Novena Day 8

-  Mystery..beckoning us into

                                           Potency…..justice….action

“Be Still and Know that I am God”

Opening Ritual for 3 minutes - 

As you breath in, say                 

  O Mystery

As you breath out - say                

Alive in me

At the end of the 3 minutes – pray

May this gift of breathing allow us to touch mystery, alive in the deepest part of ourselves, and may it enhance our communion with the Mystery of all that is.

Pray -God of the Universe

in this time of great vulnerability

throughout our world

you beckon us to create space to engage

in deep listening.

May we listen to you in silence.

May we open our hearts to listen

to the voices of one another

and may we listen to all of Creation

with wonder and respect.

In our listening may we be guided to -

speak courageously,

love inclusively,

imagine creatively

and co-create a more peaceful

and just world

that flows from living a spirituality

of being in communion.

IPA Assembly Prayer 2023

Read and reflect on the following and then take 5 minutes stillness

“They know her in the crowded lonely ways

Woman of welcoming heart, whose lantern sheds

Kind beams for eyes waste-minded by the weary miles,

For them her hands are open, for her their doors.

Room is made by dim and smoking fire, some small crust shared,

And she, receiving, knows still more to give,

And welcomed, grows in art of welcoming.

Apart, in shadowed hours of night and dawn,

Leaning heart to heart on the One who pulses life

Into the lowliest and least of all that lives,

She learns to un-clasp the last-kept store

And lay it down in welcome: “Take and share”

Woman of Welcoming Heart, Raphael Consedine in Songs for the Journey.

What is staying with you. Who God is for you in your life; where do you welcome God?   Where is God beckoning you to?

Today, we remember our Sisters, Brothers, Friends of Nano, Co-Workers, Associates, the people with whom we are in ministry especially in – the United States of America

End prayer today –

Gathered in a united Presentation spirit we pray with Mary,

with Nano and Presentation people throughout our world:

We pray with Nano who gave birth to justice,

compassion and love for the people of her time –

We pray with women who give birth to solidarity with all people

who suffer unjust systems –

We pray with women who give birth to compassion and love

when wounded humanity waits to be healed –

We pray with women who give birth to hope

when they hear the cry of those who are voiceless –

We pray with women who give birth to the regeneration of our broken earth

We pray with women

who give birth to new dreams.