Prayer of Adoration and Praise: O Lord Jesus. This vocal prayer of praise and adoration will help you lift your mind and heart to God. We will begin with Lectio Divina, by contemplating the Lord in sacred scripture, then we will move to vocal prayer, and finally, we will spend a few moments in contemplation and listening for the movements of the Holy Spirit in our heart.
We will begin by meditating on a passage from the Song of Songs that represents the personal love relationship Christ desires with each of us. This passage begins with an intimate invitation from the Beloved, who represents Christ, and the lover who responds to the invitation, who represents you. So when you read this passage, imagine yourself as the one saying, “My lover speaks and says to me…”
Meditate on the imagery in the Beloved’s response in a prayerful manner.
What does he call you? What season of your life has ended? What is appearing now? What happens when the gardener prunes? Who might the turtledove represent?
My lover speaks and says to me, “Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come! For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come!"
What has the Holy Spirit moved you to focus on in this passage? Is the Lord asking you to arise from your spiritual lethargy and go into a deeper, more joyful union with him? Has he shown you how you have transitioned from a “winter” of sin or desolation to a “springtime” of growth in virtue, and spiritual fruitfulness? If something stands out to you, then you may want to write it down.
Next we will begin with a vocal prayer. Pray the “O Lord Jesus” prayer of adoration and praise in a slow and heartfelt way. If something comes to mind from your heart as you are praying, take a moment to express it from your heart to Jesus. Vocal prayers are meant to open your heart to adoration and praise. What often follows afterward is heartfelt dialogue with the Lord.
"O Lord Jesus" a Prayer of Adoration and Praise
O Lord Jesus,
I believe that you are as truly present here in the Holy Eucharist as when you walked in Galilee where you ministered to the sick, the lame and the blind.
Your ears of mercy were ever open to listen to the cries of the sorrowing and wounded, and your lips ever ready to speak words of sympathy, comfort and encouragement to those who trusted in your power to help them.
As a sinner, conscious of your mercy, I come before you now to spend some moments in communion ‘could you not watch one hour with me?’, and too long have I neglected to respond to you.
Now, at last I come to you, Jesus, my patient and faithful Savior, to whom I can open my heart as someone who fully understands me.
O Lord Jesus, you know me better than I know myself.
You perceive the innermost secrets of my heart and see there my longing to be totally yours. Deep down within me I want to love you but at the same time I am aware of the promptings of my sinful nature drawing me away from you, and the unselfish service which I should render to you.
O Lord Jesus, I have asked and now ask you again to grace me with a total love for you in spite of my weaker self. Fill each day of my life with acts of love for you and make me realize what your love really means. Enlighten my understanding that I may clearly see that to love you means wealth beyond measure, and to serve you, reward without limit. Sweet Heart of Jesus, I implore that I may love you daily more and more.
In these privileged silent moments, to be here before you, O Lord Jesus, is all that matters.
To shut the eyes of my body; to shut the eyes of my soul and to be still and silent; to expose my soul before you who are here exposed to me; to be here before you, the Eternal Presence through means of prayer. Empty me of all ideas, of all images. In the darkness here I am, simply to meet you without obstacles, in the silence of faith, before you, my Lord and Redeemer.
Amen.
As we move from vocal prayer to contemplation, have an image of the Lord in your mind that you can imagine with adoration and praise. Lift your heart up to him. Let yourself physically feel love from your heart to your Beloved and then silently offer it to the Lord.