Prayers for Migrants and Refugees

2010 Prayer

Loving Father,
in your infinite compassion,
we seek your divine protection for refugee children who are often alone and afraid.
Provide solace to those who have been witnesses to violence and destruction,
who have lost parents, family, friends, home, and all they cherish due to war or persecution.
Comfort them in their sorrow, and bring help in their time of need.

Show mercy to unaccompanied migrant children, too, Lord.
Reunite them with their families and loved ones.
Guide those children who are strangers in a foreign land to a place of peace and safety.
Comfort them in their sorrow, and bring help in their time of need.

Show us how we might reach out to these precious and vulnerable children.
Open our hearts to migrant and refugee children in need,
so that we might see in them your own migrant Son.
Give us courage to stand up in their defense against those who would do them harm.

For this we pray through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

2009 Prayer

Lord Jesus, when you multiplied the loaves and fishes, you provided more than food for the body, you offered us the gift of yourself, the gift which satisfies every hunger and quenches every thirst! Your disciples were filled with fear and doubt, but you poured out your love and compassion on the migrant crowd, welcoming them as brothers and sisters.

Lord Jesus, today you call us to welcome the members of God's family who come to our land to escape oppression, poverty, persecution, violence, and war. Like your disciples, we too are filled with fear and doubt and even suspicion. We build barriers in our hearts and in our minds.

Lord Jesus, help us by your grace,

• To banish fear from our hearts, that we may embrace each of your children as our own brother and sister;

• To welcome migrants and refugees with joy and generosity, while responding to their many needs;

• To realize that you call all people to your holy mountain to learn the ways of peace and justice;

• To share of our abundance as you spread a banquet before us;

• To give witness to your love for all people, as we celebrate the many gifts they bring.

We praise you and give you thanks for the family you have called together from so many people. We see in this human family a reflection of the divine unity of the one Most Holy Trinity in whom we make our prayer: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

2008 Prayer

Lord Jesus, when you multiplied the loaves and fishes, you provided more than food for the body, you offered us the gift of yourself, the gift which satisfies every hunger and quenches every thirst! Your disciples were filled with fear and doubt, but you poured out your love and compassion on the migrant crowd, welcoming them as brothers and sisters.

Lord Jesus, today you call us to welcome the members of God's family who come to our land to escape oppression, poverty, persecution, violence, and war. Like your disciples, we too are filled with fear and doubt and even suspicion. We build barriers in our hearts and in our minds.

Lord Jesus, help us by your grace,

• To banish fear from our hearts, that we may embrace each of your children as our own brother and sister;

• To welcome migrants and refugees with joy and generosity, while responding to their many needs;

• To realize that you call all people to your holy mountain to learn the ways of peace and justice;

• To share of our abundance as you spread a banquet before us;

• To give witness to your love for all people, as we celebrate the many gifts they bring.

We praise you and give you thanks for the family you have called together from so many people. We see in this human family a reflection of the divine unity of the one Most Holy Trinity in whom we make our prayer: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

2007 Prayer:

Mary Most Holy, you, together with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus, experienced the suffering of exile. You were forced to flee to Egypt to escape the persecution of Herod. Today we entrust the men, women and children who live as migrants and refugees to your maternal protection.

Grant us the grace to welcome them with Christian hospitality, so that that these brothers and sisters of ours may find acceptance and understanding on their journey.

Teach us to recognize your Son

• in the migrant who labors to bring food to our tables

• in the refugee seeking protection from persecution, war, and famine

• in the woman and child who are victims of human trafficking

• in the asylum seeker imprisoned for fleeing without documents

May all those who are far from their place of birth find in the Church a home where no one is a stranger. We ask this in the name of your blessed Son, Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

 

2006 Prayer

Mary, our Mother and our Lady of Guadalupe, we come to you as migrants and pilgrims, passing briefly through this world, as we journey to our true home in heaven. Show us the Way. You were once a migrant too. Guide us along safe paths, protect us from evil, and free us from all fear. Show us the Way.

Teach us to welcome the strangers among us - immigrants, migrants, refugees, people on the move -- all sisters and brothers on the journey. Show us the Way.

Help us to seek justice for the oppressed, to bring comfort to the afflicted, and to offer hope and healing to all those we meet on the journey. Show us the Way.

Help us to recognize that the only path to your Son is the way of justice. Strengthen us to make straight this way before him. Show us the Way.

Open our hearts and minds to the suffering of victims of human trafficking, children held in detention, and other vulnerable persons in need of our hope and help in their time of struggle. Amen.

2005 Prayer:

Mother Cabrini, you came to America as a migrant, sent to care for those who had journeyed far from home.

We ask you to teach us to welcome newcomers to our land and to serve them with the same joy you embodied.

Beg Jesus, on our behalf, to give us the same gifts of faith, hope, and love that he brought to perfection in you.

We seek faith, that our trust in God will strengthen us to carry on the works of peace and justice.
We seek hope, that our confidence will shine as a beacon to those who flee to our land in despair.
We seek love, the perfect love which casts out all fear, that we may welcome strangers in our land with true peace and generosity of spirit.

Guide us on our own journey home to Jesus, that we may dwell in his love forever, praising God.

Amen.