Prayer for the Day - October 11

 

 Father

Lead us away from all wickedness,

Teach us to do your will

Teach us to revere and worship you

Show us the path to salvation

the path to forgiveness, the path to mercy

We are sinners,

We kneel before you sinful, sorrowful

asking for assistance, asking to be saved

from all that distracts us from your love

from all that diverts are love from you

Amen.

Thought for the Day - October 11

Seek only that which is righteous. Live only for that which is righteous. Share only that which is righteous.

Modern life is filled with sin, with selfishness, with loneliness, with desperation which conceals the truth from observation. Darkness clings to many false statements, false thoughts. We are blind to many motivations. Discover the truth of what is in the hearts of yourself, of the ones whom you love.

Share only that which is righteous. Live only for that which is righteous. Seek only that which is righteous.

The love that the media promotes may not be the same love that God promotes. Remember that many of the commandments of God no longer are seen as to be obeyed. Remember that God is no longer seen as an authority, as the creator of life. Truth can not always be reduced to a scientific theorem or formula. Faith can never be reduced to a scientific theorem or formula.

Live only for that which is righteous. Seek only that which is righteous. Share only that which is righteous.

Much of goodness, holiness, kindness remains invisible, appears naturally, spontaneously. Faith is God begins with an acceptance of simple principles of something essentially good, essentially positive, essentially nurturing; an action that springs from selflessness, an action that contains charity, an action that contains humility. Selflessness and humility can create an action, an event of love, of faith. This combination when combined with charity, obedience, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness can create righteousness, love.

Live only to praise God. Live only to give thanks to God. Live only to serve God.

Seek only that which is righteous. Live only for that which is righteous. Share only that which is righteous.

Prayer for the Day - October 10

God our Father

you gave us the Holy Scriptures

to teach us patience, understanding wisdom.

May the Spirit of holiness

guide us to lives of charity, humility

and obedience.

May the Spirit of holiness

remind us of the life, sacrifice,

and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

May the Spirit of holiness

lead us from darkness, selfishness,

greed, envy into the eternal light of

your mercy, your forgiveness

May the Spirit of holiness

guide us to prayer and nurture

our faith, love, and obedience to you.

Amen

 

Thought for the Day - October 10

We make promises, we say prayers each day. As Catholics we are encouraged to develop and share obedience to the faith. We seek eternal life, we seek salvation, we seek the Kingdom of heaven. To gain salvation requires effort, requires dedication, requires persistence.

We go to Mass, we receive the Eucharist. As Catholics we are encouraged to love and serve the Lord, to leave in peace. Time remains a precious gift. Love remains a precious gift. Serving God remains the most precious gift for a Christian. Treasure these gifts. Treat these gifts with reverence. Treat these gifts with respect, with care.

Allow yourself to love the entire world without wanting, without desiring to be loved back.

Allow yourself to do be flexible, to be malleable for the God.

Allow yourself to resist anxiety as you resist temptation and sin. Anxiety like temptation and sin creates indecision, causes worry that is often unnecessary and unnatural.

Allow yourself a moment with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Visualize them, listen to their individual voices.

Allow yourself a moment of peace.

God gives blessings to each Christian. God offers mercy to each Christian. God offers forgiveness to each Christian. We are encouraged to accept all that God offers and return our love, our loyalty, our obedience.

We make promises, we say prayers. God provides answers, God provides blessings. We say prayers.

Thought for the Day - October 9

How wonderful it is to have the Lord be our shepherd, to have the Lord guiding and protecting each one of us. As a member of the flock, as a Christian each one of us has a responsibility to be concerned for each other in addition to being concerned about our own personal welfare. We are asked to be mindful of other Christians, to offer assistance, to offer love, to offer mercy, to offer compassion, to offer forgiveness. Our life as Christians is a communal existence of sharing, of active participation with God, of active interaction with each other. Our faith, our God asks us to be filled with selflessness, to be more concerned with helping others than material gain. Being Christian is both an interior and exterior expression of charity, humility, and obedience to God, to God’s teachings, to God’s desire. How wonderful it is to have the Lord be the shepherd for each one of who believes and serves him. How wonderful it is to be a member of the Lord’s flock. May we have reverence for the privilege, for the honor of being Christian. May we have courage and confidence to love and serve God.

Prayer for the Day - October 8

Rejoice in the goodness of the Lord

Enjoy the moments of quiet, the moments of prayer

Greet the Lord with praise, with love, with joy

May your heart's love, your tongue's word make a fanfare

that will become  hope's convoy

Rejoice in the kindness of the Lord

Oh this is the time for fairness and justice

But  avoid seeking that which is plushness

Life and love begin with a gruffness

which leads to kindness and justice

Rejoice in the holiness of the Lord

Let each action of each day be a fanfare

Filled with such joy, such loving happy air

That will beckon all to leave table and chair

To offer praise, thanks in a living fanfare

Rejoice in the goodness of the Lord

Oh each day provides us a moment of true joy

Seek honest words, honest pauses; be the bellboy 

who seeks patience, who seeks to join the convoy

of mercy, love, compassion and true and pure joy

Rejoice in the happiness of the Lord

Prayer for the Day - October 5

Father
You are the most loving, You are the most caring
You offer hope, You offer compassion
May I learn to be like your son
May I learn to obedient to you and your desires
May I learn how to use charity in your name for your honor
May I learn how to be humble
for all my actions, all my deeds I offer to you.
Please help me to remember all of those who I have said that
I would pray for.
Please give me the confidence to sacrifice myself in your name for your glory
For you are our God
You alone are the most high

Please remember all of those who are sick and in the hospital
Please remember all of those dying and alone
Please remember all of those who are alone, who are marginalized

You alone are the most high, You alone are the most merciful, You alone are the most gracious

Amen

Prayer for the Day - October 4

Father

the example of Saint Francis provides a life filled with compassion and mercy. Please give me the strength and courage to serve you with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul. May i have the confidence to let go of all my possessions, leave all my friends and dedicate my life to loving you, serving you. May I lose all selfishness, all earthly pride and simply retain a gentle, tender love for you and everything that you have created.

You alone are the Most High, You alone are Most Gracious, You alone are Most Merciful, You alone are Most Loving

All hope, all faith, all love begins with you.

Kind Lord
Remember we are weak, remember we are vulnerable, remember we need your assistance.

Amen

Prayer for the Day - October 3

Dear Father

May I offer you thanks, may I offer you praise
May I learn how to be courageous and to do your will
Thank you for your mercy, thank you for your compassion
Please help me to remember to pray for all of those sick
or dying or homeless

Please accept my thanks, please accept my warmth

Allow me to learn about peace so that I might share.

Amen

Prayer for the Day September 23

Lord
Help me to remember the former glory of your goodness, of your mercy
Provide me with the courage to wait for you to instruct me
You alone possess the glory, you alone are the majesty
I offer thanks to you, I offer praise to you
I will not fear life or life’s challenges
I present my life to you with love and obedience
It is you I seek, It is you I treasure, It is you I want to serve

Amen

Finding Your Road Map

It sometimes is useful to use our imaginations in relation to God. How we imagine God, how we imagine heaven, how we imagine our journey to eternal life is very important in our development as Christians. There are countless artistic representations of God, heaven, Jesus Christ. 

How we view the journey to God provides insights into our strengths, weaknesses, our needs, our desires.

Does the journey begin with loud noises, explosions. Are there grand declarations and cinematic arguments? Christian conversion is an ongoing process. Parts remain within the inner world of the mind and soul. Parts enter the outer world of friends, families, and strangers. The journey includes monologues, dialogues, miscommunication, communication. This journey becomes the biggest event in many lives, the most important event in many lives. This journey often includes access to God’s hotline. This journey rocks the foundation of many lives with basic questions about goodness, holiness, kindness. This journey creates bands of humility, charity, obedience, compassion. This journey begins with each individual making a private, interior offer to God. Human beings seek solace from the daily torment and torture of popular culture induced angst and anxiety. Popular culture creates cliched fantasies of mayhem, sex,  chaos, death, and destruction. There is a cartoon brilliance, a cartoon exaggerated color pallet inviting and yet --this angst, this anxiety leads away from truth, away from honor, away from God.

Popular culture distills agony, legitimizes it, encourages temporary escapes, blames this agony on other people. Popular culture profits from this agony. How many young people are encouraged to be  self-loathing, to vacillate between lethargy and urgency senselessly? How many people slip into desolation without even realizing it until it is too late? How popular it is to announce that “I am damaged!” Popular culture is quick to discover and hype the cruelty and hypocrisy faced by all living people. Popular culture finds each annoyance, finds each irritation, plays with it for a moment and then turns it gaze to something else.

Believing in God creates a path for each of us to make sense of our lives in relation to others, in relation to God. Our relationship with God can help us fine a place in the world.

Angst and anxiety are never original. They borrow, they imitate, they mock. 

Being Christian remains the ultimate rebellion, remains radical. Being Christian encourages a clever worldview of peace and love. Being Christian remains a constant learning and sharing the grace and glory of God, the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the love of God. The fusion of humility, charity, obedience, patience, compassion, wisdom creates a path to God, encourages love for neighbor, love for self, love for God. The love for God, over time, can produce coherent lyrics that can reach the alienated, the disaffected, the marginalized and invite them to come home, to return to the Lord.

It all begins with a journey, with a call. With both a call and response. With a call from God and a response from someone’s heart. Someone saying yes to the journey, yes to God.