by Megan Marley
(OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV’s 70th birthday is Sept. 14, and many are gathering a spiritual bouquet of prayer for him; here are a few ideas for how to pray at home, at school and in your parish.
At Home
- Pray a rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy or other prayer (prayer resources can be found at usccb.org/catholic-prayers)
- Pray the Liturgy of the Hours with Sing the Hours (singthehours.org)
- Pray a novena for the pope (a Holy Cross novena starts Sept. 6 with PrayMoreNovenas.com)
- Pray the Rosary with Relevant Radio every night at 7 p.m. CT
At the Parish
- Have a Mass or Holy Hour for the pope
- Pray a prayer or Rosary before or after Mass together (especially on his Sunday birthday!)
- Invite your parish groups to say a prayer at a gathering or event
- Pray a “living Rosary” where each person takes a turn in saying a prayer of the Rosary
- Pray the Liturgy of the Hours as a community
At School
- Pray for the pope at an all-school Rosary or Mass
- Incorporate a prayer on pizza day in the school cafeteria
- Have children pray and create “beads” out of construction paper or balloons for a collectively created Rosary to hang in a school common area
- Set up a bulletin board with paper flowers and pens so children can write prayers and pin them to the board
- Color coloring sheets of the mysteries of the rosary while praying a decade for the pope
In this way, we will all able to present Pope Leo with an overwhelming show of prayer.