Column of the Apostleship of Prayer – August 2026
It is easy to imagine that in a big city people have everything they need: work, shops, good transport connections, services and a rich cultural life. Yet it is precisely in big cities that loneliness affects many people most deeply. During the course of a day, we may encounter thousands of people without even knowing the name of our neighbour. People can live in the same apartment building for years without exchanging a single word with the other residents.
Pope Leo XIV reminds us that the Church is called to build bridges through dialogue and encounter. Evangelisation therefore does not begin with large events, but with a simple encounter: a smile, a kind word and a genuine interest in another person.
Jesus, too, moved among crowds of people. Capernaum, Jerusalem and the Temple area were full of people. Yet he always saw the individual person: Zacchaeus in the tree, the blind man by the roadside and the woman suffering from haemorrhages. In the eyes of God, no one is nameless or invisible.
Sociological studies reveal an interesting phenomenon. In large cities, the proportion of people who attend church regularly is often smaller than in rural areas. At the same time, it is precisely in cities that new prayer groups, parish communities and spiritual movements emerge. In Finland, this prayer intention is particularly relevant to us. Our Catholic parishes and churches are located in cities, and it is there that the life of our Church also takes place. Let us pray that we may encounter people with open hearts, find new ways of proclaiming the Gospel, and build our parishes into communities where no one is left alone.
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of our Holy Father: (add here the intentions). Amen.
fr. Stanisław Zawiłowicz SCJ
Let us pray…
August
We pray that in the great cities, often marked by anonymity and loneliness, we may find new ways of proclaiming the Gospel and discover creative ways of building community.
September
We pray for the just and sustainable management of water, this vital resource, so that everyone may have equal access to it.