In order to “walk together” and listen to the Holy Spirit we need to pray. There can be no synodal process without personal and community prayer. Prayer prepares our hearts to listen carefully to others and helps us to discern the action of the Holy Spirit throughout the world.
This website, together with the App Click To Pray, aims to accompany the synodal way for prayer. This way will constructed step by step, first of all with the help of monastic communities, then with the support of religious and consecrated life institutions, ecclesial movements and Sanctuaries, parishes, etc., i.e. all the People of God.
In the first phase (October 2021), in his letter to those brothers and sisters called to a monastic and contemplative life, Cardinal Mario Grech invited them “to become instruments in the hands of the Spirit in order to guide the universal ecclesial community and pray for the synodal Church”. Now we are all invited to publish prayers for the synodal process.The prayer proposals can be integrated very easily into other related websites such as those of Bishops’ Conferences, diocesan centres, consecrated life institutions, ecclesial services and movements and parishes with a special widget (Flux RSS).
Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and International Union of Superiors General (UISG)Information
For all:
to publish your prayer : a text (1000 characters maximum) and an image (squared).
Contact for posting on the Synod prayer website: english@prayforthesynod.va
Letter of Cardinal Grech to the brothers and sisters called to monastic and contemplative life:
"I once again address you, just days before the official opening of the synodal process, since, as men and women of prayer, you know from experience that there can be no synodal way without mutual listening, without attention to the Holy Spirit or without prayer.
You, with your precious presence in the Church, teach us that prayer opens the heart and the ear to listening, makes us more attentive to the action of the Holy Spirit and renders us more thoughtful towards the needs of others and the world.
There can be no discernment without individual prayer and prayer with other brothers and sisters. Synodality requires both personal and community conversion which originates in and is sustained by prayer. Our prayer, which springs from silence and contemplation, can be of immense help to the entire Church.
For this reason we have decided to initiate an experience of world prayer to accompany the entire synodal process, entitled “CHURCH ON THE WAY. Pray for a synodal Church”. We have asked the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, with the support of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), to create a prayer website for the Synod, where different Church charisms can publish, periodically, prayer proposals offered to all for a truly synodal Church.
It is my great pleasure that it will be you, brothers and sisters called to a monastic and contemplative life, who will begin to weave this invisible thread of prayer (…) We would be delighted if this could be a prayer which evolves from your own community.
We have decided to begin with prayer, because this fundamental experience in your daily lives is not evident to everyone in the world today. Prayer can be considered a waste of time if we think of all the urgencies, suffering and needs which exist in the world. We know that prayer is the breath of the soul and the heart, and where the Lord speaks to us. As Pope Francis has said: “The heart of the Church’s mission is prayer”.
With this invitation, we ask you to become instruments in the hands of the Spirit in order to guide the universal ecclesial community and pray for the synodal Church. I would like to thank you for supporting us in this way and urge you to make this invitation yours in the specificity of your calling and vocation".
Card. Mario Grech
Lord Jesus Christ, who loves your Church
and wishes for Her this season of grace,
let us embrace openly and with joy
this opportunity of becoming a “Synodal Church.”
Let us be a listening Church, making a pause
of our routines and pastoral concerns
to listen to Your Spirit and our brothers and sisters,
letting their hopes move our hearts.
Give us attitudes of closeness, compassion, and tender love
to be live signs of a Church with Your style,
taking You in our presence and words
and weaving bonds of friendship with everyone, assuming the fragilities
and poverty of our time, bandaging wounds
and healing broken hearts with Your balm, oh Lord.
Amen.
Click To Pray Team
Much more than hearing will be our listening:
That vain words are carried away by the wind.
And to enter into idle chatter
outside the path of the synod.
Courage is asked of us in speaking
On the way to better discernment,
our hearts uncovered
and the hearts of others to be found.
The successful encounter is not nameless,
nor are efforts anonymous,
for in the midst of it we have the One who amazes.
From the Spirit comes this reinforcement.
And from Him we ask that He may unmask
what we have within us of twists and turns.
Pedro Jaramillo Rivas (Guatemala)
Here we are oh Lord available to You!
We are making our way with You and between us.
We wish to be truly synodal,
moving forward in harmony, spurred on by the Holy Spirit.
Let us congregate ourselves, as local Churches,
in the unity of the one Church, being the ecclesial “we”
that celebrate your Body and Blood and center on them.
Give us the grace of being the holy family that live
the Gospel and is nourished by the Eucharist.
Let us live always, and especially this time,
in the communion with your Body and Blood;
so that, although there are many of us in this Synodal Path,
we may bear witness of being one single body for we all share in one loaf,
in You, Lord, Bread of Life and Life in abundance.
Amen.
Click To Pray Team
Lord of Mercy, awaken the spirit of the people of God to be merciful with their brethren.
Lord of Mercy as we in walk through the Synodal process we seek you to make our heart meek, humble us to dwell in your merciful heart.
Lord of Mercy we stand beneath your holy cross, cleanse us with your precious blood and fill us with your life-giving spirit to walk with God's people. Amen
St Joseph School
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
A simple life is not an empty life.
A dedicated life is not a hidden life....
Mary of dialogue with Gabriel
Mary of accompaniment with Elizabeth
Mary of respect with Joseph
Mary of tenderness with Jesus
Mary on the road to Egypt
Mary at the feast of Cana
Mary of the cross in Jerusalem
Mary of the resurrection in Galilee
Mary of the community at Pentecost
Mary of the communication at Ascension
Mary of silence
Mary, mother, sister and companion
walk with us. Amen
Cristina Inogés Sanz (Zaragoza, Spain)
Mother Mary help your children to walk in the path of synod and give them the grace to experience God.
Mother Mary help the youth to embrace and cherish the beauty of the gospel to be prophets of humanity.
Mother Mary enlighten the consecrated to walk through the path of synod inorder to discern God's voice for the people of God.
Mother Mary help the old people who have walked the life of faith, to guide the younger generations to be saints of the Church.
Mother of hope and mercy may the Lord shine forth on His people to embark in the Synodal process.
Mother Mary help the church to dwell in the spirit of unity by worshipping Him in the Eucharist which is ray of hope, love, peace, joy and endurance for all generations to come. Amen
Jesus Youth Movement
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
Mary daughter of the Heavenly father, Mother of the divine son and spouse of Holy spirit.
Holy apostolic church invoked by the Holy Spirit was born on Pentecost with your divine presence with the Apostles.
Mother Mary you have evoked an obedience in God's people with your submission to the will of God.
Mother Mary help all Christians to give their best in the Synod of synodality in listening, speaking and in dialogue within the church and the world; in the will to God. Amen.
John Prakash
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
St. Francis of Assisi your deep love for Christ and church embarked you to live in Christ with humility.
We humbly pray to renew and enflame our timid and lukewarm mind, soul, heart to worship God with overflowing energy and to serve the holy church with abundant joy, peace, love for Christ with an evangelical zeal.
Guide the holy Church which is on the path of synod of synodality, to listen to all living creatures, fellow men and to live the pilgrimage life on earth with our Lord the creator of heaven and earth.
We humbly seek you intercession in path of listening, reconciliation and penance in building a Holy and Apostolic church on Earth through the Synod. Amen
Raichel
India
St. Joseph protector of the Holy Family from the time Mary's conception your discernment and obedience to the will of God gave us the Saviour of the world.
Help us in a Christian relationship and fellowship in our journey of synod of synodality in humility with your guidance and prayer.
Help each person to dream and discern the will of God to build the church and to proclaim the gospel to the whole world.
We seek your intercession for the unity in human race as one holy family. Amen
JOHN PHILIPOSE
Jesus Youth Movement
United Arab Emirates
Good Teacher, as the man of the Gospel called you
and whom you were open to encounter,
give us your way of behaving in this Synodal process
to let ourselves be met and sensitive to
our brothers and sisters’ worries, like you did.
Grant us not to be indifferent to humanity, but to be excited about everything.
Let us be open to encountering faces,
meeting eyes, sharing everyone’s history.
You, that taught us that an encounter can change the life,
give us, in this way, the grace of the art of encounter to have time with you
and be open to the encounter with others.
Send us your Holy Spirit to be instruments
of a Church called to serve the Kingdom of Your Father.
Click To Pray Team
Mother of the Redeemer, source of our hope and faith lead us in the path of listening, dialogue, to speak the truth of the gospel and values of humanity in Synod of synodality.
Mother Mary enlighten the mind and soul of all people to listen to voice of God. We humbly pray to renew every Christian homes to be a dwelling place of the Lord as the Holy Family.
Jesus purify each person with your precious blood, Mother Mary protect your children, St Joseph patron of the Church. Pray for us. Amen
DOLLY ELIAS JOHN
UAE
Lord Jesus Christ Alpha and Omega enkindle our hearts with new life in the Holy Spirit as we journey through the Synod of Synodality. Enflame our minds, thoughts with wisdom and knowledge to a new way of life rooted in gospel.
We pray for the out pouring of the Holy Spirit in the church to be united with Jesus Christ.
We pray to Holy Spirit to enrich the children and youth with sacraments of Eucharist and reconciliation
Mother Mary we entrust all children in your Immaculate Heart.
RAICHEL NESTOR REUBEN JOHN
Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Let us keep in mind in our personal and community prayer next week's meeting of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops with the members of the four synod’s commissions in Rome.
Enlighten, O Lord, the hearts of the participants,
who represent the diversity and richness of the Church.
Dispose their minds to listen to the Spirit of truth
so that their work and their reflections may best
serve Your Church.
Let them discover how to transmit
in the best way the experience of being a listening Church
and promote the participation of God's people.
On this journey, to which we are all called
to be enthused by the fire of the Spirit
that gives the necessary gifts at the right time,
we want to open ourselves, together with Mary
to the newness of a life of faith
which is built in communion
on the paths of love and hope.
Holy Spirit our way to truth guide the church in the midst of turmoil and chaos in the world of uncertainties . Help each person to be bond in the unity of love and peace, fill everyone in the church with abundant joy in times of crisis, suffering and grief . We pray for synod of synodality be a new Pentecostal experience in building the church and the zeal to evangelize the human race. Mother Mary hold our hands to be united with your children entrusted by Jesus. Amen
John Prakash
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
Look at that cross, do you see it? There, at the end of the road.
From the dawn I felt it calling me.
It looked at me and I looked at it, and in its shadow I could see
the path I sought for my humble feet.
Look at his arms, don't you see that they anticipate the embrace
that we have been longing for, that was missing inside us?
Take my hand and let us walk the way of the cross.
Your strength will be rest. My steps, those that you walk.
Soon we will be arriving, and we will know that, in the end,
it is not the cross that is our destiny, but the light that lies behind it.
Ana Medina Heredia (Diocese of Malaga, Spain)
Heavenly Father,
as the Magi journeyed towards Bethlehem led by the star,
so by your heavenly light,
guide the Catholic Church to walk together with all Christians during this time of synod.
As the Magi were united in their worship of Christ,
lead us closer to your Son and so to one another,
so that we become a sign of the unity that you desire for your Church and the whole creation.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Mother of Mercy,
Comforter of the afflicted,
bless your consecrated
sons and daughters,
called to be credible witnesses
of the Kingdom in the footsteps
of your beloved Son.
Gather them within the folds
of your protective mantle.
Be their Mother always
and bring them to safety
in the Kingdom of your Son
who lives and reigns
with the Father and the
Holy Spirit forever and ever.
Poor Clare Colletines – Los Altos, CA - USA
O Holy Spirit Come, bless this Synod
Come, open the hearts of all participants to God’s will
At this moment in time for the Catholic Church And for all members of the Body of Christ.
Let us follow You where God wills for us to travel
Let the Catholic Church “Receive … in the Lord” the messengers of God’s will for us at this time
As the community in Rome received St. Phoebe witnessing to St. Paul’s Letter to the Roman’s.
St. Phoebe, be with us
Let our ears be attentive, let our hearts be open
Let our hearts also be courageous to proclaim God’s Truth as you did when you witnessed To the community in Rome.
O Spirit, blow where you will!
Rose Byrne - North Garden, Virginia - USA
Sweet Jesus, You draw Your Church to Yourself in the Eucharist, nourishing her with Your own Body and Blood to be broken and shared in a life giving communion, with all our brothers and sisters in the world.
United in Your self sacrifice made present in our every thought, word and deed, may we become a living fire of Your passionate prayer, “Father may they be one just as You and I are one.”
May Your incarnate love that has lowered heaven into our soul, enable us to see all reality with Your eyes, so that with You Jesus we cry out, “Abba Father, who art in heaven - the heaven of our soul; may this heaven come into the hearts of all human kind.”
May Mary Your Mother, the model of contemplation intercede for us to have a listening ear, open to one another and to the Holy Spirit together with a pondering heart.
May Your Spirit transform us in our relationships; make us ever docile to doing Your will so that we in our monastic, hidden lives, open to listening, conversion and harmony may nurture oneness in the Church; a synodality that will enrich and create true communion among all the partakers of the Synod and the world at large under one Shepherd and one fold.
Amen.
Prem Jyot Carmel Ashram, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
Come Holy Spirit!
May the synodal process lead us to become like the first assembly of the Church where the disciples persevered steadfastly in prayer with Mary, recalling the memories of Jesus, his words, deeds and promises.
We ask the Spirit of love to lead us to that common vision which will unite us as a community of faith in one mind and one heart.
Congregation of Our Lady of the Cenacle
Casa Generalizia
Holy Spirit, we are gathered in the name of Jesus.
As his gift to us, guide us; make Yourself at home in our hearts, our homes and churches.
You who fill the world, Holy Spirit, fill our minds and hearts.
Show us the way you desire to renew the Church and give us courage to walk it.
Let us find our way to harmony and unity, truth and self-knowledge
May we run the way together to a renewed and relevant church in the world and to eternal life.
Amen.
Sisters of St.Benedict in Winnipeg, Manitoba - Canada
We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we journey together as a “Church on the Way in this Synodal Process.”
Bless us with an openness to various voices and a fidelity to the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church.
Help us to accept the challenge of ongoing conversion so as not to let sin lead to disorder, but rather teach us to accompany one another as we follow you on the synodal path.
“The heart of the church’s mission is prayer,” and we make this prayer from our hearts so as to be drawn closer to you and to one another.
All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time, in communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever.
Amen.
Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, PA, USA
Listen with the ear of your heart and hear the voice of God,
calling us to respond creatively and share the gifts we have.
Brothers and sisters, we are all one family, building God’s Kingdom here on earth today.
Living the message of the Gospel in our lives, we must strengthen one another in faith.
Sow the seeds of faith, hope and love: what you plant will yield abundant fruit.
Work for peace and justice, freedom for all; then shall the whole world live in harmony.
Whatsoever you have done unto the least of these, in the same way you have done unto me.
Eat this bread and drink this cup in memory of me. When you gather in my name, I am there.
Benedictine Monks of Weston Priory
USA
We come to you, Oh God,
in silence to listen with the ear of the heart to the indwelling voice of your Holy Spirit.
We pray for unity of all the poor, the voiceless, the marginalized and all of those who are excluded.
Gift our bishops with open hearts and ears to hear the Church, the people of God, with wisdom, knowledge, patience and courage. Amen.
St. Scholastica Monastery - USA
This coming 9 October, the new synodal way will begin. Let us pray together so that the reflections and exchanges of this Assembly might help us rediscover the joy of being the People of God who journeys together, listening to everyone.
Prayer of invocation to the Holy Spirit for an ecclesial assembly of governance or discernment (thus synodal)
Every session of the Second Vatican Council began with the prayer Adsumus Sancte Spiritus. For the Synod 2021-2023, we propose to use this simplified version, so that any group or liturgical assembly can pray more easily.
We stand before You, Holy Spirit,
as we gather together in Your name.
With You alone to guide us,
make Yourself at home in our hearts;
Teach us the way we must go
and how we are to pursue it.
We are weak and sinful;
do not let us promote disorder.
Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path
nor partiality influence our actions.
Let us find in You our unity
so that we may journey together to eternal life
and not stray from the way of truth
and what is right.
All this we ask of You,
who are at work in every place and time,
in the communion of the Father and the Son,
forever and ever. Amen.
Title revised from Latin, to have a proper incipit, different from the Adsumus Dominus Sancte Spiritus. The Caeremoniale Episcoporum 1984ss., n. 1173, only proposes the use of the Adsumus but does not give the text. The German version Das Zeremoniale für die Bischöfe, n. 1188, gives a German translation based on the Latin text of the Acta Synodalia of the Council, vol. I/1, p. 159.