Prayer at the start of the day

I try and start each day with prayer because I know that if I put it off until later I won’t do it. So even if it is a simple prayer, I feel much better. A good prayer to use is the following:

My God, I give you this day.
I offer You, now, all of the good
that I shall do and I promise to accept,
for love of You,
all of the difficulty that I shall meet.
Help me to conduct myself during this day
in a manner pleasing to You.
Amen.
St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Blaise Pascal (1623-62)

Pascal is said to have been involved in an accident at the Neuilly-sur-Seine bridge where the horses plunged over the parapet and the carriage nearly followed them. Fortunately, the reins broke and the coach hung halfway over the edge. Pascal and his friends emerged unscathed, but the sensitive philosopher, terrified by the nearness of death, fainted away and remained unconscious for some time. Upon recovering fifteen days later, between 10:30 and 12:30 at night, Pascal had an intense religious vision and immediately recorded the experience in a brief note to himself which began: “Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars…” and concluded by quoting Psalm 119:16: “I will not forget thy word. Amen.” He seems to have carefully sewn this document into his coat and always transferred it when he changed clothes; a servant discovered it only by chance after his death. Here is the quote in full:

God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and savants.
Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
My God and thy God
‘Thy God shall be my God’
Forgetfulness of the world and of everything except God.
He is to be found only in the ways taught in the Gospel.
Grandeur of the human soul.
Righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee.
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy. I have fallen from Him.
‘They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters
‘My God wilt Thou forsake me?’
May I not fall from Him for ever.
This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ
I have fallen away: I have fled from Him, denied Him, crucified Him.
May I not fall from Him for ever.
We hold Him only by the ways taught in the Gospel.
Renunciation, total and sweet
Total submission to Jesus Christ and to my director.
Eternally in joy for a day’s exercise on earth.
I will not forget thy word. Amen.

Seeking God - St. Augustine

O Lord my God,
I believe in you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…
Insofar as I can,
Insofar as you have given me the power,
I have sought you.
I became weary and I laboured.
O Lord my God,
My sole hope,
help me to believe
And never to cease seeking you.
Grant that I may always and ardently
Seek out your countenance.
Give me the strength to seek you,
For you help me to find you
And you have more and more given me
the hope of finding you.
Here I am before you
With my firmness and my infirmity.
Preserve the first and heal the second..
Here I am before you
With my strength and my ignorance.
Where you have opened the door to me,
Welcome me at the entrance;
Where you have closed the door to me,
Open to my cry;
Enable me to remember you,
To understand you,
And to love you.
Amen.

St. Columba (521 - 597) - A Prayer for Love

O Lord, grant us that love which can never die,
which will enkindle our lamps
but not extinguish them,
so that they may shine in us
and bring light to others.
Most dear Saviour,
enkindle our lamps that they may shine
forever in your temple.
May we receive unquenchable light
from you so that our darkness
will be illuminated
and the darkness of the world
will be made less.
Amen.

Measuring your spiritual health

One way of measuring the spiritual health of any church is not to count the number of people in the pews, but the number of people on their knees. How many pray and pray daily for the needs of the kingdom? That is the question. I came across this very challenging quote by Bishop R.C.Ryle a nineteenth century anglican Bishop from England: “Tell me what a man’s prayers are, and i will soon tell you the state of his soul. Prayer is the spiritual pulse. By this the spiritual health may be tested. Oh let us keep an eye continually upon our private devotions.”

The Lord’s Prayer - God’s gift to us

The so-called ‘Lord’s Prayer’ is, if you think about it, the only prayer God has directly given us to pray. When Jesus was asked by his disciples “Lord, teach us to pray..” his response was: “When you pray, say…” and then gave them the words of the prayer. Because it’s the only instance in the Bible I can think of (I am ready to be corrected) where God has actually given us such a prayer then that surely invests it with much greater significance than we perhaps imagined. It also elevates it above mere repetition because it reveals within it the kind of priorities that marked Jesus’ prayer life. We often read of Jesus going off into some lonely place to pray, whether a mountain or a grove of olive trees. But what, we sometimes ask, did he pray about and for? Here is the answer. In this special prayer, this gift from God to us, Jesus outlines the things on his heart (and therefore God’s) and passes them on to us. Just think for a moment of the kind of things it contains:
He asks us to address God as our Father in heaven. That is how Jesus knew him. “And i will ask the Father, and he will give you another counsellor..” (John 14:16). In fact, as he tells the disciples earlier, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) He tells the disciples to “hallow” His name. In John 17:1 Jesus prays: “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” He tells them to pray that his Kingdom will come and his will be done: From the start of his ministry Jesus preached that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matthew 4:17). And in the Garden of Gethsemane he put his own immediate needs second to God’s when he prayed: “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) As you follow through the prayer line by line you can see instances in Jesus’ life where all the petitions reflect the kinds of prayers and priorities he made in his life and now passes on to us, as his disciples -Christ-bearers - to pray and make our own.

I have read many a book on prayer both to help boost my own prayer-life and help those who come to me and ask me how to pray. I have used many different patterns and ‘methods’ of praying which have been useful over the years. But none of them has been as all-encompassing and comprehensive as the Lord’s Prayer. And no wonder, as it contains all the things we should pray and which jesus prayed himself. It’s his gift to us, and one of his most precious, because it gives us a glimpse into the prayer-life of Jesus himself, the master of prayer.

God needs us to pray

How important is prayer? Is it something we need to do for our own salvation or for the benefit of our relationship with God? Does God in any way need our prayers? Here is something written by Dr E. Stanley-Jones (1884-1973) a Methodist missionary and theologian which I find very thought-provoking and encouraging:

“In prayer you align yourselves to the purpose and power of God, and He is able to do things through you that He couldn’t do otherwise. For this is an open universe, where some things are left open, contingent upon our doing them. If we do not do them, they will never be done. For God has left certain things open to prayer - things which will never be done except as we pray.”

Stanley-Jones’ words are worth pondering, especially if prayer - intercessory prayer - is low down on your list of priorities. If what he says is true then why isn’t prayer at the top rather than the bottom of our church agendas? Why isn’t prayer something WE do more as Christ-followers?

Counsels on the spiritual life

St. Ignatius of Loyola loved it so much that he read a chapter a day and Christians from a wide variety of backgrounds considered it one of the great spiritual classics of all time. We are talking about “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis. In the introduction of the edition I have the writer to the introduction makes this claim: “After the Bible itself, no other work can compare with its profound wisdom, clarity of thought, and converting power.” That’s quite a claim but one which I can certainly vouch for having read it off and on - though sadly more off than on - for the past 26 years. Here is Chapter 1 from Book one called “Counsels on the spiritual life.”

‘He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness,’ says Our Lord. (John 8:12). In these words Christ counsels us to follow His life and way if we desire true enlightenment and freedom from all blindness of heart. (Mark 3:5) Let the life of Jesus Christ, then, be our first consideration..

The teaching of Jesus far transcends al the teachings of the Saints, and whosoever has His spirit will discover concealed in it heavenly manna. (Rev 2:17) But many people, although they often hear the Gospel, feel little desire to follow it, because they lack the spirit of Christ. (Romans 8:9) Whoever desires to understand and take delight in the words of Christ must strive to conform his whole life to Him.

Of what use is it to discourse learnedly on the Trinity, if you lack humility and therefore displease the Trinity? Lofty words do not make a man just or holy; but a good life makes him dear to God. I would far rather feel contrition than be able to define it. If you knew the whole Bible by heart, and all the teachings of the philosophers, how would this help you without the grace and love of God? ‘Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity,’ (Ecclesiastes 1verse two) except to love God and serve Him alone. (Deuteronomy 6:13) And this is supreme wisdom - to despise the world, and draw daily nearer the kingdom of heaven.

It is vanity to solicit honours, or to raise oneself to high station. It is vanity to be a slave to bodily desires, (Galatians 5:16) and to crave for things which bring certain retribution. It is vanity to wish for long life, if you care little for a good life. It is vanity to give thought only to this present life, and to care nothing for the life to come. It is vanity to love things that so swiftly pass away, and not to hasten onwards to that place where everlasting joy abides.

Keep constantly in mind the saying, ‘The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.’ (Ecclesiastes 1: Strive to withdraw your heart from the love of visible things, and direct your affections to things invisible. For those who follow only their natural inclinations defile their conscience, and lose the grace of God.”

Ancient Wisdom

Amongst my current reading material - I have several books on the boil - is a little book called “The Wisdom of Saint Isaac the Syrian” translated by Sebastian Brock. Its a distillation of the wise sayings of a seventh century hermit of the Assyrian Church (he is also known as St.Isaac of Ninevah) who is undergoing something of a renaissance at the moment. This book is just a kind of taster for those wanting to dip their toes in the clear water of his teachings (excuse the mixed metaphors) and a recommended read. Here are a few of his sayings to whet your appetite:

“If God is slow in answering your request, or if you ask but do not promptly receive anything, do not be upset, for you are not wiser than God.”

“The ladder to the Kingdom is hidden within you, and within your soul. Dive down into your self, away from sin, and there you will find the steps by which you can ascend.”

“Make sure you see to small things, lest otherwise you may push aside important ones.”

And one of my favourites - because it challenges me:

“The knowledge of God does not reside in a body that loves comfort.”

Ouch!

The book is a mere 20 pages long but it is subject indexed and if you go through Amazon you can get it second hand next to nothing.

Praying with heart and mind

The Jews said that the first requirement of prayer was ‘kavvanah’. The Hebrew word referred to the way in which the mind and heart should be fixed on God. It is highly likely that when Jesus prayed he was absorbed in this form of self forgetful contemplation. In other words, he paid sustained and loving attention to the Father who loved him in such an incomprehensible manner that it couldn’t be expressed in words. Jesus basked in the light of that love and poured out his daily concerns in a trusting way to the Lord.”
Fr Pat Collins: Prayer in Practice