B
Bporte00
Guest
I’m really losing my steam here on my journey Home to the Church and could really use prayers for patience, understanding, and faith.
- Status
T
the_phoenix
Guest
Praying for you from today’s Liturgy of the Hours:
Prayers and Intercessions
To the Lord be glory and honour for ever. May he fill us with hope and with the power of the Holy Spirit:
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
Almighty Father, you know how weak we are even when we pray:
give us your Spirit to speak on our behalf.
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
Send your Spirit, the blessed light,
to shine in the innermost corners of our hearts.
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
Lord, we are the work of your hands:
do not abandon us to the domination of our sins.
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
Give us the gift of accepting the weak and the sick,
not hastily and impatiently but with love and reverence.
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
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.
Lord God,
you opened for us the way to eternal life
when Christ your Son was taken up to glory
and your Holy Spirit came to enlighten your Church.
Grant that, as we share in so great a gift,
our faith may grow ever stronger,
our service ever more loyal.
[We make our prayer] through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
Amen.
May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm; and may he lead us to eternal life.
AMEN
Prayers and Intercessions
To the Lord be glory and honour for ever. May he fill us with hope and with the power of the Holy Spirit:
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
Almighty Father, you know how weak we are even when we pray:
give us your Spirit to speak on our behalf.
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
Send your Spirit, the blessed light,
to shine in the innermost corners of our hearts.
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
Lord, we are the work of your hands:
do not abandon us to the domination of our sins.
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
Give us the gift of accepting the weak and the sick,
not hastily and impatiently but with love and reverence.
– Lord, bring us help and salvation.
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.
Lord God,
you opened for us the way to eternal life
when Christ your Son was taken up to glory
and your Holy Spirit came to enlighten your Church.
Grant that, as we share in so great a gift,
our faith may grow ever stronger,
our service ever more loyal.
[We make our prayer] through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
Amen.
May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm; and may he lead us to eternal life.
AMEN
S
St_Gabriel
Guest
Praying for your perseverance …
M
marlap2
Guest
Guardian Angel, help your charge…
…dig deep the soil of conversion, so that the seeds of faith are planted deeply.
Mother Mary…
…hear our prayer, for the continued conversion of our dear friend, guiding this soul closer and closer to your son, Jesus.
Saint Michael the Archangel…
…be this soul’s protection in these hours of trial. Satan wants nothing more than to snatch desire and hope from every soul. Defend us all in this battle, and be our protection.
All good saints…
You will be having such a party in heaven when this lovely soul gives herself to Christ. Pray for her, that she is united to Christ, through His Bride.
Jesus, Our Salvation…
… You are our only way. You are our only truth. You are our life. Help this soul fall in love with you so deeply that nothing, nothing, nothing gets in the way of her loving you so much that she desires you in her life in this whole new way of loving and of living. Give her a thirst for you in the Extraordinary Eucharistic Miracle that is You.
Know that you are so close to Jesus, and that the evil one will always at this point want to snatch your hope away. As a convert myself, I can remember those days of doubt and despair. Know that a life of faith and unity with Christ in his Church is so beautiful.
Every word I’ve typed is a prayer for you during this time. You are so loved by God. Persevere the best you can, and never be afraid to ask for prayers by your brothers and sisters in Christ, here in this forum when you are in continued need of prayer.
May God continue to bless you and keep you, friend
…dig deep the soil of conversion, so that the seeds of faith are planted deeply.
Mother Mary…
…hear our prayer, for the continued conversion of our dear friend, guiding this soul closer and closer to your son, Jesus.
Saint Michael the Archangel…
…be this soul’s protection in these hours of trial. Satan wants nothing more than to snatch desire and hope from every soul. Defend us all in this battle, and be our protection.
All good saints…
You will be having such a party in heaven when this lovely soul gives herself to Christ. Pray for her, that she is united to Christ, through His Bride.
Jesus, Our Salvation…
… You are our only way. You are our only truth. You are our life. Help this soul fall in love with you so deeply that nothing, nothing, nothing gets in the way of her loving you so much that she desires you in her life in this whole new way of loving and of living. Give her a thirst for you in the Extraordinary Eucharistic Miracle that is You.
Know that you are so close to Jesus, and that the evil one will always at this point want to snatch your hope away. As a convert myself, I can remember those days of doubt and despair. Know that a life of faith and unity with Christ in his Church is so beautiful.
Every word I’ve typed is a prayer for you during this time. You are so loved by God. Persevere the best you can, and never be afraid to ask for prayers by your brothers and sisters in Christ, here in this forum when you are in continued need of prayer.
May God continue to bless you and keep you, friend
B
Bporte00
Guest
Thank you, so so very much.
R
ready
Guest
Lord, please grant patience, understanding and deep faith to Bporte00. May he/she receive all the graces he/she needs to persevere in a state of grace and to carry his/her cross patiently and lovingly. Bestow your peace on Bporte00 and fill him/her with the fire of your love (especially this Pentecost). Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayer.
T
the_phoenix
Guest
Praying for you with a Bible verse from today’s Liturgy of the Hours:
Afternoon reading (None) 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 ©
Remember it is God himself who assures us all, and you, of our standing in Christ, and has anointed us, marking us with his seal and giving us the pledge, the Spirit, that we carry in our hearts.
…
Afternoon reading (None) 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 ©
Remember it is God himself who assures us all, and you, of our standing in Christ, and has anointed us, marking us with his seal and giving us the pledge, the Spirit, that we carry in our hearts.
…
T
Trishie
Guest
We praise and thank you, that having lost personal spiritual strength, Your dear child can now depend wholly upon You, while continuing to strive.
Thank You for trusting this person with the painful challenge to spiritual growth in losing personal drive and strength.
Eternal God, when my spirit has burned to ashes, ground to dust with a boulder of mute and heavy sorrow, please give me trust in Your personal love for me.
When mine, or others’ mistakes or uncaring have wounded and savaged my heart, where are You to restore what is injured even when I plead for Your intervention and strive to heal the damage? And yet, though You seem absent, I still humbly cry out for Your mercy and healing.
When my efforts leave me helpless with no path left to try, please comfort me and show me a new path.
When others undermine with repeated assaults and short-circuit my resolve, send wise friends to comfort and support me. For no sooner has one problem and heartache eased or resolved than another, equally painful, arises for another or myself.
I seek You but sometimes am left to feel You are heartlessly steeled against me and my life becomes a flat salt desert. Please help me to trust in You even then, when trust no longer seems possible. My heart cries out repeatedly, groping in the helplessness of fears, disappointments and grief that words cannot convey.
Yet still I call on You and place my tatters of faith in You.
Thank You for trusting this person with the painful challenge to spiritual growth in losing personal drive and strength.
Eternal God, when my spirit has burned to ashes, ground to dust with a boulder of mute and heavy sorrow, please give me trust in Your personal love for me.
When mine, or others’ mistakes or uncaring have wounded and savaged my heart, where are You to restore what is injured even when I plead for Your intervention and strive to heal the damage? And yet, though You seem absent, I still humbly cry out for Your mercy and healing.
When my efforts leave me helpless with no path left to try, please comfort me and show me a new path.
When others undermine with repeated assaults and short-circuit my resolve, send wise friends to comfort and support me. For no sooner has one problem and heartache eased or resolved than another, equally painful, arises for another or myself.
I seek You but sometimes am left to feel You are heartlessly steeled against me and my life becomes a flat salt desert. Please help me to trust in You even then, when trust no longer seems possible. My heart cries out repeatedly, groping in the helplessness of fears, disappointments and grief that words cannot convey.
Yet still I call on You and place my tatters of faith in You.
T
Trishie
Guest
Wisdom of true conversion
Great and eternal God, I know that Your love can free me from the self-imposed need to force my inclination and emotions into a pattern of love and virtue. Give me grace to strive faithfully, while trusting my efforts into Your care, allowing You to love me and to love others through me as You honour and glorify Yourself in me.
I do not seek to be ‘virtuous’ or ‘exemplary’. I seek to be to be Your living tabernacle. Let me not be ‘candle’, but part of Your light that dispels all darkness. Let me not be ‘wise’, but absorbed into Your wisdom and truth. Let me not be ‘peaceful’ or ‘trusting’, but resting faithfully in Your peace and joy. Let me not be ‘productive of good works’, rather, let me be actively responsive to every facet of Your love for me and for others, as vehicle of Your goodness for them.
I ask this true conversion of You, for “At night my soul longs for You and my spirit in me seeks for You.” [Isaiah 26:9]
In my weakness You are strength
Jesus, thank You for those who see my faults or misunderstand my motives and who thus reveal my need for conversion and healing. I repent my unworthiness, and ask that You offer me as gift to God in each broken moment restored.
Gather up my lost moments, Jesus! Cleanse and shape them with my sorrow merged with Your sacrifice. Burnish and set them with Your forgiveness, and illuminate them with Your love as treasures of witness, intercession, and atonement! Thus, make my flawed life into a gem of praise, service and delight for You in the Communion of Saints.
Praise to You, Jesus, who make treasure out of ordinary and fallen human beings!
( from my journal, a handful of wildflowers, so I go through such stuff also
**“I live in a high and holy place, but I am also with the contrite and humbled spirit, to give the humble new life…I will heal and console him.” says the Lord God.” [Isaiah 57:15, 18]
“In my ‘little way every thing is most ordinary; all that I do, little souls must be able to do likewise. (Saint Therese of Lisieux) Her little way “is the way of Spiritual childhood…of trust and absolute self-surrender.”**
Great and eternal God, I know that Your love can free me from the self-imposed need to force my inclination and emotions into a pattern of love and virtue. Give me grace to strive faithfully, while trusting my efforts into Your care, allowing You to love me and to love others through me as You honour and glorify Yourself in me.
I do not seek to be ‘virtuous’ or ‘exemplary’. I seek to be to be Your living tabernacle. Let me not be ‘candle’, but part of Your light that dispels all darkness. Let me not be ‘wise’, but absorbed into Your wisdom and truth. Let me not be ‘peaceful’ or ‘trusting’, but resting faithfully in Your peace and joy. Let me not be ‘productive of good works’, rather, let me be actively responsive to every facet of Your love for me and for others, as vehicle of Your goodness for them.
I ask this true conversion of You, for “At night my soul longs for You and my spirit in me seeks for You.” [Isaiah 26:9]
In my weakness You are strength
Jesus, thank You for those who see my faults or misunderstand my motives and who thus reveal my need for conversion and healing. I repent my unworthiness, and ask that You offer me as gift to God in each broken moment restored.
Gather up my lost moments, Jesus! Cleanse and shape them with my sorrow merged with Your sacrifice. Burnish and set them with Your forgiveness, and illuminate them with Your love as treasures of witness, intercession, and atonement! Thus, make my flawed life into a gem of praise, service and delight for You in the Communion of Saints.
Praise to You, Jesus, who make treasure out of ordinary and fallen human beings!
( from my journal, a handful of wildflowers, so I go through such stuff also
**“I live in a high and holy place, but I am also with the contrite and humbled spirit, to give the humble new life…I will heal and console him.” says the Lord God.” [Isaiah 57:15, 18]
“In my ‘little way every thing is most ordinary; all that I do, little souls must be able to do likewise. (Saint Therese of Lisieux) Her little way “is the way of Spiritual childhood…of trust and absolute self-surrender.”**
T
Trishie
Guest
Finding Christ’s peace
Jesus, You desire to give us peace! While on Earth, You blessed others with words of peace. In Scripture, in Liturgy, in the Sacraments, in the prayers and blessings of the Church, You constantly offer peace.
Yet, what is the peace that You offer? It is not ease and comfort, or wealth and success, for there were little of these in Your life. You offer example of God emptied of glory and possessing few of this world’s gifts or loyalty. Friends deserted You when things became difficult. Religious leaders betrayed their heritage by destroying You, who were so obviously the promised Messiah, though you wished them peace. You sacrificed Yourself for this unworthy humanity, You who are peace and salvation of humankind.
Please wean me from choice and habit that impedes witness of Your love. Grant me proper self-esteem but free me from self-indulgence in all its insidious forms. Grant me trust and gratitude to handle everything, whether joyful or sad, in light of Your Love for me. In this is found Your peace.
If I lack the peace of knowing that God is transforming me, then please give me the peace of trust that God will benefit others though me just as I am. I choose the peace of creative obedience to God’s will as the particular person I am created to be. Jesus, do not let me fail to fulfil Your wishes and dream for my life. Thank You. 1981
“God, create a clean heart in me, put in me a new and constant spirit.” [Psalm 51:10] “Help me Yahweh my God; save me since You love me, and let them know that You have done it, that it was You, Yahweh, who did it.” [Psalm 109: 26-27]
Gospel virtues
Our God, please fulfil my desire to be the person You want me to be. Claim me for Yourself so that Your love triumphs over my sinful habits and selfish responses.
As I keep faith with Your Creation by proper care of my human needs, with Your grace, I want to abstain from unchristian attitudes and activities. I desire grace to attribute to each spiritual, mental, and physical gift and achievement, its rightful service, without pride, envy, or creation of artificial needs in self or in others.
Grant me a chaste heart that loves generously without subterfuge, sin, possessiveness or selfishness. Grant me to respect the goodness of Your Creation in others’ lives and mine, in chastity appropriate to my state and circumstance. Thus, my soul prepares for Your vision and already breathes Heaven’s life.
Let negative thoughts and imaginings never dominate even my darkest moments, for gloom demonstrates absence of faith and curtails Your expression of love in me. In place of self-doubt, please give me peaceful faith in Your will, so that I honestly accept my humanity, and trust You to win goodness out of failures and situations that appear hopeless.
In humility and obedience, I no longer have cause to be fearful or defensive. Pride and self-will evaporate before compassion for others. Doubt disappears before growing faith. Irritation and hasty judgement dissipate within generous patience and understanding. Loss and hurt quickly flow into acceptance of Your will and compassionate serving of others. Self-indulgence fades before reparation and appropriate self-discipline, to make me a channel of Your love to others.
With Your grace, I want to meet others joyfully, with unselfish love. I want to apply the kindliest interpretation to other’s intentions, regardless of appearance. I want to forgive gladly the instant offence occurs. I implore You to bless those who offend me as bounteously as You bless those who benefit me. I ask grace to face another’s negative behaviour with warmth and sympathetic kindness, and to fulfil another’s true needs cheerfully.
Behold me as I am, our God, with all that I would withhold from You and conceal from myself. Take me, God, with my faults along with the good already received of You. Have mercy and forgive me for all offence and failure. Let Your love flood over my lukewarmness. Use me as I am, and with each moment’s service convert me anew that I grow increasingly centred in You.
Our God, please hear my prayer and grant my desire to live in You even in my darkest times
Jesus, You desire to give us peace! While on Earth, You blessed others with words of peace. In Scripture, in Liturgy, in the Sacraments, in the prayers and blessings of the Church, You constantly offer peace.
Yet, what is the peace that You offer? It is not ease and comfort, or wealth and success, for there were little of these in Your life. You offer example of God emptied of glory and possessing few of this world’s gifts or loyalty. Friends deserted You when things became difficult. Religious leaders betrayed their heritage by destroying You, who were so obviously the promised Messiah, though you wished them peace. You sacrificed Yourself for this unworthy humanity, You who are peace and salvation of humankind.
Please wean me from choice and habit that impedes witness of Your love. Grant me proper self-esteem but free me from self-indulgence in all its insidious forms. Grant me trust and gratitude to handle everything, whether joyful or sad, in light of Your Love for me. In this is found Your peace.
If I lack the peace of knowing that God is transforming me, then please give me the peace of trust that God will benefit others though me just as I am. I choose the peace of creative obedience to God’s will as the particular person I am created to be. Jesus, do not let me fail to fulfil Your wishes and dream for my life. Thank You. 1981
“God, create a clean heart in me, put in me a new and constant spirit.” [Psalm 51:10] “Help me Yahweh my God; save me since You love me, and let them know that You have done it, that it was You, Yahweh, who did it.” [Psalm 109: 26-27]
Gospel virtues
Our God, please fulfil my desire to be the person You want me to be. Claim me for Yourself so that Your love triumphs over my sinful habits and selfish responses.
As I keep faith with Your Creation by proper care of my human needs, with Your grace, I want to abstain from unchristian attitudes and activities. I desire grace to attribute to each spiritual, mental, and physical gift and achievement, its rightful service, without pride, envy, or creation of artificial needs in self or in others.
Grant me a chaste heart that loves generously without subterfuge, sin, possessiveness or selfishness. Grant me to respect the goodness of Your Creation in others’ lives and mine, in chastity appropriate to my state and circumstance. Thus, my soul prepares for Your vision and already breathes Heaven’s life.
Let negative thoughts and imaginings never dominate even my darkest moments, for gloom demonstrates absence of faith and curtails Your expression of love in me. In place of self-doubt, please give me peaceful faith in Your will, so that I honestly accept my humanity, and trust You to win goodness out of failures and situations that appear hopeless.
In humility and obedience, I no longer have cause to be fearful or defensive. Pride and self-will evaporate before compassion for others. Doubt disappears before growing faith. Irritation and hasty judgement dissipate within generous patience and understanding. Loss and hurt quickly flow into acceptance of Your will and compassionate serving of others. Self-indulgence fades before reparation and appropriate self-discipline, to make me a channel of Your love to others.
With Your grace, I want to meet others joyfully, with unselfish love. I want to apply the kindliest interpretation to other’s intentions, regardless of appearance. I want to forgive gladly the instant offence occurs. I implore You to bless those who offend me as bounteously as You bless those who benefit me. I ask grace to face another’s negative behaviour with warmth and sympathetic kindness, and to fulfil another’s true needs cheerfully.
Behold me as I am, our God, with all that I would withhold from You and conceal from myself. Take me, God, with my faults along with the good already received of You. Have mercy and forgive me for all offence and failure. Let Your love flood over my lukewarmness. Use me as I am, and with each moment’s service convert me anew that I grow increasingly centred in You.
Our God, please hear my prayer and grant my desire to live in You even in my darkest times
T
Trishie
Guest
Detachment
Merciful God, how patiently You wait for moments in our lives when we seek Your grace, guidance and sovereignty, while confessing our sin and dependence. You prepare us for these moments, nurturing Your life in our daily events and activities, just as Jesus, through years of ordinary human endeavour, prayerfully prepared for His mission.
How unobtrusively You lead souls who reach out in faith! If we await blinding revelation, we may fail to hear Your quiet invitation in the events and encounters of life. Our kaleidoscopic thoughts, our bustling activity, our pride, our prejudices, our fears and our compromises easily deafen us. You behold the shrinking of our eternal destinies, of our part in Your plan. Have mercy upon us!
You foresee our self-deception with its lack of peace. You observe the complacency that stifles spiritual growth. You see the brevity of our pleasures and satisfactions, knowing our grief, loneliness, or boredom due to reluctance to centre life in God. You see how poor is our motivation, how incomplete is our repentance, how dim is our awareness, how subtle is our self-deception, how entrenched is our tenacity of opinion, prejudices and cherished attachments!
Regardless of how ordinary we are, the events of our lives are sanctified by love. Please convert and recreate us in childlike trust and self-giving. Free our ears truly to hear You, in Your Word, in our hearts, and in other persons. Enlighten us to comprehend with the light of Your truth, no longer through our prejudices. Let Your love flow through us in praise and gratitude to You, and in intercession and loving witness to others.
In fully desiring Your will in our lives, and living the fullness of Your love within ourselves for You and for other persons, we are at last truly alive.
Conversion: Your way
Loving God, if You wish, You can cure and convert me instantly. All goodness comes from You, so any ‘merit’ of my life is already part of Your holiness. Therefore, so that no moment of my life is wasted in sin or emptiness, please transform me with Your holiness now, as a channel of grace to others and a delight to Yourself!
That You do not hasten to grant this prayer reminds me that You are God who creates in gradual progression, moulding Your masterpieces, no one like any other. You hold each creature in profound love that touches and moves each instant of life!
Help me to accept the quiet evolution of my life to wholeness as You seek my cooperation, while respecting my free will. Your wisdom neither transforms souls on demand nor coerces the unwilling person. Like the greatest silversmith, Your love delicately forms each tiny second and each unique shape of holiness and wholeness in our lives. That is Your glory in us, to form us in our prayerful obedience to the fire of love and the sharp tools of effort and tribulation.
Merciful God please grant me patient faith to accept Your fashioning. Yet, if anyone can persuade You to purify and sanctify all in my life from this instant, please let it be so! If not, then grant me to continue to live in quiet faith and faithfulness.
Merciful God, how patiently You wait for moments in our lives when we seek Your grace, guidance and sovereignty, while confessing our sin and dependence. You prepare us for these moments, nurturing Your life in our daily events and activities, just as Jesus, through years of ordinary human endeavour, prayerfully prepared for His mission.
How unobtrusively You lead souls who reach out in faith! If we await blinding revelation, we may fail to hear Your quiet invitation in the events and encounters of life. Our kaleidoscopic thoughts, our bustling activity, our pride, our prejudices, our fears and our compromises easily deafen us. You behold the shrinking of our eternal destinies, of our part in Your plan. Have mercy upon us!
You foresee our self-deception with its lack of peace. You observe the complacency that stifles spiritual growth. You see the brevity of our pleasures and satisfactions, knowing our grief, loneliness, or boredom due to reluctance to centre life in God. You see how poor is our motivation, how incomplete is our repentance, how dim is our awareness, how subtle is our self-deception, how entrenched is our tenacity of opinion, prejudices and cherished attachments!
Regardless of how ordinary we are, the events of our lives are sanctified by love. Please convert and recreate us in childlike trust and self-giving. Free our ears truly to hear You, in Your Word, in our hearts, and in other persons. Enlighten us to comprehend with the light of Your truth, no longer through our prejudices. Let Your love flow through us in praise and gratitude to You, and in intercession and loving witness to others.
In fully desiring Your will in our lives, and living the fullness of Your love within ourselves for You and for other persons, we are at last truly alive.
Conversion: Your way
Loving God, if You wish, You can cure and convert me instantly. All goodness comes from You, so any ‘merit’ of my life is already part of Your holiness. Therefore, so that no moment of my life is wasted in sin or emptiness, please transform me with Your holiness now, as a channel of grace to others and a delight to Yourself!
That You do not hasten to grant this prayer reminds me that You are God who creates in gradual progression, moulding Your masterpieces, no one like any other. You hold each creature in profound love that touches and moves each instant of life!
Help me to accept the quiet evolution of my life to wholeness as You seek my cooperation, while respecting my free will. Your wisdom neither transforms souls on demand nor coerces the unwilling person. Like the greatest silversmith, Your love delicately forms each tiny second and each unique shape of holiness and wholeness in our lives. That is Your glory in us, to form us in our prayerful obedience to the fire of love and the sharp tools of effort and tribulation.
Merciful God please grant me patient faith to accept Your fashioning. Yet, if anyone can persuade You to purify and sanctify all in my life from this instant, please let it be so! If not, then grant me to continue to live in quiet faith and faithfulness.
T
Trishie
Guest
Conversion
Divine “grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be self restrained and live good and religious lives here in the present world.” [2Colossians 111:5-6] For** “unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.”** [John 12:244]
** “Love virtue…Let honesty prompt your thinking about the Lord, seek Him in simplicity of heart; since He is to be found by those who do not put Him to the test, He shows Himself to those who do not distrust Him. But selfish intentions divorce from God.**” [Wisdom 1:1-2] “Let
our thoughts be on heavenly things.” [3Colossians 11:2] “That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same as worshipping a false god.” [Titus 111:5]
“Who can detect his own failings?
Wash out my hidden faults
And from pride preserve your servant,
never let it dominate me
So shall I be above reproach, free from grave sin.” [Psalm 19:12-13]
However, as Saint Paul laments, frequently we fail to accomplish the good things that we intend. [Romans 7:19] Yet when he called upon You to free him of a care that plagued him, You answered “My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.” For this reason Paul chose to make his weakness his “special boast” to retain Your power over him, saying, “it is when I am weak that I am strong.” [2Corinthians 12:7-10]
Therefore, Father, “I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts…but I only want the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith.” [Philippians 3:9] “For Christ is the resurrection and if we believe in him who redeems us from our sinful nature, even though we die, we will live, and whoever lives and believes in Him will never die.” [John 11:26]
“By His divine power, He has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion,” bringing us to know You, our God, who have called us by Your own glory and goodness in Christ. In these gifts, Saint Peter tells us, we are guaranteed of “something very great and wonderful to come” and through them we “will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.”
To attain this we “will have to do the utmostourselves, adding goodness to our faith, understanding to our goodness, self-control to our understanding, patience to our self-control, true devotion to our patience, kindness towards our fellow men to our devotion, and, to this kindness, love.” If we live these virtues, we will not remain ineffectual or barren, but will be lead to “to a real knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If we remain faithful in this knowledge, we will be “granted admittance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.” [2Peter 1:3-8, 10-11]
“Glory to Him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.” [Ephesians 3:20] “Our soul awaits the Lord, He is our help and our shield; our hearts rejoice in Him, we trust in His holy name. Lord God, let Your love rest on us, as our hope has rested in You.” [Psalm 33:20-22]
Divine “grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be self restrained and live good and religious lives here in the present world.” [2Colossians 111:5-6] For** “unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.”** [John 12:244]
** “Love virtue…Let honesty prompt your thinking about the Lord, seek Him in simplicity of heart; since He is to be found by those who do not put Him to the test, He shows Himself to those who do not distrust Him. But selfish intentions divorce from God.**” [Wisdom 1:1-2] “Let
our thoughts be on heavenly things.” [3Colossians 11:2] “That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same as worshipping a false god.” [Titus 111:5]“Who can detect his own failings?
Wash out my hidden faults
And from pride preserve your servant,
never let it dominate me
So shall I be above reproach, free from grave sin.” [Psalm 19:12-13]
However, as Saint Paul laments, frequently we fail to accomplish the good things that we intend. [Romans 7:19] Yet when he called upon You to free him of a care that plagued him, You answered “My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.” For this reason Paul chose to make his weakness his “special boast” to retain Your power over him, saying, “it is when I am weak that I am strong.” [2Corinthians 12:7-10]
Therefore, Father, “I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts…but I only want the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith.” [Philippians 3:9] “For Christ is the resurrection and if we believe in him who redeems us from our sinful nature, even though we die, we will live, and whoever lives and believes in Him will never die.” [John 11:26]
“By His divine power, He has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion,” bringing us to know You, our God, who have called us by Your own glory and goodness in Christ. In these gifts, Saint Peter tells us, we are guaranteed of “something very great and wonderful to come” and through them we “will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.”
To attain this we “will have to do the utmost
ourselves, adding goodness to our faith, understanding to our goodness, self-control to our understanding, patience to our self-control, true devotion to our patience, kindness towards our fellow men to our devotion, and, to this kindness, love.” If we live these virtues, we will not remain ineffectual or barren, but will be lead to “to a real knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If we remain faithful in this knowledge, we will be “granted admittance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.” [2Peter 1:3-8, 10-11]“Glory to Him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.” [Ephesians 3:20] “Our soul awaits the Lord, He is our help and our shield; our hearts rejoice in Him, we trust in His holy name. Lord God, let Your love rest on us, as our hope has rested in You.” [Psalm 33:20-22]
T
Trishie
Guest
May God abundantly bless you for your humility and your genuine underlying desire to live in Love, Grace and Truth.
Seeking true self
I believe, our God! Please increase my faith and deepen my trust that You respond to our prayers and needs. Prayer is gift of divine love that creates and holds each person in awareness and life. Hear my prayer for others and grant that I creatively conform to Your utterance, Your thought, Your image in me, so that nothing mars Your creation in me, and so that Your fulfilled expression of love and glory in me delights You eternally.
Spare me from the corrupting error of thinking myself virtuous and of feeling self-satisfied regarding presumed progress. Let me welcome the knowledge of my fallible humanity as reminder of my dependence upon You for any good. For then You shall gladly accept, in each tiny moment, the humble invitation that my soul offers for Your goodness to possess me.
Let me trust in You alone, even where I find satisfaction in seemingly worthwhile achievement or prayer…especially then, lest it causes me to believe in my merit, rather than in the knowledge that I remain in Your presence only through Your gift!
Dear God, may I attain such simplicity and trust, regardless of how unworthy my life appears. However, except where it impedes Your purpose, please allow me encouragement—but with recognition of this as Your mercy towards a child who still perceives as faint shadows, through faith, those eternal joys and awarenesses for which You shape and prepare me. Nevertheless mercifully remember my imperfections and do not leave me unprotected in temptation, because without You I am certain to be lost. Yet, where You require, please lead me into wholeness and true insight. Please hold me close and perfect my being swiftly.
Our God, dare I ask such things? I am unworthy and vulnerable. Yet I trust in your love, so please accept me, and possess me utterly, forever. Do not let me give up on myself regardless of how dispiriting my failure.
Never see me standing alone our God. Let Your prayer in me and in everyone who seeks to please You by our service, be also intercession for all other persons—for their true self to triumph and receive everlasting fulfilment in You.
Cry of the poor
God, my prayers are primarily, “the cry of the poor” of an ordinary, fallible person, seeking to intercede for others and trying to be good. I cry out to Your heart and power in so many ways, while trying carefully to understand Your ways graciously.
…And yet, our God, I am created in Your image! You have astonishing love for me and for each person, therefore I, and they, are surely astoundingly beautiful and good! You wish to give so much! Then, let us receive!
Seeking true self
I believe, our God! Please increase my faith and deepen my trust that You respond to our prayers and needs. Prayer is gift of divine love that creates and holds each person in awareness and life. Hear my prayer for others and grant that I creatively conform to Your utterance, Your thought, Your image in me, so that nothing mars Your creation in me, and so that Your fulfilled expression of love and glory in me delights You eternally.
Spare me from the corrupting error of thinking myself virtuous and of feeling self-satisfied regarding presumed progress. Let me welcome the knowledge of my fallible humanity as reminder of my dependence upon You for any good. For then You shall gladly accept, in each tiny moment, the humble invitation that my soul offers for Your goodness to possess me.
Let me trust in You alone, even where I find satisfaction in seemingly worthwhile achievement or prayer…especially then, lest it causes me to believe in my merit, rather than in the knowledge that I remain in Your presence only through Your gift!
Dear God, may I attain such simplicity and trust, regardless of how unworthy my life appears. However, except where it impedes Your purpose, please allow me encouragement—but with recognition of this as Your mercy towards a child who still perceives as faint shadows, through faith, those eternal joys and awarenesses for which You shape and prepare me. Nevertheless mercifully remember my imperfections and do not leave me unprotected in temptation, because without You I am certain to be lost. Yet, where You require, please lead me into wholeness and true insight. Please hold me close and perfect my being swiftly.
Our God, dare I ask such things? I am unworthy and vulnerable. Yet I trust in your love, so please accept me, and possess me utterly, forever. Do not let me give up on myself regardless of how dispiriting my failure.
Never see me standing alone our God. Let Your prayer in me and in everyone who seeks to please You by our service, be also intercession for all other persons—for their true self to triumph and receive everlasting fulfilment in You.
Cry of the poor
God, my prayers are primarily, “the cry of the poor” of an ordinary, fallible person, seeking to intercede for others and trying to be good. I cry out to Your heart and power in so many ways, while trying carefully to understand Your ways graciously.
…And yet, our God, I am created in Your image! You have astonishing love for me and for each person, therefore I, and they, are surely astoundingly beautiful and good! You wish to give so much! Then, let us receive!
T
Trishie
Guest
The Gospel way
Jesus and Mary, you lived with Joseph in holy ordinariness, loving others as yourselves and God above all. You lived in prayer and penance, in wondering and in faith, in obedience and chastity. You lived in daily labour offered to God in simplicity and love. Please guide me along this gospel path, so that the God delights in my life and finds it a useful tool to bring closer the coming of the kingdom.
I thank God for the precious gifts I have received…of Creation and redemption…of persons whom I cherish…of my life, personality and individual identity…of my soul, mind, and body…of the little treasures God has given me for His delight and for others’ benefit. I desire to love God above all and others with God’s love. I confess my sinfulness, accepting forgiveness and grace, knowing that God is my strength and virtue. I can only serve in faith and faithfulness as you did, knowing that God loves me in my lowliness.
Jesus, please unite me with you in loving, prayerful service. Through God’s merciful love and your merits, I offer each moment of my life in its ordinariness. Please make me worthy of your kinship, so that I honour God while serving others, even if the effects are hidden from me. For in my trust and self-surrender, God may flood grace in living gospel through me for the sake of the kingdom.
I praise and thank God, who stoops with tender, loving humility to touch, transform, and share His life, His Son, His Spirit of love and truth, with anyone as ordinary as I am!
Thy Kingdom come
Father God, I am unworthy to be Your child and often drift from Your ways. I am an average, faulty human being—to myself, I am ‘just me’.
However, in the name of Your Creation and its redemption, of the incarnation, resurrection and ascension of Jesus… of Your Spirit, of the sacred priesthood, of the Sacraments… of Mary, of the Saints and Angels…For sake of the blood shed in Your name and of everything ever offered or endured for Your Kingdom…For sake of all forgiveness, of all joy given by You in time and eternity, of everything beloved by You…In the name of Your merciful love, of all manifestations of Your goodness and glory, of Your perfect essence—great God, may the woman crush the head of Satan, driving all evil spirits back to hell, sealed therein.
Let humankind be drawn into You in genuine repentance, atonement and continual conversion. Let us live in loving communion, in mutual care and holiness, filled with gratitude and praise for You our God.
In Your great love, let Your will be done fully in and through me. Grant to Yourself and others, the ‘me’ whom You conceive in Your heart from all eternity.
Jesus and Mary, you lived with Joseph in holy ordinariness, loving others as yourselves and God above all. You lived in prayer and penance, in wondering and in faith, in obedience and chastity. You lived in daily labour offered to God in simplicity and love. Please guide me along this gospel path, so that the God delights in my life and finds it a useful tool to bring closer the coming of the kingdom.
I thank God for the precious gifts I have received…of Creation and redemption…of persons whom I cherish…of my life, personality and individual identity…of my soul, mind, and body…of the little treasures God has given me for His delight and for others’ benefit. I desire to love God above all and others with God’s love. I confess my sinfulness, accepting forgiveness and grace, knowing that God is my strength and virtue. I can only serve in faith and faithfulness as you did, knowing that God loves me in my lowliness.
Jesus, please unite me with you in loving, prayerful service. Through God’s merciful love and your merits, I offer each moment of my life in its ordinariness. Please make me worthy of your kinship, so that I honour God while serving others, even if the effects are hidden from me. For in my trust and self-surrender, God may flood grace in living gospel through me for the sake of the kingdom.
I praise and thank God, who stoops with tender, loving humility to touch, transform, and share His life, His Son, His Spirit of love and truth, with anyone as ordinary as I am!
Thy Kingdom come
Father God, I am unworthy to be Your child and often drift from Your ways. I am an average, faulty human being—to myself, I am ‘just me’.
However, in the name of Your Creation and its redemption, of the incarnation, resurrection and ascension of Jesus… of Your Spirit, of the sacred priesthood, of the Sacraments… of Mary, of the Saints and Angels…For sake of the blood shed in Your name and of everything ever offered or endured for Your Kingdom…For sake of all forgiveness, of all joy given by You in time and eternity, of everything beloved by You…In the name of Your merciful love, of all manifestations of Your goodness and glory, of Your perfect essence—great God, may the woman crush the head of Satan, driving all evil spirits back to hell, sealed therein.
Let humankind be drawn into You in genuine repentance, atonement and continual conversion. Let us live in loving communion, in mutual care and holiness, filled with gratitude and praise for You our God.
In Your great love, let Your will be done fully in and through me. Grant to Yourself and others, the ‘me’ whom You conceive in Your heart from all eternity.
T
Trishie
Guest
Grant me Your Spirit
Holy Spirit, I need wisdom, discernment and unconditional love. Will You share Yours with me? Help me to persevere in these necessary virtues, even where there is wounding within me greater than anyone is aware.
Help me to carry my daily responsibilities with faith and hope, and mindful of Your command to love God above all and others as self, in Sacramental worship and with practical acts of kindness.
Help me to find healing for injuries and scars that prevent me from fully becoming the person I am created to be. Come into my mind and soul, and help me through the rest of my life.
I need You, Holy Spirit. Please access the gifts and beauty of my unique creation in God’s image. For others’ benefit and for Your glory, give me a deep appreciation and use of the goodness, loveliness joy and blessing of this creation that You mean me to be.August 2004
“Pray for a strong spirit, the Spirit of God. And thank God often for yourself, for His gift to you.” Priest in Confession, Divine Mercy Sunday
Please make me who I am created to be
Loving God You loved me into existence. Please help me to fully live Your dream of me. Please help me to become truly that person, so that others can experience Your love, goodness, and beauty in me, and can receive the blessings You intend for them through me.
Let me delight You, by being an open doorway into You for others. Let me be a living tabernacle of Your love, an overflowing crystal chalice of Your love, a powerhouse of prayer and an instrument of Your love and healing to others.
Please make me who I am in the dream You always had of me. 2003.
Holy Spirit, I need wisdom, discernment and unconditional love. Will You share Yours with me? Help me to persevere in these necessary virtues, even where there is wounding within me greater than anyone is aware.
Help me to carry my daily responsibilities with faith and hope, and mindful of Your command to love God above all and others as self, in Sacramental worship and with practical acts of kindness.
Help me to find healing for injuries and scars that prevent me from fully becoming the person I am created to be. Come into my mind and soul, and help me through the rest of my life.
I need You, Holy Spirit. Please access the gifts and beauty of my unique creation in God’s image. For others’ benefit and for Your glory, give me a deep appreciation and use of the goodness, loveliness joy and blessing of this creation that You mean me to be.August 2004
“Pray for a strong spirit, the Spirit of God. And thank God often for yourself, for His gift to you.” Priest in Confession, Divine Mercy Sunday
Please make me who I am created to be
Loving God You loved me into existence. Please help me to fully live Your dream of me. Please help me to become truly that person, so that others can experience Your love, goodness, and beauty in me, and can receive the blessings You intend for them through me.
Let me delight You, by being an open doorway into You for others. Let me be a living tabernacle of Your love, an overflowing crystal chalice of Your love, a powerhouse of prayer and an instrument of Your love and healing to others.
Please make me who I am in the dream You always had of me. 2003.
T
Trishie
Guest
My human best
God, to the best of my human ability and knowledge at this moment, I give You everything I am and possess.
I stand before You foolish and unworthy yet with the best that I know to give—the offering of my being with its endowments and achievements, my warmest affection, clearest understanding, best contrition and the greatest honour that I can ‘achieve’ in this little instant of trust.
Behold me compassionately in the tiny human perfection of this moment, and grant me unity in the eternal immensity of perfection, which is You, our God. Thank You that You accept such meagre gift of life and effort in exchange for blessings and eternal gifts for other’s souls. February 1981
“A spark of pure love is more precious before God, more useful for the soul, and richer in benedictions for the Church than all other works taken together.” (St John of the Cross)
One life to give
Dear God, there are many beautiful, generous, wise and productive people in this world and throughout time. These ‘fully human, fully alive’ individuals are floodgates of abundant blessing to others and of great joy and glory to You.
Yet I, I have many flaws and often make mistakes. I am inconsistent in charity, faith, wisdom and commitment. Forgive me, God. Yet even if I am less wise and less good than many others are, I have merely this consciousness, this body, this life that I can give You. There is no other self over whom I have right of decision and offering. Only by Your miracles of grace can I give this ‘me’ totally, and in the way that You wish for Your delight and for others’ benefit. Please make it so, according to Your hope. September 2005
I consecrate my entire life to You. I cannot change others’ paths, but with Your Spirit, I can love You with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
I have only myself to give. Please take all. Never let me go. Make me increasingly Your own. Let me live and accomplish, all that You dreamed of me from loving eternity. March 2005
Everything
My everything, our God, I give to You—every breath, each cell, all that I ever am, have or do.
Now I ask for Your everything—whatever You wish to give to me and to others through me.
Please nurture and grant this everything growth, blossom and fruit. Then that everything I do give to You—in time and eternity.
God, to the best of my human ability and knowledge at this moment, I give You everything I am and possess.
I stand before You foolish and unworthy yet with the best that I know to give—the offering of my being with its endowments and achievements, my warmest affection, clearest understanding, best contrition and the greatest honour that I can ‘achieve’ in this little instant of trust.
Behold me compassionately in the tiny human perfection of this moment, and grant me unity in the eternal immensity of perfection, which is You, our God. Thank You that You accept such meagre gift of life and effort in exchange for blessings and eternal gifts for other’s souls. February 1981
“A spark of pure love is more precious before God, more useful for the soul, and richer in benedictions for the Church than all other works taken together.” (St John of the Cross)
One life to give
Dear God, there are many beautiful, generous, wise and productive people in this world and throughout time. These ‘fully human, fully alive’ individuals are floodgates of abundant blessing to others and of great joy and glory to You.
Yet I, I have many flaws and often make mistakes. I am inconsistent in charity, faith, wisdom and commitment. Forgive me, God. Yet even if I am less wise and less good than many others are, I have merely this consciousness, this body, this life that I can give You. There is no other self over whom I have right of decision and offering. Only by Your miracles of grace can I give this ‘me’ totally, and in the way that You wish for Your delight and for others’ benefit. Please make it so, according to Your hope. September 2005
I consecrate my entire life to You. I cannot change others’ paths, but with Your Spirit, I can love You with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
I have only myself to give. Please take all. Never let me go. Make me increasingly Your own. Let me live and accomplish, all that You dreamed of me from loving eternity. March 2005
Everything
My everything, our God, I give to You—every breath, each cell, all that I ever am, have or do.
Now I ask for Your everything—whatever You wish to give to me and to others through me.
Please nurture and grant this everything growth, blossom and fruit. Then that everything I do give to You—in time and eternity.
T
Trishie
Guest
Commitment
God, for sake of souls, I commit myself and my entire life—past, present and future—to Your merciful love. I trust in Your love to accept this submission and make it complete.
Have mercy upon everyone whom You wish to bless through me, and do not let my limitations or doubts curtail Your use of me as vehicle of blessing or vessel of honour.
My faults are fragile barriers to the flood of Your grace, if I live Your will and have faith in Your powerful love. Deepen my trust in Your will to use Your limitless power of love even in me.
Following Christ
Heavenly Father, please nurture me as a true disciple of Jesus so that I seek only to serve and to share my life for others, as daily I live my responsibilities and creative inspirations, following Jesus in trust, humility, purity of heart, and freedom of spirit.
Please centre me in Your love so that I desire Your will in everything, thus my thoughts and attitudes, words and acts, transformed by You, shall give You glory, serving charity, justice and peace for those I pray for or encounter.
By this means, my spiritual and material endowments shall be shared fraternally, again and again with others. Then You may look on me and find no fault in me, but rejoice in Your dearly loved child, formed in image of Jesus. With trust, I make this prayer in His name
God, for sake of souls, I commit myself and my entire life—past, present and future—to Your merciful love. I trust in Your love to accept this submission and make it complete.
Have mercy upon everyone whom You wish to bless through me, and do not let my limitations or doubts curtail Your use of me as vehicle of blessing or vessel of honour.
My faults are fragile barriers to the flood of Your grace, if I live Your will and have faith in Your powerful love. Deepen my trust in Your will to use Your limitless power of love even in me.
Following Christ
Heavenly Father, please nurture me as a true disciple of Jesus so that I seek only to serve and to share my life for others, as daily I live my responsibilities and creative inspirations, following Jesus in trust, humility, purity of heart, and freedom of spirit.
Please centre me in Your love so that I desire Your will in everything, thus my thoughts and attitudes, words and acts, transformed by You, shall give You glory, serving charity, justice and peace for those I pray for or encounter.
By this means, my spiritual and material endowments shall be shared fraternally, again and again with others. Then You may look on me and find no fault in me, but rejoice in Your dearly loved child, formed in image of Jesus. With trust, I make this prayer in His name
T
Trishie
Guest
God, love and glorify Yourself in us
God, how can I fulfil Your commandments to others and to love and worship God above all?
Unlike holy souls who effuse great joy and praise, my attempts to love and worship You seem very poor. I am child of a scientific and empirical era in a world of physical realities and challenges. I desire faith in Your loving action in temporal affairs even where it is hidden. I desire to praise and love in whatever way You desire, however little understanding I have of Your ways and truth.
It seems to me that loving You is about choices. Jesus witnessed that our salvation depends upon love and service of God in other persons. He proclaimed that, “Whatever you do for even the least of my little ones, you do for Me” who am God. Therefore, we also love and worship You in our care of others.
You command that we love others enough to strive even unto death of something of ourselves for their welfare, as Jesus did. I ask You to love others wholeheartedly in my thoughts, prayers, my words and actions. Please bring about blessings for them even in my worst failures to witness Your love. Please develop my trust in Your loving action in temporal affairs even where it remains hidden.
We glorify You in the Eucharist, that summit of worship, petition, and thanksgiving, God’s own offering and fulfilment through Son and Spirit, with the whole Body of Christ. We worship You in the Eucharist as individuals, yet as brothers and sisters of the community. Let me, let us, thus love and worship You in communion.
Blessed be Jesus, who gives us redemption and Eucharist. Blessed be the Spirit who channels His Gift, and gives us creative ways to praise and love God. Blessed be God who is able to give Yourself the honour and praise that we desire to give You.
God alone can appreciate the depths of God, therefore love and delight Yourself in us so that we truly love You. I ask that whatever my activity or state of mind, You will love and adore Yourself in me, our God. Delight Yourself within me in every moment of my existence. This is possible to You for whom “nothing is impossible.” [Genesis 8:14]
Our God, speak in me
God, please ‘utter’ in me all that is necessary for the fulfilment of Your desire for my life and for anyone You hope to benefit through me.
Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, in the infinite possibilities of Your love, You know what must be ‘spoken’. Whatever entreaty and faith must be offered to obtain this ‘utterance’, please ‘speak’ also in me—for only You can.
I ask this for fulfilment of Your loving will in my life, and for the healing, repentance and conversion of souls whom You desire to save or bless through me.
I ask, and believe, that You continually utter Yourself in me according to Your eternal desire. You delight Yourself in me…in us!
Thereby, with our cooperation, You will fulfil our portion of Your plan of redemption. I trust this to the name of the divine and risen Saviour who shares our humanity. November 1980
God, how can I fulfil Your commandments to others and to love and worship God above all?
Unlike holy souls who effuse great joy and praise, my attempts to love and worship You seem very poor. I am child of a scientific and empirical era in a world of physical realities and challenges. I desire faith in Your loving action in temporal affairs even where it is hidden. I desire to praise and love in whatever way You desire, however little understanding I have of Your ways and truth.
It seems to me that loving You is about choices. Jesus witnessed that our salvation depends upon love and service of God in other persons. He proclaimed that, “Whatever you do for even the least of my little ones, you do for Me” who am God. Therefore, we also love and worship You in our care of others.
You command that we love others enough to strive even unto death of something of ourselves for their welfare, as Jesus did. I ask You to love others wholeheartedly in my thoughts, prayers, my words and actions. Please bring about blessings for them even in my worst failures to witness Your love. Please develop my trust in Your loving action in temporal affairs even where it remains hidden.
We glorify You in the Eucharist, that summit of worship, petition, and thanksgiving, God’s own offering and fulfilment through Son and Spirit, with the whole Body of Christ. We worship You in the Eucharist as individuals, yet as brothers and sisters of the community. Let me, let us, thus love and worship You in communion.
Blessed be Jesus, who gives us redemption and Eucharist. Blessed be the Spirit who channels His Gift, and gives us creative ways to praise and love God. Blessed be God who is able to give Yourself the honour and praise that we desire to give You.
God alone can appreciate the depths of God, therefore love and delight Yourself in us so that we truly love You. I ask that whatever my activity or state of mind, You will love and adore Yourself in me, our God. Delight Yourself within me in every moment of my existence. This is possible to You for whom “nothing is impossible.” [Genesis 8:14]
Our God, speak in me
God, please ‘utter’ in me all that is necessary for the fulfilment of Your desire for my life and for anyone You hope to benefit through me.
Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, in the infinite possibilities of Your love, You know what must be ‘spoken’. Whatever entreaty and faith must be offered to obtain this ‘utterance’, please ‘speak’ also in me—for only You can.
I ask this for fulfilment of Your loving will in my life, and for the healing, repentance and conversion of souls whom You desire to save or bless through me.
I ask, and believe, that You continually utter Yourself in me according to Your eternal desire. You delight Yourself in me…in us!
Thereby, with our cooperation, You will fulfil our portion of Your plan of redemption. I trust this to the name of the divine and risen Saviour who shares our humanity. November 1980
T
Trishie
Guest
In the presence of God
God, I cannot see, hear, or feel You, but I am in Your presence. I gaze at You with faith that sees nothing yet believes. Trust in Your merciful love with hope in Your reality, brings peace even when my limitations and sinfulness barb my human heart.
I am inconstant and selfish, yet unafraid and hopeful, for You rejoice in the sincere, contrite person who comes trustingly before You. I welcome Your forgiveness for my sins and omissions, confident that You will glorify Yourself in me—by being my thoughts, my efforts, my love, my truth, my wisdom, my whole life, prayer, and existence!
As I have no merit of my own, so may You, the more, glorify Yourself in me! Please flood me with Your love, transforming me into Your substance. Thus, even if I remain in seemingly unconverted darkness, I shall be continual offering to You of the perfection of Your own all-creating, all-knowing, all-loving, all-good, harmonious, selfless Self-Love that created me.
Let Your love continually flow into anyone whose life touches mine, so that I am witness and experience of Your love for him or her. I pray, and trust, that You utter within me for others, all prayer that You desire to offer and grant in the love that issues from Your infinite presence.
Thank You God, for although I do not see, hear, or feel You, our God, I know that by Your life in me I am always with You. 1983
“Do not grieve…that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. That privilege was not taken from you. As Jesus says,** ‘Whatever you have done for the least of my little ones, you have done for me.’**” Saint Augustine.
God, I cannot see, hear, or feel You, but I am in Your presence. I gaze at You with faith that sees nothing yet believes. Trust in Your merciful love with hope in Your reality, brings peace even when my limitations and sinfulness barb my human heart.
I am inconstant and selfish, yet unafraid and hopeful, for You rejoice in the sincere, contrite person who comes trustingly before You. I welcome Your forgiveness for my sins and omissions, confident that You will glorify Yourself in me—by being my thoughts, my efforts, my love, my truth, my wisdom, my whole life, prayer, and existence!
As I have no merit of my own, so may You, the more, glorify Yourself in me! Please flood me with Your love, transforming me into Your substance. Thus, even if I remain in seemingly unconverted darkness, I shall be continual offering to You of the perfection of Your own all-creating, all-knowing, all-loving, all-good, harmonious, selfless Self-Love that created me.
Let Your love continually flow into anyone whose life touches mine, so that I am witness and experience of Your love for him or her. I pray, and trust, that You utter within me for others, all prayer that You desire to offer and grant in the love that issues from Your infinite presence.
Thank You God, for although I do not see, hear, or feel You, our God, I know that by Your life in me I am always with You. 1983
“Do not grieve…that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. That privilege was not taken from you. As Jesus says,** ‘Whatever you have done for the least of my little ones, you have done for me.’**” Saint Augustine.
T
Trishie
Guest
God if I really knew Your love
God, I barely realise my blindness, deafness, and ignorance before You. I suspect the truths of Your love as distant music, though I yearn to know and love You. I desire to be pure, zealous and faithful after example of Jesus and Mary, so that through me, You may channel love and blessing to many others.
If I really knew You, God, if I knew Your love, goodness and power, Your ways and thoughts beyond all earthly kind, then what would I ask, seek, and offer to You and to others’ souls for Your sake! How would I live and serve, if I knew, and truly loved! What would I ask of You, of the Mother, of each Saint and Angel, in daring trust? These I ask anyway, although I am sinful, ignorant, and lukewarm!
My heart reaches out in quiet faith to the Father who is infinite Creator so great that He intimately cherishes each of billions of lowly creatures throughout the ages. My heart reaches out to follow the Son whom He surrendered to creature-hood and to death-that-rose, drawing each person into relationship with God. My heart reaches out to touch the Spirit, who transforms all things.
My self-interest undermines my spiritual vitality and efficacious service. I am an erratic, ordinary person, yet in Your intention, I am a glorious reflection of Your love.
No prayer and goodwill can free me from sinfulness, but with faith, I leap over this deadly barrier. For even as I strive or fail, I trustfully ask You to judge me neither by sin nor by merit, but only by Your love! Free me from Your judgement even in my flaws that may separate us or impede the flood of Your goodness through my life to others. I take to myself no merit to clothe my pride or to secure glory in heaven or on earth—so that You may apply these to other souls in need.
Let Your wisdom, goodness and life can engulf and flow from me to others. This music—of love and holiness, of You within us—may be pitched to perfection, beyond earthly perception. Yet please let each moment (each atom, all thought, word, and act, each frailty and each grace) of my life be transformed in Your love. Let it be formed into exquisite notes of Your eternal symphony to delight and praise You far beyond my understanding.
With faith, I offer You my daily duty and routine, with its joy, prayer, hope, and struggle. Let Your Spirit pray and fulfil in me all that I would become, seek, ask, and do, if Your love and truth were known to me. This, God is the lifelong prayer of this sinful, contrite, hopeful creature. November 1983
“Walk with simplicity in the way of the Lord and do not torment your spirit. Learn to hate your faults but to hate them calmly.” (Saint Padre Pio)** “Heaven is filled with converted sinners of all kinds, and there is room for more**” (St. Joseph Cafaso)
God, I barely realise my blindness, deafness, and ignorance before You. I suspect the truths of Your love as distant music, though I yearn to know and love You. I desire to be pure, zealous and faithful after example of Jesus and Mary, so that through me, You may channel love and blessing to many others.
If I really knew You, God, if I knew Your love, goodness and power, Your ways and thoughts beyond all earthly kind, then what would I ask, seek, and offer to You and to others’ souls for Your sake! How would I live and serve, if I knew, and truly loved! What would I ask of You, of the Mother, of each Saint and Angel, in daring trust? These I ask anyway, although I am sinful, ignorant, and lukewarm!
My heart reaches out in quiet faith to the Father who is infinite Creator so great that He intimately cherishes each of billions of lowly creatures throughout the ages. My heart reaches out to follow the Son whom He surrendered to creature-hood and to death-that-rose, drawing each person into relationship with God. My heart reaches out to touch the Spirit, who transforms all things.
My self-interest undermines my spiritual vitality and efficacious service. I am an erratic, ordinary person, yet in Your intention, I am a glorious reflection of Your love.
No prayer and goodwill can free me from sinfulness, but with faith, I leap over this deadly barrier. For even as I strive or fail, I trustfully ask You to judge me neither by sin nor by merit, but only by Your love! Free me from Your judgement even in my flaws that may separate us or impede the flood of Your goodness through my life to others. I take to myself no merit to clothe my pride or to secure glory in heaven or on earth—so that You may apply these to other souls in need.
Let Your wisdom, goodness and life can engulf and flow from me to others. This music—of love and holiness, of You within us—may be pitched to perfection, beyond earthly perception. Yet please let each moment (each atom, all thought, word, and act, each frailty and each grace) of my life be transformed in Your love. Let it be formed into exquisite notes of Your eternal symphony to delight and praise You far beyond my understanding.
With faith, I offer You my daily duty and routine, with its joy, prayer, hope, and struggle. Let Your Spirit pray and fulfil in me all that I would become, seek, ask, and do, if Your love and truth were known to me. This, God is the lifelong prayer of this sinful, contrite, hopeful creature. November 1983
“Walk with simplicity in the way of the Lord and do not torment your spirit. Learn to hate your faults but to hate them calmly.” (Saint Padre Pio)** “Heaven is filled with converted sinners of all kinds, and there is room for more**” (St. Joseph Cafaso)
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