Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: Appreciation for all that God has done for me, and help to give Him a return for His love.
The Idea: I am a Catholic in the United States. Did it ever occur to me that the odds were better than 100 to 1 against this? I had a much better chance of being born a pagan native of India or China... with little chance of living very long... and if I did live, I would have been sick and hungry most of my life. The odds are that I would never have learned to read, never have traveled. As a pagan I would never have heard of Christ, never peen baptized, never attended Holy Mass, never received Holy Communion. In my mind now let me picture such a person, someone I could very easily have been. Then picture myself as I am now, a Catholic in America. That I am not a sick, hungry young man or woman, ignorant of God, living in savagery, is due to the special love God has for me. He gave me the chance to be what I am today.
My Personal Application: How am I to thank Him? By doing! Not by saying, but by doing. God is showing His special love for me in a special way. I show Him my love by using the gifts He gives me in the way He wants me to use them... the right use of everything He has made. How am I using these gifts of God to me? My intelligence and my schooling... to know Him better; my friends... in whom I can see Christ and whom I can lead closer to Him; some of the money or clothes I have, for instance... for Christ's poor; my prayer... that all men may come to know and love Him.
I Speak to God: Thank you, God, for what you have done for me. Help me to appreciate and realize your special love for me. Help me to show my love by using your gifts well.
Thought for Today: "What do I have that God has not given me?"
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
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