Lord, you offer freedom to all people.
We pray for all who are incarcerated
and for those who are affected by
or involved in their imprisonment.
Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist.
Support with your love, prisoners,
their families, friends,
prison staff and all who care.
In 2009, a Columban Sister and a Columban Father each published a book about the histories of their respective communities.
The German Bundestag Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development led by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights and Policy and Humanitarian Aid, Dr. Bärbel Kofler, nominated the work done by the Preda Foundation, Columban Father Shay Cullen and his team for the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. It can only now be made public.
Behold me at Your feet, O Jesus of Nazareth,
behold the most wretched of creatures,
who comes into Your presence humbled and penitent!
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
according to Your great mercy!
I have sinned and my sins are always before You.
Yet my soul belongs to You,
for You have created it,
and redeemed it with Your Precious Blood.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
The generosity of God's love and that of the Columban Fathers who have gone before us starting with Galvin, Blowick and companions up to those who are still with us at present is what inspired me in my call to mission.
By the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Queen of Peace, set up Your kingdom in our country.
Enter closely into the midst of our families
and make them Your own
through the solemn enthronement of Your Sacred Heart
so that no one cry may respond from home to home.
May the triumphant Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved,
blessed and glorified forever!
Jesus, Lover of chastity,
Mary, Mother most pure,
and Joseph, chaste guardian of the Virgin,
to you I come at this hour,
begging you to plead with God for me.
I earnestly wish to be pure in thought,
word and deed in imitation of your own holy purity.
When I lived in Pakistan I was part of the 1.6 percent who are Christians in this predominantly Muslim country which has an estimated 203 million people. In Pakistan many Muslims have hardly ever met a Christian and certainly do not know anything about the Christian faith. Nor are most of them even interested, because it is not a major concern for them.
My Jesus,
by the sorrows You suffered in Your agony in the Garden,
in Your scourging and crowning with thorns,
on the way to Calvary,
in Your crucifixion and death,
have mercy on the souls in purgatory,
and especially on those that are most forsaken;
Deliver them from the terrible torments they endure;