Try To Walk In God's Love

A consciousness of God's presence as One who loves you makes all life different.

The consciousness of God's love promotes the opening of your whole being to God.

It brings wonderful relief from the cares and worries of our daily lives.

Relief brings peace and peace brings contentment.

Try to walk in God's love. You will have that peace which passes all understanding and a contentment that no one can take from you.

Feel sure of God's unfailing love and care for you and for all His children.

There is freedom and serenity in those who walk in God's love, held safe in His loving care.

I pray that I may walk in God's love.

I pray that, as I go, I may feel the spring

of God's power in my steps and the joy of His love in my heart.

"I will never leave nor forsake thee."

"I will never leave nor forsake thee."

Down through the centuries, thousands have believed in God's constancy, untiringness, and unfailing love.

God has love.

Then forever you are sure of His love.

God has power.

Then forever you are sure, in every difficulty and temptation, of His strength.

God has patience.

Then always there is One who can never tire.

God has understanding.

Then always you will understand and be understood.

Unless you want Him to go, God will never leave you.

He is always ready with power.

I pray that I may feel that God's love will never fail.

I pray that I may have confidence in His unfailing power.

Gathers and Reunites

Sin divides and scatters.

Sin drives us from the home that God has built for us in the depths of our hearts.

God's love gathers and reunites.

Union Of Love

O Jesus, King most wonderful,
Thou Conqueror renowned,
Thou sweetness most ineffable
In whom all joys are found!

When once thou visitest the heart,
Then truth begins to shine,
Then earthly vanities depart,
Then kindles love divine.

Thee may our tongues for ever bless;
Thee may we love alone;
And ever in our lives express
The image of thine own.

Meter: CM

 

By the grace of baptism I am bound to the Holy Trinity in a very special way.

May I be conscious of this great grace and seek to grow ever closer in this union of love.

Thus I will live always under the protection of the love of Christ from which no adversity can separate me.

 

I want to be in the loving embrace of God at all times.  I pray:

Keep me safe, O Lord!

When I have trouble seeing the right way, lead me in the right path.

When I am frightened, comfort me.

When I need to take risks, give me courage.

God my Father, you are closer to me than I can even imagine.

Enlighten my heart and hold me close in your embrace.

I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

~~ Adapted from Magnificat

 

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Two Hands Of God

The perfect love of our heavenly Father includes as well as transcends all the love that a father and mother can have for their children.

We may think about the two hands of God embracing us as a mother's hand and a father's hand: 

one caressing, consoling, and comforting, 

the other supporting, encouraging, and empowering.

We too are called to be father and mother to those who want to come home.

Henri Nouwen

 

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Jealousy

When we truly enjoy God's unlimited generosity, we will be grateful for what our brothers and sisters receive.

Jealous will simply have no place in our hearts.

Henri Nouwen

 

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Just Today

Happiness keeps you Sweet,

Trials keep you Strong,

Sorrows keep you Human,

Failures keep you Humble,

Success keeps you Glowing,

But Only God Keeps You Going!

The Good Shephard

Michael was about three and a half when he entered our Montessori school.
He had big blue eyes, a wonderful smile and a likeable personality.
He was already familiar with the school and the teacher since his older brother had attend it and Michael often accompanied him to school, and sometimes stayed to visit. . .

Michael's into the school was anything but smooth.
In fact, it was really stormy.
He was fine while his mother was at school during orientation, but as soon as Michael was expected to be in school on his own he has real problems.
He cried every day. . .

I recalled the Good Shepherd parable.
Was it too early to tell Michael?
Certainly three-year-olds don't recognize that they are the sheep.
But then, what did I have to lose?
I decided to present the parable and material to him.

The next day I told Michael I had something special I wanted to show him.
I took him all alone to one corner of the room and made the presentation to him.
It was unbelievable to see how involved Michael beccame and, much to my utter dismay, I realized Michael recognized that he was a sheep.
It was nothing I had done.

That day Michael did not cry at all.
It seemed like I was witnessing a miracle.
We were out in the playground when Michael's mother arrived to take him home.
I signaled to her that it had been a good day while Michael ran to his mother saying, "Mommy, Mommy! I didn't cry today!"
His mother looked at me questioningly and I just nodded my head to tell her Michael was telling the truth.

When Michael got in the car he said to his mother, "Well aren't you going to ask me why I didn't cry?"
She was a really good mother and knew children, and said, "Well Michael, if you want to tell me, yes I'd like to know."
(She later told me that she was dying to know why, but was almost afraid to ask.)
Michael then replied, "I don't ever have to be afraid agan, because I have the Good Shepherd to take care of me."

An excerpt from The Good Shepherd & The Child, A Joyful Journey

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Life could not exist in the primal waters of chaos.

My Good Shepherd leads me to the water of life to drink my fill of his peace.

He leads me into the sheepfold, not to imprison me within walls of law but to set me free from captivity to the fear of all those predators, seen and unseen, who threaten me with the distress, darkness, and gloom.

You are Lord of wind and sea:
-- stretch out your saving hand to those who are drowning in confusion and sin.

You set limits that the water might not pass:
-- protect all those who are overwhelmed by the chaos of lives driven by need.

You water the earth and bring forth food:
--teach us to use the tools devoted to works of death to give and protect live.

God's Fidelity

If you are young, look foward to God's fidelity to you thoughout your life;
if you are older, look back on God's fidelity to you through all that is past.
Whatever your age, know that God's love is the foundation upon which all hope stands firm.
His guarantee is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a deed deep, high, and unsearchable that exceeds all our praise.

From Magnificat, April 2008

Intercessions

Hear us, O God our Savior!

For those who are powerless,
-- that they may experience your power employed on their behalf.

For those who have abandoned hope,
-- that they may know your mercy.

For those who fail to see you in mystery,
-- that they may come to feel your gentle love.

In land torn by war,
-- bring a new life through peace.

To families and communities wounded by division,
-- bring a new life through peace.

To the dying and the bereaved suffering under the threat of death,
-- bring a new life through peace.

May the Lord deliver us from all evil and bring us to life everlasting.
Amen.

Excerpted from Magificat, April 2008

Seeing With the Eyes of the Heart

From Henri Nouwen Society

On the Journey To Seeing With the Eyes of the Heart

written by DAVID HOOVER

Centuries ago, St. Augustine was asked why Christians performed the various spiritual practices of their faith. He responded, "We do these things to restore health to the eye of the heart, whereby God may be seen." Since I read these words many years ago, the image of seeing "with the eye of the heart" has haunted me. As have Jesus' challenging words "You have eyes to see, but do not see." And so for me, the prayer before all prayers has been the prayer of the blind man, "Lord, may I see."

Henri Nouwen points out in The Return of the Prodigal Son that in Rembrandt's picture the father is apparently almost blind. The father "recognizes his son, not with the eyes of the body, but with the inner eye of the heart." With the eye of the heart, the eye of love, the father sees deeply, and is able to recognize and release the son's true identity as his beloved son - an identity hidden beneath the crust of all the son's misguided attempts to find love and life in a "far country."

May we each allow ourselves to be seen as truly beloved in the eyes of God's love. And may we learn to see others with the eye of the heart. Then at last we will be able to live in "the house of love," wherein we can both see God's love and be God's love.

- DAVID HOOVER works for the Center for Spiritual Development in Orange, California. He is a spiritual director and workshop/retreat presenter who has presented workshops on figures in contemporary spirituality including Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Henri Nouwen.

HenriNouwen.org

Alchemy Of The Cross

My Creator gathers up the tears of humanity and transforms them into the waters of life by the alchemy of the cross, where suffering and death are changed into joy and life by the self-gift of love.

Forgive

Forgive, O Lord, forgive.

You forgave your people in the desert:
--forgive your people today when we give our obedience to the gods of this world.

You fed your people in the desert:
-- forgive your people today when we fed on words other than your own.

You gave your people water from the rock:
-- forgive your people today when we quench our thirst at fountains that give no life.

You know, O Lord, our weakness.

You know the seductive power of the gods of our world.

Forgive, protect, deliver your people in our foolish waywardness.

Two Spiritual Directions

St. Bernard of Clairvaux said that the pilgrims on the spiritual journey face alternately in two directions: when we look at ourselves, we are saddened by our failings, when we look at God, we rejoice in his love.

Which will I chose today?

No Ifs

There are no ifs in God's heart.
God's love for us does not depend on what we do or say, on our looks or intelligence, on our success or popularity.
God's love for us existed before we were born and will exist after we have died.
God's love is from eternity to eternity and is not bound to any time-related events or circumstances.

-- Henri Nouwen

In God We Trust

Strong is God’s love for us, faithful his care.
Let us fear no evil but put our trust in him.

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The Apple Of Your Eye

Now and then, God’s people of old needed to

be reminded of the care with which his love

had surrounded and protected them.

Now and then we do too!

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Only One Boy

Recently, a class of sixth-graders was asked whether they could ever be truly happy.
Astoundingly, almost every child concluded that while they desired true and lasting happiness, it is impossible ever to attain it.
One child concluded that we should just stop desiring happiness.
One boy alone had hope.
His response to the questins was a resounding ,"Yes!"
He was also the only child who made reference to Christ.
He alone among his peers expressed confidence that he could be truly happy.
He wrote, "If my desire is infinite, the one necessary thing is God."
With the simplicity of a child he said, "No earthly thing can truly make us eternally happy, except for the Eucharist, which is still God."
That same week, Pope Benedict XVI said, "Only in reference to God's love which is revealed in Jesus Christ can man find the meaning of his existence and live in hope."
"As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, 'Son of David, have pity on us!'"
The presence of Christ awakenedin those two men a hope of happiness.
Into their darkness, Christ's presence provoked a cry of hope.
Their eyes were opened.
Theirs was not the sob of nihilism, but the cry of hope.
Only one boy in the class said, "Christ."
He alone had hope.

-- Father David Barnes

Loving Father, let me never doubt the happiness that you
make real in my life through the gift of your Son.

Now And Then

Now and then, God's people of old needed to be reminded of the care with which his love had surrounded and protected them.
Now and then, I do too!

A Prodigal Son

No matter how far I stray and how lost I feel, God the Father is always right there waiting for me with open arms.
I may feel sinful and unworthy of his love, but all I need to do is make a move toward him and he will run to meet me as his beloved son.
Let me run to receive his love.

Run to me in your mercy.

When I have departed far from you.

When I seek to return to your house.

When I have squandered the gifts you have given me.

Pursue me when I am far from you ,

that I may return to your loving arms.