A Prayer at the Turning of the Year
Inside St. Louis Cathedral for the celebration of the 11:00 a.m. Mass on January 1, 2025 – the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God – Archbishop Gregory Aymond and 600 worshipers struggled to make sense of the death and carnage perpetrated by a man who drove a pickup truck into a dense crowd of early-morning New Year’s revelers just five blocks away on Bourbon Street. Police said 15 people died and more than three dozen others were injured, many seriously, when a white Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck, rented by 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas, plowed into the crowd walking along the French Quarter’s most famous partying street at 3:15 a.m. on New Year’s Day.1
January 2, 2025: Israel’s army bombs the so-called “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, killing at least 12 Palestinians, as other attacks continue throughout the Gaza Strip with at least 63 dead so far, medical sources reported.2
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
(Psalm 103:1-5)
Holy One:
When the earth trembles, and the seas rise, you still are God.
When the stars fall, and the mountains crumble, you still are God.
When our eyes grow dim and our hearts fail
When our legs collapse in fear
and our own strength evaporates
and our human wisdom is confounded
You still are God.
And you still are good
for you are good
all the time.
We embark now upon a season of uncertainty—filled with changes greater than we can imagine. Challenges so tall that we cannot see over them.
But still you are our God! We trust you to hear us, and we trust you to heal us, and we trust you to lead us. And still to you we raise our joyful song:
Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time on and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun to its setting may the name of the LORD be praised.
Amen.
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