his year’s Thy Kingdom Come will take place on 13 – 23 May 2021. Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray for more people to come to know Jesus. This time of prayer for evangelisation taps into the first novena we have in the Catholic Church, the Pentecost Novena, traditionally prayed from the Ascension to Pentecost for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Thy Kingdom Come offers us to the opportunity to pray alongside our brothers and sisters from other Christian denominations for people to come closer to Christ. We can do this using the prayers of our own tradition, by going to Mass, or exploring other Catholic forms of prayer.
Praying for Five
We hope to inspire and enable practising Catholics to pray for evangelisation – specifically praying for five members of their family or friends to come closer to Christ – as they pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ from the Ascension to Pentecost. During the novena think of five friends, family, neighbours, who may be away from the Church, or have yet to discover the love offered them by Jesus. Simply pray for them throughout the day and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for them.
Bishop Mark O’Toole, Chair of the Bishops’ Conference’s Department for Evangelisation and Discipleship, is supporting ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ and urges Catholics to engage with those who, for whatever reason, no longer come to Church or have never done so:
