Tag: Perspective

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

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

Teach Us To Pray

Peace Prayer of St. Francis

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born into eternal life.

– Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

Teach Us To Pray

Branches of Understanding

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Dear Lord, 

In this world where conflicts flare up so easily, help me be a beacon of Your peace. When tensions rise and harsh words tempt my tongue, remind me of Your gentle ways. Give me the courage to extend olive branches instead of building walls. 

Open my ears to truly listen, Lord, and guide my words to speak with love. When others push my buttons, help me respond with grace. In moments of disagreement, let me see Your image in those I struggle to understand. 

Thank You for Your peace through Jesus. Help me follow His example and build bridges of understanding. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Work of Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

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

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

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

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

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