{"id":1813,"date":"2015-09-17T22:21:54","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T22:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1813"},"modified":"2015-09-15T22:39:03","modified_gmt":"2015-09-15T22:39:03","slug":"the-papal-visit-following-pope-francis-in-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/the-papal-visit-following-pope-francis-in-prayer.html","title":{"rendered":"The Papal Visit: Following Pope Francis in Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The news media is ramping up for wall-to-wall coverage of Pope Francis&#8217; visit to the United States, and it&#8217;s hard not to miss all the stories and pictures of preparations. But if you cannot be a physical pilgrim, visiting the cities and locations where Pope Francis will be, you might be feeling a little left out. But there is still a significant way you can participate &#8211; yes, you! Even if you are homebound and clear on the other side of the country!<\/p>\n<p>You can follow Pope Francis in prayer.<\/p>\n<p>A good start to familiarize yourself with what will be going on next week (and when) is to take a look at the Holy Father&#8217;s itinerary, as provided by the official Papal Visit website: \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.popefrancisvisit.com\/official-final-schedule-of-pope-francis-u-s-visit-2015\/\" target=\"_blank\">Official website for Pope Francis&#8217; visit to the United States<\/a>\u00a0. Lift up a prayer sometime before the Pope&#8217;s arrival &#8211; for a safe landing and warm welcome. Pray as he settles into Washington, D.C., and then as he embarks on a very packed itinerary, including a visit to the White House, the Mass of Canonization for Junipero Serra, and a parade!<\/p>\n<p>Continue praying for the Holy Father (and those traveling with him) as he leaves Washington and arrives in New York and Philadelphia. Pray for wisdom for all leaders at the United Nations, and for grace to settle on all as Pope Francis visits the 9\/11 Memorial.<\/p>\n<p>As you follow Pope Francis in prayer, include all pilgrims, nonbelievers, children, adults, clergy and religious &#8211; all who are part of this milestone, holy event.<\/p>\n<p>And, pray for yourself, too, that the joy and compassion communicated throughout this papacy lift all, including you, and bring you deeper faith and love.<\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t have to be physically present to pray, expecially not at this time. Your presence in prayer will be powerful, especially as it is entwined with that of the many others who will be praying throughout!<\/p>\n<p>Amen!<\/p>\n<p>Joy and peace,<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-644\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/350\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic5-246x300.jpg\" alt=\"Maureen Pratt Author Pic\" width=\"246\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The news media is ramping up for wall-to-wall coverage of Pope Francis&#8217; visit to the United States, and it&#8217;s hard not to miss all the stories and pictures of preparations. But if you cannot be a physical pilgrim, visiting the cities and locations where Pope Francis will be, you might be feeling a little left&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[360,43,1242,1047,578,1236,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-good","category-goodness","category-prayer-2","category-prayers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Papal Visit: Following Pope Francis in Prayer - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Praying for Pope Francis in the U.S.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/the-papal-visit-following-pope-francis-in-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Papal Visit: Following Pope Francis in Prayer - 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain &amp; Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1814,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813\/revisions\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}