PRAYERS for the LEGAL PROTECTION OF UNBORN CHILDREN

 

God our Creator,

we give thanks to you,

who alone have the power

   to impart the breath of life

as you form each of us

   in our mother's womb;

grant, we pray,

that we, whom you have made

   stewards of creation,

may remain faithful to this sacred trust

and constant in safeguarding

   the dignity of every human life.

 

(taken from Roman Missal for today's liturgy)

 

(A further reflection for our prayer today from Pope Francis:  THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL,  articles 213-214)

 

 

Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us.   Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in the way of this.   Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church's effort to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position as ideological, obscurantist and conservative.  Yet this defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right.   It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in  any situation and at every stage of development.  Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems.  Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defense of human rights, which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be.   Reason alone is sufficient to recognize the inviolable value of each single human life, but if we also look at the issue from the standpoint of faith, "every violation of the personal dignity of the human being cries out in vengeance to God and is an offense against the creator of the individual."  (quote is from  Pope John Paul II 'Christifideles Laici 1988)

 

Precisely because this involves the internal consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question.  I want to be completely honest in this regard.   This is not something subject to alleged reforms or "modernizations."   It is not "progressive" to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life.  On the other hand, it is also true that we have done little to adequately accompany women in very difficult situations, where abortion appears as a quick solution to their profound anguish, especially when the life developing within them is the result of rape or a situation of extreme poverty.  Who can remain unmoved before such painful situations?

 

 

PRAYER FOR DR. MARTIN KING JR. day

 

Prayer by Nelson Mandela:

 

The time for healing of the wounds has come.

The time to build is upon us . . .

We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people

from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation,

suffering, gender and other discrimination . . .

There is no easy road to freedom . . .

None of us acting along can achieve success.

We must therefore act together as a united people,

for reconciliation,  for nation building,

for the birth of a new world.

 

(from PRAYERS for a THOUSAND YEARS  by Roberts & Amidon,  p. 232)

BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

 

THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

 

Today's feast of the BAPTISM OF OUR LORD reminds us, as does the first picture there, of something that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said in a homily on this feast:  "the cross of Jesus is in the shadows as the baptism takes place,"  just as the shadow of the cross was already present at Jesus' birth in the manger in Bethlehem.   

 

So, too, for us, at our baptism and throughout our Christian lives, the cross is an ever present reminder of the journey we are to make.   As we bring our Christmas season to a close this year,  our prayer for you is that the grace and strength will be there to embrace whatever crosses are in your path during this New Year of 2014.  And may you have the courage and wisdom to know how to live out your Baptismal commitment in ever new and faith-filled ways.   Let's pray for that for each other.

 

(The Baptism of Jesus image above is of the tapestry hanging behind the baptismal pool in the new cathedral of Los Angeles.)

 

 

Padre Pio & Prayer

 

 

"Prayer is the best armor we have:  it is the key which opens the heart of God."

         (St. Pio of Pietrelcina)

Ronald Rolheiser and FALSE FEELINGS IN PRAYER

 

(friary chapel)

 

FALSE FEELINGS IN PRAYER

 

Prayer, as one of its oldest definitions puts it, is "lifting mind and heart to God."   That sounds simple, but it is hard to do.  Why?

 

Because we have the wrong notion of what that means.   We unconsciously nurse the idea that we can pray only when we are not distracted, not angry, not emotionally or sexually preoccupied.   We think God is like a parent who wants to see us only on our best behavior.  So we go into God's presence only when we have nothing to hide, are joy-filled, and feel we can give proper attention to God in a reverent and loving way.   Because we don't understand what prayer is,  we treat God as an authority figure or a visiting dignitary -- as someone to whom we don't tell the real truth.   We don't tell God what is really going on in our lives.  We tell God what we think God wants to hear.

 

Because of this, we find it difficult to pray with any regularity.  What happens is we go to pray, privately or in church, feeling tired, preoccupied, perhaps even angry at someone.   We bracket what we are actually feeling and instead try to crank up praise, reverence, and gratitude to God.   Of course, it doesn't work!   Our hearts and heads (because they are preoccupied with our real issues) grow distracted.   We get the sense that what we are doing -- trying to pray -- is not something we can do right now and we leave it for some other time.

 

But the problem is not that our prayer is unreal or that the moment isn't right.   The problem is that we are trying to lift to God thoughts and feelings that are not our own.   If we take seriously that prayer is  "lifting mind and heart to God,"  then every feeling and every thought we have is a valid and apt entry into prayer, no matter how irreverent, unholy, selfish, sexual, or angry that thought or feeling might seem. 

 

Simply put, if you go to pray and you are feeling angry,  pray anger;  if  you are sexually preoccupied,  pray that preoccupation;  if you are feeling murderous,  pray murder;  and if you are feeling full of fervor and want to praise and thank God,  pray fervor.   Every thought or feeling is a valid entry into prayer.   What's important is that we pray what's inside of us and not what we think God would like to see inside of us.

 

What's so unfortunate is that,  most often, because we misunderstand prayer, we stay away from it just when we most need it.   We try to pray only when we feel good, centered, reverent, and worthy of praying.   But we don't try to pray precisely when we most need it;  that is, when we are feeling bad, irreverent, sinful, emotionally and sexually preoccupied, and unworthy of praying.

 

But all of these feelings can be our entry into prayer.  No matter the headache or the heartache,  we need only to lift it up to God.

 

(Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI,  has written a new book, PRAYER:  OUR DEEPEST LONGING, published by Franciscan Media in 2013.  More about this book is available at www.FranciscanMedia.org.) 

 

 

A BLESSED EPIPHANY - a prayer

 

THE MAGI

 

A PRAYER FOR EPIPHANY

 

Jesus,

We offer you the gold of our desire to love,

    even though our hearts are often cold;

We offer you the incense of our longing to prayer,

    although our spirits can be luke-warm;

We offer you the myrrh of our frustrations and troubles,

    even when self-pity and bitterness creep in.

 

Receive and make good our gifts

out of your great love for us,

and grant that we, like the wise men,

may find some knelling-space at Bethlehem.

 

(from A.A. in THE BOOK OF A THOUSAND PRAYERS, compiled by Ashley Ashwin)

PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

 

God of day and night,

of frost and sunshine,

of rest and growth,

we praise you for the rhythms and patterns of life:

for the gentle dying of each season

and the coming of the next;

for the wonder of new life, in all its forms,

and the quiet flowing of youth into age.

Give us eyes and hearts to perceive you

in the unfolding of our years,

and help us in this new-born year

to make more space for you,

the Giver of it all.

 

quote from A.A. appears in THE BOOK OF A THOUSAND PRAYERS, compiled by Angela Ashwin.