Pause for Prayer: VALENTINES DAY

Whether your mail box is full of hearts and lace today - or not - here's a Valentine for you addressed to your heart...

God's Valentine for You 

 ♥ No one has loved you longer than I have:
        I loved you before you were born, before you were conceived,
           before all time began... 

 ♥ No one holds you closer than I do:
         I'm right by your side 24/7/365
            - I'm truly your BFF...

 ♥ No one loves you more faithfully than I do:
         my love for you is unfailing,
            I love you with no strings attached...

 ♥ No one loves you more wisely than I do:
        I guide you through all of your troubles,
           my wisdom and counsel are my gifts to you...

 ♥ No one loves you more mercifully than I do:
        I freely forgive you and forgive you again,
           I'll always give you a new beginning ...

 ♥ No one loves you more deeply than I do:
        I dwell in your heart of hearts,
           I make my home in the depths of your soul...

 ♥ No one loves you more joyfully than I do,
        I delight in the person I made you to be,
           I love you more than you know or imagine...

 ♥ No one loves you more passionately than I do,
          I gave my Beloved out of love for you:
            now I call you my chosen, my child, my own...

 ♥ No one loves you more graciously than I do:
           I love you more than anyone has,
              ever can, ever could, ever will...
         
♥ No one loves you more fully than I do
         for indeed, I Am Love: I abide in you
           and you in me, for ever and ever.  Amen.  
 

For prayer today, you might want to ask yourself,

"Which of these ten Valentines from God
   did I most need to receive?"

"Which of these Valentines

    is most difficult for me to believe?"

"Which of these Valentines

    brings me the most peace in my heart?"

"For which of these Valentines

    am I most grateful?" 

 

I Have Loved You by Michael Joncas

 

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NIGHT PRAYER: Friday 2/13

On the eve of Valentines Day, Lord,

    I pray for a new heart, a clean heart... 

 

Beginning now, as I sit with you in prayer,

    wash my heart with your mercy: 

    wash away my sins and give me a clean slate, 

    a fresh start, a new beginning...

Give me a pure heart
   to put your law, your love and the needs of others
   ahead of my own will and wants and desires...

Give me a heart strong enough
   to say the truth when it's mine to speak,
   to do what's fair when I'm tempted to cheat,
   and to reach out generously and not hold back...

Give me a wise heart
   open to your counsel, thirsty for your grace
   and hungry for your word...

Give me a hope-filled heart
   open to what is good, to what can be,
   to all you have in store for me...

Give me a loving heart, Lord,
   that gives of itself, on its own
   and doesn't count the cost...

Embed in my new heart a steadfast spirit:
   faithful to you, faithful to prayer,
   faithful to those entrusted to my care,
   faithful to what's just and good and worthy
   of a heart fashioned by your hand..

As much as I desire this new heart, Lord,
   I know I'll yet resist your offering it to me:
my fears, my old ways,
   my grudges and resentments,
   my anxious holding on to what I know
   rather than surrendering to what I don't -
all this makes me slow, wary, even afraid
   to welcome even you
   into the chambers of my soul...

And so I pray your Spirit will move me
   to open what I keep closed,
   let go what I jealously cling to,
   empty my heart of all its clutter,
   and invite you in where you belong,
      where I belong to you...

A clean heart create for me, O God,
   and a steadfast spirit renew within me:
   and please, Lord, begin your work in me today...

In the stillness of my prayer,
   help me know that you are near, that you are here,
   that you are God:
   Lord of my heart, Lord of all my days...

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
   and put a new and steadfast spirit in my soul...

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. 

 

A Heart Like Yours by  Cedric Caldwell

 

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I tried to reach out for You but I fall 

Sometimes You seem so close and yet so far 

Oh I need another chance, I need to know 

Your mercy Just give me the strength, 

To change within 

 

I know I'm not all that I can be 

My weakness seems to get the best of me 

But as long as You are here 

I know that I will make it 

Every step along the way 

Please hear my prayer 

 

A heart like Yours,is my desire 

A heart like Yours,

Is what I'm searching for 

Full of compassion 

Nothing wrong within 

Please hear me, Lord 

Give me a heart like Yours 

 

So much grace, so much kindness 

So much faith, forever true 

Strong as the wind, soft as the shadows 

If just once, I could be like You 

 

Chorus 

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Pause for Prayer: FRIDAY 2/13

 

The approach of Valentine's Day tomorrow  is exciting and promising for many - but difficult and lonely for others: those who bring heartbreak... loss...  grief...  or disappointment... to Valentines Day. If that's you - or someone you know - this post might be helpful.   Today's Pause for Prayer is Jan Richardson's blessing for the brokenhearted...

A Blessing for the Brokenhearted
There is no remedy for love but to love more.
– Henry David Thoreau

Let us agree
for now
that we will not say
the breaking
makes us stronger
or that it is better
to have this pain
than to have done
without this love.

Let us promise
we will not
tell ourselves
time will heal
the wound
when every day
our waking
opens it anew.

Perhaps for now
it can be enough
to simply marvel
at the mystery
of how a heart
so broken
can go on beating,
as if it were made
for precisely this—

as if it knows
the only cure for love
is more of it

as if it sees
the heart’s sole remedy
for breaking
is to love still

as if it trusts
that its own stubborn
and persistent pulse
is the rhythm
of a blessing
we cannot
begin to fathom
but will save us
nonetheless.

– Jan Richardson 

     in The Painted Prayerbook

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NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 2/12

I didn't watch the Super Bowl half-time show - so this post is not a comment on Bad Bunny or his music.  I did, however, hear Charlie Puth's rendition of the national anthem - and Kenny G's jazzy cameo - so that may have an influence in tonight's post.  But more than all that, today is the 102nd anniversary of the debut of George Gershin's Rhapsody in Blue...

The psalmist tells us, Lord, to praise you

    with the sound of the trumpet,

    with harp and lyre,

    with timbrel and dancing,

    with strings and pipe

    with the clash of cymbals

    - with resounding cymbals!  

 

It seems that all kinds of instruments

    might render you fitting praise,

that all manner of music  

    might give the glory 

        that's due your holy name!

 

Perhaps, then, Lord - a clarinet, too!

A licorice stick of sensuous sound,

    dark and woody in its soulful depths,

    bright and clear in its highest range,

    a vox humana singing out

    as though possessed of its very own soul...

 

All sounds praise you, Lord!

All sounds voice the wisdom of your Word:

    echoing through your universe,

    age after age upon age,

    in ripples gently reaching

    to the depths of every human heart... 

 

For instruments, then, of every kind,

    all genres, be they old or new;

for nature's grand orchestral score

    conducted by your Spirit;

for the song that sings

    within my soul,

I thank you, Lord, and lift my voice

    to glorify your name!

Protect me, Lord while I'm awake

    and watch over  me while we sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen. 

 

Here's one musician's take on Gershwin's piece - I'm a big fan of Charles Cornell! And here's what some believe to be the best performance ever: Earl Wild at the piano with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler conducting (1959). Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

 

Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershin

 

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Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 2/12

No day passes without a word from you, Lord:
    in prayer, in silence, in nature,
      in the words of those around me...

I wonder what you'll say to me today,

    what word you have for me today? 

And will I be listening?  

And will I hear you?

Slow me down, Lord:
    open my ears, my eyes and my heart...

I don't want to miss a word!

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NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 2/11

Is there anyone among us 

    who doesn't long

        for peaceful days and restful nights?

Anyone who doesn't hope
    for just one carefree day,
        an evening filled with peace?

Anyone who doesn't ache
    to be accepted, known and loved
        - no strings attached?

We're more the same than different:

    our similarities 

        outnumber our disparities...

 

From the same place deep within

    we all want, need and hunger

       for  the same bread of love

and only those who hunger so

    can feed another's heart...

 

Good God,
    help me to see, to know and nourish
        the hearts of those around me

and open wide my heart to all

    who'd love and feed and nourish me....

 

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. 

 

Teach Me to Love You by Chinedu Egbulefu 

 

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The outrage is real, not fake...

Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, 

Archbishop of Chicago, 

calling for an apology from the White House 

for a racist social media post

 

February 9, 2026

Portraying human beings as animals – less than human – is not new.

It was a common way in past centuries for politicians and others to demean immigrant groups as each arrived, the Chinese, Irish, Italians, Slavs, Jews, Latinos and so on. Cartoons, “news” articles, even theatrical productions carried the message that these “others” were worthy of ridicule.

It made it easier to turn a blind eye to their privation, pay them pitiful wages and mock their “foreign” religion even as the country needed their labor. It immunized the national conscience when we turned away shiploads of refugees, lynched thousands and doomed generations to poverty.

We tell ourselves that those days belong in the past – that even sharing that history is harmful to the fantasy of equality we strive to create.

A few days ago, we saw that in the White House such blatant racism is not merely a practice of the past. If the President intentionally approved the message containing viciously racist images, he should admit it. If he did not know of it originally, he should explain why he let his staff describe the public outcry over their transmission as fake outrage.

Either way he should apologize. Our shock is real. So is our outrage. Nothing less than an unequivocal apology – to the nation and to the persons demeaned – is acceptable.

And it must come immediately.

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Pause for Prayer: WEDNESDAY 2/11

 

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NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 2/10

 

It's almost Ash Wednesday - just 8 days away!

So tonight I pray you'll help me, Lord,

to get a head start

on preparing and planning

what I'll do for Lent this year...

Or...

 

Or maybe I need to sit still and be quiet 

so you can get a head start,

preparing me, Lord,

for what what you've got planned,

what you want to do 

what you have prepared 

for my mind, my heart and my life this Lent...

After all, Lord,

who knows better than you 

what needs to change in me,

    in my words and my deeds,

    my thoughts and desires,

    my appetites and habits,

    my relationships and affections,   

    my honesty and fairness,

    my selfishness and pride

    my integrity and loyalty...

 

Who knows better than you

    how my heart needs rebooting,

    my path needs rerouting,

    my prayer needs deepening,

    my generosity needs stretching,

    my honesty needs honing,

    my passions need taming,

    my ego needs humbling,

    and my conscience needs fine tuning...

   

Who knows better than you, Lord,

    what I might give up, 

    what I should give up,

    what I might let go, give away,

      leave behind 

    and learn to do without this Lent...

Who knows better than you, Lord,

    the time I waste in foolish ways

        that I might spend in prayer...

 

Who knows better than you, Lord, 

    all I have  

        - and all that I could share -

    with those who have so much less than I?

Who knows better than you, Lord,

    how my heart might heal,

    how my faith might deepen,

    how my ways might change,

    how my hope and trust in you might change

        this Lent - and in my life...

 

You have a plan

    for what you want to do

        in the season of Lent just ahead...

Help me see and know your plan for me   

    and open my heart and my soul

       to your gracious and healing mercy...

 

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.

 

(Click here to receive a free, Lenten pocket Cross!) 

 

Spirit of the Living God by Daniel Iverson

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Lenten Pocket Crosses Have Arrived!

This year's Lenten pocket Crosses have arrived - all 500 of them!

 

Ash Wednesday is February 18!

 

TO RECEIVE A POCKET CROSS...

 

• Send a self-addressed, STAMPED envelope to me at: 

Fr. Austin Fleming

124 Cochituate Road

Wayland, MA 01778

• Use 2 first class stamps on the return envelope to ensure that the Cross I send you won't be returned to me for insufficient postage.

 

• If you're requesting more than one Cross, please provide an individual return envelope for each one - so that postage doesn't become an issue. 

• There's NO CHARGE for these Crosses!  

If you're moved to be generous - please consider making a donation to my  favorite charity: Health Equity International - or a charity you support. Please do NOT send ANY cash or checks to me!  

 

• The sooner you send your request, the better chance I have of getting your Cross to you by Ash Wednesday!

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