Morning Prayer ~

[My students liked this prayer before class:] 

Father, we thank Thee for the night,
And for the blessed morning light.
For rest and food, and loving care,
And all that makes the world so fair.
Help us to do the things we should,
To be to others, kind and good.
In all we do, in all we say,
To grow more loving every day.

 

The 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 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 you will never leave me

to face my perils alone.

Prayer ~

Prayer -- is simply letting thoughts float heavenward.

Prayer ~

You don't have to go to the mountains to pray -- but sometimes it helps.

Daily Prayers ~

Little did I realize that those Latin prayers I had to learn to be an altar boy would end up, seventy years later, as the prayers I recite day in and day out. 

Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc, confitebor illi: salutare vultus mei, 

et Deus meus. . .

Praying Problem ~

Why not consciously make a prayer out of all those pieces I practice on the piano?

On Waking ~

6:30 a.m.: It is dark outside. I lie in bed listening to the birds singing the Divine Office outside: Lauds.

Praying ~

As an altarboy -- I was nine or ten -- I said these words at the foot of the altar every day an didn't have the slightest idea what I was saying: . . .

". . . quia tu es Deus, fortitudo mea, quare me repulisti . . ."

[". . . for You are God, my strength, why do you keep putting me off . . ."]

Now sixty years later these same words keep returning. I have finally come to understand them.

The Wise Old Monk ~

I told him it has become hard to pray. He said the slightest calling to mind to pray is a prayer in itself.

Praying ~

Who can I pray to other than You?

Love Affair ~

Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost . . . words I prayed on the morning walk. I stopped and thought for a moment. Why, why all that formality? Aren't we on a much more intimate basis? It was like pushing Him off into the distance, losing Him in mystery.

Morning Prayer ~

I sit here thinking of the myriad possibilities of where I might be at this moment: in hospital bed or in a casino in Vegas, in a prison or in a shack on the Mexican border. But here I am in in this church rehearsing the sublime choral music of Johann Sebastian Bach for a Christmas concert.

How fortunate I am. . . And my heart soars toward You in gratitude.

Fighting Insufficiency ~

It cannot be: that he who formulates a prayer better than the other is more worthy of being heard.

Getting God's Attention ~

Knowing our selfishness [it was given to us by Him, our Creator], I think that God must be pleasantly moved when any one of his creatures breaks out of oneself for just a moment and sends up a word of thanks to Him — for life and what we see in other people and nature all around us.

Voices from on High ~

I look up into the blue but can't catch sight of the lark singing all those glissandos to thank You for a perfect Sunday morning.

Flying to God ~

I once heard someone say that the soul, in its natural state, would fly to God. We block this natural movement by allowing our distractions to weigh the soul down.

Lesson in Prayer ~

He was an eldery priest, humble. He said: "When you talk to God you must always start with your own ego. You must become fully aware of yourself here and now. When you have done that you should say 'Here I am, Lord, ready to hear You'. And then you wait for Him in His presence. Wait, not demanding that He speak, and satisfied, too, if He doesn't.

Words of Strength ~

Tom's daughter found a poster that she framed and hanged beside Tom's bed. On it were the words: God spoke: I will not let you fall, and I will not abandon you. Josue I,5. Tom held onto those words in those last days.

Two Kinds of Prayer ~

The submissive kind: accepting what comes as God's will. Willing to comply.
The insistent kind: begging to be heard, tenacious, falling at the Lord's feet and imploring...and not letting go until He hears.

Tom and I fall into these respective categories. Tom is struggling, begging. When I see how positive things are developing I think the Lord might just be hearing his prayer.

Recollection ~

During my morning walk [it is dark at 7 a.m.] I kept trying to push distractions out of my mind. After all these years why can't I keep fixed on God for those short 25 minutes?