World Prayers for Feb. 21-27: Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain

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Cape Ortegal, Galicia, Spain. Wikimedia Commons.

Bread for the World believes prayer is central to the work of ending hunger by 2030. Hunger happens in every corner of the world. In this blog series, we will provide a prayer for a different group of countries each week and their efforts to end hunger.

This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect—and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us—the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father—we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the week of Feb. 21-27: Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain

Take, Lord, all my liberty.
Receive my memory, my understanding, my whole will,
all that I have and possess;
You have given all to me;
I return it all to you;
Give me only your love and your grace.
With these I am rich enough
and I desire nothing more.
(Ignatius of Loyola, 1491 – 1556)

Percentage of the gross national income of these countries that goes toward poverty-focused development:

Italy:  0.16
Malta: Not available
Portugal: 0.19
Spain: 0.14
United States: 0.19 (for comparison)

Source: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.

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