Steve Macchia

A Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,
Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
you are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven.  Amen.

— John Wesley

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?

A Prayer of Charles de Foucauld

Father, I abandon myself into your hands.
Do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you.
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me
And in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart
For I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into your hands, without reserve
And with boundless confidence,
For you are my Father.

— Charles de Foucauld

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?

A Prayer of Ignatius of Loyola

Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
To give and not to count the cost,
To fight and not to heed the wounds
To toil and not to seek for rest,
To labour and not to ask for reward,
Save that of knowing that I do your will.

+++

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
My memory, my understanding
And my entire will,

All I have and call my own
You have given to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours;
Do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.

— Ignatius of Loyola

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?

Vocation Prayer

O Lord,
     you know me.
You know when I sit
     and when I stand.
You have me always present
     in your mind.
For this, Lord, I thank you.
You know the path for my life
     and what is best for me.
Lord, reveal to me the path
     I am to walk.
Bless me and guide me
     and be Lord to me
so that whichever road I take
     I may do all for your glory.
     In Jesus’ name. Amen.

— “Vocation Prayer” from the Beech Grove Benedictine Community

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?        

A Prayer of Thomas à Kempis

Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know,
to love what I ought to love,
to praise what delights thee most,
to value what is precious in thy sight,
to hate what is offensive to thee.
Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight
      of my eyes,
nor to pass sentence according to the hearing
      of the ears of ignorant men;
but to discern with a true judgment between things
      visible and spiritual,
and above all, always to inquire what is the good
      pleasure of thy will.

— Thomas à Kempis

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?

A Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an
instrument of your peace!
Where there is hatred,
let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled
as to console;
to be understood
as to understand;
to be loved
as to love;
for it is in giving
that we receive;
it is in pardoning
that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying
that we are born to Eternal Life.

— St. Francis of Assisi

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?

A Prayer of John Baillie

O God, immortal, eternal, invisible, I remember with gladness and thanksgiving all that thou hast been to this world of men:

      Companion of the brave:
      Upholder of the loyal:
      Light of the wanderer:
      Joy of the pilgrim:
      Guide of the pioneer:
      Helper of labouring men:
      Refuge of the broken-hearted:
      Deliverer of the oppressed:
      Succour of the tempted:
      Strength of the victorious:
      Ruler of rulers:
      Friend of the poor:
      Rescuer of the perishing:
      Hope of the dying.

Give me faith now to believe that thou canst be all in all to me, according to my need, if only I renounce all proud self-dependence and put my trust in thee.

Forbid it, O Father, that the difficulty of living well should ever tempt me to fall into any kind of heedlessness or despair. May I keep it ever in mind that this human life was once divinely lived and this world once nobly overcome and this body of flesh, that now so sorely tries me, once made into thy perfect dwelling-place.

Show thy lovingkindness to-night, O Lord, to all who stand in need of thy help. Be with the weak to make them strong and with the strong to make them gentle. Cheer the lonely with thy company and the distracted with thy solitude. Prosper thy Church in the fulfilment of her mighty task, and grant thy blessing to all who have toiled to-day in Christ’s name. Amen.

— From A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?

A Prayer of Catherine Marshall

I do need thee, Lord. I need thee now. I know that I can do without many of the things that once I thought were necessities, but without thee I cannot live, and I dare not die.

I needed thee when sorrow came, when shadows were thrown across the threshold of my life, and thou didst not fail me then. I needed thee when sickness laid a clammy hand upon my family, and I cried to thee, and thou didst hear. I needed thee when perplexity brought me to a parting of the ways, and I knew not how to turn. Thou didst not fail me then, but in many ways, big and little, didst indicate the better way. And though the sun is shining around me today, I know that I need thee even in the sunshine, and shall still need thee tomorrow.

I give thee my gratitude for that constant sense of need that keeps me close to thy side. Help me to keep my hand in thine and my ears open to the wisdom of thy voice.

Speak to me, that I may hear thee giving me courage for hard times and strength for difficult places; giving me determination for challenging tasks. I ask of thee no easy way, but just thy grace that is sufficient for every need, so that no matter how hard the way, how challenging the hour, how dark the sky, I may be enabled to overcome.

In thy strength, who hast overcome the world, I make this prayer. Amen.

— From the Prayers of Peter Marshall edited by Catherine Marshall

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?

A Prayer of Hannah Whitall Smith

Lord Jesus, I believe that thou art able and willing to deliver me from all the care and unrest and bondage of my Christian life. I believe thou didst die to set me free, not only in the future, but now and here. I believe thou art stronger than sin, and that thou canst keep me, even me, in my extreme of weakness, from falling in its snares or yielding obedience to its commands. And Lord, I am going to trust thee to keep me. I have tried keeping myself, and have failed, and failed, most grievously. I am absolutely helpless. So now I will trust thee. I give myself to thee. I keep back no reserves. Body, soul and spirit, I present myself to thee as a piece of clay, to be fashioned into anything thy love and thy wisdom shall choose. And now I am thine. I believe thou dost accept that which is present to thee; I believe that this poor, weak, foolish heart has been taken possession of by thee, and that thou hast even at this very moment begun to work in me to will and to do of thy good pleasure. I trust thee utterly, and I trust thee now. Amen.

— From The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?

St. Patrick’s Breastplate

Reflection:

Behold — Where are the eyes of your heart drawn into this prayer?
Believe — How is your faith strengthened in this prayer?
Belong — Who are you recalling as you pray this prayer?
Become — What is God inviting you to receive and thereby become as you pray this prayer?