from the kingdom because he acknowledged his sinfulness.

Peter, don’t you know that you can’t fool Jesus? The Lord can see into your heart and right through your antics?

Knowing that Peter could use a bit of humility and self-reflection, the Lord responds to Peter by explaining what it means to really follow him: his disciples are to give up “house and brother and sister, mother and father, children and lands for his sake and the sake of the Gospel.” Our possessions, our inheritances, our most intimate familial relations, even our own lives, are to be subordinate to doing the will of God and our Gospel mission. 

We know that conversion hadn’t really taken root, that Peter was not fully abandoned to the will of God, as in just a few chapter we’ll find Peter denying his Lord. 

Now we shouldn’t give Peter too hard a time, for the Gospel narrative is an unfolding drama, an unfolding of the revelation of who Jesus is, fully revealed in his death and resurrection. 

For we know that Peter, after resurrection embraces true discipleship wholeheartedly. He suffers for the Lord, and dies for his Lord, but not before writing the powerful words from our first reading: “Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely grace”…above all “seek holiness”, not compliance with your former way of life, your former attachments, but above all holiness.

During the holy season of Lent beginning tomorrow, may our Lenten penances aid us in acknowledging this parts of our lives where we have failed to follow the Lord. May we be assisted in living soberly, abandoned to grace, seeking above all holiness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

That the upcoming season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For the conversion of those who reject the Gospel, for grace to break through to hearts hardened toward God, for the protection of young people from the errors and perversions of our culture.

For those who struggle because of addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, inclement weather, or ongoing trials of any kind.

For the dead, for all of the souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Holy mass is offered. 

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith, we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.