Pause for Prayer: Praying for Workers

    Saint Joseph the Worker by Michael O'Brien

Today is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

Please join me in my litany to Joseph, the patron saint of all workers...

 

For those who have lost a job

    and for those who are overworked and need rest...

         Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For laborers around the world
    who are underpaid, neglected and abused... 

        Saint Joseph, pray for us....

 

For all those who grow and raise the food we eat,
    who stock the shelves, bake the bread,
        cut the meat, arrange the fresh produce,
            ring up, bag or deliver my groceries... 

                Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For all those whose hard, dirty, gritty work
    benefit us, our comfort and our life style... 

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For those who work in in the government

    for liberty, justice and freedom for all...

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For all victims of human trafficking

    who are bought and sold as commodities... 

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For all those who design and plan, 

    dig and construct, and clean and maintain

    the buildings and malls, the schools and the stores

    where we live, work, buy and sell, learn and play

        day by day,  from dawn to dusk 

            and through the night... 

                 Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For all those whose wages force them to live

    pay check to pay check - or always in debt... 

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For restaurant workers 

    who prepare and cook our food,         

    who mix our drinks, serve our meals and

    who clean up after us once we're gone...    

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For all those whose everyday toil and work

    puts their lives on the line for us,

for first responders, law enforcement, 

    fire fighters and military,  

for all who work to ensusre

    our welfare, safety and freedom... 

            Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For those who build homes and cities 

    where people may live and work and play...

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For all those who repair and fix

     our cars, our plumbing,

       our phones and computers, 

          our household appliances, our HVAC,

     our flooded basements and all the tasks

        we always need done by tomorrow!

             Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For all those who work to care for our health
    no matter when or how sick  we may be,
        always on call for our care...

            Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For all those who fill the potholes 

    and  plow the roads,

who shovel our paths, cut our lawns, trim our hedges, 

    rake our leaves and weed our gardens,

making our streets, our yards and our homes,

    the places we all call home...

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

For all those who teach and instruct us,

    who tutor, coach and train us, 

       who preach the word and pray for us;

    who sculpt, paint and draw for us, 

        who sing, play and act for us,

    who research, write and compose for us,

    who find and report the news for us,

        good news and bad, 24/7/365... 

            Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

 For those who work 

    to help others find work...

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For those who hire

     those who are called unemployable...

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For those who do the work

    that no one else wants to do...

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For those whose working days are over, 

    and now live in retirement...

        Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For those who feel defined by their work

    who find it hard to relax and slow down,

        and be present to the moment...

            Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

For those whose work is justice and peace,

    in our nation, the Church and the world...

         Saint Joseph pray for us... 

  

For all of those who, in hundreds of ways,

     make our lives every day

        finer, easier, happier, safer, 

        healthier, freer and more peaceful,

     on account of the daily work they do

        serving you, O Lord, and their neighbors...

           Saint Joseph, pray for us...

 

Bless the work of our hands, O Lord,

    through the prayer of Saint Joseph the Worker:

may our work serve all who live in need

    and give glory and praise to you,

        the Maker of heaven and earth...

Amen. 

May the Work I've Done Speak For Me  

    by Sullivan Pugh

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May the work I’ve done speak for me

May the work I’ve done speak for me

When I’m resting in my grave

There is nothing to be said

May the work I’ve done speak for me

 

May the life I live speak for me

May the life I live speak for me

When the best I try to live

My mistakes he will forgive

May the life I live speak for me

 

May the service I give speak for me

May the service I give speak for me

When I’ve done the best I can

and my friends don’t understand

May the service I give speak for me

 

 The work I done

 it seems so small

 Sometimes it seems like

 seems like nothing at all

 But when I stand before my God

 I want to hear him say - Well done!

 May the work I've done speak for me

 

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NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 4/30

Today is the tenth anniversary of the death of poet, priest, protestor, prophet and peacemaker, Dan Berrigan, SJ.  I had the privilege of meeting Dan in 1996 when I was the pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in West Concord and the parish Social Action and Justice Committee hosted him for their annual speaker's event.  But long before meeting Dan, I had included these words of his  in the worship aid for my first Mass in 1973:

When I hear bread breaking, 

I see something else; 

it seems almost as though 

God never meant us to do anything else.   

So beautiful a sound, 

the crust breaks up like manna 

and falls all over everything, 

and then we eat. 

Bread gets inside humans.  

It turns into what the experts call 

“formal glory of God.”  

But don’t let that worry you.   

Sometime in your life, 

hope you might see one starved man, 

the look on his face 

when the bread finally arrives.   

Hope you might have baked it or bought it 

– or even needed it yourself.  

For that look on his face, 

for your hands meeting his 

across a piece of bread, 

you might be willing to lose a lot, 

or suffer a lot 

– or die a little, even.   

            (in Love, Love at the End) 

Lord, 

I know that you are bread for me,

the bread of your word, 

of your wisdom and truth,

the bread of your presence

broken open for me

that I might have life

and have it to the full...

 

But how am I bread for others, Lord?

How do you want to break my crust

like a loaf of bread

to feed the mouths, the hearts, 

the minds and souls of those around me?

 

How might I break myself open,

as though that were the only purpose

for which you conceived of me, created me, 

knit me in my mother's womb 

and birthed me into the world

- to live and die

that others might have life

and have it to the full...

 

Break me like a loaf of bread, Lord,

and let pieces of me fall

over everyone and everything 

in my path...

 

Let the giving of your life, Lord,

mend and heal 

the brokenness in ours;

let the sharing of our crumbs

feed the hunger of the world 

until gathered all together

we are one again in you... 

Protect us, Lord while we're awake

    and watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen. 

 

In The Breaking of the Bread

  by Bob Hurd

 

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 In the breaking of the bread

 We have known Him; we have been fed.

 Jesus the stranger, Jesus the Lord,

 Be our companion, be our hope.

 

 Bread for the journey, strength for our years, 

 manna of ages of struggle and tears. 

 Cup of salvation, fruit of the land, 

 bless and receive now, the work of our hands. 

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Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 4/30

 

Lord, 

 

   wake my heart from its listless sleep...

 

   forgive my heart its faults and failings...

 

   grace my heart with your quiet presence...  

 

   embolden my heart to face my fears...

 

   warm my heart where it's grown cold...

 

   settle my anxious, restless heart... 

    

   fill my heart with a generous spirit...

 

   heal my heart of its aches and wounds...

 

   calm my troubled, worried heart... 

 

   stir my heart with your Spirit's power...

 

   counsel my heart with wisdom's light...

 

   touch my heart with your gentle peace...

 

   crown my heart with selfless giving...

 

Give me a heart to share with others,

   a heart wide open to others' needs...

Come into my heart and dwell there, Lord
   and welcome my heart to dwell in yours...

Amen.

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NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 4/29

I'd love to lean my head 

    upon your shoulder, Lord,

and listen while you tell me a story 

    or sing me a song or just hum softly

         'til I fall fast asleep...

 

Then I'd put aside my worries 

    and my nightly tossing-turning

        over troubles yet to come...

 

So tonight, Lord,

    let my prayer find your shoulder
        and my heart lean close to yours
    while I listen for a story,
        for a song to calm my soul...

As you've brought me through this day,
    be in my dreams all through this night
and be there in the morning
    when I greet a new day's dawn...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake,
    keep vigil while I sleep
that awake, I may keep watch for you
    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

                                                    Image source

You may be familiar with this hymn,

but perhaps not with this beautiful, peaceful arrangement...

 

Lord of All Hopefulness

    lyrics by Jane Struther;

    tune: Slane (traditional Irish); 

    arranged by Nancy Grundahl

 

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Be with us, Lord, give us your bliss

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
whose trust, ever childlike, no cares could destroy:
Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,
your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.

Be with us, Lord, give us you strength.

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,
whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe:
Be there at our labors, and give us, we pray,
your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.

Be with us, Lord, give us your love.

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,
your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace:
Be there at our homing, and give us, we pray,
your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve of the day.

Be with us, Lord, give us your peace.

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,
whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm:
Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,
your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.

 

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Pause for Prayer: WEDNESDAY 4/29

 

 

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NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 4/28

There are words I've prayed for decades, Lord,

    and because they're so familiar

they can easily pass me by

    - though they're right there on my lips... 

For instance?  

 

Well, every night I pray that

    I might keep watch with you...

 

That I might sit by your side

    as you survey the world around us...

 

That I might take in the day's events

    from your perspective

        and with your wisdom...

 

That I might see, through your eyes

    the mystery of veiled beauty, 

        every hidden gift and blessing,

            every unassuming joy...

 

That I might discern, 

    by the light of your word,

        the truth of things:

            what's honest, fair and just...

 

That I might observe, 

    as carefully as you do,

        the little things that matter 

            and really make a difference...

 

That I might see, as you see,

    all my neighbors' joys and sorrows,

        all their troubles, pain and burdens... 

 

That I might watch and wait for

    any ways I might serve others

        with who I am and all I have...

 

That when my eyes grow heavy

    I might lean upon your shoulder, 

nod, drift off and fall asleep 

    in your strong and loving arms...

 

Help me listen, Lord,

    help me learn, know and understand

        the words I pray each day, Lord...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

    and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep rest in your peace...

 

Amen. 

 

Keep Watch, Dear Lord

    by Craig Phillips

 

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Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 4/28

I took this photo yesterday from the porch of Concord's Colonial Inn where I was having lunch with an old friend. The colors in the upper left are bunting on the Inn's porch roof...  At the lower left are the stairs to the church where I prayed with the people of Holy Family... At the lower right, my home for 15 years on Monument Square...  And over all: the sun shining down on a beautiful spring day...

Yesterday afternoon

    it all came together, Lord:

        the season, the day,

        the present, the past,

        the moment, the memories,

        the healing, the peace 

    shared with a friend,

        breaking bread on the porch

    with the noon day sun,

        warm on my arms,

    and piercing through

        to the depths of my heart...

 

It was nothing less 

    than a day of grace:

        a truly sacramental day;

    and nothing more 

        than paschal joy

    redeeming creation, 

        along with my soul, 

    in the heart of town,

        in Monument Square...

 

I praise you, 

    good and generous God

        from whom all blessings flow;

keep open wide 

    my heart to days

        when grace is in the air..

     

Amen. 

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