A Pattern for Personal Prayer

From the Addendum: Passport to Perfection  

To begin with you can use this pattern for daily prayer, but many people find that they eventually come to know the Blueprint off by heart, and they prefer to use their own words rather than the set prayers below. 

Begin withPsalm sixty-nine with which St Benedict instructed his monks to start the divine office. Then it can be followed by the Glory Be, immediately followed by Psalm sixty-two. 

O God, come to my aid

O Lord, make haste to help me (Psalm 69).

Glory be to the Father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O God, you are my God, for you I long;

For you my soul is thirsting.

My body pines for you

Like dry weary land without water (Psalm 62).

Morning Prayer                                             

Say the Our Father and then using the Our Father as a memory jog, say the following prayers:

Our –  Offering: – The Morning Offering

God, our Father, I wish to consecrate all that I say and all that I do to you in this forthcoming day, just as Jesus did every day of his life on earth. Please accept what I do so imperfectly and unite it with the perfect offering that Jesus continues to make to you in heaven and in every Mass that is celebrated on earth.

 I offer to you my joys and my sorrows, my successes as well as my failures, because these especially show how much I have need of you. I make my prayer in, with, and through Jesus in whom we all live and move and have our being. Amen.

Our – Union     

Father, I know that the more your Holy Spirit draws me into your son Jesus, the more I am united to all who are within Him. I therefore ask Mary and Joseph, Peter and Paul and all the saints, especially those to whom I have a special devotion, to be with me now as I pray so that my prayers may be fortified by theirs.

I also want to pray for all my family and friends and all who have asked me to pray for them. May they benefit from the day ahead that I wish to become a perfect prayer, as I offer all I say and do to you, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. 

Our – Resolutions 

Jesus, help me to review the day ahead to anticipate all that I should do, so that I can love God as you did through everything that I do, and love my neighbour too, as you love all of us. Help me to forgive my enemies as you forgave, as well as my friends.

And give me the grace to seek forgiveness from those I have offended; and never to cease trying to be like you and to behave like you in all that I say and do. (Short pause to make resolutions for the day ahead). 

Daily Prayer/Evening Prayer 

Father – Faith

Father,I know and believe that you are all loving, that your love has been permanently transformed into human loving through the human nature of your son Jesus. I know and believe that His love is perpetually poised to possess me at this moment and at every moment. Penetrate and possess me now, permeate my whole being as I try to turn and remain open to receive you.

Melt my heart of stone, re-make it and re-mould it, so that it can at all times be open to receive you. “For I, unless you enthral me, never shall be free, nor ever chaste except you ravish me” (John Donne). Amen.

Father – Abandonment

Father, you have freely chosen to share your own inner life and love with me now through Jesus, as a foretaste of the ecstatic joy that you have planned for me and for all who love you in heaven. As there is no limit to the way you have poured out your loving goodness and mercy on me, I can only totally abandon myself to you in return.

I, therefore, solemnly consecrate every moment of every day to you and to your honour and glory, in and together with your son, Jesus Christ. Amen 

Father – Thanksgiving

Father, although you are infinitely distant, you are infinitely near too, for you inhabit the inner marrow of my being. I thank you for being with me and for all you have given me today, for life itself and all and everyone that has made it worth living.

Give me the grace to praise, honour, and thank you, as much as I am able and more than I am able, not just in words but in a life that I freely dedicate to you. Amen.

Father – Holy Communion

Jesus, at the Last Supper you promised to make your home in all who would obey your new commandments. Help me to obey them now and at every moment of my life. For when I love the Father and love my neighbour, as you did, there is nothing to stop you making your home in me and me making mine in you.

Let the joy and the peace that comes from abiding in you suffuse all I say and do, so that others may be drawn into the Holy Communion that begins in this life and comes to its completion in the next. Amen. 

(Now is the time to remain still and silent for a few moments of contemplation to relish what, or rather whom, we receive in this Holy Communion.A short prayer could be repeated gently whenever distractions threaten to draw the attention elsewhere. A prayer such as ‘Come, Lord ‘ or ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ would be ideal if not another short prayer of your choosing).

Father – Examination of Conscience

“Lord, that I may see,” so that all that prevents you from making your home in me may be spirited away. Strengthen me to live the new commandments as you lived them, so that the same Holy Spirit who filled you, guided you, and raised you from the dead may do the same for me.

Show me the sins that keep you out and give me the power to overcome them, for without you I have no power to do anything. Amen. 

Father – Repentance   

Father, I ask your forgiveness for the sins that have prevented you from possessing me as you would wish this day. (A short pause to review our behaviour in the past day.) I am deeply sorry for failing you yet again, and with your grace, I will never let my pride cause me to delay from turning back to you the moment I fall.

Until I can love everyone as I should, help me to do them no harm and give me the sympathy and compassion of the person in whose footsteps I want to walk. Amen.

Conclude with an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be. 

Night Prayer – A suggestion taken from an ancient tradition traced back to the Desert Fathers: 

When you are in bed, say a short prayer and repeat it slowly and prayerfully. It may simply be the word, Jesus, or the full Jesus prayer: Jesus Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

This prayer and others like it came to be used most particularly in the Eastern Christian Church with slow rhythmical breathing. It was not just a device for relaxation, but for reminding the believer of the all-pervading action of the Holy Spirit.

The ancient Jews believed that the breath of believers was their life-principle, their spirit, so naturally they believed that God’s breath was His life-principle, His Spirit. As a mark of respect, God’s breath or His Spirit came to be called the Holy Spirit.

 So, deep rhythmic breathing that often accompanied short prayers of the hearthelped remind Eastern Christians of the incoming Spirit who dwelt within them with ever increasingly power the more they prayed. It can be a reminder to us too, particularly when preparing for sleep. 

The prayer Come, Holy Spirit can accompany the slow intake of breath followed by the prayer, Conceive Christ in me,as we breathe out. With the next breath, pray again Come, Holy Spirit followed by, fill every part of me, and again with the next breath, ‘Come, Holy Spirit’, followed by, bring Christ to birth in me.

Then, the three prayers could be repeated again and again. Other short prayers could be used like, Come, Lord, or Come, Lord Jesus, or whatever short prayer you feel helps you best. When this practice becomes a habit, it can be far more effective than sleeping pills, and there are no side effects either. 

Whenever you have finished trying to pray, be at peace. You have done the best you can. Now, leave the rest to God, remembering the words of St Padre Pio, “Pray, hope and don’t worry.”

Contact info@metanoia.org.uk for more information on the LSN Lenten Retreat and visit metanoia.org.uk for details of Metanoia Retreats for Clergy, Religious and Laity.