You are invited to begin this time with a breath prayer. As you enter into a stillness, use these words to align with your breath. Explore this breath prayer for this month as a way to center your body, mind and soul.
BREATH PRAYER
Inhale: Filled with love
Exhale: To share freely
THE CENTER PRAYER
Will you pray for the Center for Spiritual Formation?
Dear God:
We pray for the life and ministry of the Center:
May it become a healing stream
for those who would be sustained by prayer;
May it become an ever-flowing river
for those whose spirits have grown dry;
May it become a fountain of life,
for those who would practice their faith
in a dry and thirsty land;
And may it nourish the seed of your Word—
the Church,
yielding a bountiful harvest for your
Kingdom.
AMEN
Specific Prayer Needs of the Center
Please join in prayer for these specific needs of the work of the Center in this season.
If you would like to help with provision for these needs, contact Rhonda Strouse at director.rhonda@centerformation.org
LOVE’S JUSTICE AND MERCY
We present this prayer to the Holy One to whom all praise and gratitude are given as we seek to travel the sacred pathway of the Center…
O Gracious God, Hear Our Prayers for Love’s Justice and Mercy…
May the Center be led by Love’s Justice and Mercy as we extend an invitation to all to share in your holy call of abiding in you…
May the Center be a place of safe haven for all people of God seeking holy refuge and freedom to be loved unconditionally…enable us with your wisdom, offerings, and presence as we lead and serve through You.
Bring us together from wherever we may be…unified through Love’s Spirit…
A voice of unity in our call and our want to reflect your very being with those we encounter… reflecting Love’s presence… and also for ourselves…and as one sacred community.
May it be so, May it be so, May it be so.
Featured Prayer From Jacqueline Hollowell
God of love you formed us not only with the ability to love but with the need and desire to be loved. There is a space deep within that can only be housed and filled by the love of the father. We hear your call of love from deep inside and often attempt to respond with empty futile things that are fleeting. In reality only your love can satisfy and fulfill the void, the cravings and the unsettling within our souls. Your Love produces joy, peace, contentment and so much more that neither this world nor anyone or anything can offer. Your love is expressed and exemplified day in and day out in subtle and profound ways. Something as simple as the birds singing at sunrise and even the sun rise itself. It could also be more profound like providing or meeting a need, be it physical, financial, mental, emotional or spiritual. You value people and when or as that value emerges love is demonstrated. Your love offers acceptance over abandonment, correction over condemnation, reception over rejection. It’s not exclusive but inclusive and gives freely and consistently without merit. It lasts throughout eternity. Thank you for the gift of love through Jesus Christ our Lord who gave his life for us. May your love continually flow in us and through us.
Jacqueline Hollowell is a 2016 graduate of the Ministry of Spiritual Direction training program. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky where she ministers in prayer, grace, and care.
Prayer from the Center’s Archives
The Center for Spiritual Formation has a treasure trove of prayers collected over the years through our Ministry of Spiritual Direction training, retreats and workshops.
I learned for certain that love was our Lord’s meaning.
And I saw for certain, both here and elsewhere,
that before ever he made us, God loved us;
and that his love has never slackened,
nor ever shall.
In this love all his works have been done,
and in this love he has made everything serve us;
and in this love our life is everlasting.
Our beginning was when we were made,
But the love in which he made us
never had beginning.
In it we have our beginning.
All this we shall see in God for ever.
May Jesus grant this.
~Julian of Norwich, 1342-1416