Eric Ewanco
When I was trying to develop a daily discipline of prayer, I struggled to sort out the question of rote prayer versus extemporaneous prayer. I believed strongly that prayer should be personal and express our needs in our own style. But extemporaneous prayer is hard to do every day. I found I would frequently fall asleep while trying to think of what to say! Or I would start to repeat myself. I began to see certain advantages of rote prayer. I also realized that, well, if something is worth praying one day, chances are good it's worth praying every day (at least for a time). This is particularly true for prayers pertaining to personal commitment or spiritual growth. Trying to express the same petition every day not only became a burden, but after a while it seemed absurd to force myself to do so "extemporaneously" when it was so much easier to decide what I wanted to pray and commit it to memory. Then I was free to pray without the distraction of trying to think of what to say and remember my petitions. Plus, let's be honest: we're human, and our moods vary. As much as we'd like to brimming over with fluent words of praise, thanksgiving, and petition for the Lord every morning, that is just not realistic. It's wonderful to pray that way when we can, but when we can't, is it not better to pray in words we've prepared beforehand than to pray ineffectively or not at all? The prayer also serves as a daily reminder to me of how I should be living and what my attitude should be.
Thus I began to develop what is in effect a kind of personal litany: a prayer with (relatively) fixed form that expresses exactly what I want to pray, in my own style.
Below you will find some ideas for petitions for your own personal prayer. Feel free to take the ideas you like and leave the rest. Piecing together, as a quilt, prayers or even just phrases from the Psalms and other Scriptures or other places that strike a chord with you or touch your heart is a great way to compose your prayer.
The one pitfall of rote prayer I try to carefully avoid is making sure that I pray with sincerity and devotion, allowing the words to sink in, not mindlessly out of habit (hence the prayer, "May every word I speak be full of grace and sincerity").
At the end I've included references to the various references and allusions in the petitions, and a brief commentary. I hope you find this page helpful in developing your own personal prayer, so that you can pray daily for the things that truly need to be prayed for.
1. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have
mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, glory to
you.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, I put my trust in you.
2. Help me, save me, have mercy on me, and protect me, O God, by your grace.
3. Pour out your grace upon me, O Lord, and immerse me in the ocean of your mercy.
4. Forgive me of all of my sins, O Lord: my sins of lust, anger, pride, hatred, greed, sloth, envy, arrogance, impatience, unforgiveness, rancor, disobedience, selfishness, stubborness, unchastity, unkindness. Forgive me for being quick to speak and slow to listen. Forgive me for entertaining sinful thoughts. May I not judge from appearances but from the heart.
5. Purify my heart and my mind O Lord; deliver me from the hands of the Enemy, O Lord, who seeks to destroy me.
6. Do not call your servant to judgment, Lord, for no one is just in your sight. Save your servant who trusts in you. If you O Lord should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive? But with you is found forgiveness, for this we revere you. My soul is counting on your word, more than watchmen for daybreak.
7. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Help me to persevere in righteousness; give me a perfect hatred for sin and a perfect love for you. May every word I speak be full of grace and truth and sincerity. May I be a perfect man and keep my body always in check. May my presence bless all those I encounter. Give me the kind of faith that can move mountains. Drive away from me every ungodly fear. Make me as holy as I can be, as soon as I am able. Purify and rectify my intentions.
8. Accept me, O Lord, as you once accepted the publican and the adulteress; cleanse me of my sins, O Lord, as you cleansed Naaman the leper of his leprosy.
9. Lord, I renounce sin so as to live in the freedom of God's children. I renounce Satan, and all his empty works, and all his empty promises. I reject the glamor of evil, and I refuse to be mastered by sin.
10. Teach me Lord, true repentance, true metanoia, true conversion of heart. You must increase, and I must decrease, until your glory is all that people see in me. Help me to be a light to the world and the salt of the earth. Help me to deny myself, to take up my cross, and to follow you. Grant me, O Lord, your grace of final perseverance. Make me a man after your own heart. May I communicate your Passion to all the world. Keep me in your sanctification that I may sing of your glory, meditating on your holiness all the day, alleluia alleluia alleuia.
11. Lord, I offer you a sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving for all that you've given me: your mercy, life, peace, health,
salvation, protection, forgiveness, and remission of sins; for my friends and
family(*), my job, my car, my home. All of these things,
they come from you by your grace, and I am eternally grateful to you, Lord
Jesus — eternally grateful.
12. One day in your courts, O Lord, is better than a thousand elsewhere. You are all that I desire in the land of the living! You are my portion and cup; it is you yourself that I claim for my prize. The lot marked out for me is my delight; welcome indeed the heritage that falls to me! You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.
13. Lord, I give you everything, heart and soul. I commend myself and my whole life to you. I lay myself at the foot of your cross, I abandon myself to your Divine Providence, I consecrate myself to your sacred heart: heart, mind, soul, strength, will, intellect, my memory, my understanding, my thinking, my emotions, my entire will, all I have and possess: it is yours now, O Lord, dispose of it wholly according to your will. May I never do or pray for anything that is not your will.
14. Mark me with the sign of your cross. Seal me with your Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, overshadow me, infuse me with the holiness and righteousness of the Son. Help me to live out the Gospel; purify my heart, set my life on fire.
15. Lord, I put on my full armor of God: my helmet of salvation, my breastplate of righteousness, my shield of faith, my belt of truth, my shoes fitted with the Gospel of peace, and the sword of the Spirit, that I may extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.
16. Lord, though surely I deserve it, I pray that you would not punish me in your wrath, but discipline me as your son, that I may put to death the passions of the flesh and walk in the freedom of your Spirit. Father in heaven, I accept with love the afflictions you send me, that through them I may be conformed to the the image of your Son, and no longer to sinful flesh. Lord Jesus, free me from all attachment to sin and worldly things. I want only to be conformed to you, and I renounce the world and its sinful desires.
17. Grant to me, Lord, the grace of pure and perfect love for you. May I truly love you with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength, and all my mind. Help me to love your people with an unconditional love; put your love in my heart.
18. Help me to bear abundantly, Lord, the fruits of the Holy Spirit: faith, hope, love, humility, self-control, patience, perseverence, purity, peace, dispassion, compassion, poverty, chastity, obedience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, forgiveness, meekness, modesty, mercy, joy, wisdom, counsel, knowledge, understanding, reverence, fear of the Lord, prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude.
19. Help me to attain to the fullness of God. Make me a partaker of your divine nature. Make me one flesh, one blood with you. Lead me along the path of theosis. May the consuming fire of your love burn off all that is within me that is not of you. Help me to empty myself of all that keeps me from knowing you.
20. Lord, you said whoever asked for wisdom would receive it in abundance; I pray for your wisdom. Grant me true knowledge of your mysteries; teach me your Word; consecrate me in the truth.
21. Lord, I offer you all that I have in reparation for all of my sins and for the sins of the whole world: my prayers, offerings, sacrifices, devotions, sufferings, struggles, persecutions, fasts, abstinences, my life of penance and simplicity, the good deeds that I do, the taxes that I pay, this whole day, my whole life, even my very death: all of these things, O Lord, I offer them to you out of love for you that you may relent in your punishment against me, free me from all attachment to sin, and bring me to perfect love for you. I also offer them, O Lord, for all those I have hurt(*). But most of all, Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for all of my sins and for the sins of the whole world. For the sake of his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on me and on the whole world.
(*) Change to suit your circumstances.
1. Adapted from the Jesus Prayer (cf. Luke 18:13, Mark 10:47); glory to you: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Prayer of Thanksgiving; trust in you: Divine Mercy In My Soul, St. Faustina
2. Aitesis, Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
3. Pour: 1 Timothy 1:14; immerse: Divine Mercy In My Soul, St. Faustina
4. quick to speak: James 1:19; appearances...heart: 1 Sam 16:7
5. deliver: 1 Peter 5:8, Matthew 6:13
6. Do not: Psalm 143:2; Save: Psalm 86:2; If: Psalm 130:3-6
7. Into: Psalm 31:5; perfect hatred: Mylon Lefebvre song, "Love God, Hate Sin"; perfect love, drive: ibid., 1 John 4:18; full of grace: Psalm 45:2, Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 4:6; perfect man ... check: Cf. Jas 3:2; move mountains: Cf. Mt 17:20; Purify and rectify: In other words, make upright my bad intentions, so I always do things for only the right reasons.
8. Accept: cf. pre-communion prayer of St. Basil; cf. Luke 18:13-14, John 8:11, 2 Kings 5:14
9. Roman baptismal rite
10. increase: John 3:30; light, salt: Matthew 5:13-14; deny: Mark 8:34; perseverance: Matthew 24:13; man...heart: Acts 13:22; Keep: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, post-communion prayer
11. sacrifice of praise: Hebrews 13:15, Psalm 116:17; mercy: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Ecumenic Prayer
12. One day: Psalm 84:10; desire: cf. Psalm 142:5, 73:25; portion: Psalm 16:5-6,11
13. heart and soul: Geoff Moore song, "Heart and Soul"; commend: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Litany of Peace; Divine Providence: Book, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean Caussade; sacred heart: Traditional devotion; memory, understanding, will: Prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola
14. mark: Ezekiel 9:4; seal: Revelation 7:3, Ephesians 4:30; overshadow: Luke 1:35
16. punish: cf. Psalm 38:1; discipline: Hebrews 12:5ff; put to death: Colossians 3:5, Romans 8:13, Gal 5:24; image: Colossians 3:10; freedom: Galatians 5:1; afflictions: Philippians 3:10; sinful flesh: Romans 7:5, 13:14; attachment: Condition for plenary indulgence, Indulgentiarum Doctrina 12 norm 7; conformed: Romans 8:29; renounce: Matthew 10:37-39, Mark 10:21, Romans 12:2, 1 Corinthians 7:30-31; Titus 2:12
17. perfect love: 1 John 4:18; heart, mind, &c: Mark 12:30-33; put your love: Romans 5:5
19. fullness: Ephesians 3:19, 4:13; partaker: 2 Peter 1:4; one flesh: Eph 5:31-32, 1 Corinthians 10:16, John 17:22-26; theosis: See previous five, Eph 4:22-24, 1 John 3:1f, Gal 4:19; burn: 1 Corinthians 3:15; empty: cf. Phil 2:7
20. wisdom: James 1:5; mysteries: Colossians 2:1-3; consecrate: John 17:17
21. offer: Colossians 1:24, Ephesians 3:13; offerings: Matthew 5:23; sacrifices: 1 Peter 2:5; sufferings: Romans 8:17; persecutions: Revelation 2:10; mortifications: Romans 8:13 (mortification means putting to death); fasts: Jonah 3:6-10; abstinences: Luke 7:33; penance: Acts 26:20 (penance is showing your repentance by your deeds); good deeds: James 2:22-24; forgive: 1 Peter 4:8, Hebrews 12:11, James 2:24,5:20; relent: cf. Jonah 3:9, Luke 12:48, Hebrews 12:6; attachment: Condition for plenary indulgence, Indulgentiarum Doctrina 12 norm 7; Eternal Father: Chaplet of Divine Mercy, St. Faustina
1. The Jesus Prayer — the first line of this paragraph — is a time-honored popular prayer of the Eastern Christian tradition. I've modified it by replacing the end alternately with "glory to you" and "I put my trust in you". The "glory to you" means, may you be glorified in all circumstances, good, bad, or indifferent (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:18). It should be prayed with a humble acceptance of the most difficult adversity as something that in some way can or does glorify God. It counteracts getting frustrated or angry about trying circumstances over which we have no control. If we have no control, getting angry is only counterproductive. The only solution is to change our attitude, and this prayer is a way to give our emotions up to God and accept the circumstances as His will and as a means of perfecting us (cf. James 5:7-11 and Philippians 3:10-11).
4. As you pray this, make a mental note of any time you may have done these things and offer these sins up for forgiveness.
7. The goal here is to pray for one's speech, that we may mean the things we say and not just say things out of habit, to speak good things to people to build them up and do so convincingly rather than with indifference. To be gracious in one's speech is not only to communicate positive things but to communicate negative things using positive words (or at least words that are not negative). For example, saying a simple "No, thank you" when you are thinking, "You've got to be kidding". See also James 3:3-12.
9. This is, as it were, the flip side of accepting Christ: rejecting Satan. These are the baptismal promises every Catholic Christian makes; as such they are worth renewing daily.
10. After rejecting Satan, we ask for forgiveness, accept Christ, and commit ourselves to following him until death.
11. Thanksgiving is an oft-neglected component of prayer. It's important to offer our gratitude to God for all he's done for us.
13. Again we give ourselves totally to Christ.
14. If you transliterate Ezekiel
9:4 from the Hebrew, God tells his angels to mark a "T" on the foreheads of
his servants — the "T" is a form of cross: The Cross of Christ that saves
us from destruction, the Lamb's blood on our lintels that protects us on the
dreaded Passover. When I pray this petition, I make the sign of the Cross on
my forehead. 
18. Purists may object that this list is longer than the list in Gal 5:22-23. For convenience and brevity the term is used broadly here to denote any virtue the Holy Spirit can develop. The first three are known traditionally as the theological virtues; the last four, the cardinal virtues; wisdom to fear of the Lord (together with fortitude), the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity are traditionally known as the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Chastity, together with poverty and obedience, are known as the evangelical counsels. Analogous to the sins, let each virtue sink in, and make a pledge to live it out.
19. Grossly oversimplified, theosis is the process by which we become more like Christ and one with Him.
21. While depending on your theological tradition you may or may not agree 100% with this part, the point is to dedicate those things in our lives which can be spiritually beneficial to the pursuit of Christian perfection, though the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. Taxes which otherwise would just be a grudging annoyance become an act of Christian love for our countrymen. Suffering that would otherwise be unprofitable becomes a means of producing "a harvest of righteousness". It's a way of redirecting everything in our lives, especially the otherwise negative things, against sin and for whatever spiritual purpose it might serve to glorify God. The point is to unite ourselves to Christ's sacrifice and suffer with him (Rom 8:17). St. Peter said, "Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin" (1 Peter 4:1), and so we offer our sufferings that we may be done with sin and freed from all attachment to it. All of the power and flows ultimately from the power of the life-giving Cross — the Blood of Christ (and the Body as well).
