Msgr Moroney's Blog: Requiescant in pace...

27 March 2014

Requiescant in pace...

We prayed this morning at Mass for firefighters Eddie Walsh, Jr. and Michael R. Kennedy, who lost their lives yesterday while fighting the awful fire in the Back Bay. Please pause for a moment today and join us in this simple prayer for them. It is an adaptation of the prayer of Pope Benedict XVI at Ground Zero a couple years ago).

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
give eternal light and peace
to our brothers Eddie and Michael,
victims of this tragedy
simply because of their service to us.

Heal the pain of their grieving families.
Give them strength to continue their lives,
with courage and hope.

Comfort and console us,
and strengthen us in hope.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

Monsignor James P. Moroney, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester for forty four years, is Pastor of Saint Cecilia Parish in Leominster. He served for many years as Executive Director of the USCCB Secretariat for Divine Worship in Washington D.C., as Rector of Saint John's Seminary in Boston, and as Pastor of Mary Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer and as Rector of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Worcester. Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict both appointed him as a Consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome and as Executive Director of the Vox Clara Committee. He is author of THE MASS EXPLAINED (Catholic Book Publishing) which is being published in its third edition this Spring.