February 2025: Prayers and Reflections
The Pope’s Monthly Intention
For Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life: Let us pray that the ecclesial community might welcome the desires and doubts of those young people who feel a call to serve Christ’s mission in the priesthood and religious life.
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Blessing of Saint Brigid’s Crosses • Feast Day: 1 February
Father of all creation and Lord of Light,
you have given us life and entrusted your creation to us to use it and to care for it.
We ask you to bless these crosses made of green rushes in memory of holy Brigid,
who used the cross to recall and to teach your Son’s life, death and resurrection.
May these crosses be a sign of our sharing in the Paschal Mystery of your Son and a sign of your protection of our lives, our land and its creatures through Brigid’s intercession during the coming year and always. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
The crosses are sprinkled with holy water:
May the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be on these crosses and on the places where they hang and on everyone who looks at them. Amen.
Saint Brigid’s Blessing
May Brigid bless the house wherein we dwell.
Bless every fireside, every wall and door.
Bless every heart that beats beneath its roof.
Bless every hand that toils to bring its joy.
Bless every foot that walks portals through.
May Brigid bless the house that shelters us.
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International Day of Awareness and Prayer against human trafficking • 8 February
St Josephine Bakhita, you were sold into slavery as a child and endured untold hardship and suffering. Once liberated from your physical enslavement, you found true redemption in your encounter with Christ and his Church. O St Bakhita, assist all those who are trapped in a state of slavery; Intercede with God on their behalf so that they will be released from their chains of captivity. Those whom man enslaves, let God set free. Provide comfort to survivors of slavery and let them look to you as an example of hope and faith. Help all survivors find healing from their wounds. We ask for your prayers and intercessions for those enslaved among us. Amen.
Prayer to St Josephine Bakhita Feast Day • 8 February
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Prayer for St Valentine’s Day • 14 February
Saint Valentine,
true servant who shed his blood
in defence of the sacraments and faith in Jesus Christ,
intercede for us today, we pray.
Gain for us the strength to be steadfast like you
in witnessing to the true faith to the end of our days,
and help us never to lose hope in the Lord
who is always near us.
Intercede for those men and women who are preparing for marriage:
help them to know one another and the true meaning
of the sacramental bond they are preparing to enter.
Intercede for those who are joined together
in the sacrament of marriage,
that they may never give up when trials come their way
but may remain faithful to each other,
and to the Lord who blessed their union.
May your love for the Lord be an inspiration for
our love for each other, for the love between husband and wife,
and for the love and charity we extend to all whom we meet.
Amen.
Courtesy Whitefriar St Church
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Prayer for Spring
God of love, you enter into our spring seasons, into our deepest places of inner dwelling, into the heart of our transformation.
You give us glimpses of the truth.
May we allow our experience of spring to speak to us of necessary change and growth.
Grant us an openness to the continuous process of letting go and moving on that is a part of the human condition.
We are grateful that you are our faithful companion on this journey.
Amen.
Attributed to Rev. Dan McDonald SJ
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Prayer to St Gobnait • Feast Day: 11 February
Go mbeannaighe Dia dhuit,
a Ghobnait Naomhtha,
Go mbeannuighe Muire dhuit
is bheannuighim féin dhuit.
Is chughat-sa a thánag ag
gearán mo scéil leat,
Is a d’iarraidh mo leighis
ar son Dé ort.
English:
May God bless you,
Holy Saint Gobnait,
And may Mary bless you,
And I bless you myself.
For it is to you that I come,
To plead my case with you,
To request my healing,
From you on God’s part.
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