March 13, 2024
Prayers – 1
A Lenten Prayer
Dear Friends,
Today begins a series of Inbox Inspirations entitled Prayers. These columns will not be about prayer. They will, instead, be prayers that we might find helpful. These will not be the ordinary prayers that all of us know, like the Our Father or Hail Mary. They and many others constitute a wonderful part of our Catholic/Christian treasury. For the most part, the prayers being offered in these columns will be rather contemporary or some in our tradition that we do not often pray. I hope that they will nourish our relationship with God. Today we begin with A Lenten Prayer.
A Lenten Prayer
Dear God,
During these weeks of Lent, I want to remember,
first, that I am already your “beloved.”
I believe that the gospel passage for the Second Sunday of Lent
is very important.
We hear you, our heavenly Father, speak of Jesus:
“This is my beloved Son.”
Well, you have spoken those same words to me and to each of us:
“You are my beloved daughter.” “You are my beloved son.”
You, our heavenly parent, speak these words to each of us
when we are first conceived and given life.
You repeat these words again to each of us
who is given life through baptism.
Loving God, you really want me to remember this,
maybe especially during Lent.
We are encouraged to do some more prayer,
some fasting from food, and some charitable acts
in this season that is called penitential.
But, loving God, I think all of this
is not to merit or be worthy of your love.
Your love is already here, for me and all of us.
Jesus has assured us of this, and I take him at his word.
So, anything I do during Lent, good God,
is just my effort
to grow as your son or daughter.
It’s my trying to live more fully out of this
friendship with you.
So, I thank you for this gift of yourself,
the gift of your love for me and us.
And now I will live in the peace and joy
of this friendship
and try to be the best friend to you that I can be.
I pray with trust in you,
our heavenly Parent,
in your Son Jesus,
and in your Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
March 20, 2024
Prayers – 2
A Prayer of Faith
Dear Friends,
In our Catholic treasury of prayers, we have had what is called an Act of Faith. This is not a profession of faith, as we recite at Mass. Rather, it is a simple prayer to God expressing our faith. What follows here is an attempt at a contemporary Prayer of Faith.
Prayer of Faith
Gracious God,
I believe that you are beyond us.
You transcend this world.
You are our creator.
You have brought into being all that is and
you continue to hold in being
everyone and everything that is.
I praise you as our heavenly Parent.
You are God the Father.
Loving God,
I also believe that you are alongside us.
In fact, you have become one of us.
You have taken on our humanity
in the birth of Jesus
who was born of Mary.
And now, you, Jesus,
are our life because you are Emmanuel, God-with-us.
You are also our truth
because you are our way to the Father.
You suffered and died on the cross
out of complete faithfulness to your mission
and out of complete love for us.
And then, wondrously, amazingly,
you rose from the dead.
I praise you as our savior.
You are God the Son.
Finally, good God,
I believe that you are within us.
You are within those who are baptized
and part of the community of believers
that we call the Church.
But you must also be within all persons
or else they would not even exist.
You enlighten and inspire
and guide us in everyday life.
You sustain us in the hope of resurrection.
You, God within us,
are the constant presence of God
who is also beyond us and alongside us.
You are God the Holy Spirit.
This, loving God,
is the core of my faith.
Help me to stay with this
and keep growing in this all the days of my life.
May glory be to you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
now and forever. Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
March 27, 2024
Prayers – 3
A Prayer of Hope
Dear Friends,
In our Catholic treasury of prayers, we have had what is called an Act of Hope. This is a simple prayer that places our hope in God. What follows here is an attempt at a contemporary Prayer of Hope.
Prayer of Hope
Gracious God,
I place my hope in you.
But this is not always easy for me.
I see so many problems in our world,
like war and poverty and prejudice.
And at times I feel anxious about my health
or the health of my loved ones,
and I feel worried about the future.
But still, good God,
I choose to hope in you.
My hope is not just optimism
because I know that things will not always
turn out the way I want.
Instead, my hope is believing that you,
my God, are with us.
After all, you, Jesus, promised us
that you will be with us always.
You will remain with us
no matter what we are going through.
I also hope in you because you,
Jesus, tell us that if God takes care
of the grass in the fields,
will he not also take care of us?
Most of all, I place my hope in you,
my God,
because of what we call the paschal mystery.
This is a mystery – I don’t fully understand it
but I believe it.
It is the mystery that dying leads to new life.
Again, you, Jesus, use the example of a grain of wheat
being buried in the soil.
If it dies, dies to itself, the result is
a sprout and eventually wheat.
New life.
So, I believe that my sufferings
and losses and failures
can all lead in some way to life, new life.
And I believe that this will even happen
when I die to my body.
So, with all of that,
I hope in you, my God.
Sustain my hope through all my days.
Strengthen my hope when I waver.
I place my trust in you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
April 3, 2024
Prayers – 4
A Prayer of Love
Dear Friends,
In our Catholic treasury of prayers, we have had what is called an Act of Love. This is a simple prayer that expresses our love for God. What follows here is an attempt at a contemporary Prayer of Love.
Prayer of Love
Gracious God,
Jesus tells us that the first and greatest commandment is this:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:”37).
Loving God,
there are people in my life whom I love.
I am blessed with family and friends
whom I love and to whom I can say:
I love you.
It feels a little different to me to say this to you.
Maybe the thing I have to remember
is that you, God, have first loved us.
“This is what love is:
It is not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us…” (I John 4:10).
So, my love for you, God,
is really my response to your love for me.
My love consists in my making you
the center of my life.
You are the reference point for all that I say and do
and even for what I think.
You are the mortar, the cement
that holds together all the pieces of my life.
You give me meaning and purpose.
You are my beginning and my end.
So, yes, I do love you.
I want to give of myself and my life
to you who have given so much to me.
In fact, you have given yourself to me
in Jesus.
For all of this, for your love of me,
I thank you and love you,
who are love itself.
After all, that’s what we are told:
“God is love” (I John 4:8).
I find these words and the image of you
that this conveys to me
so very reassuring and affirming.
So, yes, I do love you and will try to love you
as you, who are love itself, have loved me,
especially in and through Jesus.
Alleluia! Amen!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
April 10, 2024
Prayers – 5
A Prayer or Grace before Meals
During the Easter Season
Dear Friends,
We have a traditional grace before meals. I hope we all know that. I am going to repeat that below, but then also give a grace that seems to be a good alternative for this Easter Season. This alternative is broken in parts for when more than one person is present for the meal, but it can also be prayed by one person alone.
Traditional Grace before Meals
Bless us, O Lord,
And these thy gifts
Which we are about to receive
From thy bounty.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grace before Meals During Easter Season
Leader: “On this feast of feasts we have been brought into
the land overflowing with the milk of God’s Word
and the honey of the Eucharist.”
All: “This is the holy day on which we share in the new
fruit of the vine and bless Christ forever.”
Optional Lord’s Prayer
Blessing: “Praise to you, O God our father, who gives us
the joy to share in the rising of Christ to new life.
May the joy of our Paschal celebration remain
with us all the days of our lives, and be a lasting
sign of your loving presence among us.
Bless our daily nourishment and all those present
at this table. Make us aways mindful of the needs
of others. We ask you this through Christ,
our Risen Lord. Amen.”
Easter Grace from Blessings of the Table by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette.
April 17, 2024
Prayers – 6
A Prayer in a Time of Sickness
Dear Friends,
Sometimes we want to pray for a family member, a friend, a fellow employee, a fellow parishioner – anyone who is sick. I hope the following will be a helpful prayer. We can also edit this a bit to pray for ourselves when we are dealing with an illness.
A Prayer in a Time of Sickness
Gracious God,
I praise you as the Creator who gives us life,
as the One who wants the fullness of life for us.
I praise you in your Son Jesus
who carefully tended those who were sick
and healed so many people.
He even brought people back to life.
I pray today for your son/daughter ______
who is sick and wants to be restored to good health.
Hear my prayer for his/her healing.
With faith in you and hope in your love,
I ask You to stir the healing powers of his/her body
which you created.
May the doctors and all health care professionals
be wise and caring agents of your power.
May the medications and treatments
be a healing balm and work together
with the blessed Oil of the Sick,
the sacrament that you have given us.
Relieve the suffering of ______.
May he/she find consolation in remembering
the suffering that you, Jesus, endured
out of love for us and
out of faithfulness to your mission.
May he/she find renewed strength
in you, Jesus, who save us
from the powers of death.
May he/she be comforted,
especially in times of loneliness,
by your presence, O Holy Spirit,
who abide and remain within each of us.
I pray for healing and restored health for ______.
Divine Healer and Lord of Wholeness,
I and we place ourselves in your hands.
We trust in your love.
May ______be blessed
with the affection of those who love him/her
and with your power and love,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
April 24, 2024
Prayers – 7
A Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel
Dear Friends,
What follows is a prayer to Saint Michael that I have composed. This expresses how I relate to Saint Michael today, in the twenty-first century. I hope this prayer will also be helpful to you.
A Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel
Saint Michael the Archangel,
lead us in the journey of life.
Help us to follow the way of Jesus
with the clarity of mind and heart
that the Scriptures portray you as having.
Guide us in Jesus’ way of love of God and of others
and in his faithfulness to his mission.
Strong Saint Michael,
help us to see ourselves as we are:
with our strengths and weaknesses,
with our goodness and our sinfulness.
But protect us from those forces
that would have us look only
at our darkness and would burden us
with self-diminishing guilt.
Lead us to know that we are
both imperfect and yet beloved to Jesus,
both in need of growth and yet made worthy
by Jesus’ own word and action.
Courageous Saint Michael,
help us to see the greed and indifference,
the disrespect for human life and the prejudice
that can overtake our world.
But protect us from those forces
that would have us see only darkness
and look upon all that is different from us
as lost or secular.
Lead us to remember that you are everywhere,
that you are present in everyone and
even come to us in persons and things
whom we don’t label as sacred.
May you, Saint Michael the Archangel,
be God’s messenger
in all of this.
We remember that this is what an angel is –
an angelus in Latin, a messenger of God.
Saint Michael, help us to be open
to new messages coming from God.
This is the prayer and request that we,
daughters and sons of God,
brothers and sisters of Jesus,
this is the heartfelt prayer that
we bring to you today.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
May 1, 2024
Prayers – 8
A Prayer to Begin the Day
Dear Friends,
When I was a child in religion class, I learned a prayer called the Morning Offering. It was a way to begin and offer the day to God. That instilled a good habit in me. What follows is the Morning Prayer that I have been using for about the last twenty years. Maybe you will find it helpful and like it as much as I do.
A Prayer to Begin the Day
“God, my friend,
I offer you this day.
Let all my prayer, work, joy, suffering today
join with the lives offered to you
by the whole People of God
and especially with our great Eucharist,
Jesus,
Your Son and our Brother.
Let your Spirit be with me today,
especially in …
And I ask your loving concern today,
especially for my friend…
Remind me, through the day, that I am not alone.
Amen.”
From Daily Prayers for Busy People by Father William J. O’Malley, S.J.
Note 1: When asking for the Spirit, here mention times when you will need the light or enlightenment of the Spirit in a special way this day.
Note 2: When asking God’s concern for a friend, here name a family member, a friend, or anyone who especially needs God’s help this day.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
May 8, 2024
Prayers – 9
A Prayer to Mary
Dear Friends,
We are coming toward the end of the Easter Season, but there is a special prayer to Mary for these weeks. It is called the Regina Coeli – the Latin words for Queen of Heaven. This prayer honors Mary in the Resurrection of her son, Jesus. It is to be prayed from Easter Sunday and through Pentecost, which is the conclusion of the Easter Season. The Regina Coeli replaces the Angelus, another Marian prayer that is used throughout the rest of the liturgical year. While the origins of this prayer are unclear, its use does seem to date back to the twelfth century in Rome.
A Prayer to Mary
L. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
R. For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia.
L. Has risen, as he said, alleluia.
R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.
L. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.
L. Let us pray.
R. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech You, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting
life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Notice that the prayer is structured to be said in a responsory style, with a Leader (L) speaking certain verses and all others speaking the response (R). However, one can pray this alone and simply offer all verses and responses, including the conclusion.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
May 15, 2024
Prayers – 10
A Prayer to End the Day
Dear Friends,
Some kind of evening or night prayer is a valuable way to bring our day to a close. We end the day entrusting ourselves to God, much as we begin the day offering ourselves and our time to God. What follows is a brief and simple possibility. Maybe you will find it helpful.
A Prayer to End the Day
“Holy Friend,
accept this day as the best I could return
for what you’ve given me.
Forgive my slips along the way,
and remind me to begin to heal them tomorrow.
Till then, let me leave the world awhile to you,
in peace, to sleep, to heal myself,
and to wake to serve you yet again.
Amen.”
From Daily Prayers for Busy People by Father William J. O’Malley, S.J.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
May 22, 2024
Prayers – 11
A Prayer of Lazarus
Dear Friends,
In each of our lives, there will be down times. There will be times of disappointment, discouragement, sadness, loss, grief, possibly even depression. Maybe the following prayer will be helpful in these moments.
A Prayer of Lazarus
God, our heavenly Parent,
bring to life our faith in you
as the author of life.
Bring to life our hope in your Son,
Jesus, the Christ,
the living and risen One.
Bring to life our reliance on the Spirit,
you, your presence within us,
guiding, inspiring, and enlightening us.
Bring to life our love
for you and for all your
daughters and sons on this earth.
We pray that you do for us
what you did for your friend Lazarus
when you called him forth from his grave.
Call us forth from the experiences
of darkness that we can have at times.
Draw us out of these graves
to rise to fuller life with you.
In our need and with faithful trust,
we lift up these intentions to you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
May 29, 2024
Prayers – 12
A Prayer of Thanks
Dear Friends,
Many of our great Christian spiritual mentors, like Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Francis de Sales, have emphasized the importance of a prayer of thankfulness. Many of these spiritual mentors recommend that we begin each day with a prayer of thanks. The reason is clear: giving thanks needs to be paramount in our relationship with God. Given that, I share the following prayer.
A Prayer of Thanks
“O Divine Gift-giver,
I stand beneath the endless waterfall
of your abundant gifts to me.
I thank you especially for the blessing of life,
the most precious of all your gifts to me.
I thank you, Ever-generous One,
for clothing to wear,
for food and drink to nourish my body,
for all the talents and skills
that you have bestowed upon me.
I thank you for the many joys of my life,
for family and friends,
for work that gives to me a sense of purpose
and invests my life with meaning.
I thank you as well
for the sufferings and trials of my life
which are also gifts
and which together with my mistakes
are among my most important teachers.
Grant that I may never greet a new day
without the awareness of some gift
for which to give you thanks.
And may constant thanksgiving
be my song of perpetual praise to you.”
From Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim by Father Edward Hays.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
June 5, 2024
Prayers – 13
A Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Dear Friends,
Most collections of Catholic prayers contain a prayer to the Holy Spirit. Many of us learned the traditional prayer that begins: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in them the fire of your love…” What follows is a prayer that focuses on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
A Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit,
bring to full life your special gifts within me.
Bring to life your gift of wisdom.
Enlighten me in seeing things from God’s perspective.
Enlighten me also in taking the long-range and big-picture view.
Bring to life your gift of understanding.
Help me to know myself as the person you made me to be.
Help me also to listen to the words and feelings of others.
Bring to life your gift of counsel.
Assist me not in judging others but in judging my own conscience.
Assist me in discerning what is the best I can do in any situation.
Bring to life your gift of fortitude.
Strengthen me to persevere when I suffer physically or emotionally.
Strengthen me also to say no when I should say no.
Bring to life your gift of knowledge.
Move me to a fuller and fuller acceptance of the mystery of God.
Move me also to embrace the way of Jesus more and more completely.
Bring to life your gift of piety.
Awaken my awareness of being dependent upon you, my God.
Awaken also my willingness to spend time with you in prayer and reflection.
And finally, bring to life your gift of fear of the Lord.
Guide me not to be afraid of God but rather to stand in awe.
Guide me also to be in wonder of the great love that God has for me.
Come Holy Spirit,
bring to life your special gifts within me.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
June 12, 2024
Prayers – 14
A Prayer in the Summer
Dear Friends,
Summer here in the northern hemisphere officially begins on Thursday June 20. Of course, we are already in June which we usually think of as a summer month. And so, I am moved to offer this prayer.
A Prayer in the Summer
Good and gracious God,
thank you for the seasons of the year.
The variety and change of seasons move us
to be open to change.
Maybe it even helps us to accept change
that is beyond our control and
that we don’t want.
So, thank you for the four seasons.
And thank you especially for summer.
I see the trees and bushes and plants
in full bloom, and some are flowering.
They are giving praise to you
in the way that they can.
May they inspire us to appreciate
your presence in our lives and
give praise to you.
The trees and bushes and plants
are also silently working.
They put on this beautiful display
of nature for us to enjoy.
And their leaves are also putting
oxygen back into the air we breathe.
As they work,
I would like some rest.
I would like some lay-back time
in these summer months.
If it’s only a weekend or a week,
I think I need it.
I need some rest to re-charge my batteries:
to regain some physical energy and
to regain my perspective,
to see the big picture and
the long-range view of things again,
to be able again to relate to things calmly,
with my mind and body and emotions rested.
So, good and gracious God,
help me to find some time
for some rest during this summer.
And thank you again
for this beautiful and special season.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
June 19, 2024
Prayers – 15
A Prayer on Juneteenth
Dear Friends,
I had planned to make this the last of the series of Prayers and had chosen another prayer theme for today. Then I realized that this is Juneteenth. On June 19, 1865, an Army General enforced the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas and 250,000 enslaved African Americans there were told that they were free. This has long been seen as the official ending of slavery in our country. Given that, I am moved to offer a prayer on this important commemoration. I will conclude this series of Prayers next week with the theme I had originally chosen for today.
A Prayer on Juneteenth
God of love,
we praise you as our Father,
our heavenly parent.
You have given life to all persons
on this earth.
This makes all of us
your sons and daughters.
And yes, it also makes us
sisters and brothers to one another.
Good God,
we are one and one family in you.
Through your Son, Jesus,
you have shown us the way –
the way back to you and our heavenly home
and the way to live right now,
in our earthly home.
This is the way of love,
given to us by you,
the One who is love.
Move us, dear God,
to make your love real for all people.
Inspire us especially on this Juneteenth
to make your love real for persons
of all colors –
black, brown, red (Amerindian), white, and yellow.
Stir us through your Holy Spirit
to repent of prejudice and discrimination
based on color or on anything.
Lead us to admit the evil
of enslavement and racism and
of any kind of oppression.
Help us to respect all persons
and treat them for who they are –
your daughters and sons,
our brothers and sisters.
God of love,
we need your help with this.
Strengthen and help us.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
June 26, 2024
Prayers – 16
A Prayer for Those Who Have Died
Dear Friends,
This column concludes the series of Prayers. It is not composed by me but by an author whose spirituality has touched me over the years.
A Prayer for Those Who Have Died
“We thank you Lord for those dead who were so dear to us,
from whom such goodness flowed.
We pray that all they held sacred
and everything in which they were wonderful
will continue to mean much to us
and go on living in our hearts and lives. Lord hear us.
Let us reach out and pray for all who mourn the death
of a child or a parent, a brother or sister, a friend or relative.
Let us pray for all who have suffered an unspeakable loss,
and for those who go on blindly, unable to overcome their sorrow.
Let us pray for all who are discouraged
that they may not hate the light of life
but that they might keep an open heart. Lord hear us.
Let us pray for all who die and are not mourned
but are ignored in death like a stone by the roadside.
Let us pray for all who are lost in war and prison,
for those who have committed suicide
and for those who are lonely in life or death,
that God may hear them and keep them in his heart. Lord hear us.”
We give thanks to God
through Jesus, his Son and our brother,
who died our death and rose from the dead
that we might have the fullness of life. Amen
The prayer in italics is from Your Word Is Near by Huub Oosterhuis.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
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