A Call to Prayer for Peace in the Holy Land and the Middle East during the Month of the Sacred Heart

In light of the escalation of violence in the Middle East, most recently between Israel and Iran, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) released an invitation for the Catholic faithful in Canada to pray for peace in the world during the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Amid the rising tensions and violence in the Middle East, the Catholic faithful in Canada are reminded of the urgent need to pray for peace. During this month—dedicated in the Latin Church to the Sacred Heart of Jesus—we have a unique opportunity to seek the Lord’s mercy, healing, and peace for our divided world.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus focuses our attention on the Lord’s inexhaustible love for humanity, and His desire that all be saved. By praying to the Sacred Heart, we turn to the divine source from which all authentic reconciliation springs, and open the channels for it to flow forth in our lives.

The Eastern Catholic Churches observe a different devotion in June, one which is centred on the Apostles Peter and Paul and that concludes with their liturgical feast on the 29th. Remembering their witness, which began in Jerusalem and spread forth “into all the earth,” as the Byzantine liturgy puts it, the faithful beg them “to intercede with the Master of all to grant peace to the world and to our souls great mercy.”

Parishes, communities of consecrated and apostolic life, families, movements and associations, and individuals within the Church in Canada are all therefore invited to pray and work for peace by:

• including suitable intentions in one’s daily prayers
• reciting a prayer to the Sacred Heart each day during the remainder of June;
• attending Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction with the Most Blessed Sacrament;
• reciting a Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus;
• including appropriate petitions during the Universal Prayer at daily and Sunday Masses this month;
• attending Mass on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 27th);
• offering one’s fasting and abstinence, during the Apostles’ Fast, for this particular concern, in the sacrificial spirit of St. Peter and St. Paul;
• practicing the corporal works of mercy within one’s local community, and donating to reliable charities working in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East.