Adopt-a-Cop Ministry News
The goal of the Adopt-a-Cop ministry at Holy Family is to assign law enforcement officers to a family, group or individual who will pray daily for them and send a note of encouragement, support and a thank you for their service to the community. Imagine the powerful difference you can make in the lives of those who put their lives on the line for us every day! While a bulletproof vest gives a level of protection for our law enforcement officers, an even greater blessing and shield of protection can be found in the power of a faithful, praying believer or family. Holy Family Church welcomes anyone who would like to pray for the safety of our Precinct 4 police officers. You can also thank them for their service in protecting our community.
For more information please contact Rick Cavallo, the ministry leader, if you would like to personally adopt one of our officers.
Email: rbcavallo@hotmail.com.
The Importance of Personal Prayer for Our Police Officers: Cardinal Francis Arinze in an address at the 13th Annual Lenten Symposium said that "by means of a parable Jesus teaches us that it is necessary to pray always without becoming weary (cf. Lk 18:18). St Paul returns to the same teaching. He writes the Thessalonians: "Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thes 5:17-18) .
"In practice, how can this be carried out? If one understands praying always to mean reciting fixed prayers, then this would not be physically possible for a human being. And it would be psychologically dangerous and inadvisable to try. After all, in the space of one day in which we think of God and put into words our sentiments, we also wash, eat, drive a car, do office or kitchen work, play with our friends, watch the television and sleep. How then can we pray always?"
"But the injunction becomes possible if we understand it to mean to have a spirit of prayer throughout the day, to strive to remain united with God without trying at every moment to have an express conscious awareness of his presence. This does not rule out the need for more protracted personal prayer at one or more moments in the day. The main idea is that the person who "prays always without becoming weary" is one whose whole day is like a loving offertory procession in God's presence. Such prayer of the heart implies that the person is constantly ready to do the will of God."
"Every one of us has an idea of what prayer is. Let us listen to two Saints on how they see it. St Therese of Lisieux describes prayer with her characteristic simplicity, limpidity and depth: "For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven; it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy" (Manuscripts autobiographiques, C 25r)."
"St John Damascene is even more brief: "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God" (De Fide orth. 3, 24: PG 94, 1089C, quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2559)."
"The person who prays strives to be in communication with God, principally to adore him, to praise him, to thank him for his gifts, to make reparation for our offences, and to ask for our various needs, both spiritual and temporal. So the Catechism of the Catholic Church sees prayer as "a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God" (CCC, n. 2558)."