St. Francis of Assisi: Our Father

OUR FATHER,

Most Holy, our Creator and Redeemer, our Savior and our Comforter.

WHO ART IN HEAVEN:

Together with the angels and saints, giving them light so that they may have knowledge of you, because you, Lord, are Light; inflaming them so that they may love, because you, Lord, are Love: living continually in them and filling them so that they may be happy, because you, Lord, are the supreme good, the eternal good, and it is from you that all good comes, and without you there is no good.

HALLOWED BE THY NAME.

May our knowledge of you become ever clearer, so that we may realize the width and breadth of your blessings, the steadfastness of your promises, the sublimity of your majesty and the depth of your judgments.

THY KINGDOM COME,

So that you may reign in us by your grace and bring us to your Kingdom, where we will see you clearly, love you perfectly, be blessed in your presence, and enjoy you forever.

THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN:

So that we may love you with our whole heart by always thinking of you; directing our whole intention with our whole mind towards you and seeking your glory in everything; spending all our powers and affections of soul and body with all our strength in the service of your love alone. May we also love our neighbors as ourselves, encouraging them to love you as best we can, rejoicing at the good fortune of others, just as if it were our own, and sympathizing with their misfortunes, giving offense to no one.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD,

Your own beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so to remind us of the love he showed for us and to help us to understand and appreciate it and everything he did or said or suffered.

AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES,

In your infinite mercy, and by the power of the Passion of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the merits and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all your saints.

AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US,

And if we do not forgive perfectly, Lord, make us do so, so that we may indeed love our enemies out of love for you, and pray fervently to you for them, never returning evil for evil, anxious only to serve everybody in you.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION.

Neither hidden or obvious, sudden or unforeseen.

BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL --

Present, past or to come.

Amen. 

~St. Francis of Assisi

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Why faith is lacking

Faith is lacking because there is so much selfishness and so much gain only for self. But faith, to be true, has to be a giving love. Love and faith go together. They complete each other.

People don't know they have lost their faith. If they were convinced that the person lying in the dirt is their brother or sister, I believe they would do something for that person. People don't know what compassion is. They don't know people. If they understood, they would immediately realize the greatness of the people lying in the street and would simply love them. And the love would surely lead them to place themselves at their service.

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Fruit of faith

Faith in action is love and love in action is service - therefore "the way of life" is but the fruit of faith - faith has to be put in action of love if it has to live - and love to be true and living - to be God's love in action - must be service . . .

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Faith is a gospel of love

Our holy faith is nothing but a gospel of love, revealing to us God's love for men and claiming in return man's love for God.

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: To see Christ in the poor

We need the eyes of deep faith to see Christ in the broken body and dirty clothes under which the most beautiful One among the sons of men hides. We shall need the hands of Christ to touch those bodies wounded by pain and suffering.

How pure our hands must be if we have to touch Christi's Body as the priest touches Him in the appearance of bread at the altar. With what love and devotion and faith he lifts the sacred Host! These same feelings we too must have when we lift the body of the sick poor.

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Faith is a gift of God

Faith is a gift of God. Without it there would be no life. And our work, to be fruitful, and to be all for God, and to be beautiful, has to be built on faith - faith in Christ, who has said, "I was hungry, I was naked, I was sick and I was homeless, and you ministered to Me." On these words of His all our work is based.

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Pope John Paul II: Why?

Human suffering is a continent that none of us have reached the borders of: yet, traversing the pavilions of this "Little House," we have covered enough territory to get an idea of its impressive proportions. And the question again rises in our hearts: why?

In this unique environment, let's listen again to the response given by faith: the life of historical man, polluted by sin, unfolds under the sign of Christ's Cross. In the Cross, God turned the meaning of suffering upside down: suffering which was the result and evidence of sin, has now become a sharing in the redemptive expiation brought about by Christ. As such, it carries in itself, even now, the anticipation of the ultimate victory over sin and its consequences, through sharing in the glorious resurrection of the Savior.

A few days ago, with the Liturgy leading us by the hand, we relived the dramatic moments of the Passion and death of the Lord, and we listened again to the triumphal Alleluia of the Resurrection. You see, the paschal mystery contains the ultimate word on human suffering. Jesus assumes the pain of each of us in the mystery of his Passion and transforms it into a regenerative force for those who suffer and for all mankind, with the prospect of the ultimate triumph of the resurrection, when "even so, through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep."

- Pope John Paul II the Great