Let us pray for those who are persecuted

As you gather this weekend to celebrate with your family and friends, please remember in a particular and conscious manner our brothers and sisters who cannot celebrate the birth of our Savior with the same joy and external festivity with which we will celebrate it, especially those in Iraq.

Gather around your family nativity scene, and spend a few moments in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters.  Consider lighting a candle and leaving it in your window in their honor and conclude your time of common prayer with one of these two prayers from the Roman Missal:

O God, who in your inscrutable providence
will that the Church be united to the sufferings of your Son,
grant, we pray, to your faithful who suffer for your name's sake
a spirit of patience and charity,
that they may be found true and faithful witnesses
to the promises you have made.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Collect, For Persecuted Christians

 Or:

Receive, we ask, O Lord,
the prayers and sacrificial gifts we offer in humility
and grant that those who suffer persecution
for their faithful service to you
may rejoice to be united to the sacrifice of Christ your Son
and may know that their names are written in heaven
among the company of the elect.
Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Prayer Over the Offerings, For Persecuted Christians

May the Lord protect those who are faithful to his Name as they honor the Birth of Christ the Lord.