TRUST

PRAYER FOR TRUST IN JESUS

O Christ Jesus,

when all is darkness

and we feel our weakness and helplessness,

give us the sense of Your presence,

Your love, and Your strength.

Help us to have perfect trust

in Your protecting love

and strengthening power,

so that nothing may frighten or worry us,

for, living close to You,

we shall see Your hand,

Your purpose, Your will through all things.

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491 – 1556)

HOPE

A PRAYER FOR HOPE

Dear God, Please give me the strength to hope.

Turn my bleak thoughts

into gentle encouragement.

Let me feel hope

and believe that all is not lost.

And finally, allow that hope

to fuel my courage to carry on.

Amen.

                                                                                                                   Betty Taylor

          An Excerpt from Comfort Prayers: Prayers & Poems to Comfort, Encourage and Inspire by          June Cotner

SIMPLICITY

TO UN-CLUTTER ONE’S LIFE

Lord, help me to unclutter my life,

To lead me in the direction of simplicity,

Teach me to listen to my heart,

Teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it.

Lord, I give you these stirrings inside me,

I give you my discontent, my restlessness, my doubt,

I give you my despair, I give you all my longings

I hold inside. Help me to listen to these signs of change,

Of growth; to listen seriously and follow wherever they lead

Through the breathtaking empty space of your open door.

Amen!

FORGIVENESS

RAVENSBRUCK PRAYER

O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will

but also those of evil will.

But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us;

remember the fruits we have borne thanks to this suffering –

our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, our courage,

our generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this;

and when they come to the judgement, let all the fruits

that we have borne be their forgiveness.

    This was written on a piece of wrapping paper found near the body of a dead child in     Ravensbruck where 92,000 women and children died in the Holocaust.