Pope Francis’ Prayer Intentions for December

Pope Francis’ Prayer Intentions for December

Vatican City, 29 November 2013 (VIS) – Pope Francis’ general prayer intention for December is: “That children who are victims of abandonment or violence may find the love and protection they need”.

His mission intention is: “That Christians, enlightened by the Word incarnate, may prepare humanity for the Saviour’s coming”.

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7 Comments

  1. Gregorius says:

    I recently saw the intentions the holy father drew up for 2014, and I am of mixed opinion about them. On one hand, I think the general intentions are too vague and worldly. On the other hand, though the missions intentions doesn’t seem to be specifically focused on the missions, those intentions are precise, clear and profound. It seems to me a good reflection on the state of the church today.

  2. ocleirbj says:

    The intentions for 2014 were announced by Pope Emeritus Benedict just before he retired. I like to think of Pope Francis praying according to Benedict’s intentions, and the whole church praying in unity with both of them, at least for one more year :-)

    I agree that they can be vague. Maybe since they are meant to be prayed by people all over world, they can’t be too specific. I find that as I pray about them every day they come into focus, and I will add extra words or phrases to reflect this. Probably each person’s focus will be a little different; but this means that over the month the church as a whole will offer a complete prayer that touches every possible aspect of the intention.

    A confession: I have just discovered the Apostleship of Prayer, which was created by Jesuits to promote the Daily Offering and to pray for the Pope’s intentions. http://www.apostleshipofprayer.org/ I had no idea!

  3. I don’t think that the msm understands what the Holy Father is saying anymore than the average person in the pew does. He’s using Jesuit pedagogy. I don’t think he’s going to change that. What he says leaves many a catholic unsettled! That’s what the Gospel is supposed to do. I’ve been looking for a pope that flexes all his muscles. And the Pope is doing just that. Unless liberals and conservatives put their arms in the lap of the Blessed Mother they’re going to keep talking past each other!

  4. romancrusader says: He’s using Jesuit pedagogy.

    Meaning?

  5. Meaning that he’s a religious Father Z. He is a Jesuit who is heavily influenced by the Franciscan school of ministry. We don’t speak of him as a Pope without speaking about his roots in the religious life. Because to do so is to take him out of context. When you take someone out of context, you’re not going to understand them and you’re going to miss a lot of the richness that’s there.
    Christ was the first consecrated religious. He lived in community with his Apostles. He lived according to the Evangelical Counsels. He was a servant to all. He was a contemplative. He was a mystic and he was a common laborer. The mission given to him by his Father was his Rule of Life. That’s really beautiful.
    When I see people discussing Pope Francis on the internet, they talk about him as if they were speaking about Pope Benedict, John Paul II, John XXIII and so forth. None of those popes were consecrated religious. In fact the popes whom we have had who came to us from the religious life were very revolutionary. Let’s take Clement V. The Benedictine who legalized abdication. Pius V, the Dominican who unified the Roman Rite. Clement XIV, the Franciscan who suppressed the Jesuits, because his order asked him to do so. Those are just some of the religious. The point is that these men brought rather interesting qualities, thoughts, behaviors, customs, changes and gifts to the papacy.
    Also,
    A. Remember that he’s a religious

    b. Remember that he is a Jesuit trained in Ignatian thought and Ignatian pedegogy; therefore, when he speaks he’s going to use that system.

    c. Remember the he is a follower of the Franciscan school of ministry, which is very emphatic that voluntary poverty is a means to salvation and necessary if one is to do pastoral care among the voiceless.

    d. Remember that he is a consecrated religious who is disciplined in asceticism and trained to live without many things that most people take for granted. When presented with these extras, the immediate reaction of the religious is a question. “Do I really need this?”

    e. Remember that every religious, even if he’s a pope, has a duty to his vows. They do not cease to exist.

    Why do we take Pope Francis out of context? We do we not factor in that he’s a religious whenever we analyze what he does or say?

    [Yes yes. What we need for you to do is describe what being an Ignatian pedagogue is. What are the characteristics and techniques etc. of teaching in the manner of a Jesuit?]

  6. lana says:

    I am sure I only know a fraction of Jesuit pedagogy, but these are two things I know:

    You never forget the ultimate purpose of your study, and while you are studying, is to serve and praise God.

    Repetition, repetition, repetition. Even in the Spiritual Execises, you repeat meditations or parts of them.

  7. robtbrown says:

    I don’t think the Gospel is necessarily intended to leave people unsettled. I do think, however, that is a major MO of the Jesuits, whose approach, esp in these times, is Counter Cultural. The more contemplative approach, which I think Papa Ratzinger embraced, is Trans Cultural (nb: the Benedictine motto is Pax).

    2. I do not think that Pope Francis is any more an ascetic than JPII was. Or for that matter Papa Ratzinger, who had made Big Bucks from his books, but as a Cardinal had a very small, inexpensive car. In fact, I had a friend who ran into the Cardinal on a Roman bus in 1994. People from the office wanted to take him out to eat for his birthday, and they took the bus.

    And then there was Cardinal Gagnon, who was invited to pranzo at the Convitto, where I lived. When the rector asked him about his driver, the Cardinal said, “You’re talking to him.”

    3. I do not think the Pope is a follower of Francisan ministry. Every Jesuit is first, last, and always a Jesuit. They are, or were, trained to have an intense interior life, and they see everything through the Jesuit cipher.

    The Jesuit life does not include community mass. There was once a distinction between Basilican and Monastic liturgy (Jesuits experience neither). Thus high mass at Clear Creek or Fontgombault is beautiful, but it does not have the character of lo spettacolo that is seen at St Peter’s.

    4. I don’t want to demean this pope, but I’m unaware that his life has been substantially involved with a ministry to the poor. He has been an ordinary since 1997, and his responsibilities there were first of all to provide the Sacraments to Catholics. That includes encouraging vocations and seeing that the faithful are exposed to the doctrine of the Church. Before then, he was a seminary professor and Jesuit provincial.

    Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a ministry to the poor.

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