# Novena for faithful citizenship: day two
*2008-10-13*

> Bill Young leads the second day of a novena for faithful citizenship, focusing on the call to secure justice for the oppressed and the needy.

## Opening and Scripture

Good afternoon. This is Bill Young, and welcome to the 168th episode of Catholic Podcast Ministries, Prayer N Lunch. Today we are continuing our novena for faithful citizenship. We begin in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of love.

Our reading today is from Psalm 146, verses 1 through 8: "Praise the Lord, my soul. I shall praise the Lord all my life. Sing praise to my God while I live. Put no trust in princes, in mere mortals, powerless to save. When they breathe their last, they will return to the earth; that day all planning comes to nothing. Happy are those whose help is Jacob's God, whose hope is in the Lord, their God, the maker of heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them. He who keeps faith forever secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free. The Lord gives sight to the blind. The Lord raises up those who bow down. The Lord loves the righteous."

## Daily Reflection

As we reflect on these words, we must ask ourselves: Who are the oppressed in your community? How am I helping them to secure justice? How am I helping to feed and give sight to those most in need?

## Prayer for Justice

God of Jacob, strengthen our hope in the Lord. Help us to keep the faith by striving for justice in our land. Give us hearts, hands, and feet truly to reach out to those in need. Amen.

## Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the path towards the future. From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war and incredible self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us. From sins against human life from the beginning, deliver us. From hatred and from the denigrating of dignity of the children of God, deliver us. From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us. From readiness to triumph over the commandments of God, deliver us. From attempts to suffocate in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From the sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ, this Christ laden with the suffering of all individual human beings and the sufferings of whole societies. Help us, with the power of the Holy Spirit, conquer all sin—individual sin and the sin of the world, sin in all its manifestations. Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the redemption, the power of merciful love. May it put a stop to evil; may it transform our consciousness. May your holy Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope.

*Faithful citizenship requires us to move beyond trust in earthly powers and instead actively serve the oppressed and needy in our own communities.*