Week 4

Theme
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6

Let us pray for the grace to recognize the truth and defend it in the midst of relativism.

Opening Prayer
Diocese of Bismarck Novena Prayer

Most Holy Father in Heaven,
We pray, through the intercession of
Blesseds John Paul II and John XXIII,
that we would follow their example
by living our Catholic Faith with joy, hope, and confidence.
Grant us the courage to denounce the evils of our time,
including the culture of death, moral relativism,
and all that keeps us from loving You
and sharing the Gospel with our neighbor.
We pray that You, Father, would use us,
the people of the Diocese of Bismarck,
as an instrument of Your love and light to all people.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Meditation
“[…] before a society can be considered well-ordered, creative, and consonant with human dignity, it must be based on truth … Human society, as We here picture it, demands that men be guided by justice, respect the rights of others and do their duty. It demands, too, that they be animated by such love as will make them feel the needs of others as their own, and induce them to share their goods with others, and to strive in the world to make all men alike heirs to the noblest of intellectual and spiritual values. Nor is this enough; for human society thrives on freedom, namely, on the use of means which are consistent with the dignity of its individual members, who, being endowed with reason, assume responsibility for their own actions. [35]

And so, dearest sons and brothers, we must think of human society as being primarily a spiritual reality. By its means enlightened men can share their knowledge of the truth, can claim their rights and fulfill their duties, receive encouragement in their aspirations for the goods of the spirit, share their enjoyment of all the wholesome pleasures of the world, and strive continually to pass on to others all that is best in themselves and to make their own the spiritual riches of others. It is these spiritual values which exert a guiding influence on culture, economics, social institutions, political movements and forms, laws, and all the other components which go to make up the external community of men and its continual development.” [36]

This excerpt was taken from Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris published on April 11, 1963.


Concluding Prayer
Chaplet of the Divine Mercy