Morning Briefings

I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.

– Abraham Lincoln

God recognizes the cry of my heart as prayer. There is no doubt about it, prayer is a marvelous exchange.

– Macrina Wiederkehr
A Tree Full of Angels

The National Day of Prayer was created by an act of Congress in 1952. In 1988, Congress modified the statute, 36 U.S.C. § 119, to fix the date of observance: ‘The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.’ That’s all the bill says.

– Michael Kessler
National Day of Prayer Confusion

Pray as you can, not as you cannot.

– Benedictine author Don Chapman from
Running on Empty: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers

Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we not be judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. The Almighty has His own purposes.

– President Abraham Lincoln
Second Inaugral Address, March 4, 1865

In the famous final scene from the movie Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart sends the beautiful Ingrid Bergman away with another man so he can stay behind and fight the Nazis. He ends up sacrificing everything–the woman he loves, a prosperous nightclub, respect and status–all because he knows there is something more important in life: the need to fight evil. Ultimately, that’s why we need to pray for courage. All the things in life we want to hold onto–our possessions, pleasures and feelings of security–as well as the fears about losing them, are secondary to our struggle with evil.

– Anthony DeStefano
Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To

Prayer became the backbone of my business routine. The more I prayed, the more God’s hand showed up at work. The more He intervened, the better each project turned out.

– Ed Silvoso
Anointed for Business

Pray for our enemies. I’m telling you it really works. You’ve got some guy busting your chops day after day, you can’t stand it any longer. Start praying for them because I swear it’s about a 90% chance that they’re coming right up to you in about a month and saying, ‘hey you know, I don’t disagree with you as much as I thought I do.’

– Fr. Robert Spitzer
from a November 2009 speech before Orange Coast Legatus

You call me O God to a relationship with You. Free me from the loneliness of personal decisions, and enable me to see alternatives in difficult decisions. Come O Spirit of God, with Your Gift of Counsel.

– from a subscriber email

In the words of an old Irish prayer: Three wishes I ask of the King when I part from my body: May I have nothing to confess, may I have no enemy, may I own nothing! Three wishes I ask this day of the King, ruler of suns: May I have no dignity or honours that lead me into torment! May I not work without reward before Christ! May God take my soul when it is most pure!

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Sacred Space