Learning to Pray with the Heart - Part 4

Even in our deepest pain, we must learn to forgive ourselves for not being perfect.  We must forgive ourselves when we sin.  We must seek a reunion with God through the sacrament of confession.  When reconciled with God, forgiveness of self opens the heart to God. God’s healing graces flow into the heart, opening that heart to a closer union with Him.  As we grow closer to God, we desire to be a  source of honor and glory for Him in our lives. Through prayer with heart, we find God.  With an open heart, God is able to work in our souls, molding us and changing us bringing us closer to sanctification.

When we sin, and never doubt that each of us will sin again, praise God for the gift of His Mercy.  God’s Infinite, Divine Mercy is another gift to mankind. Our God is a God of Love and Forgiveness, but we must seek this gift. Pray, ”Lord, forgive me."  Next, seek reconciliation in the confessional.  As difficult as confessing our sins might be, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the absolution of the priest, we are granted both pardon and peace.  Through the spiritual direction of the priest in the confessional, God speaks to us and sends healing graces as He speaks to us through the priest. Pardon and peace.  When our hearts are at  peace, God draws us deeper into His Most Sacred Heart.  Grace upon grace.  Blessing upon blessing.  Prayer opens the heart and gives us peace. 

For some, to pray with heart is simple.  Those blessed souls enter into God's Presence with great humility and love.   For most souls, the journey is challenging and filled with steep mountains to climb and deep valleys to navigate. Through the sacrament of confession, each fall from grace is forgiven, if we seek reconciliation with a sincere heart.  God, like the loving Father He is, gives us the chance to walk in His ways.  The final stop in our journey is heaven.  With God's infinite graces, and with the barriers that sin removed, our souls grow in prayer of the heart.  Prayer allows God’s mercies to flow freely.  Prayer of the heart is love.

My Lord, My God, My All!
I praise You and I thank You for all that You have given me.
I praise You and I thank You for all that You have not given me.
I praise You and I thank You for Your forgiveness.
I ask that You bless me and my family.
I ask that You bless those I love and those I don't love.
I ask You that You to heal me and heal those I love and those I don't love.
Bring us all into Your Mystical Body
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We are yours.  We open our hearts to You and Your healing.
Thank You, Father.
Thank You, Jesus, our Brother and King.
Thank You, Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
May Your Will be done.
Amen.