Prayer Before Work (Working from Home)

 I thought about calling this "Prayer Before Work (COVID-19 Edition)" because so many more people are working from home since the pandemic began. Or maybe you are like me and were working remotely before. In any case, I found I needed to update the old Prayer Before Work that I shared here some years back because it refers to entering a workplace, walls, and traveling and such. That's not so applicable when working from home. :) So I updated this and figured I'd share for anyone else. I try to pray it before settling in to starting work each day. 

I did not write the original, even though I tweaked it from the one I found before sharing in 2012. I do not remember where I found it. I have some vague memory it was on an Orthodox blog, but searching now it is all over the place, making it harder to attribute. Anyways, it's a good prayer regardless of where it originated. 

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My Heavenly Father, as I enter into my work, I bring your Presence with me. I speak Your peace, Your grace, Your mercy, and Your perfect order into our endeavors today.

I acknowledge Your power over all that will be spoken, thought, decided, and done within my company. Lord, I thank You for the gifts with which you have blessed me. I commit to using them responsibly in Your honor. 

Give me a fresh supply of strength to do my job. Anoint my projects, ideas, and energy so that even my smallest accomplishment may bring You glory. Grant me keenness of mind so that all that I set my mind to will bear good fruit; grant me also focus, freedom from distraction, and diligence, so that I may begin and complete my work in justice. 

Lord, when I am confused, guide me. When I am weary, energize me. When I am burned out, infuse me with the light of Your Holy Spirit. May the work that I do and the way I do it bring faith, joy, and a smile to all that I come in contact with today. 

And Lord, when I complete my work today, give me mercy. Bless my family and home to be in order as I return to them.

Lord, I thank you for everything You've done, everything You're doing, and everything You're going to do. In the Name of Jesus I pray, with much love and thanksgiving.

Amen.

Speak the Truth--In "Love" -> Barf

The next time I hear a Christian tell me, "we need to speak the Truth--in Love," I may just barf up all over them. Puh-lease. I mean, Really?!? 

You see, it's not that the concept of speaking the truth is abhorrent, nor that loving others is. (Duh.) It's not even that sometimes, yes, you do have to tell someone something unpleasant for their own good.

The problem is that all too often this "love" is just a pretense. It is just a sham, a get out of jail free card. It is an excuse to make said Christian feel justified in taking others to task for their wrongdoing. Not only that, it is a habit that is easy to learn, and there are support groups for it that also pretend to be doing some great good (i.e., orgs that make it their mission to be perpetually outraged watchdogs). It is pervasive and pernicious.

Let's see.. what would Jesus say?

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.

If your idea of "evangelizing" is to point out what people in society are doing wrong, to denounce and decry loudly from the street corners that they are doomed, you're doing it wrong.

We should be very, very reluctant to take others to task for what they are doing wrong because it almost surely means we are not looking at what we are doing wrong. And what makes it worse is that in overlooking our own faults, we fall into the even greater fault of spiritual pride and, quite possibly, begin to despise them. Heck, I am probably screwing up by just writing this post; I almost deleted it. See? It's a dangerous business..

If we truly want to love others, we need to first and foremost encourage them and celebrate the good that they do and then to have sorrow and compassion with them in their failings and difficulties, reassuring them that we're all in the same boat, that all of us need the grace of God, and that this grace is a freely given gift.

Read that last bit again. It's the pie slicer for our humble pie. Internalize it. This prayer by St. Thomas Aquinas is pretty good way to do it--pray it daily (excerpt):

My most holy Lady,

          I also beseech you to obtain for me

               true obedience and true humility of heart

So that I may recognize myself truly

          as a sinner--wretched and weak--

     and powerless,

               without the grace and help of my Creator

               and without your holy prayers,

          to do any kind of good work

          or even to resist

               the unrelenting assaults of evil.

...

Obtain for me as well,

     O most sweet Lady,

          true charity with which

               from the depths of my heart

          I may love

               your most holy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

               and, after Him,

          love you above all other things,

          and love my neighbor

               in God and because of God.

Thereby may I 

          rejoice in his goodness,

          sorrow over his evils,

          despise no one,

          never judge rashly,

          and never in my heart exalt myself over anyone.

Pray. Try. Remember. When you fail, try again.

Prayer for Worthy Dialogue

In my time, I've done quite a bit of discussing of ideas, mostly online/email lists, though also in person, and in that time, I've noticed how easy it is to get sucked into some less desirable tendencies, especially in any dialogue with potential onlookers.

So the thought occurred to me today that perhaps a prayer for us discursive types might be beneficial.  Here's my first draft attempt.  Suggestions welcome. :)

Lord of all creation,
  Font of all that is true,
  Inspirer of minds,
I implore you,
  grant me keenness of mind
  in my dialectic.

Let me never be more concerned
  with appearing right
  than with discovering the truth.
Grant me humility of mind,
  to recognize my own limitations
  and the excellence in others.

When I am wrong,
  give me the courage to admit it.
When I am right,
  give me the gentility not to flaunt it.

Help me to be generous
  to those with whom I discuss;
to give them
    the benefit of the doubt,
to search for a good interpretation
    rather than assuming the worst.

And grant me discernment to see
  when further discussion
    would be fruitless,
  and on such occasions
    to gracefully bow out
      without bitterness or pride.

In the end, let me never lose sight
  of the Good and the Beautiful,
  which perfection I find only in You.
I ask this
  in the name of the Holy Trinity,
  whose eternal dialogue of love
  I desire to be the inspiration
    for all of my own dialogues.
Amen.

Review: Lectio Divina Bible Study: Learning to Pray in Scripture

I recently got Lectio Divina Bible Study: Learning to Pray in Scripture by Stephen J. Binz. As a lay Dominican, we're encouraged to practice lectio divina, so I thought this could be a nifty way to help me do it. The book itself is structure for either group or individual Bible study, with notes on how best to leverage it for both. I was using it as an individual, though I would like to try it in a group setting. I think it'd work well, based on prior experience with similarly structured materials.

In Section I, the book starts with a great introduction on prayer. That in itself is valuable reading; it also has a short test run of how each session works, using the formula of Listening, Understanding, Reflecting, Praying, Acting. Again, as a lay Dominican, we have a similar approach to study in general, with the end result always geared towards acting--our apostolate. It resonates with me.

The book is broken into five other sections, starting with Prayer in the Lives of Israel's Heros and ending, in chronological progression, through to Prayer in the Apostolic Church. Each section has a helpful introduction to the content to follow, and then the sessions begin.

Spending time with the Word of God like this is naturally spiritually beneficial. It also helps to have the guidance and structure provided by the book. I highly recommend it as a great way to get into the practice of lectio divina, and just generally deepening your prayer life.

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Thanks to the Catholic Company for sharing this book with me. As part of the FTC rules, I have to be clear that they gave this book to us in order to elicit a review. The Catholic Company is also a great source for first communion gifts and baptism gifts.