You are my refuge, Lord deliver me from trouble. If you are new to mental prayer, we invite you to visit our page on the ways of mental prayer, Don’t know how to pray to God, to learn more.
We begin Day 26 of our Lenten Challenge with this opening prayer:
TRUST AND BELIEVE...
Jesus,
You are my refuge Lord. So many times in my life you have helped me. I trust in you to deliver me from all trouble. You give me peace in my heart because I believe you will not forsake me. I trust in your words. Lord deliver me always from every evil and grant me the grace to desire your will for my life every single day. All my hope is in you.
AMEN.
Friday of the 4th Week of Lent (Liturgical Year II)
You are my Refuge, Lord Deliver Me from Trouble
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Join me in a prayerful reflection and meditation for your Lenten journey with Christ to Jerusalem.
You are my Refuge, Lord Deliver Me from Trouble
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Enter into the prayer of silence before the Lord
Holy Spirit,
I believe you are truly here and present to me right now. I desire to be present to you. Lord, you are my refuge in this life and I trust in you to deliver me from every evil and all temptation. I know I have sinful inclinations but you help overcome my bad habits and avoid things that cause me to fall into sin. I am grateful. Lord you deliver me from trouble and protect me like a Father.
I trust in you to guide me into living a good and virtuous life. Lord you are my refuge. Let me worship you with a pure heart and without distraction. Help me to separate myself from all worldly attachments and spend these 15 minutes with you.
Please give me the grace right now to pray my mental prayer well and to love you in a way that is pleasing to you. I want to grow to love you more perfectly. Thank you, Lord, for every consolation, desolation, time of silence, difficult trial, and temptation of the evil one. I understand that everything that happens in my life is by your holy will, whether it be your divine providence or your permissive will due to my sin and negligence.
Please humble me as I walk with Jesus toward Jerusalem. Lord deliver me from trouble because you are my refuge and I put all my faith in you.
AMEN.
Say Nothing Just Take Him In
Spend 1-3 minutes in silence gazing at the Lord with love and gratitude, in a prayer of silent contemplation.
Make a Movie in Your Mind...
Now we will contemplate the first reading. Slowly imagine this scene in your mind as you read. Take your time. Pause over a moment that really tugs at your heart. Reread the passage again, this time imagine yourself physically there in the scene. What do you hear? See? Feel? Sense?
You are my Refuge, Lord Deliver Me from Trouble
The Wicked said...
Wisdom 2:1,12-22
The wicked said among themselves, thinking not aright:
“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD.
To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, Because his life is not like other men’s, and different are his ways.
He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.“
These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, And they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.
Reflection:
Wisdom teaches us how a wicked mind plots against the just.
It convicts the conscience. Is there a passage that sticks out to you?
“he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us.”
Have you experienced an argument with someone in the past? Maybe you were in the wrong and they were trying to help you see the truth in your situation. Or maybe you were trying to help someone who was going down a wrong path.
Be Completely Real...
Think about how pride blinds us and the ways it has blinded you or someone you love who you are praying for.
Take a moment to be with the Lord. Talk to him about your situation. Sit in silence and contemplate what he means by the “recompense of holiness” and the “innocent souls’ reward”.
Tell him how much you love him and ask for the grace to be holy and innocent when you are put to the test by those who are wicked.
Now we will contemplate the Lord by listening to him speak to us in the Gospels.
Visualize Christ
It is late September and the Feast of Tabernacles is approaching, an 8 day festival. It is the third year of Jesus’ ministry, about seven months before the Lord’s Passion….
You are my Refuge, Lord Deliver Me from Trouble
You Know Me and Where I am From
John 7:1-2,10,25-30
Jesus moved about within Galilee; but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him.
But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but (as it were) in secret.
So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Messiah? But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.
Reflection:
Let us meditate on what the people said when they saw Jesus speaking publicly, knowing the Jews were trying to kill him, “Could the authorities have realized that he is the Messiah? But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”
They rejected him. They rationalized in their minds how he was not the Messiah. They rejected what is true for a lie of convenience so that their conscience would not be convicted.
Do I do that?
Has the Lord shown me truth but in my pride I rationalized it away so that I could continue living the way I wanted?
Did I lose grace when I did not listen to my conscience and believe in the Lord’s gentle nudging?
Do I hold regret?
Lord you are my refuge. Lord deliver me from trouble and keep me from sinning against you and others. Give me the grace to abstain from every evil inclination and do not let me fall. I believe you will not forsake me. AMEN.
Now listen to the second part of the passage, “they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.”
Do you not see the power of God’s divine will in this sentence?
Nothing happens outside of his will.
Consider the crucifixion. All that suffering and pain, all the torments- it was done by God’s will to save you and because God’s love for you is so great. If you were the only soul to accept this great gift, the Lord would have suffered all the pain of his Passion so that you could have abundant life in him and eternal life in heaven.
Don’t rationalize sin or make excuses when your conscience pricks you about something. Listen to the Lord and follow him in truth. He gave all for you. Fully surrender all to him.
Take a moment to ask Jesus questions from your heart. What is the burden on your heart? Be honest with Jesus and tell him your temptations. Linger a moment and wait for his response. Has he shown you something? You may want to write it down.
Let us continue our mental prayer with a meditation from Saint Alphonsus Liguori:
You are my Refuge, Lord Deliver Me from Trouble
Humility and Intellect
By Saint Alphonsus Liguori
The virtue of humility is twofold, namely, humility of the intellect and humility of the will.
According to St. Bernard, humility of the intellect consists in having a humble opinion of ourselves and in regarding ourselves as deserving of contempt. Humility is truth, writes St. Teresa, and therefore the Lord loves the humble so much because He loves the truth. It is certainly true that of ourselves we are nothing; we are ignorant and blind and incapable of accomplishing any good.
On the one hand, we have nothing of our own but sin, which makes us still more contemptible. On the other hand, of ourselves we can do nothing but commit sin. Everything good that we may have or can do, comes from God and belongs to God.
Now the humble man has this truth ever before his eyes, and consequently he ascribes nothing to himself but sin, which makes him deserving of contempt. He cannot bear to have merit ascribed to him that he does not deserve, but he rejoices in his soul when he is called upon to suffer contempt.
We must therefore say with the great St. Augustine: “Grant, O Lord, that I may know who I am and who Thou art.” Thou art the source of all good and I am nothing but misery and wretchedness. “Only by the humble,” says the Wise Man, “is God truly honored.” (Ecclus. 3:21).
If you wish therefore to honor God, humbly acknowledge your own wretchedness and protest your willingness to receive whatever treatment God’s providence has in store for you. Never boast of your good works. Read the lives of the Saints to see what they have done, and then feel ashamed of yourself for having accomplished so little.
Reflection:
Dialogue with the Lord.
You may want to ask him questions:
Jesus, do I follow you through my intellect? Do I obey you with my heart? Have I surrendered my will completely to you, or do I do what I want and rationalize my actions?
Do I need to be praised? Do I get angry with God when I am faced with a humiliation? Am I truly proud and lacking in humility of heart?
Next, let us pray with Psalms 34.
You are my Refuge, Lord Deliver Me from Trouble
The Lord Hears the Cries of the Just
Psalms 34:17-23
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.
Are You Listening?
Imagine you are in the garden of Gethsemane with Jesus and it is night. He looks at you. His eyes say everything. He knows everything in your heart.
Jesus, please censure my thoughts. You know all the wickedness in my heart. You know how I lack humility. Lord open my eyes and do not let my wickedness blind me. AMEN.
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 27 Mental Prayer Meditation
You will Preserve Me so I Entrust Myself to You
God, you will preserve me from my enemies so I entrust myself to you. My shield and my deliverer, teach me humility and self-abasement.