Prayer For Consecrated Life
I consecrate my life again today to the Holy SpiritI consecrate my gifting and my writing; I consecrate this bookevery word, every paragraph, every page, all of the structure, the flow, the stories, the very spirit of it. (You will want to adapt this to the things you are consecrating). I consecrate this office and my computer. I bring this all under the rule of Jesus and under the filling of the Holy Spirit. And I call forth the creative life rule of Jesus Christ throughout my office today, throughout my gifting and all of my writing, in Jesus' name.
Jesus, I confess here and now that you are my Creator and therefore the creator of my sexuality. I confess that you are also my Savior, that you have ransomed me with your blood and you are therefore the savior of my sexuality. I have been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ; my life and my body belong to God; my sexuality belongs to God. Jesus, I present myself to you now to be made whole and holy in every way, including in my sexuality. You ask us to present our bodies to you as living sacrifices and the parts of our bodies as instruments of righteousness. I do this now. I present my body, my sexuality (as a man or as a woman) and I present my sexual nature to you.
Blessed Theresa, you lived in Jesus, and spent many hours in prayer to know the Will of
God in order to do whatever He told you. Your heart burst with a love that sent your
sisters into the whole world because Love could not wait. Impelled by that same love,
send us to continue the mission of Jesus today. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Faithful God, You promised to be with us always.
In deep faith, we stand at the gate of tomorrow,
trusting You to lead us day-by-day into the future.
Grace us to embrace fully and passionately each present moment,
where You are waiting to meet us.
Thank You for the SSND tree planted by Your servant, Blessed Theresa,
And for its growth throughout the world during these 180+ years.
Stir in us Your hopes, visions and dreams for a new tomorrow
for a world awakened to You in our midst.
Keep our hopes high even as we face obstacles that may arise in our path,
knowing that You will always be there.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God forever and ever. Amen.
Blessed Mary Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger,
thank you for following the Spirit within you
to courageously, and with deep faith,
respond to the urgent educational needs of your time,
always preferring the poor, and educating with a world vision.
You struggled for unity within our international community.
Grace our SSND family today, to faithfully discern and live your spirit
of unity within diversity in these challenging times.
We ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN.
God our Father, we thank you for calling men and women to serve in your Son's Kingdom as sisters, brothers, religious priests, consecrated virgins, and hermits, as well as members of Secular Institutes. Renew their knowledge and love of you, and send your Holy Spirit to help them respond generously and courageously to your will. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace:
That where there is hatred, we may bring love,
That where there is wrong, we may bring the spirit of forgiveness,
That where there is discord, we may bring harmony,
That where there is error, we may bring truth,
That where there is doubt, we may bring faith,
That where there is despair, we may bring hope,
That where there are shadows, we may bring light,
That where there is sadness, we may bring joy.
Lord, grant that we may seek
Rather to comfort than to be comforted;
To understand, than to be understood;
To love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.
Mary, Virgin and Mother,
Star of the new evangelization,
help us to bear radiant witness to communion,
service, ardent and generous faith,
justice and love of the poor,
that the joy of the Gospel
may reach to the ends of the earth,
illuminating even the fringes of our world.
Mother of the living Gospel,
wellspring of happiness for God's little ones,
pray for us.
Amen. Alleluia!
O God, throughout the ages you have called women and men
to pursue lives of perfect charity through the evangelical counsels
of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
During this Year of Consecrated Life, we give you thanks
for these courageous witnesses of Faith and models of inspiration.
Their pursuit of holy lives teaches us to make a more perfect offering of ourselves to you.
Continue to enrich your Church by calling forth sons and daughters who,
having found the pearl of great price,
treasure the Kingdom of Heaven above all things.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.