(Credit for the photo goes to Keith Lobo)
I've long wanted to to share a prayer that has been a great blessing to me. This prayer has taken form over the years and has become a daily pillar of remembrance and communion with the Lord in my life. It is a centering prayer that orients my heart and mind each morning and prepares me for whatever may come throughout the day.
Please take some or all of this prayer and use it for your own time with the Holy Spirit. Add or remove words as you feel led.
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
O God, you loved the world such that you gave your only Son, that whosoever trusts in him should not perish, but, rather, have eternal life.
You did not send your Son into the world to condemn the world, but, rather, that the world would be saved through him.
O God, thank you for loving me. I love you. I hate sin. I hate disobeying you.
Please forgive me of sin, cleanse me of all unrighteousness, and fill me with your Holy Spirit to obey you.
O Jesus, I believe and know that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I thank you that you dwell in me.
I embrace you within me. I surrender to you within me. I trust in you within me.
Trusting in you within me, I ask that you never, ever, permit me to be separated from you.
Rather, please do in me your will, in your way, in your time.
Have in me your rule, and your reign, and your home.
It is in your name, Jesus, that I pray before the Father, saying:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us, this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but, rather, deliver us from evil.
Belt of Truth
O God, trusting in you, I ask for three gifts.
I ask for your wisdom to discern your will and its proper application at all times.
I ask for your humility to choose what you allow me to discern, even when extremely difficult and even when extremely easy.
I ask for your strength to carry out what you allow me to discern and to choose. I ask to carry it out with your consistency and your self control.
Breastplate of Righteousness
I trust in you to win the battle within me for your righteousness, destroying from me the deeds of my flesh, which belong to my former manner of life and are corrupt through deceitful desires.
I trust you to fill me, instead, with your Holy Spirit to obey you.
Shoes of Readiness from the Gospel of Peace
Also, because I am yours, I trust in you as my shepherd, to protect me from falling headlong and to win the battle in me, even on these heights upon which I walk, and even amidst this battle that rages within me and around me.
Shield of Faith
I know that this trust in you is well founded, because your promises are true. If I give my life to you, then you will do in me your will, in your way, in your time. You will win the battle in me. You choose to love me because of YOUR faithfulness, not because of my greatness. I am yours, my savior.
I trust in you to protect me from all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
You are my shield. You are faithful. I trust in you.
Helmet of Salvation
Trusting in you, and rejoicing in your faithfulness, I ask that I would no longer live, but that you would live in me.
I ask that my eyes, my ears, my heart, my mind, my mouth, and all of my faculties and members would be consecrated to you so that I see all things and all people through your eyes, with your heart, and your mind.
I ask that my faculties and members would be governed not by the kind of curiosity that leads to sin, or by gluttony, or by lust, or by covetousness or comparison, or by ungratefulness, or by any kind of fear—rather, I ask that my faculties and members be completely governed and ruled by you, O Holy Spirit of Christ.
When I encounter temptation, I ask that you fill me, O Holy Spirit, and win the battle in me to resist temptation and to lift all thoughts and feelings up to you as pure praise.
When I encounter beauty on the earth, I ask that you grant me a right relationship with that beauty. I ask that you help me to fix my eyes upon you, the author and sustainer of all beauty and goodness, and to praise you for all beauty in freedom and purity. I ask for your freedom and your purity in every matter, O Holy Spirit, my savior.
Sword of the Spirit
O Heavenly Father, I ask that, by your Holy Spirit, your living word would be a scalpel in your hands—and yours alone—within us, among us, and through us all. I ask that your living word would accomplish within us, among us, and through us all your will, in your way, in your time.
Angels and Saints
O God, we also take time to talk with your angels and saints, saying:
O Saint Michael, the archangel, guardian angels, and all angels, thank you for your work on our behalf. Please defend us in battle. Be our protection against the schemes and the wickedness of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and, Saint Michael, O prince of the heavenly host, cast into hell Satan, and all the wicked spirits who prowl about the world, seeking the ruin of souls.
In honor of the Father who gives his power to you, Mother Mary, for an increase in the virtue of faith, O undoer of knots, we pray:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb: Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
In honor of the Son who gives his wisdom to you, Mother Mary, for an increase in the virtue of hope, O undoer of knots, we pray:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb: Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
In honor of the Holy Spirit who gives his life and his righteousness to you, Mother Mary, for an increase in the virtue of love, O undoer of knots, we pray:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb: Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.
O Mother Mary, blessed is the fruit of your womb.
O Father Joseph, blessed is your holy family.
Mother Mary, Father Joseph, thank you for your prayers for us. Please continue to pray for us, that the will of the Lord God—and his will alone—would be done and accomplished within us, among us, and through us all.
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, we place in you all of our interests and desires. O Saint Joseph, do assist us by your powerful intercession and obtain for us from your Divine Son every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places—so that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, we may offer our thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.
O Saint Joseph, we never weary of contemplating you—and Jesus, the Christ, asleep in your arms. We dare not approach as he reposes near your heart. Please press him close in our name and kiss his fine head for us, and ask that he return the kiss when we draw our dying breath.
O Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, please pray for us.
Mother Mary, Father Joseph, by the power the Lord God has given to you, please preserve us from mortal sin and from all sin this day. We trust in you as faithful agents of the Lord.
Ultimately, and only, Lord God, we all trust in you, and you alone. You, O Lord, are good. Your steadfast love endures forever. Your promises will come to pass.
O God, I give this day to you—and not this day only, but my very self. All that I am and all that I have belongs to you. It will be in me and through me as you say. I am yours. I trust in you.
Amen.