Please join us for our monthly Peace & Justice Mass
on February 19, 2017, at 4:00 PM.
Please note that this month it is scheduled on the third Sunday (instead of the Fourth Sunday) due to St Camillus’ participation at the annual Los Angeles Religious Education Congress held at the Anaheim Convention Center on February 23-26, 2017.
The largest annual gathering of its kind in the world, the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress is open to adults and young adults and offers more than 200 speakers presenting over 300 workshops, in addition to lunchtime entertainment, evening concerts, 16 Liturgies in a variety of characters, the Exhibit Hall and much more. The Exhibit Hall showcases over 200 companies ranging from religious art to music, and from publishing houses to educational institutions, in addition to our own represented Archdiocesan ministries.
Unless otherwise noted, we gather at Saint Camillus Center Chapel.
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings (audio) from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Whether you are able to attend or not, we invite you to join your prayer with our prayer,
in Pope Francis’ words:
To him, the Father, in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, I now turn, begging the intercession of the Virgin Mary, a daughter of the Holy Land and our Mother.
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.
Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Amen.