May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief
vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace!
And may the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people.
-St. Arnold Janssen
Quarter Hour Prayer
God, eternal truth.
We believe in you.
God, our strength and our salvation,
We hope in you.
God, infinite goodness,
We love you with all our heart.
You have sent the Word as Savior of the world,
Make us all one in Him.
Fill us with the Spirit of your Son,
That we may glorify your name.
Amen.
Invocations to Our Special Patrons
Incarnate Word of God,
Give us life by your Spirit.
Most pure Mother of the Lord,
Bring all people to your Son.
Holy Michael, Gabriel and Raphael,
Promote the kingdom of God on earth.
Sts. Joseph, Joachim and Anne,
Pray God for more ministers of the Gospel.
Sts. Peter and Paul, John and Andrew,
Help the heralds of the faith.
Sts. Gregory, Augustine and Vincent,
Pray for all the members of the Church of every state and rank.
Sts. Arnold and Joseph,
Open our hearts to all people.
Blessed Maria Helena, Josepha and our SVD martyrs,
Help us in our missionary service.
Prayer for SVD Missionaries
Most holy and loving God, you called and challenged Saint Arnold Janssen to proclaim your Gospel to peoples everywhere.
To your Spirit’s prompting, Saint Arnold responded with generous devotion to form three communities of religious missionaries.
Watch over, bless, and guide the communities of Sisters, dedicated to the Holy Spirit, and the Brothers and Priests, committed to the Divine Word.
All caring God, invite by name many more young man and women to be missionaries in our day. Embrace them with your grace;
inflame them with your youthful zeal.
In faith, we make this prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for the Arnoldus Family
Holy Triune God,
We thank and praise you for the gifts of Sts. Arnold and Joseph.
You chose St. Arnold to establish three missionary congregations and inspired St. Joseph to transform the people of China through the proclamation of the Good News. We thank you for the inspiring life and example set before us by Blessed Maria Helena, Josepha Stenmanns and our SVD Martyrs. They responded to the needs of the time with great courage and fidelity and offered
their precious lives for the mission.
Through their intercession, may we, the members of the Arnoldus Family, continue to discern God’s will. May their prayers help us to read the signs of the times and to respond to the needs of our people with courage and dedication – through prophetic dialogue and life–giving relationships.
Help us Lord, to seek the values that will bring us lasting peace in this changing world. Make us one in mind and heart and may the Heart of Jesus live in our hearts and in the hearts of all people.
We make this prayer through the intercession of Sts. Arnold and Joseph, Blessed Maria, Josepha, our SVD Martyrs and Mother Mary Michael. Amen.
Prayer to St. Arnold Janssen
God, our Father, St. Arnold knew well by experience the pain of suffering and the cross which he called “the salt with which the
eternal joys are seasoned.” He found his true happiness and bliss in abandoning himself totally to your will and in service to the
Church. Therefore, with confidence we pray to him that we too may be trusting in our efforts to make known your love to all people.
St. Arnold, model of intimate union with God and of dedication to the missionary needs of the Church, implore God to endow men and women in our day with your spirit of dedicated love and service. Obtain for us strength and perseverance so that we may, with grateful hearts and generous zeal, accept our responsibility to carry forward the missionary work of the Church and in the power of the Holy Spirit fulfill that responsibility through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer to St. Joseph Freinademetz
St. Joseph,
The Church has set you before us as our model and intercessor before God. As we reflect during these days on the example of your life and missionary activity in China, teach us to be devoted to God in prayer as you were. May we work for God’s kingdom on earth, serve our brothers and sisters in love, and with you attain our everlasting goal. In your missionary work you came to know the poverty, the need and the efforts of many people and you came to their assistance. Come to our aid now, that through your intercession God may grant us the favors for which we pray. Implore for us to be prompt and strong, to live always according to God’s will and to accept God’s providence.
Amen.
Prayer to Our SVD Martyrs
God, our Father, we thank and praise you for your servants Gregory, Aloysius, Louis and Stanislaus. You inspired them when they were young to work in your vineyard. They accepted your divine call and entered the Society of the Divine Word in order to become true religious missionaries. Their ministry was centered in and around Poland and they showed an exemplary religious spirit in their missionary life. We lovingly recall their love for the Holy Eucharist and complete trust in you. Their simple qualities of humility, kindness, sensitivity, diligence, faithfulness and patient suffering prompted them to submit themselves entirely into your hands. These servants of yours became victims of the cruelty of war. Each one of them had to shed his blood for upholding your values.
Holy Martyrs, Gregory, Aloysius, Louis and Stanislaus, intercede for us that we may continue to answer our religious missionary vocation with zeal and dedication. May we constantly draw inspiration from you to face our difficulties and trials without any complaint. May we work hard and be ready to suffer for others. Help us to remain faithful in our missionary service especially for the poor and the needy. This we ask through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer to Blessed Josepha Stenmanns
Lord Jesus Christ,
You have manifested your goodness and love to us through Blessed Josepha. As a true missionary, she spent her entire life in spreading the message of your love through her humble and dedicated service. As we pray through her intercession, we ask you to grant us the grace to follow her example of prayer, perseverance, and hard work. Like her, may we be also persons who believe the unbelievable, reach out for the unattainable, trusting in the things beyond seeing, the things beyond hearing, and the things beyond imagining, that you have prepared for those who love you. Amen.
Prayer to Blessed Maria Helena Stollenwerk
God, Holy Spirit,
The fire of your love burned in the heart of Blessed Maria Helena. You inspired her to pass on this fire especially to the people of faraway China. Give also to us a generous and burning heart so that we can approach others without fear and help them to experience that you love them as they are, with all they have, with their pains and sorrows, with their deep desire for life, its meaning, and the longing for its fullness. For this we pray through the intercession of Blessed Maria Helena. Amen.
