7: Mother of Sorrows: For the murdered and killers

Vocabulary: Intercession: Asking a saint in heaven to pray for you the same as you would ask a friend here on earth to pray for you. Big difference: the saint is already in heaven and their prayers are more pure as only the pure in heart are in heaven. 

One of my favorite saints is a local priest who is known only in Maryland, and has yet to go through the formal canonization process to have his name be preceded with "Saint", but to me, he is a saint nonetheless: Father Tommy Wells. 

Fr. Tommy, local saint.

He is the happy priest of Maryland that I have a soft spot for in my heart. Why? He was and is lighthearted, faithfilled, with a strong sense of humor and solid fatherly love in direction. I called on Fr Tommy for intercession in 2020 after hearing of how he interceded for a friend with a brain aneurism that was dying and called on him for help and overnight was healed. I went to visit him and say thank you for my little miracle. The first time I sheepishly went to visit Father Tommy's grave I met an older man who had just buried his wife. The man looked at me and said, "Aim high! Father Tommy loves to intercede with miracles!" That I know...Father Tommy does intercede big time and has for my family and also for my dear friends. However, a loving and solid priest like him ended up in the graveyard by a most tragic gruesome event: He was brutally murdered. Now, he's joyfully in heaven interceding for us and praying for us to stay strong.

Mother Mary of Sorrows, lived the very sorrowful event that the Wells family lived in horror that day on June 8, 2000. She saw her tortured Son, Jesus, have each hand nailed to a rough wooden cross and his feet, that she saw patter as a baby, nailed to the foot of the cross for all to see. Mary, mother of Priests and Mother of Sorrows was with her beloved son Fr Tommy the night he was brutally stabbed to death. All the earthly life lifted from him as he united to the glorified Jesus, Mother Mary and the angels and saints in Heaven. 

Today, I would like to pray for families of a loved one murdered. I picked a 7th rose from Mary's bouquet and drove it to the peaceful little hill where Father Tommy's body lies. He is under a big old tree and the only noise are the crickets. I sat by his grave for a while and prayed for intercession in having wisdom and steadfast faith. 

Two more rose prayers left

The road to Fr Tommy's grave is like walking in a cathedral of trees.

I wonder how old the tree is and how many weddings, baptisms and funerals have passed underneath its shade.

Tea for two. Father Tommy, we need help down here, pray for us...

A rose for my friend, mentor in joy and saint in heaven, Fr Tommy.

Day 7: For the murdered and killers

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Father Almighty in heaven hear our prayers and our hearts, Mother of Sorrows intercede for us in our prayers today. Today I would like to pray for all people with the intent to kill.  Mother of Sorrows I pray for their souls to have a deep and meaningful conversion. I pray for them to have the awareness that the life created that they wish to kill is not theirs to touch. I pray for Father Tommy's killer, Robert Lucas, to have a deep and meaningful conversion in prison and for him to value his life as a gift from God. I pray for abortionists souls, for their conversion. I pray for doctors who perform killing through euthanasia, for their conversion. I pray for the souls of people who think for any reason it is ok to end human life. I pray for the souls of all people filled with hatred and venom that they empty their vessels of poison and fill them with the water of Christ that died for each soul no matter how venomous or hate filled. I pray for the souls of innocents intentionally killed in Afghanistan. I pray for people currently in internment camps where they might be killed: for the Uighurs, Kazakh and Kyrgyz ethnic minorities in China and all people in the world who might die by abuse of slavery. I pray for an end to the death penalty in the US and for all prisoners in this country. I pray for their souls to see the cross they share with Christ. Lastly, I pray for the souls of all victims of the attack on September 11, 2001. I pray for those souls that went to purgatory who have no one to pray for them. And I ask, Mother of Sorrows, for healing from any resentment and venom in the hearts of surviving family of victims.

Father Almighty, You've given us all good things and all You ask in return is our weak and broken love. I love you above all things and ask through the Intercession of Mary Mother of Sorrows for my petition of (Name your petition). I ask for the gift of increased faith and if it be good for my soul for this petition to be granted. Mother of Sorrows, please pray for me and for my soul.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, a world without end, Amen.