Jesuit Prayer
February 16, 2022
James 1:19-27
You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Engaging in Love as a Practice
I have found during recent years that I enjoy choosing my first book of the year with a heightened sense of intention, as though I’m setting a direction for the year. In 2019 my first book was Becoming, by Michelle Obama. Beyond a desire to learn more about the former First Lady, as a spiritual director, I was attracted to the title. I started 2020 by reading, Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America, by George Yancy. Certainly, conversation of racism deepened in painful and unexpected ways during 2020. Last year, my first book of the year was, Power of Subversive Love, by M. Shawn Copeland and this year I followed the theme of love once again with, All About Love, by bell hooks. It’s this exploration of love that resonates so deeply with today’s first reading. bell hooks wrote, “This is why it’s helpful to see love as a practice. When we act, we need not feel inadequate or powerless; we can trust that there are concrete steps to take on love’s path. We learn to communicate, to be still and listen to the needs of our hearts, and we learn to listen to others. We learn compassion by being willing to hear the pain, as well as the joy, of those we love.” Like St. James says, we should be “quick to listen, slow to speak… and doers of the word.” How will you engage in love as a practice today?—Laura Gilmartin Hancock is finishing her formation in theSeminars in Ignatian Formation with theMidwest Province of Jesuits and ministers as a spiritual care provider with Soulcare MKE LLC.
Prayer
O Spirit of God, we ask you to help orient
all our actions by your inspirations,
carry them on by your gracious assistance,
that every prayer and work of ours
may always begin from you
and through you be happily ended.
—A Prayer for Spiritual Freedom.
