Prayer Resources
Below are some prayer resources that you can use as you contemplate the situation confronting migrant populations and how we might respond to their spiritual and material needs. We hope that as you prayerfully reflect on the migration issue, it will inspire you to learn more about both what is happening on the ground and what the Church teaches on this issue. Check back regularly as we will provide new prayers and other spiritual reflections that will help you to respond to the Gospel call to welcome the stranger. Please be sure to read and reflect on Pope Francis’ most recent World Day of Migrants and Refugees message and related resources, which focus on some key concerns related to the migration experience.
Suggested Intercessions for the Prayer of the Faithful: Migration
Please find attached an array of prayers of the faithful can be used during Mass or at a moment of reflection. These prayers focus on a variety of different themes related to migration, including refugees, immigrants, and victims of slavery.
A Scriptural Rosary for Migrants
The Catholic bishops of the United States, in their pastoral letter Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity, invite us to enter into the mystery of the Mystical Body of Christ. As St. Paul teaches in his first letter to the Corinthians, the mystery is that we are made part of that Body through our Baptism. By learning to celebrate our individual differences while embracing our union with others, we grow not only in our understanding of Jesus, but in the knowledge of our own true selves.
Such knowledge flies in the face of a culture that promotes distrust of immigrants and that excludes or imprisons refugees and asylum seekers. In their pastoral letter, the bishops challenge us to embrace our sisters and brothers through a series of four calls: conversion, communion, solidarity, and evangelization.
There is no better guide to help us enter into this mystery and answer these calls than our Mother Mary. In her miraculous apparitions throughout the world she has embodied the diversity of every race and nation. As our loving Mother, she draws us into union with each other through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer to St. Juan Diego
As we approach the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 8), we can turn our attention as well to St. Juan Diego, the first indigenous American saint, for his integral role in the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
After seeing apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531, the widower Juan Diego told local Bishop Juan de Zumarraga of Mary’s visitations and her desire to have a church built where she appeared to him. In response to the bishop’s request that he ask Our Lady for a sign, Juan Diego went back to Tepeyac on a December day and implored the Virgin Mary to provide something to convince the bishop of her wishes. The Virgin instructed him to gather flowers from the hillside, and even though roses in December are rare, he was able to fill his cloak with them. When St. Juan Diego returned to the bishop and opened his cloak, the fresh roses fell to the ground and miraculously revealed an imprint of Our Lady’s image. A church was built on the site, and Juan Diego lived out his days nearby, helping others, praying, and doing penance.
