World Prayers for Feb. 5 – 11: Andorra, Italy, Malta, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, and Vatican City

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Cape Ortegal, Galicia, Spain. Wikimedia Commons.

Bread for the World believes prayer is central to the work of ending hunger by 2030. Hunger happens in every corner of the world. In this blog series, we will provide a prayer for a different group of countries each week and their efforts to end hunger.

This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect—and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us—the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father—we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the week of Feb. 5 – 11: Andorra, Italy, Malta, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, and Vatican City

The fire prayer

Holy Spirit, set me on fire with your wisdom,
so that I may love only that which is holy.

Holy Spirit, enlighten me with your understanding,
so that I may perceive only that which is holy.

Holy Spirit, kindle in me your counsel,
so that I may see only that which is holy.

Holy Spirit, inflame me with your strength,
so that I may desire only that which is holy.

Holy Spirit, pour out your knowledge upon me,
so that I may do only that which is holy.

Holy Spirit, give me ardent devotion,
so that I may seek only that which is holy.

Holy Spirit, make me blaze in the fear of God
so that I may never again lose that which is holy.
(From the Book of Devotions – Devocionário – of the Franciscan Congregation of Nursing Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Portugal.)

Percentage of the gross national income of these countries that goes toward poverty-focused development:

Andorra: Not available
Italy: 0.21
Malta: Not available
Portugal: 0.16
San Marino: Not available
Spain: 0.13
Vatican City: Not available
United States: 0.17 (for comparison)

Source: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread. 

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