God of the Living Word, each year we journey through the season of Lent by emulating your Son’s trying time in the wilderness where he fasted and prayed then overcame temptation. As this prayer is published, we are about 10 to 12 days into our time of preparation in our wilderness. Be with us as we struggle to maintain our commitment to fast, to give alms, to study your word, and to pray more fervently. We take on these practices to increase our devotion to you and pray that our efforts are pleasing in your sight.

The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels!
Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.**

God of the Heavenly Realm, you sent angels to care for Jesus after his testing was over, help us to be mindful of the angels you send us. Give us the wisdom to see them at work here and now, and to give thanks for their efforts in real time. In the mortal realm, we see first responders and those in the caring professions as angels, stepping in where others fear to tread. We pray that you will sustain them in their efforts to help and comfort others.

Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it!***
God of the Expanding Kingdom, help us to shift our Lenten journey from a personal, inward struggle to an outward expression of your radical hospitality. Despite our efforts to build community, there is still so much strife in the world. We pray for your guidance to strengthen our resolve to do more. Transform our fast into an opportunity to share our food with the hungry, expand our alms giving to include more time spent with the sick and the lonely, and extend our study of your word into the call for action it demands. With these efforts, we pray that we will support angels unaware. Amen.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer,
Stacey Neale

Notes that all scripture verses come from The Message: *Matt 4:1-3; **Matt 4:11; ***Hebrews 13:2

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Majestic music and full voice congregations bellow through the church. “God with us” is approaching.

Pageant planning and choir rehearsals fill our agendas. “God with us” is getting nearer.

Items for Christmas Baskets and giving trees are filling our shopping carts. “God with us” is closer.

Silent Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem herald Jesus’s birth on Christmas Day. “God with us” is here now. Rejoice! Rejoice!

The Magi bring gifts full of meaning and honour. They depart full of wonder and awe. Alleluia, Alleluia, sounds through the earth and sky.1 “God with us” is with them and the world.

The Holy Family full of fear flees to a foreign land. “God with us” is with them and all the dispossessed.

Herod, the king, in his raging, charged he hath this day. His men of might, in his own sight, all young children to slay.2 “God with us” have you fled from us? Are you with him? With his men of might?
Gracious God, we pray for peace full stop. There are too many wars raging in your precious world. “God with us” is hard to find. We feel too small, too powerless to stop them. Fill us with a sense of urgency to act against the hatred, racism, and greed that is at the root of all conflicts. Fill all those in authority with a sense of reason and compassion. Open a crack to let the Prince of Peace entre their hearts to soften their wills and instill a true love of neighbour. Fill us with the certainty that with “God with us” all things are truly possible. This we pray in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Gracious God, please bless my partner in prayer, Valerie Bennett, as she steps away from the role of Diocesan Representative for the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer. We started this journey with great enthusiasm for the task at hand. Finding ways and means to encourage more prayer in our Diocese was harder than we thought. Writing this prayer on a regular basis was our humble effort to reach out to this community and lift up to God those issues, good or bad, that were impacting us all. I thank God for Valerie’s presence in my life and for her tempering hand in drafting these prayers.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Stacey Neale

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Gracious God, we give thanks for the smooth running of the electoral synod that took place on May 3rd. We pray for all the candidates who were called to let their name stand for this important office. May you ease the disappointment of those who prayed for a different outcome, and rally all your faithful servants behind Victor-David and the new way forward that will emerge for the diocese.

God of endless possibilities, we pray that you would impart Victor-David with your grace, wisdom and encouragement. Grant him your guidance so that he will be able to steer this diocese into flourishing times. We thank you Gracious God that there are many people in our midst with progressive views and ideas. We realize also that there are many opposing factors that we must face. Help Victor-David to be discerning and choose the right paths for us to follow, accepting only those ideas that are pleasing in your sight. We know that with you all things are possible. Help us, we pray, to all be of one mind and spirt as we work through the coming changes and do everything to the honour and glory of your name.

O Great Shepherd, please hold in your heart the parishioners of l’Église Anglicane de la Nativité St James (Rosemère) and St Simon and St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church (Laval-Chomedey). While they rejoice in Victor-David’s success, they have lost a trusted and compassionate pastor. May the Holy Spirit be present during this period of discernment and send a new incumbent to these parishes who will lead with hope, enthusiasm, and compassion.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. AMEN

Valerie and Stacey

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God of healing graces, we give thanks that we live in a country that values Medicare for all. We praise you for bringing to fruition this important institution. Through it, most Canadians have easy access to medical professionals and multiple treatment options. We pray that those living in isolated areas across the nation will be granted this privilege as well.

God of wisdom, we pray that you guide our government officials, both federal and provincial, to look at the evolving crisis in our health care system with fresh eyes and an innovative spirit. The current situation serves no one. Our health care professionals are tired and frustrated at the lack of resources, the aging population is straining the current infrastructure, and the administrative bureaucracy is preventing real change. We pray for radical yet thoughtful transformation where all members of society receive the healing they deserve in a timely and stress-free manner.
God of restorative graces, we pray that you will uphold and strengthen all medical professionals. We give thanks for these individuals who devote their careers to healing the sick and caring for their needs. Instill in our youth the desire to continue to enter this important field and become sympathetic health care practitioners.

God of compassion, we pray that you continue to bring kindness and empathy to all who are caring for loved ones in this stressful environment. Difficulties booking appointments, getting to medical offices and the curtness of front line staff is taking a toll on morale. Help your church find ways to assist these caregivers and ease their burdens. Bring your loving strength to those who are living without an advocate or caregiver. The healing process is a difficult path to travel alone.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

Valerie Bennett and Stacey Neale

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We confess that we have not always been encouragers to our neighbours and have failed at times to be our siblings’ keepers. We pray that you will help us to change our ways and to always be on the lookout to prevent harm and danger being perpetrated towards the vulnerable among us.

God of inspiration and innovation, we thank you for all the great advances in technology that we often take for granted. Most of these tools are being used to make life easier and more meaningful for us. However, some people have found underhanded ways of manipulating this technology and harming others in the process.

Lord, we pray that you will change the hearts and minds of these hackers and fraudsters who have decided to harm the elderly and the naïve, thus profiting from their misfortune. Help them see that the love of money is the root of evil. Help them, like Zacchaeus, repent and reimburse their victims four times their loss (Luke 19:8). Please convince these scammers, we pray, to use their excellent skills to improve the world, making it a more peaceful and happier place to inhabit.

Finally, we plead with you Gracious God to instill in our precious seniors the skill of discernment to spot these dishonest schemes and to protect them when these ploys seem so authentic.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Valerie Bennett and
Stacey Neale

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for the ministry of Archbishop Linda Nicholls, the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada since 2019 and ordained priest since 1984. We prayerfully acknowledge your steadfast presence in her ministry of compassion, reconciliation and trailblazing.

A first-hand witness to the struggles and triumphs of women’s role in ordained ministry, Archbishop Linda challenged the church to do the hard work of improving broken relationships through anti-racism practices and active listening and responding to Indigenous voices within the community. We give thanks for this challenge and pray that with God’s help we will continue this important work. We also give you thanks Gracious God for the wisdom and guidance you instilled in Archbishop Linda through which she made many great contributions to the church here in Canada and abroad.

In recognition of her role as a “beacon and pathfinder for the ministry of women here, and overseas”, the House of Bishops seeded a new Theological Education Fund in Archbishop Linda’s honour. It will provide bursaries for theological education to lay or ordained women. In gratitude and thanksgiving, she expressed her delight with this tribute and prayed “that this fund will enable more women to live into their God-given gifts for the good of the whole Church and the world.” We pray that those who were touched by Archbishop Linda’s sincere and fruitful ministry will join the Bishops and give generously to this initiative.

Gracious God, we implore you to instill in Archbishop Linda permission to rest and to savour this well-deserved break from responsibility. This transition can be hard for such dedicated people. We know that with you by her side, she will discern new pathways where she can “enjoy walking with God’s people, not as a leader, but as a friend, teacher and mentor alongside opportunities that allow her soul to sing—literally and figuratively.” We humbly pray that this singing goes on and on and on.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Valerie Bennett & Stacey Neale

The quoted statements are from articles posted to anglican.ca and anglican.foundation.org. Specific references are available upon request.

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Gracious God, sustain us in our Lenten practice when the goal of spiritual renewal through repentance, prayer, fasting and alms giving seems unattainable and burdensome. We pray that this journey brings us into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with you. This preparation leads to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection and the renewal of our baptismal vows. We pray you will sustain us as we live out this legacy, and make every effort to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ where ever we go.

We beseech you, Lord God, to help us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to always remember to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Valerie and Stacey

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We count it a real privilege to be able to converse with you and to allow ourselves to be guided by your grace, wisdom, and mercy. We know that Jesus has promised that whatever we ask for in his name will be granted to us. It is for this reason that we pray without ceasing not just for our own needs, but for those of others, known and unknown to you our Lord and Savior. We give thanks in every instance for answered prayers, delayed requests, and unexpected outcomes.

Wonderful Counselor, Healer and Prince of Peace, we thank you for being our light and salvation in times of darkness and trouble.

We long for peace in our world, peace in our homes and peace in your hearts. As we anxiously wait for your coming again, we pray for economic stability, for better employment opportunities, for improved housing, for solutions to our environmental woes, for abstinence programs from addiction, for healing, and, especially at this time, for comfort to those who mourn.

Emmanuel, Protector, and Lord of Hope, we ask for your inspiration to help us to witness to others so that they too will experience the awesomeness of your strength and friendship.

Through this Advent season, we pray to you Lord to help us understand the Prophets, announce like Angels, respond like Shepherds and honour like the Magi. These skills will prepare us to do the work to fix your broken kingdom. We beseech you to mold us into healers and peacemakers. We pray that by using these gifts, we will reach the lost and broken-hearted and encourage them towards the incredible joy and comfort that prayer with you can offer.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Valerie and Stacey

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Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Valerie Bennett and Stacey Neale

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God of truth and sorrow, we confess that we are not always as engaged as we could be with Indigenous issues. We pray that saying the land acknowledgement each Sunday will move us beyond words to action. Help us to affirm Indigenous people as equal brothers and sisters in Christ with inherent rights who are due respect, freedom and peace. Help us to listen to their stories of marginalization and inter-generational abuse with compassion and love, and move us to join with them in creating safe spaces for the healing Spirit to walk in. Help us to make every effort to investigate the mystery of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and to become advocates in this search for justice. Help us to take seriously the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to understand how it is being applied to Canadian law.

God of hope and possibilities, we thank you for instilling in His Majesty King Charles III a genuine interest in Indigenous practices and a sincere willingness to listen and learn. May his long-term commitment to the Indigenous People of Canada be an inspiration to others. We pray that this relationship continues to grow and to yield impactful change. From monarch to commoners, we are all called to serve one another and it is through this sacred act that the Kingdom of God will be lived out here on earth.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

Valerie Bennett and Stacey Neale

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