We thank you, Lord, for the gift of life.
Every human life is your gift to the world.
Each person is unique,
with a task you have entrusted to them alone.
Help us always to promote the basic rights of all,
and to recognise that we are all part of one body,
dependent on one another,
and called to share a common life.

Amen.

INSTRUMENTS OF THE LORD

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

(St Francis of Assisi)

GOD’S PLANS

It’s sometimes very difficult
For us to understand
The wisdom and the love behind
The things that God has planned.
But we wouldn’t have the rainbow
If we didn’t have the rain;
We wouldn’t have the pleasure
If we never tasted pain.
And if you trust in him you’ll see
Though yesterday brought sorrow,
The clouds will part and dawn will bring
A happier tomorrow.

In his presence

Lord, I place myself in your presence.
After the strain and turmoil of the day
I rest quietly here, as a little boat,
Which has been tossed by the waves
And buffeted by the wind,
Rests secure in a sheltered harbour.
Here my projects lose their power over me.
A healing process begins,
My fragmented self is reassembled.
And I am made whole again.
In your presence, I experience my true worth,
Which consists not in doing but in being
I surrender myself into your hands
I am at peace.

Jesus urges us to ask, seek and knock.
This means our faith has to be active.
Sometimes we are too proud to ask, so we don’t receive;
we are too lazy to seek, so we don’t find;
we are too timid to knock, so the door doesn’t open for us.
We mustn’t wait for things to happen, or to fall into our hands.
We must be humble and trustful, yet bold and energetic,
if we are to receive good things from our Father in heaven.

I shall pass through this world but once.
Any good that I can do,
or any kindness that I can show
to any human being,
let me do it now,
let me not defer nor neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again.

For each of us life is a journey.
Birth is the beginning of this journey,
and death is not the end but the destination.
It is a journey that takes us from youth to age,
from innocence to awareness,
from foolishness to wisdom,
from weakness to strength and often back again,
from loneliness to friendship,
from pain to compassion,
from fear to faith,
from defeat to victory and from victory to defeat,
until, looking backward or ahead,
we see that victory does not lie at some high point along the way,
but in having made the journey, stage by stage.

Jesus said that there are two roads we can follow.
The first is wide and easy to travel.
It is downhill most of the way.
It is the way of comfort and ease, pleasure and self-seeking.
Many are fooled and travel down this road.
But in the long run it leads them nowhere.  They die in the desert.
The second road is narrow and difficult.
It is uphill a lot of the way.  It is the way of struggle and sacrifice.
Few take this road.  But they are the lucky ones.
This road leads to the Promised Land.

Lord, we thank you for having us as guests
at the banquet of the Eucharist.
Here we have listened to your word and eaten the food of eternal life.
May we go forth from here nourished,
honoured, blessed, humbled yet exalted.
May we be so sure of our worth before you
that the honours of this world will never ensnare us.
And in your goodness grant us a place at the heavenly banquet.
Amen.

Words of Mother Teresa

It is not how much we do,
but how much love we put in the doing.
It is not how much we give,
but now much love we put in the giving.
Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened
by any failure, as long as you have done your best.

Lord,
I offer you my seeking; show me the way.
I offer you my doubts; lead me to trust you.
I offer you my hurts; heal me.                                                   
I offer you my fears; give me hope.
I offer you my loneliness; welcome me.
I offer you my heart; warm it with love.
I offer you my journey; lead me home.

Wealth is judged,
Not by the amount that is accumulated
But by the amount that is given away.
The only wealth that is worth having
Is the wealth of the heart.
To close one’s heart is to begin to die:
To open it is to begin to live.
The sin of the rich man was, not that he was rich
But that he wasn’t rich enough in heart to help the poor.

Lord God, our light and salvation,
we praise you for your gifts of life and faith.
We thank you for the desire
you have planted in our hearts,
our yearning to see your face.
Help us to meet you in prayer,
to walk in your ways,
and to speak to others of our joy
and consolation in your presence.
Give us faithfulness in this present life
so that we may come to know
and praise your beauty,
with all our brothers and sisters,
in the life to come.
We make this prayer through Christ Our Lord.

Once there was a young man
who had never thought of donating blood
but then his father got very ill and was hospitalised.
One day the son was sitting by his father’s bedside
as he was getting a blood transfusion.
As he watched the blood flowing into his father’s veins
he suddenly realised that someone had donated
the blood that was keeping his father alive.
Straight away he made up his mind to become a donor,
and he was as good as his word.
Many are willing to avail of the generosity of others
but few are willing to give something back.
This is why gratitude is so important,
it makes us want to give something back

I am neither a man of letters or of science,
but I humbly claim to be a man of prayer.
It is prayer that has saved my life.
Without it I would have lost my reason long ago.
If I did not lose my peace of soul,
in the midst of my many trials,
it is because of the peace
that came to me through prayer.
One can live for several days with out food,
but not without prayer.
Prayer is the key to each morning,
and the lock to each evening.
It is a sacred alliance between God and us.
Let everyone try this experience, and they will find
that daily prayer will add something new to their lives,
something which cannot be found elsewhere.

(Mahatma Gandhi)

If the Pharisee had his way the Tax Collector
would not have been allowed into the Temple at all.
Some people believe that sinners should never go to church.
They cry “hypocrites” at those who do.
According to them only saints should be admitted to church.
But that would result in a very small church,
and would make as little sense as a repair shop
that accepted only sound things,
or a hospital that only accepted healthy people.
We go to church not because we are worthy,
but because we need to.
We are brave enough to admit our sinfulness,
but are willing to strive for something better.
We need the healing mercy of God,
as well as the support of the community,
if our efforts at self-improvement are to bear fruit.

It is only with the heart that we can repent rightly.
Repentance must involve a change of heart.
Anything less won’t produce a new being.
It will be like decapitating weeds
while leaving their roots intact.
But if we change our hearts,
then we will change our lives too.
After his encounter with Jesus, the heart of Zacchaeus
burst into life like a desert landscape after rainfall.
Fear cannot produce a conversion of heart;
only an encounter with love can.
Zacchaeus’ conversion was a conversion to goodness.
All of us stand in daily need of such a conversion.
We need to move from a closed heart to an open heart,
from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

Returning to God

We are born in exile and die there too.
As soon as we set sail on the great voyage of life,
we begin our return.
When we die,
we do not so much go to God as return to him.
Like homesick cranes that fly night and day
back to their mountain nests,
so let our lives take their voyage to you, O Lord.
For you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts will never rest, until they rest in you.

O, God our father,
Creator of all the living,
we entrust to your gentle care
all those we love who have gone before us;
and have gone to their rest
in the hope of rising again.
Bring them and all the departed
into the light of your presence.

Amen.

On the cross Jesus endured insults and mockery.
Yet his heart remained open, even to his enemies.
He absorbed all the violence, transformed it,
and returned it as love and forgiveness.
One’s pain can so easily turn into rage
so that one only wants to lash out blindly
at whoever happens to be within range.
From the depths of his own pain,
Jesus reached out to comfort the thief.
Jesus stretches our capacity for compassion.
He challenges our idea of love.
Each of us has a great capacity to love.
The pity is that it often goes unused.
By our love people will know that we
are followers of Christ the King.

Circle me, Lord
Keep protection near; keep danger afar
Circle me, Lord.
Keep hope within; keep doubt without.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep light near; keep darkness afar.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep peace within; keep strife without.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep love within; keep hate without.

Amen

It is said that while there is life there is hope.
This has an even deeper meaning in reverse:
while there is hope there is life.
Hope is strength.
Hope sheds light into despairing hearts.
It inspires the will to live.
It is the doctor’s most powerful ally.
It is a shield against defeat and failure.
It revives ideals and renews dreams.
As long as there is hope, no situation is impossible.
Advent summons us to wait in joyful hope
for the coming of Our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
In the final analysis, he is our hope.

John the Baptist was no reed swaying in the wind.
A reed swaying in the wind is a symbol
of those who are easily influenced,
who go along with whatever is popular,
and who have no conviction of their own.
But the humble reed can teach us something.
The fact that it is light means that it is
at the mercy of every wind that blows.
But it has great strength too.
The greatest storm cannot uproot it.
Even when giant oaks come crashing down,
the slender reed still stands secure.
Lord, teach us that there is strength
in weakness and suppleness,
and give us the wisdom to know
when to bend and when to stand firm.

As Christmas approaches, peoples hopes soar.
However, the substance of these hopes
is often dictated by commercial interests.
Little wonder, then, that when
the sun goes down on Christmas Day,
many feel disappointed,
not because they promise too little,
but too much – of the wrong thing.
What our hearts long for is a taste of what
the angels announced to the shepherds:
“Behold, I bring news of great jow;
today a saviour has been born to you.”
This joy is the real hope of Christmas.
Let us open our hearts to receive it.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If they live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If they live with ridicule, they learn to be shy.
If they live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If they live with tolerance, they learn to be patient.
If they live with encouragement, they learn to have confidence.
If they live with praise, they learn to appreciate.
If they live with fairness, they learn what justice is.
If they live with security, they learn to trust.
If they live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If they live with acceptance and friendship,
they learn to find love and God in the world.