St. Ambrose Prayer

My favorite prayer by St. Ambrose.

Teach me O Lord to search for You
Show Yourself to me when I search for You
If You do not teach me first, I cannot seek You
If You do not reveal Yourself to me, I cannot find You
In longing may I search for You, and in searching long for You,
In Love may I find You, and in finding You, Love You.

Prayers to the Holy Spirit

Oh Holy Spirit, Soul of my soul, I adore you. Enlighten, guide, strengthen and console me. Tell me what I ought to do and command me to do it. I promise to be submissive in everything that You ask of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me, only show me what is Your will. Amen.

Forgive me my sins O Lord, forgive me my sins. The sins of my youth, the sins of my age, the sins of my soul, the sins of my body. My idle sins, my serious, voluntary sins, the sins I know, the sins I have concealed so long and which are now hidden from my memory. I am truly sorry for every sin, mortal and venial. For all the sins of my childhood up to the present hour. Dear Jesus, forget and forgive what I have been. Amen.

Divine Spirit of light and love, I consecrate my mind and heart and will to you for time and for eternity. May my mind be open to your divine inspirations and to the teachings of the Church whose infallible guide you are. May my heart be filled with love of God and of my neighbor, and my will conformed to the will of God. May my whole life be a faithful imitation of the life and virtues of Christ our Lord, to whom, with the Father and You, be honor and glory forever. Amen.

These prayers were personally given to me by Babsie Bleasdell in 2003 at the Southern California Renewal Conference. It was after that conference that I received a hunger for God's word in the Scriptures and began to read.

Say these prayers every day for peace and serenity.

On Being Spiritually "Fit"

This is a brief article I wrote on being Spiritually "Fit" a long (long) time ago. Maybe I will use it for my Youth Group.

Becoming spiritually fit demands much time, effort, and exertion. Think about the person who wants to be physically fit. He or she will start with his or her first trip to the gym. For anyone who’s ever vowed to “get in shape,” the first workout is definitely not an easy one. Especially if one’s life beforehand consisted of little or no exercise and plenty of junk food. The first workout can be compared to the first time a person begins his prayer “workout,” the beginning of a new spiritual life. Just like the physical workout, the spiritual workout is not an easy one. It may feel awkward, especially if those spiritual muscles have been dormant for a while. The words may seem stilted and unnatural. Don’t despair. One doesn’t expect to run a marathon after one workout, neither should you expect yourself to be a pro-pray-er. Praying will feel uncomfortable at first, but over time you will improve your prayer skills and you no longer will be trying to control your prayer but the Holy Spirit will be guiding you in prayer. Just like your body adjusts to the workouts, your soul will adjust to the increased spiritually you hope to gain by avid praying. After a while your body needs a workout everyday, and your soul will need to pray. It will become a non-negotiable fact. MTV and other spiritual junk food will no longer be acceptable to your soul, it will reject it. But be careful, just like the body can revert back to its unhealthy shape, so can the soul.