There’s a new website out that’s looking to unite the entire United States in prayer. Map of Hope offers a faithful place to post prayer intentions, which are then viewable to all who take part in the communal praying of the Holy Rosary.
Each time someone posts a prayer intention, the website updates a map of the U.S. so the faithful can see where the intentions are coming from. ChurchPOP notes that as of April 28, there had only been about 1,300 intentions posted, but now they are approaching 9,000, showing a distinct rise in popularity during these difficult times. The map currently shows prayer intentions from all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico.
The website is the culmination of the efforts of three friends: Joe Kim, Joanna Hernandez, and Mike Del Ponte. They explain in their mission statement that the Map of Hope is meant to bring some much needed optimism to the world pandemic. They wrote:
Like many people, we looked at maps tracking all the coronavirus cases every day (and sometimes multiple times a day!). These maps kept getting worse. More and more red dots appeared, showing how the pandemic — and fear — was taking over the world. So we asked ourselves, “What if we could create something that gives people hope?”
It would be simple. It would track something inspiring. Something that gets better and better every day. A movement of people around the globe. Immediately, we thought, “It should be the Rosary!”
On the website, the intentions are listed in a scrollable feed, divided into the most recent and most popular intentions. Examples of some of the most popular intentions include:
- Pray for the renewal of the Catholic Church for Holy Priests, Bishops to lead, for the Holy Eucharist to be adored and loved!
- Opening up of churches
- For the elderly. And anyone that is home alone. All the people that have no one to pray for them. May God be with them.
- God, please bless all of the homeless people and those who are sleeping outside. Keep them safe and give them care.
- Vaccine for coronavirus.
Visitors can find all the relevant information needed on praying the Rosary, and the website also offers testimonials in the form of news stories about miracles that have occurred in relation to the Rosary. For communal prayer, they have a list of streams from Facebook and YouTube (accessible through the banner on their homepage), which run at different times throughout the day, so that faithful never have to wait long to pray with one another for the listed intentions.
We’ve already posted our intentions and you can, too, by clicking here and visiting Map of Hope. Just remember to share your intentions on social media with the tag, #MapofHope.
And today we celebrate...