Lord, give me the grace for today
Before me, the day looms with great possibilities, and greater challenges. I put it all on your hands. Order my day and order my life. Help me to embrace every challenge, to be open to all you have to give, and to see all as opportunity. One moment at a time. One person at a time. One gift at a time. Help me to breathe in your spirit and to exhale any fear that may cause me to question and to worry. The world causes stress.
You offer peace. I choose you!
Amen
Any relationship requires listening in order to understand the other. Sitting in God’s presence allows us to know the quiet whispers and nudgings. As we drink in God’s love, our awe becomes praise. Full hearts become full and overflow with love being drawn to want eternal things.
Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.
Speak, for your servant is listening.
Amen
Prayer teaches us to love….it opens our heart and mind to live as a true daughter or son of God. We hear God’s voice in a direct way when we spend time in scripture and in prayer, observing the word of God, and acting on it. This is the lost art of letting God love you; and the lost art of seeing God. There are seasons of prayer:
Which season are you in today? A season of praise is always a good one.
Today is a day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad! Amen
As we start the new year, where does your relationship with God fall on your list? As seekers, our spirituality needs to be more important than anything. When my day is divinely ordered, miracles occur and I do what needs to be done.
Thank you Lord for blessing me with the gift of being responsible. People know they can count on me to take care of things. For better or worse, I’ve learned to be the epitome of responsibility when it comes to my job, children, appearance and social commitments. But when it comes to taking care of myself spiritually, I likely don’t rate so high. Yet you are showing me that nothing else should be so high on my list. It is from my spirituality that friendship and love spring up like flowers. This includes learning to love myself and meditating on how you see me. It is from the depth of my spirituality that I become more able to forgive. And it is the quality of my spirituality that determines how well I can accept reality and let go of what needs to be released.
Help me live a Spirituality that is not a luxury to be pursued only if I have time left after everything else is done. Make me prioritize quiet time, time with friends, time to read, pray, and walk in the woods – the things that are important in the proper care of my spiritual life. Help me resist the temptation of busyness that leads me to be separate from You. Today please slow me down and order my priorities according to Your plan for me. Amen
I’ve recently been having discussions with a “spiritual” person who doesn’t identify with Christianity, despite being baptized and raised in the catholic church. She states that many of the Christians she knows are not very nice and welcoming people. Do we live out our Christian values?
Think about that, once we decide to stand with Jesus and determine that he is the supreme good, then every other authority must fall away. Every one of us has something or some set of values that we consider greatest. There is a center of gravity around which everything else turns. Is it money and material things? Perhaps it is power and position. Perhaps it is the esteem of others. Perhaps it is your country, your political party or your ethnic identity. Perhaps it is your family, your kids, your wife, your husband.
None of these things are bad. However, when you place any of them in the absolute center of gravity, things go awry. When you make any of them your ultimate or final good, your spiritual life goes haywire. When you attach yourself to any of them with absolute tenacity, you will fall apart.
Heavenly Father, I am being held together by you whether I feel it or not. Help me act accordingly, committing myself to you as the center of my life, surrendering my all. As I learn to love you, I see you are the true love of my life and I forever yearn to see your face. I can always count on you, as your love never fails. You are the guiding hand that directs my path with great plans and purpose. Use me as your vessel today, be my center and take control. Amen
Do you ever find yourself so busy you are not focusing on the present moment, the person or task that is right before you? I often get caught up in the doing which leads me to doing more. I have to consciously invite the Spirit in to help slow me down and notice. Will you pray this prayer of noticing with me today?
Lord, unless I slow down, I tend to see a life that is within my limited perspective. I miss the vast possibilities and nourishment available at my fingertips.
Looking at the ocean nourishes my soul. It lifts my heart beyond the day to day and brings me to a place of awe and wonder. What a gift it is to contemplate Your power, glory and wisdom as Creator. This view invites me to prefer You rather than focusing on me.
From the grains of sand between my toes, the healing salt that I taste on my lips to the power of the forceful waves making me work to keep my balance, the ocean is constantly in motion and evolving. Similar to me.
As I take notice of the details of my life, the balance of my choices help me evolve into the person I become. My virtuous decisions draw me to be reborn and live as You designed me. Being connected to Your beauty, energizes me which flows through my veins and strengthens me. My source of life. Amen
We are called to love, to serve, and to accept the responsibility of bringing others to Christ and Christ to one another. Our family, our spouses, our children, our coworkers, and all the people in our lives need our love and attention. And they need good examples – examples they can follow in striving for holiness.
How can we be such examples and gather the strength we need to carry out this important call? We must turn to prayer, calling on God, his mother, and the Saints and angels for help. The heavens await our requests.
Pray, without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Jesus wants us to ask, to seek, and to knock. Allow him in. Every day. All day. Open yourself up to receive his abundant blessing and gifts of grace.
It is not necessary to always be in church to be with God, we can make a private chapel in our heart, where we can retire and commune with him. Peacefully, humbly, lovingly. We are all capable of these intimate conversations with God.
Lord, let me begin this moment. Amen
One of the first things I do when I start waking up each day is to give God the glory for giving me another day. As I grab my coffee and sit in my prayer chair, I express gratitude for the things that are on my mind and heart since the day before. I pray the Morning Offering to help orient my day:
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen.
Spiritual life calls us to grow up and seek a level of maturity. John 15:7-8 states, “If you make yourself at home with me, and my words are at home with you, you can be sure that whatever you ask, will be listened to, and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.”
Lord, a tree is known by its fruits and a man is known by his deeds. A good deed is never lost. Help us sow courtesy and reap friendship. Help us plant kindness and gather love. Amen
Matthew 6:14-18 from The Message, tells us how we are to act:
In prayer, there is a connection between what God does, and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.
When you practice some appetite – denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production of it. It might turn you into a small- time celebrity, but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well.
Lord, let me listen to your voice and act accordingly for my part today. Amen
Smitten With Goodness 