Spirituality
Prayers
A selection of prayers
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.
Eternal Word, only begotten Son of God,
Teach me true generosity.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve.
To give without counting the cost.
To fight heedless of the wounds.
To labour without seeking rest.
To sacrifice myself without thought of any reward
Save the knowledge that I have done your will. Amen.
– St. Ignatius Loyola
Jesus, I feel within me a great desire to please you but, at the same time, I feel totally incapable of doing this without your special light and help, which I can expect only from you. Accomplish your will within me — even in spite of me.
– St. Claude de Columbiere, SJ
I beg of you, my Lord, to remove anything which separates me from you, and you from me.
Remove anything that makes me unworthy of your sight, your control, your reprehension; of your speech and conversation, of your benevolence and love.
Cast from me every evil that stands in the way of my seeing you, hearing, tasting, savouring, and touching you; fearing and being mindful of you; knowing, trusting, loving, and possessing you; being conscious of your presence and, as far as may be, enjoying you. This is what I ask for myself and earnestly desire from you. Amen.
– Blessed Peter Faber, SJ
Glorious Lord Christ:
The divine influence secretly diffused and active in the depths of matter,
And the dazzling centre where all the innumberable fibres of the manifold meet;
Power as implacable as the world and as warm as life;
You whose forehead is of the whiteness of snow,
Whose eyes are of fire,
And whose feet are brighter than molten gold;
You whose hands imprison the stars;
You who are the first and the last,
The living and the dead and the risen again;
You who gather into your exuberant unity every mode of existence;
It is you to whom my being cries out with a desire as vast as the universe:
“In truth you are my Lord and my God.”
– Pierre Teihard de Chardin, SJ
Gracious God,
you have placed at the heart of our vocation
a special care for young people.
Give us we pray hearts and minds
that are attuned to the contemporary
needs of young men and women.
Inspire us with your love and grace
that we might share that inspiration.
Cause us to be signs of that hope and joy
which you so desire to share with all people.
May we encourage young people
to walk the path of peace, justice and service
without violence and hatred;
so that they in turn may be a source
of inspiration and hope to others.
– A prayer proposed by Sr. Gill Goulding, CJ, John O’Brien, SJ, Edmund Lo, SJ, and Matthew Charlesworth, SJ at Regis College, Toronto, ON