Love – Page 55 – Smitten With Goodness

Little Hope

July 18, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

Prayer for a World Where Hope Seems Dim

Dear God, the world seems so dark and foreboding.
Where are the signs of hope?
What are you calling us to do?
Wars, uprisings, displacements, hunger, poverty, and disease continue to claim victims by the millions around the world each year.
Our ears do not want to hear their stories and our eyes do not want to see their plight because the suffering and destruction is so massive and cruel.
In our hearts and minds there is a desire to help somehow, but the crisis seem so overwhelming that we shake our heads in dismay and we wonder what the point is for us even to attempt to be witnesses for healing and hope in this hellish morass.
We beg with the song writer to open our eyes that we may see glimpses of truth you have for us.
Help us to follow the path of Jesus, the Suffering Servant. Give us the courage to be willing to walk the path of depression and pain with the victims of injustice here at home as well as abroad.
Help us to seek ways to light candles of hope, however small, through our words, our deeds, and our prayers, to encourage our sisters and brothers to hold onto the faith in spite of the pain and suffering they are facing.
And help those of us who are among the fortunate ones, who have enough bread to eat, good health, and who live in relative peace, to open our heart to learn from our sisters and brothers who are living lives of grace and forgiveness in the horrid circumstances which surround them. O God, help us to light one candle rather than to curse the darkness.
We pray this in the name of Jesus, who knows what being a light in this dark world is all about.

– Larry Kehler, Mennonite Central Committee, Canada

Teach Us To Pray

Work of Peace

July 17, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

Open our hearts and minds Lord to see as you do and the courage to act as you would.

For Courage to Do Justice

O Lord, open my eyes that I may see the needs of others,
Open my ears that I may hear their cries;
Open my heart so that they need not be without succor;
Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong,
Nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich.
Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
And use me to bring them to those places.
And so open my eyes and my ears,
That I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for thee.

– Alan Paton, South Africa, United Methodist Hymn

Teach Us To Pray

By Design

July 16, 2024July 11, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

Each of us was created with a unique destiny as God designed, to bring peace and justice to the world. Let’s pray this prayer for world peace cooperating in our destiny according to His plan. Thy will be done!

A Prayer for World Peace

We pray for the power to be gentle;
the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding on to what we believe to be right.

May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.

We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead men or women to commit injustice,
nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.

Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfill the destiny for which we and all men and women were created.

– Author Unknown

Teach Us To Pray

Fingerprint of Our Soul

July 15, 2024July 11, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

Let’s pray that God reveals his peaceful heart to us today and we can see justice through His eyes revealing the precious nature of each soul.

A Prayer for Peace

We are moulded, each one of us,
in the image of God,
and within our souls there is a fingerprint
none can erase.
We pray for those who have no regard
for anyone but self,
who put no value on human life.
For nations and individuals who abuse and kill.
We are not called to be judge or jury,
but we are called to be agents of change,
and if the butterfly that flaps its wings
should be our attitude to others
then so be it, Lord,
and may the hurricane this generates
somewhere within the world
reach into the hearts and souls of those
for whom we pray, and reveal to them
how precious are those
for whom they have no love,
and how precious are they
who now bring tears to the eyes of God.

– John Birch

Teach Us To Pray

Hope for Us All

July 14, 2024July 13, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

Lets pray for a culture of nonviolence and a society where our needs are met and our desires are right ordered. This prayer by the late Benedictine Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, a poet and peace activist, provides words of hope and inspiration for us all.

Prayer for the Decade of Nonviolence

I bow to the sacred in all creation.
May my spirit fill the world with beauty and wonder.
May my mind seek truth with humility and openness.
May my heart forgive without limit.
May my love for friend, enemy, and outcast be without measure.
May my needs be few and my living simple.
May my actions bear witness to the suffering of others.
May my hands never harm a living being.
May my steps stay on the journey of justice.
May my tongue speak for those who are poor without fear of the powerful.
May my prayers rise with patient discontent until no child is hungry.
May my life’s work be a passion for peace and nonviolence.
May my soul rejoice in the present moment.
May my imagination overcome death and despair with new possibilities.
And may I risk reputation, comfort, and security to bring this hope to the children.

Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Lead Us to Peace

July 13, 2024July 11, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

Lord, Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Let peace fill our hearts, our world and our universe. Let us dream together, pray together and work together, To build one world of peace and justice for all.

Prayer for Peace

On This Day….

Mend a quarrel
Search out a forgotten friend
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust
Write a love letter
Share some treasures
Give a soft answer
Encourage youth

Manifest your loyalty in a word or deed
Keep a promise
Find the time
Forego a grudge
Forgive an enemy
Listen
Apologize if you were wrong

Try to understand
Flout envy
Examine your demands on others
Think first of someone else
Appreciate, be kind, be gentle
Laugh a little more.
Deserve confidence

Take up arms against malice
Decry complacency
Express your gratitude
Worship your God
Gladden the heart of a child
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth

Speak your love
Speak it again
Speak it still again
Speak it still once again….

~ Author Unknown

Teach Us To Pray

Trust and Confidence

July 12, 2024July 11, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

Do you need a boost of faith? I think we all do. Faith is the key that puts every other truth into its proper place. Triumphs become opportunities for gratitude instead of pride. Tragedies become opportunities for growth instead of despair. Life just makes more sense and our faith in God gives us joy even when we face what can feel like insurmountable trials. We all need healing and miracles in our lives. Let’s pray:

Padre Pio’s Prayer for Trust and Confidence:

O Lord, we ask for a boundless confidence and trust in Your divine mercy, and the courage to accept the crosses and sufferings which bring immense goodness to our souls and that of Your Church.

Help us to love You with a pure and contrite heart, and to humble ourselves beneath Your cross, as we climb the mountain of holiness, carrying our cross that leads to heavenly glory.

May we receive You with great faith and love in Holy Communion, and allow You to act in us as You desire for your greater glory.

O Jesus, most adorable Heart and eternal fountain of Divine Love, may our prayer find favor before the Divine Majesty of Your heavenly Father.

Come Holy Spirit, light a fire in the hearts of your people. Help our faithlessness turn into faithfulness allowing us to be more like you. Your faithfulness is never ending. I pray for all your people who have lost hope, or who need the seed of faith you planted in their heart to grow big and wild like a mustard seed. I’m standing in the gap for them today. Amen.

Teach Us To Pray

Perfect Surrender

July 11, 2024July 11, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

In a world with so much suffering it is only in true surrender to God that we can accept the gift of peace. Surrender is not a destination, a place where we arrive at some point but a life practice. A practice where we explore the places in our life and ultimately our heart and have the realization we need God. In the constant lifting of the veil of my heart, I invite God in to take the lead in those areas I’ve protected and kept to myself. As I fall more deeply in love with the King of the Universe, I surrender in love through love.

There is a prayer by St Ignatius of Loyola that we can pray often to help us on our way.

Suspice

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,

My memory, my understanding, and my entire will.

All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.

To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; dispose a bit, holy, according to your will.

Give me only your love, and your grace,

That is enough for me.

Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Glory Be

July 8, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

All glory needs to be given to its proper source. In a world that wants to be relevant, it is easy to take our lives for granted thinking this is our only life. But true living is living a life of authenticity and love which is understood by having an eternal perspective. This lens draws us to glorify God who is love. This posture is right and just our duty and salvation. When our hearts realize this truth, nothing can hold back our divine praises.

The Divine Praises Litany

Blessed be God.

Blessed be His Holy Name.

Blessed be Jesus Christ, True God and True Man.

Blessed be the Name of Jesus.

Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.

Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.

Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

Blessed be the Great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy.

Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception.

Blessed be her Glorious Assumption.

Blessed be the Name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most Chaste Spouse.

Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.

May the Heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.

Teach Us To Pray

Discipline of Asking

July 7, 2024 Smitten With Goodness

God insists that we ask, not because He needs to know our situation, but because we need the spiritual discipline of asking. We need to wrestle with knowing our needs, wants and desires in Christ free from the pull of the secular world in which we find ourselves.

An omniscient God must know what we desire before we ask. God knows that what we really need most is reliance on Him. And how do we develop reliance? Like most other things, by practicing.

If it weren’t for the need to remind ourselves daily or hourly that all power flows from our Creator, we could just say a quick prayer at the beginning of each week, or each year, and be done with it. Surely God would fill our requests a year ahead of time. But getting our wishes granted isn’t the purpose of prayer. Getting to know God is the purpose. I need to be in touch with my Creator every hour of the day.

Prayer for the Church:

Let’s pray St Augustine’s prayer for all Christian’s to love without measure.

Scattered about the entire earth, your mother the Church is tormented by the assaults of error. She is also afflicted by the laziness and indifference of so many of the children she carries around in her bosom as well as by the sight of so many of her members growing cold, while she becomes less able to help her little ones. Who then will give her the necessary help she cries for if not her children and other members to whose number you belong. Amen