Prayer and Liturgy

Summary statement

Prayer is a primary tool for combating the tendency to become either despondent or overconfident in the works of social Justice in an Australian environment. As Jesus did, Prayer ought to be used in identification of issues for action and discernment of skills in members, so that our resources can be most effectively deployed. Giving members tasks commensurate to their talents is blatant common sense. Prayer needs to be part of this process for us.

Prayer Suggestions

There are some excellent on-line resources for Social Justice Prayers ranging from general prayers to specific topics.

Support of the parish community needs to be recognized and cultivated when we ask them to get involved with the prayer effort.

Some suggestions on the use of prayers and to increase prayers for Social Justice are:

· Advertise the activities of the group to the parish through the Parish bulletin and web site.

· Prayers Relevant to any meeting topic can be found through the referenced sites below. Always review the available prayers in light of what you will be talking about on the day.

· basis.

· You can also use your Social Justice Group’s website for circulation of prayers related to current issues.

· Create bookmark style prayer cards for Social Justice to keep Social Justice to the fore in people’s minds and increase the number of people praying in support of Social Justice.

· Include scripture, encyclical or website references on the reverse. See samples on msjn website.

· Occasional (Biennial) retreat days, with a Social Justice theme.

In your local liturgies you may like to consider these ideas:

· A special Social Justice Mass at the beginning of each year and also around a key feast will highlight our need for God in this work and counter the tendency to be overwhelmed by the task at hand

· A Social Justice Sunday Mass on the last weekend of September using the resources of the Social Justice Sunday Statement (see the section of Social Justice Statements)

· Prayers of the faithful with a Social justice focus should be included at Sunday mass on a monthly

Links and References

Websites

· http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=2773

· http://www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au/content/spirituality.html

· https://educationforjustice.org/node/3101/view/35,373/or/General%20Social%20Justice%20Prayers

· ACBC WEBSITE http://www.catholic.org.au/

· Brisbane Catholic Justice and Peace Commission Church and Justice Handout has many relevant (shorter) prayers http://bne.catholic.net.au/asp/index.asp?pgid=11651

· Project Rachel sites http://www.rachelsvineyard.org.au/

Books

· Liturgical Missals

· Catholic Office Books

· Saint Vincent DePaul Spiritual resources

· Prayers of the Faithful Books

People

· Local Priest

· Religious communities in diocese

· Guest speakers for reflection days

Reflection Questions

· Why should I bother praying for Social Justice at all?

· What relevance does my faith have to the work of Social Justice?

· What does action for Social Justice hope to achieve?