31 July 2026 - prayers of the faithful for Friday of the 17th week in Ordinary time

Lord Jesus - You call us to be missionary in spirit. 

Christ Jesus - You forgive the sins of the contrite. 

Lord Jesus - you proclaim the values of the kingdom. 

Priest: With faith, hope, and love, we present our prayers to our heavenly Father: 

1. For Pope Leo XIV, Bishop Joseph Kopacz, and all Church leaders. May the Lord bless them as they lead the people of God in integrity and in truth. 

2. For the Catholic faithful. That their faith in God give them courage and hope as we deal with the ups and downs of life. 

3. For those who hold public office. That they will seek not their own interests but the good of the people whom they govern. 

4. As we celebrate the feast day of St Ignatius of Loyola, we pray for all members of the Jesuits and for all missionaries and evangelizers. May we all be missionary in spirit. 

5. For our students at the beginning of the new school year. 

6. For the sick, the afflicted, and the lonely. May the Lord touch them with his healing power. 

7. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts. 

Priest: We present our prayers through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN. 

30 July 2026 - prayers of the faithful for Thursday of the 17th week in Ordinary time

Lord Jesus - you call us to listen to God’s prophets. 

Christ Jesus - you bring us hope. 

Lord Jesus - you are the savior of the world. 

Priest: We present our prayers to our Heavenly Father: 

1. May all of us Christian, by word and example, bear witness to the Good News of the Gospel in the world. 

2. May we come to appreciate the treasures of God’s kingdom. 

3. May we initiate actions in our lives that help us grow in our love of the Eucharist. 

4. For the sick and the afflicted. May they be restored to health and find support in their faith and in the love and care of their friends and family members. 

5. For those who are exploring the Catholic faith in their lives. For those who came into the Church this past Easter. 

6. For our students at the beginning of the new school year. 

7. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts. 

Priest: We present our prayers through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN. 

31 July 2026 - St Ignatius of Loyola - Friday of the 17th week of Ordinary time - Jeremiah 26:1-9

We hear harsh words from the prophet Jeremiah today from six centuries before Christ’s birth. Even though Israel was told that the people would confront disaster if they did not repent and turn back to the Lord, they become angry and indignant, wanting to put the prophet Jeremiah to death. Sometimes we don’t want to hear God’s message. In my prison ministry, I remember one prisoner at the state prison in Yazoo City telling me that when he was in the process of committing the crime that put him into prison, he knew that God was trying to tell him that he was doing something wrong, but he did not want to hear what God was saying and did it anyway. Sometimes we turn our back on the Lord and ignore him.  Through Jeremiah, the Lord tells the people of Israel that they will be treated like Shiloh if Israel does not repent. Shiloh was an ancient shrine that had been destroyed by the Philistines. 

St Ignatius of Loyolas, the saint we celebrate, would admit that for many years in his life, he had turned his back on God. Ignatius was born in 1491, the year before Columbus sailed for America. He had a brother who sailed with Columbus. He was the youngest of 11 children from a family in the Basque country in mountainous area of Northeastern Spain.  He was trained to be a member of the royal court and to be a solider, but while fighting at the siege of Pamplona in 1621, he suffered a broken leg that had to be re-broken after it was not set properly.  His friends carried him more than a hundred miles back from the sight of battle to his family’s ancestral home. Ignatius was confined to his bed for a long period of time during his recuperation from his injuries, where he learned about saints such as St Dominic and St Francis of Assisi. He also read stories about Christ and his ministry. This brought about a profound conversion of faith. After spending time as a hermit in a cave and time wandering as a pilgrim, where he was able to reflect upon his vocation, Ignatius enrolled in the University of Paris at the age of 30 to become a priest, a very advanced age to be in formation for the priesthood. He had to study Latin with young boys in order to get ready for his study of theology.  Even though Ignatius had turned his back on God for most of his early life, he had opened his life to God after that battle injury. From the humble beginnings of his conversion, he wrote his spiritual exercises while trying to discern God’s will for him in his life.  With a group of good friends from the University, Ignatius of Loyola went on to found the religious order of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, an order of priests that still has great influence in Catholicism today.  We celebrate Ignatius of Loyola today. May we pray that his prayers and intercessions accompany us on our own journey.

30 July 2026 - Solanus Casey - Thursday of the 17th week in Ordinary time - Jeremiah 18:1-6

Born in 1870, Solanus Casey was thrown out of a diocesan seminary due to his poor academic performance. He entered the Capuchin Franciscan seminary, where he also struggled. He was ordained as a Capuchin Franciscan as a simplex priest, only allowed to celebrate mass but to perform no other priestly duties. He was not allowed to hear confession and not allowed to priest. He served as a porter and sacristan with the Franciscans throughout the 53 years of his priesthood, tasks he accepted with great humility. At the monastery in Detroit, in the midst of his duties, he also gave wise spiritual advice, giving great spiritual advice and bringing healing to many. When he died in 1957, more than 20,000 passed by his casket to pay their respects.  

Jeremiah is sent to a potter’s workshop by God to be taught some lessons. One lesson Jeremiah learns today is this:  just as a potter has complete control over his clay and makes whatever he wills, so is the Lord master of his people. We are like clay in God’s hands.  He will fashion us and mold us if we let him. The Lord teaches us lessons in our ordinary lives, just as he taught Jeremiah from the ordinary daily work of a potter. 

29 July 2026 - St Mary and St Martha and St Lazarus - Wednesday of the 17th week in Ordinary Time - John 11:19-27

For many years, we celebrated the feast of St Martha on July 29 of each year. However, back in 2022, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments announced that they were adding the names of Martha’s brother Lazarus and her sister May to this feast day as well. We hear the Gospels how at different times this family opened their hearts and their homes to Jesus. We hear in the Gospel today how the sisters come to Jesus at the death of their brother. Even though this family was friends with Jesus, we hear how they came to terms with Jesus being their Lord and their savior. Jesus was dear friends with these three siblings. He showed great human emotion at the death of his friend Lazarus. All of us human beings have our strengths and weaknesses, shown by the strengths and weaknesses of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in the Gospels. We meet God in the midst of our reality, in the midst of those strengths and weaknesses. 

We can see in that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, although they were members of the same family, they had very different personalities. Martha was more of a person of hard work and action, Mary was more drawn to prayer and contemplation. The Church needs all of those different personalities and from the different walks of life. Think of how we have priests who are theologians, theologians, canon lawyers, school administrators, and missionaries. Priests in the small towns in the Delta and as rectors of cathedrals. The Church always has had people of action and people of prayer, people of the establishment and prophetic voices of the poor. As we celebrate Mary, Martha, and Lazarus today, let us learn from their experiences, and may we look for balance in our lives of faith. May we all be beloved friends of Jesus just as these three siblings were.  

29 July 2026 - prayers of the faithful for Wednesday of the 17th week in Ordinary time

Lord Jesus - you call us to holiness. 

Christ Jesus - you are our redeemer and our savior. 

Lord Jesus - you bring healing into our lives. 

Priest: With faith and hope, let us present our prayers to our heavenly Father: 

1. For the Spirit’s wisdom for Pope Leo XIV and for all our Church leaders.  2. For a spirit of humility and generosity in the way we all approach our faith. 

3. For good weather for our crops and gardens. For all farmers, gardeners, and seasonal farm laborers. 

4. For peace in the Holy Land and Ukraine. For unity and reconciliation where there is conflict and war. 

5. For those experiencing the hardships of earthquakes, storms, fires or the heat.

6. For those who have died recently. For the spiritual and physical well-being of all our Church community. 

7. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts. 

Priest: We present our prayers through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever.  AMEN.  

28 July 2026 - prayers of the faithful for Tuesday of the 17th week in Ordinary time

Lord Jesus - you hear the cry of the poor and the suffering. 

Christ Jesus - you renew your covenant with your people. 

Lord Jesus - you bring us salvation. 

Priest: With faith and hope, we present our prayers to our heavenly Father: 

1. For Pope Leo XIV, Bishop Kopacz, our clergy, and our lay leaders. May they lead us with word and deed in

faith, hope and love.

2. May our world leaders work for peace and unity. 

3. May we be inspired to spread the missionary Gospel message throughout the world.  

4. For those who have been affected by the hot summer weather and by natural disasters. 

5. For those who have died. For their entry into eternal life. 

6. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts this evening. 

Priest: We present these prayers through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN.