Prayers/John Henry Newman
A Prayer by John Henry Cardinal Newman
God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission- I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. ...I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work; I shall be a [messenger] of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His Commandments.
...Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am. I can never be thrown away.
If in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
...He does nothing in vain.
...He knows what He is about.[1]
The Fragrance of Christ (or Acts of Desire to Proclaim Christ)
Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance wherever I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly, that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me, and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be mine.
It will be You shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.
Amen.[2]
Prayer for God's Continued Protection
O Lord,
support us all the day long of this troublous life untill the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.
Then in Your mercy grant us a safe lodging and holy rest, and peace at the last.
Amen.[3]
- ↑ O'Brien, Kevin F. The Ignatian Adventure: Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius in Daily Life. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2011, pp. 73 - 74.
- ↑ Rev. James C. Sharp, Lead, Kindly Light: Minute Meditations for Every Day of the Year, Taken from the Writings of Cardinal Newman (New Jersey: CATHOLIC BOOK PUBLISHING CORP., 1993), 190.
- ↑ ibid., 191-192.