Iraq

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Dedication and Prayer for those who are suffering under persecution for the sake of their faith in God

St. Augustine of Hippo once said, “He who sings prays twice.” Thus, with the limitations and the resources I have, I would like to dedicate these in prayer for the sake of those who are currently suffering under great persecutions for the sake of their faith in God.

I would like in particular to commend those in Iraq, Syria and other places where the faithful are in a great and terrible danger and tribulation, on the run from those who seek for their lives, because they believed in the Lord.

May God hear our prayers and be with our brethren in their time of need, and that He may abide with them and be on their side, rescuing them from their enemies and those who seek their destruction. May He also bring those who persecute His faithful into His truth and light, that they may repent and turn towards Him.

 

Abide with me

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word,
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings;
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile,
And though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee.
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

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Chaldean Patriarch election during Synod of Chaldean Bishops in Rome

http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-the-synod-for-the-election-of-the-new-chal

As Cardinal Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly has retired on 19 December last year, the Pope has called and convened a Synod for Chaldean bishops in Rome, in order to elect their new Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, in full communion with the Pope as the Bishop of Rome. The Patriarch is of the See of Babylon, an ancient diocese dating from before the original split between the Chaldean Church from Rome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldean_Catholic_Church

The Chaldean Church was part of Nestorianism, who rejected the Council of Ephesus in 431, as they believed in the distinctive human and divine nature of Christ, while we believe that Christ is truly fully human and also fully divine at the same time, and both are inseparable. The Chaldeans first returned to full communion with Rome in the mid 1500s, and after a period of lull in the communion, the full communion was restored in the 1800s, and continued well until today.

Let us pray for the bishops of the Chaldeans, that they will elect a worthy Patriarch for the Chaldean Catholic community, as shepherd to guide the faithful mostly in the region of Iraq and Mesopotamia, especially through the turbulent times experienced by all Christians in that area with intense persecution and harassment of all the faithful in Christ. May God bless them, and may He bless our Universal, Catholic Church.