Most holy Virgin and Mother,
whose soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow
in the Passion of Your Divine Son,
and who in His glorious Resurrection
was filled with never ending joy at His triumph,
obtain for us who call upon You,
so to be partakers in the adversities of Holy Church
and the Sorrows of the Sovereign Pontiff,
Dear Lord,
I have been the recipient of so much of your goodness in my life.
Please keep me open my mind and heart to receive whatever grace you wish to give me.
In this time of pandemic, it could be that you are giving me new eyes to see
It is Holy Saturday here in Pakistan. It is very warm. In a few hours we will have the celebration of the beautiful Paschal Vigil Ceremony here in the little prayer room at the Joti Catechetical Centre in Mirpurkhas. Around 12 people will attend who will observe social distance. Little did I think that I would be sending Easter greetings from
My name is Uakeia Tawaia, and I come from the Kiribati Islands. In 2016, I was studying Accounting at the Kiribati Institute of Technology (KIT) and was focused on completing my studies and finding a good job. There was no thought in my mind of becoming a missionary priest.
Lord, Your rising from the dead gives the world renewed hope.
Remove the obstacles from my life that keep me
from believing and trusting in the power of Your resurrection.
Through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns forever and ever.
O God, through Your only-begotten Son
You have overcome death on this day
and have opened to us the gate of everlasting life;
pursue with Your aid the good resolves
You have inspired, and by Your constant help
make them lastingly effective.
This is the day the Lord has made, Alleluia.
Let us be glad and rejoice in it, Alleluia.
All-powerful and ever-living God,
Your only Son went down among the dead
and rose again in glory.
In Your goodness raise up your faithful people,
buried with him in baptism,
to be one with him in the eternal life of heaven,
where he lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
O Jesus, who by reason of Your burning love for us
has willed to be crucified
and to shed Your Most Precious Blood
for the redemption and salvation of our souls,
look down upon us here gathered together
in remembrance of Your most sorrowful Passion and Death,
fully trusting in Your mercy;
cleanse us from sin by Your grace,
God our Father,
we are gathered here to share in the supper
which Your only Son left to his Church to reveal his love.
He gave it to us when he was about to die
and commanded us to celebrate it
as the new and eternal sacrifice.
We pray that in this eucharist
we may find the fullness of love and life.
Dear Mother Mary, with this virus going around
I ask you to pray to Jesus for my grandchildren.
How I would love to make the world safe for them.
But deep down I know that is impossible and yet I wish I could.
Nonetheless, I pray that I may be able to pass on to them
the gift of faith and a heart with the impulse to pray.