As Lent Begins

                “Dear Lord, as Lent begins, I place my humble heart in Your hands. Purify my heart, fortify my heart, prepare my heart to receive all of Your abundant love and mercy and make my heart like Yours. May these next 40 days be a time of self examination and purification. Help me shed the things I don’t need. Help me remove the things that shade my heart from Your intense light. I want to be bathed in Your bright burning light of love. Help me identify and remove all that stands in between us.

                “May these next 40 days also be a time to turn my gaze outward as well to all those in need. Help me help others find the way to Your bright burning light. Help me remove anything that blocks me from helping others. Help me pray fervently for the end of things like abortion and assisted suicide so that people will recognize You as the sole creator of life and that they will treat all life as a precious gift from You that only You decide when it begins and when it ends.

                “Help me to look beyond my small sphere of family and friends with great love for all of Your people. Help me view the world as a great field growing Your holy people, preparing them for the harvest and eternal life with You. They are all vital and important parts of Your whole creation masterpiece, no matter how much I don’t understand them or can’t fathom how they all fit in. I trust completely in You and I know that You are working just as hard in everyone’s hearts as You are in mine. May the love You cultivate in Your vast fields of people purify, fortify and prepare their hearts to receive Your vital bright burning light of love the way the sun feeds the earth.

                “Oh God, make our hearts like Yours. Oh dear Lord, I am awed and humbled as I place my meager heart in Your hands.”

The Desert of My Soul

                “Oh dear Lord, help me see Lent as an opportunity to travel into the desert of my soul, to travel in uncharted territory where I have never before ventured. I always found great delight in the adventure of traveling in an unknown area. The safe wide fire trails were boring, too straight and predictable. The little side paths always called to me. I always wondered what was around the next corner.

                “Help me now take this 40 day journey deep into my soul. Grant me the courage to step off the well trodden path I know so well. Show me the dark corners, the hazy turns, the blind recesses I always avoid. Walk with me; shine Your light of love into these dark crevices of my soul. Show me the vile creatures hidden in the woods; reveal to me the sticky swamp I have allowed to exist inside me. Shine Your light like the sun. Help me clear away the dead branches and the rotting vegetation so that Your light can dry up and nourish these dark areas. Help me remove the rocks that block the path to my heart. Help me set aside my fear as I peer around the next corner and into the forest. Turn my fear to excitement and set me on this journey armed with trust in You.

                “I want my soul to be clear and full of light. I want to be like a crystal clear vase, full of pure clean water. May Your light join with the light You placed in my soul so long ago. May it ignite into a blazing, blinding light shining clearly in and out of the vase.

“Lord, I want to go on this journey, no matter how difficult it will be. I can’t wait to see what is hidden inside the desert of my soul.”

Love is Your Awesome Creation

                “Dear Lord, Almighty Creator, love is Your awesome creation. You are love, You embody love, You define love and You create love for us. You place that love within us, it is what ignites our souls and gives us a purpose. The love You pour into us, fills us completely until it overflows. You ask us to share it with Your other creations, and it fills us with an unending desire to love You and to be loved by You.

                “Love connects us all to Your Sacred Heart and we constantly seek to foster that connection.  Even when we stupidly cut ourselves off from that connection by the veil of sin, we still long for that love. If we remain cut off, we try to fill that great desire with other things like the love of other people (sometimes the wrong people), the love of power, the love of success, the love of wealth, the love of whatever we can find that we think makes us feel better when in reality, all these things fall short of Your perfect love from which we cut ourselves off, leaving a huge empty void that just can’t be filled. Once we reconcile with You, the veil is lifted and we open the doors to our hearts again. Then You can fill us with Your beautiful love once again and we realize how much we missed You and how silly our other pursuits of love truly are. Your love satisfies our great desire to love You and to be loved and we are once again connected to Your Sacred Heart.

                “We maintain an open channel for this love but we still feel a great longing because we are not yet with You for eternity. We are here on earth, separated from You in Your kingdom. Thank You for the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, soothing that great longing, reminding us of Your greatest creation – love. Love binds us to You, it strengthens us, it drives us. Love from You which is You fills us completely and makes us what You want us to be.

                “Lord, may my heart always remain open to receive Your love.

                Lord, may my heart always remain pure to share that love with others.

                Lord, may I be a vessel for Your love.”

Love the Lord With all Your Heart, Mind, Body and Soul

                 “My Lord, my God, my king, my creator, my source of wisdom, my source of love and my one true love, what do You ask of me today? Just to love You with all my heart, mind, body and soul?...that I can do. You are love and love is so powerful; it heals us, it joins us, it frees us, it strengthens us, it drives us, it stops us in our tracks, it calls to us, it leads us right to You.

                “Love is so hard to describe. It is not something tangible we can hold in our hands, we only see, hear and feel the effects of love. We see it in a baby’s smile, we hear it in the laughter of two good friends, we feel it in joy and ecstasy: these are side-effects of love’s presence. When we see the angry faces of people fighting, when we hear the cry of a person suffering abuse, when we feel sad, broken-hearted, and lonely - these are the side-effects of the loss of love. You are love and also so hard to describe but I thank You for our senses which help my feeble mind try to understand You.

                “Thank You for filling me with Your love every day, over and over. May I always be ready and able to share that love with others, constantly pouring out that beautiful warm golden light to all those around me and throughout the world. My Lord, my God, my one true love, I love You with all my heart, mind, body and soul.”