Practicing Presence/Prayers
Gregg’s Reflection
I have gathered a selection of verses and quotes that I have been using as my prayers before going into my contemplative sit each morning. Try it and see what moves you. Blessings.
This day is a gift; my life is a gift. Shape me God this day to be, that which You would make of me. I surrender all to You. Grant me strength today, to turn from my selfish ways, To follow where You lead. Through the Valley of the Shadow, Or beside the Still Waters, I trust You. Let it be to me according to your will. As you will, what you will, when you will it. Amen
Check out another source for Practicing Presence
Journaling prompt: How would your life change through incorporating a regular rhythm of prayer and meditation in your life? What spiritual practices nurture your deepest connection to God and others? What would it look like to be more intentional in nurturing your relationship with God?
Scripture
The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.
Deuteronomy 6:4
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:15
Be still and know I am God.
Psalm 46:10
Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me….Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with your free spirit.
Psalm 51:10-12
For God alone, my soul in silence sits.
Psalm 62:1
I will sit in silence and hearken to what God speaks within me.
Psalm 84:9
Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
Psalm 86:11
Thus saith the Lord God, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
Isaiah 30:15
The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning, he wakens-wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
Isaiah 50:4
Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; walk in it and find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6:16
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
In the middle of the night when all things were in a quiet silence, there was spoken to me a hidden word. It came like a thief in the night.
Wisdom 18:4-5
My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing. Set your heart right and be steadfast, cling to him and do not depart. Accept whatever befalls you, and in times of humiliation be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him. You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy. Has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken? Or has anyone called upon him and been neglected? For the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Sirach 2:1–7, 10,11
Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
Matthew 5:3-11.
The Sermon on the Mount is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting her way with us.
RENOVARE Bible notes on 2 Chronicles 30:18-19
Ask and it will be given you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Matthew 21
Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.
Matthew 21:22
God has the power to heal and answer our prayers, yet our desired outcome in prayer always needs to be placed within God’s larger plan and purposes.
RENOVARE Bible notes on Mark 1:40-42
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30
Rejoice always, praying without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:1
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness.
Galatians 5:22-23
For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but suffering for him as well.
Philippians 1:29
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace….But you are not in the flesh you are in the Spirit since the Spirit of God dwells within you.
Romans 8:5-6, 9.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful, arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Faith, hope and love abide these three; and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13
Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see God.
Hebrews 12:14
We must give God our rapt and undivided attention before we can catch a glimpse of his Kingdom through the veil of earthly time. But if we can learn to sit still in a room-or on a stump-and wrest our attention from the thousand chattering voices without and within, we will find ourselves gradually living more of our lives in that Kingdom.
RENOVARE Bible notes on Revelation NT p. 485
Ancient Writings
In whom shall I find repose but in the human who is peaceful and humble.
St Ambrose
Eagerly enter into the treasure house that is within you and you will see the things that are in heaven.
St. Isaac the Syrian
Listen, look, suffer and be still. Release yourself into the light. See with intellect. Learn with discretion. Suffer with joy. Rejoice with longing. Have desire with forbearance. Complain to no one. My child, be patient and release yourself, because no one can dig God out from the ground of your heart.
The Silent Outcry, anonymous 4th Century letter. McGinn, Essentials of Christian Mysticism p. 141
Joy is a human being’s noblest act.
Thomas Aquinas. Joy is the beginning and end of all we do; it is the best we do. Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 76
The sail of the ship of man's being is belief. When there is a sail, the wind can carry him To place after place of power and wonder. No sail, all words are wind.
Rumi
There is no better way of serving the Word than by silence and listening. Cherish this great silence within, nourish it frequently, so that it may become a habit, and by becoming a habit, a mighty possession.
Johannes Tauler, Sermons, p. 40
Remember, the smallest of souls is still the daughter of the Father, the sister of the Son, the friend of the Holy Spirit and the true bride of the Trinity.
Mechthild of Magdeburg, Woodruff, Meditations with Mechthild, p.46
Happy the soul that, inflamed with love, lovingly preserves in the tranquility of her heart the sacred feeling of the presence of God.
Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, ch 1. McGinn, Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, p. 467
Who are you, O God, and who am I?
Francis of Assisi
Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy; O Divine , grant that I may not so much Seek to be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand To be loved as to love For it is in giving that we receive It is in pardoning that we are pardoned It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Francis of Assisi
Lord God, Living and true. You are charity, you are wisdom, you are humility; You are patience, you are security; You are repose, you are joy and gladness; You are justice and temperance. You are overflowing richness; You are beauty, you are meekness; You are the protector, the guardian, the defender, You are the strength, you are the refuge; You are the hope, you are the faith, you are the love. You are our entire delight.
Francis of Assisi, Fontes Franciscani, translated by McGinn, Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, p. 39-40
One who finds God finds oneself and to find one's true self is to find God.
Ilia Delio paraphrasing Bonaventure, Simply Bonaventure: An Introduction to His Life, Thought, and Writing, p. 72.
All this brought our Lord suddenly to my mind. He said, “I am the Ground of your praying. First, it is my will that you have something, and next I make you want it, and afterward I cause you to pray for it. If you pray for it, how then could it be that you would not get what you asked for?”
Julian of Norwich, Complete Julian, John-Julian, p. 191
If every moment I’m consciously practicing love, then I don’t need to worry about spiritual methods. My thoughts are the biggest obstacles to this way of living my life. Once I stop paying attention to them, I can get back to communing with God. My only prayer practice is attention. I carry on a habitual, silent, and secret conversation with God that fills me with overwhelming joy. I can’t always maintain my focus on God, of course. I’ll suddenly discover that I’ve barely given God a thought in a good long while. Usually what gets my attention is that I’ll notice how wretched I’m feeling—and then I’ll realize I’ve forgotten God’s presence. I just turn back to God immediately. And having realized how miserable I am when I forget God, my trust in God is always that much greater. The Divine Presence occupies the here and now. If you are not aware of this—become so!
Brother Lawrence, Ellyn Sanna, Brother Lawrence: A Christian Zen Master, p. 10, 44, 43, 52, 90, 16, 17.
I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be. But, but the grace of God, I am not what I was.
John Newton, author of Amazing Grace
All human evil comes from a single cause, man’s inability to sit still in a room.
Blaise Pascal
Daily Examen of Consciousness: Reflect on moments in the last day when you were aware of God’s presence, and moments when you were distracted. A Jesuit Practice
Modern Writings
Father, I abandon myself into your hands, do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you; I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so desire to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.
Charles de Foucauld, Martyred in the Algerian Desert, with no published works, no followers, no fame. Henri Nouwen, Nouwen Society Daily Devo, 8/3/20
What is it then to be ‘drawn’ if not to be united in an intimate way to the object that captivates our heart? I ask Jesus to draw me into the flames of his love, to unite me so closely to him that he lives and acts in me.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, p. 257
The pilgrim worried that sometimes he would not have much time to care for his love-relationship with God. As he sat by the water, his dear Lord said to him: Do you have only one minute? Hem it with quietness. Do not spend it thinking how little time you have. I can give you much in one minute. As the ripples of the river glance up to the light, let your heart glance up to Me in little looks of love very often through the day.
Amy Carmichael, Celtic Daily Prayer, p. 572
Give me the strength that waits upon You in silence and peace. Give me humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride which is the heaviest of burdens. Possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love. Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love for You alone.
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 45
And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot
Lord of my heart, Give me vision to inspire me, That working or resting, I may always think of you. Lord of my heart, Give me light to guide me, that, At home or abroad, I may always walk with you
Robert van de Weyer, Celtic Fire
O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know there is ebb and flow but the sea remains the sea.
Henri Nouwen, Nouwen Society Daily Devotion, 8/31/20
Tertullian reduces all sin to a root of impatience with God.
Thomas Merton, A Year with Thomas Merton, p. 185
Everything belongs. When confronted with something unpleasant, remember everything belongs, has a purpose, and will be used by God to shape and transform us.
Richard Rohr, Living School Lecture
Judgmental thoughts are a mass of anger, fear, envy, pride and shame.
Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land, p. 126
Take my life into Your hands at last. Do whatever You want with it. I give myself to Your love—rejecting neither the hard things nor the pleasant things You have arranged for me. . . . Everything You have planned is good. It is all love.
Thomas Merton, Dialogues with Silence: Prayers and Drawings, ed. Jonathan Montaldo p. 51
The silence holds with its gloved hand the wild hawk of the mind.
“The Untamed”, R. S. Thomas.
Lord, that I might see you in this and every passing moment of my life.
James Finley, Healing Path, p. xii
The deepest currents of awakening and discovery only begin to flow in us through the intentional, practiced silence of the contemplative way.
Brian McLaren
It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and sister.
Thomas Merton
Father, help us to not worship the law, but to worship you who through your Spirit writes the law of love upon our hearts.
Richard Foster
“Only one thing is necessary,” Jesus said. If you are present, you will eventually and always experience the presence. It is so simple, and so hard to teach.
Richard Rohr, Naked Now, p. 59
Prayer is standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart.
Henri Nouwen
You rest in Him and He heals you with His secret wisdom.
Thomas Merton
The more united we are to God in prayer, the more naturally that source flows out from its inner spring, becoming a stream of action in relationship to others. To abide in this spring and let the living waters of Christ flow freely through us, we must be committed to regular contemplative prayer.
Phileena Heuertz, Mindful Silence, p. 43
Prayer is sitting in silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, and praising God until we ourselves are an act of praise. Why wait for heaven when you can enjoy the divine flow in every minute, in everyone?
Richard Rohr, Universal Christ
Hope springs from the continuing experience of God’s compassion and help. Patience is hope in action. It waits for the saving help of God without giving up, giving in, or going away.
Thomas Keating Open Hearts Open Minds p. 164
As we journey toward the God who causes us to seek, may we discover our own grounding in silence and awake in God who has found us from all eternity.
Martin Laird, An Ocean of Light, p. xvi
For those who seek to grow spiritually, the goal is to learn the curriculum of a truly spiritual life, grounded in love, mercy, tenderness, compassion, forgiveness, hope, trust, simplicity, silence, peace and joy. To embody union with God is to discover these beautiful characteristics emerging from within and slowly transfiguring us into the very image and likeness of God himself.
Carl McColman, Christian Mystics, p. xix
It is the will to pray that is the essence of prayer, and the desire to find God, to see Him and to love Him is the one thing that matters. If you have desired to know Him and love Him, you have already done what was expected of you, and it is much better to desire God without being able to think clearly of Him, than to have marvelous thoughts about Him without desiring to enter into union with His will.
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation