Urgent Prayer for Parliament
[from HLI’s South African affliliate]
Dear People of Life,
Tomorrow afternoon, Thursday 17th January, The National Assembly will vote on the “Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill”. We ask your prayers on this day, especially for our legislators.
“O God of life and love, You have given the power to bring new life into the world. But all too often a mother’s womb, that should be a nursery of life, becomes instead a place of its destruction. Help us to remove this evil and ensure respect for all life made in Your image and likeness, called to fulfil its promise on this earth, and destined to find a home with You for all eternity. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen”
For an end to all laws
which legalize the taking of a human life,
that our nation might embrace truth and justice:
We pray to the Lord.
That justice, truth, and a love for the gift of life,
might inspire all legislators:
We pray to the Lord.
For all those who govern us,
the members of Parliament and of the Judiciary,
that they may frame laws that are life-giving,
protecting all those who are unable to protect themselves:
We pray to the Lord.
For those who work to change our laws
to reflect the Gospel of Life,
that God might inspire and shepherd them:
We pray to the Lord.
For all young professionals, especially doctors,
lawyers and those in public service,
that they might come to know and cherish
the truth of the Gospel of Life:
We pray to the Lord.
For our nation,
that the values of life and love
may be our watchword:
We pray to the Lord.
That the good seed of the Gospel of Life
may take root in our land
and grow to the glory of God:
We pray to the Lord.
Prayer of Pope John Paul II for Life:
O Mary, bright dawn of the new world, Mother of the living, to You do we
entrust the cause of life.
Look down, O Mother upon the vast numbers of babies not allowed to be born, of the poor whose lives are made difficult, of men and women who are victims of brutal violence, of the elderly and the sick killed by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in Your Son may proclaim the Gospel of life with
honesty and love to the people of our time. Obtain for them the grace to
accept that Gospel as a gift ever new, the joy of celebrating it with
gratitude throughout their lives and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build, together with all people of good will, the
civilization of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator
and lover of life. Amen.