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Prayer Poems

These prayer poems have been specially composed by the Moderator of this prayer website. Each poem offers inspirational insights into a core Gospel truth and it is our prayer that they will quicken the spirit of all who read them.

A great many devout and well intentioned Christians make the mistake of spending too much time in vocal prayer and too little time in silence before the Lord. Every time they go before the Lord they feel that they must ask Him for something or thank Him for something or actively praise and worship Him. To simply sit in total interior silence before Him, and allow Him to minister to them, would almost seem like a lazy way out and a waste of valuable prayer time. How very wrong they are !! God is Love and the nature of Love is to give. When we sit in total silence before him, especially before His presence in the tabernacle, we allow Him to pour His wonderful presence into our lives. Gradually our mind, soul and body become one again and a deep peace descends on our lives. Over time we become one with Him so that everything we do and say is done and said unselfconsciously in the Spirit. If you give time each day in silence before Jesus in the tabernacle or indeed in your own home He will speak to your heart and your life will be transformed. The poem overleaf has been written to help you get started. May the peace of Christ be with you. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

Don't Speak a Word

 And so at last,
Impelled by need,
I took my tired body,
And I took my troubled mind,
And I sat before my King

Don't speak a word, He said :
No prayers and no petitions.
Do not even think a thought !
For I already know your deepest needs.
Just lay your heart upon My heart,
That I may rest in you
And you in Me.
It pleases Me you trust Me so
To act in silence
On your soul:
My power of Love
To make you whole.

How often we vainly plan the great things we will say or do for Jesus and His kingdom ! Many times we ask ourselves what Jesus might have said or done in a particular situation and then seek to base our own actions on that. All of the above is good and worthy but there is a simpler and easier way of ensuring that we live every aspect of our life according to the Father's will. It has its foundation in the firm belief that we are temples of the Holy Spirit and that the Spirit will lead and inspire us in all our words and actions if we will only allow Him. To allow Him we must trust that He knows best in all situations and accept that His ways are not always our ways. We then make a conscious decision to yield to His will over our whole life. After that we just live out our life in the confidence that we will be in the right place at the right time, meeting the right people and saying the right things. The prayer poem overleaf has been written to encourage you. May His will be done in your life. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

Words Will Flow From You.

 Do not plan or plot
What you will say or do
On My behalf,
However well intended.
Do not even seek
To imitate what I
Might say or do.

Live rather in the perfection
Of each present moment
As it unfolds for you,
And I will meet you there
In My eternal present,
To quicken and enliven
With My Spirit.

Words will flow from you,
Deeds so naturally,
Leading unselfconsciously
To your sancity.

There is a deeply ingrained belief in many of us that we should not ask God for too much, or that we should only ask for others and never for ourselves. It is almost like we think that it would be greedy to ask for so much or that we might somehow annoy God with the boldness of our request. Nothing could be further from the truth. God loves to give. Giving is part of who He is. Remember His words “Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door shall be opened” When we think small and ask little of Him we are actually limiting the capacity of almighty God to pour out His graces into our situation. It sounds ridiculous that mere mortals like us could possibly limit almighty God in this way, yet that is exactly what we do when we close ourselves off to the wonderful expansiveness of His giving. Next time think big, ask big and expect big. Pluck all those daisies ! The poem overleaf has been written to help you. May you live in His abundance and overflow. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

Set No Limit

 How little well you know Me
Finite man,
And how little well you please Me
Finite man,
When you limit Me,
Omnipotent power,
In the graces I would shower on you.

I have set you as a child
In a field of daisies,
Where each daisy is a grace
Unique to you.
Run free helter skelter
Plucking daisies
From your Creator.
Not just one
Or ten or twenty,
But many more daisies aplenty.

Remember finite man:
To give is My pleasure.
Set no limit to the measure
Of My unfolding plan.

There is hardly a family anywhere that does not have at least one member whose life has been destroyed by drugs, alcohol, sex or some other entrapment of the Devil. For the victim this is a dreadful tragedy, while for the remaining family members it is a suffering almost too great to bear. The first thing to realise is that this is not a holy cross from the Lord. It is a cross that arises directly out of evil. The proper way to deal with it is to consciously give that cross to Christ on Calvery and trust totally that He will deal with it. Remember His words “ Come to Me all you who labour and are over-burdened and I will give you rest.” He will then give it back to you as a holy cross blessed by Him. You will immediately experience a very necessary emotional detachment from the situation and a great peace will flood your soul. Continue then to trust that He will resolve the situation. Your trust will enable Him to pour out His graces on both your loved one and on yourself. The prayer poem overleaf has been written to help you. May you learn to hand over to the Lord in all things. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

Come To Me All You Who Labour

Have you a father, mother
Son or daughter,
Someone whom you love,
Who has strayed
From Light to Darkness
And now weighs upon
Your waking day ?

God sees you and He loves you,
But he calls you to remember
Words He spoke in Matthew,
How to give your burden to Him.

Better far to come to Him,
Give your burden to Him.
Your trust will then empower Him
More than any cross or shame
To pour His Love upon you,
Take away your pain.

Rest for your aching heart,
Grace for your loved one's soul.

For centuries Christians mistakenly accepted that the Second Coming of Jesus would signify the Final Judgement and the end of the world. Now, in these times the prophesy of Joel is being fulfilled “And it shall come to pass in the last days that I shall pour out My spirit upon all men.” This wonderful outpouring of the Spirit has brought about a situation where many, many Christians are now eagerly awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus……. not to bring an end to the world but to usher in a wonderful new era of peace on earth. It will bring about the fulfilment of the Lord's Prayer : “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”. How exciting and how wonderful !! Hundreds of millions of Christians are already praying for this great event, many of them openly speaking of it. Since the 1960's the Catholic Church has been officially praying for the return of Jesus in every single Mass celebrated throughout the world, even though many Catholics, and indeed many priests, have not yet realised the significance of their prayer : “Dying you destroyed our death, rising You restored our life, Lord Jesus come in glory” or “As we wait in joyful hope for the coming of Our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” The prayer poem overleaf has been written to help tune you in to this wonderful event. Come Lord Jesus. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

The Second Coming

 What if the Second Coming
Of the glorified and risen Lord
Is not the End we thought
But rather the Beginning
Of God's kingdom here on earth
As it is in Heaven,
The fulfilment of His prayer.

What if God's people,
The communion of His saints,
In every Mass in every church,
For forty years and more,
Are hastening that Coming
By the very prayers they pray,
Even when they do not know it,
They cry Lord Jesus come in glory,
As they wait in joyful hope,
Saying Christ will come again.

What if He should come
Sooner than we ever thought,
Even now in our times,
Rays of Mercy from His wounds.

Raise your spirits to the sky,
Sing hosannas to your King,
Banish thoughts of fear and gloom,
Come Lord Jesus oh so soon.

We live in extraordinary times. On the one hand the kingdom of darkness and despair appears to be everywhere in control, yet “he that has ears to hear” will know that right now as I write God is raising up prayer warriors in every corner of the globe. These prayer warriors are growing in number by the day and will soon form a mighty and invincible army that will usher in the kingdom of God on this earth in union with Jesus Christ the Returning King. In the meantime we are called to be a witness to Christ in everything we say and do. This requires the gift of fortitude, one of the seven major gifts of the Holy Spirit. This gift will give us the courage to publicly profess our faith in Christ as we lead exemplary Christian lives so that others may say of us as they once said of the early Christians “See these Christians how they love one another”. We are not called to ostentatious piety or overbearing triumphal behaviour but we are called to a sincere living out of our Faith in our public as well as our private lives. The prayer poem overleaf has been written to encourage you in this regard. May the Holy Spirit infuse you with courage for battle. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

Rise Up Christian Soldiers

 Unbelief is creeping
Like a thick fog
Across this Land,
Seeping into every home,
Spreading darkness and despair.

Rise up Christian soldiers,
You are children of the Light,
Gird yourselves for battle,
Fight the good fight.

Seal your five senses
With the oil of holy prayer,
Learn to love the Rosary,
Save your children from despair.

Genuflect with reverence,
Cross yourself with care,
Sprinkle holy water,
Show Faith everywhere.

As you pass a Chapel
Raise your cap to your King,
Pause for prayer at noon ,
Show faith in everything.

And when you sit to table
At home or anywhere,
Give thanks to God the Father
For the bounty of His care.

Rise up Christian soldiers,
You are children of the Light.
Gird yourselves for battle,
Fight the good fight.

At times of crisis or major decision making in your life it is vital that you hold on to the wonderful consolation that Jesus proved His love for you by the ultimate sacrifice of opening His arms on the cross and shedding the last drop of His precious blood that you might be saved. He deliberately chose to redeem you by an agonising death on the cross when he could have redeemed you by simply snapping his fingers…….. because He is almighty God. He knew that there would be times in your life when you would need this absolute proof that He truly loves you and so he paid the heavy price of Calvery, just to prove to you how much He loves you. This consoling knowledge will shield you from the demons of confusion and the sense of having lost your way in life. When you are faced with the reality of taking a moral stand on controversial issues, just remember that Jesus died on the cross for you. When you are committing to a life long decision, just remember that Jesus loves you. The prayer poem overleaf may help you. The girl in question is now my wonderful wife of 38 years and the mother of our six beautiful children. May you always feel the presence of His love. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

Jesus Loves You

 When black and white betray
A life-long trust
And meet in troubled grey
Of hazy-focused
Right and wrong in my life,
Or when I think a girl I know
May be the wife
To swim or sink of all my days
With no return,
I only know
That I am glad You hung
In sweet sorrow
On a cross of proof to me
You see and care from Calvery.

The prayer poem overleaf has been written for priests, particularly priests in the Sacrament of Reconciliation who represent Christ in a very real and special way. Far too often in counselling others we all, including priests, rely on the practical wisdom we have acquired over a lifetime of experience. This may be sensible at a worldly level but when it comes to counselling on spiritual matters we absolutely need to be Spirit led in the advice we offer. This is not as easy as it sounds. First we must believe that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Next we must trust that Holy Spirit totally and completely. Next we must refuse to trust our own self and instead yield to the Spirit within. The words that will flow from us, the tangents we may follow, may sometimes surprise us. The good news is that those words will bear fruit that will last because they come from the Holy Spirit rather than our own spirit or the spirit of the world. The power of a priest in Confession to spiritually direct a soul is awesome. Listen well to him because it is Jesus speaking to you. It is vital that we pray for that priest before entering the confessional. May all our priests be Spirit led. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

Consecrated Sons

 Consecrated sons,
Called by Me to minister
In Mercy to My people
In the sacrament of Confession :
Cherish well the gift I give
When you lay aside all Self,
All your own wise counsel,
And allow your Jesus
To surprise you with the words
That will tumble from your lips.

Words from My spirit
That will find a resting place
In the heart of troubled penitents,
Yielding fruit that will last,
Not because you are holy,
But only when you are humble.

Trust in Me your Saviour.

In Ireland , where I live, we spend our time commenting on the weather………perhaps because it is so changeable. A comment on the weather is the standard greeting when we meet someone casually. Over the years many people grow into a habit of commenting negatively on casual matters, almost without realising it. I was one of those persons until I was halted in my tracks by a neighbour many years ago. He just looked at me as I greeted him with “It's a miserable day,”and calmly said “It's a God-given day”. I was stunned. This was not an overtly pious man and I am sure he did not deliberately set out to correct me. He was simply used by God on that occasion to show me that I was sinning against Creation. By the grace of God I have learned my lesson. As you read the poem overleaf I pray that you will be open to the Lord speaking to you through people in casual situations and that you yourself will come to know that all negativity comes from the Evil One. May God be praised in His wonderful Creation. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

It's a God Given Day

 It's a miserable day, I said,
More by habit than in malice,
On a wet Sunday morning,
Some twenty years ago.

And a man I knew,
An ordinary man,
Long since dead,
Lord have mercy on his soul,
Looked me in the eye,
Addressed me by my name
And said
It's a God given day.

His words hung
In the shocked silence,
No attempt to water down.
They halted me abruptly
In my sin against Creation.

I knew then
And I know now
That God had spoken to me
Through that man.

Thank you Lord.

The poem overleaf was inspired by the End Times warning from Christ :”And because sin is multiplied most men's love will grow cold”. We are living through those End Times right now. Everywhere we look we see sin raised high as a solution to our situation, whether it be abortion, euthanasia, the morning after pill or whatever. And yet in the midst of all this darkness we are to cling to the joyful hope that Jesus Christ Returning King is indeed returning in His Second Coming. He is coming first into one heart at a time, preparing a great multitude for the great and wonderful event of His glorious Second Coming. Remember, however, the warning from St. Paul that “First must come the man of inequity”. This is a clear reference to the Antichrist and the great tribulation that lies ahead. Let us not be afraid as we wait in joyful hope. Jesus has conquered sin and death. We are children of the Light. He will protect us. In the meantime let our constant prayer be the very last words of the New testament : Maranatha……Come Lord Jesus. This will help to “shorten” those days. Available from www.PrayerApostolate.com.

Lo, I am coming

 Such is the weight of sin
Bearing down in our times
Like a dark cloud
On oppressed man,
That the light of Faith,
The consolation of Hope,
And the lifeblood of Charity
Will all grow cold,
Unless You come, O Lord,
In clouds of Glory,
With power and majesty enrobed.

Lo, I am coming.
Have I not told you so?
Rejoice and be glad,
As you wait in joyful hope.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.