You may have heard about the Pope’s Monthly Intentions. Each month of the year, Pope Francis asks for our prayers for a particular purpose. During the month of February, he asks us to join him in praying for the terminally ill: “that those with a terminal illness, and their families, receive the necessary physical and spiritual care and accompaniment.” During March, he invites us to pray for new martyrs: “that those who risk their lives for the Gospel in various parts of the world inflame the Church with their courage and missionary enthusiasm.”
Since prayer is one of the three traditional Lenten practices (prayer, fasting, and almsgiving), our renewed efforts to join our personal prayers to those of the Pope and praying for concerns outside our immediate focus is a worthy practice. May our minds and hearts be stretched to pray for—and take action about—the concerns of our brothers and sisters throughout the world.
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