PRAYER FOR RAIN

Heavenly Father, we believe that it is You who created our world with all of its beauty and life. We believe that it is You who put into place the systems of nature that sustain, nurture and renew this work of Your hands. We believe that it is You who hears Your children when they call upon You. Hear, then, this prayer which comes from a heart filled with confidence and trust. Grant to us and to all who seek it, the gift of a bountiful rain. Water our lands so that they may once again spring to life and reflect the beauty of your creation. Fill our lakes and rivers with sufficient rain so that they may continue to provide life giving and refreshing water to all who depend upon it for our livelihood and wellbeing. Please do not let many more days pass without sending us this most needed blessing of rain. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God forever. Amen.

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Prayer for our Priests and our Church

"O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church: Grant it love and the light of Your Spirit, and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to You, O Lord. Lord, give us holy priests; You yourself maintain them in holiness. O Divine and Great High Priest, may the power of Your mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares which are continually being set for the souls of priests. May the power of Your mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for You can do all things."

(From the "Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska," Notebook III, Paragraph 1052, page 397.)