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prayer

With prayer

With prayer, one can go on cheerfully and even happily, while without prayer, how grim is the journey. Prayer is as necessary to life as breathing. It is drink and food.
Day, Dorothy. The Reckless Way of Love: Notes on Following Jesus (Plough Spiritual Guides: Backpack Classics) (p. 40). Plough Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

Prayer isn’t like sit ups.

It’s not a thing.
It’s not a thing you do to get some other thing.

Prayer is knowing Someone is there

who loves you,
who would die to be with you,
who hears and understands,
who knows exactly who you are,
who you are meant to be,
who will take you there no matter what,
who will never leave you or forsake you.

Prayer is staying close to that Person as if your life and hope and happiness depended on it.

That Person, for me, is Jesus.
If you like, he will be that Person for you, too.

How does the quote from Dorothy Day strike you? How is your experience compared to hers?
Do you view prayer as a ‘spiritual exercise’, like sit ups? If so, what do you seek to gain by such exercise? Do you find it helpful?
How does my reflection on prayer strike you? What seems true or helpful? What seems far-fetched or missing?
I encourage you to take time to write out your thoughts, to share them in the comments below if you like, or to share them with someone close to you.

Grace and peace to you…

Tags Dorothy Day, happiness, Jesus loves you, prayer, The Reckless Way of Love

Current Events Music prayer Prayers

Prayers for Perilous Times

Post author By dw
Post date August 30, 2020
3 Comments on Prayers for Perilous Times

We live in a perilous time, a time we need to pray through so we can act with honesty, courage, and love…after we listen with honesty, humility, and love. Listen to the Spirit within us, in the pages of the Bible, and in those we may or may not agree with. Act by following Jesus on his path toward Golgotha and the Cross, in order to finally arrive in Glory, all together, beyond our differences and unified.

Two prayers come to mind for times such as these. Let’s take the opportunity to consider, to imagine, to lean in, and to appropriate these words for ourselves, our loved ones, and even for those we don’t love so much.

I hope you find them encouraging and uplifting.

Grace and peace to you…

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Claiborne, Shane. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (p. 50). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

You may be interested in reading a previous post about this prayer here where there are some prompts for reflection.

The second prayer, a hymn attributed to St. Patrick, comes in two parts (with music by yours truly). You can see the original posts here and here.

Stone Irish cross in rural landscape — Image by krystianwin from Pixabay

Part One

I bind unto myself to-day
The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me for ever,
⁠By power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river;
⁠His death on cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spiced tomb;
⁠His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
⁠I bind unto myself to-day.
I bind unto myself to-day
⁠The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch. His might to stay,
⁠His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
⁠His hand to guide. His shield to ward;
The Word of God to give me speech,
⁠His heavenly host to be my guard.
Against the demon snares of sin,
⁠The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
⁠The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh.
⁠In every place, and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
⁠I bind to me these holy powers.
I bind unto myself the Name,
⁠The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same,
⁠The Three in One, and One in Three.
Of Whom all nature hath creation;
⁠Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation
⁠Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Part Two

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
⁠Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
⁠Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
⁠Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
⁠Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Tags cross, danger, glory, Golgotha, hymns, Jesus, piano music, safety, Saint Patrick, unity

prayer Scripture

A prayer when reading scripture

Post author By dw
Post date August 16, 2020
No Comments on A prayer when reading scripture

Child reading tattered Bible in bed. — Child reading Bible

Yesterday I looked back at one of the earliest posts on this site. It describes a habit I formed back then and still practice now when I read the Bible. I added some current thoughts, extended the section that invites reflection, and spruced up the design a bit. I offer it again to anyone who may find it helpful.

Read Original Post

Grace and peace to you…

Tags Bible, prayer, Scripture

Poetry prayer

Forced prayer

Post author By dw
Post date July 12, 2020
1 Comment on Forced prayer

If you have to force yourself to pray, those prayers are of far more account with God than any prayers which bring comfort with them.
Day, Dorothy. The Reckless Way of Love: Notes on Following Jesus (Plough Spiritual Guides: Backpack Classics) (p. 49). Plough Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

Prayer (en)forced by discipline
Better than no prayer at all
Maybe
Prayer forced by need
Day after day
Hour after hour
Even if only
“I need You”
Certain
dw

Tags comfort, discipline, Dorothy Day, prayer, The Reckless Way of Love

Current Events love

Love included

Post author By dw
Post date July 1, 2020
No Comments on Love included

The “truth” that makes another man seem cheap hides another truth that we should never forget, and which would make him remain always worthy of honor in our sight. To destroy truth with truth under the pretext of being sincere is a very insincere way of telling a lie.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island, Sincerity

If love is not in the truth I tell, then I’m not telling the whole truth.

Not telling the whole truth reveals the truth that I am not whole.

That I am not whole means I am part of the problem.

When Jesus says Repent, he asks me to own up to that.

Then he says, Follow me and I will make you whole, part of the solution, able to tell the whole truth, love included.

Tags love and truth, No Man is an Island, repentance, sincerity, Thomas Merton, truth telling, whole truth