Presence

I pause for a moment
and think of the love and the grace
that God showers on me,
creating me in His image and likeness,
making me His temple….

Freedom

Lord, like Saint Ignatius, I offer you my memory, understanding,
my entire will. All I ask for in return is Your love and Your grace – that’s enough for me.

Consciousness

Lord You have called me the “light of the world”.
Let me be always conscious of those You want me to serve:
the hungry and the homeless,
the sick and the destitute,
the stranger and the refugee.

The Word of God

¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, ¹⁹and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

²¹When the eighth day came, it was time to circumcise the child, and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Inspiration

Very few of Mary’s words are given in the New Testament. She achieved so much by her silent presence along with her son at many of the key moments in his life, his birth, his first miracle at Cana, and his death on the cross.  She is for us a model of silent contemplation as she ponders with great faith and devotion the mystery that unfolded before her in the life of her Son.

The name Jesus is a Greek translation from the commonly used biblical Hebrew Yeshua or Joshua, meaning ‘one who saves’. St Peter, speaking to the Jewish authorities after the resurrection, said, ‘There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved.’ Let us unite our prayer with the prayer of Jesus to the Father in the Spirit.

Conversation

Dear Lord, stay by my side always.
Gain for me a trusting heart.
Thank You for loving me.

Conclusion

Filled with the loving presence of God,
I ask Him to bless me and guide my steps
as I go to do His work in my daily life.

Amen