Review of Consciousness at the Beginning of the Day

(St. Ignatius, The Spiritual Exercises, adapted)

Lord, you know me better than I know myself.
Your Spirit pervades every moment of my life.
Thank you for the grace and love you shower on me.
Thank you for your constant, gentle invitation to let you into my life.
Forgive me for the times I have refused that invitation,
and closed myself off from you.

Help me in the day to come, to recognize your presence in my life,
to open myself to you, to let you work in me,
to your greater glory. Amen.

Vineyard Guild Prayer

Holy God, Beloved Trinity, let me always be rooted in you so that I may live in you and you in me.  Bless me so that your grace may flow through me, allowing me to bear your fruit to a hungry and helpless world.  As I wander, prune me of all that inhibits your growth in me.  Let me do nothing apart from you so that your joy may be complete in me.  In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Prayer of Abandonment  (Charles de Foucauld, adapted)

 Beloved,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures—
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
I consent to your divine presence and action in my life,
for you are my Beloved.

Intention for Centering Prayer

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, alive at the center of our beings, we wish to surrender in love to You.  May our sacred word, which we will gently pray when we engage with our thoughts, be a sign and symbol of our intention to consent to Your Divine Presence and action within.

Vestibule Prayer (Fr. Thomas Keating) 

Here I am, Dear Lord, desperately in need of your Holy Spirit.  Give me your Holy Spirit, according to your promise.  I don’t know how to ask rightly, so I just sit here and allow you to pray in me, asking for what you most want to bestow, which is your own Holy Spirit—with the Gifts through which the Holy Spirit takes over more and more of my life.

Preparatory Prayer (St. Ignatius, adapted) 

Lord, I so wish to prepare well for this time.
I so want to make all of me ready and attentive and available to you.
Please help me to clarify and purify my intentions.
I have so many contradictory desires.
I get preoccupied with things that don't really matter or last.
I know that if I give you my heart,
whatever I do will follow my new heart.

In all that I am today, all that I try to do,
all my encounters, reflections - even the frustrations and failings
and especially in this time of prayer,
in all of this may I place my life in your hands.
Lord, I am yours. Make of me what you will. Amen.

Byzantine Prayer:

Serene Light, shining in the
Ground of my being,
Draw me to yourself,
Draw me past the snares of the senses,
Out of the mazes of the mind,
Free me from symbols, from words,
That I may discover
    The Signified
    The Word Unspoken
In the darkness
That veils the ground of my being.  Amen.