Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Universal Prayer

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,
unassuming in prosperity.

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

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

Put me 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 through Christ our Lord. Amen.

~ Attributed to Pope Clement XI (23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721)

a Marinduque fisherman during sunsetA Marinduque fisherman begins his night fishing as the sun starts to set.
Marinduque, 17 April 2010

26 comments:

Cezar and Léia said...

God bless you!

simply divina said...

Oh my, this is a pretty photo.
I still love the place of the Philippines.

penny said...

Hilda, this is the best prayer I have ever read. It touches on ever aspect of what should be in our Christian hearts and mind.
It was the perfect way to start my day, Thank you :)

I hope you don't mine my sending this on to friends and family...

Have a blessed day, my friend :)

Annelie said...

Hi Hilda, thank you for commenting on my blog!
You have a beautiful picture to!
It looks so still and I love the light.....

Dina said...

A prayer that says it all, simply and with humility.

An evocative photo to accompany it.

Cezar and Léia said...

Dear Hilda, it's so beautiful!
I would like to thank you so much for your always support, kind words, sincere friendship!
We were out of the city last days here but I saw your words, your positive feelings and it's so precious to me, thanks dear friend!
I'm so happy that you are having this opportunity to be with your sister and family , I wish you always the best.
Don't forget to take lots of pictures okay! :)
Canada is still a dream for me and Cezar.Once they denied that VISA, without reason in fact, and in that time we've changed our mind and we traveled to French Riviera ( in 2005 ) , maybe it's time to try it again, I mean to plan a trip to Canada!
God bless you!
Hugs
Léia

Pedro D. H. said...

amazing sunset...or sunrise?

Leif Hagen said...

What a beautiful prayer, Hilda of Manila! It raised my spirits and the photo gave me peace and calm and a smile!
Blessings to you and yours

Unknown said...

Hi Hilda, thank you for the beautiful prayer which covers all aspects of my needs...may i be granted the grace to be generous enough to live the prayer. God bless...i need to share this with friends, hope you don't mind. Thank you once again.

Chubskulit Rose said...

Seeing the photo you posted makes me homesick. We live nearby the see in Donsol and I miss sitting in bay area in the afternoon, watching the sunset. Thanks for the nostalgic post!

JO said...

awesome shot!

thanks for visiting my blog.

Unknown said...

The prayer cannot be improved upon and the photo is a stunning addition!! Love it!

Thanks for your visit & G♥d bless!

Unknown said...

that is the spirit of Faith. Let His will be done.. God bless you!
the title speaks love and peacefulness

Haddock said...

Let my conscience be clear,
my conduct without fault. . . . . if this is done, the rest follows.

Lowell said...

This is a delicious photo! The man does look a bit lonely out there, though. Must be awfully dark in the night!

Re fireworks: I read that somewhere in the eastern U.S. someone blew off his arm yesterday while playing with fireworks!

Gwyn said...

Greetings from Alaska!
Beautiful prayer and photo.

Dewdrop said...

Ahh, serenity. You found it!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the words of the prayer and the wonderful warm coloured photo too.
But what is the time, when your sun is setting? "Our sun" sets to night about 10.50pm :)
Happy weekend to you!

Noel Morata said...

great photo and prayer, thanks for visiting :)

Chubskulit Rose said...

Beautiful prayer Ms. Hilda!

Dimple said...

What a lovely prayer! God bless you today!

Gattina said...

Beautiful sunset !

SH -ic said...

like the prayer .. similar thought i did have today tks

Teacher Engineer said...

it's fantastic!!!

Rossel said...

another sunset...beautiful! it is sad that I can't see the sunset and sunset from here. we are far the sea where we can always see the most beautiful sunset and sunrise.

thanks for visiting topics on earth. i am now following this site.

Barbra said...

Hello, Ms. Hilda!

I got so inspired by this prayer. My mom taught me that "praying" is the best companion forever. With your kind permission, I had it re-posted in my FB, don't worry because I cited your blog site in my "notes". Thank you so much.:-) God bless.

Sincerely,
Baan (bvaldez@graffiti.net)