From the heart

THE AM radio was playing their station ID when I woke up this morning and the voice of the man rattled on to give the names of the technical staff of the station until it aired a tape recorded Morning Prayer.

It sounded so perfect yet so distant; well written but it doesn’t seem to touch me. In the middle of enjoying my coffee, it jolted my consciousness to think how we can all be like tape recorded voices calling out to the Almighty. Then, I knew why there was no echo in me. It was not my prayer…it didn’t come from my heart.

Weird but I felt funny inside. Later, I just found myself groping for a pen in my bag. Soon I was intently writing on a scrap of scratch paper. Hahaha! Below is the voice that wants to be heard from the heart.

The Prayer
Yani P. Cordero

Lord, God, Heavenly Father,
We come before you with confidence in your love and merciful graces.
We adore You in Your great holiness,
We glorify You even as we ask pardon for all the wrongs we have done…

All-knowing Father,
You know us as we are… the motives in our plans,
Our righteousness and inequities;
And our thoughts and deeds,
Be they sublime or ridiculous.

You know our needs and You have always provided for us –
even those that, in our narrow understanding, we discard.
Grant us the grace to see Your hand in the events of our lives,
To see Your face in the people that we meet;
Allow us to hear Your voice as it speaks softly into our hearts…

Let us have the courage to respond to Your call
when it demands more than what we can apparently give…
Let our weaknesses be our strength in clinging to You Lord
because in our limited faculties, we can never be good without Your guiding spirit.

Father,
We aspire for big things but we fail to appreciate greater things You give,
We desire to improve the widest expanse of our place;
yet, we do not lift a finger to clean out the dust that gathers ‘round our feet.
We want to be praised for the little good we do but we seldom praise
Your goodness through which we live –

We have conquered the space beyond the atmosphere, Lord…
but we are hypocrites refusing to peep into our inner place
where we may hear Your soft instructions;
We have gone to conquer the moon, but we do not have the graciousness
to cross the street to welcome a neighbor with a smile and nary a handshake;
We have progressed far in science and technology, but we are so proud
that we cannot advance a step in our faith;
We have seen through an atom but we decline to examine
the molecules of our prejudices to correct them –
We can openly give to people in high and mighty places but it seems
too painful to give to those who cannot give back the favor;
We are fast in criticizing policies in the government and politicians in our land;
yet, we do not look into our own selves that we might shed off the undesirable traits
to start that needed social change of heart.

Lord, we wear layers of masks so that it pains to pull them off our faces,
We always fall short of Your righteousness…
Help us change for the better because we are weak.
Increase our trust in Your love that we may not fear to go on in this pilgrimage of life;
Help us remember that You are our God and we are Your people.

We know that You are with us all the way –
through highs and lows, through hell and high water.
Please give us faith to believe, Lord, that the best will come
out of every experience in our lives,
That they are happening already even as we pray to You today.

Bless us all Father through our savior, Jesus Christ –
Your son who suffered for us that we may have life eternal,
May our lives give pleasure to You despite its imperfections when our day is done.
Your will be done in us… Amen.

(The group, “Ripples of Prayers” is inviting you to join them. “We believe that we can make a lot of difference by coming together and praying much for each other.” No dues, no registration fees, just your personal commitment. Join us! Send an email to the address below to signify your plan of joining or text <RIPPLES: name/age/address/contact number> to numbers 09076437625 or 09108087540. Reactions and contributions are welcome. Please email to va_wiley50@yahoo.com.ph.)/PN