Day 1 of Novena leading up to Presentation Day
Mystery..beckoning us into
Heart….compassion…love
“Be Still and Know that I am God”
Opening Ritual for 3 minutes -
As you breathe in, say :
O Mystery
As you breathe 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 – and take 5 minutes stillness
“Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. (Lk.1:38-40)
“The spiralling energies of God
Defy containment. The Spirit sweeps aside
Our fragile windbreaks, and with a shout
Summons us beyond where untouched ground
Waits bare for planting.
Like water freed from patient holding rock
Our God’s newness floods across the land
Till every arid place will sway green-gold.
Then let us seize the time and run with it,
Sow broadcast now what other hands will reap.
Become the seed that in death gives life.
O who would hold back now when all’s to give
And every fibre yearns to be drawn deep
Into the holy purposes of God!
For there will be a harvest and a feast
Where all the hungry ones will have their fill
And all the broken leap with joyous life.
See! Already springs the newness from the void.
See! Already now the Centrepoint draws all.
Already dawns the seventh day.
From Presentation, Raphael Consedine in Songs for the Journey.
What is staying with you? Where is God asking you to go?
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 India and Pakistan
Have a Moment of Gratitude – what are you grateful for today?
End Prayer – IPA Assembly 2017
Creator God,
you are luring us into a future
more expansive than our minds can conceive.
Grace us and make space
in the womb of our hearts
for the possibilities you offer us.
Unsettle us!
Disturb us!
Move us to the edge of new horizons
that we may be open
as you come to us
in our sisters and brothers
and the cry of our earth.
May wisdom’s flame shine for us,
within us and from us –
our feet know the way;
our hearts carry the light.
IPA Assembly 2017