Universal Prayer

I recently found this prayer and fell in love with it. Not only does it touch on every issue that I've felt the need to pray about but does it well. It also works to simply pray a couple paragraphs only, focusing on that specific part. It makes a great thanksgiving after Mass too. Anyhow, I felt that this is the sort of prayer that every Christian should pray because it is somehow appropriate in every stage of the spiritual life.

The Universal Prayer (Pope Clement XI)

Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith.
I trust in you: strengthen my trust.
I love you: let me love you more and more.
I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow.

I worship you as my first beginning,
I long for you as my last end,
I praise you as my constant helper,
and call on you as my loving protector.

Guide me by your wisdom,
correct me with your justice,
comfort me with your mercy,
protect me with your power.

I offer you, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on you;
my words: to have you for their theme;
my actions: to reflect my love for you;
my sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory.

I want to do what you ask of me:
in the way you ask,
for as long as you ask,
because you ask it.

Lord, enlighten my understanding,
strengthen my will,
purify my heart,
and make me holy.

Help me to repent of my past sins
and to resist temptation in the future.
Help me to rise above my human weaknesses
and to grow stronger as a Christian.

Let me love you, my lOrd and my God,
and see myself as I really am:
a pilgrim in this world,
A Christian called to respect and love all whose lives I touch,
those in authority over me or those under my authority,
my friends and my enemies.

Help me to conquer anger with gentleness,
greed by generosity,
apathy by fervor.
Help me to forget myself and reach out toward others.

Make me prudent in planning,
courageous in taking risks.
Make me patient in suffering,
and unassuming in prosperity.

Keep me, Lord, attentive at prayer,
temperate in food and drink,
diligent in my work,
and firm in my good intentions.

Let me conscience be clear,
my conduct without fault,
my speech blameless,
my life well-ordered.

Put my on guard against my human weaknesses.
Let me cherish your love for me,
keep your law,
and come at last to your salvation.

Teach me to realize that this world is passing,
that my true future is the happiness of heaven,
that life on earth is short,
and the life to come eternal.

Help me to prepare for death
with a proper fear of judgment
but a greater trust in your goodness.
Lead me safely through death to the endless joy of heaven.

Grant this thorugh Christ our Lord. Amen.

Little Update

I am finally back online after an extended absence, and most probably about to begin another. I do not have a computer, nor stable internet access as our dialup goes out for three days every time it rains. Highly inconvenient as there is an aweful lot of rain coming down these days.

This past weekend my sisters and I sang for a High Solemn Mass at our friends' wedding. Jiza and Mark had a traditional Latin Mass/Filipino wedding, which was not only a lovely experience but an extremely beautiful Mass. It was also nice to be part of a choir that knew what they were doing and had really practiced everything. Even though each individual messed up a lot, it would seem that the other voices covered up the mishap and nobody knew otherwise. Great experience. In addition to the actual liturgy, which was of course the best ever as the pinacle of beauty and creation, the church itself was lovely. Despite the fact that it is your typical ugly Naval Base construction job, the internal decorations, statues, and pictures were enough to make the place seem like heaven on earth. I am certain that if the faithful had a mind to, they could make any ugly delapidated building look fitting for a king.

The job search goes on, and I'm looking at as many options as I possibly can. Deborah is heading back to school with her roomate later this week. And our family embarks once more on a changing time.

There are a ton of posts I've been meaning to make, but I do not have frequent computer access and thus they never get typed. So, for all intensive purposes, my mind appears as blank as this blog. But you just can't tell all that goes on. How's that for being cryptic?

This Summer

The summer is almost over, and things have been a little difficult of late. My job search has thus not produced anything, but I have a place to live and food so it isn't a big deal. After one has been living independently but finds it necessary to move back home, there are bound to be certain irritations and frustrations, especially since one's freedom is essentially neutered. Well, maybe not quite, but very nearly so.

One of the most difficult situations for me personally has been having to share a room with my three little sisters...it's about 20x20 feet, so a modest size, but we are a all a bit slobbish. I've often been annoyed with clutter, with clothing everywhere, not being able to just relax and read if I want to, having to share my clothes (which was probably inevitable in the first place regardless of room situation), share my space...my, my, my, mine. Today, though, we watched "The Diary of Anne Frank," and I remembered all I had read about that time period: Bright Candles, The Borrowed House, The Hiding Place, Number the Stars, I Am David, Father Elijah, The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, and all the others. Who am I to complain about having to share a small messy space with three sisters? Many of those people, most Jewish, shared similarly confined spaces with others in order that they might live one day longer. How much space does a person need anyway.

In the end, we don't need more than a 1.5x6 foot box in death. How much more do we need in life? An entire room? An apartment? A mansion.

My guess is that most of us can get by with much less room than we think.