NIGHT PRAYER: Friday 12/12

Every year at this time I look for ways to reach out to those who need this season's comfort and joy but who find the holidays to be a difficult time... Perhaps you're one of those folks or perhaps you know some others who are...  Let's  pray together...

    

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Lord,

    the jolly jingles are all around -

    but not in every heart...

    Red and green are everywhere -

    but some folks

    just feel blue...

    The rushing 'round
    to buy and wrap
    disheartens lonely souls...

 

    Plans for Christmas eve
    forget
    the ones who'll be alone...

    This merry month can be,
    for some,
    the saddest time of year...            

 

    So, help me, Lord,

    to share, not miss,

    what comfort comes my way...

 

    Help me see

    when clouds of blue

    engulf my neighbor's heart...

 

    Help me hear and tend
    whose tears may fall

    when bells chime out... 

 

    Help me wrap 

    my love to share,

    with those who'll be alone...

    You came, O Lord,

    as one like us,

    to mend our broken hearts...

    You know our loss,

    you share our pain,

    you feel our empty ache...

    Then drop a blessing

    from your hand

    on brokenhearted souls:

      your gentle touch  

      as soft as snow,

      your peace on Christmas day...

 

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake,

    watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we keep the watch with you

    and sleep, rest in your peace...

 
Amen.

Your Hands by JJ Heller

If a widget doesn't appear below, click here!    

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That you would take my pain away
You would take my pain away

You would take my pain away 

 

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crooked lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

 

When my world is shaking
    Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
    I never leave your hands

 

When you walked upon the earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know you hate to see me cry
One day you will set all things right
Yeah, one day you will set all things right

 

When my world is shaking
    Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
    I never leave your hands

 

Your hands, your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still

 

When my world is shaking
    Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
    I never leave you -

When my world is shaking
    Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
    I never leave your hands 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

Pause for Prayer: FRIDAY 12/12

Today, December 12, is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patron Saint of the Americas.  

Take a few moments to consider how often Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Honduras, Haiti and the Caribbean Sea are in the news these days.  And consider the poverty and political unrest that pervades so much of this half of the world...  There are so many people and so many reasons for us to call on Our Lady of Guadalupe who watches over the Americas through the eyes and heart and the mercy and grace of her son, Jesus...

In 1531 Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in Mexico to Cuauhtlatohuac, baptized Juan Diego, a peasant, on whose cloak there appeared an image on the Blessed Virgin as he had seen her in the vision.  

Here's a beautiful prayer for today's feast, written by Danilo Mendoza Rugama, SJ at The Jesuit Post.

 

*Mi Morenita…

you who took our flesh 

   by appearing as a Native of the Americas,
you who heed our cry 

   during our darkest of moments,
you who appeared 

  accompanied with the signs of flowers 

   and the singing of birds, 

      announcing yourself as the mother of the Great Truth,
you who praise God through your dance,
you who brought not only a message, 

   but The Message was in your womb,

 

My Merciful Mother… 

thank you for being light in our darkest moments 

   and embracing us with your mantle of tenderness;

thank you for wanting to carry us in your heart, 

   where we can also hear and be close 

      to the heart of your Son;

thank you for accompanying us 

   as we labor in God’s vineyard 

when you tell us 

   as you told Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin: 

      "Am I not here, who am your Mother?

      Are you not under my shadow and protection?

      Am I not the source of your joy?

      Are you not in the hollow of my mandle,

          in the crossing of my arms?

      Do you need something more?"

             (Nican Mopohua, 119)

**Mi Madrecita Querida… 

help us obtain from your Son, 

   the grace to always direct our gaze 

where the dignity of our brothers and sisters

    is being violated;
help us obtain from your Son, 

   the grace to become messengers of The Truth 

      when so many lies try to blind us to suffering;
help our lives become a dance 

   that praises, reverences and serves God 

      with our whole beings. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

*Morenita is a term of endearment for a dark skinned woman 

** Madrecita Querida means "My dearest Mother"

 

And a song!

This lullaby (as beautiful as it is simple!) is sung in Juan Diego's native Nahuatl language.

Xicochi Conetzintle by Gaspar Fernandes (1566–1629)

If a widget doesn't appear below, click here!   

 

Nahuatl language

Xicochi, xicochi,
Xicochi, xicochi
Xicochi conetzintle
Xicochi conetzintle
Ca omizhuihuixoco in angelosme
Ca omizhuihuixoco in angelosme
Ca omizhuihuixoco in angelosme
In angelosme in angelosme

Alleluya alleluya

English translation 

Sleep, sleep

Sleep, sleep
Sleep, precious baby
Sleep, precious baby
Indeed, the angels have come here 

   to rock you to sleep
Indeed, the angels have come here 

   to rock you to sleep
Indeed, the angels have come here 

   to rock you to sleep

Alleluia, alleluia

 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 12/11

These verses are taken from the first reading at mass today, from the prophet Isaiah...  

 

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain,
   their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the LORD, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights,
   and fountains in the broad valleys;
I will turn the desert into a marshland,
   and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar,
   acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wasteland the cypress,
   together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know,
   observe and understand,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
   the Holy One of Israel has created it.

 

Lord, you promise to do

    what seems to be impossible -

so again and again and again

    I wish, I hope, I ask and pray

you'll do what seems impossible 

    - right in my own life...

 

I pray you'll change in me, Lord,

    what I have so long found

        - to be impossible to change...

 

I pray you'll help me give up

    what I cling to and give into

        - as impossible to change...                                                           

 

I pray you'll help me pardon

    precisely those I find to be

        - impossible to forgive...

 

I pray you'll help me finally do

    the tough things I too often deem

        - impossible to do...  

But nothing is impossible

    - at least, Lord, not with you -

so help me, with your gift of grace

    to see all things as possible,    

with you there by my side

    with your mercy and your strength...

 

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

    and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep rest in your peace...

 

Amen. 

 

Nothing Is Impossible 

   by John Michael Talbot 

If a widget doesn't appear below, click here!

 

Nothing is impossible...

 

For nothing is impossible with God 

Overshadowed by the Holy Spirit

Nothing is impossible with God

Bearing in your life the good news

 

The angel of the Lord has appeared

Proclaiming to be all of good will

Be still and do not be afraid

Proclaim to the world God is near

 

For nothing is impossible with God 

Overshadowed by the Holy Spirit

Nothing is impossible with God

Bearing in your life the good news

 

We question and we say how can this be?

How can love ever conquer evil?

In a world full of violence and of sin

We are simply mortal, we may not live

But nothing is impossible with God

Overshadowed by the Holy Spirit

Nothing is impossible with God

Bearing in your life the good news

 

Greater is He, who is within

Then the one who is within this world

Stand up and do not be afraid    

Proclaim to the world the good news

For nothing is impossible with God

Over shadowed by the Holy Spirit

Nothing is impossible with God

Bearing in your life the good news

 

Nothing is impossible with God

Over shadowed by the Holy Spirit

Nothing is impossible with God

Bearing in your life the good news

Nothing is impossible...

Nothing is impossible with God...

  

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!