Tag: Prayer

A Visit to Our Lord

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I’ve been absent for a while…it’s been a long year to find writing footing again.

The more I pay Our Lord Jesus these little visits, the more I want to stay there with Him and never leave–especially with the way the world seems these days.

But we must carry on.

A short prayer that came to me on this visit:

Lord help me to do what You want of my life
Not what my selfish inclinations want for me
Nor what the world may tell me what should be.
If it is contrary to Your Will help me to know that I may be at peace with the Child of God You made me to be. 

That’s all I got tonight.  The tank may be low for my writing but I refuse to give up.

Please keep me in your prayers and I will keep you all in mine.

Let’s reflect Christ to everyone we meet and let Him touch us in others.

 

PRAYERS FOR THE JOURNEY: PRAYER OF TRUST BY THOMAS MERTON

PRAYER OF TRUST

by Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

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My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

(from Thoughts in Solitude)

Thoughts in Solitude Thomas Merton 0385044607 9780385044608 Thoughts in Solitude
Originally published in 1961

Trivia for the Day:

The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani which was home for Thomas Merton from 1941 to 1968 is the oldest monastery still in operation in the United States located in Bardstown, Kentucky. The monks belong to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (the Trappists). The monks follow the Rule of Saint Benedict which is a contemplative life of prayer and work.

My Absence From Posting & Lessons in Trust

I really meant to post this last Wednesday, January 16 but dealing with weather in Ohio along with the depression, working full-time and other obligations often takes my energy so I tend to sleep too much when I should be writing.  That “confession” aside, perhaps I just needed several days to reflect on this powerful prayer.

My parish, Holy Name of Jesus, in the dark

First of all, the ruminations for this post started last Tuesday night (January 15) while I sat in church, dark except for the candles gleaming off the Tabernacle, where unconsumed Consecrated Hosts are kept including the “Luna” Host used at Adoration/Eucharistic Exposition; there is always a Host in the Tabernacle (except on Good Friday) so Jesus in His Eucharistic Presence is always present in the Church. So while I waited to pick up my mom Kathy (she helps with the classes for R.C.I.A. — in Catholic “lingo” this is the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, which is their journey to enter fully into the Catholic Church), I tried to pray about the direction of my life as I’d hoped to get to the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Thursday.

So in the quiet, I had the inspiration come as if God were speaking: “I have something beautiful (planned) for you, you just have to trust Me.”

This got me thinking. I have a great love for and devotion to the Divine Mercy which is all about trust in Jesus but am I trusting EVERYTHING to Him? Too often, as I continued examining my conscience, do I worry about what other people (and the world) thinks about me? Do I worry about seeking the approval of others instead of only being concerned about what God approves of?

And the big ones, for me, are:

  1. Am I trusting the ability to cope (and heal) from depression to Him?
  2. Am I trusting the writing vocation (if this is part of His plan) to Him?
  3. Am I trusting my financial difficulties to Him?

So I was led to today’s prayer–in the Catholic Prayer Book edited by Msgr. Michael Buckley, an old book that like an old friend returns with wise words when needed. I didn’t know anything about Thomas Merton when I found the prayer; I am still by no means an expert in his writings.  That didn’t matter–what mattered is like long ago, this prayer stuck with me to keep going even though we don’t know the road ahead.  It was a prayer found long before the image of The Divine Mercy with the words “Jesus, I Trust in You” engaged me in my friend Casey’s Emmaus Catholic Bookstore when I was checking out in 1992.

Question #2 on the trust issues is my big one.  See I’ve been struggling with “wanting” to be a fiction writer all of my teen into adult life (and I’m in my early fifties now) and if this is God’s plan for me, why is it always on the backburner?

God-incidentally before the visit to church last Tuesday, a good friend of mine (who came into my life because of my full-time job) told me after our exercise class at the library that God would make the writing happen at the “appointed time.” This friend Jeannie has been a great cheerleader for the writing along with another friend Kaye (also met through my job) who never gives up on hearing about the adventures of Ian, my Scottish detective, and Cate, my American illusionist/escape artist.  So always be on the lookout for occasions, especially the “small” ones, in which God speaks to you about your direction.  As Thomas Merton says, we must trust God “always” even when we may seem “lost in the shadow of death.”

Friday’s Holy Hour, the “Purpose of Me” & Trust

I prayed the Thomas Merton prayer once again at my Friday night Holy Hour. I also revisited a BeautyBeyondBones’ very kind comment back to me on Thursday when she wrote, “God has designed your path just as it is!” All this praying oddly led to a favorite quote by E. L. Doctorow that is my preferred method of plotting stories: “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” 

So more questions came to write to Jesus:

Where am I going?

The E. L. Doctorow quote led me beyond writing.  When it comes to my journey, I can only see as far as my “headlights” and need to trust God that as long as I am working to do his will (like the prayer of trust reminds us), He will lead me on the road trip of a lifetime into eternity.

What is the “purpose of me?”

It’s a question we like to ask, especially when doing vocational discernment. Yet in the end, only God knows my purpose as well as the purpose of every other person He created.  But we have to trust.

So it all comes down to that word: TRUST.

May we not fear what may lay ahead or if we made a “wrong turn” in life. Let’s cry out with the words of this prayer, “Therefore, I will trust You always.”

TODAY’S PRAYER MISSION

Say Thomas Merton’s Prayer of Trust in a quiet place and let the Holy Spirit speak to you through this prayer.

As an extra reflection, if you like music, look up a great song that echoes the thoughts of this prayer called “The Long Way Home” by Neon Feather.

 

 

 

PRAYERS FOR THE JOURNEY: PRAYER FOR OURSELVES AND OUR VOCATION

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

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Today the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This closes the Christmas Season as it recalls Our Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan River which is found in all four Gospels and which is a manifestation of the Holy Trinity as the Heavens open and in the Gospel of Luke we hear today “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)

So in thinking on these words and the Sacrament of Baptism in which we receive the gift of Sanctifying Grace I wanted to do a prayer today that reflected our gift through that baptism of being “beloved sons and daughters” of Our Father as Father Paul remarked in his homily and our call to each of our unique vocations.  So I found this prayer (a different prayer than I originally started with for this post.

 

PRAYER FOR OURSELVES AND OUR VOCATION

(Thanks to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Cincinnati Province for letting me share this prayer; check out more prayers at cpps-preciousblood.org/prayers)

In the water of baptism, Lord God,
Your voice called out,
“You are my beloved sons and daughters,
with whom I am well pleased.”

You breathed your Spirit upon us,
and washed us in the saving blood of the Lord.

Open our ears to hear Your Word,
our minds to understand Your call,
our hearts to respond faithfully.

Give us courage to answer,
strength to persevere,
and a willingness to be sent.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Christ,
in whose blood we have been saved.

Amen.

Trivia for the Day:

Vocation comes from the Latin vocare which means “to call.”

Vocational Guidance

We are ALL created by God for a specific vocation and it is through discernment and prayer that we work at finding that as God will not force His will on us to accept His call.  There is one’s “Primary” vocation (being called to the priesthood/religious life, marriage, or life as a celibate single person) and there is our “Secondary” vocation (what we do in our daily life) that helps fulfill God’s mission for each of us.

Some of us may find our vocation early in life; some of us may be still searching for it. No matter where you are, the important thing is to keep praying and when you may be unsure, look to Scripture for that vocational guidance.

As someone who often struggles to “find” my vocation (and hopes I haven’t “missed” it as a single person), I often turn to the call of Samuel the prophet in the Old Testament (1 Samuel, Chapter 3) as one of my places to turn. When we battle the confusion of the world in fulfilling our mission, the best thing to do is find a quiet place to ask, like Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” You may not hear the peal of thunder from Heaven (more likely, it will be a “small still voice”) but God will speak. We just need to trust.

Trust, Prayer and Never Giving Up

On that “Secondary” vocational front, I have wanted to be a fiction writer of some sort since middle school. It seems that every time I get moving back in the “right direction,” real life obligations or some crisis arises that diverts my path.

So as I write this, I find myself praying about that “right direction” God wants me to go. The one thing that gives me hope is that I am a beloved daughter of God. I was created for a purpose that may not be revealed to me in this life but I will trust, pray and never give up.

In the end starting this blog was to share writing (it may not be all the stories that populate my imagination) and hope that in someway, a word or prayer may help someone else in whatever small way God wills.

TODAY’S PRAYER MISSION

Reflect on the vocation prayer and some of its key points:

  1. You are a beloved son or daughter of God
  2. You have been saved by the blood of Jesus.
  3. Open your mind and heart to respond to God.
  4. Don’t be afraid to answer your unique call.

 

 

Update on this Prayer Project

Regarding the title change to Prayers for the Journey

On Monday the first full week back to work, reality hit me hard. I realized blogging every day in between responsibilities at home and church along with my full time job is not a stressor I need with my anxiety and depression. That being said I will continue to post prayers but just now on a daily basis. The goal of this project is to give people help and encouragement in everyday life and if I let myself get stressed I will not being doing that goal justice. Thank you for all the prayers.

PRAYERS FOR THE JOURNEY: PRAYER BY SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON

PRAYER BY SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON

Lord Jesus

Who was born for us in a stable,

lived for us a life of pain and sorrow,

and died for us upon a cross;

say for us in the hour of death, Father, forgive,

and to Your Mother, Behold your child.

Say to us, This day you shall be with Me in paradise.

Dear Savior, leave us not, forsake us not.

We thirst for You, Fountain of Living Water.

Our days pass quickly along, soon all will be consummated for us.

To Your hands we commend our spirits, now and forever.

Amen.

MEMORIAL OF SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON (1774-1821)

100-Pack - St Elizabeth Seton Holy Card

Trivia for the Day:

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native-born American to be canonized (officially recognized to be in Heaven, a saint with a capital “S”) by the Roman Catholic Church. She was beatified (a step when a saint is called “Blessed”) in 1963 and canonized (named a Saint) in 1975. In 1980, Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek Voyager/Orange is the New Black fame played Mother Seton in a made-for-television movie A Time for Miracles.

About Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a wife, mother who after being widowed, entered into to religious life. She established the first free Catholic school in the United States and was foundress of the Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Scripture and this prayer:

This morning in search of my prayer, a Google search lead me to Catholic News Agency (catholicnewsagency.com) this beautiful prayer written by Mother Seton. It calls to mind the Christmas Season (“Lord Jesus, Who was born for us in a stable”–Luke 2:7) that we are still in by the way (January 6 is the 12th Day of Christmas, the feast of Ephiphany). And how, God in His Divine Weaving, chose to call Mother Seton home on this 10th day of Christmas, January 4, 1821 (Memorials of Saints usually are set on the day they died, and entered into eternal life.

Tonight during my weekly Holy Hour (for those not familar with Catholic devotions, this is the prayer practice of spending an hour in Jesus’ Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament), I ended up on the other side from where I usually sit close to our Nativity. While meditating on today’s prayer I looked from the stable to our Crucifix to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and felt an overwhelming joy at the immense love of God for us. So what a great “God-incidence” that I found this prayer that Mother Seton wrote to take us from the stable to the cross and how beautifully she used some of the last words of Christ to apply to each of us.

“Father, forgive” (Luke 23:34) as we are reminded that even when we are at our worst, Jesus is there to offer us mercy when we only ask for it.

“Behold your child ” as Jesus gave us all His Mother from the cross (John 19: 25-29) and if you read the Scripture, pay attention to what comes next: “After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst.'” Jesus’ last action from the Cross was to give John (and us) His Mother to love and to pray for us.

“This day you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) as like the repentant thief we are offered the promise of Heaven by our Savior who never stops fighting for us to join Him in Heaven.

“Into Your hands, we commend our spirit” echoes the words of Jesus as he gives up His Spirit (Luke 23:46), completing His sacrifice so that we may have Salvation.

All this reflection on our last moments of life leads into something that has been on my writing radar of late.

Memento Mori, Being Mindful of Our Ultimate Goal

Memento Mori is Latin for “remember that you will die” which at first glance might sound like a gothic morbidity. Yet as we reflect on Scripture, we can cry out with St. Paul from 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O Death Where is Your Sting?” For a great song to remind us not to fear death, check out Matt Maher’s “Christ is Risen.” As long as we live each day to its fullest, to our fullest potential to be the person God created us to be and to humbly and contritely ask God’s forgiveness when we sin, we can be mindful of our ultimate goal–to be in Paradise with Christ our Savior.

So as I reflected today on what Memento Mori really is (not a morbid fascination with death) what crossed my mind as a writer was this writing prompt for my Season 3 alternate universe Once Upon a Time Re-Imagined fan fiction I wrote for our Writers Group on New Year’s Eve. Why? Because it elicited a light-hearted response on Facebook from a writer friend and sister in Christ:

Been in a writing rut so believe it or not this was inspired by today’s first reading from 1 John 2:18 about being in the last hour.

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#MondayMotivation #Rumple #OUAT
Down to the last hour. Rumple had never felt this powerless before. And when the hourglass sands were spent Hades would be ready to make the transfer of Dark One powers to Papa and Rumple would forever be trapped in this Hades’ hell.
#amwriting

My friend Diane (a very talented artist and children’s author) jokingly responded: Well, being trapped forever in Hades’ hell is depressing. We need to find you more pleasant thoughts.

SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watched Season 3 of Once Upon a Time

Without spoiling all of my Rumplestiltskin-centric fan fiction “Love As Strong As Death” I can say that it involves a redemption arc that got lost in the second half of the show’s third season. The reason Rumple gets “trapped in Hades’ hell” is he makes a heroic sacrifice to keep his son Baelfire/Neal from dying in the episode “Quiet Minds,” which is why this is Once Upon a Time Re-Imagined and he’ll find a way back to his beloved Belle in the Enchanted Forest with the added blessing of having his son alive.

So no, my writing is not all “rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers” to quote the character of Regina, but I hope both the fan fiction and my original work reflect my faith in a way that doesn’t get heavy-handed but offers hope, even when the characters may be in what seems hopeless situations. Likewise, I believe keeping to what Memento Mori truly is presents an opportunity for becoming mindful to focus on what God has for us in the here and now, praying to be who He created us to be and to stop worrying about things beyond our control.

TODAY’S PRAYER MISSION

In these last days of Christmas (even if you already took down the tree and all the decorations), pause to reflect on the immense love of Jesus Christ for each and every one of us from the Stable to the Cross.And as we hoepfully slow down to do so, we may look upon Jesus as a baby in the manger, we say a prayer that the right for every child to be born will be respected by all and that we all do our part to defend and protect children, especially those in vulnerable or abusive environments.

Prayers for the Journey: An Old French Prayer for Friends

AN OLD FRENCH PRAYER FOR FRIENDS

Blessed Mother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care.

Make their way easy and their labors fruitful.

Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall.

Amen.

Trivia for the Day:

France is called the “Eldest Daughter of the Church” and has a rich Christian history that reaches back into the early centuries of the Church. After the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West, it was the first of the emerging countries to be identified as Christian. January 3 (besides being the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, my parish’s name) is also the feast day of Saint Genevieve, patron saint of Paris, who lived from 419 to 512, a courageous Catholic woman, about 1,000 years before God called Saint Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans.

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Saint Genevieve & Me

I have a special love for Saint Genevieve. Looking back, God must have planted the seed for it in high school as in 1984 our English teacher showed us the 1967 musical Camelot (with Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Harris and Franco Nero) and “Saint Genevieve” is the first song we hear Guinevere sing as she prays to her patron to spare her this arranged marriage with the king of Britain Arthur. One of the best things that came out of that love affair with Camelot was that my mother got tickets to see Richard Harris at the Victory Theatre in Dayton in a tour of the Broadway version of Camelot and looking back, that was a true fangirling moment to be a few rows back from the stage enthralled by Mr. Harris long before he transformed into the best version of Dumbledore in my humble opinion.

In one of life’s “God-incidences” (a term I learned from a Cincinnati priest, Father Jim Willig, as he courageously battled cancer before passing in June of 2001) in the year 2005 a long-haired white cat showed up and made her home with us and being in love with France at the time (my character Cathleen in the ever-evolving search for the right story was married to a French archaeologist), we named the cat Genevieve. And in 2015, my “sweet Genevieve” passed away on January 3. In my grief I had forgotten it was Saint Genevieve’s feast day until chatting on Facebook with Tracey, one of my best friends and sisters in Christ, messaged to tell me her husband was reading his missal–another God-incidence. Which leads to God’s precious gift of friendship and today’s prayer selection.

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Sweet Genevieve, the stray who came in a winter snow.

An Old French Prayer for Friends

This morning I had a completely different prayer in mind before I realized it would be late when I got to this post and settled on this prayer I found in my poor battered Catholic Prayer Book and equally weathered Manual of Prayers. I probably landed on this prayer back in those “Franco-phile” days (and attempts to learn to pray in French for a character with a French husband). I don’t have an original French version only this lovely English one.

Prayers like this are great to say for one’s personal compline (prayers said before bedtime) devotions and I hope to explore more of them as I continue the meditations. Once again we have a prayer that calls upon our Blessed Mother to pray with us for our friends.

“Blessed Mother, of those whose names you can read in my heart” is a great reminder that if you get worried you forgot someone, God and His Angels and Saints in Heaven can read those names written in our heart.

“Watch over them with every care,” as when we are blessed with the people God brings into our lives we wish only good for them and their protection in this crazy world as we add, “Make their way easy and their labors fruitful.”

Then like a good prayer for bedtime it covers everyone we care about: “Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall.”

TODAY’S PRAYER MISSION

Whether you choose the Old French Prayer for Friends or your own words, before you go to bed, get in the habit of praying for those you love, especially if you have a friend for whom it seems trouble is pouring in from all sides and that friend cannot catch a break.

Prayers for the Journey –The Hail Mary

THE HAIL MARY

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,

Blessed art thou among women and Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY, THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

Trivia for the Day:

The “New Year” for us in the Catholic Church actually begins with the first Sunday of Advent so as we enter a new “calendar” (or secular) year, the Church is still in the days of the Christmas Season yet pauses to start the calendar year with this feast of Mary.

About this Feast Day:

Catholics do not set January 1 apart to “worship” Mary. Like other Christian brothers and sisters, we only worship 1 God in the Mystery of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Rather, we honor Mary as the “Mother of God” a title given to her at the Council of Epheseus in 431 that touched not so much on Mary but on the true nature of Jesus Christ our Savior as “fully God, fully man” (vocabulary word for the day: hypostatic union) that beginning in the 3rd or 4th centuries, Mary was honored as the “God-bearer” (Theotokos, today’s Greek lesson). So today to start the year off, we’ll look at the HAIL MARY prayer from it’s origins in Scripture to the prayer we Catholics know by heart.

The Scripture Behind the “Hail Mary”:

We meet Mary in the Gospel of Luke after the announcement of her cousin Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy in old age.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” are words spoken in Luke 1:28 by the Archangel Gabriel who is God’s messenger. Hail is really just another way to say “hello” by the way so Gabriel is first greeting Mary, then announcing that God is with her. And this in the story of our salvation is the way Emmanuel, God with us, enters into human history with the “fiat” (yes) of Mary at accepting her role as mother of God.

“Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,” (Jesus) are words spoken in Luke 1:42 by Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist, when Mary visits her. The infant in Elizabeth’s womb (John) leaps for joy at meeting His Savior Jesus in Mary’s womb. Mary is blessed because she is the mother of the Messaiah Jesus.

Origins of the second part of the Hail Mary:

I won’t go into all the history behind the development of the rest of the Hail Mary, but according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the prayer was put together as early as 1050 then developed into the prayer we recognize today.

“Holy Mary, Mother of God,” this is established as a title of Mary from as early as the 3rd century.

“Pray for us sinners,” the Church recognized the Church Triumphant, the saints in Heaven, as able to pray for us on Earth, as we would ask brothers and sisters in our church community to pray for us.

“Now,” we ask for Mary to be with us in the present moment.

“And at the hour of our death. Amen.” We ask Mary to be with us in our “final hour” to pray for us as we ask family members and friends to pray for a peaceful passing to reach our Heavenly Home.

TODAY’S PRAYER MISSION

For those comfortable with the Hail Mary: Say the words of the prayer slowly (instead of that quick “go-to” prayer of Catholics in trouble, as well as the occasional football quarterback desperate for a miracle play at the end of a big game).

And if you’re not comfortable with a Catholic prayer? How about as we start a new calendar year, just tell Mary “thank you” for saying yes to being the “God-Bearer” of Jesus, our Savior.