10/24/20

NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 10/25

  

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In tomorrow's gospel reading, the Lord commands us to love God 
    with all our heart, soul and mind
    - and to love our neighbor we we love ourselves...
This scripture brings to mind
    something Pedro Arrupe, a Jesuit priest wrote
    about falling in love...
Let's pray with Fr. Pedro...
 
Nothing is more practical
    than finding God, 
    than falling in Love
    in a quite absolute, 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 you do with your evenings,
    how you spend your weekends,
    what you read, whom 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...
 
With what, with whom am I in Love, Lord?

What seizes my imagination?
    has a hold on me?
    owns me?
    frees me?
    inspires me?
 
What gets me out of bed in the morning?
What priorities schedule my days and nights, my weekends?
What and who holds my attention? my affection?
What and who breaks my heart? heals my heart?
In what and in whom do I find my peace, my joy?
For what am I most deeply grateful?
 
With what, with whom, 
    have I fallen in Love, Lord? 
 
How does Love
    define who I am?
    design my hopes and dreams?     
    determine my thoughts and ideas? 
    develop my trust and faith?             
    decide the paths I walk?                 
    deliver me into your heart? 

Protect me, guard me, 
hold me in your Love, Lord,
when I'm awake, when I'm asleep,
that awake I might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace...
 
Amen. 
 MMMMMMMMMMMM
 



(For those not familiar with Latin, the first three lines
find their translation in the fourth and  fifth)

Sero te amavi,
pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova.
Sero te amavi!

Late have I loved thee,
O Beauty ever ancient, ever new.


I was searching all around me; you were all within.
I grasped at your beauty everywhere
and longed to have and hold what can but be beheld.
Sero te amavi!

You attracted, I, distracted, did not see
the Giver of all gifts was gracing me.
Sero te amavi!

You called, you shouted – piercing through my deafness;
You flashed, you shone – dispelling all my blindness.
Sero te amavi!

You breathed your fragrance on me,
I drew my breath and now I am breathless for thee.
I tasted your sweetness and now I am famished for you –
you touched me; now I'm burning for your peace.
Late have I loved thee, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new!
I was searching all around me; you were all within.

Sero te amavi! Vero te amavi…

(Late have I loved Thee!  Truly have I loved thee...)
              

  

  
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