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)
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.
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.
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.
