I wrote this prayer early in my time at St. Barbara Parish. I had it printed on prayer cards for distribution in the parish. When I was transferred to Holy Family Parish I had it printed in the bulletin as a "clip and save" piece before I actually came to the parish. I pray it daily several times a day. I hope many in the parish likewise pray it! NOTHING will transform a parish more powerfully than a parish who together ask the Almighty for the gift of that transformation. "Ask and you shall receive." How can the Lord not grant this gift to those who truly beseech Him for it? DON'T forget to pray DAILY for your own parish community!
Prayer for the Parish Family
Abba, Loving Father,
We beg you to fully unleash
the awesome power of your Holy Spirit
within our parish community.
Enflame our hearts with the
blazing fire of your Love,
purifying and renewing us.
Consume all that is selfish within us,
and give us the strength and courage
to spend ourselves in loving service
to our brothers and sisters.
Grant that our parish community
may be formed ever more fully
into the visible, living, acting
Body of Christ,
carrying on the work of Jesus,
the building up of your Kingdom in this world.
We ask this, as we ask all good things,
in the most powerful name
of your Son, our Lord,
Jesus the Christ.
AMEN.