3.9.21 Universal Prayer & Reflection Love Of Neighbor (Please see Description for Prayer)

St. Joseph Health, Home Care Services

3-9-2021 Universal Prayer & Reflection: Love of Neighbor Good morning, this is Liz Wessel and thank you for joining in prayer and communion as we journey together. We begin by centering ourselves and settling into a comfortable position. I invite you to close your eyes and focus your awareness of your breathing. Together we take 3 deep breaths, one to come as you are, two to welcome whatever emotions you may feel. Perhaps feelings of peace, happiness or sadness, anxiety and stress. Offer even these unwanted guests’ hospitality and say yes, that these too belong. You may wish to place your hand over your heart and offer loving kindness for yourself and to all who are gathered here today. Ring the bell To the God of our understanding, the spirit with whom we gather this morning – we ask that our minds be open, our hearts welcoming, and our arms embracing to our dear neighbor. (adapted Chrystal Hogan) Take a moment to reflect in the spirit of prayer for loved ones, our neighbors near and far who need our thoughts and prayers. We name them silently in our hearts.... Pause 3-5 seconds A few words of encouragement from Morgan Harper Nichols: May this be a season of believing beyond what you see. Trusting that even though you have not felt brave, you have still managed to be. You still trust that you can carry on, despite uncertainty. And amidst all of that uncertainty, there is still so much take delight in. Slow down take it in let gratitude remind you that you are coming forth like gold from within. Trust in the Slow Work of God Above all, trust in the slow work of God We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability- and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you. your ideas mature gradually – let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881-1955) Prayer Teach me to listen, O God, to those nearest me, my family, my friends, my co-workers. Help me to be aware that no matter what words I hear, the message is, “Accept the person I am. Listen to me.” Teach me to listen, my caring God, to those far from me– the whisper of the hopeless, the plea of the forgotten, the cry of the anguished. Teach me to listen, O God my Mother, to myself. Help me to be less afraid to trust the voice inside — in the deepest part of me. Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit, for your voice — in busyness and in boredom, in certainty and doubt, in noise and in silence. Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen. —Adapted by John Veltri, SJ, as published in Hearts on Fire: Praying with the Jesuits Our closing prayer is by Sr. Christine Hilliard CSJ: May we recognize each neighbor as gift from our creator who only gives us what we need. May we be grateful for each neighbor however we met them. May we not be afraid to be a neighbor, dependent on the kindness of others. (Sr. Christine Hilliard CSJ.) As you go about your day may you be blessed abundantly as you bless others in the sacredness of your work. Amen