The first priority in Archbishop Mark’s Apostolic Priorities for the Archdiocese of Brisbane, documented in With Lamps Ablaze, is Teaching Prayer. He says, “Often we urge people to pray but don’t really teach them how to pray… Now is the time to teach ways of prayer which are mature and all-embracing. Christian prayer begins not with speaking but with listening; and learning to pray is therefore learning to listen – to listen even to the silences of God. If all we do is speak, then in the words of Jesus we “babble like the pagans” (Matt 6:7). But if we speak after listening and in response to God who always has the first word, then we speak according to the mind of the Holy Spirit. That’s what we need to teach and learn. In the Gospel of Mark, we read that Jesus called the twelve apostles to himself, first of all, “that they might be with him” (3:14). This is where the mission starts: being with Jesus, which is what prayer is.”

Join us for our new weekly series, Let’s Pray, where we invite you to pray along with us. Each week we will invite you to pray a new prayer with us – maybe you don’t know what to pray, or want to pray along with someone, or want to practice your faith through prayer. Our Let’s Pray series is for everyone.

Pope Francis thanks all missionaries who, in response to Christ’s call, have left everything behind to go far from their homeland and bring the Good News to places where people have not yet received it, or received it only recently. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo encourages us to pray for all missionaries, that through their testimony, they may convey God’s love, mercy and forgiveness. Let’s pray.

• Let's Pray - A Prayer for Missionaries transcript

  Let's Pray - A Prayer for Missionaries transcript

  Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane

  
  I remember a few years ago, one of our catechists said that when the Church decided to send missionaries to Mongolia, the Holy Father didn’t send boxes of books, but he decided to send people, men and women. That would be the embodiment of Christ for them. So we are going now to pray for all the missionaries that all together, especially those who will receive the special call to go abroad to go outside of their own countries. We pray for all of them, that we all together, we may be always united with the Lord. And through our poor witness, people may find Christ.

  Italiano
  Ti preghiamo Signore per tutti i Missionari e le missionarie che hanno ricevuto quella specifica vocazione che tu hai dato a loro di lasciare i loro paesi e i loro culture per inserirsi in altri mondi culturali. Preghiamo perché nel loro essere mandati e mandate nel suo nome nel mondo. Siano costantemente uniti a te. Non si distacchino mai dalla sorgente della vita che tu sei per loro e per il mondo. e che attraverso la loro testimonianza, povera che sia Riescano a trasmettere almeno qualcosa del tuo amore e della tua Misericordia e del tuo perdono.

  English
  We pray to you, Lord, for all the missionaries who have received that specific vocation that you have given them to leave their countries and their cultures to integrate into other cultural worlds. We pray that in being sent in His name into the world. May they be constantly united with you. Let them never detach themselves from the source of life that you are for them and for the world. and that through their testimony, however poor it may be, may they manage to convey at least something of your love and your mercy and your forgiveness.