True Prayer

The most neglected aspect of prayer is the failure to recognize that true prayer is spirit to Spirit communion with God who is spirit. The receiving and the listening need as much attention (maybe more) than the petitions and the supplication. To listen and then receive God’s response is the holiest part of any true prayer. Once you have entered His gates with thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100:4) then by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving (Phillipians 4:5) let your requests be made known. Then quiet your heart as a weaned child (Psalms 131:2). Then, (see Habakkuk 2:1-4) look and watch to SEE what the LORD will SAY! This waiting in prayer is the receiving time and the listening time. It is the communion of your personal spirit with God who is the Holy Spirit. It is here where we can say , like Mary (see Matthew 1:26-38) Be it into me according to thy word! Ending prayer by saying, “LORD, I receive all that you have for me, in Jesus’ name.” Awe and wonder usually follow true prayer.

Choosing Life

Life Promise Prayer

In the name of the One God, ever living and life giving,
faithful and true, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I accept God's gift of life to me
in the circumstances
of my conception and birth,
of my parents, of my family,
of all whosoever care for me or did me
harm in all the years that began the journey
of my life.
God who calls by name works all together for my good.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life around me,
the sacred treasure of each human life
whether sister, brother, friend or stranger;
however whole or broken, small or great,
saint or sinner,
rich or poor, ill or well, ally or enemy, or
indifferent.
Each is crafted in God's image, to each is offered
Christ's redemption, in each moves the spirits blessing.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life in my times,
in infant's cry, in childhood's wonder
in trails of teen years and embrace of youth,
in maturity's accomplishments and failures,
in waning day's and night's negotiations.
Among the creatures with the breath of life within them,
God has placed the timeless in the human heart,
but not the reach to grasp or measure it.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life in my dying,
in God's hands the shaping of the manner
by God's clock the counting of the hour.
May God who lays me down uphold me.
May Christ along the way companion me.
May spirit lift, and light billow me into the Resurrection.
God is life, and this I choose.
In the name of the One God, ever living and life giving,
faithful and true, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
By Fr. Richard Meredith, Diocese of Owensboro

Life Promise Prayer © 2010 Parish Social Ministry Department of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Owensboro. Used with permission

Gratitude

For Christmas trees, and Santa Claus; for gingerbread houses and gingerbread angels; for mom's spirit and child's wonder; for a multitude of gifts--both seen and unseen; for tea parties and racetracks, for family and roast beef; for Beatrix Potter and delightful fictional friends ( Peter and Jeremy Fisher and Mr. Mcgregor's garden); for ribbons and wrappings and bows; for Christmas photos and, "My how the children have grown," cards neatly arranged on the mantle; for blessed assurance that I love and am loved; and light snow falling in beautiful sadness (and an end to a friend's suffering); for old friends visited and hearts warmed by presence; for hope that comes from Him who is the giver of life and the Author and the Finisher; for oysters and crab cakes and safe traveling mercies; for candles lit and for the culmination of Advent and the reflection that He comes again each year in lowly, subtle often unrecognized events-- for these and, Oh, so many more blessings and gifts, I give thanks and praise to LORD!