Prayers posted by athena sage RSSThu, 11 Aug 2022 21:51:44 GMTNovena - First DayFirst Day | Second Day | Third Day | Fourth Day | Fifth Day | Sixth Day | Seventh Day | Eighth Day | Ninth DayAct of Repentance  I believe in Thee, O my God.Strengthen, O Lord, my faith.I hope in Thee, O my God.Affirm, O Lord, my hope.I love Thee, O my God.Increase, O Lord, my love.I repent of having offended Thee.O my God, help me to have contrition,So that I may, with the help of Thy graceAnd the powerful patronage ofHoly Mary of Good Success,Never sin again.O Lord, have pity and mercy on me.Amen.Opening PrayerO most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven,Holy Mary of Good Success,Most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father,Most beloved Mother of the Divine Son,Most cherished Spouse of the Holy Ghost,Sublime throne of the Divine Majesty,August Temple of the Holy Trinity,In whom the Three Divine PersonsHave placed the treasures ofTheir Power, Wisdom, and Love!Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success,Whom God has made so greatSo that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners;Remember that thou has often promised to show thyselfA merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee.I come to thee then, Mother most merciful,And I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High,That thou shouldst obtain for me from God the FatherA lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths;From the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that gloryThat He won for me with His Blood;And from the Holy Ghost,A charity so inflamed that I will always liveLoving the Supreme Goodness and thee,Most Holy Virgin, until, through thy intervention,I should love and enjoy thee eternally in glory.Amen.We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.Hail Mary...We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.Hail Mary...We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.Hail Mary...Glory be to the Father...Consider how great and incomparable are the wonders of God Omnipotent, manifesting the treasures of His Mercy in favor of those He ... Read more

]]>Thu, 11 Aug 2022 21:51:44 GMTPrayer to St. John XXIIICatholic Online PrayersDear Pope John,Your simplicity and meekness carried the scent of God and sparked in people's hearts the desire for goodness. You spoke often of the beauty of the family gathered around the table to share bread and faith: pray for us that once again true families would live in our homes. With outstretched hands you sowed hope, and you taught us to listen for God's footsteps as he prepares a new humanity: help us have a healthy optimism of defeating evil with good.You loved the world with its light and darkness, and you believed that peace is possible: help us be instruments of peace at home and in our communities.With paternal gentleness you gave all children a caress: you moved the world and reminded us that hands have been given to us not for striking, but for embracing and drying tears.Pray for us so that we do not limit ourselves to cursing the darkness but that we bring the light, bringing Jesus everywhere and always praying to Mary. Amen.St. John Paul, from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing! Bless the church that you loved and served and guided, courageously leading it along the paths of the world in order to bring Jesus to everyone and everyone to Jesus. Bless the young, who were your great passion. Help them dream again, help them look up high again to find the light that illuminates the paths of life here on earth.May you bless families, bless each family! You warned of Satan's assault against this precious and indispensable divine spark that God lit on earth. St. John Paul, with your prayer, may you protect the family and every life that blossoms from the family.Pray for the whole world, which is still marked by tensions, wars and injustice. You tackled war by invoking dialogue and planting the seeds of love: pray for us so that we may be tireless sowers of peace.Oh St. John Paul, from heaven's window, where we see you next to Mary, send God's blessing down upon us all. Amen.... Read more

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]]>Sat, 07 Aug 2021 21:04:11 GMTWhat if I have trouble getting better?All of us have said it, or thought it, one time or another. "I don't seem to get better." We pray. We go to church. We aren't terrible people. But, we feel that the basic things in my life which keep me from being happy, seem to stay the same. We find ourselves going to Confession - perhaps monthly, perhaps before Christmas and before Easter - and we say, "I seem to always be confessing the same things." Or, we don't go to Confession any more, because we seem to confess the same things.We have fallen into bad habits. We feel bad about being so impatient or judgmental. We don't like it that we gossip or hurt people we don't like, behind their backs. We don't like how we might drink too much, from time to time, no matter how many times we've said we didn't want to do that again. We are disappointed and a bit embarrassed that we return to sexual fantasies too much. We can be mad at the media around us, and at what's available on the web, but we go there and it keeps being a place we allow ourselves to be drawn back to, over and over.We can all make a list of the ruts we are in. We can get very specific about the patterns which define our contribution to why some of our relationships aren't very good or why we don't do very well with tensions or conflicts at work. And, if we got very reflective about it, we can make an even bigger list of what we "fail to do" - the things we know we should do but never get around to doing. It becomes very difficult to care for the poor I don't see or have any occasion to notice.Paul said it in his letter to the Romans, chapter 15:19, "I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want."Wanting to changeSo, what do we do? What is the path to real conversion, real change? We know that seeking grace from the Sacrament of Reconciliation can be very powerful. God's mercy can not only forgive us but also heal us. When experience unconditional love deeply enough, we can find the desire to change,... Read more

]]>Fri, 21 May 2021 11:36:35 GMTPraying As We AgePrayer is essentially about nurturing our relationship with God.  We can have a relationship with each of the persons of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We can also have a relationship with the saints.  As we grow older, all of our relationships in life tend to change.  And, experience has shown that our relationship with God goes through some changes as we age.  What are those changes and how can we prepare for them and experience them with grace?Change happens the longer a relationship lastsWe all know that relationships have a flow.  There are ups and downs.  There are times of greater or less intimacy.  We spend lots of time together and then we can get very busy and spend less time.  Communication changes as we grow in comfort and grow in the skills necessary to reveal ourselves to another and to express our feelings more deeply.  Sometimes, there are great ruptures in a relationship, with perhaps a period of distance, followed by reconciliation and a renewed connection.  Good, healthy, loving, self-sacrificing relationships grow in lover more deeply as the years go by.  Signs of affection can become simpler and more bonding.  There has been a strong growth in a sense of “us-together” which is beyond “me and you.”  In long-lasting relationships, there can be a growing comfort, just being in each other’s presence.Our relationship with God has these same patternsFundamentally our relationship with God is a gift.  We don’t create it, earn it or maintain it on our own.  However, our relationship with God has many of these same elements.  To the degree that we continue to nurture in that relationship, with personal interaction – moving beyond formal prayers, written by others – we can grow in intimacy with God.  Formal prayers, as well as devotions, rituals and liturgy, are key ways to nurture a prayer life, for us as individuals and as a community.  However, Pope Francis makes an important distinction between “saying prayers” and prayin... Read more

]]>Fri, 21 May 2021 11:33:05 GMTTurning to MaryAs we age, we can turn to Mary, the mother of Jesus, the mother of the Church, to grow in affection for her and to learn from her, as rely upon her for help.  Her Magnificat is a marvelous prayer for our journey.  She can teach us to say, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” in whatever way in our lives those words will be full of grace.  And, as St. Ignatius prayed to her, we can ask her, “Mary, place me with your Son.”  So much anxiety and fear, so much doubt and anger can be softened and healed with Mary’s help.With Mary’s assistance, let us pray for the graces we need in the journey ahead of us, and let us pray for each other, especially for those who are struggling the most through the last years of their lives.My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,my spirit rejoices in God my Saviorfor he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.From this day all generations will call me blessed:the Almighty has done great things for me,and holy is his Name.He has mercy on those who fear himin every generation.He has shown the strength of his arm,he has scattered the proud in their conceit.He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,and has lifted up the lowly.He has filled the hungry with good things,and the rich he has sent away empty.He has come to the help of his servant Israelfor he has remembered his promise of mercy,the promise he made to our fathers,to Abraham and his children for ever.-The Magnificat – the ICEL translation

]]>Fri, 21 May 2021 11:22:35 GMTDeveloping some new practices which might serve us well in the futureSome of the new practices we can develop are fitting for maintaining a connected, relational prayer life, as we grow older.  We can begin by reflecting on a plan which will serve us, depending upon where our relationship is now and where we would like it to be in the future.For example, we might want to decide that there are several ways we want to write out very simple prayers of trust and surrender, expressions of serenity and faith, which we can begin to make a part of our ongoing connection with God.  As we put together these various, personal ways of saying, “Lord, let my life be in your hands,” we can then begin the practice of saying these prayers at particular times in our day – when we get going in the morning, at meal times, and perhaps when we encounter a challenging moment.  Developing these patterns will be a great benefit for us, when it becomes more difficult to develop new patterns later.Another thing we can do is to begin to get comfortable with gesture.  For example, we could speak to our Lord, either at home or while we are sitting quietly in church before Mass or a worship service, with our hands open on our lap.  That simple sign of an open heart, a relationship of trust, can “carry” the time of communion with our Lord, when words might later fail us.  And, at some time in the future, when we are facing great struggle or severe pain, we will be so blessed to have developed a habit of opening our hands when we are in communion with our Lord.  At those very difficult times, that simple gesture can seal the communion we need at that time, when we might not have any energy or strength and might be without words, even without thinking.St. Paul encourages us to think about the things of heaven, rather than the things of earth.  (Colossians 3:2)  As we get older, this advice becomes more important.  Though there can be troubles and sometimes many very worldly circumstances which take ... Read more

]]>Fri, 21 May 2021 11:20:08 GMTPreparing to age, spirituallyJust as physical exercise can help us stay fit longer and prepare for the physical effects of aging, so, too, spiritual exercising can help us prepare for the transition in our relationship with God and with others, on a spiritual level.  Whether we are 50 or 70, we can prepare for what is to come.By reflecting upon the blessings and challenges of aging, we can assess at this time what our desires are, as we age.We can say to ourselves, “I want to grow in my ability to be open to what is to come in the future, by beginning to pray for the grace to surrender to the Lord more and more at this time of my life, so that I’ll be more comfortable with living out those graces in the future.”We might acknowledge, “I’m recognizing that I can be fairly impatient and inflexible these days.  I don’t want to get worse, when I get older.  I want to begin asking the Lord for the grace to let go more and to place my life in God’s hands, with each challenging experience of my day, of my life.”Very specific desires are very helpful:  “I’ve been simply feeling more and more selfish these days.  I really don’t have terrible burdens to carry, but I have been feeling a lot of self-pity.  I can’t imagine what an older, more struggling version of me will look like in the future.  I really need to take a concrete turn here.  I need to make a list of what I have to be grateful for and start practicing new behaviors for when I slip into those patterns.”A growing desire might be expressed in the form of a prayer:  “Lord, I have put off growing in simple intimacy with you.  I have lots of excuses, most of them legitimate.  My life has been busy.  I haven’t always stayed close to you or let you be close to me in my daily life.  I don’t want to wait until I have a heart attack, or find out I have cancer, dementia or some other illness or disability, before I try growing closer to you.  Let me have the graces I need to develop and feel a closeness and growing dependence... Read more

]]>Fri, 21 May 2021 11:18:24 GMTAging can have blessings and challenges for us, as we ageIt has been said that the great advantage of getting older is that we have learned from the mistakes we’ve made before.  So often, one of the great blessings of the maturity of years is that we grow in experience and wisdom.  Maturity comes with growing freedom, after the journey of youth.  We can become more secure and settled. We have often faced some of the biggest hurdles of our life.  We’ve likely experienced a number of losses and hurts and found ways to integrate those losses and hurts into our faith life.  We’ve probably moved beyond being angry at God for not doing what we’ve wanted God to do and more grateful for God’s faithful presence with us, especially during the most difficult times.  Aging can be wonderful when it involves maturing, especially maturing in our ability to relate with others with balance and generosity, and our ability to relate with God with a maturing faith.Of course, aging can also be very challenging.  While aging can bring maturity, wisdom and an inner peace, it can involve diminishment and illness.  Though we gain from the experiences of our past, there is a natural wearing down of our bodies, as we age, even when we keep ourselves in good physical shape.  We experience that we just don’t have the agility, the energy, the facility with reacting that we used to have.  That experience is often progressive.  We feel it more and more in our 50’s, our 60’s, our 70’s, our 80’s and our 90’s.  And, as we age, various health problems can develop – chronic and critical ones.  They can further diminish us, as least lessen our experience of resilience.

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