special prayer service for healing, forgiveness and dialogue

this is in reference to my post ‘we will respond with prayers‘.

most churches in the diocese today will be using this prayer service format as prepared by one of the priest who is a liturgist. the introduction to the prayer goes like this:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome to this special prayer service tonight as we gather here in solidarity with our fellow Catholics and people of goodwill in our Diocese of Penang. We are quite aware of the unpleasant event which took place on Sunday, 5th November 2006, when a Malay Muslim group demonstrated at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Silibin, Ipoh, responding to a false SMS about the conversion of Muslims to Christianity.

Though this negative incident had aroused our emotions because it infringed our right to worship and practice our faith in peace and harmony, certainly this is not the time for revenge but a time for healing and prayer. It is indeed an opportune time for all of us, Christians and people of goodwill, to reflect on the vivid and forceful words of Jesus who said, “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.”

As a reverent response to the call of Jesus and to the shepherd of our diocese, Bishop Selva, we are here in faith and love to pray for healing, forgiveness and dialogue. This is another grace-filled occasion for us to deepen our discipleship and live in the radiant light of God. It is our firm belief and commitment that through this special prayer service, we will become better agents and effective channels of healing, forgiveness and dialogue. May these values of the kingdom of God further help us to bring continuous peace and harmony to our beloved country, Malaysia. With faith, hope and love in our hearts, we now begin this our prayer service by singing the hymn ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’.

for the rest of the prayers (continuation), please visit the diocese website. (scroll down to the end).