For Palestine

28 May 2025

A Prayer for Palestine by Seza Ouzounian 

Dear God,

We come to you in humble prayer to lift up the people of Palestine. May Your love and

mercy surround them in these very challenging times. Please offer them comfort, hope

and peace amidst the devastation. Send your Holy Spirit that they might know your

peace in their hearts.

We pray particularly for the children who are injured and starving. We pray for an

absolute ceasefire and the delivery of aid and food deliveries. We pray for wisdom and

courage for leaders in position of influence to seek paths of peace and unity. We pray

for a future where all people in the region can live in dignity, security and freedom.

As Armenians, may we raise our voices and stand up for the Palestinians because we

have walked through the same anguish. It is because of Your love for us and our faith

in You that we are standing here today. Please bring forth leaders who bring peace and

love on our broken world.

Amen

An Answer to Shnorhi

An Answer to Shnorhi's (9th Hour) Prayer

26 May 2025

by Fr. Vazken Movsesian

This prayer is offered as an answer to Shnorhali’s nineth hour of prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, you who opened the eyes of the blind man, open our eyes which are blinded by hatred.

You who gave hearing to the deaf man, open our ears which can no longer hear the cry of babies. 

You who loosened the tongue of the mute, open our mouths so we may share our voice for justice. 

You who restored strength in the legs of the paralyzed man, give us the stamina to walk to bring aid. 

You who opened the hearts of those who hate, open our hearts to give to those in need. 

Amen.

Pope Leo XIV Prayer

 14 May 2025

Submitted by Kathy Markarian

Quote from Pope Leo XIV. 

Brothers, sisters…

I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.

To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.

I, too, was angry with God.

I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.

And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.

But then I discovered something:

God doesn't shout. God whispers.

And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.

I don't come to offer you perfect faith.

I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.

I'm not asking you to believe in everything.

I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.

I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.

That changed me.

So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies...

come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.

No one here will ask you for a VIP card.

Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.

God doesn't need soldiers.

He needs brothers.

And you, yes, you...

are one of them."

~Leo XIV