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
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.
