Notices

1) The Parish Projects Collection will be taken up at all masses this weekend.  Please collect an envelope from the ushers.  Be generous.

2) Youth 2000 is an International Spiritual initiative established to draw young people ages 12-35 to a deep and lasting union with Jesus Christ.  It will take place in Saint Lucia from September 29th to October 1st, 2023 at the Saint Mary's College.  Registration costs $10.00 (this will be paid by the Parish Office for those interested) and it can be paid on the first day of the Prayer Festival or upon registration.  Registration with a T-shirt costs $30.00.  T-shirts purchased separately cost $25.00.  Registration forms are available from your Youth Leaders.

3) Parishioners are invited to be part of the in-house audience at the Father Reginald John Lecture Series commencing on Saturday, September 30th at the Pastoral Centre from 10:30 a.m.  Please see the Notice Board for more details of the other lectures.

4) Registration for Year One (1) First Communion and Confirmation Classes continues.  Please note that candidates must be six (6) years old as at December 2023 to register for First Communion and eleven (11) years old as at December 2023 to register for confirmation.  The registration forms are available in church and online.   Please register at the Parish Office.  Deadline is September 29th, 2023.  

Registration for adult confirmation for persons 16 years and over is also open.  The registration form is available in church and online.  Please register at the Parish Office.

5) First Communion classes will resume for candidates taking classes at Gros Islet on Saturday, October 7th at 10:00 a.m. while Confirmation Classes, will resume on Sunday, October 15th after the 10:00 a.m. mass.  Please note that registration ends Friday, September 29th.  Please be guided accordingly.

Catechism classes will resume as follows:

First Communion:

Gros Islet - Saturday October 7th - 10:00 a.m.

Grand Riviere - Saturday, October 7th - 9:00 a.m.

Monchy - Saturday, October 7th - 9:30 a.m.

Confirmation:

Gros Islet - Sunday October 15th - after 10 a.m. mass

Grande Riviere - Saturday October 7th - 9:00 a.m.

Monchy - Sunday October 15th

6)  All Parishioners you are invited to a day of prayer with Mary, on Monday, October 2nd, at the Mount of Prayer, Coubaril.  The day begins at 9:30 a.m. with mass. at 3:00 p.m.  Bring along a flower, either a blue, white or gold.

7) Our Lady of Mount Carmel confraternity will hold its annual rally at the Cathedral on Sunday, October 8th, commencing with mass at 10:30 a.m.  All are invited to attend.

8)There will be a Retreat for the parents/guardians of all First Communion and Confirmation students on Wednesday, October 11th at the Gros Islet Church from 6:00 p.m.  The facilitator is Fr. Albert Smith.  Please make a special effort to attend.

9) The Holy Family Children's Home will be holding their annual fundraising dinner on Saturday, October 14th at Sandals Grande Resort.  Tickets cost $200.00 per person.  Tickets are available from the Parish Office.

10) The Archdiocese is carrying out a Family and Life survey and wishes all parishioners to participate. To do so please click on the link below:

12) The St John Vianney Chapel is in the process of recruiting new members for the Missionary Childhood Association.  Children who recently made their First Communion, Second Year First Communion candidates as well as the first year confirmatrion candidates are encouraged to join.  Come and use your Time, Talent and Treasure in the service of the Lord, parents your support is greatly appreciated.  For more information and registration forms please contact Lisa. Esnard or Letitia Anderson.

13) We advise that your offerings and donations to the Parish can be made through BOSL Chequing Account #514 068 026, in the name of "Parish Priest of Gros Islet", Swift Code BOSLLCLC and also via Sure Pay.

Gros Islet  01

Grande Riviere  02

Monchy  03

Payments can be made in person at the Sure Pay counters or online.  Please contact the Parish Office if you require further information about online payments. 

We appreciate your support.

Register for Sure Pay here

PRAYER TO BEGIN THE SCHOOL YEAR

God of wisdom and might, we praise you for the wonder of our being, for mind, body and spirit.

Be with our children, teachers and other school staff as they begin the new school year, and keep them safe from all harm.

Give our children strength and grace as their bodies grow.  Help them not to be anxious or fearful.  Send your spirit upon them and fill them with your blessings.  Give wisdom and knowledge to their minds as they search for understanding, and peace and zeal to their hearts.  Grant that they may devote themselves to their studies and draw ever closer to you, the source of all knowledge.

Bless all the teachers and other school staff.  Help them to see the good in each day, no matter what difficulties they may face.  Let them always strive to share their knowledge with gentle patience and endeavor always to bring the truth to the eager minds of their students.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

PRAYER FOR THE NATION

God of Power and might, we thank and praise You for Your goodness and mercy. Have mercy upon us, behold us and show us the light of Your mercies. Send Your fear upon our nation that we may know that there is no God besides You. Lift up Your hands over Saint Lucia that we may see Your power. Heal the hurts of our nation. Sanctify and purify our actions and way of life that we may be a Holy Nation. Give wisdom and fortitude to our leaders that they may guide our nation in Your precepts. Give love, patience and hope to our youth and strengthen our families. We make this prayer in the name of Your beloved Son Jesus Christ, who is Lord forever and ever. Amen

A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR!

Come, Holy Spirit,
Spirit of God, Spirit of the Risen Christ,
Be with us today and always.
Be our Light, our Guide, and our Comforter.
Be our Strength, our Courage,
And our Sanctifier.
May this new year be a time
Of deep spiritual growth for us,
A time for welcoming Your graces and gifts,
A time for forgiving freely and unconditionally,
A time for growing in virtue and goodness.

Come, Holy Spirit,
Be with us today and always.

Amen.

PRAYER DURING THE HURRICANE SEASON

O Lord, our God and Father, who gives rain and sunshine to your children, we ask you in this rainy season to uphold us and provide for our needs. You try our patience and test our faith and reliance on you; forgive our sin of ingratitude. So often have we forgotten to thank you for your goodness and acts of mercy. Teach us to look up to you each day, appreciative of rain and sunshine, as you, in your wisdom, through any kind of weather do feed us alI in your mercy, protect us against hurricanes and tropical storms. Pour out your blessings upon our nation and our people, and make us grateful for the weather we receive from your bountiful hand. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Prayer to St. Joseph

Hail Guardian of the Redeemer, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.

Prayer against Crime and Violence

Heavenly Father, we come to you because crime is on the increase in our country.  We ask that you protect all of us from the evil of crime and the violence associated with it.  Comfort, heal and bless all victims of crime.  Be near to all who have been touched by violence: those who have been hurt, lost their loved ones, or have lost their sense of security. 

We pray for those who have died as a result of violence, draw them to yourself and shine your face upon them so they can rest in your eternal peace. In a special way be with all women who live in situations of domestic violence: be for them a steady source of comfort and a place of safety.  Strengthen your Church in its care and support of all who are in pain.  Help us to be sensitive and caring to all those who need our help.

We pray for the grace to purge ourselves of all violence - in our thoughts and actions, in our family life, in our friendships and in all our relationships with others.  We pray especially for a life-changing conversion of all criminals and those who are violent.  Remove all evil from their hearts, fill them with your goodness and love that they may cease their evil works and that our land may be free from this ongoing scourge of crime and violence.

Soften the hearts and steady the minds of those who do violence to others.  May hate be replaced with love, violence with peace and darkness with your light.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

         O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you.  As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence!  You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

         Yet we have strayed from that path of peace.  We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns.  We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbour’s keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters. We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves.  Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!

         Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life.  He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity.  By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.

         We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart. We are your beloved children.  In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion.  At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort. Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?”  You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times.  In you we place our trust.  We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.

         That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs.  To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine” (Jn. 2:3).  Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded. We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace. We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness. How greatly we need your maternal help!

         Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer. Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war. Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation. Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world. Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness. Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons. Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love. Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity. Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.

         O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts.  May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew.  Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace.  May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs.  May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land.  May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.

         Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son” (Jn 19:26).  In this way he entrusted each of us to you.  To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother” (v. 27).  Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history.  At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ.  The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.

         Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine.  Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love.  Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world.  The “Fiat” that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace.  We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more.  To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.

         Through your intercession, may God’s mercy be poured out on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days.  Our Lady of the “Fiat”, on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God.  May you, our “living fountain of hope”, water the dryness of our hearts.  In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion.  You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace.  Amen.

A CORONAVIRUS PRAYER 

Jesus Christ, you travelled through towns and villages, “curing every disease and illness”. At your command, the sick were made well. Come to our aid now, in the midst of the global spread of the Coronavirus, that we may experience your healing love. Heal those who are sick with the virus. May they regain their strength and health through quality medical care. Heal us from our fear, which prevents nations from working together, and neighbours from helping one another. Heal us from our pride, which can make us claim invulnerability to a disease that knows no borders. In place of our anxiety, give us your peace. In your wisdom protect our country, Saint Lucia, our region and the whole world from this pandemic. Be with the doctors, nurses and researchers, and all medical professionals who seek to heal and help those affected, and who put themselves at risk in the process. May they know your protection and peace. Mary, comforter of the afflicted, pray for us. Amen.

PRAYER OF THE SYNOD (2021-2023) 

We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather Together in Your name. With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts; Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it. We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder. Do not let ignorance Lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions. Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right. All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time, in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen.

PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

God, Oh Most Gracious and loving, this is our prayer to You today for the priests You have chosen from among us, ordained them to become Your representatives here on earth.  You said that Your Vineyard is full of harvest but the labourers are few. We are most grateful for their presence in our lives. They help us to become good and fruitful branches of Jesus Christ, The true Vine. Despite their human weakness, You chose them to make us experience your presence in the Sacraments and in the Liturgy.  Lord, help them to carry out their sacred duties of administering Christ’s Sacraments, the same way You, the True Shepherd, tended to Your flock.  Lord Jesus Christ, light up the hearts of all Your Priests and all Clergy with the fire of zealous love for You. Jesus Christ, may they forever seek Your glory.