Prayer for fortitude while abroad

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smp501

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Hi! I really need some prayer now and for the next few months. I’m currently studying abroad in Germany, and as far as I can tell I may be the only Christian (of any flavor) among the international students here. I grew up in the Bible Belt where I was always expected to attend by my family, friends, etc. This is the first time in my life I have been completely on my own in regards to being spiritual. Even when I first went off to college (also in the Bible Belt), my close friends are all very religious and I am deeply involved in the Newman club there.

Here I have nobody to go to church with and the only Catholic church within a reasonable distance doesn’t offer an English mass. I get that the Eucharist is the same here as at home (that’s why I still go), but it’s tough having no clue what anybody is saying and having to go to/from church by myself.

Does anybody know of a particular saint whose intercession I could ask while out here?

Thanks everybody!
 
Praying that you will soon find some Christian friends, and preferably fellow Catholics that you can go to church with.
 
If you’re studying in Germany, surely your German isn’t so bad as all that, and you can understand some of the German of Mass. You can also go online and print out the English side by side with the German, and make your own missal. You can study up ahead of time on the Mass readings, also.

Another thing you can do is to focus on words you do understand, and which strike you as meaningful. Open your heart to those words, focus on them, meditate on them during Mass.

If you’re looking for Catholic friends, hang out where you’d expect to find Catholics. Is there a Catholic religious bookstore? Does the church you attend have any kind of groups? It’s not that different from being here, even if the numbers are smaller.

You might also take your concerns to another Catholic forum – the saints of Germany! It’s very likely that, wherever you’re studying, you are close to some ancient Catholic shrine or the resting place of a great German saint. Go visit and ask them for help! Saints are well-known for being able to direct young Catholics together, because they know everybody!

Yeah, I hear it’s not that fun to be abroad when the first exotic coolness of it all wears off. But you have a chance to dig deep into another country’s culture and heritage. Make yourself get out a little (in a moneysaving way) and learn and enjoy. Offer up the bad stuff and get to know Christ better. Say “ein bier, bitte” at different places and see what different beers you get. Etc. You will be home before you know it, with many precious memories and new skills, and hopefully with many friends as well.

Re: particular saints, any of the Benedictines are big on hospitality. St. Hildegarde of Bingen, our new Doctor of the Church to be, was great on hospitality and friendship as well as visions and theology and music, so you might try her. St. Albert the Great was stationed all around Germany and Europe, though he was originally from Swabia; he’s a patron of students and teachers (especially university ones) and loved both books and travel. Also, he’s another Doctor of the Church and taught Aquinas, also a Doctor of the Church, and I find him very helpful and practical. His tomb’s in Cologne/Koeln. But there are so many German saints (and saints from other places buried in Germany, mostly Irish and English missionaries from early on) that it’s hard to choose. Search for saints (heilige, I think is the word) and the name of the city where you’re staying, and find out who the local patron saints are, too.
 
Lord God, please guard, guide and protect smp501. Keep them faithful to the church, the faith and to you. Surround them with friends, acquaintances, and colleagues who can support and strengthen their resolve to remain faithful to You. Amen.

St. Michael, pray for them
 
I commend you to the Blessed Virgin Mary. May she make her intentions in this matter come true. May she intercede for you and help you to carry your cross heroically. I pray that you offer up your sufferings united to Christ’s, and gain great merit. May you find praying the Rosary during your solitary travels to and from Mass a good thing to do.

Hail Mary…

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