After the year dedicated to reflection on the documents and the study of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council in 2023, Pope Francis has asked that 2024 be marked as a Year of Prayer. “The year preceding the Jubilee event, 2024, will be dedicated to a great symphony’ of prayer, he wrote. “First and foremost, to recover the desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to him and adore him.”

In preparation for the Jubilee (Jubilee Web Page), the Diocese is placing special focus on individual and community prayer.

Preparing for the Jubilee Year in the Year of Prayer

Parish

• Begin a parish prayer group or join an existing one
• Give particular focus to The Lord’s Prayer during Mass by singing the Our Father.  When making an examination of conscience before celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation, use the Our Father as a means of reflection.
• Consider introducing special opportunities for prayer, such as a Holy Hour or Night Fever
• Learn about your Parish’s patron saint.  Are there any gifts or charisms they are trying to impart to you?
• Pray for vocations to priesthood, religious life, marriage and the single consecrated life
• Prayer for those who have recently died and recently bereaved, may the Jubilee year fill them with the hope of resurrection

Home

• Place your Bible in a prominent place at home.
• Begin or increase prayer time as a family, especially at meals times, the start and end of the day.  Perhaps at the end of the day you could pray to your guardian angel and the Holy Family and ask them for their help and protection of your family for the next day and week ahead.
• Give each person in your family a day where they choose who or what the family will pray for that day
• Embracing the theme of hope, ask people in your family what they have been grateful for that week and what their hopes are for the coming week.
• Embark on a scripture challenge: Set aside a period of time each week or each day and reflect on a passage of scripture such as the Sunday Gospel reading or the Gospel reading of the day.  Reflect on the passage, read again, and reflect once more.  How is the Lord speaking to you?  Write down your thoughts in a diary and reflect and pray with them.  If you do this as a family, you could share your thoughts with each other.
• Learn more about the saint whom you adopted at confirmation and pray for their intercession.
• Download and use a prayer app such as Pray as you Go, Amen, or Hallow