My husband has been a member of the *Knights of Columbus for many
years. Because of his membership, he
receives their magazine Columbia.
I was reading an article the other day in their magazine about
a priest who was martyred in Iraq because he refused to close the “house of
God” when the ISIS marauders told him to close the church.
In the article it said that following the funeral of a
priest who had been decapitated by terrorists, Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni (who
refused to close the church) “did not ask God to protect him from suffering,
but he wrote what he called My Last
Prayer, which I think is a wonderfully pure prayer and one that laypeople
(non-ordained), as well as priests, should adopt.
His prayer was:
“Lord, give me the strength not to humiliate your priesthood, which I represent.”
Now you might ask, how is it fitting for a layperson to
adopt such a prayer?
Well, Father Ganni was, of course, referring to his
ministerial or ordained priesthood, and his desire to represent it to the glory
of God, but I think this is a prayer every baptized person should pray, because
as laypeople in the Church, we are all priest, prophet and king.
Let me explain.
We are of the common
priesthood. We are not ordained, but because we are
baptized into the life of Christ, we carry with us the privilege (and
responsibility) of identifying with him.
Through personal sacrifice, we love others, revealing the love of God to
the world.
As prophet we are
called to proclaim Christ in our daily lives whether we are at work, at home
with our families, or at play. Through
our words and actions, evidence of God should be made visible to those around
us.
And as far as king
goes, we accept the role of leader and the important work of bringing others to
Christ (which includes our children.)
Like our ordained priests, we, too, need God’s strength to
carry out our role as priest, prophet and king, because we are the **“hands
and feet” of Christ, in the world.
This prayer is especially needed today. I encourage you to include it in your daily
prayers so that you may be aided in responding to God’s call.
Janet Cassidy
Janetcassidy.com
**“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands,
no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks
compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the
hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no
body now on earth but yours.” Teresa of Avila (video)
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