Our Prayers for 2015

As we change our calendars from 2014 to 2015, we give thanks to God for his abundant graces, even those we are unable to discern in times of difficulty.

We give thanks for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, whose leadership is revitalising the Church and opening the hearts of many who once were closed to its message. We pray that Pope Francis will remain in good health, especially in consideration of his arduous travelling commitments.

In October the Synod of Bishops will continue to discuss the family. As this year’s extraordinary synod indicated, there will be stark divergences of perspective among the bishops, and among the faithful in general. Invariably, the outcome of the synod will not please everyone.

We pray that, even in disagreement, the bishops and the faithful may act in collegial unity in fidelity with the love which Christ calls us to, and not fall prey to divisiveness and calumny.

In our local Church, the big story of the year will be the likely beatification of Benedict Daswa. We pray that the cause of the South African martyr will proceed, and that through this the faithful of Southern Africa and the whole continent will learn to know and love this great Catholic.

We also pray that the cause and beatification ceremony receive the necessary logistic and financial support.

We pray for our brothers and sisters in Pakistan, where Christians are feeling especially vulnerable after the lynching of a young couple in November and with two Christians on death row for supposed blasphemy. We pray that Pakistan’s leadership will show the courage to overturn the unjust blasphemy law and give Christians the imperative protection.

We also look with concern to India, where fundamentalist Hindus have been issuing unsettling anti-Christian propaganda. With several pogroms against Christians still fresh in mind, we pray that India’s political leaders will take the necessary action to forestall the renewed persecution of Christians.

The past year was calamitous for Christians in the Middle East with the spread of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. We pray that Muslim leaders will rise against the persecution of Christians and other minorities by Islamic fundamentalists and offer their protection in concrete demonstrations of solidarity.

We also pray that the Christians in these regions will be fortified in their anguish by the love of the Creator as we await the return of conditions in which they will be able to live in peace.

The political situation in the Holy Land is now on a precipice. Israel’s disproportionate assault on Gaza and continuing inhumane blockade and its daily acts of economic and political oppression, coupled with routine acts of brutality of Israel’s army and settlers even against children, threaten to provoke a third intifada (or uprising).

These injustices also affect our Christian Palestinian brothers and sisters, who in increasing numbers are leaving the land of Christ in search of a better life. We pray that among Israelis and Palestinians a new leadership may emerge which can forge a peaceful and just solution to the conflict.

In a special way we pray for the Christians of the Holy Land and all of the Middle East, that they may have the courage to remain in the region as the “Living Stones”.

In this Year of the Consecrated we are called to pray for those in the religious life, as well as for the future of our orders and congregations.

We also pray for a renewal of vocations to the consecrated life, and that the various orders and congregations may discern their way forward by being able to adapt to new realities.

The postal strike of 2014 has done enormous and potentially lasting damage to this newspaper. At a time in which there is much uncertainty about the future of the newspaper industry in general, we pray — and ask you to pray with us — that we find the right ways to sustain The Southern Cross, which receives no subsidies, so that it can serve future generations of Catholics, as it has done for 94 years.

And as always, we pray that the readers, associates, promoters, pilgrims, contributors, friends and supporters of The Southern Cross may have a blessed and peaceful 2015.