NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 7/31

 

It's the feast of Saint Ignatius and this Night Prayer is drawn from his Suscipe prayer, "Take, Lord, receive..."

Lord, I come in prayer tonight
    with a heart that needs to be emptied,
        a heart that needs to be filled...

 
You showed us the way, Lord:
   you humbled yourself on the Cross,

      you emptied yourself out of love for us
    and now you invite us 

       to humble and empty ourselves
           in the same way...

I don't always find it easy, Lord, to empty myself 

    of things I cling to

          things I want to keep and hold on to...

 
Nor do I find it easy to let go:
   to let go the burdens I've befriended,

      that have become part of my identity,

         burdens I cling to for security...

 

But if I don't empty my heart, Lord,

    how will it open to receive the gifts

        of your mercy, healing, consolation and peace?

Teach my heart to know, Lord,
    what to keep and what to lose,
    what to hold on to and what to let go of,
    what to treasure and what to dismiss..

As I let go of what I don't need, Lord,
    fill my heart with a hunger and thirst

for what truly feeds and fills me,
    what deepens and strengthens my faith and hope...

Give me joy in the letting go, Lord,
    and peace in being filled with you,
       with your Word, your grace and your love...

 

Protect me, Lord, while I lie awake

    and watch over me, while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

 

Amen.

 

 

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These Alone Are Enough by Dan Schutte

 

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Take my heart, O Lord, take my hopes and dreams.
Take my mind with all its plans and schemes.
Give me nothing more than your love and grace.
These alone, O God, are enough for me.

Take my thoughts, Oh Lord, and my memory.
Take my tears, my joys, my liberty.
Give me nothing more than your love and grace.
These alone, O God, are enough for me.

I surrender, Lord, all I have and hold.
I return to you your gifts untold.
Give me nothing more than your love and grace.
These alone, O God, are enough for me.

When the darkness falls on my final days,

take the very breath that sang your praise.

Give me nothing more than your love and grace.

These alone, O God, are enough for me.

  

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