Image source   God in my thoughts, God in my words, God in my deeds,  God in my choices, God in my plans, God in my work, God in my rest, God in my strength, God in my weakness,  God in my fear, God in my courage, God in my sorrow, God in my joy, God in my days,  God in my nights     and God my every breath... God in my sleeping, God in my waking, God in my coming, God in my going, God in my watching, God in my waiting,  God in my willing, God in my wanting,  God in my hurting, God in my grieving, God in my healing, God in my caring, God ..read more

  Lord, help me fall asleep tonight... Help me pull the shades and draw the drapes    on my worries and my fears... Help me rest from this day's problems    'neath the covers of your love...   Help me hand into your care    all those I carry in my heart... Help me lay my weary head down    on a pillow filled with prayer...   Help me give my grief a rest     and hide myself in your embrace... Help me surrender my anxiety    and pray for peaceful dreams... Help me nod off, trusting fully    you'll keep vig ..read more

It seems I was so excited by flowering trees on Tuesday afternoon that when I went to write Wednesday morning's Pause for Prayer - I totally forgot it was the day for Texting With God! So 24 hours late, here's this week's text message!       Tweet    SUBSCRIBE HERE!    ..read more

  (For those who will read this and worry:     my health is very good - thank God!)   This is the day the Lord has made...     Today's the first day of the rest of my life...         One day at a time...   These sayings are valuable on every day, Lord,     but especially for me, especially today,          my birthday, my 77th...      Today these words are unusually keen:     filled with meaning,           ..read more

    Photo by CP 4/16/24 Wayland, MA                                            This prayer is modeled on a traditional Passover song,       Dayenu: It Would Have Been Enough If you had warmed the winter's chill but hadn't melted all the snow,     it would have been enough... If you had melted all the snow but hadn't brought us longer days,     it would have been enough... If you had lengthened every day but had ..read more

At the suggestion of a dear friend and faithful reader, this daily Night Prayer began four years ago this week during the pandemic lockdown.  At the outset, Night Prayer was specifically themed for the evening hours but has, over the years, become a more general praye - but always ending with a "nighttime" verse. On this anniversary, we're revisiting the first Night Prayer... Night and day you watch over me, Lord: with your strong arm and your gentle touch you hold me and care for me as your child, your own, your beloved... Make me grateful for the day I've had, Lord, with all its ups a ..read more

Do you roll your eyes in frustration, Lord,    when I pay no attention to you, to your truth,       - not even to common sense? Do you want to dope slap me, Lord,    when I miss the better, right choice to make      - staring me right in the face? Do you ever turn and walk away    when I, for the thousandth time,       make the same foolish, stupid mistake? No, Lord, you don't... Instead,     you show me time and again        the things I've failed to see,   ..read more

This morning, Lord,  as I opened my windows, your Spirit breezed in and filled my room:     the soft, sweet scent of springtime     brushing my sleepy face     with a kiss I've long been waiting     to rouse and stir and wake me      from winter's hold and  spell... On leaving the house  I felt your touch, warm upon my arms,  guiding me, step by step  to a promise kept, a hope fulfilled,  a dream come true:     your faithfulness now blossoming     on do ..read more

        Image: George Mendoza Good morning, good God! My eyes are wide open, Lord, searching for hints of spring along my way, for greening branches, too long brown  but leafy now with beauty set to soothe a wintered soul...  I pray my heart will open wide, hungering for hope to sprout within from seeds of promise, planted deep by your hand, Lord, and watered fresh with tears from my soul's spring... Turn, till and tend with care  the soil of my heart and soul and nurture all you've planted, Lord: bring to bloom those shoots of hope  ..read more

On Sundays, Night Prayer will focus on an element from the day's celebration of Mass. Today's scriptures didn't immediately suggest a particular direction  for prayer but the gospel includes the two disciples to whom Jesus appeared on the road to Emmaus.  This is the closest to that story we'll come on a Sunday in year's course of Easter readings.  The previous link brings you to today's gospel, this post includes the text of the Emmaus story. That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem ..read more