# Novena for faithful citizenship: day seven
*2008-10-17*

> Bill Young leads the seventh day of the Novena for Faithful Citizenship, focusing on the call to unity, humility, and the pursuit of justice in society.

## A call to unity

In today's reading from Ephesians 4:1-6, we are urged to live in a manner worthy of the call we have received. This requires us to act with all humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another through love. We are called to strive to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, remembering that we are one body and one Spirit, called to one hope. We serve one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.

## Reflecting on justice

As we reflect on these scriptures, we must ask ourselves: What divisions exist in my community? What structures in society seem unjust? How am I striving to achieve justice and peace in my neighborhood, my church, and my nation? We pray to the God of justice, remembering that we are created in His image, and ask that we may glorify Him in all our actions.

## Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

We turn to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for help to conquer the menace of evil that so easily takes root in the hearts of people today, weighing down our modern world and blocking the path toward the future. We pray for deliverance from famine and every kind of war, including nuclear war and incalculable self-destruction. We seek deliverance from sins against human life from its very beginning, from hatred, and from the denigrating of the dignity of the children of God.

## Overcoming societal and individual sin

We ask for deliverance from every kind of injustice in society, both national and international, and from the readiness to triumph over the commandments of God. We pray against attempts to stifle the true God in human hearts and against the loss of awareness of good and evil. We seek deliverance from sins against the Holy Spirit.

O Mother of Christ, accept this cry laden with the suffering of all individual human beings and the suffering of the whole society. Help us, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to conquer all sin—individual sin and the sin of the world. May the infinite saving power of the redemption and the power of merciful love be revealed once more in the history of the world to put a stop to evil and transform consciousness.

*We are called to pursue justice and unity by overcoming both individual and societal sin through the power of merciful love.*