Aspirational prayers
Body
“There is a balm in Gilead;” so goes the great old hymn and “like a bridge over troubled waters” goes the lyric to a song by Simon and Garfunkel. Jesus is the one who has laid down His life on the Cross of Calvary as a bridge to rescue you and me by His victory over Satan, sin, evil and death. In the Catholic Christian tradition it is believed that all the graces that flow to us, flow from the pierced side of Christ from the Cross, flowing from His Sacred Heart. From the Cross Our Lord spoke what are known as His seven (7) last words, in fact, seven last statements. These are models of aspirational prayers. Prayer is the great means to access ever flowing graces and the Holy Spirit. We need daily graces for when our souls grow weary as they do in this hyper-active noisy and high speed world in which we live, with the hyper-active pace we are all expected to maintain. Prayer is the best medicine for weary souls and like many medical treatments consistency is key. We are counselled by Paul to “pray without ceasing” (1st Thessalonians 5:17a) and one of the best ways to aspire to this is through ‘aspirational prayers.’ It is said that the Greek Orthodox monks pray ‘The Jesus Prayer’ over 2000 times throughout the day. The Jesus Prayer is an aspirational prayer that goes as follows “Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner” (short version) or “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Prayer is a medicine (catalyst) for our faith and a consoling restorative for our tired and weary souls, especially when taken like medication, regularly, in the right way at the right times. Aspirational prayers are short easy to remember prayers that can be said once or repeated often throughout the day to help us stay connected to Jesus. For example, as soon as we wake in the morning we can say/pray, in child-like trust “Good morning, Jesus,” and/or “Lord, I thank you for this, another day,” Again, when we wake in the morning we might/could pray, “Lord , come to my assistance, Lord, make haste to help me” or “Lord, open my lips and my mouth will proclaim your praise,” Before any activities we could pray, “Come, Holy Spirit;” or “Jesus, help me,” or “Jesus, I need you,” or Jesus I love you,” or “Jesus, I trust in you.” When we accomplish anything good we ought to pray, “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to thy Name give the glory.” How often we send text messages to others, how about doing this also spiritually to God with our prayers, to our Lord and Savior by these simple aspirational type prayers, so that our minds and our hearts may remain connected to Him throughout the day. Jesus said “ remain in me as I remain in you…..” (John 15:4-5).
