contemplative

Where there is hatred, let me sow love

Meditating on the prayer of St. Francis, I thought that from a Teresian perspective, when we pray that where there is hatred we may sow love – we are already doing it. Our prayer, as we pray it, is sowing love in place of hatred. In a mysteries way God shares his grace with us and through us in our prayer. We become instruments of peace in a mystical way.

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 despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

Right now, in this time of global violence, cruelty and chaos that is in almost every way out of our control, it is a relief to open the heart to God and let his love and grace flow through us to the world, to know that he is doing something and that we can be part of his loving transformation of the people and situations most in need of his kindness. We never know what God will do and where he will send his Spirit, or how he will act on the hearts of the people we pray for. However, we can have total faith that he will respond to our prayers.

I invite you to memorize the Prayer of St. Francis if you haven’t already. Try dedicating your time of silent prayer to sitting with it, going over it as slowly as you can without losing focus. You don’t have to think about it or examine it so much as concentrating on the words, letting each one drop into your heart like a pearl dropped into still water where it drifts slowly to the bottom to rest. Know that God is within you and working with you for your good, and for every creature. You will be sowing love in the world, pardon, light, hope, joy, as an instrument of his peace.

In today’s Gospel, John 4:5-42, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that the water he will give her will become a fountain welling up within her, giving eternal life. To me that fountain is love, his transforming love. It wells up within us helping us to live out this prayer. It not only transforms us but everyone we splash with it, both in our prayer and in our interactions with people and the things we do during the day. Every day we are given opportunities to seek to understand rather than be understood, to seek to love rather than be loved, to give rather than receive. It becomes a habit, easier and easier the more we submerge ourselves in the water of his love that never runs out.

O Divine Master, 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,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.”

We pray like a fountain gushing out and watering the whole world, flowing out and touching everyone. We live our lives in response to this grace given to us. We are transformed in it and so is the whole world.

St. Francis, pray for us.

March 8, 2026 1

Lay down your verbal arms for Lent

I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor. Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. Instead, let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities. In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.
Pope Leo XIV, Message for Lent 2026

The Holy Father has, in his serene and gentle way, thrown down a gauntlet with this challenge. This is a very tough form of fasting, especially now in these times of political extremes, immovable opinions, varying understandings of reality and a shocking lack of empathy or compassion. Language is too often used in flagrant attempts to dehumanize those who differ from us In this age of rage, are we contributing to the lack of peace by our words? We long for justice but do we really care about the effect our words have on others or are we just mad? How do we do better? What steps can we take to purify the violence of our speech and still speak truth when necessary?

We need some steps to get there, some tools, a frame work.

Jesus said, “out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
(Luke 6:45, Matthew 12:34) He said our sinful and hateful words begin in our sinful and hateful hearts. Practically speaking, this means we need to master our thoughts. When we master our thoughts, we master our words. Here is my tool box for disarmament, if you will.

On mastering our thoughts, one of the best things one can do is replace them with something else. A dear priest told me once during Confession that every time I had a hateful or judgmental thought about a certain person I was struggling with, I should mentally say, “I renounce that thought in the Name of Jesus Christ.” Guess what? It worked! That person is among my inner circle of friends and has been for many years now. She loves telling people the story.

Some years back I found myself obsessively wrapped in raging thoughts about a betrayal in my life. My rotating anger was no longer helpful. I didn’t need to talk about my feelings. This pre-occupation of mine became a problem with family and friends. Nobody wanted to hear it anymore. I didn’t want to hear it anymore. I wasn’t healing, just stuck. I had to stop.

I remembered that I had tools I knew worked. So I began to mentally repeat the names of Jesus and Mary whenever I had the urge to talk about it or think abut it all again. It worked! I went from thinking about the whole thing at least once every 15 minutes to hardly ever. If we don’t think about something like that, we stop talking about it all the time, as well.

Another thing I was doing at the same time as forming the habit of repeating the holy names, was spending time daily in silent interior prayer. My main way of doing this at that time was memorizing passages of the Bible, prayerfully and silently going over and over them in my mind. This is called Ruminatio, a loving meditative recitation of God’s Word in the heart, from the monastic tradition. It’s a “chewing” on the Word until it becomes sweetness in the heart. Sweetness in the heart is what we need most.

Another thing silent prayer does is slow our minds down and makes our emotions less volatile. We have time to think before we speak rather than just spark into fire whenever we are challenged. The Lord is in us and he calms the destructive storms. (Matthew 8:23–27, Mark 4:35–41, Luke 8:22–25). The waves of our emotions calmed, we are more likely to speak wisely and less hurtfully.

Here are some helpful considerations from a modern proverb of uncertain origin.

There are three gates your words should pass through before you speak. Ask these questions of yourself:

Is what I want to say true?

Is it necessary?

Is it kind?

If what you want to say doesn’t pass through all three of these three gates, don’t say it!

What to do instead? Go for a fast walk and repeat the Holy Name of Jesus or the Jesus prayer the whole time. Don’t come back until you are calm. (The Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”).

Remember this is not something you are doing alone. God is with you and his grace will aid you. So ask him.

May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts of my heart, be acceptable to you, my God.”
Psalm 19:14

February 23, 2026 1

Lenten listening

This year for Lent, the Holy Father, Pope Leo, is asking us to “listen.” He says listening to the Word of God will train our ability to listen to the voices God wants us to hear, such as the cries of the poor and the marginalized, the sick and the suffering. I wasn’t sure how that worked but as I have been reflecting on it, the practice of Lectio Divina came to mind. In this prayer we aren’t just reading Scripture texts. we are “listening” with an open heart to any words or phrases that stand out to us as we read. We understand these as God’s words to us personally in that moment. So we prayerfully repeat them in our minds, pondering them in our hearts. Then we respond to what God is saying to us, replying to him. Then we rest in interior silence for a while. Then we go out and act on his Word.

If we learn and pray Lectio Divina regularly, it becomes the way we hear Scripture all the time. When it is read at mass, we will hear God speaking to us, even as we are aware of hearing his Word as community too. We will be attuned to him speaking and we automatically apply it to our lives without hesitation.

The Benedictines talk about “Lectio on Life,” This is being aware of how God is speaking to you in your daily life. He may speak in a song that comes on at the right moment, something you read or that someone says to you, even something you overhear from a stranger when you’re out and about. It can be a life event, even a small one, that stands out to you as symbolic or providential. I used to say, when something like that happened, “If this was a dream, what would it mean?” I said this because in the way we interpret the meaning of a dream, in the same way, could be done with something that really happened as well, drawing out its meaning.

What if we hear or see something happening around us, read about it or it comes to us in prayer, or keeps returning to our thoughts as we go about that day? We can use the same process of Lectio Divina to ponder it in our hearts, ask God what he is saying to us in this event or thing we heard during the day, respond to him about it, and go out and act on it. This could be noticing the young woman at the store putting her groceries back. It gets to you. Just in seeing that through God’s loving and merciful eyes as a person of prayer, you understand the message and you act on it. Ask her what’s going on, listen to her, and do something about her trouble. Maybe you can’t pick up her whole tab but when she tells you she was trying to get after school snacks for her kids before she picks them up, maybe you can at least get today’s snacks. Then thank God for the opportunity to see, hear and serve him. That’s just one quick way this could play out. Being in tune with God helps you notice her. Otherwise perhaps you wouldn’t have.

One of the things I am doing this Lent is staying away from the news during the week. I can always catch up at the end of the week. Like a lot of people I am hyper vigilant lately because of all the violence, chaos, suffering and injustice happening every day. I’m overwhelmed and so is everyone I talk to about it. What I am hoping for with backing off from the constant news is to use that time for silence and prayer. I also get to the point sometimes when my mind of cluttered up with all the things I am seeing, reading and hearing that I think the clutter interferes with real listening.

I want to listen to life and the people around me and allow God to raise the voices to me he wants me to hear. I am probably too overwhelmed to discern them now. I’m hoping God will sort me out during this gracious time of Lent. Going into the desert with Jesus is one of my favorite things to do. Sometimes I having to skip or run to keep up with him but still, I am so ready to slow down and focus on him and what he wants to talk about or show me, or even if he just wants to hang out.

May the Lord open the ears of our hearts to hear him.

May the voices now “blurred by comfort” as Pope Leo said, and the faces we don’t see,

come into sharp relief for us

through our prayer, listening, fasting and almsgiving this Holy Lent,

Oh Jesus, “For your voice is sweet, and your face is beautiful.” (Song of Songs 2:14)

* If you don’t know how to Lectio 😉

I have written about it here

February 17, 2026 0

I will be LOVE

St. Teresa of Avila compared a contemplative to a standard bearer for an army in battle. His job is to hold the banner of the Cross high so those in combat can see it above the chaos. Even if the standard bearer is cut to pieces, he has to make sure he never drops the guidon. As people of faith you may feel like that standard bearer sometimes. And you are. There is a lot of chaos and cruelty going on right now. As Catholics we believe in the dignity of the human person, in the sanctity of life. Anyone paying attention right now probably does feel cut to pieces. Anyone who believes in treating even the most guilty among us as children of God is bound to feel horrified on a daily basis as violence and hate gain ascendency in our collective conscience and experience.

One of my favorite bands in the 90’s was called Live. They had this great line from their song Run to the Water on their album The Distance to Here.

“Brother let your heart be wounded/and give no mercy to your fear.” I’ve thought of it often as faith leaders begin to tell us to get our affairs in order in case we are called to martyrdom. Do I sound crazy? Do they?

… Adam and Eve live down the street from me

Babylon is every town

It’s as crazy as it’s ever been

Love’s a stranger all around.”

St. Therese wrote about being a victim of love for Christ. She offered herself even should her commitment cause her great suffering, for his love and purpose.

“ In a moment we lost our minds here

And lay our spirit down

Today we lived a thousand years

All we have is now.”

The Carmelite martyrs of Compiegne lived at a time that perhaps started with good aims but ended up being a terrible persecution and even a blood bath. They were executed one at a time. The nuns sang a Psalm the whole time as their voices grew thinner with each execution. They had known this day could come. They had been preparing for it in prayer, offering themselves up to God as a sacrifice for the Church, for an end to the killing during the French Revolution.

St. Teresa of Avila wrote that in some ways physical martyrs have it easier than we who live. “One chop and it’s all over.” Life, though, she said, was “a long martyrdom.” She said this because living in Christly love is not easy. It’s hard and not always accepted.

These days we most likely won’t be martyred because of our faith but for living it. Somebody said to me, “We aren’t supposed to be the Church of Nice.” No, I said, “We are called to be the Church of radical LOVE.” And that’s the” long martyrdom” for me right now, and maybe for you too.

The Prophet Elijah said, “The Lord lives. I am standing in his presence.”( 1Kings17:1) We may not be able to physically do much about the hatred and violence we see. However, like Elijah, we are witnesses to the presence of God. And we have to be brave. A lot of people don’t care about love right now. So we have to intensify our witness. How do we do that?

We have to remember that God loves the ICE agents every bit as much as he loves us. We have to remember that God loves the undocumented every bit as much as he loves us. We have to pray for our enemies and do good to them. If we don’t know how to do good to our enemy we can ask God to show us, to give us an opportunity if he wants us to do that. He will.

We do what we can nonviolently and legally do to stand up for the vulnerable, to protect our neighbors.

We have to root ourselves deep in the Lord so that all we do reflects him. Who is God? God is love. We have to reflect that love.

As St. Therese said, “My vocation! At last I have found it! My vocation is love!” She wrote, “In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be love.”

We are not alone in love. God is with us, never to leave us; any of us.

“Run to the water
And find me there
Burnt to the core, but not broken
We’ll cut through the madness
Of these streets below the moon
With a nuclear fire of love in our hearts

Yeah, I can see it now Lord
Out beyond all the breakin’ of waves
And the tribulation
It’s a place and the home of ascended souls
Who swam out there in love”

Run to the Water by LIVE

January 22, 2026 3

Octave peace

I did try to keep up with St. Martha this Advent. After I spilled things, forgot to turn the oven on and knocked over the broom at exactly the wrong moment she gave me a talk about keeping things simple and achievable. “Maybe you should go for a walk.” Everything turned out fine. It was simple and good and it was family. We even have a new baby this year to celebrate Christmas with. Mass was beautiful. Jesus has come to us. In the special grace of Christmas the morning star has risen in our hearts whatever we have been doing or feeling. Now as these continuing days of the Christmas season stretch before us so does the special grace of this season which lasts until Baptism of the Lord. Now that the dishes are done and St. Martha takes a well deserved nap, we can settle down with Jesus next to Martha’s sister Mary at the feet of Jesus who has been waiting.
Especially during the Octave (the first eight days after Christmas Day) let’s challenge ourselves to spend time alone with Jesus daily. Even just five minutes with him a day when our loving attention is all for him would do us a good and make him happy. It’s what he wants for his birthday.

So take a few minutes. Set a timer for five. Sit comfortably with your back relatively straight (so you don’t fall asleep) and quiet your heart. Maybe Baby Jesus is lying on your chest, warm and peaceful. Kiss his little fuzzy head now and then. If you start thinking of other things or worrying or your your mind whizzes off to other planets, say his Name. Just look at him and love him for these few minutes. Look at his little fingers and toes. Contemplate his sweet face as Our Lady did so often. You don’t have to think about anything. Just be there. Just love.

December 27, 2025 1

The war against ourselves

St. Teresa of Avila talked about the role of the contemplative as a standard bearer. She described the holder of the guidon of Jesus, of love, as having the one goal to hold the banner high no matter what chaos whirls around him, no matter if he is cut to pieces. If the standard bearer should fall, he must struggle to his feet again to hold high the symbol that urges on those in battle, gives them hope, lets them know their comrades are nearby when their courage flags.

I have thought a lot in the past couple of days about what was wrong with me in the midst of the chaos; meaning the violence of thought word and deed since the public murder of Charlie Kirk. I couldn’t hold the banner so much. It wobbled, as Winnie the Pooh would say of his spelling. It wobbled, shook, slipped as I took in entirely too much of what was going on. I have CPTSD and it’s important for me to guard how much craziness I absorb. Also I am an empath type person. I feel what people are feeling deeply. I don’t know about you but the last couple of days have triggered me badly. I have felt like a microcosm of the macrocosm of horror and rage, of compassion and sympathy, of fear and dread. My fight or flight has been FIGHT as usual. I too want to fill my mouth with argument along with everyone else.

St. Teresa would be the first person to say our real war is against ourselves. she advised us to return again and again to “the room of self knowledge.” Well today I am trying that.

Simeon the Prophet told Mother Mary that a sword would pierce her heart “so that the secret thoughts of many [would] be laid bare (Lk. 2:35). I have thought about that at times of tragedy and reckoning over the last several years. It does seem that the secret thoughts of many are laid bare in the midst of tragedy, of horrific events. Mary’s heart was pierced through by her love and compassion for her Son, and really, for us too. Murder surely pierces her heart. Injustice, people doing harm to one another, these must hurt her terribly. Jesus Crucified by hate. Again and again.

I have had my PTSD triggered by the event itself; a horrible murder. A father and husband with little kids suddenly dead. I lost my first husband in a car accident when my youngest was three months old and my eldest three weeks shy of her fifth birthday. I can hardly stand to think of what Kirk’s widow is going through today and what she will go through in the days, weeks, months, years ahead of her. She will have to watch her children grieve. She will have to be there for them as her world is ending. I can’t imagine people watching video all over the world of my husband dying a gruesome death. I was surprised when the sun still rose the day after my husband died. I watched in shock as the news came on and people went to work and school and drove around as if the sky hadn’t fallen. I feel for her very much.

The secret thoughts of many have been laid bare haven’t they? I’ve been triggered by some of their reactions as well as the original event. Some people have been sanitizing the murdered man as if he had been a saint when he was a rank racist who said things every day that could get people harassed, threatened and endangered and did. His public life was all about hate. Then people I thought were sane are saying his work should be “continued,” (Gavin Newsom) or that he “did politics the right way.” (Ezra Klein).

Some have been fawning over him. Their hero is dead. Incomprehensible to me. He was horrible. Look up the things he said for yourself if you don’t believe me.

I think of St. Edith Stein’s saying that truth without love or love without truth is a destructive lie. And look. It is. Historically Black campuses have had bomb threats. The DNC had a bomb threat. Why? I guess because Kirk hated black people? Or because they assumed a black person did it? Because he hated Democrats? They assume the culprit is a Democrat? Brawls have broken out. The president wants to give the man a statue in DC and award him the presidential medal of freedom. Of course he does. He hasn’t helped with his incendiary blaming of “radical left Democrats.”

The outpouring of grief and praise for the man must be a gut punch to the people he harmed with his bullying, with his hate and his stirring up more and more hate. I know it’s a gut punch for me. My heart is the most with the vulnerable and persecuted. That’s where I think it should be. However that solidarity of mine has caused me a lot of rage over the last couple of days. A friend said, to my prayer online for peace and an end to political violence, “You’re a good person.” I replied, “Not really.” I noticed one of my kids put a laughing emoji on that. Thanks a lot Roise.

Also triggering to me is the response of people who want to skip the ugly process of truth and reckoning to get to the peace they think would come if we all decided to just get along and lay aside our differences. To me that’s fake peace. After the things I have been through I have seen enough of that. How can we love our enemies if we whitewash and sanitize what they have done? That’s fake love. It’s useless, wrong even.

I see how I have been freaking out about all this; angry, horrified, scared for our country, taking in too much of what everyone is saying and what the news is when I know that makes me so upset.

Maybe I can offer up all the wild inner agony I have had about all this to God to help someone somewhere. Mary’s piercing of the heart was co-redemptive. I can entrust my little offering of a struggling heart to her.

I pray that I’ll be able to love Kirk- who by all accounts would be an enemy of mine at least as a public figure- in the way God wants me to. Right now that seems to me to be to pray for his salvation, for a beautiful forever life with God for him. Whatever he is doing, Charlie Kirk understands more than any of us do now. He has a completely different perspective. He has encountered eternal love and life. May he embrace them, embrace him who is love and life himself with all of his heart and possess them forever. God says he will give us all new hearts instead of our stony hearts. Amen amen.

I need to ask for that for myself, too. For all of us.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh”
Ezekiel 36:26

September 12, 2025 1

Praying the News of the week, September 7

Opening Invocation

Give us joy for the days of our affliction, for the years when we looked upon evil.
Psalm 90:15

God of compassion, we bring into your presence all that weighs on our hearts this week, especially the human suffering and the most frightening things we see and hear of in the news daily. We gather these headlines not to dwell in despair or fear, but to bring them into the refuge of your healing presence.

Deep Focus

May our daughters [be] like columns adorned for a palace.
Psalm 144:12b

Lord, the horror these women went through as girls has sickened us. Only you know the depth of their suffering, of the damage done, how re-traumatized they are after speaking up this week. May they be believed and may they see justice in their lifetimes. May they feel protected now as they should have been then. Jesus, you have said if someone harms one of your little ones it would be better for them to be thrown in the river tied to a millstone. Your compassion is with these women. Send your mother to help them heal. May she pray for Epstein survivors, and for all survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking. May she cover them with her mantle, encircle them in her arms, strengthen and free them of their nightmares and the daily struggles they face in their woundedness. May these daughters more and more continue growing stronger, with grace and beauty like columns holding up our nation.

Lord Jesus, bring your mercy and truth to abusers that they may repent. In the mercy they receive, may they begin to live in righteousness, making amends for what they have done.

*Bring a mental image of the Epstein Survivors into the presence of Mother Mary. She has been waiting for them. Bring each one to her., one by one. What does she do? What does she say? Does she ask anything of you?

Other Intercessions/Headlines to pray over

O Lord, let your kindness rest upon us,
for we have placed our hope in you.
Psalm 33:22

We pray that you infuse the CDC and NIH and all government agencies and officials responsible for the health of the American people with wisdom, integrity, and respect for gold standard science. We have nothing to fear from wisdom and truth or the facts the scientific process brings us, for you created it all. Bring the people discernment so we know who to trust about our health. May doctors and nurses follow truth in their care of us all.

We pray for the reasonable prosperity of our country in light of the disappointing jobs report and the unhinged economic policies, chaos and trade wars this administration inflicts on our system. May we find a way and may everyone looking for work find meaningful work that meets their needs and brings them dignity.

We pray for our trans brothers and sisters, who are your children as much as we are, that they will be safe from violence, and free from persecution from society and the law for nothing but being trans. Forgive us Lord for the unkindness and hysteria heaped on them in these dark times of intolerance and hate.

We pray for ICE that they will be led to repentance for their violence and cruelty. We pray that they will seek and find better jobs that help instead of harm others; work they can be proud of. We pray for everyone who lives in fear of them, all who are detained, and all of the deported.

We pray for our national guard and armed forces, that they will be true to their pledge to uphold the Constitution and to protect the American people. Give each of them courage and strength when the time comes to resist any illegal orders.

For the cities the president is threatening, may they be safe and free in the face of injustice, and for the people of our capital city.

We pray for our courts that they will mete out justice wisely and impartially according to the Constitution of the United States.

For a just and lasting peace for Palestine, Ukraine and all people suffering war and violence. For the Palestinian people to be saved from famine. For all who suffer malnutrition to be fed. That we ourselves who are safe and well fed will be motivated to feed the hungry and protect the vulnerable.

We pray for all enemies of justice and peace, that they will be stopped, amend their ways, and work for righteousness.

You who are Love, perfect us in love.

Closing Blessing

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand..

Isaiah 41:10

God, in the moments when the news overwhelms, steady our spirits with the reminder that you hold the world- sun and star, nation and neighbor, beetle and bug, atom and quark, as well as our frightened hearts in your hands and that you remain you even if worlds fall. May your peace shape our hearts, your justice and love shape our actions this week. Lead us in your ways. We ask all these things in your Name, in your honor, and for love of you and our brothers and sisters. Amen

Remember, O most compassionate Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, we fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, Our Mother. To you we come, before you we kneel; sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions, but on your mercy, hear and answer them. Amen.

September 6, 2025 1

Pray the News 8/31/25

Opening Invocation

He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For the sake of His name.
Psalm 23:3

Deep Focus

A voice is heard in Ramah,
    mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.
Jeremiah 31:15

How long, O Lord, how long will these mass shootings go on? How long until we stop children being gunned down in school? How long will this sickness possess our land, will this demonic scene play out? How long until our leaders listen to the people and do what is necessary so this never happens again? How many little children have to die? How many parents have to grieve for the rest of their lives? Lord, we repent in dust and ashes on behalf of our nation for the violence, for the greed, for the corruption, for our lack of priority for mental health access, and for all our faults as a people. Send your Holy Spirit on us all to bring us and all of our leaders Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord, not only to think and to pray but to do what is right. Lord, lift up the families of the dead, especially of the two little ones shot down in Church this week, Harper and Fletcher. May your Spirit of love and consolation be near all the injured and traumatized.

Come, Holy Spirit, Come.

*Quiet your heart and allow yourself to be led by Jesus beside beautiful and quiet water, through green fields where he lays you down to rest, then down paths of goodness and right, now across dark valleys when he is your only light, and finally out into an open place, before a beautiful table. He fills your cup with wine that spills over onto the table cloth, and fills your plate with all you could ever need. He anoints your head with fragrant oil. Let yourself be loved in this moment, knowing this love, too, spills over and fills the world.

Other Intercessions/headlines of this week

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
2 Corinthians 3:17

We pray for Kilmar Abrego Garcia and that the deep wrongs and injustices heaped on him be righted. We all know he is detained for purely political reasons. Defend him, protect him, and may the truth come roaring like a lion on his behalf before the whole world. If he can’t be safe here may a safe country offer him asylum. Someone must help this man and his family. Let it be you and if it can be us show us the way.

Come, Holy Spirit, come.

We pray for those separated from loved ones by deportation, detention, and forced self deportation, and for all who live in fear of ICE. Lord protect, defend and encourage them. Show us how we can help them and stop this violence. We ask that you send a spirit of compassion and repentance on those who participate in mass deportations, abuse and detention in terrible places. Not only do we beg you to fill them with your merciful love, but to forgive them and let them know the power of your Divine Mercy.

Come, Holy Spirit, come.

We know our president, who has caused and engaged in much evil, cruelty and harm, has been ill and is elderly and frail. We do want him to be stopped from committing any more evil acts but we do pray for his salvation, whatever that will take for him. Before it is too late, grant him the grace of insight and repentance that he can know and not refuse you and your mercy. We pray he will know the joy of forgiveness and transformation in this lifetime or at least at the moment of his death.

Come Holy Spirit, Come.

As war drags on for Ukraine, and slaughter and famine in Palestine, we ask for a just and lasting peace for those places and everywhere there is violence, starvation and war. May the people be fed and be able to live in peace and freedom. May there be healing for survivors and mercy for the dead. We pray for the conversion of Russia so that she will stop spreading her errors throughout the world. We pray for Israeli government to act with mercy and justice. We pray for all nations who have contributed to this mayhem and horror, or stood by while it happened and did not help, to step up, to speak and to act.

Come, Holy Spirit, Come

We pray for an end to the attempts of the federal government to occupy major cities ruled by the presidents’ political rivals. We pray for DC to be self ruled in peace, and for the threatened city of Chicago as the city prepares. Protect the people and the rule of law, we pray.

Come Holy Spirit, come.

Lord, we are living through dark times and each of us has our part to play in bringing light and ending the violence and the violation of human rights, the destruction of our democracy and the hatred, greed and nihilism that fuels all this. We are scared a lot. We ask that you grant us the knowledge of your will for us and the power to carry it out. May the knowledge of you fill the earth as water fills the sea.

Come, Holy Spirit, come.

Closing Blessing

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:18

Come, Holy Spirit,

Come by means

of the powerful intercession

of the Immaculate Heart

of Mary,

thy well beloved spouse.

August 31, 2025 1

My new book soon to be released: Meeting the One Who Loves You; St. Teresa of Avila’s Way of Prayer

Last summer I finished the manuscript for a little book about the Prayer of Recollection of St. Teresa of Avila. This summer it will be released. My goal was to teach the prayer in an engaging and accessible way. Lots of people know Lectio Divina as a contemplative Christian method of prayer and rightly so, but few people know the Prayer of Recollection from the Doctor of Prayer, St. Teresa of Jesus. The only book I could find exclusively about the prayer was just a series of Teresa’s quotes about it. So I wrote one myself.

Saint Teresa said she never knew what it was to pray with satisfaction until the Lord himself taught her what she named “The Prayer of Recollection.” Meeting the One Who Loves You teaches this method of prayer step by step, along with its underpinning concepts, in a friendly, personal way.

Saint Teresa of Ávila taught that the sacred humanity of Jesus is our way to him. She believed in the power of prayer, even the simple inner silence of contemplative prayer — spending time with Jesus and loving him.

Wherever you are in life and in your walk with God, fear not. Only good can come of learning this prayer and making it an important part of your daily life. Saint Teresa knew the transforming love of God in prayer, and consequently, she lived a life of extraordinary richness. If you have a desire to pray more deeply, to grow exponentially in love, and to be connected to God more profoundly, then this prayer is perfect for you.

The release date is Monday, August 25. You can find it at osvcatholicbookstore.com, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles , and other places you find books! Go get one and if you buy it on Amazon be sure and leave a review!