Interior of the cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City

POETIC PRAYERS

*** * * dedicated to Nonna & Sweetie Pie * * ***

Let me begin by sharing with you some wonderful prayers, many of which are also very beautiful and poetic.

The first two section, “Holy Prayers,” includes miscellaneous prayers to Our Lady, while the following section, “Meditations on Divine Mercy,” includes inspirational words from St. Faustina Kowalska’s spiritual classic entitled Divine Mercy in My Soul.

The next section, “Meditations on Sacred Art,” provides Pope St. John Paul II’s sublime insights into the purpose and value of sacred art, and the noble calling of sacred artists in the contemporary world.

“Prayer for All Seasons,” the third section, is made up of prayers by famous saints such as good St. Francis de Sales, as well as those that I myself have composed. I try to pray as many of these as I can each day, from dawn to morning to noon to afternoon to evening to night -- and even throughout the night. I have organized it in a manner similar to The Divine Office, otherwise known as The Liturgy of the Hours, and it has tremendously enriched my relationship with Our Lord, Our Lady, and the saints.

My goal is to give Jesus the first fruits of my time, so, each day, if possible, each hour I try to pause for short prayer to the Lord, by wholeheartedly and faithfully reciting at least one prayer per hour of the day. The prayers are organized into groups of three, and I start at the top and work my way down, time permitting. However, if the Holy Spirit has a different prayer plan for me on a given day, then in that case I simply follow the Spirit’s lead, and pray however He wishes me to do so. For example, when I am traveling, I usually pray St. Francis de Sales’ morning prayer and evening prayer, and then during the day I go straight to “Prayer in the Dark Night” towards the bottom of this page. Both St. Francis de Sales and St. Louis de Montfort recommend placing the primary emphasis on the quality of prayer, and so that’s what I try to do.

But one thing that has helped me immensely is to pay close attention to the tone of my prayers. I’ve found that it’s important to avoid praying in fear or desperation, by instead turning with great trust to the Lord, and “smiling in the Sonshine.” St. Francis de Sales speaks of bending the stick back in the other direction by practicing the contrary virtue, and that is essentially what this is doing. This is what it means to pray with hope and great trust.

As Jesus Himself told St. Faustina, “let nothing frighten or disconcert you. Remain deeply at peace. Everything is in My hands….” (Diary 219) and “Oh, how I love those souls who have complete confidence in Me -- I will do everything for them.” (Diary 294). He also says “I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy” (Diary 687). Even at the Annunciation, St. Gabriel the Archangel makes this beautiful and inspiring statement to Our Lady of Love: “…for nothing will be impossible for God” (Luke 1: 37). In short, Jesus wishes us to approach this Sea of Mercy with great trust

“Prayer for All Seasons” also includes “Prayers in the Dark Night,” which is a collection of prayers and litanies that I have composed (plus prayers from two or three great saints) for the more challenging moments of my life. When I experience crosses that suddenly threaten me with fear, these prayers help me to slow down my life and better put into practice the fruit of the Spirit that St. Paul talks about in his letter to the Galatians.

By the way, if it seems like I pray quite a bit, it’s important to remember that I’m retired now, so I have more time to pray than many other people. The beauty of this “pilgrimage of prayer” is that if Our Blessed Lord leads us to pray it all, then we can pray most of it or all of it, but if He leads us to pray only a portion of it, then we can easily select a smaller number of prayers each day.

In fact, even if someone is a “babe in the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 3: 1), then he or she could start with as little as one prayer per day, and then gradually add more over time. As St. Francis de Sales so wisely points out, we all have different vocations and missions from God. He doesn’t expect us all to have the prayer life of monks or nuns.

It really is up to us to go before Our Eucharistic Lord, in order to discern how much time we should spend in daily prayer. Yes, I think it’s possible to pray too little, but I think it’s also possible to pray too much. St. Francis de Sales points out that the key is obedience to God: if we do what He asks in terms of our prayer life, then all will be well. As the great St. Catherine of Siena so famously said, “If you are who God intended you to be, you will set the world on fire.”

Finally, the fourth section, entitled “Liturgical Candles of Love,” also includes prayers that I have composed, and I use these when I go to church, especially for Holy Mass.

So, in short, it is my hope that you will find prayers on this page that you can incorporate into your own prayer life, so that they can enrich your spiritual life as they have mine. May they help us all to be more faithful Ambassadors for Christ, diffusing the fragrance of His love everywhere (2 Corinthians 5: 20).

Also, just as a quick overview, let me briefly explain the structure of this i-Book (or internet book). After this Prologue, which centers on personal prayer, you will find three chapters dedicated to a few of the greatest devotions of all time: St. Francis de Sales’ “Introduction to the Devout Life,” St. Louis de Montfort’s “Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary” (which, of course, includes the Holy Rosary), and the “Divine Mercy Chaplet” and “Divine Mercy Novena,” made famous by St. Faustina’s diary entitled Divine Mercy in My Soul. All of these devotions, in a very beautiful way, are Jesus’ generous gift to us. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do. May they may profoundly enrich your spiritual life, as they have mine.

Then, in the next several chapters, I will share my poetry with you. From an organizational perspective, there are several different categories of poems in this collection: Mystical Rose, Mystical Mercy, Mystical Histories, Mystical Memories, Mystical Reflections, Mystical Adventures, and The Dark Night. The poems on the Mystical Rose lead us to Our Lord of Love through Our Lady, while the poems on Mystical Mercy delve into the mystical beauty of Divine Mercy. Then, the Mystical Histories recount significant events in Church history or describe the heroic and sometimes mystical lives of the saints. Mystical Memories are drawn from my own personal life experiences, oftentimes describing my travels abroad, and they typically point towards the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Mystical Reflections, on the other hand, are miscellaneous poems on a wide variety of different topics, including my spiritual life. Mystical Adventures, as the name implies, narrate stories of mystical and adventurous journeys into the imagination, and the poems on the Dark Night depict the imperfect side of human nature -- life without God -- sometimes through comedy and sometimes through tragedy, in the abyss of darkness.

Finally, in the Epilogue, I will tell you how the good God led me on a journey into the world of Divine Mercy, which ultimately led me to the creation of this i-Book.

PROLOGUE

POETIC PRAYERS

* * * dedicated to Nonna & Sweetie Pie * * *

HOLY PRAYERS

MEDITATIONS on divine mercy

MEDITATIONS on sacred art

PRAYER FOR ALL SEASONS

PRAYER AT DAWN

PRAYER IN THE MORNING

PRAYER AT NOON

PRAYER IN THE AFTERNOON

PRAYER IN THE EVENING

PRAYER AT night

PRAYER IN THE DARK NIGHT

LITURGICAL CANDLES OF LOVE

*** * * dedicated to Nonna & Sweetie Pie * * ***