Rosary linked with intentions introducing the decades of the Mysteries of Light and with Pilgrims’ requests

Rosary linked with intentions introducing the decades of the Mysteries of Light and with Pilgrims’ requests

1. The baptism of Jesus in the Jordan (Mt 3: 13, 16-17)

The intention of this first mystery: that we who have been baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit may embrace more fully our call to be committed witnesses of our new life in Christ. Blessed Benedict Daswa was baptised when he was 17 years old. He prepared himself well for baptism and never retreated from the call to follow Christ. He remained committed to his baptismal promises throughout his life.

Requests from Pilgrims:

- In Jesus name we are asking for more wisdom, to achieve more success and we thank you for everything that you have already done for us.

              I am asking for my daughter to be given the strength to grow in the house of the   

             Lord; for her father to still care for us and be there for her forever.

   I pray for myself to accept all that is beyond my control and let God be the    

   centre of my life.

- I have problems in my life. I want job so that I can live a decent life. I want job so   

  that I can help my mother.

Let us pray: Father, we thank you for the gift of baptism through which we become your adopted children and members of your family, the Church. May your Holy Spirit help us to be committed to the promises we made at our baptism which we renew every Easter and help us to be faithful members of your Church throughout our lives. We ask this through Christ our Lord. AMEN.

The First Decade: Our Father, Hail Mary x 10, Glory be.

2. Jesus changes water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana: (John 2:1-11)

The intention of this second mystery: that married couples may always enjoy the grace of mutual love and fruitfulness, family unity and service which Christ brings in abundance to all faithfully married couples. The marriage and family life of Blessed Benedict Daswa gave a clear testimony to these blessings and reflected in a very real way the model of a domestic church which is open to service in the wider community.

Requests from Pilgrims:

- I ask from the Lord above, for blessing to have a better brighter life. I wish to succeed in school and to concentrating in class. I also want to move on from my past and to forget the entire trauma I experienced. I wish to pass well for matric and to also make my mother proud. I also want to have a better future and only have children when I am old after school. Can I also have a great connection with God? All I ask in the name of the Lord. Amen.

- Lord I am seeking for advice. I am asking you to advise me and tell me what to do.   

   My life needs change. I am still 14 but my life is too much for a little girl like me.

Let us pray: Father, we thank you for the gift of marriage and family life which your Son Jesus Christ restores and sanctifies according to its original communion of love. We pray that our married couples and families may never run out of the wine of mutual love and service for the glory of your name. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Second Decade: Our Father, Hail Mary x 10, Glory be.

              3. Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God (Mk 1:14-15

The intention of this third mystery: that we may never become tired of challenging, educating and serving one another according to the values of the Reign of God which the Lord Jesus summarized in the beatitudes. Blessed Benedict Daswa was true to his motto: Pray and Work. As principal of the school he worked tirelessly for the young people to develop their talents, to act responsibly and to affirm their God-given dignity and thus manifest the Kingdom of God in their lives.

Requests from Pilgrims:

- Please pray for me that my daughter and her two children should stop to believe in witch doctors, that they should know that Christ is the one to heal them in their illness and problems. I am also praying for their conversion and an increase in their faith, I am yours in Christ.

- I ask prayers for my family who believes in gods, who participate in different religions that they may come home to Catholic Church. May the Lord touch their life and may they get salvation and help me reach holiness.  Lord Jesus, forgive my ancestors for believing in witchcraft and all their sins.  I pray for my nephew who suffers from spiritual and mental illness. Lord, send Saint Michael the warrior to protect him.

Let us pray: Father, we thank you for the gift of your Kingdom which Jesus Christ revealed in his life. Through his cross and resurrection and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit help us to share more fully in that same kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Third Decade: Our Father, Hail Mary x 10, Glory be.

4. The Transfiguration of Jesus (Lk 9:28-36)                       

The intention of this fourth mystery:  that we may be people of prayer who worship in spirit and in truth, a holy people who are aware of our sacred dignity and enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Blessed Benedict Daswa was a man of prayer. Everything he did began with prayer and his day ended with prayer. For Benedict Daswa, prayer was as necessary for his life as was breathing and the beating of his heart.

Requests from Pilgrims:

- To Benedict Daswa the Blessed; I thank God for the blessings and graces I received and thank you Blessed Benedict for praying for me and my family. Now that I have this privilege, continue to pray for me and my family for the blessings and the grace of healing and blessing from heaven. I am praying for my husband who is sick and has very big inner wounds that broke our blessing; pray for him Benedict, ask God the Holy Trinity to heal him and to bless him at his work. I thank you Benedict Daswa for listening and hearing me. Pray for us to Christ our Lord to open doors for us. Amen.

- Blessed Benedict Daswa, please pray for South Africa’s males to realise the grace of being a father and husband, to become leaders who are holy and Christians who listen to God. I pray that South Africa look at issues of witchcraft, alcohol, drugs and abuse of women and children as major problems and with the grace of God address them as priority.

Let us pray: Father, help us with your Holy Spirit, to be people who experience the transforming power of prayer in our daily lives so that we may really know and love you  in everything we think, say and do. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

             The Fourth Decade: Our Father, Hail Mary x 10, Glory be

             5. Jesus institutes the Eucharist (Mk 14:22-25)

The intention of this fifth mystery: that we may understand and accept that we are called to share in the great sacrificial love of the Lord Jesus who gave up his life for the truth and love of God which has no end. Blessed Benedict Daswa was killed by people who hated the Gospel of Jesus because of their own selfish and evil purposes. But Benedict Daswa followed the example of Christ to the very end and did not hold this sin against them. Instead he offered up his life to God who is the author of all life.

Requests from Pilgrims:

- Dear God, Thank you for your blessings to my family and our Church community. Help our church community to cherish the gift that you send to us and property that we can build your house. Help me Lord to contribute in building the church and do your will. I pray for eternal rest of my parents. Help us as a family to continue to be united to provide support for each other. Please grant my brothers and sisters the desire of their hearts.  I put our daughter in front of your eyes. Look up her Lord and help her to do her best according to her capability and to stand firm in her faith. I pray for my husband that he may value the vocation that he is undertaking. Help him Lord that he may not give up but work hard to do your work with all his heart.

I ask you through Christ our Lord. Amen. Blessed Benedict Daswa, pray for us!

- I know I have offended you, and I am still not doing my best in trying to know you better. However, I am human.  Please, forgive me of all the wrong that I have done, and still going to do. I am asking you please hear me of all the things I want you to do of me. Please look after my daughter,the one you gave me. Please protect her and also raise her to be the best person in the job that she wants or will decide to do of herself. Do not let her struggle in her success and her own life. Please be kind to her needs. Please God I thank you of her and also for allowing me to give birth to her.

Let us pray: Father, may we be given the courage to witness to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a spirit of deep love and understanding even when we are not loved or understood by others. Help us to accept that our call to follow Christ is a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ which we celebrate in the Eucharist in obedience to Christ. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Fifth Decade: Our Father, Hail Mary x 10, Glory be.

LITURGY OF THE HOURS OF THE FEAST OF BLESSED TSHIMANGADZO SAMUEL BENEDICT DASWA MARTYR 1 February

LITURGY OF THE HOURS

OF

 THE FEAST

OF

BLESSED TSHIMANGADZO SAMUEL BENEDICT DASWA

MARTYR

1 February 

1 February

BLESSED TSHIMANGADZO SAMUEL BENEDICT DASWA, Martyr

                                                                         Memorial

Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa was born on 16 June 1946 at Mbahe village near Thohoyandou, South Africa. Baptized in 1963 by Fr Augustine O’Brien MSC, he qualified as a teacher and later became a school principal. As a married man with eight children, he was very involved in both Church and community activities. On 2 February 1990, he was bludgeoned to death for refusing to take part in anti-Catholic practices of witchcraft.

From the Common of Martyrs: One Martyr, except for the following:

INVITATORY

Ant. The Lord is the king of martyrs: come, let us adore him.

THE OFFICE OF READINGS

The First Reading                                                                                                          Rom 8:18-39

   A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans

   Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Responsory

R/. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, * so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.

V/. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect, * so that you may be…

The Second Reading                             (30, 128-130, 158: AAS 104 [2012] pp 253-254, 295, 306-307)

   A reading from the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Africae Munus of Pope Benedict XVI

   Cultivate interior life and relationship with God in all circumstances

In Africa’s present situation the Church is called to make the voice of Christ heard. Through her ability to see the face of Christ on the face of children, the sick, the needy and those who suffer, the Church is helping slowly but surely to forge a new Africa. In her prophetic role, whenever peoples cry out to her: “Watchman, what of the night?” (Is 21:11), the Church wants to be ready to give a reason for the hope she bears within her (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), because a new dawn is breaking on the horizon (cf. Rev 22:5). Only by rejecting people’s dehumanization and every compromise prompted by fear of suffering or martyrdom can the cause of the Gospel of truth be served. “In the world”, said Christ, “you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).

Through her lay members, the Church is present and active in the world. Lay people have an important role to play in the Church and in society. Lay men and women, in fact, are “ambassadors of Christ” (2 Cor 5:20) in the public sphere, in the heart of the world! Their Christian witness will be credible only if they are competent and honest professional people.

Lay men and women are called, above all, to holiness, a holiness which is to be lived in the world. Dear members of the faithful: cultivate your interior life and your relationship with God, so that the Holy Spirit may enlighten you in all circumstances. In order to ensure that the human person and the common good remain effectively at the centre of all human, political, economic or social activity, deepen your union with Christ, so as to know and love him by devoting time to God in prayer and in the reception of the sacraments. Allow yourselves to be enlightened and instructed by God and by his word.

I would like to dwell again on the distinctive feature of a Christian’s professional life. In a word, it means bearing witness to Christ in the world by showing, through your example, that work can be a very positive setting for personal development and not primarily a means of making profit. Your work enables you to participate in the work of creation and to serve your brothers and sisters. Acting in this way, you will be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”, as the Lord asks of us. In daily life, put into practice the preferential option for the poor, whatever your position in society, in accordance with the spirit of the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-12), so as to see in them the face of Jesus who calls you to serve him (cf. Mt 25:31-46).

“May the memory of the great witnesses who gave their lives in service of the Gospel and the common good, or for the defence of truth and human rights, be kept alive and faithfully recalled”. For the saints are the true stars of our life, those “who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by – people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way.” 

Responsory                                                                                                                                                  Mt 5:13-14.16

R/. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. * You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?

V/.  Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. * You are the salt of the earth…

The concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

MORNING PRAYER

Benedictus ant. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

Concluding Prayer

O God, who were pleased to give light to your Church by adorning blessed Benedict with the victory of martyrdom, graciously grant that, as he imitated the Lord’s Passion, so may we, by rejecting evil and casting out the snares of the enemy and the leaven of malice, follow in his footsteps and be worthy to attain eternal joys. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

EVENING PRAYER II

Magnificat ant. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

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