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Prayer

For the Mystical Body.

February 2005

Lord Jesus, I am a member of your church, of your holy body. I live in your light. I cannot imagine any other life. To be outside your body would be not to exist at all. Life without you, Lord, is not really life. Even those who do not know you receive some power and benefit from your presence. You empower their existence even though they know it not. All things and all people live and have their being in you.

We are not self-contained beings, which can exist apart from any spiritual relationship. We live and grow only insofar as our union with you grows. Our life is life in you, and therefore I beg you, Lord, to hear to the desire of my soul and draw me into the deepest level of your divine being.

The deeper my spiritual life becomes the more I realize the universality of your influence. That is the standard by which I judge my own spiritual progress. The more I learn of you; the more I find you in everything. When all things around me, while preserving their individuality and their own special character; nevertheless appear to me as animated by you, my cosmic lord, then I know that I am approaching that central point where the axis of the world is caught in the descending radiance of God.

That is the point, Lord, where you act upon me. You fill my soul with your exalted presence. You give me a distaste for anything other than God. You fill me not with a debilitating fear of doing wrong but with a vigorous determination to do your will, and that not by myself alone, but with other believers.

You give my soul an ever-increasing awareness of your divine presence. You give me a blessed desire to go on learning your way and experiencing ever more of your great love.

You, Lord Jesus, are the source of all my joy and the motivating force for all my achievement. You are the purpose of my being and the love of my life. You are my one true God.

All of my understanding of God depends on this one basic vision of the union between you and me. You incarnated yourself into the universe of matter to bring us into your mystical body. Thus, I rejoice in the mystery of your body. I rejoice in the communion I have with all your faithful people. I rejoice in the world you have made which bears your image. Amen.

If you have questions or comments, email Tony Grant

Last Modified: 08/16/05