PRAYER FOR THE GIFT OF POVERTY
03/07/2013 18:13
PRAYER FOR THE GIFT OF POVERTY
Lord Jesus,
I ask you for a new fullness
of the charism of poverty.
I ask you to reveal to me
my inordinate attachments,
my holding on to things or to persons,
my “richness” that keeps me
from saying a more complete yes to you.
I surrender to you
my excessive search for material comforts,
and whatever material goods
I have that I do not really need to serve you.
I surrender to you my excessive need for attention,
for acclaim and applause, for
narcissistic feedback from others.
I surrender all my selfish ambitions,
my search for honors, my
vainglory and my pride.
I surrender to you my possessiveness
of those whom I love; teach me to love freely,
leaving others free;
teach me to love with an open hand.
I renounce the possessiveness in my love
For others; teach me to love more and better.
And I ask you now for new graces,
for new power to live for you,
for the new outpouring of
the charism of religious poverty.
Give me the interior poverty
that depends on you and
not on the world’s acceptance.
You say to me now,
“If the world hates you,
know that it has hated me
before it hated you.
If you were of the world,
the world would love its own;
but I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word that I spoke to you,
A servant is not greater than his master”.
Teach me, Lord, to enter
by the narrow gate that leads to life.
You are that gate, Lord;
Let me follow you, taking up my cross.
For you alone, Lord, are my portion.
I love no inheritance;
I want no possessions, for you
are my possession.
Amen.
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