“Dear children! The Most High, in His goodness, gave me to you to lead you on the way of peace. Many have responded and are praying, but there are many creatures who do not have peace and have not come to know the God of love. Therefore, little children, pray and love, create prayer groups to encourage each other to the good. I am with you and am praying for your conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call.” -Our Lady of Medjugorje, in private revelation given to Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, on October 25, 2025
A Prayer for All Things Necessary for Salvation (from the book “General Catholic Devotions” by Father Bonaventure Hammer)
O my God! I believe in Thee; do Thou strengthen my faith. All my hopes are in Thee; do Thou secure them. I love Thee with my whole heart; teach me to love Thee more and more. I am sorry that I have offended Thee; do Thou increase my sorrow. I adore Thee as my first beginning; I aspire after Thee as my last end. I give Thee thanks as my constant benefactor; I call upon thee as my sovereign protector.
Vouchsafe, O my God, to conduct me by Thy wisdom, to restrain me by Thy justice, to comfort me by Thy mercy, to defend me by Thy power. To Thee, I desire to consecrate all my thoughts, my actions, and my sufferings, that I henceforward may think only of Thee, speak only of Thee, and ever refer all my actions to Thy greater glory, and suffer willingly whatever Thou shalt appoint.
O Lord, I desire that in all things, Thy Will be done, because it is Thy Will, and in the manner that Thou willest. I beg of Thee to enlighten my understanding, to inflame my will, to purify my body, and to sanctify my soul. Give me strength, O my God, to expiate my offenses, to overcome my temptations, to subdue my passions, to acquire the virtues proper for my state.
Fill my heart with tender affection for Thy goodness, a hatred of my faults, a love for my neighbor, and a contempt for the world. Let me always be submissive to my superiors, condescending to my inferiors, faithful to my friends, and charitable to my enemies. Assist me to overcome sensuality by mortification, avarice by alms-deeds, anger by meekness, and tepidity by zeal.
O my God, make me prudent in my undertakings, courageous in dangers, patient in affliction, and humble in prosperity. Grant that I may be ever attentive at my prayers, temperate at my meals, diligent in my employments, and constant in my resolutions. Let my conscience be ever upright and pure, my exterior modest, my conversation edifying, my comportment (conduct, behavior) regular. Assist me, that I may continually labor to overcome nature, correspond with Thy grace, keep Thy commandments, and work out my salvation. Discover to me, O my God, the nothingness of this world, the greatness of heaven, the shortness of time, the length of eternity. Grant that I may be prepared for death, fear Thy judgments, escape hell, and, in the end, obtain heaven.
All that I have asked for myself, I confidently ask for others; for my family, my relations, my benefactors, my friends, and also for my enemies. I ask it for the whole Church, for all the orders of which it is composed; more especially for our Holy Father, the Pope; for our bishop, for our pastors, and for all who are in authority; also for all those for whom Thou desirest that I should pray. Give them, O Lord, all that Thou knowest to be conducive to Thy glory and necessary for their salvation. Strengthen the just in virtue, convert sinners, enlighten infidels, heretics, and schismatics; console the afflicted, give to the faithful departed rest and eternal life; that together, we may praise, love, and bless Thee for all eternity. Amen.
An excerpt from “Lift Up Your Heart: A Guide to Spiritual Peace” by Venerable Fulton J. Sheen:
No one is ever safe against the tyranny of the ego except through the power and love of God. The only way of keeping evil out is to let God in. Character building does not consist in the elimination of vice, but in the cultivation of virtue; not in the casting out of sin, but in the deepening of love. The person who wishes to expel evil without praying for the presence of God is doomed to failure. Nothing is secure until He is there and until His love is spread throughout our hearts.
Great patience is required to effect this transformation. If characters become impatient, it is because they fail to realize the great heights that have to be attained. When children watch a parent work, they generally complain about the slowness of the work. That is because they do not see the task as the parent does, nor understand how much detail has to be completed to attain the wished result. Even those who have some degree of sanctity find it hard sometimes to remain on the Cross until the end; the world is full of half-crucified souls, who have come down from the Cross at the challenge of the world after an hour, or two hours, or even after two hours and fifty-nine minutes. Few are like the Savior who will stay until the end, that they, like Him, might utter the cry of triumph: “It is finished.”
Because the perfection at which we aim is lofty and difficult, human souls need and should gladly accept the calm, pure happiness the Infinite Designer sometimes sends them. We should not insist on constant strife against ourselves; there is a time for reaping in the spiritual life. Joylessness can hold us back from God.
A want of resoluteness, too, can spoil our efforts, for, as Saint James says: “A man who is in two minds will find no rest wherever he goes” (James 1:8). This halfhearted temper in character development sees prayer as something that may do good, and in any case can do no harm; it trusts in God, but it places a greater reliance on the economic solution for its ills. Its first plans and prays, and then tries to perform the plan without the prayer. Character cannot develop under conditions of such disorder, confusion, and dividedness. Conflict of such a kind makes the mind tired, as it tries to blend two things that will not mix, and fatigues itself in crossing from one road to the other.
Character is built by singleness of purpose, and nothing so unifies our goals as a temptation that is overcome, a conflict resolved by the love that not only shows the answer, but [also] gives us the strength to reach for it. The search for spiritual unity is identical with the effort to perfect the character. And since there is no unity except in the Truth which is God, the quality of our search will depend on where we place the emphasis in the sentence: “I seek the Truth.” If the stress is put on the I, the character is ego-centered still, and truths are merely values to be assimilated for our vainglorious growth. But if it is the Truth toward which we wish to grow, our souls are able, at last, to disregard the self and overflow its narrow boundaries. Then freedom is our climate, for “the Truth will make you free.” (cf. John 8:32)
From an address by Pope Leo XIV, on October 28, 2025:
The human heart must be open to peace. It is through meditation that we open our hearts, and in prayer that we go beyond ourselves. We recollect ourselves in order to go beyond ourselves. This is our witness: offering the immense treasures of ancient spiritualities to contemporary humanity.
The world is thirsting for peace. We need a true and sound era of reconciliation that puts an end to the abuse of power, displays of force, and indifference to the rule of law. Enough of war, with all the pain it causes through death, destruction, and exile! Gathered here today, we express not only our firm desire for peace, but also our conviction that prayer is a powerful force for reconciliation.
Those who practice religion without prayer run the risk of misusing it, even to the point of killing. Prayer is a movement of the spirit and an opening of the heart. It is not shouting words, displaying behavior or religious slogans against God’s creatures. We have faith that prayer changes the course of history. May places of prayer be tents of encounter, sanctuaries of reconciliation, and oases of peace.
