Often in the spiritual life we will encounter an obstacle. This might be a temptation, suffering, or something that makes spiritual progress difficult. The devotions of the Church offer us many Catholic prayers for strength.
Whatever obstacle it might be, we need strength from God to overcome it.
Here is a short list of Catholic prayers for strength, asking God for the extra grace to persevere.
John Paul II’s prayer to St. Padre Pio for strength during suffering
Teach us, we ask you, humility of heart so we may be counted among the little ones of the Gospel, to whom the Father promised to reveal the mysteries of his Kingdom.
Help us to pray without ceasing, certain that God knows what we need even before we ask him.
Obtain for us the eyes of faith that will be able to recognize right away in the poor and suffering the face of Jesus.
Sustain us in the hour of the combat and of the trial and, if we fall, make us experience the joy of the sacrament of forgiveness.
Grant us your tender devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother.
Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage toward the blessed homeland, where we hope to arrive in order to contemplate forever the glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Find strength in the Heart of Jesus with this prayer
Every human heart has its weakness, and it is in this precisely that you must especially propose to yourself, the example of this most holy Heart. What is there wanting in you, O divine Heart, of the qualities of which I stand most in need?
O living Temple of the divinity, my heart is in darkness, and in you the fullness of wisdom inhabits corporally—my heart is weak, yours is the throne of omnipotence-my heart is fearful and afflicted, oppressed, and craving after happiness, but despairing to find it; in you alone, and in imitating you is my true happiness to be sought, and in you for the future I will seek it.
Grant me the strength I need and may I always turn to your Divine Heart in my times of trial. Amen.
Prayer for a peaceful sleep that gives you strength in the morning
Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Lord Jesus receive my soul. Receive my soul, dear Jesus, into your holy keeping. Preserve it from all imaginings that may be displeasing to you.
Grant that I may awaken in the morning refreshed, purified and strengthened—able and willing to labor to advance my own salvation and your merciful intentions in regard to myself, to others, and to you. Amen.
Prayer to St. Gabriel for strength
O Gabriel, might of God, who announced to the Virgin Mary the incarnation of the only Son of God, and in the garden consoled and strengthen Christ oppressed with fear and sorrow; I give honor to you, O chosen spirit, and humbly pray to you to be my advocate with Jesus Christ my Savior, and with Mary His Blessed Virgin Mother; in all my trials assist me, lest I be overcome by temptation and may I give praise and thanksgiving to my God in all things. Amen.
Prayer for strength during sickness
O Lord Jesus Christ, I receive this sickness as coming from your fatherly hand. Confirm my soul with strength from above, that I may bear with true Christian patience all the uneasiness, pains, disquiets, and troubles under which I labor; preserve me from all temptations and murmuring thoughts, that in this time of affliction I may in no way offend you; and grant that this and all other earthly trials may be the means of preparing my soul for its passage into eternity, that, being purified from all my sins, I may believe in you, hope in you, love you above all things, and finally, through your infinite merits, be admitted into the company of the blessed in heaven, there to praise you for ever and ever. Amen.
Pray this prayer to St. Rose of Lima for strength
St. Rose, devout Virgin, fragrant rose in the garden of God, sweetly blooming amid the thorns of distressing tribulation and severe mortification, white as snow in the immaculate innocence of your heart, glowing in the love of God that consumed you.
Your devotedness to your parents was so great that you labored night and day to relieve their poverty, and most tenderly cared for them in their sickness.
Most grateful, most humble daughter, have pity on me and my children. Teach me, by conduct truly Christian, to deserve the warmhearted gratitude of my children.
Teach my children to appreciate my love and the numerous sacrifices that I cheerfully make for their sake; teach them to repay the same by filial love and obedience, and chiefly by fervent prayers for me.
Bless me and my entire family. May our hearts be intimately united even in adversity. Let us not place our happiness in temporal prosperity, but rather in the hope of a future eternal blessedness.
Pray, likewise, O sainted patroness of America, for all Christian mothers in particular, that Christian life and sentiments may everywhere be awakened among them. May these sentiments spread far and wide, uniting all families into the one great family of God, in which Jesus Christ may live and rule with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Read more:
Catholic prayers for healing
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