TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF PRAYER

"To pray is to enter into a relationship with God

and to have that relationship make a difference in my life"

-  KENNETH LEECH -

THE CORE OF CHRISTIAN PRAYER

"Establishing and developing a relationship 

is the nucleus of all Christian Prayer. 

This bond is created with Someone, 

and that Someone is God.  

Our Source of Life continually bids each of us into a loving union. 

The process of prayer unfolds in a way similar to Jesus' inviting his disciples to follow him into a deeper friendship, 

a closeness that did not develop instantly. 

 Prayer is a kind of companionship 

that develops step by step,

 as we are drawn into an ever expanding oneness of love.

"Prayer" is not only about entering into a relationship with God; 

it is also about being changed. 

Healthy prayer strengthens our bond with the Creator 

and it also transforms us. 

Every encounter with God provides the opportunity for us to grow spiritually. 

Prayer makes a difference in our life 

because it nudges and persuades us to develop Christ like qualities 

in our attitudes and actions. 

Through prayer we become more loving, gracious,

 compassionate, and justice-oriented beings. 

When this happen, 

we are altered in a positive way 

and the world we touch is also changed for the better." 

- Joyce Rupp, Prayer -

MAY WE ALWAYS BE DOCILE AND WILLING 

TO BE SEIZED BY OUR LOVING GOD 

WHO CONTINUALLY DRAW US CLOSER 

TO GOD'S EVER EXPANDING ONENESSS OF LOVE!

PRAYER - SURPRISE AND COMMUNION WITH GOD

PRAYING does not always take place 
in a contained or predetermined place of reflection.

 We NEVER know when 
there might be an interior turning 
toward the one who dwells 
within us and among us.... 
       

...at any time and any place 

we can be 
SURPRISED and DRAWN INTO COMMUNION

   by the unanticipated sense of God's nearness.

- Joyce Rupp, Prayer -



May we always be open to be surprised
and to be transformed in our lives
as "we know God deeper, love God dearer and follow God closer!"

What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure?

I think it is the hope of loving and being loved.

I heard a fable once about the sun going on a journey

to find its source, and how the moon wept without her lover's warm grace.

We weep when light does not reach our hearts.

We wither like fields if someone close does not rain their kindness upon us."

Meister Eckhart, from LOVE POEMS FROM GOD, 
translated by Daniel  Ladinsky. 109

"And so we pray:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy 
answers, half truths, and superficial
relationships so that you will live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice,
oppression, and using people on earth
so that you will work for justice, equity and peace.

May God bless you with weeping and desolation, 
so that you may grow compassion 
for those who suffer because of others,
and may you reach out to them.

And May God bless you with foolishness
to think that you can make a difference
where you are, in this world, in this ministry,
in your surroundings, 
and that you can do the things
which others say cannot be done.

We pray this, God, in your Name. Amen."

-Original author of prayer unknown, adapted by Alexis Navarro

Extend your arms in welcome to the future.

The best is yet to come!

-Anthony de Mello, SJ- 

Let us pray that we may allow God to continually draw us closer into this loving union that we deeply long for. That we may trust, grow and blossom as we become deeply united with God in this ever expanding Oneness of Love. 

Let us trust that through God's grace, 

we  may then become transformed to become more loving, gracious, compassionate and justice oriented persons, and thus, become partakers of God's creative change in our broken world!

PRAYER OF ABANDONMENT

Take , Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding
and my eternal will - all that I have 
and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you,  Lord, I return it.

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

-St Ignatius of Loyola - 

 TRUST IN GOD

...trust in the slow work of God

We are quite naturally impatient in everything

to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown,

something new...

And so it is with us...

Do not try to force... as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your good )

will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense and incomplete.

-Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, SJ-

REST IN THE GOODNESS OF GOD,

FOR THAT GOODNESS 
REACHES 
TO THE DEPTHS OF OUR NEEDS!

Julian of Norwich

PATIENT TRUST
Above all, trust in the slow work of God
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end of the day without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate states.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that is made by passing through
some stages of instability -
and that it may take a very long time.

And so it think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually -let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Do not try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you,
and 
accept the anxiety of feeling yourself 
in suspense and incomplete.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ

"Nothing is more important than finding God, 

that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute and final way!

What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, 
will affect everything.

 It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, 

what yo do with your evenings, 
how you spend your week-ends, 
what you read, 
who you know, 
what breaks your heart, 
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. 

Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything." 

Quote attributed to Fr. Arrupe, SJ

LOVE  is founded on our desire for completion

"to be whole, to be in harmony, to be connected, to be free."

What is it that completes us?

 It does not have to be a person,

it could be work, an experience in nature,

a hobby or something else...

MAY WE ALWAYS BE IN LOVE, 

that is, may we be always in touch with and be grounded on

 what it is that completes us!

"A heart that is full of love always has something to give."
Pope John XXIII


"This is the MIRACLE that happens every time to those who love:
the more they give, the more they possess."  
  Rainier Maria Rilkie


JOY IS THE MOST INFALLIBLE SIGN OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD!
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ

Have You Spent Some Quality Time with Someone Today?

HAVE YOU SPENT SOME UNDIVIDED ATTENTION WITH SOMEBODY YOU LOVE TODAY!

A powerful video below caught my attention this week.  I was organizing my computer files and found this forwarded video among my ever-filing e-mails.  The video made me realize what has prevented me from finding some satisfaction from work recently.CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Because of my institution's expectations on work productivity and thus, my bosses' vigilant implementation of cutting down on loose hours,   I noticed during the past days that I was rushed, automatic and constrained in how  much time to spend to interact with others, especially with my patients and their family members and with my co-workers. It reminded me of my past ER nursing dilemma before I entered religious life - either to become efficient and quick or be compassionately caring.  I admit that I tend to forget and overlook the "sacramentallity" of my job, especially when I have been busy the whole day with a heavy load under my care.  It is a "judgment call "to be attuned and engaged" because at work we are expected not to be engaging in long, unnecessary and unrelated nursing interactions.  Truly, the ordinary works that we do and how we have been conditioned to do them, can become traps that could prevent us from deeply connecting with our God, others and ourselves.  

It is a good awareness. We have to be always conscious that, wherever we go, we are walking on God's holy ground. I needed to be centered, be contemplative and be reflective. 

I just thought that, oftentimes, when we look back and reflect at night times about what happened during the day,  we remember very well the person/s that has/have spent quality time with us.  The same thing happens to others,  it is the person/s that has/have spent quality time with them that makes them remember us or the special graced moments in their lives.  

Don't we like to make a difference in how we care for our loved ones/others?  Don't we like our loved ones/others to remember how much they really meant to us and how much God loves them for who they are?  It is not so much of what they do but in who they are as a person. 


So how could we make a difference? How about wearing a warm gentle smile, or intentionally extending a caring touch, or simply looking at them in the eye and say, "let me know what and how I can be of help?" even how busy we are in our daily routines? Or why don't we develop a mantra,  like "Have you said 'Thank you God' today?" for us always remember how we all should be grateful to God every moment of our lives.  

How about the quotation below "to the world, you may be just  one person...but to one person, you might be their world! So smile, shine through and touch someone's life deeply today?" Remember what St. Theresa said that today in our broken world, we are God's eyes, hearts and hands, especially called by God to be with those who are yearning to feel God's Love.

May we be inspired to be creative and to find the time that we need to create a safe and warm space inside of us and and may we always have the time to share this special space with those people that we touch everyday. 

God's Blessings!

Living on a Prayer

Living on a Prayer - A powerful write up of Aron Ralston's life recaptured by "Inspiration by God." This article showed how his tragic yet courageous experience in Utah can spark hope in us all, particularly to those who are experiencing dark nights in our lives. While "canyoning" in the rockies of Utah, Aron was trapped and pinned down for four days, by a boulder of rock that fell on him. For five days and five nights, he was alone, helpless and almost desperate and was crying out for help. Until, a sudden surge of spirit dawned upon him that made him do the unthinkable - to cut his arm so that he can free himself and live. He claimed that it was God who spoke to him and sustained him but it was the combination of his faith and free will that saved him. Amazing life story. Aron's strong character and his refusal to be in despair, I believe, arose from his being grounded on God in his sufferings. 

Aron's remarkable testimony reminds me of Dawana Markova's inspirational poem, which has become my "mantra" during my own trying times.  -  

  "I Will Not Die An Unlived Life"

        "I will not live an unlived life, I will not live in fear, of falling or catching fire.

         I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open to me,

         to make me less afraid, more accessible;

         to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.

         I choose to risk my significance to live 

so that which came to me as a seed,

         goes to the next as blossom,

         and that which come to me as blossom, 

goes on as a fruit."

May we, in our personal lives, not only befriend our own pains, trials and tribulations and like Aron, may we come out stronger and blessed in the process of embracing them. May we also, in return, continue to be a source of grace and blessings to others, especially to those around us.