Month: May 2024

Teach Us To Pray

Rewards of Detachment

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

Peter began to say to Jesus, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Mark 10:28-31

At first glance Peter seems to be selfish, as if he were saying, “We have given up everything, now what’s in it for us?” His question is not prompted by selfishness, but rather is a response to Jesus’ previous statement that it is very hard for a rich man to enter heaven. In light of the difficulty of riches, Peter wants to know what the chances of entering the Kingdom of God will be for someone who has given up everything to follow Christ. 

How detached from material possessions must we be in order to be assured a place in heaven? 

Jesus does not give us a concrete answer to this question, but he does tell us that those who have given up everything will not only receive a reward of eternal life in the age to come, but also ample reward in this life.

Lord, I come to you to pray. Even though I cannot see you, I trust that you are present and want very much to instruct me in your teachings. In the same way that you demonstrate your love for me by spending this time with me, I want to express my love for you by dedicating this time to you with a spirit of faith, confidence, and attention. Here I am, Lord, to listen to you and respond with love. Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Striving for Perfection 

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

God is constantly inviting us to perfection whether we are aware of it or not. Not as the world defines perfection but perfect as the mirror of Christ. We are to be light in a dark world. All monotheistic religions are drawn into this state of being. 

As Christians, we need to be serious about striving for perfection which is perfect, agape love. Essentially, the perfection of the Christian life consists in charity, first and foremost, in the love of God, then and the love of neighbor. Our call is to use whatever state of life we are in to reach this perfection by renouncing ourselves in order to allow Christ to do all things in us. In every prayer, we say, and every reaction we perform, and every suffering we endure, and our every act of love, we must come to realize that we are a member of Christ, and that Christ wishes still to pray, act, love, and suffer in us. He thirsts for this, to create the Mystical body of Christ living our vocation to form Christ in others. 

Let us strive to allow Christ to transform us rather than the arduous task of our will, imitating Christ and being so consumed by the fire of God’s love that we say, “I live, now, not I: but Christ lives in me” Galatians 2:20

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly, that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me That every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine, so to shine as to be a light to others; The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine; it will be you, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

Amen

Cardinal Newman

Teach Us To Pray

More Love

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

Why is it so easy to be drawn into the negative rather than find what is good? Or focus on lack and what we don’t have instead of being grateful for what we do have and the abundant life we live.  Paul offers us a powerful antidote: to intentionally focus our minds on what is good, true, and beautiful. When we see charity and love before us, we can use it to draw us to more.  Let’s remember: Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)  

Let’s pray a prayer for more love and charity in our life.

O Lord, give us more charity, more likeness to you. Make us kindly in thought, gentle in word, generous in deed. Teach us that it is better to give than to receive, better to forget ourselves than to put ourselves forward, better to minister than to be ministered to. And to you, the God of love, be all glory and praise, now and forever. Amen

Teach Us To Pray

House of Prayer

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

How do you build your house of prayer? 

Walking in the joyful mysteries and the sorrowful mysteries of life is a place where I look around me and see the reality before me — the divine within each of us. Where somehow I am given the courage to help carry a person’s cross with them. It might be be through a smile, a spot on scripture or prayer or giving up my schedule to help someone in need. It was taking a break from my career to help carry my husband’s cross of illness.  

These times build my house of prayer and by my acceptance become my joyful mysteries. 

They are my praise.  They help me know myself and identify my needs. I become Christ’s hands and feet to support others on their journey. They help me advance in learning how to love. 

Lord, thank you for drawing me into your school of love. I’m grateful you show me how to fully live in the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of life. Living life with your presence. Amen

Teach Us To Pray

We Remember 

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

Today we celebrate Memorial Day, a day where we pause, reflect and honor those who have given their lives to our country. These individuals, drawn outside themselves to a larger mission and purpose, served and protected our country’s liberties and freedom.  

Yesterday in the Church, we celebrated the Holy Trinity, where we remembered and celebrated the fundamental mystery of our faith: One God in three persons, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  This divine circle of love, of which we are a part, is our summons to mission and call to action.  We are to draw people into the dynamics of divine life. 

How deeply do you dive into this mystery and remember whose you are and how much you are loved? It is only through this identity we can draw others to divine love. It is by giving and trusting God with our whole heart we are able to love, taking our narcissistic self interests out of the equation.  

Our ability to love others is connected with our ability to receive God’s love. Authentic love is of one piece and how we love anything is how we love everything. Let us always remember the power we have participating in this divine love.  A love that serves as a beacon, drawing the lost, brokenhearted or hurting souls towards safety, freedom and honor. 

Lord, all power in heaven and earth has been given to me through You. Energize me with zeal to go and make disciples of all who cross my path, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that You have commanded. Help me remember and hold dearly, that You are with me always, until the end of the age. You will not, do not and cannot abandon me and all Your creation. Glory and honor is Yours, now and forever. Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Holy Trinity 

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

In his passion to set right a disjointed universe, God broke open his own heart in love. The Father sent into the dysfunction of the world, not simply a representative but his own Son, so that he might gather that world into the bliss of divine life.

God’s center—the love between the Father and the Son—is now offered as our center; God’s heart breaks open to include even the worst and most hopeless among us. In so many spiritual traditions, the emphasis is placed on the human quest for God, but this is reversed in Christianity. We do not believe that God is “out there,” like a mountain waiting to be climbed by various religious searchers. On the contrary, God, the hound of heaven comes relentlessly searching after us.

Because of this questing and self-emptying divine love, we become friends of God, and sharers in the communion of the Trinity.  This is the essence of Christianity and living the love of the Holy Trinity. Jesus tells the apostles, including you and I today, to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We need to understand the radical power this bestows!

Blessed be God the Father, and the Only Begotten Son of God and also the Holy Spirit, three persons, one God, for he has shown us his merciful love. Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Set Free

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

It’s counterintuitive to my self-reliant heart the freedom of surrendering to my neediness. Not a popular stance by the world’s account but oh how I see the joy on my Savior’s face and the warmth of love radiating from His sacred heart when I do.

Breathe holiness in me. Put fresh winds in my sails. Unbutton my lips, dear God and I’ll let loose with your praise

I need you, Lord, I need you. Every hour I need you my one defense my righteousness oh how I need you. Amen

Teach Us To Pray

God Strong

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

What spiritual battle are you facing today? I don’t know about you, but I’m in a season where I need to surrender and be strong in the Lord.  My strong self reliance coupled with evil whispering it’s ok to do whatever you want beckons me towards excess rather than rely on the strength of God’s temperance and moderation.  I’m meditating on Ephesians 6:10-13:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Love Wins

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

Lately I’ve been meditating on the quote, “Love respects the freedom of others. Love does not expect more from others than they can provide.” In relationships we can want more than another person is able to give. When my needs aren’t being met, I have a choice to be angry and resentful or take my feelings to prayer. By turning to prayer rather than my tricky emotions, God is healing the wounds of my heart that so desperately want respect, love and attention. Spiritually this allows me to love rather than resent and give mercy as I’ve been given mercy.

In its essence, love is an act of the will—more precisely, the willing of the good of the other as other. To love is really to want what is good for someone else and then to act on that desire. 

Real love is a leaping outside of the narrow confines of my needs and desires, and an embrace of the other’s good for the other’s sake. It is an escape from the black hole of the ego, which tends to draw everything around it into itself.

Lord, thank you for showing me the path of love, a narrow and challenging one for sure but totally worth it. Love always wins. Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Presence of God

Smitten With Goodness
Season of neediness in prayer

How well do you know the Holy Spirit? 

The person of the Holy Spirit guides us in our spiritual depth of relationship with God. Attuning our ears to listen, our mind to understand and our hearts to obey God’s word. The quality of our prayer life will always go back to the disposition of our heart and whether we are open to the movements of the Holy Spirit. 

I take comfort in the fact that the Lord leads us all by paths and in ways pleasing to him, and each of us responds according to our heart’s resolve and the personal expressions of our prayer. However, Christian Tradition has retained three major expressions of prayer: vocal, meditative, and contemplative. They have one basic trait in common: composure of heart. 

If we want to prepare our hearts for our life of prayer, we need to frequently turn to the Word of God and frequently practice the presence of God.

Prayer doesn’t simply “happen” to most of us and we need to train our heart to listen to God’s voice. When we successfully prepare our heart for moments of prayer, we will experience a profound union with God that is a foreshadowing of the ultimate union with God in Heaven.

Lord, help me seek you first, giving you my best and not what’s leftover. Guide my attention to focus on you and turn away from the evil of distraction. Let me live for an audience of one so I can carry out your holy will. Amen