they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful:
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart:
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they will be called the children of God.
- The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-9
Believe More Deeply
Believe more deeply.
Hold your face up to the light,
even though for the moment you do not see.
- Bill Wilson, Cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous
Rest in the Arms of Loving Providence
My God, I am yours for time and eternity.
Teach me to cast myself entirely
into the arms of your loving Providence
with a lively, unlimited confidence in your compassionate, tender pity.
Grant, O most merciful Redeemer,
That whatever you ordain or permit may be acceptable to me.
Take from my heart all painful anxiety;
let nothing sadden me but sin,
nothing delight me but the hope
of coming to the possession of You,
my God and my all,
in your everlasting kingdom.
Amen.
- Suscipe of Catherine McAuley - 1778–1841
Loving Your Enemies
Oh God, help us in our lives and in all of our attitudes,
to work out this controlling force of love,
this controlling power that can solve
every problem that we confront in all areas.
Oh, we talk about politics;
we talk about the problems facing our atomic civilization.
Grant that all men will come together and discover
that as we solve the crisis and solve these problems,
the international problems,
the problems of atomic energy,
the problems of nuclear energy,
and yes, even the race problem;
let us join together in a great fellowship of love
and bow down at the feet of Jesus.
Give us this strong determination.
In the name and spirit of this Christ, we pray.
Amen.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pray to the Heavens Above
God exists.
His place is very cool.
Look at how it is where God is.
- Mesoamerican Indian Blessing
The Good Road and the Road of Difficulties
Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey!
Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth
and lean to hear my feeble voice.
You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer.
All things belong to you—the two-leggeds,
the four-leggeds, the wings of the air
and all green things that live.
You have set the powers of the four quarters
to cross each other.
The good road and road of difficulties
you have made to cross;
and where they cross, the place is holy.
Day in and day out, forever, you are the life of things.
Therefore I am sending a voice, Great Spirit,
my Grandfather, forgetting nothing you have made, the stars of the universe
and the grasses of the earth.
You have said to me,
when I was still young and could hope,
that in difficulty I should send a voice four times,
once for each quarter of the earth,
and you would hear me.
Today I send a voice for a people in despair.
You have given me a sacred pipe,
and through this I should make my offering.
You see it now.
From the west, you have given me the cup
of living water and the sacred bow, the power to make life and to destroy.
You have given me a sacred wind and the herb
from where the white giant lives –
the cleansing power and the healing.
The daybreak star and the pipe,
you have given from the east;
and from the south, the nation’s sacred hoop
and the tree that was to bloom.
To the center of the world you have taken me
and showed the goodness and the beauty
and the strangeness of the greening earth, the only mother –
and there the spirit shapes of things,
as they should be,
you have shown to me and I have seen.
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