Month: November 2024

Teach Us To Pray

A Simple Prayer of Gratitude

Smitten With Goodness
Season of Thanksgiving in prayer

As we enter the season of Thanksgiving, I’m grateful that gratitude is more readily on my mind! A photo of God’s love message to me above on a silent retreat. Grateful for the silence in order to hear our Lord’s voice and see the blessings.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have bestowed on my life. You have provided me with more than I could ever have imagined. You have surrounded me with people who always look out for me. You have given me family and friends who bless me every day with kind words and actions. They lift me up in ways that keep my eyes focused on you and make my spirit soar.

Also, thank you, Lord, for keeping me safe. You protect me from those things that seem to haunt others. You help me make better choices and provide me with advisors to help me with life’s difficult decisions. You speak to me in so many ways so that I always know you are here.

And Lord, I am so grateful for keeping those around me safe and loved. I hope that you provide me with the ability and sense to show them every day how much they matter. I hope that you give me the ability to give to them the same kindness they have provided to me.

I am extremely grateful for all of your blessings in my life, Lord. I pray that you remind me of just how blessed I am and that you never allow me to forget to show my gratitude in prayer and return acts of kindness.

Thank you, Lord.

– By Kelli Mahoney

Teach Us To Pray

Prayer for Our Leaders

Smitten With Goodness
Season of thanksgiving in prayer

Let us pray for President-elect Trump, as well as all leaders in public life, that they may rise to meet the responsibilities entrusted to them as they serve our country and those whom they represent. Let us ask for the intercession of our Blessed Mother, the patroness of our nation, that she guide to uphold the common good of all and promote the dignity of the human person, especially the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, the poor, the stranger, the elderly and infirm, and migrants.

Teach Us To Pray

Prayer After an Election

Smitten With Goodness
Season of Thanksgiving in prayer

God of all nations, Father of the human family,
we give you thanks for the freedom we exercise
and the many blessings of democracy we enjoy
in these United States of America.

We ask for your protection and guidance
for all who devote themselves to the common good,
working for justice and peace at home and around the world.

We lift up all our duly elected leaders and public servants,
those who will serve us as president, as legislators and judges,
those in the military and law enforcement.
Heal us from our differences and unite us, O Lord,
with a common purpose, dedication, and commitment to achieve liberty and justice in the years ahead for all people,
and especially those who are most vulnerable in our midst.

Amen

From USCCB

Teach Us To Pray

Serenity God Provides

Smitten With Goodness
Season of thanksgiving in prayer

As we complete the stressful election cycle in the United States, let’s remember and be thankful that Christ offers us peace. Through Him by accepting reality and seeking wisdom, we walk the path of serenity.

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change,
Courage to change the
things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the
pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this
sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make
all things right if I
surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy
in this life, and supremely
happy with Him forever in
the next.
Amen

Reinhold Niebuhr (1926)

Teach Us To Pray

For Our President

Smitten With Goodness
Season of thanksgiving in prayer

We have exercised our right to vote for a leader of our nation and to have our voices heard with our ballot. What a gift to have the freedom to do so. Despite our politics and our agreement with the elected candidate, it is our duty to be united for the health of our country. Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to guide our leader! 

We pray O God of might, wisdom and justice, through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with your Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the president of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness and be eminently useful to your people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality.

Excerpt from Archbishop John Carroll’s a “Prayer for our Government” in 1791.

Teach Us To Pray

A Prayer for Our National Election 

Smitten With Goodness
Season of thanksgiving in prayer

O God, we acknowledge You today as Lord, Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.

We thank You for the privilege Of being able to organize ourselves politically And of knowing that political loyalty Does not have to mean disloyalty to You.

We thank You for Your law, Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged And recognized as higher than any human law.

We thank You for the opportunity that this election year puts before us, To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote, But to influence countless others to vote, And to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that Your people may be awakened. Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation, Their response to You requires that they be politically active.

Awaken Your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world But rather a community of faith renewing the world.

Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to You in prayer Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth; That the same eyes that read Your Word Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot, And that they do not cease to be Christians When they enter the voting booth.

Awaken Your people to a commitment to justice, To the sanctity of marriage and the family, To the dignity of each individual human life, And to the truth that human rights begin when Human Lives Begin, And not one moment later.

Lord, we rejoice today That we are citizens of Your kingdom.

May that make us all the more committed To being faithful citizens on earth.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen

– Fr. Frank Pavone

Teach Us To Pray

Prayer for the Election Year of the President

Smitten With Goodness
Season of thanksgiving in prayer

God of mercy, our nation is in a time of great transition.

With all of the injustice and fear in our world today,

we ask you to inspire us and guide us as we participate in the upcoming presidential elections.

We seek a government that upholds and protects human rights and justice for all its citizens,

regardless of race, class, gender, or religion.

Move and inspire us by your presence among us in the most vulnerable in our society.

For their tears are your tears, their pain is your pain, their suffering is your suffering.

In gratitude for the right to vote, we pray.

– Anna Misleh

Teach Us To Pray

Prayer Before the Elections

Smitten With Goodness
Season of thanksgiving in prayer

Lord God, as the election approaches, we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our country and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community.

We ask for eyes that are free from blindness so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters, one and equal in dignity, especially those who are victims of abuse and violence, deceit and poverty.

We ask for ears that will hear the cries of children unborn and those abandoned, men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion or gender.

We ask for minds and hearts that are open to hearing the voice of leaders who will bring us closer to your Kingdom.

We pray for discernment so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word, live your love, and keep in the ways of your truth as they follow in the steps of Jesus and his Apostles and guide us to your Kingdom of justice and peace.

We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

– Anna Misleh

Teach Us To Pray

All Saints’ Day

Smitten With Goodness
Season of thanksgiving in prayer

Today we celebrate a significant feast in the Catholic Church dedicated to honoring all the saints, both known and unknown, who have attained heaven. This solemnity acknowledges the “great cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Hebrews 12:1, celebrating the lives of those who have faithfully followed Christ.  We are all called to be saints and Smitten with Goodness. If you are looking for someone to walk alongside you in your faith journey, let me know.  On this Fourth Anniversary of this blog, let’s remember and pray for all the faithful departed, reflecting on the communion of saints and the hope of eternal life.

Heavenly Father,

We come before You today with grateful hearts, celebrating the feast of All Saints. We honor all the saints, both known and unknown, who have faithfully followed Your will and now rejoice in Your presence in heaven.

Lord, we thank You for their example of holiness and dedication. May their lives inspire us to live with the same fervor and commitment to Your teachings. Help us to strive for sainthood in our own lives, seeking to love and serve You with all our hearts.

We pray for the strength to follow in their footsteps, to be courageous in our faith, and to trust in Your divine plan. As we remember the communion of saints, we ask for their intercession, that we may grow in virtue and grace.

On this special day, we also remember and pray for all the faithful departed. Grant them eternal rest and let perpetual light shine upon them. May we all be united in Your love, looking forward to the day when we will join the saints in heaven.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.

Amen.