Lord, make me a better person: more considerate towards others, more honest with myself, more faithful to you. Help me to find my true vocation in life and grant that through it I may find happiness myself and bring happiness to others. Grant, Lord, that those whom you call to enter priesthood or religious life may have the generosity to answer your call, so that those who need your help may always find it. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Peace
by Pope Leo XIII
O Lord, you see how everywhere the winds have burst forth, and the sea is convulsed with the great violence of the rising waves. Command, we beseech you, you who alone are able, both the winds and the sea. Restore to mankind the true peace of your Name, that peace which the world cannot give, and the calm of social harmony. Under your favor and inspiration may men return to due order, and having overthrown the rule of greed, bring back again as ought to be, the love of God, justice, charity toward neighbor, temperance in all desires. May your kingdom come. May all recognize that they are subject to you, and must serve you who are truth and salvation; that without you they labor in vain. In your law is reason and fatherly kindness. You are ever at hand with your strength and your copious power to help man to keep it. Life upon earth is a warfare, but you watch the contest and aid man to conquer. The weak you sustain; the victor you crown. Amen.
Prayer for Peace by Pope John XXIII
Lord Jesus Christ, who are called the Prince of Peace, who are yourself our peace and reconciliation, who so often said, “Peace to you,” grant us peace. Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice, and brotherly love. Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace. Enlighten our rulers that they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace. May all the peoples of the earth become as brothers and sisters. May longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always over us all. Amen.
Prayer for Peace by Pope Saint John Paul II
O God, Creator of the universe, who extends your paternal concern over every creature and guides the events of history to the goal of salvation, we acknowledge your fatherly love when you break the resistance of mankind and, in a world torn by strife and discord, you make us ready for reconciliation. Renew for us the wonders of your mercy: send forth your Spirit that He may work in the intimacy of hearts, that enemies may begin to dialogue, that adversaries may shake hands and peoples may encounter one another in harmony. May all commit themselves to the sincere search for true peace which will extinguish all arguments, for charity which overcomes hatred, for pardon which disarms revenge. Amen.
Prayer for Peace by Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
O blessed Jesus, give me stillness of soul in You. Let your mighty calmness reign in me. Rule me, O You, King of Gentleness, King of peace. Amen.
A Prayer for Priests by Richard Cardinal Cushing
O Almighty Eternal God, look upon the face of Thy Son, and for the love of Him who is the eternal High Priest, have pity on Thy priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them by the imposition of the bishop’s hands. Keep them close to Thee, lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.
O Jesus, I pray Thee for Thy faithful and fervent priests; for Thy unfaithful and tepid priests; for Thy priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Thy tempted priests; for Thy lonely priests; for Thy dying priests; for the souls of Thy priests in purgatory. But above all I commend to Thee the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted, and who gave me Thy Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me, or helped and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly N. O Jesus, keep them all close to Thy Heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.
A Prayer for Right Living
by an Unknown Confederate Soldier
I asked for strength that I might achieve; I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I had asked for, but everything that I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered; I am, among all men, most richly blessed. Amen.
Prayer for Saint Joseph’s Intercession
O God, who in your unspeakable providence chose blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother, grant, we beseech you, that we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in Heaven, whom we venerate on earth as our protector. Who lives and reigns world without end. Amen.
Prayer for a Student
O Eternal Father and Incarnate Word, through the Gifts and Fruits of your Holy Spirit, enlighten and perfect my intellect, will and affections that in all things I may be what your Divine Wisdom intended me to be, a Bearer of Christ to all. Illuminate, therefore, my intellect with supernatural faith; strengthen my will with supernatural hope; and inflame my heart with your Divine Love. Create in me Christ-like ideals, attitudes, appreciations and habits that will enable me to think, judge, and act so as to be like your Immaculate Mother, a Bearer of Christ to all. Give me the necessary skills and docility to earn an honest living; prudence to direct and guide my understanding; justice to regulate my will in respecting the rights of others; temperance to control my desires and appetites; and fortitude to defend and practice your Way, your Truth, and your Life, thus being like Saint Joseph, a Bearer of Christ to all. Teach me to be modest and chaste in regard to myself and others; to be joyfully respectful and obedient to my parents, teachers, ecclesiastical and civil superiors. Thus, by your grace will I grow in the Stature of Christ, in wisdom and age, and be a Bearer of Him to all. O most Holy Trinity, dwelling in my soul, make me realize that I cannot thus live without the supernatural life of grace that comes through frequent reception of the sacraments, through my offering with the Priest of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, through my daily prayers and through sacrifices and mortification on my part. Through your grace only will I, therefore, put on the image of Christ so that through Him, and with Him, and in Him, I shall advance the Peace of Christ in the Reign of Christ, and be an eternal Bearer of Him to all my brothers and sisters. Amen.
Prayer at Dawn
by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389)
I rise and pledge myself, Lord, that this day I shall do no evil deed, but offer every moment as a sacrifice to you. I blush when I remember my sinfulness; I shudder when to recall how I have betrayed you. Yet you know that now I want only to serve you. Make me this day your devoted servant.