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Prayer Matters 7 Feb. 2021

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Prayer Matters 7 Feb. 2021 Prayer Matters: 7 February 2021 Please keep in your prayers: Children and young people under lockdown: those who are falling behind with their studies and have little educational support at home; children who suffer isolation, sleep disturbance and mental health problems, often caused by family tensions and financial concerns; children with disabilities and special educational needs who since lockdown have been given little formal education or support. Distribution of the Vaccine: As ‘vaccine nationalism’ proliferates, we pray for an equitable distribution that will include the less prosperous countries and recognise our interdependence. Threatened species: as the mountain hares of the Peak District are declared under threat from global warming, we pray for all species endangered by human activity, recognising that we are diminished by each loss, and that the removal of every habitat is one more step towards our own extinction. Commemorated on 10 February: Scholastica, Abbess of Plumbariola Scholastica is a more shadowy figure than her famous brother, St Benedict. She too was born at Nursia, central Italy, around the year 480. At an early age she chose to consecrate herself to God. After Benedict moved to Monte Cassino, she settled at Plombariola nearby, joining or maybe founding a nunnery under his direction. As abbess she sought to follow his Rule, and met him each year at a house near his monastery where they would praise God together and discuss spiritual matters. She died in about the year 543. Benedict had a vision of her soul rising up to heaven and, collecting her body, he had her buried in the tomb prepared for himself. Scholastica soon became a figure for veneration by all nuns who followed Benedict's Rule. Charity of the Week: Lambeth Refugees Welcome supports re-settled families from Syria and other countries. With lockdown increasing the isolation of these families, we pray for the phone buddies scheme, for the weekly Zoom kids’ parties, the women’s group and the online language teaching. In particular we pray for a generous response to the appeal for financial donations to buy laptops, an essential educational tool now that learning has moved online, and also a means of social interaction. Those who are sick or in need: Ruth Kirk Wilson and any others known to us; those who support and care for them. Those with longer term needs: Rosemary Cave, Lorraine Falzon Gaughan, Hyacinth Brown, Wisdom Kari Kari, Anthony Backs, Isabelle Backs, Do Jones, Chris Worden, Ben, Gina Vaughan and Joseph Lunn. Those who have died recently: Christina James (Idda Olagbaiye’s mother), Elizabeth Betson and Heera Alikan. Continue to keep Robert Betson, Derriana Graham and Margaret Jenkins in your prayers, and pray for Idda Olagbalye and all who mourn including everyone who has been bereaved through COVID. Those whose Year’s Mind falls at this time: Harry James Fisher, Ida Garrud, Donald Fletcher, Peter Robert Morrow, Michael Porter Thought for the week: I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’… You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday... If you say, ‘The LORD is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you...‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble... Psalm 91 If you would like prayer for yourself or another, please contact Mark Stevens on 0208 670 8105 [email protected]. .
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