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Today’s prayer is from Thomas A Kempis (1380-1471), who was the author of The Imitation of Christ, one of the most popular and best known Christian books on devotion.  

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 judgement between things visible and spiritual,

and above all things always to inquire what is the good pleasure of Thy will.

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Today’s prayer is from Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430) was an early Christian theologian and philosopher. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius (modern day Annaba, Algeria) and is viewed as one of the most important church fathers in Western Christianity.

Lord, I commit my failures

as well as my successes

into your hands,

and I bring for your healing

the people and the situations,

the wrongs and the hurts of the past.

Give me courage, strength and generosity

to let go and move on,

leaving the past behind me,

and living the present to the full.

Lead me always to be positive

as I entrust the past to your mercy,

the present to your love,

and the future to your providence.

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Today’s prayer is from Giles of Assissi (1190-1262), one of the original companions of Francis of Assissi.

Blessed is he who loves and does not therefore desire to be loved;

Blessed is he who fears and does not therefore desire to be feared;

Blessed is he who serves and does not therefore desire to be served;

Blessed is he who behaves well toward others and does not desire that others behave well toward him; and because these are great things, the foolish do not rise to them.

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Today’s prayer is from Joseph Tetlow, SJ (born in 1930), who is the director of Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Dallas, Texas, where he gives retreats, conducts workshops and writes.  This prayer is a contemporary paraphrase of the Anima Christi, a medieval prayer to Jesus. The sequence of sentences in Anima Christi relate to the Eucharist (body and blood of Christ), baptism (water) and the Passion of Jesus.

I choose to breathe the breath of Christ
that makes all life holy.

I choose to live the flesh of Christ
that outlasts sin’s corrosion and decay.

I choose the blood of Christ
along my veins and in my heart
that dizzies me with joy.

I choose the living waters flowing from his side
to wash and clean my own self and the world itself.

I choose the awful agony of Christ
to charge my senseless sorrows with meaning
and to make my pain pregnant with power.

I choose you, good Jesus, you know.

I choose you, good Lord;
count me among the victories
that you have won in bitter woundedness.

Never number me among those alien to you.

Make me safe from all that seeks to destroy me.

Summon me to come to you.

Stand me solid among angels and saints
chanting yes to all you have done,
exulting in all you mean to do forever and ever.

Then for this time, Father of all,
keep me, from the core of my self,
choosing Christ in the world.  Amen.

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Today’s prayer is from Desmond Tutu  (born 1931), a South African social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop who actively  opposed apartheid in the 1980s. This prayer is from his book “An African Prayerbook”.

Goodness is stronger than evil;
Love is stronger than hate;
Light is stronger than darkness;
Life is stronger than death;
Victory is ours through Him who loves us.

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Today’s prayer is from Bede the Venerable (AD 673-735), who was an English monk in the Kindom of Northumbria of the Angles. He was an author and scholar.

O Christ, our Morning Star,

Splendor of Light Eternal,

shining with the glory of the rainbow,

come and waken us

from the greyness of our apathy,

and renew in us your gift of hope. Amen.

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Today’s prayer, known as the Sinner’s Prayer, is from John Chrysostom (AD 347-407), who was the archbishop of Constantinople and an early theologian of the church.

O my all-merciful God and Lord,
Jesus Christ, full of pity:
Through Your great love You came down
and became incarnate in order to save everyone.
O Savior, I ask You to save me by Your grace!
If You save anyone because of their works,
that would not be grace but only reward of duty,
but You are compassionate and full of mercy!
You said, O my Christ,
“Whoever believes in Me shall live and never die.”
If then, faith in You saves the lost, then save me,
O my God and Creator, for I believe.
Let faith and not my unworthy works be counted to me, O my God,
for You will find no works which could account me righteous.
O Lord, from now on let me love You as intensely as I have loved sin,
and work for You as hard as I once worked for the evil one.
I promise that I will work to do Your will,
my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life and forever more.

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Today’s prayer is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), a Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident in Germany.  He was executed by the Nazi regime just prior to its collapse.

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.

Help me to pray

And to concentrate my thoughts on you;

I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,

But with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace.

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways,

But you know the way for me….

Restore me to liberty,

And enable me to live now

That I may answer before you and before men.

Lord whatever this day may bring,

Your name be praised.

Amen

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Today’s prayer, known as the Peace Prayer, is attributed to Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), an Italian priest and preacher and one of the most venerated religious figures in history.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy 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;
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;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

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Today’s prayer is from Augustine of Hippo (354-430), an early Christian theologian and philosopher. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius (modern day Annaba, Algeria) and is viewed as one of the most important church fathers in Western Christianity.

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I may love only what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, that I may defend all that is holy.
Guard me, O Holy Spirit, that I myself may always be holy.

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