Prayer Requesting Grace

It seems appropriate to me that this is the first entry in the category The Basics, because it is from here that I took the name for the blog.

This is a prayer that I wrote for myself near the very beginning of my journey, when I was going through a lay version of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.  That experience was led by Sr. Gertrude Anne, at Mary’s Solitude, which was the retreat center for the sisters resident at St. Mary’s College.  I do not believe Mary’s Solitude is still functioning.

Father,
you sent your Son Jesus to be our example,
and Jesus taught us, if we ask, we shall receive.

In His name I ask the gift of your Grace.
Please, make known to me your will for my individual life.
Please, make known to me my role in your Kingdom.

Lord Jesus,
You are the Grace I seek embodied,
You are the Truth that walked upright upon the earth,
You are the Word of God spoken in flesh,
You are the Way, the path that leads to love and salvation,
You are the Light, the beacon that lights the path in times of trouble.

Lord Jesus,
increase in me my desire to know you,
strengthen in me my need to love you,
embolden in me the courage to follow you, completely.

Send me your Spirit with the gift of patience,
patience as I pray, that I might sit still, quietly, and know the revelation of God,
patience as I live, that I might embrace God as my continual Creator.

Send me your Spirit with the gift of awareness,
awareness as I pray, that I might hear the revelation of God,
awareness as I live, that I might see the hand of God at work in every moment of every day.

Send me your Spirit with the gift of humility,
humility as I pray, that I might come before God without preconceptions,
humility as I live, that I might acknowledge my dependency on my Creator.

Father, Son and Spirit,
make known to me your will
that I might conform myself to it,

for I know that in the act of conforming I will find peace,
the peace of active life, well lived,
with the affirmation of your Glory at its core.