The Diocese of Rome and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life have today launched the official prayer for the 10th World Meeting of Families to be held in Rome from 22 to 26 June 2022. The official hashtag has also been launched today as #WMOF2022.
The prayer, composed for the 10th World Meeting of Families, springs from deep gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the great gift of family, a very special place for loving relationships. It is inspired by the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the meeting: “Family love: a vocation and a path to holiness”. The prayer is intended to be a pastoral tool: it can be prayed from now on in parishes, in communities, at home, to help with preparation for the next year’s international event.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery, said, “praying is a way to enter into the heart of the Amoris Laetitia Year and the preparation for the event in Rome. He went on to say that “many families and communities have been waiting a long time to be able to set out on their way, at least spiritually, to Rome. Prayer will accompany them and help them to grasp the message of the gathering.”
The Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, added that “prayer will be at the heart of the path of preparation. It will guide our work and inspire the reflections to help us, in the light of faith, to discern the new challenges that the pandemic emergency poses to the ecclesial community with regard to families”. For this reason, “I invite everyone to prepare for this event of grace that the Church of Rome has the joy of hosting, and to address this prayer to the Lord in the intimacy of their family, together with the parish and diocesan community.”
WMOF2022 Official Prayer
Family Love: Vocation and Path to Holiness
Heavenly Father,
We come before You to praise You
and to thank You for the great gift of the family.
We pray to You for all families
consecrated by the Sacrament of Matrimony.
May they rediscover each day
the grace they have received,
and as small domestic Churches,
may they know how to witness to Your presence
and to the love with which Christ loves the Church.
We pray to You for all families faced with difficulty and suffering
caused by illness or circumstances of which only You know.
Sustain them and make them aware
of the path to holiness upon which You call them,
so that they might experience Your infinite mercy
and find new ways to grow in love.
We pray to You for children and young people:
may they encounter You and respond joyfully
to the vocation You have in mind for them;
We pray for parents and grandparents: may they be aware
that they are signs of the fatherhood and motherhood of God
in caring for the children who, in body and spirit, You entrust to them;
and for the experience of fraternity
that the family can give to the world.
Lord, grant that each family
might live their specific vocation to holiness in the Church
as a call to become missionary disciples,
in the service of life and peace,
in communion with our priests, religious,
and all vocations in the Church.
Bless the World Meeting of Families.
Amen.
ENDS
