Tag: Holy Spirit

Teach Us To Pray

A Invitation for Wholeness

Smitten With Goodness
Season of Asking in prayer

Psalms for Praying – Psalm 1:

Blessed are those

   who walk hand in hand

  with goodness,

   who stand beside virtue, 

   who sit in the seat of truth;

For their delight is in the Spirit of Love,

    and in Love’s heart they dwell

day and night.

They are like trees planted by

streams of water,

     that yield fruit in due season,

and their leaves flourish;

And in all that they do, they give life.

The unloving are not so;

    they are like dandelions which 

the wind blows away.

Turning from the Heart of Love

    they will know suffering and pain.

They will be isolated from wisdom;

    for Love knows the way of truth,

    the way of ignorance will perish

    As Love’s penetrating Light

breaks through hearts

filled with illusions:

forgiveness is the way.

-by Nan C. Merrill

Teach Us To Pray

Awakening to Christ

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

We are already in union with God. Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022), a saint and mystic revered to this day by Eastern Christians, wrote some words that point beautifully to this “force field” that we call the Body of Christ. It is a living organism created by those who live in love, much more than any mere religious organization.

Symeon describes this cosmic embodiment created by God’s grace and our response, naming the divine union that all the Bible is forever inviting and edging us toward. He is sharing his own experience of his divine embodiment. Here, in Symeon’s hymn, scripture has become spirituality. This prayer, religious verse, in its twenty-seven mystical lines honestly say it all.

We awaken in Christ’s body

as Christ awakens our bodies,

and my poor hand is Christ.  He enters

my foot, and is infinitely me.

I move my hand, and wonderfully

My hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him

(for God is indivisibly 

Whole, seamless in His Godhood).

I move my foot, and at once

He appears in a flash of lightning.

Do my words seem blasphemous? 

Then

Open your heart to him,

We wake up inside Christ’s body

Where all our body, allover,

Every most hidden part of it,

 Is realized in joy as Him,

And He makes us utterly real,

And everything that is hurt, everything

That seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,

Maimed, ugly, irreparably

Damaged, is in Him transformed

And recognized as whole, as lovely,

And radiant in His light.

We awaken as the Beloved

In every last part of our body.

-by Symeon the New Theologian

Teach Us To Pray

Christ’s Body

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Christ has no body now but yours,

no hands, no feet on Earth but yours.

Yours are the only eyes

with which his compassion

can still look out on a troubled world.

Yours are the only feet

with which he can go about doing good.

Yours are the only hands

with which he can bring his blessing to his people.

Christ has no body now on Earth but yours.

-St. Teresa of Avila

Teach Us To Pray

Hymn of the Universe

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Glorious Lord Christ:

The divine influence secretly diffused and active

in the depths of matter,

And the dazzling center where all the innumerable fibres

of the manifold meet;

Power as implacable as the world and as warm as life;

You whose forehead is of snow,

Whose eyes are of fire,

and whose feet are brighter than molten gold;

You whose hands imprison the stars;

You who are the first and the last,

The living and the dead and the risen again;

You who gather into your exuberant unity every mode

of existence;

It is you to whom my being cries out with a desire

as vast as the universe:

In truth you are my Lord and my God.

-Teilhard de Chardin

Teach Us To Pray

Agnus Dei, Lamb of God

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

grant us peace.

Agnus Dei, 

quitollis peccáta mundi: miserére nobis.

Agnus Dei,

quitollis peccáta mundi: miserére nobis.

Agnus Dei,

quitollis peccáta mundi: dona nobis pacem.

Teach Us To Pray

Litany of Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

From the desire to control … Deliver me, Lord Jesus

From the desire to give my opinion … Deliver me, Lord Jesus

From the desire to project myself as the victim … 

From the desire to impress others …

From the desire to please everyone …

From the tendency to complain …

From all my irrational fears …

From all violent speech …

From failing to accept uncertainty …

From comparing myself to others …

From not accepting my limitations … 

From an unhealthy desire for perfection …

From an unhealthy attachment to others …

From excessive self-blame …

From holding on to grudges …

From holding on to the past …

From wanting more than I need …

From the impulse to justify myself …

From worrying about the future …

From thinking only about myself … 

From losing perspective on life … 

From not being able to laugh at myself … 

From not being able to forgive myself …

From over analyzing the intentions of others … 

From the desire to change others …

From thoughts that this world is all there is …

From failing to trust in God …

From failing to see God in all things …

Peace Prayer:

God of peace, calm me and heal me. 

Let Your peace reign in my heart at this very moment and for all eternity. 

We make our prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen. 

– by Fr. Matthew Guckin

Teach Us To Pray

For Peace In Troubled Times

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

God the Father, have mercy on us. 

God the Son, have mercy on us. 

God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. 

Holy and blessed Trinity, one God, have mercy on us

Have mercy on us:

In these days of trouble, fear and sorrow,  

In our despair at the violence that seems to fill the world,  

 In the pain of lost life and shattered hopes,  

In our grieving for those who have died,  

In our compassion for all who are bereaved,  

O Lord, deliver us:

From the history of violence  that corrupts every society and our own. 

From the greed and injustice  that divide the world into rich and poor. 

From the urge for revenge  that adds to the cycle of violence.

From the fear that grows into hatred  for people who are different.

From being too quick to attribute blame  and demand retribution.

From believing ourselves safe through anything other than your grace.

From dying suddenly and unprepared.

Lord, hear our prayer:

For those who plan and carry out acts of violence. 

For all who seek justice and ensure the rule of law.

For the victims of war and terrorism everywhere on earth.

For all who live in fear, and for refugees from violent regimes.

For courage to resist demonizing and dehumanizing others.

For wisdom in choosing the paths of peace.

For solidarity with the suffering of the dispossessed. 

For generosity in sharing fairly, the world’s resources.

For respect in conversation with people of other faiths, and none.

For honesty in knowing and confessing the sin in our own hearts.

For grace to change and be changed as you forgive us.

For rescue workers and medical teams  treating those injured in conflict zones.

For aid agencies and their workers, responding with practical care in dangerous places.

For the leaders of all the nations,  looking for ways to work together beyond fear and suspicion.

For people of goodwill, responding generously to the needs of suffering communities.

For all who have friends and family  involved in areas of conflict and disaster.

For communities that are terrified  by missiles, snipers, vigilantes or death squads.

For the vulnerable and defenseless in conflict zones, 

For the children, the elderly, the disabled, the sick.

We pray to you, O God: 

For Christ to bring all the peoples of the world  into one flock with one shepherd.

For Christ to bring healing and comfort for those we love  who are sick or in mourning.

For Christ to lead us into the paths of peace, writing the law of love on our hearts.

For Christ to bring us, with all who have died in faith,  to a joyful resurrection.

God of all peace, have mercy on our broken and divided world, and on your people who cry out to you for healing, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen. 

Teach Us To Pray

Everlasting Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

O God! O our master!

You are eternal life and everlasting peace by Your essence and attributes. The everlasting peace is from You and it returns to you.

O our Sustainer! Grant us the life of true peace and usher us into the abode of peace.

O Glorious and Bounteous One! You are blessed and sublime.

– Author Unknown

Teach Us To Pray

God of Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Finally, sisters and brothers,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence and if there is anything worth of praise,
think about these things.

Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard
and seen. Then the God of peace will be with you.

– Paul’s Letter to the Phillipians 4:8-9