There is no power greater than love. Love gives us strength. Love helps us honour our pasts and find hope for our futures. Love keeps us grounded in the present but love also elevates us – empowers us to do incredible things.
Love can be loud and impactful, encouraging positive change in our communities and inspiring family and friends to do better. But love can also be quiet, subtle, almost unseen – love exists most profoundly in the small acts of kindness we perform each and every day.
Love is patient; love is kind.
As Pope Francis reminds us: “God is love. Only through loving can we reach love.”
This summer, we’re inviting you to write a Prayer of Love. In prayer we open ourselves to God's love and learn to share that love with others.
Why write a Prayer of Love?
Millions of people are living in poverty or the front lines of the climate crisis. Farming families are struggling to grow enough nutritious food to stay healthy. Human rights activists are fighting against injustice. Pregnant mums can’t access the healthcare they need. Entire communities still don’t have access to safe, clean water.
But every single one of these people is connected by love.
Love is what fuels our striving for change. Love empowers engineers to build water pumps in remote villages. Love inspires doctors and nurses to reach out and save lives. Love encourages mums and dads to work hard to learn new sustainable farming techniques so they can keep their families healthy.
God's love is the foundation of all goodness in our lives. Writing a prayer of love is an opportunity to share and celebrate that goodness with your sisters and brothers around the world.
How to write a Prayer of Love
A Prayer of Love is an opportunity to share love with your sisters and brothers around the world as a uniting expression of your faith.
All you need to do is to fill in the form below and then write your prayer on an online board we’ve set up to collect the prayers.
Top tips for writing a Prayer of Love
It’s important that you choose what to say in your prayer. A prayer is a conversation between you and God. But if you’d like some inspiration, you might want to consider some of these questions:
How can your prayer capture the tender and compassionate love of God? Reflect on God’s love – which brings comfort, healing and guidance. Consider ways you’ve experienced this kind of love in your relationships. God loves everything that he has made and invites us to love our global family and all creation.
How can your prayer celebrate the beauty and power of love in the world? Consider the ways in which love manifests itself in various friendships and family bonds – reflect on the positive impact love has on individuals and communities.
How does God's love guide you in your own life as well as in how you treat others here and around the world? Consider how you can express your desire to cultivate and embody love in your thoughts, words and actions – reflect on how love can transform and heal both you and the wider world around you.
What will happen with our Prayers of Love?
We’ll be displaying our Prayers of Love on our website, on social media and in CAFOD publications so that others can be inspired to write their own prayer.