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Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
Feb 25, 202117 min read

The Servites

Updated: Mar 3, 2021



A Message from the Editor


I have been fortunate to have many Servite friends, some of them now deceased. Some have been significant contributors to Profiles in Catholicism and have help shaped the focus of our publication. It is with great pleasure that we feature this issue on the Servites.


​Prayers


Prayer for the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order


O Lord Jesus Christ Who,

in order to renew the memory

of the sorrows of Thy most holy Mother,

hast through the seven blessed fathers

enriched Thy Church with the new Order of Servites;

mercifully grant that we may be so united

in their sorrows as to share in their joys.

Who livest and reignest, world without end.

Amen.

by The Servites


A Quote to Remember


“The time in which the seven Servite founders lived is very easily comparable to the situation in which we find ourselves today. It is “the best of times and the worst of times,” as Dickens once wrote. Some, perhaps many, feel called to a countercultural life, even in religion. All of us are faced in a new and urgent way with the challenge to make our lives decisively centered in Christ.”

by Franciscan Media



Dear Lord,


Welcome Cristian Pavon Peneda into your loving embrace where he will be warmed by infinite love for eternity. Also console his patents for their unimaginable loss.

by Gordon Nary Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for Luca Attanasio

Good and Gracious God,


We turn to you in our hour of need as more violence occurs in the midst of your creation. The uniqueness of each person warrants our attention as they were working in service to you and your people. Our needs are immanent to solve the killings of ambassador, Luca Attanasio, 43, alongside an Italian carabinieri police officer, Vittorio Iacovacci, and their Congolese driver, Moustapha Milambo,who were ambushed as they were traveling from Goma, Congo’s eastern regional capital to find a way to better feed the people of the area.. These servants of yours Lord, were visiting a World Food Program (WFP) school project in Rutshuru. All three of them died in the shooting attack while others in the convoy sustained injuries. We pray that the good work they did on earth will receive the trumpets of the angels in heaven. May they rest in your loving care. We ask you this through Christ, our Lord, Amen. by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D.Profiles in Catholicism



A Prayer for Holocaust Survivors Who Have Died from COVID 19


Our Father, Avinu, we bow our heads and hearts in prayer.

Many of your People, the Jewish People,

who by Your Grace survived the Holocaust in Europe,

have been infected by and died from coronavirus.

This saddens the hearts not only of Jews,

but people of all faiths,

especially Christians, who were the major perpetrators of the Shoah.

We Christians today, repenting for what Christians then did,

join with the Jewish People in praying today for the survivors

of the Nazi genocide.

We Christians join with the Jewish People is calling on people of all faiths to pray for these good people, stricken a second time, this time by a pandemic which is out of control and killing many innocent people of all faiths. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, people of all faiths must come together in prayer in this country and around the world, for the survivors of genocide who are in danger and who have died. May they rest in your Peace, Oh Lord.

And may their memory be for a blessing.

by Dr. Eugene Fisher Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer of Joy


Blessed are they that walk the path of righteousness and love what is true and just. They will see the sun rise on a life of great value and find that elusive gem of great value that cannot be bought or sold, the one experience the powerful cannot have. That is the value held by the humble and the good and owned

by they that help the stranger have compassion and true concern for the poor.

Happiness will be theirs, deep and true long lasting and joyful and they may never know it's presence, yet live in that peaceful presence of Eternal Goodness. Amen

by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism


A prayer for all of the Ethiopians being murdered at religious sites[1]

A Temple of the Lord (cf. 2 Cor 3: 16-17)


On holy ground, Lord, we came to you, sheltering as we thought

In a building, but driven out and executed, only to discover that

You are the real shelter: the place impossible to place as it is hidden

In your heart of hearts, holding us in love and healing our wounds.


On holy ground, Lord, we saw and hoped in the ancient temple of

Your people but we discovered that you were waiting to meet us,

Impatient for us come into your consoling, en-flaming presence,

Transfiguring our bleeding lives into brilliant, burgeoning blessings.


On the holy ground of heaven, Lord, all who have died, in whatever Way, for whatever reason, are brought together in your gathering

Presence wherein all are called to forgiveness and to forgiving – Losing only those who reject being forgiven and forgiving others.


Oh Mother of the Lord, come and meet us as we come to meet you,

You know the unexpectedness of our leaving, its abrupt and painful

Suddenness, severing us from our day and all its activities and yet Pouring out new life, now, through the newly given gifts of grace.


Oh Mary, Mother of Jesus, you know the ragged ends we left behind

And the needs of those around us, with all their anxiety and fears of Future violence, turn to your Son and ask Him to help the turn to

Peace be peaceful, encouraging perseverance and patient work.


Oh Mary, spouse of Joseph, foster-father of Jesus, there are many

Orphans, widows and widowers, even parents without their children,

Take care of them through others taking them to heart and helping

Them in their loss, pain and anguished lives to live again in hope.

Dear Joseph, patron saint of workers, how many lives of families

And peoples are closed, disrupted and wrecked by war and conflict,

Turn to the child mysteriously conceived in the woman you married And ask, from us, how are we to build from the dead end of death?


Dear Joseph, you taught your foster-son the craft and skills of Fatherhood, business and being a husband, intercede for the everyday needs of all who are left, whether bereft or not, that they

May find the teachers that teach peace as well as work and prayer.


Dear Joseph, God gave you a vocation as you got older, a vocation

To serve in the Holy Family and the community in which you lived,

Pray to the Lord of the harvest (cf. Mt. 9: 38) to send many hands From many places, even many faiths, to undo persecution and pain.

by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism

[1] “Attacks on ancient religious sites in Ethiopia kill hundreds, reports say”, February 18, 2021, by Fredrick Nzwili: https://religionnews.com/2021/02/18/attacks-on-ancient-religious-sites-in-ethiopia-kill-hundreds-reports-say/.


Servite Interviews

Non-Servite Interviews

Servite Articles/Commentaries

General Articles/Commentaries

Featured Report

Please support one of our organizations, colleagues, and friends who need help

  • Please help Francis Otienocare for children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa who are also starving. He desperately needs your donations. Thank you Gordon Nary Editor, Profiles in Catholicism

  • Donation request for mentally retarded children in India When Children are Set Free by Father Shay CullenPreda Foundation Father Shay Cullen established The Preda Foundation in Olongapo City in 1974 and has being rescuing enslaved children and women from sex slavery and children from jails. He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and received other human rights awards.

Book Reviews/Commentaries

Film Reviews/Commentaries

Television Reviews/Commentaries

Feasting with the Saints

Upcoming Events


Faith, Public Health, and Global Leaders Unite


At the International, Interreligious Virtual Symposium on Faith and Flourishing:

Strategies for Preventing and Healing Child Sexual Abuse


Featuring a Keynote address by the Rev. Dr. Denis Mukwege, Peace Prize 2018 Nobel Laureate


Participate in daily, hour-long round table discussions from April 8-10 to identify actions your communities can take to prevent child sexual abuse and promote healing for its victims.


Participants will also have the opportunity to view a series of presentations by global leaders and experts on the prevention and healing of child sexual abuse, and access evidence-informed tools, training materials, and multi-media resources for prevention and healing.

This landmark symposium provides mental health practitioners, public health professionals, and child welfare advocates a unique opportunity to engage with religious leaders of diverse faith traditions to share experiences, discover new resources and identify strategies they can implement together to prevent child sexual abuse and foster healing for survivors of abuse in their communities.


Who Should Attend:


Faith leaders, public health practitioners, policy makers, child welfare advocates, and those working in education settings, the criminal justice system, health care organizations and the public health sector with an interest in child sexual abuse prevention and healing.


Participants who complete the program will receive a certificate of attendance from the Human Flourishing Program, at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science.


The symposium is free and open to the public. Register here: https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/Symposium-On-Child-Abuse


Our Partners


Videos


People of Servite - Cosi Schirripa


Servite Order Vocations


Servite Father Don Siple


The SEED: Servites in the Philippines


Servants of Mary in Zululand

Servite Song

Songs from the Servite Friars - The Summons

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