Bishop Gielen promotes daily Angelus prayer for peace

In a Facebook video on August 17, Bishop Gielen said that many people are carrying in their hearts war-torn parts of the world such as Gaza, the Ukraine and elsewhere.

“We know that when we are faced with these powers and forces that are beyond us, we turn to prayer, and particularly we turn to Our Lady and to Our Lady Queen of Peace,” Bishop Gielen said.

He mentioned an initiative underway at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Christchurch to pray the Angelus each day at midday for peace.

Bishop Gielen said that the Angelus is a traditional form of prayer that “we pray as Catholics, we stop at the heart of our day, we recognise God . . . and we bring before him, his Blessed Mother, our intercessions, our needs and especially the most difficult areas that we have in our lives and of course that we experience in our world”.

“So, I ask you to join me in doing this – to set an alarm on your watch, to set an alarm on your phone, to do this as families, to do this as schools, to pray in a particular way for world peace.

“I will be setting my alarm for midday each day to bring this to Our Lady’s heart, asking her to intercede as Queen of Peace,” Bishop Gielen added.

The bishop said that for those who don’t know the Angelus, “you might pray just a Hail Mary or an Our Father or any particular prayer to pray for peace”.

At the end of his general audience on August 20, Pope Leo XIV asked Catholics to observe August 22, the feast of the Queenship of Mary, as a day of prayer and fasting for peace and justice, particularly in Ukraine and in the Holy Land.

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Video (Catholic Diocese of Christchurch/Facebook)

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