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Today’s prayer is by Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), a Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher and Christian theologian. He served as the archbishop of Canterbury from 1093-1109.

O Lord my God.

Teach my heart this day

where and how to find you.

You have made me and re-made me,

and you have bestowed on me

all the good things I possess,

and still I do not know you.

I have not yet done

that for which I was made.

Teach me to seek you,

for I cannot seek you

unless you teach me,

or find you

unless you show yourself to me.

Let me seek you in my desire;

let me desire you in my seeking.

Let me find you by loving you;

let me love you when I find you.

Today’s prayer for peace among nations was written by William Temple (1881-1944), a bishop in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury.
O Almighty God,
the Father of all humanity,
turn, we pray, the hearts of all peoples and their rulers,
that by the power of your Holy Spirit
peace may be established among the nations
on the foundation of justice, righteousness and truth;
through him who was lifted up on the cross
to draw all people to himself,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Today’s prayer was written by Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), an English sea captain and the second sailor to circumnavigate the globe.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Today’s reflection  is widely attributed to Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), a Spanish Carmelite nun, reformer, theologian and author.

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body.

Christ has no body now but yours.

Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Today’s prayer is from Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) and comes from the book No Greater Love. 

We cannot find God in noise and agitation.
Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence.
The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.
What is essential is not what we say
but what God tells us and what He tells others through us.
In silence He listens to us;
in silence He speaks to our souls.
In silence we are granted
the privilege of listening to His voice.

Silence of our eyes.
Silence of our ears.
Silence of our mouths.
Silence of our minds.
…in the silence of the heart
God will speak.

Today’s prayer is from Ambrose, a bishop of Milan in the 4^th century (339-397).  He contributed to theology and doctrine of the early Christian Church and influenced Augustine of Hippo.

O Lord, who hast mercy upon all,
take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me
the fire of thy Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore Thee,
a heart to delight in Thee,
to follow and enjoy Thee, for Christ’s sake, Amen

It’s been awhile since I added to this site.  I am inspired by the coming Lenten season to change this and return to a practice of spiritual writing. Lent begins this coming Wednesday (March 1) with Ash Wednesday.

Lent is a time to prepare for the miracle of Easter.  It is a season of imitating the practices and teachings of Jesus and traditionally includes activities of  fasting, self-denial, spiritual growth, conversion, and simplicity.  Lent represents a time for taking spiritual inventory and then addressing those things that hinder our relationship with Jesus. Prayer, charitable service, scripture reading and fasting are common practices associated with the Lenten season since these disciplines help enrich our spiritual lives.

I have decided that this Lent I wanted to explore prayer.  I have been researching historical Lenten prayer and want to share some of the beautiful prayers I have discovered each day of Lent.  I hope that you will find the daily prayer that you read to be meaningful to you and that it will help you focus your attention on Christ during this important season.

The first prayer will be posted on Ash Wednesday.  Each day following, until Easter Sunday, I will post a new prayer.  I’ll provide a very short background about the author/source of the prayer – but the focus of each day will be the prayer itself.  I hope you find this meaningful and that you will forward to any friends that you think would like to participate.  I hope the prayers are inspiring and help you focus this season on your faith journey.