Tag: Holy Spirit

As Christ’s body is the community of believers who follow Jesus Christ. It is important we pray for the enablement to work together to achieve the same purpose. Prayer is one of the most important ways that we can support the body of Christ and help it to grow and thrive. 

A Prayer for Unity and Love among Believers

Heavenly Father,

We come before you, acknowledging that we are one body in Christ. We recognize the importance of unity and love among all believers. Help us to set aside our differences, prejudices, and selfish ambitions. Enable us to love one another genuinely, regardless of our background or opinions. Guide us in embracing diversity and promoting an atmosphere of acceptance and understanding. May our unity be a testament to Your love and grace.

In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Let’s pray for the unity among believers which is vital for the growth and effectiveness of the church. It is important to pray for a spirit of unity to prevail among believers, as it demonstrates the love of Christ to the world.

Let’s pray for a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diversity present within the body of Christ. Embrace different cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives, recognizing that it enriches the community of believers.

Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of believers, enabling them to love one another genuinely, even in the midst of disagreements or conflicts. Pray for forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration within the body of Christ.

Amen

Jesus is remarkable in that he knew the violence, the nervousness that dwells within us. He also knew of the deeper truth waiting to be born. This broken, anxious world is oozing with God. To encounter this God can be as gentle as an awkward embrace, but it can be as wild as finally realizing and being grateful that our lives do not belong to us.

Faith is more than a magical formula to conquer the worry, regret, shame and resentments that cloud our visions and make us jaded and tired. Having faith does not remove every trace of self-absorption and doubt. Those things are part of the human condition. 

Faith is what brings us into the deepest truth of our lives. 

It is a buried truth that says we are in the image of an unlimited, unrestricted, unimaginable love. And when we forget that, as Jesus reminded the religious authorities of his day, then religion does become a shield, a crutch, a closed refuge instead of a way to boldly throw ourselves into a harsh world, knowing that is precisely where we discover a generous God.

by Fr. Patrick Malone, SJ wrote this when he experienced a recurrence of leukemia after battling the disease and undergoing a successful bone marrow transplant. 

Most high, all-powerful, all good, Lord
All praise is yours, all glory, all honor
And all blessing.
To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy
To pronounce your name.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,
And first my lord Brother Sun,
Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.
How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;
In the heavens you have made them, bright
And precious and fair.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all the weather’s moods,
By which you cherish all that you have made.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
Through whom you brighten up the night.
How beautiful is he, how merry! Full of power and strength.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our Mother,
Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces
Various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon
For love of you; through those who endure
Sickness and trial.
Happy those who endure in peace,
By you, Most High, they will be crowned.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,
From whose embrace no mortal can escape.
How dreadful for those who die in sin!
How lovely for those found in Your Most Holy Will.
The second death can do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks,
And serve him with great humility.

By St. Francis of Assisi

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient 

in everything to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown,

something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—

and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;

your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense and incomplete.

By Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

An interpretation from the Aramaic

O Creative breath,

ebbing and flowing through all forms,

soften the ground of our being

and hollow a place for the planting of your presence.

Moving to the heartbeat of your purpose,

make us the embodiment of your compassion.

Fill us with your creativity

that we might bear the fruit of your vision.

Give us the wisdom to produce and share

what each one needs to grow and flourish.

Untie the tangled webs of destiny that bind us

as we release others from the entanglements of past mistakes.

And let us not be seduced

by that which would divert us from our true purpose,

but illuminate the path before us.

For you are the ground of the fruitful vision,

the birthing power, and the fulfillment,

as all is gathered and made whole once again.