July 2009

Daily Intercessions through the Word of God – July 2009
Sanctuary Intercessors – India Branch of FBB
International Catholic Charismatic Missionary Intercessors of the Fellowship of the Burning Bush (FBB)
The ‘Intercession Diary’ has the approval and blessings of the Bishops’ Team of the Archdiocese and contains intentions of our Cardinal and the Bishops
(Join us in agreement to intercede each day according to the Scriptures, ask the Holy Spirit how to pray to actualize God’s promises in each situation)

Day/Date Interceding According to the Mind of Christ

Wed
1/7/2009

Gen 1:2-3 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light
This month we focus our prayer for the Church in the world, especially our sisters and brothers persecuted for their faith. Today, we pray for Christians in Pakistan who face severe opposition from militant Islamic groups, including imprisonment, torture and even death. Many Pakistani Christians have been falsely accused of blaspheming the prophet Mohammed or the Quran, a crime punishable by death. Christians are regularly barred from jobs or face troubles from their employers and co-workers. Christian merchants are often harassed. Pakistani Christians are seen as being a part of an attack on Islam because of the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan. We lift up these situations. May God grant to those imprisoned for their faith, the grace to know His presence and faith to preserve in the midst of their sufferings. We pray for protection for Christians facing intimidation.. We also pray that the Spirit of God would transform the chaos and darkness to a thirst for the living God through the light of the Gospel.

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For the martyrs..

This month you may be surprised with the monthly intercessory diary (well, as many of you know better than me, our Lord IS a God of surprises). Over the past many months we have prayed for our needs, our city, our country.

This time we were led to pray for our persecuted sisters and brothers, beyond our borders. We sensed, that while we were truly blessed (pampered in fact, with a strong, stable and SECULAR government at the centre), we should, rather than be complacent (and selfish), pray for our Christian brethren suffering for their faith in our neighbourhood – Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, etc.

You can imagine our surprise, AND DELIGHT, when we noted that our Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of July reads “That Christians in the Middle East may live their faith in complete freedom and become instruments of reconciliation and peace.” Wow! What a God of surprises and confirmation we have.

“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church”, wrote second century Church Father, Tertullian. We experienced it first-hand last August when the persecution of our sisters and brothers began in Orissa. And so, we pray this month to the Loving Father, in and through Jesus Christ “the first born within a large family” (Rom 8:29), to pray for the ‘members of own body’ for “as one suffers, all suffer” (1 Cor 12:26).

This month, as we pray together in ‘one accord’,
- we raise our hands and pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters,
- we raise our hearts, seeking mercy for the perpetrators of hatred and violence, especially against the harmless and helpless, and those missionaries doing good, and
- we raise our voices in victory, knowing that He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or imagine” (Ep 3:20)

We pray that Christians be filled with grace and strength from the Lord in their persecution and that “the Church be the seed and soil of a humanity reconciled to be God’s one true family on earth” (Pope Benedict XVI’s Missionary Intention for July).

We continue to pray this month for our country and city – our leaders, authorities and “all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity” (1 Tim 2:2).

As we continue in prayer for our Indian persecuted Church, through the intercession of St Thomas whose feast we celebrate this month, we especially lift up Faith Formation effort in our Archdiocese and our country and as he is the Apostle of India, we also pray through his intercession for the Anti-conversion Bill(s) of the various states.

Let me conclude with what I recently heard in a news clipping - that the government is planning to block all anti-Conversion bills from the states. Indeed, our God is an awesome God. [We thank and praise you in advance, dear God.]