Last week, I shared two prayers from my sermon on Sunday, October 27. Both were published in the Jesuit prayer guide Hearts on Fire. Today, I’m sharing the final two prayers from that sermon. The first is also from Hearts on Fire, and the second is God’s words to us in prayer—edited from Henri Nouwen’s classic book titled Life of the Beloved. If these prayers speak the desires of your heart, I hope you’ll keep them and pray them often…
A Prayer of Friendship with Jesus (St. Claude La Colombiere, edited)
Jesus, you are my true friend, my only true friend.
You take a part in all of my misfortunes; you take them on yourself;
You listen to me with the greatest kindness when I relate my troubles to you, and you always have balm to pour on my wounds. I find you at all times. I find you everywhere, you never go away. You are never weary of listening to me. All the humiliations attached to old age or to the loss of honor will never detach me from you. On the contrary, I shall never enjoy you more fully, and you will never be closer to me, than when everything seems to conspire against me, to overwhelm me, and to cast me down.
Jesus, grant that I may die praising you, that I may die loving you, that I may die for the love of you. Amen.
God’s Words to Us in Prayer (Henri Nouwen, edited)
You are mine. You are my Beloved. I have molded you in the depths of the earth and knitted you together in your mother’s womb. I have carved you in the palms of my hands. I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child. I have counted every hair on your head and guided you at every step. Wherever you go, I go with you, and wherever you rest, I keep watch. You belong to me. Wherever you are I will be. Nothing will ever separate us. Amen.
Lord, hear our prayers…and help us to truly hear you..
—Jim