Prayers

Embracing a Common Future

Edmund Rice Christian Brothers

North America

Thursday, 09 August 2007

Prayers

Prayer for the Canonization of Br. Rice

Heavenly Father, through the inspiration of your Holy Spirit and because of your love for your family, you chose Blessed Edmund Rice to be a husband, father, and religious brother; to work with the poor, to comfort the sick, and to establish new families of Religious Brothers in your Church. Look favorably on his life, we ask you, and if it be for your glory, hear our prayers that he may soon be declared a Saint. This we ask, as we ask all our prayers, through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for a special favor

Lord God, who through the Holy Spirit inspired Blessed Edmund Rice to glorify you by the true Christian example of his life, grant through his intercession the petition I now make ( _____ ) and so hasten the day when his name shall be honored among those of your Saints. I ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

A Psalm of Freedom

O you who are eternally free,

you who swell within all yet beyond all,

listen to my heart’s song.

I long to escape the inner prisons

that limit my liberty;

to flee the wardens of fear

who daily double my chains.

Each second of my life

seeps through the seams of my heart,

slowly and surely slipping away,

like the sands of an hourglass.

Now is the hour, this is the day,

yet higher, ever higher,

do my dull prison walls skyward rise.

Set my foot to the ladder,

glue my eyes upon you.

Call loudly and clearly,

and I will follow.

For in your voice, O Divine Beloved,

is the grace to be free.

Free Spirit who roams the galaxies,

unrestrained as the prairie wind,

in you is Life.

Collaboration Prayer

LORD, bless us in our searching and our questions:

The way to wisdom, enlightenment

and peace, the way to our hearts.

May the Lord bless us in our gifts:

These are God’s providence to the world

to ennoble it,

to enrich it,

to bring it to love.

LORD, bless us in the yearnings of our hearts:

No matter how subtle,

they are energy

urging us forward

in our quest for God and for others.

May the Lord bless us in our vision:

No matter the climb

it is a mountain peak

calling us to experience God.

May the Lord bless us in our leadership:

That we may witness to the Word,

the Word that is searched and contemplated,

professed and proclaimed.

May the Lord bless us in our decisions:

No Matter the mistakes,

they are our ‘yes’ in life,

our assent to the field

where God is to be found.

LORD, bless us in our reflections and ideas:

No matter the doubts,

they are seeds seeking nourishment,

sunshine, life-giving water.

May the Lord bless us in all our ways,

Father, Son, and Spirit. AMEN.

Web of Life

Beautiful, strong, endless, connecting

Winding from one to another

Colorful web, changing and growing

Holding us fast in life.

We are one with the trees

One with the birds, the sky and the seas

We are branches of God

Rooted deep in life.

Sparkling, spinning, dancing free

Weaving a web with grateful hearts

Celebrating all that is

Caring for all of life.

(Sue Boland)

The Garments of God

God sits on a chair of darkness in my soul.

He is God alone, supreme in His majesty.

I sit at His feet, a child in the dark beside Him;

My joy is aware of His glance and my sorrow is tempted

To nest on the thought that His face is turned from me.

He is clothed in the robes of His mercy, voluminous garments -

Not velvet or silk and affable to the touch,

But fabric strong for a frantic hand to clutch,

And hold to it fast with the fingers of my will.

Here is my cry of faith, my deep avowel

To the Divinity that I am dust.

Here is the loud profession of my trust.

I need not go abroad

To the hills of speech or the hinterlands of music

For a crier to walk in my soul where all is still.

I have this potent prayer through good or ill:

Here in the dark I clutch the garments of 6od.

Jessica Powers

Seek Silence

'If you love truth, be a lover of silence.

In the beginning we have to force

ourselves to be silent,

But then something is born

that draws us to silence.

May God give you experience of

this "something" that is born in silence.'

St Isaac of Niniveh, Syrian Mystic AD 67O

It Shall Not Be Broken

Wherever the flickering sparks are fanned to flame,

wherever candles are lit in the darkness,

the Spirit-filled servants of God,

be they individuals or communities,

be they the creatures of the wounded earth itself,

reveal that even in the deepest affliction

hope is not extinguished:

I believe that behind the mist the sun waits.

I believe that beyond the dark night it is raining stars ...,

They will not rob me of hope,

it shall not be broken ...

It shall not be broken.

Janet Morley

A Litany for Dialogue¹

^{(May be used
to begin community meetings)}

A leader may lead the litany for dialogue

Let us pray

O God, you made us in your own image: with eyes to see, ears to listen, mouths to speak, and hearts to feel, and through Jesus, you have shown us how to see and perceive, listen and discern, speak and illuminate, and feel and be moved with compassion:

Help us to realize that we are not here to debate who is right and who is wrong, but to experience true dialogue in which we strive to communicate honestly and listen actively and openly to each other.

God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Give us the wisdom to recognize our preconceived assumptions and perceptions about others - some are conscious; some are unconscious. Make us aware of how our assumptions influence the way we listen and interpret others' words and actions, and how they affect the way we speak and act in the group.

God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Open our hearts and minds to experience new ideas, feelings, situations, and people even though, at times, we may feel awkward and uncomfortable.

God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Give us the strength to take responsibility for what we say and what we say on behalf of our group. Equip our tongues with eloquence so to reveal the truth of our lives and our communities so that others can hear and understand.

God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Expand our listening ability to include not just the words we hear, but also feelings, body language, and varieties of silence that humankind uses to communicate.

God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Give us the courage to take responsibility for our own feelings as they surface and help us find ways to express them without blaming others so that we can hear and learn constructively the consequences of each other's words and actions.

God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Keep us under the shadow of your wings and make this place a sanctuary in which we will respect each other by holding the personal information shared here in confidence, because only in your love can we feel free to say what is in our minds and hearts.

God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

The leader concludes:

O God, as we enter your sanctuary of grace and reconciliation, break down the walls that may separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all people may serve you in harmony as one body; through Jesus Christ, our great reconciler and mediator.

Amen.

1 A similar version of the Litany for Dialogue appeared in Kittredge Cherry & Zalmon Sherwood, eds. Equal Rites (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), pp. 32-33.

Thomas Merton Prayer

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,

and the fact that I think that I am following your will

does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this

you will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always

though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,

and will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Prayer for the Millennium Goals

In a world where so many go hungry,

let us make the fruits of creation available to all.

In a world where a billion of our brothers and

sisters do not have safe drinking water,

let us help water run clear.

In a world where so many die so young,

and so many mothers die in childbirth,

and so many families are ravaged by disease,

let us bring health and healing.

In a world where women carry heavy burdens,

let us recognize and restore the rights of all.

Let us join together, with a sense of global community,

a new awareness of our need for one another

and for this fragile planet,

to meet the clear challenge of the Millennium Goals,

to bring along hope as substantial as bread,

to make human dignity as visible as wheat in the fields.

Amen.

The Millennium Prayer

God of love and mercy,

you call us to be your people,

you gift us with your abundant grace.

Make us a holy people,

radiating the fullness of your love.

Form us into a community,

a people who care,

expressing your compassion.

Remind us day after day of our baptismal call to serve,

with joy and courage.

Teach us how to grow in wisdom and grace

and joy in your presence.

Through Jesus and in your Spirit,

we make this prayer.

Amen.