Lenten Reflections: Pray for Brussels!

Brussels, has been a victim of terrorism this morning. Two explosions, most likely suicide bombings,  went off at Brussels airport at 8 am. at least 13 people had died and 35 people were injured during this attack. Furthermore, about 30 minutes later there was a second wave of attack, there was a bombing at the Maalbeek Metro station in Brussels where 15 people lost their lives and 55 people were injured. Authorities have just raised the threat level to 4/4. We must Pray for the people who lost their lives and their families, for those injured, and also that Peace come to the whole world. 

Peace is not just the absence of war. Like a cathedral, peace must be constructed patiently and with unshakable faith.

--Pope John Paul II

Prayer for Peace in the World by Pope john Paul II

Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths toward the future.

From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us. From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us. From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us. From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us. From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us. From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings,laden with the sufferings of whole societies. Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin: individual sin and the “sin of the world,”sin in all its manifestations.

Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the redemption: the power of merciful love. May it put a stop to evil. May it transform consciences. May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. Amen

Ta, Ta for Now!