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O
Our Fiftieth Annivesary Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God,
from the dawn of creation you formed a people to be your own. In every age,
the gentle call of your voice gathered diverse believers into one people.
Loving God, you assembled us 50 years ago to be Church between the two rivers. Your Son prayed at the Last Supper for his disciples, that they may all be one. May the Eucharist strengthen our communion and build us up as we embrace your mission.
During this year of jubilee, we again pledge ourselves to be signs of your Son’s presence in the world. Once again, renew within us the outpouring of your Holy
Spirit, so that as the rivers flow, may your love continue to flow in our hearts.
As bridges link the land, let us be bridge builders to all people. Remember your sons and daughters, between the two rivers, as we strive to give witness
to the Way, the Truth and the Life. Rekindle our discipleship in Christ
as we recommit ourselves to the voice we heard 50 years ago. Make us one in mind and heart, as we go forward, together, on mission, and lead us, your people in
West Tennessee, the Diocese of Memphis into eternal life.Through Christ our Lord.
A About the Cover
beautiful Baroque-era depiction of the
Assumption of Mary is featured on the program
cover and holy card for our Eucharistic
Congress.
“The Assumption of the Virgin” is an oil on
canvas painted by Bartolome Esteban Murillo
in the second half of the 17th century and is
now on display at the Hermitage Museum in
St. Petersburg.
Murillo painted the Immaculate Conception
again and again. But her gesture, the way
the putti seem to lift her and the sense
of movement from darkness below into
heavenly light shows that this is the
Assumption.
The backdrop to this is the rather
elaborate symbolism of Our Lady’s
purity which had developed over centuries. Here she is the
woman clothed with the sun and there is not a crown of twelve stars and no moon
under her feet. Instead, she is being lifted up into heavenly light.
The painting directly connects us all, as the bishops of the United States had proclaimed Mary, under the title of her Immaculate Conception, the principal patroness of the whole country. "Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners- -on all who are in need".
From "An Act of Consecration" in the Book of Sacred Novenas from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
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