1.26.21 - Universal Prayers - Help Me To Rest In Love - (Please see description for today's prayer)

St. Joseph Health, Home Care Services

Good morning, this is Liz Wessel and it is joy to be with you and to share in a short time of prayer and reflection in this community of great belonging. These prayers are a compilation from various sources and todays theme is called, “Help Me to Rest in Love.” Let us take a moment to center ourselves and find a comfortable position. take 3 deep breaths, one to let go of whatever you are holding, another to listen deep into your heart and the 3rd to arrive in this moment. Dear Love, Please help me to rest, I place my list of things to do in your hands. Just for one moment, I let go. I place my thoughts about how someone else should be Different in your hands. Just for a moment, I let them go. Right now, just for a moment, I allow things to be as they are, I allow someone else to be as they are, I allow myself to be as I am. And so, I rest. To the God of our understanding, the spirit with whom we gather this morning We lift up those whose lives are touched by sadness, by illness, by worry, or by loneliness. May all find comfort, hope, and healing strength in this community and the larger community. And let us take a moment to silently reflect in the spirit of prayer and to offer our own silent intentions. (Chrystal Hogan) Our Loving God, How difficult it can be to let go- of things that we believe we must hang on to and of the things that we are unable to let go of. Give us the courage we need to release everything into Your very capable hands. Help us to trust You completely as we do so. Give us the patience we need as we wait, knowing that someday we will see how Your hand was a part of everything during the process. Amen Chaplain Samantha Gilbertson, PNMC Mission Integration and Spiritual Care May we have the power of vision to look past both the specks in our own eyes and the outward appearance of other people in order to see that divine spark of life - of Love - which is present in all human beings. We pray today particularly for those who are marginalized within our society - those whose inherent divinity is so often unrecognized - and for those who live or work in conditions we ourselves could not accept. For them, and for all people who find life difficult, we pledge ourselves to the task of helping to make this world a better place - even if it is simply by a smile or a welcoming word. As we pause now in the quietness of our own thoughts, let us consider both the blessings and the trials of our lives, and dedicate ourselves to sharing our blessings and to doing what we can to ease the trials of others. Dear Love, We give thanks for places of simplicity and peace. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of refuge and beauty. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of nature’s truth and freedom, of joy, inspiration, and renewal, places where all creatures may find acceptance and belonging. Let us search for these places in the world, in ourselves, and in others. Let us restore them. Let us strengthen and protect them, and let us create them. May we mend this outer world according to the truth of our inner life and may our souls be shaped and nourished by nature’s eternal wisdom. (Michael Leunig) O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world. We ask for continued blessings on which to draw as we go about our work. When we are weary, energize us. When burnt out, infuse us with the light of your spirit. May the work that we do bring hope, life and courage to all whom we serve, and in the day’s most stressful moments, may we pause for that “quiet within” and rest in you. (Adapted from Richard Rohr) The need to center ourselves in love and to renew our spirit in order to love others effectively is a universal call to wholeness.