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  • Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
    • Apr 29, 2020
    • 17 min read

May 1, 2020 Profiles in Catholicism

Updated: May 4, 2020



A Message from the Editor

We are all prisoners of the Covid-19 pandemic. But many who are confined in prison have died from Covid-19 and tens of thousands are at risk of death unless prison administrators implement policies to protect them including the release of those who have committed non-violent crimes. Please pray for the protection of prisoners and those who have lost their lives from Covid-19.

We are featuring reviews of books by two of our Editorial Advisors

Covid-19 has caused many of us to reflect on the sanctity and value of human life. Some of us may forget that people are affected by other deadly diseases globally and that that there are hundreds of thousands of children whose lives could be saved with small donations. Francis Otieno is writing a quarterly report on the challenges to life in Kenya. Read Covid-19 Update from Kenya April 2020. The children whom he cares for are starving and are affected by HIV/AIDS. If possible, please send a donation of $10.00 to help protect these children’s lives to Francis Otieno via his PayPal Account at PayPal adongof@gmail.com+254710906907


There are other children suffering globally. Be sure to read News from the Philippines about Children in Need of Help by Father Shay Cullen one of our Editorial Advisors who has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize and is a recipient of several Human Rights awards.

My close friend Alwin Rex in India is seriously ill with a rare form of cancer and I would deeply appreciate it if some of our readers could send a donation of $10.00 or more to help support his care and his family.

Here is a message that I recently received

I am a very financial crisis in the lockdown period. Because I have no income and no job I am very affected. It is difficult for me to stay at home without any income. I find it very difficult to meet our daily needs because I don't even get government financial aid I didn't get a family card.

I am missed in the disease period.


During this curfew, we had difficulty in obtaining the right food and pills.

If you help your support, please in my PayPal account deposit it.

It very helps with solutions to my problems.

It is my PayPal link: https://www.paypal.me/AlwinRex

I pray for you daily. God bless you abundantly.

Thank you very much.


Always with love,

Alwin Rex

Profiles in Catholicism is organizing a Financial Advisory Committee to help us in fundraising, If you may be interested in serving as a committee member, please send an email to me at gnary@catholicprofiles.org.

Profiles in Catholicism are distributed to several thousand people in 67 countries. We rely on our readers for donations to continue and expand our mission. If you support our mission and find our publication of value, please make a donation.

In our Videos section of this issue of Profiles in Catholicism, please pray for Debra who has cancer and Covid-19.


Finally, I thank Brother David Mary of The Knights of the Holy Eucharist

for saying a Mass for Profiles in Catholicism, our staff, and our readers.


A Quote to Remember


"Let us pray today for our brothers and sisters who are in prison. They suffer so much because of the uncertainty of what will happen inside the prison and thinking about their families, wondering how they are if someone is sick if they lack something."


by Pope Francis


Special Prayer

A Prayer for Prisoners with Coronavirus

Lord, you are close to those who are most alone.

Be present to our brothers and sisters in prison

who suffer from the coronavirus.

In their dark hours, be a light of hope.

In their sad plight, stir us to compassion.

In their daily routine, stir the kindness of their guards.

In their physical struggles, pour out a healing balm.

Lead them and us, one day, home to you. Amen

by Father Louis Cameli Profiles in Catholicism

Prayer for Holocaust Survivors Who Have Died from Covid-19

Our Father, Avinu, we bow our heads and hearts in prayer.

Many of your People, the Jewish People,

who by Your Grace survived the Holocaust in Europe,

have been infected by and died from coronavirus.

This saddens the hearts not only of Jews,

but people of all faiths,

especially Christians, who were the major perpetrators of the Shoah.

We Christians today, repenting for what Christians then did,

join with the Jewish People in praying today for the survivors

of the Nazi genocide.

We Christians join with the Jewish People is calling on people of all faiths to pray for these good people, stricken a second time, this time by a pandemic which is out of control and killing many innocent people of all faiths. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, people of all faiths must come together in prayer in this country and around the world, for the survivors of genocide who are in danger and who have died. May they rest in your Peace, Oh Lord.

And may their memory be for a blessing.


by Dr. Eugene Fisher Profiles in Catholicism

A Prayer for Seminarians with Covid-19


Good and gracious God,


We give you thanks for the abundance of hope you give us. We thank you for hope so strong, that it overcomes doubt, suspicion, fear. So many in the world are suffering from fear and trepidation in the face of Covid-19 which terrorizes the world. We ask especially Lord for you to watch over and protect priests who celebrate the sacraments for the people of God. We also ask for you to bless, protect, and teach seminarians. At this time, we pray for those seminarians who suffer from the Covid-19 virus. We also ask that you watch over and bless all who are ill at this time. May we see through the darkness Lord and realize that suffering and death were conquered by you on the Cross. Lord, we look to the Resurrection and are comforted by the great grace of eternal life with You.


by Ryan Brady Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer for a Pandemic that has affected the elderly


We put our lives O Lord in your loving hands. At the time of this pandemic to break may we who have no risk factors remember others suffering from illnesses. May we who have the luxury of time spend it in prayer for hospital workers and grocery workers who provide us with what we need. Help us to take care of our health through social distancing and washing our hands. May we who have the flexibility to care for others remember those who have no options. May we who have to cancel our trips remember those who have no safe place to go. May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market remember those who have no margin at all. May those of us who can quarantine at home remember those who have no home. As fear grips our country, let us choose love. During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, let us yet find ways to be a loving embrace of God to our neighbors. Amen

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism

A Prayer for Those Who Have Died from the Coronavirus:

Part II: The Plight of Parting

Oh God, the Father,

Son and Holy Spirit,

Mary, Mother of the Lord

And all angels and saints:


You are the radiant welcome:

The abundantly beautiful company

Of all who have died – no more alone

Than particles in the plasma of the sun.


Let the grace of passing be as water running clear in your hands,

Our lives as colorful as stones in purest spring water,

Let the grace of passing be as light in the windows of the soul,

Our lives have lost their darkness dripping with brightness,

Let the grace of passing be as spring blossoms, brightly lit flowers,

Our lives as tulips brimming with your luminous presence!


Let your work of redemption not forget the forgotten

And cure the ills of the heart unaddressed in passing

Turning hopeless to hope and the anguished to peace.

Let your love fill the lives of the left and discover, a-new,

A prayer in the pain of loss and the grief of going

And grant relief to the burdened by cares and worry.


Father – Forgive us:

We could not visit because of isolation

We could not visit for fear of troubling others

We could not help who helped instead of us


We could not be there because of frailty

We could not be there because of the distance

We could not be there because of the cost

We could not be there because of the living

We could not be there because of the dying

We could not be there because …

Father: Have mercy on us!


Let this long Sunday resound with hope,

And leap like a flame from the fire:

Of Good Friday’s suffering;

Holy Saturday’s peaceful pause;

And Easter’s transfigured rising!

Let this Eastertide be turned into blessings!

Let this time of pain be pierced with Love!


But if any dead lie neglected and any left unloved


Let an angel visit in the moment of need

Healing, tenderly, the wounds still bleeding,

And embrace, with an unbelievable blessing,


The heartbroken and the life lived almost lost!

Oh, Blessed Trinity in One!

Oh, Holy Family!

Oh, Witnesses of Love!

Let us beg you

To wake with a welcome

All who have died

And help all who are left!


by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer in Response to the Mass Shootings in Canada


“From out of the blue.” That’s what we say, Lord when something disrupts our orderly thinking and punctures our shallow sense of control. From out of the blue comes a killer, a man who made dentures, a man who summered in a gentle coastal town in Nova Scotia, a town too tiny to have a website, a town with barely a footprint on Wikipedia. He shoots and kills and burns.


While experts debate the tipping point of Covid-19, rage ignites inside a man who had reached his own tipping point. Lord, we believe that you are the master of sin and death; yet we struggle to see how life is triumphant when death is everywhere. We stand on tiptoes, yearning for a glimpse of a love that burns more brightly than hate. Lord, help us to make things better. Help us to love the world into becoming a better reflection of the love that created it. Help us to hold close to our hearts the people in towns we never heard of Portapique, Wentworth, Debert, Enfield. We know that loving families there are bent over with grief.

Hold them close to your heart, Lord, for your heart never grows weary and never gives up.

May the dead rest in your peace and may we the living know that you are with us always, on all our twisted journeys, until we come at last into your glory. Amen.


by Father Joseph Chamblain, O.S.M. Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer in Distress

O Lord our God,

Your servant David lifted his voice to sing of your marvelous deeds.

But also to remind us of our sins of old.

So he sang to you:

Attend, my people, to my teaching;

listen to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable,

unfold the puzzling events of the past.

What we have heard and know;

things our ancestors have recounted to us.

We do not keep them from our children;

we recount them to the next generation,

The praiseworthy deeds of the LORD

and his strength, the wonders that he performed


He reminded us of how ungrateful his children had been.

How he punished them with plagues:


How often we rebelled against God in the wilderness,

grieved him in the wasteland.

Again and again, we tested God,

provoked the Holy One of Israel.

We did not remember his power,

the day he redeemed them from the foe

When he performed his signs in Egypt,

He let loose against them the heat of his anger,

wrath, fury, and distress,

a band of deadly messengers.

He cleared a path for his anger:

he did not spare them from death,

but delivered their animals to the plague.

Still, O Lord God, you did not abandon them.

You, the Lord God, led forth his people like sheep,

guided us like a flock through the wilderness.

You led us on secure and unafraid.

And he brought us to his holy mountain,

the hill his right hand had won.

You drove out the nations before us,

allotted them as their inherited portion,

and settled us in our tents as the tribes of Israel.

Today, O Lord God, hear us

As you heard the children of Israel of old.

Hear us and save us.

We your children make this prayer

In the name of Jesus your Son.

(See: Psalm 78)


by Father David O. Brown, O.S.M. Profiles in Catholicism


Canticle of the Sun


Most high, all-powerful, good Lord, to You, be praise, glory and honor and

all blessing.


To You alone, Most High, do they belong,

and there is no man worthy to name You.


Praise be to You, my Lord, with all Your creatures.

Chief of all is Sir Brother Sun,

who is our day; through whom You give light?

Beautiful is he, radiant, with great splendor.

He is a true revealer of You, Most High.


Praise be to You, my Lord, for Sister Moon and for the stars.

In heaven, You have formed them, bright, precious, and fair.

Praise be to You, my Lord, for Brother Wind, and for the air,

and for the cloud, for clear sky and for all weathers,

by which You give nourishment to all Your creatures.


Praise be to You, my Lord, for Sister Water. She is most useful and humble,

precious and pure.

Praise be to You, my Lord, for Brother Fire, by whom You light up the

night. Fair is he and merry, mighty, and strong.


Praise be to You, my Lord, for our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and

keeps us. She brings forth diverse fruits, the many-hued flowers, and grass.


Praise be to You, my Lord, for those who grant a pardon for love of You and

bear weakness and buffetings. Blessed are they who live in peace, for by

You, Most High, shall they be crowned.


Praise be to You, my Lord, for our Sister, Bodily Death, From whom no

living man can flee. Woe to them who die in mortal sin! But blessed they

who shall find themselves in Your most holy will; to them, the second death

shall do no ill.

O Creatures all! praise and bless my Lord, and gratefully serve Him with

deep humility.

Interviews


General Articles/Commentaries

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Book Reviews/Commentaries


Film Reviews/Commentaries


Television Reviews/Commentaries

Obituaries


Feasting with the Saints


Closing Prayer

A Prayer for Those Who Have Made Donations to Profiles in Catholicism

God most kind,

Bless all those who have supported Profiles in Catholicism

with their donations and kind words of support.

Let their generosity bear much fruit.

Let those of us who benefit from this publication

be ever mindful of them and grateful for their gift. Amen

by Father Louis Cameli Profiles In Catholicism

Videos


Coronavirus outbreak: Milan prison inmates climb roof after virtual lockdown triggers riot


Prison in the time of coronavirus


Coronavirus outbreak threatens U.S. prison system


Myanmar to release almost 25,000 prisoners to prevent coronavirus outbreaks in overcrowded jails


Life of Fr. Fernando Suarez


Litany of Loreto


Antisemitism Today


Debra shares her fear of seeking cancer treatment due to Covid-19


Prayer for Protection and Healing From Coronavirus


Andrea BocelliAve Maria







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