Do unto Others as You would have them do unto You
| St. Pope John Paul II | Spiritual Works | Corporal Works | Pope Francis |
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Seek the Calling of the Spirit for the Sake of the World
Prayers
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus. Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force - the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
A Saint's Bookmark a bookmark found in her Breviary
Let nothing upset you,
Let nothing startle you.
All things pass;
God does not change.
Patience wins all it seeks.
Whoever has God lacks nothing:
God alone is enough.
A Saint's Bookmark
(an older translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.
Gratitude
Of what shall I be grateful today?
Perhaps the tender caress of my lover’s lips,
Or the sweet succulence of a tree ripened fruit.
Perchance it might be the melodious tune of the songbird,
Or the intoxicating fragrance of a floral bouquet.
Then again it could be the multi hued horizon of dawn that greeted me today.
But no, today I shall be grateful for simply being.
So that I might experience them all.
Serenity Prayer - Reinhold Niebuhr
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and Wisdom to know the difference. Amen
Peace Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
The Aaronic Blessing
"May the Lord bless you and keep you; May he let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace" (Num. 6:23-26).
And may the blessings of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, descend upon you and there remain. Amen
Prayer for Generosity- St. Francis Ignatius Loyola
Lord, teach me to be generous, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to look for any reward, save that of knowing that I do your holy will.
Hymn composed by Daniel Iverson in 1926
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Melt me. Mold me.
Fill me. Use me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
A Prayer for Our Earth (-- by Pope Francis)
All powerful God,
You are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
Help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it. that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.
If I can stop one heart from Breaking
(by Emily Dickinson 1864)
If i can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
Byzantine Prayer
Serene Light, shining in the Ground of my being,
Draw me to yourself,
Draw me past the snares of the senses,
Out of the mazes of the mind,
Free me from symbols, from words,
That I may discover The Signified The Word Unspoken
In the darkness That veils the ground of my being. Amen
Thank you Jane for inputting this. I was drawn to this verse offered by Wm. Menninger in his 'Loving Search for God' because it evokes the quiet stillness in which we can receive a grace/awareness/understanding (that something beyond articulation) rather than reaching out to grasp it. I find great peace in this stillness...even when my mind is not at peace. I repeat this verse pretty much daily, usually as I'm falling asleep but sometimes as a way to calm down in the face of various stresses. -Dan Hammang
The Nine Prayers
By Thich Nhat Hahn in his Introduction to Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton, 1968
May all beings be peaceful, happy and light in spirit.
May all beings be free from injury. May they live in safety.
May all beings be free from disturbance, fear, anxiety and worry.
May they learn to look at themselves with eyes of understanding and love.
May they be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in themselves.
May they learn to look at themselves with eyes of understanding and love.
May they be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in themselves.
May they learn to identify and see the sources of anger, craving and delussion in themselves.
May they know how to nourish the seeds of joy in themselves every day.
May they be able to live fresh, solid and free.
May they be free from attachment and aversion, but not be indifferent.
Mercy
May all beings be peaceful, happy and light in spirit,
May they be showered with love by all beings,
May all beings be free from hunger and thirst,
May all beings be provided with shelter and modest array,
May they be visited by their fellows when trapped, injured or ill,
May they be provided with the necessities of life when in need,
May they be laid to rest when this life is done.
May all beings be remembered for their love and kindness forever.
Mary Our Mother
Mary, heavenly mother
Thank you for protecting
All your earthly children in the
Shelter of your mantle.
For showing us a mother’s love
And embracing us despite our
Shortcomings. For helping us
To stand again when we stumble and fall.
We pray that you will take our
Hand and guide us forward in
Love and service to all your children.
Amen
Seeking Love
Spirit of the Living God
Help me find your love.
Help me bask in it,
Help me share it,
Help me do unto others
As I would have them do unto me.
Let me be your love to a world,
Which is yearning for your love.
Beseeching
May the Spirit of the Living God find us ready and willing,
May that Spirit fill us,
May that Spirit lift us up,
May that Spirit refresh us,
May that Spirit guide us,
May the Spirit of the Living God remain with us this day.
The Loving Search for God
Seek after love then and pursue it … in your loving search.
Dip into this prayer as into a reservoir of living water;
Long for it as the deer longs for the running stream;
Wait for it as the [watcher] for the dawn.
Receive it from the hands of your loving Father who pours it into your heart
In the abundant overflowing of the Holy Spirit.
A Year of Being Here—Mary Oliver
Heavy
That time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying
I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had His hand in this,
as well as friends.
Still, I was bent,
and my laughter,
as the poets said,
was nowhere to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel
(brave even among lions),
“It’s not the weight you carry
but how you carry it—
books, bricks, grief—
it’s all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it
when you cannot, and would not,
put it down.”
So I went practicing.
A Future Not Our Own -Bishop Kevin Untener
It helps now and then to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives include everything.
This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing this.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
A Family Blessing-a Maryknoll prayer
Bless our families.
Be they formed by blood or by circumstance, Make them holy.
May we find you in our relationships, in our marriages, in our families, in our households, in our communities, in our global humanity.
May we look across all that divides us and see family.
May we embrace as a family does and love as a family ought to.
For where two or three gather in your name.
There are you. Amen
(Irish prayers found at Celtic Titles)
Traditional Irish BlessingMay the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
An Irish Blessing for a Wedding
May God be with you and bless you.
May you see your children’s children.
May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness.
From this day forward.
An Irish Blessing to wish Good Luck
May your blessings outnumber
The Shamrocks that grow
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
An Irish Blessing for a New Baby
May you have:
A world of wishes at your command.
God and his angels close to hand.
Friends and family their love impart,
and Irish blessings in your heart!
An Irish Blessing for a New Home
May your neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.
An Irish Blessing for Christmas
May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch on your door,
and may happiness be guided to your home by the candle of Christmas.
An Irish Blessing for St Paddy’s Day
May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
An Irish Blessing for All Occasions
May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!
A Request for Immersion
Lord of heaven and earth, I ask you to
Immerse my whole being in your love that I may
Inform my children on how to live lovingly
Inspire others by my own example, and
Enlighten my conscience to be in accord with your holy will.