Lord, Hear Our Prayer
/The internet is a formidable force for bringing the comfort and consolation and hope of the Lord to all of us. It can be an incredibily powerful medium for community. There is an unfathomable resource for prayer here. We have on the 'net the privilege of praying for people and of being witness to the miracles brought forth when fervent, faith-fulled people pray for one another.
Let's be that community of hope and faith for one another.
How about this idea? What if I pop in here every weekend, share Sunday's gospel and talk a wee bit about how we can live it and pray it in our homes? And then you tell me how we can pray for you that week? Deal?
{And please, do return and let us know how prayer is bearing fruit.}
{iPhone image from early morning prayer walk yesterday.}
Gospel
Jn 20:19-23
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, "Peace be with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."
Or Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15
"When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you."
Think
“Our works are in no way comparable in greatness to the tree of glory they produce. Still they have the vigor and virtue to produce it because they proceed from the Holy Spirit. By a wondrous infusion of His grace into our hearts He makes our works become His and yet at the same time lets them remain our own, since we are members of a Head of which he is the Spirit and since we are engrafted on a tree of which He is the divine sap.”
~ ~ ~
“When the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, wishes to make our soul docile, tractable and obedient to his divine movements and heavenly inspirations, which are the laws of his love, he gives us seven properties and perfections . They are called the gifts of the Holy Spirit...These gifts are inseparable from charity. Charity is made up of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit as of so many sacred steps. They are: wisdom, understanding, science, counsel, fortitude, piety, fear."
-St. Francis de Sales
Pray
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Act
It's a big deal feast day! Have a party!
A salad with seven fruits is a good beginning...