While the Pope is in the United Kingdom on a state visit he will canonize John Henry Newman (1801-1890). A brilliant thinker, he was also a man of great virtue. He was a great influence both in the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. 

At the end of my sermon last Sunday I used one of his prayers, which was prayed daily by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. Many of you have requested a copy of it. Here it is:

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus! Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine; so to share as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus, will be all from you, none of it will be ours; it will be you, shining on others through us. Let us preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.

Each morning I read and reflect upon a couple of pages of prayers from an anthology. As I celebrate ten years of ministry at Amelia Chapel the following prayer expresses my desires.

Come, Holy Spirit, inflame my heart, set it on fire with love. Burn away my self-centeredness so that I can love unselfishly. Breathe your life-giving breath into my soul so that I can live freely and joyously, unrestricted by self-consciousness, and may be ready to go wherever you may send me. Come like a gentle breeze and give me your still peace so that I may be quiet and know the wonder of your presence, and help diffuse it in the world. Never let me shut you out; never let me try to limit you to my capacity; act freely in me and through me, never leave me. Lord and giver of life!

(Michael Hollings and Etta Gullick)