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The mission of Profiles in Catholicism is to interview people of faith to learn more about the spiritual, societal, and health issues that are important to them, promote evangelization and religious vocations, provide financial support to people with cancer, HIV/AIDS, those living in extreme poverty, and the organizations that help them, and provide news updates.
special prayer
“OH MOTHER OF THE STAIRS”
A prayer for all prisoners with Covid-19
You inherited a title from our first mother, Eve, and, as the
New Eve, you are even more the mother of all the living, loving To call out to all to take the steps to life, to enter from whatever Turning point and to take the rail, the rhythm of life and prayer And to ascend, step by step, holding on as you are helped to hold On and to rise, and rise again, rising in the company of others.
Oh Joseph, as you worked you saw who was lost and looking around,
And you prayed, whether in words or gestures, dedicating your
Difficulties to turning boys and girls, youths, old men and women,
To your wife, Mary, who stands by the entrance to the stairs,
Calling to all who would pass on by to stop, to falter just in time,
And to follow the turning up, and to avoid the turning down.
Oh Mother of the Stairs, let not those who are on the money-go-round
Stay stuck on the cutting edge, getting caught up in the swirling
Down and round, round and down until, either fished up or flat
Against the possibility of the water-fall, taking them beyond the Edge of returning, descending without drowning, falling as they Fail, failing as they fall, faster now, unless netted before the end.
Oh Lord, you have descended to hell and you have ascended
To heaven, you know the way down and you know the way up;
And, indeed, you know all the steps in between and all the
Stops and starts and changes of direction, encouraging all
Who are going down to come up and all who are going up to
Continue up, and even as they go to help others to rise with them.
You knew imprisonment and you turned it into an opportunity
For the salvation of the world; you knew the isolation of being
Intensely alone and again you turned it into an opportunity
For the salvation of the world; you knew the utter worn-out-ness
Of carrying your cross and bearing afflictions for others and you
Turned it into an opportunity for the salvation of the world.
Help all who are imprisoned bear the burden of illness, isolation,
Even estrangement, turning their cross into opportunities to shed Addictions,
to see in their lives your Son’s walk with them to the Resurrection,
to turn around and see the goodness of God coming Towards them,
arms outstretched, bringing the healing love that Loves to heal,
turning them up-wards to go up the stairs with help.
Oh Mother of the Stairs, gather your children from all walks of life,
All points of the earth, all peoples of the world, all times of life,
Whether poor or rich, victim or violent, alone or as part of a gang,
Turning what is misused to a good use, scheming into helping,
Gang members into friends, taking into giving, causing harm
Into helping to heal – being saved into showing others the stairs.
by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism
A Quote to Remember
“With regard to prisoners, it would appear that in many cases practical measures are urgently needed to improve their living conditions, with particular concern for those detained while awaiting trial. It must be kept in mind that penal sanctions have the aim of rehabilitation, while national laws should consider the possibility of other establishing penalties than incarceration. In this context, I would like once more to appeal to governmental authorities to abolish the death penalty where it is still in force, and to consider the possibility of an amnesty."
by Pope Francis