Tag: Gift

Teach Us To Pray

Easter People 

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Yesterday we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. As Christian’s we are Easter people. Sprinkled with Easter water, we are strengthened in faith to serve the Lord and one another.

We also renew our baptismal promises. Let me ask you a few questions:

Do you reject Satan, including all of  his works and his empty promises?

Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth? 

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? 

Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? 

I Do!

With a resounding “I do!,” may these promises live on in our hearts.

God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever. 

Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Lightening Prayers

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Our brains are amazing and our minds work faster than supercomputers. Think for a minute about how quickly we have an answer in our minds when somebody says something we dislike. We are usually quick to form a response! If you are in a full season of life right now, it might be hard to pray as much as you like or have a regular prayer time.  Rather than beat yourself up, try to keep a few of these lightening prayers on hand to help lift your heart to God:

God, may my sacrifice of today remind me of my dependence on You for all the blessings I enjoy. Amen.

Heavenly Father, I’m truly sorry for the moments today where I missed the mark. I ask for your forgiveness and the strength to better follow Your call tomorrow. Amen.

God, I lift up (name of the person you’d like to pray for) today. I ask that you bless them abundantly today and throughout Lent. Amen.

Oh Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything. Amen.

Teach Us To Pray

Father of All

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

God is our loving Father. Jesus tells us that God the Father knows what we need before we ask him. Still, we should ask, because in asking we become aware that we have needs that only God our Father can grant us. We learn to ask God what we most need for our salvation. That is why Jesus taught us the “Our Father.” 

Praying the “Our Father” reminds us that he is the father of all, and therefore every human person is truly our brother or sister. In praying the “Our Father,” we essentially ask for three things: that God has the first place in our lives, that he gives us our material and spiritual sustenance, and that he grants us his forgiveness.

Lord, teach me how to pray.

Teach Us To Pray

Attitude Adjustment

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Traditional Prayers Teach Us the Correct Attitudes to Have Towards God. We can think of them helping give us an attitude adjustment.

What better prayer could we devise than a prayer using the very words Jesus taught us here? Yet the “Our Father” is a traditional prayer, a prayer with set words, prone to be recited merely by rote. But in fact, traditional prayers are an invitation to meditate, set up in a way that appeals to beginners.

In the “Our Father,” as in all traditional prayers, we repeat phrases that express the essence of a correct relationship with God. Whether we already hold these attitudes in our heart or not, the beauty of traditional prayers is not what we say, but how we say it. If we pray these words, trying to make them our own, conforming our heart to the attitudes they express, then little by little we will form a Christian heart, a heart that loves the way it should.

Lord, teach me through the “Our Father” to pray more deeply.

Teach Us To Pray

Willpower or Grace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

The older I get, I’m learning a light touch is better than a hammer.  Especially when it comes to matters of the heart and how I relate to others.  Approaching difficult situations by sheer willpower fails me and I believe there must be a Higher Power which helps me. I think of that power as the grace of God. 

Continue reading “Willpower or Grace” →
Teach Us To Pray

Prayer of Praise

Smitten With Goodness
Seasons of goodness in prayer

Let this be the season where we praise God’s goodness and adore the King of the universe. 

You are holy, Lord, the only God,

and Your deeds are wonderful.

You are strong.

You are great.

You are the Most High.

You are Almighty.

You, Holy Father are King of heaven and earth.

You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.

You are Good, all Good, supreme Good, Lord God, living and true.

You are love. You are wisdom.

You are humility. You are endurance.

You are rest. You are peace.

You are joy and gladness.

You are justice and moderation.

You are all our riches, and You suffice for us.

You are beauty.

You are gentleness.

You are our protector.

You are our guardian and defender.

You are our courage. You are our haven and our hope.

You are our faith, our great consolation.

You are our eternal life, Great and Wonderful Lord,

God Almighty, Merciful Savior.

Amen.

St. Francis of Assisi

Inspiration

Desiring God

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

Grant, O Lord, that we may always revere and love your holy name, for you never deprive of your guidance those you set firm on the foundation of your love.

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.

Hallowed… Holy. What do I name as holy in my life? 

Jesus, I love You.

Inspiration

New Heart

Smitten With Goodness
Reflection for contemplative living

The saints understood the need for a singular focused heart. Not one formed by the world but one aligned with our creator.

St. Benedict of Nursia says, “You change your life by changing your heart.” St. Therese of Lisieux stated: Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be, and becoming that person.

As scripture reminds us, we are to be new wine.

No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.  Matthew 9:14-17

Thank you, Lord, for giving me a new heart to fill up with the things you deem worthy.