Dear Lord
Help me to spread thy fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with thy Spirit and Life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being
so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of thine.
Shine through me,
and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with
may feel they presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me,
But only thee, O Lord.
Stay with me,
and then I shall begin to shine
as thou shinest;
so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light O Lord will be all from thee;
none of it will be mine;
it will be thou,
shining on others through me.
Let me Praise thee in the way thou dost love best,
by shining on those around me.
Let me preach thee without preaching,
not by words but by my example;
by the catching force;
the sympathetic influence of what I do;
the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to thee.
Amen
- John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890)
|
|