Prayer Community
How to Pray
Meditations
Catechesis
Prayer Requests
How to Pray
Meditations
Prayer Requests
Confession Guide
Facebook Pinterest Instagram
The Eternal Father has Brought me Back to Life

The Eternal Father has Brought me Back to Life

This mental prayer contemplates the Eternal Father in the parable of the prodigal son. It also praises the Eternal Father who has also brought me back to life.
The Eternal Father has Brought me Back to Life

The Eternal Father has Brought me Back to Life

This mental prayer contemplates the Eternal Father in the parable of the prodigal son. It also praises the Eternal Father who has also brought me back to life.

Anonymous C

The Eternal Father has brought me back to life. 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 15 of our Lenten Challenge with this opening prayer:

TRUST AND BELIEVE...

Eternal Father, 

I know that you love me with infinite love.  I know I am not worthy of your mercy, but you have freely given it to me, and you forgive me when I confess my sins. Lord I have confidence in your mercy.

You are merciful and worthy to be praised for your loving and forgiving heart. Eternal Father, I am indebted to you and I want to do your holy will in my life so that I can be pleasing to you.

Like the prodigal son, you have brought me back to life. I am full of gratitude for all the blessings you have given me and I thank you for removing my guilt and pardoning my sins through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Your Son. I was lost but now I am found. I was blind but now I can see. 

Father, give me the grace to carry my cross and follow Jesus all the way to Jerusalem. 

AMEN.

Saturday of the 2nd Week of Lent (Liturgical Year II)

The Eternal Father Brought Me Back to Life

A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation

Join me in a prayerful meditation for your Lenten journey with the Father and His Son.

The Eternal Father Brought Me Back to Life

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

TRUST AND BELIEVE...

Holy Spirit, 

I believe you are truly here and present to me right now. I desire to be present to you. Guide my heart and mind to grow in courage so that I might share in the sufferings of Christ and be a source of light in our dark world.

The Eternal Father has brought me back to life, and renewed my soul through the merits of Jesus Christ, His Beloved Son. 

Holy Spirit, help me worship you with a pure heart and without distraction. Help me to separate myself from all worldly attachments and spend these 15 minutes reflecting on how my life might glorify you. AMEN.

Please give me courage in faith and confidence in your mercy. You know all my weaknesses and that I can’t elevate my heart or my mind without your help. 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 be confident in your mercy and have faith in your goodness.

I thank you 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. Help me carry my cross well and do so with great love in my heart.  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.

holy hour adoration prayers the holy face of Jesus my cornerstone

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?

The Eternal Father Brought Me Back to Life

God Who Removes Guilt and Pardons Sins

Micah 7:14-15,18-20

Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, That dwells apart in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel.
 
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old; As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt, show us wonderful signs.
 
Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, And will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt?
 
You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins; You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, As you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

Reflection:

Let us take a moment to reflect on the message in the first reading.

What part of this passage from Micah sticks out to you? 

“Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, And will again have compassion on us,”

The prophet Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah who lived in the Kingdom of Judah and preached about doing justice, being humble, and showing mercy.

Now let’s personalize this passage from our first reading…

Does this passage recall in your mind a time in your life when the Lord showed faithfulness, in spite of your sins? Take a moment to thank God for his clemency.

Let’s Pray:

My Lord and My God, I love you from the bottom of my heart for all the times you showed mercy on me and in your compassion you helped me when you could have shown anger and served me with justice due to the guilt of my sins. You are truly faithful, loving, merciful, generous and kind. I love you. AMEN.

Be Completely Real...

Speak from your heart to God about how much you appreciate his gentle guiding and his loving mercy in your life. 

Sit for a moment and receive this love in a prayer of silence, then give the Lord some love back. Do this by opening your heart fully. You can place your hand over your heart and imagine it swelling with gratitude. Allow this moment to linger as long as possible.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you do this.

Now we will contemplate the Lord by listening to him speak to us in the Gospels.

Visualize Christ

We are back in the region of Perea, in a rural area east of the Jordan River. You are on the road with Jesus as he travels from Galilee toward Jerusalem near the end of his earthly ministry. As you and the other disciples recline, you notice tax collectors and other local people gathering around Jesus. You hear a few local Pharisees and scribes murmuring about Jesus and his willingness to association with these unclean people….

The Eternal Father Brought Me Back to Life

I Was Lost but Now I am Found

Luke 15:1-3,11-32

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
 
So to them he addressed this parable.
 
Then he said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them.
 
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.
 
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”‘
 
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
 
His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
 
But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.
 
Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.
 
The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him.
 
He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’
 
He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'”

Reflection:

Can you feel the prodigal son’s heart and the weight of his guilt and shame in the following words… “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.”?

Are you carrying a similar weight over the things that you have done? Maybe, like the prodigal son, you are holding on to the guilt and shame. 

Now listen to the second part of Jesus’ teaching, “we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” 

In what way does this invitation from Jesus captivate your heart? All is forgiven and the prodigal son has been restored and forgiven.

So have you.

Do you trust in God’s mercy and his promise to completely forgive you of your sins when you repent? 

Talk to the Lord about this.

Give the Holy Spirit time to respond. Has he shown you something? You may want to write it down.

Let us continue our mental prayer with a meditation from Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.

The Eternal Father Brought Me Back to Life

When Great Sinners Regain Confidence and Return to God

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (Notebook III paragraph 1167)

Satan has admitted to me that I am the object of his hatred.

He said that “a thousand souls do me less harm than you do when you speak of the great mercy of the Almighty One. The greatest sinners regain confidence and return to God, and I lose everything. But what is more, you persecute me personally with that unfathomable mercy of the Almighty One.”

I took note of the great hatred Satan has for the Mercy of God. He does not want to acknowledge that God is good.

Reflection:

Saint Faustina helps us contemplate the unfathomable mercy of God.

Let’s Pray:

Eternal Father, thank you for your unfathomable mercy. Thank you for your unconditional love. Thank you for redeeming me in spite of all I have done against you and your Church in my past. Give me the confidence to trust in your mercy and love so that I can glorify you all the rest of the days of my life and bring others into the light of your unfathomable merciful love. AMEN.

Finally, let us finish our meditation with a prayer of praise to our Eternal Father for his loving and merciful ways.

The Eternal Father Brought Me Back to Life

He Redeems Your Life from Destruction

Psalms 103:1-4, 9-12

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.

He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.

Are You Listening?

Can you add a few more lines to the prayer of Psalm 103 from your own heart? Write your own Psalm of gratitude for the love, mercy, kindness, and faithfulness of God in your life.

You can try something like this:

Bless the Lord, O my soul; He has given me courage, and grown my faith in Him.

Let the Holy Spirit prompt you. When the prayer of praise comes to your mind, write it down. Return throughout the day to pray it and repeat it, each time with your heart fully opened with gratitude. If it helps to place your hand on your heart again, then do that.  

Pray the next Lenten Meditation

Day 16 Mental Prayer Meditation

You can also follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *