PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR
Remember us, O God; from age to age be our comforter. You have given us the wonders of time, blessings in days and nights, seasons and years. Bless your children at the turning of the year and fill the months ahead with the bright hope that is ours in the coming of Christ. You are our God, living and reigning, forever and ever. Amen.
PRAYER FOR PEACE
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness; joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
RESPECT LIFE PRAYER
Heavenly Father, the beauty and dignity of human life was the crowning of your creation. You further ennobled that life when your Son became one with us in His incarnation. Help us to realize the sacredness of human life and to respect it from the moment of conception until the last moment at death. Give us courage to speak with truth and love and with conviction in defense of life. Help us to extend the gentle hand of mercy and forgiveness to those who do not reverence your gift of life. To all, grant pardon for the times we have failed to be grateful for your precious gift of life or to respect it in others. We ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.