Gospel

direct me

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
Lord, You know what is best;
  let this be done
  or that be done
  as You please.
Give what You will,
  as much as You will,
  when You will.
Do with me as You know best,
  as will most please You,
  and will be for Your greater honor.
Place me where You will
  and deal with me freely in all things.
I am in Your hand;
  turn me about whichever way You will.
Behold, I am Your servant,
  ready to obey in all things.
Not for myself do I desire to live,
  but for You –
  would that I could do this worthily and perfectly!

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Blessed are the poor

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
We are mindful, O God,
  that You dwell among the lowliest people of the Earth,
  that You sit on the dust-heap among those in the slums and those in prison,
  that You are present with the juvenile delinquents and the homeless,
  that You throng with the beggars seeking bread,
  that You suffer with the sick,
  and that You stand in line with the unemployed.
May we be mindful that when we forget the unemployed, we forget You.

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A patient Patient

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment

Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation and its many responsibilities.  Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience.
And, O God, while you are Jesus my patient, deign also to be to me a patient Jesus, bearing with my faults, looking only to my intention, which is to love and serve you in the person of each of your sick.
Lord, increase my faith bless my effort and work, now and forevermore.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1910-1997
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Being Lights to the World

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Lord, I pray that you may be a lamp for me in the darkness.
Touch my soul and kindle a fire within it,
that it may burn brightly and give light to my life.
Thus my body may truly become your temple,
lit by your perpetual flame burning on the altar of my heart.
And may the light within me shine on my brethren
that it may drive away the darkness of ignorance and sin from them also.
Thus together let us be lights to the world,
manifesting the bright beauty of your gospel to all around us.

Columbanus, 543 – 615, Irish missionary, founded monasteries in France and Italy
HarperCollins Book of Prayers

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Luke 11:33-36

No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.