Listen to your heart. It’s there that Jesus speaks most intimately to you. Praying is first and foremost listening to Jesus who dwells in the very depths of your heart. He doesn’t shout. He doesn’t thrust himself upon you. His voice is an unassuming voice, very nearly a whisper, the voice of a gentle love. Whatever you do with your life, go on listening to the voice of Jesus in your heart. This listening must be an active and very attentive listening, for in our restless and noisy world God’s so loving voice is easily drowned out. You need to set aside some time every day for this active listening to God if only for ten minutes. Ten minutes each day for Jesus alone can bring about a radical change in your life.
You’ll find it isn’t easy to be still for ten minutes at a time. You’ll discover straightaway that many other voices, voices that are very noisy and distracting, voices that do not come from God, demand your attention. But if you stick to your daily prayer time, then slowly but surely you’ll come to hear the gentle voice of love and will long more and more to listen to it.
Verse of the day
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
– Psalm 139:14
Voice of the day
The disobedient body, the body which insists on being present and visible in ways which power would deny, is still, perhaps, the primary vehicle of justice.
– Maggie Helwig, “The Disobedient Body”
Prayer of the day
Be with us as we strive to embody your love and justice in the world.
“This is the way of Peace:
Overcome evil with good,
falsehood with truth
and hatred with love.”
—Peace Pilgrim
Contemplative prayer can be described as an imagining of God’s Son, Jesus, a letting him enter fully into our consciousness so that he becomes the icon always present in the inner room of our hearts. By gazing at Jesus, walking on the earth, we give him loving attention and we “see” with our minds and hearts how he is the way to the Father. Jesus’ life and work is an uninterrupted union with and contemplation of his Father. We, as followers of Jesus, try to enter into the same disposition. We welcome the discipline of contemplation, taking time regularly to enter into the life of Jesus to contemplate the incredible bond between Jesus and the Father. And we trust that in, through, and with Jesus, we, too, may live and bask in God’s unconditional love.
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It has been a long weekend
A long drive to Florence on Friday
Laying Denise’s dad’s ashes to rest
Sharing stories with family and close friends
A time to support each other as we mourn
A long drive back home today
There is still packing to complete
We pray for healing for Denise’s knee and my back
We pray for a good night’s sleep
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It has been a day filled with emotions
It has been a day of introspection
It has been a day to celebrate the life of my father-in-law Roland as well as to honor my mother-in-law Jeanne
There are so many memories to reflect upon
So many stories shared by family, friends, and friends who are family
I was honored to officiate at both Jeanne and Roland’s graveside services
They welcomed me into the family and fully embraced me
For that I am eternally grateful
As life’s journey continues
Embrace each moment as a gift from God
Give your family members and friends an extra hug and tell them you love them
Life, family, and relationships are precious
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
Prayer is not introspection. It is not a scrupulous, inward-looking analysis of our own thoughts and feelings but it is a careful attentiveness to the Presence of Love personified inviting us to an encounter. Prayer is the presentation of our thoughts— reflective thoughts, as well as daydreams, and night dreams—to the One who receives them, sees them in the light of unconditional love, and responds to them with divine compassion. This context of thinking in the Presence, of conversation and dialogue with Love, is the joyful affirmation of our gentle Companion on the journey with God who knows our minds and hearts, our goodness and our beauty, our darkness and our light. The Psalmist prays the prayer for us (Psalms 139:1–3; 23–24):
O Lord, you search me and you know me, you know my resting and my rising,
you discern my purpose from afar.
You mark when I walk or lie down,
all my ways lie open to you. . . .
O search me, God, and know my heart. O test me and know my thoughts.
See that I follow not the wrong path and lead me in the path of life eternal.
Prayer is not a way of being busy with God instead of with people. In fact, it unmasks the illusion of busyness, usefulness, and indispensability. It is a way of being empty and useless in the presence of God and so of proclaiming our basic belief that all is grace and nothing is simply the result of hard work. Indeed, wasting time for God is an act of ministry, because it reminds us and our people that God is free to touch anyone regardless of our well-meant efforts. Prayer as an articulate way of being useless in the face of God brings a smile to all we do and creates humor in the midst of our occupations and preoccupations.
Thinking about my own prayer, I realize how easily I make it into a little seminar with God, during which I want to be useful by reading beautiful prayers, thinking profound thoughts, and saying impressive words. I am obviously still worried about the grade! It indeed is a hard discipline to be useless in God’s presence and to let him speak in the silence of my heart. But whenever I become a little useless I know that God is calling me to a new life beyond the boundaries of my usefulness.
Verse of the day
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you, and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?”
– Job 12:7-9
Voice of the day
As human beings, we are co-sustainers with the rest of creation to ensure the abundant life for all creation the Creator intended. And God said that is good.
– Randy Woodley, “The Fullness Thereof”
Prayer of the day
May we learn from the living things of the air, earth, and sea, co-sustaining God’s good creation.
The mystic is not somebody who says, “Look what I’ve experienced. Look what I’ve achieved.” The mystic is the one who says, “Look what love has done to me.”. . . There’s nothing left, but the being of love itself giving itself away as . . . the concreteness of who you simply are.
—James Finley, Following the Mystics through the Narrow Gate
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