Join us each week and pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, for your children. They need you to bring them to the Lord in prayer.
Our special intention for the month of May is for all children receiving the Sacraments of the Catholic Church at this time of year and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.
Our special intention for the month of May is for all children receiving the Sacraments of the Catholic Church at this time of year and we invite you to include this intention in your weekly holy hour.
The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324)
Prayer for all children making their first Holy Communion
O Jesus, who hast loved us with such exceeding great love as to give us the ineffable gift of the Holy Eucharist, inflame us with a burning zeal to promote Thy glory by preparing worthily the little children who are to approach Thy holy table for the first time.
Protect, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, these young souls from the assaults of evil, strengthen their faith,
increase their love and endow them with all the virtues that will make them worthy to receive Thee.
Amen.
The Sacrament of Confirmation
The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1285 explains “Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptised] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed."
The bishop invokes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those to be Confirmed in these words of prayer:
All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life. Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.