a Lenten prayer

Great Friend,
I’m not yet up to the total make-over.
Help me proceed, as Italians say,
lentamente, slowly.

- William J. O’Malley

something to meditate on

mystery of mysteries,
truth of all truths,
finder of the lost,

here i am.
unriddle me.

- Steven James, Story

a prayer

Almighty Father, maker of Heaven and Earth, set up your kingdom in our midst.  Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us sinners.  Holy Spirit, Breath of the Living God, renew us and all the world.

- N.T. Wright

something to meditate on…

Brother Lawrence was a seventeenth-century French monk who spent the latter part of his life practicing the presence of God (he spent most of his day preparing meals and cleaning dishes in the abbey kitchen).  After he died, his journals and personal writings were found and, later, published.  Here is a small excerpt worth pondering:

“The holiest, most common, most necessary practice in the spiritual life is the presence of God, that is to take delight in and become accustomed to his divine company, speaking humbly and talking lovingly with Him at every moment, without rule or system….  We must continually work hard so that each of our actions is a way of carrying on little conversations with God, not in any carefully prepared way but as it comes from the purity and simplicity of the heart.”

at the end of your day

I thought I would post something that some of you might want to try and may find beneficial. 

Back in the 15th century there was this guy named Ignatius, and he would go through a process he called examen.  Basically, the whole point was to help hear the voice of God within himself, but also to better understand and see what God was doing around him, sort of having ”eyes to see and ears to hear” as Jesus said. 

There were two parts to this thing he did, and he called them consolation and desolation.  Consolation is a term used to identify moments when we’re more open to God, ourselves, and others.  These are moments of connection, moments when we feel more alive, more transparent to God and more livong toward other people.  It’s those moments when we feel something blooming inside of us.  Desolation is about the complete opposite experience, those times you felt empty, closed-off, disconnected, alienated.  It’s that sense of being blocked or frustrated to the presence of God or others or yourself.

something to meditate on…

You’re raising the dead in me.

- Switchfoot, 24

a voice from the past

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, let me sow pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith.
Where there is despair, let me give hope.
Where there is darkness, let me give light.
Where there is sadness, let me give joy.
O divine master, grant that I may
not try to be understood, but to understand;
not try to be loved, but to love.
Because it is in giving that we receive,
in forgiving that we are forgiven,
and in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226