Pray for Marriages (Agape Love)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Lent is a great time to reflect on the life of Christ.   There is so much to contemplate about his life, especially his public ministry and his eventual Passion.   His behavior and reaction to abuse, insult, distrust, ridicule, scorn, torture, humiliation is very difficult to understand and often very hard to relate to.   What might He be trying to teach us?

While being a theologian would be helpful in the interpretation and understanding of his Passion, what Christ is telling us can be summed up in just four letters:  L-O-V-E.   Love.  Love is an ACTION, not a feeling.  I am calling you to LOVE.  Love in spite of all that is hurtful and unpleasant.  Love as I love.  For don’t I love you, unconditionally?

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom^* for many.” Matthew 20:28

In the remaining weeks of Lent, practice this kind of agape love in your marriage.  Whether you are married or not, pray that marriages will grow in agape love.   Pray that the fruit of your prayer will be a new infusion of grace into many marriages, empowering couples to love as Christ loved.  Pray that when spouses love through their actions, new feelings of love will blossom unexpectedly.  

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Call others to pray for the grace to love.  Pass it on.

Pray for Families (Learning through observation)

Dearest Prayer Warriors,

Today is the Feast Day of the Chair of St Peter the Apostle.   Who can’t relate to the human frailty of St. Peter as he denied Christ, his friend and Lord whom he loved?  Yet there is hope for all, because Christ always loves us through our failings.  Like Peter, we are called to pick up our cross, follow Christ, and thus lead others to Christ by our example, our perfect witness.  Just as the Chair of St. Peter leads the Body of Christ, His Church, we too are called to lead by our witness, our own family, the domestic church*.

We pray that like St Peter, we live up to our calling.   Prayer is the foundation. 

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.  Matthew 16:18

Heavenly Father, shepherd us as we humbly try to be your light within our families.  May our family’s hearts and minds be receptive to receiving the transforming light of Your grace.  May we powerfully witness your truth through our behavior and our words.  We ask this in the most precious name of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Be a witness to love.  Pass it on. 

*CCC 1666 The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.

Pray for Marriages (An invitation for all)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

One doesn’t have to be married to pray for marriages.  They just have to be human. We are all called to pray for marriages.  Everyone began with a mother and father, whether or not their parents were married or even present.  Parents are important at every stage of our lives and their harmony affects our harmony.  The best possible scenario for children of any age is for their mother and father to be happily married.  So we pray.  We pray that Christ be their foundation, so that their love will never fail. 

Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.  Ephesians 2:21-22

Lord, with all of our hearts we pray that:

• Couples allow you into their marriages to strengthen them by allowing you to be the third cord, thus forming a cord of three strands.
• Marriages that are crumbling are re-formed by you, the Potter.  Bring them hope.
• Engaged couples discern and learn about the importance of inviting You to the wedding, and ultimately into their marriage.
• Couples living together realize that playing house doesn’t have the same effect as making you’re the Cornerstone of their home.
• Those blessed with longevity in their marriages step forth to be your beacon of light and hope for others. 

Truly, the LORD is waiting to be gracious to you, truly, he shall rise to show you mercy; For the LORD is a God of justice: happy are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Invite someone to prayer.  Allow them to experience the graciousness of the Lord.  Pass it on!