Together in Hope

"Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer." Romans 12:12

Just one year after the devastating Santa Rosa fires, members of the Catholic and Christian communities gathered to commemorate the anniversary with an ecumenical hour of prayer. The ecumenical prayer service was preceded by the praying of the Rosary Coast-to-Coast, and accompanied by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Our spiritual father, St. Louis Marie de Montfort, writes that, “The Rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who loves His Mother.” Joining with countless Catholics across our nation, we processed around the Cardinal Newman campus, praying for our community - especially for the ongoing recovery efforts - our nation, for conversion of hearts and for the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart.

The ecumenical prayer service based on the four ends of prayer: adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication, prominently featured the virtue of hope in suffering as various psalms were prayed and testimonies of loss, survival, resiliency, and perseverance were shared by members of the local Catholic and Christian communities. 

Throughout the events, our Lord was present in the center of the campus. Exposed in the Hope monstrance, He was the heart of the day. Buried in mud during hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Hope monstrance was amazingly recovered and restored before it was blessed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2006, and is making now a tour of Hope to several Dioceses shaken by serious disasters: Houston recovering from hurricane Harvey, Santa Rosa rebuilding from fires, and Las Vegas healing from the mass shooting.