Category Archives: Times of Discernment

Enough?

By Judi Buncher | Published: October 4, 2010

Lord God,
 
Is it enough to hear, to listen?
To become no longer a “deaf hearer of the Gospel”?
 
Is it enough to act, to serve?
To become the hands and feet of a God made flesh among us?
 
Is it enough to announce, to denounce?
To become prophets – like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Dorothy, Ellacuria?
 
Is it enough to become like Jesus, to find Jesus?
To become a saint?
 
What is enough is not, nor ever has been, ours to measure or decide,
But lies hidden, tucked into the folds of Your Inexhaustible Mystery.
So help us to focus,
Not on what is enough,
But on discovering You anew,
the God from whom and toward whom
We listen, act, speak and are.
For it is in our simple attempts that Christ will work,
Creating the world anew.
 
Amen.

By: Dan Finucane

Also posted in 2011 Prayerbook, Through All Times | Comments closed

Prayer by Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

By Lisa Terneus | Published: March 15, 2010

Teach me your way of looking at people:
as you glanced at Peter after his denial,
as you penetrated the heart of the rich young man
and the hearts of your disciples.

I would like to meet you as you really are,
since your image changes those with whom you
come into contact.

Remember John the Baptist’s first meeting with you?
And the centurion’s feeling of unworthiness?
And the amazement of all those who saw miracles
and other wonders?

How you impressed your disciples,
the rabble in the Garden of Olives,
Pilate and his wife
and the centurion at the foot of the cross. . . .

I would like to hear and be impressed
by your manner of speaking,
listening, for example, to your discourse in the
synagogue in Capharnaum
or the Sermon on the Mount where your audience
felt you “taught as one who has authority.”

—Pedro Arrupe, SJ

Excerpt from Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits, edited by Michael Harter, SJ.

Also posted in 2011 Prayerbook, Special Times of the Year, Times of Need, Times of Seeking | Comments closed

A Prayer from the Iona Community in Scotland

By Lisa Terneus | Published: March 6, 2010

You keep us waiting.
You, the God of all time,
Want us to wait for the right time in which to discover
Who we are, where we must go,
Who will be with us, and what we must do.
So, thank you…for the waiting time.

You keep us looking.
You, the God of all space,
Want us to look in the right and wrong places for signs of hope,
For people who are hopeless,
For visions of a better world that will appear among the disappointments of the world we know.
So, thank you…for the looking time.

You keep us loving.
You, the God whose name is love,
Want us to be like you –
To love the loveless and the unlovely and the unlovable;
To love without jealousy or design or threat,
And most difficult of all, to love ourselves.
So, thank you…for the loving time.

And in all this you keep us,
Through hard questions with no easy answers;
Through failing where we hoped to succeed and making an impact when we felt useless;
Through the patience and the dreams and the love of others;
And through Jesus Christ and his Spirit, you keep us.

(Prayer of the Iona Community in Scotland)

Also posted in 2011 Prayerbook, Special Times of the Year, Times of Need, Times of Seeking | Comments closed

Prayer to Discern God’s Call

By Lisa Terneus | Published: February 11, 2010

Heavenly Father
Your call never comes to us in a vacuum;
It comes to us in the circumstances
of our ordinary lives.
Therefore our response cannot be given
only in the privacy of our own minds;
it must overflow into our daily lives.
You call us through our family,
through our community of Church,
and through the world.

Help me to see that when I say no
to the legitimate requests of my family,
my community, or my world,
I say no to You.
You have ordained that
whatever advances the true progress
of self
of the Church
and of the world,
is my way of saying yes to your call.
May I take advantage of the daily opportunities
that You place at my disposal
to answer your call affirmatively.

New Saint Joseph People’s Prayer Book

http://www.churchyear.net/ordinaryprayers.html

Also posted in 2011 Prayerbook | Comments closed

God’s Plan

By Lisa Terneus | Published: January 14, 2010

Wait until you are satisfied, fulfilled, and content with Me alone, with giving yourself totally, unreservedly to Me alone. I love you my child. But until you discover that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found, you will not be capable of the Perfect Human Relationship that I have planned for you. You will never be united with another as you deserve to be until you are united with Me, exclusive of anyone or anything else, exclusive of any desire or other belongings.

I want you to stop planning and stop wishing, and allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan that exists – one that you can’t imagine. I want you to have the very best. Please allow me to bring it to you. Just keep your eyes on Me, expecting the greatest things. Keep experiencing that satisfaction knowing that I AM. Keep learning and listening to the things I tell you. You must be patient. Don’t be anxious. Don’t worry. Don’t look around at the things others have. Don’t look at the things you think you want. Just keep looking to Me, or you will miss what I want to give you. And then when you are ready, I will surprise you with a love far more wonderful than you can imagine. You see, until you are ready, and the one I have for you is ready… until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me and the life I have prepared for you, you won’t be able to experience that love that exemplifies your relationship with Me… and this is Perfect Love. -Theology of the Body- Chapter 1 Page 16

Included in the constant worries that college students have is the fear that they will never find “the one”. It is so important to the majority of students that they find the love of their life, someone who they can grow old with. We believe that we need to find them now, or it will never happen. This prayer is a reminder that God has a plan for us, that he does have someone for each of us. We need to learn to focus on him and his plan for us before we are ready to add this relationship to our lives. We need to be patient and place our trust in him, and he will provide. When we are ready, there is nothing as beautiful as a relationship that shows the love of God through each other.

Submitted by Nikki Sipe, Student

Also posted in 2011 Prayerbook, Times of Seeking | Comments closed