Nazareth Prayer
Welcome to the newest section of our website. The initiative of its creation emerged during one of our meetings in September 2012. Through prayers, reflections, and photos of the places where we pray, we want to share with you what is of most value to us, and to invite you to join us in prayer.
The prayers, which you will find here will be quite varied. Some of them are recited in all our local communities, therefore are written different languages while others may be recited only in one country or province. By gathering them together we want to create a special “treasury of prayers” – for the time being in electronic form and perhaps may be printed in the future. The prayers are provided in the language in which they are known and recited. Therefore this site will be different from others since it will appear in either the English and/or Polish languages.
First a few words about what is prayer for us.
“The house of Nazareth is the school of prayer, where one learns to listen, reflect and deepen the profound meaning of the revelation of the Son of God, drawing example from Mary, Joseph and Jesus” – as stated by Pope Paul VI, and repeated by our Holy Father Benedict XVI during his audience on Dec. 29, 2011. As Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth we learn from Mary and Joseph how to adore Jesus in contemplative prayer. Just like Mary and St. Joseph who lived their everyday life with Jesus, so we want Him to be with us in our daily lives, as our Mother Foundress said, “We are called to live in God.” In prayer we seek God’s Face, we focus our desires on God, and we unite ourselves with Jesus, our Bridegroom. Prayer is also our primary form of service to mankind. In it we embrace the whole Church, especially our Holy Father the Pope, families, our ministries, and all people who are suffering in any way. We pray both individually and communally. All our prayer is directed to God in the Name of Jesus. In particular we pray through the intercession of Mary and St Joseph. Our daily prayer to the Holy Family unites us, as Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. We also pray through the intercession of our Saintly Sisters – our Mother Foundress, Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd, our Martyred Sisters, Blessed Stella and her Companions as well as their, the Servant of God, Sister Malgorzata Banas.
Creator spirit, come and visit the souls that are yours; fill with heavenly grace the hearts that you created.
You are called by the names of Paraclete, gift of God most high, fire, love, the soul’s anointing.
Seven gifts are yours to give. You are the finger of the Father’s right hand. You, the clear promise of the Father, give men’s tongues the gift of speech.
Kindle a light in our minds, pour your love into our hearts, and uphold with your unfailing strength the frailty of our human nature.
Drive our enemy far from us and give us always the gift of peace; with you grace ever guiding us in this way, may we avoid all that is sinful.
Grant that through you we may come to know the Father and the Son, and may we ever believe you to be the Spirit of both the Father and the Son.
Glory be to God the Father, and to the Son, who rose from the dead, and to the Paraclete, forever and ever. Amen.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
She a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine!
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed light divine;
Within these hearts of ours, come shine,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, man has naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away.
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end. Amen.
V. The angel spoke God’s message to Mary,
R. and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. “I am the lowly servant of the Lord:
R. let it be done to me according to your word.”
Hail Mary….
V. And the Word became flesh
R. and lived among us.
Hail Mary….
V. Pray for us, holy Mother of God,
R. that we may become worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray
Lord, fill our hearts with your grace: once, through the message of an angel you revealed to us the incarnation of your Son; now, through his suffering and death lead us to the glory of his resurrection. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior
For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed;
The Almighty has done great things for me,
And holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
In every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
And has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
For he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and the other evil spirits, who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
V. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,
R. Lord, hear my voice!
V. O let you ears be attentive to the voice of my pleading.
R. If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?
V. But with you is found forgiveness: for this we revere you.
R. My soul is waiting for the Lord, I count on his word.
V. My soul is longing for the Lord more than the watchman for daybreak.
R. Let the watchman count on daybreak and Israel for the Lord.
V. Because with the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
R. Israel indeed he will redeem from all its iniquity.
V. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
R. as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.
V. Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord.
R. and let perpetual light shine upon them.
V. From the gates of hell,
R. deliver their souls, O Lord.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer,
R. and let my cry come to you.
Let us pray
O God, the giver of pardon and lover of human salvation, hear our prayer for mercy and, through the intercession of the blessed Mary ever virgin, welcome into you kingdom our departed sisters, especially Sister …., our departed relatives and all the departed benefactors of our Congregation. May they find in your presence the forgiveness they always longed for and praise your glory forever in the fellowship of your saints. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
V. Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord.
R. and let perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.
O Jesus, my Lord, I give myself to you entirely and completely for the fulfillment of your most holy will in all for which you might wish to use me, or to whatever you might call me. I offer myself to you, O my Lord, and place myself under your guidance. Rule and reign over me so that your design and your purpose may be accomplished in me.
I offer myself to you for the fulfillment of the duties which you have entrusted to me or the relinquishing of them at any moment, if such be your will. For love of you, I am ready to render any services to my sisters which you may demand of me. I give myself to you for sorrow and consolation, for suffering and joy, for work and rest, for life and death, for all my Lord, that you would live, rule and reign in and around me in heaven and on earth. Amen.
Almighty and eternal God, may your grace enkindle in all of us a love for the many unfortunate people whom poverty and misery reduce to a condition of life unworthy of human beings. Arouse in the hearts of those who call you Father a hunger and thirst for social justice and for fraternal charity in deeds and in truth. Grant, O Lord, peace in our days: peace to souls, peace to families, peace to our country, and peace among nations. Amen.