Teach Me Your Ways

Teach me your way of looking at people:
as you glanced at Peter after his denial,
as you penetrated the heart of the rich young man
and the hearts of your disciples.
I would like to meet you as you really are,
since your image changes those with whom you
     come into contact.
Remember John the Baptist’s first meeting with you?
And the centurion’s feeling of unworthiness?
And the amazement of all those who saw miracles
     and other wonders?
How you impressed your disciples,
the rabble in the Garden of Olives,
Pilate and his wife
and the centurion at the foot of the cross. . . .
I would like to hear and be impressed
by your manner of speaking,
listening, for example, to your discourse in the
     synagogue in Capharnaum
or the Sermon on the Mount where your audience
     felt you “taught as one who has authority.”

Pedro Arrupe, SJ

Day for Life Prayer 

I thank you Lord for the precious gift of my body.
Whatever its strengths or limitations;
whatever it brings me in terms of joy or suffering,
help me always to see it as your gift.
As I run the race of life, help me to have a healthy attitude to my body
and a reverence for its part in my eternal future.
Help me to give glory to you by treating my body and the body of others,
with care and respect.
As I marvel at the wonder of your creation,
may the whole human family work together to protect creation
and especially the precious gift of human life, from conception to natural death.
Enable us by your grace to promote the well-being and dignity of every person,
serving you and the gospel of life in a spirit of generosity, faith and love,
through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Bishops Conference of England and Wales 

Prayer of St Thomas More

O Lord,
give us a mind that is humble, quiet, peaceable,
patient and charitable,
and a taste of your Holy Spirit
in all our thoughts, words and deeds.
O Lord,
give us a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity,
a love of you.
Take from us all lukewarmness in meditation,
and all dullness in prayer.
Give us fervour and delight in thinking of you,
your grace, and your tender compassion toward us.
Give us, good Lord,
the grace to work for
the things we pray for.
Amen.

St Thomas More (1478 - 1535) 

Prayer before Examinations
 
Lord, as I prepare for this examination,
let your strength and your wisdom be present to me.
May I revise my work thoroughly.
May I understand what it is I have to know.
May my memory be reliable and orderly.
May I be calm and focused on the task ahead.
May I know and feel the love and support of my family and friends.
And may you, the author and creator of all things, enlighten me.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Adrian Porter SJ

Before the Day’s Work 

Lord, as we go to our work this day,
help us to take pleasure therein.
Show us clearly what our duty is,
help us to be faithful in doing it.
May all we do be well done, fit for thine eye to see.
Give us enthusiasm to attempt, patience to perform.
When we cannot love our work,
may we think of it as thy task,
and make what is unlovely beautiful through loving service,
for thy name’s sake. Amen

George Dawson 1821-76

Prayer for Generosity

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve,
To give and not to count the cost,
To fight and not to heed the wounds,
To toil and not to seek for rest,
To labor and not to seek reward,
Except that of knowing that I do your will.
Amen.


St. Ignatius Loyola

Draw Me into Your Friendship

Lord Jesus, from the start

You invite ordinary people to come to where you live.

When they come, you welcome them and call them to labor and rejoice with you.  You are the most beautiful among all men, and I hardly believe you want me for your friend. You are powerful Lord.  Draw me more and more into your friendship and lead me along the way you took with friends.

-Joseph Tetlow, SJ  

Personal Prayer of Pedro Arrupe

Grant me, O Lord, to see everything now with new eyes, to discern and test the spirits that help me read the signs of the times, to relish the things that are yours, and to communicate them to others.  Give me the clarity of understanding that you gave Ignatius.

-Pedro Arrupe, SJ

Suscipe

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.

-St. Ignatius Loyola 

An Awareness Examen at the End of the Day

Ask for the light of the Holy Spirit to see through God’s eyes…

1.     What gifts I have received during the day that I can be thankful for.

2.     Where God has been working during the day in my life; where I am cooperating with God today; where I am cooperating with the sinful element within me and not doing what I want to do in the Lord (Rom. 7:15-20).

3.     The forgiveness God offers for the times when I have not been attentive and responsive to God’s presence and love in my life.

4.     How God’s help will guide me through tomorrow and that God’s Spirit will be with me.

John Veltri. SJ (adapted)

A Prayer for Spiritual Freedom

O Spirit of God, we ask you to help orient all our actions by your inspirations, carry them on by your gracious assistance, that every prayer and work of ours may always begin from you and through you be happily ended. 

Amen

This prayer is frequently used by Jesuits to begin classes and meetings.

A Prayer for Generosity

Lord, teach me to be generous.

Teach me to serve as you deserve;

To give and not to count the cost;

To fight and not to heed the wounds;

To toil and not to seek for rest;

To labor and not to ask for reward;

Save that knowing I am doing your will.

-St. Ignatius Loyola

Perfect Resignation

Perfect Resignation

My God, I do not know what must come to me today.

But I am certain that nothing can happen to me that you have not foreseen, decreed, and ordained from all eternity. That is sufficient for me.  I adore your impenetrable and eternal designs, to which I submit with all my heart.   I desire, I accept them all, and I unite my sacrifice to that of Jesus Christ, my divine Savior.   I ask in his name and through his infinite merits, patience in my trials, and perfect and entire submission to all that comes to me by your good pleasure.

Amen

-St. Joseph Pignatelli, SJ

MY LORD GOD, 

I have no idea where I am going. 

I do not see the road ahead of me. 

I cannot know for certain where it will end. 

Nor do I really know myself, 

and the fact that I think I am following your will 

does not mean that I am actually doing so. 

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. 

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. 

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. 

And I know that if I do this 

you will lead me by the right road, 

though I may know nothing about it. 

Therefore I will trust you always 

though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. 

I will not fear, 

for you are ever with me, 

and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton 

Fall in Love

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.

It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read,
whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in Love,
stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

Attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J. (1907–1991)

A Trustee Prayer

Dear Lord, please shine your light on this University. Aid your students, faculty, administrators, trustees, and all others associated with the University, as they seek to live the University’s Jesuit mission.

Please help bring wisdom, knowledge, and respect to the deliberations of this Executive Committee and all other meetings, assemblies and classroom work that takes place throughout the University.

Lastly Lord, help us be a contributor to our community, and in keeping with our Jesuit Mission, help us be one of your instruments for bringing peace thru justice to the attitudes and actions of all those with whom we come in contact.

We ask this Lord, in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns in heaven in unity with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Board of Trustees

Jim Smith, Trustee