Prayer for Deacons

July 27, 2026July 2, 2026Kristin's Crosses

Saint Stephen’s Prayer for Deacons

Come to my assistance my Lord and my God, that I may do for You all that you ask. Strengthen me in adversity and do not let me succumb to my feelings of worthlessness. Help me to feel in my heart all that You speak to me, and help me to understand. May I be to others what they need: a body to work when others cannot; a heart to love those who are forgotten; a shoulder to console those whose soul is in need; a smile to brighten the most somber of Your children; a mouth to proclaim Your love. Let me be to You, as a brush is to a painter, worthless without You, but capable of transforming the human heart by the power of Your mercy. Send me, my Lord if you need me, to touch others as You would touch them, to hold them as You would, to love them as only You can. Make my heart like Yours, that I may forgive everything and love beyond my own human frailty. Come live within me, that I may die to myself so You may fill my very being. Let me serve others as You would serve them, that in doing so I may serve You. Do not let me fail, oh Lord, or lead Your people astray. Allow me to live in Your presence today, that tomorrow I may die in Your hands and may You raise me one day that I may touch your face and live in Your glory. Amen.

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Saints Joachim and Anne

ImageJuly 26, 2026July 2, 2026Kristin's Crosses

[public domain] — Joachim and Anna, by Willem van Herp, 17th Century

Prayer to Saints Joachim and Anne,
Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

O glorious Saints Joachim and Anne,
Grandparents of the Most High!
Great indeed is our Lord’s affection for you.
We honor your faithfulness in marriage,
and your openness to God’s hidden plan.
It was from your marital embrace that the Spirit
fashioned your fair daughter Mary to be sinless;
the dawning of a new creation
awakening from her Immaculate Conception.
It was in your family that she learned to love God
and grow in every virtue.
By a life of obedience to the Law of God
lived in your home,
Mary was prepared to receive the Eternal Word
into her heart and into her womb.
From your tender love Mary learned
a motherhood that knew no bounds,
and by the example of your married life,
Mary knew what it was to be a faithful wife to Joseph,
her most chaste spouse.
O Saints Anne and Joachim,
great indeed are you who gave life
to the Mother of our Savior!
It pleased God to create from your union
a woman freed from the stain of sin,
by the saving death of the son
she had not yet conceived.

Dearest Saints Joachim and Anne,
pray that our families may grow in holiness
and that our homes may become grace filled
sanctuaries of love.
By your powerful intercession,
protect and guide all grandparents
that they may be great examples of faith.
Amen.

Feast of Saint James

ImageJuly 25, 2026July 2, 2026Kristin's Crosses

Prayer to Saint James the Greater, the Apostle

O Glorious Apostle, Saint James,
who by reason of thy fervent
and generous heart
was chosen by Jesus to be the witness
of His glory on Mount Tabor,
and of His agony in Gethsemane;
thou, whose very name is a symbol
of warfare and victory:
obtain for us strength and consolation
in the unending warfare of this life,
that, having constantly
and generously followed Jesus,
we may be victors in the strife
and deserve to receive
the victor’s crown in heaven.
Amen.