Month: July 2024

Teach Us To Pray

We Are One With You

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

O God, we are one with you. You have made us one with you.
You have taught us that if we are open to one another, you dwell in us.
Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts. Help us to realize that there can be no understanding where there is mutual rejection.

O God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely, we accept you, and we thank you, and we adore you, and we love you with our whole being, because our being is your being, our spirit is rooted in your spirit. Fill us then with love, and let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways, united in this one spirit which makes you present in the world, and which makes you witness to the ultimate reality that is love. Love has overcome. Love is victorious.

– Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Teach Us To Pray

Recipe for Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Christian Prayer for Peace

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be known as the Children of God.
But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you, and of those who take away your goods, do not ask for them again.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

– Author Unknown

Teach Us To Pray

Branches of Understanding

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Dear Lord, 

In this world where conflicts flare up so easily, help me be a beacon of Your peace. When tensions rise and harsh words tempt my tongue, remind me of Your gentle ways. Give me the courage to extend olive branches instead of building walls. 

Open my ears to truly listen, Lord, and guide my words to speak with love. When others push my buttons, help me respond with grace. In moments of disagreement, let me see Your image in those I struggle to understand. 

Thank You for Your peace through Jesus. Help me follow His example and build bridges of understanding. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Little Hope

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Prayer for a World Where Hope Seems Dim

Dear God, the world seems so dark and foreboding.
Where are the signs of hope?
What are you calling us to do?
Wars, uprisings, displacements, hunger, poverty, and disease continue to claim victims by the millions around the world each year.
Our ears do not want to hear their stories and our eyes do not want to see their plight because the suffering and destruction is so massive and cruel.
In our hearts and minds there is a desire to help somehow, but the crisis seem so overwhelming that we shake our heads in dismay and we wonder what the point is for us even to attempt to be witnesses for healing and hope in this hellish morass.
We beg with the song writer to open our eyes that we may see glimpses of truth you have for us.
Help us to follow the path of Jesus, the Suffering Servant. Give us the courage to be willing to walk the path of depression and pain with the victims of injustice here at home as well as abroad.
Help us to seek ways to light candles of hope, however small, through our words, our deeds, and our prayers, to encourage our sisters and brothers to hold onto the faith in spite of the pain and suffering they are facing.
And help those of us who are among the fortunate ones, who have enough bread to eat, good health, and who live in relative peace, to open our heart to learn from our sisters and brothers who are living lives of grace and forgiveness in the horrid circumstances which surround them. O God, help us to light one candle rather than to curse the darkness.
We pray this in the name of Jesus, who knows what being a light in this dark world is all about.

– Larry Kehler, Mennonite Central Committee, Canada

Teach Us To Pray

Work of Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Open our hearts and minds Lord to see as you do and the courage to act as you would.

For Courage to Do Justice

O Lord, open my eyes that I may see the needs of others,
Open my ears that I may hear their cries;
Open my heart so that they need not be without succor;
Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong,
Nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich.
Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
And use me to bring them to those places.
And so open my eyes and my ears,
That I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for thee.

– Alan Paton, South Africa, United Methodist Hymn

Teach Us To Pray

By Design

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Each of us was created with a unique destiny as God designed, to bring peace and justice to the world.  Let’s pray this prayer for world peace cooperating in our destiny according to His plan.  Thy will be done!

A Prayer for World Peace

We pray for the power to be gentle;
the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding on to what we believe to be right.

May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.

We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead men or women to commit injustice,
nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.

Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfill the destiny for which we and all men and women were created.

– Author Unknown

Teach Us To Pray

Fingerprint of Our Soul

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Let’s pray that God reveals his peaceful heart to us today and we can see justice through His eyes revealing the precious nature of each soul. 

A Prayer for Peace

We are moulded, each one of us,
in the image of God,
and within our souls there is a fingerprint
none can erase.
We pray for those who have no regard
for anyone but self,
who put no value on human life.
For nations and individuals who abuse and kill.
We are not called to be judge or jury,
but we are called to be agents of change,
and if the butterfly that flaps its wings
should be our attitude to others
then so be it, Lord,
and may the hurricane this generates
somewhere within the world
reach into the hearts and souls of those
for whom we pray, and reveal to them
how precious are those
for whom they have no love,
and how precious are they
who now bring tears to the eyes of God.

– John Birch

Teach Us To Pray

Hope for Us All

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Lets pray for a culture of nonviolence and a society where our needs are met and our desires are right ordered.  This prayer by the late Benedictine Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, a poet and peace activist, provides words of hope and inspiration for us all. 

Prayer for the Decade of Nonviolence

I bow to the sacred in all creation.
May my spirit fill the world with beauty and wonder.
May my mind seek truth with humility and openness.
May my heart forgive without limit.
May my love for friend, enemy, and outcast be without measure.
May my needs be few and my living simple.
May my actions bear witness to the suffering of others.
May my hands never harm a living being.
May my steps stay on the journey of justice.
May my tongue speak for those who are poor without fear of the powerful.
May my prayers rise with patient discontent until no child is hungry.
May my life’s work be a passion for peace and nonviolence.
May my soul rejoice in the present moment.
May my imagination overcome death and despair with new possibilities.
And may I risk reputation, comfort, and security to bring this hope to the children.

Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Lead Us to Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Lord, Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Let peace fill our hearts, our world and our universe. Let us dream together, pray together and work together, To build one world of peace and justice for all.

Prayer for Peace

On This Day….

Mend a quarrel
Search out a forgotten friend
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust
Write a love letter
Share some treasures
Give a soft answer
Encourage youth 

Manifest your loyalty in a word or deed
Keep a promise
Find the time
Forego a grudge
Forgive an enemy
Listen
Apologize if you were wrong

Try to understand
Flout envy
Examine your demands on others
Think first of someone else
Appreciate, be kind, be gentle
Laugh a little more.
Deserve confidence

Take up arms against malice
Decry complacency
Express your gratitude
Worship your God
Gladden the heart of a child
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth

Speak your love
Speak it again
Speak it still again
Speak it still once again….

~ Author Unknown

Teach Us To Pray

Trust and Confidence

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Do you need a boost of faith? I think we all do.  Faith is the key that puts every other truth into its proper place. Triumphs become opportunities for gratitude instead of pride. Tragedies become opportunities for growth instead of despair. Life just makes more sense and our faith in God gives us joy even when we face what can feel like insurmountable trials. We all need healing and miracles in our lives.  Let’s pray:

Padre Pio’s Prayer for Trust and Confidence:

O Lord, we ask for a boundless confidence and trust in Your divine mercy, and the courage to accept the crosses and sufferings which bring immense goodness to our souls and that of Your Church.

Help us to love You with a pure and contrite heart, and to humble ourselves beneath Your cross, as we climb the mountain of holiness, carrying our cross that leads to heavenly glory.

May we receive You with great faith and love in Holy Communion, and allow You to act in us as You desire for your greater glory.

O Jesus, most adorable Heart and eternal fountain of Divine Love, may our prayer find favor before the Divine Majesty of Your heavenly Father.

Come Holy Spirit, light a fire in the hearts of your people. Help our faithlessness turn into faithfulness allowing us to be more like you. Your faithfulness is never ending. I pray for all your people who have lost hope, or who need the seed of faith you planted in their heart to grow big and wild like a mustard seed. I’m standing in the gap for them today. Amen.