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Monday, May 21, 2007

Thoughts on Prayer


Prayer is an expression of our relationship with God. All the rules of a relationship apply. Sometimes we forget that prayer is really a response to God who loves us. We need to start by being aware that He is present to us. We need to listen to Jesus. Sometimes He allows us to feel His Presence, to experience His Love. At other times we know He is present but are left waiting in silence. One book on prayer that I read over fifty-five years ago is still a powerful classic. It is The Prayer of Faith by Leonard Boase, S.J., Loyola, 1950 but reprinted in 1985 with a forward by Thomas Green, S.J. When I picked it up today, I opened to the Morning Offering of the Apostleship of Prayer, something that I used to say every day and cannot imagine why I stopped as it is a prayer that makes our whole day supernatural - full of grace for all that we do is given to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
For those too young to know it, I am copying it here:
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You the prayer, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your divine Heart in the Holy Mass. (That is the version from the book, but I seem to remember a longer one.)

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