Margaret Litchfield (Marianne
Christian), RIP 2015
"Prayer should be woven through our lives like
golden threads in a tapestry. "
Yes, but how? I'd like to pray more, but how do I find the time?
Recently I read a biography of Fr. William Doyle, a Jesuit
priest who served in the trenches during the first world war. He
prayed constantly by saying thousands of one-line prayers
throughout the day. He taught this method to many people who
came to him for advice and he himself lived a selfless life and
died heroically.
The world desperately needs prayer so perhaps for those who,
like me, haven't put even one foot on the path of holiness, Fr.
Doyle's method might be a good starting point.
The joy of one-line prayers is that they don't take any time
from the busiest day.
How do we go about forming such a habit? Perhaps it would be a
good idea to connect prayer with each repetitive action
occurring throughout the day, e.g. drawing the curtains; going
up or down stairs; touching a light switch; turning a tap on or
off; etc.
Once we've learnt to associate these actions with prayer, then
other actions and prayers could be added gradually.
What should these prayers be? They could be anything from saying
the name of Jesus to a verse from a psalm or any favourite
prayer. I have begun a collection of short aspirations, such as:
You heavens, sing for joy and earth exult! Our Lord is coming.
God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
May those who walk in darkness, see Your light.
Then there are a wealth of appropriate prayers praising God for
all the beauty He has given us:
When morning gilds the skies, My heart awaking cries: May Jesus
Christ be praised!
How great and wonderful are all Your works, Lord God Almighty.
See the rainbow and praise its Maker.
A hallowed day has dawned upon us. Come, worship the Lord.
Radiant morning star, Shine on those in darkness.
Jesus, You are the light of the world.
This article is headed "Resolutions" rather than "New Year
Resolutions" because committed Christians don't resolve changes
but once a year. Every day that we live, we are more and more
conscious of His great love for us - and even more conscious of
how little we can give Him in return. We pray about ideas for
change as they occur to us and, with His grace, try to implement
them in our lives.
Another resolution we could make could be to choose a theme for
each day of the week and concentrate on achieving it for this
particular day only. What we choose will depend on our own
failings and areas where we need to grow.
For example, we could choose:
� A POSITIVE THINKING DAY.
� A NO GRUMBLING DAY.
� A GENTLE SPEECH
DAY.
� AN ACCEPTANCE WITH JOY
DAY.
� A DAY FOR THANKING GOD
FOR ALL HIS LOVE, BEAUTY AND BLESSINGS.
Perhaps it may be possible to keep such a resolution for one day
a week only.
And, when we're entirely used to keeping (or at least aiming to
keep) these resolutions on the appropriate day, it could be that
eventually we'll find that we're keeping all of them seven days
a week.
And then we'll be ready to listen to what God's love is saying
to us next.
Marianne Christian
Rainbow End