On Everything

I'm home after our first day of New Student Outreach (NSO, for those fluent in InterVarsity acronyms).  Spending the day meeting new students and connecting with old friends is one of my favorite times as a staff worker; there is a joy that I look forward to every time I jump in my truck and make the 30 minute journey down the coast to Hancock College. Unfortunately, as an extrovert, I find that I tend to overdraw my bank of energy and need a quick nap and prayer time to re-orient myself in the midst of my day.

Today I read a beautiful prayer that my Dad gave me recently; it's one I treasure because it helps me understand a little better how much of a joy, how serious, and how desperately inadequate I am at saving any of those students in the same way that Christ actually saves them. It's from a book called Let Us Be What We Are by a Catholic lay writer famous for his devotional materials. I'd like to share it with you, now!

In my spiritual notes the other day I found the following reflections written a few years ago. They are presented as though You were speaking to me, Lord.

"When in prayer you offer yourself to Me, do not be content with this alone. Offer me everything! Do you know what I mean by this?

First, I would have you offer Me all that you think, say, or do. This of course, you already know; it is obvious that you would offer Me all that is voluntary.

But I desire more. Offer me everything that is involuntary, every beat of your heart, every movement of your muscles, every blinking of your eyelids, every motion in and of every atom in your body.

And still I desire more. Offer me all the glory of creation. You can do this because you are part of the family of creation. Offer me, then, the glory of this family of which you are one member--the glory given to Me by the dog wagging its tail of barking its warning, by the horse, the cow, the bird, the bee, the ant, the fish fulfilling their functions in My plan; the glory given to Me by the tree, the blade of grass, the acorn, the leaf, the seed; the glory given to Me by the mountains and every stone that is in them, by the seas and every drop of water they contain, by the land and every grain of sand on the beach. 

But I desire still more. Offer me all the glory that is Mine and that is owed to Me by the whole human family, by all your brothers and sisters all over the earth--in America, Europe, Asia, Africa, by farmers, factory workers, merchants, captains of industry, commerce and finance, by seamen, students, teachers, artists; offer Me your good intentions to compensate for the bad they do or have done; offer Me your conscious intention for their unconscious neglect.

But still I must have more. Offer Me the glory not only of all your brothers and sisters now living, but that which has been given Me by all those who once lived and are now in eternity; offer Me the great works of the minds of all the Aristotles, the Platos, the Virgils, the Shakespeares, the art of Michelangelos and Leonardos, the military genius of the Hannibals, the Alexanders, the Napoleons, the labor of all who built the pyramids, the vaulting cathedrals, the great dams, everything that man has ever done or thought or said. Offer Me the love of every mother nursing her baby at her breast, the love of every husband for his wife and wife for husband.

And yet more! Still more! Offer me all the love of My saints. Offer Me My Mother's love, Joseph's love, Peter's love, John's love, Paul's love; offer Me all the devotion of Catherine, of Francis, of Teresa and Thérèse, of Ignatius, and of the vast host of saints known and unknown who are one with the Trinity in heaven.

And still I desire more! Offer your God the very love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father, the expression of which is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love Himself. This is the sum of My desire, My other self; for I want you to pray not because I need it, but because you do. To offer this prayer is your privilege; an honor I have bestowed on you."

Amen. Father, may you help me find who I really am in You, to the glory of Your great Name. Amen!