Category Archives: Prayer

The Complete Fullness of Christ

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From a homily by a spiritual writer of the fourth century

May you be filled to the complete fullness of Christ

Those who have been considered worthy to go forth as the sons of God and to be born again of the Holy Spirit from on high, and who hold within them the Christ who renews them and fills them with light, are directed by the Spirit in varied and different ways and in their spiritual repose they are led invisibly in their hearts by grace.

At times, they are like men who mourn and lament over their fellow men, and pouring forth prayers for the whole human race, they plunge into tears and lamentation, on fire with spiritual love for mankind.

At other times they are enkindled by the Spirit with love and exultation that, were it possible, they would clasp in their embrace all mankind, without discrimination, good and bad alike.

Sometimes they are cast down below all mankind in lowliness of spirit, so that they reckon theirs to be the lowest and most abject of conditions.

And sometimes they are held by the Spirit in ineffable joy.

At one time they are like a brave man who puts on the king’s full armor and goes down into battle; he fights bravely against the enemy and defeats them. In like manner, the spiritual man takes up the heavenly arms of the Spirit and marches against the enemy and engaging in battle tramples the foe beneath his feet.

At another time the soul is at rest in deepest silence, tranquility and peace, existing in sheer spiritual pleasure and in ineffable repose and a perfect state.

Again, the soul is instructed by grace in a certain understanding in the ineffable wisdom and the inscrutable knowledge of the Spirit on matters which neither tongue nor lips can utter.

Then again, the soul becomes like any ordinary man.

In such varied ways does grace work within them and many are the means by which it leads the soul, renewing it according to God’s will and training it in different ways so that it may be set before the heavenly Father pure and whole and blameless.

We, too, therefore must make our prayer to God and entreat in love and in great hope that he may bestow upon us the heavenly grace of the gift of the Spirit. We pray that we, too, may be guided by that Spirit and that he may lead us into the fullness of divine will and refresh us with the varied kinds of his repose, that by the help of this guidance, exercise of grace and spiritual advancement, we may be considered worthy to attain to the perfection of the fullness of Christ, as the Apostle says: that you may be filled to the complete fullness of Christ.

St. Ambrose, My Mentor

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St Ambrose converting Theodosius

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This year, 2011, I have chosen St. Ambrose to be my mentor. He counseled men and woman who would one day become saints. I invite you to consider asking him to walk closely by your side this year, so as to benefit from the wisdom God is happy to grant though his intercession.

Here is a prayer credited to him:

Prayer Before Mass

Lord Jesus Christ, I approach Thy banquet table in fear and trembling, for I am a sinner, and dare not rely on my own worth, but only on Thy goodness and mercy. I am defiled by my many sins in body and soul, and by my unguarded thoughts and words. Gracious God of majesty and awe, I seek Thy protection, I look for Thy healing. Poor troubled sinner that I am, I appeal to Thee, the fountain of all mercy. I cannot bear Thy judgment, but I trust in Thy salvation. Lord, I show my wounds to Thee and uncover my shame before Thee. I know my sins are many and great, and they fill me with fear, but I hope in Thy mercies, for they cannot be numbered.

Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal King, God and man, crucified for mankind, look upon me with mercy and hear my prayer, for I trust in Thee. Have mercy on me, full of sorrow and sin, for the depth of Thy compassion never ends.

Praise to Thee saving sacrifice, offered on the wood of the cross for me and for all mankind. Praise to the noble and precious Blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the whole world.

Remember, Lord, Thy creature, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy blood; I repent my sins, and I long to put right what I have done. Merciful Father, take away all my offenses and sins; purify me in body and soul, and make me worthy to taste the Holy of Holies. May Thy Body and Blood, which I intend to receive, although I am unworthy, be for me the remission of my sins, the washing away of my guilt, the end of my evil thoughts, and the rebirth of my better instincts. May it incite me to do the works pleasing to Thee, and a firm defense of body and soul against the wiles of my enemies. Amen.

Lord Take Delight

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Christ and Mary Magdalene by Peter Paul Rubens

Take delight in me, dear Lord.
How can one so foul give You pleasure?
I can not please You as I am in my aloneness.
Unite me then to Your Mercy.

Employ Your Justice in the measure of my want,
For I am of the dust,
And have been given no goodness apart from You.
Deem to come to my aid.

In anticipation of Your visitation
Send Your advance guard,
Saints and angels to clothe me
For the presence of a King.

Strip me of my unloveliness.
Set me free from dalliance and despair.
You Who are fire
Purify by Love and True Life.

Laugh at the enemy at my gate,
Disarm the Foe by the wonder of Your Holiness.
See me here in my blood guilt,
And do not despise my wretchedness,
But embrace me as the child of holy consummation

Born of Your Passion.
Delight in me, O Ancient of Days,
Creative Word , seal my fate,
Speak that I might stand forth,
The image of Your Being.

Laugh and delight at the work of Your hands.
As a newborn gives joy to mother and father,
Take pleasure in Your pains on my behalf,
The labor of Your Love.

By Joann Nelander

The Saints Crowned in Glory

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The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant ...

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The Saints are longing for us,
longing that we share their glory.
No harm in such
ambition,
says Bernard.

This glory is to be spread abroad
by God’s sovereignty
and generosity.
This glory is  none other
than the glory in which the Father
robed His dying Son.

It is  now reflected in His Saints,
who in life picked up their cross,
and followed  Him upon their knees.

The battle they fought on Earth now is ours.
They continue with us,
the Church Triumphant,
pleading for the Church Militant.

Blessed are those who were poor in spirit,
who were merciful, loving their enemies,
who mourned and who were persecuted,
who were pure of  heart,
and sought peace
through the wood of the Cross.

Blessed are all those gathered
to the Father’s  bosom.
Blessed are they and generous,
interceding for the saints,
as they look for us to follow in their steps.

Brothers and Sisters,
radiant in glory,
beam forth Christ.

All happiness to His Saints
rewarded now and forever.
All glory to the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen!

By Joann Nelander

In Praise

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Praise like cascading waters, like rushing rivers,

Praise like flying birds, and flight of eagles.

Praise like thundering herds cross vast expanse.

Praise written cross skies in clouds and drifting mists.

Praise with the quaking aspen. Praise golden and blissful.

Praise to the heavens, to the highest heavens.

Heartfelt and hallowed, on angels’ wings and from the mouths of babes.

Hush; listen in silence.
Creation, on tip toe, peering beyond Time to Eternity.

Time poised on the brink of the Eternal, awaiting Your Word.

Praise from the heart, one poor and yearning heart.

Come, O Immortal. Come!
 

By Joann Nelander



A Prayer in Adoration

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Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Eucharist, a ...

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Here I am Lord,sitting, kneeling, prostrate in spirit before You, adoring.  Who You are in Your glory lies hidden under the appearance of this Holy Bread before me.

You have revealed to Your Church the wonder,and magnificence of Your living Presence.  With Mother Church,  I extol Your beauty.  Truths come to mind and I give assent.

I am married to You,  O Holy Bridegroom.  In the fullness of time, I will embrace You with a glorified vision and body, but, for now, I reach with  heart and mind’s eye to catch a glimpse of this splendid Truth hidden as it is ‘neathe Bread and Wine and broken Body on a Cross.

Favor me with an increase of love and desire, until my longing tears free from all that holds me captive still. I know my blindnss and have seen my foolishness. In my poverty and need,  I seek refuge here before Your eyes.

Your Truth, Your splendid Truth be mine!  These are such glorious Truths; I can not comprehend them in their reality and breath.  I can only glimpse them and cry out in hope and faith.

My adorable Lord, looking upon me now as always, gather to Yourself, the groans and sighs of Spirit born,unto Your memories as so many Communions and Resurrections of spirit, as chains of Love in Time, but always only One Adorable Lord.

By Joann Nelander