Day Four
Lord Jesus, I have come to know and believe that I need to pray for courage and continually draw strength and love from the celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus, you are victorious and risen. You, my God, have brought salvation to the whole world. Jesus, your mere presence can be the force to effect my conversion. You are an infinite ocean of mercy. Confessing my sins, I plunge myself as a repentant sinner into your compassionate forgiveness, and I experience the beginning of new life.
Your love impels me! Feelings, works and prayers of reparation are nourished in my heart. Conversion and reconciliation mark the way of true discipleship. A self-emptying gift of love to you and my neighbor is proof that truth and love abide in me. Conversion is a radical turning to Jesus in total self-surrender. Conversion is on-going. I invite you to relate to me as Friend, Lord, Lover, Master—God.
Jesus, may all of us be your passionate disciples. May we fix my gaze on you—who love each of us. Your Love is the fire within, enabling us to carry out our daily duties in sufferings and in small “resurrections.” We are transformed by the Spirit to accept all that happens to us as you did, Jesus, and as Mary did. The “gifts of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.� (Galatians 5:22-23a, 25. NRSV) Faith, hope, and love are the abundant energies poured into our hearts to bring about conversion and transformation. These gifts ground us as Christians! We are sent to proclaim how God has so loved the world.