Presence

When I come into Your presence, O Lord,
I know I am in the presence of my Creator.
You created me out of love.
You even know the number of hairs on my head.
Your presence, O Lord, is the greatest gift of all.

Freedom

God is not foreign to my freedom.
Instead, the Spirit breathes life into my most intimate desires,
gently nudging me towards all that is good.
I ask for the grace to let myself be enfolded by the Spirit.

Consciousness

Lord, grant that I may always desire
to spend time in Your presence.
May I not forget Your goodness to me.
Guide me to share Your blessings with others.

The Word of God

²⁷Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”^{, 30}And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Inspiration

The question that Jesus asks of his disciples, ‘But you, who do you say I am?’ is one of three key questions that Jesus asks of all his followers. ‘What do I mean to you?’ The second is, ‘What are you seeking?’ when the two disciples follow after him after John the Baptist has pointed him out to them in John 1:35. The third is when Jesus asks Peter by the lake after the resurrection, ‘Do you love me?’

Let us take any one of these or all of them to prayer. Like Peter, we constantly see things from our own perspective. We ask to trust in God’s love for us as he sees our lives from his higher viewpoint.

Conversation

Your own words, Lord, taught me how to pray.
The beautiful “Our Father”
contains all I would wish to say.

Conclusion

I thank God for His gift of love
as I go forth with joy and hope
to serve His people.

Amen