An Evening Prayer

This prayer comes from my parish’s lenten penance service the other night. In its own way, it is a form of nightly examen. I might just try to adopt this as part of my routine.

I am not dust of the earth that has no father or mother. I am not like the beast of the field, that cannot love, and eat without giving You thanks. My God, you made me, my body is your temple, my flesh is the house of your Spirit. And I come to You this night as your child.

I thank You for this day, for whatever it as brought me of food and delight, of new things and old, of friendship and wisdom. I thank You for this day which I shall never live again. I have no regret at its passing, for all life is your gift, and whatever is good is not lost forever.

If I have misused this day, or offended your other children, my brothers and sisters in the human family, I ask pardon. If I have brought grief instead of comfort, if I have caused pain instead of easing it, if quarrels or discord or deceit instead of truthfulness have enetered my speech, I ask your pardon, and I seek forgiveness with my heart.

And if others have hurt me, help me to forget it. Do not let me sleep with anger. If I have not enjoyed your creation as I should have enjoyed it, I ask your pardon. If greed has kept me from sharing with my neighbor, I ask your help to be more generous.

O God of goodness and light! I am a creature of earth, and yet I am your child. Forgive me my forgotten sins, and my offenses this day. Help me to become the person your love has created. I praise You and bless You for all the good things which have happened to me. And these I give back to You, to share with me in eternal life.

O God, give me rest, and re-create my body. Give me strength to enjoy your creation, and to work for my daily bread and others’ needs. Give me a good night. Remember and bless those who have loved me and helped me, my family and my friends. I pray for all in trouble, all in pain, and all near death. Be their comfort, and in the end bring us home.

O Thou eternal and all holy One, O Thou radiant and beautiful One, O Thou powerful and gracious One.

Bless me this night, as I go to sleep. Wake me to new life. I surrender to your love.

— Fr. Joe Nolan

Gravitate to Humility

From Br. Joseph —

This is the fifth reflection on seven signposts for the season of Lent (and for all seasons).

Gravitate to humility.

This signpost points in the exact opposite direction the world points by pointing to the First Beatitude, the Beatitude from which all the Beatitudes spring forth—blessed are the poor in spirit.

When society or the world talks about humility, if they even recognize it, they refer primarily to a sense of proper self-esteem where one does not elevate or demean ones self in relation to others. A good self-esteem is very, very important, but Christian humility calls for something else, something more.

Christian humility aims for the complete and total nothingness of pride. We have nothing to boast of to God. We have no entitlements or any thing to lay claim on God. Everything comes from God, and so we are essentially nothing without God.

This can sound a bit disappointing, even depressing. In fact, the world calls this humiliation, i.e. to loose ones pride. But the thing is, it is not about degradation or loss of self-respect or disgrace. It is about grace, and letting grace in so that it will transform us from the nothingness of our poverty to divine royalty, daughters and sons within the Triune family of God.

In other words, if you are not empty, God cannot fill you up. Do you want to be filled up with stuff of the world or with divine stuff? “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

In having nothing before God, we have God, and therefore have everything. God is peculiar that way—the last shall be first, the lowly shall be exalted. The way to bliss, to true joy and happiness, is not through pride but through humility. Jesus is our example; he is the Way.

It seems fitting to recall last week’s poem. Love, by its very nature, always reaches outward.

As flowing water falls to seek the lowest point,
It gives all its energy away until none remains,
And then returns to the source to fall again.
What does the water gain from this falling?
What does life gain?

Just as water gravitates to the lowest point, so does love—by way of humility.

Keep hope alive.
Dare to trust.
Surrender to grace.
••• Reflect love. •••
Gravitate to humility.

Our Lady of Mercy is praying for us…

Promise of a Coming Day

A stanza from “Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills, and Nash:

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time,
You understand now why you came this way,
‘Cause the truth you might be runnin’ from is so small,
But it’s as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day.

Reminds me of something my spiritual director says. Your greatest wound is your greatest gift. (Or the inverse works too, your greatest gift is your greatest wound.) To run from your wounds is to run from a gift. It is only in our wounds, in our brokenness, can God transform us, heal us, save us. And that’s bigger than the promise of a coming day.

Father, I know with Your grace that I have chosen to face some of my wounds. I have also chosen to run from others. Help me stop running, to stop resisting. Help me to stop choosing to follow my external and internal distractions so that I may face these wounds, so that I may face You. Help me to accept the promise of the coming day, to accept Your promise.

Reflect Love

From Br. Joseph —

This is the fourth reflection on seven signposts for the season of Lent (and for all seasons).

Signposts give us direction. They point to some place. They involve action, movement. Many signposts call us to remember something important, some thing that is already there but is often covered up by the minutia of daily life. Signposts represent a choice—to follow or not to follow. It takes grace to see a signpost and courage to follow where it points.

• • • Reflect love. • • •

Love, by its very nature, always reaches outward.

This is the center signpost. There is a signpost for hope and one for faith (trust). Love of course needs to be included. And being the greatest of the three, plus a direct reference to the very nature of God, it is especially highlighted.

All signposts ultimately point to where this signpost points. We are not the source of love. God is. We do not possess love. Love possesses us. We do not create love. We channel love. And love, unlike the limited nature of material things, grows as it is shared. God is prodigal. God is abundant and, I suppose we could even say, aches to share—to give away—Himself to us.

Love as described here is not an emotion. Emotions are important, but love is much more than emotions. Love, by its very nature, always reaches outward. In whatever shape, form or energy, love gives. Some synonyms for this giving love are service, sacrifice, compassion, selflessness, generosity and charity.

Scripture reveals that we are made in the image of God. This means two things, and both are equally correct. First, we are created as a copy—a person imprinted or made from an impression from a master image, the master image of who/what God is. This does not mean we are gods. We have some attributes like God, that is, beings with a will, an intellect and freedom to choose. We are called to be children of God, to be sisters and brothers of Jesus, to take upon the nature of our Father whose nature is to love, to give.

Second, we are an image as in a reflection—we reflect the image of God to others. We are mirrors, icons as the Eastern church might say, of God and of His love for us. How well do we reflect that love? God knows that each and every one of us is a broken mirror, but He still chooses to give to us, to shine upon us.

God wants to play catch. He throws us a ball called Love. Are we going to throw it back to God and to the next person? Or are we going to keep it?

Love, by its very nature, always reaches outward.

As flowing water falls to seek the lowest point,
It gives all its energy away until none remains,
And then returns to the source to fall again.
What does the water gain from this falling?
What does life gain?

Keep hope alive.
Dare to trust.
Surrender to grace.
••• Reflect love. •••

And don’t forget to polish your mirror a little. God will help…

Our Lady of Mercy is praying for us.

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