Finding God in All Things

Finding God in All Things
2005 Marquette University Press

ISBN 0-87462-015-5
ISBN 978-0-87462-015-3
All rights reserved.

Imprimi Potest
James E. Grummer, S.J.
Provincial of the Wisconsin Province
June 1, 2005
Letter from the President

Dear Marquette Student,
I am pleased to present to you a newly revised edition
of our Marquette University prayer book, Finding God
in All Things. The mission statement of Marquette University rightly says that As a Catholic university we are
committed to the unfettered pursuit of truth under the
mutual illuminating powers of human intelligence and
Christian faith. Every university worthy of the name,
public and private alike, emphasizes the pursuit of
truth, the crucial role in this of human intelligence and
the need for genuine academic freedom in carrying on
this quest for truth. The Christian tradition insists not
only on the importance of faith but on its relevance for
successfully pursuing the fullness of truth, a quest that
can only find its completion in the Ultimate Truth that
is God. That is, something of profound importance to
our human quest for knowledge will be missing when
faith has no place in our lives.
All of the worlds great religions including Christianity involve in some way a quest, a search for faith, faith
in an Ultimate Reality that worldwide is known under
many names but which Christians call God. That faith,
authentically formed, will be experienced as personal and
intimate, but will also serve more and more to animate
the rest of our human experience. Essential to achieving
such faith is a life of prayer.
But how can we go about this business of prayer, how

can we know what to say as we seek to begin a dialogue
with God and allow God to dialogue with us? This book
can provide a way to start. Because prayer so often begins
with the present moment in which we find ourselves, this
book offers a variety of prayers which come from the
experience of people when they are, for example, thankful,
joyful, troubled by the world situation, feeling alone or
overwhelmed, concerned about others, or seeking how
best to grow in a deeper relationship with God.
The prayers in this book have been recommended by
students, faculty and staff. Since our students, faculty,
and staff come from many different backgrounds, there
is included a selection of prayers drawn from religious
traditions other than Christianity. The inclusion of
such prayers provides a good reminder that, though we
humans express our faith in many diverse ways, ultimately
we all are reaching out to one and the same God who
is Creator of us all.
May our prayer book, Finding God in All Things, be a
help to you in learning better how to pray and how to
grow in your relationship with God.

Sincerely,
Robert A. Wild, S.J.
President
Table of Contents
Letter from the President................................................. 5
Preface to the Second Edition......................................... 9
I Worship at MarquetteWhy We Pray............13
II Saint Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuits and
Ignatian Spirituality...............................................19
III Fr. Jacques Marquette and
Marquette University............................................35
IV Some Noteworthy Jesuits: Men of Prayer........41
V Some Extraordinary Women of Prayer.............55
VI Personal Prayer in the Ignatian Tradition..........69
VII Prayers and Poems in the Ignatian Tradition....89
VIII Traditional Christian Prayers............................ 111
IX Daily Prayers........................................................ 129
X Prayers for College Life .................................... 135
XI Prayers for Recent Graduates and
Alumni and Alumnae......................................... 153
XII Prayers by Women............................................... 167
XIII Prayers and Poems
from Many Faith Traditions............................. 179
XIV Psalms .................................................................. 193
XV Hymns, Poems and Various Prayers................ 205
Preface to the First Edition......................................... 243
Acknowledgments......................................................... 245
Index................................................................................ 251
Preface to the Second Edition

Thanks to the original committee that compiled Finding
God in All Things, the work on this second edition of the
Marquette Prayer Book has been relatively easy. The
current prayer book revision committee has sought
primarily to augment and improve on the strengths of
the first edition.
The stimulus for this revision began with Marquette
President, Fr. Robert A. Wild, S.J., and Stephanie Russell, Executive Director of the Office of Mission and
Identity. It is hoped that a new edition of the prayer
book will help re-emphasize the role of prayer, reflection
and discernment among our students, and extend the
Jesuit tradition of education and service to the world.
This edition of Finding God in All Things is also meant
as an introduction to the Jesuit Catholic tradition of
prayer. It is designed for faculty, staff and administrators
at Marquette, as well as the broader Marquette family
that includes alumni/ae, benefactors, and other friends
of the university. It also provides some background on
the Society of Jesus and the Jesuit tradition of education.
This edition includes a new set of images to accompany
many of the prayers.
The prayer book revision committee would also like
to thank the following for their additional help and
support:
10
Fr. John P. Donnelly, S.J., Professor of History

Sarah Krukowski, Lecia Wardle and Nick Schroeder
of the Office of Public Affairs
Dr. Andrew Tallon, Professor of Philosophy and
Director of the Marquette University Press, and Mrs.
Maureen Kondrick, Manager of Marquette University
Press.
Susan Hopwood of the Raynor Memorial Libraries,
for valuable bibliographic work.
The current edition of the prayer book is still a work
in progress. Marquettes Office of Mission and Identity
would appreciate your feedback and ideas.
Dr. Ed Block
Dr. Nicholas Burckel
Ms. Laura Krenz
Rev. Doug Leonhardt, S.J.
Ms. Sherri Lex
Rev. Frank Majka, S.J.
Ms. Stephanie Russell
Dr. Steven Taylor
Mr. Jacob Teplesky

Lord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1
I
Worship at Marquette:
Why We Pray
Tradition says people pray in order to praise and thank
God, express sorrow and ask forgiveness, or ask for what
they want for themselves and others. Basically, we human
beings pray because we are hard-wired to pray. It is in our
natures to reach out to What is beyond us and to enter
into a relationship with That which we call God.
We pray as a way to go outside ourselves and connect
with the One who calls us, waits for us, leads us and
loves us. We also pray as a way to go into ourselves and,
at the core of our being, meet the One who lives there,
giving us life and purpose.
When we reach the God who calls us out and calls
us in, we find ourselves in the presence ofthe Person
who calls us by our names, keeps us safe, and connects
us with others. When we pray we become better people
not better than those who dont, but better than we
would be if we didnt pray.
People pray in a thousand ways. The aim of this
collection of prayers is to provide examples of how
some individuals and communities have expressed their
longings for God and, thus, to encourage those who use
it to make those words their own or to find their own
words and ways to pray.
14
Saint Joan of Arc Chapel and the

Woman for Whom It Is Named
Located in the heart of Marquettes campus, the Saint
Joan of Arc Chapel is a favorite place for the Marquette
comunity to pray and worship. It is the oldest building
on campus, spanning five centuries as a place of prayer.
It was originally built in a Little French village, Chasse,
and was known as the Chapelle de St. Martin de Sayssuel.
After the French Revolution, the Chapel fell into ruin
where it was left until after the First World War. It was
then restored by an architect named Jacques Couelle.
In 1926 Gertrude Hill Gavin, the daughter of James
J. Hill, the American railroad magnate, acquired the
Chapel, and it was transferred to her fifty-acre estate on
Long Island. The reconstruction plans were developed
by one of Americas leading architects, John Russell
Pope, who also planned the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
In 1962, the Gavin estate passed into the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Marc B. Rojtman. In 1964 the
Rojtmans presented the Chapel to Marquette and had
it dismantled and sent to the campus for reassembly.
The dismantling on Long Island began in June 1964
and took nine months to complete. A fleet of trucks,
each vehicle carrying forty thousand pounds, brought
the Chapel stones to Milwaukee, where reconstruction
15
I Worship at Marquette: Why We Pray
began in July 1965. The Chapel was dedicated to St.

Joan of Arc on May 26, 1966.
Saint Joan of Arc, born at Domremy in Lorraine in
1412, was an ordinary medieval peasant girl until she
started to hear voices which urged her to free France
from the English invaders during the Hundred Years
War. For five years she kept these secret, but in 1429
she stole away from home and went to Charles VII. The
King had her examined by theologians before agreeing
to follow her advice. For a peasant girl to command the
royal army was almost unthinkable! Yet the King agreed.
He had little to lose since he had already lost the richest
parts of France. Joans army lifted the siege of Orleans
in a brilliant campaign, then again defeated an English
army, thereby opening the way for Charles coronation
at Reims in 1429. That was the turning point after
ninety-two years of French defeats.
Joan fought another battle against the Burgundians in
1430 and was captured. They sold her to their English
allies.The English could not be content merely to execute
their prime enemy; they had to discredit her first. If her
voices were from God, then the English cause in the war
was against God.
Joan was put on trial as a heretic at Rouen and interrogated for three months in 1431. She was tricked into
admission of guilt; this allowed the judge to sentence her
as a relapsed heretic. He turned her over to the secular
authorities who burned her at the stake on May 30
(now her feast day). As the flames rose, she protested her
16
innocence. A Church court rehabilitated Joan in 1456

and she was canonized in 1920.
Gesu Church
Gesu Church is the most recognizable building on
Marquettes campus. The Church is a Jesuit Pastoral
Center, a parish of the Archdiocese sponsored by the
Society of Jesus. Many of Marquettes large liturgical
celebrations take place at the Church and it has served
Marquette students and faculty for over a century.
The Church was constructed under the direction of
the architectural firm of H.C. Koch and Company. It
was dedicated on December 16, 1894. The prevailing
design is the Rayonnant style which was popular in
France during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
The windows were made at the Royal Bavarian Institute
for stained glass in Munich, Germany, and the altars date
from 1927. The inside of the Church was remodeled in
1967 but great care was taken to preserve the architectural
style and meld it with the liturgical reforms of Vatican
II. There is space for over 1000 worshipers.
The lower Church has a chapel for the celebration
of the Eucharist several times during the day and daily
opportunity for the celebration of individual Reconciliation, as well as a hall for parish functions.
17
The Chapel of the Holy Family

Another special place of prayer and worship at Marquette is the Chapel of the Holy Family, located in the
Alumni Memorial Union adjacent to the Office of
University Ministry.
This chapel was completed in the fall of 1990, and
it can seat 200 people. It was the gift of Dr. and Mrs.
Robert S. Pavlic, as was the carving of the Holy Family
that sits near the entrance. The statues were crafted in
Ontisel, Italy.
In order for the chapel to be used for ecumenical services to meet the faith needs of many on campus, there
is a separate Eucharistic chapel for prayer and adoration.
The chapel was given by Mrs. Edward D. (Marguerite)
Simmons, whose late husband had been the Academic
Vice-President of Marquette University.
The Chapel of the Holy Family is used for university
Masses for students, gatherings of friends and alumni,
reconciliation services and gatherings of students in
crisis or need.
Islamic Prayer Room

This place of prayer is provided for Muslim students,
faculty, and staff in the Alumni Memorial Union. Information about this space can be obtained from the
Director of Campus International Programs.
You did not choose me, I chose you. John 15:16
II
St. Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuits,
and Ignatian Spirituality
Ignatius of Loyola (14911556) was born in northern Spain of a noble Basque family in the castle called
Loyola. The year after his birth Ferdinand and Isabella
conquered Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain,
and sent Columbus in search of China. A decade later
two of Loyolas brothers fought with the Spanish armies
that conquered Naples, another helped crush a revolt
in Granada, and a fourth sailed for America. Loyolas
youth was spent mainly as a page at two noble courts,
and during his twenties he served as a courtier and heard
about how an obscure German friar, Martin Luther, was
questioning the basics of medieval Christianity.
Loyola was not trained as a professional soldier, but
as a courtier who was expected to take up his sword in
an emergency. This Loyola did when the French invaded
northern Spain in 1521. Loyola was wounded trying to
defend the city of Pamplona; impressed by his valor, his
French captors sent him back to Loyola Castle to recover.
There he began reading the lives of Christ and the saints
when no novels of chivalry could be found. Gradually he
came to realize that daydreams about imitating the saints
20
in serving God gave more inward relish than daydreams

of knightly deeds.
He determined to go as a pilgrim to Jerusalem and
live there. He headed for the port of Barcelona, but on
the way he paused for a few days in the small town of
Manresa to write some spiritual notes. The stop dragged
on for ten months as he meditated on Christs life. His
prayer gradually deepened into mystical experiences.The
notes he took down at Manresa became the nucleus of
his great book The Spiritual Exercises, which allows others to share his insights and experiences. Over the next
twenty years Loyola added to these notes and directed
various followers through the Exercises, a spiritual retreat
of thirty days.
The Spiritual Exercises break into four weeks: the first
deals with the purpose of life, the second with Christs
public life, the third with his passion and death, and the
fourth with his resurrection. The first printed edition of
The Spiritual Exercises appeared at Rome in 1548. Since
then this little book, devoid of literary grace but potent
in spiritual teaching, has enjoyed more than 5,000 editions in dozens of languages.
Traveling through Barcelona, Rome, andVenice, Loyola
reached Jerusalem in mid-1523, but Church authorities
insisted he return to Europe. He then decided that if he
were to help others find Christ, he needed an education.
At age thirty-three, surrounded by adolescent boys, he
spent two years at a grammar school in Barcelona so he
could master enough Latin to enroll in a university. He
21
II St. Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuits, & Ignatian Spirituality
then attended the Universities of Alcala and Salamanca,

but in both places his efforts to bring others to Christ
aroused suspicion from the Inquisition and other authorities. His efforts also cut into his study time. Loyola
determined to go the University of Paris, where he would
get more systematic training.
At Paris, Loyola, like students through the centuries,
had no money, and so he begged for his living from
wealthy merchants. Two years after his arrival he was assigned new quarters, where his roommates were Blessed
Peter Favre and Saint Francis Xavier. Gradually he won
them over to his spiritual ideals; in time he attracted four
others. The seven companions were international from
the beginning: two Basques, three from Castile, one from
Portugal and one from Savoy. In 1534 these seven men
pronounced vows of poverty and chastity and a promise
to work for souls in Palestine when they finished their
studies. If they could not go to Palestine, they would
put themselves at the Popes service.
Loyola returned to Spain to settle his affairs and
recover his health, then moved on to Venice to await
his companions (plus several new recruits) and sail for
Palestine. But a war between Venice and the Muslim
Turks in 1537 prevented their departure.
They put themselves at Pope Paul IIIs service, who
used them as preachers and teachers. The companions
decided they would need more structure if they were
to serve God effectively. They discussed ways of organizing their work and life together; Loyola drew up a
22
document reflecting their discussions and presented it

to Pope Paul III, who gave his oral approval to the new
religious order in 1540. His companions elected Loyola
its first superior general. For the rest of his life Loyola
worked on the 1540 draft until he finished the long and
elaborate Jesuit Constitutions, which were approved two
years after his death.
The new order grew very rapidly, adding a thousand
members before Loyolas death. Unlike earlier orders, the
Jesuits did not sing in choir but only read privately the
Divine Office traditionally said by priests. This allowed
them to devote more time to their ministries, which soon
branched out. Francis Xavier became the great missionary
to Asia. Reluctantly, the Jesuits opened schools and colleges, but education gradually became their main work.
Several Jesuits served as nuncios, or papal ambassadors.
Others preached, did parish work, and gave the Spiritual
Exercises. Two of Loyolas first companions from Paris
served as chaplains in the forces of Emperor Charles V,
one in Germany, the other in Africa.
For his last fifteen years Loyola was the mystic and
administrator; he alternated his time between prayer
and paper workalmost 7000 of his letters from these
years survive. But also he found time for several personal
ministries. He organized noble women to rescue young
girls from prostitution, setting up a half-way house
to rehabilitate them. He even opened a convent for
ex-prostitutes. He set up a home for poor abandoned
girls and refinanced a similar home for boys. At the
23
insistence of his followers, he wrote an autobiography

of his early life, but burned most of his private spiritual
notes shortly before his death on July 31, 1556. He was
canonized in 1622.
The Jesuits
The Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus, to use the official
title, grew out of six student companions gathered by
Ignatius of Loyola at the University of Paris in the 1530s.
When their original project of going as missionaries to
Palestine was blocked by war, they put themselves at the
service of Pope Paul III. Gradually they came to see the
need for rules and structures if their work and union
in serving God were to continue and increase. They
formed a religious order, elected Loyola as their superior general, and obtained papal approval in 1540. The
medieval orders such as the Benedictines, Dominicans,
and Franciscans tried to mix ministry toward others
with prayer; the Jesuits tilted the balance strongly in
favor of helping others, striving to find God precisely
in an active ministry.
The Catholic Church was facing the crisis of the
Protestant Reformation when the Jesuits were founded.
By seeking to break away from Rome, the Protestants
encouraged efforts at reform within Catholicism. The
Council of Trent clarified Catholic doctrine, the popes
largely turned from political power games and art pa-
24
tronage to religious revival, new religious orders sprung

upCapuchins, Ursulines, and Oratorians, besides
the Jesuits.
Initial Jesuit growth was slow in northern Europe but
rapid in Spain and most rapid in Portugal and Sicily,
where Islam was the threat, not Martin Luther. By 1565
there were 3,500 Jesuits, by 1626 the Jesuits probably
reached the zenith of their influence and counted
15,544 members. Their growth was slower during the
next century, largely because they lacked the money to
train candidates.
The first Jesuits made their mark as preachers, convent
reformers, and missionaries, but in 1548 the Jesuits
opened their first college intended for lay students at
Messina in Sicily. It was an instant success, and petitions
for more Jesuit colleges flowed into Rome from most
of the cities of Catholic Europe. Quickly, education
became the main Jesuit ministry. By 1579 the Jesuits
were operating 144 colleges (most admitted students
between twelve and twenty) in Europe, Asia, and Latin
America. By 1749 the Jesuits were staffing 669 colleges
and 235 seminaries world-wide. The Jesuit system of
education, building on the curriculum devised by Renaissance humanists, was codified in the Ratio Studiorum
of 1599. This approach controlled Jesuit education
until the late nineteenth century, when American Jesuit
universities began to make adjustments to the conditions
in the United States. Marquette University was a pioneer
25
in educating women, first in nursing and education, then

in other disciplines.
With education went writing bookstextbooks,
catechisms, scholarly works in theology and philosophy,
answers to Protestant polemics, scripture studies, plays
written for production at Jesuit colleges, descriptions
of the peoples and parts of the world visited by Jesuit
missionaries. The Jesuits introduced China to Western
science and philosophy.
Missionary work has always been among the most
prized of Jesuit ministries, from Francis Xavier to the
present. In Loyolas lifetime, missions were opened in
Africa, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan. Later there
were Jesuit missionaries working in North and South
America. Jesuits often had to work underground in
countries whose rulers persecuted Catholics, and many
suffered martyrdom as did Edmund Campion, Paul
Miki and Miguel Pro.
The Jesuits have made many enemies for many different
reasons during their long history. In the mid-eighteenth
century they were hated by the philosophers, many of
them deists, for their religious faith. The Jesuits were
distrusted by the Enlightened Despots because they opposed growing state control of religion and supported
the pope. The kings of Portugal, France, Spain and
Naples, urged on by advisors who were disciples of the
philosophes, first drove the Jesuits from their own lands,
then forced the pope to suppress the Order around the
world in 1773. Thanks to a technicality in the Brief of
26
Suppression and the benevolence of Catherine the Great,

the Jesuits survived in Russia. Because of the Suppression,
the Jesuits played only a small role in the first decades of
the American Catholic Church, but a former Jesuit, John
Carroll, was the first American bishop. Other former
Jesuits, notably Pierre de la Clorivire, played crucial
roles in the establishment of congregations of teaching
nuns, who were to be the backbone of American Catholic
education in the period 1850-1960.
After the era of the French Revolution and Napoleon,
there was a reaction to the ideas of the Enlightenment
and a religious revival. Pope Pius VII restored the Jesuits
worldwide in 1814. By 1830 there were 2,137 Jesuits,
by 1900 there were 15,073. The high point came in
mid-1960s with 36,000 Jesuits. The Jesuits remain the
churchs largest male religious order.
The Jesuits continue to operate a unique network of
schools around the world, most notably in the United
States, where there are twenty-eight Jesuit universities,
almost all in large cities and forty-six Jesuit high schools.
There are also Jesuit universities in such cities as Rome,
Madrid, Beirut, Manila, Tokyo and Seoul. Jesuit periodicals appear in most of the worlds major languages,
and some 500 Jesuits work in the communications
media, mainly in the Third World. Jesuits continue to
work throughout the world, from prestigious schools to
refugee camps, to do their best for the greater honor
and glory of GodA.M.D.G.
St. Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits
28
Ignatian Spirituality
Ignatiuss spiritual legacy spread through the lives of
his companions in the Society of Jesus. But he also left
four important documents, plus nearly seven thousand
letters that give shape and color to his spirituality. Dictated toward the end of his life, his Autobiography tells
the story of his conversation and life until 1538. His
Spiritual Journal narrates a small part of his unfolding inner
journey. Through his Spiritual Exercises and Constitutions,
he systematically laid out guidelines for the spiritual
life. From all of these sources, the main threads of his
spirituality can be outlined.
Encountering God in Our Experience

One unshakeable belief to which Ignatius held as to
a rock in all storms was that God can be encountered
in our experience. God comes directly to women and
men, and they will recognize Gods presence if they
open their hearts and minds. The purpose of the spiritual exercises is to help people experience God directly
and powerfully. When people encounter God, they are
changed forever. Such an encounter frees people to love
wholeheartedly.
29
For the Greater Glory of God

For Ignatius, to live meant to embrace generously and
enthusiastically, the will of God. To serve and glorify
God became the compelling motive of his life.
Ignatius restlessly yearned for God. He experienced the
thirst and emptiness that no power or possession could
satisfy. He longed for the total and consuming love that
comes only from the source of all love. Once Ignatius
felt the embrace of Gods love, he strove with singleness
of purpose for the greater glory of God.
The Spiritual Exercises urge retreatants to listen to the
Holy Spirit in order to discover Gods will and what
would be the greater glory of God. Through the process
of his own conversion to life according to Christ, Ignatius
learned a way of discernment that remains as applicable
today as it was five hundred years ago.
The Mysticism of Service

Ignatian spirituality does not demand withdrawal from
the world. Rather, Ignatius brought the word of God
to classrooms and hospitals, orphanages, and the halls
of government. Wherever humans suffered, the heart
and hands of Ignatius followed with the compassion
of Christ. No sacrifice was too great, no suffering too
deep, no poverty too excruciating as long as the love of
Christ would be mediated.
30
While answering the call to serve individuals in need,

Ignatius sought to aid the reform of the Church. He
preached, taught, and gave the Exercises, hoping to call
the Church through its leaders to a rededication to the
Reign of God.
The Call to Ongoing Conversion

Ignatius composed the Spiritual Exercises and the daily
examen of consciousness to help people answer the call
to conversion to Christ.
The Spiritual Exercises lead retreatants through a monthlong process that begins with a confrontation of their
own sinfulness; continues with the contemplation of
the birth, public life, passion, and resurrection of Jesus;
and concludes with meditations on Gods personal and
unconditional love for each person. During the Exercises,
the retreatants receive instructions about, among other
topics, the three kinds of humility, methods of prayer,
and how to discern Gods will. The retreat itself can be a
powerful time of turning toward God, and the methods
of prayer and discernment are tools for the retreatants
ongoing journey toward God.
Devotion to the Church

For Ignatius, the Church gave physical expression to the
love that Jesus has for the People of God. The Church
31
served as a way to God and a symbol of Gods mysterious love for humankind.
Ignatiuss devotion to the Church was motivated
by his desire to serve the souls of Christians. Even
though Ignatius saw many human problems besetting
the Church in his time, his loyalty was unflinching. The
Church remained a herald of Gods word, a servant of
Gods People, a community of believers, and a sign of
Gods love.
Prayer that Permeates Daily Life

Ignatian spirituality invites people to daily prayer. In his
writing, Ignatius described several methods of solitary
prayer, and he encouraged people to develop the kind
of prayer that best suits who they are and where they are
on the spiritual journey. Ignatius recognized with great
sensitivity that each individual has different gifts and a
unique inner movement of soul.
Ignatius approached prayer not only with his intellect,
memory, and will, but also with his senses and with
active imagination.
The Discipline of the Ordinary

Contrary to the practices of his time, Ignatius encouraged moderation in fasting and penitence. He knew that
meeting the ordinary frictions and trials of family, com-
32
munity, ministry, and the workplace with love required

self-sacrifice and discipline enough to test anyone.
Ignatius also counseled adequate care of physical
health. He appreciated the gift of food and recreation,
acknowledging that health of mind and body were essential for one to be effective in ministry, seeking the
greater glory of God.
Ignatius for Today

The desire for love, hope, and wholeness burns in the
hearts of people today just as it burned in the heart of
Ignatius. Ignatiuss time had its demons; our time has its
demons. They may not really be so different.
The way to God that emerged from Ignatiuss own
conversion can still lead us to freedom from the demons
of our age: addictions, greed, emptiness of heart, despair,
confusion, violence, and meaninglessness. Through the
centuries, the Spiritual Exercises, which compose the heart
of Ignatian spirituality, have been a powerful means of
spiritual formation. Ignatius can be a wise and discerning
companion on our own journey toward the embrace of
the loving God. On the way, we can learn to say with
him, All for the greater glory of God!
Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations. Matthew 28:19
III
Fr. Jacques Marquette and
Marquette University
Jacques Marquette, S.J., was a renowned Jesuit missionary
and explorer. Father Marquette and Louis Joliet, along
with five companions, were the first Europeans to explore
the Mississippi River.
Father Marquette was born June 1, 1637 in Laon,
France. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of
seventeen. After his ordination, he traveled to Quebec,
introducing Christianity to Native Americans. He moved
from tribe to tribe by following rivers. In the course of
his two-year journey exploring the Mississippi River,
he recorded information regarding the topography and
animal life in the Midwest.
On May 18, 1675, Father Marquette died at the age
of thirty-seven near the present-day city of Ludington,
Michigan. Father Marquettes life testifies to faith, service,
and discovery, a rich legacy and a continual challenge to
Marquette University.
The origins of Marquette University date from 1848
when the Most Reverend John Martin Henni, first
bishop of Milwaukee, obtained money to establish a
Jesuit college. In 1855 Jesuits agreed to staff St. Galls
Parish, but they lacked personnel for a college.
36
Statue of Fr. Jacques Marquette on the campus of Marquette University
37
The Wisconsin Legislature eventually granted a charter for Marquette College in 1864, and in September,
1881 seven Jesuits opened the college. By the end of
that year, 77 students were enrolled. The first graduation
was held in 1887 with five students receiving Bachelor
of Arts degrees.
U.S. Jesuit Colleges and Universities

Boston College
Canisius College
College of the Holy Cross
Creighton University
Fairfield University
Fordham University
Georgetown University
Gonzaga University
John Carroll University
Le Moyne College
Loyola College in Maryland
Loyola-Marymount University
Loyola University, Chicago
Loyola University, New Orleans
Marquette University
Regis University
Rockhurst University
Chestnut Hill, MA
Buffalo, NY
Worcester, MA
Omaha, NE
Fairfield, CT
New York, NY
Washington, DC
Spokane, WA
Cleveland, OH
Syracuse, NY
Baltimore, MD
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
New Orleans, LA
Milwaukee, WI
Denver, CO
Kansas City, MO
38
Saint Josephs University

Saint Louis University
Saint Peters College
Santa Clara University
Seattle University
Spring Hill College
University of Detroit Mercy
University of San Francisco
University of Scranton
Wheeling Jesuit University
Xavier University
Philadelphia, PA
St. Louis, MO
Jersey City, NJ
Santa Clara, CA
Seattle, WA
Mobile, AL
Detroit, MI
San Francisco, CA
Scranton, PA
Wheeling, WV
Cincinnati, OH
39
What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and lose his
soul? Luke 9:25
IV
Some Noteworthy Jesuits:
Men of Prayer
The following are some better-known members of the
Society of Jesus. Space does not permit listing all those
who might have been selected for one or another of
their achievements.
Saint Francis Xavier

Saint Francis Xavier (15061552) was Ignatius Loyolas
roommate at the University of Paris and an outstanding
athlete. Together with four fellow students, they formed
the nucleus that grew into the Jesuit order. Xavier was the
first and greatest Jesuit missionary, spreading the Catholic
faith in India and Indonesia. He was the first missionary
to Japan and died as he was trying to enter China.
Saint Francis Borgia

Saint Francis Borgia (15101572) was born into a
wealthy Spanish family. His father was the Duke of
Gandia in Valencia, and his mother was also of royal
42
lineage. He married a noble lady, and together they had

eight sons. But his wife died suddenly in 1546, and
Borgia entered the Jesuits in 1548. In 1565, Borgia was
elected the third superior general of the Jesuits. During his
generalate, he revised the Jesuit constitutions, encouraged
a deeper sense of personal prayer among Jesuits, built
the Church of the Gesu in Rome, opened new mission
territories in India and in North and South America,
and used his wealth to reorganize the Roman College,
which eventually became the Gregorian University.
Saint Peter Canisius

Saint Peter Canisius (15211597) was born in the
Netherlands but studied at Cologne, Germany. He
entered the Jesuits in 1543 and spent most of his life
in Germany and Switzerland, founding Jesuit colleges,
teaching, preaching, and writing his famous series of
catechisms. He has been called the second apostle of
Germany because he did so much to counter the spread
of Lutheranism in Germany and Austria.

43
IV Some Noteworthy Jesuits: Men of Prayer
Saint Edmund Campion

Saint Edmund Campion (15401581) was an Englishman who was martyred for his faith in London
by Elizabeth Is government. His studies at Oxford
converted him to Catholicism. He joined the Jesuits in
France because the Jesuits were not allowed to operate
in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. After
his studies, he taught at Prague for several years before
returning secretly to England in 1580. After a period
of ministering to Catholics, he was captured, tortured,
and executed.
Saint Robert Bellarmine

Saint Robert Bellarmine (15421621), an Italian, entered the Jesuits in 1560. He quickly showed great talent
in languages, philosophy, and theology. After six years
teaching at Louvain, Belgium, he became professor of
controversial theology at Rome in 1576. He published
dozens of books, including a famous catechism and was
known for his opposition to Jansenism. In 1599 he was
named a cardinal and worked closely with a number of
popes. His last twenty years were devoted to administration and writing.
44
Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci (15501610) pioneered Jesuit efforts to
Christianize China. He studied science and mathematics
at Rome, theology in India, and Chinese at Macao. The
Jesuit strategy for China was to use western science to
win the respect and support of Chinese intellectuals
and gain the Emperors assent to Christian preaching.
Speaking and writing Chinese and wearing Mandarin
robes, Ricci established a Jesuit residence at Beijing in
1601 where for 150 years Jesuit scientists secured imperial favor and fostered interchange between eastern and
western intellectuals
Saint Paul Miki

Saint Paul Miki (15641597) was born in Japan.
Francis Xavier brought Christianity to Japan in 1549,
where its rapid growth (there were 200,000 Christians
by 1590) alarmed Japanese rulers and forced the church
underground. Paul Mikis family converted when he was
still a boy. He entered the Jesuits in 1586; just before his
ordination to the priesthood, he was arrested with two
other Japanese Jesuits. The three Jesuits were crucified
with six Franciscan friars and fifteen other Japanese.
45
Robert de Nobili
Robert de Nobilis career (15771656) parallels that
of Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit working in China. De Nobili
entered the Jesuits in 1596 and sailed for India after
eight years of study. Before Nobili, Indian Christians
were westernized and lived under Portuguese protection.
Nobili felt that Indian Christianity should retain as much
Indian culture and customs as were compatible with
the faith. Expanding on Riccis willingness to embrace
other cultures, de Nobili learned Tamil and Sanskrit and
studied ancient Indian religion. In 1623 Pope Gregory
XV approved his approach, and he converted 4,000
Indians, many of them Brahmins, the elite who earlier
had scorned Christianity.
Saint Peter Claver

Saint Peter Claver (15801654) attended the Jesuit college at Barcelona and entered the Jesuits in 1602. Eight
years later he was assigned to Cartagena, Colombia, then
the worlds greatest slave market. Peter devoted his life
to meeting slave ships and declared himself the slave
of the slaves. The voyage from Africa usually killed a
third of the Africans; survivors were shattered in body
and spirit. Peter brought them food, compassion and
Christian faith. In forty-four years he baptized 300,000
Africans.
46
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (15681591) was the heir to
an illustrious Italian noble family and spent his youth
as a page at the Spanish court. But courtly pomp drove
him to reflect on the gospels. He entered the Jesuits in
1585 and studied at Rome, where he volunteered to
help the plague stricken and died a martyr of charity at
the age of twenty-three.
John Carroll
John Carroll (17351815) studied with the Jesuits in
Maryland and became a Jesuit in Belgium. In 1773,
after Clement XIV suppressed the Jesuits, Carroll
returned to Maryland as a priest. He joined Benjamin
Franklins fruitless effort to encourage Canada to join
the American Revolution. Appointed the first American
bishop in 1790, he was stationed in Baltimore where he
encouraged education for men and women and helped
found Georgetown University in 1789. He presided over
the first national synod of bishops in 1791, which laid
down rules for the American church. During his years as
bishop, the number of American Catholics quadrupled.
John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio was named
for this important early American Jesuit.
47
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins (18441889) was an Englishman who wrote several of the prayer-poems printed in this
book. He was educated at Oxford where he converted to
Catholicism. In 1866 he entered the Jesuits; finishing his
training, he served as a parish priest at Liverpool and a
teacher at Dublin. The poems he wrote after becoming a
Jesuit were innovative in diction and rhythm, and resulted
in a transformation in how subsequent poets used the
English language. His poems were not published until
1918, almost thirty years after his death.
Blessed Miguel Pro

Blessed Miguel Pro (18911927), who was born and
raised in Mexico, entered the Jesuits in 1911, but a bitterly
anti-Catholic regime forced Jesuit seminarians to flee to
California in 1914. After studies in California, Spain,
and Belgium, Pro returned home one month before the
government closed every church in Mexico.When soldiers
hunted down priests who ministered the sacraments in
secret, he was arrested and executed. His last cry as he
faced the firing squad was, Long live Christ the King.
Pro was known for his love for the poor. A quick wit
and sense of humor also marked his life.
48
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (18811955) was a French
Jesuit. He received his doctorate in paleontology from
the Sorbonne in 1922. He worked in China as part of
the team that discovered Peking Man. Throughout his
life, Chardin labored to make a synthesis between Christianity and science, and in his writings (many of which
were viewed with disfavor by Church authorities for his
views on evolution and by scientists who distrusted his
religious commitment) he proposed a view of evolution
in which humanity will one day reach an Omega Point,
which has been variously interpreted as the integration
of all personal consciousness and the Second Coming
of Christ. Chardins work was more accepted after his
death than during his life, and he is rightly regarded as
one of the key people of the twentieth century who tried
to heal the split between religion and science.
John Courtney Murray

John Courtney Murray (1904 1967) was an American
Jesuit best known for the work he did on the intersection
between public political discourse, faith, and religious
freedom. As a teacher, writer, and theological scholar
Murray sought to convince people that the right to
religious freedom was founded in the dignity of the
49
human person and that neither Church nor State may

compel a person to adopt a particular religious belief. In
that regard, he felt that the emphasis on religious freedom which exists in the United States makes a valuable
contribution to Catholic thinking. His influence can be
seen in the Declaration on Religious Freedom adopted
by the Second Vatican Council.
Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner (19041984) was one of the most influential theologians of the last century. Rahners thought
helped influence the thinking of the Second Vatican
Council, blending the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas
with the modern philosophy of phenomenology. Rahner
taught that all people have an openness to God whether
explicitly aware of it or not and that reflection on this will
open the way to an affirmation of Christ as the Word of
God addressed to all human beings. He had a concern
for a broad range of pastoral issues as well as theoretical
ones, and his Theological Investigations (23 volumes) gave
expression to his attempt to render theological teaching
relevant to modern people and modern problems. One of
his major works is Foundations of Christian Faith, published
in 1978. As one commentator remarks, his writing style
often makes for reading that is notoriously demanding
but nonetheless very rewarding.
50
Pedro Arrupe
Pedro Arrupe (19071991), the 29th General Superior
of the Society of Jesus, was, like Ignatius Loyola, from
the Basque country in Northern Spain. He abandoned
his medical studies and a promising career to join the
Jesuits in 1927, but in 1945 his medical training was
put to use in Hiroshima, Japan, when the atomic bomb
fell on that city. He headed the first rescue party into
Hiroshima and turned the Jesuit novitiate outside the
city into a make-shift hospital for over 200 dying people.
He headed the Province of Japan from 1958 to 1965,
when he was elected General of the Society of Jesus.
During his time as General and under his charismatic
leadership, the Jesuits strove to adapt themselves to the
call of the Second Vatican Council for a renewal of
spirituality and ministry, an effort that committed the
Jesuits to the service of Faith and the promotion of
Justice in all their apostolates and institutions.
Ignacio Ellacuria
Ignacio Ellacura (19301989) was president of the
University of Central America (UCA.) in San Salvador,
and an outspoken opponent of oppression in that Central
American country. On 16 November, 1989, he and five
fellow Jesuits, Ignacio Martin-Bar, Joaquin Lpez y
51
Lpez, Segundo Montes Moso, Amando Lpez Quintana, and Juan Ramn Moreno Pardoas well as their
cook, Elba Julia Ramos and her daughter Celinawere
brutally murdered by members of the Salvadoran army
for their writings on Liberation Theology and their
solidarity with the poor of El Salvador.
Peter-Hans Kolvenbach
Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, was born on 30 November, 1928, in a village northwest of Nijmegen, Holland.
He attended Canisius College, Nijmegen and joined the
Jesuits in 1948. Following philosophy studies, he went
to Lebanon where he earned his doctorate in theology.
He was ordained a priest in 1961. From 1963 to 1976
he studied and taught general and Oriental linguistics in
diverse specialized institutes in Holland, Paris, and Beirut.
He also worked in theology of spirituality at Pomfret,
Connecticut. More recently, he was professor of general
linguistics at St. Josephs University in Beirut and was
the provincial (19741981) of the vice-province of the
Middle East. In 1981 he went to Rome and became the
rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. On September
13th, 1983, during the 33rd General Congregation of
the order, he was elected twenty-ninth superior general
of the Society of Jesus.
Love one another as I have loved you. John 15:12
V
Some Extraordinary
Women of Prayer
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
(19101997)
Mother Teresa was the founder of the Missionaries of
Charity (M.C.). Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu at Skopje in the former Yugoslavia, she joined the Sisters of
Loretto in Ireland at the age of seventeen, and within a
year she was sent to teach in Calcutta, India. There she
became acquainted with the poor who lived and died
in the streets. In 1948 she left the Sisters of Loretto
to serve the sick and the dying in the citys slums. She
became known as Mother Teresa. In 1949 she founded
the Missionaries of Charity, a community of sisters,
priests, and brothers who serve the poor by providing
food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Within thirty
years there were eighty foundations of this community in
thirty-two countries. She was the recipient of the 1979
Nobel Peace Price, the Nehru Award, and the 1981 Pre
Marquette Discovery Award. MotherTeresa was beatified
by Pope John PaulII on October 19, 2003.
56
Mother Teresa received the Pre Marquette Discovery Award in 1981.
57
V Some Extraordinary Women of Prayer
St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley (17741821)

St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley was the first American-born
saint. She was born in New York City of a wealthy and
devout Episcopalian family, the daughter of a professor
of anatomy at Kings College (now Columbia University)
in New York and the stepsister of Archbishop James
Roosevelt Bayley of Baltimore. In 1794 she married
William Magee Seton, a wealthy merchant, with whom
she had five children. She became involved in social
work and established the Society for the Relief of Poor
Widows with Children in 1797. Six years later, during a trip to Italy with the entire family, her husband
died. Inspired by the kindness of an Italian family, she
converted to Catholicism in 1805, upon her return to
the United States. The rector of St. Marys Seminary
in Baltimore invited her to open a school for girls, and
in 1809 with four companions she founded a religious
community, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and also a school
for poor children near Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Her communitys rule, based on the rule of Vincent
de Paul, was approved by the archbishop of Baltimore
in 1812. She was elected superior and, with eighteen
other sisters, took vows the following year. Thus began
the first American religious society, the Sisters of Charity
of St. Joseph, devoted primarily to the education of the
poor and to teaching in parish, or parochial, schools.
That is why historians often credit her with laying the
58
foundation for the Catholic parochial school system in

the United States.
With extraordinary support from the Catholic communities in and around Philadelphia and Baltimore, she
was beautified by Pope John XXIII and later canonized in
1975 by Pope Paul VIthe first American-born saint.
Dorothy Day (18971980)

Dorothy Day was a journalist, pacifist, and co-founder
of the CatholicWorker movement. After the birth of her
only child,Tamara, she abandoned her Bohemian lifestyle
in Greenwich Village and converted to Catholicism in
1927. Five years later, Day met the French peasant philosopher and teacher Peter Maurin, and her life changed
forever. Maurin provided her with an understanding
of the meaning of the Church and her position in it.
Together they founded the Catholic Worker movement,
a community of laypeople from all walks of life.
Days belief centered on Christian personalism, a
philosophical orientation that stresses the value and
dignity of each individual human person. Attempting to
make this Worker ideal available to every individual who
desired it, she started a newspaper. She entitled it Catholic
Worker, to announce a Catholic presence and concern for
the poor and the oppressed. Day witnessed daily to this
59
concern by embracing voluntary poverty and establishing

houses of hospitality and a farming commune.
Julian of Norwich (13421420)

Julian of Norwich lived a life of solitude as an anchoress in a cell attached to the Church of St. Edmund and
St. Julian in Norwich, East Anglia. in England. At the
age of thirty, and seemingly near death due to illness,
she received sixteen mystical visions on the passion of
Christ, the Trinity, the love of God, the Incarnation,
redemption, sin, penance, and divine consolation.
Through the development of images of the Creator
as father and mother, of Jesus as brother and savior;
of the reality of sin; of the struggle between good and
evil; and the mercy of Godparticularly experienced
in the Churchs sacramental celebrationsJulian created a unique language that combined special words
and images to convey a sense of her mystical doctrines.
Her work was influenced by the English mystic Walter
Hilton (d.1396) and the anonymous writer of The Cloud
of Unknowing.
At the time of her death her reputation for sanctity
was already widespread. Visitors from all over Europe
were attracted to her monastic cell. Although she is
popularly called Blessed, there has never been any
formal ecclesiastical confirmation of this title.
60
St. Clare of Assisi (11931253)

St. Clare was the founder of Poor Clares, a religious
community of women. Clare was born in Assisi, Italy,
and learned of Francis and his group of friars, who
were traveling from town to town, begging and preaching the gospel. She refused an arranged marriage and
sought advice from Francis. In 1212 he received her
commitment to follow the gospel and promised to care
for her as he did his own friars. After a short stay with
Benedictine nuns, Clare settled at a house attached to
San Damiano, a church that had been recently rebuilt
by Francis. There she served as superior until her death.
Among those who joined her were her sisters, Agnes,
and Beatris, and her mother, Ortolana. Throughout
her life she fought to maintain the Franciscan ideal of
rigorous poverty for the Poor Clares while the friars were
accepting modifications of their original rule. Clare was
canonized in 1255.
Blessed Katherine Drexel (18581955)

This American Missionary was the daughter of a
wealthy, Philadelphia banker. Pope Leo XIII encouraged the young heiress to devote both her fortune and
her life to the poor. She entered the Sisters of Mercy
but felt called to do missionary work among black and
61
Native Americans. In 1891, she founded the Sisters of

the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Black People;
the congregations mission concerns the education
of African and Native Americans. Drexel established
many schools on Indian reservations and instituted the
first and only Catholic University designed for African
Americans, Xavier University, New Orleans (1925). She
was beatified in 1988.
St. Teresa of Avila (15151582)

St.Teresa was born just prior to the start of the Protestant
Reformation. Her father was strict and her mother was
afraid that she could never do anything right in a marriage. As a teenager, Teresa had normal teenage interests
(clothes, flirting, rebellion, etc.), but eventually chose
religious life over a married life, because she felt it was
the only safe place for someone so prone to sin. She was
installed at the Carmelite convent where she was well
liked, but easily distracted away from God. At the age of
43, she founded St. Josephs convent, and later founded
the Discalced Carmelites. In 1970, she was delared a
Doctor of the Church for her writing and teaching on
prayer, one of two women to be honored in this way.
62
St. Catherine of Siena (13471380)

St. Catherine was a mystical writer and Doctor of
the Church. Born in Siena, Italy, she experienced her
first mystical vision at the age of seven and soon after
pledged virginity to Jesus. When she declined marriage,
her famiy discharged the domestic help and assigned
Catherine excessive household duties that curtailed her
prayer. One day, while Catherine stole away from chores
to pray in her room, her father reported seeing a dove
hover over her head. Taking this as a sign from heaven,
her father permitted Catherine to live the life of prayer
and fasting which she desired. In 1365 she received the
Dominican habit and continued to live a life of seclusion
in the family home. In 1368, during a mystical vision,
she became espoused to Christ and received a mandate
to undertake an apostolic life. Catherine cared for the
sick at La Scala Hospital and visited prisoners on death
row, accompanying them to the gallows. She trained
a growing company of disciples, a number of whom
were priests. Between 1377-1378, amid much unrest,
Catherine composed The Dialogue, a book describing her
understanding of the Church and the sacraments. The
basic theme of her spirituality was the creative and saving
love of God, symbolized by the Blood of Jesus. She was
declared a Doctor of the church in 1970.
63
Edwina Gately
Born in Lancaster, England, Edwina Gateleys educational experiences have awarded her a Teachers Degree
from England, a Masters in Theology from the Catholic
Theological Union in Chicago and certification as an
HIV counselor in the State of Illinois.
From 1981 to 1982, Edwina lived for nine months in
prayer and solitude in a hermitage in Illinois. In 1983,
she spent over a year on the streets of Chicago, walking
with the homeless and women involved in prostitution. Within these two experiences, were the seeds of
her ministry that would be realized in 1983 when she
founded a house of hospitality and nurturing for women
involved in prostitution.
Edwinas work and ministry have been publicly commended by numerous groups and individuals, including
the Governor of the State of Illinois, the Mayor of
Chicago, the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, and the
former President of the United States, Bill Clinton.
Edwina is currently writing, leading retreats for abused
and marginalized women, and serving as Mother Spirit
for Exodus, a program in Chicago for women in the
second phase of recovery from prostitution.
64
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (18501917)

Mother Cabrini is the patron saint of immigrants and
the first U.S. citizen to be canonized. Born in Lombardy,
Italy, Maria Francesca Cabrini desired to be a sister but
was refused entrance into two religious communities
due to her delicate health. In 1880, Bishop Domenico
Galmini encouraged her to establish a new congregation.
The Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred
Heart won papal approval (1887) and grew rapidly. In
1889, Archbishop Michael Corrigan of NewYork invited
Mother Cabrini and five of her sisters to his diocese, but
when they arrived Corrigan rescinded his invitation and
suggested that they return to Italy. The sisters remained
and Cabrini established numerous hospitals, schools,
orphanages, and convents throughout the United States,
as well as foundations in Central and South America.
Mother Cabrini was canonized in 1946.
Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha (16561680)

Kateri, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, was born
of a Christian Algonquin woman who was married to a
non-Christian Mohawk chief. She was orphaned during
a smallpox epidemic which left her with bad eyesight
and a pocked face. In 1676 she was baptized by Fr.
Jacques Lamberville, S.J. Because of her conversion she
was shunned and abused by her relatives. However, she
65
escaped by wandering over 200 miles through the wilderness to a Christian Native American village at SaultSainte-Marie. In 1679 she completely dedicated her life
to Christ by taking a vow of chastity. She became known
for her spirituality, austere lifestyle and her extraordinary
sanctity, which not only impressed her own people but
the French and the missionaries. After her death devotion to her began to be manifested by many people. On
June 22, 1980 she was beatified by Pope John Paul II.
Her feast day is celebrated on July 14.
Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree)

(17971883)
Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in Ulster
County, NewYork, one of thirteen children born to slave
parents. She was sold many times and suffered severely,
but she had a deep and unwavering faith inculcated by
her mother. Forced by her third master to marry, she
and her husband had five children. When her master
reneged on his promise to free the family, Isabella ran
away with her infant son to New York, where she worked
in several religious communes. In 1843, Isabella had a
spiritual revelation which changed her life. She changed
her name to Sojourner Truth and walked through Long
Island and Connecticut preaching Gods truth and plan
for salvation. She then joined the Northhampton,
66
MA, Association for Education and Industry where

she worked with several noted abolitionists, then added
abolitionism and womens suffrage to her preaching.
When the Civil War ended, she worked tirelessly to
help the newly freed slaves from the South. She died in
Battle Creek, MI.
Aint I a Woman?
by Sojourner Truth
Delivered 1851 at the Womens Convention in Akron, Ohio
Then that little man in black there, he says women

cant have as much rights as men, cause Christ wasnt a
woman! Where did your Christ come from? From God
and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough
to turn the world upside down all alone, these women
together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right
side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men
better let them.
67
Fan into flames the gift that God gave you. 2 Timothy 1:6
VI
Personal Prayer in the
Ignatian Tradition
A Short Course on Prayer
by J.J. OLeary
These pages are written for people who are very busy, but
at the same time, desire to explore their own spirituality
and enhance a dimension already present in their lives.
What follows are a few practical words about prayer along
with some questions to facilitate discussion about your
life with God, your family, and your studies.
If you are still reading, then somehow God is truly alive
in your life. Spiritual writers all agree that an infallible
sign of Gods presence is a desire for God. If you want
to pray, you are already praying. The desire to pray is
the evidence that God is already at work, at prayer, in
you. The first graces we get are our desires and just to
be reading this, shows desire in your life.
The prayer I would like to talk about is prayer of the
heart, intimate prayer, praying from where we are. First
of all, I believe most of us pray far more than we think
we do. Anytime we reflect on our families, our children,
our students, our job, something we are grateful for, that
is beautiful prayer. Many of us think prayer is thinking
70
about and talking to God out there. But prayer begins

with reality. The first reality we have is ourselves and
thats where prayer begins.
Touching our inner core

Karl A. Meninger, M.D., in an article on intimacy, talks
about intimacy being a quality of a person not a relationship. He says in so far as I can be close to myself,
I can be close to others; in so far as I can be intimate
to myself, I can be intimate with others. The deepest
part of each one of us is within us, we are touching the
God within.
God speaks to us in our deepest human experiences,
feelings, desires, thoughts, or ideas. So to be aware of
these experiences is to become aware of Gods work in
them and then to offer ourselves through them to God.
We focus on our own experience to hear Gods word in
them and then are called to respond. What is God saying to us through this? We dont need to solve problems,
worry, plan, or control. In other words, we recognize the
God within and then listen reverently to the many ways
God speaks to us through our thoughts, our feelings,
our children, our students, our fellow workers.
Intimacy then is not primarily a sharing with another.
Intimacy starts with being intimate with myself. Intimacy
is knowing the core of things myself. Then what I do
flows from where Ive been. But intimacy begins with
71
VI Personal Prayer in the Ignatian Tradition
getting in contact with myself. I have to be in contact

with myself before I can donate, give myself or share.
It is important to get in touch with our deepest human
experiences because that is where God is present to us.
Where we are most present, God is most present.
For example, lets suppose the one I love the most has
a dislocated shoulder. Where is that person most present. Of course, in his/her shoulder, where the injury is.
The pain is intense. When I think of that person, what
do I think of ? I wonder how is the pain? Wherever
we are most present, God is most present. That is the
importance of listening to where we are.
The Awareness of Self

Prayer, then, is a way of lowering our mind and heart
to God present within us. In prayer we discover what
we already have. We now have everything but we dont
know it and we dont experience it. All we need is to
experience what we already possess. Rollo May says,
The more self-awareness one has, the more alive one
is. This statement is similar to the one made in 200
A.D. by Irenaeus of Lyons: The glory of God is the
human person fully alive.
The more self-awareness we have, the more alive we
become. Many of us dont live a life fully alive. I believe
this approach to prayer helps us to live a fuller and deeper
life. So often people say, I become distracted whenever
72
I try to pray My response to this is to suggest that

people make this very distraction the content of their
prayer. Not, again, to solve the problem, to figure it
out, to dissect, but to hear Gods word in this person,
situation, whatever it might be. It is usually the very
subject situation, a person that I should be thinking
reflecting, praying about in the presence of the Lord.
So I think most of the distractions we get are really not
distractions.
What counts is that we avoid running away from the
center of our being. We start by becoming sensitive to
what is happening within, being aware of our mood,
our spirit because it is out of this spirit, this filter, that
I will deal with others, that I will teach, and that I will
receive all information.
How I Feel Right Now

For example, how did I feel, (not think), the moment
I woke up this morning? For most of us this spirit,
this mood will perdure throughout the day. Now just
to be aware of this is valuable because if, for example,
I am not my good self, I will be more guarded in what
I say and more likely to receive what others say in a
jaundiced way.
Some people find it very helpful to begin their prayer
by making, not a traditional act of the presence of
God, but an act of the presence of self. How am I?
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Where is my spirit? What is my mood? What is going

on? Possibly, just bringing that to God will be someones
prayer. Or by seeing if any special thought or concern
surfaces. God speaks to us most clearly through the
events in our life, says Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. And
that may be where I would like to pray.
In the play Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye prays about the love
of his wife, the marriage of his daughters, his own poverty,
the loss of his homelandbecause these were where he
was present at that time. For others, prayer might center
on a friend who is in some serious conflict; or it might
be a student we have recently counseled, a regret we are
wrestling with, my boyfriend/girlfriend, grieving a loss,
or something Im especially grateful for. Those are the
situations where God is present in my life today.
People often ask Where is God in my life?The best
response I can give is by asking Where are you?thats
where God is. In this way prayer can be something very
practical and steeped in where we really live. In brief, we
recognize the divine within ourselves, rather than trying
to engage a God out there somewhere. Because just to
be is a blessing, to live is holy. Our lives are holy just as
they are. If there is one thing Jesus revealed, it is that he
loves what he finds. He loves us just as we are. Nothing
in our life is distasteful to God.
Prayer starts where we really are because God is in us
as we are. God doesnt expect us to be any other than
we are, except that there is a change that God is going
to make in our lives. In a way we dont have to knock,
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were in already. Prayer isnt come as you are, its just be

who you are.
A Readiness for the Lord

We also get into direct contact with God by our relationship with people. It is in concrete situations, the events
in our life that God speaks to usin our families, in the
classroom, a chance remark by a friend, thoughts and
feelingsthese are the way God speaks to us. So prayer
for some can become what I like to call a sensitization
period, to become sensitive to what God is saying to
me through the many relationships, events, and feelings
that make up my life.
In fact, one can read scripture the same way by just
taking the readings of the day and then seeing how they
relate to the day that lies ahead. Oftentimes they jar our
psyche because that is not where we are. I think it is more
helpful to start by getting in contact with where we are,
with whats going on within and without, and then find a
scripture passage that will fit with that. Prayer, then, can
be a time of quiet reflection, deepening, enhancing of
our mood, through the gentle presence of the Lord.
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The Examen of Consciousness

A wonderful way to close the day is to re-taste and re-feel
it, by going over all the things in the day that made me
laugh, cry, sad, angry, joyful in the presence of God. Our
hearts are like puttyif you knead putty it stays soft;
if you dont, it becomes hard and impossible to move.
By quietly going over the events of a day, we keep our
hearts soft, our minds aware, and our vision open to the
presence of othersand of the Lord.
In summary, Id suggest that the best thing we can do
to nourish a prayer life is to regularly ask God to teach
us how to pray. I dont believe there is any gift God wants
to give us more than the gift of prayer. But, it seems,
so few people ever ask for that. And then with the few
minutes that we spend in prayer, whether its five, ten,
or sixty minutes a day, to ask the Lord to remember, to
recognize where God is in the midst of our lives. This
will provide a whole new tonality to our days and deepen
in us the 20/20 vision that helps us see life whole
and in clear perspective.
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Questions about Myself and God

What holds me back from becoming a more loving
person?
How are my spirit, my mood this past week?
What makes me move away from my good self, my
good spirit?
Have anyones words hit me more strongly than
usual?
What is one thing I really like about myself ?
On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high), how happy am
I?
Do I feel called to do or let go of anything in my
life?
When was I most aware of God, most alive?
If I die today, what would people miss about me?
What three words would I most like to have said
about me if I died today?
What discourages me, buoys me up, preoccupies
me?
Do I tend to be someone who frets and worries or
am I able to let things go in trust?
Do I have to control people and things?
What keeps me from trusting?
How do I handle worry?
What situation would I most like to change in my
lifebut cant?
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Questions about the Family

What do I regard as my familys greatest achievement?
What are my strong points as a son, daughter, or
spouse?
What are my weak points as a family member?
What most separates me from my family?
Do I act or react with regard to my family?
Am I able to listen to my family or do I have the
need to dominate?
Do I pray with my spouse, or boyfriend/girlfriend?
Do we ever explore new ways of praying together?
Do I pray for each member of my family daily?
Do I accept family members as they are, or do I
have such great expectations that it separates me from
them?
Do I affirm them?
Questions for Those Who Are Teachers

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel in his book I Ask for
Wonder makes this statement about teachers:
Everything depends on the person who stands
in front of the classroom. The teacher is not an
automatic fountain from which intellectual bever-
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ages may be obtained. S/he is either a witness or a
stranger. To guide a pupil into the Promised Land
s/he must have been there himself. When asking,
Do I stand for what I teach? Do I believe what I
say? S/he must be able to answer in the affirmative. What we need more than anything else is not
textbooks, but textpeople. It is the personality of
the teacher which is the text that the pupils read,
the text they will never forget.
What kind of text are the students reading by my

presence in the classroom?
Do I regard what I do as an accident or a summons
and a call from God?
Where do I find God in my work?
How is this institution different from any other
school?
What spirit do I bring to my work?
What can I offer to the other people I teach with?
Can I really love my students if I dont pray for
them?
What do I find most life-giving about my work?
What do I find most discouraging about my
work?
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Examen of Consciousness
by Dennis Hamm, S.J.
The examen, or examination, of conscience is an ancient
practice in the church. In fact, even before Christianity,
the Pythagoreans and the Stoics promoted a version of
the practice. It is what most of us Catholics were taught
to do to prepare for confession. In that form, the examen
was a matter of examining ones life in terms of the Ten
Commandments to see how daily behavior stacked up
against those divine criteria. St. Ignatius includes it as one
of the exercises in his manual, The Spiritual Exercises.
What I am proposing here is a way of doing the examen that works for me. It puts a special emphasis on
feelings, for reasons that I hope will become apparent.
First, I describe the format. Second, I invite you to spend
a few minutes actually doing it. Third, I describe some
of the consequences that I have discovered to flow from
this kind of prayer.
A Method: Five Steps.

I. Pray for light. Since we are not simply daydreaming
or reminiscing but rather looking for some sense of
how the Spirit of God is leading us, it only makes sense
to pray for some illumination. The goal is not simply
memory but graced understanding. Thats a gift from
God devoutly to be begged. Lord, help me understand
this blooming, buzzing confusion.
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2. Review the day in thanksgiving. Note how different this

is from looking immediately for your sins. Nobody
likes to poke around in the memory bank to uncover
smallness, weakness, lack of generosity. But everybody
likes to fondle beautiful gifts, and that is precisely what
the past twenty-four hours containgifts of existence,
work, relationships, food, challenges. Gratitude is the
foundation of our whole relationship with God. So use
whatever cues help you to walk through the day from
the moment of awakeningeven the dreams you recall
upon awakening. Walk through the past twenty-four
hours, from hour to hour, from place to place, task to
task, person to person, thanking the Lord for every gift
you encounter.
3. Review the feelings that surface in the replay of the day.
Our feelings, positive and negative, the painful and
the pleasing, are clear signals of where the action was
during the day. Simply pay attention to any and all of
those feelings as they surface, the whole range: delight,
boredom, fear, anticipation, resentment, anger, peace,
contentment, impatience, desire, hope, regret, shame,
uncertainty, compassion, disgust, gratitude, pride, rage,
doubt, confidence, admiration, shynesswhatever was
there. Some of us may be hesitant to focus on feelings
in this over-psychologized age, but I believe that these
feelings are the liveliest index to what is happening in
our lives. This leads us to the fourth moment.
4. Choose one of those feelings (positive or negative) and pray
from it. That is, choose the remembered feeling that
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most caught your attention. The feeling is a sign that

something important was going on. Now simply express
spontaneously the prayer that surfaces as you attend to
the source of the feelingpraise, petition, contrition,
cry for help or healing, whatever.
5. Look toward tomorrow. Using your appointment calendar if that helps, face your immediate future. What
feelings surface as you look at the tasks, meetings and
appointments that face you? Fear? Delighted anticipation? Self-doubt? Temptation to procrastinate? Zestful
planning? Regret? Weakness? Whatever it is, turn it into
prayerfor help, for healing, whatever comes spontaneously. To round off the examen, say the Lords Prayer.
A mnemonic for recalling the five points:

LT3F (light, thanks, feelings, focus, future).
Do It.
Take a few minutes to pray through the past twenty-four
hours, and toward the next twenty-four hours, with that
five-point format.
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Consequences
Here are some of the consequences flowing from this

kind of prayer.
1.There is always something to pray about. For a person
who does this kind of prayer at least once a day, there is
never the question: What should I talk to God about?
Until you die, you always have a past twenty-four hours,
and you always have some feelings about whats next.
2. The gratitude moment is worthwhile in itself.
Dedicate yourselves to gratitude, Paul tells the Colossians. Even if we drift off into slumber after reviewing
the gifts of the day, we have praised the Lord.
3. We learn to face the Lord where we are, as we are.
There is no other way to be present to God, of course,
but we often fool ourselves into thinking that we have to
put on our best face before we address our God.
4. We learn to respect our feelings. Feelings count.
They are morally neutral until we make some choice
about acting upon or dealing with them. But if we dont
attend to them, we miss what they have to tell us about
the quality of our lives.
5. Praying from feelings, we are liberated from them.
An unattended emotion can dominate and manipulate
us. Attending to and praying from and about the persons
and situations that give rise to the emotions helps us to
cease being unwitting slaves of our emotions.
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6. We actually find something to bring to confession.

That is, we stumble across our sins without making them
the primary focus.
7. We can experience an inner healing. People have
found that praying about (as opposed to fretting about
or denying) feelings leads to a healing of mental life.
We probably get a head start on our dream-work when
we do this.
8. This kind of prayer helps us get over our Deism.
Deism is belief in a sort of clock-maker God, a God
who does indeed exist but does not have much, if anything, to do with his peoples ongoing life. The God we
have come to know through our Jewish and Christian
experience is more present than we usually think.
9. Praying this way is an antidote to the spiritual
disease of Pelagianism. Pelagianism was the heresy that
approached life with God as a do-it-yourself project (If
at first you dont succeed...), whereas a true theology
of grace and freedom sees life as response to Gods love
(If today you hear Gods voice...).
A final thought: How can anyone dare to say that
paying attention to felt experience is a listening to the
voice of God? On the face of it, it does sound like a
dangerous presumption. But, notice, I am not equating
memory with the voice of God. I am saying that, if we
are to listen for the God who creates and sustains us, we
need to take seriously and prayerfully the meeting between
the creatures we are and all else that God holds lovingly
85
in existence. That interface is the felt experience of

my day. It deserves prayerful attention. It is a big part
of how we know and respond to God.
Seal of the Society of Jesus
In all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking God
with a thankful heart. Philippians 4:5-7
VII
Prayers and Poems
in the Ignatian Tradition
Prayer for generosity
Saint Ignatius of Loyola (14911556)
Lord, teach me
to be generous.
Teach me to serve you
as you deserve;
to give and
not to count the cost;
to fight and
not to heed the wounds;
to toil and
not to seek for rest;
to labor and
not to ask for reward
save that of knowing
that I do your will.
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Suscipe
from Spiritual Exercises
Take, Lord, all my liberty.
Receive my memory,
my intellect, and will.
Whatever I have or hold
you have given to me;
so I return them to you
to be used according to your will.
Give us only your love
and your grace,
and with these we are rich enough
and ask for nothing more.
Anima Christi
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Permit me not to be separated from you.
From the wicked foe, defend me.
At the hour of my death, call me
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VII Prayers & Poems in the Ignatian Tradition
and bid me come to you

That with your saints I may praise you
For ever and ever. Amen.
You Have Called Me By Name

Joseph Tetlow, S.J. b. 1930
Oh, Lord my God,
You called me from the sleep of nothingness
merely because of Your tremendous love.
You want to make good and beautiful beings.
You have called me by name in my mothers womb.
You have given me breath and light and movement
and walked with me every moment of my existence.
I am amazed, Lord God of the universe,
that You attend to me and, more, cherish me
Create in me the faithfulness that moves You,
and I will trust You and yearn for You all my days.
Amen.
Prayer for the Grace to Name My Sins

Joseph Tetlow, S.J. b. 1930
Almighty and all-merciful God,
give me the strength of spirit to name my sins
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and the courage to feel shame for them.

Let me feel confounded that my sins
have not destroyed me as others have.
Teach me to weep for the hurt and harm
I have sinfully inflicted on others.
Please, Lord, I really want to live aware
of how I have let this terrible evil
root itself in my self and in my life world.
A Colloquy With Jesus

Spiritual Exercises,
paraphrased by Joseph Tetlow, S.J. b. 1930
I turn to Jesus Christ, hanging on His cross,
and I talk with Him.
I ask how it can be that the Lord and Creator
should have come from the infinite reaches of eternity
to this death here on earth,
so that He could die for our sins.
And then I reflect upon myself, and ask:
What have I done for Christ?
What am I doing for Christ?
What ought I do for Christ?
And I talk with Jesus like a friend.
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I Am Not Worthy to Have You Come

under My Roof
William Breault, S.J. b. 1926
Lord Christ,
I wish I could offer You
a reasonably clean
and swept house
to dwell in,
but I cant.
I can sayand know the meaning of
I am not worthy to have You come
under my roof . . .
But You are already there!
Living among the once-flourishing idols.
The floor is dirty
and at times the room is airless
even for me!
I am ashamed of Your presence there,
yet You slept in a cave
and on a donkeys back at night
under the desert stars.
So, if I cant change Your accommodations,
let me rejoice all the same
that You are present.
I must believe strongly, Lord,
that I cant question this:
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that You are at home with sinners

and my greatest sin, Lord Christ,
is that I dont want to be a sinner!
Nor do I easily accept itstill,
the evidence is overwhelming.
But hope is like a green shoot
in the midst of an airless, disordered world.
And that hope comes from Your Spirit.
I rest in that hope, Lord.
Teach Me Your Ways

Pedro Arrupe, S.J. (19071991)
Teach me Your way of looking at people:
as You glanced at Peter after his denial,
as You penetrated the heart of the rich young man
and the hearts of Your disciples.
I would like to meet You as You really are,
since Your image changes with whom
You come into contact.
Remember John the Baptists first meeting with You?
And the centurions feeling of unworthiness?
And the amazement of those who saw miracles
and other wonders?
How You impressed Your disciples,
the rabble in the Garden of Olives,
Pilate and his wife
and the centurion at the foot of the cross.
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I would like to hear and be impressed

by Your manner of speaking,
listening, for example, to Your discourse
in the synagogue in Capharnaum
or the Sermon on the Mount where Your audience
felt you taught as one who has authority.
Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 1965-1983
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Way, Truth, Life

Theodore J. (Ted) Tracy, S.J. b. 1916
You are the way, the truth, the life
Without the way there is no going
Without the truth there is no knowing
Without the life there is no growing
Show us the way, that we may go
Teach us the truth, that we may know
Grant us the life, that we may grow
Eternally.
Live Eternally In Me
Jean-Pierre Mdaille, S.J.
French Jesuit Missionary of the
seventeenth century
So act, good Jesus,
that, in my relationships with whatever neighbor
and in all I do for the furthering of Your Fathers
glory
and the salvation of others,
I form myself on Your pattern;
that I be a genuine reflection of Your moderation,
gentleness, humility, patience, graciousness, tireless
zeal,
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in a word, of all Your virtues;

and, in order to engrave them in my soul,
live eternally in me.
Center Of Our Hearts

St. Claude La Colombiere, S.J.
(16411682)
O God, what will You do to conquer
the fearful hardness of our hearts?
Lord, You must give us new hearts,
tender hearts, sensitive hearts,
to replace hearts that are made of marble and of
bronze.
You must give us Your own heart, Jesus.
Come, lovable heart of Jesus.
Place Your heart deep in the center of our hearts
and enkindle in each heart a flame of love
as strong, as great, as the sum of all reasons
that I have for loving You, my God.
O holy heart of Jesus, dwell hidden in my heart,
so that I may live only in You and only for You,
so that, in the end, I may live eternally in heaven.
Amen.
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Show Me Your Face, O God

Daniel Berrigan, S.J. b. 1921
Jesuit priest; peace and social activist
At lands end, end of tether
where the sea turns to sleep
ponderous, menacing
and my spirit fails and runs
landward, seaward, askelter
I pray You
make new
this hireling heart
O turn Your face to me
winged, majestic, angelic
tireless,
a tide
my prayer goest up
show me Your face, O God!
In The Hands of God

Pedro Arrupe, S.J. (19071991)
More than ever I find myself in the hands of God.
This is what I have wanted all my life from my
youth.
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But now there is a difference;

the initiative is entirely with God.
It is indeed a profound spiritual experience
to know and feel myself so totally in Gods hands.
A Prayer for Compassion

Pierre Teillhard de Chardin, S.J.
(18811955)
Oh God, I wish from now on
to be the first to become conscious
of all that the world loves, pursues, and suffers;
I want to be the first to seek,
to sympathize and to suffer;
the first to unfold and sacrifice myself,
to become more widely human
and more nobly of the earth
than of any of the worlds servants.
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Fall in Love
Attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.
(19071991)
Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.
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Who Lives in Love

St. Robert Southwell, S.J. (15611595)
English poet and martyr
Who lives in love, loves least to live,
and long delays doth rue,
If him he love by whom he live,
to whom all praise is due,
Who for our love did choose to live,
and was content to die,
Who loved our love more than his life,
and love with life did buy.
Let us in life, yea with our life,
requite his living love,
For best we live when least we live,
if love our life remove.
Mourn therefore no true lovers death,
life only him annoys,
And when he taketh leave of life
then love begins his joys.
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Gods Grandeur
Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
(18441889)
Victorian poet and Jesuit priest
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not wreck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with
toil;
And wears mans smudge and shares mans smell: the
soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with, ah! bright
wings.
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The Windhover: To Christ our Lord

(18441889)
I caught this morning mornings minion,
kingdom of daylights dauphin, dapple-dawndrawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air,
and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a
wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skates heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend:
the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,the achieve of,
the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act,
oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then,
a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: sheer plod makes
plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
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Pied Beauty
(18441889)
Glory be to God for dappled things
For skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow;
for rose-moles
all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced a
fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour, a dazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change;
Praise him.
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106
Spring and Fall: To a Young Child

(18441889)
Margaret, are you grieving
Over goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal life;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrows springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
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The Question
Daniel Berrigan, S.J., activist priest
(b. 1921)
Who I am
is self revealed, they say
rabbis of deep matters.
Few inquire of myself
Who are you?
The question implies,
the answer implicates.
As well command a sun shaft
falling on a page: Read what you see!
Or the bird of April, newborn in the birth
of things: Sing not of this!
Question posed, command follows
not issued by me, no.
You know
whereof you ask,
telltale heart says so.
Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances.

1 Thessalonians 5:16
VIII
Traditional Christian Prayers
The Lords Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done, on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
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Glory Be to the Father

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Gloria
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to Gods people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks;
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
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VIII Traditional Christian Prayers
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten not made, one in being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
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We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord,

the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is
worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one, holy, catholic,
and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Apostles Creed
We believe in God, the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right
hand of the Father.
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He will come again

to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic Church,
the communion of Saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.
The Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to your protection,
implored your help, or sought your
intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
we fly unto you,
O Virgin of virgins, our Mother!
To you we come, before you we stand,
sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word incarnate,
despise not our petitions,
but in your mercy hear and answer us.
Amen.
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The Rosary
According to CatholicTradition, the history of the rosary
dates back to St. Dominic in the 12th century. Dominic
was distressed over the inroads of the Albigensian heresy
in Southern France. They had a view of two gods and
rejected the sacraments of the Church as well as many
Christian teachings. In his need for help in preaching
against the heresy, Dominic appealed to the Mother of
God. She appeared to him and told him to use her Psalter
as an instrument for combating the heresy.
The full rosary is 150 Hail Marys with each ten preceded
by an Our Father.The origin of this number can be traced
to the 150 psalms which were recited by religious orders
in the Divine Office. Thus there are 15 decades (10 Hail
Marys each). Today the rosary beads most familiar to
Catholics is the chaplet of five decades.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II wrote an apostolic letter with
the title: The Rosary of the Virgin Mary. In its introduction
he states:
The Rosary of theVirgin Mary, which gradually took
form in the second millennium under the guidance
of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless
saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple,
yet profound, it still remains at the dawn of the third
millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined
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to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life,
which, after two thousand years, has lost none of
the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by
the Spirit of God to set out into the deep in order
once more to proclaim and even cry out, before the
world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, the way,
and the truth and the life (Jn 14.6), the goal of
human history and the point on which the desires
of history and civilization turn.
At its most basic, the rosary consists of five decades of

Hail Marys (a decade means a group of ten), with each
decade preceded by one Our Father and followed by one
Glory Be to the Father. One chooses to recite the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, or Glorious mysteries (listed
below), and before each decade, one states the mystery
to be used for prayerful reflection. Even before starting
the decades, however, one says a few preliminary prayers,
corresponding to the crucifix and four beads.
How does one use all those beads? Suppose one were
to pray the Joyful Mysteries: One would proceed in the
following way. As you recite each of the prayers listed
below, move your fingers forward to the next bead or
gap in the rosary.
Preliminary Prayers
Crucifix: The Apostles Creed
Separate bead: Our Father
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3 Beads: 3 Hail Marys, followed by the

Glory Be to the Father
For the First Decade:

Gap: The Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary
Separate Bead: Our Father
10 Beads: 10 Hail Marys
Gap: Glory Be to the Father
This sequence is repeated for each of the following four
decades. The only change is the mystery that one proclaims at the beginning of each decade. For example, the
third Joyful Mystery is The Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem
of Judea. After one completes the final Glory Be to the
Father of the fifth mystery (The Finding of Jesus in
the Temple), one recites the Hail, Holy Queen, which
completes the rosary.
All the prayers needed to say the rosary precede these
pages.
The Joyful Mysteries
1. The Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary
2. The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth
3. The Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea
4. The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
5. The Finding of Jesus in the Temple
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The Luminous Mysteries

1. Jesus Baptism in the Jordan
2. The Wedding at Cana
3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom
4. The Transfiguration
5. The Institution of the Eucharist
The Sorrowful Mysteries
1. The Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
2. The Scourging of Jesus at the Pillar
3. The Crowning of Jesus with Thorns
4. The Carrying of the Cross
5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus
The Glorious Mysteries
1. The Resurrection of Jesus
2. The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
4. The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
5. The Coronation of Our Lady in Heaven
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Angelus
A prayer with origins in the Middle Ages, the Angelus is
traditionally recited at 6 a.m., noon, and again at 6 p.m.
The person recites a short verse (V), then a response
(R), followed by a Hail Mary. This pattern is repeated
an additional three times and then a concluding prayer
is recited.
V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, etc.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to your Word.
V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of
Christ.
Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, Your grace into
our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ,
Your Son, was made known by the message of an angel,
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may, by His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory

of His Resurrection, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
An Act of Contrition
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended
Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss
of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because
I have offended Thee my God, who are all good and
worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of
Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to
amend my life. Amen.
Canticle of Simeon
(Luke 1:68-79)
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his only prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
and from the hands of all who hate us.
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He promised to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hand of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear, holy
and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the
Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God,
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the
shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
(International Consultation on English Texts)
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Act of Faith
O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three
divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe
that your divine Son became man and died for our sins,
and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I
believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic
Church teaches, because you revealed them, who can
neither deceive nor be deceived.
Act of Hope
O my God, relying on your infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of
your grace, and life everlasting through the merits of
Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
Act of Love
O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole
heart and soul, because you are all good and worthy of
all my love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of
you. I forgive all who have injured me and I ask pardon
of all whom I have injured.
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Magnificat
(Luke: 1:46-55)
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices
in God my savior;
because he has regarded the lowliness of His
handmaid; for, behold, henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed;
because He who is mighty has done great things for
me, and holy is His name;
And His mercy is from generation to generation on
those who fear Him.
He has shown might with His arm, He has scattered
the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and
has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich
He has sent away empty.
He has given help to Israel,
His servant, mindful of his mercy
Even as He spoke to our fathersto Abraham
and to His posterity forever.
Be persistent in prayer and keep alert as you pray, giving thanks to God.
Colossians 4:2
IX
Daily Prayers
Morning Offering
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I
offer you all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of
this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
throughout the world.
I offer them for all the intentions of your Sacred
Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, the
reunion of all Christians.
I offer them for the intentions of our bishops, and of
all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month. Amen.
Prayer to My Guardian Angel

Angel of God, my guardian dear,
To whom Gods love commits me here,
Ever this day be at my side
To light and guard,
To rule and guide. Amen.
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Night Prayer
Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Thy love stay with me through the night,
And wake me with thy morning light. Amen.
Grace Before Meals: Traditional

Bless us, O Lord, and these your gifts
which we are about to receive from your bounty.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grace Before Meals: The Whole Day

Lord Jesus be our holy guest,
Our morning prayer, our evening rest,
and with this daily food impart
Thy love and grace to every heart. Amen.
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IX Daily Prayers
Fellowship Grace
by Michael Buckley, S.J. b. 1931
Lord Jesus, who when you were on earth celebrated a
meal with joy, be with us now and fill us with your spirit
as we share food and fellowship together. Amen.
A World Hunger Grace

For food in a world where many walk in hunger;
for faith in a world where many walk in fear;
for friends in a world where many walk alone,
we give you humble thanks, O Lord. Amen.
Irish Blessing I
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
May the rains fall soft upon your field,
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
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An Old Irish Greeting

These things I warmly wish for you
Someone to love,
Some work to do,
A bit o sun
A bit o cheer
And a guardian angel
Always near.
Irish Blessing II
With the first light of sun
Bless you.
When the long day is done
Bless you.
In your smiles and your tears
Bless you.
Through each day of your years
Bless you.
The grace of our Savior has appeared to all, instructing us, in order that, rejecting ungodliness and woldly lusts, we may live temperately and justly and piously in this world.
Titus 2:11-12
X
Prayers for College Life
For My Family
Loving God, thank you so much for my family.
Bless my parents, my brothers and sisters:
heal our quarrels, bind us close.
I place our family in Your care
since Your love for us is so life-giving.
Someday I hope to have my own family;
Prepare my spirit now for that great day.
For now, bless all families.
Keep us close to one another and to You.
Prayer for Studying

Lord, I cannot believe how much time I waste. Please
help me be more intense about my studies. I really am
interested in the things that the professor says in class.
But when I finally sit down to study, I welcome distractions from studying so easily. You have given me a good
mind, and you want me to explore your creation. Give me
enthusiasm, Lord, for the subjects I am studying. Keep
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my eyes open and my mind on topic. Help me learn the

material so that I can explain it clearly and convincingly to
others, especially my friends. Jesus, you must have spent
a lot of time reflecting on life to think of the parables
that are recorded in the Gospels. Make me a good, critical
thinker and help me to express myself clearly. Help me
to use my mind for your greater Glory. Amen.
Prayer for Exams

God our Father, as I begin this time of exams, I feel
some anxiety and frustration. Help me to stay focused.
Give me a clear mind to perform to the best of my ability. Help me to study with dedication and vigor. Grant
me silence so that I may process the knowledge I have
obtained. Let me sleep peacefully at night, so that I am
refreshed and renewed for my upcoming exams.
Be with me, Lord, during this time. Undoubtedly,
there will be moments when I want to quit and give
up. Please sustain me, Lord. Guide me during times of
trouble. Help me to realize that I have done my best
possible work. Let me be satisfied with the work I have
done, but also help me to see areas that I may improve
upon academically in the future. Amen.
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X Prayers for College Life
Prayer for Marquette

God, Father and Mother of us all,
bless the mission of Marquette University,
and bestow your grace on our strivings toward that
mission.
Motivate all students to seek wisdom:
through conversing, writing, and criticizing;
through exploration and imagination.
Inspire our faculty with effective ways
to touch the minds of the young,
and with insights into the beauty of your universe.
Help our administrators and staff
to foster learning, research, justice, and faith.
Watch over our alumni and friends.
Give success to our scholastic competitions and athletic
teams;
grant us good health and good humor.
In our neighborhood and in our country,
help all people to live in justice and peace,
and to find productive jobs,
so that they can care for their families.
Most of all, help each of us to grow
in love and understanding of your Son and our Brother,
Jesus Christ, who is the way to you, our Creator. Amen.
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Victory Is Ours
Desmond Tutu
Goodness is stronger than evil;
Love is stronger than hate;
Light is stronger than darkness;
Life is stronger than death;
Victory is ours through Him who love us.
Prayer for Purity

from The Book of Common Prayer
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all
desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid,
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration
of thy Holy spirit, that we may perfectly love thee
and worthily magnify thy holy name; through Christ
our Lord. Amen.
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Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Pre Marquette Discovery Award, 2003.
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Prayer for My Friends at Marquette

Lord, keep my friends open, caring, and funny. I
enjoy being with them so much, just as you liked
being with your friends, the Apostles. Sometimes
my friends do things that hurt me, or they do damage
to themselves or others. Forgive them, please, and
keep them safe and healthy. Help me to contribute
more to the vitality of my group of friends.
Make all of us true followers of Christ; keep us
lively and interesting. One day, make us all good servant-leaders and, if it is your will, parents, faithful and
giving. Amen.
Service of the Poor

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
(19101997)
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve others throughout the
world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give
them through our hands this day their daily bread,
and by our understanding love, give peace and joy.
Amen.
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Prayer for Gratitude

Youve blessed me with friends
and laughter and fun
with rain thats as soft
as the light from the sun.
Youve blessed me with stars
to brighten each night;
youve given me help
to know wrong from right.
Youve given me so much,
please, Lord give me too,
a heart that is always
grateful to you.
A Students Prayer
Jon Bakkelund
Heavenly Father, fill me with your Holy Spirit
that I may resist the many temptations set before me.
Give me a spirit of Wisdom that I may seek
the truth and resist the shroud of deceit and falsity.
May I attain humility that I work hard for the glory
of your name and be respectful to those I work with
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and to those who instruct me. May whatever good I do

and evil I endure make me only stronger in faith and
love for you. I ask this through the intercession of Mary,
my beloved mother, for where there is Mary there too
is Jesus. Amen
A Prayer for Those Involved in Sports

O God, you gave us bodies
as well as minds and hearts
with which to praise and worship you.
Our sports and exercises are a fitting use of gifts
and talents you have given us.
Bless our workouts and the games we play,
and those with whom we exercise or compete.
Give us strength, endurance, courage
and agility as we compete or train.
Keep us safe and healthy as we celebrate
our physical and mental skills in sport.
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Prayer for Marquette Parents

Lord, bless my parents and watch over them. Keep
them healthy and safe from all harm, and give them the
strength to love and support one another. They have
given me so much. Unfortunately, I occasionally forget
their great love for me. Sometimes I become frustrated
because I think they do not see the growth and maturity
I have experienced. But I know they love me, and I love
them dearly. Help me to show a mature love and respect
for them. Bless them especially for all the sacrifices they
make so that I can study and live at Marquette. Help
me to become the son or daughter of whom they can
be proud, even if it is not quite the vision they have for
me. Amen.
Prayer for Brothers and Sisters of

Marquette Students
Lord, sometimes I think you made brothers and sisters
so that everyone has someone with whom they can disagree. As younger children, we had many arguments and
fights, but we also had fun together. As I mature, give me
insight so that I also appreciate the changes taking place
in my brothers and sisters. I love them dearly. Give me
the wisdom to express my love and concern wiselyin
words to them, in deeds, and in prayer. Please help my
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younger siblings seek an education that shapes them as

whole persons. And bless my older siblings who I hope
are praying for me. Amen.
Prayer for Those Considering a

Jesuit Vocation
God our Father, You touched the heart of Your Son
and called Him to His redeeming work. Through the
illumination and inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, open
the hearts of devout Catholic young men everywhere
to a vocation to the Society of Jesus, and give them the
grace to persevere in it, faithful to their vows and the
spirit of Saint Ignatius Loyola. I ask that you strengthen
me also in the same Ignatian spirit. Amen.
Prayer for Choosing a State of Life

From all eternity, O Lord, you planned my very existence and my destiny. You wrapped me in your love in
baptism and gave me the faith to lead me to an eternal
life of happiness with you. You have showered me with
your graces and you have been always ready with your
mercy and forgiveness when I have fallen. Now I beg
you for the light I so earnestly need that I may find the
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way of life in which lies the best fulfillment of your will.

Whatever state this may be, give me the grace necessary
to embrace it with love of your holy will, as devotedly
as your Mother did your will. I offer myself to you
now, trusting in your wisdom and love to direct me in
working out my salvation and in helping others to know
and come close to you, so that I may find my reward in
union with you for ever and ever. Amen
Prayer of a College Woman

William Lloyd Imes (18891986)
African American
Presbyterian clergyman
O God, whose Son was born of a woman.
Look upon me with loving kindness and plenitude of
mercy.
Help me to adore Thee in spirit and in truth,
And to learn how Thou hast ever brought beauty and
radiance and joy into the world
Through the life and ministry of womanhood.
Especially commended unto Thy care
Is the womanhood on this college campus.
Help me as a college woman to be filled with eagerness
to learn
The disciplines of mind, heart, and soul.
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Help me in conduct and in character to reflect the best

traditions of the Christian heritage.
In decisions, make me thoughtful and exact;
In temptations, keep me strong and pure;
In conflicts, make me just and wise;
In habits, filled with the ministry of human kindness
and concern for all Thy children.
In the arts and sciences, give me skill to enrich our common fund of learning,
And to crown it with loveliness and dignity that shall
give it highest worth.
So shall my life be a center of order, a mirror of
beauty and a ministry of comfort.
Touched by An Angel
Maya Angelou b. 1928
African American Poet
We, unaccustomed to courage
Exiles from delight
Live coiled in shells of loneliness
Until love leaves its high holy temple
And comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
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old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
Love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of loves light
we dare to be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
Which sets us free.
God Says Yes to Me

Kaylin Haught b. 1947
I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
And she said sure it is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
Or not wear nail polish
And she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly what you want to
Thanks God I said
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And is it okay if I dont paragraph my letters

Sweetcakes God said
Who knows where she picked that up
What Im telling you is
Yes Yes Yes
Prayer for True Love

Lord, I am a child of the media. When I think of
love, images of movie and television stars come to
mind and words of popular songs play in my brain.
Teach me about love that is more than romance, that
elevates my girlfriend (or boyfriend) and me to the
image in which You made us. Lord, teach us respect
for each other and your teachings. Help me to talk
to others about true love so that I do not deceive
myself.
Looking Forward to Marriage

Gracious God, how I look forward to finding someone
special to be my partner for life. Give me a sensitive heart,
a discerning mind, and a ready will. Help me understand
the mystery of Your love; help me to learn to share.
As I meet my future spouse, please help us to learn how
to commit our lives to one another, to our families, and
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to your world. Nourish our sexuality and guide it to

good and honest ends. As we look forward to the commitment of marriage, may You be the common center
of our hearts and of our home. Bless and strengthen all
couples with love and life. Amen.
Prayer on the loss of a Loved One

Quaker Prayer
We give them back to you, dear Lord,
Who gave them to us.
Yet as you did not lose them in giving,
so we have not lost them by their return.
For what is yours is ours always, if we are yours.
And life is eternal and love is immortal
And death is only a horizon.
And a horizon is nothing more
than a limit to our sight.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives
generously and graciously to all. But when you pray, you must believe and not doubt at all.
James I:4-6
XI
Prayers for Recent Graduates
and Alumni and Alumnae
An Alumni Prayer for Marquette
John Piderit, S.J. b. 1944
Lord God, I thank you for the gift of my Marquette
education. As the interval grows longer between that
blessed event in my life and the present, my memory
is less distinct even as my heart grows fonder for my
friends whom I met in those years and who have been
with me since. Bless the faculty, who tried hard to get me
to learn more. Bless my parents, who made Marquette
possible for me and who continue to provide me with
love and encouragement. Inspire young men to become
Jesuits, so that future generations of Marquette students
can benefit from their insight and devotion to Christ.
As happened to me in Joan of Arc Chapel, inflame the
hearts of current students to aspire to great acts of
love and commitment. Guide the faculty to touch the
hearts of current students, just as they awakened awe
and wonder in me. Grant success to the many projects
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that current students undertake. All this we ask through

Christ our Lord.
Ministers to the Future

Attributed to
Archbishop Oscar Romero (19171980)
Archbishop of San Salvador,
El Salvador
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long
view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts;
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lords work...
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying
that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No sermon says all that should be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Churchs mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
That is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow,
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XI Prayers for Recent Graduates & Alumni/ae
We water seeds already planted

knowing they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that affects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very, very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lords grace to enter and do the
rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the Master Builder
and the worker.
We are workers, but not master builders...
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future that is not our own. Amen.
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Prayer in the Office

Edwina Gately
20th Century English-born poet
and lay minister
Where is my solitude now, my God?
Where the peace, the stillness
That I might find You?
Where the silence in which to hear
Your voice, my God?
Is it that I must seek You out
Anonymous,
In the constant stream of callers?
That I must hear Your voice
In the telephone calls and
Conversations?
Is it that I must look for You
In the endless stream of traffic which
Passes my door?
Where are You, my God,
When I have no solitude
In which to stop,
To turn and look at You
In silent greeting?
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Prayer for Professionals

I want what You want, O Lord. By asking You for
guidance with complete confidence and faith that You
are helping me, nothing that I am called upon to do
becomes too much or too bothersome. Nor is there
any room for worry.
I will find it easy to ask You each day to be a partner
in my work. . . to help me get things done. . . to weigh
my actions and decisions in the light of is this right?
is this just? is this doing Your will?
With Your help I will make decisions better and faster,
knowing that You will not lead me astray. I will have
confidence that, by wanting what You want, I need not
worry about the outcome. So I will live my life, knowing
that it is Your will that I accomplish.
Prayer for Business Executives

Thomas F. McMahon, C.S.V.
Graduate School of Business,
Loyola University Chicago
Eternal God, we feel Your presence among us in your
power, which is almighty; inYour justice, which is founded
on Your law; and in Your love, which is everlasting.
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As part of Your creation, we share in Your power in our

service as business executives and managers as we convert
raw materials into useful goods for human beings.
In treating employees, customers, and even competitors
fairly, we share in Your justice.
And we share inYour love when we provide opportunity
for jobs, growth and human dignity in the workplace.
May the zeal for justice and the spirit of love pervade
our lives at work and at home, now and always. Amen.
Continue My Work
Fr. Jonathan Foster, O.F.M.,
National Center for the Laity
And God says: Let my people find meaning in their
lives. And so there came philosophers, theologians,
mothers, writers, teachers, teachers aides, school administrators, boards of education, teachers unions,
school janitors, retreat masters, directors of religious
education. And God blesses them all and sees that their
work is good.
And God says: Let my people have enough food to
sustain their lives and give them pleasure. And so it is
that there came farmers, orchard growers, processors,
cowboys, packagers, managers of supermarkets, government health agencies, bakers, cooks, and accountants.
God blesses them all and sees that their work is good.
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Then God says: Let my people grow with health.

And so it is that there came doctors and nurses, medical
journalists, hospital administrators, herbalists, pharmacists, public health officials, politicians concerned about
better health care delivery, and, again, accountants. God
blesses them all and sees that their work is good.
Finally God says: Let me not be ashamed of my
work. And so it is that there came good salaries and
working conditions, bonuses, training schools, labor
unions, continuing education, professional standards,
community review boards, all manner of accountability
and, most of all, simple pride in work well done. And
God blesses all of this and says: Continue my work.
For Administrators and Managers

Raymond C. Baumhart, S.J. b. 1923
former president of
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Creator of all that exists.
Source of life and growth, of peace and joy, we bless
You for all Your sons and daughters.
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The gift of administration is Yours, and You share it

in Your goodness with persons like us.
Please give vision and wisdom to those engaged in governance; good judgment and courage to supervisors; faith
and a sense of justice to all who work as managers.
Help us to remember that You share with us the power
to administer, and that the work we do is Your work.
Give us the satisfaction and joy in the performance of
this work.
Bless us always with Your presence, Your insight, Your
compassion.Then we will recognizeYou anew, and praise
You as You really are: Master of all that we are and do,
the mighty and revered God.
Blessed are You, Lord God, who share with us the gift
of administration.
Reflection
St. Thomas More, Renaissance English
Chancellor and Martyr (14781535)
If you cannot pluck up bad ideas by the root, if you
cannot cure long-standing evils as completely as you
would like, you must not therefore abandon the commonwealth. Do not give up the ship in a storm because
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you cannot direct the winds. And do not arrogantly

force strange ideas on people who you know have set
their minds on a different course from yours. You must
strive to influence policy indirectly, handle the situation
tactfully, and thus what you cannot turn to good, you
may at least make less bad. For it is impossible to make
all institutions good unless you make all people good,
and that I dont expect to see for a long time to come.
Reflection for Health Care Workers

Fran Feder
Jesus carried ... (peoples) dis-ease. He bore the burden
of responsibility for their lack of comfort and walked with
them towards wholeness. He didnt shun the helpless or
belittle the frail. He reached deep into his own wellness
and offered them healing. His was the behavior of the
servant, a suffering servant. Jesus was willing to endure
pain so others could live with less pain. . . he was willing
to suffer ultimate rejection, even rejection from his own
religious tradition, so others could have his word.
Service costs. The servant suffers. There is the preoccupying agony of caring till it hurts. The sacrifice of
time. The struggle to talk when every word aches. And
no guarantees. Suffering servanthood is only for those
who take following seriously. It is for those who can carry
others because they have carried themselves first.
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Prayer for Doctors and Nurses

The Book of Common Prayer
(Anglican Prayer Book)
Bless and sanctify, O Lord, those whomYou have called
to the study and practice of the arts of healing, and to
the prevention of disease and pain. Strengthen them by
Your life-giving Spirit. By their ministries may the health
of the community be promoted and Your creation glorified. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Nurses Prayer
Pastoral Care Department
Loyola University Medical Center
Loving God, we thank You for our gifts and talents
and for calling us to share in Your ministry of healing.
With a desire to serve You more fully we pray:
for minds that seek wisdom and truth,
for hearts filled with gentleness and love,
for eyes that view others with compassion and understanding.
May we listen with sensitivity and acceptance.
May we speak words of reassurance and comfort.
May all whom we touch experience Your healing presence.
O God, Help us continue to serve You and Your
people in peace.
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Prayer for Those in the

Education Professions
Jesus Christ, Lord of all learning, You sat in the midst
of the teachers and doctors, hearing their words and
questioning their conclusions.
Encourage all of us who teach Your people.
Help us to understand our place as mentors and figures
of authority. May we stand tall as teachers of human
dignity and purpose.
Give us grace to fill the emptiness we often experience
and the endurance to serve what may seem to be futile.
Let us enjoy with You the reward of a person made
whole, made wise through Your lasting intercession and
love. Amen.
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Prayer for New Lawyers

Raymond C. Baumhart, S.J. b. 1923
former president of
Great God of life and light, be with us now.
Help these law school graduates to understand how much
depends on their learning and their integrity.
You, God, are father of the plaintiff and the defendant,
of the attorney, the judge, and the jury.
You gave humankind ten laws which are the foundation
of Judaeo-Christian society.
Help these new lawyers have a deep respect for the law,
and help them to right conduct influenced by the ethical
standards they profess.
Strengthen them in the difficult task of broadening
individual liberty and promoting the common good.
May your Spirit of truth guide them now and always.
These things we pray in your name, great God. Amen.
You must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with love, patient and gentle.
1 Timothy 6:11
XII
Prayers Written by Women
Prayer to Witness Worthily to Others
in Our Daily Lives
Elisabeth Leseur (18661914)
French spiritual writer
To be unswervingly faithful to the daily task,
in big and little things, in work,
in painful inaction, illness and suffering
as much as in joy and health.
May those who draw near to my soul
sense that it is rooted firmly in God,
and is peaceful and lively because of it.
The restless waves that sometimes beat
against my soul are human things
that come to it from outside; may others see
in me only what is permanent and true;
never may any soul hold back discouraged from mine
because agitations and worldly complications
have hidden the way of approach; may my soul
be as smiling as my lips toward all, and may Thy Word,
O my God, inspire my humble word and make it fruitful.
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An open invitation
Dorothy Stewart
Lord, you invite us
not some of us,
all of us:
not the good and righteous,
all of us
unconditionally.
Lord, we come
meeting you,
meeting each other,
accepting each other,
unconditionally.
Lord, we go
constant in prayer, and prayerful action,
expressing your continuous invitation
loving, sharing,
seeking, bringing,
serving the world you love.
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XII Prayers Written by Women
Carrying out Gods work

Dorothy Stewart
God of love, help us to remember
that Christ has no body now on earth but ours,
no hands but ours, no feet but ours.
Ours are the eyes to see the needs of the world.
Ours are the hands with which to bless everyone now.
Ours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.
Show us, Lord

Dorothy Stewart
Lord,
show us where there is loneliness,
that we may take friendship.
Show us where individuals are not seen as persons,
that we may acknowledge their identity.
Show us where there is alienation,
that we may take reconciliation.
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Litany for Ordinary Time

Irene Zimmerman
Mary, queen of the ordinary
queen of spinning wheel and loom
who wove from ordinary stuff
the flawless fabric of
Gods humanness;
queen whose pregnancy
put Josephs other plans aside
and sent his saw singing
into cradlewood;
queen of skinned knees,
splintered fingers,
aching stomach, fevered head,
herbal teas;
queen of fresh-baked bread
whose wheaty power
put flesh on growing boy
and joy at evening meal
Mary, queen of ordinary time and space,
thank you for your ordinary grace.
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Woman Un-Bent
Irene Zimmerman
(Luke 13:10-17)
That Sabbath day as always
she went to the synagogue
and took the place assigned her
right behind the grill where,
the elders had concurred,
she would block no ones view,
she could lean her heavy head,
and (though this was not said)
shed give a good example to
the ones who stood behind her.
That day, intent as always
on the Word (for eighteen years
shed listened thus), she heard
Authority when Jesus spoke.
Though long stripped
of forwardness,
she came forward, nonetheless,
when Jesus summoned her.
Woman, you are free
of your infirmity, he said.
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The leader of the synagogue

worked himself into a sweat
as he tried to bend the Sabbath
and the woman back in place.
But she stood up straight and let
Gods glory touch her face.
A Womans Journey in Discipleship

Irene Zimmerman
Jesus stood waiting for the womans answer
not looking past her, not laughing at her.
Tell me what you need, he repeated, kindly,
Come, what is it?
I dont need anything, she finally answered.
Im nothing but a
She didnt know how to finish the sentence.
She hung her head. Im nothing.
Ah, you need a name, he said.
Ill give you one: You-Are-Mine.
She thought he meant she was his slave,
so she followed the crowd that was following him.
After three days the people were hungry.
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Jesus sat them down in small garden plots

and served fish and bread.
The woman ate with the rest.
When Jesus found her, he asked again,
Do you know now what you need?
Please, Sir, Im still hungry,
she answered shyly.
He held out more bread.
Take! Eat! he told her.
Let him put it down, she thought.
Im unclean.
It lay in his hands.
Take it, Jesus urged.
She broke off a piece
careful not to touch him
and chewed it slowly, letting the mash
fill her mouth with its goodness.
He watched her swallow it
and asked, Still hungry?
She nodded.
Take more.
When she reached for the bread,
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her fingers touched his!

She backed away, frightened,
and awkwardly stumbled.
His right arm encircled her,
hemming her in.
You-Are-Mine, he said,
tell me what you need.
If you please, Sir, she said,
give me bread like this always.
Those who follow me
never go hungry,
he answered her, smiling.
I am Living Bread.
Bakerwoman God
Alla Bozarth-Campbell b. 1947
Episcopal priest
Bakerwoman God,
I am your living bread.
Strong, brown, Bakerwoman God,
I am your low, soft and beingshaped loaf.
I am your rising bread, well-kneaded
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XIII Prayers from Many Faith Traditions
by some divine and knotty pair of

knuckles, by your warm earth-hands.
I am bread well-kneaded.
Put me in your fire, Bakerwoman God,
put me in your own bright fire.
I am warm, warm as you from fire.
I am white and gold, soft and hard,
brown and round.
I am so warm from fire.
Break me, Bakerwoman God.
I am broken under your caring Word.
Drop me in your special juice in pieces.
Drop me in your blood.
Drunken me in the great red flood.
Self-giving chalice, swallow me.
My skin shines in the divine wine.
My face is cup-covered and I drown.
I fall up in a red pool
in a gold world
where your warm sunskin hand is there
to catch and hold me.
Bakerwoman God, remake me.
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The New Ezekiel

Emma Lazarus (18491887)
Jewish American Author
What, can these dead bones live, whose sap is dried
By twenty scorching centuries of wrong?
Is this the House of Israel, whose pride
Is as a tale thats told, an ancient song?
Are these ignoble relics all that live
Of psalmist, priest, and prophet? Can the breath
Of very heaven bid these bones revive,
Open the graves and clothe the ribs of death?
Yea, Prophesy, the Lord hath said. Again
Say to the wind, come forth and breathe afresh,
Even that they may live upon these slain,
And bone to bone shall leap, and flesh to flesh.
The Spirit is not dead, proclaim the word,
Where lay dead bones, a host of armed men stand!
I open your graves, my people, saith the Lord,
And I shall place you living in your land.
In all your prayers ask God for what you need, asking God with a thankful heart.
Philippians 4:5-7
XIII
Prayers and Poems from
Many Faith Traditions
Jewish Prayers
Creation is the language of God
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (19071972)
Jewish theologian and philosopher
Creation is the language of God. Time is His song, and
the things of space the consonants in the song.To sanctify
time is to sing the vowels in unison with Him.
This is the task of human beings: to conquer space and
sanctify time.
All week long we are called upon to sanctify life through
employing things of space.
On the Sabbath it is given to us to share in the holiness
that is in the heart of time. Even when the soul is seared,
even when no prayer can come out of our tightened
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throats, the clean, silent rest of the Sabbath leads us

to a realm of endless peace, or to the beginning of an
awareness of what eternity means. There are few ideas
in the world of thought which contain so much spiritual
power as the idea of the Sabbath. Aeons hence, when of
many of our cherished theories only shreds will remain,
the cosmic tapestry will continue to shine.
Eternity utters a day.
Shema
Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
Blessed be the name of his glorious majesty forever
and ever.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your might. And these
words which I command you today shall be in your
heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you
shall speak them when you are sitting at home and when
you go on a journey, when you lie down and when you
rise up. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand,
and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. You
shall inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and
on your gates.
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Glory and Praise

Glorified and sanctified be Gods great name throughout
the world which He has created according to His will.
May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and
during your days, and within the life of the entire house
of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.
May His great name be blessed forever and to all
eternity.
Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and
honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy
One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns,
praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the
world; and say, Amen.
Selections from the Quran

translated by David Pinault
Chapter One
In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful,
praise God, Lord of the worlds,
the compassionate, the merciful,
master of the day of judgment.
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You it is we worship;
you it is to whom we turn for aid.
Guide us along the right path,
the path of those whom you have blessed,
not those who have drawn your anger,
nor those who have lost their way.
Chapter Two, verse 255

God: no God is thee save Him,
the living, the eternally everlasting.
Never is He overtaken by drowsiness or sleep.
To Him belongs everything in the
heavens and on the earth.
Who has power to intercede with Him
unless He grants permission?
He knows that which is apparent to humankind
and that which is obscured from them.
They cannot attain even a portion of
His knowledge except insofar as He wishes them to.
His throne extends over the heavens and the earth;
the sustaining of them does not weary Him.
He is the exalted, the mighty.
Chapter twenty-four, verses 3536

God is the light of the heavens and of the earth.
His light may be likened to a lamp-niche;
within it is a lamp.
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The lamp is within a glass.

The glass is like a glittering star,
which is enkindled from a blessed tree,
neither of the east nor of the west.
Its oil gives light almost of itself, even if untouched
by fire.
Light upon light,
God guides to His light whomever He wills.
He fashions for humankind lessons and words of guidance;
and concerning each and every thing
God is most knowing.
Divine light is enkindled in dwellings that God has
permitted to be raised.
Therein is His name recited;
therein is He praised, by day and by night.
Prayer for Self Knowledge

Abu-Bekr, Father-in-law of Muhammad
(d. 634)
I thank thee, Lord, for knowing me better than I
know myself, and for letting me know myself better
than others know me. Make me, I pray, better than
they suppose, and forgive me what they do not know.
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Shanti
Traditional Hindu prayer
Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
O God, lead us from death to immortality,
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
(shanti: peace beyond understanding)
Loosen the Bonds of Suffering

Traditional Buddhist prayer
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of
body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those
bound be free. May the powerless find power, and may
people think of befriending one another.
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Prayer for Vitality

Rabindranath Tagore,
Indian Poet (18611941)
Nobel Laureate in Literature 1913
When the heart is hard and dry,
come upon me with a shower of mercy.
When grace is lost from life,
come with a burst of song.
When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides
shutting me out from beyond,
come to me, my lord of silence,
with thy peace and rest.
When my beggarly heart sits crouched,
shut up in a corner,
break open the door, my king, and
come with the ceremony of a king.
When desire blinds the mind
with delusion and dust,
O thou holy one, thou wakeful one,
come with thy light and thy thunder.
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To the Great Spirit

Sioux Prayer
Grandfather Great Spirit,
all over the world the faces of living ones are alike.
With tenderness they have come up out of the
ground.
Look upon your children that they may
face the winds and walk the good road to the
Day of Quiet.
Grandfather Great Spirit,
fill us with the Light.
Give us the strength to understand,
and the eyes to see.
Teach us to walk the soft earth as relatives to all that
live.
When You Arise

Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee Nation
(17681813)
When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the
morning light.
Gives thanks for your life and your strength.
Give thanks for your food and give thanks for the joy
of living.
And if you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured
that the fault is in yourself.
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In my Soul
Rabia of Basra Sufi (c. 717801)
In
my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church
where I kneel.
Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or
names exist.
Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is
illuminated nothing,
where ecstasy gets poured in itself
and becomes lost,
where the wing is fully alive
but has no mind or body?
In my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque
a church
that dissolve, that dissolve
in God.
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You Have Our Faith with Our Bodies

Masai, Tanzania
Father, thank you for your revelation
about death
and illness
and sorrow.
Thank you for speaking so plainly to us,
for calling us all friends
and hovering over us;
for extending your arms out to us.
We cannot stand on our own;
we fall into death without you.
We fall from faith, left to our own.
We are really friendless without you.
Your extended arms fill us with joy,
expressing love,
love caring and carrying
asking and receiving our trust.
You have our trust, Father,
and our faith
with our bodies
and all that we are and possess.
We fear nothing when with you
safe to stretch out and help others,
those troubled in faith,
those troubled in body.
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Father, help us to do with our bodies what we proclaim,

that our faith be known to you
and to others,
and be effective in all the world.
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Our Churches Are Like Big Families

West Africa
Lord, we thank you that our Churches are like big
families.
Lord let your spirit of reconciliation blow over the
earth.
Let Christians live your love.
Lord we praise you in Europes cathedrals, in
Americas offerings,
And in our African songs of praise.
Lord, we thank you that we have brothers and sisters
in all the world.
Be with them that make peace. Amen
Never Give Up
His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama
No matter what is going on, never give up.
Develop the heart.
Too much energy in your country is spent developing
the mind instead of the heart.
Be compassionate, not just to your friends, but to
everyone.
Work for peace in your heart and in the world.
Work for peace and I say again, never give up.
No matter what is happening, no matter what is going
on around you, never give up.
God is faithful and he will give you strength.

2 Thessalonians 3:3
XIV
Psalms
Psalm 8
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth.
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established,
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the work of your
hands;
you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and
oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
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the birds of the air and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth.
(The New Oxford Annotated Bible)
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his names sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me; your rod and your staff
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
(The New Oxford Annotated Bible)
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XIV Psalms
Psalm 34
I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.

I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called; the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
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The angel of the Lord is encamped

around those who revere him, to rescue them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him.
Revere the Lord, you his saints.
They lack nothing, those who revere him.
Strong lions suffer want and go hungry
but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.
(Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 42: Longing for the Lord

Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God.
My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?
My tears have become my bread,
by night, by day,
as I hear it said all the day long:
Where is your God?
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XIV Psalms
These things will I remember

as I pour out my soul;
how I would lead the rejoicing crowd
into the house of God,
amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving,
the throng wild with joy.
Why are you cast down, my soul,
why groan within me?
Hope in God; I will praise him still,
my savior and my God.
My soul is cast down within me
as I think of you,
from the country Jordan and Mount Hermon,
from the Hill of Mizar.
Deep is calling on deep,
in the roar of waters;
your torrents and all your waves
swept over me.
By day the Lord will send
his loving kindness;
by night I will sing to him,
praise the God of my life.
I will say to God, my rock:
Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning,
oppressed by the foe?
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With cries that pierce me to the heart,

my enemies revile me,
saying to me all the day long:
Where is your God?
Why are you cast down, my soul,
why groan within me?
Hope in God; I will praise him still,
my savior and my God.
Psalm 104
Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory,
wrapped in light as in a robe!
You stretch out the heavens like a tent.
Above the rains you build your dwelling.
You make the clouds your chariot,
and walk on the wings of the wind;
you make the winds your messengers
and flashing fire your servants.
You founded the earth on its base,
to stand firm from age to age.
You wrapped it with the ocean like a cloak:
the waters stood higher than the mountains.
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XIV Psalms
At your threat they took to flight;

at the voice of your thunder they fled.
They rose over the mountains and flowed down
to the place which you had appointed.
You set limits they might not pass
lest they return to cover the earth.
You make springs gush forth in the valleys:
they flow in between the hills.
They give drink to all the beasts of the field;
the wild-asses quench their thirst.
On their banks dwell the birds of heaven;
from the branches they sing their song.
From your dwelling you water the hills;
earth drinks its fill of your gift.
You make the grass grow for the cattle
and the plants to serve mans needs,
that he may bring forth bread from the earth
and wine to cheer mans heart;
oil, to make him glad
and bread to strengthen mans heart.
The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
the cedars he planted on Lebanon;
there the birds build their nests:
on the tree-top the stork has her home.
The goats find a home on the mountains
and rabbits hide in the rocks.
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You made the moon to mark the months;

the sun knows the time for its setting.
When you spread the darkness it is night
and all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
The young lions roar for their prey
and ask their food from God.
At the rising of the sun they steal away
and go to rest in their dens.
Man goes forth to his work,
to labor till evening falls.
(Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 138
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name,
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O
Lord,
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XIV Psalms
when they hear the words of your mouth;

And they shall sing of the ways of the Lord:
Great is the glory of the Lord.
The Lord is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Though I walk amid distress, you preserve me;
against the anger of my enemies you raise your hand;
your right hand saves me.
The Lord will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O Lord, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
(Jerusalem Bible)
With gratitude in your hearts, sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God.
Colossiaans 4:16
XV
Hymns, Poems and
Various Prayers
Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see!
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come.
His grace has brought me safe thus far,
His grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
206
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail

And mortal life shall cease,
Amazing grace shall then prevail
In heavens joy and peace.
How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy powr throughout the universe displayed;
Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee;
How great thou art, how great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee;
How great thou art, how great thou art!
When through the woods and forest glades
I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze;
And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing,
207
XV Hymns, Poems, & Various Prayers
He bled and died to take away my sin;

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art!
The Holy Well

Anonymous (16th century)
As it fell out one May morning,
And upon a bright holiday,
Sweet Jesus asked of his dear mother
If he might go to play.
To play, to play, sweet Jesus shall go,
And to play now get you gone;
And let me hear of no complaint
At night when you come home.
Sweet Jesus went down to yonder town,
As far as the Holy Well,
And there did see as fine children
As any tongue can tell.
He said, God bless you every one,
And your bodies Christ save and see!
And now, little children, Ill play with you,
And you shall play with me.
208
But they made answer to him, No!

Thou art meaner than all of us;
Thou art but a simple fair maids child,
Born in an oxs stall.
Sweet Jesus turned him round about,
Neither laughed, nor smiled, nor spoke;
But the tears came trickling from his eyes
Like waters from the rock.
Sweet Jesus turned him round about,
To his mothers dear home went he,
And said, I have been in yonder town,
As after you may see:
I have been down in yonder town,
As far as the Holy Well;
There did I meet with as fine children
As any tongue can tell.
I said, God Bless you every one,
And your bodies Christ save and see!
And now, little children, Ill play with you,
And you shall play with me.
But they made answer to me No;
They were lords and ladies sons,
And I the meanest of them all,
Born in an oxs stall.
Though you are but a maidens child,
209
Born in an oxs stall,

Thou art the Christ, the King of Heaven,
And Savior of them all!
Sweet Jesus, go down to yonder town,
As far as the Holy Well,
And take away those sinful souls,
And dip them deep in hell.
Nay, nay, sweet Jesus smiled and said,
Nay, nay, that may not be,
For there are too many sinful souls
Crying out for the help of me.
Then up spoke the angel Gabriel,
Upon a good set steven,
Although you are but a maidens child,
You are the King of Heaven!
210
Holy Sonnets V (Batter my heart)

John Donne, English cleric and poet
(15721631)
Batter my heart, three-persond God; for You
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, oerthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurpd town, to another due
Labour to admit You, but O, to no end;
Reason, Your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto Your enemy;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to You, imprison me, for I
Except You enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except You ravish me.
211
Love
George Herbert, English cleric and poet
(15931633)
Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lackd any thing.
A guest, I answerd, worthy to be here.
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, But I have marrd them;
let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love,
who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love,
and taste my meat.
So I did sit and eat.
212
Walking with God

William Cowper, English poet
(17311800)
Oh! for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus and his word?
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
Return, O holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made thee mourn,
And drove thee from my breast.
The dearest idol I have known,
Whateer that idol be,
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only Thee.
So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.
213
Lead, Kindly Light

Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman
English scholar, cleric, and poet
(18011890)
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will; remember not past years.
So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
Oer moor and fen, oer crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angels faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.
214
from The Dream of Gerontius

(18011890)
Praise to the holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise,
In all his words most wonderful,
Most sure in all his ways.
Oh loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.
Oh wisest love! that flesh and blood,
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail;
And that a higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
Gods presence and his very self,
And essence all-divine.
Oh generous love! that he who smote
In man for man the foe,
The double agony in man
For man should undergo.
215
And in the garden secretly,

And on the cross on high,
Should teach his brethren, and inspire
To suffer and to die.
Praise to the holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise,
In all his words most wonderful,
Most sure in all his ways.
You, Neighbor God

Rainer Maria Rilke,
German Symbolist poet (18751926)
You, neighbor God, if sometimes in the night
I rouse you with loud knocking, I do so
only because I seldom hear you breathe;
And I know: you are alone.
And should you need a drink, no one is there
to reach it to you, groping in the dark.
Always I harken. Give but a small sign.
I am quite near.
Between us there is but a narrow wall,
and by sheer chance; for it would take
merely a call from your lips or from mine
to break it down
and that without a sound.
216
The wall is builded of your images.

They stand before you hiding you like names.
And when the light with me blazes high
that in my inmost soul I know you by,
the radiance is squandered on their frames.
And then my senses, which too soon grow lame,
exiled from you, must go their homeless ways.
Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament

Pope John XXIII (18811963;
pontificate 19581963)
O Jesus,
present in the sacrament of the altar,
teach all nations
to serve You with willing heart,
knowing that to serve God is to reign.
May Your sacrament, O Jesu,
be light to the mind,
strength to the will,
joy to the heart.
May it be the support of the weak,
the comfort of the suffering,
the wayfaring bread of salvation for the dying
and, for all, the pledge of future glory. Amen.
217
Prayer for Racial Harmony

Book of Common Order of the
Church of Scotland
O Lord Jesus Christ who were sent of our Father
To set all captives free,
Send down upon us, your frail servants and brothers,
Your promised Holy Spirit,
That this land beloved of us and of you,
May be reduced from the sin of shameful division and
discord.
Come deliver us
From the captivity of fear and greed that keep us apart.
You, who died for us while we were yet sinners,
Lead us to die to our pride and selfish ambitions
And the easy complacency with injustice in our land,
To the lust for power and mastery over others.
Teach us Lord to acknowledge none but you as Master
and Baas.
Lord save us from servility and the agony of despair,
At the relentless cruelty of our circumstance,
And the anguish of bitterness, resentment, and hatred.
Lord your prophet of long ago foresaw the day when the
lion and the wolf shall lie down with the lamb;
Give now to us the day when men black and white
shall stand side by side and together fall down at your feet.
In you only Christ Jesus, by the power of your Spirit,
can we love our God and one another as you have loved us
That joy, peace, and harmony may rule our land.
218
Prayer for the

Diversity of Races and Cultures
Lutheran Book of Worship:
Ministers Desk Edition
O God,
You created all people in your image.
We thank you for the astonishing variety of races and
cultures in this world.
Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of friendship,
and show us your presence in those who differ most from
us, until our knowledge of your love is made perfect in
our love for all your children;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
219
A Prayer by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yes, Jesus,
I want to be on your right side
or your left side,
not for any selfish reason.
I want to be on your right or your best side,
not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition,
but I just want to be there
in love and in justice and in truth
and in commitment to others,
so we can make of this old world a new world. Amen.
The Beatitudes
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall possess the earth.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they shall be satisfied.
220
Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justices
sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men reproach you, and persecute
you, and speak falsely,
and say all manner of evil against you, for My sake.
(New Oxford Annotated Bible)
221
For Greatness of Heart

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland
(15421587)
Keep us, O God, from all pettiness;
let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with fault finding and
leave off all self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and meet each other
face to face, without self-piety and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment and always be
generous.
Let us take time for all things, and make us to grow
calm, serene, and gentle.
Teach us to put into action our better impulses,
straight-forward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize that it is the little things of life
that create differences,
that in the big things of life, we are as one.
And, O Lord God, let us not forget to be kind!
222
Prayer for Protection

Saint Edmund of Abingdon,
Oxford theologian
and Primate Archbishop of Canterbury
(c. 11751240)
Into thy hands, O Lord and Father, we commend our
souls and our bodies, our parents and our homes,
friends and servants, neighbors and kindred, our
benefactors and brethren departed, all thy people
faithfully believing, and all who need thy pity and
protection. Enlighten us with thy holy grace, and
suffer us never more to be separated from thee, who
art one God in Trinity, God everlasting. Amen.
Prayer for Enthusiasm

(18011891)
Give me grace, O my Father, to be utterly ashamed
of my own reluctance. Rouse me from sloth and
coldness, and make me desire thee with my whole
heart. Teach me to love meditation, sacred reading,
and prayer. Teach me to love that which must
engage my mind for all eternity. Amen
223
Prayer for Serenity

Reinhold Niebuhr,
Lutheran theologian (18921971)
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change, the courage to change the things I
can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Evening Prayer
(18011891)
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the
shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the
busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over,
and our work is done. Then, Lord, in thy mercy
grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at
last, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
224
For a Sense of Humor

Florence A. G. Bullivant,
Australian author
Give us a sense of humor, Lord, and also things
to laugh about. Give us the grace to take a joke
against ourselves, and to see the funny side of the
things we do. Save us from annoyance, bad temper,
resentfulness against our friends. Help us to laugh
even in the face of trouble. Fill our minds with the
love of Jesus, for his names sake.
Sacred Flame
Divine creator of the world,
we, the young, the old,
give thanks for health;
the life that you
sustain in us.
Help us this day
to care for
that sacred flame
that burns within us,
the fire of your love. Amen.
225
Prayer of Saint Joan of Arc

French martyr (c. 14121431)
I place my trust in God,
my Creator, in all things.
I love Him with all my heart.
My Joy!
St. Therese of Lisieux,
French Carmelite (18731897)
There are some souls on earth
Which seek in vain for happiness,
But for me, its just the opposite.
Joy is in my heart.
This joy is not ephemeral.
I possess it forever.
Like the springtime rose,
It smiles at me every day.
226
Asking Prayer
I asked God for strength that I might achieve,
I was made weak
that I might learn humbly to obey . . .
I asked for health that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity
that I might do better things . . .
I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise . . .
I asked for power
that I might have the praise of persons,
I was given weakness
that I might feel the need of God . . .
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life,
I was given life that I might enjoy all things . . .
I got nothing that I asked for
but everything I had hoped for . . .
Almost despite myself,
my unspoken prayers were answered,
I am among all people most richly blessed.
227
Prayer for Fellow-workers

Reinhold Neibuhr,
Lutheran theologian (18921971)
O God, who hast bound us together in this bundle of
life, give us grace to understand how our lives
depend on the courage, the industry, the honesty, and
integrity of our fellow workers; that we may be
mindful of their needs, grateful for their faithfulness,
and faithful in our responsibilities to them, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Receptivity
Huub Oosterhuis, S.J., composer of
liturgical music (b. 1933)
Make us receptive and open and may we accept your
kingdom like children taking bread from the hands of
their father. Let us live in your peace,
at home with you all the days of our lives.
228
The Difference
I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I didnt have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me,
and heavier came each task.
Why didnt God help me? I wondered.
He answered, You didnt ask.
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
but the day toiled on, grey and bleak;
I wondered why God didnt show me.
He said, But you didnt seek.
I tried to come into Gods presence;
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
My child, you didnt knock.
I woke up early this morning
and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish,
that I had to take time to pray.
229
The Clowns Prayer

As I tumble through this life help me to create
more laughter than tears,
dispense more happiness than gloom,
spread more cheer than despair.
Never let me become so indifferent
that I will fail to see
the wonder in the eyes of a child
or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.
Never let me forget that my total effort
is to cheer people, make them happy and forget,
at least momentarily,
all the unpleasantness in their lives.
And in my final moment,
may I hear you whisper,
when you made my people smile,
you made me smile.
Divine Presence During the Day

Gelasian Sacramentary (oldest Mass
Book in use) 7th century C.E.
Into Thy hands, O God, we commend ourselves, and
all who are dear to us, this day. Let the gift of Thy
special presence be with us even to its close. Grant
us never to lose sight of Thee all the day long, but to
worship, and pray to Thee, that at eventide we may
again give thanks unto Thee.
230
Compline
(Night Prayer from the Divine Office)
I will lay me down in peace and take my rest:
for it is thou Lord, only,
that makest me to dwell in safety.
Into thy hands, O Lord,
I commend my spirit,
for thou hast redeemed me,
O Lord, though God of truth.
Prayer for the Homeless

Have mercy, O Lord our God, on those whom war or
oppression or famine or a weak economy have robbed
of homes and friends, and aid all those who try to help
them. We commend also into your care those whose
homes are broken by conflict and lack of love. Grant
that where the love of women and men has failed, the
divine compassion may heal.
Grant my request through Jesus Christ our Lord.
231
Letter to a young Activist

Thomas Merton,
Cistercian monk and writer (19151968)
Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are
doing the sort of work you have taken on, you may have
to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless
and even achieve no worth at all, if not perhaps, results
opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this
idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the
results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the
work itself. And there, too, a great deal has to be gone
through, as gradually you struggle less and less for an
ideal, and more and more for specific people. The range
tends to narrow down, and it gets more real. In the end,
it is the reality of personal relationships that saves
everything.
How Can I Keep from Singing?

Robert Lowery, 1860
My life flows on in endless song;
Above earths lamentation
I hear the real though far off hymn
That hails a new creation:
Above the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing;
232
It sounds an echo in my soul

How can I keep from singing?
What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth;
What though the darkness gather round!
Songs in the night He giveth:
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of Heaven and earth,
I lift mine eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smoothes
Since first I learned to love it:
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing:
All things are mine since I am His
233
Emily Dickinson
While it is alive
Until Death touches it
While it and I lap one Air
Dwell in one Blood
Under one Sacrament
Show me Division can split or pare

Love is like Life merely longer

Love is like Death, during the Grave
Love is the Fellow of the Resurrection
Scooping up the Dust and chanting Live!
234
Simple Riches
O God, who hast made the heaven and the earth and
all that is good and lovely therein, and hast shown us
through Jesus Christ our Lord that the secret of joy
is a heart free from selfish desires, help us to find
delight in simple things, and ever to rejoice in the
riches of thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.
The God Who Waits on Us

Leonine Sacramentary 7th century C.E.
(earliest surviving collection of
Roman Mass prayers)
Almighty and everlasting God, Who art
always more ready to hear than we to pray,
and art wont to give more than either
we desire or deserve, pour down upon
us the abundance of Thy mercy, forgiving
us those things whereof our conscience is
afraid, and giving us those things
which we are not worthy to ask.
235
Refuge in God
St. Augustine of Hippo,
bishop and theologian (354430)
O Thou God, full of compassion, I commit and
commend myself unto Thee, in whom I am, and live,
and know. Be Thou the Goal of my pilgrimage, and
my Rest by the way. Let my soul take refuge from
the crowding turmoil of worldly thought beneath the
shadow of Thy wings; let my heart, this sea of
restless waves, find peace in Thee, O God.
Prayer on the Door of

Saint Stephens Church, London
O God, make the door of this house
wide enough to receive all who need
human love and fellowship,
narrow enough to shut out
all envy, pride and strife.
Make its threshold smooth enough to be
no stumbling-block to children, nor to
straying feet, but rugged and strong
enough to turn back the tempters power.
God make the door of this house
the gateway to Thine eternal kingdom.
236
Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dominican
cleric and theologian (12251274)
Grant, O merciful God,
that I may ardently desire,
prudently examine,
truthfully acknowledge, and
perfectly accomplish
what is pleasing to Thee,
for the praise and glory of Thy name. Amen.
Prayer of Penitence
Christina Rossetti, English poet
(18301894)
O God, though our sins be seven,
though our sins be seventy times seven,
though our sins be more in number
than the hairs of our head,
yet give us graces in loving penitence
to cast ourselves down into the
depths of thy compassion.
237
Prayer for the Gifts to

Seek God and Live in Him
Saint Benedict of Nursia,
Monk and Founder of the Benedictines
(480547 C.E.)
Father, in your goodness grant me the intellect
to comprehend you, the perception to discern you,
and the reason to appreciate you. In your kindness
endow me with the diligence to look for you, the wisdom
to discover you, and the spirit to apprehend you.
In your graciousness bestow on me a heart to contemplate
you, ears to hear you, eyes to see you,
and a tongue to speak of you.
In your mercy confer on me
a conversation pleasing to you,
the patience to wait for you,
and the perseverance to long for you.
Grant me a perfect endyour holy presence. Amen.
238
Peace Prayer
Saint Francis of Assisi, founder
of the Franciscans (11811226)
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born
to eternal life.
239
Pygmy Prayer
In the beginning was God.
Today is God.
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is the word which comes out of your mouth.
That word! It is no more,
It is past, and still it lives!
So is God.
Glory be to Him, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we

can ask or imagine Ephesians 3.20
Preface to the First Edition

This collection has a threefold purpose. First, it presents
prayers, poems, and hymns that express deep human
sentiments to our Lord and God. Many of these have
been used by generations of Catholics to praise and thank
God. Second, the book offers a brief introduction to the
Jesuit heritage. Although Marquette could not function
without the dedication of hundreds of faculty, staff, and
administrators who are committed to the Jesuit tradition, the tradition itself cannot thrive unless students
are aware of at least some important Jesuits and their
achievements, as well as the names of Jesuit colleges and
universities in the United States. Third, the illustrations
are intended to assist a persons imagination. God invites
us to pray in words that we choose. Because we do not
often hear other people praying intimately, most of us
find it easier at first to rely on the written prayers of
others. These written prayers can be the starting point
for our own conversation with God.
A complete list of acknowledgments is given at the end
of the book. However, I wish to thank certain people
in a special way. Father John Patrick Donnelly wrote all
of the historical material on Saint Ignatius, the Jesuits,
and individual saints and holy people. Katie Oberhauser
created the attractive drawings, and Casey Beaumier, in
addition to writing some of the prayers, carefully reviewed
the text and prepared it for printing.
John J. Piderit, S.J.
1994
Acknowledgments
Marquette University gratefully acknowledges the following publishers for permission to include the indicated
materials in this book. For purposes of identification,
titles have been created in this book for some of the
prayers. They are used as references in the acknowledgments below. Every effort has been made to contact all
copyright holders of the materials herein. The gratitude
of the University is extended to:
Victory Is Ours, from An African Prayerbook selected
by Desmond Tutu, copyright 1995 by Desmond
Tutu. Used by permission of Doubleday, a division of
Random House, Inc.
Holy Sonnets V (Batter My Heart) by John Donne,
Love by George Herbert from Liturgy of the Hours, by
International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc.
(ICEL) Washington, DC. Reprinted with Permission.
Colloquy with Jesus, Prayer for the Grace to Name
My Sins, You Have Called Me by Name from Choosing Christ in the World by Joseph Tetlow, S.J. Used with
permission: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, St. Louis,
MO. All rights reserved.
246
Prayer of a College Woman from the William Lloyd

Imes Papers, Special Collections, Bird Library, Syracuse
University.
Irish Blessing I, Irish Blessing II, An Old Irish Greeting from Irish Blessings: An Illustrated Edition. Foreword by
Kitty Nash. Copyright 1990 by Gramercy, a division
of Random House, Inc.
Psalms 34, 42, 104, and 138, Matthew 5: 3-11. Excerpts
from The Jerusalem Bible, 1966 by Darton, Longman
& Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random
House, Inc. Reprinted with Permission.
Prayer on the Door of St. Stephens Church, London,
Prayer of Penitence by Christina Rossetti, Prayer for
the Gifts to Seek God and Live in Him by St. Benedict
of Nursia, Peace Prayer by St. Francis Assisi, Pygmy
Prayer from Little Book of Prayers, edited by David Schiller.
1996 by Workman Publishing. All rights reserved.
The Holy Well, Walking with God by William
Cowper, Lead Kindly Light by John Henry Cardinal Newman, Dream of Gerontius by John Henry
Cardinal Newman, Prayer for Enthusiasm by John
Henry Cardinal Newman, For Greatness of Heart
by Mary Stuart, Prayer for Protection by St. Edmund
of Abingdon from the New Oxford Book of Christian Verse
247
Acknowledgements
by Donald Davie. 1981 by Oxford University Press,

Inc. All rights reserved.
Luke 1: 68-79 (Canticle of Simon), Luke 1: 46-55
(Magnificent,) Psalm 8 and 23 from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division
of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
Gods Grandeur, TheWindhover:To Christ our Lord,
Pied Beauty, Spring and Fall: To a Young Child from
Selected Poems and Prose by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Edited
by W. H. Gardner. 1963 by Oxford University Press,
Ltd. All rights reserved.
Praying with Ignatius reprinted from Ignatian Spirituality
by Jacqueline Syrup Bergan and Marie Schwan. Copyright
1991 by Saint Marys Press . Used by permission
of the publisher. All rights reserved.
Grace before Meals: Traditional, Grace before Meals:
The Whole Day, Fellowship Grace, A World Hunger
Grace from The Treasury of the Holy Spirit by Monsignor
Michael Buckley, Tony Castle. 1984 by Hodder &
Stoughton Religious Division. Hodder & Stoughton
Publishers, member of the Hodder Headline Group.
248
Show Me Your Face, O God and The Question by

Daniel Berrigan, S.J., from Uncommon Prayer: A Book of
Psalms. Orbis Books Maryknoll, NY. 1998. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
Prayer for Purity from The Book of Common Prayer,
Prayer for Serenity by Reinhold Niebuhr, Evening
Prayer by John Henry Cardinal Newman, For a Sense
of Humor by Florence A.G. Bullivant, Prayer for Fellow
Workers by Reinhold Niebuhr, For Receptivity by
Herb Oosterhuis, Prayer for the Homeless, Simple
Riches from The One Who Listens: A Book of Prayer by
Michael Hollings. 1971. Mayhew-McCrimmon LTD,
United Kingdom.
Lyrics How Great Thou Art 1953 by S. K. Hine.
Assigned to Manna Music, Inc., 35255 Brooten Road,
Pacific City, OR 97135. Renewed 1981 by Manna
Music, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
(ASCAP)
How Can I Keep From Singing? 1975 by Ed
Gutfreund and OCP Publications, 5536 NE Hassalo,
Portland, OR , 97213. All rights reserved. Used with
permission.
I Am Not Worthy to Have You Come under My Roof
from A Voice over the Water: An Invitation to Pray By William
249
Acknowledgements
Breault. 1985 by William Breault. Used with permission of the author.

An open invitation (Womens World Day of Prayer),
Carrying out Gods work (Teresa of Avila), Show
us, Lord (Women of Jamaica) from Women of Prayer, An
Anthology of Everyday Prayers from Women around the World by
Dorothy Stewart. 1999. All rights reserved. Published
by Loyola Press.
Litany for Ordinary Time, A Womans Journey in
Discipleship, and Woman Un-Bent from Incarnation:
New and Selected Poems for Spiritual Reflection by Irene Zimmerman. 2004 by Irene Zimmerman. All rights reserved.
Published by Cowley Publications (www.cowley.org
<file://www.cowley.org>), Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Used by permission.
Michael J. Burns, Marquette University Arts & Sciences
1965 for the life of St. Francis Borgia, and the life of
Jacques Marquette.
The Sinsinawa Dominicans for The Clowns Prayer
and Asking Prayer.
The Jesuits of Loyola University, Chicago, for Prayer
for Jesuit Vocations.
250
We thank these Jesuits for permission to include their

contributions: John Patrick Donnelly, Dennis Hamm,
(Examen of Consciousness, America Magazine, May
14, 1994), Raymond Baumhart, Casey Beuamier, John
Piderit.
Finally, we thank Jon Bakkelund (Marquette University
Arts & Sciences 2005), for A Prayer for Students, Ed
Block (Marquette University Professor of English),
for Sacred Flame and Prayer for Those Involved
in Sports, and Susan Mountin (Marquette University
Director, Manresa Project) for Prayer for Choosing a
State of Life.
Author Index
Abu-Bekr, Prayer for SelfKnowledge, 183
Angelou, Maya,Touched by an
Angel, 146
Aquinas, SaintThomas, Prayer
of St. Thomas Aquinas,
236
Arrupe, S.J., Pedro, Teach Me
Your Ways, 94
. In the Hands of
God, 98
. Fall In Love, 100
Augustine of Hippo, Saint,
Refuge of God, 235
Bozarth-Campbell, Alla, Bakerwoman God, 174

Breault, S.J., William, I Am
Not Worthy to Have You
Come Under My Roof,
93
Buckley, S.J., Michael, Fellowship Grace, 131
Bullivant, Florence, A.G., For a
Sense of Humor, 224
Cardinal Newman, John Henry, Evening Prayer, 223
. From the Dream of
Gerontius, 214
. Lead, Kindly Light,
213
. Prayer for Enthusiasm, 222
Cowper, William, Walking
with God, 212
Bakkelund, John, A Students

Prayer, 141
Baumhart, S.J., Raymond,
For Administrators and
Managers, 159
. Prayer for New
Lawyers, 164
Benedict of Nursia, Saint, De Chardin, S.J., Pierre TeillPrayer for the Gifts to hard, A Prayer for CompasSeek God and Live in sion, 99
Dickinson, Emily, 233
Him, 237
Berrigan, S.J., Daniel, Show Me Donne, John, Holy Sonnets V
(Batter My Heart), 210
Your Face, O God, 98
. The Question, 107
252
Edmund of Abington, Saint, King, Jr., Martin Luther, A

Prayer for Protection, 222 Prayer by Martin Luther
King, Jr., 219
Feder, Fran, Reflection for
Health Care Workers, 161 LaColombiere, S.J., Saint
Foster, O.F.M., Jonathan, Con- Claude, Center of Our
tinue My Work, 158
Hearts, 97
Francis of Assisi, Saint, Peace Lama, Dalai, Never Give Up,
Prayer, 238
190
Lazarus, Emma, The New
Gately, Edwina, Prayer in the Ezekiel, 176
Office, 156
Leseur, Elizabeth, Prayer to
WitnessWorthily to Others
Hamm, S.J., Dennis, Examen in our Daily Lives, 167
of Consciousness, 80
Lowery, Robert, How Can I
Haught, Kaylin, God Says Yes Keep from Singing?, 231
to Me, 147
Loyola, St. Ignatius of, Prayer
Herbert, George, Love, 211
for Generosity, 89
Heschel, Abraham Joshua,
Creation Is the Language McMahon, C.S.V., Thomas,
of God, 179
Prayer for Business ExecuHopkins, S.J., Gerard Manley, tives, 157
Gods Grandeur
Mdaille, S.J., Jean-Pierre, Live
. The Windhover: To Eternally in Me, 96
Christ Our Lord, 103
Merton, Thomas, Letter to a
. Pied Beauty, 104
Young Activist, 231
. Spring and Fall: To More, Saint Thomas, Refleca Young Child, 106
tion, 160
Mother Teresa, Service of the
Imes,William Lloyd, Prayer of
Poor, 140
a College Woman, 145
253
Index
Neibuhr, Reinhold, Prayer for Sojourner Truth, Aint I a

Fellow-Workers, 227
Woman, 66
. Prayer for Serenity, Southwell, S.J., Saint Robert,
223
Who Lives in Love, 101
Stewart, Dorothy, An Open
OLeary, S.J., J.J., A Short Invitation, 168
Course on Prayer, 69
. Carrying out Gods
Oosterhuis, S.J., Huub, For Work, 169
Receptivity, 227
. Show Us, Lord,
169
Pastoral Care Department, Stuart, Mary, For Greatness of
Loyola University Medi- Heart, 221
cal Center, Nurses Prayer,
162
Tagore, Rabindranath, Prayer
Piderit, S.J., John, An Alumni for Vitality, 185
Prayer for Marquette, 153 Tecumseh, When You Arise,
. Preface to the First 186
Edition, 243
Tetlow, S.J., Joseph, You Have
Pope John XII, Prayer Before Called Me by Name, 91
the Blessed Sacrament, . Prayer for the Grace
216
to Name My Sins, 91
. A Colloquy with
Rabia of Basra Sufi, In My Jesus, 92
Soul, 187
Therese of Lisieux, Saint, My
Rilke, Rainer Maria, You, Joy!, 225
Neighbor God, 215
Tracy, S.J., Robert,Way,Truth,
Romero, Archbishop Oscar, Life, 96
Ministers to the Future, Tutu, Archbishop Desmond,
154
Victory Is Ours, 138
Rossetti, Christina, Prayer of
Penitence, 236
254
Wild, S.J., Robert, Letter from

the President, 5
Title/Subject
Index
Zimmerman, Irene, Litany for

Ordinary Time, 170
. Woman Un-Bent,
171
. A Womans Journey
in Discipleship, 172
Act of Contrition, An, 121

Act of Faith, 121
Act of Hope, 124
Act of Love, 124
Aint I a Woman, Sojourner
Truth, 66
Alumni Prayer for Marquette,
An, Piderit, S.J., John,
153
Amazing Grace, 205
Angelus, 120
Animi Christi, 90
Apostles Creed, 114
Arrupe, Pedro, 50
Asking Prayer, 226
Bakerwoman God, BozarthCampbell, 174
Baumfree, Isabella, 65
Bayley, Saint Elizabeth Ann,
57
Beatitudes, The, 219
Bellarmine, Saint Robert, 43
Borgia, Saint Francis, 41
Cabrini, Saint Francis Xavier,
64
255
Campion, Saint Edmund, 43
Canisius, Saint Peter, 42
Canticle of Simeon, 121
Carroll, John, 46
Carrying Out Gods Work,
Stewart, Dorothy, 169
Catherine of Siena, Saint, 62
Center of Our Hearts, La
Colombiere, S.J., Saint
Claude, 97
Chapel of the Holy Family, 17
Clare of Assisi, Saint, 17
Claver, Saint Peter, 45
Clowns Prayer, The, 229
Colloquy with Jesus, A,Tetlow,
S.J., Joseph, 92
Compline, 230
Continue My Work, Foster,
O.F.M., Jonathan, 158
Creation is the Language of
God, Heschel, Abraham
Joshua, 179
Index
Drexel, Katherine, 60
Ellacuria, Ignacio, 50
Evening Prayer, Cardinal Newman, John Henry, 223
Examen of Consciousness,
Hamm, S.J., Dennis, 80
Fall in Love, Arrupe, S.J.,

Pedro, 110
Fellowship Grace, Buckley, S.J.,
Michael, 131
For a Sense of Humor, Bullivant, Florence, A.G., 224
For Administrators and Managers, Baumhart, S.J., Raymond, 159
For Greatness of Heart, Stuart,
Mary, 221
For My Family, 135
For Receptivity, Oosterhuis,
S.J., Huub, 227
Fr. Jacques Marquette and
Marquette University, 35
Day, Dorothy, 58
From the Dream of Gerontius,
De Chardin, S.J., Pierre Teil- Cardinal Newman, John
hard, 48
Henry, 214
De Nobili, Robert, 45
Difference, The, 228
Gately, Edwina, 63
Divine Presence During the Gesu Church, 16
Day, 229
Gloria, 112
256
Glory and Praise, 181
God Says Yes to Me, Haught,
Kaylin, 147
God Who Waits on Us, The,
234
Gods Grandeur, Hopkins, S.J.,
Gerard Manley, 102
Gonzaga, Saint Aloysius, 46
Grace Before Meals: The
Whole Day, 130
Grace Before Meals: Traditional, 130
Great Spirit, The, 186

In the Hands of God, Arrupe,
S.J., Pedro, 98
Irish Blessing I, 131
Irish Blessing II, 132
Islamic Prayer Room, 17
Jesuits, 23
Joan of Arc Chapel, Saint,
14
Julian of Norwich, 59
Kolvenbach, Peter-Hans, 51
Lead, Kindly Light, Cardinal

Newman, John Henry,
213
Letter from the President,
Wild, S.J., Robert, 5
Letter to a Young Activist,
Merton, Thomas, 231
Litany for Ordinary Time,
Zimmerman, Irene, 170
Live Eternally in Me, Mdaille,
S.J., Jean-Pierre, 96
Looking Forward to MarI Am Not Worthy to Have riage, 148
You Come under My Roof, Loosen the Bonds of SufferBreault, S.J., William, 93
ing, 184
Ignatian Spirituality, 28
Lords Prayer, The, 111
In My Soul, Rabia of Basra Love, Herbert, George, 211
Sufi, 187
Hail Mary, 111
Have Our Faith with Our
Bodies, 188
Holy Sonnets V (Batter My
Heart), Donne, John, 210
Holy Well, The, 207
Hopkins, Gerard Manley, 47
How Can I Keep from Singing?, Lowery, Robert, 231
How Great Thou Art, 206
257
Magnificat, 125
Memorare, The, 115
Miki, Saint Paul, 44
Ministers to the Future,
Romero, Archbishop Oscar, 154
Morning Offering, 129
Murray, John Courtney, 48
My Joy!, Saint Therese of
Lisieux, 225
Never Give Up, Lama, Dalai,
190
New Ezekiel, The, Lazarus,
Emma, 176
Nicene Creed, 113
Night Prayer, 130
Nurses Prayer, Pastoral Care
Department, Loyola University Medical Center,
162
Old Irish Greeting, An, 132
Open Invitation, An, Stewart,
Dorothy, 168
Our Churches Are Like Big
Families, 190
Peace Prayer, Saint Francis of
Assisi, 238
Index
Pied Beauty, Hopkins, S.J.,
Gerard Manley, 104
Prayer before the Blessed
Sacrament, Pope John
XXII, 216
Prayer by Martin Luther King,
Jr., A, King, Jr., Martin
Luther, 219
Prayer for Business Executive,
McMahon, C.S.V.Thomas,
157
Prayer for Choosing a State of
Life, 144
Prayer for Compassion, A,
De Chardin, S.J., Pierre
Teillhard, 99
Prayer for Doctors and Nurses,
162
Prayer for Enthusiasm, Cardinal Newman, John Henry,
222
Prayer for Exams
Prayer for Fellow-Workers,
Neibuhr, Reinhold, 227
Prayer for Gratitude, 141
Prayer for Marquette, 137
Prayer for Marquette Parents,
143
Prayer for my Friends at Marquette, 140
258
Prayer for New Lawyers,
Baumhart, S.J., Raymond,
164
Prayer for Professionals, 157
Prayer for Protection, Saint
Edmund of Abington,
222
Prayer for Purity, 138
Prayer for Racial Harmony,
217
Prayer for Self-Knowledge,
Abu-Bekr, 183
Prayer for Serenity, Niebuhr,
Reinhold, 223
Prayer for Studying, 135
Prayer for the Diversity of
Races and Cultures, 218
Prayer for the Gifts to Seek
God and Live in Him, Saint
Benedict of Nursia, 237
Prayer for the Grace to Name
my Sins, Tetlow, S.J., Joseph, 91
Prayer for the Homeless,
230
Prayer for Those Considering
a Jesuit Vocation, 144
Prayer for Those in the Education Profession, 163
Prayer for Those Involved in
Sports, 142

Prayer for True Love, 148
Prayer for Vitality, Tagor,
Rabindranath, 185
Prayer in the Office, Gately,
Edwina, 156
Prayer of a College Woman,
Imes, William Lloyd, 145
Prayer for Generosity, Loyola,
St. Ignatius of, 89
Prayer of Penitence, Rossetti,
Christina, 236
Prayer of Saint Joan of Arc,
225
Prayer of St.Thomas Aquinas,
236
Prayer on the Door of Saint
Stephens Church, 235
Prayer on the Loss of a Loved
One (Quaker Prayer),
149
Prayer to My Guardian Angel,
129
Prayer to Witness Worthily to
Others in Our Daily Lives,
Leseur, Elizabeth, 167
Preface to the First Edition,
Piderit, S.J., John, 243
Pro, Blessed Miguel, 47
Psalm 8, 193
Psalm 23, 194
Psalm 34, 195
259
Psalm 42, 196
Psalm 104, 98
Psalm 138, 200
Pygmy Prayer, 239
Question, The, 107
Index
Spring and Fall: To a Young
Child, Hopkins, S.J., Gerard Manley, 106
Teresa of Avila, Saint, 61
Teresa of Calcutta, Blessed,
55
Touched by an Angel, Angelou,
Maya, 146
Quran, 181
Rahner, Karl, 49
Reflection, More, SaintThomas, 160
U.S. Jesuit Colleges and UniReflection for Health Care versities, 37
Workers, Feder, Fran, 161
Refuge of God, Augustine of Victory is Ours, Tutu, ArchHippo, Saint, 235
bishop Desmond, 138
Ricci, Matteo, 44
Rosary, The, 116
Walking with God, Cowper,
William, 212
Sacred Flame, 224
Way, Truth, Life, Tracy, S.J.,
Service of the Poor, 140
Theodore, 96
Shanti, 184
When You Arise, Tecumseh,
Shema, 180
186
Short Course on Prayer, A, Who Lives in Love, Southwell,
OLeary, S.J., J.J., 69
S.J., Saint Robert, 101
Show Me Your Face, O God, Windhover: To Christ Our
Berrigan, S.J., Daniel, 98
Lord, The, Hopkins, S.J.,
Show Us, Lord, Stewart, Gerard Manley, 103
Dorothy, 169
Womans Journey in DiscipleSimple Riches, 234
ship, A, Zimmerman, Irene,
Sojourner Truth, 65
172
260
Woman Un-Bent, Zimmerman, Irene, 171
World Hunger Grace, A,
131
Xavier, Saint Francis, 41
You Have Called Me by Name,
Tetlow, S.J., Joseph, 91
You, Neighbor God, Rilke,
Rainer Maria, 215

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