Morning Prayer for Canada Day

Morning Prayer for Canada Day

Canada Day ~ Morning Prayer

Today, July 1st, Canada celebrates the anniversary of Confederation with ‘Canada Day.’ As Canadians celebrate the birth of their nation, we pray in a special way for all these souls of our province.  We give thanks for all the hearts the Lord has touched through our presence in Canada, we ask for abundant blessings upon our apostolic initiatives amongst the Canadian people and their culture, and we intercede for our Pauline family present in the North.

This morning, we will join together in praying a prayer dictated to a French missionary by the Indigenous lay catechist Joseph Chiwatenhwa after making the Spiritual Exercises – the first Indigenous ever to do so. We pray with the same trust, celebration, love, and longing as he did.

 

Antiphon 1: You made the earth and created mankind upon it.  Your hands stretched out the heavens and ordered the stars.

O God, at last I start to understand you.
You made the earth which we live in. 
You made the sky which we see above us. 
You made us, we who are called people.
Now you let me start to know who you really are.

I know how to make a canoe, and how to enjoy it
I know how to build a cabin and how to live in it.
But you... you made us, and you live in us.

The things we make last for a few seasons. 
We only use the canoes we create for a short time. 
We only live in the houses we build for a few years. 
But your love for us will endure so long that we cannot count the time. 
You will comfort us forever.

As long as we live, how can anyone not acknowledge you? 
You are the one who protects us.
The time we feel your presence the most is when we face death 
You are the one with the power to keep our souls alive,
Only you know how to love us in the deepest part of ourselves.

Antiphon 1: You made the earth and created mankind upon it.  Your hands stretched out the heavens and ordered the stars.

Antiphon 2:  You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. Wonderful are your works!

Not even a mother or father can love a human being the way you do. 
Your love for us is so strong that it makes evil spirits lose their power.
Now I begin to see that the reason you made us
is because you want to share your love.
Nothing attracts you as much as your people.

Thank you for letting me understand you
You love us so deeply that all I can do in return is offer myself to you 
I claim you as my elder and chief 
There is no one else.
Ask me for anything you want 
Just let me always hold you in my heart. 

I offer you my family. If any evil strikes them when I am away, 
I know you will take care of them 
Your love is more than I can ever give them
Thank you ... from my heart.
I see the loving way you lead us along the path of life. 
You want what is best for us.

If we have poverty, let us feel your love in it.
If we get rich, do not let comfort make us forget that we need you 
You love us equally, rich and poor. 
We are people, your people, and you love us as we are.

Antiphon 2:  You formed my inmost being, you knit me in my mother’s womb. Wonderful are your works!

Antiphon 3: As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

It fills me with joy to know you. — 

I can feel the presence of your love.
Thank you for letting me give you myself just as I am
The more I thank you, the more I find I can give myself to you

Help me let go of the things I used to place my faith in. 
All I ask is to be yours.
It would have been enough to give us the gifts of the earth 
But you've given us much more. 
In you, we live forever.

I can hardly imagine what heaven is like, 
but it is enough for me to know your love 
and to believe in you with all my heart.
You have promised to let us be free spirits in you, 
and because I know you love us, your promise gives me hope.

Help us to welcome suffering 
if it means we will know our need of you more deeply. 
In our suffering, help us give ourselves to you
We don't have to be afraid to die, 
Because death is the new birth that lets us live fully in you
Life is a journey, and with you as our companion and our destination, 
it will end with great joy.

Lord, I am not afraid of death anymore. 
I will rejoice when I know the time has come for me to die.
I do not even mourn the passing of my relatives when I remember
You are bringing them to be with you in paradise. 
You want to take them away so they can have perfect happiness.

Antiphon 3: As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

Responsory:
I will bless the Lord all my life long. – I will…
With a song of praise ever on my lips – all my…
Glory to the Father… - I will…
 

Intercessions:
We turn with joyful confidence to our Heavenly Father, asking him to abundantly bless the people of Canada:  R: May this nation ever more find in Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life! 

  • For the protection of the sanctity of human life in all its stages, but especially that the federal efforts to expand euthanasia and assisted suicide will be replaced with a genuine respect for the value of every human life. Response.
  • For racial justice for the Black, Indigenous, and First Nations communities across this immense country, especially for reconciliation and healing for those who were deeply injured at Catholic residential schools, abused and coerced to renounce their cultural heritage and traditions. Response.
  • For Catholic schools today, as they struggle to preserve their Catholic identity while under tremendous pressure from government and school boards to teach gender ideology, which is opposed to both faith and reason. Response.
  • Through the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, to whom Canada was recently re-consecrated, we pray for an end to the pandemic and for healing of mind, body, and spirit for everyone affected. In particular, we entrust those who have been affected most: the elderly, the poor, and the homeless in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Response.
  • In thanksgiving for the first Daughters of Saint Paul and members of the Pauline Family who established and built the Pauline mission in Canada, and for an abundant outpouring of graces on the Pauline Family in Canada today: that they grow in holiness, health, strength, numbers, and apostolic effectiveness. Response.

 

Closing Prayer:
In solidarity with the Canadian people under the care of our province, we pray:
Lord Jesus Christ,
look on the people of our land
and bless us all.
Help us to be brothers and sisters to all the world
and to work for peace and love.
Be with us, Jesus, and bless Canada,
for you are our Lord and Saviour forever. Amen.
(A prayer for Canada Day taken from Blessings and Prayers for Home and Family, CCCB)
 

 


image of Joseph Chiwatenhwa by André Prévost

prayer information found here.

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