Mary Sullivan

 “Patience, prayer and silence,

These are what give strength to the soul.”

(St. Faustina)

Lord, we so need Your strength,

May Your strength fill our souls.

May patience, prayer and silence,

Be our primary goals.

We need patience to fight this battle,

To see this trial to its end.

Dear Lord, grant us patience.

Patience to us, do send.

Grant us in prayer new fervor.

Help us pray with endurance.

Help us pray in Your will.

Grant to us perseverance.

The world has lost its way, Lord.

With its noisy, banging blare.

May we seek You in sacred silence.

In silence find You there.

Bless our loved ones with patience,

with a love of silence too.

Through patience, prayer and silence,

May all souls be renewed.

Are you feeling poor my dear child? Deprived of what your heart longs for?

Rejoice in the Lord, for the Kingdom awaits, the Kingdom of God is yours.

Do you hunger now for righteousness? In righteousness do you abide?

Rejoice in the Lord, dear little one, for you will be satisfied.

Are you weeping dear beloved? Shedding tears on others’ behalf?

Rejoice in the Lord, my dear one. For one day you will laugh.

Are you excluded and insulted? For your faith in Christ, met with hate?

Then you must rejoice and leap for joy.  Your reward in heaven is great.

Lord, help us fight for righteousness, rejoice when met with hatred,

May our hearts be broken by all things which break Your Heart so sacred;

We suffer here for a little while. But the path of the Lord leads to laughter,

It’s the path to a joyful eternity, and a happily ever after.

Grant to loved ones’ the grace they need to fight for righteousness and to win.

Grant them all the grace they need to repent and to weep over sin.

Grant them the grace that for the faith, they’ll endure exclusion and insult.

Grant them the grace to persevere, though hated as a result.

May the path of the Lord be the path we all walk.  May the path of the Lord be our choice.

May the path of the Lord be the only path in which we forever rejoice.

Through the path of the Lord, we encounter pain; but pain does not end the story.

The path of the Lord is the only path to our one-day heavenly glory.

(Based on Luke 5:17, 20-16)

RISE UP AND WALK

Jesus Himself was teaching, and from every village people had come,

From Judea and Galilee; some from Jerusalem.

Some men brought on a stretcher, a man who was paralyzed.

To get him before the Lord, they’d need to improvise.

There seemed no way to bring him in.  The crowd’s size was so great.

So, they made their way up to the roof.  They didn’t want to wait.

He was lowered through the roof and then placed in front of Christ.

The Christ who came to die for us, and for us sacrifice His life.

When Jesus saw their faith, He told the man, forgiven were his sins.

The Pharisees had never heard, to such a thing akin.

The Pharisees erupted.  They may have become livid.

“Who is this who blasphemes? Who but God can sins forgive?”

Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he put them to a task

“Which is easier” was the question, which to them He asked.

Is it easier to say that sins have been forgiven?  With them, Christ had this little talk.

He inquired if perhaps it might be easier to just say “rise up and walk.”

But that The Son of Man can sins forgive, that all now might see and know,

He told the man paralyzed, rise, pick up your mat, and home you can now go.

The man no longer paralyzed, then did exactly that,

He rose and went home, after he’d picked up his mat.

With astonishment, all were completely seized.

And they gave glory unto God.  His healing helps us all believe.

Jesus, so many loved ones cannot see You in their midst.

And there are other loved ones who’ve been swayed You don’t exist.

In spirit they are paralyzed as they lay on unbelieving mats.

We cannot get them into church.  They think they’ve had enough of that.

They cannot comprehend Your ways or understand Your love.

They don’t see Your blessed plans for them, from heaven above.

So, we bring them to You Jesus, through the roof, we lower them to You.

We ask You to touch their hearts, heal hearts through and through,

Show to them Your love that’s deeper than the depths of the deepest ocean.

Show them it’s You we ought to trust, and love with devotion.

If the man once paralyzed had faith, this story does not say;

But the men who brought him to You, had faith on that glorious day.

Our loved ones’ faith, may be lacking.  This we cannot deny.

Won’t You look upon our faith, as to ourselves we seek to die.

Use the grace of that faith, use all our sacrifices,

To forgive our loved ones’ sins, to wipe out all their vices.

Help them to rise above their sins, as the man rose up to stand,

Help them to pick up their mats, serve You in this foreign land.

Help them find the way to You, no matter where they’ve roamed.

Though their hearts be crippled, help them back to the Church, their home.

Help them now sweet Jesus.  The hour is running late.

Go to them now dear Jesus.  Make haste dear Lord, make haste.

(Based on Mark 2:1-12)

…there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was;

And when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with Him and said:

Lord if You wish You can make me clean.

Jesus stretched out his hand, touched Him and said,

“I do will it.  Be made clean.”  And the leprosy left him immediately.

(Luke 5:12-13)

Lord Jesus, we have loved ones, deep in the throes of sin.

They’ve rejected the Gospel or given it some senseless spin.

We surrender our lives to You.  We trust You with our every need.

We give to You all that we have.  To You we now plead,

Go now to our loved ones, Lord.  Help them upon You lean.

Jesus, if You wish, You can make our loved ones clean.

“…He took the child by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha koum,’ which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise!’ The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.  At that they were utterly astounded.  He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.”  (Mark 5:21-43)

Lord, for our sons and daughters, we are wailing and are crying,

Their bodies may be alive, but their spirits are dead or dying.

At Your feet, we humbly kneel.  At Your feet we plead.

We pray go lay Your hands on them, that from sin they may be freed.

Free them from the error that chokes them in their vice.

Free them from what stops them, from taking Church advice.

Free them from the traps in which they are ensnared.

Free them from the evil one, that in new life they may share.

Go to them now, sweet Jesus. Heal their wounds and dry their tear-filled eyes.

Take each loved one by the hand.  Command them by name arise.

Help them stand, dear gracious Lord.   Help them begin to walk around,

Begin the walk towards heaven; towards a one-day glory crown.

May they be healed of all their sins, of all untruths they have been told,

knock at Your door of truth and love, embrace Your precious heart of gold.

May all see healing in Your hands, give glory to You too,

May all with joy pronounce the words: Jesus I trust in You.

We thank You for Your healing, give thanks for all the good You do.

We thank you in advance, dear Lord, for healing of our sons and daughters too.

From this day forward, Lord, may we love you through and through.

Let us forever give You glory; give all glory unto You.